15 fact(s) from this day could not be verified against an official source and were left out.
DRDO flight-tests the quasi-ballistic missile Pralay from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island
defence · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, cds, nda, afcat
DRDO conducted the successful flight-test of the quasi-ballistic missile Pralay from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha at around 1110 hrs on November 5, 2026.
All the test objectives were fully met as confirmed by the test data captured by various range instruments deployed by Integrated Test Range, Chandipur.
Four separate bodies sit behind one test and a question will ask which did what. Research Centre Imarat at Hyderabad developed the missile, Bharat Dynamics Limited produced it, Integrated Test Range at Chandipur instrumented the range, and the launch itself was from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha. Pralay is quasi-ballistic rather than ballistic, which is the term the release uses and the one worth carrying.
Linked static GK: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, formerly Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast is the launch site DRDO uses for most of its missile trials, while Integrated Test Range at Chandipur provides the tracking and range instrumentation. Bharat Dynamics Limited is a defence public sector undertaking that series-produces missiles DRDO designs.
The candidates who cleared the written examination have qualified for the Personality Test (Interview) for selection to the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and other Central Services in Group A and Group B.
Candidates seeking reservation or relaxation benefits must produce original certificates issued by the closing date of the application of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2026, that is 27.02.2026.
The Personality Tests will be held at the Office of the Union Public Service Commission at Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-110069, and no paper or physical Summon Letters will be issued.
This is the written stage of the Civil Services Examination, not the final result, and the distinction is the whole item. Clearing it qualifies a candidate only for the Personality Test, candidature stays provisional, and the services on offer are the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service, the Indian Police Service and other Central Services in Group A and Group B. The release states no number of qualified candidates, so any figure quoted elsewhere is not from this source.
Linked static GK: The Civil Services Examination runs in three stages: a Preliminary examination that is only a screening test, a Main written examination, and a Personality Test. UPSC is a constitutional body under Article 315, and its recommendations fill the All India Services and the Central Services.
UPSC declares the final results of the NDA and Naval Academy Examination (I), 2026 with 617 qualified candidates
exam-results · nda, cds, upsc-prelims
UPSC has declared a list in order of merit of 617 candidates who qualified on the basis of the Written Examination held on 12 April 2026 and the subsequent Interviews held by the Services Selection Board, Ministry of Defence.
The qualified candidates are for admission to the Army, Navy and Air Force wings of the National Defence Academy for the 157th Course and to the Naval Academy for the 119th Indian Naval Academy Course.
Two course numbers travel with this result and they are easy to swap: the National Defence Academy intake is the 157th Course and the Naval Academy intake is the 119th Indian Naval Academy Course. The merit list of 617 names rests on a written examination of 12 April 2026 plus the Services Selection Board interviews, and the medical examination results are explicitly not part of it, so qualifying here is not yet a confirmed admission.
Linked static GK: The NDA and Naval Academy Examination is held twice a year by UPSC, with the written paper followed by Services Selection Board interviews. The National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla trains cadets of all three services together before they move to their service academies, while the Indian Naval Academy is at Ezhimala in Kerala.
The 9th Tranche of the Critical and Strategic Mineral Block Auction was launched, offering 20 mineral blocks across 8 States, including strategically important minerals such as Rare Earth Elements, Graphite and Vanadium.
In the previous eight tranches, 100 unique critical and strategic mineral blocks were offered, of which 64 have been successfully auctioned, a success rate of 64%.
The dignitaries launched ANVESH and EKAM, two digital portals developed by the Indian Bureau of Mines, to strengthen data-driven governance and informed decision-making.
ANVESH stands for Analytics and Navigation for Valuation, Evaluation and Strategic Headway in Mining, and will facilitate access to and analysis of mining-related data including mineral production, despatch, sale quantities, average sale prices and imports and exports.
Two separate auctions launched on the same day and a question will try to cross their numbers. The mineral block auction is the 9th tranche with 20 blocks across 8 States; the exploration licence auction is the 3rd tranche with 11 blocks across 6 States. The cumulative record is the other testable figure: 100 blocks offered over the previous eight tranches with 64 auctioned, which the release itself calls a 64% success rate. ANVESH is expanded in the release and EKAM is not, so only one expansion can be claimed.
