2 November 2026
The Supreme Court has laid down nationwide directions on how rescued bonded labourers must be rehabilitated. The case is Surendra Manjhi and another versus Union of India and others, decided by Justices Vikram Nath and Aparesh Kumar Singh. A complaint should ordinarily be verified within 24 hours, and a release certificate issued within 24 hours of bondage being established. Immediate financial assistance should ordinarily reach the worker within seven days of that certificate. The Court said assistance cannot be held back only because investigation or prosecution is still going on. The revised Standard Operating Procedure of 14 May 2026 must be applied uniformly by States and Union Territories within six months. Every State must name a nodal officer, run Vigilance Committees at district and sub-divisional level, and keep the NAVJIVAN portal updated. The dispute arose from a 2019 brick kiln rescue in Uttar Pradesh in which 17 of the 42 workers issued release certificates were still awaiting their aid.
Financial assistance deadline:
7 days from release certificate
Release certificate deadline:
24 hours
Citation:
2026 LiveLaw (SC) 1121
Grievance redressal:
30 days
Why it matters for exams: The judgment works the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers, and names the NAVJIVAN portal and District Vigilance Committees as the machinery for rehabilitation.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NAVJIVAN NAVJIVAN Portal for bonded labour rehabilitation — The Union portal on which rescue, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers are recorded and monitored.
SOP Standard Operating Procedure — The written step-by-step procedure that officials must follow.
2 November 2026
The Supreme Court has held that when a woman dies an unnatural death inside her matrimonial home and only her husband was with her, he carries a statutory burden to give a cogent, credible and satisfactory explanation of how she died. The ruling came in Ramkishan Digambar Jadhav versus State of Maharashtra, decided by Justices Sandeep Mehta and Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya. The burden flows from Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, now Section 109 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which places the burden of proving a fact especially within a person's knowledge on that person. The Court followed Trimukh Maroti Kirkan versus State of Maharashtra of 2006, which held that members of a household cannot stay silent and rest on the prosecution's burden. The husband's explanation was found to be false and contrary to the medical evidence, and that falsity became an extra incriminating link in the chain of circumstantial evidence. The Court also found the presumption under Section 113B of the Evidence Act unrebutted and upheld the conviction and the life sentence.
Provision applied:
Section 106, Indian Evidence Act, 1872
New code equivalent:
Section 109, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
Citation:
2026 LiveLaw (SC) 1118
Why it matters for exams: The judgment turns on Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, now Section 109 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, and on the dowry death presumption under Section 113B.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
BSA Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — The law of evidence that replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
3 November 2026
Ravinder Singh, Saurabh Chaudhary and Amanpreet Singh have won the men's 50 metre pistol team gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Championships in Doha. The Indian team totalled 1659 points. China, with Zhang Bingchen, Lyu Junyi and Feng Linlang, took silver on 1648, and South Korea finished third. Ravinder Singh also won individual silver in the same event with 559 points, including 11 inner tens. The 50 metre pistol is not part of the current Olympic programme, though it remains a world championship event. The World Championships are the senior global competition of the International Shooting Sport Federation, which has its headquarters at Munich in Germany.
Event:
Men's 50 m pistol team
Indian team score:
1659
Silver:
China, 1648
Host city:
Doha
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the International Shooting Sport Federation World Championships at Doha, the men's 50 metre pistol team gold for India and the three shooters who won it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ISSF International Shooting Sport Federation — The world governing body for shooting sport, with headquarters at Munich.
3 November 2026
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Government of Bihar have signed a memorandum of understanding named Nadi Sanjivani, under which silt dredged from Bihar's rivers will be used as fill material in national highway construction. The National Highways Authority of India will carry out the work. Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary were present at the signing in New Delhi. The arrangement rests on the Bihar Water Sources Restoration and Silt Management Policy, 2026, which the State says is the country's first comprehensive silt management policy. Clearing silt is expected to raise the carrying capacity of rivers and reduce flooding, while highway builders get cheap fill close at hand. Seven major rivers enter Bihar from Nepal, which the Chief Minister named as the source of the State's flood damage.
Name of the initiative:
Nadi Sanjivani
Implementing agency:
National Highways Authority of India
Union minister present:
Nitin Gadkari
Why it matters for exams: The item names the Nadi Sanjivani memorandum, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highways Authority of India as implementing agency, and the Bihar Water Sources Restoration and Silt Management Policy, 2026.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NHAI National Highways Authority of India — The statutory authority that develops and maintains national highways.
