Daily Current Affairs for Miscellaneous

Awards & Honours

• Rohini Nayyar Prize: Prashant Chaudhary won the 5th Rohini Nayyar Prize for Rural Development.
• President’s Colour: Chandigarh Police received the President’s Colour from Union Home Minister Amit Shah during its Diamond Jubilee (60th Raising Day) celebrations.
• ABU Prizes 2026: Prasar Bharati won two recognitions at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Prizes held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Appointments & Persons in News

• Geological Survey of India: Dinesh Vitthalrao Ganvir assumed charge as the 55th Director General of GSI.

• Eastern Air Command: Air Marshal Mehtab Singh Deswal took charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C).
• FICCI President-Elect: Vijay Sankar, Chairman of The Sanmar Group, was named President-Elect of FICCI for 2026–27.

• Bulgaria: Former Vice President Iliana Iotova became the country’s first elected female President.
• Ved Rahi: Eminent Dogri and Hindi writer, novelist, playwright and filmmaker passed away at 93 in Thane, Maharashtra.
• C. K. Kokate: Prominent pharmaceutical scientist and academician passed away at 79.
• Ravindra Kishore Sinha: Former Rajya Sabha MP passed away at 75.

Government Schemes, Policies & Welfare Initiatives

• SUVIKALP Mine Repurposing Tool: Developed by the Coal Controller Organisation under the Ministry of Coal, it is a digital platform for the productive reuse of closed and abandoned mines.
• Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 4.0: Union MoS for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav launched its fourth edition in New Delhi.
• Digital Life Certificate Campaign 5: Launched by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare to accelerate nationwide digital enablement for pensioners.

Sports & Games

• Youth Olympic Games 2026: Dhinidhi Desinghu won bronze in women’s 100m freestyle at Dakar, Senegal, becoming the first Indian swimmer to win a Youth Olympic medal, while Khushbu Darjada won silver in Judo.
• Senior World Wrestling Championships 2026: India won four medals, with Manisha Bhanwala securing India’s first gold medal in women’s freestyle.
• Formula One: 20-year-old Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli became the youngest World Champion in Formula One history.
• Cricket Retirement: Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell announced his retirement from international cricket.

Science, Space & Technology

• AI Infrastructure: US-based cloud provider Vultr launched a 20-MW AI Supercluster in Chennai powered by AMD Instinct GPUs.
• IceCube Neutrino Observatory: The Antarctic observatory detected ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrinos with energy levels 10 billion times higher than typical solar neutrinos.

Summits, Bills & International Affairs

• Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo 2026: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Bharat RE at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi (2–5 November), under the theme ‘Invest. Innovate. Inspire.’, co-located with the 9th International Solar Alliance Assembly and 4th International Conference on Green Hydrogen.
• NSA Visit to Vietnam: Ajit Doval visited Hanoi on 1–2 November and met General Secretary To Lam and Defence Minister Phan Van Giang to review the India–Vietnam Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
• India–Mexico Trade Talks: India and Mexico signed the Terms of Reference to initiate negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).

Importance Observations on the Day

Miscellaneous

• UPI Transactions: Daily UPI transaction value crossed ₹1 lakh crore for the first time in October 2026, averaging 821.69 million transactions per day.
• Cyclone Murasu: The severe cyclonic storm, named by India, made landfall near Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, becoming the first cyclone to bear a Tamil name.
• Silt Management Policy: Bihar became the first Indian state to launch a dedicated and comprehensive Silt Management Policy.

West Bengal Specific Current Affairs

• Tax Devolution: The Central Government released ₹7,866 crore to West Bengal as its tax devolution share on 1 November 2026.
• School of Physical AI: IIT Kharagpur announced India’s first academic institution for Physical AI, with a budget of ₹35 crore, named after Benjamin Gupta.
• Delhi–Guwahati Bullet Train Corridor: The approved 1,500-km high-speed rail corridor will pass through Siliguri in West Bengal.
• AFC Women’s Champions League: East Bengal FC defeated Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City FC 2–1 in their Group B opener in Kolkata.

