Current Affairs – August 03, 2026

{GS1 – IS} Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026

• Context (TH | PRS): The Lok Sabha passed the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

• Objective: To deter fraudulent delayed entries, protect certificate credibility and strengthen demographic data for public-service planning.
• It amends the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, last amended in 2023. The 2023 Amendment mandated centralised digital registration via the Civil Registration System (CRS) portal under the Registrar General of India (RGI).

Key Provisions

• Standard Registration Timeline: Births and deaths must be reported to local registrars within 21 days.
• Delayed Registration Mandates:
  • Delays of 1 to 2 years need approval from DM, SDM, or authorised Executive Magistrate (per Section 14(1) of the BNSS, 2023).
  • Delays exceeding 2 years require an order from a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class (JMFC).

• Verification: Designated authority must verify the event’s correctness and receive the prescribed fee before authorising registration.

Significance

• Identity Integrity: Judicial scrutiny curbs fraudulent retrospective registrations used to establish disputed identities in immigration or property matters.
• Welfare Accuracy: Stricter registration rules improve direct benefit transfers by removing duplicates, ineligible, or non-existent beneficiaries.
• Database Synchronisation: Accurate civil registries strengthen interlinked systems such as the National Population Register, Aadhaar, and electoral rolls.
• Separation of Powers: The amendment advances Article 50 by transferring adjudication of long-delayed registrations from executive authorities to judicial magistrates.
• SDG Alignment: Stronger civil registration supports SDG 16.9, which seeks legal identity for all by 2030.

Key Concerns

• Judicial Overburdening: Mandatory JMFC approval adds registration cases to subordinate courts already facing over 4.4 crore pending cases.
• Service Delays: Prolonged proceedings delay the certificates required for insurance claims, inheritance transfers and survivor pensions.
• Digital Divide: Increasing reliance on the CRS portal risks disenfranchising rural citizens who lack digital literacy or reliable internet access.

{GS2 – Governance} Criminality of Crude Language Directed at Public Figure

• Context (IE): Recently, Noida Police registered a Zero FIR against a female Noida resident over remarks made about Prime Minister during protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

• FIR invokes Sections 352, 353(1) and 356(1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) — covering insult, public mischief and defamation.

Legal Aspects of the Present Case

• Presently, whether the remarks made by the woman clear the higher bar set by Sections 352, 353(1) and 356(1) or the lower one popularly associated with “obscenity,” would be determined by court.
  • Further, Telangana High Court (2025) held that social media posts using harsh, even nasty language against a political party cannot attract Sections 352 or 353 if there is no real threat to public order.
• Sections applied in the present case:
  • Section 352: Requires proof that the accused intended, or knew it was likely, that the insult would provoke an actual breach of public peace, not merely that someone felt insulted.
  • Section 353(1): Aimed at incitement, such as pushing people toward offences against the state or stoking enmity between communities, a considerably higher bar than criticism of a leader.
  • Section 356(1): Deals with Defamation which carries long-standing exceptions for good-faith comment on a public figure’s conduct in their public role.
• Section pertaining to Obscenity:
  • Section 296 of the BNS (Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code, or IPC): It punishes obscene acts or obscene words uttered in a public place to the annoyance of others, with up to three months in jail.

Legal Doctrine Defining Obscenity in India

• Ranjit D. Udeshi v. State of Maharashtra (1965): Supreme Court (SC) upheld the ban on DH Lawrence’s final novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover under section 292 of the IPC.
  • The court also laid down the test for obscenity based on an 1868 English rule called Hicklin test. The test asked whether isolated passages of a work could corrupt the most vulnerable reader.
• Doordarshan v Anand Patwardhan (2006): SC cleared the telecast of a documentary, holding that obscenity must be judged by viewing a work as a whole and not by isolating scenes.
• Aveek Sarkar v State of West Bengal (2014): SC formally discarded Hicklin for “community standards” test. This test stated that the allegedly problematic material is obscene only if it “tends to arouse sexual feelings, judged by an average person applying contemporary standards.
• College Romance case (2024): SC held that vulgarity and profanity are not, by themselves, the same as obscenity.
• Mani v State (July 2026): SC differentiated between abuse, profanity and vulgarity with obscenity citing that obscenity is not synonymous with these.
  • Court rulings state that for an utterance to be considered obscene, it must show or express a strong, often inappropriate desire for sex.

