GS Paper II 2024

Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls were the norm until 1967; committees from Dinesh Goswami (1990) to the Kovind-led High-Level Committee (2024) have since pressed for electoral reform.

Why reforms are needed

• Money power and opaque funding: Goswami (1990) and Indrajit Gupta (1998) proposed state funding and tighter expenditure control.
• Criminalisation, paid news and weak inner-party democracy, flagged by the Law Commission's 170th Report (1999) and the 2nd ARC, remain largely unaddressed.
• A permanent election cycle: repeated Model Code of Conduct freezes and diversion of security forces and staff.

The case for one nation–one election

• Lower cost, fewer policy pauses and a longer governance horizon.
• Backed by the Law Commission (1999), the Parliamentary Standing Committee (2015) and the Kovind committee (2024): Lok Sabha and assembly polls together, local-body polls within 100 days, one electoral roll — accepted by the Cabinet in September 2024.

Concerns and requirements

• Federal balance: national issues may swamp state issues, and assembly terms must be cut or extended once to align cycles.
• Mid-term collapse: fresh elections only for the unexpired term dilute the mandate and may produce short-lived assemblies.
• It needs amendments to Articles 83 and 172, ratification by half the states for some provisions, far more EVMs and VVPATs, and cross-party consensus.

Simultaneous polls can cut cost and policy paralysis, but they are one reform among many the committees urged; federal safeguards and curbs on money and muscle power must go together.

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Both are alternative dispute resolution forums: Lok Adalats settle disputes by compromise under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987; arbitral tribunals adjudicate under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

What they are

• Lok Adalat: organised by legal services authorities from taluk to national level; it takes up pending and pre-litigation matters and helps parties settle amicably, with no court fee.
• Arbitral tribunal: arbitrators appointed under an arbitration agreement who hear evidence and decide the dispute on merits by applying the law, usually in commercial contracts.

How they differ

• Consent: a Lok Adalat award needs both parties to accept the settlement; arbitration needs only a prior agreement to arbitrate and binds the losing party.
• Method and cost: conciliation by a panel, free and quick, versus adjudication by expert arbitrators chosen and paid by the parties.
• Finality: a Lok Adalat award is a deemed decree with no appeal; an arbitral award can be set aside only on narrow grounds under Section 34.
• Hybrid: Permanent Lok Adalats for public utility services (Section 22-B) may decide on merits if conciliation fails.

Civil or criminal?

• Lok Adalats take civil matters and only compoundable criminal offences; non-compoundable offences and divorce are excluded.
• Arbitration is confined to civil and commercial disputes; criminal liability and matrimonial status are not arbitrable.

Lok Adalats give quick, consensual justice to ordinary litigants and arbitration gives expert adjudication to commerce; both ease pendency, while serious crime stays with the courts.

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Under Article 75(3) the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha; in practice, a cabinet with a disciplined majority controls the very House meant to hold it to account.

How the cabinet has eclipsed Parliament

• Agenda control: government business dominates the timetable, private members' bills rarely progress, and ordinances under Article 123 bypass the legislature.
• Party discipline: the whip, backed by disqualification under the Tenth Schedule, turns a majority into near-automatic approval.
• Thin scrutiny: fewer sittings, bills passed without committee reference, demands for grants guillotined, and the money-bill route that sidelines the Rajya Sabha.
• Delegated legislation: much operative law is made through executive rules with only formal parliamentary oversight.
• Information asymmetry: data and expertise sit with the executive and a centralised Prime Minister's Office, leaving members dependent on the government they must scrutinise.

What still constrains the cabinet

• Question Hour, no-confidence and adjournment motions, and the Public Accounts Committee working on CAG reports still extract answers.
• Coalition governments and a Rajya Sabha without a ruling majority restore bargaining and amendment.
• Parliament was never 'supreme' in the British sense: a written Constitution and judicial review have bound it since 1950.

