2 November 2026
Pune Metro projects worth around Rs 21,800 crore are to be inaugurated and have their foundation stones laid, the Prime Minister's Office has said. Line 3, known as the Pink Line, has been built at a cost of over Rs 8,300 crore and links the Hinjewadi information technology hub with Shivajinagar over about 23 km. The line is to be operated entirely by women train operators, which the release calls a first of its kind, and about 30 per cent of its power is planned to come from solar energy. Foundation stones are to be laid for Pune Metro Phase 2, put at about Rs 13,500 crore, which has Line 2A from Vanaz to Chandani Chowk, Line 2B from Ramwadi to Vitthalwadi, Line 4 from Kharadi to Khadakwasla over about 25.52 km and Line 4A from Nal Stop to Manik Bagh over about 6.12 km. Interchanges are planned at Swargate, Nal Stop and Kharadi Bypass. The corridors will serve Kharadi, Magarpatta, Hadapsar, Swargate, Manik Bagh, Nanded City, Pune Cantonment and Warje.
Total project value:
Around Rs 21,800 crore
Line 3 cost:
Over Rs 8,300 crore
Phase 2 estimate:
About Rs 13,500 crore
Why it matters for exams: Pune Metro Line 3 is the Pink Line between the Hinjewadi IT hub and Shivajinagar, the first metro line planned to be run entirely by women train operators.
UPSCSSC
In plain words
Pink Line Pune Metro Line 3 — The Pune Metro corridor between the Hinjewadi IT hub and Shivajinagar.
2 November 2026
A research scholar from Kochi is going to Antarctica with India's 46th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, which sails on 7 November 2026. Athira A. S. works at the ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology in Kochi and will be stationed at Maitri, India's research station, where her subject is microbial life in the Antarctic land ecosystem. Her work falls under a project named Contaminant Load Evaluation in Antarctic Natural Systems, called CLEAN-ANT for short; the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research at Goa coordinates it, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. She will isolate actinomycetes from soil samples and describe how they spread where conditions are extreme. Actinomycetes matter because they yield biologically active natural compounds, and one strand of the study asks whether Antarctic strains give antimicrobial substances. The arrangement joins polar science at the Goa centre to aquatic and environmental microbiology at the Kochi institute.
Expedition:
46th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica
Departure:
7 November 2026
Station:
Maitri research station
Why it matters for exams: The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research at Goa coordinates the Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, and Maitri is one of India's Antarctic stations.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NCPOR National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research — The Goa-based institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences that runs India's polar programme.
ICAR-CIFT ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology — The ICAR institute at Kochi working on fisheries technology.
2 November 2026
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation held a one-day national conference in New Delhi together with UN Women.
The theme was Gender Data and Statistics: From Evidence to Policy Insights, and the aim was to strengthen the analysis and use of gender statistics in policymaking.
The conference was built around the findings of Women and Men in India 2025, a flagship publication of the ministry.
The discussions are meant to shape the next edition of that publication.
The opening session had the Country Representative of UN Women in India, the European Union Ambassador to India, a Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Director General for Central Statistics in the ministry.
A member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister also spoke.
Four technical sessions covered health and survival across the life course, girls' education and transition, women's work and care, and women's livelihoods and financial inclusion.
Policymakers, State government representatives, statisticians, researchers and United Nations agencies took part.
Technical sessions:
4
Publication discussed:
Women and Men in India 2025
Why it matters for exams: Women and Men in India is the flagship gender statistics publication of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, and UN Women was its partner at this conference.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
MoSPI Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation — The Union ministry responsible for official statistics, surveys and the national accounts.
EAC-PM Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister — An advisory body that gives the Prime Minister independent advice on economic matters.
3 November 2026
The Ministry of Defence has announced that the Indian Navy has freed the hijacked fishing vessel Azini off the north-eastern coast of Somalia.
An armed group of pirates had seized the vessel earlier, and the operation to retake it ran for more than 48 hours.
A mission-deployed warship and a maritime reconnaissance aircraft located the vessel and kept track of it.
Non-kinetic measures were used so that the vessel could not slip away while help was brought in.
Marine Commandos were then put aboard through a precision airdrop made by an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft.
All 20 crew members on the vessel were brought out safely, with no deaths and no injuries reported.
