Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra was on June 26, elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee.

Batra was elected to the prestigious seat during the IOC Session in Laussane. He secured 58 votes out of 62 while four voted against him.

His election is linked to his function in a National Olympic Committee -- that is president of IOA.

Batra now has a rare distinction of becoming a member of the IOC, while heading a National Olympic Committee as well as an international federation. He is the first Indian to have this distinction.

Rahimatpur police station in Satara district in western Maharashtra has emerged as the State topper in a survey based on the ‘SMART’ policing concept announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr. Modi had first called for making the police force ‘SMART’ — strict and sensitive, modern and mobile, alert and accountable, reliable and responsive, techno-savvy and trained — while addressing the 49th annual conference of Directors-General and Inspectors-General of Police in Guwahati in 2014.

The Quality Council of India (QCI), which executed the survey, assessed 87 shortlisted police stations across the country on a number of parameters like performance in controlling crime, infrastructure of the police building, mess and optimal use of technology, and citizen feedback.

Veteran South Indian film actor and director Vijaya Nirmala passed away while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Hyderabad on June 26 night.

She is survived by her husband and hero of yesteryears Krishna. She was 73.

Nirmala, born in Tamil Nadu, made her debut at the age of seven as a child artiste in a Tamil movie Machcha Rekhai (1950).

She entered the Telugu film industry through the film Rangula Ratnam and acted in over 200 films in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.

Though she began her career as an actor, later she took many roles in her career as producer and director.

In 2002, she entered the Guinness Book of Records as the female director of the most number of films. In 2008, she received the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for her contribution to Telugu cinema.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today conveyed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that India will go by its national interest while dealing with other countries, including with sanctions-hit Russia. 

New Delhi is procuring S-400 missile defence system from Russia. The two had an extensive bilateral meeting this afternoon in New Delhi.  

Replying to a media query on the issue of sanctions under the US' Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act which may also impact India's procurement of the S400 system from Moscow, Dr Jaishankar said India has relationships with several countries. 

In a joint press interaction, Mr Pompeo said India is an important partner of the US and that the bilateral ties are reaching new heights. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached the Japanese city of Osaka this morning to attend the G20 Summit which will be held tomorrow and the day after. 

On the sidelines of the summit, Mr Modi will meet with the leaders of major partner countries. The Prime Minister will hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe this morning, while he is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump tomorrow and discuss important issues of bilateral and global importance.

In his departure statement, Mr Modi said he is looking forward to discussing with other global leaders major challenges and opportunities faced by the world. 

The Prime Minister said, G20 summit will also be a platform for sharing India's strong developmental experience of the last five years, which provided the basis for a resounding mandate to the government by the people of the country to continue on the path to progress and stability. Mr Modi added that the summit will be an important stepping stone for India towards hosting the G-20 Summit in 2022, when the country will usher in a New India in the 75th Anniversary of the Independence.

K. Natarajan, the second Coast Guard officer to lead the force, would take over on June 30. He joined the force on January 18, 1984, and holds a Masters Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University.

K. Natarajan has held various important Command and Staff appointments, both afloat and ashore. The Flag Officer has commanded all classes of Indian Coast Guard ships, namely Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) Sangram, Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Veera, Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) Kanaklata Barua and Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) Chandbibi.

The Flag Officer has held the appointments of Chief Staff Officer (Personnel & Administration) at Headquarters Region (East), Chennai and Chief of Staff at Headquarters Region (West), Mumbai. The Officer has also held the appointment of Officer-in-Charge, Coast Guard Training Centre, Kochi.

On elevation to the Flag rank in August 2009, he spearheaded the Staff Division of Policy and Plans at the Coast Guard Headquarters as the Deputy Director General (Policy & Plans) till April 2014. The newly appointed chief of Indian Coast Guard, K. Natarajan was instrumental in giving a fillip to the overall growth of the Coast Guard, post 26/11, in terms of assets and infrastructure development including a dedicated academy.

More than the pride involved in hosting the triennial International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) congress here from June 26 for the first time in Asia, 32nd one over all, Telangana is taking the event as an opportunity to earn reputation as an emerging hub in the global seed arena and also to leap up seed exports. The eight-day congress would have the main event for three days and technical committee meetings/sessions would be held over the next five days. Efforts for hosting the congress started in 2016 itself after identifying the opportunities in seed exports based on the strong foundation the State already has in quality seed production.

“As it is, Telangana is a major hub of seed production in the country meeting about 60% of the country’s needs in major crops such as rice, maize, soyabean, pearl millet, sorghum and cotton. About 400 seed companies are operating in the State with 413 seed processing and 13 seed testing units”, Agriculture Production Commissioner C. Parthasarathi said adding that about 2.5 lakh farmers in 1,500 villages were engaged in seed production in 3 lakh acres. They were producing about 65,000 tonnes seed of various crops.

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) committee has suggested a 5,000 crore stressed asset fund for domestic micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in a relief to small businesses hurt by demonetization, the goods and services tax and an ongoing liquidity crunch.

The committee to study the problems faced by MSMEs was chaired by U.K. Sinha, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

“The committee recommends for the creation of a distressed asset fund, with a corpus of 5,000 crore, structured to assist units in clusters where a change in the external environment, e.g. a ban on plastics or ‘dumping’ has led to a large number of MSMEs becoming non-performing asset (NPA)," its report published on Tuesday said.

The committee said such a fund could work in tandem with RBI-mandated restructuring schemes or bank-led NPA revival solutions for MSMEs. “The onus of creating this fund would lie with the government," it said.

Veteran freedom fighter from Goa and Padmashri Mohan Ranade (89) died on Tuesday in Pune, after a prolonged illness.

Ranade was a member of the Azad Gomantak Dal, a group of revolutionaries who believed in the doctrine of armed attacks against the Portuguese colonial rule and participated in ambushes on several Portuguese installations in Goa. Police stations were their major targets.

Following his arrest in 1955 for an armed attack on Betim police station, the Sangli-born Ranade, who was undercover as a Marathi school teacher in Goa, was sentenced to 26-year imprisonment at Fort of Caxias near Lisbon.

He was arrested after he received gunshot wounds to his lungs, from which he recovered. He served first five years in a solitary confinement in Goa, after which he was tried in Portugal.

AS THE visiting US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday, New Delhi will stay firm on the S-400 deal with Russia and seek waiver under the US law.

Jaishankar and Pompeo will prepare the groundwork for the Prime Minister’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka. Though the timing has not been finalised yet, it is likely to be held on June 28.

Jaishankar is scheduled to accompany the Prime Minister for the G-20 summit, just like Pompeo will join Trump in Japan. This is a departure from the past, as then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj did not accompany the PM on his overseas visits. Both Jaishankar and Pompeo are likely to be present at the Modi-Trump meeting.

Jaishankar, who will be meeting his American counterpart Pompeo for the first time, is also likely to counsel the US interlocutor that both US and Iran should “de-escalate” the situation, diplomatic sources said.