8 November 2026
The Ministry of Culture says the seven day exposition of the Holy Relics of Shakyamuni Buddha at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh ended on 7 November. The relics had reached Tawang on 31 October 2026 from the National Museum, New Delhi, and were kept for public darshan at Gaden Namgyal Lhatse, the Tawang Monastery. A total of 31,000 devotees and visitors came. The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, received the relics in the presence of the Union Minister of Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and opened two exhibitions, one of them on the 1898 discovery of the Piprahwa relics, put together by the International Buddhist Confederation. The other, curated by the National Museum, dealt with the art and cultural legacy of Buddhism. The Indian Air Force was to carry the relics to Bomdila on 8 November for darshan at TGL Monastery (Lower Gompa) from 8 to 13 November, after which they go to the Golden Pagoda at Namsai from 14 to 20 November and return to New Delhi on 21 November.
Devotees at Tawang:
31,000
Relics brought from:
National Museum, New Delhi
Tawang venue:
Gaden Namgyal Lhatse (Tawang Monastery)
Return to New Delhi:
21 November 2026
Why it matters for exams: Fixes three durable facts: the relics are held at the National Museum, New Delhi; they were found at Piprahwa in 1898; and the Tawang exposition was held at Gaden Namgyal Lhatse with the International Buddhist Confederation as organiser.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
IBC International Buddhist Confederation — A New Delhi based Buddhist umbrella body that organises relic expositions with the Ministry of Culture.
7 November 2026
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has wound up Special Campaign 6, a month long drive on pendency, cleanliness, record keeping and public service run through October 2026. The Ministry of Labour and Employment says the organisation met every target it set. Grievances disposed came to 2,36,021 against a target of 2,05,000, of which 2,02,984 were through EPFiGMS and 33,037 through CPGRAMS. On appeals, 10,343 CPGRAMS appeals were settled against a target of 5,758. The campaign also covered 598 Cleanliness Target Units and freed 68,178 sq ft of office space. The Head Office, the training academies, 21 Zonal Offices and the regional and district offices all took part, and 41,875 physical files were reviewed.
Grievances disposed:
2,36,021
Office space freed:
68,178 sq ft
Zonal Offices taking part:
21
Why it matters for exams: Carries the durable pairing of EPFO with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the names of the two grievance systems it uses, EPFiGMS and CPGRAMS.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
EPFO Employees' Provident Fund Organisation — Runs provident fund, pension and insurance schemes for organised sector workers under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
CPGRAMS Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System — The Government of India's common online portal for citizens' grievances against any department.
7 November 2026
The All India Sainik Schools National Games 2026 ended at Sainik School Bijapur after five days of competition from 3 to 7 November. Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth was chief guest at the closing ceremony and gave away the medals and trophies. Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, the Chief of the Naval Staff, who studied at Sainik School Bijapur himself, spoke to the cadets and asked them to aim for excellence. Sainik School Ghorakhal won the junior boys' basketball title and Vikasa Sainik School the junior girls'. Sainik School Amaravatinagar took junior boys' volleyball. Away from the field, Sainik School Jhansi won the debate championship and Sainik School Kapurthala the quiz competition. Serving and retired defence officers and public representatives attended.
Dates:
3 to 7 November 2026
Venue:
Sainik School Bijapur
Debate championship:
Sainik School Jhansi
Quiz competition:
Sainik School Kapurthala
Why it matters for exams: Gives the current Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, and the place of Sainik Schools, which are run by the Sainik Schools Society under the Ministry of Defence.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
AISSNG All India Sainik Schools National Games — An annual inter-school sports meet of the Sainik Schools, hosted by one school each year.
7 November 2026
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has invited film and allied technology startups to apply for the WaveX Startup Pavilion at WAVES Bazaar, to be held during the International Film Festival of India in Goa this year. WaveX, short for the WAVES Startup Accelerator, is the ministry's accelerator and incubation initiative for the media and entertainment sector, and works with startups in animation, visual effects, gaming, comics and extended reality, together written as AVGC-XR, as well as media technologies. Only startups registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade may apply, and a WaveX Selection Committee will screen them. The pavilion is meant to put products in front of filmmakers, production houses and investors. The festival itself was established in 1952 and is now held every year in Goa.
Accelerator:
WaveX (WAVES Startup Accelerator)
Who may apply:
DPIIT-registered startups
Film festival started:
1952
Why it matters for exams: Pairs WaveX with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, expands AVGC-XR, and fixes 1952 as the year the International Film Festival of India began.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IFFI International Film Festival of India — India's oldest international film festival, established in 1952 and held annually in Goa.
DPIIT Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade — The department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry that recognises startups in India.
