16 October 2026
The sixth meeting of the National Steering Committee on PM-SETU approved five Strategic Investment Plans worth ₹1,194.92 crore.
The clusters are Kataka in Odisha, Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra, and Jammu and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.
Tata Steel Foundation takes Kataka at ₹240.50 crore, BVG India Limited takes Pune at ₹241 crore and Belrise Industries Limited takes Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar at ₹238.01 crore.
Eagle Infra India Limited takes Jammu at ₹240 crore and Inderdeep Infra India Limited takes Srinagar at ₹235.41 crore.
Cumulative approved investment under PM-SETU now stands at ₹3,687 crore.
The meeting was chaired by Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and 3,744 trainers have been trained through National Skill Training Institutes under Component II as of October 2026.
Investment approved:
₹1,194.92 crore
Cumulative PM-SETU investment:
₹3,687 crore
Clusters approved:
5
Trainers trained under Component II:
3,744
Why it matters for exams: PM-SETU is the Centre's flagship ITI upgradation scheme and examiners ask which ministry runs it and how its hub-and-spoke cluster model works.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ITI Industrial Training Institute — A government or private institute that gives trade-wise vocational training after school.
MSDE Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship — The Union ministry responsible for vocational training and skilling programmes.
16 October 2026
Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan commissioned INS Samarthak at Karwar in Karnataka.
It is the Indian Navy's first indigenous Multi-Purpose Vessel and has over 75 per cent indigenous content.
The ship will serve as a platform for trials of next-generation weapons, sensors and emerging technologies, including unmanned systems.
Its listed roles include maritime surveillance and reconnaissance, offshore patrolling, launch and recovery of targets, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
The vessel was built by Larsen and Toubro, and Commander Sushil Kumar Singh is its Commanding Officer.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan was present; Karwar hosts naval infrastructure built under Project Seabird.
Indigenous content:
over 75 per cent
Place of commissioning:
Karwar, Karnataka
Builder:
Larsen and Toubro
Why it matters for exams: Ship commissionings are standard current affairs questions, and this one links indigenisation targets, Project Seabird and the Navy's trials platform role.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Project Seabird Project Seabird — The Indian Navy's programme to build a major base and support infrastructure at Karwar on the Karnataka coast.
16 October 2026
The Technology Development Board of the Department of Science and Technology signed an agreement with QNu Labs Private Limited, Bengaluru.
The Board will give ₹150 crore from its Research Development and Innovation Fund, in a project whose total cost is ₹300 crore.
The support takes the form of Optionally Convertible Debt.
The project will build the indigenous technology backbone for India's Quantum Secure and Sensing Networks, moving technologies from Technology Readiness Level 4 to 5 up to Technology Readiness Level 9.
It rests on four pillars: identity security, location integrity, network security and time integrity.
The work covers quantum-secure physical unclonable functions, compact quantum magnetometers for navigation where GPS is denied, chip-based and satellite-based quantum key distribution, and atomic clock technology.
TDB support:
₹150 crore
Total project cost:
₹300 crore
Mode of support:
Optionally Convertible Debt
Why it matters for exams: The National Quantum Mission and quantum key distribution appear regularly in science and technology questions, and this shows how the RDI Fund finances them.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
QKD Quantum Key Distribution — A method of sharing encryption keys whose security rests on the laws of quantum physics rather than on computational difficulty.
TRL Technology Readiness Level — A nine-step scale that measures how close a technology is to actual deployment.
16 October 2026
The fourteenth meeting of the India-Mongolia Joint Working Group on defence was held in Ulaanbaatar.
It was co-chaired by Joint Secretary Ishita Ganguli Tripathy of India's Ministry of Defence and Deputy State Secretary of Defence Brigadier General Gansukh E of Mongolia.
The two sides reviewed ongoing cooperation, assessed existing initiatives and exchanged views on regional and international developments.
Both welcomed the conclusion of Exercise Nomadic Elephant, the bilateral army exercise.
Mongolia acknowledged India's continued support for training and capacity building of its armed forces personnel.
The Indian delegation visited the National Defence University of Mongolia and reviewed the Cyber Security Training Centre set up with Indian assistance.
Meeting:
14th Joint Working Group
Venue:
Ulaanbaatar
Bilateral exercise welcomed:
Exercise Nomadic Elephant
Why it matters for exams: Bilateral exercise names and their partner countries are among the most frequently asked defence facts, and Nomadic Elephant is India's army exercise with Mongolia.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Joint Working Group Joint Working Group — A standing official-level mechanism through which two countries review and plan cooperation in a specific field.