MoRTH Ministry of Road Transport and Highways — The Union ministry in charge of roads and highways policy.
4 November 2026
The Reserve Bank of India has constituted the Technical Consultative Committee for Financial Markets (TCCFM). It was first announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies of October 7, 2026. The panel gives the RBI a regular forum to talk with market participants on money, government securities and foreign exchange markets, and on their derivatives and infrastructure. It will be chaired by the Deputy Governor in charge of the Financial Markets Regulation Department (FMRD). The external members include Ananth Narayan, a former Whole Time Member of SEBI, and Shamsher Singh, Chairman of FIMMDA. Its terms of reference cover liquidity and resilience of these markets, trading, clearing and settlement systems, and new risks from financial innovation. The committee is to meet at least once a quarter.
Committee:
Technical Consultative Committee for Financial Markets (TCCFM)
Chair:
Deputy Governor in charge of FMRD
Meetings:
At least once a quarter
Why it matters for exams: RBI committees, its departments (FMRD) and the bodies of the bond and currency markets such as FIMMDA and CCIL are regular banking-exam questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
FMRD Financial Markets Regulation Department — The RBI department that regulates the money, government securities and foreign exchange markets.
FIMMDA Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India — An association of banks and institutions active in the bond, money and derivatives markets.
CCIL Clearing Corporation of India Limited — The clearing and settlement house for government securities, money and forex deals.
3 November 2026
Member countries have chosen India to head the International Solar Alliance (ISA) for the third consecutive term, Union New and Renewable Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi said in New Delhi. France was re-elected Co-President of the alliance. India and France set up the ISA in 2015, and it now counts 130 ISA Signatory and Member Countries. The announcement came during the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026, which runs until 5 November. Joshi pointed to the USD 200 million Africa Solar Facility, towards which India has committed around ₹225 crore (USD 25 million). He also named 17 Solar Technology Application Resource Centres and the AI-enabled ISA Academy as ways the alliance builds skills. The ISA's Director General is Ashish Khanna.
President:
India (third consecutive term)
Co-President:
France
Founded:
2015
Signatory and member countries:
130
Director General:
Ashish Khanna
Why it matters for exams: The International Solar Alliance (founders India and France, 2015) is a standard question on international groupings and renewable energy.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ISA International Solar Alliance — A treaty-based alliance of countries started by India and France to expand solar energy use.
STAR Centres Solar Technology Application Resource Centres — ISA training and resource hubs for solar skills in member countries.
3 November 2026
The IndiaAI Mission of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released two home-grown AI foundation models in New Delhi. EKA-1, built by Soket Labs, has 26.3 billion parameters and was trained on about 7.5 trillion tokens. It covers all 22 scheduled Indian languages along with English, and is meant for math, code, reasoning and agentic use. ZenteiQ AiTech Innovations released Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B, open-source assistants for English and 10 Indian languages that can run offline on a device. Both teams were selected under the IndiaAI Innovation Centre pillar and used subsidised national AI compute. The models can be reached through AIKosh, the mission's datasets platform. MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan attended the release.
EKA-1 developer:
Soket Labs
EKA-1 parameters:
26.3 billion
EKA-1 languages:
22 scheduled Indian languages and English
Dhīr models:
Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B by ZenteiQ
Why it matters for exams: The IndiaAI Mission, its pillars and its platform AIKosh are recurring science-and-technology questions; the 22 scheduled languages tie to the Eighth Schedule.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Foundation model — A large AI model trained on broad data that can be adapted to many tasks.
AIKosh IndiaAI Datasets Platform — The IndiaAI Mission's platform for datasets and AI models.
MeitY Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology — The Union ministry under which the IndiaAI Mission runs.
3 November 2026
NITI Aayog has signed a Joint Statement of Intent (SoI) with TEXMiN to work together in the critical and strategic minerals sector. TEXMiN, the Technology Translation Research Park, is based at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and backed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The partnership is meant to support the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM). Four fields are named: shared research and new technology, technical and strategic studies, support on policy and institutions, and training with knowledge exchange. The SoI was signed during a visit to Dhanbad by NITI Aayog Member Prof. Gobardhan Das. On that visit, on 31 October, he had opened the National Symposium on Critical Minerals and Rare Earths (CMRE 2026). He also spoke of recovering minerals from coal fly ash, red mud, mine tailings and electronic waste.
