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Digital public infrastructure and platforms

India's digital public infrastructure, digital money, and the regulation of online selling, gaming, platforms and competition. It serves GS2 answers on e-governance and GS3 answers on the digital economy.

Foundation note: India Stack: the layers of digital public infrastructure

Showing 3 of 4 articles, those that changed from 1 July to 30 September 2026.Show all

Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020

Prelims and Mains

The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 govern how a platform may sell to an Indian consumer.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority issued guidelines on dark patterns in 2023, and the Authority has penalised firms under them.
The 2023 guidelines list 13 dark patterns as unfair trade practices, among them false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, subscription traps and drip pricing.

What the amendment requires

Design
- Comply with the 2023 dark patterns guidelines
- Yearly self audit and certificate of compliance
Search
- No manipulation to mislead
- Clearly disclose sponsored listings
Prices
- Show the reduced and the prior price
- Prior price is the lowest in the previous 30 days
- No bundled fees for unrelated services
Imports and grievances
- Disclose importer and country of origin
- Join the National Consumer Helpline convergence process

From the Press Information Bureau (PIB) release, 10 September 2026

What changed

10 Sep 2026
- An amendment notified on 10 September 2026 requires a platform to certify its own interface from 1 January 2027.
- Before the amendment a platform answered for its interface only when somebody caught it.
PIB, 10 Sep 2026: Government amends E-Commerce Rules to strengthen consumer protection and promote transparency (opens in a new tab)

Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme

Prelims and Mains

The Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) is a Central Sector Scheme to modernise land records, so that the record of who owns which piece of land can be read, mapped and registered.

The problem and the scheme

The record of who owns which piece of land is the government's own rule book, and the textual record of ownership and the survey map often disagree with each other.
It began in 2008 as the National Land Records Modernisation Programme, merging two Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
In 2016 it was revamped as the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), a Central Sector Scheme funded entirely by the Union.

DILRMP 3.0

DILRMP 3.0 builds a GIS enabled Land Stack tying cadastral maps to Records of Rights, registrations and court cases.
State Land Stacks federate into a National Land Stack, with the data staying with the States.
Every parcel gets a Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN), a 14 digit identity also called the Universal Bhu-Aadhaar.
Registration is to be done at Registration Seva Kendras, modelled on Passport Seva Kendras.
NAKSHA, the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations, is the pilot for urban land records and issues Urban Property Cards.

What changed

10 Sep 2026
- The Union Minister launched the operational guidelines for DILRMP 3.0, for the digital overhaul of land records for 2026 to 2031.
PIB, 10 Sep 2026: Union Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan Launches Operational Guidelines for DILRMP 3.0 (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 9 Sep 2026: Department of Land Resources to Launch Operational Guidelines for DILRMP 3.0; Set to Announce ₹565.50 Crore Digital Overhaul of Land Records (opens in a new tab)

Safe harbour and the Meta takedown

Prelims and Mains

Safe harbour is the protection that Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 gives a platform from liability for what its users post.

In Shreya Singhal the Supreme Court held that a platform need remove content only on a court order or a government notification tied to Article 19(2).
Blocking orders under Section 69A are confidential.

What changed

10 Aug 2026Newnewly added
- A video posted by the Prime Minister became inaccessible on Facebook for some hours on 28 July with a notice citing a legal request, and was restored as an operational error.
- A parliamentary committee demanded an apology and spoke of withdrawing safe harbour, which only Parliament can do by amending the law.
Mains: safe harbour fits hosting but not paid advertising, where the platform picks the audience and earns from each view, which is the case for independent audits of algorithms as the European Union requires of very large platforms.
Frontline, 10 Aug 2026 · Frontline, 18 Jul 2026

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