Persons & Appointments in News — October 2026

1. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO): State-level official overseeing election machinery · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
2. Rajnath Singh: Minister of Defence of India · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
3. Karel Havlíček: Minister of Defence of Czech Republic · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
4. Kannan C.S. Warrier is the Director of the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KSCSTE-KFRI) · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
5. K.J. George: Minister of the Karnataka Tourism Department. · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
6. Nirmala Sitharaman is the Union Finance Minister of India. · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
7. Sanjay Malhotra: Governor of the Reserve Bank of India · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
8. Jonathan Reynolds: UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
9. Jonathan Reynolds serves as the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
10. Jonathan Reynolds: UK Business Secretary · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
11. Narendra Modi: Prime Minister of India who addressed the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
12. Frontier Red Team is an internal unit at Anthropic that stress-tests AI models for safety risks and cyber vulnerabilities. · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
13. Amit Shah: Union Home Minister of India · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
14. Dhal Singh Bisen: Appointed as the Governor of Uttarakhand · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
15. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel: Recipients of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. · 13 Oct · GS3 · note
16. Dmitry Peskov is the Kremlin spokesperson who confirmed ongoing contacts. · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
17. Sergei Lavrov is the Russian official who stated Ukraine does not deserve respite. · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
18. Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar: Appointed as Governor of Tamil Nadu · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
19. Om Prakash Mathur: Appointed as Governor of Kerala · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
20. Dushyant Gautam: Appointed as Governor of Sikkim · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
21. Braj Mohan Ram: Appointed as Governor of Odisha · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
22. Sudha Yadav: Appointed as Governor of Karnataka · 13 Oct · GS2 · note
23. Rajendra Arlekar: Governor of Tamil Nadu · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
24. O.P. Mathur: Governor of Keralam · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
25. Sudha Yadav: Governor of Karnataka · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
26. Braj Mohan Ram: Governor of Odisha · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
27. Dhal Singh Bisen: Governor of Uttarakhand · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
28. Surya Kant: Chief Justice of India as of October 2026 · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
29. Ullas Kolthur-Seetharam: Director of BRIC-CDFD · 12 Oct · GS3 · note
30. Keith Sonderling: US Labour Secretary. · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
31. JD Vance: Vice President of the United States. · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
32. Sunil Bharti Mittal: Founder of Bharti Enterprises · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
33. CJI Surya Kant: Served as the Chief Justice of India during the October 2026 proceedings. · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
34. Prakash Rajpurohit is an IAS officer of the 2010 batch. · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
35. Saurabh VijayVergia: Founder and CEO of CoverSure · 12 Oct · GS2 · note
36. Anura Kumara Dissanayake: President of Sri Lanka (National People’s Power coalition). · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
37. Govind Mohan: Union Home Secretary. · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
38. Anurag Kumar: Delhi Police Commissioner. · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
39. Prakash Rajpurohit: Appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India (ECI). · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
40. Kapil Sibal: A Rajya Sabha MP and advocate who welcomed the court's order. · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
41. Mukul Wasnik is the head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports · 11 Oct · GS3 · note
42. The Union Home Secretary was issued a notice by the Supreme Court regarding the protest situation. · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
43. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh is the head of the Indian Air Force · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
44. General Kevin Schneider is the Commander of US Pacific Air Forces. · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
45. The ruling was delivered by Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Sakthivel · 11 Oct · GS2 · note
46. Marco Rubio: US Secretary of State · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
47. Francesca Albanese: Associated with ICC · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
48. Navi Pillay: Nobel Peace Prize winner · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
49. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant inaugurated the consultation. · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
50. Dr. Koyyala Ruth John Paul: India's first transgender person to complete a postgraduate medical course. · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
51. Jijo G. John is the chairman of GTech · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
