Current affairs — 25 October 2026

Prelims pointers

• Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, former king of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom, issued the Temple Entry Proclamation.
• The Temple Entry Proclamation was issued on November 12, 1936, during a period of social reformation.
• The proclamation opened Hindu temples in the State to marginalised communities and drew nationwide attention to Travancore.
• Students and teachers received a copy preserved by the Archives department and distributed copies in homes and public spaces.
• Year-long anniversary plans included a rally from East Fort to Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and meetings with historians.

Prelims pointers

• Iranian officials said renewed U.S. or Israeli attacks would prompt retaliation with consequences beyond Iran.
• Major General Ali Abdollahi said Iran would not permit U.S. naval vessels to enter the Persian Gulf.
• The United States imposed a blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.
• Brent crude rose to $117 a barrel on October 23, 2026, despite U.S. claims that a southern transit route remained open.
• At least seven important undersea data cables run through or near the Strait of Hormuz, connecting Gulf and South Asian countries.

Prelims pointers

• Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer removed five Booth Level Officers and one computer assistant from election duties after the Azamgarh voter-roll inquiry.
• The inquiry followed an October 15 allegation that the name Vikas Yadav appeared repeatedly in Azamgarh Assembly constituency 347.
• The CEO’s office said the records included different individuals under that name and duplicate entries placed under deletion proceedings.
• Officials used Form-8 to correct names and personal details in the electoral records examined by the inquiry.
• The then ERO and two AEROs face departmental proceedings and possible action under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

Prelims pointers

• The system developed over the east-central and adjoining south-east Bay of Bengal and became a depression by Saturday evening.
• The IMD forecast a crossing between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam on the Andhra Pradesh–Yanam coast around noon on October 28.
• The system was expected to become a cyclonic storm by Monday morning and a severe cyclonic storm around October 27.
• Isolated extremely heavy rainfall was expected in the districts covered by the red alerts.
• The IMD issued red alerts for Krishna and Bapatla on October 27 and for 13 listed Andhra Pradesh districts on October 28.

Prelims pointers

• The Election Commission declared the October 23, 2026 poll at stations 20, 21 and 26 of the Agra Division Teachers’ Constituency void.
• The Commission invoked Section 58A(2)(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 for its order.
• Fresh polling at the three stations was fixed for October 26, 2026, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• The Returning Officer recommended the re-poll, and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer forwarded the recommendation to the Election Commission.
• The Commission directed that persons involved in unlawful activities that may have caused the irregularities or lapses should not be deputed for the re-poll.

Prelims pointers

• Starshield is a SpaceX satellite-communications service that uses the Starlink constellation for secure national-security communications with stronger encryption.
• The Starlink constellation comprised more than 11,000 satellites in low-earth orbit at the time described in the article.
• By December 2024, the Pentagon had arranged Ukrainian access to Starshield through roughly 3,000 terminals.
• Ukrainian forces use Starshield to track enemy positions and supply routes and to intercept drones, with Starlink satellites relaying information.
• In 2022, Elon Musk refused a Ukrainian request to activate Starlink near Sevastopol for targeting Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Prelims pointers

• India is to have four functional launch pads by 2029, according to ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan.
• Kulasekarapattinam in Tuticorin district is planned as a 2,000-acre dedicated Small Satellite Launch Vehicle complex.
• The Gaganyaan plan cited one uncrewed test within two months and two more uncrewed tests before the crewed mission.
• ISRO had completed approximately 8,000 ground-based Gaganyaan experiments, while four astronaut-designates were undergoing specialised training.
• Chandrayaan-5 is planned with Japan's space agency and a 350-kg rover designed for 100 days of lunar-surface experiments.

Prelims pointers

• Trade resumed at the Gabd-Rimdan crossing on October 24, 2026, after Pakistan had halted cross-border movement on October 17.
• The Gabd-Rimdan crossing, also called Gate 250, is located in Balochistan's Gwadar district.
• Officials permitted commercial consignments accompanied by consignment notes dated October 16 or earlier to cross.
• Unidentified gunmen attacked stranded freight vehicles near the crossing on October 22, setting dozens of trucks ablaze and damaging others.
• The 909-km Pakistan-Iran border separates Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province from Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Prelims pointers

• Jorbeer Conservation Reserve near Bikaner hosts winter gatherings of migratory Himalayan and Eurasian griffons at a livestock-carcass dumpsite.
• Vultures spent about half as long on carcasses at the open Bikaner dumpsite as at dog-free enclosures.
• Dog presence restricted vulture feeding largely to the afternoon instead of spreading activity across daylight hours.
• India's vulture numbers fell by more than 90% in the 1990s, largely because veterinary diclofenac made livestock carcasses toxic to them.
• The study recommended dispersed dog-proof feeding sites, dog-population management and vulture safe zones.