Linked static GK: Critical and strategic minerals such as lithium, graphite, vanadium and the rare earth elements are auctioned by the Ministry of Mines under the Mineral (Auction) Rules. The Exploration Licence is a newer instrument that lets private agencies explore deep-seated and critical minerals before a mining lease is auctioned, and the Indian Bureau of Mines is the Ministry's technical arm for mineral data and regulation.
Ministry of Railways receives the PM Surya Ghar Excellence Award for solarising the most buildings among central ministries
energy · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, rrb-ntpc
The Vice President of India, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, honoured the Ministry of Railways with the PM Surya Ghar Excellence Award at the Renewable Energy Summit & Expo 2026 held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
At the national level, 25,984 of the 39,135 buildings identified across 77 Central Ministries and Departments have been solarized so far, accounting for 66% of the total identified buildings.
Two sets of numbers sit side by side and a careless question will mix them. The railway figures are 15,868 buildings identified, 12,495 solarised at 79%, and 351 MW in operation against a 424 MW target. The national figures are 25,984 of 39,135 buildings across 77 Central Ministries and Departments at 66%. The award category is also specific: maximum buildings solarised by central ministries and departments, not the largest capacity.
Linked static GK: PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is the central rooftop solar scheme announced in 2024, aimed mainly at residential consumers but with a parallel push to solarise government buildings. Rooftop solar capacity is counted in megawatts of installed panels, which is why a ministry can lead on the number of buildings without leading on capacity.
Four different Aadhaar App numbers appear in one release and only one of them is the download count. Downloads are nearly 7.5 crore, biometric lock and unlock transactions are 4.6 crore, mobile number updates are over 86 lakh, and the entity count is 300 Offline Verification Seeking Entities. Offline verification is consent-based and paperless, which is what the OVSE onboarding is about rather than any new Aadhaar authentication power.
Linked static GK: The Unique Identification Authority of India issues Aadhaar under the Aadhaar Act, 2016. Offline verification lets a resident share a locally verifiable credential without the verifying entity querying UIDAI's database, and an Offline Verification Seeking Entity is one permitted to accept it. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act governs how such data may be handled.
Ministry of Culture signs a memorandum of understanding with Google Arts & Culture to digitise India's cultural heritage
culture · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims
The Ministry of Culture signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Google Arts & Culture to bring India's cultural heritage to the public through cutting-edge digital tools.
The MoU was signed at a virtual ceremony in the presence of Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, and Mr Amit Sood, the founder of Google Arts & Culture.
At the centre of the partnership is the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, taking shape in the North and South Blocks of New Delhi as a museum of India's history across the ages.
The partnership covers the monuments and archaeological sites protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, the holdings of the national museums, and the manuscript heritage being documented under Gyan Bharatam.
The partner, the signatories and the flagship are all askable. The partner is Google Arts & Culture, the Ministry was represented by its Secretary Shri Vivek Aggarwal and Google by Mr Amit Sood, its founder, and the project at the centre is the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum in the North and South Blocks. Gyan Bharatam is the separate manuscript documentation effort the MoU draws on, not a new scheme announced here.
Linked static GK: The Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum is planned as a national museum in the North and South Blocks of the Central Vista in New Delhi. The Archaeological Survey of India, under the Ministry of Culture, protects centrally notified monuments and sites, and Gyan Bharatam is the Ministry's programme for surveying and digitising India's manuscript heritage.
GRSE delivers Amini, the fifth Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, to the Indian Navy
defence · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, cds, nda, afcat
Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, a Navratna Defence PSU under the Ministry of Defence, delivered Amini, the fifth of the eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft being built for the Indian Navy.
Amini measures 77.6 metres in length, is powered by marine diesel engines coupled with waterjets and has a shallow draught of approximately 2.7 metres.