The remedy is not a weaker cabinet but a more deliberative Parliament — more sittings, mandatory committee scrutiny and protected opposition time — so that stable government coexists with real accountability.

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Under Articles 148–151 the CAG audits Union and state accounts and reports to the legislatures; the statement means audit must ask not only whether money was spent as authorised but whether it was spent wisely.

Legality audit: the floor

• Regularity audit checks that expenditure was sanctioned by a competent authority, stayed within the appropriation voted and followed the rules — the guarantee that control of the purse stays with Parliament.

Propriety: equally the CAG's duty

• Propriety audit tests prudence: no expenditure beyond what the occasion demands, no benefit to a particular person or group, and the care one takes with one's own money.
• Performance audit extends this to economy, efficiency and effectiveness; the reports on 2G spectrum and coal-block allocation showed how lawful-looking decisions can still cost the exchequer.
• Accountability chain: under Article 151 the reports go to Parliament and the Public Accounts Committee, which turns findings into answerability and deters careless spending.

Limits of propriety audit

• Its findings are advisory; the CAG cannot disallow expenditure, and follow-up depends on the PAC and the executive.
• Risk of second-guessing policy: notional-loss estimates are contested and can breed risk-averse administration.
• Gaps remain in timely reporting and in auditing PPPs, autonomous bodies and local governments.

Legality is the floor of public audit and propriety its purpose; the CAG's propriety and performance audits protect value for public money, provided Parliament acts on them.

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The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) made panchayats and municipalities the constitutional third tier — the government closest to citizens, where participation, responsiveness and accountability are actually tested.

Role in good governance

• Participation: gram sabhas and ward committees let citizens set priorities and question spending; MGNREGA social audits are a working example.
• Delivery: water, sanitation, street lighting, local roads and support to primary health and schooling are best planned where needs are visible.
• Inclusion: reservation for women, SCs and STs has brought new groups into local leadership.
• Constraints: weak devolution of funds, functions and functionaries, low own revenue, parallel bodies of line departments, and state control over elections and dissolution.

Merger: pros

• Planned growth of peri-urban areas that are urban in fact but rural in law, with uniform standards for water, sewerage and waste.
• A wider tax base and economies of scale in infrastructure.

Merger: cons

• Loss of rural entitlements such as MGNREGA work, higher property taxes and user charges, and pressure on farmland and commons.
• Dilution of gram sabha democracy in larger wards, while municipal bodies are themselves under-funded.
• Middle path: District and Metropolitan Planning Committees (Articles 243ZD and 243ZE) and rurban clusters allow integrated planning without forced merger.

Merger should follow real urbanisation and residents' consent, not administrative convenience; integrated district planning can capture most of its gains without sacrificing local democracy.

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A public charitable trust holds property for public purposes — relief of the poor, education, medical relief, environment — under state trust laws and the Income-tax Act, turning private wealth into public goods.

How they make development inclusive

• Last-mile reach: they work where state capacity is thin — tribal health, remote schools, disaster relief — often through community institutions.
• Examples: Tata Trusts in cancer care, the Azim Premji Foundation in government school education, religious trusts running hospitals and community kitchens.
• Innovation: flexible, patient funding lets trusts pilot models that governments later scale up.
• Social capital: they mobilise volunteers, a culture of giving and a voice for marginalised groups in policy.

Limits and risks

• Concentration in richer states and cities; donor priorities may not match local need.
• Misuse for tax avoidance or laundering, opaque accounts and weak trustee governance.
• Regulation exists — registration and audit under the Income-tax Act, charity commissioners, FCRA compliance for foreign funds — but enforcement and compliance are uneven.

Realising the potential

• Transparent outcome reporting, partnerships with government such as adopting schools and hospitals, and the Social Stock Exchange for verified social enterprises.

With accountability and complementarity, charitable trusts can widen the reach of development; they supplement the State's obligations rather than replace them.