Prelims pointers

• A February 2026 Lok Sabha reply reported 18,142 sanctioned Department of Space posts, of which 15,529 were filled.
• IIST was established in 2007 under the Department of Space and is described as India's only dedicated space university.
• IIST had 1,356 students in 2025: 634 undergraduates, 286 postgraduates and 436 doctoral students.
• YUVIKA, launched in 2019, is a two-week residential ISRO programme for selected Class 9 students.
• IN-SPACe had granted 113 authorisations to 52 non-government entities, including 18 startups.

Prelims pointers

• Researchers found that “The Starry Night” closely matches the dawn sky around July 22, 1889, as viewed from Saint-Rémy.
• In Caenorhabditis elegans, moderate cold stimulated muscle cells to produce the metabolite BH2.
• A salvage enzyme converted BH2 to BH4 in intestines and neurons, after which BH4 drove tyrosine synthesis through PAH-1.
• BH2 treatment prevented toxic protein aggregation in patient-derived motor neurons linked to Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• Across 101 cities, each 100-m increase in the scale of similar-building clusters correlated with a 4.5% fall in urban heat-island intensity.

Prelims pointers

• Life insurers collectively hold close to one-quarter of India's outstanding central government dated securities.
• LIC holds approximately 19% of all outstanding central government dated securities, according to the cited FY24 RBI report.
• LIC's March 2025 filing reported ₹20.2 lakh crore in central government securities.
• Sovereign paper formed nearly 63% of LIC's non-linked policyholder corpus in its March 2025 Form L-26 filing.
• India's life-insurance penetration was 2.7% of GDP in FY25, against a global life average of 3.0%.

Prelims pointers

• The study combined information from more than 4,200 languages with genetic data from over 5,700 people representing 650 populations.
• Researchers analysed diversity within roughly 500-km-wide hexagonal cells rather than merely counting languages in each region.
• Long-isolated populations tended to inhabit regions where neighbouring languages differed more in their linguistic features.
• Spread zones are repeatedly reshaped by major population movements, while accumulation zones allow linguistic differences to build up.
• New Guinea, which has more than 800 languages, was presented as an accumulation zone shaped by long relative isolation.

Prelims pointers

• Cuba participated in the BRICS Parliamentary Forum meeting as a partner country of the grouping.
• Om Birla and Mari Machado discussed parliamentary exchanges, capacity-building, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
• Cuba's resolution against the United States blockade was scheduled for UN General Assembly consideration on October 27.
• Om Birla and State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin reviewed parliamentary exchanges as India and Russia marked 80 years of bilateral ties.
• Sansad Bhashini was presented as a means of making parliamentary proceedings accessible in various Indian languages.

Prelims pointers

• Ashoke Sen became the first Indian laureate of the Oskar Klein Medal when he received the 2026 honour.
• The Oskar Klein Medal recognises significant contributions to theoretical physics and is awarded by Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics.
• Sen helped show in the 1990s that two apparently different descriptions of physical forces were equivalent, an idea called S-duality.
• The three related Sen conjectures, proposed in 1999, offered new ways to understand the behaviour of strings in string theory.
• The Oskar Klein Medal and Memorial Lectures began in 1988 in honour of Swedish physicist Oskar Klein.

Prelims pointers

• Kalaburagi’s tur dal has a GI tag recognising the product’s association with the Karnataka region.
• A 10-quintal consignment of Kalaburagi tur dal was exported to the Maldives through a Pune-based company.
• The Agriculture Department said farmers received prices around 30% above the prevailing market rate for the consignment.
• The Prime Minister highlighted the export in the 139th episode of Mann Ki Baat.
• Samples of the tur dal have been sent to prospective buyers in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Prelims pointers

• The proposed Tummidihatti Barrage lies across the Pranahita river on the Telangana–Maharashtra border.
• A 2016 inter-State agreement fixed Tummidihatti’s FRL at 148 metres and Medigadda’s at 100 metres.
• Maharashtra had opposed a 152-metre FRL because of possible submergence of part of a wildlife sanctuary.
• Telangana estimates submergence of 2,300 acres at 152 metres FRL and less than 1,000 acres at 150 metres.
• Telangana has a supporting backwater study by the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune.

