Current Affairs: 9th Sept 2025

Accept Aadhaar as identity proof, SC orders poll panel

Context: The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to include Aadhaar as the 12th “indicative” document that those seeking inclusion or exclusion of names on the electoral rolls of Bihar could file as proof of identity during the special intensive revision.

• A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi clarified that the use of Aadhaar would strictly be as proof of identity, and not as evidence of Indian citizenship.
• The EC officials are entitled to verify the “authenticity and genuineness” of the Aadhaar submitted to them, just the way they would do in the case of the other 11 documents, the court noted in the order.
• “Apart from passport and birth certificate, none of the remaining nine of the 11 documents you [EC] have listed for SIR are conclusive proof of citizenship. The petitioners are also agreeing that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship. Statutorily also Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship. Then why can’t you add Aadhaar too in the list? This court has asked you several times to consider Aadhaar… Why are you not?” Justice Bagchi asked the EC’s counsel, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi.
• The court ordered the EC to issue instructions to officials, from Electoral Registration Officers to booth-level officers (BLOs), working on the ground in poll-bound Bihar, to accept Aadhaar from persons filing claims or objections. Approximately 65 lakh voters, out of a total 7.89 crore in the State, were excluded from the draft rolls published on August 1.
• The deadline for filing claims to include names and file objections to exclude names for reasons such as death, permanent shifting, and duplication, was September 1. The EC, on September 2, clarified that these were welcome even beyond the deadline.
• On July 10, the Supreme Court urged the EC to consider accepting Aadhaar as a document of identity during the SIR. Again, on August 14, the court formally directed the use of Aadhaar as a proof of identity and residence.
• Finally, on August 22, in response to complaints that the EC was still not accepting Aadhaar as a valid proof of identity or residence during the claims-and-objections period, the court clarified that voters excluded from the draft electoral roll could attach either Aadhaar card or any of the 11 “indicative” documents.
• Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Bihar’s main Opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, said the BLOs were refusing to accept Aadhaar from claimants despite these back-to-back orders from the top court.
• “Your Lordships had clearly said several times that Aadhaar can be used as an alternative to any of the 11 documents. BLOs are still refusing. The EC is penalising officers for accepting Aadhaar and issued show-cause notices to BLOs who have allowed Aadhaar…Disciplinary proceedings have already started against these officers.
• There are no instructions from EC to officers to accept Aadhaar despite separate orders by this court… I have 24 affidavits from people from various districts who were unsuccessful in giving Aadhaar.
• The EC’s conduct amounts to gross contempt of this court’s orders… We want Aadhaar to be used as proof of residence or identity, so that a person can vote. We want only 11 documents plus Aadhaar,” Mr. Sibal submitted.
• Mr. Dwivedi countered that Aadhaar could not be accorded the same status as a passport, which was a proof of citizenship. Besides, he contended that over 99% of the excluded voters had already submitted their claims and objections, disproving the petitioners’ argument that people did not have any of the 11 documents. Mr. Dwivedi said none of the political parties had pointed out any errors with the SIR process.
• Justice Kant said Aadhaar was like any other official document such as ration card, passport, or birth certificate. Both statutes and judicial dictum did not consider Aadhaar as proof of citizenship. “You [EC] can accept Aadhaar and verify their authenticity,” Justice Kant observed.
• Justice Bagchi said Aadhaar was not “alien” to the Representation of the People Act. “One of the provisions of the Act, in fact, allows Aadhaar as proof of residence,” the judge said.
• The court orally asked Mr. Dwivedi to give “publicity” to the judicial order so that aggrieved voters would come to know and file their claims and objections along with Aadhaar, if need be. He responded that the order would be posted online.

• IIMB’s global ranking in FT MiM 2025 goes up

Context: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore’s two-year full time MBA programme – the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) – has been ranked number one in India and number 28 globally in the Financial Times Masters in Management (FT MiM) 2025 global ranking.

