6 November 2026
The Kerala High Court has said the death of a 28-year-old woman knocked down by a private bus near Kakkanad showed what happens when major roads carry no space for people on foot. The Court was hearing a writ petition on poor road conditions in the State, and the accident footage was played in court at the request of the amici curiae. The Court held that the death followed from a failure of the system rather than a sudden error, because the woman was walking facing oncoming traffic. It recalled that the Supreme Court has held the right to a pedestrian path to be a fundamental right, and said officials who ignore that right must be answerable. The Cochin Corporation told the Court that many main roads in Kochi have no pedestrian pathways, and that where they exist they are blocked. The police told the Court that several road surveillance cameras were not working and would be restored. The Court said action taken only after an accident is an afterthought.
Court:
Kerala High Court
Place of the accident:
Kakkanad
Civic body before the Court:
Cochin Corporation
Status of the pedestrian path right:
fundamental right
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the Supreme Court has held the right to a pedestrian path to be a fundamental right, and that the High Court of Kerala hears such road safety matters as writ petitions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
amici curiae friends of the court — Lawyers appointed to assist the court rather than a party.
7 November 2026
The State government has raised the procurement price of paddy to 31 per kg from 30, Agriculture Minister T Siddique has announced. The government has also reached agreements with 37 rice mills for paddy procurement, so that harvested grain can be lifted and milled. The Minister said the rise is meant to give paddy farmers fair compensation at a time when the cost of cultivation keeps climbing, and is part of a wider push to keep land under paddy. He said the government would go on recognising the work of farmers, protect paddy cultivation as the base of food security and farm self sufficiency, and work to lift farm incomes. Procurement price is the rate at which the State buys paddy from registered farmers, over and above the central support price. The United Democratic Front had promised the increase in its manifesto before the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
New procurement price:
₹31 per kg
Earlier price:
₹30
Mills tied up:
37 rice mills
Minister:
T Siddique
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is the new State paddy procurement price of 31 per kg in Keralam and the name of the Agriculture Minister who announced it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UDF United Democratic Front — The Congress led alliance in Kerala politics.
7 November 2026
The ten day annual Kalpathy car festival has begun in Palakkad with the traditional rituals that open one of the best known temple festivals in Keralam. The ceremonial hoisting of flags, called Dwajarohanam, at the four participating temples follows on the next morning. The festival is organised jointly by four temples of the Kalpathy heritage village: the Visalakshi Sametha Viswanatha Swami Temple at Kalpathy, the Manthakkara Mahaganapathy Temple at New Kalpathy, the Lakshmi Narayan Perumal Temple at Old Kalpathy and the Prasanna Mahaganapathy Temple at Chathapuram. With large crowds expected, the district police, government departments, the Palakkad municipality and the temple committees have put together security, traffic and crowd arrangements along the chariot routes and the riverbanks. The committees have asked for limits on roadside vending and parking, and have proposed open grounds, including the Government Victoria College ground, for parking with KSRTC mini buses running as shuttles.
District:
PALAKKAD
Temples taking part:
four temples
Flag hoisting ritual:
Dwajarohanam
Proposed parking ground:
Government Victoria College
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the Kalpathy car festival is held by four temples of the Kalpathy heritage village in Palakkad district, with the Visalakshi Sametha Viswanatha Swami Temple at its centre.
Kerala PSC
In plain words
KSRTC Kerala State Road Transport Corporation — The state owned bus service of Kerala.
7 November 2026
The Kerala Livestock Development Board is setting up the Centre for Advancement in Livestock Productivity and Research at Mattupetty near Munnar in Idukki. Officials said the centre will work on genomic selection, embryo transfer, in vitro fertilisation and other reproductive methods suited to the climate and agro ecological conditions of the State. It will also run fodder development research, because land is scarce in Kerala, and offer training to farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and startups, with dedicated places for women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and rural tribal farmers. A new Herd Management Software is being launched for the Board, replacing a Livestock Management Software built about twenty five years ago, so that real time data on bovine livestock at all Board farms can be recorded and tracked. The statewide rollout of Ovum Pick-Up In Vitro Fertilisation and Embryo Transfer technology is also being launched, offered to dairy farmers at the lowest rates in the country, in support of the Puthuyuga Ksheera Keralam mission.
