Banking Strike Triggers Nationwide Service Disruption as UFBU Begins Three‑Day Walkout

Banking services across India are set to be disrupted as the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) begins a three‑day nationwide strike on September 28. The strike demands a shift to a five‑day banking week and the removal of the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The Northeast Frontier Railway, together with IIT Guwahati, has rolled out an artificial‑intelligence system called Project DRISHTI to monitor freight wagon doors, locks and seals. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov voiced support for India’s and Brazil’s bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, urging greater representation for Asia, Africa and Latin America while opposing new permanent seats for Germany and Japan. At the UN General Assembly, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described Pakistan as a “serial practitioner of terrorism,” warning that attempts to normalize such behaviour will not be accepted. In sports, 18‑year‑old Anahat Singh earned India a silver medal in squash singles at the Asian Games after losing 4‑11, 4‑11, 7‑11 to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam. The Indian men’s kabaddi team secured gold by beating Iran 40‑34, marking the country’s 13th Asian Games kabaddi gold (nine for men, four for women). Home Minister Amit Shah approved railway projects worth more than Rs 1,542 crore in Sabarmati, Gujarat, including the nation’s first LNG‑powered train, a WAG‑12 locomotive maintenance shed, the Kavach safety system, automatic signalling and the Sabarmati‑Sarkhej line doubling. Google is testing a “buy” option in its Gemini AI for Indian users. Odisha’s School and Mass Education Minister Nityanand Gond reported 1,075 grammatical, typological and spelling errors plus five factual errors in classes 1‑8 textbooks, a mistake that cost Rs 175 crore to print. The Union Public Service Commission has opened applications for various central government posts, with a deadline of October 16.