Legal Current Affairs for 5 February 2026

Type: Central Sector Scheme launched in 1993.
Ministry: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is responsible for prescribing guidelines for implementation.
Objective: To enable the Members of Parliament to recommend works for creation of durable community assets like drinking water, sanitation, etc. based on locally felt needs.
Implementing Agency: Govt. departments, trusts, and cooperatives selected by Implementing District Authority (IDA) to execute MPLADS work.
Funds Allocation: Each MP is entitled to ₹5 crore per annum
Lok Sabha MPs can recommend works in their Lok Sabha constituencies.
Rajya Sabha MPs can recommend works within the state of election.
Nominated members can recommend works anywhere in the country.
Special provisions for fund allocation to SC/ST Population
MPs shall recommend at least 15% of MPLADS funds for SC-inhabited areas and 7.5% for ST-inhabited areas every year.
If LS constituency has fewer tribals: Then MPLAD fund may be utilized in areas predominantly inhabited by Scheduled Castes and vice-versa.

Geography: Located in Assam’s Brahmaputra floodplains between the Brahmaputra River and the Karbi (Mikir) Hills in Assam, India.
Status: Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 and a Tiger Reserve.
Biodiversity: The park hosts two-thirds of the world’s one-horned rhinos, Tiger, Elephant, Asiatic Water Buffalo, and Eastern Swamp Deer.
Conservation: Established as a Reserve Forest in 1905, it is now an recognized Important Bird Area by birdlife international.

Budget Proposal: The Centre plans ecologically sustainable Turtle Trails along key coastal nesting sites in Odisha, Karnataka, and Kerala.
Ecological Threat: Experts argue Arribada (mass nesting) sites must remain no-go zones, as artificial light and movement disorient turtles.
Conservation vs. Tourism: Researchers warn against building infrastructure at critical rookeries like Rushikulya, citing past ecotourism failures in sensitive habitats.
Sustainability Path: non-invasive infrastructure, low carbon impact, community engagement.

Tax Devolution:
Vertical Devolution: This is the percentage of the Central Government’s Divisible Pool of taxes that is given to the States.
Under 16th FC, states’ share in the divisible pool of central taxes was retained at 41%, unchanged from the 15th Finance Commission.
The divisible pool excludes cesses, surcharges, and cost of collection from gross central tax revenue.
Horizontal Devolution: This is the formula used to decide exactly how many rupees each state gets from that 41% pot.
The 16th FC has introduced a major shift toward rewarding economic performance.
Distribution among states is based on a revised devolution formula with weights for income distance (42.5%), population as per the 2011 Census (17.5%), demographic performance (10%), area (10%), forest & ecology (10%), and a new 10% weight for contribution to GDP, while excluding the tax and fiscal effort parameter used by the 15th FC.

Article 21 (Dignity and Bodily Autonomy): The Court ruled that the inability to access MHH facilities subjects girls to “stigma, stereotyping, and humiliation”, which directly violates their right to live with dignity.
Forced absenteeism or dropouts due to biological realities are seen as violations of bodily autonomy.
The SC held that MHH are inherent to a life lived with dignity, not mere survival. The right covers bodily autonomy, privacy, and reproductive health of menstruating girls.
Substantive Equality (Article 14): The judgment moves beyond “formal equality” (treating everyone the same). It argues that ignoring the unique biological needs of women creates a “structural exclusion”.
SC noted that true equality requires the State to address these specific disadvantages to put girls on an equal footing with their male peers.
Right to Education (RTE): Under RTE Act 2009, the Court ruled that “free” does not just mean waiving tuition fees. It requires removing any financial barrier (including the cost of sanitary products) that prevents a child from completing their education.
Under RTE Act 2009, the requirement for separate toilets is no longer just an “infrastructural” guideline but a “substantive” one. Failure to provide these facilities is now termed a “stark constitutional failure.”

About: The Code on Wages, 2019 is a landmark labour reform aimed at ensuring fair wages, social justice, ease of compliance, and employment generation, by consolidating multiple wage-related laws into a single, uniform legal framework across India.
It promotes Single Registration, Single License, and Single Return. It reduces rules from 163 to 58, forms from 20 to 6, and registers from 24 to 2.
Origin: Enacted based on recommendations of the 2nd National Commission on Labour (2002) to consolidate 29 laws into four functional codes, namely, the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.
It subsumes four existing laws namely the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

About: Launched in 2021, GNIP is a mega infrastructure initiative to be implemented on Great Nicobar Island (GNI), located at the southern end of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The project requires diversion of forest land in Galathea Bay, Pemmaya Bay, and Nanjappa Bay, areas traditionally inhabited by the Nicobarese community before the 2004 tsunami.
Features: Spearheaded by NITI Aayog, it includes a transshipment terminal at Galathea Bay, a greenfield airport, a greenfield township, and a tourism project with a gas-powered plant.
It is being executed by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO) and is strategically located near the Malacca Strait, a key maritime route linking the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
Strategic Importance: Nicobar’s strategic location near the Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok Straits enables India to monitor crucial sea routes vital for global trade and energy supply, aligning with the Act East Policy (2014) and the QUAD’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
The planned greenfield airport will enhance defense deployment, boosting India’s capacity to track Chinese naval movements and reinforce regional security.