One of the central motifs of the past decade of governance under Indian Prime Minister has been the embrace of policy measures that seek to apply uniform solutions to disparate policy dilemmas facing the country. These measures, often termed One Nation policies, are motivated by a desire to replace the existing patchwork of state-specific policies, regulations, and regimes with measures that are identical across the length and breadth of India.
There are numerous examples of such One Nation policies being propagated and, in several cases, implemented in the eleven years since this Government came to power. For instance, in 2016, Parliament passed a series of constitutional amendments to introduce a new Goods and Services Tax (GST), which introduced a unified value-added tax in place of state-specific levies. This reform, known informally as One Nation, One Tax, had been debated and discussed for nearly two decades and was widely touted as an important precursor to forging a common market across India’s twenty-eight states.
In a similar vein, the government rolled out a new initiative to allow Indian citizens to take advantage of subsidized food rations irrespective of their state of residence. This scheme, commonly termed One Nation, One Ration Card, was intended to increase access to welfare benefits, especially for the millions of internal migrants in India without a fixed place of residence.
Earlier this year, the government announced the launch of a new online portal that will provide students, faculty, and researchers across the country’s public higher education institutions with open access to international scholarly journals and articles under a scheme it has dubbed One Nation, One Subscription.
Most notably, the government recently signalled its intention to pursue a monumental One Nation policy that has been long discussed but only recently outlined in detail. This measure, known as One Nation, One Election, would do away with India’s current system of staggered elections for state and national assemblies, replacing it with a framework of simultaneous elections. The proposal, which has featured in many of PM’s speeches in the past, was advanced by a high-level committee (HLC) established by the government in 2023. (351 words)
What is the underlying idea behind the “One Nation” policies of the government?
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- To strengthen federalism by empowering states with greater autonomy
- To apply uniform solutions across India, replacing state-specific variations
- To decentralize governance to local self-government institutions
- To promote diversity by encouraging state-specific policies
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Which Constitution Amendment Bill deals with empowerment of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to implement simultaneous state and national elections?
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- One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment
- One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment
- One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment
- One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Which committee or report has discussed the feasibility of simultaneous elections in India?
Show Hint
- Justice Verma Committee 2013
- Law Commission of India Report 2018
- Sarkaria Commission Report 1988
- Punchhi Commission Report 2010
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
A High-Level Committee was constituted by the government to examine the policy of One Nation One Election. The Committee was led by
Show Hint
- Shri Ram Nath Kovind
- Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar
- Shri Pranab Mukherjee
- Smt. Draupadi Murmu
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
As per the new GST reforms introduced in September 2025, the structure of new GST rates is:
Show Hint
- 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%
- 5%, 12% and 18%
- 5%, 12% and 40%
- 5%, 18% and 40%
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The objective of the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme is to benefit:
Show Hint
- The rural population
- The farmers
- The migrant labourers
- The ration shopkeepers
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Top Questions on Schemes
- With the announcement of Drone Shakti in the Union Budget, the industry got a massive push after the liberalization of the Drone Rules in 2021. The Government stated that start-ups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti, with 'drone as a service'.
The current Government has taken a serious paradigm shift on drone technology and Drone Shakti announcement of the current FY budget proves the government's clear vision and focus towards this emerging industry. Drone Shakti and Kisan Drones will definitely help get this technology to impact common people on the grassroots level at a massive scale," according to the founder and CEO of a prominent aerospace quoted in a business magazine. The country is set to witness the use of large, unmanned aircraft systems weighing more than 150 kilograms across the sectors. Kisan Drones are already being used for crop assessments, land records, spraying of insecticides, and are expected to boost a wave of technology in the Agri and farming sector. Drones are also being used in surveillance systems for Railway Security. In India, drones were also deployed to deliver COVID-19 vaccines. - The Government may defer the deadline for companies to deposit the unspent portion of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds into specified bank accounts in a move aimed at providing some relief in the fight against the COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions. Companies are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of the preceding within three financial years on CSR. The Ministry has allowed firms to undertake projects on an ongoing basis on the condition that any unspent amount must be deposited with a scheduled bank within 30 days of the end of the financial year. "Considering the current crisis, we request your esteemed office to consider relaxation by providing extension of the timelines up to June 30, 2021," the Institute of Company Secretaries of India said in a letter to the Ministry. Experts said that while lockdowns and restrictions are less stringent than last year and companies have adapted to working online, many professionals or their families have been affected by the infection, leaving teams short-staffed.
