7 November 2026
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has said that tests on 893 petrol samples drawn across 27 states and Union Territories found all of them within the prescribed ethanol range. The statement defends the programme that supplies petrol blended with up to 20 per cent ethanol. Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation reported ethanol content inside the 19-21 per cent band set by the Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 17021. Of the samples, 56 were drawn in Karnataka and recorded ethanol of 19-20 per cent, averaging 19.30 per cent. The findings run against a State release from the Karnataka Department of Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology, which had put ethanol in some retail samples at 26-31 per cent. The oil companies have questioned the sampling followed in the State exercise, pointing to the rule that six one-litre samples must be drawn at an inspection, with two each going to the dealer, the company and an authorised laboratory.
Samples tested:
893 samples
Prescribed range:
19-21 per cent
Specification:
IS 17021
Karnataka average:
19.30 per cent
Ministry:
Petroleum and Natural Gas
Why it matters for exams: The blending programme, the three state-run oil marketing companies and the Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 17021 are the durable facts behind the ethanol dispute.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
OMC Oil Marketing Company — The state-run fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.
7 November 2026
The Allahabad High Court has held that the police cannot fall back on a camera malfunction when they are answering a charge of unlawful detention. Where such a plea is raised, the Court said, it is enough for a court to conclude that the detention was unlawful and that footage is being kept back to hide the truth. It allowed a habeas corpus petition filed by the daughter of a man who, she said, was taken into custody well before his arrest was formally shown, and directed that he be set at liberty at once. The State was asked to pay the detained man costs of 20,000 rupees within seven days. The Court recorded its displeasure with the station house officer and ordered that it be entered in her service record. It observed that the state of civil liberties in the State is shameful and that the breach of these rights appears to have become routine.
Writ allowed:
habeas corpus
Costs ordered:
20,000
Time to pay:
seven days
Why it matters for exams: Habeas corpus is the writ against unlawful detention, and the ruling ties it to the duty to produce police station camera footage and to the costs a High Court may impose on the State.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Habeas corpus Habeas corpus — A writ asking a court to produce a detained person and justify the detention.
6 November 2026
The Supreme Court has held that the National Book Trust is an authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution, so fundamental rights can be enforced against it. The Court said the Government takes part in creating the Trust, appoints its Chairman, names members to its governing bodies and keeps a hold on its accounts, audit and rules. It noted that the Trust is audited by the CAG, and read that together with the Government's role in its finances as control that is deep and pervasive. The Trust had argued that it is registered as a society and earns part of its income from selling its own publications. The Court answered that financial freedom in one area cannot be read in isolation from the framework that governs the body. It dismissed the Trust's appeal and upheld a Delhi High Court judgment that had already treated it as State. The Court added that this status does not turn the Trust into a Government department, nor does it by itself give its staff the protection that Articles 309, 310 and 311 give Government servants.
Body:
National Book Trust
Provision:
Article 12
Auditor:
CAG
Judgment upheld:
Delhi High Court
Why it matters for exams: Article 12 defines State for the fundamental rights chapter, and the Supreme Court has now placed the National Book Trust inside it using the tests of Government control, appointment of the Chairman and audit by the CAG.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NBT National Book Trust — A publishing body set up by Government resolutions and audited by the CAG.
7 November 2026
The Supreme Court has held that compulsorily retiring an employee is an administrative step rather than a punishment, and that such an order casts no aspersion on the conduct of the employee. A bench of Justices Manmohan and Shree Chandrashekhar upheld the Chhattisgarh Government's order retiring five of its 14 employees, saying it rested on the subjective satisfaction of the competent authority that keeping them in service was no longer in public interest. The Court said that satisfaction cannot be built on conjecture or whim and must rest on objective material such as Annual Confidential Reports, integrity assessments and other service record entries. It rejected the plea that other employees with similar records had been left untouched, holding that Article 14 does not allow a claim of negative equality. Where the Government itself has set the norms, judicial review goes only so far as checking whether those norms were followed. The Court said it does not reweigh the material as if sitting in appeal over an administrative order.
State:
Chhattisgarh
Provision:
Article 14
Doctrine rejected:
negative equality
Record relied on:
Annual Confidential Reports
Why it matters for exams: The ruling fixes that compulsory retirement is an administrative measure and not a punishment, and it restates that Article 14 carries no claim of negative equality.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
ACR Annual Confidential Report — The yearly performance record of a Government servant.
