December 2025
In short: India's governance, law & order and appointments this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › Polity & Governance · 22 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu
Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.
A packed governance month — Putin's 23rd India-Russia Summit and the RELOS logistics pact, PM Modi's Jordan-Ethiopia-Oman tour and the India-New Zealand FTA, the SHANTI Act opening nuclear energy, six landmark SC/HC rulings from forced narco tests to the Sengar and Kokate cases, the CBI's pan-India digital-arrest-scam mandate, NATGRID-NPR linkage, and a wide sweep of bills, portals and security reforms.
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) Units 1 & 2, Tamil Nadu — India's nuclear-energy sector, opened to private licensing by the SHANTI Act, 2025, and a focus of the December India-Russia Summit's nuclear cooperation talks · Reetesh Chaurasia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
1. December 2025 — Month at a Glance
December 2025 combined heavy diplomacy with a dense governance calendar. Russian President Putin's state visit produced the 23rd India-Russia Summit and the RELOS logistics pact, while PM Modi toured Jordan, Ethiopia and Oman and India concluded its FTA with New Zealand. Parliament's Winter Session saw the SHANTI Act open nuclear energy to private participation alongside a cluster of other bills (Indian Statistical Institute, Health Security Cess, Karnataka's hate-speech and social-boycott bills). The Supreme Court delivered a run of landmark rulings — forced narco tests unconstitutional, a stay on the Sengar case release order, relief for a disqualified Maharashtra minister — while law-and-order reform accelerated: the CBI got a pan-India digital-arrest-scam mandate, NATGRID was linked to the NPR, and a new forensic-infrastructure scheme and Bureau of Port Security were rolled out.
2. India on the World Stage — Visits, Summits & Diplomacy
December was a heavy month for Indian diplomacy — a state visit from Russia, a three-nation tour of West Asia and Africa, a concluded trade pact with New Zealand, humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, and two new global chairmanships.
India-Russia Summit 2025 and the RELOS logistics pact
- What — President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit for the 23rd India-Russia Summit; PM Modi called the partnership 'steady and reliable, like a pole star.' Both sides adopted 'Programme 2030' targeting USD 100 billion bilateral trade by 2030; bilateral trade crossed USD 65 billion in 2024.
- RELOS pact — Days later, India and Russia signed the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) agreement — reciprocal movement of troops/warships/aircraft, airspace use, port calls, refuelling and repairs; analogous to India's LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA pacts with the US but tailored to Russia.
- Note — No major new defence deals were signed at the summit despite pre-visit speculation; nuclear cooperation (SMRs, added Kudankulam units) and a 30-day free e-tourist visa for Russians were the other key outcomes.
PM Modi's three-nation visit — Jordan, Ethiopia & Oman
PM Modi's December 2025 West Asia-Africa tour| Country | Key facts |
|---|
| Jordan | First Indian PM visit in 37 years; coincided with 75th anniversary of ties; 5 MoUs; trade target USD 5 billion in 5 years. |
| Ethiopia | PM's first-ever visit; conferred Great Honor Nishan of Ethiopia (highest civilian honour); ties elevated to Strategic Partnership; India is Ethiopia's top FDI source (615+ Indian firms). |
| Oman | 70 years of ties; CEPA concluded — Oman is the 2nd West Asian country after UAE with such a pact; trade USD 10.6 billion (FY 2024-25). |
India-New Zealand FTA concluded
- What — India and New Zealand concluded FTA negotiations — aiming to double bilateral trade to USD 5 billion within 5 years; NZ to invest USD 20 billion in India over 15 years. 95% of NZ exports see tariffs cut/eliminated; India protected dairy, onions, sugar, edible oils, rice, wheat, soya. 5,000 annual temporary work visas for Indians. Signing due in early 2026.
