16 October 2026
The Central Government has approved India's accession to the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). India has been a Cooperating Non-Contracting Party since 2022, with a limited say in the Scientific Committee and the Compliance Committee; as a Contracting Party it gains full participation and access to stock assessments. Indian-flagged vessels will be able to carry out authorised fishing of squid, toothfish, alfonsino and other non-migratory stocks in the SIOFA area. India will also take part in the High Seas Boarding and Inspection Scheme adopted by SIOFA. The release notes that the high seas make up about 65% of the global ocean and that Indian fishing vessels at present operate mostly within 60-80 nautical miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Share of the global ocean that is high seas:
about 65%
Year India became a Cooperating Non-Contracting Party:
2022
Present operating range of Indian fishing vessels:
60-80 nautical miles
Why it matters for exams: Accession to a regional fisheries management organisation links India's blue economy push to international law of the sea, a standard question area.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SIOFA Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement — A regional agreement that manages non-migratory fish stocks in the southern Indian Ocean high seas.
IUU fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing — Fishing that breaks rules or goes unrecorded, which regional bodies try to curb.
16 October 2026
The Reserve Bank of India has notified an underwriting auction for the sale (re-issue) of 6.94% GS 2036 for a notified amount of ₹34,000 crore, to be held on Friday, October 16, 2026. Under the underwriting scheme notified on November 14, 2007, each Primary Dealer has a Minimum Underwriting Commitment of ₹810 crore and a minimum bidding commitment of ₹810 crore in the Additional Competitive Underwriting auction. The Additional Competitive Underwriting auction will be a multiple price based auction held on the same day. Primary Dealers must submit their bids electronically through the Reserve Bank's Core Banking Solution, e-Kuber, between 9:00 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. Underwriting commission is credited to each Primary Dealer's current account with the Reserve Bank on the day the security is issued.
Notified amount:
₹34,000 crore
Security:
6.94% GS 2036
Minimum Underwriting Commitment per Primary Dealer:
₹810 crore
Why it matters for exams: Examiners test how the Centre borrows through dated securities and the role Primary Dealers play in underwriting those auctions.
UPSCSSCBank
In plain words
e-Kuber Core Banking Solution of the Reserve Bank of India — The electronic platform through which banks and Primary Dealers bid in Reserve Bank auctions.
ACU Additional Competitive Underwriting — The part of an underwriting auction in which Primary Dealers bid competitively beyond their minimum commitment.
16 October 2026
The Reserve Bank of India has released the Scheduled Banks' Statement of Position in India as on September 30, 2026. Total deposits of scheduled commercial banks stood at ₹28,395,692.65 crore and bank credit, excluding inter-bank advances, at ₹22,994,657.51 crore. For all scheduled banks taken together, deposits were ₹28,955,375.06 crore and bank credit ₹23,509,866.26 crore. The statement compares the position with the corresponding reporting Friday of the previous year, October 3, 2025, and with the previous fortnight ended September 15, 2026. The statement is compiled fortnightly from the returns that scheduled banks file with the Reserve Bank.
Deposits of scheduled commercial banks:
₹28,395,692.65 crore
Bank credit of scheduled commercial banks:
₹22,994,657.51 crore
Reporting date:
September 30, 2026
Why it matters for exams: Aggregate deposit and credit figures are the standard way banking questions test the size and growth of the Indian banking system.
UPSCSSCBank
In plain words
Scheduled bank A bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 — Such banks must meet capital and other conditions and can borrow from the Reserve Bank.
16 October 2026
The Reserve Bank of India has published the result of the overnight Variable Rate Reverse Repo auction held on October 15, 2026. Against a notified amount of ₹50,000 crore, the amount received was ₹9,562 crore and the entire amount received was accepted. The cut-off rate was 5.49 per cent and the weighted average rate was also 5.49 per cent. The tenor of the auction was one day. A Variable Rate Reverse Repo auction is the tool the Reserve Bank uses to absorb surplus liquidity from the banking system at a market-determined rate.
Notified amount:
₹50,000 crore
Amount received and accepted:
₹9,562 crore
Cut-off rate:
5.49%
Why it matters for exams: A weak response to a reverse repo auction is a direct signal about banking system liquidity, which banking and economy papers ask about.
UPSCBank
In plain words
VRRR Variable Rate Reverse Repo — An auction through which the Reserve Bank absorbs surplus bank liquidity at a rate set by bidding.
16 October 2026
A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed law enforcement agencies to preserve the CCTV footage and other digital material collected in connection with the Delhi protests, and permitted private parties to preserve such material as well. The bench asked Delhi Police to produce the prohibitory order passed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita before the protests. Notice was issued to the Union Government and Delhi Police on the batch of petitions, and both sides were asked to appoint nodal counsel to consolidate overlapping issues. The Court told the Bar not to file further petitions on the protests because 46 matters were already pending. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union and Delhi authorities.
