UPSC Key: Strategic Autonomy, Passive Euthanasia and Custodial Deaths

Key Points to Ponder:

• Trump-Modi call-what are key highlights

• What is India’s stance on Iran War?

• What are the implications of the Iran war on India?

• What is strategic autonomy?

• India’s Strategic Autonomy Approach-know key features

• What are the Possible solutions to de-escalate the Iran- US and Israel conflict?

• “The present government has been accused of remaining silent on war initiated by the US and Israel on Iran”-analyse the statement in the context of India’s foreign policy

Key Takeaways:

• This was their first call since the start of the war on February 28 when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran.

• Modi, in a post on X, said, “Received a call from President Trump and had a useful exchange of views on the situation in West Asia. India supports de-escalation and restoration of peace at the earliest. Ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, secure and accessible is essential for the whole world. We agreed to stay in touch regarding efforts towards peace and stability.”

Received a call from President Trump and had a useful exchange of views on the situation in West Asia. India supports de-escalation and restoration of peace at the earliest. Ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, secure and accessible is essential for the whole world.…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 24, 2026

• The news of the call was first disclosed by Sergio Gor, US ambassador to India, who, in a post on X, said, “President Donald Trump just spoke with Prime Minister Modi. They discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East, including the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.”

• With both sides underlining the importance of the Strait of Hormuz and keeping the waterway open, it signalled the concern over disruption in global energy supply chains.

Do You Know:

• The Strait of Hormuz is the key channel through which 20 per cent of the global energy supply – and majority of gas supply from Qatar – passes in large carriers. Qatar, UAE, Kuwait have all been negatively impacted by the closure of the Strait, and that has led to a global rise in prices of oil and gas, and impacted the supply of cooking gas in India and other countries.

• Strategic autonomy is fundamentally defined as a state’s ability to make its decisions in matters of foreign policy and security without being structurally dependent on external powers.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Gulf’s geopolitical predicament cannot be solved. It can only be managed

📍India’s silence on war in West Asia is moral evasion

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(1) The area known as ‘Golan Heights’ sometimes appears in the news in the context of the events related to (UPSC CSE, 2015)
(a) Central Asia
(b) Middle East
(c) South-East Asia
(d) Central Africa

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
📍“With the waning of globalization, the post-Cold War world is becoming a site of sovereign nationalism.” Elucidate. (2025)

Harish Rana, first in country to get passive euthanasia nod, dies

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies IV: Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships. Human Values

What’s the ongoing story: Harish Rana, the first person in India to be granted permission for passive euthanasia by the Supreme Court, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi Tuesday.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is Euthanasia?

• What are the types of Euthanasia?

• Active Euthanasia and Passive Euthanasia-compare and contrast

• What Supreme Court of India said on Euthanasia?

• What Law commission of India said on Euthanasia?

• What are the moral arguments against euthanasia?

• What are the arguments for euthanasia?

• How is Euthanasia seen in India?

• How Judiciary in India has shaped the legality of Passive Euthanasia?

• Talking about Euthanasia in India, can you recall the Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union of India (2011) case?

• Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union of India (2011)-What was the case?

• What was the Supreme court’s verdict in Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union of India (2011)?

• What was the Supreme court’s verdict in Common Cause vs. Union of India (2018)

• If a person has a Right to life under article 21 of the Indian Constitution, then why not Right to Die?

Key Takeaways:

• Harish, 31, had been in a coma since 2013, when he fell from a fourth-floor balcony in Chandigarh while he was aBTech student. For years, he remained in a permanent vegetative state, sustained by artificial nutrition through a feeding tube and, at times, oxygen support.

• Crucially, the court drew a clear distinction between passive and active euthanasia.
Active euthanasia, the administration of a lethal injection, remains illegal in India. Passive euthanasia, by contrast, involves withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, allowing death to occur naturally, accompanied by palliative care. In Harish’s case, this meant the withdrawal of nutrition provided through a PEG tube, with continued comfort care as his body declined.

