The UN General Assembly has voted to replace the traditional world map with one that more accurately reflects the size of Africa. The “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union (AU) members, passed with the support of 164 nations, including India, France and the UK.
The United States was the only nation to vote against it, while six countries abstained.
The UN vote is non-binding, but it will encourage governments and institutions to stop using the traditional Mercator map.
The Mercator map, which has been in common use since the 16th Century,
has come under criticism as it shows Africa as similar in size to Greenland, even though it is 14 times larger. Critics say this leads to the development needs and potential for countries near the equator to be minimised.
The Mercator map was designed in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to help European explorers navigate
across the world. The map makes countries near the poles appear much larger than they really are. The distortion of his map is a result of the fact that it is impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart.
In an effort to correct this, a team of cartographers in 2018 created an equal area map
they called the Equal Earth projection, which shows the relative sizes of continents more accurately.
In February, the African Union’s 54 member states adopted it and said it more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi visited to UAE, with an objective to attract investment into the state and expand Odisha’s trade and business links with the UAE. A key outcome was an MoU between the Odisha government, UAE-based International Holding Company (IHC) and
the Adani Group to explore 14 new projects involving an estimated investment of Rs. 2,10,500 crore ($2.105 Trillion). The projects have the potential to create around 8,68,200 jobs. The proposed projects cover a wide range of sectors, including metal downstream industries, slurry pipelines, critical minerals and rare earths, chemicals and
petrochemical derivatives, renewable energy equipment, healthcare, industrial infrastructure, tourism, skill development and sports infrastructure.
The meeting reviewed progress on an integrated aluminium project being developed in the state. Odisha has proposed land in Rayagada district for an alumina refinery and
and in Sundargarh district for an aluminium smelter. The Chief Minister invited Borouge, a UAE-based petrochemicals company, to explore setting up a large chemicals downstream complex in Odisha, with potential feedstock linkages to Indian Oil Corporation’s planned naphtha cracker at Paradip.
Veteran Tamil scholar, celebrated orator, and cultural icon Solomon Pappaiah passed away at the age of 90 on Friday (September 11, 2026).
A major milestone during his tenure was the successful upgrading of the Undergraduate Tamil programme into a full-fledged Postgraduate Department in 1986.
In recognition of his immense service to literature and education, the Government of India honoured him with the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2021.Through television and public stages, he brought the beauty and depth of the Tamil language into living rooms across the globe.
Pluxee India, a leading provider of employee benefits and engagement solutions, has received authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Payment Aggregator (PA) for both online (PA-O) & physical point-of-sale (PA-P). This marks another significant milestone in Pluxee's evolution as a technology-led employee benefits and
payments platform in India.The PA authorisation, received on 3 August 2026, complements Pluxee India's existing Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) authorisation, which the company received in 2009 and subsequently expanded in 2020 to enable the issuance of General Purpose PPIs beyond Meal PPIs.
Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, today announced the launch of Sparsh Week 2026, its flagship customer obsession initiative that brings together customers, employees and leaders across the country to strengthen relationships, deepen customer understanding and drive meaningful action.
Scheduled from 7 to 11 September, this year's edition is anchored around the theme "Act with Speed", reinforcing the Bank's commitment to listening to customers and translating insights into faster action and better experiences. This year's theme, 'Act with Speed', reflects our belief that listening matters only when it leads to action.
Axis Bank will introduce a simplified Auto and Two-Wheeler financing journey for eligible customers during Sparsh Week 2026. The fully digital, end-to-end paperless process will enable application-to-disbursement in just 30 minutes.
MD & CEO of Axis Bank-Amitabh Chaudhry
In a significant step towards strengthening digital infrastructure and accelerating broadband connectivity across rural Jharkhand, Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) under Department of Telecommunications (DoT) signed an Agreement for implementation of the Amended BharatNet Program (ABP) in the State under the State-led model at Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Agreement was signed between Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), DoT; Government of Jharkhand; Jharkhand Digital Infrastructure Corporation Limited (JDICL); Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Jharkhand Communication Network Limited (JCNL) for implementation of the Amended BharatNet Program in the State of Jharkhand.
