Chennai-based lawyer-activist Lalitha Natarajan has been awarded the 2023 Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labour, the US Consulate said here said on Tuesday.

US Consul General Judith Ravin presented the award to Natarajan at a ceremony at the US Consulate General in Chennai on May 30.

Ms Natarajan has worked throughout her career as a lawyer and activist to apply rights-based approaches to child labour. As a leader in the fight to end exploitative child labour in southern India, she identifies child victims of trafficking, specifically bonded labour, assisting in their reintegration into society, according to a statement.

India's Azista BST Aerospace launched its first satellite, ABA First Runner (AFR), onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-8 Mission.

The company aims to make India a hub for the mass manufacturing of satellites and the successful mission puts it on the path.

The satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Musk's SpaceX rideshare mission.

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) has launched a new deposit scheme ‘Vikas Ashadeep 400 days’.

Shreekant M Bhandiwad, Chairman of KVGB, who launched this scheme, said the scheme is of a tenor of 400 days with an interest rate of 7.50 per cent for senior citizens and 7 per cent for general public.

Under the scheme, a minimum of ₹10,000 and a maximum of ₹2 crore can be deposited.

Indian Overseas Bank Introduces “MY ACCOUNT MY NAME” for Savings Bank account customers, a first of its kind initiative in the banking sector. Now customers will get freedom to choose any name as their accounts number with IOB.

The schemes were launched from Central Office, Chennai, virtually by Shri Ajay Kumar Srivastava, MD&CEO, Indian Overseas Bank with all the 49 Regional Offices spread over India.

Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav addressed the Plenary Session at the 111th International Labour Conference in Geneva yesterday. He said, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi India is moving towards Amrit Kaal with the commitment to provide social security and decent work to its workforce.

Mr Yadav said, through its G20 Presidency, India aims to push for tools to map skill gaps among countries and move towards harmonisation and mutual recognition of skills and qualifications. He said India also aims to work with the world to find out ways for sustainable financing mechanisms to provide universal and comprehensive social security coverage to all, including for gig and platform workers.

In wrestling, India wrapped up their campaign in the U-17 Asian Wrestling Championships with one gold, three silver and three bronze medals on the final day in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan yesterday. Ankush won India's only gold medal of the day in the freestyle 55kg weight category, defeating Iran's Amirreza Ali Teymorizad.

Dhanraj Bharat Shirke lost to Iran's Ahora Farhad Khateri of Iran. Rupesh bagged the other silver after losing to Iran's Sam Reza Sayar in the freestyle 48kg final. With this, all 10 freestyle wrestlers won medals in the competition as India finished second in the freestyle team rankings behind Iran.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister today launched an app called 'Arunpol App' of Arunachal Pradesh Police and flagged-off an APP awareness generation vehicle from the Civil Secretariat, Itanagar today. Speaking to the media after the event, state’s Home Minister Bamang Felix said that the Arunpol app will facilitate common people to lodge complaints without coming to the police station.

He said that people can also apply for other clearances from the police through this app. Speaking on the Arunpol Seva Van, Mr. Felix said that the vehicle will go to different places and will try to know the issues of the people and create awareness among the masses. The state home minister also informed that Chief Minister Pema Khandu also launched another app called E-Vigilance app for the state government employees today. He said that this app will benefit the state government employees by ensuring timely vigilance clearance.

President Droupadi Murmu has greeted people on the occasion of Odisha's agricultural festival, Raja. In a tweet, she wished happiness, prosperity and good health for people of the state and the country on the occasion. Spread over three days, the festival is celebrated in Odisha with swings, pancakes and games.

Greeting people on Raja, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said, as we celebrate this vibrant festival, let us rejoice at the arrival of the monsoon and express deep reverence to the bounteous Mother Earth. He hoped that the festivities will bring immense joy, foster unity and shower abundant blessings on all.

The 4th Tourism Working Group Meeting under India's G20 presidency and G20 Tourism Ministers meeting will be held in Goa from 19th June to 22nd June.

Briefing media in New Delhi today, Tourism Secretary V Vidyavathi said, both meetings aims to strengthen economic growth, preserve cultural heritage and promote sustainable development in the region.

She said, a side event on making Cruise Tourism a model for sustainable and responsible travel will be orgnised on 19th June. The Secretary said, along the sidelines of the main event on 20th June, an event is will be organised which will focus on making India a hub for cruise tourism. She said, Tourism Ministry will also organize a side event Towards a circular economy of plastics in tourism-the global tourism plastics initiative in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme UNEP and United Nations World Tourism Organisation UNWTO.

The W20 summit will begin tomorrow at Mahabalipuram near Chennai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually address the inaugural session and union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani will deliver the keynote address.

The summit with a theme of women-led development to transform, thrive and transcend will be moderated by Dharitri Patnaik, the W 20 chief Coordinator.