S. No.

Title Stated objective

Government legis

1. Restrict NREGA to country's 200

'most backward' districts

1 NREGA Amendment

2. Reduce labour-material ratio from

60:40 to 51:49

In December 2014, the government

promulgated an ordinance amending
the LARR Act, 2013. To replace the
same, it introduced the LARR
2 LARR Amendment (Amendment) Bill, 2015. The Bill
created five special categories of land
use which were to be exempted from
requiring consent and conducting
Social Impact Assessments.

The FRDI Bill proposed to establish a

‘Resolution Corporation’ to monitor
financial firms, calculate stress and
take "corrective actions" in case of a
3 FRDI Bill failure. It also provides for a bail-in
clause (clause 52) in the event of a
failure or insolvency in a bank,
depositors would also have to bear
part of the burden of resolution.
 The FRDI Bill proposed to establish a
‘Resolution Corporation’ to monitor
financial firms, calculate stress and
take "corrective actions" in case of a
3 FRDI Bill failure. It also provides for a bail-in
clause (clause 52) in the event of a
failure or insolvency in a bank,
depositors would also have to bear
part of the burden of resolution.

To empower the Central government

to decide the tenure, salary and
allowances of the Chief Information
Commissioner and Information
Commissioners at the Centre, and the
State Chief Information
4 RTI Amendment Commissioners. This would eliminate
the parity they currently have with
the Chief Election Commissioner and
Election Commissioners and,
therefore, equivalence with a judge of
the Supreme Court in matters of pay,
allowances and conditions of service.

To do away with the printing of

information contained in the passport
such as names of father or legal
guardian, mother, spouse, and
5 Orange-Jacket address contained in the last page of
Passport for ECR the passport, along with changing the
colour of ECR passports, to orange, on
the recommendations of a three-
member committee comprising
officials of MEA and WCD Ministry

The government proposed to set up a

Social Media Communication Hub
under the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting to monitor online social
media data.

6 Social Media Hub

Also, proposal to have a “social media
analytical tool” that will deploy 360
degree monitoring on all social media
platforms to create digital profiles of
citizens,(In the bid document, it said
tool should be able to “listen” to
email)
 Direct Benefit Transfer in PDS. The
dealers will have to buy grain from
the government at market price and
7 DBT in PDS pilot of the same will be sold to beneficiaries
Nagri, Jharkhand
at market price. Beneficiaries will be
transferred the required amount in
their bank accounts.

Link Aadhaar numbers to mobile

Constitutionality of phone numbers, passports, PAN etc.
8 Aadhaar and Also, mandatory Aadhaar linking
mandatory Aadhaar required to avail of welfare schemes'
linking
benefits under Article 7 of the Act.

Currently, cadres are allocated

according to ranking in examination
but now PMO wants that they be
Change of rules allocated post the 3 month
9 related to service and foundation course based on the
cadre allocation to IAS
probationers combined score obtained in the CSE
and the foundation course. A DoPT
letter says PMO wants new system
implemented from current year itself.
 National Judicial Proposed an independent body (the
Appointments NJAC) which would be responsible for
10 Commission Act + the the appointment and transfer of
99th Constitutional judges to higher judiciary (thus
Amendment Act replacing the collegium system)

Modi government in July 2014 had

constituted NBWL and nominated
only one NGO -- Gujarat Ecological
Education and Research Foundation --
and two experts – Professor Raman
Sukumar and Dr HS Singh

Constitution of
11 National Board for
Wildlife
Following this, NBWL in its very first
meeting cleared more than 130
projects which had been pending for
months.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar

announced that the newly formed
National Testing Agency (NTA) would
12 Online NEET conduct the National Eligibility cum
Entrance Test (NEET) online and twice
a year from 2019

New guidelines issues by Mo

Guidelines on Fake Information and Broadcasting aimed
13 News to suspend the accreditation of
journalists against whom complaints
of fake news had been registered.

UGC regulation on UGC notified guidelines which

14 increased teaching increased teaching work hours by six
hours hours of work per week
 MoEFCC notified rules under the
Ban on Sale of Cattle Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act
15 for Slaughter in
Animal Markets on May 23, 2017 banning sale of
cattle for slaughter in animal markets

Centre says that adultery should

Adultery law [Section continue as a penal offence, sought
16
497 of IPC] dismissal of a PIL challenging the
same.

