31 October 2026
President Droupadi Murmu took part in the Dhwaj Stambh Pujan, Dhawaja Pujan and Dhwajarohan ceremony of the Simhastha Maha Kumbh at Nashik in Maharashtra. Speaking at the public programme, she placed the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha in the line of India's four great Kumbh gatherings. The others, she noted, are held on the banks of the Ganga at Haridwar, at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, and on the banks of the Shipra at Ujjain, while Nashik's stands on the Godavari. She said the unbroken holding of these gatherings over centuries is proof of the strength of the country's cultural and spiritual traditions. The President expressed confidence that the coming Simhastha Maha Kumbh of 2027 would act as a bridge between ancient heritage and modern times. She also spoke of the drought that has hit farmers in parts of Maharashtra and said both governments were working to support them. Cleanliness and waste management at the Maha Kumbh should set an example, she added. The State's Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, attended along with his two deputies, and work worth about Rs 35,000 crore is under way around Nashik and Trimbakeshwar.
River at Nashik:
Godavari
Development work in the region:
about ₹35,000 crore
Why it matters for exams: Fixes the four Kumbh sites and their rivers - Haridwar on the Ganga, Prayagraj at the Triveni Sangam, Ujjain on the Shipra and Nashik on the Godavari - and names the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha Maha Kumbh of 2027 in Maharashtra.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Simhastha The Kumbh held when Jupiter enters Leo — The name used for the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh, which follows that planetary position.
29 October 2026
Maharashtra has set up a commission of inquiry to look into malpractice and question paper leaks in nine examinations held by the MPSC. The commission is headed by Justice Dilip Bhosale, a retired Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. Tukaram Mundhe, the serving Food and Drug Administration Commissioner of the State, is its member-secretary. The nine examinations under scrutiny include the Drug Inspector Examination Group-B, the Maharashtra Group-B Non-Gazetted Services and Group-C Services combined examinations, and the Maharashtra Agriculture Services main examination. Civil Engineering Services, Electrical Engineering Services and the Food and Drugs Administrative Services main examinations are also covered. Candidates, students, individuals and registered organisations have been invited to file statements on affidavit in Marathi or English, with 16 November set as the last date. The commission sits in the Food and Drug Administration building at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Statements are to be treated as confidential, and the commission will decide whom to examine.
Examinations under inquiry:
nine
Commission's seat:
Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai
Why it matters for exams: Names the Maharashtra Public Service Commission and the commission of inquiry under Justice Dilip Bhosale, a retired Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, with FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe as member-secretary.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
MPSC Maharashtra Public Service Commission — The State's constitutional recruitment body for its civil services.
30 October 2026
The Bombay High Court has held that the September 2011 arrest of activist Arun Ferreira outside the Nagpur jail was illegal and directed the State of Maharashtra to pay him Rs 2 lakh as compensation. Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Raj Wakode, sitting as a Division Bench at Nagpur, said that where the police themselves break the law they are meant to protect, the punishment must be proportionately stringent so that public confidence is not lost. The Bench reminded the Maharashtra Police of its own motto, Sadrakshnaya Khalanighrahanaya, which means protection of the good and punishment of the wicked. The Court faulted the police for not following the safeguards that must be observed before a person is taken into custody. Ferreira had been picked up again soon after an earlier release, and the Court found that the fresh arrest had no lawful basis. The order treats compensation as a public law remedy for breach of personal liberty rather than a private claim for damages. It places the liability on the State rather than only on the individual officers.
Compensation ordered:
₹2 lakh
Motto cited:
Sadrakshnaya Khalanighrahanaya
Why it matters for exams: Carries the motto of the Maharashtra Police, Sadrakshanaya Khalanigrahanaya, and the Bombay High Court's use of compensation as a public law remedy for an illegal arrest by the State.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Sadrakshnaya Khalanighrahanaya Motto of the Maharashtra Police — A Sanskrit phrase meaning to protect the good and to punish the wicked.
28 October 2026
The Bombay High Court has held that persuading the parents of a child not to report a sexual offence is not by itself punishable under Section 21 of the POCSO Act, which is the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Justice Hiten Venegavkar, sitting singly, discharged a man who had been booked on that charge. The judge read Section 21 as penalising only the failure of a person who is himself under the statutory duty to report such an offence. The Court drew a line between that failure and a claim that someone stopped another person from lodging a complaint. Threatening, intimidating or pressuring a parent may well be an offence under some other penal provision, the judge said, and may be evidence of deliberate non-reporting where the duty applied. But it cannot stand in place of the essential ingredients of the offence of non-reporting. The Court said it must first ask whether the person had the required knowledge and whether there was material to proceed. The ruling narrows the reach of the reporting offence under the Act.
Provision read:
Section 21, POCSO Act
Why it matters for exams: Fixes what Section 21 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act covers - failure to report by a person under the duty - as read by the Bombay High Court.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
POCSO Act Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act — The central law on sexual offences against children, which makes failure to report such an offence punishable.
