March 2026

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.

Governance-heavy month — the Transgender Persons Amendment Bill, a first-ever removal notice against a CEC, the police-relevant Central Armed Police Forces Bill, twin Supreme Court firsts (OBC 'creamy layer' income test and passive euthanasia), the government's 'Naxal-free' declaration, Assam's Kuki–Hmar peace accord, and a Lok Sabha expansion proposal from 543 to 816 seats.

March 2026 — At a Glance

March 2026 was one of the heaviest governance months of the year. Parliament moved on the Transgender Persons Amendment Bill and the police-relevant Central Armed Police Forces Bill, while opposition MPs filed the first-ever removal notice against a Chief Election Commissioner. The Supreme Court delivered two constitutional firsts in the same fortnight — passive euthanasia and the OBC 'creamy layer' income test — alongside rulings on vaccine-injury compensation, religious conversion and SC status, and permanent commission for women officers. On internal security, the government declared India "Naxal-free" and Assam signed a peace accord ending decades of ethnic militancy.

Headlines of the month

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 gets President's assent — replaces gender self-identification with mandatory medical certification; opposition MPs move the first-ever removal notice against a CEC (Gyanesh Kumar), signed by 130 Lok Sabha + 63 Rajya Sabha MPs.
Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026 introduced — an umbrella law standardising recruitment/promotion for officers across 5 CAPFs (BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, SSB), with mandated IPS deputation at senior levels.
Supreme Court's first-ever passive euthanasia order (*Harish Rana v. UoI*) and its ruling that parental income alone cannot decide OBC 'creamy layer' status (*Union of India v. Rohith Nathan*) — both landmark firsts in the same month.
SC ruled that conversion to a religion outside the 1950 SC Order causes immediate, total loss of SC status; separately ordered a 'no-fault' compensation policy for Covid-vaccine injury/death and Permanent Commission with full pension for eligible women armed-forces officers.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah declares India "Naxal-free", a day before his own 31 March 2026 deadline; Assam signs a peace accord with 3 Kuki and 1 Hmar extremist groups, ending ethnic militancy in the state.
Government proposes raising Lok Sabha strength from 543 to ~816 seats for the 2029 polls, reserving ~273 seats (one-third) for women, using the 2011 Census as an interim delimitation base.

1. Parliament, Elections & Constitutional Bodies

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026

What — President Murmu assented to this Bill amending the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. It removes the right to self-identify gender — recognised in NALSA v. Union of India (2014) — and instead requires medical certification by a Medical Board (headed by a CMO/DCMO) before a District Magistrate can grant legal gender recognition.
Narrower definition — Restricts 'transgender' to sociocultural identities (kinner, hijra, aravani, jogta, eunuch) and persons with defined congenital biological variations — replacing the 2019 Act's broader, self-perceived-identity definition.
Penalties — Forcing an adult into a transgender identity: 10 years to life imprisonment + ₹2 lakh fine; if the victim is a child: life imprisonment + ₹5 lakh fine.

First-ever removal notice against a Chief Election Commissioner

What — Opposition MPs moved notices in both Houses seeking removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, signed by 130 Lok Sabha + 63 Rajya Sabha MPs — the first-ever such notice against a CEC.
Charges — Alleged partisan conduct, obstruction of electoral-fraud probes, and mass-disenfranchisement linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — a flashpoint in West Bengal.
Legal basis — Under Article 324(5), a CEC is removed only like an SC judge — motion needs ≥100 LS or ≥50 RS MPs, a 3-member inquiry (CJI/SC judge + HC Chief Justice + jurist), and a special majority in each House separately.

Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill, 2026

What — Introduced in the Rajya Sabha — an umbrella law standardising recruitment, promotion and service rules for Group A General Duty officers (Assistant Commandant rank and above) across 5 CAPFs: BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, SSB.
IPS deputation quota — Mandates 50% IPS deputation at Inspector General, ≥67% at Additional DG, and 100% at Special DG/DG level — even superseding existing court orders.
Context — Critics say it reverses a 2025 SC judgment that had directed reducing IPS deputation to ease stagnation for CAPF-cadre officers, who face 93,000+ vacancies across ranks.

