NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. New Six-Foot Flowering Plant Found in Assam, Meghalaya: Researchers have described Disporum kamakhasiense, a new flowering plant found in forests of Assam and Meghalaya. The findings were published on 4 and 5 November 2026 in the botanical journal Novon. Field teams first encountered the species during explorations in June and July 2025. It grows on cliffs beneath bamboo forests at elevations of 200–1,100 metres. The research team included Dixit Bora, Biswajit Paul and Devanjal Bora of the Central Ayurveda Research Institute in Guwahati, Aaron Floden of the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, and Dipankar Borah of Kaliabor College. The paper, titled “A New Lowland Species of Disporum (Colchicaceae) from Northeast India”, describes the species as potentially endangered because its populations are small and limited, and face threats from road expansion, over-exploitation and deforestation. The researchers called for further conservation studies.
2. Gujarat Completes 497 AMRUT 2.0 Projects: As of 5 November 2026, Gujarat had completed 497 projects worth ₹4,832 crore under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0. Launched by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 1 October 2021, the mission aims to improve urban infrastructure and ease of living. The projects have been implemented under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. The state completed 224 water supply projects costing ₹2,937 crore, adding 539 million litres per day (MLD) of water treatment capacity and 2,128 km of distribution network. They provided more than 2.72 lakh household tap connections, benefiting about 23.87 lakh citizens. Gujarat also completed 77 sewerage projects worth ₹1,500 crore across 31 AMRUT cities. These added 162 MLD of sewage treatment capacity and 931 km of sewerage network; more than 1.03 lakh household sewerage connections now serve about 31.76 lakh citizens.
3. India Proposes Immediate Suspension of Drug Manufacturing Licences: India’s Union Health Ministry proposed amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945, to allow immediate suspension of pharmaceutical manufacturing licences when medicines fail specified quality tests. The draft was notified on November 4, 2026. Under the proposal, a central or state drug licensing authority could suspend a licence if a government analyst finds deficiencies in any of five parameters: assay, dissolution, related substances, impurities or sterility. Suspension would continue until the manufacturer identifies the root cause and implements corrective and preventive actions verified by the authority. Current procedures include a show-cause notice before suspension or cancellation, potentially allowing Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) medicines to remain in circulation.
4. Private sector participation in nuclear energy: No compromise on safety aspects, says AERB Chairperson: A.K. Balasubrahmanian, Chairperson, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), has sought to allay concerns regarding the entry of private players into the country’s sensitive nuclear energy sector, asserting that there will be no compromise on safety aspects. The sector, he said, is being opened up at the right time, given the emerging power requirement of the country. As a regulator, the AERB will provide an “enabling environment” for private players, but at the same time, the board will not dilute the regulatory and safety requirements, Mr. Balasubrahmanian told The Hindu on the sidelines of a two-day symposium on the emerging frontiers in nuclear science and technology organised here this week by the Atomic Energy Retirees’ Association.
5. Are lower MRPs on cancer drugs translating into affordable care?: In a move to make cancer treatment more affordable, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped trade margins at 30% for 137 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs, reducing the price of nearly 900 cancer medicine brands by up to 70%-93%. However, for comprehensive cancer care in India, price regulation might not be enough. Are lower MRPs on cancer drugs translating into affordable care? Indu Bhushan and K.M. Gopakumar discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Bindu Shajan Perappadan. Indu Bhushan is bureaucrat, economist and the first CEO of Ayushman Bharat; K.M. Gopakumar is legal adviser, senior researcher and public health expert.
6. Agniveer scheme not rolled back, all eligible recruits to be absorbed after six years: MoD: A day after announcing a two-year extension of the Agniveer engagement period, the government on Thursday (November 5, 2026) clarified that the Agnipath scheme has not been rolled back and that the revised arrangement creates a pathway for all Agniveers to eventually join the regular cadre of the armed forces. According to Ministry of Defence sources, the scheme remains unchanged in its basic structure, with an additional engagement period of two years introduced for the 75% of Agniveers who are not absorbed into the regular cadre after their initial four-year tenure. At the end of the second engagement period, all those willing and meeting the prescribed eligibility criteria will be absorbed as regular soldiers, officials said.
Addressing concerns over the seniority of the 75% Agniveers who will serve for six years before joining the regular cadre, a Defence Ministry official said their seniority would be protected. On absorption, they will be placed immediately after their respective batchmates who entered the regular cadre after completing the initial four-year engagement period. They will not be placed below personnel belonging to subsequent batches, the official clarified.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Bay of Bengal Countries Launch Fisheries Research Network: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives launched the Bay of Bengal Network of Ocean Researchers for Fisheries (BOB-NOR) in Kochi on November 5, 2026. The Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) coordinates the network. The launch took place at the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute during an international symposium on fisheries and remote sensing. BOB-NOR will combine ocean studies, climate data and information from the fishing sector to support science-based fisheries management. Its research will use satellites, sea surveys, climate studies and fisheries research to assess how rising sea temperatures, changing monsoon patterns, salinity, ocean currents and marine life affect fish populations.