16 October 2026
A report of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks shows a more than ninefold rise in patent filings for Ayush innovations.
Between 2014-15 and 2025-26 a total of 4,077 patent applications were filed and 711 patents granted.
Annual filings rose from 63 to 590, an increase of 836.5 per cent, with a peak of 606 in 2022-23.
From 2020-21 to 2025-26 there were 2,854 applications, which is 70 per cent of all filings, and 657 grants, which is 92.4 per cent of all grants.
Individuals filed 2,113 applications, or 51.9 per cent, and educational institutions filed 995; together they account for 76.3 per cent of filings.
Maharashtra leads the States with 744 filings and 142 grants.
Applications filed, 2014-15 to 2025-26:
4,077
Patents granted:
711
Growth in annual filings:
836.5 per cent
Leading State:
Maharashtra, 744 filings
Why it matters for exams: It links the Ayush systems with the intellectual property machinery, and examiners ask which office grants patents in India and under which ministry it sits.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Ayush Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy — The group of traditional and non-allopathic medical systems administered by a separate Union ministry.
DPIIT Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade — The department of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under which the patent office works.
16 October 2026
Indian scientists have identified a few Martian analogue sites, places on Earth whose minerals and conditions resemble those on Mars.
The team identified two hydrous sulphate minerals, melanterite and gypsum.
Melanterite was found at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu, and gypsum was found in the Atacama Desert in Chile and in the Tiruchirappalli Badlands, a semi-arid area in Tamil Nadu.
Gypsum points to past water activity, while melanterite points to brief wet, acidic and oxidising conditions.
The team from the University of Kerala was led by Sajin Kumar K. S. and used a laser Raman spectrometer supported under DST-FIST to confirm the minerals.
The findings appear in two research papers in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
Minerals identified:
melanterite and gypsum
Indian sites:
Neyveli and Tiruchirappalli Badlands, Tamil Nadu
Journal:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Why it matters for exams: It is a Kerala institution leading planetary science work, and analogue sites connect mineralogy, past water on Mars and India's planetary exploration programme.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Analogue site Planetary analogue site — A place on Earth whose geology or climate resembles another planet closely enough to be used for testing and comparison.
DST-FIST Fund for Improvement of Science and Technology Infrastructure of the Department of Science and Technology — A central scheme that pays for research equipment in universities and colleges.
16 October 2026
The Digital India BHASHINI Division, under the Digital India Corporation, has developed text-to-speech models for Sourashtra with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
Sourashtra is a minority Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly by the Sourashtra community in Tamil Nadu, and the 2011 Census counted about 2.48 lakh speakers.
The models use the VITS architecture and offer a male and a female voice.
Each voice works with text in both Tamil script and Sourashtra script, making four models in all.
Training used a speech corpus from the SPIRE Lab of the Indian Institute of Science with more than 28 hours of gender-balanced recordings from one male and one female voice artist; the male model was trained on about 10,000 utterances and the female model on about 11,400.
The models generate audio at 22,050 Hz and work directly on character-level text, and the SPICOR TTS 3.0 Sourashtra Corpus is available on the AIKOSH platform.
Models released:
4
Speech corpus:
more than 28 hours
Sourashtra speakers, Census 2011:
about 2.48 lakh
Audio sampling rate:
22,050 Hz
Why it matters for exams: BHASHINI is the Centre's language technology mission and questions ask which ministry runs it and which low-resource languages it has covered.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TTS Text-to-Speech — Software that converts written text into spoken audio.
BHASHINI Bhasha Interface for India — The Union government's platform for Indian language translation and speech technology, run by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
16 October 2026
The Department of Consumer Affairs said about 440 metric tonnes of buffer onion is expected to reach Agartala in Tripura by 18 October 2026, the first Kanda Express consignment to that city.
Over 2,800 metric tonnes of buffer onion has been sent to the Northeast so far, using two Kanda Express rakes of 840 metric tonnes and 452 metric tonnes and 44 trucks carrying 1,513.46 metric tonnes.
Seven of Tripura's eight districts are expected to get better market access: Dhalai, South Tripura, Khowai, Unakoti, West Tripura, Gomati and Sepahijala.
The all-India average mandi price fell from about Rs 3,600 per quintal in September to about Rs 3,300 per quintal in October as the new kharif harvest arrived.
Retail onion prices dropped by Rs 1 to Rs 13 a kilogram in 211 cities over two weeks, and the average retail price in Assam is now Rs 54.30 a kilogram against an all-India average of Rs 53.07.