30 October 2026
The Bombay High Court has set aside a communication that a Special Officer sent in the name of the then Chief Justice, asking that a list of recommended trustees of a Nashik temple trust be pulled off the website and put on hold. Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Dr. Neela Gokhale, on a Division Bench, held that the officer had behaved with grave impropriety and against the law, and said the misuse of the Chief Justice's name was a matter of serious concern. The trust involved is the Shree Saptashrung Nivasini Devi Trust at Saptashrung Gad in Nashik district. Five candidates who had been selected in the process for appointing trustees brought the challenge. Their case was that no power is given to the Chief Justice to take such a decision under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, so the note was without jurisdiction. The Court noted that the Special Officer's own affidavit put the whole communication down to the Chief Justice and observed that the conduct could amount to serious misconduct.
Trust:
Shree Saptashrung Nivasini Devi Trust, Saptashrung Gad
Statute:
Maharashtra Public Trusts Act
Why it matters for exams: Names the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act as the statute under which temple trustees are appointed, and the Bombay High Court holding that the Chief Justice has no power under it to stay such a list.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
MPT Act Maharashtra Public Trusts Act — The State law under which public and religious trusts are registered and administered, through the Charity Commissioner.
31 October 2026
The 2 Maharashtra Naval Unit of the National Cadet Corps, based at Ratnagiri, has completed its Most Enterprising Naval Unit open sea sailing expedition with a flag-in ceremony. Over ten days it covered roughly 250 km of the Konkan coastline, running out to Palshet from Ratnagiri and returning. Cadets sailed three 27-foot DK Whaler boats and worked through tidal navigation in Arabian Sea conditions. The expedition carried the banner Konkan Gyan Tarang and the theme Navigating Knowledge, Anchoring Progress: Sailing Towards the Ideal Konkan. Along the route the cadets put on street plays and awareness programmes at coastal villages. The National Cadet Corps is the youth wing attached to the Ministry of Defence, with Army, Navy and Air Wings. Sailing expeditions of this kind are used to build seamanship and to carry social messages to coastal communities. The flag-in marked the close of the unit's voyage on the Maharashtra coast.
Distance covered:
about 250 km
Route:
Ratnagiri to Palshet and back
Boats used:
three 27-foot DK Whalers
Why it matters for exams: Names the 2 Maharashtra Naval Unit of the National Cadet Corps at Ratnagiri, the Konkan Gyan Tarang expedition of about 250 km, and the DK Whaler boats used.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NCC National Cadet Corps — The youth organisation under the Ministry of Defence, with Army, Navy and Air Wings in schools and colleges.
30 October 2026
The Election Commission of India has stretched the schedule of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls that is under way in Maharashtra. For Maharashtra the window for filing claims and objections now runs to the thirteenth of the coming month. The notice phase, in which those claims and objections are disposed of, will continue to the twenty-fifth. Final publication of the revised rolls in Maharashtra is set for the last day of that month. The same extension covers Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Nagaland and Delhi, though the dates differ from State to State. Delhi has been given the longest run, with its final publication falling in the following month. The Special Intensive Revision is a house to house exercise in which existing entries are tested afresh rather than merely updated. Claims and objections are the formal routes by which a name is added to, or questioned in, a draft roll.
Exercise:
Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls
States and UT covered:
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Nagaland, Delhi
Why it matters for exams: Names the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls run by the Election Commission of India, its claims and objections and notice phases, and the five States and the Union Territory of Delhi whose timelines were stretched, Maharashtra among them.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
SIR Special Intensive Revision — A full re-verification of an electoral roll, house to house, rather than a routine update.
30 October 2026
Maharashtra has ordered that not less than 5% of District Annual Plan funds go to fodder production and conservation, as dry conditions spread across the State. A Government Resolution to that effect was issued on 30 October, after a Cabinet sub-committee under Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule cleared the plan three days earlier. The recommendations came from a study group set up under the Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department. Animal Husbandry Minister Pankaja Munde said fodder banks will be opened in every district and cattle camps will be watched digitally. Seed for the Rabi season is to be supplied through Mahabeej and other agencies, and farmers will be pushed towards maize, jowar and bajra, which need less water. The State has capped support prices at Rs 12 a kg for dry fodder and Rs 8 a kg for silage, leaving out transport. Hydroponics, Azolla and thornless cactus are listed as alternative fodder sources, and a Fodder Literacy Campaign will teach storage and silage making. An online Fodder Camp Monitoring and Management System with biometric or QR attendance will track every camp.
Share of District Annual Plan funds:
at least 5%
Support price, dry fodder:
₹12 per kg
Support price, silage:
₹8 per kg
Why it matters for exams: Names the Maharashtra Government Resolution reserving at least 5% of District Annual Plan funds for fodder, the Mahabeej seed agency, the Rs 12 and Rs 8 a kg support prices, and Animal Husbandry Minister Pankaja Munde.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Mahabeej Maharashtra State Seeds Corporation Limited — The State seed corporation that will supply fodder seed for the Rabi season.
