Spain will be the Country of Honour at the 57th International Film Festival of India, IFFI, in Goa, and Russia is the festival's partner country. Four contemporary Spanish films are being screened in the Country of Honour package. They are Bitter Christmas, or Amarga Navidad, directed by Pedro Almodovar, which has its India premiere at the festival; Looking For Michael, directed by Juana Macias, which has its world premiere; The Bad Son, the directorial debut of Jaime Lorente, which has its Asia premiere; and Trinidad, directed by Laura Alvea and Jose Ortuno, which has its world premiere. The Russia package brings four films to mark cinematic ties with the partner country. IFFI is organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with the Government of Goa, and this edition runs over nine days in November.
Country of Honour:SpainPartner country:RussiaEdition:57thHost State:Goa
Why it matters for exams: The Country of Honour and the partner country change with every edition of IFFI, and the ministry and host State behind the festival are standing facts.
General Dhiraj Seth, the Chief of the Army Staff, has left on an official visit to the Czech Republic. The purpose is closer defence cooperation between the two countries and wider contact between their armed forces, defence technology and industry included. At General Staff Headquarters in Prague he will meet senior Czech commanders, among them the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Petr Cepelka, and lay a wreath there. Talks with senior officials of the Czech defence ministry are to cover training, modernisation and new security challenges. The Defence University at Brno is on his programme. So is NATO's Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence Centre of Excellence, along with a meeting of the Czech defence and security industry association.
Officer visiting:General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army StaffCountry visited:Czech RepublicInstitutions on the itinerary:Defence University, Brno and the NATO CBRN Defence Centre of Excellence
Why it matters for exams: Fixes who holds the office of Chief of the Army Staff, the country visited and its capital, and the NATO centre of excellence for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence that sits in the Czech Republic.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has opened a Centre of Excellence for Genome Editing in Horticultural Crops at its Indian Institute of Horticultural Research in Bengaluru. The new centre comes with a Biosafety Level-II laboratory, so that work needing contained handling can be done on the campus itself. A Farmers' Advanced Training Centre was opened at the same institute on the same day. Both were opened by Dr M L Jat, who is Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education. He told scientists that the country should build self reliance in genome resources for genome-editing research. He also pointed to the part played by Krishi Vigyan Kendras and the Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes in carrying new technology to farmers.
Laboratory level:Biosafety Level-IIHost institute:ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru
Why it matters for exams: The item fixes the name and location of a new Centre of Excellence for genome editing in horticultural crops, its Biosafety Level-II laboratory, and the fact that the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is also Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education.
ICARIndian Council of Agricultural Research — The apex body for coordinating agricultural research and education in India, working under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
DAREDepartment of Agricultural Research and Education — The department of the Union government through which the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is linked to the ministry.
The 13 Base Repair Depot of the Indian Air Force completed fifty years of service and marked it with a seminar at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi. Set up in 1976 and tracing its beginning to the Radar and Communication Project Office, the depot repairs and overhauls radar and communication equipment and supports it through its life cycle. The seminar, titled 'Air Defence 2040: Sensors, Networks and Sovereign Sustainment', was presided over by Air Marshal Yalla Umesh, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Maintenance Command. He said sovereign sustainment means the ability to diagnose, repair and restore sophisticated defence systems within the country. At the seminar a hydrogen fuel cell was shown powering Air Force radars, in work done together with the National Green Hydrogen Mission and NTPC. The seminar also took up quantum sensing, the modernisation of air defence radars and network centric air defence.
Depot established:1976Years of service completed:50Seminar venue:Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi
Why it matters for exams: The item fixes what Maintenance Command of the Indian Air Force does, that 13 Base Repair Depot handles radar and communication equipment, and that the National Green Hydrogen Mission and NTPC were partners in powering Air Force radars with a hydrogen fuel cell.
AIIMS New Delhi has reported India's first open fetal surgery to repair a severe spinal defect in an unborn baby. The six-hour operation was carried out at the hospital's Neurosciences Centre on a fetus at 25 weeks of gestation. The condition treated was lumbosacral myelomeningocele, the most severe form of spina bifida, in which the spinal cord and its coverings push out through an opening in the spine and cerebrospinal fluid leaks. More than 30 clinicians and nurses took part, drawn from obstetrics and gynaecology, maternal-fetal medicine, neurosurgery, anaesthesia, plastic surgery, radiodiagnosis and neonatology. The team prepared for over five weeks with fetal imaging, counselling of the family and operative simulation, and used high-end microscopy with continuous ultrasound guidance. The surgery was provided free under the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram. Left untreated the defect can cause paralysis and hydrocephalus, and the hospital says fetal surgery suits only selected pregnancies and does not replace prevention of neural tube defects.
Gestation at surgery:25 weeksDuration:Six hoursTeam size:More than 30 clinicians and nursesScheme that met the cost:Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram
Why it matters for exams: A national first, and it carries the medical terms an exam would use: myelomeningocele as the severe form of spina bifida, the neural tube defect group it belongs to, and the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram that paid for it.
