The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 — passed by the Lok Sabha on 29 July and the Rajya Sabha on 30 July 2026 — strengthens the 2024 Act by raising punishments, mandating Special Fast Track Courts, and placing a two-month investigation deadline on exam-fraud cases.

• Steeper punishments: Sentences and fines have been raised significantly across all categories — individuals, service providers and operators of organised rackets — to act as a genuine deterrent.
• Special Task Force (STF): The Central Government may constitute a dedicated STF for any case; once notified, the STF has exclusive investigative jurisdiction, preventing jurisdictional ambiguity between State police and Central agencies.
• Special Fast Track Courts: Every State and UT must designate a Court of Session as a Special Fast Track Court in consultation with the Chief Justice of the relevant High Court; cases are to be heard day-to-day without adjournment.
• Transferred cases: All pending cases in other courts transfer to the new Fast Track Courts and must conclude within three months of transfer.
• Consolidated trial: Connected offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or other statutes are tried by the same court, avoiding fragmented proceedings.
• Codified appeals: Appeals lie to the High Court (two-judge bench); must ordinarily be filed within 30 days, subject to a hard outer limit of 90 days; the High Court targets disposal within three months.

• Pre-2024: Exam malpractice was governed by State-level Prevention of Copying Acts (e.g., Rajasthan Public Examination [Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment] Act, 2022) alongside Section 420 IPC (cheating) and relevant provisions of the IT Act. Coverage was uneven, and penalties were mild.
• 2024 Act: Created a uniform central framework with dedicated offences, minimum punishments and provision for Central agency investigation — a significant conceptual shift from treating exam fraud as ordinary cheating to treating it as an organised crime against public trust.
• 2026 Amendment: Builds on the 2024 foundation by adding the STF mechanism, hard investigation and trial timelines, mandatory Fast Track Courts, and a structured appellate pathway — addressing gaps identified after the Act's first operational year.

• Deterrence logic: Enhanced punishments address one dimension of the problem; however, the effectiveness of deterrence depends on the certainty of conviction, which depends on the quality of evidence and investigation — areas where India's criminal justice system has historically struggled.
• Capacity constraints: Designating existing Sessions Courts as Special Fast Track Courts does not automatically create additional judicial capacity; backlog in Sessions Courts remains substantial across States.
• Upstream prevention: Punitive law addresses leaks after they occur. The structural vulnerabilities — porous supply chains for question papers, inadequate encryption and physical security protocols at printing houses — require administrative and technological solutions beyond legislation.
• Federal dimension: Public examinations for State services remain under State jurisdiction; the central legislation applies only to central examining bodies. State-level equivalents vary in quality and enforcement.

A PIB background paper outlines the current scale and strategic direction of India's tourism sector, documenting flagship scheme outlays, digital platform rollouts and the multi-segment framework — from spiritual circuits to MICE tourism — through which the government intends to position India as a leading global visitor destination.

• Spiritual & Pilgrimage Tourism: India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The Char Dham circuit, Bodh Gaya, Tirupati and Puri attract millions annually. The PRASHAD scheme (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spiritual, Heritage And Dham) has sanctioned 54 projects worth over ₹1,726 crore for infrastructure at pilgrimage destinations.
• Eco-tourism & Wildlife: India has 106 National Parks, 18 Biosphere Reserves and 55 Tiger Reserves. The Ministry promotes responsible eco-tourism through the Swadesh Darshan thematic circuits (Eco, Himalayan, North East, Tribal among others).
• Wellness & Medical Tourism: Yoga, Ayurveda and naturopathy form the core offering; India has positioned itself as a high-quality, cost-effective destination for medical tourism. The Ministry of AYUSH supports Wellness Tourism through dedicated policies.
• MICE Tourism: Bharat Mandapam (New Delhi) and Yashobhoomi (Dwarka) represent India's renewed convention infrastructure push, aimed at competing with Singapore, Dubai and Bangkok for international conferences.
• Rural & Homestay Tourism: The Ministry promotes community-based tourism to distribute economic benefits to rural households and artisans, generating direct income beyond established urban circuits.

