Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet and interact with the 49 awardees of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2020 in New Delhi today. Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said, children will interact with the Prime Minister and share their valuable ideas and thoughts during the meeting. She said, Children's bravery, perseverance and zeal for innovation is an inspiration to all.

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar aims at encouraging children to excel in different fields and recognize efforts of institution doing exceptional work for children. The Bal Shakti Puraskar is given in the fields of innovation, social service, scholastic, sports, bravery and arts and culture. The award carries a medal, cash prize of one lakh rupees, a certificate and citation. 

Former world Boxing medallists Shiva Thapa (63kg) and Sonia Lather (57kg) assured themselves of medals at the 71st Strandja Memorial Tournament by advancing to the semifinals in Sofia, Bulgaria yesterday. Joining them was Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg). He out punched Ireland's Kurt Walker 5-0 to make the medal rounds. 

Former world silver-winner Lather (57kg) clinched a 3-2 triumph over Ireland's Michaela Walsh in a hard-fought contest to enter the last-four stage. Thapa, a bronze-winner from the 2015 world showpiece, got the better of Ireland's George Bates in his quarterfinal clash. 

Thapa, Lather and Hussamuddin will today try to ensure their place in the finals, scheduled to take place on Saturday. 

Ace Indian shooters Apurvi Chandela and Divyansh Singh Panwar clinched gold at the ongoing Meyton Cup international shooting championship in Austria. Apurvi won the gold in womens 10m air rifle with a final score of 251.4. Anjum Moudgil had to settle for bronze in the same event with a final score of 229.

In men’s 10m air rifle, Divyansh bagged the top honours with a final score of 249.7 while Deepak Kumar had to settle for bronze with a score of 228.

All the four Indian shooters have already earned Olympic quotas for Tokyo Games. Anjum and Apurvi won Olympic quotas for Tokyo 2020 when the former won silver and the latter finished fourth at the 2018 Shooting World Championships held in Changwon, South Korea.

Anjum and Apurvi had won Olympic quotas for Tokyo 2020 when the former won silver and the latter finished fourth at the 2018 Shooting World Championships held in Changwon, South Korea.

Priya Prakash, the founder and CEO of India based HealthSetGo, has won the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award for 2019 for her school health programme that aims at providing 360 degree healthcare support to children.

The prestigious award honours an individual aged 18 - 30 who is bringing about a positive change in the world by solving some of its biggest global challenges. The award includes a US $250,000 prize paid to the individual’s organisation to which the individual contributes, to further their mission of accelerating global problem solving.

The Cisco Youth Leadership Award for 2019 was given to Prakash by Cisco Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Fran Katsoudas, in December of 2019 at the Royal Albert Hall, London. The prestigious finalist group, which Prakash was a part of, included four other individuals who are each working continuously to shape the world like never before. Prakash’s HealthSetGo is a healthcare organisation that supports the UN’s global sustainable development goals and is dedicated to improving the health and lives of children.

Nation pays homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary today. A number of functions have been organised across the country to mark the occasion. In West Bengal, Governor Jaghdeep Dhankhar will pay floral tribute at the statue of Netaji in Kolkata.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will pay homage at a function in Darjeeling this afternoon. State Government is organizing Subhash Utsav in each Blocks of the state. Pople from all works of life are visiting the house of Netaji in South Kolkata since early morning to pay their homage to the great hero of the freedom movement. Netaji Research Bureau has also organized programmes in Kolkata on the occasion. 

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, 2020 at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday.

The Bal Puraskar is given by government every year to recognize exceptional achievements of children in various fields.

These fields are innovation, scholastic achievements, social service, arts and culture, sports and bravery. Twenty-two children who were selected for National Bravery Awards also received the awards from the President.

Celebrated wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and Paralympian Deepa Malik are among the new inductees in the government's All India Council of Sports (AICS).

It is an advisory body to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which was formed in 2015 by the  then Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Its term has also been extended by three years and it will continue to be led by veteran sports administrator V K Malhotra as President.

Some other renowned new entrants in the Council are former shooter Anjali Bhagwat, footballer Renedy Singh, and mountaineer Bachendri Pal. Senior India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has also been inducted in the council.