4 October 2026
A Press Communique issued from Rashtrapati Bhavan on 5 September 2026 states that the President appointed Dr. Dinesh Sharma as Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.
He is now exercising that office. On 1 October 2026 he chaired a review of the Industries and Urban Development departments at Lok Niwas, Sri Vijaya Puram.
At that review he directed both departments to submit a detailed action plan at the earliest on infrastructure and construction works in the industrial sector.
The Chief Secretary, the Commissioner-cum-Secretary (APWD), the Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Urban Development), the Secretary (APWD) and the Secretary (Industries) attended.
Press Communique issued:
5 September 2026, Rashtrapati Bhavan
Review venue:
Lok Niwas, Sri Vijaya Puram
Review meeting:
1 October 2026, Industries and Urban Development
Why it matters for exams: The administrator of a Union Territory is appointed by the President under Article 239, and current office-holders are standard appointment questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Article 239 Article 239 of the Constitution of India — It provides that every Union Territory shall be administered by the President acting through an administrator appointed by him.
APWD Andaman Public Works Department — The public works department of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, which builds and maintains roads and buildings in the islands.
4 October 2026
Lieutenant Governor Dr. Dinesh Sharma inspected the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences (ANIIMS) at Corbyn's Cove, Sri Vijaya Puram, on 3 October 2026.
He directed that construction of Wing-A, Wing-B and Wing-C of the Science Building be expedited without compromising quality or the timeline.
He ordered repair of the non-functional mess chimney and procurement of a DG set of appropriate capacity through a transparent process.
He also asked for gymnasium equipment to be arranged for students and directed the Andaman Public Works Department to ensure adequate water supply through a check dam or storage tank.
The inspection covered the newly constructed Academic Building, the hostel and the mess. Dr. Sachin Shinde, Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Health), Ms. Vandana Rao, Secretary (Health), Dr. Mukesh Tripathi, Director, ANIIMS, and Ms. Purva Garg, Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman, were present.
Institute:
ANIIMS, Corbyn's Cove, Sri Vijaya Puram
Wings to be expedited:
Wing-A, Wing-B and Wing-C of the Science Building
Date of inspection:
3 October 2026
Why it matters for exams: ANIIMS is the Union Territory's own medical institute, and questions on island institutions and the administrator's review powers are common.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ANIIMS Andaman and Nicobar Islands Institute of Medical Sciences — The medical college and institute of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located at Sri Vijaya Puram.
DG set Diesel generator set — A standby generator that supplies electricity when the regular supply fails.
Background
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India, lying in the Indian Ocean in the southern reaches of the Bay of Bengal and nearer to Indonesia and Thailand than to the Indian mainland. The administration's UT profile records 836 Islands/Islets/Rocky Outcrops in the territory and a Total Area of 8,249 Sq. Km. The territory is made up of two island groups, the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands, which separate the Andaman Sea to the east from the Indian Ocean. The two groups are divided by the 10 degree N parallel, the Andamans lying to the north of this latitude and the Nicobars to the south, and the administration writes that the Andamans and Nicobars are separated by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel) some 150 km wide. The smaller Nicobars comprise some 22 main islands, of which 10 are inhabited. The land area of the Andaman Islands is 6,408 km square and that of the Nicobar Islands 1,841 km square. On how many islands are lived on, the same page carries two figures: its profile table lists Inhabited Islands 31, while its general note says only some 38 are permanently inhabited. The capital is Sri Vijaya Puram, the territory has 03 districts and 09 tehsils, and Hindi and English are the official languages. The administration lists the Andaman Wood Pigeon as the state bird, the Dugong as the state animal and the Andaman Padauk as the state tree.
Total Islands/Islets/Rocky Outcrops:
836
Total Area:
8,249 Sq. Km.
Width of the channel separating the Andamans and Nicobars:
some 150 km wide
Area of the Andaman Islands:
6,408 km
Area of the Nicobar Islands:
1,841 km
Districts:
03
Tehsil:
09
Why it matters for exams: The Ten Degree Channel, the 10 degree N divide and the island and area counts of this union territory are standing map questions in Kerala PSC and UPSC prelims, and the examiner most often tests whether a candidate can place the Andamans to the north and the Nicobars to the south of the channel.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Tehsil Tehsil (taluk) — A revenue sub-division of a district, called a taluk in Kerala.
Ten Degree Channel Ten Degree Channel — The sea passage along the 10 degree N parallel that separates the Andaman group from the Nicobar group.
