24 October 2026
The Setting to Work (STW) Phase-2 activity of the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system Energy Module was inaugurated on October 24, 2026. The module was developed indigenously by the Naval Materials Research Laboratory of DRDO. The ceremony took place at Larsen and Toubro's AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex in Hazira, Gujarat. Defence Secretary and Chairman DRDO Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh was the Chief Guest and joined virtually. Chief of Materiel of the Indian Navy Vice Admiral B Sivakumar and DRDO Director General (Naval Systems & Materials) Dr R Balamuralikrishnan attended at Hazira. An AIP system boosts the underwater endurance of diesel-electric submarines by reducing dependence on atmospheric oxygen. In the next phase the Energy Module will be energised for power production and then handed over to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited for integration on a Kalvari-class submarine in early 2027.
Developing laboratory:
Naval Materials Research Laboratory, DRDO
Venue:
AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex, Hazira, Gujarat
Handover for integration:
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, early 2027
Why it matters for exams: AIP, DRDO laboratories and the Kalvari-class submarine programme are standard defence questions in UPSC and bank exams.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
AIP Air Independent Propulsion — A system that lets a conventional submarine stay submerged longer by generating power without atmospheric oxygen.
NMRL Naval Materials Research Laboratory — A DRDO laboratory at Ambernath that works on naval materials and the indigenous AIP programme.
24 October 2026
The fifth edition of the Indian Navy's Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar, Swavlamban 2026, will be held at the Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, on 26-27 October 2026. The theme is 'Strength & Power through Innovation and Indigenisation'. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh will be the Chief Guest at the plenary session on 26 October 2026. The Swavlamban 5.0 document and a Compendium on Technology Imperatives will be released at the plenary session. Swavlamban began in 2022 and is organised by the Indian Navy with the Defence Innovation Organisation and the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers. Sessions will cover quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and hypersonic technologies.
Edition:
Fifth edition
Dates:
26-27 Oct 2026
Venue:
Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi
Theme:
Strength & Power through Innovation and Indigenisation
Why it matters for exams: Swavlamban, iDEX and the Navy's indigenisation drive recur in defence and current affairs papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
iDEX Innovations for Defence Excellence — A Ministry of Defence scheme that funds start-ups and MSMEs to build defence technology.
SIDM Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers — An industry body of Indian defence manufacturers that co-organises Swavlamban.
24 October 2026
The National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation marked the formal launch of Bihar Integrated Manufacturing City Gaya Limited at Bodh Gaya on 24 October 2026. It was launched by the Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Samrat Choudhary. Twelve Memoranda of Understanding were signed with prospective investors for about 300 acres of industrial land at IMC Gaya, representing proposed investments of around Rs 4,200 crore and an estimated employment potential of 16,095 opportunities. The Integrated Manufacturing Cluster at Gaya is being developed under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor and spreads across 1,670 acres in Dobhi block of Gaya district. The project was approved by the Government of India on 28 August 2024 at a total cost of Rs 1,339 crore including land cost. BIMCGL, incorporated on 6 January 2025, is a joint venture of the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority and the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust with equal equity.
MoUs signed:
12
Proposed investment:
Rs 4,200 crore
Employment potential:
16,095 opportunities
Project area:
1,670 acres in Dobhi block
Approved cost:
Rs 1,339 crore
Why it matters for exams: Industrial corridors, their nodes and the agencies that build them are repeatedly asked in economy sections.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
NICDC National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation — The central agency that plans and develops India's industrial corridor nodes.
AKIC Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor — An industrial corridor along the eastern dedicated freight corridor under which IMC Gaya is being built.
24 October 2026
The National Biodiversity Authority has disbursed around Rs 1.04 crore of Access and Benefit-Sharing money among 27 State Biodiversity Boards and two Union Territory Biodiversity Councils. The announcement was made on 24 October 2026. The amount represents benefit-sharing contributions received from Crystal Crop Protection Limited, Savannah Seeds Pvt. Ltd. and Nunhems India Pvt. Ltd. The contributions relate to access to pearl millet, jowar, maize, rice and bottle gourd for research and commercial purposes. The National Biodiversity Authority has adopted an area-based approach where resources are procured through markets or traders and individual benefit claimers cannot be identified. Allocations were worked out from the cultivation area of the crops using agricultural statistics published through the Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics. Uttar Pradesh received the largest share at Rs 10,35,790.
Amount disbursed:
around Rs. 1.04 crore
Recipients:
27 State Biodiversity Boards and two Union Territory Biodiversity Councils
Largest allocation:
Uttar Pradesh, 10,35,790.00
Why it matters for exams: Access and benefit sharing under the Biological Diversity Act and the three-tier biodiversity structure are standard environment questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ABS Access and Benefit-Sharing — The mechanism under which users of biological resources share benefits with the communities and states that conserve them.
NBA National Biodiversity Authority — The statutory body set up under the Biological Diversity Act with its headquarters at Chennai.
