30 October 2026
ISRO is flying its navigation satellite NVS-03 on GSLV-F18, the twentieth flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, with lift-off set for the night of 30 October 2026. The rocket lifts off from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, at Sriharikota and places the satellite in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. NVS-03 is the third satellite of the second-generation NavIC series, built to continue the services of the earlier IRNSS satellites. It carries an indigenous atomic clock along with procured atomic clocks, which is what keeps a navigation signal accurate. The satellite also transmits an L1 signal, added to the L5 and S signals the system already uses. NavIC gives position, navigation and timing services over the Indian landmass and a region stretching about 1,500 km beyond India's boundary.
Launch vehicle:
GSLV-F18, the 20th flight of GSLV
Launch pad:
Second Launch Pad, SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota
Coverage:
Indian landmass and 1,500 km beyond the boundary
Why it matters for exams: NVS-03 is the third second-generation NavIC satellite, being flown on GSLV-F18 from the Second Launch Pad at SDSC SHAR into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NavIC Navigation with Indian Constellation — India's regional satellite navigation system.
GSLV Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle — ISRO's launch vehicle for satellites bound for geosynchronous orbits.
IRNSS Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System — The first generation of the NavIC constellation.
30 October 2026
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has notified the constitution of the National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers and Gig and Platform Workers. The Board is set up under the Code on Social Security, and it brings app-based gig and platform workers into India's formal welfare architecture. The Union Minister for Labour and Employment presides over it. Its members come from the Central and State Governments, aggregator companies, employers, civil society bodies, workers' unions and associations of gig and platform workers. The Board has to meet at least three times a year. Its work is to recommend welfare schemes for different sections of these workers, advise the Central Government, monitor the schemes the Centre runs, review record keeping done at the State level and review spending from the fund and account.
Statute:
Code on Social Security
Presiding officer:
Union Minister for Labour & Employment
Minimum meetings:
At least thrice a year
Why it matters for exams: The National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers and Gig and Platform Workers is created under the Code on Social Security and is presided over by the Union Minister for Labour and Employment.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
Code on Social Security Code on Social Security, 2020 — The Union law that merges India's social security statutes and provides for these Boards.
Gig worker Gig worker — A person who earns outside a traditional employer-employee relationship, often through an app.
28 October 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 54th meeting of PRAGATI at Seva Teerth. PRAGATI is an information and communication technology based multi-modal platform whose name stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, and it brings the Central and State Governments together to clear bottlenecks in projects and welfare schemes. The meeting reviewed projects in the Railways, PM Ekta Malls and drug parks across 31 States and Union Territories worth over ₹16,000 crore. Bulk Drug Parks in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were reviewed, with a call to make active pharmaceutical ingredients at home. The Prime Minister asked Chief Secretaries to review schemes with District Magistrates every month, and spoke of the Aspirational Districts and Aspirational Blocks Programmes. He said sustained work on governance and welfare delivery had helped nearly 25 crore people move out of multidimensional poverty. The redevelopment of Ahmedabad railway station was also reviewed.
Meeting number:
54th PRAGATI meeting
Projects reviewed:
Railways, Ekta Malls and drug parks in 31 States/UTs
Cost:
Over ₹16,000 crore
Why it matters for exams: PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation; its 54th meeting reviewed Railways, PM Ekta Malls and drug park projects across 31 States and Union Territories.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
PRAGATI Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation — The Prime Minister's platform for reviewing stalled projects with States.
API Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient — The chemical in a medicine that produces the effect; bulk drug parks are built to make these.
