News Context

• In his Mann Ki Baat address, the Prime Minister called Census 2027 a national responsibility.
• The first phase is nearly complete, covering 32+ crore families, while 2.6 crore people have used digital self-enumeration.

Census 2027 — Key Facts for Prelims

• Census 2027 will be the 16th Census in the country and the 8th after independence.
• Originally scheduled for 2021, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Conducted in a fully digital format, with an option of self-enumeration.
• Will include caste enumeration for the first time.
• Caste was last counted in full in 1931; every Census up to 2011 counted only SCs and STs. The decision to add caste enumeration was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA).
• Census is a Union subject, listed at Entry 69 of the Union List, Seventh Schedule.
• Conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Two Phases & Digital Features

• Phase I: Houselisting and Housing Census (HLO). Phase II: Population Enumeration (PE).
• Enumerators collect data directly through a mobile app on their own smartphones.
• The app and self-enumeration portal are available in 16 languages, including Hindi and English.
• The Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS) portal manages and monitors field work.

Value Addition

• First Census attempt: 1872 under Lord Mayo — non-synchronous.
• First synchronous Census: 1881, under Lord Ripon. Held every 10 years since.
• 1951 was the first Census after independence; 1931 the last to count caste in full.
• Delimitation of constituencies and the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (women’s reservation) are linked to the first Census held after the Act.

About

• The Brahmani is the second largest river of Odisha, after the Mahanadi — a peninsular, east-flowing river draining into the Bay of Bengal.
• Formed by the meeting of the South Koel and Sankh rivers near Rourkela, Sundargarh district, Odisha. Both source rivers rise in Jharkhand.
• About 800 km long; most of its course lies in Odisha. Its basin covers parts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
• Main tributaries: Sankh, South Koel, Tikra and Gohira.
• Near its mouth, it joins the Baitarani river and forms a common delta before entering the Bay of Bengal near Dhamra.
• The Rengali Dam (Rengali multipurpose project) is built on the Brahmani — hydropower, irrigation and flood moderation.
• Rain-fed and monsoon-dependent, making its lower reaches flood-prone in the rainy season.

Value Addition

• The Brahmani–Baitarani delta holds Bhitarkanika National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary — famous for mangroves and the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), the largest living reptile.
• Bhitarkanika is a Ramsar site.
• The nearby Gahirmatha coast is a major nesting site of Olive Ridley turtles.

News Context

• The Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department and Indian Maritime University conducted an 18-day underwater exploration near Poompuhar, an ancient Chola port.
• Found a West Asian torpedo jar fragment, four terracotta ring wells and 250+ pottery pieces — showing Poompuhar’s ancient trade links with West Asia and the Mediterranean.

About Poompuhar

• Also known as Puhar and Kaveripattinam (Kavirippattinam); lies at the mouth of the Cauvery (Kaveri) river.
• Believed to have been the capital and chief port of the early Cholas. In Sangam Tamil, “Puhar” means a river mouth or harbour town.
• Merchants from across India and Southeast Asia traded here — items from the Ganges region, food products from Sri Lanka, spices from Java.
• City was divided into three parts: Maruvurpakkam (seashore), Pattinappakkam (west), Nalangadi (between the two).
• Appears in Sangam and post-Sangam literature — mainly Silappadikaram, Manimekalai and Pattinappalai.

Concepts for Prelims — Sangam Ports

• Sangam age: roughly 300 BCE–300 CE; Tamil kingdoms were the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas.
• Three great Sangam ports: Puhar (Poompuhar) — Cholas, at the Kaveri mouth; Muchiri (Muziris) — Cheras, Malabar Coast, Kerala; Korkai — Pandyas, mouth of the Thamirabarani, famous for pearls.
• Other ports: Tondi (Chera) and Arikamedu (near Puducherry — the Poduke of the Periplus, an Indo-Roman trading post).
• Silappadikaram is a Tamil epic by Ilango Adigal, set partly in Poompuhar; Manimekalai is its sequel; Pattinappalai is from the Pattupattu collection.
• The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE Greek sailors’ guide) describes Indian Ocean trade; Indo-Roman trade brought gold and wine into south India and took out pepper, pearls, ivory and textiles.

News Context

• Uttar Pradesh’s sugar output fell from 126.4 lakh tonnes (2019-20) to 89.5 lakh tonnes (2025-26), mainly due to red rot disease affecting the popular Co-0238 (Karan 4) variety.
• A new variety, Co-20016 (Karan 20), resistant to red rot including the CF13 pathotype, has been proposed as its replacement and awaits approval.

About Sugarcane

• Tropical/subtropical crop; needs hot humid climate, temperature 21–27°C, rainfall 75–150 cm; best in deep loamy soil with good drainage.
• Long-duration crop (10–18 months); grown from stem cuttings (setts), not seeds; a ratoon crop follows the first harvest.
• Top producers: UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka; Brazil is the world’s largest producer, India the other major player.
• Yield/hectare is higher in the tropical south (Maharashtra, Karnataka, TN) than the subtropical north (UP, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand).
• Sugar season runs October to September. Products: sugar, jaggery (gur), molasses, bagasse, ethanol — bagasse used for cogeneration electricity.

Red Rot Disease & the Co-0238 Breakdown

• Red rot is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum falcatum, called the “cancer of sugarcane.”
• Symptom: reddening of inner cane tissue with white patches, sour alcohol-like smell; blocks water/nutrient flow.
• Spreads via infected seed cane (setts), soil, water, wind. Best defence: resistant varieties, disease-free seed, crop rotation, avoiding monoculture.
• Co-0238 was developed by the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, released in 2009; large-scale monoculture let the fungus develop a new CF13 strain, causing varietal breakdown.

Sugarcane Pricing & Policy

• Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP): minimum price mills must pay farmers, approved by the CCEA on CACP recommendation.
• State Advised Price (SAP): states like UP and Punjab fix their own, usually higher than FRP.
• Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966: mills must pay within 14 days of delivery.
• Sugarcane has FRP, not MSP; wheat and paddy have MSP.
• Rangarajan Committee (2012) recommended linking sugarcane prices to sugar prices, revenue-sharing between farmers and mills, deregulating the sugar industry, and reducing restrictions on sugar sales/exports.