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Poverty restricts diets, care and sanitation; malnutrition in turn lowers learning, productivity and earnings, so deprivation passes to the next generation. Article 47 makes nutrition and public health a primary duty of the State.

The cycle and its cost

• Undernourished mothers bear low-birth-weight children; stunting in the first two years impairs cognition and schooling; adults enter low-wage work and stay poor.
• Scale: NFHS-5 (2019–21) found about 35.5% of children under five stunted, with anaemia widespread among women and children.

Steps to break it

• First 1,000 days: POSHAN Abhiyaan, anganwadi services, maternity benefit, fortified rice through the PDS and PM POSHAN school meals.
• Nutrition-sensitive: safe water and sanitation through the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat, girls' education, and diet diversity including millets and kitchen gardens.
• Health: community management of severe acute malnutrition, deworming, immunisation and ante-natal care through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
• Income: MGNREGA, SHG-based livelihoods and social protection raise household purchasing power for food and care.
• Governance: convergence across ministries, Poshan Tracker monitoring, behaviour-change campaigns and community participation.

Breaking the cycle requires converging nutrition, health, water and livelihoods on the first 1,000 days — human capital is built before a child reaches school.

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In a democracy authority rests on consent; civil servants who wield delegated power must be honest, impartial and committed — and must be seen to be so, because legitimacy is built on trust as well as performance.

Why perception matters

• Trust drives compliance: citizens pay taxes, use services and obey rules willingly when they believe officials act fairly.
• The bureaucracy is the face of the state at the cutting edge; one corrupt clerk discredits the whole system.
• Integrity, as the conduct rules define it, means honesty, impartiality, non-partisanship and avoidance of conflicts of interest; commitment means responsiveness and results.

What erodes it

• Corruption, politicisation and frequent transfers, delays and red tape, and visible indifference in dealing with the poor.

Building positive perception

• Transparency: RTI, citizens' charters, proactive disclosure and social audits.
• Responsiveness: CPGRAMS grievance redress, time-bound services and Mission Karmayogi's citizen-centric competency building.
• Institutional integrity: the Lokpal, vigilance systems and stable tenure, as the Supreme Court directed in T.S.R. Subramanian (2013).
• Caution: perception must follow substance; image management cannot replace performance, and honest officers need protection from vilification.

Positive public perception is earned through visible integrity and dependable delivery; it is the working capital of democratic governance, not a public-relations goal.

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The pandemic and US–China rivalry pushed Western economies to 'de-risk' from China; India, with a large market and a democratic polity, has become their preferred alternative for manufacturing and for strategic partnership.

Supply-chain alternative

• Electronics: Apple's suppliers have expanded iPhone assembly in India, aided by production-linked incentive schemes; Micron is building a semiconductor assembly and test plant in Gujarat.
• Technology and minerals: the US–India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET, 2023), India's entry into the Minerals Security Partnership (2023), and the EU–India Trade and Technology Council.
• Resilience: the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative with Japan and Australia.

Strategic partner against Chinese dominance

• Security: the Quad, foundational agreements (LEMOA, COMCASA, BECA), 2+2 dialogues, and the GE–HAL plan to co-produce fighter-jet engines in India.
• Connectivity: the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (2023) as an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative.

India's caveats

• India guards strategic autonomy — ties with Russia, BRICS and the SCO — and rejects an alliance framework.
• Dependence persists: China remains a major source of electronics and pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), so de-risking is gradual.

Western de-risking gives India an opening; converting it into lasting gain needs domestic capacity, ease of doing business and a foreign policy that stays autonomous rather than aligned.

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Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan form India's 'extended neighbourhood' — energy- and mineral-rich, landlocked, and at the crossroads of Russia, China, Iran and Afghanistan.

