Daily News Capsules
1. India summons Bangladesh envoy over threat to Dhaka mission
India on Wednesday summoned Bangladesh high commissioner Riaz Hamidullah and registered a protest over the deteriorating security environment in the neighbouring country and plans by extremists that could affect the security of the Indian mission in Dhaka. The development marked yet another low point in bilateral relations, which have been strained since former premier Sheikh Hasina’s government collapsed in the face of widespread student-led protests and a caretaker administration led by Muhammad Yunus assumed office in August 2024. Over the past few days, certain extremist forces have planned protests around the Indian high commission in Dhaka, people familiar with the matter said. Hamidullah was summoned by joint secretary B Shyam, who heads the Bangladesh-Myanmar division of the external affairs ministry and served a demarche or formal diplomatic representation, the people said on condition of anonymity. “We expect the interim government to ensure the safety of missions and posts in Bangladesh in keeping with its diplomatic obligations,” the external affairs ministry said in a readout. The people cited above said one of the triggers for the summoning of the Bangladeshi envoy was a fiery speech on Monday by National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Hasnat Abdullah, who contended that Bangladesh can shelter separatist forces from India and sever the seven northeastern states from the rest of the country. Abdullah, one of the key student leaders who led the protests against Hasina, was speaking at an event organised in Dhaka by Inqilab Mancha, the party whose leader Sharif Osman Hadi is in a critical condition after being shot by unidentified gunmen on December 12. Bangladeshi authorities and NCP leaders have obliquely hinted at an Indian connection to the attempt on Hadi’s life without giving any proof, and the accusation was repeated by Abdullah.
Possible Question
What are the obligations of a host state under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, regarding the protection of foreign diplomatic missions? Examine India’s response to the situation in Bangladesh in this legal and diplomatic context.
2. Father at 15: Draft roll data reveals oddities
More than a million voters in West Bengal were born when their parents were less than 15 years of age, data shared by the Election Commission has revealed. While at least 1,076,981 voters have been identified whose age difference with their parents is less than 15 years, there is another set of 311,811 voters who were born when their grandparents were less than 40 years of age. Neither is biological impossible — but the numbers look off. A senior official of the poll panel said that there are around 16.3 million voters who have “logical discrepancies” in their enumeration forms. They have been divided into seven categories : those who have been mapped with more than six persons in the progeny mapping; those whose age difference with their parents is less than 15 years; those at least 45 years of age but whose name was absent in the 2002 list; those whose father’s names mismatch in the 2005 and 2002 lists; those whose age difference with grandparents is less than 40 years; those whose age gap with parents is more than 50 years; and those whose sex doesn’t match with the 2002 list. The EC data showed that a large proportion of voters with logical discrepancies in enumeration forms are from border districts such as South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Malda, and Nadia. The EC official suggested that the panel is approaching these with an open mind. “There could be multiple reasons including technical errors in the app, database errors or deliberate attempts. Booth Level Officers have been directed to visit the houses of such voters and re-verify the details. If the discrepancies persist even after the verification process, these voters would be called for a hearing by the Electoral Registration Officer after the publication of the draft roll.” The EC released the draft roll of West Bengal on Tuesday, more than a month after the Special Intensive Revision was rolled out in the state, with around 5.8 million names being dropped.
Possible Question
What are the constitutional and statutory responsibilities of the Election Commission of India in ensuring the integrity of electoral rolls? Examine the challenges posed by data inaccuracies, migration, and border dynamics in voter enumeration.
