SC Upholds Reproductive Autonomy in Surrogacy Cases

• SC ruled that the age limits under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, cannot apply retrospectively to couples who began the surrogacy process before the law took effect in January 2022.

Key Takeaways from the Judgment

• Reproductive Autonomy: The Court reaffirmed that reproductive rights form part of the right to privacy and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Equality in Parenthood: The Court highlighted that adoption laws impose no such age bar, questioning the rationale of restricting assisted reproduction based on age.
• State’s Role: While the State can regulate for medical safety, it cannot retrospectively interfere with lawful reproductive decisions already made.

Shram Shakti Niti 2025

• The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) has released the draft National Labour & Employment Policy, Shram Shakti Niti 2025, for public consultation.

Key Digital Reforms and Platforms

National Career Service (NCS)

• To be developed as India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Employment.
• It offers AI-driven job matching, skill alignment, and multilingual access to equitable opportunities.
• Will serve as India’s central Employment Exchange 2.0, enabling transparent and inclusive job matching.
• Designed to connect job seekers & employers across Tier-II & III cities, rural districts, & MSME clusters.

Integrated Labour Stack

• It merges existing databases like EPFO, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), e-Shram, and National Career Service (NCS) into a single interoperable digital framework.
• Objective: Enable interoperable social protection, lifelong learning, and income security through a unified digital ecosystem.

Key Focus Areas of the Policy

• Expands universal social security to include all categories of workers, particularly those in the informal and gig sectors.
• Seeks to raise women’s labour-force participation rate to 35% by 2030 through entrepreneurship, childcare support, and flexible work arrangements.
• Strengthens occupational safety and health (OSH) standards to ensure safe and dignified workplaces across industries.
• Promotes green & technology-enabled jobs that align with national climate goals.

CJI Seeks Reforms to Strengthen ITAT Efficiency

• The Chief Justice of India highlighted rising case pendency as a major challenge while praising the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) for substantially cutting its backlog.

Key Highlights

• Case Pendency: The CJI noted that disputes worth ₹6.85 trillion, constituting over 2% of India’s GDP, remain pending before the ITAT.
• ITAT’s Achievement: Despite the high pendency value, ITAT has reduced the number of pending cases from 85,000 to 24,000 in just five years.
• Conflicting Rulings: The CJI cautioned that inconsistent decisions across benches can undermine public trust, create uncertainty, and weaken the authority of judicial institutions.
• Structural Gaps: He identified issues in appointments, tenure, training, case management, and technology as interlinked concerns.

Institutional and Structural Reforms Proposed by CJI

• Transparent Appointments: Credibility of tribunals depends on transparency and objectivity in appointments, avoiding administrative arbitrariness.
• Tenure Reforms: Suggested restructuring eligibility criteria to attract experienced practitioners earlier in their careers, allowing them to develop institutional expertise.
• Capacity Building: Called for systematic induction and continuing education programmes to enhance adjudicatory skills and minimise judgment inconsistencies.

G20 Likely to Miss 2027 Cross-Border Payment Targets

• The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has warned that the G20’s 2027 target to improve international cross-border payments is unlikely to be met due to infrastructure challenges.

• The G20 Roadmap (2021) aims to make cross-border transactions faster, cheaper, and transparent, targeting a 1% retail payment cost and settlement of 75% of transactions within 1 hour.

Persistent Infrastructure Challenges

• High Cost: Global average costs for person-to-person remittances are well above 1%, with sub-Saharan Africa seeing the highest rates, 4% in 2025, up from 3.2% in 2023.
• Limited Transparency: End-users still face uncertainty in tracking payments and final settlement times.
• Fragmented Systems: Many countries lack 24/7 payment infrastructure and standardised data formats, hampering interoperability and compliance checks.

Workplace Safety in India

• Recent industrial tragedies, including the Ennore Thermal Power Station collapse in Chennai, underscore India’s persistent workplace safety crisis and inadequate regulatory enforcement.

