4 November 2026
The Kerala Cabinet has approved the draft Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of the special purpose vehicle that will build the proposed International Maritime Museum and Oceanarium.
Both projects come under the State's Mission Samudra initiative.
The company will be registered as a Section 8 company and will begin as a foundation.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan told reporters after the meeting that the oceanarium will not be like any other in the country and will carry modern facilities.
The museum is meant to show Kerala's maritime history and is to be built to international standards.
The Cabinet asked for the two projects to be speeded up.
How the projects will pay for themselves is to be settled later.
Initiative:
Mission Samudra
Company form:
Section 8 company
Why it matters for exams: Mission Samudra and the Section 8 company form of a government special purpose vehicle are both standard Kerala PSC and UPSC questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SPV Special Purpose Vehicle — A company formed to carry out one specific project.
4 November 2026
The Kerala Cabinet has sanctioned 28 new posts in the Health department.
Twelve of them are Dental Hygienist Grade-2 posts.
The other sixteen are Cath Lab Technician Grade-2 posts.
A cath lab technician works in the catheterisation laboratory where heart blockages are examined and treated.
The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting held on 4 November.
New posts in a State department are created by the Cabinet and then filled through the Kerala Public Service Commission.
Dental Hygienist Grade-2 posts:
12
Cath Lab Technician Grade-2 posts:
16
Why it matters for exams: The Kerala Public Service Commission is the body that recruits to such newly created State posts, a standing Polity question.
Kerala PSC
5 November 2026
Revenue Minister A P Anilkumar has launched the Sabari portal and a WhatsApp chatbot for Sabarimala pilgrims.
The portal runs at sabariportaldcpta.in on a phone or a computer and needs no app to be downloaded.
A pilgrim can report a missing person, which goes straight to the police control room, report lost or found articles with a photo, and see darshan waiting time, puja timings and the water level at the Pamba Triveni bathing ghat.
It also carries KSRTC bus schedules, train timings for Chengannur, Thiruvalla and Kottayam, the virtual queue booking link and a Check My Bill price-verification page.
It was designed and built in-house by Ajith Sreenivas, Junior Superintendent at the Pathanamthitta Collectorate, and Yageesh B, Revenue Inspector at the Land Revenue Commissionerate.
District Collector Nisamudeen A spoke on the initiative.
Portal:
sabariportaldcpta.in
District:
Pathanamthitta
Why it matters for exams: Sabarimala sits in Pathanamthitta district, and the portal's name and the department that launched it are the askable facts here.
Kerala PSC
In plain words
KSRTC Kerala State Road Transport Corporation — Kerala's state-owned bus transport corporation.
5 November 2026
Besides pilgrim services, Kerala's new Sabari portal gives officials a dashboard to watch the Sabarimala season in real time.
Sanitation is monitored across 15 zones covering roughly 300 to 400 cleaning workers, and a ticket is issued to supervisors every 3 hours.
Duty magistrates and executive magistrates must file operational reports every 4 hours as signed PDF files.
The health department tracks outpatient and inpatient data, referrals and follow-up care, and an email alert goes to senior officers including the District Collector when a death is reported.
Integrated control centres run by the State and District Disaster Management Authorities use the same system.
Complaints are geo-fenced so that the place of the complaint can be checked.
The dashboard also shows weather, dam water levels, wildlife attacks, road accidents and price-control inspections.
Sanitation zones:
15
Magistrate report interval:
every 4 hours
Why it matters for exams: The District Disaster Management Authority, chaired by the District Collector under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is the body named here.
Kerala PSC
In plain words
DDMA District Disaster Management Authority — The district body for disaster management, headed by the District Collector.
3 November 2026
The Kerala High Court has held that political activities such as dharna, hunger strike and satyagraha have no place in a constitutional democracy, and still less inside an academic institution.
A Division Bench said educational institutions exist to impart education and not politics, and that students who take part in such protests could be expelled or rusticated.
The ruling came in Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit v Archana P S and others.
The university had appealed against a single judge's order that let sixteen suspended students sit their semester examinations.
The Division Bench set that order aside, finding the students had not shown they were eligible to appear.
The court also repeated an earlier observation that political parties cannot hold an educational institution to ransom.
Case:
Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit v Archana PS & Ors.
Students involved:
16
Why it matters for exams: The case name and the court's rule that an academic institution is not a place for political agitation are the durable facts here.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The Vizhinjam International Seaport, which has just begun handling imports, works with 8 quay cranes on its berth.
In the yard it has 24 fully automated yard cranes of the rail mounted gantry crane type.
The harbour has a natural depth of about 18 to 20 metres, deep enough for the largest container ships to come alongside without dredging a channel.
That natural depth is the reason the site on Kerala's southern coast was chosen for a transshipment port.
The port is owned by Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited, a Kerala government company.
A deep natural draught close to the international east-west shipping lane is what lets a port take cargo meant for other ports and move it on.
Quay cranes:
8
Automated yard cranes:
24
Natural depth:
about 18 to 20 metres
Why it matters for exams: Vizhinjam's natural depth of 18 to 20 metres and its quay and yard crane count are the figures asked about India's transshipment port.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
RMGC Rail Mounted Gantry Crane — A yard crane that runs on rails and stacks containers.
Background
Kerala's Sabari portal lets a pilgrim dial emergency numbers directly from the complaints page.
The numbers listed are 112, 1077, 108, 100 and 101.
112 is India's single Emergency Response Support System number, which reaches police, fire and ambulance together.
1077 is the district disaster control room helpline.
108 is the ambulance service number and 101 is the fire service number, while 100 is the older police number.
The portal also takes complaints about sanitation, public toilets, bus services and the Devaswom Board.
Numbers on the portal:
112, 1077, 108, 100 and 101
Why it matters for exams: 112 as India's single emergency number and 1077 as the disaster control room helpline are repeat general awareness answers.
Kerala PSCSSC
In plain words
ERSS Emergency Response Support System — India's single emergency number service, reached by dialling 112.
Background
Mission Samudra is the Kerala government's plan, with an outlay of ₹400 crore, to turn the State into a port State.
The International Maritime Museum and the Oceanarium cleared by the Cabinet are part of the same mission.
Export and import work at Vizhinjam began on 18 August.
A container freight station worth ₹25 crore is being built by KSIE on about 5 acres at the Travancore Spinning Mills compound in Balaramapuram.
It is to start full operations in February 2027 and will handle both full container load and less than container load cargo.
A container freight station is where cargo from many small consignors is packed into or taken out of containers before or after a sea voyage.
Mission Samudra outlay:
₹400-crore
Container freight station cost:
₹25 crore
Why it matters for exams: Mission Samudra and its ₹400 crore outlay are the Kerala maritime policy facts an examiner can ask for years.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CFS Container Freight Station — A yard where cargo is packed into or removed from shipping containers.