6 November 2026
The Bombay High Court has ruled that a married couple cannot be denied surrogacy only because the wife is above the statutory upper age limit of 50 years, so long as the husband stays within the permissible age bracket. The case came from the Nashik Municipal Corporation, which had refused an eligibility certificate to a couple in which the wife is 54 and the husband 53. That certificate is the gateway document under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, without which an intending couple cannot proceed. The Court read the age condition as applying to the couple together rather than as a bar that one spouse alone can trigger. The ruling matters because the Act fixes separate age ranges for the intending wife and the intending husband. The order sets aside the refusal and reopens the couple's claim to the certificate.
Act:
Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
Upper age limit:
50 years
Authority that refused:
Nashik Municipal Corporation
Why it matters for exams: The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 and its eligibility certificate are the testable facts here, along with the upper age limit of 50 years for the intending wife.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Eligibility certificate Eligibility certificate under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act — The document an intending couple must hold before surrogacy may proceed.
6 November 2026
The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has held that a voter who has only changed residence can file Form 8 and cannot be asked to fill a pre-filled enumeration form or Form 6 during the Special Intensive Revision. The Court compared the declarations attached to each form. Form 6 carries a declaration that the applicant is not on any roll and is registering for the first time, while the enumeration form carries a declaration that the voter still lives at the pre-filled address. For a voter who has shifted, signing either would be a false declaration, exposing the voter to prosecution under Section 31 of the RP Act. The bench passed the order while directing the Election Commission to restore the names of six members of one family in the Santacruz constituency who had been deleted after their Form 8 was refused. The officials had rejected the form because the family had not also submitted the enumeration form.
Form for change of address:
Form 8
Form for first inclusion:
Form 6
Penal provision:
Section 31
Process:
Special Intensive Revision
Why it matters for exams: The ruling fixes what Form 6 and Form 8 are for, and names Section 31 of the RP Act as the provision that punishes a false declaration in an electoral roll application.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
SIR Special Intensive Revision — A house to house revision of electoral rolls run by the Election Commission.
6 November 2026
The Reserve Bank of India has reported that the country's foreign exchange reserves fell by $2.691 billion to $717.056 billion in the week ended October 30. The reserves had already shed $1.269 billion to $719.748 billion in the week before. Foreign currency assets, the largest part of the reserves, dropped by $2.088 billion to $591.118 billion. The value of gold held in the reserves fell by $559 million to $102.591 billion. The reserves had reached an all-time high of $785.706 billion in early autumn, lifted by a special concessional swap under which banks raised a record $133 billion in deposits from the diaspora. Analysts link the slide since then to the deployment of those Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank resources and to dollar sales by the central bank in defence of the rupee.
Reserves:
$717.056 billion
Weekly fall:
$2.691 billion
Foreign currency assets:
$591.118 billion
Gold reserves:
$102.591 billion
Why it matters for exams: The Reserve Bank of India publishes the weekly reserves figure, and foreign currency assets, gold, Special Drawing Rights and the Reserve Tranche Position are the four parts an examiner asks about.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
FCNR(B) Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank — A deposit held in foreign currency by a non-resident Indian with an Indian bank.
6 November 2026
The Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association has said that 184 sugar mills produced 12.85 lakh tonnes of sugar in the opening weeks of the new crushing season, an increase of 9.65 lakh tonnes over the same period a year earlier. The association said 136 mills have started work in Maharashtra and 19 in Uttar Pradesh, with more mills in Uttar Pradesh expected to begin crushing after the festival. Seven mills each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are carrying on from the special crushing season. Opening stocks of 36 lakh tonnes have been carried over from the previous season. The association said domestic availability therefore remains comfortable. The figures were put out in a press release at the end of the week.
Mills crushing:
184 sugar mills
Sugar produced:
12.85 lakh tonnes
Increase over last year:
9.65 lakh tonnes
Opening stocks:
36 lakh tonnes
Mills in Maharashtra:
136 mills
Why it matters for exams: The Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association is the industry body whose production figures are quoted for the sugar season, and Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are the two leading sugar States.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
ISMA Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association — The industry body that reports sugar production during the crushing season.
6 November 2026
The Election Commission has said that people who were issued enumeration forms in the Special Intensive Revision, but whose names were dropped from the draft roll after being marked absent, shifted, dead or duplicate, will get another chance to be included in the final roll. The measure covers Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland. Booth level officers will hand out fresh enumeration forms. A voter who has moved within the State must attach proof of residence and need not file Form 8, while a voter who stayed put but missed the earlier deadline must give the reason for the delay in writing. Where a homeless voter holds no address document, residence may be established instead through a field verification report made by the booth level officer. The Commission has also asked for booth-wise lists of the dropped names, with the probable reason in each case, to be put up where voters can see them and placed on the website of the chief electoral officer.