{GS2 – MoLE} Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rojgar Yojana (PM-VBRY) **

• Context (PIB): PMVBRY completed one year of implementation, marking an important milestone in India’s efforts to expand formal employment and social security coverage.

About PMVBRY

• Genesis: Announced in August 2025.
• Duration: Being implemented over a two-year period from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2027, with an outlay of ₹99,446 crore.
• Implementation: Fully digital through EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation)-linked platform.
• Aim: Generate employment for over 3.5 crore people, including 1.92 crore first-time employees encouraging young people to enter organised workforce through EPFO registration.
  • Complements National Manufacturing Mission by promoting employment in new and expanding industries.
• Use of Digital Technology: Scheme uses Aadhaar-based authentication, Universal Account Numbers (UANs), and regular Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) filings.
  • Incentives are available only after the UAN is authenticated through Face Authentication Technology on UMANG App.
  • UAN is a 12-digit EPFO number linking multiple Member IDs across employers, making provident fund accounts portable and accessible.
• Outreach: Awareness promoted through Cross-Functional Teams comprising officials from EPFO, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), and Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC).
• Two-Part Incentive Framework:

Read More> Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana

{GS2 – MoNRE} Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY) *

• Context (PIB): The Union Cabinet approved Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY) with a ₹5,070 crore outlay to strengthen floating solar capacity and energy security.

• PM-SSY is a Central Sector Scheme that promotes Floating Solar Photovoltaic (FSPV) projects integrated with Energy Storage Systems (ESS).
• Target: 5 GW of FSPV by FY 2030-31, supported by two-hour co-located battery storage totalling 10,000 MWh to ensure grid reliability.
• Implementing Agency: Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• Financial Support: Developers receive ₹1 crore per MW of Central Financial Assistance (CFA) after commissioning and up to ₹50 lakh per project for bathymetric and hydrographic studies.
• Significance: It supports India’s 500 GW non-fossil electricity goal by 2030, aligns with Atmanirbhar Bharat, and can cut 10 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.

Read More > Solar Energy in India

{GS2 – MoPNG} Samudra Manthan (National Offshore Exploration Scheme) *

• Context (PIB): Union Cabinet approved ‘Samudra Manthan’ (National Offshore Exploration Scheme) with an outlay of ₹84,084 crore for implementation through FY 2030–31.

• Samudra Manthan (National Offshore Exploration Scheme) is a 100% centrally funded Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• Objective: To map untapped offshore sedimentary basins and de-risk deepwater exploration to reduce India’s reliance on crude oil (~88%) and natural gas (~50%) imports.
• Eligibility: Exploration & Production (E&P) companies awarded offshore blocks in previous Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) rounds as well as in ongoing bidding rounds.
• Key Components: The scheme funds four components across the offshore value chain:
  1. Seismic Mapping: Finances acquisition, processing, and 3D interpretation of sub-sea seismic data to pinpoint hydrocarbon reserves prior to drilling.
  2. Risk Drilling: Provides 50% central financial backing (capped at ₹675 Cr per well) for drilling ~60 exploratory wells across deepwater and ultra-deepwater basins.
  3. Shared Infrastructure: Builds common offshore production platforms, jetties, and subsea evacuation pipelines to cut individual operator capital expenditure.
  4. Manufacturing Zone: Establishes an Oil & Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone under Make in India to indigenise subsea robotics, deepwater hardware, and maritime logistics.
• Expected Outcome: Targets discovering over 600 Million Metric Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MMTOE) in domestic reserves and raising annual output to save nearly ₹1 lakh crore annually in foreign exchange.

{GS2 – Polity} Collegium System in Indian Judiciary **

• Context (NIE): Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan noted that systemic opacity allows candidates who later make unconstitutional or derogatory remarks to enter the higher judicial benches.

About Collegium System

• Collegium system is an extra-constitutional, peer-driven forum of senior judges that independently selects and elevates candidates to the higher bench and transfers sitting judges across High Courts.
• Composition: The Supreme Court Collegium comprises the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges, while a High Court Collegium has the Chief Justice and two senior-most judges.
• Objective: Secure absolute judicial independence by shielding the selection of judges from political and executive interference.
• Executive Role: Union Law Ministry conducts candidate background inquiries through the Intelligence Bureau and can return a recommendation once. The government remains legally bound to notify the appointment if the Collegium reiterates the exact same name.
  • Since no strict time limit binds the government on reiterated files, the executive often uses indefinite delays as an unofficial veto.
• Memorandum of Procedure (MoP): Administrative procedures, candidate criteria, and background checks for these appointments are governed by an MoP agreed between the judiciary and the executive.

