UPSC Daily Current Affairs | One Liners 14-09-2026

One Liners 14-09-2026

History, Art and Culture

Sir Thomas Munro

• Major-General Sir Thomas Munro (27 May 1761 – 6 July 1827) was a celebrated Scottish soldier, military officer, and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Madras from 1820 until his death in 1827.
• He spent over 40 years in India and is widely regarded as one of the most popular British administrators in South India.
• Ryotwari System – Alongside Alexander Read, Munro pioneered the Ryotwari System in the late 18th century.
• Unlike the Zamindari system, this land revenue mechanism settled taxes directly with individual cultivators (ryots), recognising them as owners of their land.
• Education & Governance – He drafted the first comprehensive public education policy for the Madras Presidency & strongly advocated for giving native Indians a larger share in regional governance and administration.
• He shaped the modern district framework in the Madras Presidency & initiated the first statistical survey of indigenous education in 1822.
• Military Career – He distinguished himself in the Anglo-Mysore and Pindari Wars before moving into political office.
• Death & Legacy – In July 1827, while touring Pattikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Munro contracted cholera and died on July 6, 1827 — the same day the Madras Government accepted his recommendation to establish a hill station.
• He is buried at CSI St. Mary’s Church, Fort St. George, Chennai.

Geography

Nilgiri Hills – 1st hill station of the British Raj

About 200 years ago, Governor Sir Thomas Munro’s visit to Ooty led to the Nilgiri Hills being declared the first hill station of the British Raj.

• Nilgiri Hills – Located in South India at the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, they serve as the majestic meeting point for the Eastern and Western Ghats.
• It is an integral part of the UNESCO-designated Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
• Highest Peak – Doddabetta Peak stands as the highest point at 2,637 metres (8,652 feet) & also the highest peak in Tamil Nadu.
• Naming – The name Nilgiri comes from the striking purplish-blue bloom of the Neelakurinji flowers, which blankets the hillsides roughly once every 12 years.
• Ecosystem – The landscape is defined by shola forests (stunted tropical montane forests) nestled within vast, undulating grasslands.
• Major Rivers – Like the Bhavani, Moyar, and Kabini.
• Heritage Toy Train – The historic Nilgiri Mountain Railway connects Mettupalayam to Ooty, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Indigenous Tribes – Most notably the Toda (known for their unique barrel-shaped huts and embroidery), Kota, Kurumba, and Irula tribes.

Warmest August (2026) ever  

• Record-breaking – Warmest August ever, and also the warmest month on record globally.
• August 2026 was 1.65 degrees Celsius above the estimated pre-industrial (1850-1900) baseline, marking the first month above 1.5 degrees Celsius since Nov 2025.
• The period from June to August 2026 was the joint-warmest three-month period on record globally, on a par with 2024.
• Paris Agreement context – Breaching 1.5°C in a single month does not mean crossing the long-term threshold. The Agreement aims to keep warming well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C by 2100.
• India’s climate – This August 2026 was the warmest August in the country since 1901, with a mean monthly temperature of 28.01 degrees Celsius.
• Globally, the average surface air temperature in August was 16.96 degrees C, 0.85 degrees C above the 1991-2020 average.

International Relations and Issues

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Board and Investors Council

The Union Minister of State for Science and Technology has addressed a high-level reception for the CEPI Board and Investors Council in New Delhi.

• Hosted by – Jointly by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and CEPI at the India International Centre.
• CEPI – An innovative global public-private partnership dedicated to accelerating the development of vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats.
• Headquarters – Oslo, Norway.
• Stakeholders – It brought together CEPI leadership, Board and Investors Council members, policymakers, scientists, industry representatives and other stakeholders involved in vaccine development and epidemic preparedness.

India–CEPI Partnership  

• DBT-BIRAC-CEPI partnership – Tripartite engagement strategy since 2019. to strengthen preparedness for future epidemics and pandemics, renewed in 2025.
• Ind-CEPI Mission outcomes -
• GEMCOVAC-19 – India’s first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
• Chikungunya vaccine candidate (Phase II/III trials).
• Nanocage-based vaccine candidates for Monkeypox and pan-sarbecoviruses (pre-clinical stage).

Copernicus Climate Change Service

Aug 2026 was the joint-warmest month ever recorded globally, on a par with July 2023, said EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

• C3S – It is one of the six thematic environmental services provided by the European Union’s Copernicus Programme.
• It is managed by the European Commission and implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
• Objective – To build an authoritative, quality-assured climate database to support global climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

Security

New Weapon & Missile testing Range in Bengal

West Bengal govt approves DRDO’s proposal to set up a weapon & missile testing range.

• Location – Junput coastal village in Purba Medinipur district, about 70km along the Bay of Bengal from Chandipur.
• It will share the workload of the Odisha testing range & boost the country’s defence testing capabilities.
• 3^rd site – The proposed testing range in Junput will be the third major hub for DRDO after the Chandipur sites in Odisha and the proposed testing centre in Andhra.
• India’s current facilities – India has one missile testing facility, known as the Integrated Test Range, which operates across two launch complexes in Odisha.

Science

National HPV Vaccination Campaign

India has crossed a significant milestone in cervical cancer prevention, administering more than 80 lakh (8 million) doses of HPV vaccine.

• Launch – Launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in February 2026.
• Focus – 14-year-old girls are provided voluntary and free-of-cost single-dose HPV vaccination, with parental consent, at Government health facilities.
• Vaccines used – Single-dose quadrivalent HPV vaccine, Gardasil-4, which covers high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 responsible for most cervical cancers.
• Cost – Completely free of cost at public health facilities.
• Registrar General of India (RGI) 2021 estimates – Approximately 1.2 crore girls constitute the annual cohort of 14-year-olds who are expected to benefit from the initiative each year.
• More than 800 million doses of HPV vaccines have been distributed globally.
• Global HPV Vaccine Adoption – In National Immunisation Programmes, the high-income countries initially led the adoption; at present,
  • 87% of upper-middle-income countries,
  • 78% of lower-middle-income countries and
  • 54% of low-income countries have adopted HPV vaccines.

Sports

US Open Tennis Championships 2026

The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships were the 146^th edition concluded recently.

• Venue – USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, New York
• Prize Money – $108 million (record high - Richest tournament in tennis history)

Highlights & Records

• Ben Shelton – First Black American man since Arthur Ashe (1972) to reach a US Open final.
• Longest US Open ever – 22 days.

Complete Winners List

Miscellaneous

World EV Day 2026

• It is observed every year on September 9.
• Objective – It is a global initiative dedicated to promoting electric mobility and accelerating the adoption of cleaner, more sustainable transportation.
• Theme for 2026 – “Switching Electric: driving down the cost of motoring”.

World’s Longest Steel Slag Road

India sets Guinness World Record with World’s Longest Steel Slag Road at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh.

• Length – 1.85 kilometres (world’s longest steel slag road).
• Technology – Uses processed steel slag, a by-product of steel production, converted into aggregates for road construction.
• Strength & Cost –  It can reduce road construction costs by around 40% while delivering 4 times the strength of conventional roads.
• Development – Developed by CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), New Delhi, with private sector participation (Jindal Steel Limited).
• Maintenance cycle – It can last nearly 15 years before requiring major upkeep.
• Commercialization – The processed aggregate used in the construction has been commercially branded as "Steel Grit".