The Lok Sabha has passed the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
About
Aim: To amend the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.
The new bill has been brought to make provisions for delayed registration more stringent and to encourage timely reporting of events of birth and death.
Noida Police registered a Zero FIR against a woman over remarks made about the Prime Minister during a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
About
The FIR invokes Sections 352, 353(1) and 356(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), covering insult, public mischief and defamation.
Section 352 requires proof that the accused intended, or knew it was likely, that the insult would provoke an actual breach of public peace and not simply that someone felt insulted.
The Union Cabinet has approved 'Samudra Manthan' – the National Offshore Exploration Scheme with an approved outlay of Rs.84,084 crore for implementation up to FY 2030–31.
Offshore Exploration
Offshore exploration is the search for natural resources, primarily crude oil, natural gas and seabed minerals, that lie beneath the ocean floor.
It requires complex geological, geophysical and engineering methods to locate and evaluate potential reserves hidden beneath marine waters, before commercial drilling or extraction.
Parliament has passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, extending the same legal protection currently available to the National Anthem (Jana Gana Mana) to the National Song (Vande Mataram).
Key Highlights
The Bill amends Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
It makes it an offence to:
intentionally prevent the singing of Vande Mataram; or
