5 November 2026
The Kerala Finance Department has notified a State development bond of 1,000 crore rupees to raise money for the State's development work. The notification, numbered എസ്.എസ്-1/358/2026-ഫിൻ., is dated 5 November 2026. The auction will be held at the Reserve Bank of India's Fort office in Mumbai through the e-Kuber system on 9 November. Market borrowing of this kind is how a State raises the bulk of its capital, and the Reserve Bank acts as the agent that conducts the auction for it. Bidders are mainly banks, insurers and provident funds, which hold the paper as a safe long-term asset. Full details of the issue have been placed on the Finance Department website. The release was issued by the Information and Public Relations Department.
Bond amount:
1,000 കോടി രൂപ
Notification number:
എസ്.എസ്-1/358/2026-ഫിൻ.
Auction system:
ഇ-കുബേർ
Why it matters for exams: Gives the size of the Kerala State development bond, 1,000 crore rupees, and names the Reserve Bank of India's e-Kuber platform as the system through which State loans are auctioned.
Kerala PSCBank
In plain words
e-Kuber e-Kuber — The Reserve Bank of India's core banking platform, used to auction central and State government securities.
5 November 2026
The result of the Kerala State Eligibility Test, the qualifying examination for higher secondary teacher posts in the State, has been published. Of the 18264 candidates who sat the test, 7019 qualified, giving a pass percentage of 38.43. The result is available on the websites of the Information and Public Relations Department and of the LBS Centre for Science and Technology. Successful candidates must download the certificate application form from the LBS Centre website, fill it in and send copies of the required documents attested by a gazetted officer to the Director, LBS Centre for Science and Technology, Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram-33, with a 60 rupee stamp and a self-addressed A4 cloth-lined cover. The application form will be on the website from 16 November. Certificates will be given out from February next year. Candidates may call the LBS Centre numbers given in the release for help.
Candidates who appeared:
18264
Candidates who qualified:
7019
Pass percentage:
38.43
Why it matters for exams: Gives the Kerala SET pass figures, 7019 qualified of 18264 at 38.43 per cent, and names the LBS Centre for Science and Technology as the agency that issues the SET certificate.
Kerala PSC
In plain words
SET State Eligibility Test — Kerala's qualifying test for appointment as a higher secondary school teacher, held by the LBS Centre for Science and Technology.
5 November 2026
The Kerala State Allied and Healthcare Council has asked students and parents to be careful about the growing number of advertisements for allied and healthcare courses and training programmes. Its Secretary said a claim that a course is recognised by the National Commission or by the State Council, or that it has government approval, should be verified before it is accepted. The institution offering the course must itself hold the recognition and approvals required from the relevant authorities, and a claim of university approval should be confirmed with the university. Any promise that a course leads to professional registration or makes the student eligible for a government job should be checked against official sources. The Council said that once its regulations are notified, the names and details of approved institutions will be published on its website. The National Commission has notified 18 curricula, covering degree courses of four or five years, diploma courses of two or two and a half years, and postgraduate and doctoral courses. Admissions to courses that follow these curricula are under way for the 2026-27 academic year.
Council:
കേരള സ്റ്റേറ്റ് അലൈഡ് ആൻഡ് ഹെൽത്ത് കെയർ കൗൺസിൽ
Curricula notified:
18
Why it matters for exams: Names the Kerala State Allied and Healthcare Council as the State regulator for allied health courses, and gives the 18 curricula notified by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions.
Kerala PSC
5 November 2026
Health and Devaswom Minister K. Muraleedharan has written to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala asking for a vigilance probe into the construction of the new surgical block at the Kottayam Government Medical College, built at a cost of 270 crore rupees. The letter asks the inquiry to look at irregularities in the work, technical lapses, failures of supervision and financial irregularities. The block was opened early this year, and the ceiling has come down several times since, with serious defects also reported in the civil, plumbing and electrical work. The construction contract was given to Jathan Construction, and the Minister's letter raises the question of work passed on to other agencies. He has also asked the Additional Chief Secretary of the Health Department to set up a technical committee to examine whether the building is structurally safe and to take urgent remedial steps. The Minister wants both the inquiry and the technical examination completed quickly and a report placed before him.
Cost of the surgical block:
270 കോടി രൂപ
Health and Devaswom Minister:
കെ. മുരളീധരൻ
Letter sent to Home Minister:
രമേശ് ചെന്നിത്തല
Why it matters for exams: Names K. Muraleedharan as Kerala's Health and Devaswom Minister and Ramesh Chennithala as Home Minister, and gives the 270 crore rupee cost of the Kottayam Government Medical College surgical block.