Lok Sabha expansion — 543 to ~816 seats proposed

Proposal — Centre considering raising Lok Sabha strength by ~50% to ~816 seats for the 2029 polls, keeping each state's current proportion of seats unchanged ('same share, bigger numbers') rather than redistributing by fresh population.
Women's reservation — ~273 seats (one-third) reserved for women under the Women's Reservation Act, 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam).
Delimitation basis — Interim delimitation may use the 2011 Census rather than the 2027 Census; last intra-state delimitation used the 2001 Census, while inter-state seat share has been frozen since 1971 to protect southern states.
State-wise impact — UP: 80→~120; Bihar: 40→~60; Maharashtra: 48→~72 (stays 2nd most influential); West Bengal: 42→~63; Tamil Nadu: 39→~59; Telangana: 17→~26.

Doctrine of Recusal — CJI steps aside from CEC-law challenge

What — CJI Surya Kant recused from hearing petitions (*Dr. Jaya Thakur v. UoI, 2024*) challenging the Chief Election Commissioner and Other ECs Act, 2023, which replaced the CJI with a Union Minister on the EC-appointment panel — citing conflict of interest, and directed listing before a bench outside the CJI succession line.
Why it matters — Every SC judge is a potential future CJI, so this conflict arguably affects the whole court — critics say the Doctrine of Necessity should have applied instead (as in the NJAC case), and note this is the 2nd such recusal after CJI Sanjiv Khanna's in 2024.

Other Parliament & administration notes — March 2026
Item	Key fact
LS revokes suspension of 8 MPs	Suspended during the Budget Session for unruly conduct; new conduct rules ban derogatory AI-generated images and carrying firearms/banners/sticks in Parliament House Complex — trigger was AI images linking the PM and a Union Minister to Jeffrey Epstein.
LS 'guillotines' Demands for Grants	Over ₹53 lakh crore worth of 2026-27 ministry demands passed without discussion via the guillotine procedure (Speaker puts all pending demands to vote at once) after time ran out; only Lok Sabha votes on Demands for Grants, Rajya Sabha cannot.
Census 2027 mascots + digital tools	'Pragati' (female) and 'Vikas' (male) unveiled for India's first fully digital census; 4 C-DAC digital tools launched — Houselisting Block Creator, HLO mobile app, Self-Enumeration Portal, Census Management & Monitoring System.
IVFRT Scheme extended	Cabinet approved continuing the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking Scheme for 5 years (April 2026–March 2031) with a ₹1,800 crore outlay; e-Visas now processed within 72 hours for 91% of applicants, immigration clearance down to 2.5–3 minutes.
MPLADS cross-state spending	Analysis found 21 MPs recommended MPLAD works outside their own State/constituency, spending over ₹18 crore, with 84% going to Uttar Pradesh districts; each MP can recommend up to ₹5 crore/year normally, ₹50 lakh/year outside their area.
Home Ministry restricts Look Out Circulars	Revised guidelines bar statutory bodies without criminal jurisdiction from directly requesting the Bureau of Immigration to stop a person leaving India, to prevent arbitrary travel restrictions.
West Bengal CM vs ECI over transfers	With the Model Code of Conduct in force in WB, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry, the ECI transferred several IAS/IPS officers — WB CM called the transfers "sweeping"; under Section 13CC, RP Act 1950, election staff are deemed on deputation to the ECI.
President's-visit protocol row (WB)	WB CM's absence during a Presidential state visit triggered a protocol-violation controversy; such visits are governed by the MHA Blue Book, spotlighting Centre–State friction.
EAC-PM paper on simultaneous elections	Estimates simultaneous ('One Nation One Election') polls could cut polling-personnel deployment by about 28% — roughly 26 lakh personnel and 1.04 crore person-days saved over 5 years, against a 2019 baseline of ~70 lakh personnel deployed for the Lok Sabha polls.
India hosts GlobE Network meet	India hosted the 12th Steering Committee Meeting of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities (135 member countries); India joined in 2022 (CBI + ED) and was elected to the 15-member Steering Committee in 2024.
'Seva Bhav' training for bureaucrats	A Parliamentary Standing Committee on DoPT's 2026-27 grants recommended mental-health support and "seva bhav" (spirit-of-service) training at LBSNAA, plus centrally-approved AI/LLM use for administration.
Balendra Shah — Nepal's youngest-ever PM	Balendra Shah ('Balen'), 35, sworn in by President Ram Chandra Poudel, ending the transition after last September's Gen-Z protests that ousted the Oli government and installed an interim government led by ex-Chief Justice Sushila Karki.

