Russian energy giant Rosneft has appointed a former Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) director to its board in signs it may be looking at boosting trade links with India.

G K Satish, who retired as director for business development at IOC in 2021, is one of the three new faces appointed to the 11-strong board of directors of Rosneft.

Satish, 62, is the first Indian to be appointed to the board of Rosneft.

Rosneft has partnerships with Satish's former company in oil and gas fields in Russia.

It also sells crude oil to IOC and other Indian firms and has in recent months started shipping naphtha to Gujarat refiners.

His appointment assumes significance as Rosneft is now eyeing more deals with Indian firms including the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Other members appointed include "Govind Kottis Satish, Managing Director, Value Prolific Consulting Services Pvt Ltd (ValPro),".

ValPro is the firm that Satish joined as Managing Director in 2022.

ValPro advises on mergers and acquisitions and investment banking.

Former IOC chairman M A Pathan is on its board of advisor and its top management include former IOC executives.

Russia sells about 2 million barrels per day of crude oil or 100 million tonne on an annualised basis, to Indian firms.

Ministry of Defence on Jul 7  signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for procurement of two Dornier Aircraft for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) along with an associated Engineering Support package at an overall cost of Rs 458.87 crore.

The aircraft will be procured under the Buy (Indian) Category.

The aircraft will be fitted with a number of advanced equipment viz., Glass Cockpit, Maritime Patrol Radar, Electro-Optic Infra-Red device, Mission Management System etc.

The addition will further bolster the aerial surveillance capability of maritime areas of responsibilities of the ICG.

The Dornier aircraft are being indigenously manufactured at HAL (Transport Aircraft Division), Kanpur and will significantly contribute in achieving Aatmanirbharta in defence, in consonance with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government.

The BJP  has appointed Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Bhupender Yadav the party's in-charge for assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively, stepping up its campaigns for key state polls before the Lok Sabha contest in 2024.

Former Union minister Prakash Javadekar and another senior party leader Om Prakash Mathur was made poll in-charge for Telangana and Chhattisgarh respectively.

Former Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and Haryana leader Kuldeep Bishnoi will be co-incharges for the Rajasthan polls, and Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya will be the co-incharge for Chhattisgarh.

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the co-incharge for Madhya Pradesh while the party's national general secretary Sunil Bansal has been given the same responsibility for Telangana.

All the four states along with Mizoram are expected to go to the polls in October-November.

The Indian Oil Corporation Limited has merely a few takers for its "take home two 5 kg cylinders in exchange for 14.2 kg metallic cylinder" offer under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

The IndianOil’s Assam Oil Division (AOD) made the offer after observing that a large number of customers under the PMUY were not refilling their cylinders due to various reasons including non-affordability and the option of cooking using firewood.

The refill price of 5 kg cylinders is proportionate to the 14.2 kg red cylinder. In the past one year, the Indian Oil Corporation managed to push only 1 lakh 5 kg cylinders.

Assam has 44.14 lakh PMUY beneficiaries and an estimated 25% of them did not go for refill.

The IndianOil has launched a 10 kg see-through cylinder which is covered with a composite layer of polymer-wrapped fibreglass and fitted with an HDPE outer jacket. It costs Rs 821.

‘Chhotu’, a mini cooking gas cylinder of 5 kg, has been also launched especially for catering to migrant populations in urban and semi-urban areas who do not have local address proof, people with lower gas consumption and commercial establishments with limited space.

An option for the struggling PMUY beneficiaries could be “Munna”, a 2 kg cylinder, which will be launched soon. A cylinder will cost Rs 247.

In yet another setback to the Shiv Sena (UBT), party leader and Deputy Chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC member joined the rival faction in the presence of state Chief Minister Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.

Police have booked satirist and Bhojpuri singer Neha Singh Rathore at Bhopal’s Habibganj police station, for allegedly linking the RSS with the recent peeing on a tribal man case of Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district.

Police booked Rathore under Section 153-A IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) on the complaint of ruling BJP’s scheduled caste cell media convener Suresh Khare.

MP govt announces Rs 6.5 lakh relief for tribal worker

Meanwhile, the 36-year-old tribal worker Dashmat Rawat has been provided Rs 6.5 lakh as relief (including Rs 1.5 lakh for building his incomplete house) by the Sidhi district administration on the directions of the state’s chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

A 'BJP man' Pravesh Shukla was arrested for peeing on Dashmat. The National Security Act (NSA) has also been invoked against Pravesh, who is now lodged at the Rewa Central Jail.

The incident which happened many months back was filmed by those known to the Shukla family and uploaded on social media recently , allegedly after Pravesh’s family refused to pay them Rs 4 lakh.

Just a day ahead of the rally call given by Khalistani supporters across many countries, including the UK, the National Security Advisor (NSA) of Britain Tim Barrow had a bilateral meeting with India’s NSA Ajit Doval.

India and the UK also agreed to enhance cooperation to address violent extremism and radicalism. They reiterated that there can be no justification for violent extremism and radicalization in a democracy.

It may be recalled that Khalistani supporters had brought down the Indian flag at the Indian High Commission on March 20. British authorities have assured India of doing whatever it takes to rein in these extremist elements. Khalistani supporters have called for a rally on July 8 and have added pictures of Indian diplomats in posters about the event, threatening to harm them.

Also, this meeting comes after the mysterious death of Avtar Singh Kanda, UK chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), on June 15 in Birmingham. Kanda had spearheaded the vandalism of IHC London and brought down the Indian flag.

Barrow is in India on the invitation of Doval for the India-UK Strategic Dialogue. He is accompanied by a delegation of senior UK government officials.

The Dutch government collapsed  because of irreconcilable differences within the four-party coalition about how to rein in migration, a divisive issue that has split nations across Europe.

The resignation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the longest-serving premier of the nation, means the country will face a general election later this year. Rutte and his government will remain in office in a caretaker capacity until a new ruling coalition is chosen.