Legal Framework for Workplace Safety in India

• Fundamental Right: Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, encompassing a safe, healthy, and dignified working environment.
• Directive Principles: Article 42 directs states to ensure just and humane working conditions, while Article 41 aims to protect workers’ health and prevent exploitation.
• OSH Code 2020: The Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020, replaces 13 labour laws and standardises safety standards across sectors.
• ECA 1923: The Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, requires employers to give compensation to employees or their dependents for injuries, disabilities, or death occurring during employment.
• ESI Act 1948: The ESI Act of 1948 addresses employment injuries or occupational diseases and includes commute-related accidents when there is a direct link to work duties.
• Institutional Oversight: The Directorate General of Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) and State Inspectorates of Factories enforce industrial safety and compliance.
• Safety Committees: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020 requires the creation of Safety Committees in hazardous workplaces to ensure safety practices.

Factors Contributing to Frequent Workplace Accidents in India

• Weak Oversight: From 2018 to 2020, over 3,300 factory deaths led to only 14 convictions, highlighting near-total enforcement failure and weak deterrence.
• Informal Workforce: Nearly 90% of workers fall outside formal safety regulation and social protection, leaving them exposed to occupational hazards.
• Leadership Neglect: Over two-thirds of listed companies leave contract and supply-chain workers out of workplace safety policies and practices.
• Profit-Centric Governance: Board remuneration structures prioritise profitability over safety compliance, which discourages preventive investment and long-term risk management.
• Inadequate Monitoring: Factory inspections remain infrequent due to staff shortages, outdated technology, and overlapping jurisdiction between state and central authorities.

Securities Transaction Tax

• The Supreme Court of India is currently reviewing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Securities Transaction Tax (STT).

Securities Transaction Tax (STT)

• Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is a direct tax levied on the buying and selling of securities listed on recognised stock exchanges.
• Mandatory: It is a non-refundable, mandatory charge applied regardless of trading profits or losses.
• Legal Basis: Introduced in 2004 via the Finance Act, the STT is governed by the Securities Transaction Tax Act 2004.
• Purpose: Simplify capital gains taxation, reduce tax evasion, and ensure a transparent, automated tax collection process.
• Collection: The tax is automatically collected at source by stock exchanges, mutual fund houses, or IPO merchant bankers.
• Scope: It applies to equity shares, derivatives (futures and options), and equity-oriented mutual funds.
• Exemptions: Off-market deals and specific debt instruments.
• Variable Rates: Different rates apply to various security types and trade modes, such as 0.1% on delivery-based equity trades, 0.02% on futures, and 0.1% on options.

Arguments Against STT

• Trading Costs: STT increases transaction costs and reduces profitability for small and retail investors.
• Market Liquidity: Higher costs limit trading frequency, widen bid-ask spreads, and slow price discovery.
• Tax Fairness: The levy applies uniformly, even to losses, making it punitive and unrelated to income.
• Double Taxation: Investors pay both STT and capital gains tax without any refund or adjustment.
• Derivative Bias: Lower STT on derivatives compared to equities encourages speculative trades.

Arguments in Favour of STT

• Revenue Stability: STT provides steady government revenue for welfare and infrastructure programmes.
• Transparency: Source deduction prevents tax evasion & ensures transparency in the capital market.
• Regulatory Oversight: STT records help detect suspicious trades and strengthen market surveillance.
• Speculative Control: Higher costs discourage frequent speculation and promote genuine investments.

Way Forward

• Cash STT: Remove the levy on cash equities to prevent double taxation and revive equity volumes.
• Rate Harmonisation: Equalise rates on equities and derivatives to ensure fairness and curb speculation.
• Allow Deduction: Permit STT deduction against capital gains tax to promote equitable tax treatment.
• Gradual Phaseout: Abolish STT alongside fiscal reforms to maintain stability and revenue predictability.

Fungal Pathogen Discovered in Western Ghats Plant

• Scientists have discovered a new species of phytopathogenic fungus, called Paramyrothecium strychni, in Kerala.
• The fungal species causes leaf spot and blight diseases in the medicinal plant Strychnos dalzellii, commonly known as Kanjiram or Modirakanjiram.
• Significance: The finding highlights Kerala’s exceptional fungal diversity and adds to global taxonomic knowledge of leaf-infecting fungal species.