Provision on prohibitory orders:
Section 163, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita
Petitions already pending:
46
Why it matters for exams: The order shows how the Supreme Court handles a mass of petitions on the right to protest and which provision of the new criminal procedure code governs prohibitory orders.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
BNSS Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita — The criminal procedure law that replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Nodal counsel Nodal counsel — A single lawyer appointed to coordinate several similar cases before a court.
16 October 2026
A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Election Commission of India, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on a writ petition filed by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders. The petition, Rahul Gandhi v. Election Commission of India, W.P.(C) No. 1351/2026, seeks production of the complete file on the Commission's decision of June 24, 2025 to launch the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. It also asks for booth-wise publication of the names of deleted voters with reasons, a bar on deletion without notice and hearing, an audit committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, and suspension of the revision across all States while the case is pending. The Chief Justice orally remarked that the Court would also ask one of the petitioners about his conduct.
Case number:
W.P.(C) No. 1351/2026
Date of the decision challenged:
June 24, 2025
Chief Election Commissioner:
Gyanesh Kumar
Why it matters for exams: The case ties the Election Commission's revision of electoral rolls to Article 324 and to judicial review of its decision-making.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
SIR Special Intensive Revision — A house-to-house revision of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission.
Article 324 Article 324 of the Constitution of India — It vests superintendence, direction and control of elections in the Election Commission.
Background
The Reserve Bank has been in the news through this week for liquidity and foreign exchange measures; the rate those measures work around is fixed by a statutory committee.
The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 was amended in 2016 to give a statutory basis to the flexible inflation targeting framework.
Under Section 45ZA the Central Government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank, determines the inflation target in terms of the Consumer Price Index once in five years and notifies it in the Official Gazette.
The target is 4 per cent CPI inflation, with an upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent and a lower tolerance limit of 2 per cent.
Section 45ZB provides for a six-member Monetary Policy Committee, constituted by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette, to determine the policy repo rate required to achieve that target.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank is its ex officio Chairperson; the Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy and one officer of the Reserve Bank nominated by the Central Board are the other ex officio members, and three members are appointed from outside for a period of four years.
The committee must meet at least four times a year, the quorum is four members, each member has one vote, and in the event of an equality of votes the Governor has a second or casting vote.
The operating target is the weighted average call rate, which the Reserve Bank aligns with the policy repo rate through liquidity management.
Members in the committee:
Six
Inflation target:
4 per cent CPI inflation
Tolerance band:
2 per cent to 6 per cent
Minimum meetings a year:
Four
Quorum:
Four members
Enabling section:
Section 45ZB, RBI Act, 1934
Why it matters for exams: The size, composition, quorum and casting vote of the Monetary Policy Committee and the 4 per cent inflation target are standard questions in banking and civil services papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
MPC Monetary Policy Committee — The six-member statutory committee that decides the Reserve Bank's policy repo rate.
CPI Consumer Price Index — The retail price index in which India's inflation target is expressed.
WACR Weighted average call rate — The overnight interbank rate the Reserve Bank treats as its operating target.
Repo rate Policy repo rate — The rate at which the Reserve Bank lends to banks against approved securities.
Background
India's securities market is in the news this week, with the Centre clearing the strategic sale of a majority stake in IDBI Bank; the regulator of that market has a two-step origin worth remembering.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India was constituted as a non-statutory body on April 12, 1988 through a resolution of the Government of India.
It was established as a statutory body in the year 1992, and the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 came into force on January 30, 1992.
The Act is numbered 15 of 1992.
The Preamble describes the basic functions of the Board as protecting the interests of investors in securities and promoting the development of, and regulating, the securities market and matters connected with or incidental to it.
Appeals against the Board's orders lie to the Securities Appellate Tribunal, which the regulator lists among the bodies in its framework.
Constituted as non-statutory body:
April 12, 1988
SEBI Act came into force:
January 30, 1992
Act number:
15 of 1992
Appellate body:
Securities Appellate Tribunal
Why it matters for exams: The two dates in SEBI's origin — the 1988 resolution and the 1992 Act coming into force — are a favourite distinction in banking and PSC papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
SEBI Securities and Exchange Board of India — The statutory regulator of India's securities market.
Statutory body — A body created by an Act of the legislature rather than by an executive decision.
SAT Securities Appellate Tribunal — The tribunal that hears appeals against orders of the securities regulator.
Background
The Competition Commission of India cleared a jewellery group's acquisition of a majority stake in another listed jeweller this week; such clearances are given under the law described here.
The Competition Act, 2002 was passed by Parliament in 2002 and the President accorded assent in January 2003.
It was subsequently amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, and in accordance with that amendment the Competition Commission of India and the Competition Appellate Tribunal were established.
The Commission is fully functional with a Chairperson and six members.
The provisions of the Act relating to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position were notified on May 20, 2009.
The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 was published in the Gazette of India on 11th April, 2023.
A merger or acquisition above the thresholds in the Act is notified to the Commission as a combination, and the Commission's order under Section 31 permits, modifies or blocks it.