The release was issued by the Ministry of Defence in Delhi.
Vessel rescued:
Fishing vessel Azini
Crew rescued:
20
Duration of operation:
Over 48 hours
Location:
Off the north-eastern coast of Somalia
Why it matters for exams: The rescue of the fishing vessel Azini off Somalia, the use of a C-17 airdrop of Marine Commandos and the figure of 20 crew saved are the kind of named naval operation detail that defence and current affairs papers use.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
C-17 C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft — The heavy-lift transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force used here for the precision airdrop.
2 November 2026
The Prime Minister inaugurated the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
The Ninth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance and the Fourth Conference on Green Hydrogen were held alongside it.
He proposed an Africa Solar Facility of 200 million dollars to carry solar power to African countries.
He also pointed to the existing PM Surya Sarovar Yojana, under which solar panels are placed over reservoirs, ponds and lakes.
India has reached nearly 300 GW of non-fossil capacity against its 500 GW target for 2030, and more than half of installed capacity is already non-fossil.
A further 500 GW of non-fossil capacity is now sought over the next ten to eleven years.
Solar module manufacturing capacity is above 200 GW, with nearly 40 GW of solar cell capacity, and the green hydrogen target stands at 50 lakh tonnes by the end of the decade.
Africa Solar Facility:
$200 million
Venue:
Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi
Solar alliance assembly:
Ninth Assembly
Non-fossil capacity reached:
Nearly 300 GW
Green hydrogen target:
50 lakh tonnes
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the Africa Solar Facility of 200 million dollars put forward for African countries, the Ninth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance held alongside the summit, and India's 500 GW non-fossil target for 2030 against nearly 300 GW already reached.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PM Surya Ghar Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar scheme — The Centre's rooftop solar scheme for households, which the summit reported has crossed 65 lakh homes.
PM-KUSUM Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan — The scheme that gives farmers solar irrigation, reported to have reached over 30 lakh farmers.
2 November 2026
CSIR-NIScPR has held the third International Conference on Communication and Dissemination of Traditional Knowledge, called CDTK-2026.
The conference was held at CSIR-NPL in New Delhi on 02-03 November 2026.
Speakers pressed for traditional knowledge to be documented with attention to ethics, the consent of communities and fair benefit-sharing.
The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library was reported to have documented 5,19,978 practices and formulations.
It was also credited with 375 favourable outcomes in patent applications, where claims on existing Indian knowledge were contested.
The SVASTIK initiative, which shares scientifically validated traditional knowledge, was highlighted along with new publications.
The first day carried 22 oral and 40 poster presentations, and seven CSIR laboratories showed knowledge-based products.
Practices documented in TKDL:
5,19,978
Favourable patent outcomes:
375
Conference:
3rd International Conference CDTK-2026
Venue:
CSIR-NPL, New Delhi
Why it matters for exams: The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, its figure of 5,19,978 documented practices and its 375 favourable patent outcomes, together with the SVASTIK initiative and CSIR-NIScPR, are standard intellectual property and science questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TKDL Traditional Knowledge Digital Library — A digital record of Indian traditional medicine and practices used to oppose wrong patent claims abroad.
CSIR-NIScPR CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research — The CSIR laboratory that works on science communication and science policy research.
3 November 2026
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has proposed widening the list of authorised import gateways for drugs, medical devices and cosmetics.
The change is to be made by amending Rule 43A of the Drugs Rules, 1945, which lists the entry points through which such goods may lawfully be brought into the country.
Eight Inland Container Depots are proposed to be added: Sonipat, Piyala and Harsaru in Haryana, Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhidham/Mundra in Gujarat, Sanath Nagar and Thimmapur in Telangana, and Whitefield in Karnataka.
One Special Economic Zone, Bommasandra in Karnataka, is also on the proposed list.
Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh is proposed as a notified airport for importing drugs by air.
The aim is to shorten the distance goods travel and let importers receive consignments closer to their factories, warehouses and distribution centres.
The draft notification has been published in the official Gazette, and objections and suggestions have been invited.