Global top 30

• The programme was ranked at 41 globally in 2024. With the new ranking, the institute is now the only Indian B-school to feature in the global top 30.
• The FT MiM ranking evaluates the world’s top business schools across 19 criteria, with alumni feedback accounting for 56% of the ranking’s weight and school data comprising the remaining 44%.
• It factors in outcomes such as employment, return on investment, diversity, ESG, and internationalisation, the assessment provides a holistic measure of institutional performance.

Career progression

• Outcomes of the IIMB alumni indicate higher career progression, marked rise in weighted salaries, and a notable salary percentage increase of 47% – the highest among the top three Indian B-schools. The institute has also advanced in measures of value for money, improved ESG and Net Zero teaching rank, and has recorded a leap in its carbon footprint rank, moving from 73 to 13.
• The gains in diversity are also notable. The proportion of female faculty rose from 22% to 25%, female students from 33% to 40%, and women on the institute’s board from 30% to 40%. The IIMB also recorded an increased intake of international students to its programme this year.

Cultivating diversity

• “The IIMB benchmarks its curriculum and impact through research against the best in the world to ensure that its students play a decisive role in addressing complex global challenges. The FT MiM ranking reaffirms our promise of delivering a transformational experience that leaves a lasting impact on students, practitioners, industries, and society,” said U. Dinesh Kumar, Director in-charge, IIMB.
• Mukta Kulkarni, Dean, Programmes and Chairperson, Office of International Affairs, said that the 2025 FT MiM rankings were aided by the diversity that the institute has cultivated across its faculty, student, and alumni fraternity, as well as its governing body.

• Infosys to train journalists in digital media and AI

Context: The Karnataka Media Academy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Infosys Ltd. to assist journalists in digital education, skill development, and capacity building.

• The training will be taken up under the CSR programme Springboard and is the first in the country, a note from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
• The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. “The media academy will get access to digital content on Springboard, and journalists can benefit from the learning content in the areas of soft skills, personality development, and overview to the latest technologies such as the artificial intelligence.
• This programme will help journalists in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities,” said
• Satheesha B. Nanjappa, senior vice-president and head of education, Training and Assessment. The programme aims to train 150 journalists this year and will involve a three-day training that will cover skills for digital media, the use of artificial intelligence, and personality development. One batch will be dedicated to train women journalists under the Gender budget, a note said.

• 6.17 acres sanctioned for Quantum City at Hesaraghatta, says Minister Boseraju

Context: The State government has sanctioned a patch of 6.17 acres of land at Hesaraghatta for the establishment of a Quantum City (Q-City), Science and Technology Minister N.S. Boseraju announced.

• “As we assured at the Bengaluru Quantum Summit, our government, under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and at the initiation of Department of Science and Technology, has sanctioned 6.17 acres of land at Hesaraghatta to set up Quantum City,” said the Minister in an X post.
• According to him, Q-City will be Karnataka’s dedicated hub for state-of-the-art research laboratories, startup incubation, industry–academia collaboration. It will also feature production clusters for quantum hardware and processors and Quantum HPC data centres.
• “This milestone is the start of our bold vision to build a $20 billion Quantum Economy by 2035 to create over 2 lakh direct jobs,” he wrote.
• Karnataka was aiming to garner a 20% share in the global quantum market, he stated.
• “This is a historic step for Karnataka. The Quantum City at Hesaraghatta will attract global talent, investments, and firmly place Bengaluru on the world’s quantum map. Build in Karnataka, but will be scaled across India and eventually to transform the world,” the Minister added.
• Additionally, he said, 8 acres of land have been sanctioned for ICTS–TIFR (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences) to expand research and academic excellence in theoretical sciences — strengthening Bengaluru’s position as a global hub for advanced science.

• Naga council in Manipur to enforce trade embargo

Context: An apex body of Manipur Nagas has stuck to its decision to enforce an indefinite ‘trade embargo’ across all Naga-majority areas of the State from September 8 midnight, less than a week after the Centre announced the “reopening” of a crucial national highway.

• The United Naga Council had announced the ‘trade embargo’, expected to affect all forms of trade and transportation of goods, after a meeting between its team and officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs on August 26 was inconclusive.
• The meeting was on the twin issues of the Centre’s move to scrap the Free Movement Regime, and fence the 1,643-km India-Myanmar border.
• The UNC is opposed to the border fencing as Nagas believe the boundary was imposed by the British to divide the Naga homeland straddling Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland, and Myanmar’s Sagaing Division.