• In 2024, the Delhi High Court rejected the family’s plea to withdraw medical support. Later, the Supreme Court initially declined relief but allowed the family to return if circumstances warranted. They did.

Do You Know:

• Active euthanasia is a process in which a physician may prescribe a lethal drug or injection to relieve the suffering of a person with no hope of recovery. It is legal in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe — but not in India.
—Passive euthanasia means allowing a person to die naturally by withholding life-sustaining treatment. Patients or their families can refuse treatments such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, ventilator support, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, dialysis or specialised nutrition.

• In 2024, the Union Health Ministry released a set of draft guidelines, based on the top court’s 2023 directives, detailing the process hospitals must follow to withhold or withdraw care.

• The Supreme Court’s order in Harish’s case marked the first time it permitted the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for a patient in a permanent vegetative state.
—The judgment built on the court’s 2018 ruling in Common Cause v. Union of India, which had recognised passive euthanasia and laid down guidelines for withdrawing life support. In Harish’s case, the court expanded those principles, extending them to patients receiving care at home, easing procedural requirements, and reducing the need for court intervention.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Right to die, when living isn’t possible: Long-debated questions of law, ethics on passive euthanasia

📍Knowledge Nugget of the day: Euthanasia

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(2) Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. Which of the following in the Constitution of India correctly and appropriately imply the above statement? (UPSC CSE, 2018)
(a) Article 14 and the provisions under the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution.
(b) Article 17 and the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV.
(c) Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part III.
(d) Article 24 and the provisions under the 44th Amendment to the Constitution.

Parliament

170 custodial deaths in first74 days this yr: MHA

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

What’s the ongoing story: A total of 170 custodial deaths were reported across the country in the first 74 days (up to March 15), which has surpassed the previous year’s figure of 140, the Home Ministry told Parliament.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is custodial death?

• How many custodial deaths in India-Know the data’s and statistics

• What are the constitutional provisions to prevent custodial death?

• Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained-know them in detail

• Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive-Know them in detail

• Punitive Detention and Preventive Detention-Compare and Contrast

• Article 22 confers certain rights on a person who is arrested or detained under an ordinary law-What are they?

• What is the law on custodial death in India?

• What was the Supreme Court’s guidelines in DK Basu vs State of West Bengal?

• What was the Nilabati Behera vs the State of Orissa (1993) case?

• The Supreme Court of India has the power to protect the fundamental rights of the people-Attest this with the court’s order in the Nilabati Behera vs. State of Orissa (1993) case.

Key Takeaways:

• According to state police and NHRC data, Bihar topped the list with 19 cases, followed by Rajasthan (18), Uttar Pradesh (15), while the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab reported 14 cases each, MoS Home Nityanand Rai told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

• Data provided by the Home Ministry shows that in Uttar Pradesh, eight custodial deaths were reported in 2021-22, 10 in 2022-23, 12 in 2023-24, 11 in 2024-25 and 15 till March 15 this year. “In Gujarat, there were 24 deaths in 2021-22, 15 in 2022-23, 18 in 2023-24, 14 in 2024-25 and 14 this year. Maharashtra reported 30 deaths in 2021-22, 22 in 2022-23, 21 in 2023-24, 14 in 2024-25 and 14 this year,” Rai said.

Do You Know:
Prakash Singh Writes:

• Torture has been defined in the UN Convention (1984) as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

• India signed the UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT) in 1997 but has not ratified it, which means it is legally not binding on India. The report brings out that 20 per cent of the police personnel feel that it is “very important” for the police to use “tough methods” to create fear amongst the public and another 35 per cent think it is “somewhat important.”

• In other words, 55 per cent of police personnel favour tough methods to some degree. Significantly, they have not talked of torture. What these tough methods are and at what stage they assume the dimensions of torture have not been clarified in the report.

• In cases involving sexual harassment and child lifting, one in four police personnel justify mob violence, implying that they do not mind mobs acting as the judge, jury and executioner in such cases.

• Another disturbing finding is that 22 per cent of police personnel believe that killing “dangerous criminals” is better than giving them a legal trial. But, it is also a fact that 74 per cent police personnel are of the view that “no matter how dangerous a criminal is, the police should try to catch them and try to follow proper legal procedures.”