Centre:
CALPR
Location:
Mattupetty
District:
IDUKKI
New software:
Herd Management Software (HMS)
Mission supported:
Puthuyuga Ksheera Keralam
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is the name of the new centre, the Centre for Advancement in Livestock Productivity and Research at Mattupetty, and that it belongs to the Kerala Livestock Development Board.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CALPR Centre for Advancement in Livestock Productivity and Research — The new research facility of the State livestock board.
KLDB Kerala Livestock Development Board — The State body for cattle breeding and semen production.
7 November 2026
Environmental activists in Wayanad have come out in support of the proposed high speed rail corridor between Kozhikode and Sulthan Bathery after a long discussion with E Sreedharan, who was in Wayanad in connection with the project. Their support is conditional on a full scientific study by an expert committee of underground water movement, hydrological patterns and the rock formations along the alignment. The corridor is estimated to cost around 15,000 crore and would cover about 83 km, bringing the journey down to around 45 minutes through a twin tunnel of 20 km. A concept note has been submitted to Chief Minister VD Satheesan, and the line is being planned as a precursor to the proposed Kerala High-Speed Rail project. The Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithy said the plan uses Tunnel Boring Machines, which cut rock mechanically instead of heavy blasting, and that neither tunnel mouth would sit deep inside the Western Ghats. A traffic survey by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation found more than 4,000 vehicles moving each way daily on the route.
Corridor length:
83 km
Journey time planned:
45 minutes
Estimated cost:
₹15,000 crore
Twin tunnel:
20-km
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the proposed corridor links Kozhikode and Sulthan Bathery over about 83 km and is planned as a precursor to the Kerala High-Speed Rail project.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TBM Tunnel Boring Machine — A machine that cuts rock mechanically and removes the spoil without blasting.
DMRC Delhi Metro Rail Corporation — The metro operator that carried out the traffic survey on the route.
Background
The ten day Kalpathi car festival that has just opened in Palakkad is the annual Kalpathi Ratholsavam, and the Ministry of Tourism records its details on the national tourism portal. The festival is held at the Sree Viswanatha Swamy Temple in Kalpathi, Palakkad, which is dedicated to Lord Viswanatha, a form of Shiva, and to Goddess Visalakshi, a form of Parvati. The temple has a history spanning more than seven centuries and stands at the centre of the festivities. The celebrations open with Vedic ceremonies, the chanting of Vedic scriptures and traditional artistic performances, and the highlight is the procession of large decorated temple cars through the village streets. On the concluding day the chariots, dressed in flowers and lights, converge before the main temple. Musical and cultural programmes run at Chathapuram Mridangam Mani Iyer Road, where Unchavrithi and the rendition of Pancharatna Kritis are performed. The portal records that the festival draws more than 200,000 participants each year.
Temple:
Sree Viswanatha Swamy Temple
Place:
Kalpathi, Palakkad
Age of the temple:
more than seven centuries
Participants each year:
200,000 participants
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the Kalpathi Ratholsavam belongs to the Sree Viswanatha Swamy Temple at Kalpathi in Palakkad, a temple with more than seven centuries of history.
Kerala PSC
In plain words
Ratholsavam chariot festival — A temple festival whose main event is a procession of chariots.
Background
Ragging under the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1998 is disorderly conduct towards a student that harms the student in body or mind, or creates fear, shame or embarrassment. It also covers teasing, abusing, playing practical jokes and asking a student to do something the student would not willingly do. Ragging within or without any educational institution is barred. Whoever commits, participates in, abets or propagates it can be imprisoned for up to two years and fined up to ten thousand rupees. A student convicted of that offence is dismissed and cannot be taken into another educational institution for three years. Where a student, a parent, a guardian or a teacher complains in writing, the head of the educational institution gets seven days to enquire, must suspend the student if the complaint is prima facie true, and must send the complaint to the police station having jurisdiction. If the head fails to act in that manner, the head is deemed to have abetted the offence and is punished in the same way.
Act number:
Act 10 of 1998
Penalty on conviction:
two years
Dismissal keeps a student out for:
three years
Suspension decision within:
seven days
Why it matters for exams: The head of an educational institution who ignores a written ragging complaint is deemed by the law of Kerala to have abetted the offence.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
A polling station is not provided by the Election Commission itself but by the district election officer for the area. It is that officer who must set up enough polling stations for every constituency lying wholly or mostly inside the jurisdiction. Every such arrangement needs the previous approval of the Election Commission before it is made. The officer then has to publish, in the manner the Election Commission directs, a list naming each polling station together with the polling area or the group of voters allotted to it. Appointment of presiding officers follows the same route, because the district election officer appoints a presiding officer for each polling station and as many polling officers as are thought necessary. No person who has been employed by or has worked for a candidate in that election can be appointed to either post. If a polling officer is absent, the presiding officer can fill the gap from among those present, barring anyone who worked for a candidate, and must inform the district election officer. A single person can preside over more than one polling station standing in the same premises.