Kerala PSC
5 November 2026
Kerala has invited applications for the Prof. Joseph Mundassery Scholarship Award for the 2026-27 year, meant for minority students who study in the State. Permanent residents studying in government or government-aided institutions and belonging to the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain or Parsi communities may apply. The academic bar is an A+ in every subject in SSLC, THSLC, Plus Two or VHSE in the 2025-26 academic year, or 80 per cent marks at degree level, or 75 per cent at postgraduate level. The award is 10,000 rupees in the A+ category and 15,000 rupees for degree and postgraduate students. Applicants need a bank account in their own name in a scheduled or commercial bank. The application is filed online on the minority welfare scholarship portal, and a printout with the original supporting papers must reach the head of the institution last attended. The last date to apply is November 30. The award is named after Joseph Mundassery, the writer and critic who was the first Education Minister of Kerala.
Scholarship:
ജോസഫ് മുണ്ടശ്ശേരി
A plus category award:
10,000 രൂപ
Degree and postgraduate award:
15,000 രൂപ
Why it matters for exams: Names the Prof. Joseph Mundassery Scholarship Award, the Kerala minority scholarship, its two award amounts of 10,000 rupees and 15,000 rupees, and the six communities it covers.
Kerala PSC
Background
The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 was enacted after the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992, to secure a greater measure of participation by people in planned development and in local government. Chapter III of the Act deals with the constitution of panchayats at different levels. Under Section 4 the Government, by notification in the Gazette, constitutes a village panchayat for each village or group of villages, a block panchayat at the intermediate level and a district panchayat for each district panchayat area, and specifies their names and headquarters. The same section lets the Government enlarge or reduce the area of a village panchayat, or alter a panchayat's name or headquarters, after consulting it and publishing the proposal in advance. An alteration of area cannot be brought into force before the term of the existing committee of that panchayat expires. Section 5 makes every panchayat a body corporate by the name specified for it. The Act covers the whole of Kerala except cantonments, nagar panchayats, municipal councils, municipal corporations and notified industrial townships. Panchayats are to prepare plans and carry out schemes for economic development and social justice, including on the subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution. The Kumily grama panchayat in Idukki, a transit point on the route to Sabarimala, is setting up three parking grounds and rest centres for pilgrims.
Act:
Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994
Levels of panchayat:
3 — village, block, district
Constitutional amendment behind it:
Seventy-third Amendment, 1992
Schedule of subjects:
Eleventh Schedule
Why it matters for exams: The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, the three levels it constitutes under Section 4, the Seventy-third Amendment behind it and the Eleventh Schedule are core Polity questions for every exam.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Body corporate A legal person that can hold property and sue in its own name — Section 5 gives every panchayat this standing.
Intermediate level The tier between village and district — In Kerala it is the block panchayat.
Background
The International Film Festival of Kerala, known as IFFK, is the State's international film festival, and work on its thirty-first edition has begun with the formation of the reception committee. The Minister for Cinema, Culture and Tourism, who inaugurated that meeting, said the festival will continue to be held at Thiruvananthapuram. The first show of each day is to begin at seven in the morning, and screenings will also run late into the night, so that people are not left waiting in long queues without getting in. The chairman and the vice chairperson of the Chalachitra Academy took part in the meeting, along with the chairman of the Lalithakala Akademi, the chairman of the Cultural Welfare Fund Board and the Director of the Culture department. Cultural programmes are planned on Manaveeyam Veethi, and ritual art forms are to be presented at Kanakakkunnu over six days by the Culture and Tourism departments together. Every academy under the Culture department is to hold its own programmes alongside the festival. The Tourism department has drawn up a plan to take visitors from abroad to the main tourist centres of the State. What marks the festival out, the Minister said, is that ordinary film lovers come to it along with film-makers.
Edition:
31st
City:
Thiruvananthapuram
First show of the day:
7 a.m.
Ritual arts venue:
Kanakakkunnu, 6 days
Why it matters for exams: IFFK, the Chalachitra Academy that runs it, its home city of Thiruvananthapuram and the academies under the Culture department are repeated Kerala PSC questions on State cultural institutions.
Kerala PSCSSC
In plain words
IFFK International Film Festival of Kerala — The State's own international film festival.
Chalachitra Academy The State's film academy — Its chairman and vice chairperson sit on the festival's reception committee.
Background
The Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram is the highest honour the Kerala Government gives in the field of visual art. It carries three lakh rupees, a citation and a sculpture designed by Kanayi Kunhiraman. The award is named for Raja Ravi Varma, the painter whom the Minister called a byword for art in the Indian mind. Two years' awards have now been announced together — the painter C. Douglas, of the Madras art movement, for 2023 and the sculptor N.N. Rimzon for 2024. Separate juries of senior artists, each with the Akademi secretary in charge as member secretary, chose the two. The jury that picked Douglas pointed to his long and experimental work in contemporary Indian painting. The announcement was made by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Cinema at a press conference in the PR Chamber at Thiruvananthapuram.
Field:
Visual art
Prize money:
₹3 lakh
Sculpture designed by:
Kanayi Kunhiraman
Honour announced for:
Two years together
Why it matters for exams: The Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram, the State's highest honour in visual art, its prize money and the Kanayi Kunhiraman sculpture that goes with it are standard Kerala awards questions.
Kerala PSCSSC
In plain words
Madras art movement The modern art school centred on Madras — One of the two awardees belongs to it.