• In matters of arrest, although 41 per cent police personnel said that the procedures are “always” adhered to, 24 per cent said that they are “rarely or never” adhered to. Kerala, where 94 per cent said “always”, reported the highest compliance.

• On the use of third-degree methods, 30 per cent of police personnel said that these are justified towards the accused in serious criminal cases. Surprisingly, 9 per cent justified these methods even in petty offences. The victims of torture are, unfortunately, mostly from poor and marginalised communities. The groups generally targeted are Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims, people who cannot read and write, and slum dwellers.

• Custodial deaths showed discrepancies in figures furnished by different agencies. Thus, in the year 2020, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported 76 cases, while the National Human Rights Commission reported 70 cases. The National Campaign Against Torture (NCAT), a civil society initiative, documented 111 cases. It was a shocking revelation that during 2018-22 there were zero convictions for deaths in police custody.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Torture, an issue ignored

Previous Year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(3) With reference to India, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE, 2020)
1. Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the magistrate concerned and such an accused is locked up in a police station, not in jail.
2. During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Previous Year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Though the Human Rights Commissions have contributed immensely to the protection of human rights in India, yet they have failed to assert themselves against the mighty and powerful. Analysing their structural and practical limitations, suggest remedial measures. (2021)
📍National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in India can be most effective when its tasks are adequately supported by other mechanisms that ensure the accountability of a government. In light of above observation assess the role of NHRC as an effective complement to the judiciary and other institutions in promoting and protecting human rights standards. (2014)

Nation

SC status for Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists; ends with religious conversion, says apex court

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

What’s the ongoing story: The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that the Scheduled Caste status is available only to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists and that conversion to any other religion will result in “immediate and complete loss of” the caste “status from the moment of conversion regardless of birth”.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What are Scheduled Castes?

• What are the constitutional provisions given for the recognition of Scheduled Castes?

• What is ‘profess’ a religion?.

• What is the case?

• What Supreme Court said?

• What is Article 341 in the Constitution?

• What is the rationale behind restricting SC status to specific religions?

• Asses the conflict between Article 25 of the Constitution and SC status restrictions.

Key Takeaways:

• A bench of Justices P K Mishra and Manmohan said this while upholding the April 30, 2025, order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which said that a person converting to Christianity was not entitled to SC status and the related benefits.

• “No person who professes a religion other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste. This bar under Clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 is categorical and absolute. Conversion to any religion not specified in Clause 3 results in immediate and complete loss of Scheduled Caste status from the moment of conversion regardless of birth,” it said.

• As regards conversion of a Scheduled Tribe (ST) member, the court said that “unlike the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 does not prescribe religion-based exclusion.

• The determination of Scheduled Tribe status, therefore, cannot rest on conversion alone, but must turn on whether the claimant continues to possess and is recognised for the essential attributes of tribal identity, including customary practices, social organisation, community life, and acceptance by the concerned tribal community.”

• On reconversion back to Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist religions, the top court said there should be unimpeachable proof of belonging to the notified caste, and of reconversion to the original religion, “accompanied by complete and unequivocal renunciation of the religion to which conversion had taken place, total dissociation therefrom, and actual adoption and observance of the customs, usages, practices, rituals, and religious obligations of the original caste”.

Do You Know:

• The case arose from a 2021 complaint filed by Pastor Chintada Anand Paul in Andhra Pradesh’s Pittalavanipalem village. He alleged that he had been repeatedly abused using caste slurs, threatened with death and physically assaulted on two occasions, once during a prayer meet and later while returning from one.

• Based on his complaint, a case was registered under the SC/ST Act, including the criminal provisions of wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, and hurt under the IPC.

• For context, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was enacted precisely because India’s most marginalised communities, those who have historically faced caste discrimination, violence and social exclusion, needed legal protection. It creates specific offences, harsher punishments and a dedicated court structure. The issue the court had to deal with was whether that legal protection travels with a person after they have voluntarily left the community through religious conversion.

