National Policy & Governance

Beyond the economic headlines, June carried a steady drumbeat of central-government policy moves — some administrative housekeeping, some genuinely structural. This chapter groups them by theme: immigration and citizen services, health and welfare milestones, the judiciary's major rulings, infrastructure announcements, and India's month-long run as BRICS chair.

3.1 Immigration, Citizen Services & Regulatory Housekeeping

The Ministry of Home Affairs notified the Immigration and Foreigners (Amendment) Rules, 2026, issued under Section 30 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, with immediate effect. The most consequential change: foreigners holding visas valid for 180 days or less who want an extension must now complete registration before that 180-day window expires, using a designated online portal or mobile app. Previously, the rules allowed registration within 14 days after the 180-day period lapsed — so this is a tightening, not a relaxation, of the compliance timeline.

The government also revised the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) base year, shifting it from 2011-12 to 2022-23. The decision came from the Office of the Economic Adviser under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), and the revised WPI series was set to launch alongside three brand-new Producer Price Indices — an Output PPI, an Input PPI (trial series), and a Service PPI — all releasing simultaneously from 15 June 2026.

Passport fees were revised for the first time since 2012, with the new fee structure taking effect from 1 July 2026 and covering fresh issuance, renewals, Tatkal applications, replacement of lost or damaged passports, and minors' passports — all under the Passport Rules, 1980.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas tightened rules on domestic LPG distribution through the Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Amendment Order, 2026, and the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution Order, 2026, aiming to prevent dual domestic gas connections and curb the commercial misuse of subsidised cylinders, while also nudging households toward Piped Natural Gas.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released draft Telecommunications (Television, Radio and Associated Services) Rules, 2026, issued under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, aiming to replace a patchwork of older broadcast guidelines with a single, modern regulatory structure.

Ahead of the NEET (UG) 2026 re-examination, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology temporarily restricted access to the Telegram messaging platform nationwide until 22 June 2026, acting on National Testing Agency recommendations and invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 — the provision that empowers the government to block online content or platforms in the interest of sovereignty, security, public order or preventing incitement to offences.

3.2 Judiciary

The Supreme Court of India delivered a genuinely landmark ruling this month: a bench of Justices P. S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar held that the right to walk on safe, demarcated footpaths is a Fundamental Right, arising from a motor-accident case involving the death of a five-year-old child. The Court grounded the right in Part III of the Constitution, tying it to Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression), 19(1)(b) (right to peaceful assembly), 19(1)(c) (right to form associations), 19(1)(d) (freedom of movement), and Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty). It's a useful case to remember precisely because it shows the Court reading a very concrete, everyday entitlement — safe pedestrian infrastructure — into the broad language of the Constitution's fundamental-rights chapter.

Separately, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Manmohan constituted a committee, to be headed by the Union Home Secretary, tasked with preparing a comprehensive Yamuna Action Plan within eight weeks. The committee's membership will include Chief Secretaries of every state and Union Territory through which the Yamuna flows — a river that serves as a lifeline for more than 57 million people across the National Capital Region — and the plan is meant to tackle pollution, sewage discharge and broader environmental degradation along the river.

3.3 Health, Welfare and Social Schemes

The single biggest health-policy milestone of the month was the completion of a nationwide rollout: Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) — the world's largest publicly funded health assurance scheme, offering coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation — reached every state and Union Territory in India. West Bengal's Memorandum of Understanding with the National Health Authority made it the 36th and final state/UT to sign on, following Delhi, which had become the 35th in March 2026. With West Bengal's inclusion, all 28 states and 8 Union Territories are now covered under the scheme, which was launched in 2018 and is implemented by the National Health Authority (established 2018; CEO Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal).

The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyaan (PMSMA), which provides quality antenatal healthcare to pregnant women, completed 10 years of operation since its launch on 9 June 2016. It sits within a broader family of maternal-health schemes worth knowing together: Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which promotes institutional deliveries; Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), which provides free healthcare for mothers and newborns; POSHAN Abhiyaan, focused on maternal and child nutrition; Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN), which guarantees assured maternal and newborn care; Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), which provides maternity benefits; and LaQshya, which improves quality of care in labour rooms and operation theatres.

On the pharmaceutical front, Pluvicto, introduced in India by Novartis, became the country's first regulatory-authority-approved Radioligand Therapy for advanced prostate cancer — a targeted-radiation treatment for patients with PSMA-positive metastatic disease, designed to deliver radiation directly to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. Separately, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved a ₹300 crore High-Energy Medical Cyclotron Project in Nagpur, intended to make Central India self-sufficient in producing the radioisotopes used in PET-CT scans and cancer treatment, reducing dependence on Mumbai and Hyderabad for supply.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched the SHATAYU Dashboard (Senior Holistic Care Assistance and Training for Your Utility), a centralised digital platform connecting trained, certified geriatric caregivers with senior citizens who need professional care. The same ministry also removed the mandatory Domicile Certificate requirement for SC and OBC students applying under the Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes — a reform expected to benefit roughly 1.2 crore students annually by simplifying the application process.

