UPSC Key: Tribunals, Alcohol Prohibition Policy and Mecca Agreement

Amid din, LS passes Bill to set up panel to select chiefs and members of tribunals

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

What’s the ongoing story: The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026, which provides for the setting up of a National Tribunals Commission to select chairpersons and members for various tribunals was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday by a voice vote amid din as Opposition demanded a discussion on alleged Ram temple donation theft and a reply from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the police crackdown on protesters during the July 20 march to Parliament.

Key Points to Ponder:

• The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026-what are the key highlights of the bill?

• What are the constitutional provisions related to the tribunals?

• What do you understand by Tribunals?

• Article 323-A and Article 323-B of the Constitution-compare and contrast

• What are all the tribunals in India?

• How Tribunals are Categorized?

• What you know about Administrative and Service Tribunals, Financial and Corporate Tribunals and Sector and Environmental Tribunals?

• How Tribunal is different from Courts?

• What do you understand by the term “Principles of ‘natural justice”?

• Powers Conferred to tribunals in India -Know in detail

• Know the Important Landmark Judgements of tribunals in India

Key Takeaways:

• The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha amid sloganeering from Opposition members, provides for the setting up of a commission to conduct the selection for chairpersons and members of the tribunals, including Central Administrative Tribunal, Armed Forces Tribunal, National Green Tribunal, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

• The government had started the process of rationalisation of tribunals in 2015 and to that effect, Parliament passed the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021. Certain provisions of the 2021 Act were struck down by the Supreme Court, after which the government brought the 2026 Bill to replace the 2021 Act, Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal noted in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill.

• Three other proposed legislations: The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 and the National Cooperative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026 were introduced in the Lok Sabha during the day.

• When the House resumed proceedings at 2 pm, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju informed the House that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was ready to give a detailed reply on the action taken by security personnel on protesters on July 20 and that the government was ready for a detailed discussion on the issue.

Do You Know:

• India has several specialized tribunals created to resolve specific kinds of legal cases quickly. Major bodies include the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for public servants, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) for tax cases, and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for environment rules.

• The Lok Sabha passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026, which establishes the National Tribunals Commission (NTC) as an independent oversight body to manage appointments, performance reviews, and administrative functions across 16 major tribunals in India.

• According to PRSINDIA, the Bill establishes the National Tribunals Commission. Its functions include:
—conducting the selection process for filling vacancies in Tribunals,
—reviewing performance of Tribunals,
—overseeing inquiries into complaints against the conduct of chairpersons or members of the Tribunals, and
—developing and maintaining the National Tribunals Data Grid

• According to PRSINDIA, the Commission will consist of:
—a chairperson, who has been a Judge of the Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of a High Court,
—two judicial members, who have been a Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court, and
—two technical members. The technical members must have at least 25 years of experience in the fields of public administration, finance, law, accountancy, banking, management, or technology. The chairperson and members of the Commission will hold office for a term of five years, or until the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. Appointments to the Commission will be made by the central government. Appointments of the chairperson and judicial members must be made after consultation with the Chief Justice of India. The Commission will have a secretariat, headed by a secretary of the central government.

• Tribunals are institutions established for discharging judicial or quasi-judicial duties. The objective may be to reduce case load of the judiciary or to bring in subject expertise for technical matters.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The Tribunal System in India

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍How far do you agree with the view that tribunals curtail the jurisdiction of ordinary courts? In view of the above, discuss the constitutional validity and competency of the tribunals in India? (2018)

Politics

Amid Vande Mataram row, Vijay makes Tamil anthem mandatory at official events in TN

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Regionalism

What’s the ongoing story: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday moved a resolution in the State Assembly mandating that ‘Tamil Thaai Vazhthu’ – the invocation to Mother Tamil — be rendered at the beginning of official functions, reaffirming a practice dating to 1970 amid a fresh dispute over the ceremonial order of songs at government events.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is “Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu”?

• Does the Constitution mention National Song or state song?

• What Article 51A(a) says about fundamental duty of every citizen?

• Can states have their own anthems?

• What you understand by Positive regionalism and excessive regionalism?

• How does the Constitution reconcile a common national identity with diverse linguistic and cultural identities?

• The constitutional patriotism and cultural nationalism-compare and contrast

• How linguistic and regional identities have shaped Indian federalism since Independence?

