PIB News Today for UPSC: 6 November 2026 (Satcom, Mining Auctions, Tax Devolution)

1. TRAI Recommends New Satellite Communication Network Provider Authorisation and Spectrum Rules

Background

• The Department of Telecommunications asked TRAI on 3 July 2025 for terms of a new SCN authorisation under Section 3(1)(b) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
• TRAI issued a consultation paper on 8 April 2026, received comments from 31 stakeholders and counter-comments from 12, and held a virtual open house discussion on 2 July 2026 before finalising the text.

Key recommendations

• A new SCN Provider Authorisation should cover the national area for up to 20 years, renewable for up to another 20 years.
• Holders would sell Satellite Communication Network as a Service (SCNaaS) to eligible service providers but could not offer telecom services directly to users.
• Fixed Satellite Service, Mobile Satellite Service and D2D services through MSS or IMT spectrum would all be allowed on these networks.
• Feeder-link FSS spectrum would be assigned on an administrative basis, and FSS or MSS spectrum would be assigned for up to five years, extendable by up to two years.
• The authorisation fee would be 8% of Adjusted Gross Revenue with no minimum fee, and assigned spectrum would carry a minimum annual charge of ₹3,500 per MHz.

Direct-to-device services

• MSS-based D2D in the L and S bands should be permitted, and the Centre should encourage handset makers to build in modules for these bands.
• IMT-based D2D should be allowed on a non-interference, non-protection basis under Article 4.4 of the ITU Radio Regulations without waiting for WRC-27.
• It would work only if access-service operators holding the relevant IMT channel across all 22 licensed service areas agree to share it.

Concerns and way forward

• These are recommendations, so nothing changes until DoT accepts them, notifies rules and amends the National Frequency Allocation Plan to add MSS as a secondary service in the D2D bands.
• Satellite signals in IMT bands can interfere with terrestrial networks, so limits on aggregate electric field strength from all beams must be notified before services start.

Source: PIB release 2333145

2. Ninth Critical Mineral Auction Tranche, Third Exploration Licence Tranche and ANVESH, EKAM Portals Launched

What was launched

• Tranche IX offers 20 critical and strategic mineral blocks across 8 States, including rare earth elements, graphite and vanadium.
• Across the first eight tranches, 100 unique blocks were offered and 64 were auctioned, a 64% success rate, so a third of blocks still go unsold.
• Tranche III of Exploration Licence auctions offers 11 blocks in 6 States; 11 EL blocks were auctioned in the first two tranches.
• Exploration Licences come from Section 10BA of the MMDR Act and cover the 29 critical and deep-seated minerals in its Seventh Schedule, letting private firms explore before any mining lease.

Reforms and portals

• The Mineral (Auction) Third Amendment Rules, 2026, notified on 16 October 2026, cut the minimum technically qualified bidders for the second round from three to two for Part D minerals, tackling a reason blocks go unsold.
• Critical mineral blocks use a two-stage ascending forward auction won by the highest revenue share, while EL blocks use a descending reverse auction won by the lowest share.
• Bids are due by 7 January 2027, and tender sale runs till 1 January 2027.
• The auctions sit beside the ₹2,814 crore CAPEX scheme for lithium and nickel processing that the Cabinet approved on 4 November 2026, so mining and refining policy now move together.
• The Indian Bureau of Mines launched ANVESH, an analytics portal for production, despatch, sale and trade data, and EKAM, a second digital portal.

Federal angle and concerns

• Mining is a State subject in practice, since States own minerals and conduct auctions, so the conference pressed them to operationalise auctioned mines and speed up new auctions.
• An unsold third of blocks suggests weak bidder interest, and lowering the bidder floor addresses this only partly if geological data stay thin.

Source: PIB release 2333123 · PIB release 2333352

3. India as Kimberley Process Chair Prepares for New Delhi Plenary; Engages African Diamond Producers’ Association

About the Kimberley Process

• The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was set up under UN General Assembly Resolution 55/56 (2000) to keep conflict diamonds out of the legitimate rough diamond trade.
• It has 60 Participants representing 86 countries, with the EU and its Member States counted as one, and it works through governments, industry and civil society together.
• The Chair rotates annually; India took charge on 1 January 2026 and will host the Plenary for the third time, after 2008 and 2019.

