Constitutional provisions, institutions and processes the news keeps testing. 579 concepts, each with its definition, key details and a timeline of every news story that touched it.
The removal procedure's high threshold is deliberately designed to insulate judges from political pressure, but this design is also critiqued for making...
The National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage was approved by the Union Cabinet on 12 May 2021 with a total budgetary outlay of...
Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of speech and expression. This right extends to online speech, including...
The 'creamy layer' doctrine excludes socially and economically advanced members of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from reservation benefits, on the reasoning...
The India-China border is not a settled international boundary but is defined operationally by the Line of Actual Control (LAC), divided into western...
The I4C was established by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as a centralised framework to deal with cybercrime in a coordinated manner across India. It...
Kharif crops are summer crops sown at the beginning of the monsoon season (June-July) and harvested in September-October. They are rain-dependent and...
State-owned oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) — are mandated to retail...
The Public Distribution System is the primary institutional mechanism through which the Government of India distributes subsidised foodgrains to eligible...
Rajya Sabha elections are fundamentally different from direct Lok Sabha elections. Members of the Rajya Sabha are elected indirectly by elected members of...
Article 124(1) of the Constitution provides that the Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice of India and 'such other judges as Parliament may by law...
Article 82 of the Constitution mandates that after every census, Parliament must by law provide for the readjustment of the allocation of seats in the House...
The Central Information Commission is a statutory, quasi-judicial body established under the Right to Information Act, 2005. It functions as the final...
The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 is a short Indian law that says Muslim personal law, called 'Shariat,' and not any local custom...
Article 355 of the Constitution says that the Union (the Central Government) has a duty to protect every state against external aggression and internal...
The Mahanadi, meaning 'the great river', is one of the major east-flowing rivers of peninsular India. It rises in the hills of Chhattisgarh, flows east...
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, usually called the POCSO Act, is a special Indian law made only to protect children from sexual abuse...
The Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) is a central government programme to move all of India's land records from old paper...
The Constitution lists reasons why a person cannot become, or cannot remain, an MP or MLA. For MPs, these are in Article 102. For state legislators, the...
The Agnipath scheme is the system India uses since 2022 to recruit soldiers, sailors and airmen below the officer rank. Young people join for a fixed period...
Article 329(b) of the Constitution says that an election to Parliament or a state legislature can be challenged only through an election petition, filed...
The National Tribunals Commission (NTC) is a national body set up by the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2026. Its job is to choose the chairpersons and members of...
SVAMITVA is a central government scheme that uses drones to map the houses and plots in the inhabited part of every village. It then gives each house owner...
The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) Act, 2021 is the law that regulates India's allied and healthcare professionals. These...
An ex post facto environmental clearance (also called a post-facto or retrospective clearance) is an approval given to a project after it has already...
One Rank One Pension, or OROP, is a rule for paying pensions to retired soldiers, sailors and airmen. It says that two people who retired at the same rank...
Indian criminal law has long had a special exception that excludes a husband from being prosecuted for rape of his own wife, as long as the wife is above a...
Article 35A was a special provision that applied only to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It allowed the state legislature to decide who counted...
Every person who wants to contest an election to Parliament or a state legislature in India must tell voters certain facts about themselves. This includes...
Section 24 of the RTI Act lets the government take some organisations completely outside the reach of the RTI Act, but only if they are genuinely...
India sorts its industries into colour groups based on how much pollution they can cause. The most polluting industries are placed in the Red category, then...
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 was the first comprehensive law in India specifically protecting the rights of transgender persons....
Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law....
This five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is the foundational precedent on the Tenth Schedule. It upheld the constitutional validity of the...
The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023, colloquially known as the Women's Reservation Act or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, was passed...
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was enacted on 23 August 2005 and came into force in February 2006 under the National Rural...
US-Iran relations have been defined by the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage crisis. Iran's seizure of the US Embassy and 52 American hostages (held for...
Two constitutional provisions are directly in tension in this judgment. Article 25 guarantees the fundamental right to freedom of conscience and freely...
The Finance Commission is a constitutional body established under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution. It is constituted every five years (or earlier) by...
Article 368 of the Constitution prescribes the procedure for amending the Constitution. Most substantive amendments require a 'special majority': a majority...
Launched in May 2016, PMUY aims to provide clean cooking fuel (LPG) to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, replacing traditional biomass-based...
Great Nicobar Island is the southernmost and largest island of the Nicobar group in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. It is located at the junction of...
The Income Tax Act, 2025 repeals and replaces the Income Tax Act, 1961, India's principal direct tax legislation for over six decades. The new Act was...
Article 142(1) of the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or make any order 'as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause...
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 — the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — reserves one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative...
Launched in February 2024, PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is a flagship rooftop solar scheme targeting one crore (10 million) households with rooftop...
A bill is passed by voice vote when the presiding officer gauges the 'Ayes' and 'Noes' by voice rather than through a recorded division (electronic or...
Article 25 guarantees all persons the freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise, and propagate religion, subject to public order...
Article 82 currently mandates that upon the completion of each census, Parliament shall by law provide for readjustment of the allocation of seats to each...
Paragraph 4 provides that a member shall not be disqualified if their original political party merges with another party, and at least two-thirds of the...
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha is the presiding officer of the lower house of Parliament, elected from among its members under Article 93. The Speaker is...
Article 81 of the Constitution defines the composition of the Lok Sabha. It specifies that the House shall consist of not more than 530 members representing...
Article 94 of the Constitution of India provides three scenarios under which the Speaker or Deputy Speaker vacates office: (a) ceasing to be a member of the...
The CCEA is one of the Cabinet Committees of the Union Government, the highest decision-making body for major economic and infrastructure proposals that...
Mining and mineral regulation is a rare subject where legislative competence is split by declaration rather than a clean entry. Entry 23 of the State List...
The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 is a parliamentary statute that penalises deliberate disrespect to India's national symbols. It was...
The Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of India's bicameral Parliament. Unlike the Lok Sabha, it is a permanent house — it cannot be...
In Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India, decided on 2 March 2023, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that, in the absence of a...
Independent India's Census exercises since 1951 have enumerated Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (as constitutionally required for reservation...
The CAA, 2019 amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide an expedited path to Indian citizenship for specified religious minorities from three...