The Telangana High Court has directed a medical college and its university to return a student's original certificates that had been held back over unpaid fees. Justice Juvvadi Sridevi held that a college cannot retain original certificates as security for any dues, and that a money claim has to be pursued through lawful recovery proceedings. The case is Kolakatla Shravan Kumar v State of Telangana and Others, heard as a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. The petitioner said he had paid ₹47.50 lakh in tuition and allied fees over his first four years and could not pay a final year balance of ₹11.75 lakh. He needed the originals because the counselling schedule of the Medical Counselling Committee for NEET PG 2026 calls for original certificates at verification. The Court allowed the petition and directed the college and the university to return the certificates within one week of receiving a copy of the order. It made no order as to costs and did not decide whether the amount was in fact payable.
Jurisdiction invoked:Article 226 of the Constitution, in a writ petitionFees already paid:₹47.50 lakhBalance unpaid:₹11.75 lakhTime given to return certificates:one week
Why it matters for exams: Article 226 of the Constitution gives a High Court its writ jurisdiction, and the Medical Counselling Committee runs the all-India counselling for medical seats. Both appear often in Polity and current affairs papers.
India has confirmed its hundredth Grandmaster, and the title rests on one published set of rules. FIDE recognises four titles for open play - Grandmaster, International Master, FIDE Master and Candidate Master - and a parallel set for women. The Qualification Commission administers them and is the final judging unit, while the regulations can be altered only by the FIDE Council on that Commission's recommendation. A title is for over-the-board standard chess as the Laws of Chess define it, and it is valid for life from the date the FIDE Council confirms. To win a title on norms, a player must gather them in events covering at least 27 games in all. For the Grandmaster title the player must also have held a rating of 2500 at some time, and such a rating need not even have been published. At least one of the norms for that title has to come from a tournament with only one round per day, running for a minimum of 3 days. The Chief Arbiter of a title tournament must be an International Arbiter or a FIDE Arbiter, and a title can be taken back if the Fair Play Regulations were breached.
Body that administers the titles:the Qualification Commission of FIDERating needed for the highest title:at least 2500Games the norms must cover:at least 27 in allHow long a title lasts:for life, from the date it is confirmed
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the four open titles and the parallel women's titles, the Qualification Commission as the awarding unit, the FIDE Council as the confirming body, the 27-game spread for norms, the 2500 rating for a Grandmaster and the lifelong validity of a title.
NormTitle norm — A performance in one tournament that reaches the level the regulations set for a title; the norms together must cover at least 27 games.
FIDEFederation Internationale des Echecs — The international chess federation, which awards the titles and keeps the rating list.
AICFAll India Chess Federation — The national federation for chess in India, through which a player's title application reaches the international body.
The drive test just published on a rail route and the fresh ceiling charges for ports both rest on a single statute. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 lets TRAI notify the rates of telecommunication services. Under the tariff framework now in place, mobile and data tariffs are under forbearance, with a few named exceptions - leased circuits, mobile number portability, rural fixed line services and national roaming among them. Within the rules in force a service provider is free to design and offer its own tariffs. Quality is a separate head: sub-clause (v) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 11 gives TRAI the job of laying down the standards a provider must meet. Providers file performance monitoring reports for each Licensed Service Area every quarter, and monthly where mobile services are concerned. Where a benchmark is missed, TRAI calls for an explanation and then imposes a financial disincentive under its own regulations. It also audits those reports, through its own officers or through independent agencies.
Act behind the regulator:Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997Mobile and data tariffs:Under forbearanceQuality reports for mobile services:Monthly, for each Licensed Service Area
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the Act of 1997 behind TRAI, the forbearance regime on mobile and data tariffs with its named exceptions, section 11 as the source of the quality of service power, and the Licensed Service Area as the unit of reporting.
TRAITelecom Regulatory Authority of India — The sector regulator for telecommunications, set up by the Act of the same name.
ForbearanceForbearance in tariffs — The regulator leaves the price to the operator instead of fixing it, while keeping the power to step in.
LSALicensed Service Area — The geographical circle a telecom licence covers; quality reporting is done circle by circle.
InterconnectionInterconnection between networks — The link that lets a subscriber of one network reach a subscriber of another; port charges are paid for it.
The retail prices of 28 anti-cancer formulations have been fixed by a regulator that works under the Department of Pharmaceuticals. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, or NPPA, fixes the ceiling price of every drug listed in Schedule-I to the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013. The medicines in that Schedule are the ones on the National List of Essential Medicines, NLEM, 2022. It is the Department of Health and Family Welfare that notifies that list. A maker of a scheduled medicine, branded or generic alike, has to sell within that ceiling, with the applicable Goods and Service Tax on top. The same regulator separately fixes the retail price of a new drug as the Order defines one, and that price binds the applicant manufacturer and marketer. For a non-scheduled formulation the maker sets its own MRP, but it cannot raise that figure by over 10% of the printed price in the 12 months just past. A ceiling price can also be fixed in public interest in certain circumstances.