• The Andhra Pradesh HC in April 2025 had said that the “caste system is alien to Christianity” and that the SC/ST Act is “protective legislation” meant specifically for the members of the SC/ST community. The provisions of the act, it said, cannot be invoked by someone who does not fall within the ambit of that definition.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Do protections for SCs carry over with conversion? What law says

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(4) Which one of the following categories of Fundamental Rights incorporates protection against untouchability as a form of discrimination? (UPSC CSE, 2020)
(a) Right against Exploitation
(b) Right to Freedom
(c) Right to Constitutional Remedies
(d) Right to Equality

Permanent commission, pensionary benefits for eligible women officers: SC

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Role of women and Social empowerment

What’s the ongoing story: The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the armed forces to grant permanent commission to eligible women officers, and ordered full pension and consequential benefits for those who had already been released, treating them having completed 20 years of qualifying service required to earn a pension. 

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is permanent commission?

• Permanent Commission and Short Service Commission-Compare and contrast

• What is the procedure for granting permanent commission?

• What percentage of Indian Armed Forces are women?

• What is the present scenario for the women entry in the Indian armed forces?

• What is number and percentage of women officers in Indian Army, Airforce and in the Indian Navy?

• Know the timeline of induction of women in the Indian Defence forces

• Why Women in the Indian defence forces should be given Permanent Commission?

• What is the role of women in Indian Armed Forces?

• Women in armed forces and their right to equality of opportunities-connect the dots

• How Principle of non-discrimination on the ground of sex under Article 15 and Right to equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment under Article 16 is applicable in the armed forces?

• “What role do males play in the Indian Armed Forces?-This question may appear strange, but if ‘What is the role of women in Indian Armed Forces’ appears normal, then this question should appear normal to all of us”—Discuss

Key Takeaways:

• In a significant verdict for gender equality in the armed forces, the Supreme Court Tuesday highlighted a “systemic” problem in how Short Service Commission Women Officers (SSCWOs) were evaluated for Permanent Commission (PC) across the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

• A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh said the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), which played “a pivotal role” in their evaluation for PC, were prepared at a time when there was no policy to grant them Permanent Commission but were subsequently used to evaluate them for PC and thus was “unfair and arbitrary”.

• In the case of the Air Force SSCWOs, the bench said that their ACRs, “having never been authored to assess their suitability for career progression, could not have been considered as indicative thereof, and utilised to deny them the grant of PC later on”.

• The court also held that though a Minimum Performance Criteria was introduced for the first time in 2019, it “was implemented in haste without affording the” SSCWOs “a reasonable opportunity to meet such criteria prior to the conduct of the first Board in 2019”.

Do You Know:

• According to recent figures, there are 1,653 women officers currently serving in the Army out of a total of nearly 43,000 officers. Apart from the Judge Advocate General’s branch and Army Education Corps where Permanent Commission was already given, the eight other branches to get women officers as permanent commissioned officers are Signals, Engineers, Military Intelligence, Army Air Defence, Army Ordnance Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Aviation Corps and Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering.

• A Permanent Commission (PC) in the Indian Armed Forces grants a career officer the right to serve until the age of superannuation (retirement), providing long-term stability, pension benefits, and promotional avenues, unlike the 10–14 year tenure of a Short Service Commission (SSC).

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍‘Unequal playing field’: Supreme Court flags ‘systemic’ issues in armed forces’ evaluation of women officers, orders full pension

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
📍What are the continued challenges for Women in India against time and space? (UPSC CSE, 2019)
📍“Though women in post-Independent India have excelled in various fields, the social attitude towards women and feminist movement has been patriarchal.” Apart from women education and women empowerment schemes, what interventions can help change this milieu? (2021)

The Editorial Page

Against cervical cancer, vaccine is a new beginning

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

What’s the ongoing story: On February 28, India took a decisive and historic step in public health with the nationwide launch of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for adolescent girls.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is human papillomavirus?

• Know about Cervical cancer

• What is the main cause of cervical cancer?

• How common is cervical cancer in India?