Figure 2 — Destination Development: Key Infrastructure Push

Five flagship schemes together account for over 260 sanctioned projects. Swadesh Darshan 2.0 marks a shift from circuit-building to destination-centric, experience-based planning. Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of Tourism; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Swadesh Darshan: 76 projects sanctioned across 14 thematic circuits (₹5,295 crore); 75 completed. Circuits include Buddhist, Coastal, Desert, Eco, Himalayan, Ramayana, Rural, Tribal, Spiritual.
• Swadesh Darshan 2.0: 53 projects (₹2,207 crore); moves from circuit-building to destination-centric sustainable tourism, emphasising visitor experience design and local community integration.
• PRASHAD: 54 projects (₹1,726 crore) at pilgrimage and heritage destinations, improving amenities while preserving cultural significance.
• SASCI (Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment — Tourism): 40 projects across 23 States (₹3,295 crore) to develop iconic tourist centres to global standards.
• CBDD (Challenge-Based Destination Development): 37 projects (₹688 crore), focusing on high-potential spiritual and eco-tourism destinations.

Figure 3 — NIDHI+: National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry

NIDHI+ consolidates registration and classification of all tourism service providers — accommodation, travel, F&B, digital platforms and visitor support — into a single online interface. Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of Tourism; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• NIDHI+ provides end-to-end online registration, classification and recognition of tourism service providers across five categories: Accommodation (hotels, homestays, heritage hotels, houseboats, B&B), Travel Services (agents, tour operators, transport operators), Food & Hospitality, Digital & Business Platforms (OTAs, convention centres), and Visitor Support (guides, facilitators).
• The platform offers integrated payment processing, transparent approvals and improved ease of doing business — digitising a sector historically dependent on physical certification processes.

• The UDAN scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) has enhanced regional air connectivity to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The forthcoming Viksit UDAN phase (outlay ₹28,840 crore) envisages over 100 new aerodromes and 200 helipads, deepening access to remote tourism circuits.
• Vande Bharat train services, highway expansion and last-mile connectivity upgrades are being positioned as components of a holistic tourism infrastructure strategy — connecting destinations rather than treating them as isolated attractions.

Figure 4 — Double Decker Living Root Bridge, Cherrapunjee, Meghalaya

The Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya — engineered over decades by the Khasi and Jaintia tribes using aerial roots of the Ficus elastica (rubber tree) — represent a unique form of indigenous bio-engineering. Their candidacy for UNESCO inscription underscores India's eco-tourism and intangible heritage value. Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of Tourism; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• The government promotes Travel for LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) to encourage responsible visitor behaviour and reduce the ecological footprint of tourism.
• Three SDG targets are directly relevant: SDG 8.9 (sustainable tourism for employment and local culture), SDG 12.B (monitoring tools for sustainable tourism) and SDG 14.7 (marine and coastal tourism for Small Island Developing States and LDCs).
• Nature-based tourism diversification — trekking, birdwatching, turtle trails — helps decongest saturated heritage sites and distribute economic benefits more broadly.

• Concentration risk: A large share of international arrivals cluster around a handful of sites (Agra, Rajasthan, Kerala, Goa). The long tail of 45 UNESCO sites remains underdeveloped; infrastructure quality is highly uneven.
• Visa on Arrival gap: Despite e-Tourist Visa expansion to 175 countries, India's visitor numbers remain modest compared to its Asian competitors (Thailand's 2023 international arrivals exceeded India's despite a smaller economy); entry procedures and on-ground experience quality remain differentiating factors.
• Employment quality: Tourism-related employment is overwhelmingly informal, seasonal and low-wage; scheme projections of job numbers rarely distinguish between full-time equivalent and seasonal positions.
• Carrying capacity: Popular eco-tourism sites such as Kaziranga and Jim Corbett face visitor pressure; the absence of binding carrying-capacity norms weakens sustainability commitments.

The Union Cabinet has approved 'Samudra Manthan', a Central Sector Scheme with an outlay of ₹84,084 crore through FY 2030–31, aimed at accelerating offshore oil and gas exploration through large-scale seismic surveys, deep-water drilling and common offshore infrastructure development — a direct response to India's persisting import dependence in crude oil and natural gas.

