14 September 2025

• Polity: India and Hindi Diwas 14 September is celebrated as Hindi Diwas, marking the date the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi as the official language in 1949.
• Governance: Judicial backlog in the Supreme Court hit 88,417 cases an all-time high as of August 2025.
• Defence: Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025 replaced the 2009 manual 5-year assured orders, capped liquidated damages, decentralised decisions.
• Science: AI weather forecasting reaches 3.8 crore farmers in 13 states via SMS-based alerts with 4-week advance forecasts.
• History: Hindi's constitutional history Articles 343-351 and the Eighth Schedule standard prelims territory.

GS area: Polity (Language, Eighth Schedule)

14 September is Hindi Diwas the date in 1949 when the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Union.

• Article 343: Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union. English was to continue for official purposes for 15 years from commencement (until 1965) but Parliament extended its use by passing the Official Languages Act, 1963, and its amendment in 1967. English continues as an "associate" official language.
• Article 344: A Commission on Official Language must be constituted every 10 years to report on the progressive use of Hindi.
• Article 346: Official language for communication between states: if both agree, that language; otherwise English.
• Article 347: The President can confer official status on a language spoken by a substantial proportion of a state's population.
• Article 351: Directive to the Union to promote the spread of Hindi.
• Eighth Schedule: Lists 22 recognised languages. These languages get representation in the Official Languages Commission and can be used in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Constituent Assembly originally listed 14; languages added over time include Sindhi (1967), Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali (1992), Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santali (2004).
• Three-language formula: Students in non-Hindi speaking states learn: regional language, Hindi, and a modern Indian language or English.
• Hindi as mother tongue (2011 Census): Approximately 43 per cent of Indians declared Hindi as their mother tongue.

Static linkage: Polity (language provisions, Eighth Schedule, Official Languages Act).

GS area: Polity, Governance

The Supreme Court's pending case count reached an all-time high of 88,417 cases in August 2025, with fresh filings (7,080 in August) exceeding disposals (5,667).

• Scale: Supreme Court pendency: 88,417 (69,553 civil + 18,864 criminal). This is despite full sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
• All-courts picture: The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) shows approximately 50 million (5 crore) pending cases across all courts district courts, High Courts, and Supreme Court combined.
• Causes:
  • Inadequate judge-to-population ratio (India has ~20 judges per million; the Law Commission recommended 50 per million).
  • Frequent adjournments on trivial grounds.
  • Vacancies at High Courts (typically 25-30 per cent unfilled).
  • Complex litigation involving multiple parties (land, commercial, tax).
  • Government as the largest litigant and the slowest to settle.
• Impact: Delayed justice is a violation of Article 21 (right to life with dignity). Undertrial prisoners constitute approximately 76 per cent of India's prison population many waiting for trials longer than their maximum sentence.
• Reforms proposed: Fast Track Courts for specific categories; Commercial Courts Act (2015); e-Courts Phase III; Lok Adalats (alternative dispute resolution); reducing government litigation through litigation policy.
• Supreme Court's 2025 annual disposal rate: ~88 per cent of filings (52,630 filed vs 46,309 disposed) insufficient to clear the backlog.

Static linkage: Polity (judiciary, access to justice, Article 21).

GS area: Economy, Internal Security

The Ministry of Defence notified the Defence Procurement Manual 2025, replacing the 2009 manual after 16 years.

• Annual procurement value: Approximately ₹1 lakh crore for the Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence combined.
• Key features:
  • Assured orders: 5 years (extendable to 5 more in special cases) giving domestic industry the long-term visibility needed to invest in capacity.
  • No Liquidated Damages (LD) during the development phase; minimal 0.1 per cent LD post-prototype.
  • LD capped: Maximum 5 per cent normally (10 per cent only in exceptional cases). Previous manual allowed up to 10 per cent, deterring industry participation.
  • Upfront growth provision: 15 per cent in aerial and naval platform work-orders, reducing maintenance downtime.
  • Limited Tendering allowed up to ₹50 lakh.
  • Decentralised authority: Contract Financial Authorities (CFAs) at field level can approve smaller procurements without central approval.
• Innovation and indigenisation chapter: New chapter explicitly encouraging import substitutes, local spare parts, and startup participation.
• Government-to-Government (G2G) procedures: Streamlined for inter-state and bilateral defence purchases.
• Context: The DPM 2025 aligns with the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 and the 70 per cent domestic procurement target. India is the world's largest arms importer the DPM aims to reduce this dependence.

Static linkage: Economy (defence industry), internal security.

GS area: Agriculture, Science and Technology

India's Ministry of Agriculture launched the country's first AI-powered monsoon forecasting system, reaching 3.8 crore farmers across 13 states.

