29 October 2026
A soldier posted to a counter insurgency operation became disabled while on duty, and he asked for war injury pension rather than the ordinary disability pension.
The Union Government resisted, arguing that the injury did not arise in a war and so the higher rate was not available.
The Supreme Court rejected that reading. Service in a notified operation of this kind is treated as service in a war like situation.
Once the disability is attributable to that posting, the soldier falls within the war injury category and gets the higher pension.
The Centre's appeal was dismissed and the soldier's entitlement was confirmed.
The practical difference matters, because war injury pension is paid at a higher rate than disability pension for the same degree of disablement.
Operation Rakshak is the Indian Army's long running counter insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Case:
Union of India v. Narender Kumar
Citation:
2026 INSC 1166
Benefit upheld:
War injury pension
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is the distinction between war injury pension and disability pension for armed forces personnel, and that Operation Rakshak is the Army's counter insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Operation Rakshak Operation Rakshak — The Indian Army's counter insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
AFT Armed Forces Tribunal — The tribunal that hears service and pension disputes of armed forces personnel.
29 October 2026
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released the findings of an independent drive test carried out in the Kachchh area of Gujarat and on the Bhuj to Bachau highway.
The test was run by an agency appointed by the regulator, under the supervision of its regional office at Jaipur, from 8 to 11 September 2026.
The team drove 245.2 kilometres inside the cities, tested nine hotspot locations and covered 75.7 kilometres on the highway.
Live voice calls and data sessions were run on second, third, fourth and fifth generation networks using subscriber identity modules of all four operators tested.
The measurements covered coverage gaps, dropped calls, long silences during calls, download and upload speed, latency and packet loss.
Inside the cities the highest average download speed recorded was 231.92 megabits per second, and on the highway it was 241.22 megabits per second.
The findings have been shared with the operators for follow up action and the full report is on the regulator's website.
Test dates:
8 to 11 September 2026
City drive:
245.2 km and 9 hotspots
Highway drive:
75.7 km, Bhuj to Bachau
Highest average download, city:
231.92 Mbps
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is the Independent Drive Test method by which TRAI, a statutory regulator created under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, measures mobile network quality of service on the ground.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TRAI Telecom Regulatory Authority of India — The statutory regulator for telecom services, set up under a 1997 Act.
IDT Independent Drive Test — A field test in which live calls and data sessions are measured along a route.
29 October 2026
A construction firm came to the Supreme Court because money awarded to it by an arbitrator was still not in hand, and it wanted the Court to watch over the recovery proceedings itself.
The Court declined that role. It said it cannot sit above a pending execution case and keep issuing clarifications, because that would turn the trial court into a post office.
But the judges accepted that the delay complained of is widespread. Winning an arbitration in India, they noted, is often only the start of a second fight.
So the Court turned to the Law Commission of India. It asked the Commission to examine the whole enforcement framework and to recommend what would make recovery quick and certain.
The Commission has been asked to list the practical blocks to recovery and to say whether Indian awards and foreign awards need separate routes or one common route with safeguards.
The registry was told to send a copy of the judgment to the Commission's chairman.
Under Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, an award is enforced in the same way as a decree of a civil court, which is why the Code of Civil Procedure governs the recovery stage.
Case:
M/s Royal Construction Company Pvt Ltd v. M/s National Projects Construction Corporation
Citation:
2026 INSC 1167
Provision:
Section 36, Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, which makes an arbitral award enforceable as if it were a decree of a civil court, and the role of the Law Commission of India as the Union Government's law reform advisory body.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Arbitral award Arbitral award — The decision given by an arbitrator or arbitral tribunal in a private dispute settlement process.
Law Commission of India Law Commission of India — A non-statutory body set up by executive order that advises the Union Government on legal reform.
29 October 2026
A man convicted in a single trial for more than one offence had been handed two life sentences, and the courts below ordered that he serve them one after the other.
The Supreme Court set that part of the order aside. It held that where life terms are imposed in the same trial, they can only run together.
The reasoning is simple. A life term already lasts the whole of the remaining natural life of the convict, so stacking one on top of another adds nothing that can actually be served.
The Court also dealt with what happens if the convict later gets relief from the executive. Remission or commutation given for one of the offences does not touch the life term imposed for the other.
That second life sentence therefore continues to run on its own strength until it too is remitted or commuted.
The effect is that such a convict is not cut off from applying for relief, but relief must be won separately for each offence.
The principle restates a settled rule on concurrent sentencing that examiners return to often.
Case:
Raju Shantaram Koli v. The State of Maharashtra
Citation:
2026 INSC 1161
Rule laid down:
Life sentences in one trial run concurrently, not consecutively
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is the rule on concurrent sentencing, that life sentences imposed in one trial run concurrently, and the separate character of remission and commutation granted for each offence.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Remission Remission of sentence — Cutting short the period of a sentence without changing its nature.
Commutation Commutation of sentence — Replacing a punishment with a lighter kind of punishment.
29 October 2026
A sugar mill had kept an amount of excise duty in its books without paying it, and the tax officer added that amount back to its income.
The officer used the rule that certain statutory dues can be deducted only in the year in which they are actually paid.