2. US Sanctions on India-Linked Networks and Iran’s Shadow Oil Trade: Iran’s oil and aviation sectors remain subject to extensive U.S. restrictions. A recent sanctions action targeted an India-linked maritime network and a Turkish ground-services company over alleged assistance to Iranian trade and aviation. On November 4, 2026, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions under Executive Order 13902, which targets Iran’s petroleum, petrochemical and aviation sectors. The action forms part of “Operation Economic Outcast”, launched by the Treasury on August 24, 2026, to cut off oil revenues and other economic support for the Iranian regime. The designations focus on alleged networks and services that could help sanctioned Iranian interests continue operating. The stated enforcement approach includes targeting intermediaries that facilitate trade or provide support to restricted sectors, rather than focusing only on Iranian entities themselves.
3. A middle power moment in a fragmenting world: When, early in October, this writer found himself in Berlin, addressing the question of whether this is a “Middle Power moment”, just a day after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had made a speech in Delhi on the same topic, it led to a realisation why this theme has gained renewed salience this year. It began with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney calling, in Davos in January, for the middle powers to collectively address the challenges facing the international system, and persisted with the global recognition that the world is no longer defined solely by the gravitational pull of superpowers, nor by the binary alignments of the Cold War, but by a wider constellation of states. These states neither command the international system nor submit passively to it. Instead, their influence derives from strategic positioning, economic weight, diplomatic agility, and normative ambition.
4. India’s first fusion power company takes key steps: If all goes to plan, India may see designs for the first privately built tokamak, a nuclear reactor that uses fusion to produce energy, firmed up in 2027. Bengaluru-based startup Pranos Fusion has built PRAGYA, a small doughnut shaped tokamak, to test plasma control and superconducting magnets. This is a gateway to building PRANIK, a much larger tokomak that will have plasma heated up to millions of degrees — more than the interior of the Sun — necessary to fuse hydrogen atoms and create energy.
“By 2027, we expect to finalise the blueprint for PRANIK and be on our way to building a practical reactor that can produce energy. To be able to actually produce electricity from fusion is a further step away,” Shaurya Kaushal, co-founder and CEO of Pranos Fusion, said.
5. Visa must for undocumented six non-Muslim communities who entered India before December 31, 2024: Home Ministry: The amendment applies to members of six non-Muslim communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who, fearing “religious persecution”, entered India without valid travel documents, or whose documents have since expired
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, making it mandatory for members of six non-Muslim communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who, fearing “religious persecution”, entered India on or before December 31, 2024, without valid travel documents, or whose documents have since expired, to obtain an “appropriate visa” for their continued stay in the country.
OTHER UPDATES:
DEFENCE
1. India and Canada Hold Inaugural Defence Dialogue: India and Canada held their inaugural Defence Dialogue virtually on 3 November 2026. Dr Amit Telang, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) in India’s Ministry of Defence, and Scott Millar, Assistant Deputy Minister (Policy) in Canada’s Department of National Defence, co-chaired the meeting. The two sides identified defence industrial cooperation, military-technical cooperation, and defence research and development as priority areas. They exchanged views on their defence policies, strategic outlooks, and regional and global issues, and discussed specific deliverables to advance the partnership.
2. DRDO conducts successful flight-test of Pralay missile: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the test was conducted as part of user evaluation trials and successfully met all the stipulated objectives, as validated by data captured through various range instruments.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Thursday (November 5, 2026) successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed quasi-ballistic missile Pralay from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast. The successful trial paved the way for its imminent induction into the armed forces. According to Ministry of Defence, the missile was test-fired at around 11.10 a.m. as part of user evaluation trials. All test objectives were fully met, as confirmed by data captured through various range instruments deployed by the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, the Defence Ministry said.
SPORTS
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Asteroid 2026 QQ8 Becomes Earth’s Temporary Mini-Moon: Asteroid 2026 QQ8 became a temporary mini-moon after entering Earth’s orbit in late April 2026. Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky first spotted it on 20 August; the Minor Planet Center confirmed its natural origin as an asteroid on 29 October, after observations with the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope and the Lowell Discovery Telescope. Initially thought to be space debris, the object is estimated to be about 1 metre across, although some estimates put its diameter at 2 metres. It follows a kidney-shaped loop around Earth and comes within about 0.0038 astronomical units (AU), around 1.5 times the Earth–Moon distance. It is expected to remain gravitationally bound to Earth until December 2026, then escape and continue orbiting the Sun in 2027. It poses no threat; if it entered Earth’s atmosphere, its small size means it would burn up.
2. Antarctic Ozone Hole Ranks Seventh Largest on Record: The 2026 Antarctic ozone hole was the seventh largest in 48 years of monitoring by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agencies said on November 4, 2026. They attributed its size to extreme weather, particularly an unusually powerful polar vortex. The ozone hole reached its greatest one-day extent on September 18, at 10.5 million square miles (27.1 million square kilometres). Its average extent during the peak depletion season, from September 7 to October 13, was about 9.6 million square miles (25 million square kilometres). NOAA balloon-borne instruments measured the lowest ozone concentration directly over the South Pole at 105 Dobson units on October 17. The record low is 92 Dobson units, measured in October 2006.