• How does the Constitution accommodate regional identities while sustaining a shared national identity?

Key Takeaways:

• Under the resolution, Tamil Thaai Vazhthu is to come first at programmes conducted by government offices, educational institutions, universities, public-sector undertakings and other public institutions.

• The immediate dispute arose after the Union Home Ministry asked states and union territories to strictly comply with a January directive requiring Vande Mataram, the national song, to be played before the national anthem at formal official events.

• The tension became visible at a recent convocation at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University – an institution named, with some historical irony, after the very scholar who wrote ‘Tamil Thaai Vazhthu’. At the ceremony, the Tamil invocation was placed third, after Vande Mataram and the National Anthem, drawing criticism across Tamil Nadu’s political spectrum. The state government subsequently said the episode would not be repeated.

Do You Know:

• The song comes from the prologue to Manonmaniam, written by Manonmaniam Sundaranar in 1891. On November 23, 1970, the DMK government issued an order requiring the invocation to be sung at the beginning of government and other specified public functions. Over generations, its roughly 55 seconds became so embedded in Tamil Nadu’s institutional life that generations of schoolchildren, civil servants and university students learned almost instinctively when to rise.

• The dispute is characteristically Tamil Nadu in one respect. Language here has rarely remained simply a means of communication. From the anti-Hindi agitations to recurring arguments over federalism and state autonomy, Tamil has functioned simultaneously as language, cultural memory and political claim.

• The resolution does not challenge the place of the National Anthem or erase the national song. Its political message instead lies in the sequence — when an official function begins inside Tamil Nadu, the state insists that its own invocation to Mother Tamil should be heard first.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Amid Opposition protests, House clears Bill criminalising insult to Vande Mataram

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Do you agree that regionalism in India appears to be a consequence of rising cultural assertiveness? Argue (2020)
📍What is the basis of regionalism? Is it that unequal distribution of benefits of development on regional basis eventually promotes regionalism? Substantiate your answer. (2016)

Report recommends ending Bihar’s liquor ban; why BJP will find it hard

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main 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: A research think tank’s recent study recommending revocation of liquor prohibition in Bihar, citing huge revenue losses and inability to curb crimes against women, has sparked a conversation in the political circles of Patna on the impact of the decade-old ban and whether it should be revisited.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Why Bihar have alcohol prohibition?

• Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016-Know the highlights and features of this act

• Why the Bihar government forbade the sale of alcohol in the state in 2016?

• “The Bihar government’s decision to prohibit sale of alcohol in the state in 2016 is a classic example of policy failure”-critically analyse

• How the Indian constitution views alcohol?

• Why do all states not have prohibition?

• What are some of the places which currently have prohibition?

• Does prohibition work?

• Know the successes and limitations of the prohibition policy in Bihar.

• Any policy having political, social, economic, or other worth should first be assessed on the scale of implementability, according to one of the thumb rule of governance-Do you believe that this decision was rushed and that the Bihar assembly did not fully consider all the options?

• Former Chief Justice of India N V Ramana also cited the prohibition law in Bihar as an example of “lack of foresight” in drafting legislation that leads to courts being inundated with cases, and said it appears that the legislature has “not been able to make optimum use” of the Parliament Standing Committee system to “enhance scrutiny of Bills”-Do you agree with the same?

Key Takeaways:

• While it has given the Opposition RJD the chance to accuse the BJP of not being able to implement prohibition properly, NDA allies called for stricter implementation of the ban. At least one JD(U) leader, though, seemed to be in favour of reversing the prohibition.

• While the ruling BJP, according to a source, is cognizant of the revenue that opening up liquor sales would bring in, it is also mindful of possible offence that tweaking the policy could cause to former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. For now, the ruling party will take its own time before reviewing the policy, the source said.

• In April this year, Bihar marked a decade of complete prohibition on liquor in the state. A research paper by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), presented at the India Policy Forum last week, recommended that the state government lift the total liquor ban. Key findings showed that the prohibition has failed to curb crime against women – the core objective former CM Kumar had when he imposed the ban in April 2016.

• RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta said the study shows “the utter failure” of the state government. “All political parties had unanimously implemented the liquor ban in the state. We are still in favour of the ban. The study shows the utter failure of the government. It is not only about annual revenue loss, but the creation of a parallel black liquor economy. Reports like this suggest that the state government may try to find a way out of the liquor ban, partially or fully, in due course,” he told The Indian Express.

