The Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of Oman carried out the 15th edition of their bilateral maritime exercise Naseem Al Bahr, which means Sea Breeze. The harbour phase had Subject Matter Expert Exchanges between specialist teams on explosive ordnance disposal, mine countermeasure operations and hydrography. The sea phase was conducted by Indian Naval Ship Surat and the Royal Navy of Oman Vessel Al-Mu'azzar. The two ships practised joint Visit, Board, Search and Seizure drills and cross-deck operations to improve interoperability. The Navy described the exercise as part of its engagement with regional maritime partners under the Government of India's MAHASAGAR vision. MAHASAGAR stands for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.
Edition:15thIndian ship:INS Surat
Why it matters for exams: Naseem Al Bahr is the India-Oman bilateral maritime exercise; its 15th edition used INS Surat and the Omani vessel Al-Mu'azzar.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is holding a two-day National Tribal Literary Festival at Silver Oak, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on 12 and 13 November 2026. It is part of the Janjatiya Gaurav Divas celebrations. The festival is meant to give tribal writers, poets, storytellers and knowledge holders a national platform and to promote indigenous languages and oral narratives. Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram and Minister of State Durgadas Uikey are attending the inaugural session, along with NITI Aayog Member Joram Aniya, Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti Chairman Chamu Krishna Shastri and Tribal Affairs Secretary Ranjana Chopra. Sessions will cover tribal folklore, including ritual songs, myths, folktales, riddles, proverbs and women's oral traditions, and the role of oral epics in preserving community history. The Ministry says several tribal languages still face gaps in documentation and transmission between generations.
Dates:12 and 13 November 2026Venue:Silver Oak, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Why it matters for exams: The National Tribal Literary Festival is run by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs; Jual Oram is Union Minister of Tribal Affairs and Chamu Krishna Shastri chairs the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti.
The Ministry of Steel has reported a sharp rise in output at the Universal Rail Mill of the Bhilai Steel Plant. Prime rail production has gone up to 9.11 lakh tonnes in 2025-26 from 3.69 lakh tonnes in 2018-19. The Ministry attributes the rise to technological upgrades at the mill. The Universal Rail Mill is the unit at Bhilai that rolls long rails for the Indian Railways. The Bhilai Steel Plant is in Chhattisgarh and is one of the integrated steel plants of the Steel Authority of India Limited. Prime rails are the rails that pass quality checks and can be supplied for track laying. The figures are for financial years, with 2018-19 as the comparison base.
Why it matters for exams: The Universal Rail Mill is at the Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh, a SAIL plant, and its prime rail output reached 9.11 lakh tonnes in 2025-26.
A new deep-sea shark from the Indian Ocean has been described by researchers at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), working with colleagues at the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Its scientific name is Echinorhinus roinee and its common name the Indian Bramble Shark. Sharks of this kind had for decades been read as the Atlantic bramble shark, Echinorhinus brucus. The specimens that settled the matter came ashore as bycatch of deep-sea shrimp trawlers at Sakthikulangara Fishing Harbour in the Kollam district of Kerala. It keeps to continental slope waters 350 to 450 metres down and reaches three metres in length. Mitochondrial DNA barcodes placed it as a lineage of its own in the Indian Ocean, apart from the Atlantic species and from the Pacific prickly shark. The description has been published in Records of the Zoological Survey of India. Measurements together with the DNA evidence settled the question, ZSI Director Dhriti Banerjee said.
Scientific name:Echinorhinus roineeDepth range:350 to 450 metresMaximum length:Three metres
Why it matters for exams: A new species name, Echinorhinus roinee, described by ZSI with ICAR-CMFRI from specimens landed at Sakthikulangara in Kollam.
Colombo in Sri Lanka hosted the first BIMSTEC Health Ministers' Meeting, which agreed a Joint Ministerial Statement by consensus. Ministers there also cleared the Revised BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Public Health (2026-2030). Its areas are disease surveillance, pandemic preparedness, digital health, traditional medicine, One Health and the building up of the health workforce. Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda spoke for India. The BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence in Traditional Medicine will come up in India, at the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda in Jamnagar, Gujarat. A Memorandum of Understanding exchanged by India and Sri Lanka covers 100 more fully equipped ambulances, paid for out of Indian grant assistance of about USD 5.28 million. India further offered 50 medical kiosks, also called health ATMs, for primary health care in Sri Lanka.
Venue:Colombo, Sri LankaGrant for ambulances:About USD 5.28 million for 100 ambulances
Why it matters for exams: The Revised BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Public Health (2026-2030) and the BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence in Traditional Medicine to be hosted at ITRA, Jamnagar.
Digital LED vans were flagged off at Chandigarh by the Directorate of Census Operations, Punjab, to spread word about the second phase of Census 2027. The count comes in two stages. The first of them, House Listing and Housing Census, is already over. Population Enumeration is the second, and Punjab's dates for it are 1 December 2026 to 4 January 2027, with 5 January 2027 fixed as the reference date. Ahead of that, from 16 to 30 November 2026, people may fill in the 40 census questions for themselves on the portal se.census.gov.in. A revision round after Population Enumeration will pick up anyone left out. For queries there is a toll-free helpline on the number 1855. Director of Census Operations Punjab Navjot Khosa flagged off the vans, which carry QR codes that open the National Census Portal.