Silage Fermented green fodder stored for lean months — Green fodder preserved in airtight pits for use when grass is short.
Background
Maharashtra Tourism, a department of the State government, calls Nagpur the "Orange City" and the winter capital of Maharashtra, and says it is the seat of the State's annual winter legislative assembly session. The city was established in the early 18th century by the Gond prince Bhakt Buland, and it is the commercial and political hub of the Vidarbha region. It lies at the centre of India, a point fixed by the Zero Mile Marker. Nagpur takes its name from the Nag River, which winds like a snake. Because several tiger reserves lie close by, the department also calls it the "Tiger Capital of India". Founded by Gond rulers, the city later passed to the Bhonsle line of the Maratha Empire, and under British rule it was the capital of the Central Provinces and Berar. The Nagpur Pact kept its standing as the second capital after the State was formed.
Winter capital of Maharashtra:
Nagpur
Region:
Vidarbha
River behind the name:
Nag River
Why it matters for exams: Winter capitals, the Zero Mile and the Vidarbha region are standard State-geography questions, and the Central Provinces and Berar link is asked in modern history.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Vidarbha — The eastern region of Maharashtra, with Nagpur as its main city.
Zero Mile Marker — A stone at Nagpur treated as the central point of India.
Background
Maharashtra's World Heritage sites are the part of the State an examiner reaches for first. Maharashtra Tourism places the Ellora Caves in the Aurangabad district of the State, about 30 kilometers north of the city, and says the complex is made up of 34 caves cut from solid basalt rock. The caves were built as religious sites for Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and they hold temples, monasteries, meditation halls and monks' rooms. The grandest of them is the Kailasanatha Temple, which the department numbers as Cave 16: a monolithic temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and carved from a single rock. Its carvings take their stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Buddhist caves include large chaityas, which are prayer halls, and viharas, which are monasteries, while the Jain caves are known for fine detail and figures of the Tirthankaras. The caves date back to the 6th century, and the department records Ellora as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The same State site elsewhere names the district by its present name, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
Caves in the complex:
34
Kailasanatha Temple:
Cave 16
Rock:
solid basalt
Why it matters for exams: The number of caves at Ellora, the Kailasanatha Temple's cave number and the chaitya-vihara distinction are standard art and culture questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Chaitya — A Buddhist prayer hall cut into rock.
Vihara — A Buddhist monastery where monks lived.
Monolithic — Cut out of one single mass of rock.
Background
Maharashtra Tourism places the Elephanta Caves on Elephanta Island, about 10 kilometres off the coast of Mumbai, reached by ferry from the city, with views of the Arabian Sea and the Mumbai skyline. The island was known as Gharapuri in ancient times. The caves were carved during the period of the Gupta dynasty and are believed to have been built between the 5th and 8th centuries, as places of worship for Hindu deities, mainly Lord Shiva. They are rock-cut temples carved into the basalt hills of the island, and the department divides them into two groups, the Hindu caves and the Buddhist caves. The centrepiece is Cave 1, dedicated to Lord Shiva, which holds the colossal Trimurti sculpture showing Shiva in three forms, as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer. The Hindu caves draw on Shaivism, while the Buddhist caves are simpler, with stupas and meditation chambers. The department records the site as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Old name of the island:
Gharapuri
Distance off Mumbai:
about 10 kilometers
Cave holding the Trimurti:
Cave 1
Why it matters for exams: The old name Gharapuri, the Trimurti in Cave 1 and the Gupta-period dating are the facts examiners pull from this World Heritage site.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Trimurti — A sculpture showing Shiva in three forms in one image.
Shaivism — The tradition within Hinduism centred on Shiva.
Background
Maharashtra's tiger reserves are counted and measured by one Union body, and its own table settles the number. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Union body that oversees tiger reserves, lists six of them in Maharashtra: Bor, Melghat, Nawegaon Nagzira, Pench, Sahyadri and Tadoba-Andhari. Melghat is one of the oldest in the country, in the first group taken up in 1973-74, and the Authority puts its core at 1,500.49 sq km and its buffer at 1,268.03 sq km, for a total of 2,768.52 sq km. Tadoba-Andhari was added in 1993-94, with a core of 625.82 sq km. The Authority's table shows Pench in two States, one in Maharashtra and one in Madhya Pradesh. Sahyadri, Nawegaon Nagzira and Bor are the newer ones in the State, and Bor is the smallest of the six, with a core of 138.12 sq km. Each reserve has a core and a buffer, and the core-and-buffer design is the basis on which the Authority reports every reserve's area.
Tiger reserves in Maharashtra:
6
Melghat total area in sq km:
2,768.52
Tadoba-Andhari core in sq km:
625.82
Why it matters for exams: The number of tiger reserves in a State, what NTCA stands for and which reserve belongs to which State are asked in every environment section.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NTCA National Tiger Conservation Authority — The Union body that oversees India's tiger reserves.
Core and buffer — The strictly protected inner area and the surrounding zone of a tiger reserve.