The Jharkhand High Court has directed the State to delete at once the prohibited list of lands kept on the National Generic Document Registration System, the common software through which deeds are registered. Justice Rajesh Shankar held that the list has no backing in law once Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908 and the Bihar Registration Rules, 1937, which Jharkhand continues to follow, are read together. A State notification of 2015 had been cited to support the list. Sub Registrars across Jharkhand have been told to register transfer deeds that otherwise comply with the Act and the Rules, instead of refusing them on the strength of the list. Section 22-A allows a State to declare the registration of certain documents opposed to public policy, but only in the manner the law provides. The writ petition was disposed of with those directions.
Why it matters for exams: Deeds in India are registered under the Registration Act, 1908, Section 22-A of which lets a State bar registration of documents opposed to public policy, and NGDRS is the common registration software.
The Jharkhand High Court has held that a married woman who pursues higher education or takes up employment is exercising a right, not receiving a favour from her husband, and that she cannot be labelled over ambitious for doing so. The Division Bench granted the wife a decree of divorce on the ground of cruelty under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, finding that the treatment she faced over her studies and work amounted to cruelty in law. The Court said that a husband's resentment of his wife's education or career reflects a stereotype and has no place in matrimonial law, and that a demand to give up study or a job is not a reasonable expectation of married life. The judgment adds to a line of Jharkhand High Court rulings this month on what counts as cruelty, including one holding that accusing a wife of an affair merely because she speaks to another man is cruelty.
Act involved:Hindu Marriage Act, 1955Ground on which divorce was granted:Cruelty
Why it matters for exams: Cruelty is a statutory ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and this ruling reads a wife's right to education and employment into that test.
The Jharkhand High Court has quashed the State notification in so far as it cancelled recruitment under the Jharkhand General Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination of 2023, conducted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission. The advertisement had filled a range of clerical, planning, labour and revenue posts in the State services. After protests over question paper leaks the government had cancelled twenty two examinations together in a single order. Justice Deepak Roshan found that cancelling this particular recruitment went against earlier orders of the High Court and of the Supreme Court, and held that an executive act cannot contravene a judicial order. The petitioners are to be treated as continuing in service without a break, with pay and other service benefits protected. Their appointments stay subject to the outcome of the criminal cases over exam malpractice, and the investigation is to run to its end.
Commission that held the exam:Jharkhand Staff Selection CommissionExaminations cancelled in one order:22
Why it matters for exams: The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission conducts the State's graduate level combined competitive examination, and the ruling states that an executive act cannot override a judicial order.
A Division Bench of the Jharkhand High Court headed by Chief Justice M. S. Sonak, with Justice Manoj Prasad, has upheld a maintenance award made against a man of eighty four. The claim was brought under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, whose Sections 19 to 22 cover maintenance of a widowed daughter in law, of children and of dependants. The Family Court at Dhanbad had allowed 7,000 rupees a month to the widowed daughter in law and 5,000 rupees each to her two minor sons, 17,000 rupees in all, against a claim of 75,000 rupees. The High Court found that reasonable, noting more than 50,000 rupees a month coming in from the father in law pension and rent. Advanced age, it held, does not wipe out the duty that the law places on a father in law towards a widowed daughter in law and her children, and the appeal was dismissed.
Act involved:Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956Monthly maintenance upheld:₹17,000Court that passed the award:Family Court, Dhanbad
Why it matters for exams: Sections 19 to 22 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 cover maintenance of a widowed daughter-in-law, children and dependants, and Family Courts decide such claims.
Jamshedpur has been named Jharkhand's cleanest city in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, the national cleanliness survey run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. President Droupadi Murmu gave away the awards at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. Officials of the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) and Tata Steel's utility arm TSUISL received the honour. The civic body credited door-to-door collection, segregation at source, GPS-tracked vehicles and composting and biomethanation plants. Tata Steel Utility and Infrastructure Services Ltd manages about 42 sq km of JNAC's 60 sq km area. In all, 4,752 urban local bodies took part in this round of the survey. Nationally, Navi Mumbai topped the Super Swachh League, followed by Surat and Vijayawada.
Jharkhand's cleanest city:JamshedpurULBs in the survey:4,752Super Swachh League No. 1:Navi Mumbai
Why it matters for exams: Swachh Survekshan, the ministry that runs it (MoHUA) and each State's top-ranked city are regular questions under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
Jharkhand is framing its own rules under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, with a standard operating procedure for a Victim Protection Plan (VPP). The plan covers rescue and rehabilitation of people who survive human trafficking. It follows the Supreme Court's May directive in Prajwala vs Union of India asking all States to adopt a uniform VPP framework. The women, child development and social security department is the nodal agency. The State has listed 10 trafficking-prone districts, with Sahibganj, Gumla, West Singhbhum, Godda and Khunti accounting for 182 of 272 rescued victims. A 16-member special task force, headed by department secretary Uma Shankar Singh, will oversee the plan. The SOP will be field-tested in one or two districts first, with a 100-day awareness drive.
Trafficking-prone districts:10Victims rescued (2024-25 to July 2026-27):272Special task force:16 members
Why it matters for exams: The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, Article 23's ban on trafficking and the Prajwala case are standard polity and social-justice questions.
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI), Lucknow, have begun a three-year project on medicinal plants in tribal areas. It was launched on 12 November 2026 at the Central University of Odisha, Koraput. The project covers 16 tribal hotspots in 13 States and Union Territories, and East Singhbhum is the one chosen from Jharkhand. Work includes documenting about 200–300 medicinal plant species and raising 30–40 rare, endangered and threatened species. Each hotspot is to get a community nursery and a seed bank, 16 of each in all. Some 40,000–50,000 quality planting materials will be handed out. The aim is to turn tribal knowledge of local plants into livelihoods, linking Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Van Dhan Vikas Kendras with communities.
Jharkhand hotspot:East SinghbhumHotspots in all:16 in 13 States/UTsDuration:three yearsScience partner:CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow
Why it matters for exams: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, CSIR-NBRI (Lucknow) and Van Dhan Vikas Kendras are common questions on tribal welfare and biodiversity schemes.
Jharkhand is one of the four Focus States at the 45th India International Trade Fair (IITF), together with Assam, Delhi and West Bengal. Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have the separate role of Partner States. The India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) runs the fair at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, from 14 to 27 November 2026. Partner and Focus States get space in Halls 2 to 5, close to the pavilions of Central Ministries and public sector units. There Jharkhand, like the other States, can put its regional products, local industries, traditional crafts, culture, tourism and development work in front of buyers and visitors. A separate One District One Product (ODOP) Pavilion brings district crafts and food from 21 States.
Jharkhand's role:Focus State, 45th IITFOther Focus States:Assam, Delhi, West BengalPartner States:Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar PradeshDates:14–27 November 2026
Why it matters for exams: Jharkhand's role as a Focus State, the Focus and Partner States of each IITF, and the fair's organiser ITPO are regular economy and State current-affairs questions.
Jharkhand is preparing for Birsa Munda's 151st birth anniversary on 15 November, with the BJP announcing a 73-km padyatra from his birthplace Ulihatu in Khunti district to his memorial at Kokar in Ranchi. The same day is Jharkhand's Foundation Day. In 2021 the Union Cabinet declared 15 November Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, to honour tribal freedom fighters. Birsa Munda, revered by tribal communities as Bhagwan, led a struggle against British colonial exploitation. His call for revolt is remembered as the 'Ulgulan'. The Cabinet also noted tribal movements by the Santhals, Tamars, Kols, Bhils, Khasis and Mizos. A Tribal Freedom Fighter Museum stands in Ranchi, where Birsa Munda breathed his last.
Janjatiya Gaurav Divas:15 NovemberDeclared by Union Cabinet:2021Birthplace of Birsa Munda:Ulihatu, Khunti district
Why it matters for exams: Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, Birsa Munda's Ulgulan, his birthplace Ulihatu and Jharkhand's 15 November Foundation Day are among the most asked tribal-history facts.
Khunti is in the news as the starting point of this week's 73-km march from Ulihatu to Ranchi for Birsa Munda's birth anniversary. The district was formed on 12 September 2007 from Ranchi's territory and became Jharkhand's 23rd district. It lies about 40 km south of Ranchi in the South Chotanagpur division and covers 2,535 sq km. Its people are largely Munda and Oraon tribal communities. The region saw the Kol Insurrection of 1831–32 and the Ulgulan led by Birsa Munda between 1895 and 1900. Khunti sits on the eastern Chotanagpur Plateau, with lateritic and red loamy soils and Sal-dominated moist deciduous forest. The Karo and Tajna are among its rivers, and sacred groves called Sarna are protected by tribal communities.
Formed:12 September 2007Carved from:Ranchi districtArea:2,535 sq kmMain communities:Munda and Oraon
Why it matters for exams: District formation dates, the Kol Insurrection of 1831–32, the Chotanagpur Plateau and Sarna sacred groves are standard Jharkhand history and geography facts.