• Who developed the new HPV vaccine?

• How effective is the new vaccine?

• Why cervical cancer is most common in India?

• How many types of HPV vaccines are there and who should get it?

• What is quadrivalent vaccine?

• WHO‘s Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer 2030-Know in detail

• HPV vaccination and cervical cancer incidence in India-Know in detail

Key Takeaways:

• The WHO has declared cervical cancer as the first cancer to be eliminated globally. It has set a clear elimination target: Reducing the cancer rate to fewer than 4 new cases per 1,00,000 women per year. The WHO’s global elimination efforts outline the “90–70–90” strategy: 90 per cent of girls to be fully vaccinated with HPV vaccine by age 15; 70 per cent of women to be screened with a high-performance test at ages 30 and above, and 90 per cent of women identified with disease to receive appropriate treatment. India’s vaccination launch is a crucial step towards achieving these targets.

• The cervical cancer vaccine was first licensed 20 years ago, and has undergone rigorous scrutiny and evaluation post its licensure. Over 140 countries around the world have implemented vaccination against HPV infections. The data from millions of doses administered worldwide has confirmed its safety and effectiveness.

Do You Know:

• Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women, with approximately 6,60,000 new cases and 3,50,000 deaths occurring each year. While many high-income countries have controlled cervical cancer rates through screening and vaccination programmes, it still remains high in India.

• India bears one of the heaviest burdens globally. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among Indian women and third most common cancer, overall, in the country. Each year, India reports more than 78,000 new cases and almost 43,000 deaths.

• Most cervical cancers are caused by an infection of the genital tract, with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Hence, unlike many other cancers, the risk of developing cervical cancer can be modified and reduced.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: What a new study has found on HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer

UPSC Prelims Practice Question Covering similar theme:
(5) Consider the following statements:
1. Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection.
2. Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer.
3. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer type.
How many of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) All three
(d) None

UPSC Previous Year Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍What are the research and developmental achievements in applied biotechnology? How will these achievements help to uplift the poorer sections of the society ? (2021)

The Ideas Page

Long delays, burdened courts: We need a national mission for negotiated justice

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

What’s the ongoing story: C Raj Kumar Writes-Litigants need to understand that entering a plea bargain is not an admission of defeat nor an unfair deal but a wise tactical decision

Key Points to Ponder:

• How many judicial cases are pending in India?

• What is Plea-bargaining?

• How plea bargaining works?

• When was plea bargaining introduced in India?

• How plea bargaining can reduce the burden on Judiciary?

• Is plea bargaining an important tool for criminal justice reform?

Key Takeaways:
C Raj Kumar Writes-

• In his seminal work On Crimes and Punishment, the Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria wrote, “Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment… The certainty of a small punishment will be more impressive than the fear of a more terrible one, but moderated by the hope of impunity.” His perspectives on criminal justice remain important to this day. The efficacy of justice systems is not only dependent on punishment, but also on certainty, predictability, and quick resolution of disputes.

• For victims, long legal battles can mean a second trauma. For pre-trial detainees, delayed trials mean years of imprisonment before they are found guilty or acquitted. For individuals involved in civil disputes, such as property or divorce cases, protracted legal battles can result in substantial financial losses.

• Delays are bad for the economy as well. A slow justice system makes it harder to enforce contracts, raises the cost of doing business and dissipates investor confidence. It sends the wrong signal to the investors about the country’s investment climate. A slow judicial process makes the legal system appear weaker to citizens. This, in turn, creates a crisis of legitimacy.

Do You Know:

• More than 5 crore cases are still open in Indian courts, the Centre told Parliament last year. About 4.76 crore are pending in district and subordinate courts, over 63 lakh in high courts, and over 92,000 in the Supreme Court. More than 80 per cent of India’s judicial backlog is in district courts, where the common person interacts most directly with the justice system. The backlog reached record levels during the pandemic and has continued to rise despite reforms, such as the e-Courts project, launched to expand and digitise the judicial system, as well as institutional initiatives like fast-track courts and Lok Adalats.