Agreement:
Joint Statement of Intent (SoI)
Partner:
TEXMiN, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad
Linked mission:
National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM)
Areas of cooperation:
4
Why it matters for exams: The National Critical Mineral Mission, NITI Aayog and institutions such as IIT (ISM) Dhanbad are frequent economy and resources questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TEXMiN Technology Translation Research Park — A DST-backed technology hub for mining at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.
NCMM National Critical Mineral Mission — The Union mission to secure India's supply of critical minerals.
Red mud — The waste left after alumina is extracted from bauxite.
3 November 2026
SEBI, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Mumbai with the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD). DIBD works under the Digital India Corporation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The two will explore using multilingual AI and language tools for investor education and financial information. Ideas discussed at a workshop included translating SEBI's website, forms and awareness videos, and speech-to-speech translation. According to SEBI Whole Time Member Sandip Pradhan, the country has nearly 13 crore demat accounts, while mutual fund investors number 8 crore. He linked the tie-up to SEBI's Project Jagrook – Samajh Se Investing Simple campaign. The MoU was signed by Amitabh Nag, CEO of the BHASHINI Division, and Sandip Pradhan.
Parties:
Digital India BHASHINI Division and SEBI
Place:
Mumbai
Demat accounts:
nearly 13 crore
SEBI campaign:
Project Jagrook
Why it matters for exams: BHASHINI (the national language translation mission), SEBI as the securities regulator and its investor campaigns are common in banking and polity papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
BHASHINI — India's AI-based language translation platform under MeitY.
SEBI Securities and Exchange Board of India — The statutory regulator of India's securities markets, headquartered in Mumbai.
Demat account Dematerialised account — An account that holds shares and securities in electronic form.
3 November 2026
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has signed a Letter of Association (LoA) with DAKSHIN, the Global South Centre of Excellence. DAKSHIN is housed at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi think tank. The partnership will offer CSIR's ready-to-deploy, affordable technologies to developing countries of the Global South. Its aims include joint policy studies, scaling up development projects, capacity building and sharing best practices. RIS Director General Professor Sachin Kumar Sharma named healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, the blue economy and the digital economy as areas for cooperation. Dr. Rama Swami Bansal, head of the international science and technology affairs wing of CSIR, spoke for the council. The tie-up is framed as South-South cooperation towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Agreement:
Letter of Association (LoA)
Parties:
CSIR and DAKSHIN-RIS
RIS Director General:
Professor Sachin Kumar Sharma
Why it matters for exams: DAKSHIN (India's Global South Centre of Excellence), RIS and CSIR are standard questions on institutions and India's Global South outreach.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
DAKSHIN Global South Centre of Excellence — India's centre of excellence for development knowledge-sharing with the Global South, housed at RIS.
RIS Research and Information System for Developing Countries — A New Delhi policy research institute on development and South-South cooperation.
CSIR Council of Scientific and Industrial Research — India's largest network of public research laboratories.
Background
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 sets out when a pregnancy can lawfully be ended in India. Section 3 shields a registered medical practitioner from any offence under the Indian Penal Code or other law when the termination follows the Act. Up to twenty weeks, the opinion of one registered medical practitioner is enough. Beyond twenty weeks and up to twenty-four weeks, two registered medical practitioners must agree, and only for the categories of women prescribed by rules under the Act. The grounds are a risk to the life of the pregnant woman, grave injury to her physical or mental health, or a substantial risk that the child would be born with a serious physical or mental abnormality. Failure of a contraceptive device or method may be presumed to cause the woman grave injury to her mental health, and a pregnancy caused by rape shall be so presumed. The length-of-pregnancy limits do not apply where substantial foetal abnormalities are diagnosed by a Medical Board. Every State Government and Union territory has to constitute such a Medical Board by notification in the Official Gazette; the twenty-four weeks ceiling and the Board came in by amendment, through a Bill of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that was passed by Lok Sabha and then by Rajya Sabha.
Act:
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971
One doctor's opinion:
Up to twenty weeks
Two doctors' opinion:
Twenty to twenty-four weeks
Why it matters for exams: The twenty and twenty-four week limits and the Medical Board are the points every exam picks from this Act.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Registered medical practitioner Registered medical practitioner — A doctor whose name is on a medical register and who holds the qualification the Act requires.
Medical Board Medical Board — The board a State or Union territory sets up to decide on terminations for foetal abnormality.
Official Gazette Official Gazette — The government's own journal, in which a notification has legal effect.