National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

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•NHRC is an autonomous public body, set up to protect and promote human rights. NHRC investigates all matters of violations of human rights such as issues related to discrimination, abuse of power, and neglect. It also recommends measures for effective implementation of human rights safeguards.

•The NHRC receives and acts on complaints from individuals or groups about human rights violations. It can also take suo motu cognizance of incidents based on media reports or other reliable sources. The commission has the authority to conduct inquiries, summon witnesses, and gather evidence to address grievances.

•NHRC: Education and sensitization efforts play a paramount role in diffusing information across all spheres pertaining to human rights. This the commission achieves via training, educating the public, etc., making diverse actors including various agencies in governments, police units, and indeed all people.

Electoral Bonds

•Electoral bonds are interest-free bearer instruments used for political donations in India. They were introduced to increase transparency in political funding by allowing individuals and corporations to purchase these bonds from authorized banks and donate them to political parties.

•The anonymity of donors is one of the major features of electoral bonds. This has been a point of controversy, as critics say that it would lead to a lack of transparency and misuse for illegal funding.

•In February 2024, the Supreme Court of India declared the electoral bond scheme unconstitutional on grounds of violations of the right to information of voters and possibilities of corruption.

UPI 2.0

• UPI 2.0 facilitates overdraft linkage, allowing the overdraft accounts to be connected to UPI. This would facilitate instant transactions from the overdraft account, which will also serve as a safety net for cases where the balance is insufficient.

• The customer can pre-authorize the transactions and make the payments later. At the time of purchase, the specified amount gets deducted from the customer's account, thus making the process seamless.

•UPI 2.0 introduces invoicing, which means that customers can view invoices raised by merchants before making payments. The signed QR feature enhances security by verifying the authenticity of the payee.