28 October 2026
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has released revised Maximum Retail Prices for 543 brands of anti-cancer medicines, with the new prices effective from November 9, 2026. The list is based on what companies submitted up to October 27, 2026 and NPPA says it will be updated on a continual basis as more manufacturers file revised prices. The step follows NPPA's October 17, 2026 decision on Trade Margin Rationalisation for 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, which include immunotherapy medicines used for over 20 types of cancer, Denosumab, Pegfilgrastim and Bevacizumab. Among the examples given, ANARZOLE (Anastrozole 1 mg, 10 tablets) falls from Rs. 695.76 to Rs. 73.00 and Fulbreca (Fulvestrant 50 mg injection) from Rs. 26,072.16 to Rs. 5,491.00. NPPA works under the Department of Pharmaceuticals in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Brands covered:
543
Drugs under trade margin rationalisation:
137
Why it matters for exams: NPPA and the ministry it sits under are standard Polity and Economy questions; that the Department of Pharmaceuticals sits under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, not the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is a frequent trap.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NPPA National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority — The body that fixes and revises prices of controlled medicines in India.
MRP Maximum Retail Price — The highest price at which a product may be sold to a consumer.
28 October 2026
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Singapore's Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing on the sidelines of the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus at Cebu in the Philippines. The two sides reviewed defence cooperation and discussed widening joint military exercises across the Army, Navy and Air Force. Rajnath Singh reaffirmed India's support for ASEAN centrality and for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, and described Singapore as a key pillar of India's Act East Policy. He invited Chan Chun Sing to Aero India 2027, to be held in February 2027 at Bengaluru, and congratulated Singapore on chairing the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus in 2027.
Edition of ADMM-Plus:
13th
Venue:
Cebu, Philippines
Why it matters for exams: ADMM-Plus and the Act East Policy are repeat International Relations questions, and Aero India's venue city is a standard one-mark question.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ADMM-Plus ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus — A defence forum of the ten ASEAN members together with eight partner countries including India.
Act East Policy Act East Policy — India's policy of deepening ties with Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific.
28 October 2026
The Ministry of Textiles will open the Production Linked Incentive scheme portal, pli.texmin.gov.in, for Round 4 applications from 1 November to 31 December 2026. The scheme targets Man-Made Fibre (MMF) Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Technical Textiles. The minimum turnover requirement under Part 2 of the scheme has been reduced from Rs. 200 crore to Rs. 100 crore to bring in more MSMEs and mid-sized units. Applicants approved under Round 4 get a scheme tenure running up to FY 2033-34. Existing participants from Rounds 1, 2 and 3 that have not claimed or received any incentive may move to Round 4 after withdrawing their earlier applications.
Minimum turnover under Part 2:
Rs. 100 crore
Scheme tenure for Round 4:
up to FY 2033-34
Why it matters for exams: The PLI scheme, the ministry that runs each PLI sector and the term technical textiles are regular Economy questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
PLI Production Linked Incentive — A scheme that pays an incentive on incremental sales of goods made in India.
MMF Man-Made Fibre — Fibre made by a chemical process rather than taken from a plant or animal.
28 October 2026
At an event under GeM Samvad 2026, the Government e Marketplace and Laghu Udyog Bharati set out the reforms made for Micro and Small Enterprises. Transaction charges on GeM have come down from 0.50 per cent to 0.30 per cent of order value. Orders up to Rs. 10 lakh now attract no transaction charge, against the earlier threshold of Rs. 5 lakh, and for orders above Rs. 10 crore the charge is capped at Rs. 3 lakh, down from a maximum of Rs. 72.50 lakh. About 97 per cent of orders on GeM attract no transaction charges. The Caution Money deposit at onboarding was dropped in July 2025, and vendor assessment charges for Original Equipment Manufacturers fell by 66 to 92 per cent since January 2024. GeM has been integrated with all five TReDS exchanges, in line with the Union Budget 2026-27 announcement, and GeM SAHAY offers collateral-free lending against purchase orders placed on GeM. The 2024 memorandum of understanding between GeM and Laghu Udyog Bharati has supported 108 virtual conferences.
Transaction charge:
0.30 per cent of order value
Orders exempt from charge:
up to Rs. 10 lakh
Why it matters for exams: GeM and TReDS are repeat Economy and banking questions, and GeM SAHAY is a named credit facility worth remembering.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
GeM Government e Marketplace — The online portal through which government departments buy goods and services.
TReDS Trade Receivables Discounting System — An electronic platform where small suppliers can get their invoices financed early.
28 October 2026
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will hold the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi from 2 to 5 November 2026, on the theme Invest. Innovate. Inspire. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it on 2 November 2026. Participants are expected from over 130 countries, with Australia, Denmark, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom as country partners and thirteen states and union territories as partner states. The 9th Session of the International Solar Alliance Assembly and the 4th International Conference on Green Hydrogen will be held alongside. MNRE Secretary Santosh Sarangi said India has 308 GW of installed non-fossil fuel capacity and is on course for its 500 GW target by 2030, which needs about USD 220 billion of investment between 2027 and 2030. India ranks third globally in renewable energy and solar installed capacity and fourth in wind power capacity.