Two new global chairmanships, and aid to Sri Lanka
December 2025 — India's global roles & aid| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| Kimberley Process (KP) chair | India to chair from 1 Jan 2026 — its 3rd time; KP regulates 99%+ of the global rough-diamond trade (60 participants, 86 countries); GJEPC is India's nodal agency. |
| International IDEA Council chair | India chairs the Council of Member States for 2026; CEC Gyanesh Kumar to assume the role in Stockholm; Mauritius and Mexico are Vice Chairs. |
| $450 million to Sri Lanka | India announced a 450m reconstruction package after Cyclone Ditwah (losses ~4.1bn, ~4% of GDP), on top of $4bn in 2022-crisis aid; Operation Sagar Bandhu gave relief via a field hospital near Kandy treating 8,000+ people. |
| Bangladesh in flux | Continued political turmoil in Bangladesh through December kept the interim government's transition and relations with India in the news, without a resolved election timeline. |
| New UN Refugee Chief | UN General Assembly approved former Iraqi President Barham Salih as the next UNHCR chief, succeeding Filippo Grandi — the first Middle Eastern leader to head the agency since the late 1970s. |
3. Legislation & Institutional Bills
Parliament's Winter Session cleared a nuclear-energy overhaul plus a cluster of institutional and state-level bills.
The SHANTI Act, 2025 — opening up nuclear energy
- What — President Murmu assented to the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act, replacing the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and CLND Act, 2010.
- Key provision — For the first time, the Centre may license Indian private firms/JVs for plants, fuel handling and trade; enrichment, spent-fuel reprocessing and heavy-water remain exclusively Central Government functions.
- AERB & liability — AERB gets statutory status as apex safety regulator. No-fault liability regime: operator liability capped at 300 million SDRs; Government bears liability beyond that.
- Concern raised — Critics flag dilution of supplier liability (unlike the CLND Act's Bhopal-tragedy-inspired supplier accountability) and an operator cap (₹3,000 crore) seen as low against global nuclear-disaster costs.
Karnataka Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2025
- What — India's first state-level law specifically targeting hate speech/hate crimes; tabled in Karnataka's Winter Session amid 1,165 hate-speech events recorded in 2024 (India Hate Lab).
- Key provisions — Broad definition covering spoken/written/online expression causing hatred; new offence of 'hate crime' — 1-7 years + ₹50,000 fine first offence, 2-10 years + ₹1 lakh repeat; offences cognizable and non-bailable; organisations can be held liable.
- Related SC precedent — Builds on *Tehseen S. Poonawalla v UOI* (2018) — nodal officers, fast-track courts, compensation — and 2023 pan-India suo motu FIR directions for hate speech.
Other bills & Acts of the month
December 2025 — other legislation at a glance| Bill / Act | Key fact |
|---|
| Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2025 | Converts ISI (founded 1931 by P.C. Mahalanobis) from a registered society into a statutory body corporate, retaining its Institution of National Importance status; sparked protests over reduced faculty representation. |
| Health Security Se National Security Cess Bill, 2025 | Levies a cess on pan masala production (₹101 lakh/month machine-based, ₹11 lakh/month manual) funding National Security & Public Health; fraud/evasion above ₹1 crore draws 1-5 years' imprisonment. |
| Karnataka Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2025 | Criminalises caste/community-imposed social boycott (denial of marriage, worship, business access etc.) — up to 3 years or ₹1 lakh fine; all existing boycotts void from commencement. |
| Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 | Repeals 71 obsolete Acts (65 Amendment Acts, 6 Principal Acts incl. Indian Tramways Act, 1886); amends 4 Acts incl. the Indian Succession Act, 1925 to drop mandatory court validation of wills in certain cases. |
4. Judiciary — Landmark Rulings
December saw the Supreme Court rule on investigative techniques, stay two high-profile HC orders, and set fresh limits on citizenship scrutiny and criminal prosecution.
SC: forced narco tests are unconstitutional
- Ruling — SC set aside a Patna HC order in *Amlesh Kumar v State of Bihar* (2025) for violating *Selvi v State of Karnataka* (2010)* guidelines, reaffirming that forced narco, polygraph or brain-mapping tests violate Article 20(3) (self-incrimination) and Article 21.
- Evidentiary value — Courts (*Manoj Kumar Saini* 2023, *Vinobhai* 2025) hold narco-test results do not by themselves establish guilt — must be independently corroborated; consent must be free, informed and recorded before a magistrate.
SC stays Delhi HC's release order in the Sengar case
- What — SC stayed a Delhi HC order suspending the sentence of Unnao rape convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar (a four-time UP MLA) and directing conditional release; Sengar continues in custody.
