The Ministry of Home Affairs has pruned India's visa framework again, bringing the main visa categories down from 13 to nine and the sub-categories from 49 to 23. An earlier round in October 2025 had already cut the categories from 22 to 13 and the sub-categories from 63 to 49. The number of fields an applicant must fill has been reduced by 65 to 70 per cent across all 23 sub-categories. The old Tourist Visa is now called the Visitor Visa, with V-1 valid for 30 days with multiple entries and V-2 valid for one, five or ten years. Medical treatment now has M-1 for conventional care and M-3 for AYUSH care, each granted for a year by default, with M-2 and M-4 for attendants. The Student Visa has two arms, S-1 for school and degree courses and S-2 for doctoral work, visiting faculty and internships, and an e-S1 for those enrolled through the Study in India portal. The e-Visa runs under 13 sub-categories and is open to nationals of 172 countries, The Ministry of Home Affairs made these changes on 27 August 2026, and says visas will be granted under the new framework once its IT systems are updated, by the end of the year.
Main categories:13 to 9Sub-categories:49 to 23e-Visa reach:Nationals of 172 countries
Why it matters for exams: The visa categories and the ministry that frames visa policy, the Ministry of Home Affairs, are frequent Polity and Governance questions.
The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract worth Rs 498.58 crore, about Rs 500 crore, with Cochin Shipyard Limited for the Normal Refit and Re-powering of INS Betwa, a Brahmaputra-class frigate of the Indian Navy. The heart of the job is to take out the ship's steam-based propulsion and put in a diesel-engine-based system, which is cheaper to run and easier to maintain. The warship will also get a modernised weapon suite so that its fighting strength matches newer vessels. Officials expect more than 50 micro, small and medium enterprises to work on the project, which will create jobs in shipbuilding and in the industries that feed it. The ministry has placed the work under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India push for defence repair capacity within the country. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh was present when the contract was signed in New Delhi. Cochin Shipyard Limited is a public sector shipyard at Kochi in Kerala.
The Ministry of Communications says the number of villages in India with no 4G mobile coverage has dropped from 45,180 in 2022 to 11,372 in 2026, a fall of nearly 75 per cent. The work is being done through the 4G Saturation Project of the Department of Telecommunications, which was designed to reach 24,680 villages that had no mobile signal at all. BSNL, the state-owned telecom company, has commissioned 18,291 sites of the 24,680 planned under the rollout. The government has sanctioned another 26,000 mobile network sites for the next phase of the drive. The department works with BSNL as well as private telecom operators to close the remaining gaps, mostly in hilly, forested and border areas. Connecting these villages matters because banking, school lessons, health advice and welfare payments now travel over mobile data. The project sits alongside BharatNet, the scheme that lays optical fibre to gram panchayats.
Villages without 4G:45,180 in 2022 to 11,372 in 2026Project design:24,680 villagesSites commissioned:18,291 by BSNLNext phase:26,000 more sites sanctioned
Why it matters for exams: The 4G Saturation Project, its ministry and BSNL's role are asked as a scheme-and-ministry pair.
India used the high-level discussion on emerging technologies at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, PP-26, in Doha to argue that technology must be affordable before it can be useful. Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told the conference that about 2.2 billion people in the world are still offline. He said India has put in roughly 15 billion dollars through BharatNet to carry broadband into villages, and pointed to the Samriddh Gram Centres, a WSIS Prize winner, where villagers get health care, farm advice, banking and government certificates in one place. He also described India's work on cheap computing for artificial intelligence, AI models in Indian languages, quantum research and 100 laboratories for 5G use cases. India asked that developing countries be given a bigger say in writing global technology standards and spectrum rules. On the sidelines he met delegations from Malaysia, Iran and Uzbekistan on cross-border cyber fraud and digital infrastructure security. He said bank alerts in India had helped stop suspected losses of over Rs 5,000 crore.
People offline worldwide:2.2 billionBharatNet investment cited:about $15 billionConference venue:Doha, Qatar
Why it matters for exams: The ITU is the UN agency for telecommunications and its Plenipotentiary Conference is its highest policy-making body.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met Canada's Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, and his delegation in New Delhi to move the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement forward. CEPA is the trade pact the two countries are negotiating to cut tariffs, open services and ease investment between them. Both ministers said the agreement must be balanced and useful to both sides, with better market access and fresh room for trade and investment. Goyal said afterwards that the two governments had restated their aim of taking the partnership to new heights, with CEPA as the main driver of closer commercial ties. A CEPA is wider than a simple goods agreement, because it also covers services, investment and economic cooperation. India already has such agreements with countries including Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Agreement:India-Canada CEPAVenue:New Delhi
Why it matters for exams: CEPA and its difference from a goods-only free trade agreement is a recurring Economy question.