3. SC warns judges on dubious orders just before retirement
The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down hard on the practice of judges delivering questionable judicial orders on the eve of their retirement, warning that such conduct may invite disciplinary action when competent authorities are left with the impression that decisions were driven by “extraneous and ulterior considerations”. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made the observations while refusing to interfere with the suspension of Rajaram Bhartiya, principal district and sessions judge of Panna in Madhya Pradesh. Calling the trend “very unfortunate”, the court said that it has come across several instances where judicial officers, aware that they were nearing retirement, appeared to pass contentious orders that raised serious questions about propriety and integrity. The remarks came as the court dismissed Bhartiya’s challenge to a November 19 suspension order issued by the Madhya Pradesh high court on its administrative side. Bhartiya had moved the apex court directly, seeking quashing of the suspension and reinstatement with full service benefits, arguing that he was being punished merely for passing judicial orders. The suspension of the Panna principal district and sessions judge has drawn attention within judicial circles in Madhya Pradesh. While the high court has not officially disclosed the reasons, the action is widely believed to be linked to judicial orders quashing a collector’s decision imposing a penalty of over ₹100 crore in an illegal mining case.
Possible Question
Discuss the mechanisms for judicial accountability in India below the level of constitutional judges. How do administrative control, disciplinary proceedings, and judicial independence need to be balanced in such cases?
4. SEBI slashes broker fees for mutual funds by half
The capital markets regulator has slashed the brokerage fees that mutual funds can charge and approved new rules to simplify public-lisiting disclosures, among other measures, to protect retail investors and improve compliance. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cut brokerage costs that mutual funds can charge investors to 6 basis points (bps) from the current 12 bps in the cash market, according to the decisions announced after the regulator’s board meeting on Wednesday. For the derivatives segment, brokerage limits have been reduced to 2 bps from the current 5 bps. The SEBI board also scrapped the additional 5 bps charged over the exit load or the fee levied when investors redeem their investments. The revised provisions are effective April 1, 2026. In October, the market regulator had recommended an overhaul of brokerage and transaction fees that investors pay over and above the total expense ratio (TER), to ensure that unitholders are not charged for the same service twice. The TER represents the annual expenses a mutual fund levies, covering fund management fees, administrative costs, brokerage and other operational charges. It is deducted from the fund’s returns, directly affecting investors’ earnings. Expense ratio limits, now called base expense ratios (BER), will exclude all statutory levies such as securities transaction tax (STT), commodities transaction tax (CTT), and goods and services tax (GST). TER will now be a sum of BER, brokerage, regulatory levies and statutory levies. The reduction in fee caps is expected to hit the margins of asset management companies, which may pass on the costs to distributors.
Possible Question
What is the Total Expense Ratio (TER) in mutual funds, and why has SEBI sought to rationalise brokerage and transaction costs? Assess the implications of these reforms for retail investors and market intermediaries.
5. Rajya Sabha passes bill allowing 100% FDI in insurance sector
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill to allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance in a move aimed at boosting capital inflows and expanding one of the world’s fastest-growing insurance markets. The upper house of Parliament, through a voice vote, passed the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025, to raise FDI in the insurance sector from 74% to 100% amid strong demands by the Opposition that the proposed legislation be sent to a select committee for parliamentary scrutiny. The bill was passed by the Lower House a day ago and is now set to become law. Replying to the debate, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said removing the upper cap in FDI will help the sector grow and boost competitions. She said policyholders’ interests would continue to remain protected and measures had been introduced to strengthen regulatory oversight. Several Opposition MPs raised doubts over whether the bill will pave the way for the privatisation of the state-backed Life Insurance Corporation. “The statutory strength of the LIC is still intact and flourishing,” Sitharaman said, adding that the total business of LIC now stood at ₹55.52 lakh crore, an all-time high, and its solvency ratio had increased to 2.21 from 1.98 in recent times. Removing the FDI cap is expected to attract global capital and expertise in a country where general insurance penetration is still relatively low at 1% of GDP, according to government data. The global average was 4.2% in 2023, according to World Bank data. According to the finance minister, foreign companies will have to mandatorily participate in government insurance schemes and caps on how much premiums insurance firms can charge policyholders will continue.
Possible Question
Evaluate the implications of allowing 100% foreign direct investment in the insurance sector in India. How can regulatory safeguards balance capital inflows, competition, and policyholder protection?
Editorial Snapshots
A. The end of MGNREGS
The Union government sprang a surprise in Parliament this week by introducing the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G RAM G, to replace the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a showpiece of the previous UPA administration. Beyond the obvious political overtones in renaming a project that once netted the Congress rich electoral dividends and engineering an abbreviation with ideological alignment with the ruling coalition, three aspects merit discussion. One, the proposal expands the statutory guarantee of wage employment in every financial year from 100 days to 125 days, a welcome development in a country where chunks of the rural population move between relative comfort and destitution with alarming regularity. The bill suggests paying an allowance within 15 days of application of work, potentially easing chronic delays in payments. It delineates clear focus areas for asset creation such as water security or climate adaptation, a good step for a programme where the quality of assets is sometimes sub-par. And it mandates regular audits, fraud detection, GPS and mobile based monitoring — which could be of help in a scheme where allegations of corruption are rife. Two, the bill proposes sharing of financial liability between the Centre and the states in a 90:10 ratio for northeastern and Himalayan states, and 60:40 for other states and Union territories with a legislature. Plus, any additional spends — MGNREGS was demand driven, which meant that the Centre paid if additional work demand was made — will be borne by the state government. This might ease central finances (the wage cost of MGNREGS was fully funded by the Centre, with states chipping in for the material cost), but it is unclear if this is sustainable for any state. Three, VB-G RAM G’s design — where the Centre, based on objective parameters it prescribes, determines the state wise normative allocation for each financial year — sets the stage for more friction between the Centre and states not ruled by the BJP. Despite all its faults, MGNREGS was an important pillar for the rural economy for two decades. It buoyed peasants, set a floor for rural wages, and just like the PM-Anna Yojana, worked as a safety net. Politics should not overwhelm its core mission.
Possible Question
Critically examine the proposed replacement of MGNREGS with the VB-G RAM G scheme. How do the changes affect fiscal federalism, demand-driven employment guarantees, and Centre–State relations?
B. Uncapped but very much in demand
Half (39 out of 77) the sold players in the IPL 2026 mini-auction on Tuesday were uncapped players. Three of them — Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer and Auqib Nabi — were among the top 10 most expensive buys. And several others were talents scouted from the domestic T20 leagues around the country. This represents a shift in how IPL teams are going about building their squad — by investing early in homegrown talent. Chennai Super Kings, for instance, was looking for players to replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. They could have gone for tried and tested pros, and a few years back, they would have done exactly that. But this time, they chose to trust youth and their scouting teams to pick 19-year-old Sharma and 20-year-old Veer. Their decision was also likely influenced by the 2025 season, when, after a disastrous start, the team introduced young replacements who made an immediate impact. To be sure, this strategy has also been forced upon teams because players from England and Australia aren’t always available for the whole season and there aren’t enough top T20 players from other countries. Having Indian players in the squad means continuity and better control for the team management. As older, marquee players retire, spotting and backing the next generation of Indian stars is no longer about waiting for players to emerge on the international stage; it is about signing them up early, and hoping that potential turns into performance. Venture capitalists would approve.
Possible Question
Using the IPL’s increasing reliance on uncapped domestic players as a case study, discuss how institutional ecosystems can foster grassroots talent development. What lessons can public policy draw for sports governance in India?
Fact of the day
Indian athletes topped positivity rate in ’24 dope tests, says world body: With 260 Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) from over 7000 samples tested by National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) in 2024, India remains in the top tier of the global doping charts, a recent report from World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has revealed. In percentage terms, a positivity rate of 3.6% comfortably puts India ahead of sporting powerhouses such as the USA, China, UK, and Russia, each of who, barring the US, tested more than India. While NADA’s National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) tested 7,113 samples last year — 537 blood and 6,576 urine — China tested 24,214 samples, out of which only 43 returned positive findings (0.2%). NADA did not test in the category of dried blood spots (DBS) in 2024. Germany (15,081), France (11,744), Russia (10,514), Italy (9,304) and UK (8,273) are the other countries that tested more than India. Only nine countries tested over 5,000 samples. France returned the second highest number of AAFs behind India at 91, followed by Italy (85), Russia and the USA (76 each) and Germany (54).