Buffer stock release from the Price Stabilisation Fund will continue based on market conditions.
Consignment to Agartala:
about 440 metric tonnes
Sent to the Northeast so far:
over 2,800 metric tonnes
All-India average mandi price, October:
about Rs 3,300 per quintal
All-India average retail price:
Rs 53.07 per kg
Why it matters for exams: The Price Stabilisation Fund and buffer stocking of onion and pulses are standard economy questions, and the Kanda Express shows how physical logistics is used to cool prices.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
Price Stabilisation Fund Price Stabilisation Fund — A central fund used to buy and release buffer stocks of items such as onion and pulses to keep prices steady.
Mandi Regulated agricultural market — A notified wholesale market where farmers sell produce, and whose prices are used as a benchmark.
16 October 2026
Scientists at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, have reconstructed 4,600 years of climate and environmental history.
They studied Karela Lake at Hulas Khera near Lucknow, an oxbow lake on the Central Ganga Plain.
The methods used were accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating, carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, grain-size analysis, end-member modelling and palynology.
Four major environmental phases were identified, linked to the 4.2 kiloyear arid event, the Roman Warm Period and the Little Ice Age.
The study finds that fluctuations in the Indian summer monsoon shaped lake hydrology, sediment transport, vegetation, microbial activity and early farming adaptation.
It concludes that small oxbow lakes on the Central Ganga Plain are highly sensitive natural archives, and it was published in the Journal of Asian Earth Sciences.
Period reconstructed:
4,600 years
Site:
Karela Lake, Hulas Khera, near Lucknow
Environmental phases identified:
4
Journal:
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Why it matters for exams: The 4.2 kiloyear arid event and the Little Ice Age are named climate events in the syllabus, and this shows how an Indian institute dates them from lake sediments.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Oxbow lake Oxbow lake — A curved lake formed when a meander of a river is cut off from the main channel.
Palynology Palynology — The study of pollen and spores preserved in sediments, used to reconstruct past vegetation.
BSIP Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences — A Lucknow-based autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology that studies ancient life and climate.
16 October 2026
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority facilitated the export of 1.755 metric tonnes of organic Palmyra jaggery powder from Tamil Nadu to Bulgaria.
The consignment was flagged off on 15 October 2026 and travels from Gobichettipalayam in Erode district to Varna in Bulgaria by sea through Chennai port.
The product is made from palmyra palm blossom nectar and is certified under the National Programme for Organic Production and European Union standards.
The exporter is Wellbeing Foods of Erode, working with Chetty Exports Private Limited of Chennai, and the importer is Sow Life Limited of Bulgaria.
The supply chain covers 137 acres of organic cultivation.
APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev flagged off the consignment, with APEDA Secretary Saswati Bose present.
Quantity exported:
1.755 metric tonnes
Destination:
Varna, Bulgaria
Organic area covered:
137 acres
Why it matters for exams: APEDA and the National Programme for Organic Production are frequently asked, and first-time export consignments are used to test knowledge of which body certifies organic produce.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
APEDA Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority — A body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that promotes the export of scheduled agricultural and processed food products.
NPOP National Programme for Organic Production — India's official standard and certification system for organic farming and organic exports.
16 October 2026
The Supreme Court issued notice on a Special Leave Petition by the Kerala High Court Advocates Association against increases in Kerala court fees.
The notice is limited to the question whether ad valorem court fees without an upper ceiling are valid.
The petition challenges amendments made by the Kerala Finance Act, 2025, to the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959.
The Kerala High Court had dismissed the Association's public interest litigation on 31 October 2025 and upheld the amendments, holding that it had not been shown that the fees denied access to justice or violated Articles 14 and 21.
The Association says the increases range from about 400 per cent to nearly 9,900 per cent, with the fee on an anticipatory bail application rising from Rs 10 to Rs 500, writ petitions from Rs 100 to Rs 500 and writ appeals from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000.
The Association also challenges Section 73A, which exempts the State Government from court fees, and the matter was heard by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
Petitioner:
Kerala High Court Advocates Association
Law challenged:
Kerala Finance Act, 2025 amendments to the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959
Anticipatory bail application fee:
Rs 10 to Rs 500
Bench:
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi
Why it matters for exams: It is a Kerala law question with a constitutional edge: the distinction between a fee and a tax, and Articles 14 and 21 as tests of access to justice.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Ad valorem Ad valorem — Charged as a proportion of the value of the claim or property rather than as a flat amount.
SLP Special Leave Petition — A petition under Article 136 asking the Supreme Court for permission to appeal against any court or tribunal order.