• Israeli Finance Minister visits India, signs bilateral investment treaty

Context: Days after Israel intensified its ongoing military operation in Gaza Strip, India hosted Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, who held talks with his Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman, and signed a Bilateral Investment Agreement.

• Mr. Smotrich is leading a delegation of Israeli officials that includes the Chief Economist of the Israeli Ministry of Finance, Shmuel Abramzon.
• “The agreement we signed expresses our shared vision for innovative and secure economic development. This is a strategic step that will open new doors for both Israeli and Indian investors, strengthen Israeli exports, and provide businesses on both sides with certainty and tools to develop in the world’s fastest-growing markets. India is a growing economic powerhouse, and cooperation with it is a tremendous opportunity for the State of Israel,” said Mr. Smotrich after signing the agreement with Ms. Sitharaman.
• Mr. Smotrich’s arrival in India coincided with the launch of a new phase of Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are trying to evacuate the Gaza City in order to create a sanitised zone, which has million-plus civilians facing serious issues like bombing raids and starvation.

Significant outreach

• Mr.Smotrich’s visit to India is a sign of significant outreach by Israel as he was banned by the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Canada in June this year.
• The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to respond to a query about the visit but highly placed Israeli sources said that Israel is in the process of throwing open new sectors of its economy, especially the construction sector, which will generate investment and employment opportunities for Indians. Israel, which started the current military campaign after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, has hired a large number of Indian blue collar workers in the last two years.
• Mr. Smotrich also met Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who in a message said, “Our discussions focused on further strengthening trade and investment ties between our nations.”

New model

• “A new Bilateral Investment Agreement signed by Israel’s Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and India’s Finance Minister will facilitate reciprocal investments between investors from both countries. Israel is the first OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] member state with which India has signed this strategic agreement, in accordance with India’s new model for investment treaties,” said the Israeli Ministry of Finance. Mr. Smotrich announced that the Israeli Ministry of Finance is examining the possibility of opening a representation office in India.
• The Israeli Ministry further said that the new agreement will replace the previous agreement that was signed in 1996.

• Parliamentary panel to be briefed ahead of EU-India FTA talks

Context: As European Trade Commissioners head to Delhi later this week to fast-track Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, the government will brief the parliamentary consultative committee on the discussions, including on contentious issues such as agricultural market access, and non-tariff barriers like the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

• The briefing comes close on the heels of the collapse of trade negotiations with the United States over issues such as opening the market for agricultural commodities, dairy and genetically modified crops, as well as ties with Russia.
• Officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Commerce Ministry are expected to help build political consensus over FTA talks with European countries, which could also demand similar concessions from India.
• According to sources, agreements signed in the past few months will be discussed during the briefing. This includes an FTA with the United Kingdom, and an agreement signed with Nordic countries last year, expected to go into force on October 1. However, these deals skirted the issues over agriculture and visas, focusing instead on areas that could be agreed on.
• According to a notice sent out to members of the Shashi Tharoor-led Committee on External Affairs, the briefing by the government on “India and Europe Relationship: Opportunities and Challenges” will take place tomorrow, a day before European Union’s trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen arrive in Delhi on September 11 for talks beginning Friday.
• EU trade negotiators are already in Delhi for preparatory meetings, where both sides are expected to agree on an accelerated plan for talks every month, so as to arrive at an FTA deal by the end of the year. In addition, a 28-member delegation of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) that oversees the EU’s foreign, security and defence policies will travel to Delhi from September 10-14.
• “The visit builds on recent key milestones, including the EU College of Commissioners’ visit to India in February, the inaugural EU-India Strategic Dialogue in June, and the upcoming EU-India Summit in early 2026,” the European Union office in India announced.
• While the visits by the trade negotiators and commissioners will focus on the FTA, the PSC is expected to push for India to play a more proactive role in the Ukraine conflict and reduce its processing of Russian oil that finds its way back to European markets.
• The visits follow the U.S. decision to impose a total 50% tariff on Indian goods, including a 25% penalty tariff for the purchase of Russian oil, with threats of more “secondary sanctions” from the U.S. over the Ukraine conflict. While the EU has not imposed penalty tariffs on India, it has moved to sanction several Indian companies including Gujarat-based Nayara Energy, partially owned by Russian oil major Rosneft. As a result, Nayara Energy’s oil purchases are being refused by shippers and insurers, even as the EU is preparing a 19^th package of sanctions that will impose penalties on the European buyers of the refined-Russian products sold by Indian refineries.
• Sources said the FTA negotiators have cleared about half of the 23-24 chapters in the final EU-India FTA, and they should complete the agreement by the end of 2025, or early next year.

