The Uttar Pradesh Special Security Force (UPSSF), a specialised dedicated force raised on the lines of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), will ensure security of seven newly constructed airports in Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Sonbhadra, Shravasti, Aligarh, Moradabad and Azamgarh.

On Thursday, a senior official from the home department announced that the Principal Secretary of the Home Department, Sanjay Prasad, issued an order on October 20 regarding the deployment of UPSSF at these airports. The order instructs the U.P. Director General of Police (DGP) to define the roles of UPSSF and local police and determine their respective responsibilities in security prior to the force’s deployment.

In a major milestone for the nation, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today launched India’s first home-produced Reference Fuel in New Delhi today. Reference Fuel is used for developing engines and assessing its performance. Earlier, India used to exclusively import it from other nations.
 
Speaking at the event, the Minister said that its introduction is an important step towards atmanirbharta in the fuel and energy sector. He added that this puts India into an exclusive club of reference fuel producers and is in line with international benchmarks. He exclaimed that this achievement not only reduces India’s dependence on imports but also catapults India’s energy industry to select global players armed with exclusive competencies. The Minister said this is part of PM Modi’s vision of transforming India into an ‘energy-independent’ nation by 2047.

The Department of Consumer Affairs, in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), has officially launched the ‘Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon 2023’ to address the issue of deceptive practices on e-commerce platforms. This groundbreaking initiative aims to create innovative applications and software capable of detecting and preventing dark patterns that harm consumers.

In a move to enhance consumer protection, the Department of Consumer Affairs published draft guidelines on September 7, 2023, titled “Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns.” These guidelines are open for public feedback until October 5, 2023. The draft guidelines propose expanding the list of known dark patterns, introducing new categories such as Rogue Malwares, Trick Wording, and Saas Billing.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will attend the Group of Seven Trade Ministers' Meeting in Osaka, Japan from 28th to 29th of this month. The Minister will also have bilateral meetings with a few G7 countries, invitee countries, and international organizations. Under its Presidency, Japan has invited India along with other invitee countries including Australia, Chile, Indonesia, and Kenya to participate in the outreach program.
 
This year, Japan has selected contemporary topics for the outreach program including enhancing supply chain resilience and promoting trade and sustainability- environment, development, and digital.

Designing and implementation of efficient, high-quality, integrated, and resilient urban transport systems in the cities will be high on the agenda of the 16th Urban Mobility India Conference 2023 beginning in New Delhi today.

The three-day conference under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in collaboration with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited will be inaugurated by Union Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri. The theme of the conference is Integrated and Resilient Urban Transport.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a 12-member committee for simplification of insurance policy wordings.

The terms of reference require the committee to come up with simple policy wordings that clearly specify obligations and responsibilities of all parties to the contract. It is also required to suggest specifications such as typefaces for written material and presentation, for both print as well electronic records that are easily readable and comprehensible, IRDAI said.

Olympian fencer CA Bhavani Devi, representing Tamil Nadu, defended her National Games gold medal in the women’s sabre individual event beating S Sowmiya of Kerala 15-5 in the final here on Thursday.

Devi had won gold in the same event in the 2022 National Games in Gujarat.

In gymnastics, Yogeshwar Singh of Haryana clinched gold in men’s all-round individual event. Pranati Nayak, representing Odisha, won the gold in the women’s all-round individual event.

Babu Gaonkar gave Goa their first gold medal of the Games after winning the men’s laser-run event in modern pentathlon at Ponda.

India has secured 70 medals so far including, 17 gold, 21 silver, and 32 bronze at the ongoing Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China. Babu Sidhartha seized gold in R6 - Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 by scoring 247.7. He leapfrogged China's Chao Dong by 0.2 points in a close battle. In men's F-46 shot put, Sachin Khilari clinched the first gold on day four, breaching the Record mark by registering 16.03m. Bhagyashri Jadhav with a best effort of 7.54m bags silver in women's F-34 shot put. In men's F-46 Shot Put, Rohit Kumar bagged bronze.  Narayan Thakur kickstarted today's medal streak with a bronze in men's T35 100m. He clocks 14.37 seconds in the event to clinch bronze. Meanwhile, Shreyansh Tiwari secured an impressive bronze in the men's T-37 100m event with a remarkable time of 12.24 seconds.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Maharashtra and Goa today. Mr Modi will reach Shirdi in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra this afternoon where he will perform pooja and darshan at Shri Saibaba Samadhi Temple. He will also inaugurate the new Darshan Queue Complex at the temple. The new Darshan Queue complex at Shirdi is a state-of-the-art modern mega building envisaged to provide comfortable waiting areas for the devotees. It is equipped with several waiting halls with a cumulative seating capacity of more than ten thousand devotees. It has provision of air-conditioned public amenities like cloak rooms, toilets, booking counters, prasad counters, information centre etc. The foundation stone of this new Darshan Queue Complex was laid by the Prime Minister in October 2018.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced Amol Muzumdar as the new head coach of the Indian women's cricket team.

The board's Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Sulakshana Naik, Ashok Malhotra, and Jatin Paranjape, interviewed the shortlisted applicants for the role and after thorough and thoughtful deliberation, the three-member committee unanimously recommended Muzumdar to take over the position which has been vacant since Ramesh Powar was removed back in December last year as part of a BCCI internal restructuring.