7 November 2026
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh visited Trishakti Corps at Sukna in West Bengal and reviewed infrastructure development along the Line of Actual Control along with the deployment of advanced military equipment and emerging technologies. Present on the occasion were the Chief of the Army Staff, General Dhiraj Seth, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Command, Lt Gen VMB Krishnan, and the General Officer Commanding of 33 Corps, Lt Gen Man Raj Singh Mann. The minister described the North-East as the first edge of India rather than its last, and said drones and anti-drone systems are now being made by Indian start-ups and industry. He listed hybrid warfare, proxy wars, cyber-attacks, drone incursions and information warfare among present-day threats. Sukna, he noted, is a hub for moving supplies, weaponry, food, medical provisions and personnel to forward posts. He also joined a Barakhana with soldiers on the eve of Diwali.
Formation visited:
Trishakti Corps (33 Corps), Sukna
Command:
Eastern Command
Chief of the Army Staff:
General Dhiraj Seth
Why it matters for exams: Fixes the Chief of the Army Staff as General Dhiraj Seth and places Trishakti Corps, the Army's 33 Corps, at Sukna under Eastern Command.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
LAC Line of Actual Control — The line that separates areas under Indian control from those under Chinese control.
8 November 2026
The Green Diwali Campaign 2026, run from 20 October to 8 November by WWF-India's EIACP Programme Centre with the support of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has closed with an appeal to residents of Delhi and the National Capital Region to keep the festival free of firecrackers. The Central Pollution Control Board has placed Delhi's air in the Very Poor category, and Air Quality Early Warning System forecasts suggest it could touch Severe during the festive days. The Commission for Air Quality Management is applying the Graded Response Action Plan across the NCR. The campaign reaches the 130 cities covered by the National Clean Air Programme in 24 States and Union Territories, and asks people to take a Green Diwali Pledge, use natural rangoli materials and check the daily air quality.
Campaign period:
20 October to 8 November 2026
NCAP coverage:
130 cities across 24 States and Union Territories
Delhi air quality category:
Very Poor (CPCB)
Why it matters for exams: Carries three durable facts: the National Clean Air Programme covers 130 cities in 24 States and Union Territories; the Commission for Air Quality Management applies the Graded Response Action Plan in the NCR; and the Central Pollution Control Board publishes the air quality category.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NCAP National Clean Air Programme — The Centre's programme to cut particulate pollution in identified non-attainment cities.
GRAP Graded Response Action Plan — A set of curbs that tighten in stages as air quality in the NCR worsens.
8 November 2026
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi spent Diwali with security personnel at the CoBRA Operations Base at Karanpur in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. Forces have long trained at this base and set out from it on operations against Naxal groups across Bastar and Abujhmad. Addressing the jawans, he praised the work of personnel of CoBRA, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal, the India Reserve Battalions, state police forces and the Bastar Fighters commandos of the Chhattisgarh police. He said this was the first Diwali after every district in the country became free of Naxalism, and that for the first time in 47 years not a single CRPF jawan lost his life on duty in the past year. He also pointed to the Bastar Olympics as a mark of change in the region. CoBRA, the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, is the specialised jungle warfare force raised within the Central Reserve Police Force, which like the other central armed police forces works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Base:
CoBRA Operations Base, Karanpur, Bastar
State:
Chhattisgarh
Why it matters for exams: Fixes CoBRA as the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, a jungle warfare unit of the Central Reserve Police Force, and names Bastar Fighters as a Chhattisgarh police unit.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CoBRA Commando Battalion for Resolute Action — The Central Reserve Police Force's specialised jungle and guerrilla warfare battalions.
9 November 2026
The Reserve Bank of India will hold a four-day Variable Rate Repo auction under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility for a notified amount of Rs 50,000 crore. The bidding window is from 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM on Monday, 9 November 2026, and the money comes back to the Reserve Bank on the reversal date of 13 November 2026. In a repo auction the central bank lends to banks against government securities, so the operation adds liquidity to the system; the reverse repo does the opposite and absorbs it. The Liquidity Adjustment Facility is the Reserve Bank's standing arrangement for managing day to day cash in the banking system, and in a variable rate auction the rate is discovered through bids instead of being fixed at the policy rate.
Notified amount:
Rs 50,000 crore
Tenor:
4 days
Reversal date:
November 13, 2026
Why it matters for exams: Names the Liquidity Adjustment Facility and the difference between a repo auction, which injects liquidity, and a reverse repo auction, which absorbs it.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
LAF Liquidity Adjustment Facility — The Reserve Bank's window for lending to or borrowing from banks to manage daily liquidity.
