The Lok Sabha passed the 2025 Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill to replace the 2005 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act amid protests from the Opposition. It needs to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha before it is sent for presidential assent.

Opposition members stormed the well of the House, shouted slogans against the Union government for removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme. They tore up copies of the bill, forcing the Lok Sabha to be adjourned for the day.

MNREGA, introduced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2005, guaranteed 100 days of unskilled work annually to rural households. The new legislation proposes increasing this to 125 days while also increasing the state’s share of funding to 40% – up from the current system where costs are borne by the Centre. Read on.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India alleged that Pranav Adani, the nephew of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani, violated insider trading norms by sharing unpublished price sensitive information about the Adani Group’s open offer for NDTV with close relatives, the Economic Times reported.

The market regulator issued show cause notices on October 15 to Pranav Adani, his brothers-in-law Kunal and Nrupal Shah and his father-in-law Dhanpal Shah. SEBI alleged that call records indicated frequent communication among them during the unpublished price sensitive information period.

The Adani Group acquired majority stakes in NDTV on December 30, 2022, after it acquired a 27.26% equity stake in the media firm from co-founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.

More than four months before that, on August 23, 2022, the stock exchange was informed, after market hours, that Adani-linked entities would acquire up to 26% of NDTV.

SEBI said the information remained unpublished and price sensitive until markets reopened, when NDTV shares rose sharply. It alleged that Kunal, Nrupal and Dhanpal Shah made unlawful profits through these shares. Read on.

The Lok Sabha passed the 2025 Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Bill, which aims to open up the civil nuclear sector to private operators. The bill was passed despite Opposition demands that it be referred to a parliamentary committee and now awaits approval by the Rajya Sabha.

The legislation proposes to allow private companies, joint ventures and government firms to construct, own, operate and decommission nuclear power plants. It also seeks to remove a provision that permits plant operators to take legal action against suppliers if defective equipment causes an accident.

The changes are intended to attract investment and help India meet its target of 100 gigawatt of nuclear power capacity by 2047. Read on.

The Union government told Parliament that the number of schools covered under a scheme to give students mid-day meals declined from 11.1 lakh in 2020-’21 to 10.3 lakh in 2024-’25. This marks a reduction of 84,453 schools covered under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman scheme over five years.

The sharpest fall occurred between 2020-’21 and 2021-’22, when coverage declined by 35,574 schools, from 11.1 lakh to 10.8 lakh.

The number fell to 10.7 lakh in 2022-’23, down by 7,604 schools, and slipped further to 10.6 lakh in 2023-’24 – a dip of 9,509 schools.

It declined in 2024-’25 to 10.3 lakh, marking a reduction of 31,766 schools in a year, data provided by the Union Ministry of Education showed. Read more.

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