Evolving relations

• Diplomatic: the 'Connect Central Asia' policy (2012), the India–Central Asia Dialogue at foreign-minister level, the first India–Central Asia Summit (January 2022) and shared SCO membership since 2017.
• Economic: uranium from Kazakhstan, the proposed TAPI gas pipeline, and connectivity through Chabahar port, the International North–South Transport Corridor and the Ashgabat Agreement.
• Strategic: counter-terrorism and anti-narcotics cooperation, joint military exercises, and a shared stake in a stable Afghanistan.

Rising geopolitical significance

• Russia's traditional security role, China's economic dominance through the Belt and Road, and Turkey's outreach make the region a contest of influence; the CARs seek India as a balancing partner.

Critical view

• No direct land access: Pakistan and Afghanistan block the shortest route, so trade remains modest and far below China's.
• TAPI has stalled, Chabahar and the INSTC are slow to mature, and India's assistance is small beside Chinese finance.

Way forward

• Operationalise Chabahar and the INSTC, partner on critical minerals, expand digital public goods, scholarships and pharmaceuticals, and use the SCO and the Summit format for regular high-level engagement.

Central Asia is strategically vital but economically under-used by India; connectivity and sustained investment are the key to turning goodwill into influence.

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Enacted in February 2024 and in force from June 2024 after repeated paper leaks, the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 is the first central law against organised malpractice in public recruitment and entrance examinations.

Aims and objects

• Restore credibility: transparency, fairness and credibility in public examinations, so that youth can trust that sincere effort will be rewarded.
• Target the network, not the candidate: it punishes leak gangs, colluding service providers and impersonators, while candidates stay under the rules of the conducting body.
• One national framework, so that a leak in one state cannot undermine an all-India test.

Key provisions

• Coverage: a 'public examination' is one conducted by an authority in the Schedule — UPSC, SSC, Railway Recruitment Boards, IBPS, central ministries and departments, and the National Testing Agency — or any other authority the Centre notifies.
• Offences: leaking papers or answer keys, tampering with answer sheets or computer systems, impersonation, manipulating seating or shifts, and fake websites or examinations; all are cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.
• Penalties: three to five years' imprisonment and a fine up to ₹10 lakh; a service provider may be fined up to ₹1 crore and charged the examination's cost; organised crime attracts five to ten years, a fine of at least ₹1 crore and attachment of property.
• Enforcement: investigation by an officer not below Deputy Superintendent of Police; the Centre may refer a case to a central agency; a national technical committee to secure computer-based testing.

Are university and state board examinations covered?

• Not by themselves. The Act extends to the whole of India, but its Schedule lists only central authorities, so university examinations and state board examinations fall outside it unless the Central Government notifies the conducting body.
• State recruitment commissions are likewise outside it; several states enacted their own laws in 2024, among them Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
• Entrance tests such as NEET, JEE and CUET are covered because the NTA conducts them.

The Act gives the Centre real teeth against organised leak networks in its own examinations; lasting fairness also needs secure testing technology, NTA reform and state laws matching its standard.

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In K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) a nine-judge bench held that privacy is intrinsic to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and runs through the freedoms of Part III; it protects the body, the home, personal information and personal choices.

Privacy under Article 21

• Dimensions: bodily integrity, informational privacy and decisional autonomy — including reproductive choice, recognised in Suchita Srivastava (2009).
• Not absolute: any intrusion must satisfy legality (a valid law), a legitimate state aim and proportionality — the test laid down in Puttaswamy.
• Application: a compelled genetic test touches all three dimensions — the body, sensitive data and the choice to keep parentage private — so it must be justified, not routine.