Order under which prices are capped:Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013What Schedule-I carries:National List of Essential Medicines, 2022Cap on a non-scheduled drug:10% of MRP in 12 months
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the regulator (the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority), the law it acts under (the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013), the Department it sits under (Pharmaceuticals), the list that Schedule-I carries (the National List of Essential Medicines) and the 10% cap on a non-scheduled drug's yearly price rise.
Behind the cleanliness awards sits a second assessment that rates a city rather than ranking it. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released a Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities in a toolkit dated 2022, on the eve of Good Governance Day. The protocol serves the vision of Garbage Free Cities, or GFC, which the second phase of the urban sanitation mission carries. A key objective is that every urban local body should be at least 3-star Garbage Free on this scale. In the certification exercise before the revision, nearly 50% of ULBs took part and 299 cities were certified; 9 of them were rated 5-star, 143 were rated 3-star and 147 were rated 1-star. Release of funds from the Government of India was then made conditional on a ULB reaching at least 1-star certification. The revision cut the indicators from 25 to 24, of which only 16 are mandatory for the 1-star and 3-star levels, while the other 8 are aspirational and matter for 5-star and 7-star aspirants. Half the weightage now goes to door-to-door collection, source segregation, waste processing and dumpsite remediation, and assessment runs through the year.
Protocol:Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free CitiesTarget for every urban local body:At least 3-starFloor for Central funds:At least 1-star certificationWeightage to collection, segregation, processing and remediation:50%
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the name of the protocol, the 3-star target for every urban local body, the 1-star floor for Central funds, and the split of 24 indicators into 16 mandatory and 8 aspirational ones.
A naval establishment passing out a batch of Agniveers brings the scheme they joined under back into view. The Union Cabinet approved AGNIPATH as a route of recruitment into the armed forces, and those taken in are called Agniveers. The initial engagement runs for four years, and the scheme is meant to bring the average age profile of the forces down by about 4-5 years. An Agniveer draws a customised monthly package, with risk and hardship allowances as they apply in each of the three services. Of that package 30% goes into the Agniveer Corpus Fund, and the Government puts in a matching amount. After four years each side's share stands at Rs 5.02 lakh, and the exit payment, called the SevaNidhi package, works out to about Rs 11.71 lakh once the interest on it is counted. The Seva Nidhi is exempt from income tax, but there is no gratuity and no pension for those four years, and a non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs 48 lakh runs through the engagement. Up to 25% of each batch is enrolled in the regular cadre on a further engagement of a minimum of 15 years; the Union Cabinet has since cleared two more years of service for the rest, with permanent enrolment offered to the willing on the prescribed selection criteria.
Length of engagement:Four years, as the initial engagementShare of the package to the corpus fund:30%Exit payment:SevaNidhi of about Rs 11.71 lakhLife insurance cover:Rs 48 lakh
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the four-year engagement, the 30% share that goes to the Agniveer Corpus Fund with a matching Government contribution, the SevaNidhi of about Rs 11.71 lakh, the absence of gratuity and pension, the Rs 48 lakh life cover and the further 15-year engagement for those absorbed. The Cabinet has since cleared two further years of service for those not absorbed at the end of four ye
SevaNidhiSeva Nidhi package — The one-time exit payment made up of the Agniveer's own contribution, the matching Government contribution and the interest on both.
Agniveer Corpus FundAgniveer Corpus Fund — The fund in which the monthly contributions of the Agniveer and the Government are held until exit.
Regular cadreRegular cadre of the armed forces — The permanent service a part of each Agniveer batch is selected into after the four years.
The Indian Navy trains its sailors and Agniveers at INS Chilka, an establishment that stands in Odisha beside Chilka Lake. A passing out parade there closes 16 weeks of hard training, which the Ministry of Defence says readies a trainee for the demands of modern naval work. One such parade was held for a batch of 2700 trainees, of whom two thousand one hundred were Agniveers. A bilingual trainee magazine called Ankur is unveiled on the same occasion. Agniveers are the young people enrolled under the recruitment scheme that takes them into the armed forces on an initial engagement of four years.
Training establishment:INS Chilka, in Odisha near Chilka LakeLength of training:16 weeksTrainee magazine:Ankur, bilingual
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the name of the establishment, the service and the trades it trains for, the State and the lake it stands by, the 16-week length of basic training, and the initial four-year engagement under Agnipath.
Swachh Survekshan belongs to a mission that is more than a decade old. Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban was announced on 15 August 2014 and formally launched on 2 October 2014, with three aims. Those were an end to open defecation in every statutory town, scientific handling of 100% of municipal solid waste in those towns, and behaviour change driven as a Jan Andolan among citizens. In 2019 urban India was declared open defecation free, after which the mission turned to holding on to what it had built. More than 3,000 cities have been certified ODF+ and more than 950 ODF++, while cities move towards Water+ certification, which the Water+ Protocol ties to treatment of wastewater and its optimum reuse. The survey itself began under the mission in 2016 and reaches over 4,000 Urban Local Bodies, which makes it the world's largest urban cleanliness survey. A second phase was launched alongside AMRUT 2.0 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the two missions together carrying an outlay of about 4.4 lakh crore rupees. Waste processing in the country rose from 18% to 70% over the mission's first seven years.