Kanjiram or Modirakanjiram

• It is a medicinal plant native to the Western Ghats, categorised as Vulnerable (VU) on IUCN Red List.
• Use: It contains alkaloids with analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties, traditionally used to treat fever, rheumatism, and digestive ailments.
• Threats: It faces serious threats from overexploitation, habitat loss, and the emerging fungal disease.

Wild Life Protection (Kerala Amendment) Bill, 2025

• The Kerala Assembly passed the Wild Life Protection (Kerala Amendment) Bill, 2025, to tackle the rising human-wildlife conflicts in the state.

Key Provisions of the Bill

• Vermin Declaration: It authorises the state government to classify Schedule II animals as vermin for specific regions and durations.
• Section 62 of the WPA: Allows only the Central Government to declare any wild animal vermin.
• Emergency Response: The bill empowers the Chief Wildlife Warden to order the killing, capturing, tranquillising, or relocating of animals that cause serious injury to humans.
• Decentralising Actions: It also allows regional forest conservators and local bodies (e.g., panchayats) to carry out interventions against animal threats.

Issues with the Bill

• Scientific Oversight: The Bill lacks data-backed criteria for identifying vermin, risking indiscriminate culling and weaker biodiversity safeguards
• Discretionary Powers: It risks encouraging a “shoot-first” approach by granting wide, unchecked authority to wardens.
• Structural Gaps: The amendment overlooks root causes of human-animal conflicts, like habitat destruction, encroachment, and poor land-use planning.
• Constitutional Conflict: It conflicts with the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which gives the Union government exclusive authority to amend schedules.

Small Island Developing States

• A 2025 report by the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) warns that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) could suffer economic losses worth $476 billion by 2050.

Magnitude of Climate Risk Faced by SIDS

• Projected Losses: $476 billion by 2050 (GCA 2025).
• Sea-level rise: Up to 1 metre threatens 80 % of infrastructure in atoll nations (IPCC AR6).
• Climate Finance Gap: Receives only $2 billion/year = 0.2 % of global climate finance; 44 % as loans.

Sri Lanka’s Landmass as a Natural Barrier to Ocean Swells

• A study by INCOIS shows that the Sri Lankan Land Mass (SLLM) acts as a natural barrier, blocking long-period swell waves from the Southern Ocean from reaching India’s southeastern coast (Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh).

Key Findings of the Study

• Wave Blocking Effect: SLLM prevents ~96% of long-period swell waves (recorded off Kollam) from reaching Pondicherry and further north.
• Model Simulations: Using WAVEWATCH III, scientists found that removing Sri Lanka hypothetically exposes TN–AP coasts to destructive Southern Ocean swells.
• Geographical Protection: While Kerala’s coast faces frequent coastal erosion from these swells, TN–AP coasts remain largely safe due to Sri Lanka’s position.

Fiji’s National Child Safeguarding Policy

• South-Pacific island-nation Fiji launched its first National Child Safeguarding Policy to standardise child protection efforts across institutions.
• Objective: The policy aims to ensure that all child-related services are delivered in a safe, respectful, and equitable manner, while holding service providers accountable.
• It mandates every organisation working with children to adopt a Child Protection Code of Conduct and recruit staff only after mandatory criminal background checks.
• The policy addresses child protection concerns, as UNICEF reports that Pacific Island nations face some of the highest rates of violence against children worldwide.

Crohn’s Disease

• Recent studies indicate that diets rich in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) may exacerbate gut inflammation and increase the risk of Crohn’s disease flare-ups.
• Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes chronic inflammation anywhere along the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, most commonly in the small intestine and colon.
• Symptoms: They include abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, weight loss, fever, mouth sores, & anaemia.
• Treatment: This disease is most common in people aged 20-29 and has no cure; management focuses on reducing inflammation, relieving symptoms, and preventing recurrence through medications.

Nobel Peace Prize 2025

• The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

• Recognition: She was honoured for promoting democratic rights and advocating a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela.
• Political Role: Machado, the leader of the Vente Venezuela party, has mobilised civic movements demanding judicial independence, electoral transparency, and human rights protection.