Three counts travel with this delivery and they are not interchangeable. Amini is the fifth of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft in the class, the 119th warship GRSE has built, and the 81st GRSE has delivered to the Indian Navy. The indigenous content of the programme is about 88 per cent, which is the figure usually asked rather than the ship's dimensions.
Linked static GK: Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers at Kolkata is a Navratna defence shipyard under the Ministry of Defence. Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft are built for coastal and littoral anti-submarine work, where a shallow draught matters more than endurance, and they replace the older Abhay class corvettes.
INS Sahyadri arrives at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan for Exercise MALABAR 2026
defence · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, cds, nda, afcat
The Indian Navy's indigenous Guided Missile Stealth Frigate INS Sahyadri, of the Eastern Fleet, arrived at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on 04 Nov 2026 to participate in the multilateral naval exercise MALABAR 2026.
The harbour phase will include professional interactions and coordinated planning, followed by the sea phase involving INS Sahyadri and participating units of the United States, Australia and Japan.
The participation is in consonance with the vision of MAHASAGAR, which stands for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.
MALABAR began as an India and United States bilateral and now has four participants, India, Japan, the United States and Australia, which is the fact most often asked. The host base is Yokosuka and the ship is INS Sahyadri of the Eastern Fleet, an indigenous guided missile stealth frigate. MAHASAGAR is the vision statement cited and its expansion is worth carrying.
Linked static GK: Exercise MALABAR started in 1992 as a bilateral India and United States naval exercise, with Japan joining as a permanent member and Australia later, making the participants the same four countries as the Quad. INS Sahyadri is a Shivalik class stealth frigate built at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.
TRAI recommends a new Satellite Communication Network Provider Authorisation under the Telecommunications Act, 2023
telecom · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, ibps-po
TRAI has released its recommendations on the Framework for Satellite Communication Network Provider Authorisation, and Assignment of Spectrum to Satellite Communication Network Providers.
DoT conveyed to TRAI on 03.07.2025 that the Government proposes the introduction of a Satellite Communication Network Authorisation under Section 3(1)(b) of the Telecommunications Act 2023.
TRAI has recommended that a new authorisation named Satellite Communication Network Provider Authorisation should be introduced under Section 3(1)(b) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
In response to the consultation paper, comments from 31 stakeholders and counter-comments from 12 stakeholders were received and uploaded on the TRAI website.
The statutory hook is the askable part: the new authorisation sits under Section 3(1)(b) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023, the Act that replaced the licensing regime with authorisations. The request came from DoT on 03.07.2025 and covers spectrum for both the feeder link and the user link. The consultation numbers, 31 comments and 12 counter-comments, are the kind of detail a paper asks to separate a reader from a skimmer.
Linked static GK: The Telecommunications Act, 2023 replaced the older licence regime with a system of authorisations granted under Section 3. TRAI is a statutory regulator whose recommendations on such frameworks are advisory to the Department of Telecommunications, which takes the final decision.
Indian astronomers find the star cluster UBC 63 to be a double cluster system after a close flyby
science · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims
UBC 63, a loosely gravitationally bound Galactic open cluster about 4892 light years away from the Earth that was previously identified as a single star cluster, has now been found to be composed of two distinct star clusters.
A team led by astronomers from India, including a Department of Science and Technology INSPIRE Senior Research Fellow, researchers of Gauhati University and researchers of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, a DST autonomous institution, found that UBC 63 actually consists of two clusters, UBC 63A and UBC 63B, that recently passed remarkably close to each other.
The chance discovery provided a rare opportunity to study the aftermath of a close flyby between two stellar systems and offers new insights into the dynamical evolution of star clusters in the Milky Way.
Detecting a system soon after such an encounter can provide valuable clues about how gravitational interactions influence cluster structure, motion and long-term evolution.
The distance and the naming are the two testable anchors: about 4892 light years, and the single object UBC 63 resolving into UBC 63A and UBC 63B. The institutions are also askable, Gauhati University with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, which is an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology, working on European Space Agency data.
Linked static GK: An open cluster is a loosely bound group of stars formed from the same cloud of gas and dust, found in the disc of the Milky Way, as against a globular cluster which is dense and old. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics is headquartered at Bengaluru with its main observatory at Kavalur, and INSPIRE is the Department of Science and Technology's fellowship programme for young researchers.