Non-fossil installed capacity:
308 GW
Target by 2030:
500 GW
Venue:
Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi
Why it matters for exams: India's 500 GW non-fossil target, its global ranks in renewable capacity and the International Solar Alliance are standard Environment and Economy questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ISA International Solar Alliance — A treaty-based alliance of solar-rich countries with its secretariat in India.
MNRE Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — The Union ministry in charge of solar, wind and other renewable energy.
28 October 2026
Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan met a delegation of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, led by David McAllister, at Parliament House in New Delhi. He pointed to shared democratic values and a common interest in a multipolar global order, and recalled the 16th India-European Union Summit and the presence of the European Council President and the European Commission President as Republic Day chief guests. On trade he said the two sides together represent a market of about 25 trillion US dollars and roughly two billion people, called the proposed free trade agreement the mother of all agreements and sought the European Parliament's support for it. He welcomed the Trade and Technology Council and the conclusion of talks on India's participation in the Horizon Europe programme. Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Kumar Jha, Surendra Singh Nagar, Amar Pal Maurya and P. T. Usha also attended.
Delegation leader:
David McAllister
Combined market size cited:
about 25 trillion US dollars
Why it matters for exams: The Vice President is ex officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha under Article 64, and Horizon Europe and the India-EU Trade and Technology Council are named programmes worth remembering.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
AFET Committee on Foreign Affairs — The European Parliament's standing committee on external relations.
Horizon Europe Horizon Europe — The European Union's research and innovation funding programme.
28 October 2026
The Department of Telecommunications, under the Ministry of Communications, led a thematic session on Intelligent Networks and Quantum Communication at the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The conclave runs from 27 to 29 October 2026 and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Secretary Amit Agrawal said India has about 1.2 billion mobile connections and 5G service in nearly every district, and that the Telecommunication Technology Development Fund has supported more than 130 projects worth about Rs. 500 crore. The Technology Development and Investment Promotion Scheme, with a budget above Rs. 200 crore, has been renewed for five years until 2031. The panel was moderated by Rajkumar Upadhyay, Chief Executive Officer of C-DOT, and included representatives of the Bharat 6G Alliance and of IIT Kanpur and IIT Delhi. C-DOT and BSNL jointly showcased quantum communication and mission-critical services technologies, and the department's outreach stall featured the Sanchar Saathi and Samriddh Gram initiatives.
Mobile connections cited:
about 1.2 billion
TTDF projects supported:
more than 130 projects worth about Rs. 500 crore
Why it matters for exams: C-DOT, the Telecommunication Technology Development Fund and the Bharat 6G Alliance are named telecom bodies and schemes that recur in Science and Technology questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
C-DOT Centre for Development of Telematics — The telecom research and development centre of the Government of India.
ESTIC Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave — A national conclave that brings together science and technology departments and industry.
28 October 2026
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship held a national review meeting of Central Public Sector Enterprises at Kaushal Bhawan, New Delhi, to strengthen apprenticeship engagement. Secretary Debashree Mukherjee said the focus must shift from the number of trainees to outcomes such as completion, certification, employability and retention, and urged enterprises to include women and under-represented groups. Under the second phase of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme, 44.75 lakh apprentices were engaged through 47,452 active establishments between FY 2022-23 and 22 September 2026, with Optional Trades accounting for 76.27 per cent of engagement. Enterprises were asked to prepare hiring plans in line with the mandatory apprenticeship requirement of 2.5 per cent to 15 per cent, verify their workforce data on the portal and appoint senior-level nodal officers.
Apprentices engaged under NAPS-2:
44.75 lakh
Active establishments:
47,452
Mandatory apprenticeship band:
2.5 per cent to 15 per cent
Why it matters for exams: The National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme and the ministry that runs it are regular questions, and the 2.5 to 15 per cent mandatory apprenticeship band is a precise figure examiners like.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NAPS National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme — A central scheme that shares the stipend cost of engaging apprentices.
CPSE Central Public Sector Enterprise — A company in which the Union government holds a controlling stake.
29 October 2026
The Department of Space and the Indian Space Research Organisation will organise the Space Science and Technologies thematic session of the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on 29 October 2026, with the conclave running from 27 to 29 October 2026. A curtain raiser held at ISRO Headquarters in Bengaluru on 21 October 2026 was attended by V. Narayanan, Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO, by D. K. Singh, Director of the U R Rao Satellite Centre and Chair of the Thematic Committee on Space Science and Technologies, and by Rajeev Jaiswal of the Department of Space Branch Secretariat at New Delhi. ISRO said the conclave is meant to promote collaboration across the science, technology and innovation ecosystem in support of the national vision of Viksit Bharat@2047.
Session date:
29 October 2026
Curtain raiser venue:
ISRO Headquarters, Bengaluru
Why it matters for exams: That the same person is Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO, and that the U R Rao Satellite Centre is ISRO's satellite-building centre at Bengaluru, are repeat Science and Technology questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
URSC U R Rao Satellite Centre — ISRO's centre at Bengaluru that designs and builds satellites.
