Chief Election Commissioner of India Anup Chandra Pandey and other senior delegates are in Uzbekistan to participate as observers for the July 9 presidential elections in the country.

The Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan held a meeting with the Indian delegation. The meeting was attended by Uzbekistan's Central Election Commission Deputy Chairman Bakhrom Kuchkarov, Commission member Gulnoza Rakhimova, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India Anup Chandra Pandey, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat.Members of the Indian delegation were informed about the work being done to hold the elections.

Representatives of international organisations and states of Asia, Europe, America and Africa have also landed in Uzbekistan and would be observing the July 9 polls closely.

The pre-election campaign of presidential candidates took place from June 7 to July 7. Ulugbek Inoyatov from the People's Democratic Party, Uzbekistan's current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev from Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party, Robakhon Makhmudova from the Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and Abdushukur Khamzaev from the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan are taking part in the elections.

Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev explained the necessity of the early presidential election and the reason for giving up the remaining three and a half years of his presidential term.

President Joe Biden  has defended what he said was a “difficult decision” to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move the administration said was key to the fight and buttressed by Ukraine’s promise to use the controversial bombs carefully.

The decision comes on the eve of the NATO summit in Lithuania, where Biden is likely to face questions from allies on why the U.S. would send a weapon into Ukraine that more than two-thirds of alliance members have banned because it has a track record for causing many civilian casualties.

The move was met with divided reactions from Congress, as some Democrats criticized the plan while some Republicans backed it. It was hailed on Twitter by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked Biden for “a timely, broad and much-needed defence aid package” that will “bring Ukraine closer to victory over the enemy, and democracy to victory over dictatorship.”

The munitions — which are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — are seen by the U.S. as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian front lines. U.S. leaders debated the thorny issue for months before Biden made the final decision this week.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate,” meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. The unexploded rounds, which often litter battlefields and populated civilian areas, cause unintended deaths. U.S. officials have said Washington will provide thousands of the rounds but provided no specific numbers.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “wants countries to abide by the terms of that convention and so as a result, of course, he does not want there to be continued use of cluster munitions on the battlefield.”

The last large-scale American use of cluster bombs was during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to the Pentagon. But U.S. forces considered them a key weapon during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, according to Human Rights Watch. In the first three years of that conflict, it is estimated the U.S.-led coalition dropped more than 1,500 cluster bombs in Afghanistan.

Diamond mining giant De Beers has signed a 10-year sales pact and a 25-year new lease agreement with Botswana that will have natural rough supply coming through the pipeline for the next 30 years.

In the sales agreement, De Beers increased the shares of Botswana to 50 per cent. It was 30 per cent at the beginning which later increased to 40 per cent.

The new mining licence and new lease agreement with Desbwana for 25 years secures natural rough supply coming through the pipeline for the next 30 years.

Debswana is a mining company, which is an equal partnership between the Republic of Botswana (GRB) and the De Beers Group of companies.

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has set up a high-level committee, headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, to decide on the national cricket team's participation in the 2023 ODI World Cup, set to be held in India in October-November, later this year.

The committee's main task will be to make recommendations about Pakistan's travel plans to India and based on that, the Pakistan prime minister will sign off on the country's participation in the mega event.

Apart from foreign minister Zardari, interior minister Rana Sanaullah and law and justice minister Azam Nazeer Tarar are some other names on the committee. It will also consist of Ehsan ur Rehman Mazari, Maryam Aurangzeb, Asad Mehmood, Aminul Haque, Qamar Zaman Kaira, and Tariq Fatemi, the special assistant on foreign affairs to the PM.

The committee, which also includes heads of the intelligence agencies and the foreign secretary, has representation from across different political parties.

Q1. Name the state  government which  is contemplating to resort to solar-powered fencing around farms to ward off the stray animals ?

1. Assam
2. UP
3. Jharkhand
4. Punjab
5. None of These

Q2. Name the city of Telangana  in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has  laid foundation stones for several infrastructure development projects worth around Rs 6,100 crore  during his Telangana visit.

1. Warangal
2. Karimnagar
3. Mahbubnagar
4. Hyderabad 
5. None of These

Q3. Name the state  whose police have approached the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) seeking a ban on more than 100 gambling/gaming and loan lending apps that are allegedly engaged in money laundering and pose a threat to the financial security of the country ?

1. Bihar
2. Jharkhand
3. Odisha
4. UP
5. None of These

Q4. Name  the Chief Election Commissioner of India  who and other senior delegates were  in Uzbekistan to participate as observers for the July 9 presidential elections in the country ?

1. Sushil Chandra
2.  Anup Chandra Pandey
3. Rajiv Kumar
4.  Ashok Lavasa
5. None of These

Q5. Name the Dutch premier who has  resigned  because of deadlock on thorny issue of migration, paving way for new elections ?

1. Joop den Uyl
2. Dries van Agt
3. Mark Rutte
4. Wim Kok
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------2  UP

2-----------------4 Hyderabad 

3------------------1 Bihar

4------------------2   Anup Chandra Pandey

5------------------3    Mark Rutte

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) (mini parliament of Sikhs) has registered strong opposition to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) describing that it is suppression on minorities and was no longer relevant besides unnecessary in the country.

In the executive committee meeting of the SGPC  on Jul 8  it has been decided that there is no need for UCC in the country, while the constitution recognizes the principle of unity in diversity.

On the issue of UCC, the SGPC has constituted a sub-committee of Sikh intellectuals, historians, scholars, and lawyers, which at the preliminary stage considered the UCC as suppression for the existence of minorities, their religious rites, traditions, and culture. This sub-committee includes SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal, senior Sikh lawyer Puran Singh Hundal, SGPC members Bhagwant Singh Sialka, Paramjit Kaur Landran, and Kiranjot Kaur, Prof Kashmir Singh, Dr Inderjit Singh Gogoani, Dr Paramveer Singh, and Dr Chamkaur Singh. He said that as per the opinion of this sub-committee, the SGPC has expressed strong opposition against the UCC.

He said that any challenge to bani bana (Gurbani and traditional Sikh attire), bol baale (words or thoughts which are sublime or supreme as well as high and true), principles, traditions, values, lifestyle, culture, independent existence and distinct entity of Sikhs can never be accepted and the Sikh Maryada (code of conduct) cannot be tested by the worldly law. Therefore, the Sikh community opposes the UCC. He also said that the 21st Law Commission had also rejected the UCC terming it as neither desirable nor feasible.

Already the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has opposed the proposed implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country saying it would have an adverse impact on minorities and tribal communities. 

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) eliminated a component of Pakistan's ISI surveillance network in the state . In addition, the ATS nabbed one person in Kutch for revealing BSF intelligence. The individual has been identified as Nilesh Badiya.

According to early findings, Nilesh fell victim to a honeytrap and provided classified material to Pakistan. He made contact with an internet profile called Aditi. Several crucial BSF-related documents were sent to Pakistan, and money was also obtained in return.

McDonald’s has removed tomatoes from their burgers and other food items in many parts of India. This action by the popular fast food chain comes as tomato prices have skyrocketed in the last month. McDonald’s - North and East- on  has  said it is dropping tomatoes from its menu items due to a “temporary” seasonal issue in procurement and that they will bring back them on the menu soon. A large number of its outlets in Delhi also hung a notice about the unavailability of tomatoes.