24 October 2026
The second edition of the National Urban Conclave was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Tokhan Sahu in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The Conclave is being held on 24-25 October 2026 under the theme 'Urban Rising - Rethinking Urban Systems, Solutions and Delivery'. It is organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with support from the Government of Odisha, with the National Institute of Urban Affairs as knowledge partner. Over 1,200 participants are attending, including urban development Ministers, Mayors and representatives of urban local bodies. Shri Tokhan Sahu said India's urban population had grown from about 377 million in 2011 to around 500 million and is expected to reach 600 million by 2036. Odisha Chief Minister Shri Mohan Charan Majhi addressed the gathering. The inaugural programme launched HUDCO's Urban Invest Window journal, the Samarthya platform for CPHEEO and the ANKUR Handbook.
Edition:
Second edition
Dates:
24-25 October 2026
Participants:
over 1,200
Urban population in 2011:
approximately 377 million
Why it matters for exams: Urban population figures, the Ministry's flagship missions and NIUA's role are frequently asked in governance sections.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NIUA National Institute of Urban Affairs — The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' research institute on urban development, and knowledge partner of the Conclave.
CPHEEO Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation — The central technical body on water supply and sanitation under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
24 October 2026
The 19th Urban Mobility India Conference and Exhibition 2026 concluded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on 24 October 2026. The two-day conference was held on 23-24 October 2026 and was organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs through the Institute of Urban Transport (India) with support from the Government of Odisha. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Power Shri Manohar Lal addressed the valedictory session and presented awards for excellence in urban transport. He said Integration, Inclusiveness and Intelligence must guide India's future urban mobility. He stated that since December 2025 the Government of India has approved nine Metro projects covering about 174 kilometres at a cost of over Rs 59,000 crore, and that India's operational Metro network has expanded to 1,185 kilometres across 26 cities. He said 1,100 electric buses have begun operations in 28 cities under the PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme, carrying around 2.5 lakh passengers daily. Kochi Metro Rail Ltd was awarded for the Metro Station with Best Multi-modal Integration.
Operational metro network:
1,185 kilometres across 26 cities
Metro projects approved since December 2025:
nine projects, about 174 kilometres, over Rs 59,000 crore
Electric buses operational:
1,100 in 28 cities
Delegates:
around 1,500
Why it matters for exams: Metro route length, PM e-Bus Sewa figures and the Kochi Metro award are directly quotable exam facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
TOD Transit-Oriented Development — Planning that concentrates housing and jobs around mass transit corridors.
24 October 2026
The National Tribal Festival 'Aadi Bazaar 2026' was inaugurated at the Town Hall in the Collectorate premises at Raipur on 24 October 2026. It was inaugurated by Chhattisgarh's Minister for Agriculture and Tribal Development, Shri Ramvichar Netam. The event was organised by the Raipur Regional Office of the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited. The ten-day festival runs until 2 November 2026 and has about 30 stalls representing nearly 80 tribal artisans and craftspeople from different parts of the country. The exhibition features Chhattisgarh's kosa silk and Dhokra craft, Odisha's Sambalpuri sarees and Saura paintings, Madhya Pradesh's Bagh prints and Gond paintings, and cane and bamboo crafts from the northeastern states. Smt. Sanjeeta Gupta, Managing Director of the Chhattisgarh State Minor Forest Produce Cooperative Federation, was the special guest.
Stalls:
around 30
Artisans represented:
nearly 80
Runs until:
November 2, 2026
Organiser:
TRIFED Raipur Regional Office
Why it matters for exams: TRIFED, tribal crafts and GI-linked art forms are regular art and culture questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
TRIFED Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited — The national body under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs that markets tribal produce and crafts.
Dhokra Dhokra metal craft — A lost-wax metal casting craft practised in Chhattisgarh and neighbouring states.
24 October 2026
A high-level team led by Shri Rajesh Verma, Chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas, held a review meeting on 24 October 2026 with the Deputy Commissioners of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts of Punjab. The meeting reviewed in-situ and ex-situ utilisation of paddy stubble and the infrastructure available in the two districts. The Commission expressed concern at the increased number of fire incidents and directed officers to arrest the numbers. It asked for maximum utilisation of paddy stubble as fuel in thermal power plants, brick kilns and industries, with sector-wise Nodal Officers made responsible for actual utilisation. As Tarn Taran continues to report among the highest number of paddy stubble burning incidents, its Deputy Commissioner was directed to accord topmost priority to the issue. The team also inspected an industrial boiler in Amritsar where paddy stubble pellets are used as fuel.
Districts reviewed:
Amritsar and Tarn Taran, Punjab
CAQM Chairperson:
Shri Rajesh Verma
Why it matters for exams: CAQM is a statutory body whose mandate, chairperson and stubble-burning work are asked in environment papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CAQM Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas — A statutory commission that issues binding directions on air quality in the National Capital Region and nearby states.
In-situ In-situ stubble management — Managing crop residue within the field itself, such as by mixing it into the soil.
