International Russia proposes global nuclear safety plan Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed a plan to tighten

the safety stan dards in nuclear power plants of the world and sent it to world leaders. It will be discussed by the Group of Eight at a summit in Deauville, France, on May 26 and 27.

National New IDSA team elected Amway India vice-president (legal and corporate affairs) Yoginder Singh has been re-elected chairman of the Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) for 2011-12 .

Persons New chief of Naval Dockyard Rear Admiral K.R. Nair, took over as Admiral Superintendent of Naval Dockyard (V isakhapatnam) from Rear Admiral Vijay Kumar Namballa.

Gnanavelu passes away T.V. Gnanavelu, a long time Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Aquatics Association and a former Vice-President of the Swimming Federation of India, passed away. He wa s 74.

Duncan Fletcher, coach of the Indian cricket team The former England coach, Duncan Fletcher, has been appointed coach of the India n cricket team for a period of two years. He takes over from the highly successf ul Gary Kirsten.

Awards Green Leaf Award The Mangalore City Corporation recently won the Green Leaf Award held at the Cen tre for Economics & Social studies on April 23, Hyderabad, organised by NGO Sukuk i Exanora for Best Sanitary Landfills Category.

Phalke Award for K. Balachander Director K. Balachander, one of the influential filmmakers and trendsetters in I ndian cinema, will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2010

KISS award for UK legal luminary KISS Humanitarian Award 2011 will be conferred on legal luminary Nicholas Addiso n Phillips, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Business Rajendra Pawar is new Nasscom Chairman The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) announced Rajendra S. Pawar as the new Chairman of its Executive Council for 2011-12. He succeeds Harsh Manglik. Mr. Pawar has been a member of the Nasscom's Executiv e Council and is now the Chairman and Co-founder of NIIT Technologies. Nasscom also announced the appointment of N. Chandrasekaran, Tata Consultancy Se rvices CEO and Managing Director, as Vice-Chairman of the Executive Council.

OIL signs MoU with TERI Oil India Limited (OIL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for research and collaboration in petroleu m biotechnology and new and renewable energy sources.