52. Tushar Mehta: Solicitor General of India · 10 Oct · GS2 · note
53. The judgment was delivered by Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu. · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
54. Navanethem Pillay: Current judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
55. Sibi Adhithya Senthil Kumar: District Collector of Cuddalore who launched the initiative. · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
56. Nikhil Chakravarthi is the Director of Industries for Telangana. · 9 Oct · GS3 · note
57. Roji M. John is the Higher Education Minister of Kerala. · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
58. Vikram Singh Mann serves as the Director General of the Telangana Fire, Disaster Response, Emergency and Civil Defence Department. · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
59. Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan serves as the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. · 9 Oct · GS1 · note
60. Gyanesh Kumar: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
61. Akbar Pathan: Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) in Mumbai · 9 Oct · GS3 · note
62. Francis Halzen: Recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics. · 9 Oct · GS3 · note
63. Priyank Kharge: Minister for IT and Home portfolio in Karnataka. · 9 Oct · GS3 · note
64. Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in 2024 prior to the invasion of southern Lebanon. · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
65. S. Jaishankar: India's External Affairs Minister · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
66. Captain Smit Machchhar: Indian pilot awarded by Israel for heroism. · 9 Oct · GS2 · note
67. C. Sudarshan Reddy is the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
68. The Director of Health Services and Director of Medical Education oversee district-level implementation · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
69. Ashwini Vaishnaw: Minister of Electronics and Information Technology · 8 Oct · GS3 · note
70. Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu are judges of the Supreme Court of India · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
71. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani is the Minister of State for Communications. · 8 Oct · GS3 · note
72. BLOs: Booth Level Officers are responsible for voter list maintenance and house-to-house verifications. · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
73. Andrii Sybiha is the official who characterized India's plan as the most comprehensive. · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
74. Chief Justice Surya Kant presided over the bench that issued the order. · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
75. Raju Ramachandran: Appointed as amicus curiae by the Supreme Court to examine DGP appointment rules. · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
76. Raghoo Puri: First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
77. Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta: Bench of the Supreme Court · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
78. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (retd) is the current head of the reconstituted PCI · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
79. Karl Deisseroth: Associated with Stanford University; used optogenetics in 2005 to study brain functions. · 8 Oct · GS3 · note
80. Archana Patnaik: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) overseeing the voter enrollment drive · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
81. Justice Pramath Patnaik: Chairperson of the commission to study SEBC representation in Odisha · 8 Oct · GS2 · note
82. G. Madhavan Nair: Former Chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) · 7 Oct · GS3 · note
83. V.D. Satheesan: Chief Minister of Kerala · 7 Oct · GS2 · note
84. Dinesh Trivedi: High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh · 7 Oct · GS2 · note
85. Surya Kant is the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as of October 2026 · 7 Oct · GS2 · note
86. Justice Lalitha Kanneganti: Presiding judge of the Karnataka High Court who issued the directive. · 7 Oct · GS2 · note
87. N. Chandrababu Naidu: Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh · 7 Oct · GS2 · note
88. Rajarshi Bhagyachandra: Grandson of King Pamheiba who introduced Hinduism as the State religion of Manipur. · 7 Oct · GS1 · note
89. Andrii Sybiha is the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. · 7 Oct · GS2 · note
90. Krishipal Raghuvanshi: Former IPS officer and founder of C-60 commando force · 7 Oct · GS3 · note
91. The five commissionerates will be overseen by a Chief Police Commissioner. · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
92. ADRDE: Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, located in Agra. · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
93. Justice Sunita Agarwal served as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court before her elevation. · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
94. Rajnath Singh: Union Minister of Defence · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
95. Bilal Hassan, Mohammad Ajmal Shah, and Mumtaz A. Yatoo: Researchers from the Centre of Central Asian Studies, University of Kashmir. · 6 Oct · GS1 · note
96. Francis Halzen: Belgian physicist and 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics winner. · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
97. S. Jaishankar: Minister of External Affairs (MEA) · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
98. Rajesh Kumar Singh was present during the contract signing · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
99. K. Rammohan Naidu is the Civil Aviation Minister of India · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
