Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone of 11 NH projects worth Rs 5,600 crore in Pratapgarh, Rajasthan.

These comprise four major national highway projects worth Rs 3,775 crore and seven relatively smaller projects worth Rs 1,850 crore.

The four major projects include the six-laning of NH48 between Kishangarh and Gulbapura, and between Gulabpura and Chittorgarh, and the construction of a four-lane railway overbridge on NH 162A at Fatehnagar.

It also includes the construction of a high level bridge on Chambal river in Mandrayal under Central Road and Infrastructure Fund.

The minor projects include those aimed at improving connectivity between religious place Nathdwara and Udaipur airport, including the Pratapgarh bypass. They also include the construction of a road from Raas to Biaora, and the construction of bypasses in Sangwara and Garhi. These projects also include thirteen animal underpasses in Todgarh Wildlife Sanctuary on the Beawar-Gomti road.

Separately, the minister also announced the approval of 74 projects under Central Road Fund at a cost of 2,250 crores. The work on these projects will start soon.

Rajasthan is scheduled to see elections to the state legistlative assembly towards the end of 2023.

Baltej Singh Dhillon, a veteran Canadian Sikh police officer who was a part of the team that probed the 1985 Kanishka Air India terror attack, has become the first South Asian chair of an agency that promotes safe and healthy workplaces in British Columbia province.

Dhillon, the country's first Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer to wear a turban as part of the uniform, was appointed to chair the WorkSafeBC's board of directors for a three-year term, effective June 30, the British Columbia government has announced.

WorkSafeBC is a provincial agency promoting safe and healthy workplaces across British Columbia, a province of Canada, and Dhillon has been a member of its board of directors since 2017.

A recipient of Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals for community service, the veteran officer "made history by being the first RCMP member to wear a turban as part of the uniform," an official release said.

Dhillon had a distinguished career as a police officer for more than three decades, working in intelligence, special enforcement, protective services, and critical investigations, including the 1985 Kanishka Air India bombing task force.

Dhillon takes over the role from Jeff Parr, who served as Board chair from August 2020 to June 2023.

According to WorkSafeBC's website, the agency serves more than 2.6 million workers and close to 270,000 registered employers in BC and partners with workers and employers to save lives and prevent work-related injury, disease, and disability.

Debt-trapped Pakistan will become the fourth largest IMF borrower in the world after receiving a fresh loan of USD 3 billion in the next nine months under the standby arrangement reached with the global lender.

Pakistan, which is facing its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1947, was on March 31, 2023, ranked fifth in the list of countries with the highest borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, Pakistan will move to the fourth place in this list when it receives another USD 3 billion in the next nine months under the Stand-By Arrangement made with the Washington-based global lender.

Earlier, in terms of loans from the IMF, Argentina ranked first with USD 46 billion, Egypt stood in second place with USD 18 billion, Ukraine came in third with USD 12.2 billion, Ecuador took the fourth spot with USD 8.2 billion, and Pakistan was at fifth position with USD 7.4 billion.

With loans from the global lender worth USD 10.4 billion, Pakistan will overtake Ecuador to become the world's fourth-largest IMF borrower.

Days after approving US-based Micron Technology for the semiconductor PLI scheme, the government  has approved five applications under the design-led-Incentive scheme.  Minister of Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw while launching Bharat 6G alliances said India is getting enquiry from the big companies about the semiconductor scheme from all over the world.

Big semiconductor companies from the USA, Europe and Southeast Asia are showing interest in the semiconductor scheme. 

Last week, the Gujarat government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Micron for setting up a $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility at Sanand in the Ahmedabad district. He said after Micron’s announcement of setting up its plant in the country, there is fresh momentum in the semiconductor industry.

The minister called the deployment of the 5G network in India the fastest rollout in the world and expects the country to become top two 5G ecosystems globally.

Talking about the development of 6G, he said the country has 200 patents for 6G. The government  has launched a 6G Alliance— a forum for the development of 6G technology.  The minister said India is a technology importer to now has become an exporter of technologies. Many countries like the USA and Europe are now looking to import telecom equipment from India

The minister said Indian telecom operators are also evaluating indigenous 4G or 5G equipment..

Minister of Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw while launching Bharat 6G alliances said India is getting an enquiry from big firms about the scheme from all over the world.  Big companies from the USA, Europe and Southeast Asia are showing interest in the semiconductor scheme 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)  has said 76% of Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, have come back to banks.  According to the data received from the banks, the total value of Rs 2000 banknotes received back from circulation after the announcement on May 19 is Rs 2.72 lakh crore up to June 30, 2023.

Consequently, Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation at the close of business on June 30 stood at Rs 0.84 lakh crore.

The central bank requested the public to utilise the next three months to deposit and/or exchange the Rs 2000 banknotes held with them to avoid any rush in the last few days before September 30, 2023.

Indian women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana dropped a place each to sixth and seventh respectively in the latest ICC rankings for batters in ODIs released on Jul 4.

Swashbuckling batter Harmanpreet has 716 rating points while Mandhana has 714.

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu topped the chart with 758 points, the first player from the island nation to achieve the feat.

In bowling, left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad (617 rating points) and senior off-spinning all-rounder Deepti Sharma are placed eighth and tenth respectively in the list headed by England's Sophie Ecclestone, who has accumulated 751 points.

As far as the all-rounders are concerned, India's Deepti is placed sixth with 322 points.

In T20Is, Mandhana is static in third place with 722 points, while Deepti moved a place up to fourth in bowling with 729 points, leaving Renuka Singh in ninth place with exactly 700 points.

Deepti, however, continued to hold on to the third place in the all-rounder's list with 393 points.

Meanwhile, Athapaththu has become the first player from her country to top the women's ODI player rankings after starring in a 2-1 series win over New Zealand in the ICC Women's Championship.

The left-handed opener thus emulated Sanath Jayasuriya, who is the only Sri Lanka player to top the ODI batting rankings for men, for 181 days between September 2002 and May 2003.

Athapaththu's two centuries in three matches have lifted her six places, overtaking the likes of Harmanpreet, Meg Lanning and Laura Wolvaardt and displacing Australia's Beth Mooney, who was at the top of the batting charts since May 10.

Athapaththu won Player of the Match awards for her 108 not out off 83 balls in the first match and 140 not out off 80 in the final match.

She was also named player of the series, making a rapid rise from seventh position, her previous career-best ranking.

Q1. Name the state in which  Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari  has laid the foundation stone of 11 NH projects worth Rs 5,600 crore ?

1. Rajasthan
2. Madhya Pradesh
3. Uttar Pradesh
4. Bihar
5. None of These

Q2. Name the  Canada's first turbaned Sikh police of directors officer who has been  appointed chair of WorkSafeBC's board ?

1. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi
2. Tejdeep Singh Rattan
3. Simran Preet Singh Lamba
4. Baltej Singh Dhillon
5. None of These

Q3. Name the debt-trapped  which will become the fourth largest IMF borrower in the world after receiving a fresh loan of USD 3 billion in the next nine months under the standby arrangement reached with the global lender ?

1. Sri Lanka
2. Pakistan
3. Nepal             
4. Myanmar
5. None of These

Q4. Name the largest IMF borrower in the world ?

1. Ecuador
2. Egypt
3. Argentina
4. Egypt
5. None of These

Q5. Name the Dutch King  who has apologized for his country's role in slavery and asked for forgiveness in a historic speech greeted by cheers and whoops at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery ?

1. Willem-Alexander
2. Felipe VI
3. Harald V
4. Albert II
5. None of These
   
   

Answers

1-------------------1  Rajasthan

2------------------4   Baltej Singh Dhillon

3-----------------2  Pakistan

4------------------3  Argentina

5------------------1  Willem-Alexander

Veteran India pacer Shikha Pandey and wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh have been left out of the squad for the upcoming Bangladesh tour of India where the women's side is scheduled to play three T20Is and ODIs from July 9. Meanwhile, spinner Radha Yadav and medium-pacer Renuka Singh Thakur are understood to have missed out due to injuries.

In what will be the senior women's team's first assignment since the 2023 T20 World Cup, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side will not have both the frontline pacers they fielded in the semifinal defeat against Australia. Shikha, who had made a comeback for the South Africa tour after being left out of the side in 2021, was the best Indian pacer in the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League with ten wickets in nine innings, operating at 6.59 runs per over. The next Indian pacer on the list was Anjali Sarvani who had four wickets to her name followed by Pooja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy (two wickets each).

While Anjali is a part of the squad, along with Pooja, Arundhati isn't. Meghna Singh, who last played for India in December 2022 and was a standby for the T20 World Cup (she was not signed by any franchise in the auction), has found a place in the squad for the tour. In the batting department, barring Richa, there aren't many surprises. Harleen Deol and Yastika Bhatia retain their place with S Meghana, another standby in the T20 WC, to be included in the squad. Sneh Rana is not included in T20Is, but named in the ODI squad. As has been the case in the past, no reason was listed in the press release of the Indian cricketing board for the omissions or selections.

Minnu gets India call-up

Kerala all-rounder Minnu Mani, who was a part of the Delhi Capitals franchise, has earned her maiden India call-up. And so has Assam wicketkeeper Uma Chetry and Andhra's B Anusha — both of whom were a part of the Indian contingent that won the Emerging Asia Cup last month. Monica Patel, who made her debut in the home series against South Africa in March 2021, has made a comeback to the side in both formats.

Monica who was a part of the Gujarat Giants franchise in the WPL will be the second left-armer in the side along with Anjali. Similarly, 26-year-old Priya Punia, who last played for India in March 2021, has also made a comeback in the 50-over format. The contingent is expected to assemble in Mumbai on July 5 before leaving for Bangladesh on the next day.