Do You Know:

• The study, titled “Macro perspective of Bihar’s development achievements: Unfinished agenda and the way forward” and presented by a team of economists led by Ratna Sahay, noted a “rapid emergence” of an illicit drug market and the use of alternative intoxicants. “Legal drinking was replaced by an increase in liquor trade, bootlegging, and higher consumption of alternative intoxicants,” it stated.

• According to the study, prohibition continues to cause heavy annual revenue losses to the state exchequer, estimating that lifting the ban could boost state revenue by 14 to 15%. Bihar generates an annual revenue of around Rs 65,000 crore.

• The report highlighted severe implementation challenges, including systemic corruption, a drain on law enforcement, and public health risks associated with unregulated and dangerous spurious liquor. The NCAER study recommended that Bihar transition back to regulated sales with excise taxes. “Reinstating excise duty would free up significant enforcement resources while providing crucial tax revenue needed for priority sectors like education, health, infrastructure, and genuine job creation,” the report noted.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍In prohibition state Bihar, how cough syrup is filling the alcohol void

Nation

Physicist Deepak Dhar wins 2026 Dirac Medal

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

What’s the ongoing story: Deepak Dhar, a theoretical physicist from Uttar Pradesh, has been named the co-recipient of Dirac Medal, one of the highest honours in the field.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Who is Deepak Dhar?

• What is Statistical Mechanics?

• What are Complex Systems?

• Sandpile Model is the most distinctive concept associated with Physicist Deepak Dhar-what exactly it means?

• What is Self-Organised Criticality?

• What is a Dirac Medal?

• What is Dirac famous for?

• What is the International Centre for Theoretical Physics?

Key Takeaways:

• In 2022, he was the co-winner of yet another prestigious award in physics, the Boltzmann Medal, becoming the first Indian to receive it. With the two honours, Dhar joins a small group of only ten to have secured both awards. Many of them have even gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

• The senior physicist currently serves as the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) distinguished professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, in Bengaluru.
He has previously worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.

• Dhar’s exact research, perhaps too technical to describe in a newspaper, has helped explain how “simple interactions can lead to complex and sometimes unpredictable behaviour in large systems”. His work has been used to “model systems as apparently as different as earthquakes, traffic jams and fluctuations in financial markets”, reads the citation of the Dirac Medal.

Do You Know:

• The Wikipedia says, The Dirac Medal of the ICTP is given each year by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in honour of physicist Paul Dirac. The award, announced each year on 8 August (Dirac’s birthday), was first awarded in 1985.
An international committee of distinguished scientists selects the winners from a list of nominated candidates. The Committee invites nominations from scientists working in the fields of theoretical physics or mathematics. The Dirac Medal of the ICTP is not awarded to Nobel Laureates, Fields Medalists, or Wolf Prize winners. However, several Dirac Medallists have subsequently won one of these awards

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Need attention on theoretical physics in India: Indian-American scientist

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Discuss the work of ‘Bose-Einstein Statistics’ done by Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose and show how it revolutionized the field of Physics. (2018)

Explained

Mecca Agreement: What India must watch out for

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

What’s the ongoing story: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey signed the Mecca Agreement on August 7. With this, Pakistan, the sole nuclear power of the Islamic world, has a defence pact with one of NATO’s two Muslim-majority member states, and the Gulf’s largest economy.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What are the key highlights of Mecca Agreement?

• Who is the Mecca Agreement primarily aimed at?

• The Saudi-Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA)—Is this a “Muslim NATO” termed by some commentary?

• How does Turkey’s participation in a separate collective-defence arrangement interact with its NATO commitments?

• Why would Saudi Arabia need Pakistan’s military support?

• Why is Turkey important for Pakistan?

• How should India respond?

• What does India need to watch out for?

Key Takeaways:

• A joint press release by the three countries stated that the agreement is “intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all. It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defence cooperation among the three states.”

• No other details of the pact have been publicly released, as was the case with the Saudi-Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) from September 2025. This development occurs amidst a pause in US-Iran hostilities, a fresh regional effort towards Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a tenuous lull in the Saudi-Houthi strikes that began late July.

Do You Know:

• The Mecca Agreement has drawn attention for its explicit recognition that an attack against one state is an attack on the other two. However, this is not the agreement’s most credible deterrent.