Parent Act:
The Competition Act, 2002
President's assent:
January 2003
Composition:
Chairperson and six members
Key provisions notified:
May 20, 2009
Latest amendment gazetted:
11th April, 2023
Why it matters for exams: The Commission's composition, the year of assent and the appellate route are repeat questions wherever economic regulators are examined.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
CCI Competition Commission of India — The statutory authority that enforces competition law and clears large mergers.
Combination — A merger, amalgamation or acquisition that crosses the thresholds in the Competition Act and must be notified to the Commission.
Abuse of dominant position — Conduct by which an enterprise with market power harms competition or consumers.
Background
State finances were in the news this week as the States offered thousands of crores of securities in a Reserve Bank auction; the share of central taxes those States receive is recommended by a constitutional commission.
Under clause (1) of Article 280 of the Constitution, the Finance Commission is to be constituted every fifth year or earlier.
A Commission normally takes about two years to make its recommendations, and the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission covered a six-year period up to 31st March 2026.
Its terms of reference cover the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes divisible between them under Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution, and the allocation of the States' respective shares.
It also covers the principles governing grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India under Article 275.
The third head is the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities, on the basis of the recommendations made by that State's own Finance Commission.
The Sixteenth Finance Commission is chaired by Dr. Arvind Panagariya, and its Advance Cell was formed in the Ministry of Finance on 21.11.2022.
Constitutional provision:
Article 280, clause (1)
Interval:
Every fifth year or earlier
Grants-in-aid article:
Article 275
Fifteenth Commission's award period:
Six years, up to 31st March 2026
Advance Cell of the Sixteenth Commission:
Formed on 21.11.2022
Why it matters for exams: Article 280, the five-year cycle and the three heads of the terms of reference are among the most frequently asked facts on fiscal federalism.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Devolution — The share of the divisible pool of central taxes passed on to the States.
Grants-in-aid — Transfers from the Consolidated Fund of India to a State's revenues under Article 275.
Terms of reference — The questions the Union Government asks a commission to answer.
Background
The Supreme Court has been in the news through this week for a run of orders, and the Court's own description of its powers explains where each of them comes from.
The Supreme Court has original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction.
Its exclusive original jurisdiction extends to disputes between the Government of India and one or more States, or between two or more States, where the dispute involves a question on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends.
Article 32 gives it a further original jurisdiction for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights, under which it may issue directions, orders or writs including habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari.
Appeals come by a certificate of the High Court under Article 132(1), 133(1) or 134, and the Court may in its discretion grant special leave to appeal under Article 136 from any judgment or order of any court or tribunal in the territory of India.
Its advisory jurisdiction is exercised on a reference made by the President of India under Article 143.
Under Articles 129 and 142 the Court is vested with the power to punish for contempt of court, including contempt of itself, and Order XLVIII of the Supreme Court Rules allows a curative petition on limited grounds after a review petition is dismissed.
In public interest litigation the Court has treated letters, telegrams, postcards and news reports as writ petitions, a judicial innovation the Court describes as unique to itself; the High Court stands at the head of a State's judicial administration, and there are twenty-five High Courts in the country.
Jurisdictions:
Original, appellate and advisory
Fundamental Rights jurisdiction:
Article 32
Special leave to appeal:
Article 136
Advisory reference by the President:
Article 143
Contempt power:
Articles 129 and 142
High Courts in the country:
25
Why it matters for exams: Matching Articles 32, 136 and 143 to the right jurisdiction, and naming the five writs, is standard examination work in polity.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
SLP Special leave petition — A petition asking the Supreme Court to use its discretion under Article 136 to hear an appeal.
Curative petition — A last remedy allowing the Court to reconsider a final order on limited grounds after a review is dismissed.
PIL Public interest litigation — A petition filed by a public-spirited person in a matter affecting the public at large.
Background
The President appointed six Governors in a single round this week; the appointment of Governors, and nominations to the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, are handled by one division of the Union Government.
The Centre State Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs deals with Centre-State relations, including the working of the constitutional provisions governing such relations.
Its listed subjects are the appointment of Governors, the creation of new States, nominations to the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, inter-State boundary disputes, over-seeing the crime situation in States and the imposition of President's Rule.
The Acts it administers include the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, which redrew the map of India on linguistic lines, and the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The Governors (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1982 and its 2014 amendment are also held by this division, along with the President's (Emoluments and) Pension Act, 1951.
The Inter-State Council Secretariat and the National Crime Records Bureau are listed among the organisations under the division.
Ministry:
Ministry of Home Affairs
Division:
Centre State Division
Reorganisation Act held:
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956
Governors' service law:
The Governors (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1982
Organisations listed:
Inter-State Council Secretariat; National Crime Records Bureau
Why it matters for exams: Questions on who processes a Governor's appointment, a new State or President's Rule are answered by naming this division and the Acts it holds.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
President's Rule — Central administration of a State when its constitutional machinery is held to have failed.
Inter-State Council — A body for consultation between the Union and the States, whose secretariat works under the Home Ministry.
NCRB National Crime Records Bureau — The central agency that compiles India's crime statistics.