Background
Great Nicobar is the southernmost island of the Nicobar Islands archipelago, and the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve on it is listed by UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme with a Year of nomination of 2013. UNESCO records its Surface as 104,400.00 ha, all of it terrestrial, and says the island covers 103,870 ha of tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. The reserve contains a wide spectrum of ecosystems, including tropical wet evergreen forests, mountain ranges and coastal plains, and Mount Thullier reaches 642 m. About 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, bryophytes and lichens are recorded, with rare and endemic plants such as the tree fern Cyathea albosetacea and the orchid Phalaenopsis speciosa. In terms of fauna, over 1,800 species are recorded: a total of 14 mammal species, 71 bird species, 26 reptiles, 10 amphibians and 113 fish have been reported, and to date 11 mammals, 32 birds, seven reptiles and four amphibians are considered endemic. Notable endemic or threatened species include the crab-eating macaque, Nicobar tree shrew, dugong, Nicobar megapode, serpent eagle, saltwater crocodile, marine turtles and reticulated python. Like every biosphere reserve under the programme, it is zoned into core, buffer and transition areas.
Year of nomination:
2013
Surface:
104,400.00 ha
Height reached by Mount Thullier:
642 m
Tropical evergreen forest ecosystems covered:
103,870 ha
Vertebrate and fish species reported:
14 mammal species, 71 bird species, 26 reptiles, 10 amphibians and 113 fish
Species considered endemic:
11 mammals, 32 birds, seven reptiles and four amphibians
Why it matters for exams: Biosphere reserves on UNESCO's world network are a recurring list question, and Great Nicobar is the one that carries both an island-geography angle and an endemic-species angle, so a single page of facts answers questions set in the environment section as well as on the map.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Biosphere reserve Biosphere reserve — An area recognised under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme where conservation and local use are managed together through core, buffer and transition zones.
Endemic Endemic species — A species found naturally only in one defined area and nowhere else.
Megapode Megapode — A ground bird that incubates its eggs in a mound of sand and leaf litter instead of sitting on them.
Background
The Ministry of Defence describes the Andaman and Nicobar Command as the only operational joint services command of the country, with its Headquarters at Port Blair. A separate Ministry of Defence release headlines it the Tri-Service Andaman & Nicobar Command and calls it India's only joint theatre command. The Ministry records that since its inception in 2001 the Command has significantly enhanced its operational capabilities, and describes it as a successful Integrated Theatre Command of a kind now being planned at the national level. It is headed by the Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command, abbreviated CINCAN. The ANC Joint Operations Centre is the nerve centre for integrated planning for surveillance, conduct of operations and logistic support. The Command's tasks include the security of the islands and the Exclusive Economic Zone around them and a role in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and the Ministry links its work to the Act East Policy and to the vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region, abbreviated SAGAR. Its air arm operates from INS Utkrosh at Port Blair, where the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter MK III was inducted.
How the Ministry of Defence describes the Command:
the only operational joint services command of the country
Location of its Headquarters:
Port Blair
Year of inception:
2001
Designation of its head:
Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN)
Role of the ANC Joint Operations Centre:
the nerve centre for integrated planning for surveillance, conduct of operations and logistic support
Why it matters for exams: The unified command structure for these islands is the standard answer to any question on integrated or theatre commands in India, and both Kerala PSC and UPSC set questions on which command is tri-service and where its headquarters lies.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CINCAN Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command — The single officer who commands the Army, Navy and Air Force elements based in the islands.
Theatre command Integrated theatre command — A command in which units of all three services in one geographical area answer to one operational commander instead of to their own service headquarters.
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone — The belt of sea up to 200 nautical miles from a country's coast in which it alone may exploit marine resources.
Background
The Cellular Jail stands in the capital town of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is also known as Kala Pani. A Press Information Bureau feature records that the British revived the idea of a penal settlement in the Andamans in the wake of the First War of Indian Independence of 1857, and that on 10 March 1858 the first batch of 200 grievous political offenders touched the shores of Chatham Island within Port Blair harbour in South Andaman. Fearing that political prisoners would spread revolutionary ideas among other prisoners and also mingle within their group, the British rulers decided on solitary cells in a far off place, and the Cellular Jail was completed in 1906. Incredible India records that construction started in 1896 and took ten years, that the design was based on the idea of the Panopticon, a prison with a central observation tower overlooking individual cells, and that the building contained three floors and seven wings connected like the spokes of a wheel, of which three wings stand today. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose described the jail as the Indian Bastille. After 183 prisoners went on a 37-day hunger strike from 24 July 1937, the first batch of freedom fighters left the Andamans on 22 September 1937 and the last batch by 18 January 1938; the penal settlement itself was abolished in 1946. The jail was dedicated as a National Memorial on 11 February 1979 by the then Prime Minister, Shri Morarji Desai, and it is in UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Site.
