31 October 2026
Kerala allotted 149 houses in the second phase of the Wayanad Model Township, built for families displaced by the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslides. The houses were given out by a draw of lots at the MSA Auditorium in Meppadi, with Revenue Minister A P Anilkumar opening the programme and Agriculture Minister T Siddique also present. The township stands on 64.47 hectares acquired by the State at Elstone Estate near Kalpetta. The first phase of 178 houses was inaugurated on March 1, and the full project is planned for 410 houses. About 1,662 people are to be resettled there. The Revenue Minister said construction would be finished by November 30, and the daily subsistence allowance paid to two members of each family has been extended to December. Beneficiaries may file written complaints about construction defects, which an expert team will inspect and set right.
Houses allotted in phase two:
149
Houses in phase one:
178
Houses planned in all:
410
Land acquired:
64.47 hectares
People to be rehabilitated:
about 1,662
Why it matters for exams: Fixes the name and scale of the Wayanad Model Township at Elstone Estate - 410 houses in all, 64.47 hectares, for the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslide families - and the Revenue Minister who runs it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Elstone Estate — The plantation estate near Kalpetta in Wayanad where the State built the model township.
1 November 2026
The Festival of Kerala 2026 opened at the Nishagandhi Auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram on November 1, the seventieth anniversary of the State's formation. Chief Minister V D Satheesan inaugurated it, Health Minister K Muraleedharan presided and Chief Secretary Biswanath Sinha gave the welcome address. The festival is steered by a cabinet sub-committee chaired by the Chief Minister, with Cultural Minister P C Vishnunadh as its convener. It is meant to carry the State's culture, arts, sports and social record to a wider audience and to promote its tourism and investment potential. Besides Kerala, events are planned in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, with investor meets in the major cities in this first edition. Whether to hold an edition abroad will be considered for the second edition.
Anniversary marked:
70th formation day
Opening venue:
Nishagandhi Auditorium, Thiruvananthapuram
Cities outside Kerala:
Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata
Why it matters for exams: Fixes the Festival of Kerala as the State's seventieth formation day programme, the cabinet sub-committee that runs it with Cultural Minister P C Vishnunadh as convener, and the Nishagandhi Auditorium as its opening venue.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Nishagandhi Auditorium — An open-air cultural venue in the Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds at Thiruvananthapuram.
Background
This background goes with the master reservoir nearing completion at Melattur in Malappuram, which is being built under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The mission's stated vision is that every rural household gets drinking water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on a regular, long-term basis. It is run by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Its target was a Functional Household Tap Connection, or FHTC, for every rural household by 2024. An FHTC is defined as a household tap connection that actually works and delivers water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on a regular basis. Because the mission counts working connections and not just pipes laid, State schemes such as the one at Melattur have to build storage, pumping and branch lines together.
Ministry:
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Implementing department:
Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation
Target year for every rural FHTC:
2024
Why it matters for exams: Names the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, and the definition of a Functional Household Tap Connection.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
FHTC Functional Household Tap Connection — A household tap connection that works and supplies water in adequate quantity and prescribed quality on a regular basis.
Background
Kerala Police runs Cyberdome as its technological research and development centre, described as a Cyber Centre of Excellence in cyber security and in technology augmentation for effective policing. The centre rests on a public-private partnership, drawing in government departments, private companies, academia, research groups, non-profit bodies, individual experts, ethical hackers and law enforcement agencies abroad. Preventing cyber crime by building a cyber threat resilient ecosystem in the State is among the objectives it lists. It keeps an online office of technical experts, ethical hackers and cyber security professionals who help the force with cyber crime investigation and with keeping its domain knowledge current. Flagship units named on its pages include a Counter Child Sexual Exploitation Centre, a Drone Forensic Lab and Research Centre and a Security Operations Center that watches cyber threats round the clock. KidGlove is its awareness work for teachers, parents and children, and Hac'KP is its hackathon for policing problems. Its address is the Thejaswini Annexe Building on the Technopark Campus in Thiruvananthapuram.
Run by:
Kerala Police
Office:
Thejaswini Annexe Building
Campus:
Technopark Campus
Hackathon:
Hac'KP
Child safety unit:
CCSE Centre
Why it matters for exams: Cyberdome is the Kerala Police cyber centre of excellence, run as a public-private partnership from the Technopark Campus in Thiruvananthapuram.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau keeps its headquarters at PMG in Thiruvananthapuram city, across from the Vikas Bhavan Bus Depot, and that office is the office of the Bureau's Director. Several cells work out of the Directorate. An Intelligence Branch under a Superintendent of Police collects, collates and analyses intelligence on corruption, and each Range has an intelligence wing of its own under a Superintendent of Police. A Centralized Processing System of Petitions works under the command of the same officer. A Public Relation Cell follows daily news of raids, arrests, traps and court matters, while a Monitoring Cell holds the database of cases and enquiries and turns out statistical reports. The Bureau's Cyber Cell and Cyber Forensic Lab was set up in the Directorate on 31st August 2018, equipped with the help of the Cyber Forensic Division of CDAC, Thiruvananthapuram, and it is the nodal unit for dealing with telecom and internet service providers. A Tollfree Cell takes complaints from the public by phone, and complaints also reach the Bureau on WhatsApp.