DNA testing of a child in the womb for paternity

• Presumption of legitimacy: a child born during a valid marriage is conclusively presumed legitimate unless non-access is proved — Section 112 of the Evidence Act, now Section 116 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
• No roving inquiry: in Goutam Kundu (1993) the Supreme Court held that courts cannot order blood tests as a matter of course; there must be a strong prima facie case and an 'eminent need', and no one can be compelled to give a sample — refusal can at most invite an adverse inference. Bhabani Prasad Jena (2010) required balancing the interests of the parties against the privacy invaded.
• The unborn child: prenatal sampling is invasive and carries risk to the foetus and the mother, so the woman's informed consent and bodily autonomy are decisive; courts do not compel it.
• Practice: where paternity matters in a rape case, courts direct preservation of foetal tissue after a lawful termination, or DNA testing after birth, rather than testing in the womb.
• Safeguards: the PCPNDT Act, 1994 bars prenatal sex determination, so any prenatal genetic test must be confined to the purpose ordered; the child's interest in not being declared illegitimate weighs against casual testing.

Paternity testing of an unborn child sits where truth-seeking meets privacy; it must pass the proportionality test — ordered only with consent or on compelling need — so that the woman's autonomy and the child's interest are not sacrificed to curiosity.

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India is an 'indestructible Union of destructible States', and the last decade has reshaped how the two levels deal with each other — from GST and NITI Aayog to disputes over Governors, central agencies and fiscal space.

Recent changes

• Fiscal: the 101st Amendment (2016) pooled indirect taxes under a GST Council in which the Centre holds one-third of the votes; the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions raised the states' share of central taxes to 42% and then 41%.
• Fiscal friction: cesses and surcharges outside the divisible pool have grown; GST compensation ended in 2022; conditions on state borrowing have tightened.
• Institutional: NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission (2015), ending discretionary plan grants and promoting 'cooperative and competitive federalism' through indices and rankings.
• Legislative and administrative: reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories (2019); amendments to the Delhi (GNCTD) law enlarging the Lieutenant Governor's role; BSF jurisdiction widened in border states (2021); centrally sponsored schemes with fixed state shares.
• Flashpoints: Governors sitting on state bills, states withdrawing general consent to the CBI, and disputes over central agencies and all-India service postings.

Measures to rebuild trust

• Revive the Inter-State Council (Article 263) with fixed annual meetings and a standing secretariat; use zonal councils for regional issues.
• Governors: appoint after consulting the Chief Minister and set a time limit for assent to bills, as the Sarkaria and Punchhi Commissions recommended.
• Fiscal: cap or share cesses and surcharges, make transfers predictable, provide compensation-type support in shocks, and give states more untied funds.
• Legislation: consult states before laws on Concurrent List subjects and respect state competence over police, land and local government.
• Institutions: a consensus-driven GST Council, a clear protocol for central agencies operating in states, and stronger local governments to deepen federalism below the state.

Federalism is strengthened less by constitutional text than by conventions of consultation; regular, institutional dialogue and fair fiscal sharing can turn a decade of friction into cooperative trust.

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Public interest litigation grew in the late 1970s and 1980s when Justices P.N. Bhagwati and V.R. Krishna Iyer relaxed locus standi so that any public-spirited person could move the court under Articles 32 and 226 on behalf of those who could not.

Why PIL grew

• Post-Emergency legitimacy: after ADM Jabalpur (1976), the Court sought to reclaim its role as guardian of rights.
• Access: poverty, illiteracy and distance kept victims away, so the Court accepted letters as petitions and appointed commissions to find facts.
• Executive and legislative inaction: on bonded labour (Bandhua Mukti Morcha), undertrials (Hussainara Khatoon), pollution (M.C. Mehta) and workplace harassment (Vishaka), the Court filled the gap.
• An expansive Article 21 after Maneka Gandhi (1978) turned life and liberty into a charter for dignity, environment and livelihood.
• Tools of enforcement: Article 142 'complete justice', continuing mandamus and monitoring committees, as in the T.N. Godavarman forest case.
• Civil society and media used PIL as a low-cost route to policy change.