Union Territory covered:
Delhi
Official who issues forms:
booth level officers
Form not needed:
Form 8
Process:
special intensive revision
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts here are the Special Intensive Revision, the role of the booth level officer, and that Form 8 is the form for a change of address while the enumeration form is the revision form.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
BLO Booth Level Officer — The field official who collects and verifies voter forms at a polling station area.
Background
The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 makes the Reserve Bank the authority for the regulation and supervision of payment systems in the country. The Reserve Bank exercises those powers through a Board known as the Payments Regulatory Board set up for the purpose. A payment system, as the Act defines it, lets a payment be effected between a payer and a beneficiary through clearing, payment or settlement service, and a stock exchange is outside it. In terms of Section 4 nobody except the Reserve Bank can start or run a payment system without its authorisation. Any person who wants to run one applies under Section 5, in Form A under Regulation 3(2) of the 2008 Regulations, with an application fee of ₹10,000 excluding the GST that is due. The factors weighed under Section 7 include the need for the proposed system, its technical standards and design, security procedures, the netting procedure, risk management, the financial status and the experience of the applicant and consumer interests, and the Reserve Bank tries to dispose of each application within six months. Where authorisation is refused, written notice with reasons and a reasonable opportunity of being heard must be given, and under Section 8 an authorisation already granted can be revoked. The aggrieved applicant or system provider can appeal under Section 9 to the Central Government, within 30 days of the order being conveyed.
Reserve Bank:
the authority for payment systems
Central Government:
appeal within 30 days
Why it matters for exams: The bar in Section 4, the ₹10,000 application fee and the 30 day appeal to the Central Government are the points this Act is asked on.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
Background
The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 gives free legal services to the sections of society that Section 12 lists. Section 12 names a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, a woman, a child, a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person, an industrial workman, a person in custody, a victim of trafficking in human beings or of begar, which Article 23 of the Constitution deals with, and a person in undeserved want after a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, a flood, a drought, an earthquake or an industrial disaster. A woman is entitled to free legal aid whatever her income, and a child is eligible till the age of majority. Income is the last of those grounds, and the ceiling is the amount in the schedule for each State or any higher amount that the State Government prescribes, with less than Rs 5 Lakh where the case is before the Supreme Court of the country. According to Section 13 (1) a person who meets any criterion under Section 12 is entitled to legal services, provided the concerned Legal Services Authority is satisfied that there is a genuine case to prosecute or defend. Free legal aid is not confined to the subordinate courts and runs from the Court, Tribunal or Authority at first instance right up to the Supreme Court of India itself. It covers representation by an advocate, payment of process fees and expenses of witnesses, preparation of pleadings and appeals, drafting of legal documents and certified copies of judgments. A person can also name a lawyer on the panel, and regulation 7(6) lets the Member-Secretary or the Secretary consider and allow that choice. All kinds of cases are included so long as the applicant satisfies the eligibility under Section 12.
Section:
12 lists who is entitled
Supreme Court:
less than Rs 5 Lakh
Why it matters for exams: The list in Section 12 and the Rs 5 Lakh income ceiling for a case before the Supreme Court are the free legal aid facts an exam asks.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Digital Rupee, written e₹, is the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) of India and is issued by the Reserve Bank in digital form. It is at par with the physical currency, carries the guarantee of the Reserve Bank and gives finality of settlement. It is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934 that gives e₹ its standing as money. In terms of its Section 26 every e₹ bank note is legal tender at any place in India and is guaranteed by the Central Government, and e₹ remains a liability of the central bank. The creation and issuance of e₹ follow the arrangement for physical currency, so the Reserve Bank creates e₹ and issues it to banks and non-banks, which then open e₹ wallets for their customers. The e₹ comes in the same denominations as physical currency, and the wallets provide change where the exact denomination is not held. There is no minimum balance to open or maintain an e₹ wallet, and no charge or fee for using it. Given the cash like features of e₹, no interest is payable on the wallet balances. Where a payment is made at a CBDC QR, the transaction happens between two e₹ wallets and settles instantaneously without passing through bank accounts. The e₹ is currently being piloted in the Retail segment and in the Wholesale segment.
Section:
26 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934
Reserve Bank:
issues e₹ to banks and non-banks
Why it matters for exams: The legal tender status of e₹ under Section 26 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act and the absence of interest on wallet balances are the facts to hold.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank