Social Issues
Education, health, poverty, gender and welfare schemes
Unemployment rate up at 5.4% on rise in rural joblessness in Q1
India's overall unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in the April-June 2026 quarter, up from 5% in the preceding quarter, per the latest Periodic Labour Force Surv...
Women's reservation must not be linked to delimitation: Congress urges NCP (SP) to tell PM Modi
Discussion continues in Parliament over whether implementation of the 33% women's reservation in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies should procee...
Census 2027: Ladakh to lead independent India’s first caste enumeration
The Union Territory of Ladakh, along with snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, will be enumerated first un...
After 50 years, Child Welfare Programme set for makeover
The government plans to revamp the five-decade-old Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, marking a major structural update since its 1975 l...
Mayawati opposes 'creamy layer' for SCs, STs in reservation, hits out at RSS
A renewed public debate has emerged over whether the "creamy layer" exclusion — currently applied only to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) — should also be exte...
P Chidambaram backs Rahul Gandhi, seeks delinking of women’s quota from delimitation
A renewed call was made for implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 without waiting for a fresh delimitation exercise, on the argument that the r...
Government spending on education below Unesco's 15% standard
India's public education spending as a share of GDP roughly meets UNESCO's recommended range, but spending as a share of total government expenditure falls s...
Rijiju, Rahul trade barbs over women's quota bill rollout
Renewed debate has surfaced over the timeline for implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 202...
Explainer: What changes as Parliament passes Registration of Births and Deaths Bill
Parliament passed the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026, amending the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 The Bill introduces ...
Can protection against domestic cruelty extend to live-in relationships? | Explained
The Supreme Court held that a partner in a live-in relationship can be prosecuted for cruelty under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but only if ...
Why the Centre is passing on issues raised by Ken-Betwa protesters to State governments | Explained
Protests continued in Bundelkhand (Chhatarpur and Panna districts, Madhya Pradesh) over displacement caused by the Ken-Betwa Link Project, which involves con...
Centre notifies Act, paves way for political reservation for tribals in Goa Assembly
The Union government notified the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Act, 2025, bringing it in...
Centre opposes pleas for income-based creamy layer in SC/ST quotas
The Union government, through the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, filed an affidavit opposing petitions before the Supreme Court that seek an inc...
West Bengal Govt failed to protect tribal interests in mining land acquisition, says CAG report
A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit found that land acquisition for coal mining in West Bengal did not adequately protect the statutory entitlement...
NITI Aayog calls for national caregiving framework, social security for caregivers
NITI Aayog released a report titled "Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047", examining India's caregiving ecosystem ag...
Special Parliament session from Aug 16-18 on Women's Reservation, Delimitation Bills: Kiren Rijiju
A three-day special Parliament session from 16 to 18 August 2026 has been announced to take up the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 (which links Lok...
New Agasthyamalai eviction orders continue to silence Forest Rights Act
A Supreme Court order (A. John Kennedy and Others v. State of Tamil Nadu, delivered on May 29, 2026, by a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta) di...
Centre’s forest rights letter could weaken Gram Sabha authority, experts warn
A joint letter dated 27 July 2026, issued by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, directs s...
Change in transgender law cannot take away rights already given, Supreme Court tells Centre
The Supreme Court, hearing petitions on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026, observed that a prospective amendment cannot retr...
Census phase 2 to begin Aug 17, will capture caste, parents’ birth details
Phase 2 (Population Enumeration) of the 16th Census — Census 2027 — begins on August 17 in the snow-bound, non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of La...