What happened

• India’s chairship theme is Confidence, Compliance and Credibility, and the Luanda meeting covered responsible sourcing, Secretariat funding, digitalised certification and reform of the conflict diamond definition.
• India holds Observer status in the African Diamond Producers’ Association, formed on 4 November 2006, whose members account for over 60% of global diamond production.
• The GJEPC and ADPA MoU, approved on 4 November 2026, targets skills in sorting, valuation and manufacturing plus trade and investment links.

Source: PIB release 2333238

4. Centre Issues Joint Advisory on Fodder and Livestock Works Under VB-G RAM G

What the advisory does

• It picks 22 works from the 375 permissible works under the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) framework, covering fodder cultivation, pastures, fodder banks, silage units, animal shelters, milk collection centres and Azolla tanks.
• States are encouraged to raise spending on such works progressively towards at least 5% of total programme expenditure, which is guidance and not a mandatory floor.
• Gram Panchayats where more than 30% of people depend on livestock are flagged for particular attention, aiming resources at the most exposed households.
• State Fodder Resource Development Plans prepared by ICAR-IGFRI can guide district and block planning.

Safeguards and context

• The Act came into force on 1 July 2026 and guarantees 125 days of wage employment per rural household.
• Works must follow Panchayati Raj-led planning through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans, compulsory social audit, weekly public disclosure and a 40% district-level ceiling on the material component.
• States must prepare State Action Plans through convergence of the Rural Development, Animal Husbandry and Agriculture departments.

Why it matters and concerns

• Small, marginal and landless households depend on livestock income, so building fodder banks and shelters with wage funds turns seasonal work into assets that protect that income in dry years.
• The advisory encourages climate-resilient choices such as perennial grasses and integrated crop-livestock systems, which link rural employment to extreme-weather mitigation.
• The 5% spending guide and the 30% livestock-dependence marker are soft targets, so outcomes will depend on Gram Panchayats actually planning these works through Gram Sabhas and on States funding the material component within the 40% ceiling.

Source: PIB release 2332844

5. DRDO Flight-Tests Quasi-Ballistic Missile Pralay; Induction Becomes Imminent

Test details

• The missile was launched from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast at about 1110 hrs, and the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, confirmed all test objectives were met.
• Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad, and other DRDO laboratories developed it indigenously, and Bharat Dynamics Limited, a Development-cum-Production Partner, produced it.
• The trial was a user evaluation trial in the presence of Defence Forces and industry representatives, the stage before induction.

Significance

• A quasi-ballistic trajectory is flatter and more manoeuvrable than a classic ballistic arc, which makes interception harder for missile defences.
• Industry production through BDL fits the indigenisation push, but induction is an announcement of intent until a service contract and deployment follow.

Source: PIB release 2333276 · PIB release 2333046

6. Cosmoserve Space Opens Base 1 in Hyderabad for Space Debris Removal; Minister Sets Debris-Free Space Vision for 2030

What was announced

• Base 1 is a facility of about 14,800 square feet where space robots are designed, built, tested under space conditions and operated through mission control.
• The startup’s Mission EMBRACE tested soft robotic petals in space in July 2026, within a year of the company’s formation.
• The company partners with Pixel for satellites, Dhruv Aerospace Netherlands for propulsion and Skyroot Aerospace for launch.

Space economy claims

• The Minister put India’s space economy at nearly USD 9 billion, with a target of USD 40-45 billion in the next decade.
• Space startups have grown from single digits to nearly 450 since the space sector was opened to private players and NewSpace India Limited and IN-SPACe were created.
• These are ministerial figures, and the debris-free goal is a vision with no stated legal or funding mechanism yet.

Source: PIB release 2333047

7. Centre Releases ₹1,09,019 Crore Tax Devolution Instalment to States in Advance; Uttar Pradesh Gets ₹19,208 Crore

What the release says

• The monthly instalment normally paid on 10 November was advanced to 5 November so States can speed up capital spending and meet development and welfare expenditure.
• Uttar Pradesh received the largest share at ₹19,208 crore, followed by Bihar at ₹10,845 crore, Madhya Pradesh at ₹8,010 crore, West Bengal at ₹7,866 crore and Maharashtra at ₹7,022 crore.
• Sikkim (₹365 crore), Goa (₹398 crore) and Nagaland (₹524 crore) received the smallest amounts.

Why it matters

• Devolution is untied money that States can spend on their own priorities, so an early instalment helps cash flow before festive-season spending and works contracts.
• Advancing a date moves money forward but does not raise the total share States receive, which is fixed by the Finance Commission award.

Source: PIB release 2333166