December 24, 2025

Current Affairs

Right to Disconnect: Towards Work–Life Balance in India

Context: A Private Member’s Bill titled the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 has been introduced in the Lok Sabha to address rising concerns over excessive work-related digital communication beyond official hours. The Bill seeks to legally empower employees to disengage from work calls, emails, and messages after working hours without fear of penalties or disciplinary action.

What is the Right to Disconnect?

The Right to Disconnect refers to an employee’s right to remain offline outside official working hours and to refuse work-related communication unless explicitly required by the nature of employment. It aims to draw clear boundaries between professional and personal life in an era of smartphones, remote work, and constant connectivity.

Key Provisions of the Bill

The Bill proposes the creation of an Employees’ Welfare Authority to oversee implementation. Employers violating the provisions may face a penalty of up to 1%, alongside mandatory overtime compensation for after-hours work.

It also recommends counselling services and digital detox centres to promote healthy technology usage.

Need for a Right to Disconnect in India

India currently lacks statutory safeguards against digital overreach at the workplace. This legal vacuum enables unpaid overtime and constant availability expectations, often described as telepressure. Such practices adversely affect mental health and productivity.

From a constitutional perspective, the Bill aligns with Article 21, which encompasses the right to health, rest, and sleep, and reinforces Articles 39(e) and 42, which mandate humane working conditions and maternity relief.

Empirical evidence underscores the urgency: studies indicate that nearly 49% of Indian employees report work-related stress, while average weekly working hours stand at 47.7 hours, among the highest globally.

Excessive work hours have also been linked to declining productivity, burnout, and presenteeism, suggesting that structured rest improves efficiency and workplace outcomes.

Global Best Practices

Several countries have already legislated the right to disconnect. France pioneered this approach under the El Khomri Labour Law (2017). Portugal criminalised after-hours work contact in 2021, except during emergencies. Australia, in 2024, introduced an enforceable right allowing employees to refuse unreasonable after-hours communication.

Significance for India

If enacted, the Bill could modernise India’s labour governance framework, promote mental well-being, and align workplace practices with constitutional values and global standards.

Organ Transplantation in India: Bridging the Gap Between Law and Lives

Context: Despite nearly three decades of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA), 1994, India’s deceased organ donation ecosystem remains underdeveloped. According to The Hindu, the deceased donor rate continues to be critically low, highlighting systemic, legal, and operational constraints.

Organ Donation Performance in India

India’s deceased organ donation rate stood at 0.77 per million population (pmp) in 2023, starkly lower than Spain’s 49.38 pmp, the global leader. An estimated 5 lakh Indians die annually due to non-availability of organs. Although over 50,000 Brainstem Death (BSD) cases are medically eligible each year, only 700–900 deceased donors are realised.

Further, 85% of transplants rely on living donors, unlike developed countries where 70–80% are from deceased donors. Alarmingly, only 2–3% of ICU deaths undergo BSD certification. The apnea test is mandatory for confirming irreversible loss of brainstem function and is central to BSD determination.

Legal and Institutional Framework

The THOTA, 1994 provides the statutory backbone for organ transplantation in India. It:

Recognises Brainstem Death as legal death, enabling deceased donation.
Regulates living donations, transplant hospitals, and penalises organ trade.
Prescribes certification and consent norms (Form 10 for BSD declaration; Form 8 for consent).

Institutional mechanisms include:

NOTTO: National apex body for organ allocation, registry, and coordination.
ROTTO: Regional coordination across States.
SOTTO: State nodal agencies for training, hospital networking, and awareness.

Key Challenges

Low BSD Utilisation: Massive gap between eligible and certified BSD cases.
Dual Death Certificate Ambiguity: Issuance of both BSD and cardiac death certificates causes legal uncertainty and delays.
Restricted Certification Locations: BSD certification allowed only in registered transplant centres, excluding over 90% of public ICU hospitals.
Doctor Approval Bottleneck: Less than 8% of government doctors are authorised for BSD certification.
Consent Timing Errors: Families often approached before formal BSD certification, leading to 60–70% refusal rates in major public hospitals.

Way Forward

Universal BSD Certification: Permit all ICU-equipped hospitals to certify BSD, as practiced in Spain.
Single Death Certificate Rule: Recognise BSD as the final legal time of death; Kerala’s 2020 order is a best practice.
Trained Transplant Coordinators: Deploy certified counsellors in ICUs; Tamil Nadu’s model increased donations by over 400%.
Digital BSD Registry: Establish a real-time, integrated BSD and organ availability platform linked with NOTTO and SOTTO.

Digital Addressing System DHRUVA

Context: The Department of Posts has notified an amendment under the Post Office Act, 2023 to introduce DHRUVA (Digital Hub for Reference and Unique Virtual Address). The initiative aims to modernise India’s addressing framework by creating a standardised digital address system, similar in ease and scale to UPI in digital payments.

What is DHRUVA?

DHRUVA is a proposed national digital addressing system that replaces long, inconsistent physical addresses with simple, standardised virtual labels.

These virtual labels (for example, name@entity) function as precise digital proxies for physical locations.

The core objective is to establish a nationwide, interoperable Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) that enables seamless and accurate service delivery across government and private platforms such as logistics, banking, e-commerce, and governance services.

Design Architecture

DHRUVA is built on a two-layer structure:

Foundational Layer – DIGIPIN
- DIGIPIN (Digital Postal Index Number) is a 10-character alphanumeric code generated using latitude and longitude coordinates.
- Each DIGIPIN maps an area of approximately 14 square metres, offering high spatial precision.
- This is particularly useful in rural, informal, or newly developed areas that lack formal street names or house numbers.
Digital Address Layer
- On top of DIGIPIN, users can create a personalised, easy-to-remember virtual address label.
- This label links directly to the underlying DIGIPIN and descriptive address information, ensuring both simplicity and accuracy.

Governance Framework

The proposed framework envisages a central Network Administrator, similar in role to National Payments Corporation of India, to regulate standards, ensure interoperability, and oversee ecosystem participants. This model ensures neutrality, scalability, and trust across stakeholders.

Key Features

Interoperability:
DHRUVA is designed to work seamlessly across sectors—e-commerce deliveries, logistics, banking and KYC processes, emergency services, and government schemes.
User Control & Privacy:
The system follows a consent-based architecture, allowing users to decide who can access their address, for what purpose, and for how long. Access automatically expires unless renewed, strengthening privacy protection.
Operational Efficiency:
A single digital identifier reduces manual errors, eliminates repetitive form-filling, improves delivery accuracy, and accelerates service timelines.

Significance

DHRUVA addresses long-standing challenges in India’s address ecosystem—non-standard formats, duplication, and ambiguity.

By enabling precise geolocation, privacy-by-design, and platform interoperability, it can significantly enhance last-mile service delivery and support India’s expanding digital economy.

RBI Measures for Macroeconomic Stability

Context: To reinforce macroeconomic stability amid easing inflation and resilient growth, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)—through the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and liquidity management tools—has announced a coordinated set of monetary and liquidity measures.

Key Measures by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)

1. Repo Rate Cut (25 basis points to 5.25%)

The RBI reduced the repo rate—the rate at which it lends short-term funds to banks against government securities.

Objective: Stimulate economic activity by lowering borrowing costs and ensuring adequate liquidity.

Impact: Bank lending rates and EMIs decline, corporate borrowing becomes cheaper, and money-market rates align more closely with the policy rate.

2. “Goldilocks” Forecast Revisions

The RBI revised FY26 GDP growth upward to 7.3% and lowered the CPI inflation projection to 2.0%.

A “Goldilocks” scenario denotes strong growth with low inflation—neither overheating nor recessionary.

Impact: Improved market sentiment, softer bond yields, higher equity valuations, and better anchoring of expectations.

About the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)

Nature: Six-member statutory body (established in 2016 via amendment to the RBI Act, 1934).
Mandate: Maintain price stability while supporting growth.
Inflation Target: CPI at 4% ± 2% under the inflation-targeting framework.
Composition: RBI Governor (Chair), one Deputy Governor, one RBI official, and three Government-appointed external members (four-year terms).
Process: Decisions by majority vote; Governor has a casting vote; minimum four meetings annually.
Legal Basis: Section 45ZB; decisions binding on the RBI.

Supplementary Liquidity Measures by the RBI

1. Open Market Operations (OMO)

Action: Purchase of government securities worth ₹1 lakh crore.
Objective: Inject durable liquidity and stabilise bond yields across maturities.
Impact: Higher system liquidity, stable call-money rates, and rising bond prices.

2. USD/INR Forex Buy–Sell Swap ($5 billion, 3-year maturity)

Mechanism: RBI buys dollars now (injecting rupees) and sells them back later.
Objective: Boost rupee liquidity while moderating forex volatility.
Significance: Adjusts liquidity without permanently expanding the RBI’s balance sheet (unlike OMO).
Impact: Improved banking liquidity, predictable hedging costs, and balanced dollar supply.

Overall Significance

Together, the rate cut, optimistic macro forecasts, OMOs, and forex swaps signal a calibrated easing—supporting growth, anchoring inflation expectations, and preserving financial stability. This multi-instrument approach strengthens confidence in India’s macroeconomic resilience.