The 'most powerful judiciary' claim

• For: the Court can strike down constitutional amendments under the basic structure doctrine — as in the NJAC case (2015) — appoints judges through the collegium, and issues detailed directions on air quality, forests and police reform; few courts combine such reach with such easy access.
• Against: power on paper is not power in effect — orders on pollution, encroachment and prison conditions are routinely unimplemented; pendency is heavy; the Court has neither purse nor sword and depends on executive compliance.
• Comparison: the US Supreme Court and Germany's Constitutional Court also review legislation but with narrower standing and fewer policy interventions; India's Court is distinctive for accessibility and breadth, not enforcement capacity.
• Concerns: publicity-driven and frivolous PILs, overreach into policy, and inconsistency between benches have invited criticism and self-imposed limits.

PIL has made the Supreme Court exceptionally accessible and expansive — arguably the most wide-ranging constitutional court — but its power rests on legitimacy and self-restraint rather than force, and its promise depends on keeping the voiceless at the centre.

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India's Constitution was secular in substance from 1950 — no state religion, equal citizenship and freedom of religion — before the word 'secular' entered the Preamble through the 42nd Amendment (1976); S.R. Bommai (1994) declared secularism part of the basic structure.

India as a secular state

• Constitutional basis: freedom of conscience and religion (Articles 25–28), equality without discrimination on religion (Articles 14–16), no religious instruction in wholly state-funded institutions (Article 28), and cultural and educational rights of minorities (Articles 29–30).
• Principled distance: the state keeps equal distance from all religions but may intervene to reform — abolishing untouchability (Article 17), opening Hindu temples to all classes under Article 25(2)(b), regulating the secular activities of religious institutions.
• Positive engagement: aid to minority institutions, management of religious endowments, recognition of personal laws, and protection of religious practice by the courts.
• Live challenges: communal polarisation, the Uniform Civil Code debate (Article 44), anti-conversion laws and disputes over places of worship test how even-handed the state is.

The American principles

• The First Amendment's Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause create Jefferson's 'wall of separation': no official religion, no state funding or regulation of religion, and free individual practice.
• Article VI bars any religious test for public office.

Comparison

• Similar: no official religion, freedom of belief and worship, equal citizenship regardless of faith, and courts as the guardians of these guarantees.
• Different: the US practises non-interference, India reformist intervention; the US protects the individual, India also protects communities and minority institutions; the US has one civil law, India recognises religious personal laws; American secularism separates, Indian secularism engages.

Indian secularism is not a copy of the American wall but a model of equal respect with principled engagement, suited to a deeply religious, plural society; its test lies in applying that even-handedness in practice.

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Adopted in India in 1997 after the UK's Citizen's Charter of 1991, a citizens' charter is a public commitment by an organisation to service standards, timelines, information and grievance redress; it was meant to turn the citizen from a supplicant into a client with entitlements.

Why the promise remains unrealised

• Top-down drafting: charters are written at headquarters without consulting citizens, front-line staff or civil society, so they describe what the office does rather than what the citizen needs.
• Vague and dated commitments: few measurable standards or timelines; many charters are never revised and lapse into display-board formalities.
• No enforceability: a charter is not a legal document, so there is no penalty, compensation or appeal when a promise is broken.
• Low awareness on both sides: citizens do not know the standards, employees are not trained on them, and no one is answerable for a lapse.
• Culture and capacity: hierarchy, staff shortages and poor records make commitments unrealistic; charters are rarely linked to grievance redress or performance appraisal.
• Weak monitoring: no independent evaluation or publication of compliance, so the charter never feeds back into reform.

Measures

• Co-create charters: consult users and staff, and follow the 2nd ARC's advice that charters be realistic, prioritised and periodically revised.
• Make them enforceable: state Right to Public Services Acts — Madhya Pradesh (2010) was the first — with time limits, appeals and penalties on defaulting officials, and a central law on time-bound delivery.
• Institutionalise through Sevottam: certify organisations on its three modules — the charter, public grievance redress and service delivery capability.
• Technology: online tracking, SMS alerts, integration with CPGRAMS and open dashboards showing compliance with charter timelines.
• Accountability loop: citizen report cards, social audits and independent evaluation, with results tied to appraisal and departmental rankings.
• Awareness: display charters in local languages at service points and train front-line staff to apply them.