24 October 2026
The Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata, an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, is working with the Government of Tripura to strengthen professional education in film, television and audio-visual media through the Tripura Film and Television Institute at Agartala. SRFTI will prepare a Detailed Project Report for the proposed permanent campus of the Tripura Film and Television Institute. The announcement was issued on 24 October 2026. A meeting was held on 23 October 2026 between Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Dr. K. K. Nirala, Secretary for Information and Cultural Affairs in the Government of Tripura Shri Kiran Gitte, and SRFTI Vice-Chancellor Shri Santosh Ajmera. The Tripura Film and Television Institute currently offers two one-year post-graduate certificate programmes, in Film and Video Editing and in Screen Acting, and four batches have completed short-term certificate courses.
Central institution:
Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata
New institute:
Tripura Film and Television Institute, Agartala
Existing courses:
Film and Video Editing; Screen Acting
Why it matters for exams: SRFTI, the AVGC sector and central film institutions are regular education and culture questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
AVGC Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics — The creative-industry sector named in the release as a source of new media jobs.
DPR Detailed Project Report — The detailed plan and cost document prepared before a project is built.
24 October 2026
The Digital India BHASHINI Division under the Digital India Corporation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology took part in the 29th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations, held at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi from 23 to 25 October 2026. Ms. Baishali Chakraborty conducted a session titled 'Workshop on AI BHASHINI: Bridging Divides and Increasing Productivity'. A live demonstration of Shrutlekh showed real-time speech transcription with simultaneous translation. The release states that BHASHINI has recorded over 10 billion cumulative AI inferences and supports 36 Indian languages for text, 23 Indian languages for voice and 35 international languages. Its website translation plugin enables multilingual access across more than 800 government websites. BHASHINI Pragati, a document translation workbench developed for the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, supports documents of 100 to 500 pages.
Cumulative AI inferences:
over 10 billion
Languages supported:
36 Indian languages for text, 23 Indian languages for voice and 35 international languages
Government websites covered:
more than 800
Symposium:
29th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations, IIT Delhi, 23 to 25 October 2026
Why it matters for exams: BHASHINI's language counts and its role as language Digital Public Infrastructure are frequently quoted figures.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
DPI Digital Public Infrastructure — Shared digital rails such as identity, payments or language services that many services can build on.
Shodhganga Shodhganga repository — The national repository of Indian electronic theses maintained by INFLIBNET.
24 October 2026
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal concluded his two-day official visit to Germany with engagements in Berlin on 23 October 2026. He held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Levin Holle, Economic and Financial Policy Advisor and G7/G20 Sherpa at the German Federal Chancellery. He held individual meetings with Siemens Healthineers AG Chief Executive Officer Mr. Bernd Montag, Bertelsmann Executive Board member and Bertelsmann Investments Chief Executive Officer Mr. Carsten Coesfeld, and Volkswagen AG Chief Financial Officer and Skoda Auto Chief Executive Officer Mr. Holger Peters. He took part in a roundtable with leaders of German industrial research institutions and a roundtable with heads of selected Fraunhofer Institutes covering microelectronics, power electronics, logistics, smart manufacturing, industrial innovation and battery technologies. He also interacted with Indian researchers and students based in Germany and with members of the Indian diaspora in Berlin.
Minister:
Shri Piyush Goyal, Commerce and Industry
Date of Berlin engagements:
23 October 2026
German Chancellery interlocutor:
Mr. Levin Holle, G7/G20 Sherpa
Why it matters for exams: India-Germany economic engagement and the names of partner institutions are asked in international relations sections.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
Fraunhofer Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft — Germany's network of applied research institutes, named in the release as a partner for industrial research.
16 October 2026
The Supreme Court has held that the action of a public authority to recall or revisit an auction process is justified if the decision is intended to maximise the price for the sale or lease of public property, and that this is permissible as long as an enforceable contract has not been entered into. The judgment, Satinder Pal Singh and Others versus Bedi Hospital and Others, is reported as 2026 INSC 1142. The bench was Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe. The Court set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment that had quashed the Chandigarh Administration's cancellation of Bedi Hospital's bid. The dispute concerned two nursing home sites in Sector 33C, Chandigarh, each with a reserve price of Rs 6.91 crore. Bedi Hospital's bid for one site was Rs 12.58 crore while the adjacent site of the same size fetched Rs 18.25 crore. The Court directed the Chandigarh Administration to conduct a fresh e-auction for the site within three months.
Case:
Satinder Pal Singh & Ors v Bedi Hospital & Ors
Citation:
2026 INSC 1142
Bench:
Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe
Reserve price per site:
Rs 6.91 crore
Bid in dispute:
Rs 12.58 crore
Why it matters for exams: The rule on when a public auction can be recalled is a frequently tested point of administrative law.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Conveyance deed Conveyance deed — The registered document by which ownership of immovable property is formally transferred.
Reserve price Reserve price — The minimum price fixed by the seller below which a bid will not be accepted at auction.