- HC's reasoning (stayed) — Delhi HC had held a sitting MLA is not a 'public servant' under POCSO Section 5(c) (aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a public servant), reasoning MPs/MLAs are excluded under the general IPC/BNS definition of public servant.
- Why SC intervened — SC noted Sengar's separate conviction under Section 304-II IPC (culpable homicide, 10-year term) as a peculiar fact justifying the stay; flagged the wider risk of diluting POCSO's aggravating framework for powerful offenders.
SC stays former Maharashtra minister Kokate's conviction
- What — SC stayed the conviction (not just sentence) of former Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate in a document-tampering case, protecting him from immediate disqualification as an MLA.
- Key distinction — Under the RP Act, an MLA is disqualified upon conviction + sentence of 2+ years — a mere suspension of sentence (Bombay HC's earlier relief) does not stop disqualification; only a stay of conviction does.
- Precedent cited — Parallels Rahul Gandhi's 2023 defamation-case disqualification, where the Gujarat HC refused relief but the SC later stayed the conviction, restoring his Lok Sabha membership.
More rulings — a compact roundup
December 2025 — other judiciary items| Case / item | Key fact |
|---|
| State v Tuhin Kumar Biswas (2025) | SC cautioned the State must not prosecute citizens without a reasonable prospect of conviction; police/courts must act as 'initial filters' — reduces weak charge-sheets burdening judicial backlog. |
| Delhi HC — Special Marriage Act, Sections 6 & 7 | Delhi HC will examine constitutional validity of SMA's 30-day public notice/objection provisions, challenged by an interfaith couple as violating privacy and endangering life/liberty. |
| Acid attack compensation lapses | SC will review a plea that many acid-attack survivors have not received the full ₹3 lakh compensation or free treatment despite 2013/2015 directions; NALSA reported only ₹484 crore disbursed (Mar 2024-Apr 2025). |
| SC notice on Assam Accord challenge | SC issued notice on an Asom Gana Parishad plea that Clause 3(1)(e) of the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025 — exempting persecuted minorities entering before 31 Dec 2024 — dilutes the Assam Accord's 1971 cut-off. |
| Independent Creators v Media Giants | Photographer Ronny Sen sued Zee Media for over ₹18 crore in copyright infringement, alleging unauthorised broadcast of his exclusive cheetah-translocation footage without credit/compensation — a moral-rights (Copyright Act, 1957, Section 57) test case. |
5. Governance, Elections & Tribal Self-Rule
Centre's citizenship-scrutiny power is limited, EC informs SC
As part of the Supreme Court hearing on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — challenged in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal as a 'backdoor NRC' — the Election Commission of India (ECI) filed an affidavit clarifying that the Centre's exclusive power under Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 is confined strictly to determining when/how an Indian citizen voluntarily acquired foreign citizenship; SIR itself does not determine or cancel citizenship, it only verifies electoral eligibility under Article 326, with authority flowing from Articles 324, 326 and 327 and the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (Sections 16, 19, 21(3)).
Parliament's institutional health under strain
- Data — In the recent Monsoon Session, the Lok Sabha functioned only 29% of scheduled time (Rajya Sabha 34%); Question Hour utilisation fell to 23% (LS) and 6% (RS); Bill referral to Standing Committees dropped from 60%+ (14th/15th LS) to ~20% (16th/17th LS).
- Long-term trend — Average sittings fell from 121 days/year (1952-70) to 68 days since 2000; the 17th Lok Sabha averaged just 55 days/year — the lowest of any full-term LS. The Deputy Speaker's post remained vacant through the entire 17th LS.
Digital election campaigns and regulatory gaps
- Finding — During the Bihar Assembly elections, Meta Ads Library data showed 55 advertisers spent over ₹1 lakh on digital political ads; only 23 were official parties/candidates, 32 were third-party actors who generated nearly twice the impressions at similar cost.
- Gap — India's election law remains party-candidate centric (ECI's pre-certification/Section 77(1) RPA disclosure rules), leaving influencers, campaign firms and surrogate entities weakly regulated — undermining transparency in the 13-34 age group, which consumes ~75% of digital political content.
