Current Affairs 22 October 2026

Religious Conversion Does Not Automatically Give Reservation Benefits

On 15 October 2026, the Supreme Court upheld a Madras High Court judgment cancelling a Tamil Nadu Government Order issued on 9 March 2024. The order allowed people who converted from Hinduism to Islam to obtain Backward Class (BC) Muslim certificates and claim reservation benefits.

What was the issue?

• Tamil Nadu provides 3.5% reservation for Backward Class Muslims belonging to certain recognised communities.
• In 2024, the Tamil Nadu Government issued an order allowing people belonging to Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC), Denotified Communities (DNC) and Scheduled Castes (SC) to obtain BC Muslim certificates after converting to Islam.
• However, the Supreme Court ruled that converting to Islam does not automatically make a person a member of a recognised Backward Class Muslim community.
• For example, if a person belonging to a Hindu Backward Class converts to Islam, they cannot automatically claim BC Muslim reservation. They must meet the legal requirements for membership of a recognised backward community.

What did the Supreme Court clarify?

• The Court explained that religious conversion and eligibility for reservation are two different matters.
• However, the judgment does not mean that converts to Islam can never receive reservation benefits. The government can recognise a group as backward if proper studies and evidence establish its social and educational disadvantage.

Important Constitutional Provisions

• Article 341: Deals with the identification of Scheduled Castes. Under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, SC status is restricted to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.
• Article 15(4): Allows special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Article 16(4): Allows reservation in public employment for backward classes that are not adequately represented in government services.
• 105th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2021: Recognises the power of States to prepare and maintain their own lists of socially and educationally backward classes.

ISRO’s Aditya-L1 Mission Generates Doppler Velocity Images of Solar Corona

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, have generated Doppler velocity images of the solar corona using data from the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) onboard ISRO’s Aditya-L1 mission. The development is expected to improve understanding of the direction of solar eruptions, particularly Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are powerful eruptions that release large clouds of hot, electrically charged plasma from the Sun. When directed towards Earth, they can disturb the near-Earth space environment and affect satellites, communication systems and other space-based infrastructure.

The new imaging technique uses the Doppler effect, which describes changes in the observed frequency or wavelength of waves due to relative motion. By analysing changes in light emitted by solar plasma, scientists can determine whether the plasma is moving towards or away from the observer.

About Aditya – L1

• Objective: India’s first solar mission to study the Sun, solar wind, and solar eruptions.
• Launch: 2 September 2023, using PSLV-C57 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
• Orbit: Entered halo orbit around Sun–Earth L1 on 6 January 2024, approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.

Scientists Discover New Instance of Contagious Cancer in Catfish

Researchers from the University of Vermont, USA, have identified a new instance of transmissible cancer in brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) inhabiting Lake Memphremagog, located along the border between Quebec, Canada, and Vermont, USA. The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature.

Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026

India hosted the Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026 from 21 to 23 October 2026, marking the first time the conference was held in the Global South. The three-day event was jointly inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi.

Agrivoltaics (AgriPV) refers to the simultaneous use of agricultural land for crop cultivation and solar electricity generation. Solar panels are installed above farmland, allowing farmers to grow crops while producing electricity. The concept follows the principle of “One Land, Two Harvests”, helping farmers become both food producers (Annadatas) and energy producers (Urjadatas).

According to a study by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), approximately 47.5 million hectares, or 30% of India’s cropland, is technically suitable for agrivoltaics. Six States — Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh — together account for nearly 50% of India’s estimated agrivoltaic potential.

Coal Controller Organisation’s SUVIKALP Tool Wins SKOCH Gold Award 2026

The Coal Controller Organisation (CCO), under the Ministry of Coal, has received the SKOCH Gold Award 2026 for its innovative digital tool, SUVIKALP, developed to support scientific mine closure and sustainable reuse of post-mining land.

SUVIKALP is an in-house Mine Repurposing Tool that helps stakeholders identify suitable projects for land previously used for mining. It uses a data-driven approach to evaluate and rank potential projects based on technical, environmental, social, and economic criteria. SUVIKALP received the SKOCH Gold Award on 26 September 2026, under the category “Digital Operational Efficiency – Data Driven Decision Making”.

Exercise SIMBEX 2026

The 33rd edition of the Singapore–India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX-2026) is being conducted from 21 to 26 October 2026 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The bilateral naval exercise involves the Indian Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

Q1. SUVIKALP, which received the SKOCH Gold Award 2026, was developed by which of the following organisations?
A. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI)
B. Coal Controller Organisation (CCO)
C. National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC)
D. Geological Survey of India (GSI)

Q2. The 33rd edition of the Singapore–India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX-2026) is being held in which of the following cities?
A. Kochi
B. Chennai
C. Visakhapatnam
D. Mumbai

Q3. The Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026, hosted by India for the first time in the Global South, was held in which city?
A. Hyderabad
B. Bengaluru
C. New Delhi
D. Pune

Q4. Which payload onboard ISRO’s Aditya-L1 mission was recently used to generate Doppler velocity images of the solar corona?
A. Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
B. Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC)
C. High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS)
D. Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX)

Q5. Scientists recently discovered a new instance of naturally transmissible cancer in which of the following animals?
A. Atlantic salmon
B. Brown bullhead catfish
C. Nile tilapia
D. Rainbow trout

Q6. Which Constitutional Amendment Act recognised the power of States to maintain their own lists of socially and educationally backward classes for State purposes?
A. 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018
B. 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019
C. 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2020
D. 105th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2021

Q7. Article 16(4) of the Indian Constitution empowers the State to make provisions for reservation in public employment for which of the following?
A. All economically weaker sections, irrespective of social backwardness
B. Any backward class of citizens that is not adequately represented in State services
C. All religious minorities, irrespective of their representation in government services
D. All citizens belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, irrespective of their representation