• NELP (1997–2016): Nine bid rounds under NELP brought private and foreign investment into Indian upstream. The KG-D6 block (Reliance Industries) was NELP's most celebrated outcome. However, NELP blocks were oil/gas-specific, and the profit-sharing model created disputes over cost recovery.
• HELP (2016–present): Revenue-sharing model, Open Acreage Licensing and a single licence for all hydrocarbons simplified the regime but did not materially boost offshore drilling activity.
• Samudra Manthan (2026): Shifts from an invitation-to-private-capital model to direct public investment in seismic data and exploratory drilling — treating frontier offshore acreage as a public good requiring state-led de-risking before private capital can be expected to follow.

• Public investment rationale: Deep-water exploration is capital-intensive, technically demanding and commercially uncertain. The government's argument — that public investment in seismic data de-risks the environment for private participation — is defensible; similar models have been used by Norway (NPD's Petroleum Data Management) and Brazil (ANP).
• Import dependence trajectory: Even a 600 MMTOE reserve accretion, if confirmed and commercially developed, would not eliminate India's structural import dependence at current consumption growth rates. The scheme is a necessary but not sufficient response to energy security.
• Transition tension: Increased domestic fossil fuel exploration sits in tension with India's net-zero-by-2070 commitment and NDC targets. The government's position is that domestic production reduces import costs and forex outgo; critics note it also extends the life of fossil fuel infrastructure.
• Execution risk: ONGC's track record in converting deep-water discoveries to sustained production has been mixed (KG-DWN-98/2 targets revised multiple times). The scheme's success depends on technological capability and contractor ecosystem quality.

The Union Cabinet has approved PM-SSY, a scheme to develop 5,000 MW of Floating Solar Photovoltaic (FSPV) projects co-located with Energy Storage Systems (ESS) at reservoirs and industrial water bodies, backed by an outlay of ₹5,070 crore — the first dedicated Central scheme for floating solar at this scale.

Figure 6 — PM-SSY: Vision and Key Highlights

PM-SSY co-locates FSPV capacity with battery energy storage — the 2-hour minimum storage requirement directly addresses the intermittency problem that limits utility-scale solar deployment. Image courtesy PIB/Ministry of New & Renewable Energy; reproduced with credit for educational use.

• Solar generation is intermittent — it peaks around midday and falls to zero after sunset. Without storage, a grid absorbing large volumes of solar power must retain expensive peak-power plants (gas or hydro) to fill evening demand.
• The 10,000 MWh minimum ESS requirement (two hours of generation for each installed MW) means each project must store and dispatch solar power during the evening peak — improving grid reliability and reducing the "duck curve" problem common in high-solar-penetration grids.
• The National Electricity Plan (NEP) 2023 projects India will need ~160 GWh of battery storage by 2031–32; PM-SSY contributes 10 GWh toward this requirement.

• Floating solar was first encouraged through SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India) tenders from around 2017–18, with small-scale pilots at irrigation canals and reservoirs.
• The PM-KUSUM scheme (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan, 2019) allowed floating solar on farm ponds as part of its decentralised solar component — but adoption was limited and capacity additions remained small.
• PM-SSY represents the first dedicated, large-scale central scheme with an explicit target, CFA structure and ESS integration requirement — moving floating solar from pilot status to a mainstream renewable stream.

• Technology maturity: While FSPV is commercially proven at the 50–100 MW scale (Ramagundam, Kerala's Banasura Sagar pilot), the 5,000 MW target implies scaling by over seven times current capacity. Floatation system supply chains and specialised O&M capabilities are still thin in India.
• Water body governance: Reservoirs in India are typically managed by State irrigation departments; co-locating power generation infrastructure requires complex multi-agency coordination and can raise conflicts with irrigation water use and fisheries.
• Make in India linkage: The scheme's objective of promoting domestic manufacturing of floatation systems and PV components is appropriate given India's import dependence for solar modules (particularly from China); however, achieving meaningful localisation requires complementary production-linked incentives.
• Evaporation benefit co-benefit: FSPV panels shade reservoir water surfaces, reducing evaporation — potentially significant in water-stressed States (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra). Quantification of this co-benefit should inform project prioritisation.