Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) will invest around ₹27,000 crore to establish a greenfield shipbuilding cluster at Dighi in Raigad district, in a move expected to generate 90,000 jobs, the Maharashtra government said on Tuesday.

MDL signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with National Shipbuilding and Heavy Industries Park Maharashtra Ltd (NSHIPML) in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, an official release issued here said.

As per the agreement, MDL has set a target of achieving an annual shipbuilding capacity of at least 2 million gross tonnes at Dighi.

SENIOR IPS officer Sanjukta Parasor, also known as the “Iron Lady of Assam” for her counter-insurgency work in the Northeast, has taken charge as Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force’s elite CoBRA unit, becoming the first woman officer to head the specialised jungle-warfare force.

Parasor, a 2006-batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, brings to the post extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations, field policing and national security investigations.

The CRPF headquarters issued the appointment order last week. Parasor succeeds 1996-batch IPS officer Danesh Rana as the IG, CoBRA. “This is the first time that the 10-battalion-strong CoBRA of the CRPF will be headed by a woman officer,” a senior officer said. Two CoBRA units were recently deployed by the CRPF to check armed violence in Manipur.

The National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of integrated Computer Lab-cum-Smart Classroom facilities in 29 functional Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) across 11 districts of Rajasthan, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs said.

The Ministry said the integrated technology-enabled learning facilities will benefit more than 10,000 Scheduled Tribe students annually, with equal representation of girls.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs Ranjana Chopra; Joint Secretary, MoTA and CMD, NSTFDC T Roumuan Paite; Deputy Secretary, MoTA Ganesh Nagarajan and other senior officials of the Ministry. The HPCL delegation included Director (HR) K.S. Shetty, CGM, DCO Pawan Kumar Sehgal, CGM, CSR & PRCC Anupam Tiwari, Manager, CSR Bhargav Chauhan and Officer, CSR Sakshi Dwivedi. The NSTFDC delegation comprised AGM, Projects & CSR Bismita Das, Chief Manager Himanshu Vishwakarma and Manager, Projects & CSR Vikash Ranjan.

In a landmark moment for cultural preservation in the Union Territory, the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Vinai Kumar Saxena, has officially declared Kumik village in Zanskar as the region's first designated ‘Heritage Village’ on Tuesday, today, coinciding with the launch of the Ladakh Zanskar Festival 2026.

Nestled in the high-altitude Zanskar Valley, Kumik is renowned for its traditional houses, sacred spaces, agricultural practices, and age-old traditions, and is widely known for preserving a rich Buddhist textual tradition, including precious Kanjur manuscripts and other Tibetan Buddhist materials. It offers a glimpse into a different side of Zanskar – as a place where knowledge, faith and cultural traditions were preserved and transmitted,” LG Ladakh wrote on X.

The official countdown for the Chess Olympiad 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, was marked with the handing over of the ceremonial torch bearing the Olympiad flame by FIDE Interim President Viswanathan Anand and All India Chess Federation (AICF) President Nitin Narang to the Candidates 2026 winner and top Uzbek player Javokhir Sindarov, according to a press release.

The Chess Olympiad is the most prestigious team competition, with the world’s best set to compete in Samarkand from September 15-27.

The Chess Olympiad Torch Ceremony was started by FIDE in 2022 on the lines of the Olympic flame to celebrate the global reach of the sport and build excitement for the competition.

“The Chess Olympiad Torch is a powerful symbol of how the game connects nations and generations. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi began this tradition in India in 2022, and it is special to see the flame now travel from India, the game’s birthplace, to Uzbekistan, two nations with a deep and growing chess culture. We wish Javokhir Sindarov and Uzbekistan the very best as Samarkand prepares to welcome the chess world,” said Nitin Narang, President, All India Chess Federation.

The Indian Air Force’s First ‘Dronathon-2026’ commenced today at the Pokhran Field Firing Range in Jaisalmer. The three day event aims to strengthen the national goal of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and enhance the Indian Air Force’s operational capabilities in the unmanned systems domain. It brings together domestic manufacturers to showcase their capabilities and advancements in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and counter-UAS technologies.

Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS), inaugurated the event. He highlighted the nation’s growing capabilities in unmanned technologies and stressed the importance of developing indigenous defence technologies. During the three-day event, companies from the country’s defence and technology sectors will conduct live demonstrations of their indigenous drone and anti-drone technologies. The focus of the event is on drones and technologies designed to counter them rather than fighter jets or missiles. Domestic manufacturers, startups, innovators from across the country are showcasing their capabilities in Dronothon-2026.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to modernise its 1033 National Highway Helpline with artificial intelligence, real-time location tracking and smart emergency-response systems to provide faster assistance to highway users across the country.

The proposed Next Generation 1033 Helpline is aimed at improving emergency response during medical emergencies, vehicle breakdowns and other highway-related incidents. The upgraded system will be designed to identify a caller’s location in real time, process calls in multiple Indian languages and facilitate quicker deployment of emergency services.

While technology will play a greater role in the new system, human operators will continue to remain central to the response mechanism, particularly in situations requiring judgement and decision-making.

1033 helpline handles around 15,000 calls daily

For millions of Indians, paying through UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has become a routine part of everyday life. A quick scan of a QR code, entering a PIN and the payment is complete.

However, a recent government notification raised questions about whether users could eventually be charged for making high-value UPI payments. The Centre, through a notification under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 on Monday, specified UPI transactions up to ₹2,000 and payments made using RuPay-powered debit cards as electronic modes of payment on which banks and payment system providers cannot impose charges.

The notification states that no bank or system provider can impose a charge, either directly or indirectly, on a person making or receiving a payment through these specified modes.

The Department of Rural Development (DoRD) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand pension coverage and strengthen social security among rural households through a dedicated cadre of Pension Sakhis.

Ministry of Rural Development said that the partnership will leverage the community institutional network of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission, including Banking Correspondent (BC) Sakhis and other trained community resource persons, to raise awareness, facilitate enrolment, and provide pension-related support in remote areas.

India is observing Hindi Diwas 2026 today, September 14, marking the day in 1949 when the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Union.

The yearly celebration highlights Hindi's place in India's literary, cultural, and administrative spheres. Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has sent a special message to his people on the occasion of Hindi Diwas 2026.

Additionally, the Home Minister explained that Hindi as a language is progressing together with all other Indian languages and is crucial to national integration, good governance, and mass communication.