- One thing struck us as a major difference between the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its predecessor. The earlier national policies on education (NPE) from 1986 and 1992 presented themselves as attempts to consolidate and build on earlier efforts, particularly the NPE, 1968. The new NEP 2020 policy, on the other hand, is very keen to establish that it is different from everything in the past, including in its name. Nowhere does this attitude come across as starkly as it does in the section on higher education.
It comes across fairly clearly on how the higher education ecosystem will be by 2040. By this time — if the policy has its way — the Indian higher education ecosystem will be populated with higher education institutions (HEI). These will comprise Universities and Colleges and the public and private sectors, all of which will be 'multi-disciplinary‘, with each populated by more than 3,000 students, with at least one “in or near every district”. Universities will conduct research and post-graduate and under-graduate teaching, some research-intensive and others teaching-intensive. Colleges will largely teach at the under-graduate level, with a number of them having their medium of instruction in either bilingual or local / Indian languages. The colleges can manifest in clusters around universities as constituent colleges or may be standalone autonomous ones. Ideally, all HEIs will eventually become “independent self-governing institutions” with considerable “faculty and institutional autonomy”. They will have complied with a series of regulatory exercises that are “light-but-tight” and will be operated by a large number of private accreditors, overseen by a new set of regulatory institutions at the national level. - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said major global firms are looking at India as a major investment destination, which is reflected by a robust inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last financial year, and through ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan‘ (Self Reliant India initiative) the country is shifting its focus from ’Make in India‘ to ‗Make for world‘. He said Independent India should be "vocal for local" and asked citizens to glorify Indian products to promote 'Atmanirbhar Bharat‘. Unveiling his vision of a Self-Reliant India, the Prime Minister said that the government has unveiled over Rs 110 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) to boost the economy and create jobs. “In order to rapidly modernise India, there is a need to give a new direction to overall infrastructure development,” he said, adding that over 7,000 projects under NIP have been already identified. “This will be, in a way, a new revolution in the field of infrastructure. This is the time to end silos in infrastructure. There is a plan to connect the entire country with multi model connectivity infrastructure,” he said. NIP will play a crucial role in overcoming the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the economy and catapult the economy in a higher growth trajectory, he said. The government on December 31 last year unveiled the NIP with an aim to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. The focus of the infrastructure pipeline is to accelerate growth and create employment in both urban and rural areas.
- Which platform has been launched by the Union Government on the occasion of the 2018 International Women’s Day?
Questions Asked in CLAT exam
- In a language laboratory, students were given an interesting puzzle involving the word "ELECTROCARDIOGRAPH." The teacher explained that such exercises not only test logical skills but also sharpen attention to detail. According to the challenge, the word had to undergo a series of transformations. First, the class was asked to take the first half of the letters, reverse their order and make the arrangement of letters look quite different from the original. Next, the students were told to identify the last but one letter of the original word and place it at the very beginning, a step that changed the opening appearance of the sequence completely. Finally, as a finishing touch, they had to add the letter 'S' at the end. Following these steps carefully would lead them to the correct transformed word, and only those who adhered to each condition in the exact order could solve the puzzle successfully. (150 words)
- CLAT - 2026
- Coding Decoding
On the night of October 12th, the "Sunburst Medallion" was stolen from the highly secured display case in the city museum. The theft occurred sometime between the museum closing at 10:00 PM and the night guard, Mr. Hemant, completing his final round at 1:00 AM. Three primary suspects were identified, all of whom had recently been dismissed from their museum positions: Anjali, the former curator; Bharat, the former security expert; and Chitra, the former exhibits designer.
Here are the established facts and their alibis:
- The security system logs show that the display case was opened using a specific five-digit code, which only Anjali and the museum director (who was out of the country) knew.