28 October 2026
Union MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi released ₹1,000 crore as margin money subsidy under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme at a function at Kartavya Bhawan-3, New Delhi. The subsidy will support 11,333 beneficiaries who have received bank-sanctioned project loans of about ₹3,260 crore to set up new micro enterprises, and these units are expected to create more than 1.02 lakh jobs, mostly in rural areas. PMEGP is a credit-linked subsidy programme of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, implemented nationally by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission with help from State Khadi and Village Industries Boards, District Industries Centres and the Coir Board. Since 2014-15 the programme has set up more than 8.38 lakh micro enterprises on bank loans of over ₹70,000 crore and margin money subsidy of over ₹25,193 crore, generating about 75 lakh jobs. Nearly 80 per cent of the units are in rural areas, about half the beneficiaries are from SC, ST and OBC groups and around 40 per cent of the enterprises are owned by women.
Subsidy released:
₹1,000 crore margin money
Beneficiaries:
11,333
Units since 2014-15:
More than 8.38 lakh micro enterprises
Why it matters for exams: PMEGP is the MSME Ministry's credit-linked subsidy scheme implemented nationally by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission; this tranche of ₹1,000 crore margin money covers 11,333 beneficiaries.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
PMEGP Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme — A credit-linked subsidy scheme for new non-farm micro enterprises.
KVIC Khadi and Village Industries Commission — The statutory body that implements PMEGP across the country.
28 October 2026
The Union Minister of Jal Shakti launched the Punah Bharan Mobile Application, built to support scientific planning of groundwater recharge. It was developed by BISAG-N, the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics, with the National Water Mission of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. A user can find possible artificial recharge zones within a radius of up to 3 km and see which recharge structures suit local conditions. The companion web portal carries village-level Artificial Recharge Structure zonation maps, GIS tools and thematic layers for planners. The platform works on geospatial datasets of rainfall, groundwater level, groundwater yield, slope and drainage, and uses them to mark places where recharge will work. The aim is to make groundwater management decisions rest on data rather than guesswork.
Developer:
BISAG-N with the National Water Mission
Search radius:
Up to 3 km
Datasets used:
Rainfall, groundwater levels, yield, slope and drainage
Why it matters for exams: The Punah Bharan mobile application was developed by BISAG-N with the National Water Mission to identify artificial recharge zones within a 3 km radius.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
BISAG-N Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics — The Union institute that builds geospatial applications for government departments.
National Water Mission National Water Mission — One of the missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, working on water use efficiency.
28 October 2026
Union Minister of State Prataprao Jadhav launched the fourth edition of the Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has run the campaign every year since 2023, and this 60-day edition puts universities and colleges at its centre. The campaign works on four lines: stopping young people from starting tobacco, helping users quit, enforcing tobacco control laws better and making public places tobacco-free. The first three editions saw more than 5.8 lakh educational institutions and over 73,000 villages declared tobacco-free. The Minister said tobacco smoke carries more than 7,000 chemicals, many of them toxic or cancer-causing, and that second-hand smoke harms family members too. He warned that nicotine exposure in adolescence can affect brain development, attention, memory and learning.
Duration:
60-day nationwide campaign
Running since:
2023
Declared tobacco-free so far:
Over 5.8 lakh educational institutions and more than 73,000 villages
Why it matters for exams: The Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign is an annual drive of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare run since 2023; its fourth, 60-day edition focuses on universities and colleges.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
TFYC Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign — The Health Ministry's annual 60-day campaign against tobacco use by young people.
Background
Article 108 provides for a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament when an ordinary Bill is stuck. Three situations open that door: the second House rejects the Bill; the Houses finally disagree on the amendments to be made to it; or more than six months pass from the day the second House received the Bill without its being passed. The President can then notify both Houses of an intention to summon them to a joint sitting to deliberate and vote on the Bill, unless the Bill has lapsed because the House of the People was dissolved. A Money Bill is expressly kept out of this route. In reckoning the six months, any period for which the second House is prorogued or adjourned for more than four consecutive days is left out. Once the notification is issued neither House carries the Bill further, and at the joint sitting the Bill is taken to have been passed by both Houses if a majority of all the members of the two Houses who are present and voting support it. A dissolution of the House of the People after the notification does not stop the joint sitting being held.