Reference date:5 January 2027Census questions:40Helpline:1855
Why it matters for exams: Census 2027 has two phases; the reference date for Population Enumeration is 5 January 2027 and self-enumeration uses the portal se.census.gov.in with 40 questions.
Across the country the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is marking Janjatiya Gaurav Pakhwada from 1 to 15 November 2026. The fortnight closes with Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, kept on 15 November because Dharti Aaba Bhagwan Birsa Munda was born that day. That date was set aside as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas by the Government of India in 2021. Within these fifteen days the Ministry pushes its flagship programmes, PM-JANMAN and the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan among them, out to tribal families. In 2024-25 the 150th birth anniversary of Birsa Munda was kept as Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh. The day itself has been held at Ranchi in 2021, at Khunti in 2022 and again in 2023, at Jamui in 2024 and at Dediapada in 2025. This year's events take in the Rani Durgavati Adivasi Mahila Sammelan on 14 November, which brings 500 tribal women entrepreneurs together from 30 States and Union Territories.
Pakhwada dates:1 to 15 November 2026Women entrepreneurs at Sammelan:500 from 30 States/UTs
Why it matters for exams: Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas is 15 November, the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, designated in 2021 by the Government of India.
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. A group of scientists from the Institute mapped the remote regions of Ladakh, the most hinterland part of the Himalaya. They reported that the Indus Suture Zone, where the Indian and Asian Plates are joined, is tectonically active and not a locked zone, as earlier understanding held. The deformed features were dated in the laboratory at Dehradun using a technique called Optically Stimulated Luminescence. The Himalaya were known to be made up of north dipping thrusts, among them the Main Central Thrust, the Main Boundary Thrust and the Main Frontal Thrust. The finding could have major implications for earthquake study and prediction and for understanding the seismic structure of the mountain chains.
Location:DehradunParent department:Department of Science and TechnologyZone studied:Indus Suture ZoneRegion mapped:LadakhDating technique:Optically Stimulated Luminescence
Why it matters for exams: Where the Institute is, which Department it works under, and what the Indus Suture Zone joins are the durable facts.
The National Centre for Disease Control implements the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme across all States/UTs. Surveillance moved to the Integrated Health Information Platform in 2021, which allows paperless, case-based and near real-time surveillance. Central, State and District Surveillance Units have been set up, District Public Health Laboratories strengthened and Metropolitan Surveillance Units established. The Viral Hepatitis Laboratory at the Centre has been designated as a Centre of Excellence. The Centre also implements the National Rabies Control Programme and the National One Health Programme for Prevention and Control of Zoonosis. Funds reach the States/UTs through the National Health Mission, on the basis of the Program Implementation Plans they send in.
Flagship programme:Integrated Disease Surveillance ProgrammePlatform:Integrated Health Information PlatformTransition year:2021Centre of Excellence:Viral Hepatitis LaboratoryFunding route:National Health Mission
Why it matters for exams: What IDSP stands for, the platform surveillance moved to, and the mission that funds it are the durable facts.
Constituted on November 15, 1983, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board carries out certain regulatory and safety functions under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. The President of India set up the Board, using powers that the Act confers. Its authority also rests on rules and notifications promulgated under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, besides those made under the Atomic Energy Act. The headquarters of the Board is in Mumbai, and the Department of Atomic Energy gave out this information. In June, 2022 an Integrated Regulatory Review Service mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that the Board had shown strong commitment and professionalism in ensuring nuclear and radiation safety across the country. The Board has also held an awareness programme, the first of its kind, for journalists of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where its senior scientific officers spoke about the safety regulations that apply to nuclear installations and about the uses of ionising radiation.
Constituted:1983Constituted by:President of IndiaParent Act:Atomic Energy Act, 1962Headquarters:MumbaiOther Act named:Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
Why it matters for exams: The Board is a standard polity question: who constituted it, under which Act, and where its headquarters is.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has committed to the vision of Insurance for All by 2047, under which every citizen is to have adequate life, health and property insurance. Two measures are used to follow the sector. For insurance penetration, the gross premiums written for direct life and non-life insurance business are set against GDP and shown as a percentage. For insurance density, premiums are set against population, which gives the per capita premium. Three older laws govern the sector: the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, the Insurance Act, 1938 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999. Provisions in all three were amended by the Sabka Bima, Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025. The regulator has also introduced a standard 30-day free-look-period, which runs on policies whose term is one year or more and gives a policyholder time to assess and review the policy document.
Vision:Insurance for All by 2047Amending Act:Sabka Bima, Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025Basic insurance Act:Insurance Act, 1938Life insurer Act:Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956Free-look period:30-day
Why it matters for exams: Insurance penetration and insurance density are defined differently, and the Act that amended the older insurance laws is a standard question.
The Central Administrative Tribunal was set up under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. It followed the 42nd Constitutional Amendment inserting Article 323A, and it came into existence on 1st November 1985. Disputes about recruitment and about the service conditions of persons appointed to public services and posts connected with the affairs of the Union, the States and other local authorities are decided here. Employees of organisations notified by the Government and of 230 Public Sector Undertakings also come under its jurisdiction. Its Principal Bench sits in New Delhi, and there are 18 Outlying Benches across the country. At the head of the Tribunal is a Chairman, and the post normally goes to a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. An aggrieved government employee may file an application with a nominal fee of just ₹50, and the Tribunal works free of the rigid procedures of CPC.