- Bharat's alibi is that he was at a distant relative's birthday party from 8:00 PM to 1:30 AM. Multiple independent witnesses confirmed his presence throughout the entire period.
- Chitra's alibi is that she was working late at a downtown graphic design studio. A time-stamped security camera from the studio's entrance shows her entering at 7:00 PM and exiting at 11:45 PM. The studio is a 20-minute drive from the museum.
- Mr. Hemant, the night guard, stated he checked the medallion at 10:30 PM, and it was still there.
Further investigation revealed that a small, distinctive silver button was found near the display case. Anjali is known to frequently wear a coat with similar unique silver buttons. The security expert, Bharat, had previously boasted that he could remotely disable a certain type of magnetic lock—the same type used on the medallion's case—without needing the code, though the log suggests the code was used. (269 words)
- CLAT - 2026
- Assertion and Reason
In a small town lived a close-knit family where every relation could be expressed through simple symbols. For instance, when they said \( A \times B \), it meant \( A \) is the father of \( B \), while \( A \div B \) meant \( A \) is the mother of \( B \). The younger ones were often introduced with \( A + B \), meaning \( A \) was the daughter of \( B \), and the bond of brotherhood was shown by \( A - B \) (A is brother of B).
One day, the children in the family turned these symbols into a playful code. Instead of introducing their parents and siblings in words, they spoke only in symbols. “Look,” giggled little Meena, “\( M + N \div O \)!” Everyone laughed, because they knew it meant Meena was the daughter of \( N \), and \( N \) was the mother of \( O \), making her \( O \)’s sister. What started as a code soon became a family game, making the bonds of father, mother, daughter, and brother not just relations, but symbols of love and togetherness. (165 words)
- CLAT - 2026
- Blood Relations
Four teams – Red (R), Blue (B), Green (G), and Yellow (Y) – are competing in the final four rounds of the Inter-School Science Olympiad, labeled Round A, Round B, Round C, and Round D. Each round consists of one match between two teams, and every team plays exactly two matches. No team plays the same opponent more than once.
The final schedule must adhere to the following rules:
- Rule 1 (Consecutive Play): The Green team (G) must play their two matches in consecutive rounds.
- Rule 2 (Fixed Appearance): The Yellow team (Y) must play in Round B.
- Rule 3 (Positional Constraint): The Red team (R) must play against the Blue team (B) in a round that is immediately before a round in which neither R nor B is playing.
- Rule 4 (Timing): The Blue team's (B) first match must occur in an earlier round than the Green team's (G) first match.
- Rule 5 (Opponent Link): The team that plays against the Red team (R) in the round that is not against the Blue team (B), is the same team that plays in Round D.
(193 words)
- CLAT - 2026
- Seating Arrangement
Health insurance plays a vital role in ensuring financial protection and access to quality healthcare. In India, however, the extent and nature of health insurance coverage vary significantly between urban and rural areas. While urban populations often have better access to organized insurance schemes, employer-provided coverage, and awareness about health policies, rural populations face challenges such as limited outreach of insurance schemes, inadequate infrastructure, and lower awareness levels. This urban-rural divide in health insurance coverage highlights the broader issue of healthcare inequality, making it essential to analyze the factors contributing to this gap and explore strategies for more inclusive health protection. A state-level health survey was conducted.
The survey covered 1,80,000 adults across urban and rural areas. Urban residents formed 55% of the sample (that is, 99,000 people) while rural residents made up 45% (that is, 81,000 people). In each area, coverage was classified under four heads – Public schemes, Private insurance, Employer-provided coverage, and Uninsured. In urban areas, Public coverage accounted for 28% of the urban population, Private for 22%, Employer for 18%, and the remaining 32% were Uninsured. In rural areas, where formal coverage is generally lower, Public coverage stood at 35%, Private at 10%, Employer at 8%, while 47% were Uninsured.
For this survey, “Insured” includes everyone covered by Public + Private + Employer schemes, and “Uninsured” indicates those with no coverage at all. Officials noted that public schemes remain the backbone of rural coverage, while employer and private plans are relatively more prevalent in urban centres. (250 words)
- CLAT - 2026
- Ratio and Proportion