Evolution of the Collegium System

• Constitutional Basis: Articles 124(2) and 217(1) require the President to appoint Supreme Court and High Court judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and other judges.

1. First Judges Case (1981): Supreme Court originally interpreted “consultation” as non-binding, which legally granted the executive final veto power over higher judicial appointments.
   • The Court held that the Chief Justice of India had no primacy over a High Court Chief Justice, treating both as equal in the consultation process.
2. Second Judges Case (1993): The Court reversed its earlier position by equating consultation with absolute concurrence, officially shifting the appointment authority from the executive to the judiciary.
3. Third Judges Case (1998): A presidential reference expanded the body into its modern five-member format, comprising the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges.
4. Fourth Judges Case (2015): The parliament-approved National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was struck down to prevent executive overreach from violating the basic structure doctrine.

Significance of the Collegium System

• Electoral Insulation: Delinking appointments from electoral politics frees judges to rule by constitutional law rather than populist opinion or legislative majorities.
• Competence Vetting: Firsthand courtroom experience enables sitting judges to assess a candidate’s legal acumen and judicial temperament beyond the reach of political observers.
• Federal Balance: Collegium’s oversight of cross-state transfers ensures equitable regional representation across the constitutional bench without executive gerrymandering.
• Conflict Prevention: Executive exclusion from judicial selection denies the state, India’s largest single litigant, the power to appoint its own adjudicators.
• Tenure Security: The complete removal of executive influence over promotions and transfers safeguards independent High Court judges against political victimisation.

Challenges Associated with the Collegium System

• Unchecked Self-Appointment: India is the only democracy where sitting judges alone appoint their successors, without any legislative or executive check.
• Representation Shortfall: The closed-door nomination mechanism has historically suppressed female representation to just 14% across the High Courts and to approximately 5.3% in the Supreme Court.
• Quality Compromise: Absence of a standardised institutional screening framework risks elevating candidates with controversial legal records to constitutional benches.
• Pocket Veto: Collegium’s inability to enforce its recommendations allows the executive to stall disfavoured names indefinitely while fast-tracking preferred candidates.
• Scrutiny Deficit: The lack of an institutional secretariat shields all screening metrics and official selection minutes from Right to Information (RTI) requests.

Committee/Commission Recommendations

• NCRWC (2002): Establish a National Judicial Commission comprising the Chief Justice of India, two senior-most SC judges, the Union Law Minister, and one eminent person to manage judicial appointments.
• 2^nd Administrative Reforms Commission (2008): Create a National Judicial Council comprising executive, legislative, and judicial participation to process higher court appointments.
• Law Commission of India, 121^st Report (1987): Establish a broad-based National Judicial Service Commission to provide a multi-stakeholder forum for judicial appointments.
• Law Commission of India, 214^th Report (2008): Conduct an urgent review of the current procedure for the appointment of judges to reform the selection methodology.
• Parliamentary Standing Committee (2023): Amend the Memorandum of Procedure to require the Collegium to recommend adequate numbers of women and candidates from marginalised sections.
• Law Commission of India, 14^th Report (1958): Appoint members of the Bar directly to the Supreme Court, without strictly relying on age or seniority, to inject fresh vigour into the highest bench.

Read More> Collegium System in India

{Prelims – A&C} Dhimsa Dance

• Context (TH): Recent performance of Dhimsa dance by 13, 000 tribal women and girl students at Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport was recognised by Guinness World Records as largest Dhimsa dance.

• Dhimsa is a traditional tribal folk dance performed by indigenous communities (including Bagata, Gadaba, Kondadora, Poraja, and Valmiki) of the Araku Valley and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district, Andhra Pradesh; its origin is traced to the Koraput region.
• Performance: Performed mainly by 15–20 women in colourful traditional attire, moving in synchronised circles to the rhythm of indigenous instruments such as dappu, tudumu, mori, kidgi, gilka, and jodukommulu.
• Themes & Occasions: Depicts tribal mythology, folklore, livelihood, kinship, and social life and is performed during Chaitrapurab (Eetela Panduga), marriages, festivals, and religious ceremonies.