Rule being amended:
Rule 43A of the Drugs Rules, 1945
Ministry:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Airport proposed:
Noida International Airport, Uttar Pradesh
Special Economic Zone proposed:
Bommasandra, Karnataka
Why it matters for exams: Rule 43A of the Drugs Rules, 1945 and the ministry that administers it are durable polity and health facts, and Noida International Airport joining the notified drug import gateways is the new point.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ICD Inland Container Depot — A customs facility away from the coast where imported containers are cleared, so cargo need not be cleared at a seaport.
Background
A communication or weather satellite sitting over the equator has to be nudged, watched and commanded every day of its working life, and in India that duty belongs to one establishment. The Master Control Facility works from two campuses, one at Hassan in Karnataka and the other at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Between them they monitor and control all of the space agency's geo-stationary satellites. The work begins soon after launch, when the facility raises the satellite from its initial orbit to the position it is meant to occupy. It then tests the payload in orbit and keeps the satellite working for the rest of its life. Day to day this means unbroken tracking, telemetry and commanding, along with special operations such as handling eclipses, station-keeping manoeuvres and recovery when something goes wrong. The facility also talks to the agencies that use the satellites, so that a planned manoeuvre disturbs their services as little as possible.
Campuses:
Hassan (Karnataka) and Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
Satellites handled:
All geo-stationary satellites of ISRO
Why it matters for exams: The two towns that control India's geo-stationary satellites, and the expansion MCF, are standard one-mark questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
MCF Master Control Facility — The establishment that controls India's satellites in geo-stationary orbit.
Geo-stationary orbit Geo-stationary orbit — A circular orbit over the equator in which a satellite appears fixed above one spot on Earth.
Station-keeping Station-keeping — Small engine firings that hold a satellite in its assigned slot.
Background
A launch vehicle has no outside reference to steer by once it leaves the pad, so it must work out its own position and attitude from sensors it carries. Those sensors are designed and built at the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, which sits at Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram. The unit makes inertial navigation systems built on mechanical gyros and on optical ones, along with attitude reference systems and packages of rate gyros and of accelerometers, all developed within the country and flown on Indian missions. It also designs the actuators and mechanisms that move parts of a spacecraft once it is in orbit. Alongside production it runs a continuing research and development effort, refining the present class of sensors while taking up newer technologies. The unit has started advanced technology programmes in narrow specialist areas with the aim of becoming a Centre of Excellence in inertial sensors and systems. Cost, reliability and the ability to actually build what is designed are the tests it sets itself.
Location:
Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram
Main work:
Inertial systems for launch vehicles and spacecraft
Why it matters for exams: It is the space agency's sensor house in Kerala, and the expansion IISU with its city is a frequent question.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IISU ISRO Inertial Systems Unit — The space agency's unit for navigation sensors, based in Thiruvananthapuram.
Gyroscope Gyroscope — A spinning or optical device that senses how fast and in which direction a body is turning.
Accelerometer Accelerometer — A sensor that measures change in speed, used to work out position in flight.
Background
Hill terrain, heavy rain and thin road access make the north-eastern States a hard place to plan for, and satellite data is one of the few tools that works at that scale. The North Eastern Space Applications Centre was created for exactly that purpose, and it stands at Umiam in the Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya, near Shillong. It is run as a joint initiative of the Department of Space and the North Eastern Council, so both the space establishment and the regional development body own it. Its mandate is to build high-technology infrastructure that can act as a catalyst for the region's development. The centre is the nodal point for major programmes, national as well as regional, that cover natural resources, the planning of infrastructure, health care, schooling, emergency communication and early warnings for disaster work, and it carries out atmospheric science research too. It works with the State Remote Sensing Application Centres of the region rather than around them. Its projects have been taken up under the Earth Observation Applications Mission, the space agency's geo-sphere biosphere programme, satellite communications, support for disaster management, and space science.
Location:
Umiam, Ri Bhoi district, Meghalaya
Run jointly by:
Department of Space and North Eastern Council
Why it matters for exams: The space applications centre that the Department of Space and the North Eastern Council run together, and the State and district it stands in, are standard questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NE-SAC North Eastern Space Applications Centre — The space applications centre for the north-eastern States, based in Meghalaya.
North Eastern Council North Eastern Council — The statutory body that plans development across the north-eastern States.
Remote sensing Remote sensing — Gathering information about the ground from satellites or aircraft rather than on foot.