CMFRI maps 161 marine mammal strandings along the Indian coast with Goa accounting for the most cases
environment · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims
ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has documented 161 marine mammal stranding cases along the Indian coast during 2024-25, with Goa accounting for the highest number of cases at 113, followed by Kerala with 13 and Maharashtra with 11.
Humpback dolphins, Sousa plumbea, accounted for the highest number of strandings at 82 along the Indian coast, followed by Indo-Pacific finless porpoises, Neophocaena phocaenoides, with 44.
The interactive platform integrates around 1,300 geographical data points covering 32 marine mammal species, providing information on stranding locations, species identity, incident records and possible causes of death.
The data were compiled through CMFRI's marine mammal stranding network, which operates through staff at its regional centres along the Indian coastline.
The order of the states is the trap. Goa leads with 113 of the 161 cases, well ahead of Kerala at 13 and Maharashtra at 11, which is counter-intuitive for a state with a short coastline. The order of the species is separate again: humpback dolphins at 82 and Indo-Pacific finless porpoises at 44. The platform's 1,300 data points and 32 species are a third set of numbers and belong to the mapping tool, not to the 2024-25 stranding count.
Linked static GK: The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute at Kochi is an institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and is India's main marine fisheries research body. A stranding is a marine mammal coming ashore alive or dead, and marine mammals such as dolphins and porpoises are protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
India as Kimberley Process Chair convenes a stakeholder consultation in Luanda ahead of the New Delhi Plenary
international · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, ibps-po
India, as Chair of the Kimberley Process for 2026, convened a stakeholder consultation in Luanda, Angola, on 3 November 2026, bringing together the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Kimberley Process Working Bodies, the Kimberley Process Vice-Chair Republic of Ghana, and the former Kimberley Process Chair United Arab Emirates.
The consultation was led by the Kimberley Process Chair and Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Shri Yashvir Singh, and focused on responsible rough diamond sourcing, institutional governance, compliance and consumer confidence.
Three offices are easy to confuse: India is the 2026 Chair, the Republic of Ghana is the Vice-Chair, and the United Arab Emirates is the former Chair. India's relationship with ADPA is Observer status, not membership, which is the distinction a question turns on. The Plenary dates and venue, New Delhi from 30 November to 4 December 2026, are the forward-looking fact worth carrying.
Linked static GK: The Kimberley Process is an international certification scheme set up in 2003 to keep conflict diamonds out of the rough diamond trade, and its chairmanship rotates annually among participants. ADPA is the African Diamond Producers' Association, a grouping of diamond-producing African states.
Mumbai Port Authority holds the first pre-bid meeting for the Viksit Bharat Mumbai Marina at Victoria Dock
infrastructure · ssc-cgl, upsc-prelims, ibps-po
Mumbai Port Authority, under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, held the first pre-bid meeting for the Viksit Bharat Mumbai Marina at Port Bhavan on 30 October 2026.
The marina, proposed to be developed at Victoria Dock, will be implemented on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis for a concession period of 45 years, at an estimated cost of Rs. 922.67 crore.
Mumbai Port Authority will undertake the marine works for the first 424 berths, while Environmental and Coastal Regulation Zone clearances for the entire project area have already been obtained.
The bid parameter is a single percentage share of Gross Revenue payable to MbPA, with a minimum threshold of 11.50%, fixed for the entire concession period.
The numbers are many and each belongs to a different thing: Rs. 922.67 crore is the estimated cost, 45 years the concession period, 37.3 hectares the protected water area, 604 yachts the full capacity, 424 the berths whose marine works the port itself will do, and 11.50% the minimum revenue share a bidder must offer. The project is at Victoria Dock and the model is DBFOT, not a public works contract.
Linked static GK: Mumbai Port Authority is one of India's major port authorities governed by the Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 and works under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. DBFOT is a public private partnership model in which the concessionaire finances and operates the asset before transferring it back, and Coastal Regulation Zone clearance is required for construction near the coast.