{Prelims – Envi} Broad Peak

• Context (IE): Search for the missing mountaineers who were caught in an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was suspended because of adverse weather conditions.

Broad Peak

• Altitude: 8,047-meters (26,401 feet), remains difficult to ascent compared to higher peaks due to difficult terrain, strong winds and challenging terrain. 12th-highest in the world.
• Location: Pakistan’s Karakoram Range, home to five of the world’s 14 eight-thousanders.
  • Eight-thousanders refer to 14 mountains in the Himalayas and the Karakoram ranges, which exceed an altitude of 8,000 meters (26,247 feet) above sea level.

{Prelims – Geo} Banchhada Community

• Context (TH): Recently, the Banchhada community was in the news.

• The Banchhada community is primarily found in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• During British rule, the community was notified as a “Criminal Tribe” under the Criminal Tribes Act. After Independence, they were denotified and are listed as a Scheduled Caste.

{Prelims – Geo} Shipki La

• Context (TOI): India and China resumed border trade via Shipki La through the new Chhuppan Trade Mart at Namgya village after six years of suspension since 2020.

• Shipki La, at about 3,930 metres, is a motorable mountain pass connecting Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. It lies on National Highway 5.
• Historically called Pema La (Shared Pass), it was part of the ancient Silk Route. It became part of the Line of Actual Control following the 1962 conflict.
• The Sutlej, known as Langqen Zangbo in Tibet, enters India via Shipki La.
• The pass is one of three official bilateral land routes for border trade between India and China, alongside Nathu La (Sikkim) and Lipulekh (Uttarakhand).

{Prelims – PI} Pingali Venkayya (1876–1963)

• Context (PIB): The PM paid tributes to Freedom Fighter, Pingali Venkayya on his 150^th birth anniversary

• Pingali Venkayya was an Indian freedom fighter, educationist, linguist, and the designer of the original Indian National Flag.
• Born in Bhatlapenumarru village (Andhra Pradesh), he was popularly known as “Jhanda Venkayya.”
• He participated in different moments involved of the Indian National Movement from 1906 to 1922 such as Vande Mataram, home rule movement, andhrodyam.
• He was a firm believer in Gandhian principles and an ardent nationalist. During his stint with the British Army, he had met Mahatma Gandhi in Africa.
• He presented several flag designs before the Indian National Congress, and in 1921, Mahatma Gandhi endorsed one of his designs at the Congress session in Vijayawada.
• The Constituent Assembly adopted the present form of the National Flag on 22 July 1947, replacing the spinning wheel (Charkha) with the Ashoka Chakra, while retaining the tricolour design inspired by Venkayya’s original concept.
• He set a record in diamond mining in Andhra Pradesh, that is why it is called ‘Diamond Venkayya ‘. In 1955, published the book “The Mother of Diamonds”.

{Prelims – Social Sector} Leptospirosis

• Context (TH): Kerala has reported a rise in leptospirosis (rat fever) deaths, with a higher case-fatality rate than previous years.

• Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonotic disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Leptospira. It is most common in tropical and subtropical regions.
• It has become endemic in Kerala, with seasonal peaks during the monsoon due to heavy rainfall, flooding, and waterlogging.
• Spread: It spreads through direct contact with the urine of infected animals or through water, soil, or food contaminated with infected urine. Common animal reservoirs include rats, cattle, pigs, and dogs.
• Symptoms: Mild fever, muscle pain, and vomiting to severe complications such as jaundice, kidney failure, liver damage, meningitis, lung haemorrhage, and Weil’s disease.
• It can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early, while prevention includes rodent control, proper sanitation, protective clothing, avoiding contaminated water.

{Prelims – Misc} One Liner

• IE – Polymer Currency Notes (AIR): The Centre has cleared the RBI’s proposal to field-test Rs 10 and Rs 20 polymer currency notes. The move revives a 15-year-old plan after delays over machines, costs and environmental scrutiny.
  • Polymer currency notes are currency notes printed on a thin, flexible plastic substrate rather than the cotton-based paper used in conventional currency.