Background
Bank deposits in the country are insured by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, known by its short form DICGC. Commercial banks are all inside the net, and so are local area banks, regional rural banks and the branches of foreign banks that function in India; at present every co-operative bank is covered as well. Each depositor is insured for principal and interest together up to 5,00,000 rupees, counted over the deposits held in the same right and same capacity. Balances kept in different branches of one bank are added up before the cover is worked out, while money placed in two different banks is insured separately. A few kinds of deposit stay outside the cover, among them inter-bank deposits and the deposits of the Central or State Governments. Premium for the cover is borne entirely by the insured bank, so it costs the depositor nothing. The scheme is compulsory and no insured bank is allowed to walk out of it. If a bank goes into liquidation the Corporation pays the liquidator within two months of getting the claim list, and the liquidator then pays each insured depositor.
Cover for each depositor:
up to 5,00,000 rupees, principal and interest together
Who bears the premium:
borne entirely by the insured bank
Time to pay a liquidator:
two months from receipt of the claim list
Why it matters for exams: Bank and service-commission papers ask what DICGC stands for, the 5,00,000 rupee ceiling and who bears the premium, so the whole mechanism is worth holding in the head.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
Background
Know Your Customer is the process by which a regulated entity, a bank among them, collects and verifies a customer's identity, address, nature of business and financial standing. The check is run when an account-based relationship begins, when a walk-in customer puts through an occasional transaction of 50,000 rupees or more, when any international money transfer is handled, and when the entity doubts the data it already holds. The officially valid documents number six: proof of possession of Aadhaar number, the passport, the driving licence, the job card issued by NREGA, a letter from the National Population Register, and the Voter's Identity Card of the Election Commission of India. A customer who holds none of them can still open a small account on a self-attested photograph, certified by a designated officer of the bank, and it stays operational initially for twelve months. If the valid document does not carry the present address, a utility bill not more than two months old and a few similar papers are deemed valid for address alone, and the proper document has to follow within three months. Aadhaar is not compulsory for the check, except where the customer wants a benefit or subsidy under a notified scheme. A unique code called the KYC Identifier is given by the Central KYC Records Registry, and with the customer's explicit consent another entity can pull the stored records instead of asking for the papers again.
Walk-in transaction threshold:
50,000 rupees or more for an occasional transaction
Small account:
operational initially for twelve months
Shared records:
kept by the Central KYC Records Registry
Why it matters for exams: Bank recruitment papers lean on the officially valid document list, the 50,000 rupee walk-in threshold and the twelve-month small account, and all three sit in the regulator's own answers.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
Background
Foreign exchange dealings in the country rest on the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, which took effect from June 1, 2000. Under that law every dealing in foreign exchange is sorted into a capital account transaction or a current account transaction, and a dealing that does not alter a resident's assets or liabilities outside the country, contingent liabilities included, is the latter. Section 5 lets a resident deal in foreign exchange for any current account transaction other than the ones the Central Government has barred, such as a remittance of lottery winnings or payment for lottery tickets and sweepstakes. The Liberalised Remittance Scheme sits on top of that framework and lets all resident individuals, minors included, remit up to USD 2,50,000 in a financial year for a permissible transaction on current or capital account, or a mix of the two. It was brought in with a much smaller ceiling of USD 25,000 and the limit has been revised in stages since. It is open to individuals alone, so a corporate body, a partnership firm, an HUF or a trust cannot use it. A minor can remit too, but the form then has to be countersigned by that minor's natural guardian.
Yearly ceiling:
up to USD 2,50,000 in a financial year
Parent law:
rests on the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999
Who cannot use it:
corporates, partnership firms, HUF and trusts
Why it matters for exams: The scheme's dollar ceiling, the parent Act and the bar on firms and trusts are standard banking and economy questions, and all three are in the regulator's own answers.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
Background
The sole right to issue banknotes in the country rests with the Reserve Bank under Section 22 of its own Act, while Section 25 says the design, form and material of a banknote are approved by the Central Government after it considers what the Central Board recommends. Banknotes come off four presses. Two belong to the Government of India through Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd. and stand at Nasik and at Dewas, while two belong to the Reserve Bank through Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd. at Mysuru and at Salboni. Coins are a different story: the Government designs and mints them under the Coinage Act, 2011, at four mints at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and NOIDA, and they reach the public only through the Reserve Bank under Section 38. To push notes and coins outward the Bank has authorised select scheduled banks to keep currency chests, storehouses that hold the stock on its behalf for the branches around them, and some banks also keep small coin depots for coins of a value below one rupee. The Bank works the system through 19 Issue Offices, which receive fresh notes from the presses and send them on to the chests. Under what it calls its clean note policy the Bank examines notes that come back from circulation, reissues only those fit to circulate, and destroys the soiled and mutilated rest.
Currency presses:
presses at Nasik, at Dewas, at Mysuru and at Salboni
Mints:
at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and NOIDA
Issue Offices:
19 of them manage currency operations
Why it matters for exams: The presses, the mints, the currency chest and the clean note policy are asked again and again in bank and general studies papers, and the sections of the Act behind them are asked with them.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank