In a significant development, “KISAN SAMPARK ABHIYAN” in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has reached out to more than two lakh farmers, with just seven rounds completed so far.

The programme, which still has 12 more rounds to go till the 31st of August 2023, has sprung a surprising number of farmers who are converging at the venues to listen and watch what is going to be the most pragmatic programme ever envisaged in agriculture and allied sectors not only in the Union Territory but in the whole of the country.

Trawling operations by mechanised boats along the Kerala coast will come to a standstill with the 52-day ban on fishing activities taking effect from midnight tonight. The ban will remain in force till the 31st of next month, July.

More than 4000 fishing boats operating from the State's harbours will cease fishing activities during the ban period. Traditional inboard fishing boats have been exempted from the purview of the ban. The State government has instructed fishing vessels from other States to leave the Kerala coast before midnight.

Round-the-clock control rooms have been set up in coastal districts. The fishers will be provided free rations during the ban period.

The Government has spent 450 crore rupees in the current Olympic cycle on training, equipment, and facilities so far and it will provide more assistance if needed to ensure India makes a new record in the Paris Olympics 2024.

This was stated by Union Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur while addressing a function organised in New Delhi yesterday, June 8, to send off the Indian contingent of 198 athletes to the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023 to be held in Berlin this month, June. He said, India has given the best-ever performance at the last Olympics, Paralympics, and Commonwealth Games with improvements in facilities.

The DARPG and Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh with Knowledge Partner CGG, Hyderabad jointly released the first District Good Governance Index of Arunachal Pradesh on 8th June 2023.

DGGI Arunachal Pradesh was designed and developed after extensive consultations with 7 rounds of meetings between DARPG, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, District officials and other stakeholders.

The Districts of Arunachal Pradesh have been ranked Division-wise as East, West and Central Divisions.

The DGGI represents Next Generation Administrative Reform in Benchmarking Governance at District level. The index benchmarks governance in all the 25 districts of Arunachal Pradesh on 136 data points under 65 indicators spread across 8 sectors. It is uniform tool across Districts of Arunachal Pradesh to assess the status of governance and impact of various interventions taken up by the Central and State Governments. It is expected to provide guidance to the State Government and the District administration in their efforts to address existing gaps, plan to bridge these gaps and aid as decision making tool. The rankings bring healthy competition amongst districts in their quest to provide citizen centric administration and good governance.

India finished on top of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup with an overhaul haul of 15 medals, including six gold, six silver and three bronze medals, here on Thursday.

In a commendable achievement, India have now finished on top of all the ISSF Junior World Cups and World Championships held since 2019.

Veteran theatre actor-director Farrokh Mehta died in his sleep early Thursday morning. He was 91 years old.

He is survived by his wife – a noted Marathi film and theatre director-actor Vijaya Mehta, daughter Anahita Uberoi – last seen in web series Rocket Boys, and Vijaya’s sons from her first marriage, Ravi and Deven Khote.

“His spirit and curiosity were such that he was probably the youngest member of our family,” said Anahita, adding that Farrokh was a really positive and forward-thinking person, with an amazing sense of humour. Anahita and her father were due to give a virtual talk on ‘English Theatre in Mumbai’ next weekend. “I am going to do it for him.”

Indian hurdler Jyothi Yarraji clinched the silver medal in the 100m Hurdles event at the Jyvaskyla Motonet GP, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze level meet, on Wednesday in Finland after clocking a brilliant 12.95s. Fellow compatriot Amlan Borgohain collected the bronze medal in the 100m event with a timing of 10.49s.

In the heats, Yarraji emerged as the second best hurdler overall with a timing of 12.96s. The 23-year-old's Personal Best (PB), which also stands as the National Record, is 12.84s. It was homegrown Reetta Hurske who clinched the gold medal after clocking 12.80s in the hurdles event.

West Ham overcame an almost 60-year wait for a European trophy when Jarrod Bowen’s late-game goal secured a 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.

Bowen raced on to Lucas Paqueta’s brilliant pass in the 90th minute and slotted a shot past Pietro Terracciano to earn the Hammers a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in Prague on Wednesday.

Miyu Kato left behind the disappointment of her controversial disqualification in doubles by claiming the mixed doubles title at the French Open on Thursday.

Playing with Tim Puetz of Germany, the pair defeated 2019 U.S. Open singles champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada and Michael Venus of New Zealand 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.

Kato, a 28-year-old player from Japan, and her women’s doubles partner were defaulted during their third-round match last week after Kato accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck after a point.

Manchester City have been named as Europe’s most valuable football club, ousting Real Madrid, in a report published on Thursday, before this weekend’s Champions League final.

The Football Benchmark report ranks Europe’s 32 most prominent clubs based on a series of criteria including assessments of their financial statements, squad value and the size of their broadcast market.

City, who play Inter Milan in Saturday’s Champions League final in Istanbul, came out on top with a valuation of 4.073 billion euros ($4.39 billion).