Act and year:
Representation of the People Act, 1951
Provision of polling stations:
district election officer
Election Commission role:
previous approval
Appointment of presiding officers:
each polling station
Why it matters for exams: Every polling station is provided by the district election officer with the previous approval of the Election Commission, and the list of them has to be published.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Public health in Kerala works through a system built on three tiers, one at the state, one in each district and one in each local body. Public health authorities are not new posts but officials already in place, so the Director of Health Services is the State Public Health Authority, the district medical officer (health) is the District Public Health Authority, and at the bottom sits the medical officer of that local self-government institution. Medical practitioners have to report an incident or outbreak of a notifiable communicable disease to the Local Authority, which passes the details to the District and State Surveillance Officers of the department. Local Authority work covers an annual action plan for the area, directing a person or authority to stop or begin an activity for public health, levying fines, compounding an offence, and entering and inspecting places for vector control. In a public health emergency the State Authority can set up an ad hoc advisory committee of departmental nominees and outside experts. It is the State Authority that specifies the conditions for declaring a public health emergency, and it can advise the state government to declare one. All the diseases covered are listed, with dengue among the communicable diseases and nipah among the notifiable ones, and more can be notified later.
Public health tiers:
state, district and local level
District Public Health Authority:
district medical officer (health)
Local Public Health Authority:
medical officer of the concerned local self-government institution
State authority at the top:
Director of Health Services
Why it matters for exams: Public health in Kerala has three authorities, with the Director of Health Services at the state level and the medical officer of a local body at the bottom of the chain.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Health for All is the name under which Kerala has given in-principle approval to universal health coverage. The initiative is aimed at the missing middle, the people left outside KASP, the Karunya Benevolent Fund, MEDISEP and other insurance programmes. About 42 lakh families hold KASP cards in the state, and such a family can claim up to Rs 5 lakh of medical coverage in a year. A family outside KASP with an annual income below Rs 3 lakh draws treatment support of up to Rs 2 lakh under the Karunya Benevolent Fund instead. In addition, Rs 1 lakh is given for kidney-related diseases on top of that support. State Health Agency has been told by the government to carry the new plan further. Kerala has delivered free treatment worth Rs 8,425 crore over the past five years. All of the earlier schemes rest on either a card or an income line, which is what leaves a middle group without cover.
Kerala targets:
missing middle
KASP cover for a family a year:
Rs 5 lakh
Karunya Benevolent Fund support:
Rs 2 lakh
KASP cards held by:
42 lakh families
Agency directed to act:
State Health Agency
Why it matters for exams: Health for All is aimed at the missing middle, the families outside KASP, the Karunya Benevolent Fund and the other insurance programmes of the state.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The river revival plan now taking shape in Kannur is being drawn up to comply with an order of the National Green Tribunal, so it helps to know how that tribunal is built. The Tribunal works under the NGT Act 2010, along with its practice and procedure rules and other rules made under the Act. Its Principal Bench sits at Delhi, and it has four zonal benches: the Central Zonal Bench at Bhopal, the Eastern Zonal Bench at Kolkata, the Southern Zonal Bench at Chennai and the Western Zonal Bench at Pune. Kerala falls within the work of the southern zone. The Tribunal is headed by a Chairperson and hears matters through two classes of members, Judicial Members and Expert Members, so that scientific evidence is weighed alongside the law. Its registry is led by a Registrar General, with Registrars and Deputy Registrars for the principal and zonal benches. Cause lists, case status, judgements and orders and electronic filing are all published through the Tribunal website.
Governing Act:
NGT Act 2010
Principal Bench:
Principal Bench - Delhi
Southern Zonal Bench:
Southern Zonal Bench - Chennai
Classes of members:
Expert Members
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is that the National Green Tribunal works under the NGT Act 2010, sits in a Principal Bench at Delhi with zonal benches at Bhopal, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune, and hears cases through Judicial Members and Expert Members.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NGT National Green Tribunal — The tribunal set up to deal with environmental cases.