Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will confer the 70th Ati Vishisht Rail Seva Puraskar 2025 upon 100 railway officials and present 26 shields to the best-performing railway zones in New Delhi today. The prestigious awards are being given in recognition of exemplary service and outstanding contributions to Indian Railways.

The ceremony will also be attended by Minister of State for Railways V. Somanna, Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh, Chairman and CEO of the Railway Board Satish Kumar, along with Members of the Railway Board and General Managers of various Railway Zones and Production Units.

The Ministry of Railway said that 26 Shields will be awarded to personnel who played acritical role in ensuring safe and seamless railway operations during large-scale events such as the Mahakumbh.

The Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI, today launched the Aadhaar mascot, Udai. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the mascot will be helpful in making Aadhaar-related information more relatable and people-friendly. It added that the mascot will simplify communication of Aadhaar services – including updates, authentication, and offline verification.

UIDAI had rolled out a nationwide Mascot Design Contest on the MyGov platform last year, inviting people to design an official mascot for Aadhaar. 875 entries were received from across the country.

CEO of UIDAI, Bhuvnesh Kumar, said, UIDAI reaffirmed the core principle of Aadhaar by inviting people to design and name this mascot. He said that the responses of citizens demonstrated people’s connection with Aadhaar.

Scientists at the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, have developed a novel, non-invasive technique to measure the local density of cold atoms in real time without significantly disturbing their quantum state – an advance that could accelerate progress in quantum computing, quantum sensing and precision measurement technologies.

The method, known as Raman Driven Spin Noise Spectroscopy (RDSNS), overcomes key limitations of conventional atom-imaging techniques used in cold atom experiments. Cold atoms – cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero using laser cooling and trapping – exhibit pronounced quantum behaviour and are central to emerging quantum technologies. However, accurately detecting their quantum state and density has remained challenging.

Traditional approaches such as absorption and fluorescence imaging often interfere with the atoms being measured. Absorption imaging struggles with dense atomic clouds because probe light cannot penetrate deeply enough, while fluorescence imaging requires long exposure times and is typically destructive, altering the atomic state during observation.

In a bid to reduce road crashes especially in low-visibility situations like dense fog, the government will soon roll out vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology which will allow cars to “talk” to each other and alert drivers during contingencies, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced on Thursday.

“The technology features an On Board Unit (OBU) installed in cars for wireless data exchange between vehicles -- this will enable sharing of real-time information like speed, location, acceleration, braking etc.,” Gadkari said in a press briefing after the 43rd meeting of the transport development council comprising transport ministers and secretaries of states.

The system will prevent crashes by warning drivers early.

India has strengthened its national quality and measurement infrastructure with the inauguration of two apex-level calibration facilities at the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL). The new facilities aim to support indigenous measurement, certification, and quality assurance across key sectors of the economy.

CSIR-NPL, the country’s apex metrology institution and custodian of national measurement standards, is marking eight decades of service as India’s National Metrology Institute. Over the years, the laboratory has played a central role in establishing reference measurements that support research institutions, manufacturing units, municipal bodies, and strategic sectors, with direct implications for industrial quality, fair trade, environmental reliability, and public safety.

With free entry for all for the first time in its history, the New Delhi World Book Fair will open here at Bharat Mandapam on January 10 with "Indian Military History: Valour and Wisdom @75" as its central theme, the National Book Trust (NBT) announced on Thursday.

The 53rd edition of the "world's largest B2C book fair" will be inaugurated by Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan with dignitaries from the guest of honour country Qatar and the focus country Spain.

The nine-day book fair will bring together over 1,000 publishers from more than 35 countries, host about 600 literary activities with nearly 1000 speakers and is expected to "attract over two million visitors".

In a major transformation aimed at bolstering its capabilities to tackle modern warfare challenges, the Indian Army has created a pool of over one lakh drone operatives. The latest Special Force - Bhairav - is being readied to tackle the complexities of modern warfare with its advanced drone operations capabilities.

All operatives can handle drones and utilise them in real operations to target bases and formations within enemy territory. The Bhairav battalions, raised by the Indian Army, are designed to provide a dedicated force for high-speed, offensive operations, carrying out Special Forces tasking at multiple levels as per requirements.

already raised and assigned to different formations on both borders, the Army plans to raise around 25 such battalions in the near future.

The battalions are designed to bridge the gap between the Para Special Forces and regular Infantry battalions, carrying out special operations at tactical to operational depth.

Financial Software and Systems (FSS) a global leader in payments technology and transaction processing, has become the first payments company in India, the Middle East, APAC and South Africa to be certified as an ISO IEC 42001 Certification Lead, reinforcing its leadership in responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in payments and banking technology. By achieving ISO IEC 42001 Certification, FSS signals a shift from ad-hoc AI usage to a structured, enterprise-wide AI governance model, positioning AI governance alongside information security and quality management as a core business priority.

AI is deeply embedded across FSS's platforms, supporting use cases such as fraud detection, transaction monitoring, reconciliation, dispute management, and operational automation. By aligning with ISO IEC 42001, FSS has implemented structured oversight across the entire AI lifecycle, ensuring that AI systems are continuously monitored after deployment and assessed for risks such as bias, unintended outcomes, and regulatory non-compliance.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday launched the new edition of 'History That India Ignored', a book authored by veteran journalist and Asian News International (ANI) Chairman Prem Prakash.

Addressing the event, the Chief Minister lauded the ANI Chairman for the book, stating that it will help ensure that the truth of the country's freedom struggle reaches people, especially the younger generation.

"This is not just a release of the book, it is a reaffirmation of the national responsibility to remember, recognise and restore our collective memories of those chapters of history that were either neglected or deliberately misrepresented. I would congratulate Prem Prakash ji, the publisher and everyone associated with these important publications for bringing out the new edition of 'History that India ignored'. Releasing such a book is not merely an event, it is an act of national service. Books like these ensure that the truth about the freedom struggle reaches the people, especially the younger generation," Sawant said.

Election Commission of India (ECI) will host the three-day India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM)-2026 from 21st of this month in New Delhi. The International Conference is being organised by the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) under the aegis of ECI.

Addressing the media in New Delhi today about the Conference, Director General of IIIDEM, Rakesh Kumar Verma, said that the theme of the conference is democracy for an inclusive, peaceful, resilient and sustainable world. He said the conference will act as a platform for international cooperation amongst Election Management Bodies, developing a shared vision on global challenges being faced by them and sharing best practices and innovations. On the occasion, Mr Verma also launched the logo of the Conference – IICDEM- 2026.

Talking to Akashvani News, Director General Rakesh Kumar Verma, said that besides deliberations on various electoral practices and the challenges being faced by Election Management bodies, different sessions will also be organised.