Prelims pointers

• Seven technical sessions at the National Urban Conclave 2026 addressed governance, planning, housing, resources and service delivery.
• The Model Municipal Law session recommended five-year mayoral tenures and clearly defined executive powers.
• The AMRUT 2.0 Used Water Marketplace lets ULBs list the quantity and quality of treated water available for sale.
• The Urban Challenge Fund portal supports project submission, tracking, appraisal and monitoring for public agencies.
• The first tranche of funds formally began implementation of 18 selected Street Food Hubs under PM SVANidhi.

Prelims pointers

• The release projects India’s urban population to rise from about 50 crore to 85 crore by 2050.
• The cited governance report was jointly developed by NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• The recommendations include directly elected mayors, five-year terms, a Mayor-in-Council system and timely municipal elections.
• States were urged to devolve all 18 urban functions in line with the 74th Amendment.
• The ₹1 lakh crore Urban Challenge Fund was announced in the 2025–26 budget to develop cities as growth hubs.

Prelims pointers

• Sarbananda Sonowal began a four-day South Korea visit in Busan on 25 October 2026.
• India aims to become one of the world’s top five shipbuilding nations by 2047.
• The India–South Korea framework called VOYAGES covers shipbuilding, shipping and maritime logistics.
• India’s Cabinet approved a series of policy incentives for the shipbuilding sector in September 2025.
• The release links skills cooperation to the India Ship Technology Centre and the Korea International Cooperation Agency.

Prelims pointers

• KVIC functions under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, according to the release.
• Mann Ki Baat began on 3 October 2014, and its 139th episode aired on 25 October 2026.
• Khadi Bhawan at Connaught Place recorded ₹1.34 crore in sales on 2 October 2022 and over ₹1.52 crore on 2 October 2023.
• Single-day Gandhi Jayanti sales of Khadi and Village Industries products were reported to have exceeded ₹28 crore.
• The sector’s 2025–26 turnover surpassed ₹1.87 lakh crore while employment exceeded 2.04 crore people.

Prelims pointers

• The CCPA imposed a ₹1 lakh penalty on Hogar Technologies and Innovations LLP under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• Personal mobile radios operating at 446.0–446.2 MHz are licence-exempt under the 2018 exemption rules, subject to applicable conditions.
• A website promotion can fall within misleading-advertisement rules even if the website lacks a payment gateway or shopping cart.
• The CCPA identified over 16,970 non-compliant walkie-talkie listings and issued notices to 13 e-commerce entities.
• The Authority reported final orders against 12 entities and cumulative penalties of ₹58 lakh concerning walkie-talkie advertisements and sales.

Prelims pointers

• Special Campaign 6 is described as a DARPG-led nationwide initiative across Union ministries and public-sector undertakings.
• Its preparatory phase ran from September 15–30, 2026, and its implementation phase from October 2–31, 2026.
• The campaign emphasises collection, segregation and eco-friendly disposal of institutional e-waste under the E-Waste Management Rules, 2022.
• NLCIL, which is under the Ministry of Coal, reported clearing 2,042 e-waste items through the drive.
• The cleared e-waste comprised 1,491 IT and telecommunication items, 351 laboratory instruments, and 200 consumer electrical, electronic and photovoltaic-panel items.

Prelims pointers

• The Parliament of India is hosting the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum on October 26–27, 2026.
• The forum’s overarching theme is ‘Strengthening Parliaments for People-Centric Development.’
• Its four high-level session themes are Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.
• A special meeting of international-affairs committee chairpersons will address parliamentary diplomacy, capacity building and exchange of best practices.
• India and Russia were reported to be approaching 80 years of diplomatic relations in 2027.