Headquarters:
PMG
Toll-free line:
1064
WhatsApp number:
9447789100
Cyber Cell set up:
31st August 2018
Email:
vig.vacb@kerala.gov.in
Why it matters for exams: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has its headquarters at PMG in Thiruvananthapuram, and that office is the office of its Director.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
C-DIT, the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, is an autonomous body of the Kerala government under its Department of Electronics and IT. It was founded in December 1988 as an offshoot of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation, and began with two projects paid for by the Government of India, one on research in film and electronics technology and the other on science and development communication through video. The institution later widened into information technology applications, software development and IT-enabled services, and it calls itself a Total Solutions Provider in IT and communication with the government sector as its focus. From a corner of the Chitranjali studio complex it moved in 1998 to three acres of land leased from the film corporation at Thiruvallam, and the head office now stands on the Chithranjali Hills, 6 kms from Thiruvananthapuram Central. Three regional centres work at Kayamkulam, Ernakulam and Kannur. For the State government it is the total solutions provider in the design and manufacture of security holograms, and it prints security documents. Courses in communication, new media production and information technology are part of its work as well.
Founded:
December 1988
Works under:
Department of Electronics and IT
Head office:
Chithranjali Hills
Own campus from:
1998
Regional centres:
Kayamkulam, Ernakulam and Kannur
Why it matters for exams: C-DIT, founded in December 1988 as an offshoot of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation, is an autonomous body under the State's Department of Electronics and IT.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment is an autonomous body under the Science and Technology Department of the Kerala government, and it was constituted in November 2002 by GO(P) No. 76/2002/STED as an agency meant to bring change and development through science and technology. The work had earlier been with the Science, Technology and Environment Committee, set up in 1972 in line with the Science Policy of the Government of India. The Council's own record holds that Kerala was the first State in the country to create a State Committee on Science & Technology with a scientist or technologist as its Chairman, and it dates that Committee to 29th May 1972. The same record puts the first Science and Technology Policy resolution in India at 1977, unveiled by the Government of Kerala, and notes a separate Department created in 1987. Above the body sits a State Council that the Chief Minister of Kerala heads, and an Executive council under its Executive Vice President. Identifying thrust areas, advising the government on policy and helping prepare the State's Science and Technology Development Plan are among the objectives listed. The Council works from Sasthra Bhavan, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram.
Constituted:
November 2002
Government order:
GO(P) No. 76/2002/STED
Predecessor body:
Science, Technology and Environment Committee
State Council headed by:
Chief Minister of Kerala
Office:
Sasthra Bhavan, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram
Why it matters for exams: KSCSTE, constituted in November 2002, replaced the Science, Technology and Environment Committee, and its State Council is headed by the Chief Minister of Kerala.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Srinivasa Ramanujan Institute for Basic Sciences is an institute of the Government of Kerala run by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, and its work is in the fundamental sciences. The Council dates its founding to 2012, its opening to 2013 and the start of its working to February 2014. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science are the fields it carries forward, and it holds colloquia, workshops and conferences that bring researchers, teachers and students together. A campus of 10 acres is being developed at Pampady in Kottayam for research, training and outreach. Its divisions take in chemistry with reaction dynamics, biological sciences with computational drug discovery, physics with soft matter and nanoscience, and mathematics with computer science and algorithms. Its flagship project, Kerala Supercomputing for Technological Advancement and Research, is meant to give the State its first supercomputing centre for modelling and simulation. The Council lists the institute among its research and development institutions.
Run by:
Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment
Founded:
2012
Working since:
February 2014
Campus coming up at:
Pampady, Kottayam
Flagship project:
K-STAR
Why it matters for exams: SRIBS is the KSCSTE institute for the fundamental sciences, with a campus coming up at Pampady in Kottayam and the K-STAR supercomputing project as its flagship.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Institute for Climate Change Studies was established in 2014, and in 2019 the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment took it in as a research and development institution. The Council describes it as the first institute in the State to work on climate change research, adaptation and policy support alone, and its headquarters is at Kottayam. Its mandate is state-specific research on how climate change strikes the sectors and ecological zones of Kerala, with strategies for management and adaptation to follow. Impact studies, vulnerability assessments and the folding of adaptation into developmental planning in Kerala are listed as its contributions. Its divisions cover weather and climate modelling, coastal and ocean modelling, hydrologic and hydraulic modelling, agrometeorology with remote sensing and GIS, and the impact of climate change with mitigation and adaptation. Projects funded from outside have come to it from bodies including DST, SERB, MoES, DRDO and the World Bank. Awareness programmes, training workshops and exhibitions make up its public work.
Established:
2014
Brought under KSCSTE:
2019
Headquarters:
Kottayam
A listed division:
Coastal & Ocean Modelling
Why it matters for exams: The Institute for Climate Change Studies, headquartered at Kottayam, is the State's institute for climate change research and came under KSCSTE as a research and development institution.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute is a conservatory botanic garden and research institution of the Government of Kerala, working under the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment. It was founded on 17 November 1979, and the aim set for it was the conservation of tropical plant resources of the country and of Kerala in particular, along with research on the sustainable use of that plant wealth. The idea came up after the first United Nations Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972, and Professor A. Abraham, the Founder Director, turned it into a garden; the Kew Botanic Gardens had a part in its design and lay-out in the early years. It was formerly called the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, and it keeps, over 300 acres, a conservatory garden of the country's wild tropical plant genetic resources. Conservation biology, plant taxonomy, biotechnology, phytochemistry, microbiology and ethnomedicine are among the fields it researches. The institute came under the Council in 2003 and was renamed in memory of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 2011. The Ministry of Environment and Forests recognises it as a National Centre of Excellence for ex situ conservation of tropical plant diversity, and the campus is at Palode in Thiruvananthapuram.
Founded:
17 November 1979
Works under:
Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment
Garden extent:
300 acres
Founder Director:
Professor A. Abraham
Renamed:
2011
Campus:
Palode, Thiruvananthapuram
Why it matters for exams: JNTBGRI at Palode, founded on 17 November 1979 and now under KSCSTE, holds wild tropical plant genetic resources over 300 acres.
Kerala PSCUPSC