• Online gaming Act cases moved to Supreme Court

Context: The Supreme Court allowed a petition filed by the Centre seeking transfer of three cases pending in the Delhi, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh High Courts challenging the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025.

• A Bench headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala transferred the cases to the apex court. The Bench asked the High Courts to transfer the case records to the Supreme Court. Arguing for a transfer, the Union government said multiple proceedings before the various High Courts would add to the confusion, especially if the judgments contradict each other. An authoritative declaration on the constitutionality of the statute would settle the law.

• Translated collection of Bhil folk tales to be out soon

Context: The Union government’s recent initiative to bring out a translation tool for tribal languages is helping bring out a translated collection of folk tales of the Bhil tribe in Madhya Pradesh.

• The collection, in Hindi, will feature stories of inter-caste love, caste discrimination, guru pujan and the celebration of theatre.
• In the compilation, titled Anuvad, a recurring theme in several stories appears to be a narrative where casteism is defeated through arguments such as “caste was never a part of Sanatan Dharma”, or “there is no caste in Manusmriti, it was introduced”, and that caste differences should be set aside because “all Hindus are the same”.
• The e-booklet will be made available on the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s Adi Vaani website and the app. Other stories talk about farmer distress, faith healers, and worshippers of Lokmata Ahilya Devi, the Narmada, and Sant Singaji.
• A story about inter-caste love titled Jaativaad Khatam Karo (end casteism) speaks of Basant and Palasi, who live in a beautiful village, where the only problem is that of casteism. While Basant’s caste location is not revealed in the story, it says Palasi is Dalit and Basant is of a “higher” caste. Basant, an attendance marker at a factory, falls for Palasi, a worker, but the villagers object to this.
• The villagers, led by the Pandit, stop Basant to confront him about the adharm (sacrilege).
• Basant stands his ground, enraging the Pandit, who forces Basant to argue with him in a public square. In this dialogue, the Pandit argues that caste is part of Hindu religious texts, while Basant argues that caste was never part of the Manusmriti but that it was inserted in made-up shloks (verses) later in the form of a “conspiracy”.
• He goes on to argue that inter-caste relations are not wrong “because all Hindus are the same”, positing that “casteism” goes against the “Varna system”, which is based on karma and not on birth.
• The Pandit listens to Basant, changes his mind, and declares him “innocent”, calling him a “protector of faith”.
• Another story is about a fierce night-long street play competition where a “Vanvasi” audience is won over by the protagonist’s theatre group, which starts playing the roles of “Vanvasis” on stage, speaking their language and dancing their dances.
• These tales have been collected from oral storytelling traditions of the Bhil community in regions of Madhya Pradesh, with some of them referring to the Nimar region of the State.