The Supreme Court held that the rule was being applied to the wrong facts. The mill had never claimed the unpaid duty as a deduction at all.
If nothing was claimed, there is nothing to disallow. Adding the amount back would tax the company on money it never took out of its income.
The Court therefore read the provision as a check on a deduction already claimed, not as a licence to create income.
The appeal of the assessee was allowed on that reasoning.
Section 43B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is the provision in question, and it makes deduction of certain dues depend on actual payment.
Case:
M/s Lakshmi Sugar Mills Co. Ltd v. Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi-II
Citation:
2026 INSC 1162
Provision:
Section 43B, Income-tax Act, 1961
Why it matters for exams: The durable fact is Section 43B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, under which certain statutory dues are allowed as a deduction only in the year of actual payment, and the principle that a disallowance can follow only a deduction that was claimed.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Assessee Assessee — The person or company whose income is being assessed to tax.
Disallowance Disallowance of deduction — Refusing a deduction that a taxpayer has claimed while computing income.
29 October 2026
The incubator run by the All India Institute of Ayurveda in New Delhi, known as AIIA-iCAINE, marked its sixth foundation day by opening a national competition on artificial intelligence for Ayurveda.
The contest is called AyushTech Innovate: National Open Ayurveda AI Challenge and is run with Techfest of IIT Bombay.
Entries are to be built on AyurParam, an open source language model for Ayurveda developed at IIT Bombay, and may cover clinical practice, retrieval from classical texts, research, treatment planning and public health awareness.
The grand finale is set for 15 to 18 December 2026 at IIT Bombay.
Two agreements were signed the same day, one with the World Ayurveda Foundation to set up a secretariat for artificial intelligence in Ayurveda, and one with a retail company to turn classical formulations into skincare products.
The incubator also opened a facility to help Ayurveda innovators with intellectual property rights.
In six years it has supported 52 problem statements, mentored more than 100 startup ideas and given nine startups seed support of three lakh rupees each.
Challenge:
AyushTech Innovate: National Open Ayurveda AI Challenge
Model used:
AyurParam, open source Ayurveda language model, IIT Bombay
Grand finale:
15 to 18 December 2026, IIT Bombay
Startups seed funded:
9 startups, Rs 3 lakh each
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the name AyushTech Innovate: National Open Ayurveda AI Challenge, the AyurParam open source Ayurveda language model developed at IIT Bombay, and that the All India Institute of Ayurveda works under the Ministry of Ayush.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
AIIA All India Institute of Ayurveda — An apex Ayurveda institute at New Delhi under the Ministry of Ayush.
Incubator Startup incubator — A unit that mentors and funds early stage startups.
29 October 2026
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the sub-sector wise monthly Index of Services Production for August 2026.
The index is still an experimental release. The Ministry is publishing it to test data quality and reliability and to collect feedback before it becomes a regular series.
It uses 2024-25 as the base year and covers 19 service sub-sectors, from wholesale and retail trade to banking, insurance, real estate and information technology.
Retail trade showed the sharpest rise over the same month a year earlier, moving from 116.1 to 139.2.
Two sub-sectors fell. Air transport slipped from 98.7 to 89.2, and arts, entertainment and recreation came down from 117.2 to 111.7.
The rail transport, banking and insurance numbers rest on provisional monthly data and will be revised once a year.
The full dataset is placed on the Ministry's eSankhyiki portal.
Base year:
2024-25
Sub-sectors covered:
19
Retail trade index, August:
139.2 against 116.1
Air transport index, August:
89.2 against 98.7
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are that the Index of Services Production is an experimental MoSPI series with 2024-25 as its base year and 19 service sub-sectors, and that MoSPI data is hosted on the eSankhyiki portal.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
MoSPI Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation — The Union ministry that produces India's official statistics.
Base year Base year — The reference year whose index value is taken as 100.
29 October 2026
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy reported that signed offtake commitments for green hydrogen and its derivatives by Indian companies have reached about 5,55,610 tonnes a year.
That is close to eleven per cent of the volume targeted under the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
Twenty-three offtake contracts have been signed since the mission began in 2023, and more than seventy per cent of the contracted volume is meant for export.
In 2026 alone Indian companies signed eighteen new agreements covering over four lakh tonnes a year.
The projects behind these contracts are expected to draw investment of about ninety thousand crore rupees.
On the domestic side, eleven fertiliser units have signed up for green ammonia and four refineries have been allotted green hydrogen under the mission's transition programme.
The mission was approved with an outlay of 19,744 crore rupees up to 2029-30 and aims at least five million tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2030.
Offtake signed:
About 5,55,610 tonnes a year
Mission outlay:
Rs 19,744 crore up to 2029-30
Mission target:
At least 5 million tonnes a year by 2030
Contracts signed since 2023:
23
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the National Green Hydrogen Mission's outlay of Rs 19,744 crore up to 2029-30 and its target of at least 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2030.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Green hydrogen Green hydrogen — Hydrogen made by splitting water with electricity from renewable sources.
Offtake agreement Offtake agreement — A contract in which a buyer commits in advance to purchase a stated quantity.