The Union government has withdrawn the Jan Vishwas (Amendment) Bill, 2025 from the Lok Sabha after its examination by a Select Committee, so that the committee's detailed recommendations can be built in. The Bill seeks to decriminalise minor offences across several laws by replacing jail terms with monetary penalties and fines.
The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), under the Ministry of Cooperation, has launched the Dirghavadhi Krishak Punji Sahakar Yojana to strengthen long-term credit for cooperatives. It will provide long-term finance for agriculture and allied sectors, encouraging capital formation and rural infrastructure. The scheme targets financially sound cooperative societies to keep institutional credit flowing and lift productivity.
The Union government announced a Coconut Promotion Scheme in the Budget 2026–27 to lift coconut output and farm incomes. India is the world's largest coconut producer, with about 30.37% of global production. The crop covers around 2,165 thousand hectares and yields about 21,373 million nuts a year, supporting nearly 30 million people, including about 10 million farmers.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has released the Final Estimates for 2024–25 and the First Advance Estimates for 2025–26 of horticulture crops. In 2024–25, the area under horticulture rose to 301.36 lakh hectares and output reached 3,707.38 lakh tonnes, with fruits at 1,176.49 lakh tonnes and vegetables at 2,177.97 lakh tonnes.
The Supreme Court has closed the four-decade-old MC Mehta v. Union of India case on air pollution in Delhi-NCR. Filed in 1985 by environmentalist MC Mehta, it became a landmark Public Interest Litigation in Indian environmental law and led to measures such as the shift to CNG in Delhi's public transport and tighter pollution norms.
The Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the age limit on maternity leave for adoptive mothers. It held that Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code, 2020, violated the right to equality and the right to life under Articles 14 and 21.
World Social Work Day 2026 was observed on March 17. The day promotes unity, social inclusion, cooperation and shared responsibility, and recognises the role social workers play in supporting communities, tackling challenges and advancing social justice. It is organised by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), a global body of social work professionals.
The International Day of Action for Rivers is observed on March 14 to underline the importance of conserving rivers for clean water, biodiversity and human survival. It was adopted in 1997 at an international meeting held in Curitiba, Brazil.
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