Insights, a blog published by IMPRI.
The Integrated Fertilizer Management System (iFMS) is a comprehensive digital platform developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the Department of Fertilizers under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
India’s maritime sector is central to its trade and economic security, with around 95% of trade by volume and 68% by value moving by sea.
The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017 marked the most extensive structural overhaul of India's fiscal federalism, subsuming 17 distinct central and state levies along with 13 cesses into a single indirect taxation architecture. Designed to eliminate the cascading tax-on-tax effect, establish a unified national market, and accelerate economic formalization, the original GST regime was constructed around a four-tier rate structure comprising 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28% tax slabs, supplemented by special reduced rates for precious metals and an additional Compensation Cess on select luxury and sin goods. While this multi-tiered framework was politically essential at inception to achieve revenue neutrality and protect low-income consumption, over time it introduced operational frictions, tax classification disputes, and severe structural distortions.
Challenge-Based Destination Development (CBDD) originates from the Union Budget 2023-24, whose Paragraph 93 announced that tourism would be taken up 'in Mission Mode' and that 'at least 50 destinations will be selected through challenge mode' for holistic development, covering physical and virtual connectivity, tourist guides, food-street standards and tourist security, integrated through a mobile application, with every destination developed 'as a complete package.'
Social justice in India extends beyond income support to addressing the educational, economic and social disadvantages faced by historically marginalised and vulnerable communities. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) implements a wide range of schemes covering Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Economically Backward Classes (EBCs), De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNTs), senior citizens, transgender persons, sanitation workers, persons affected by substance abuse and other disadvantaged groups. The Ministry's Annual Report 2025–26 lists major interventions across education, economic empowerment, skill development, rehabilitation, social protection and enforcement of protective legislation (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, 2026).
Ever since Independence, India's sports policy has, at best, been viewed primarily through the lenses of international competition and national prestige and, at worst, through the lens of public scrutiny following disappointing performances on the global stage. India has often been described as a "sleeping giant" in world sports, a country with immense talent and demographic potential, yet constrained by persistent logistical, infrastructural, and institutional challenges.
Samiksha Muskan
Background
The Union Cabinet approved the IndianAI Mission in March 2024 with a budget outlay of Rs. 10,371.92 crore as a national initiative to build an end-to-end artificial intelligence ecosystem in India. Officially, the mission seeks to democratise access to compute, improve data quality, develop indigenous AI capabilities, attract talent, support start ups, encourage socially relevant applications and promote responsible AI. The larger policy vocabulary surrounding the mission is significant: the Cabinet note explicitly links IndiaAI to “tech sovereignty”, indicating that the programme is not merely industrial policy but also a strategic response to concentrated foreign control over advanced AI infrastructure.