3.4 Central Governance Bodies & Institutional Moments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 11th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, New Delhi, under the theme "Inclusive Human Development for Viksit Bharat@2047." The meeting drew Chief Ministers, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators from 28 states and 5 Union Territories, and notably marked the first time Chief Ministers of all 28 states attended together.

A new architecture for rural development, Viksit Bharat – Gramin Bharat (VBG), is set to take effect from 1 July 2026, aimed at strengthening rural employment, workers' welfare and village development without disrupting existing employment generation or wage payments. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a video-conference meeting of State Rural Development Ministers on the transition, alongside an announcement of a ₹95,692 crore interim allocation, on top of the ₹30,000 crore already released under MGNREGA.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared new leadership for the National Statistical Commission (NSC), the nodal body — established in 2005, operational from 12 July 2006, based on the Rangarajan Commission's 2001 recommendations — responsible for coordinating India's statistical system, setting quality standards for official data, and conducting statistical audits. Its structure comprises a part-time chairperson, four part-time technical members, one permanent ex-officio member (the CEO of NITI Aayog), and a secretary.

The Ministry of Culture commemorated "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas" — marking the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Emergency — through a special programme at the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat attending as chief guest, framed as an occasion to promote awareness of democratic and constitutional values.

3.5 Infrastructure & Connectivity

June brought a wide spread of infrastructure announcements, several of them genuinely first-of-their-kind:

• Chumur, Ladakh became India's first "Model Border Village" under the Vibrant Village Programme. Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena laid the foundation stone for the settlement — home to just 24 households and 91 people at 16,700 feet, primarily engaged in Pashmina rearing — the first of 10 villages identified for this treatment in Ladakh's first phase. The programme rests on four pillars: infrastructure development, employment and livelihood creation, all-weather functionality, and civilian-defence integration.
• NAMO Airport, Daman got a new terminal building, part of a broader ₹2,970 crore development package meant to improve connectivity between Daman and Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi.
• Two new Regional Meteorological Centres opened, in Lucknow and Jammu (India's 7th RMC), strengthening weather-radar coverage, disaster early-warning systems and district-level forecasting across UP, Uttarakhand, J&K, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. India's Doppler Weather Radar network has grown from 17 stations in 2014 to 50 today, with a further 50 planned under Mission Mausam.
• Uttar Pradesh's "Project Ganga" targets rural broadband connectivity for around 20 lakh households, delivered through a network of 8,000–10,000 local Digital Service Providers who will double as micro-entrepreneurs, with the government projecting over one lakh direct and indirect jobs from the rollout.
• India Post ran its first drone-based mail delivery service, linking two post offices in Himachal Pradesh.
• The Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train project deployed India's first railway "tunnel hood" technology — structures at tunnel portals designed to manage sudden air-pressure changes and noise for trains travelling above 300 km/h.
• The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited is developing an indigenous "B35" bullet train, targeting a design speed of 350 km/h and an operational speed of 320 km/h, as part of a plan for seven new bullet-train corridors.
• Rajasthan got its first Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) barrier-less tolling system, combining Automatic Number Plate Recognition with FASTag-based electronic collection, launched at Daulatpura Toll Plaza on the Delhi–Jaipur stretch of NH-48.
• Air India launched its first "Easy Connect" flights under a hub-and-spoke model, letting Tier-2/3 city travellers pre-clear baggage and immigration before connecting through a major hub — starting with a daily Varanasi–Delhi service, flight AI1111.

3.6 Agriculture, Trade and Environment-Linked Economic News

Wheat procurement hit a five-year high of 35 million tonnes for the 2026-27 Rabi Marketing Season, up 17% on the previous year's 30 million tonnes and above the revised seasonal target of 34.5 million tonnes, purchased at an MSP of ₹2,425 per quintal by the Food Corporation of India and state agencies.

India retained EU market access for aquaculture products, honey, eggs and animal casings beyond September 2026, after being included in the list of authorised exporting countries under updated EU food-safety regulation addressing antimicrobial resistance concerns. In a related first, APEDA flagged off Jharkhand's first commercial mango export — 1.5 metric tonnes of Amrapali mangoes grown by an all-women Farmer Producer Company in Simdega district — bound for the United Kingdom.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), India became the world's second-largest solar growth market in 2025, adding more than 37 GW of new solar capacity — ahead of the United States' 34 GW, though still well behind China's roughly 315 GW. India's total installed solar capacity rose from 98.5 GW in 2024 to 135.5 GW in 2025.

India also became the world's top ship-recycling nation in 2025, according to a UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport report, with its share of global ship recycling rising to 35.4% (from 30.1% in 2024) and recycled tonnage climbing nearly 60% to 2.99 million Gross Tons — a result that put India five years ahead of the target set under Maritime India Vision 2030.

Conservation news: the Great Indian Bustard captive-breeding programme reached 94 birds, with three new chicks added — one hatched from a wild-collected egg, two from captive-laid eggs. Ninety-six companies were cleared under the third round of the Textiles PLI Scheme, with a combined investment commitment of ₹12,822.67 crore and projected turnover of ₹58,294.18 crore; the newest batch of 22 approved firms alone brings ₹2,339.14 crore of fresh investment.

