New Delhi, Jan 29: Digital addiction is growing as a significant health problem among children and the youth and is also contributing to the mental health crisis in the country, said the government on Thursday in the Economic Survey 2025-26.

The Survey tabled in the Parliament by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, noted that digital addiction is closely linked with the degrading mental health of the youth in the country.

“Digital addiction negatively affects academic performance and workplace productivity due to distractions, ‘sleep debt’, and reduced focus. It also erodes social capital,” it said.

To address this problem, the CBSE has issued guidelines on safe internet use in schools and school buses. Other measures include the Ministry of Education’s Pragyatah framework, which guides digital education planning with attention to screen time, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights guidelines on screen time limits and online safety.

Further, the Survey also mentioned the high prevalence of social media addiction among those aged 15-24, which is strongly associated with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and cyberbullying stress.

Other issues plaguing Indian youth include compulsive scrolling, social comparison, and gaming disorders.

These are increasingly leading to sleep disruption, aggression, social withdrawal, and depression, with adolescent populations being especially vulnerable.

To address this issue, the government has taken multiple measures, the Survey said.

This includes the Tele-MANAS (Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States), which has since its launch in October 2022, received over 32 lakh calls; the SHUT (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, which provides specialised care for excessive and compulsive technology use, focusing on adolescents and young adults; and he Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2025, which represents a major step to address digital addiction and financial harm among youth.

As digital access cannot be fully restricted, the Survey suggested the establishment of offline youth hubs, particularly in urban slums and rural areas, to provide alternatives to digital spaces; moderated online safe spaces hosted by schools or similar institutions.

“Schools play a critical role in shaping digital habits, and hence, they should introduce a Digital Wellness Curriculum covering screen time literacy, cyber safety, and mental health awareness,” it said, while calling for a “holistic approach, including physical and mental health, is essential to ensure a resilient future”.

New Delhi, Jan 29: There is a need to retain school students beyond Class 8 as the secondary age-specific net enrolment remains low, the Economic Survey 2025-26 said.

According to the survey tabled in Parliament on Thursday by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while India has improved enrolment at early levels, the secondary age-specific net enrolment rate (NER) remains low at 52.2 per cent.

It said the scenario highlights the need to retain students beyond Class 8.

“A key issue is the uneven distribution of schools as 54 per cent of schools offer only foundational-preparatory education, while just 17.1 per cent provide secondary education in rural areas,” it noted.

Urban areas have a higher share of secondary schools (38.1 per cent). This disparity, the document highlighted, limits rural students’ access to higher-level classes, resulting in “transition losses, increased travel time, and higher dropout rates”.

“These structural imbalances are reflected in enrolment patterns, with a drop from the foundational and preparatory levels to the middle and to secondary levels in rural areas,” it pointed out.

In urban areas, though, enrolment rises from the middle to the secondary level. Grade-wise enrolment trends further highlight the decline at the secondary stage.

The survey also said that India has made notable gains in school enrolment by strengthening infrastructure and teacher capacity, with schemes like Poshan Shakti Nirman and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan promoting access and equity.

“Further action is required, especially as the focus shifts from enrolment to learning outcomes. Policy interventions to expand composite and integrated schools, upgrading schools up to Class 7, and strengthening open schooling are vital for improving retention and optimising resources,” it said.

Improving infrastructure, teacher skills through strengthened District Institute of Education and Training and State Council of Educational Research and Training, and involving parents and communities in governance can create an inclusive, learner-focused environment, it suggested.

Combining these strategies with curriculum and assessment reforms aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) and the use of digital platforms such as PM e-Vidya can provide high-quality, equitable education, even in remote areas, it underlined.

Raisen, Jan 29: Radiosonde, an atmospheric parameter-measuring instrument with ‘Malaysia Meteorological Department’ written on it, was found falling from the sky in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district, triggering panic among locals, police said on Thursday.

Fearing that it could be an explosive, the villagers alerted the police, who seized the device and confirmed that it was a telemetry instrument.

Residents of Markhandi village in Begamganj area, around 80 kms from the district headquarters, spotted the device falling from the sky on Wednesday evening, an official said.

Radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters.

“Locals found the device falling from the sky in a residential area of the village, which created panic among them and caused them to run away from their homes towards the agriculture fields. Considering it to be some suspicious instrument and fearing that it may cause harm, the villagers informed the police,” Begamganj Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDOP) Sonal Gupta said.

Soon after being alerted, a police team reached the spot, secured the area and seized the device, she said.

As per the preliminary investigation, it was not an explosive but a radiosonde device used in meteorology, Gupta said.

“The device clearly bears the inscription ‘Malaysia Meteorological Department’ on it, which indicates that it is of Malaysian origin,” the SDOP added.

Police believe it travelled thousands of kilometers to India (from Malaysia) due to strong winds and jet stream in the upper atmosphere.

They have appealed to villagers not to touch any such device if they find any, and immediately report to the police.

Radiosonde is a vital instrument for atmospheric data collection. It uses hydrogen-filled balloons, which record atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind direction, and speed approximately 15-20 kilometers above the earth’s surface and transmit the data via radio signals.

Officials said such balloons often fall hundreds of kilometers from the launch point.

New Delhi, Jan 29: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a recent University Grants Commission (UGC) regulation after various pleas were filed contending that the Commission adopted a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination and excluded certain categories from institutional protection.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Centre and the UGC on the pleas challenging the regulation.

The new regulations mandating all higher education institutions to form “equity committees” to look into discrimination complaints and promote equity were notified on January 13.

The University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, mandated that these committees must include members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), persons with disabilities, and women.

The new regulations replaces the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which was largely advisory in nature.

The pleas assailed the regulation on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is defined strictly as discrimination against members of the SCs, STs and OBCs.

It said that by limiting the scope of “caste-based discrimination” only to SC, ST and OBC categories, the UGC has effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redressal to individuals belonging to the “general” or non-reserved categories who may also face harassment or bias based on their caste identity.

Protests were held at various places against the regulations, with student groups and organisations demanding its immediate rollback.