MyelomeningoceleThe severe form of spina bifida — A neural tube defect in which the spinal cord and its coverings protrude through an opening in the spine.
JSSKJanani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram — A Health Ministry programme giving free treatment to pregnant women and newborns in public health facilities.
Union Home and Co-operation Minister Amit Shah started Bharat Taxi services in Pune at a programme held at Talegaon Dabhade in Pune district of Maharashtra. Bharat Taxi rests on the co-operative model and is meant to grow into a transport service across the country. Its drivers, addressed as Sarathis, keep all that they earn, which reaches their bank accounts directly with no commission cut from it, and the Minister said drivers under several taxi companies had earlier been made to hand over a share of their earnings. He said the Sarathis, once known only as drivers, are becoming owners of their own company, and share certificates were given to Bharat Taxi Sarathis during the programme. The Minister said the service should be taken next to Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur and Solapur. The Ministry of Co-operation runs this work under the idea of Sahkar se Samriddhi.
City of launch:Pune, MaharashtraName given to driver-members:SarathisCities named for the next phase:Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur
Why it matters for exams: Bharat Taxi is a named co-operative transport initiative of the Ministry of Co-operation, its driver-members carry the official name Sarathi, and its launch city and the Sahkar se Samriddhi slogan are the kind of scheme-and-ministry details asked in general studies.
SarathiDriver-partner of Bharat Taxi — The name used for a Bharat Taxi driver, who is also a member-owner of the co-operative and keeps the whole fare earned.
Sahkar se SamriddhiProsperity through co-operation — The guiding phrase the Ministry of Co-operation uses for its work in the co-operative sector.
India's Fit India Movement presented its weekly cycling ride, Sundays on Cycle, at the International Solar Alliance Pavilion during COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, on the summit's Children, Youth, Education and Skills Day. COP31 is the 31st Conference of the Parties, the yearly meeting held under the climate change convention of the United Nations, and the hour-long session argued that habits on ordinary streets matter to the climate as much as energy and finance do. The ride is run under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports by its Sports Authority of India, has been held every Sunday since December 2024 and was put forward as a working example of Mission LiFE, India's campaign for sustainable lifestyles. Taking part has reached close to 3.7 million people at more than 30,000 places across India, and the 100th edition of the ride is set for 29 November. Closing the session, the executive director of Fit India asked every nation, city and partner present to hold at least one community-led active morning in the coming year, said the Turkish Cycling Federation was the first partner to join, and a special ride for summit delegates was then held in Antalya with that federation.
Summit and host city:COP31, Antalya, TürkiyeParticipation so far:Close to 3.7 million at more than 30,000 locationsHundredth edition of the ride:29 November 2026
Why it matters for exams: The item fixes COP31 as the 31st Conference of the Parties held under the UN climate treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with Antalya in Türkiye as its host city, and names the Sports Authority of India as the body that runs Fit India Sundays on Cycle alongside Mission LiFE.
COP3131st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — The annual meeting of the countries that are parties to the UN climate convention, held this time in Türkiye.
Mission LiFELifestyle for Environment — India's campaign asking individuals and communities to adopt sustainable everyday habits.
The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology, which works under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will hold the third National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Intelligence in New Delhi on 16 and 17 November, at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre on Janpath. Its theme is Cyber Secure Bharat: Fortifying India's Digital Future. The first edition was held at Kohima in Nagaland in 2024 and the second at Gauhati University in Assam, and what began as a regional meeting has since widened into a national platform. Ten tracks will be taken up, covering cyber security, digital forensics, security of artificial intelligence, critical infrastructure, threat intelligence, blockchain and crypto, drone and internet-of-things forensics, digital evidence, cyber law and cloud security. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, CERT-In, Delhi Police, the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification body and the Software Technology Parks of India are among the knowledge partners. A hackathon named Cyber Kushti 2026, built in three levels around the themes Review, Attack and Defend, will run beside the technical sessions, and the institute will sign agreements with industry partners.
Edition:ThirdTheme:Cyber Secure Bharat: Fortifying India's Digital FutureTracks:10Hackathon:Cyber Kushti 2026
Why it matters for exams: The conference pins down NIELIT as the institute under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, its edition number and theme, the first two host places, and the knowledge partners I4C and CERT-In, all standard science-and-technology governance facts.
NIELITNational Institute of Electronics and Information Technology — An institute under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that trains and certifies people in electronics and computing.
I4CIndian Cybercrime Coordination Centre — The Union Home Ministry's centre that coordinates the handling of cybercrime across the country.
CERT-InIndian Computer Emergency Response Team — India's national agency for responding to computer security incidents.