• Plea bargaining is a relatively new concept in India’s formal criminal justice system. People traditionally thought that negotiated settlements were less fair or left room for extortion.

• The 2005 amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure formally introduced plea bargaining into the Indian criminal justice system. It allowed the accused to take responsibility for the crime on their own terms, usually by agreeing to a deal that includes lower charges or a lighter sentence.

• Plea-bargaining comprises the core of the justice system in several countries, with the understanding that it does not diminish the equity of the justice system. India needs to draw from these global experiences and make them work in our own constitutional and institutional setting.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Bargain for justice

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
📍Critically examine the Supreme Court’s judgement on ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014’ with reference to appointment of judges of higher judiciary in India. (2017)

Explained

Finance, management, legal sectors: The jobs that AI is most likely to replace

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

What’s the ongoing story: Anthropic has just come out with a rigorous labour market study in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which introduces a new measure for understanding the labour market effects of AI and studies impacts on unemployment and hiring.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What are the findings of the Anthropic study on AI and job displacement?

• Which jobs are at most risk from AI?

• What does the data mean for India?

• ‘AI will replace tasks, not jobs’-Analyse

• How AI can both create and destroy employment opportunities.

Key Takeaways:

• Jobs are more exposed to AI to the extent that their tasks are theoretically feasible with LLMs, with computer programmers, customer service representatives, and financial analysts cited as among “the most exposed”.

• Even though the current usage of AI is limited in some sectors, Anthropic found that AI can theoretically cover a majority of tasks in sectors like business and finance, management, computer science, math, engineering, legal, and office administration roles.

• In contrast, the company said that sectors like construction, agriculture, protective services, and personal care, among others, may have a limited theoretical use of AI, and therefore, jobs in these sectors could be more insulated from the impact of AI than some others.

• This finding shows one key thing: that even though AI is theoretically capable of doing almost all tasks in some sectors, its current usage is limited. For instance, for computer and math workers, large language models are theoretically capable of handling 94% of their tasks. But Claude currently only covers 33% of those tasks in observed professional use.

Do You Know:

• The researchers combined three data sources to build a picture of which jobs are most at risk:
First, they used the US government’s occupational database to map out every task associated with around 800 jobs. Second, they juxtaposed it with existing academic measures of which tasks AI could theoretically speed up significantly. Third, and most importantly, they cross-referenced this against real Claude usage data to see which tasks people are actually using AI for in professional settings today, weighting fully automated use more heavily than assisted use.
The result is a measure they call “observed exposure”: not just what AI could theoretically do, but what it is demonstrably already doing at work.

• The data also shows how some demographics can be more at risk than others. Workers in the most AI-exposed professions differ significantly from those in unexposed roles. The data indicates that highly exposed workers are more likely to be:
—Female: 54.4% of the most exposed group is female, compared to 38.8% of the unexposed group.
—Highly educated: Those with a Bachelor’s degree or higher are disproportionately represented. For instance, workers with graduate degrees are nearly four times more likely to be in the most exposed quartile than the unexposed group.
—White or Asian: White workers make up 65.1% of the high-exposure group (vs. 54.5% of the unexposed), and Asian workers are nearly twice as likely to be in the most exposed group. Hispanic and Black workers are less represented in high-exposure roles.
—Older: The average age of highly exposed workers is slightly higher (42.9) than those in unexposed roles.

• For Indian IT companies, the implications are particularly acute. Their business model has long depended on providing services—data processing, contract analysis, compliance monitoring, customer support—that AI tools can now potentially automate. Anthropic’s announcement includes specialised tools for legal workflows such as contract review, NDA analysis, and compliance monitoring, as well as applications in finance, sales, and data analytics.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why the Indian IT sector must course-correct amidst ‘SaaSpocalypse’ fears

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
(6) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE 2020)
1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units
2. Create meaningful short stories and songs
3. Disease diagnosis
4. Text-to-Speech Conversion
5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only
(b) 1, 3 and 4 only
(c) 2, 4 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

 

PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1.(b) 2.(c) 3.(b) 4.(d) 5.(c) 6.(b)

  

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