Mission formally launched:2 October 2014Ministry:Housing and Urban AffairsCities certified ODF+:More than 3,000Urban Local Bodies in the survey:Over 4,000
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the launch date, the three objectives, the Ministry that runs the mission, the year urban India was declared open defecation free, the ODF+ and ODF++ counts and the year the survey began.
ODF+Open Defecation Free Plus — A city qualifies when no one is found defecating or urinating in the open and all its community and public toilets are functional and well kept.
ODF++Open Defecation Free Plus Plus — Adds safe management of faecal sludge and septage, with no untreated discharge into the open or into water bodies.
Jan AndolanPeople's movement — The behaviour change arm of the mission, which works through mass campaigns rather than construction alone.
The TRAI Act was enacted in 1997 to build the conditions in which telecommunications in India could grow. One of its main objectives was a fair and transparent environment, with a level playing field and fair competition in the market. The Act set up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to regulate the telecommunications sector of the country. An amendment in 2000 created the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, and the adjudicatory and disputes work moved out of the regulator to it. TDSAT today hears matters from more than one sector, including broadcasting, information technology, airport infrastructure and the Aadhaar sector. A seminar the tribunal organised marked twenty-five years of the Act, with the regulatory mechanism and dispute resolution in those sectors as its subject. The lesson for an aspirant is that in this sector rule-making and dispute settlement are in different hands.
Parent Act:TRAI Act, enacted in 1997Year the tribunal was added:2000Tribunal:Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the year of the parent Act, the amendment that created the appellate tribunal, the tribunal's name, and the shift of the adjudicatory and disputes functions out of the regulator.
TDSATTelecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal — The tribunal that hears disputes and appeals in telecom, broadcasting and some other regulated sectors.
AERAAirport Economic Regulatory Authority — The regulator for airport tariffs, whose appeals also go to the same tribunal.
Recommendatory functionRecommendatory function of a regulator — On licensing and spectrum the telecom regulator only recommends to the Government; on tariffs and quality it can make binding regulations.
The Haj Committee Act, 2002 established the Haj Committee of India, along with State Haj Committees, for making the arrangements for Muslims going on the pilgrimage. The Committee is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, its headquarters are at Mumbai, and it comes under the Ministry of Minority Affairs in the Union Government. Three members of Parliament sit on it: the Speaker names two from among the Muslim members of the lower House, and the Chairman of the upper House names one from among its Muslim members. Nine Muslim members are elected, three of them from the States that sent the most pilgrims in the last three years and one from each zone the Schedule to the Act sets out, and no State in a zone may send more than one elected member. Four persons not below the rank of Joint Secretary, drawn from the Ministries of Home, Finance, External Affairs and Civil Aviation, are ex officio members, and the Central Government nominates seven more Muslim members. The Committee elects a Chairperson and two Vice-Chairpersons from among its members, though a Minister is barred from that chair. Its duties include drawing up the yearly Haj plan, which needs the approval of the Central Government.
Act:Haj Committee Act, 2002Headquarters:MumbaiTerm of a member:three yearsMinistry:Minority Affairs
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the Act, the headquarters at Mumbai, the Ministry the Committee works under, the mix of nominated, elected and ex officio members, the three-year term and the bar on a Minister being Chairperson.
Body corporateBody corporate — A legal person that can own property, sue and be sued in its own name, with perpetual succession and a common seal.
Ex officio memberMember by virtue of office — A member who sits because of the post held, and who leaves the body on leaving that post.
State Haj CommitteeState Haj Committee — The State-level counterpart constituted under the same Act, which can also be a joint committee for more than one State.
Section 29C of the RP Act 1951 requires a political party to file with the Election Commission a report of the contributions it has received. The report goes in Form 24 A, prescribed under Rule 85 B of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961. Contributions reported this way are 100% exempted from income tax, which the Commission treats as an incentive for strengthening electoral democracy. A party must tell the Commission without delay if its name, head office, address, office bearers or PAN number changes, a duty that section 29A(9) carries. Audited annual statements flow from the Commission's own transparency guidelines, and in Common Cause against Union of India the Supreme Court upheld the keeping of audited accounts as mandatory and to be strictly enforced. A party is also under a statutory obligation to file an income return for every assessment year to stay eligible for the exemption. After a poll it files an election expenditure statement within 75 days for an Assembly election and within 90 days for a Lok Sabha election.
Section requiring the report:section 29CForm:Form 24 ARule:Rule 85 B of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961Expenditure statement deadline:75 days for an Assembly election, 90 days for a Lok Sabha election
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, the contribution report in Form 24 A filed with the Election Commission, the income tax exemption that hangs on filing it, and the 75-day and 90-day deadlines for expenditure statements.
Contribution reportAnnual contribution report of a political party — The yearly return in which a party lists the donations above the limit the section fixes, with the donor's name and address.
Section 29BSection 29B of the Representation of the People Act — It bars a political party from taking a donation from a government company or from a foreign source.
Section 182Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013 — The company-law route: a company may contribute to a party by a resolution of its Board and must disclose the amount in its profit and loss account.