Ready to Use Maneka Gandhi proposed, Maha first

govt to do move from hot cooked
17 Therapeutic Foods in meals to packaged mixes for 3-6 yr
ICDS olds

Proposal to replace hot cooked food

18 Cash Transfers in ICDS
with cash transfers in ICDS

Muslim Women
19 (Protection of Rights The bill makes instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) in any form — spoken, in writing or by electron
on Marriage) Bill,
2017

Court
 A National Green Tribunal order had
banned all protests on the historic
Jantar Mantar Road in October 2017,
saying such activities violate
environmental laws.

Blanket ban on Ban on protests at Boat Club was

1 protests in Central imposed several years ago
Delhi
The Delhi police were repeatedly
promulgating prohibitory orders
under section 144, CrPC by which,
virtually, the entire Central Delhi area
is declared a prohibited area for
holding any public meeting, dharna or
peaceful protest

March 2018 Supreme Court

judgement pertaining to protect
innocent officers and employees in
government and private sectors from
the misuse of the Act (especially
“when no prima facie case is made
out or the case is patently false or
mala fide”). For this, the court
2 SC/ST Atrocities Act ordered that a Deputy
Superintendent of Police should
conduct a “preliminary inquiry” into
every complaint of atrocity committed
against an SC/ST member.
Subsequently, the arrest of the
accused persons should be approved
by the Senior Superintendent of
Police concerned.
 Reasoning provided Main opposition

Government legislation/ Executive action

1. Corruption - Bhagwati and Panagariya did some

calculations to assert that 248 rupees were being
spent by the government to deliver a net benefit of 50
rupees per person per day (they got to 50 rupees net
benefit by assuming that people forego minimum
wage employment to work at NREGA sites)

2. Was argued that because seldom even 50 mandays

on average per household per year were not being Open letter from 28
provided, this implied that both demand for work and leading economists to
supply by state governments was weak. Prime Minister Narendra
Modi appealing him to
not restrict the scheme,
which had despite
numerous hurdles
achieved significant
3. Nitin Gadkari said that irrigated states like Punjab results.
and Haryana were facing a shortage of labour for
farming operations, hence it was thought to restrict
the scheme to backward areas where no jobs were
available.

4. Higher material ratio was to help create more

productive assets

Opposition parties
Mr Modi termed the amendments as "pro-farmer" (especially Congress),
and along with meeting "developmental needs of the NDA allies (- Shiv Sena,
country" - 2013 LARR Act stalled investment up to 20 Akali Dal), Anna Hazare,
lakh crore especially in rail, steel, mining and roads farmers' and civil society
sectors. groups National Alliance
of People's Movements

Opposition parties
(especially Trinamool
To create a framework for resolving bankruptcy in Congress), All India Bank
banks, insurance companies and other financial Employees' Union,
industry associations
establishments. such as Assocham and
an online petition
#NoBailIn
 Opposition parties
(especially Trinamool
Congress), All India Bank
To create a framework for resolving bankruptcy in
banks, insurance companies and other financial Employees' Union,
establishments. industry associations
such as Assocham and
an online petition
#NoBailIn

Unlike the Election Commission, the CIC is not a National Campaign for
constitutional office but a statutory body created People’s Right to
under the RTI Act. Also, they perform completely Information, RTI
different functions, hence equivalence in status and
service conditions cannot be justified. This reasoning activists, former CIC
is backed by the Justice Srikrishna committee which Shailesh Gandhi,
Opposition parties led
made these recommendations without consulting the by Congress
CIC.

The move would help single mothers get passports Opposition parties led
made for their children without having to mention the by Congress and Left
father's name. parties. Kerala HC issued
notice to MEA on a PIL
filed against the
decision. Reports across
newspapers in Gulf filled
with criticism from
Orange passports being easier to identify would help Indian expats against the
authorities to protect vulnerable workers abroad from MEA decision.
exploitation.

PIL from Trinamool

Congress MLA Mahua
Moitra raising the
Government hopes to use the social media analytical
tool to gauge people's opinions about official policies. question whether the
It hopes to use this information to target individuals government wants to
tap the citizens’
with personalised campaigns. messages on Whatsapp
or other social media
platforms.
 Right to Food Campaign
Apart from the usual reasoning behind introducing along with opposition
DBT, the move was ostensibly aimed at removing the parties of Jharkhand (A
arbitrage incentive to dealers. Padyatra was
undertaken – from Nagri
to Ranchi, various
panchayat level
protests).

Judicial intervention,
petitions by activists, the
industry body Assocham
To improve inclusion and service delivery of welfare had also urged the
schemes (by reducing leakages and deletions of ghost government to relax the
beneficiaries) deadline for seeding
bank accounts,
especially the public
sector banks.

Ex and serving
bureaucrats, civil service
aspirants, DMK
Provide better assessment of candidates. Under the threatened to stage a
current system, probationers don’t take the youth protest ,
foundation course seriously. Puducherry CM V
Narayanasamy wrote a
letter to minister
concerned
 A batch of petitions
were filed in the SC
Composition of NJAC included the Union Law Minister challenging
and two eminent persons to be nominated by the constitutionality of both
Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of Opposition Acts (Supreme Court
Advocates on Record
of the Lok Sabha Association (SCAoRA)
being the first and lead
petitioner)

Petition by Chandra Bahl

Singh, a Pune based
conservationist in the SC
challenging the
reconstitution. More
than 50 organisations
and eminent individuals
had also written to NDA
government urging it to
cancel the NBWL
appointment.

Health Ministry sent a

letter to the HRD
Ministry within three
days stating that the
public announcement
on the NEET was made
“without formal
consultation” with them.

Opposition parties and

To tackle menace of fake news media outcry

Protests by teacher
UGC "advised" teachers to increase their workload associations. Also,
and offered to exempt them from research if they political parties like
teach more every week
Congress and AAP.
 Opposition from States.
SC expanded an interim
Ostensibly, to regulate cattle trade and prevent cattle stay granted by the
theft Madras HC into a
nationwide bar on the
rules

Criminalising adultery is required "to protect and A PIL seeking that

safeguard the sanctity of marriage, keeping in mind section 497 of the IPC
and section 198(2) of
the unique structure and culture of the Indian the CrPC be struck down
society." altogether.

More hygienic and practical solution, quality control

and standardisation will be better than if produced Right to Food Campaign
locally by small groups daily

Cash transfer proposal reportedly based on a NITI Right to Food Campaign,

Aayog report "Reforming Take Home Rations (THR) WCD Minister Maneka
under the ICDS Scheme" Gandhi

Reason cited by government is that the practice of

triple talaq continues unabated even after being Opposition parties -
annulled by the SC due to absence of legal framework. Congress, AIMPLB.

Court judgements
 Organisations like the
Violation of environmental laws and that duty of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti
state was to protect people from noise pollution Sangathan, Indian Ex-
(ordered the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to Servicemen Movement
remove all make-shift structures made by protestors and other groups had
along the stretch) appealed to the SC for
help.

The judgment reasoned that many false cases are

foisted on innocent persons under the 1989 Act.

Protests by Dalit groups

(violence on April 2nd left
11 protestors dead), also
govt under pressure
from opposition and
coalition partners ahead
of proposed nationwide
The judgement also used the large number of protests later in August
acquittals under the Act to imply proliferation of false and a Bharat Bandh
cases. proposed by the All
India Ambedkar
Mahasabha in August
 Stage reached before backtrack/ Web links/Any further
Points raised by opposition Current status developments
cutive action

At a relatively small cost (currently 0.3% of

India’s GDP), about 50 million households
are getting some employment at NREGA
worksites every year.

A majority of NREGA workers are women,

and close to half are Dalits or Adivasis.
The government quietly withdrew
the proposed amendments, they
Modi U-turn for the better: Changing NREGA wou
Research has shown that NREGA does lead weren't even introduced in the
to creation of productive assets. Parliament.

Research also shows that corruption levels

have steadily declined over time and battle
against corruption in NREGA has helped
establish new standards of transparency in
other social programs as well. Leakages
must be plugged instead of restricting the
scheme

Increase in material component from 40%

to 49% would lead to more corruption.

The Bill cleared LS but was being
looked at by a joint committee of
Parliament (to which it was
referred by RS during budget
session). In the meanwhile, the
"Anti-poor" and pushing a corporate ordinance had to be re-
agenda promulgated thrice. On the eve of
its next lapse (August 30, 2015),
Mr. Modi announced that the
ordinance would not be re-
promulgated again in a ‘Mann ki
Baat’ speech.
https://www.livemint.com/Politics/noHEydhRIEPp
In Februrary 2018, the SC in
Indore Development Authority
v. Shailendra effectively
implemented the provisions of
the lapsed ordinance and gave
Section 24 a narrow
interpretation, also going
against precedent set by
previous judgements and
benches.

India’s financial sector is bank-dominated, Reacting to concern among public, govt withdraw
and bank deposits make up the dominant
share of financial savings. In India, deposits The Bill was introduced in the LS
in banks are insured for a maximum of Rs 1 in the Monsoon Session (2017)
lakh by the Deposit Insurance and Credit and was put before a Joint
Guarantee Corporation, which is now an Parliamentary Committee for
arm of the RBI. There were concerns that review. Now it has been
the Bill may not clearly lay down the withdrawn.
quantum of protection for deposits, or
classify deposits separately
India’s financial sector is bank-dominated,
and bank deposits make up the dominant
share of financial savings. In India, deposits The Bill was introduced in the LS
in banks are insured for a maximum of Rs 1 in the Monsoon Session (2017)
lakh by the Deposit Insurance and Credit and was put before a Joint
Guarantee Corporation, which is now an Parliamentary Committee for
arm of the RBI. There were concerns that review. Now it has been
the Bill may not clearly lay down the withdrawn. Govt withdraws FRDI bill in Parliament following b
quantum of protection for deposits, or
classify deposits separately

The higher status and protected tenure

provided to Information Commissioners is RTI Amendment Bill Violates Constitution, Law Co
done to ensure their independence and
was approved by the Parliament.
The government did not introduce
the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on July
Secrecy around the amendments and the 19, 2018 (during the Monsoon
lack of pre-legislative consultation has also Session) even though it was on
been protested. the list of business for the day. It
was introduced in December,
2018 amid protests. https://thewire.in/rights/rti-activists-dilute-law-bj
Former CIC Shailesh Gandhi said the move
seemed to be a fall-out of the Central
Information Commission’s orders to
respond to RTIs about the educational
qualification of PM Modi.

The move would lead to segregation of

people with low education and low
economic status (since ECR passports are
availed of by Indian citizens with
educational qualifications less than 10th
standard who are seeking employment
abroad) MEA announced withdrawal of Stung by Criticism, MEA Does U-Turn on Orange-C
the proposed change

Passports will cease to be valid address

proofs

Govt withdraws ‘social media hub’ plan after SC’s

Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and

Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY
Chandrachud on July 13 warned that it Government decided to withdraw
amounted to nothing but creating a RFP (Request For Proposal) after
"surveillance state" and "sheer intrusion SC notice.
into privacy" and sought the govt’s
response in two weeks

Recently, the I&B Ministry has floated another Req

 DBT in PDS was withdrawn after
The experiment was a complete failure. the pilot stage due to protests, After Months of Protest, Jharkhand Govt Withdraw
amid complete implementation
failure by the state government.

SC extended March 31 deadline

Unconstitutional, passed as a money bill, deadline to link Aadhaar with
voluntary but made mandatory, absence of welfare schemes to get benefits
Aadhaar number leads to denial of the
most basic services, privacy concerns and
issue of proportionality. The act limited the
purpose of authentication—to establish
the identity of an individual in relation to
the receipt of a subsidy, benefit, or service
incurred from the Consolidated Fund of
India. It begs the question as to how
services provided by private banks and
telephone operators fall within these
categories.
for mandatory Aadhaar linking
with mobile phones, tatkal
passports, bank accounts, PAN
cards etc. indefinitely. However, Aadhaar link deadline extended indefinitely
under Article 7 was not extended.
In September 2018, SC upheld the
constitutionality of Aadhaar but
struck down Section 57, the
clause allowing private entities to
demand Aadhaar and within
Section 7, the clause allowing https://www.livemint.com/Politics/0LTYZzCHQb9X
government to link Aadhaar into
various government databases,
some relief was provided to
children and students.

Bias and favouritism factor, existing system

(prelims, mains, interview) ensures
selection of meritorious candidates (is
gruelling enough, requires years of prep),
what is the point of having the interview
stage then, DMK’s MK Stalin said the order
issued (by DoPT) would shatter the SC/ST
youth’s dreams of becoming IAS/IPS
officers, objective exam vs subjective
foundation course, would lead to large- PMO Proposal on Service Allocation Seen as Move
scale litigation by bureaucrats right at the
beginning of their careers, probationers
will be too pliant (chilling effect, won’t ask
questions), questions over faculty
expertise, been done to appoint officers of
choice from the RSS in central services,
attempt to weaken the UPSC which is a
constitutional body and to create a
sycophantic higher bureaucracy
Presence of executive members in the SC struck down both Acts as
NJAC violated the independence of the unconstitutional (the Fourth http://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/?p=3591
judiciary Judges case, 2015)

The required number for constituion of

NBWL is five NGOs and ten eminent
conservationists, ecologists and
environmentalists.

Modi government had to

The govt also appointed only five states reconstitute it after the SC
against the requirement of one criticised it for prima facie Stung by Supreme Court, Narendra Modi governm
representative each from 10 states and violating the law and barred the
union territories. board from taking fresh decisions.

Fewer number of experts in NBWL will

result in less checks and balances. It was
also pointed out that GEER foundation is
an organisation under Gujarat
government's control and thus does not
qualify as a NGO.

A test in online mode would put poor and
rural students at a disadvantage. It was
also argued that the examination calendar
implied 4-5 months of continuous exams
for students, leading to a lot of pressure on
them.
A meeting was held between
officers of the Health and HRD
ministries. HRD ministry agreed to HRD Ministry decides against conducting NEET on
maintain status quo, only for the
NEET, till 2019.

Guidelines threatened to violate freedom

of press. They were framed without any
prior consultations with stakeholders, no The circular was withdrawn within
clear definition of "fake news", no mention 24 hours with Mr Modi himself
of any initial screening (hence - having intervened apparently Opinion: It isn’t surprising that guidelines on fake
undermined the basic principle of the given media outcry
justice system that a person is innocent
until proven guilty).

Scarcity of teachers is being faced already Following HRD minsitry's

due to cuts in UGC funding. Due to new directions, amendments are to be
rules, nearly one lakh ad hoc teachers undertaken which will ensure that UGC: Learning To U-turn
might lose their jobs. workload 'remains unchanged'
 The ban was deemed to have been
imposed on ideological grounds, it was
deterimental to cattle trade and was
alleged to be a dog whistle to cow vigilante
groups.
Following the stay imposed by the
SC, the Environment Ministry
Ministry sought feedback from Govt to roll back move to ban sale of cattle for sla
states post which, it withdrew the
notification.

Gender bias - PIL questions the statutory

immunity provided to women, even as
abettor, via employment of Article 15(3) of
the Constitution. Only a man can be
prosecuted, women are exempted.
SC asked the Centre "what public good"
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/adulte
was being served here, as the law provides t

The law also does not permit the wife to

prosecute the offending husband, as only
husbands can be prosecutors. Treats
women akin to property of the husband.

https://thewire.in/health/188-sign-letter-to-mane
Corruption, natural and culturally-native Tussle involving NITI Aayog,
foods, fortification not effective till children Ministry of WCD, Maneka Gandhi
also have a regular diet and activists continues
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mane

Mothers won't be able to buy adequate

food, not necessary that money would be Plan to initiate pilot schemes was
spent on nutrition and that cash transfers https://thewire.in/government/government-plann
had failed in MGNREGA and PDS plus esp mooted by the Centre
low financial literacy of women

The Bill was passed by the Lok

Sabha in December last year but Triple Talaq Ordinance: Another Failure Of Govt To
was stalled in the Upper House
Since triple talaq is no longer recognised, it after Opposition parties
cannot be criminalised. The bill has demanded that it be sent to a
provisions for custody and spousal support Select Committee. In September,
which relate to a divorce, not a continuing 2018, govt passed an ordinance
marriage. Non-bailable imprisonment of 3 which includes some
years for triple talaq is excessive, arbitrary, amendments made to appease
irrational, and thus violative of Article 14. the opposition (such as bail,
Also, any person could make a complaint making it a bailable offence etc).
against the offending husband, which leads In December 2018, a fresh Bill was https://indianexpress.com/article/india/triple-tala
to the possibility of false complaints. introduced in the Parliament and
passed by the Lok Sabha (on
December 27) after Congress and
AIADMK walked out

ts
Petition filed by MKSS calls the ban
violative of Article 19(1)(b) of the
Constitution in so much as it curtails the
fundamental right to peaceful assembly.
Through such bans and police orders,
citizens are being pushed away from highly
visible places that were near the
Parliament and government offices.
A Supreme Court bench of Justice
AK Sikri and Justice Ashok
Bhushan ruled that there cannot
be a blanket ban on protests in
Central Delhi (Jantar Mantar and
Boat Club). It directed the Delhi There Can’t Be A Blanket Ban On Protest In Centra
Police Commissioner to prepare
“proper and requisite” guidelines
for use of Jantar Mantar area and
the Boat Club for peaceful
protests in the next two months.

There is no precise data on the scale and Parliament passed the The SC/ST
extent to which the Act has been misused (Prevention of Atrocities) PRS Bill Track - SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Am
by SC/ST employees. Amendment Bill, to overturn the
SC order

The amendments provide that no

The large numbers of acquittals are the
result of police apathy, the social and the
economic might of the accused and the
dependence of SC/STs on those accused
preliminary enquiry will be
required for registration of an FIR
against any person under the Act;
and the investigating officer will
not require approval for arrests, if
necessary. The provision of
anticipatory bail as allowed by the
Supreme Court has also been
done away with.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/parliament

The amendments include a

Court was dealing with a criminal appeal
against a Bombay HC judgement and
exercised judicial overreach
timeline of two months for
completing the investigations and
filing a chargesheet after
registering the FIR. The cases are
to be disposed of within two
months of filing the chargesheet.