President Droupadi Murmu presented the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 at a ceremony in New Delhi, honouring the cities that came out cleanest in the annual survey. The Swachh Survekshan is the cleanliness survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. Speaking at the function, the President said citizen participation is what decides whether a city stays clean. She asked urban bodies to use citizen feedback to improve municipal services instead of treating it as a formality. She also called for affordable sanitation technology and for support to start-ups working in the sanitation field. Building the capacity of smaller Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, she said, is the next big task. The awards honour India's cleanest cities for their contribution to the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban.
Awards:Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26Presented by:President Droupadi MurmuConducting ministry:Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Why it matters for exams: Swachh Survekshan, its conducting ministry and its parent mission Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban are a frequent scheme question.
The eighth edition of the India-Myanmar Naval Exercise, IMNEX-26, opened at Visakhapatnam and runs from 10 to 14 November 2026. The opening ceremony was held on board INS Rana. India has fielded INS Rana and INS Sumedha for the drill, while Myanmar has sent the vessel UMS King Sin Phyu Shin. The exercise is meant to sharpen the two navies' ability to work together at sea and to deepen trust between the two services. India and Myanmar share a long land border and a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, which makes naval coordination useful against piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing. Visakhapatnam, where the drill is based, is the headquarters of the Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command. Myanmar is also a member of BIMSTEC, the Bay of Bengal grouping in which India takes part.
Edition:8thDates:10-14 November 2026Indian ships:INS Rana and INS Sumedha
Why it matters for exams: IMNEX names the two navies involved, and Visakhapatnam as the Eastern Naval Command headquarters is a repeat question.
The Indian Navy has begun Sea Vigil-26, the fifth edition of India's pan-India coastal defence exercise, which runs from 11 to 19 November 2026. The exercise was conceptualised in 2018 to test the maritime security net that was built after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. It is held in two parts, a Coastal Defence and Security Readiness Evaluation from 11 to 17 November and a sea phase on 18 and 19 November. The Navy is the lead agency. Five Union ministries help run it: Defence, Home Affairs, the ministry for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the one for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and the one for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Navy and Indian Coast Guard units take part along with the coastal security police, Customs, other maritime agencies, all coastal States and Union Territories, and fishing and coastal communities. The whole of India's coastline and its Exclusive Economic Zone are covered. Sea Vigil is the build-up to the Navy's biennial Theatre Level Readiness Operational Exercise, TROPEX.
Edition:FifthDates:11-19 November 2026Lead agency:Indian Navy
Why it matters for exams: Sea Vigil, its lead agency the Indian Navy and its link to TROPEX are standard Defence questions.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency is a statutory body under the Ministry of Power, set up under the provisions of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001. Its primary objective is reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy. Among the programmes it runs are Standards and Labelling for Energy Efficient Appliances, the PAT Scheme, Energy Conservation Building Codes and Demand Side Management. PAT stands for Perform, Achieve and Trade. Packaged Boilers and Commercial Beverage Coolers, also known as Visi Coolers, were added to the Standards and Labelling programmes under a voluntary phase. For packaged boilers, one star to five star is awarded on the basis of thermal efficiency, with 1-star being the minimum energy performance level. The Bureau brings out the State Energy Efficiency Index in association with the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy, and Karnataka was the top-performing state in the State Energy Efficiency Index 2023.
Statute:Energy Conservation Act, 2001Ministry:Ministry of PowerStar band:One star to five starIndex partner:Alliance for an Energy Efficient EconomyTop-performing state:Karnataka
Why it matters for exams: The Act behind the Bureau, the Ministry it comes under and the star label it awards are regular exam questions.
The Wild Life Crime Control Bureau was set up for control of illegal trade in wild life and its products. It participates in global operations in coordination with INTERPOL. It also conducts sensitization and capacity building programmes for enforcement agencies, among them officials of the State Police and of the Forest department. Records of arrests made in various States in connection with illegal wildlife trade are kept with the Bureau. The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 has been amended from time to time for better protection of wild life. India has signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates international trade in wild life and its derivatives. Provisions of CITES are now part of that Act. The work is answered for by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Parent Act:Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972Global policing partner:INTERPOLConvention:Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and FloraMinistry:Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Why it matters for exams: What CITES stands for, the Act it was written into and the Ministry behind the Bureau are durable exam facts.
CITESConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — The convention that regulates international trade in wild life and its derivatives.
The National Committee on Dam Safety is constituted under Section 5 of the Dam Safety Act, 2021. The First Schedule of the Act lays down what the Committee is to do. It functions as a policy think tank for the National Dam Safety Authority. The Committee deliberates on dam safety related policies, and it may recommend such regulations as may be necessary so that standards of dam safety stay uniform and disasters arising from dam failures are prevented. The Chairman of the Central Water Commission is also the Chairman of the Committee. Its 11th meeting was held in New Delhi, with the Ministry of Jal Shakti behind it. Heads of State Dam Safety Organisations and representatives from Union Territories were present at that meeting.
Statute:Dam Safety Act, 2021Constituted under:Section 5Functions laid down in:First ScheduleChairman:Chairman, Central Water CommissionMinistry:Ministry of Jal Shakti
Why it matters for exams: The Act of 2021, the Section that constitutes the Committee and who chairs it are the durable facts.