• Technology stack: Google Neural GCM (Global Climate Model) and ECMWF's Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System (AIFS).
• Forecast horizon: 4-week advance forecasts far beyond traditional 5-7 day forecasts.
• Delivery mechanism: SMS-based alerts in local languages via the m-Kisan platform (Ministry of Agriculture's existing farmer advisory network).
• Target season: Kharif crop planning (2025 monsoon season).
• Key 2025 achievement: The system accurately identified a 20-day monsoon stall in mid-2025 allowing farmers to defer sowing and avoid losses.
• Developed by: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Development Innovation Lab-India, and Precision Development.
• Scale plan: Extendable to Rabi season (October-March) and additional states.
• UPSC relevance: Precision agriculture, climate-smart agriculture, digital governance for farmers.
• Background AI models:
  • Neural GCM: Google's physics-informed neural network model that integrates thermodynamics equations with deep learning.
  • AIFS (ECMWF): Data-driven model trained on 40 years of atmospheric data.

Static linkage: Agriculture (technology), science and technology.

GS area: Tribal Affairs, Polity (Panchayati Raj, local governance)

The Manki-Munda system the traditional decentralised governance of the Ho tribe in Jharkhand's Kolhan region was in the news as courts continued to recognise its legitimacy.

• Structure:
  • Mundas: Village-level heads who resolve local disputes, maintain customary law, and manage community resources.
  • Mankis: Pidh (cluster of villages) level heads who hear appeals from Mundas and coordinate inter-village matters.
• Ho tribe: A Dravidian-origin tribal group living in Singhbhum and Kolhan region of Jharkhand. Related linguistically to the Mundari language family.
• Historical codification: Captain Thomas Wilkinson codified the system in 31 rules in 1833. Implemented formally in the Kolhan Government Estate (KGE) in 1837.
• Post-Independence: The system has survived despite not being formally integrated into the Panchayati Raj framework. Courts have allowed it to continue due to the absence of an adequate alternative and the community's preference.
• PESA Act, 1996: The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act recognises the role of customary law and traditional governance in Scheduled Areas (Fifth Schedule). The Manki-Munda system is compatible with PESA's spirit.
• Significance: Demonstrates the coexistence of constitutional local governance and traditional community governance in tribal areas.

Static linkage: Polity (Panchayati Raj, tribal governance, PESA Act).

GS area: Disaster Management, Governance

The concept of a "grey rhino event" was applied to the July 2024 Wayanad landslide in a September 2025 report ("Sliding Earth, Scattered Lives").

• Grey rhino concept: Coined by Michele Wucker (US policy analyst, 2016). A grey rhino event is "highly probable, high-impact, and visible but neglected." It contrasts with "black swan" events (low probability, unforeseen).
• Application to Wayanad: Years of scientific warnings about the fragility of the Western Ghats landslide hazard zonation, ecotile studies were available. Policy makers did not act on them. The July 2024 landslide killed over 200 people in Mundakkai and Chooralmala villages.
• Characteristics of grey rhino events: Predictable; warning signs available; authorities fail to act due to complacency, politics, or economic interests in continued development; preventive action is possible; the event causes massive social, economic, and environmental impact.
• Policy gap: The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (Gadgil Committee, 2011) and the High-Level Working Group (Kasturirangan Report, 2013) both recommended eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) regulations. Full implementation remains contested due to livelihood concerns.
• Contrast with black swan: Nassim Taleb's "black swan" (2007) is unpredictable and rationalisable only in hindsight. Grey rhinos are the opposite they are known, overdue, and chosen to be ignored.

Static linkage: Disaster management, environment, governance.

GS area: Economy, Environment

India's first bamboo-based ethanol plant was commissioned at Numaligarh Refinery, Assam.

• Operator: Assam Bio-Ethanol Private Limited (ABEL) in partnership with Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL).
• Location: Golaghat, Assam within the refinery complex.
• Capacity: 60,000 kilolitres (KL) of ethanol annually.
• Technology: Second-generation (2G) bio-refinery using enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of bamboo lignocellulosic biomass. Unlike first-generation ethanol (from sugarcane/maize), 2G ethanol uses agricultural or forestry waste.
• Bamboo advantage: Assam and the Northeast have abundant bamboo. Bamboo is fast-growing (sequesters carbon rapidly), does not compete with food crops, and provides livelihoods in bamboo cultivation, collection, and transport.
• Economic impact: Saves ₹1,000+ crore annually in crude oil import costs by substituting petroleum fuel.
• National Bioenergy Programme: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) supports 2G ethanol and other advanced biofuels under the National Bioenergy Programme (2021).
• Net Zero 2070: India's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2070 announced at COP26, Glasgow requires a major shift toward biofuels and renewable energy.

Static linkage: Economy (energy, biofuels), environment.

• SC guidelines on DNA evidence: Supreme Court in Kattavellai vs State of Tamil Nadu (2025) issued four-step chain-of-custody protocol for DNA samples package with FIR details, transport to FSL within 48 hours, no tampering without trial court permission, chain of custody register.
• Eustoma (Prairie Gentian): A high-value floriculture crop native to Mexico and the US. Grows 30-90 cm tall; blooms in pink, purple, white, blue. 2+ week vase life. CSIR-NBRI supporting 400+ farmer clusters; profit potential ₹2 lakh per acre per season.