A charter becomes meaningful only when it is co-created, enforceable and linked to redress; then it stops being a poster on the wall and becomes a right in the citizen's hand.

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Healthcare in India is delivered largely by private providers and paid for largely out of pocket: NHA estimates show that out-of-pocket spending was still 39.4% of total health expenditure in 2021-22, even after a steep fall. Markets deliver care to those who can pay, not to those who need it most.

Why the State must contain marketisation

• Catastrophic costs: out-of-pocket payments push households into debt and poverty, and the poor forgo or delay treatment.
• Skewed supply: hospitals and specialists cluster in cities, leaving rural and tribal areas underserved.
• Perverse incentives: over-treatment, unnecessary diagnostics and induced demand, with weak regulation of quality and pricing.
• Public goods neglected: prevention, sanitation, immunisation and disease surveillance yield no private profit yet decide population health.
• Constitutional duty: Article 47 makes public health a primary duty of the State; the National Health Policy 2017 set a target of 2.5% of GDP for public health spending.

Measures to reach the grassroots

• Primary care first: make Ayushman Arogya Mandirs deliver comprehensive primary care — screening for chronic disease, free essential medicines and diagnostics — with assured referral links.
• People: fill vacancies in PHCs and CHCs, expand community health officers and mid-level providers, incentivise rural service through bonds and career paths, and strengthen ASHAs with fair pay and training.
• Financing: move public health spending towards the 2.5% target with a larger share for primary care; use PM-JAY for hospital care while empanelling and monitoring public hospitals.
• Regulation: implement the Clinical Establishments Act in every state, standard treatment guidelines, price control of essential medicines and devices, and Jan Aushadhi stores for generics.
• Infrastructure and surveillance: PM-ABHIM for block public health units and district laboratories; integrated disease surveillance.
• Technology: eSanjeevani tele-consultation linking sub-centres to specialists; the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission for portable records.
• Community voice: village health, sanitation and nutrition committees, Rogi Kalyan Samitis and social audits to keep facilities answerable.

The State need not replace the market, but it must anchor the system: strong public primary care, adequate funding and firm regulation keep healthcare a right at the grassroots rather than a commodity for those who can pay.

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E-governance matures in stages — from one-way broadcasting of information, through comparative-analysis and critical-flow models that put data in citizens' hands, to advocacy and finally the Interactive Service Model, where government and citizen transact and talk directly. The statement rightly locates its value in interaction, not digitisation alone.

What the Interactive Service Model does

• Two-way channel: citizens apply, pay, track, complain and give feedback online, and the government responds in real time — a one-to-one relationship in place of the queue and the middleman.
• Examples: Passport Seva with online tracking; CPGRAMS for grievances; GeM for transparent procurement; MyGov consultations; UMANG bundling services on one app; direct benefit transfer through the JAM trinity.

Strengths

• Transparency: status tracking, open dashboards and e-procurement make processes visible and shrink discretion.
• Accountability: time-stamped requests, escalation and public feedback fix responsibility on the officer, and DBT removes leakage.
• Participation: consultations on draft policies and citizen surveys bring people into decision-making, not just delivery.
• Efficiency and inclusion: fewer visits and intermediaries lower the cost of dealing with the state, especially for the poor and remote.

Limitations

• Digital divide by region, gender, age and language; low digital literacy brings intermediaries back in a new form.
• Grievances closed on paper but unresolved; feedback rarely changes rules or fixes responsibility at senior levels.
• Privacy and cyber-security risks in large citizen databases; exclusion when authentication fails.
• Back-end inertia: the interaction is only as good as the department behind the portal.

Way forward

• Assisted access through Common Service Centres, vernacular and voice interfaces, compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, performance metrics built on citizen feedback, and audit of grievance closures.