100. K. Ravi Kumar: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) overseeing the ECI's directives · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
101. Jason Kwon: Chief Strategy Officer of OpenAI who testified before the Australian parliamentary committee. · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
102. K.M. Chandrasekhar: Vice-Chairperson of the Keralam State Planning Board. · 6 Oct · GS3 · note
103. Humaiun Kobir: State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
104. Admiral Samuel J. Paparo: Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
105. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant: Presided over the Supreme Court bench on October 5, 2026 · 6 Oct · GS2 · note
106. G. Parameshwara: Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Sports, Karnataka · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
107. Justice Sunita Agarwal served as Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court from July 2023. · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
108. G. Parameshwara serves as the Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister of Karnataka. · 5 Oct · GS3 · note
109. Krishna Byre Gowda represents Karnataka at GST Council meetings. · 5 Oct · GS3 · note
110. Justice Puthichira Sam Koshy: Appointed as Acting Chief Justice of Telangana High Court · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
111. Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh: Appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
112. S. Jaishankar: External Affairs Minister of India · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
113. Rajeer Jat and Bharat Ramaswami are the economists who authored the study in the Journal of Development Economics. · 5 Oct · GS3 · note
114. Benjamin Haddad: French Minister-Delegate for European Affairs · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
115. Guy Parmelin: President of Switzerland · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
116. Masayoshi Son is associated with SoftBank Group Corp. · 5 Oct · GS3 · note
117. Pete Hegseth: US Secretary of War · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
118. CJI Surya Kant: Presiding judge of the Supreme Court bench on October 5, 2026 · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
119. Yuri Gagarin: First human in space, completed one orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961. · 5 Oct · GS3 · note
120. Arabinda Kumar Padhee: The official to whom the request for guidelines was addressed. · 5 Oct · GS2 · note
121. Shaktikanta Das serves as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. · 4 Oct · GS3 · note
122. D. Sajith Babu is the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Kerala. · 4 Oct · GS2 · note
123. Dan Tenney is the Senior Vice President of global business development and strategy at Lockheed Martin. · 4 Oct · GS3 · note
124. Andrii Sybiha is the official associated with Ukraine's consideration of the ceasefire proposal. · 4 Oct · GS2 · note
125. Dinesh Trivedi: India's High Commissioner in Dhaka · 4 Oct · GS2 · note
126. Admiral Samuel J. Paparo: Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command · 3 Oct · GS2 · note
127. Sheikh Hasina: Ousted ex-Prime Minister of Bangladesh · 3 Oct · GS2 · note
128. P.K. Mishra: Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister · 3 Oct · GS3 · note
129. The initiative was praised by Mohan Charan Majhi. · 3 Oct · GS3 · note
130. Michael Greenstone: Director of the Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago. · 2 Oct · GS3 · note
131. N. Siva Sankar is the head of the Pay Revision Commission in Telangana. · 2 Oct · GS3 · note
132. V.D. Satheesan: Chief Minister of Kerala (as of October 2026). · 2 Oct · GS2 · note
133. Mahatma Gandhi was a lawyer and a prominent figure in the freedom movement against British rule. · 2 Oct · GS1 · note
134. Deputy Collector: Official appointed by the court to coordinate and resolve pilgrim complaints. · 2 Oct · GS2 · note
135. Jessica Watkins: NASA commander and first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit · 2 Oct · GS3 · note
136. Vladimir Putin: President of Russia · 2 Oct · GS2 · note
137. Gursaran Prasad Talwar: Developed first leprosy and birth control vaccines · 2 Oct · GS3 · note
138. K. Muraleedharan: Health Minister of Kerala · 2 Oct · GS2 · note
139. Travis Beals: Executive managing Google's Project Suncatcher. · 2 Oct · GS3 · note
140. Silvio Erkens: Netherlands Minister for Food Security, Fisheries and Horticulture · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
141. Delhi Chief Secretary: Tasked with reporting on pedestrian safety compliance. · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
142. H.D. Kumaraswamy: Union Minister who proposed the Srirangapatna tourism hub development. · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
143. FDA: Approved lenacapavir in June 2025. · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
144. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra: Director-General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) · 1 Oct · GS3 · note
145. Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Minister Roji M. John are the key officials involved in the project. · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
146. Narendra Modi: Prime Minister of India · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
147. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are responsible for reporting inconsistencies in voter mapping and status · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
148. Nirmala Sitharaman is the Finance Minister of India · 1 Oct · GS3 · note
149. Piyush Goyal: Minister of Commerce and Industry, Government of India · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
150. Jamieson Greer: U.S. Trade Representative · 1 Oct · GS2 · note
151. Sundar Pichai: CEO of Google · 1 Oct · GS3 · note
152. Mark Rutte: Secretary-General of NATO. · 1 Oct · GS2 · note

How these notes are made