On the strategic-materials side, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's 2026 Yearbook estimated India's nuclear arsenal at roughly 190 warheads, against Pakistan's estimated 170 — a 20-warhead lead — with both countries continuing to modernise, and India's longer-range missile development increasingly framed against the backdrop of China rather than Pakistan alone.

India also commissioned the world's first nuclear-process-heat-based hydrogen production facility, at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, inaugurated by Department of Atomic Energy Secretary Ajit Kumar Mohanty. The facility uses the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (commissioned 1985, a step in India's Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme) as its heat source, and produces hydrogen via BARC's indigenously developed Copper-Chlorine thermochemical cycle. On the coal-to-chemicals front, Prime Minister Modi is set to lay the foundation stone for a ₹25,016 crore coal-gasification and ammonium-nitrate plant at Jharsuguda, Odisha, developed by Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemicals Limited, a joint venture of BHEL and Coal India.

Two more Central Public Sector Enterprises were elevated to Navratna status this month: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) — established 1884, headquartered in Kolkata, functioning under the Ministry of Defence — became India's 29th Navratna CPSE, while Chennai Petroleum (covered in Chapter 2) became the 28th.

3.7 India's BRICS Presidency — The June Diary

India held the rotating BRICS chairship through 2026, and June alone saw a packed calendar of ministerial and official-level meetings under the umbrella theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." With Uzbekistan's accession to the New Development Bank (covered in Chapter 5), BRICS now comprises 11 members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

• The BRICS Agriculture Working Group and Ministers' Meeting, held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, from 9 to 13 June (a three-day Working Group phase followed by a two-day Ministerial), was chaired under Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and concluded with a Joint Declaration on food security, farmer welfare and climate-resilient agriculture. The meeting approved a BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture, initially coordinated by ICAR-IIFSR Modipuram; a BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture, initially coordinated by IIT Delhi, focused on AI, geospatial tools and Digital Public Infrastructure for farming; and launched the Global Forum on Farmers' Rights in Seed Systems, coordinated by the PPV&FRA, New Delhi.
• A separate 16th BRICS Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in Indore adopted its own joint declaration on sustainable agriculture and innovation.
• The BRICS National Security Advisers' Meeting, chaired by India's NSA Ajit Doval, focused on "Non-Traditional Security Challenges Confronting the World Today."
• The 11th BRICS Energy Ministers' Meeting was hosted in Gurugram, Haryana, under the Energy Track theme "Energy for All" (सर्वेषां ऊर्जम्).
• The BRICS Heads of Space Agencies Meeting was hosted in Bengaluru by ISRO and the Department of Space, with support from the Ministry of External Affairs.
• India also hosted the 13th BRICS Urbanisation Forum, in New Delhi on 11–12 June, under the theme "Cities for People: BRICS Cooperation for Inclusive and Resilient Urban Futures" — announced by Housing & Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal, and marking the fourth time India has hosted this particular forum.

3.8 India's Global Engagements Beyond BRICS

Prime Minister Modi undertook a six-day visit to France and Slovakia from 13 to 18 June, holding bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and Slovak PM Robert Fico. In Nice, France, he and Macron jointly inaugurated "Bharat Innovates 2026," a showcase for India's deep-tech and innovation ecosystem organised under the India–France Year of Innovation 2026, and launched the India–France Atal Tinkering Lab Bridge, connecting young school-level innovators in both countries via a Letter of Intent between the Atal Innovation Mission and La Fondation Dassault Systèmes.

Separately, India joined 34 other countries at the 2nd Pax Silica Summit in Washington, D.C., endorsing a Joint Statement on AI Opportunity — a US-led initiative to build trusted, resilient supply chains for AI technologies and support a pro-growth, pro-innovation regulatory approach globally.

Chapter 3 Quiz

1. Which state became the 36th and final one to join Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, completing national coverage? — West Bengal
2. What Fundamental Right did the Supreme Court newly affirm this month, and which Articles did it cite? — The right to walk on safe footpaths, under Articles 19(1)(a)-(d) and 21
3. What is India's global rank for solar capacity additions in 2025, per IRENA? — 2nd, after China
4. What is India's estimated nuclear warhead count per SIPRI's 2026 Yearbook, and how does it compare with Pakistan's? — ~190 warheads, about 20 more than Pakistan's ~170
5. Name India's first "Model Border Village." — Chumur, Ladakh
6. Who chaired the BRICS National Security Advisers' Meeting for India? — NSA Ajit Doval
7. What theme guided India's BRICS chairship in 2026? — "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability"
8. Since when has the mandatory 180-day visa registration deadline applied under the revised Immigration Rules? — Registration must now be completed before the 180-day period expires (previously a 14-day grace period after expiry applied)
9. Which CPSE became India's 29th Navratna, and under which ministry does it function? — Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited, Ministry of Defence
10. What is India's new record for wheat procurement in RMS 2026-27? — 35 million tonnes, a five-year high
11. From what date does the new Viksit Bharat – Gramin Bharat framework take effect? — 1 July 2026
12. What forum did PM Modi and President Macron jointly inaugurate in Nice? — Bharat Innovates 2026

---