2. Judiciary — Landmark Rulings

SC: parental income alone cannot decide OBC 'creamy layer' status

What — In *Union of India v. Rohith Nathan (2026)*, the SC ruled that OBC Civil Services candidates from PSU/private-sector family backgrounds cannot be denied reservation solely on salary-based income, especially where no formal equivalence exists between PSU/private posts and government posts.
Governing rule — The 1993 DoPT Office Memorandum — not the 2004 clarificatory letter — is the binding creamy-layer policy; it is primarily status/rank-based, with the income/wealth test as only a limited residual filter, and salary + agricultural income must be excluded from it.
Finding — Assessing government employees' children by status alone (salary excluded) while excluding PSU/private employees' children by salary alone is hostile discrimination, violating Articles 14, 15 and 16; reaffirmed *Indra Sawhney v. UoI (1992)* — reservation is a tool of substantive equality, not an exception to it.

SC's first-ever passive euthanasia order

What — In *Harish Rana v. Union of India (2026)*, the SC for the first time allowed passive euthanasia for a 32-year-old man in a persistent vegetative state for over 13 years, holding that Clinically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration (CANH) via a feeding tube is medical treatment, not basic care, so it can be withdrawn under the *Common Cause v. UoI (2018)* framework.
'Best interests' test — The law asks whether continuing treatment serves the patient's best interests — judged holistically (therapeutic benefit, burden of continued treatment, awareness/dignity), not merely medical prognosis; districts' CMOs must maintain standing doctor-panels for such cases.

No SC status for religious converts

Ruling — Conversion to a religion outside the 1950 Scheduled Castes Order (i.e. other than Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism) causes immediate, complete loss of SC status — a "categorical and absolute" bar flowing from Paragraph 3 of that Order.
'Profess' test — "Profess" means public declaration and outward practice, not private belief — a pastor conducting prayer meetings for a decade had clearly and publicly professed Christianity; caste certificates/state orders cannot override the Article 341 constitutional scheme.
Effect — Loss of SC status means automatic termination of reservation, welfare entitlements and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 protection; reconversion requires strict proof of original caste, genuine reconversion and community acceptance.

SC orders 'no-fault' Covid-vaccine compensation policy; Permanent Commission for women officers

Vaccine compensation — In *Rachana Gangu v. Union of India (2026)*, the SC directed a 'no-fault' compensation policy for serious harm/death after Covid vaccination — claimants prove only causation, not negligence; Article 21 (right to life) extends to State support after a public-health programme causes harm.
Women officers — A bench led by CJI Surya Kant directed the Army, Navy and Air Force to grant Permanent Commission to eligible women officers with full pension (arrears from 1 January 2025), treating them as having completed 20 years of qualifying service — following the *Babita Puniya* and *Annie Nagaraja* (2020) verdicts, after selection boards were found to have relied on Annual Confidential Reports written when policy barred women from PC.

Other notable rulings & legal debates — March 2026
Case / issue	What happened
Can courts review personal laws?	SC weighed a petition challenging the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 on gender-discrimination grounds, but orally observed it would defer to Parliament for a Uniform Civil Code rather than judicially strike down the 1937 Act, to avoid a legal vacuum.
Adoptive mothers' maternity leave	In Hamsaanandini Nanduri v. UoI, SC struck down the rule limiting adoptive mothers' 12-week paid leave to cases where the child is under 3 months — leave now applies regardless of the child's age; court also urged a legal framework for paternity leave.
Bombay HC — RTE guarantee	Nagpur Bench quashed a 13-year-old's transfer certificate issued for fee non-payment, holding a child within the compulsory-education age (6–14, RTE Act) cannot be expelled for dues; ordered immediate readmission.
CCI clears BookMyShow	Competition Commission closed a 2021 antitrust case alleging BookMyShow abused market dominance (exclusive cinema tie-ups, high convenience fees) — found no "appreciable adverse effect on competition" as rivals like Paytm remain active.

3. Internal Security & Law and Order

India declared "Naxal-free"

What — Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared India "Naxal-free" in a Lok Sabha reply, a day before his own self-imposed 31 March 2026 deadline for eliminating Left Wing Extremism, saying Naxalism was "more or less wiped out from Bastar."
Numbers (2024 – 30 Mar 2026) — 4,839 cadres surrendered, 2,218 arrested, 706 killed; Maoist-affected districts fell from 126 (2014) to just 2; MP, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh report all state-committee members surrendered.
Historical scale — At its peak the Red Corridor spanned 12 states, ~12 crore people lived under Maoist influence, and ~20,000 were killed (incl. 5,000 security personnel) over the movement's history.

Assam signs peace accord with Kuki and Hmar extremist groups

What — Assam signed a Memorandum of Settlement with 3 Kuki and 1 Hmar extremist groups, which the government says ends ethnic militancy in the state; over 9,000 cadres of various armed groups have been rehabilitated in recent years.
Provisions — Two new Welfare Development Councils created — Hmar and Kuki — both headquartered in Guwahati; rehabilitation for surrendered cadres and compensation for families of those killed during the armed struggle.

India–Myanmar border: fencing, the Free Movement Regime, and China's Xiaokang villages near the LAC

Myanmar border — Arrest of 7 foreign nationals (6 Ukrainians + 1 US citizen) accused by NIA of training ethnic armed groups via Myanmar renewed focus on India's 1,643 km, largely unfenced border — only 43 km (<3%) fenced under the ₹31,000 crore project; the Free Movement Regime was cut from 16 km to 10 km on either side in Dec 2024.
China's Xiaokang villages — China has built 72% of 628 Xiaokang ("well-off") dual-use villages along the LAC, with 90% concentrated opposite Arunachal Pradesh; India's response includes the Vibrant Villages Programme and stepped-up border infrastructure (roads, bridges, helipads).

Government pushes WhatsApp on digital-arrest scams; SIM-binding directive

What — Union Home Ministry asked WhatsApp to block device IDs of repeat offenders, add Skype-like caller-verification, retain deleted-account data for 180 days (IT Rules, 2021), block malicious APK files, and expand AI/ML detection of deepfakes and misuse of official logos (Delhi Police, Mumbai Police, CBI, ATS) in "digital arrest" scams.
SIM binding — Under a November 2025 directive, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Snapchat must implement SIM binding — an account usable only with one active SIM — to eliminate anonymous/multi-device misuse.

4. Regulating Children's Safety Online

Union government weighs a graded approach to regulating children's social-media use

Existing legal framework — Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 mandates verifiable parental consent for processing under-18 data and bars behavioural tracking/targeted ads to children; IT Rules, 2021 require OTT platforms to classify content (U, U/A 7+, 13+, 16+) with parental locks for U/A 13+ and above.
Screen-time guidance — PRAGYATA Guidelines (2020) recommend age-appropriate limits — pre-primary ~30 min/day, Classes 1-8 up to 1-1.5 hours, Classes 9-12 up to 3 hours.
Global parallel — A US jury in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube liable for designing addictive platforms that harmed a young user, awarding $6 million in damages (Meta 70%, YouTube 30%) — the case bypassed Section 230 immunity by targeting platform design, not user content.