Defence Updates

• Next-Generation Corvettes Deal: The Ministry of Defence signed contracts worth ₹53,866.50 crore for eight Indian Navy corvettes with GRSE (five ships) and Goa Shipyard Limited (three ships).
• Exercise Tiger Triumph 2026: The fifth India–US bilateral tri-service Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise commenced in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
• Naval Rescue Operation: The Indian Navy rescued all 20 crew members of the hijacked Iranian fishing vessel Azini off Somalia in a 48-hour operation.
• BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise: India hosted the inaugural joint maritime security exercise at Sri Vijaya Puram under the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
• Defence Modernisation Consultative Committee: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a meeting on ‘Modernisation of Indian Defence Forces’ in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Banking Updates

• IDBI Bank Employees’ Strike: Employees observed a two-day strike on 2–3 November against the proposed sale of the government’s and LIC’s 60% stake to Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings, while IDBI Bank waived non-IDBI ATM withdrawal charges during the strike.
• High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat: The Ministry of Finance constituted a six-month committee chaired by former Central Vigilance Commissioner Suresh N. Patel to recommend structural and regulatory banking reforms.
• RBI Liquidity Management: RBI accepted ₹23,905 crore against a notified ₹50,000 crore in its one-day Variable Rate Reverse Repo auction at a cutoff rate of 5.49%.
• SEBI – FPI KYC: SEBI extended the KYC review periodicity for Foreign Portfolio Investors from 3 years to 8 years.
• SEBI – REITs and InvITs: SEBI permitted Real Estate Investment Trusts and Infrastructure Investment Trusts to raise foreign capital through Depository Receipts.
• YES BANK: Launched ‘YES vibez’, a specialised savings account for Gen Z customers aged 18–30.

Practice MCQ

1. The 5th Rohini Nayyar Prize for Rural Development was won by whom?

A) Ved Rahi
B) Prashant Chaudhary
C) Vijay Sankar
D) Ravindra Kishore Sinha

Answer: B) Prashant Chaudhary

2. Which state became the first Indian state to launch a dedicated and comprehensive Silt Management Policy?

A) West Bengal
B) Odisha
C) Bihar
D) Assam

Answer: C) Bihar

3. The term ‘Vegan’ was coined in 1944 by whom?

A) Donald Watson
B) Rohini Nayyar
C) Ved Rahi
D) Iliana Iotova

Answer: A) Donald Watson

4. Which broadcasting organisation won two recognitions at the ABU Prizes 2026 held in Colombo?

A) All India Radio
B) Doordarshan
C) Prasar Bharati
D) Press Information Bureau

Answer: C) Prasar Bharati

5. The severe cyclonic storm Murasu, named by India, made landfall near which place?

A) Visakhapatnam
B) Ongole
C) Chennai
D) Kolkata

Answer: B) Ongole

6. Which observatory detected ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrinos with energy levels 10 billion times higher than typical solar neutrinos?

A) Aryabhata Observatory
B) IceCube Neutrino Observatory
C) Indian Astronomical Observatory
D) Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope

Answer: B) IceCube Neutrino Observatory

7. Which of the following states observed its formation day on 1 November 2026?

A) Haryana
B) Punjab
C) Madhya Pradesh
D) Rajasthan

Answer: C) Madhya Pradesh

8. Who became Bulgaria’s first elected female President?

A) Iliana Iotova
B) Ursula von der Leyen
C) Kaja Kallas
D) Roberta Metsola

Answer: A) Iliana Iotova

8. Which organisation developed the SUVIKALP Mine Repurposing Tool?

A) Coal India Limited
B) Coal Controller Organisation
C) Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
D) Geological Survey of India

Answer: B) Coal Controller Organisation

10. The 2026 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists was observed under which theme?
11. A) Journalism and Democracy
    B) Protecting Journalists in Conflict Zones
    C) Threats Evolve. Impunity Endures.
    D) Freedom of Expression for All

Answer: C) Threats Evolve. Impunity Endures.