Constitutional provision:
Article 108
Who summons the joint sitting:
The President
Delay that triggers it:
More than six months in the second House
Excluded from the six months:
Prorogation or adjournment for more than four consecutive days
Kept out of the route:
A Money Bill
Why it matters for exams: Article 108 carries the three triggers for a joint sitting, the six-month rule and what is excluded from it, the bar on Money Bills, and the majority that passes a Bill at a joint sitting.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Joint sitting A single sitting of both Houses of Parliament voting together — It is the way a deadlock over an ordinary Bill is broken.
Prorogation The formal ending of a session of a House — The House stands closed until the next session is summoned.
Background
Article 72 gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, and to suspend, remit or commute a sentence. The power does not run over every conviction in the country. It reaches, first, all cases in which a Court Martial passed the punishment or sentence; second, all cases where the offence is against a law relating to a matter to which the Union's executive power extends; and third, all cases of a sentence of death. The Article then protects two other powers that sit alongside it. An officer of the armed forces of the Union on whom a law confers power to suspend, remit or commute a court martial sentence keeps that power. So does a Governor of a State who can suspend, remit or commute a death sentence under a law in force. Article 72 is therefore a clemency power confined to the three heads it lists, and it stands beside the Governor's own power rather than replacing it.
Constitutional provision:
Article 72
Office holding the power:
The President
Forms of relief:
Pardon, reprieve, respite, remission, suspension, commutation
Three heads covered:
Court Martial sentences; offences under laws on Union executive matters; sentences of death
Power expressly preserved:
A Governor's power over a death sentence
Why it matters for exams: Article 72 fixes the three heads of the President's clemency power, the forms it can take, and the fact that the Governor's own power over a death sentence survives it.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Reprieve A stay of the execution of a sentence — It postpones the carrying out of a sentence without cancelling it.
Commutation The substitution of a lighter punishment — A sentence is replaced by one of a milder kind.
Court Martial A military court trying members of the armed forces — Article 72 covers its sentences, and a service officer's own power over them is kept intact.
Background
Article 262 lets Parliament make a law for settling any dispute or complaint about the use, distribution or control of the waters of an inter-State river or river valley. It goes further and allows Parliament to provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall have jurisdiction over such a dispute. Parliament used that power in the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. Under section 3 a State Government can ask the Centre to refer a water dispute to a tribunal where the other State's executive action or legislation, or its failure to exercise its powers over the waters, or its failure to implement an agreement about them, has affected or is likely to affect prejudicially the State's interests or those of its inhabitants. Section 4 says that where the Central Government is of the opinion that the dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, it must constitute a Water Disputes Tribunal by notification in the Official Gazette within a period not exceeding one year from the receipt of the request. The Tribunal has a Chairman and two other members, nominated by the Chief Justice of India from among persons who are then Judges of the Supreme Court or of a High Court. The Central Government can also appoint two or more assessors, in consultation with the Tribunal, to advise it. Section 11 bars the Supreme Court and every other court from any water dispute that can be referred to a Tribunal under the Act.
Constitutional provision:
Article 262
Law made under it:
Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956
Tribunal's composition:
A Chairman and two other members
Nominated by:
The Chief Justice of India
Time limit to constitute a Tribunal:
Not exceeding one year from receipt of the request
Bar on courts:
Section 11 of the Act
Why it matters for exams: Article 262 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act together give the tribunal route, the Chief Justice of India's nomination of its three members from sitting Judges, the one-year limit and the bar on the courts.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Water Disputes Tribunal The tribunal constituted under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act — It adjudicates a water dispute the Centre refers to it on a State's request.
Assessor An expert appointed to advise a tribunal — Two or more can be appointed by the Centre in consultation with the Tribunal.
Inter-State river A river flowing through more than one State — Disputes over its waters fall within Article 262.