27 October 2026
A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issued notice to the Centre on two petitions challenging Union Government orders that prescribe a six-stanza version of Vande Mataram for singing and playing on specified occasions. The petitioners, B. D. Borkar and Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji, argue that the Ministry of Home Affairs has no statutory or constitutional authority to change the National Song by executive order, and that the orders replace the traditional two-stanza version with the six-stanza version from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath. They invoke Article 19(1)(a), Article 21, Article 25(1), Article 28(3) and Articles 14 and 15, and rely on Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala. Senior counsel G. Mohan Gopal appeared for the petitioners. The petitions ask that no citizen face penal, civil or administrative consequences for not singing or playing it.
Articles invoked:
19(1)(a), 21, 25(1), 28(3), 14, 15
Why it matters for exams: Vande Mataram as the National Song, its source in Anandamath and the Bijoe Emmanuel ruling on Article 19(1)(a) are among the most repeated Polity questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Anandamath Anandamath — The Bengali novel by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in which Vande Mataram appears.
Background
The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), which works under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, describes itself as the premier taxonomic research organization in India. It was established on 1 July 1916 to promote surveys, exploration and research leading to advancement of knowledge of the animal life of India. ZSI had its genesis as the Zoological Section of the Indian Museum at Calcutta in 1875. Since its inception it has documented the diversity and distribution of the fauna of India, and has published information on all animal taxa, from Protozoa to Mammalia.
Its publication series carry that work. The Records of the Indian Museum, whose first issue was published in 1907, served as a vehicle for zoological research articles even before ZSI existed; after 1962 the journal was renamed the Records of the Zoological Survey of India, and it is a quarterly in-house journal now. The Memoirs series publishes work on the systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of a group of animals, or of groups of animals occurring in an ecologically defined area, and any other work of a monographic nature; it is an occasional publication, brought out depending upon the availability of material. Occasional Papers carry findings on particular topics and animal groups, district faunas, checklists and other lengthy taxonomic research papers that cannot be accommodated in the Records of the Zoological Survey of India. 91 volumes of 'Fauna of British India' on different groups were published before independence; that programme was reoriented in 1975 as 'Fauna of India', and since then 52 volumes have been published.
ZSI has also digitised all its published documents — more than 200,000 pages of printed material — as a text-searchable archive. Text searches can be made across all publications or restricted by the user to any particular publication, year, author, taxon, etc.
Established:
1 July 1916
Genesis:
Zoological Section of the Indian Museum at Calcutta in 1875
Ministry:
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Digital archive:
more than 200,000 pages of printed material
Why it matters for exams: ZSI's parent ministry, its genesis in the Zoological Section of the Indian Museum at Calcutta and its publication series are repeat questions in environment and science sections.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ZSI Zoological Survey of India — The apex organisation for animal taxonomy research in India, under the environment ministry.
Taxonomy Taxonomy — The science of describing, naming and classifying living things.
Background
Under Section 12 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Central Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute a body to be known as the Central Information Commission. The Commission was constituted with effect from 12-10-2005, and its jurisdiction extends over all Central Public Authorities. It consists of the Chief Information Commissioner and such number of Central Information Commissioners, not exceeding 10, as may be deemed necessary.
The appointment is made on the recommendation of a committee of the Prime Minister, who is the Chairperson of the committee, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. The Act requires the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners to be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance; and bars them from being a Member of Parliament or of a State or Union Territory legislature, from holding any other office of profit, from connection with any political party, and from carrying on any business or pursuing any profession. They hold office for a period of three years from the date on which they enter upon office. The Chief Information Commissioner receives a pay of Rs. 2,50,000 (fixed) per mensem and an Information Commissioner Rs. 2,25,000 (fixed) per mensem.
The Commission's powers and functions are in Sections 18, 19, 20 and 25 of the Act. Under Section 18 it receives and inquires into complaints — among others from a person refused access to information, not given a response within the time limit, required to pay a fee he or she considers unreasonable, or given incomplete, misleading or false information — and while inquiring it has the same powers as are vested in a civil court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, including summoning witnesses, requiring discovery and inspection of documents, receiving evidence on affidavit and requisitioning public records. Under Section 19 a first appeal lies within thirty days to an officer senior in rank to the Public Information Officer, and a second appeal lies within ninety days with the Central Information Commission; its orders are binding. Under Section 20 it may impose a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees each day on a Public Information Officer who has without reasonable cause refused or delayed information, with the total penalty not to exceed twenty-five thousand rupees, and may recommend disciplinary action for persistent default. Under Section 25 the Commission prepares a report on the implementation of the Act each year and forwards a copy to the appropriate Government.
Constituted with effect from:
12-10-2005
Strength:
Chief Information Commissioner and Central Information Commissioners not exceeding 10
Term of office:
three years
Penalty ceiling:
twenty-five thousand rupees
Why it matters for exams: The appointments committee, the ceiling of ten Information Commissioners, the three-year term, the ninety-day second appeal and the penalty ceiling are all standard exam points.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
CIC Central Information Commission — The appellate body that hears second appeals and complaints under the transparency law.
RTI Right to Information — The law that lets a citizen seek information held by a public authority.