Background
From the moment a rocket lifts off until a satellite is safely in orbit, somebody has to keep a radio link open and know exactly where the vehicle is. That work belongs to the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network, based at Bengaluru. It carries out mission operations for the country's working remote sensing and scientific satellites, and provides telemetry, tracking and command services from lift-off until the satellite is injected into orbit, when it also works out a first estimate of the orbit reached. For this it has built a chain of ground stations: Bengaluru and Lucknow, Sriharikota, Port Blair and Thiruvananthapuram at home, then Mauritius, Brunei and Biak in Indonesia abroad, besides its deep space network stations. The network also supports the agency's deep space missions and develops radar for tracking launch vehicles and for weather use. It set up and runs the ground segment of the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System. Search and rescue work, disaster management services and space-based services such as telemedicine, tele-education and the Village Resource Centre programme are handled through it as well.
Headquarters:
Bengaluru
Ground stations named:
Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mauritius, Sriharikota, Port Blair, Thiruvananthapuram, Brunei, Biak
Why it matters for exams: It is the network behind every launch bulletin, and its city, its ground stations abroad and the expansion ISTRAC are all asked.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ISTRAC ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network — The Bengaluru-based network that tracks and commands Indian launches and satellites.
Telemetry Telemetry — Measurements radioed down from a rocket or satellite to the ground.
Ground segment Ground segment — The stations and control rooms on Earth that run a satellite system.
Background
India's federal investigating agency for terror and related crime owes its existence to a single statute, the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008. Its preamble says the agency is to investigate and prosecute offences that touch the sovereignty, security and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, and offences under laws passed to carry out international treaties and United Nations resolutions. Section 3 lets the Central Government set up this special agency notwithstanding the Police Act, 1861, which is the law that otherwise keeps policing with the States. The agency is headed by a Director-General appointed by the Central Government, who may be given the powers a Director-General of Police holds over a State force. Its officers carry those powers throughout India, and after an amendment in 2019, outside India as well, subject to treaties and the law of the country concerned. The agency may take up only a Scheduled Offence, meaning an offence under one of the Acts listed in the Schedule to the Act itself. Cases are tried by Special Courts, which since the 2019 amendment are Courts of Session designated as Special Courts, with Public Prosecutors appointed for them. The 2019 amendment also brought in offences committed abroad against Indian citizens or against the interest of India.
Head of the agency:
Director-General appointed by the Central Government
Cases it may take:
Scheduled Offences, under the Acts in the Schedule
Why it matters for exams: The Act names the agency, its Schedule, its Special Courts and the police law it overrides, all standard examination points.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NIA National Investigation Agency — India's central agency for investigating terror and other Scheduled Offences.
Scheduled Offence Scheduled Offence — An offence under one of the Acts listed in the Schedule to the agency's own Act.
Special Court Special Court — A court set up under the Act to try the cases the agency investigates.
Background
Alongside the Regular Army, India keeps a force of civilians who train and serve for limited periods, and that force exists because of the Territorial Army Act, 1948. The Act, which came in the year after independence, says plainly that its purpose is to provide for the constitution of a Territorial Army. It applies to the whole of India and to every class of person in that Army, wherever they happen to be. Under section 3 an army of that designation is to be raised and maintained, and the Central Government can create as many units as it thinks fit, or disband and reconstitute any of them. The Act recognises only two classes of people in the force: officers, and enrolled persons. Officers themselves fall into two classes, both holding commissions granted by the President, with ranks matching those of the Regular Army. The Act defines the Regular Army as officers and other ranks liable to render continuous military service under the Army Act, 1950. It also lets the Central Government declare an undertaking supplying power, light, gas, water, transport or public sanitation to be a public utility service, after which its employees become liable for service in the Territorial Army.
Act number:
Act No. 56 of 1948
Classes of persons:
Officers and enrolled persons
Why it matters for exams: The Act gives the two classes of persons in the Territorial Army, the authority that grants its commissions and the statute that governs the Regular Army.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Territorial Army Territorial Army — A force of volunteers who keep their civil jobs and serve the army for limited periods.
Enrolled person Enrolled person — Someone enrolled in the Territorial Army under the Act, as distinct from an officer.
Public utility service Public utility service — An undertaking supplying power, water, gas, transport or sanitation, as notified under the Act.