Background
Article 263 lets the President set up a Council to improve co-ordination between the States and between the Union and the States. The Article works when the President is of the view that the public interests would be served by establishing such a body. Three duties are named for it: inquiring into and advising on disputes which may have arisen between States; investigating and discussing any subject in which some or all of the States, or the Union together with one or more States, have a common interest; and making recommendations on any such subject, in particular for better co-ordination of policy and action on it. The Council comes into being by an order of the President, and that same order defines the nature of the duties it is to perform, its organisation and its procedure. Because it rests on an order rather than on an Act, its shape can be altered without Parliament. The Article is grouped in the Constitution under the heading co-ordination between States.
Constitutional provision:
Article 263
Established by:
An order of the President
Trigger:
That the public interests would be served by such a Council
Duties named:
Advising on inter-State disputes; discussing subjects of common interest; making recommendations
Also fixed by the order:
The Council's organisation and procedure
Why it matters for exams: Article 263 carries the President's power to establish an inter-State Council by order, the three duties the Article names for it, and the fact that the order also fixes its organisation and procedure.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Inter-State Council A Council established under Article 263 for co-ordination between States — It advises rather than adjudicates, and owes its existence to a Presidential order.
Co-operative federalism Union and States working together on shared subjects — Article 263 is one of the Constitution's mechanisms for it.
Background
Article 61 sets out the only procedure by which a President of India can be impeached, and the single ground is violation of the Constitution. Either House of Parliament can prefer the charge, but not before two conditions are met. The proposal must sit in a resolution, and that resolution can be moved only once notice in writing of at least fourteen days has been given, signed by a quarter or more of the House's total number of members, of their intention to move it. That resolution then has to carry, with the support of two-thirds or more of the House's total membership. Once a charge is preferred, the other House investigates it or has it investigated, and the President has the right to appear and to be represented at that investigation. If the investigating House then passes a resolution, again by not less than two-thirds of its total membership, stating that the charge has been sustained, the President stands removed from office from the date that resolution is passed. Both Houses are therefore involved, and each has to clear the same two-thirds bar.
Constitutional provision:
Article 61
Only ground:
Violation of the Constitution
Notice required:
At least fourteen days, in writing
Signatures on the notice:
Not less than one-fourth of the total number of members of the House
Majority needed in each House:
Not less than two-thirds of the total membership
Removal takes effect:
From the date the second resolution is passed
Why it matters for exams: Article 61 carries the single ground for impeaching the President, the fourteen days' notice, the one-fourth signature requirement, the two-thirds of total membership in each House and the date removal takes effect.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Impeachment The constitutional process for removing the President — Article 61 allows it only for violation of the Constitution.
Total membership The full sanctioned strength of a House — The two-thirds under Article 61 is counted on this, not on those present.
Background
Article 100 settles how Parliament votes and when a sitting is validly held. Unless the Constitution says otherwise, every question at a sitting of either House, or at a joint sitting, is determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting, leaving out the Speaker or the person acting as Chairman or Speaker. The Chairman or Speaker does not vote in the first instance, but has and exercises a casting vote where the votes are equal. Either House can act even though there is a vacancy in its membership. Proceedings also stay valid if it is found later that a person who was not entitled to do so sat, voted or took part in them. Until Parliament provides otherwise by law, the quorum for a meeting of either House is one-tenth of the total number of members of that House. Where there is no quorum during a meeting, the Chairman or Speaker has to adjourn the House or suspend the meeting until a quorum is there.
Constitutional provision:
Article 100
Normal rule for deciding a question:
Majority of the votes of the members present and voting
Presiding officer's vote:
No vote in the first instance; a casting vote on an equality of votes
Quorum:
One-tenth of the total number of members of the House
Quorum rule holds until:
Parliament provides otherwise by law
If there is no quorum:
The House is adjourned or the meeting suspended
Why it matters for exams: Article 100 gives the present-and-voting majority rule, the presiding officer's casting vote only on an equality of votes, the validity of proceedings despite vacancies, and the one-tenth quorum.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Quorum The least number of members needed for a valid meeting — Under Article 100 it is one-tenth of a House's total number of members.
Casting vote The presiding officer's vote used to break a tie — It is exercised only where the votes on a question are equal.