Keerthipathram The citation given with a State award — It accompanies the prize money and the sculpture.
Background
Theyyam is the ritual art of North Malabar, performed in Kannur, in parts of Kasargod and Wayanad, in the northern reaches of Kozhikode and in some areas of Karnataka. The performer is held to embody the divine energy, and while the ritual lasts the Theyyam is venerated by people of every caste. Kerala Tourism counts nearly four hundred different Theyyams, grouped as major and minor ones, among them goddesses and gods, tree gods and mountain gods, warriors and hunting deities. Muchilottu Bhagavathy, Kathivannur Veeran and Muthappan are among the major forms, while Bappiriyan Theyyam and Ummachi Theyyam carry Muslim characters, which is how the art form crosses religious lines. The chief performers come from the Malayan and the Vannan communities, both of which are categorised as Scheduled Castes. A performer prepares through Vrutham, a strict observance of fasting, prayer, meditation and daily ritual. Its season opens on the tenth of the Malayalam month Thulaam, around mid-October, and closes in the middle of Edavam. The season is under way: Kerala Tourism lists it among this month's journeys in the State, with drums sounding in the village shrines of Kannur and Kasaragod.
Region:
North Malabar
Number of Theyyams:
Nearly 400
Chief performing communities:
Malayan and Vannan
Season:
10th of Thulaam to mid-Edavam
Why it matters for exams: Theyyam, the districts where it is performed, the Malayan and Vannan performing communities and the Thulaam-to-Edavam season are repeated Kerala PSC art and culture questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Vrutham The strict observance a Theyyam performer keeps before the ritual — It includes fasting, prayer and a disciplined routine.
Kavu A sacred grove or village shrine — Theyyam is performed in kavus and in houses and temples.
Background
The Kerala Water Authority is the statutory body that Section 3 of Kerala's Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1986 constitutes, and its head office is at Thiruvananthapuram. Section 4 sets out who sits on it. There is a Chairman appointed by the Government, and a Managing Director who must have experience in management and administration or be a qualified engineer not below the rank of Chief Engineer; a person more than fifty five years of age cannot be appointed Managing Director. Four secretaries to Government sit ex officio — the Secretary in charge of the Public Health Engineering Department or of the Authority itself, the Finance Secretary, the Secretary for Local Administration and the Secretary for the Development Department. Two members represent the local bodies of the State, two more are appointed by the Government with one of them from a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, and the technical member must be a Public Health Engineer of at least Chief Engineer rank. An Accounts Member completes the body: a qualified Chartered Accountant with at least fifteen years of experience in a responsible position in a reputed commercial organisation or public sector undertaking, or a member of the Accounts Service of the Central Government. The Act treats a city corporation, a municipal council, a township and a panchayat alike as a local body. A burst water pipeline at Cheruthoni in Idukki has put the Authority's distribution network back in the news.
Act:
Kerala Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1986
Head office:
Thiruvananthapuram
Age bar for Managing Director:
Not more than 55 years
Accounts Member's experience:
At least 15 years
Why it matters for exams: The Kerala Water Authority, the Kerala Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1986 that constitutes it, and the composition laid down in Section 4 are regular Kerala PSC questions on State bodies.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Ex officio member A member who sits by virtue of the office held — Four Government secretaries sit on the Authority this way.
Local body A city corporation, municipal council, township or panchayat — The Act uses one definition for all four.
Background
Section 32 of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 is the provision under which the committee of a co-operative society can be removed. The Registrar of Co-operative Societies acts on an inquiry of his own, or on a report of the financing bank, of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau or of a Vigilance Officer. The grounds listed include persistent default in the duties the Act imposes, wilful disobedience of a lawful order, payments made against the Act or the bye-laws, and tampering with records. Before passing the order the Registrar has to give the committee an opportunity to state its objections, and he has to consult the financing bank and the circle co-operative union or the State Co-operative Union. In place of the removed committee he appoints one administrator, or an administrative committee of not more than three persons, to run the society for a period not exceeding six months, and where a new committee cannot take office in time that period can be extended by up to six months more. A proviso also bars supersession of a society that has no Government shareholding, loan, financial assistance or Government guarantee. Sub-section (3) allows those two safeguards to be set aside only where the Registrar is of the opinion that following them is not reasonably practicable. A member of a superseded committee stands disqualified for two consecutive terms from contesting or being nominated to the committee of any society. The Kerala High Court has restored the elected committee of the Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, holding that this exceptional route was taken without cogent reasons.
Provision:
Section 32, Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969
Maximum period of supersession:
Not more than 6 months, extendable by up to 6 months more
Size of an administrative committee:
Not more than 3
Disqualification of a superseded member:
2 consecutive terms
Why it matters for exams: Section 32 of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969, the Registrar's power to supersede a society's committee and the safeguards attached to it are standing questions on Kerala's co-operative administration.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Supersession Removal of an elected committee and its replacement by an administrator — The society survives; only its elected committee is displaced.
Financing bank The bank that funds the society — The Act makes consultation with it part of the ordinary procedure.