NITI Aayog will begin a series of five national workshops on 17 November to study twenty-five years of Narendra Modi as head of an elected government and turn that record into shared knowledge. The plan is to take first-hand accounts from officers, institutions and citizens who carried out those decisions, examine them with academic rigour and work them into case studies, research papers and teaching material for civil servants, training institutions, universities and students. Leadership as Mission comes first, in November 2026, and the four that follow it are Governance as Delivery, Development as Inclusion, Civilisational Identity and India as a Global Force, spread between January 2027 and September 2027. The first workshop will be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, and four accounts will open the series, on the rebuilding of Kutch after the 2001 earthquake, the response to Covid-19, Lakhpati Didi and the opening of the space economy. Closing remarks will come from the Cabinet Secretary, who will then start the Karmayogi Sankalpa on the iGOT Karmayogi platform, where officers will promise one change in the way they lead. Guiding the group discussions will be case facilitators whom the Capacity Building Commission trained through its Amrit Gyaan Kosh initiative, and the proceedings will be streamed on the same platform.
Workshops in the series:5First workshop and venue:Leadership as Mission, Bharat Mandapam, New DelhiPlatform for the proceedings:iGOT Karmayogi
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are NITI Aayog's five-workshop series and its named themes, Bharat Mandapam as the first venue, the Karmayogi Sankalpa on the iGOT Karmayogi platform and the Amrit Gyaan Kosh of the Capacity Building Commission.
iGOT KarmayogiIntegrated Government Online Training platform — The online learning platform for Indian civil servants, on which the Karmayogi Sankalpa will be launched.
Amrit Gyaan KoshCase study repository of the Capacity Building Commission — The Capacity Building Commission's initiative for Indian case studies used in training civil servants.
Film Bazaar, now held under the WAVES Film Bazaar banner, will mark its twentieth edition from 20 to 24 November at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon in Goa, alongside the 57th International Film Festival of India. The National Film Development Corporation started it in 2007 to support storytelling from South Asia, and it has since grown into a market that brings film-makers together with producers, financiers, distributors, sales agents and festival programmers. Its main parts are the Co-Production Market, which puts selected features and documentaries before international producers and financiers, the NFDC Screenwriters' Lab for new writing talent and the Work-in-Progress Lab, which gives expert feedback on projects being refined. The Viewing Room, Market Screenings and the Producers' Lab add networking, project development and the chance to meet buyers and distributors, while a Knowledge Series, country and state pavilions, technology showcases and market stalls carry the business side. Films whose journeys it has helped include Ship of Theseus, Anhe Ghode Da Daan, The Lunchbox, Court, Newton, Manto, Cactus Pears and Little Thomas. The corporation has also given financial support to more than 300 films in 21 regional languages.
Edition:TwentiethStarted by, and when:National Film Development Corporation, 2007Films supported by the corporation:More than 300 in 21 regional languages
Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are the twentieth edition of Film Bazaar, the National Film Development Corporation as the body that started it in 2007, its pairing with the International Film Festival of India in Goa, and its named labs and markets.
Adi Vaani is an artificial intelligence translation and language platform of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, meant to document, translate and promote India's tribal languages. It offers text-to-text translation between tribal languages and languages such as Hindi and English, speech-to-text and speech-to-speech translation, optical character recognition for scanned pages, video subtitling, and digital dictionaries and primers. A national consortium led by IIT Delhi built the platform, with BITS Pilani, IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT Nava Raipur and the Tribal Research Institutes of Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya. Native speakers contribute words, sentences and voice recordings through the Tribal Research Institutes and through AdiKosh, the platform's word bank, and language experts check the data before it trains the models. The platform's language list has thirteen tribal languages, including Santali in Ol-Chiki script, Mundari, Bhili, Gondi, Garo, Kui, Kokborok and Tangkhul. Text translation is available in nine tribal languages, and the platform carries over 300 language primers and 24 dictionaries.
Ministry:Ministry of Tribal AffairsConsortium lead:IIT DelhiLanguages on the platform list:13Dictionaries:24
Why it matters for exams: Names the ministry that owns Adi Vaani, the IIT that leads the consortium, the AdiKosh word bank and the Ol-Chiki script used for Santali - all single-fact answers.
AdiKoshThe word bank of the Adi Vaani platform — The collection where native speakers contribute words, sentences and voice recordings for training the models.
TRITribal Research Institute — State-level institutes that study tribal communities and help collect language data for Adi Vaani.
UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme, started in 1992, works to protect documentary heritage and to make it easier to reach, especially rare and endangered material. Its regional arm for this part of the world is the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific, MOWCAP, set up in 1998, which keeps a regional register. The Arthashastra of Kautilya, held at the Oriental Research Institute in Mysuru, a birch-bark Mahabharata manuscript at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, and Kalhana's Rajatarangini at the Oriental Research Library in Srinagar are the newest Indian entries on the register. With these, India has six items on the Asia-Pacific regional register, three of them inscribed in 2024. The register itself now carries 106 items from 29 countries. The Rajatarangini is a twelfth-century chronicle of Kashmir, and the Arthashastra is a Sanskrit treatise on statecraft and governance.
Indian items on the Asia-Pacific register:6Items on the register in all:106 from 29 countriesMOWCAP set up:1998
Why it matters for exams: Links each text to the institution that holds it, gives MOWCAP's expansion and the year the Memory of the World Programme began - the standing facts behind any question on documentary heritage.
MOWCAPMemory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific — The regional committee of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme; it keeps the Asia-Pacific regional register.