The Interactive Service Model moves e-governance from digitised delivery towards digital democracy; it keeps that promise only when access is universal, responses are genuine and the interaction changes how government works.

Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

Terrorism crosses borders in fighters, finance and ideology, so no state can counter it alone. The Security Council created the Counter-Terrorism Committee when it unanimously adopted Resolution 1373 under Chapter VII on 28 September 2001, obliging every member state to criminalise terrorism and its financing.

The architecture

• The CTC, comprising all 15 Council members, monitors implementation of Resolution 1373; its Executive Directorate (CTED) assesses countries and recommends assistance.
• Associated bodies: the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee with asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes; the 1540 Committee on weapons of mass destruction and non-state actors; the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism for capacity building; and the General Assembly's Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (2006).

Achievements

• Near-universal counter-terror laws and financing controls, aligned with FATF standards, make it harder to move money and men across borders.
• Sanctions listings have frozen assets and constrained groups and individuals; CTED assessments have driven capacity building in weak states.
• Adaptation to new threats: under India's chairship in 2022 the CTC adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering terrorist use of drones, social media and online financing.

Shortcomings

• No agreed definition of terrorism: India's Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, proposed in 1996, remains pending, so who counts as a terrorist still depends on politics.
• Selective listing: 'technical holds' by permanent members delay designations — Masood Azhar was listed only in 2019 — eroding credibility.
• Enforcement depends on states: state sponsorship, safe havens and weak capacity blunt the framework, and sanctions without due process raise human-rights concerns.
• Emerging gaps: lone-actor attacks, online radicalisation and crypto financing outpace the rules.

Verdict and reforms

• Adopt the CCIT, end anonymous holds on listings, strengthen due process through the Ombudsperson, fund CTED's technical assistance, and integrate FATF and regional bodies more closely.

The CTC and its bodies have built a global legal and monitoring framework that did not exist before 2001, but their effectiveness stops where political will does; a shared definition and impartial listings would turn the framework into real deterrence.

Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

Spread across about 1,200 coral islands south-west of India, the Maldives sits astride the Indian Ocean's east–west sea lanes that carry Gulf energy and Asia–Europe trade, close to Lakshadweep and India's western seaboard.

Geopolitical and geostrategic importance

• Sea lanes: the Eight Degree Channel between Minicoy and the Maldives and the One and a Half Degree Channel are choke points for shipping between the Gulf, the Malacca Strait and East Asia.
• Energy and trade security: disruption or hostile control of these waters would threaten India's crude imports and export routes, so a friendly Maldives is a strategic buffer.
• Policy anchor: the Maldives is central to Neighbourhood First and SAGAR, and to India's role as first responder — Operation Cactus (1988) against a coup attempt, Operation Neer (2014) after Malé's water crisis, and vaccines during the pandemic.
• Development partnership: the Greater Malé Connectivity Project, the coastal radar network, aircraft for surveillance and rescue, the Uthuru Thila Falhu harbour project, and lines of credit.

Maritime security and regional stability amid competition

• China's footprint: infrastructure loans and debt, research-vessel visits and political outreach; the 'India Out' campaign and the 2024 replacement of Indian military personnel with civilians showed how domestic politics can swing alignment.
• Security stakes for India: deny a hostile naval presence near Lakshadweep, maintain maritime domain awareness through the Information Fusion Centre–Indian Ocean Region and coastal radars, and counter piracy, drug trafficking and terror.
• Regional stability: the Maldives' climate vulnerability, radicalisation and fiscal stress affect the whole neighbourhood; the Colombo Security Conclave with Sri Lanka and Mauritius provides a coordination platform.
• Recalibration: later in 2024 India extended currency-swap support and the two sides adopted a vision for a comprehensive economic and maritime security partnership, showing that engagement outlasts a hostile election cycle.

A stable, friendly Maldives is a frontline of Indian Ocean security; consistent partnership that respects Maldivian sovereignty is India's best answer to strategic competition in its own neighbourhood.

Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.