Year the Cellular Jail was completed:
1906
Netaji's description of the jail:
Indian Bastille
Size of the first batch of political offenders deported:
the first batch of 200
Length of the political prisoners' hunger strike:
37-day hunger strike
Dedicated as a National Memorial:
on 11 February 1979 by the then Prime Minister, Shri Morarji Desai
World Heritage status:
in UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Site
Why it matters for exams: Both Kerala PSC and UPSC set questions on the Andaman penal settlement, on who called the jail the Indian Bastille and on its status as a National Memorial, and the hunger strike that emptied it of political prisoners links the island story to the mainland freedom movement.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Kala Pani Kala Pani, black water — The popular name for transportation across the sea to the Andaman penal settlement.
Panopticon Panopticon — A prison plan in which a central observation tower overlooks every individual cell.
Tentative list UNESCO tentative list — The inventory of sites a country intends to nominate for the World Heritage List in future.
Background
The Government of India describes the Great Nicobar project as covering 166.10 sq km, made up of 35.35 sq km of revenue land and 130.75 sq km of forest land.
Its components are an International Container Transshipment Terminal of 14.2 million TEU capacity, a greenfield international airport designed for 4,000 peak hour passengers, a gas and solar based power plant of 450 MVA, and a township.
The project is to be implemented in three phases spread over 2025 to 2047.
It has prior Environmental Clearance under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, with 42 specific conditions covering air, water, noise, waste management, marine ecology, human health and disaster management.
It has also been cleared under the Island Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019.
Total area:
166.10 sq. km
Revenue land:
35.35 sq. km
Forest land:
130.75 sq. km
Transshipment terminal capacity:
14.2 million TEU
Power plant:
450 MVA, gas and solar
Phases:
Three phases, 2025-2047
Why it matters for exams: The project's area, components and clearance route are precise, examinable facts about India's largest island infrastructure plan.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
TEU Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit — The standard measure of container ship and port capacity, equal to one twenty-foot container.
ICRZ Island Coastal Regulation Zone — The notification that regulates construction and activity along the coasts of the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.
Background
In a ceremony held on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 126th birth anniversary, observed as Parakram Divas, the 21 largest unnamed islands of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were named after recipients of the Param Vir Chakra.
The names run from Major Somnath Sharma to Subedar Major Yogendra Singh Yadav.
The Prime Minister took part through video conference and unveiled the model of a National Memorial dedicated to Netaji to be built on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, also called Subhas Dweep.
The memorial complex was described as including a museum, a rope-way, a laser light and sound show, an amusement park and eateries.
The Param Vir Chakra is India's highest wartime gallantry decoration.
Islands named:
21 largest unnamed islands
Named after:
Param Vir Chakra awardees
Names run from:
Major Somnath Sharma to Subedar Major Yogendra Singh Yadav
Memorial site:
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep (Subhas Dweep)
Why it matters for exams: Renamed places and the awards they commemorate are standard static-plus-current questions about the islands.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Parakram Divas Parakram Divas — The day observed on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary to mark his courage.
Background
South Andaman is one of the three districts of the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the others being Nicobar and North and Middle Andaman.
The district administration records an area of 3,106 sq km and a population of 2,38,142 as per the 2011 Census, with a literacy rate of 88.49 per cent.
It is divided into three tehsils: Ferrargunj, Port Blair and Little Andaman.
The district has 3 blocks, 99 revenue villages, one municipality and 9 police stations.
Port Blair, now named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the most populous of the three tehsils, with 1,65,754 residents in the district administration's record.
Districts in the Union Territory:
Three
Area of South Andaman:
3106 Sq. Km.
Population (2011 Census):
2,38,142
Literacy rate:
88.49
Tehsils:
Ferrargunj, Port Blair, Little Andaman
Revenue villages:
99
Why it matters for exams: District counts, areas and tehsil names of a small Union Territory are easy marks in both prelims papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Tehsil Tehsil — A revenue subdivision of a district, headed by a tehsildar.
Background
The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, notified the development of a tuna cluster in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
The islands have an exclusive economic zone of about 6.0 lakh square kilometres.
Estimated tuna and tuna-like resources in that zone are put at 60,000 metric tonnes.
The cluster is meant to generate economies of scale, raise incomes and bring organised growth through investor partnerships, training and infrastructure for fish landing, processing and export.
Government investment in the fisheries sector since 2015 is given as ₹38,572 crores.
Exclusive economic zone:
About 6.0 lakh sq km
Tuna and tuna-like resources:
60,000 metric tons
Scheme:
Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana
Investment in fisheries since 2015:
₹38,572 crores
Why it matters for exams: Fisheries clusters, the exclusive economic zone and PMMSY link a Union Territory's economy to a central scheme that Kerala candidates also study.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PMMSY Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana — The central scheme for development of the fisheries sector, covering production, infrastructure and exports.
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone — The sea area up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline where a coastal state has rights over living and non-living resources.