• First, the non-public nature of the document undermines its deterrence abilities. Usually, such pacts contain hierarchical measures meant to provide clear indications to an adversary of mutual defence commitments that can be invoked.

• Almost all the mutual defence assistance deals that the United States signed during the Cold War were public documents to ensure their deterring effect. For example, the NATO’s obligations arise from the North Atlantic Treaty — a publicly available document with discrete and hierarchical actions that states are obligated to perform in case Article 5 (mutual defence) is invoked by any member state.

• The Joint Defence Agreement of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (signed in 2000), also has a similar break-down of obligations. This oft-forgotten mutual defence treaty among Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait remains active, even if it has never been invoked against a third state in its 26 years of existence.

• Second, the most visible test of a collective security pact’s credibility is when its member states actually face attack. The record of the Saudi-Pakistan SMDA shows that the first year of Saudi Arabia’s sole bilateral mutual defence pact being active was also the year it faced unprecedented missile, drone, and rocket barrages on its vital infrastructure, first from Iran and then from the Yemeni Houthis. Pakistan has not fired a single shot at either party thus far, just as Riyadh has not acted against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (with which Pakistan has been in “open war”, in Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif’s words).

• For India, the Agreement’s principal implication is Saudi Arabia’s greater strategic integration with the Pakistan-Turkey-China axis. Ankara has historically been geopolitically antagonistic to New Delhi and has already demonstrated the maturity of its military cooperation with Pakistan.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Attack on one, attack on all: Inside the Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan defence pact

Previous year UPSC mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍”Increasing crossborder terrorist attacks in India and growing interference in the internal affairs of several memberstates by Pakistan are not conducive for the future of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).” Explain with suitable examples. (2016)

In opposing creamy layer for SC/STs, what govt argued

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

What’s the ongoing story: In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Centre has pushed back against the demand to introduce the “creamy layer” concept for reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the concept of the creamy layer for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs)?

• What is creamy layer?

• If the government decides to go ahead with sub-categorisation of SCs then, what steps will be taken?

• The issue of sub-categorisation among SCs has a fraught history-why so?

• Compare and Contrast creamy layer and sub Categorisation within castes.

• What are the arguments for and against creamy layer for SCs/STs?

Key Takeaways:

• It argued that the historical disadvantages faced by these communities cannot be equated with mere economic backwardness and that altering reservation policies falls within the domain of Parliament, not the courts.

• The government was responding to a public interest litigation filed by Bharatiya Janata Party politician and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. The petition argued that affluent families within the SC and ST categories are monopolising reservation benefits, leading to an “elite capture” that deprives the most marginalised members of these communities of access to education and public employment. The petition sought the implementation of income-based preferences across all reserved categories, including Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections.

• The petition relied on an August 2024 Supreme Court judgment that permitted the sub-classification of SCs and STs. In that case, four of the seven judges on the Constitution Bench suggested extending the creamy layer principle to these groups. Citing these observations, the petition sought to exclude socially and economically advanced individuals from reservation benefits. Upadhyay contends that extending reservations to those who have already achieved social mobility defeats the object of affirmative action.

• SCs, the government stated, “face historical disadvantage” stemming from the practice of untouchability. Similarly, STs are identified by their “distinct cultures, geographical isolation and backwardness”. In contrast, OBCs are identified primarily through a combination of social, educational and economic disadvantages.

Do You Know:

• The Centre relied on a catena of Supreme Court judgments. It cited the 1992 Indra Sawhney judgment, which upheld the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. While that verdict introduced the creamy layer test — an income limit to exclude socially advanced persons from backward classes — it expressly confined this to OBCs, stating that it “has no relevance in the case of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.”

• The government’s defence also invoked the constitutional separation of powers. Its affidavit pointed out that under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution, the President notifies the initial lists of SCs and STs. Once notified, any inclusion or exclusion from these lists may only be done by an Act of Parliament. It is “not open to State Governments or courts or tribunals or any other authority to modify, amend or alter” these lists, the government stated.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Extending creamy layer to SC, ST is Parliament’s call: Government to Supreme Court

Previous year UPSC main Question Covering similar theme:
📍Whether National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) can enforce the implementation of constitutional reservation for the Scheduled Castes in the religious minority institutions? Examine. (2018)

 

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