PIB News Today for UPSC: 31 October 2026 (PM-KISAN, Banking Committee, Gig Worker Boards)

1. PM-KISAN 24th Instalment: ₹18,690 Crore to 9.34 Crore Farmers

About PM-KISAN

• The scheme was launched on 24 February 2019 and gives each eligible landholding farmer family ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000, paid into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts.
• The money is meant for inputs such as seeds, fertiliser and irrigation, which reduces dependence on informal credit for small and marginal farmers.
• States identify the eligible families and build the beneficiary database, while the Centre sanctions payment through PFMS, sponsor banks and NPCI.

What the latest release shows

• Cumulative transfers across 24 instalments have crossed ₹4.64 lakh crore, which shows the scale of the scheme as one of the largest DBT programmes.
• The Union Cabinet approved continuation of the scheme for 2026-27 to 2030-31 in July 2026 with an outlay of ₹3.15 lakh crore; Budget 2026-27 allots ₹60,000 crore for the current year.
• The Prime Minister also launched dairy-linked projects, including a research centre in Banaskantha described as the first such facility for the Kankrej cattle breed, under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission.

Concerns and way forward

• Beneficiary lists depend on land records, and tenant farmers and landless labourers without records stay outside the scheme, so record digitisation and tenancy recognition decide who is actually covered.
• The same release notes recovery proceedings against ineligible beneficiaries such as income tax payers and government employees, which points to the need for regular database cross-checks.
• A fixed ₹6,000 does not adjust for input cost inflation, so periodic review of the amount would keep its real value meaningful.

Source: PIB release 2330414 · PIB release 2330423

2. High Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat Constituted Under Suresh N. Patel

Composition

• Suresh N. Patel, former Central Vigilance Commissioner, chairs the committee, which has three expert members: Shirish Chandra Murmu (Deputy Governor, RBI), Padmaja Chunduru (former MD and CEO, Indian Bank) and N. S. Vishwanathan (former RBI Deputy Governor).
• The Joint Secretary (Banking) in the Department of Financial Services is Member Secretary, so the committee works with the Finance Ministry’s own banking wing.

Terms of reference

• It must recommend structural, institutional, regulatory and legislative reforms to make banks globally competitive, financially inclusive and resilient for Viksit Bharat 2047.
• It will review legal and regulatory frameworks for banks, including Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks, to improve ease of doing banking.
• It will assess long-term capital needs of banks, Development Financial Institutions and NBFCs, and the differences in cost of capital that hold back private investment.
• It will prepare a roadmap for AI and digital innovation with safeguards against cyber risks, and a plan for talent acquisition and capacity building.
• It will review the Priority Sector Lending framework and the Lead Bank Scheme for relevance, effectiveness and coordination.

Why it matters and what to watch

• Putting RRBs, cooperative banks and NBFCs in one review tests whether a single framework can cover institutions regulated by different authorities.
• Its recommendations are advisory; legislative changes would need amendments to laws such as the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, so the real test is what the government notifies after the six-month report.

Source: PIB release 2330598

3. National Social Security Boards Notified for Unorganised and Gig Workers

What has been notified

• The Boards are statutory bodies under the Code on Social Security, so welfare for gig and platform workers now has a named institution rather than only a policy promise.
• The Union Minister for Labour and Employment presides over them, with representatives of the Centre, States, aggregator companies, employers, civil society, workers’ unions and gig worker associations.
• They must meet at least three times a year and follow rules of procedure prescribed by the Central Government.

Functions

• The Boards recommend suitable schemes for unorganised, gig and platform workers to the Central Government, which keeps final decisions with the Centre.
• They advise on administration of the Code, monitor central schemes for these workers, review record keeping at the State level and review expenditure from the fund and account.

Concerns and way forward

• The Boards are recommendatory, so benefits depend on the Centre framing schemes and funding them; the release does not yet announce any scheme or contribution rate.
• Aggregators sit inside the body that will shape their own obligations, so clear conflict-of-interest rules would make their contribution credible.
• Worker registration and State-level record keeping must be accurate, otherwise gig workers who move across platforms and States will fall through the gaps.

