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 Introduction: A Constitutional Flashpoint Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana, may soon find itself at the centre of a constitutional firestorm. The Union government is reportedly planning to introduce the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2025 , which would bring Chandigarh under the ambit of Article 240 , enabling the President to make regulations for its governance. The move has triggered a fierce backlash from political quarters in Punjab, drawing sharp accusations that the Centre aims to dilute Punjab’s historic claim over its capital. Credit - Wikipedia Understanding Article 240: What Does It Actually Do? At its core, Article 240 of the Indian Constitution empowers the President to frame regulations for certain Union Territories (UTs) for their “peace, progress and good government.”  These regulations are not symbolic — they can repeal or amend Acts of Parliament applicable to the UT, and once promulgated, hold the same force as a parliamentary s...

In June 1992, world leaders, scientists, activists, and representatives of non-governmental organisations gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , for a historic meeting called the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) — more popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit .  Rio Earth Summit 1992 This was not a random event. It took place exactly 20 years after the first major UN environmental meeting, held in Stockholm in 1972 . Over two decades, the world saw growing concerns: environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, climate change, and deepening poverty. These issues made it clearer that development and environment were deeply linked — you couldn’t separate economic progress from ecological health. The Rio Summit was born from this realisation: sustainable development needed to become a guiding principle. That meant thinking about how to grow economies, but without destroying the planet in the process. The summit brought together nearly 179 countries...