Prelims pointers

• Kheti Virasat Mission’s Nav-Trinjan initiative promotes chemical-free organic cotton and naturally coloured cotton in Punjab’s Malwa region.
• Rainwater capture, groundwater recharge and tree planting were used to revive the Heval river in Tehri Garhwal and aid dozens of natural water sources.
• The e-Sanjeevani platform was reported to have conducted approximately 50 crore tele-consultations across its network.
• The Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras aims to map 100 human brains in high-resolution digital 3D using the Param Shakti supercomputer.
• Kezoma in Nagaland resumed millet cultivation in 2024 and held its first millet festival in 2025.

Prelims pointers

• The address marked the inauguration of the RBI Data Centre and Cybersecurity Training Institute in Bhubaneswar.
• Approximately 59–60 crore Jan Dhan accounts were credited with enabling full government transfers to beneficiary bank accounts.
• Mudra Yojana was reported to have created 13 crore first-time entrepreneurs.
• PM Suraksha Bima Yojana was described as providing accident cover up to ₹2 lakh for an annual premium of ₹20.
• The Cybersecurity Training Institute was linked to the need for modern infrastructure, updated tools and skilled personnel against evolving cyber threats.

Prelims pointers

• The Ramsar Convention was adopted on 2 February 1971, entered into force in 1975, and India became a party on 1 February 1982.
• India had 103 Ramsar Sites across 28 States and Union Territories, covering more than 13.87 lakh hectares in October 2026.
• A wetland must meet at least one of nine Ramsar criteria to qualify as a Wetland of International Importance.
• After designation, a site’s Ramsar Information Sheet must be updated every six years and its ecological character monitored regularly.
• Sukhna Wetland and Sauj Jheel were the latest Indian additions on 15 October 2026, taking the national total to 103.

Prelims pointers

• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal began his Netherlands visit on October 25, 2026.
• He toured the Port of Rotterdam with its chief executive officer, Boudewijn Siemons.
• The release describes the Port of Rotterdam as Europe’s largest port and a gateway for Indian goods to Europe.
• The port visit was placed in the context of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement and stronger India-Europe supply chains.
• An Embassy-hosted Indian community interaction in Amsterdam brought together approximately 70 participants.

Prelims pointers

• Chinese laboratories such as DeepSeek, Qwen and Moonshot release model weights that users can download, customise, modify and further train.
• The article distinguishes training as a one-time computing cost from inference as a continuous demand that grows with the user base.
• Since 2022, the United States and its allies have imposed export restrictions limiting China’s access to high-end chips.
• The article reports that SMIC’s 5-nanometre line runs at roughly 20% yield without extreme ultraviolet lithography tools.
• Chinese models accounted for a reported record 60% share of United States firms’ AI usage on the OpenRouter marketplace.

Prelims pointers

• India’s solar photovoltaic transition reduced solar tariffs by more than 85% over the past decade, according to the article.
• Pinch analysis can identify internal heat-recovery opportunities before an industrial facility electrifies its heat demand.
• Electric boilers are presented as a practical route for steam generation above 200°C.
• Thermal energy storage can hold surplus or recovered heat and release it when processes need heat, reducing peak electricity demand.
• The article identifies brownfield low- and medium-temperature applications up to 250°C as candidates for early electrification deployment.

Prelims pointers

• The 2026 Bill proposes an amendment to Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
• The proposed Merchant Discount Rate is 0.25-0.5% on UPI transactions above ₹2,000.
• The threshold is estimated to cover about five per cent of UPI transaction volume but roughly 65% of transaction value.
• UPI was launched in 2016 and its zero-MDR regime was used to encourage a shift away from cash.
• Credit-card interest and fees in India attract 18% GST, according to the article.

Prelims pointers

• The Nilgiris recorded 62 landslips in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. on October 25, 2026; the preceding 24-hour period had recorded 19 landslips.
• District-wide rainfall totalled 453.9 mm with an average of 14.64 mm; ten of the 31 rain-gauge stations recorded moderate rain.
• Parsons Valley in Udhagamandalam taluk received 52 mm, the district’s highest rainfall, followed by Upper Bhavani at 38 mm.
• Official damage data listed 15 partly damaged huts, one collapsed hut, 16 damaged revetments, 28 uprooted trees and damage to electrical infrastructure.
• Nilgiri Mountain Railway services between Mettupalayam and Coonoor were suspended after landslips, boulders and fallen trees obstructed the track at more than 25 places.