Week of 2 – 8 Nov 2026
6 articles this week.
Monday, 2 November 2026
Cyclone Arnab: Landfall on Andhra Pradesh Coast, Massive Evacuations, and Inter-Ministerial Damage AssessmentCyclone Arnab, a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, made landfall near Narsapur on the Andhra Pradesh coast on October 28, 2026, with winds of 125–135 kmph; it caused extensive damage across Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, evacuating over 89,000 people. On November 2, an eight-member Inter-Ministerial Central Team led by Joint Secretary Ravi Shankar began a three-day assessment of damage in Odisha's southern districts.ISRO Launches NVS-03 Aboard GSLV-F18: NavIC Restored to Minimum Operational Configuration of Four SatellitesISRO successfully launched NVS-03, the third satellite in the second-generation NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) series, aboard GSLV-F18 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on October 30, 2026. The 2,250 kg satellite carried India's third indigenous atomic clock into orbit, restoring NavIC to its minimum operational configuration of four satellites.High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat: Government Constitutes Reform Panel Under Former CVC Suresh N. PatelThe Union Government constituted the "High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat" on October 30, 2026, chaired by former Central Vigilance Commissioner Suresh N. Patel, to recommend structural, regulatory, and legislative reforms to make Indian banks globally competitive, financially inclusive, and resilient by 2047. The committee has a six-month tenure and includes the RBI Deputy Governor and two former senior banking officials as members.Draft National Steel Policy Vision 2047: India Targets 604 MT Capacity, Decarbonisation, and Specialty Steel LeadershipThe Ministry of Steel released the Draft National Steel Policy Vision 2047 in October 2026, targeting 604 MT of crude steel capacity, per capita consumption of 302 kg, and carbon emission intensity reduced from 2.54 to 1.54 tCO₂/tonne by 2047. The policy replaces the National Steel Policy 2017 and focuses on raw material security, decarbonisation, specialty steel for defence and aerospace, and trade protection against cheap imports.GST Amendments Under Finance Act 2026 Effective November 1: Post-Supply Discounts, Export Refunds, and Inverted Duty Relief SimplifiedThe Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified November 1, 2026, as the effective date for Sections 153 to 155 of the Finance Act, 2026, bringing three significant GST amendments into force: simplification of post-supply discounts (Section 15 CGST), credit note and ITC reversal rules (Section 34 CGST), and removal of the ₹1,000 minimum export refund threshold plus extension of provisional 90% refunds to inverted duty structure cases (Section 54 CGST).Osbeckia assamensis: Gauhati University Discovers New Flowering Plant Species in Manas National Park, AssamResearchers Barnali Das and Namita Nath from Gauhati University identified a new flowering plant species, Osbeckia assamensis, in the grasslands of Manas National Park, Assam. The discovery was published in the peer-reviewed botanical journal Phytotaxa on October 22, 2026. The species belongs to the Melastomataceae family, grows as a perennial shrub 2–2.5 metres tall with pink flowers, and has been provisionally classified as Data Deficient (DD) under IUCN criteria.