Union Minister of Communications- Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia
Kotak Mahindra Bank Group President and Head of Commercial Bank Manish Kothari has resigned after 31 years. He will leave on September 30, 2026, with Kotak initiating a planned transition and integrating his commercial banking portfolio into its retail and institutional business segments.
it has initiated a planned transition and integrated the commercial bank portfolio handled by Kothari into the retail and institutional business segments.
Founder: Uday Kotak
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Type: Private Sector Bank
MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank-
Ashok Vaswani
The National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released district-level estimates of India's unincorporated non-agricultural sector for the first time, based on the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2025.
The survey covers 757 out of 770 districts and provides detailed data on enterprises, employment, women’s participation and productivity.
The Jammu and Kashmir bank has received the ‘best corporate social responsibility overall practices’ award at the 13th national CSR leadership congress and awards in Bengaluru.
Jammu and Kashmir Bank received a national award for its corporate social responsibility practices. The bank's commitment to sustainable social development was recognized at a Bengaluru event. J&K Bank has invested ninety-six crores in societal upliftment over three years. Its CSR programs focus on healthcare, education, and livelihood generation.
MD & CEO - Amitava Chatterjee
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced the launch of new products on India’s real-time payments system Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This includes an ability to tap-to-pay using UPI at Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals and a customer support solution that works on a small language model called Finance Model for India (FiMI).
The UPI tap-to-pay feature supports transactions across multiple types of accounts. This includes UPI, RuPay credit card on UPI, with the ability to transact without requiring network connectivity on a mobile phone.
The feature is enabled by near-field communication technology, which is supported by compatible smartphones and PoS devices.
Users can make UPI PIN-less transactions of up to Rs.5,000, above which the user needs to enter their UPI PIN on the POS terminal. Transactions authenticated by biometrics, which includes methods such as face scan or fingerprints, surpassed 6.29 billion since launch last year.
The United States and India have strengthened cooperation to protect undersea (subsea) cable networks, which carry 95–99% of global internet and data traffic. The partnership was announced under the US–India TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technologies) Initiative, reflecting India's growing role as a global digital hub.
India's strategic location connects major global markets. Its rapidly expanding digital economy, AI ecosystem, and cloud infrastructure make it a potential global subsea cable hub.The partnership aims to encourage investments in next-generation data centres and AI infrastructure in India.
The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, also known as World Ozone Day, is observed every year on 16 September to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, a landmark global agreement to protect the ozone layer by phasing out ozone-depleting substances.
The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution A/RES/49/114 (1994), first observed on 16 September 1995, commemorates the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on 16 September 1987
2026 theme is "Montreal Protocol: Advancing Climate Action."
The International Day for Interventional Cardiology is observed every year on 16 September to raise awareness about cardiovascular diseases and the life-saving role of minimally invasive heart procedures, especially coronary angioplasty.
The International Day for Interventional Cardiology, established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution A/RES/76/302 (2022), is observed to promote awareness of cardiovascular diseases, interventional cardiology procedures, prevention, treatment and access to quality cardiac care.
The International Day of Science, Technology and Innovation for the South is observed every year on 16 September to promote the role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in advancing sustainable development, reducing the technology gap, and strengthening cooperation among developing countries (the Global South).
It was officially proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution A/RES/78/259 on 9 January 2024, following the G77 and China Summit on Science, Technology and Innovation held in Havana, Cuba (15–16 September 2023)
Four airports are set to come up in West Bengal as the state government moves to speed up regional air connectivity.
The airports will be located at Chharra in Purulia, Balurghat in South Dinajpur, Hasimara in Alipurduar and Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur.
A tripartite MoU between the Centre and the state for the four airports is expected to be signed under the UDAN scheme.
The signing ceremony is scheduled at Nabanna Sabhaghar on 23rd September, in the presence of Union Civil Aviation Minister K. R. Naidu and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
