Social Issues
Education, health, poverty, gender and welfare schemes
Transgender communities across India demand withdrawal of Bill to redefine trans people
The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment tabled the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha on March 13,...
Parliamentary panel flags surrender of ₹2,345 crore SC welfare funds, questions Social Justice ministry’s spending
A parliamentary panel has flagged the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for surrendering nearly a quarter of funds sanctioned for Scheduled Caste we...
Freedom of Religion Bill passed in Maharashtra assembly; ‘not against any community’, says Fadnavis
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly passed the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2026 by voice vote during the Budget Session, making Maharashtra the latest state t...
Freedom of Religion bill not against any religion: Fadnavis; Shiv Sena (UBT) supports proposed law
The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026 was introduced on March 13 and passed by the Maharashtra state legislature, becoming one of the most detailed a...
Revamped Stand-Up India scheme soon: Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the Lok Sabha that a revamped Stand-Up India scheme will be launched soon, incorporating lessons from the or...
Explained: The many contentions around the Transgender Protection (Amendment) Bill 2026 tabled in Parliament
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 was tabled in Parliament, proposing significant changes to the parent 2019 Act. The Bill ...
HC permits extraction, cryopreserving gametes of brain-dead person
The Kerala High Court (Justice M.B. Snehalatha) granted interim permission to a wife to have her brain-dead husband's gametes extracted and cryopreserved for...
Why do we need a living will?
Discussion around advance healthcare directives (commonly called living wills) has renewed in India, with medical and legal experts highlighting that the abs...
1.12 lakh acres donated to Waqf Board, but it currently controls only 20,054 acres: Zameer
Karnataka's Housing, Waqf and Minority Welfare Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan disclosed before the state legislature that while 1.12 lakh acres of land have...
India's February unemployment rate eases to 4.9% y/y
India's unemployment rate (as measured by CMIE — Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) eased to 4.9% in February 2026, down from 5.0% in January 2026, beatin...
Denotified, nomadic tribes form national federation, seek separate column in 2027 Census
Representatives of Denotified Tribes (DNTs), Nomadic Tribes (NTs), and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (SNTs) from across India announced the formation of the "DNT–NT Fe...
Dodging tigers and the law: In rural Madhya Pradesh, LPG shortage drives many into forests
LPG shortages in rural Madhya Pradesh — exacerbated by the March 2026 price hike of ₹60 per cylinder triggered by Iran conflict disruptions to Hormuz supply ...
We study pandemics, and the resurgence of measles is a grim sign of what’s coming
The United States has recorded over 1,362 confirmed measles cases as of mid-March 2026 — on track to exceed 2025's record of 2,283 cases, which itself was th...
Need expanded cancer coverage, early diagnosis under Ayushman Bharat: Study
A study — the FinCan study — by oncologists and health economists from AIIMS Delhi's Dr B.R. Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital has called for signifi...
It’s ironic welfare schemes implemented in T.N. are portrayed as fiscally irresponsible: Thangam Thennarasu
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu pushed back against characterisations of the state's welfare schemes as fiscally irresponsible, arguing that d...
On the right to die with dignity
The Supreme Court sanctioned India's first judicially ordered passive euthanasia in the case of Harish Rana v. Union of India (March 11, 2026), a 32-year-old...
DNT leaders move Supreme Court seeking distinct enumeration in 2027 Census
Leaders of Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNTs) approached the Supreme Court of India, seeking a court direction to ensure a distinct and sepa...
U.K. military bases given to U.S. to reduce impact of war on millions of Indians in Gulf, says U.K. Deputy High Commissioner
The United Kingdom's Deputy High Commissioner to India stated that the UK's decision to give the US permission to use its military bases — including RAF Fair...
How a challenge to 1937 Shariat Act frames inheritance law as a civil statute vs religious instrument question
The Supreme Court is hearing a petition challenging the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, specifically Section 2, which applies Muslim per...
What China’s new ‘ethnic unity’ law reveals about its shrinking tolerance for diversity
China's National People's Congress (NPC) passed the "Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress" at the closing session of its annual parliamentary meeting i...