Constitution released in Santhali; PESA Mahotsav; forest-rights portal
December 2025 — governance & tribal self-rule roundup| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| Constitution in Santhali | President released the Constitution of India in Santhali — an Austroasiatic (Munda branch) language written in the Ol Chiki script (devised 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu); added to the Eighth Schedule by the 92nd Amendment, 2003. |
| PESA Mahotsav | MoPR celebrated the PESA Act, 1996 anniversary in Visakhapatnam — extends the 73rd Amendment's Panchayati Raj to Fifth Schedule (tribal) Areas; 10 states have Fifth Schedule Areas incl. Telangana; over 1 lakh elected reps trained (2024-25). |
| Forest Rights web portal (TARANG) | Ministry of Tribal Affairs is building TARANG, a single-window portal digitising the entire Forest Rights Act, 2006 claims process — designed by 6 students at Smart India Hackathon 2025; will use GPS/satellite mapping and link to SVAMITVA data. |
6. Law & Order, Policing & Security Roundup
December brought a cluster of policing-relevant reforms — a nationwide cyber-scam crackdown, a new intelligence linkage, a forensic-infrastructure push, and several portals/agencies tightening security and citizen protection.
SC empowers CBI to lead a nationwide digital-arrest-scam crackdown
- What — SC directed the CBI to lead a pan-India probe into 'digital arrest' cyber scams, authorising it to investigate without prior State consent (States directed to grant consent under Section 6, DSPE Act, 1946) and to probe bank officials facilitating fraud via mule accounts.
- Phased approach — Priority order: digital-arrest scams first, fraudulent investment schemes next, fake job scams third; CBI to coordinate with Interpol; States/UTs to set up regional cybercrime centres integrated with I4C.
NATGRID linked with NPR
- What — The Home Ministry linked the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) — a post-26/11 platform giving agencies real-time access to telecom/banking/travel/vehicle/ID data — with the National Population Register (NPR).
- Scale — Enables family-wise data access for nearly 119 crore residents; queries tiered (non-sensitive/sensitive/highly sensitive) with audit trails and approvals.
Policing tech, portals & security agencies — compact roundup
December 2025 — law & order glossary| Item | Key fact |
|---|
| National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme (NFIES) | MHA scheme, ₹2,254.43 crore outlay (2024-25 to 2028-29); adds 9 NFSU off-campuses + 7 new CFSLs, responding to new criminal laws mandating forensic probes for offences carrying ≥7 years' imprisonment. |
| Bureau of Port Security (BoPS) | A new statutory body under the Merchant Shipping Act, 2025 for port/vessel security, replacing CISF's earlier role as Recognized Security Organisation; functions under MoPSW. |
| Sahyog Portal | Home Ministry platform (2024) for content-blocking orders under IT Act Section 79(3)(b); issued 2,300+ blocking orders to 19 platforms (incl. WhatsApp, Facebook) between Oct 2024-Oct 2025. |
| Legal framework for revoking passports | Under Passports Act, 1967, Section 10(3), a passport may be revoked only on specified grounds (pending criminal case, arrest warrant, sovereignty/security concerns) — raised after Goa's Birch by Romeo Lane fire (25 deaths). |
| Support to Poor Prisoners scheme, revised | MHA revised guidelines with fixed timelines — undertrials get up to ₹40,000 for bail, convicts up to ₹25,000 for fines, via a District-level Empowered Committee; excludes PMLA/UAPA/heinous offences. |
| Sanchar Sathi — new pre-installation mandate | DoT's expanded Telecom Cybersecurity Rules push mandatory pre-installation of the anti-fraud Sanchar Sathi app on new phones, drawing privacy/overreach concerns despite the stated aim of curbing IMEI cloning and telecom fraud. |
| MahaCrimeOS | Maharashtra Police's AI-driven cybercrime investigation platform, aiding faster case linkage and evidence analysis for cyber-fraud investigations. |
| Anti-Terrorism Conference-2025 / Karbi Anglong violence | Union Home Ministry's annual Anti-Terrorism Conference reviewed counter-terror coordination; Assam's Karbi Anglong district saw fresh ethnic-clash violence, keeping internal-security coordination in focus. |