Source: PIB release 2330299

4. CAQM’s PAVAN-I3C Command Centre Reviewed; Construction Halt in NCR 5–20 November

About PAVAN-I3C

• PAVAN stands for Platform for Air quality Vigilance and Analytics for NCR; it is an Integrated Command and Control Centre of the Commission for Air Quality Management.
• It pulls air quality, emissions, weather, satellite, camera, mobility, complaint and compliance data from agencies, including 111 monitoring stations, over 2,300 industries and more than 3,200 construction sites.

How it changes enforcement

• Deviations from norms or statutory directions trigger alerts that are escalated to the concerned agency, replacing manual agency-reported monitoring with alert-based compliance.
• State Pollution Control Boards work from one verified data source, which narrows room for disputes over whose numbers are correct.
• The Minister said construction and demolition work across the NCR will be halted from 5 to 20 November to control pollution.

Limits

• A dashboard can detect violations faster, but action still depends on State agencies having staff and the will to enforce, so alert closure rates will be the real measure.

Source: PIB release 2330449

5. Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains Between Varanasi and New Delhi to be Flagged Off

Route and timings

• The train links Varanasi, Prayagraj, Kanpur Central, Aligarh and Ghaziabad with New Delhi, which connects a major pilgrimage centre with the capital region.
• It leaves Varanasi at 20:50 and reaches New Delhi at 06:10; the return leaves New Delhi at 21:40 and reaches Varanasi at 07:10.
• Compared with the Shiv Ganga Express, it cuts 55 minutes from the Varanasi–New Delhi run and 35 minutes the other way, and it runs six days a week.

Features

• Sleeper services began on the Howrah–Guwahati corridor in January 2026, so this is the next route for the sleeper version of Vande Bharat.
• Safety features listed include fire safety to EN45545 HL3 grade, a crash standard of EN15227, a Train Collision Avoidance System and smoke and fire detection.
• Comfort features include regenerative braking, vacuum toilets, berths and toilets for differently-abled passengers and hot-water showers in First AC.

Source: PIB release 2330492

6. Centre’s Accounts to September 2026: Receipts 50.3% and Expenditure 47.7% of BE

What the data show

• Net tax revenue to the Centre is ₹12,76,088 crore, non-tax revenue ₹4,80,732 crore and non-debt capital receipts ₹78,602 crore.
• Of the expenditure, ₹18,95,288 crore is on revenue account and ₹6,54,547 crore on capital account, so capital spending is about a quarter of the total.
• Interest payments take ₹6,46,010 crore and major subsidies ₹2,22,905 crore, which together absorb a large share of revenue expenditure.

How to read it

• Expenditure minus these receipts gives roughly ₹7.14 lakh crore, which is the gap the government has financed through borrowing; this is a derived figure, not stated in the release.
• Devolution of ₹6,99,409 crore to States is ₹67,658 crore higher than last year, which supports States’ spending capacity.

Source: PIB release 2330455

7. Digital Bharat Nidhi, Tamil Nadu and TANFINET Sign BharatNet Utilisation Agreement

The agreement

• It follows the State-led model under the Amended BharatNet Program, which the Union Cabinet approved on 4 August 2023 to upgrade and expand BharatNet to all Gram Panchayats and villages on demand.
• The Centre will give subsidy support for more than five lakh rural home fibre connections and on-demand connectivity to 4,767 villages in Tamil Nadu.
• The aim is better delivery of e-governance, online education, telemedicine and digital payments in rural areas.

About Digital Bharat Nidhi

• It is the erstwhile Universal Service Obligation Fund, renamed under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, and it is an attached office of the Department of Telecommunications.
• It funds BharatNet, the 4G Saturation Project and mobile services in aspirational districts, LWE areas, border areas, islands and the North East.

Source: PIB release 2330586