Vague timeline

• The stories do not mention the year in which they take place, but some of them have vague clues indicating that they are taking place in a modern world, with the mention of cars and roads, and characters who are police officers and district officials.
• Officials told The Hindu that such folk tales from Gondi, Santali, and Mundari communities have also been translated and will be made available soon.
• In a story titled ‘Guru Pujan’, Samandar, a hard-working schoolteacher in a village, is preparing for Guru Purnima. As preparations are under way, the crowd is stunned into silence by a visibly drunk policeman, who is beating a child. When stopped, he threatens violence and cases against the teachers, children and guests, and vandalises the idol that was supposed to be worshipped. Samandar works up the courage to confront the policeman, stands his ground, and ensures that he runs away. When the students see their teacher defending their lives, they say they will now worship him as their guru. At this point, Samandar posits that they should instead worship “the guru of gurus” — the “bhaagwat flag” — a religious flag, typically yellow or saffron in colour. He says, “This flag represents our culture and civilisation.
• It is a vehicle for our nation. Our Sanatan culture is reflected in this. This is our guru.”
• According to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s V. Bhagaiah, the RSS considers the “bhagwa dhwaj” (saffron flag) its guru. Author Arun Anand, who has studied the RSS, further writes that this concept originated when RSS members wished to consider founder K.B. Hedgewar as their guru, but Mr. Hedgewar had purportedly suggested they worship the saffron flag as their guru instead.

• Red sea cable cuts take a toll on Indian networks to Europe

Context: Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. and Tata Communications Ltd.’s networks are among many dealing with increased latency to traffic between India and Europe, according to telemetry published by the San Francisco-based network intelligence firm Kentic, Inc.

• This follows cuts to the undersea cable systems SEA-ME-WE 4 and IMEWE in the Red Sea, which connect India to West Asia and Europe. Undersea cables are an essential part of the global Internet’s infrastructure, forming the backbone of networks around the world.
• Latency is a measure of how long a data packet takes to make a round trip between two points. While latency between any two points on earth is rarely over one second, differences between domestic and international traffic can be perceptible, such as an inter-continental video call. According to Kentic’s data, latency between Europe and Mumbai (where most subsea cables land in India), went up from roughly 110–150ms to 190–300ms, depending on which cloud service provider was used to test the latency.
• So far, widespread disruptions to networks have not been detected, as India has over a dozen subsea cable systems landing in the country, allowing telcos to reroute traffic over other systems (which are less optimal, but in any case allow for traffic to continue flowing).
• Airtel, Tata Communications and Reliance Jio did not respond to a request for comment. The Department of Telecommunications did not respond to a query.
• This is the second disruption to subsea cable systems connecting to India, after three subsea cable systems faced cuts in the Red Sea in the middle of last year, also linked to Houthi attacks in the ongoing crisis in the region.

• India, Qatar likely to finalise terms of reference for FTA in early October

Context: India is likely to finalise terms of reference for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Qatar in the first week of October, a government source said. The source added that Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal may visit the Gulf country to finalise the same on October 6.

• The possibility of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with Doha was first announced in February during the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s visit to India. The two sides sought to double their bilateral trade by 2030.
• Doha accounts for 1.22% of India’s total trade. In FY 2024-25, India exported goods worth about $1.68 billion, whilst it imports totaled $12.47 billion. Qatar’s key exports to India include liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), chemicals and petrochemicals and aluminium articles, among other things.
• Expanding the number of FTA partners has emerged as an imperative for New Delhi in response to U.S. President Donald Trump-induced tariff regime.
• Washington instituted a 50% tariff on Indian products inclusive of a 25% penalty for buying Russian oil. For perspective, trade with the North American country accounted for 11.4% of India’s overall trade in FY 2024-25.

Talks progressing well

• Enumerating progress about the trade agreement with the European Union, the source stated that talks were progressing well with a delegation of the European Union already in New Delhi. Mr. Goyal is expected to meet the trade commissioner for EU Maroš Šefčovič as part of the 13th round of talks.

• ‘India halts grid access for 17 GW of clean energy projects’

Context: India has cancelled grid access for nearly 17 gigawatts (GW) of delayed clean energy projects to prioritise connections for those that are operational or nearing completion, according to a source familiar with the matter and official documents reviewed by Reuters.

• The state-run Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd. (CTUIL) informed companies including Adani Green Energy , ReNew Power, NTPC, Avaada Group, JSW Energy, and ACME Solar about the cancellations, the documents show.
• The affected projects are located in renewable-rich states such as Rajasthan, western Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in central India, according to a document from the federal agency overseeing inter-state transmission access.

Notices served

• The grid access terminations were carried out in the June quarter after prior notices were issued to the companies, said the source, who requested anonymity as the firms are seeking relief from the federal power regulator, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).