3. JNCASR Develops Silicon Chip for Terahertz 6G Communication: On 4 November 2026, researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) developed a silicon chip that lets terahertz waves pass through engineered barriers with minimal signal loss. It achieved data transmission at 100 Gbit/s for compact circuits designed for future 6G networks. The research was published in Advanced Materials. Terahertz frequencies span 0.1–10 THz and offer wide bandwidth, but high signal loss complicates device development. The JNCASR team plans to tune the chip’s barriers electrically, thermally or mechanically, allowing devices to redirect signals between paths on demand.
4. ISRO’s latest navigation satellite NVS-03 is fully healthy, says Chairman V. Narayanan: ISRO to conduct in-orbit testing for satellite payload as part of developing NavIC, an indigenous GPS alternative; ISRO chief recalls Indian scientists’ role in saving lives on the Axiom-4 mission; praises Russian support of India’s space programme ISRO’s next-generation navigation satellite NVS-03, launched on October 30 to strengthen India’s NavIC regional satellite navigation system, is “fully healthy”, ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said on Thursday (November 5, 2026). Speaking at the inauguration of the statue of legendary astronaut Yuri Gagarin at the Periyar Science and Technology Centre, Mr. Narayanan said, “NVS-03, successfully launched on October 30 midnight, was perfectly placed in the elliptical orbit. From there, we operated the engine of the satellite for 6,400 seconds to the circular orbit. Right now, the satellite is fully healthy. We have to do a lot of in-orbit testing for the satellite payload and others.”
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. India approves $297 million incentive policy for lithium, nickel processing: NEW DELHI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - India's cabinet approved on Wednesday an incentive policy worth 28.14 billion rupees ($297 million) to boost domestic processing of lithium and nickel, the government said in a statement, in a move aimed at reducing the country's reliance on supply chains dominated by China. India has a high import dependence on critical minerals such as lithium, and tighter conditions following export controls by China create potential supply-chain vulnerability, the government had said in March On Wednesday, it unveiled a programme seeking to bolster processing of lithium and nickel ores and intermediary products into high purity compounds It listed electric mobility, battery energy storage systems, electronics, defence and speciality steel as beneficiaries of the programme "Processing of critical minerals remains geographically concentrated in a few global locations. This exposes supply chains to geopolitical disruptions, price volatility, and potential supply restrictions," the statement said
2. NPCI says MDR charge has been imposed to save the UPI ecosystem from turning ouroboric: Zero MDR is no longer sustainable; the magnitude of growth places correspondingly greater demands on the security, resilience, and infrastructural capacity of the system, NCPI tells SC
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has said in the Supreme Court that “zero Merchant Discount Rate (MDR)” for all Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions was no longer sustainable, as functional costs for the phenomenally expanding digital payment industry in India would burn into the public exchequer. UPI processed as many as 24.51 billion transactions, cumulatively worth approximately ₹29.82 lakh crore, in the month of August 2026 alone, marking its highest-ever monthly volume. An average of approximately 791 million transactions were processed every single day in that month. In Financial Year 2025-26, UPI processed approximately 241.62 billion transactions worth approximately ₹314 lakh crore, the NPCI said.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Filipino Engineer Wins 2026 James Dyson Sustainability Award: Filipino structural engineer Aldrei Ong won the 2026 James Dyson Global Sustainability Award on November 4 for Sentinel, a low-cost sensor designed to detect hidden damage in concrete buildings after earthquakes. Sentinel turns a standard concrete spacer block into a sensor using self-sensing concrete. The material detects changes in electrical resistance when cracks or other damage occur. The device aims to provide early warnings and speed up the accuracy of safety assessments in earthquake-vulnerable regions such as the Philippines. Ong will receive PHP 2.39 million (about £30,000) to develop Sentinel further. He plans to validate the technology, replace its hand-soldered electronics with a custom printed circuit board and create versions for existing buildings. The 2026 competition received a record 2,294 entries from students and recent graduates across 28 countries and regions. The global sustainability distinction returned to the Philippines six years after Carvey Ehren Maigue won it in 2020.
2. Nirmala Lakshman’s Book Wins Sharjah Award: Nirmala Lakshman’s book, The Tamils: A Portrait of a Community, won the Sharjah Award for Best International Non-Fiction Book on 4 November 2026. Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority, presented the award. The category is part of the broader Sharjah International Book Fair Awards, which recognise distinguished English-language non-fiction works. Published by Aleph Book Company in January 2025, the book examines the history, society and culture of the Tamil people, tracing their evolution across centuries and influence beyond geographical borders. It has sold several thousand copies since publication. Lakshman is an author, journalist and Director of The Hindu Group.
