Olympic medallist wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik left the country for foreign training. While Bajrang left the country along with his coach and sparring partner for Kyrgyzstan, it is learnt Sakshi Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian left for the USA.

It should be noted that Bajrang and two-time World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat are Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athletes and they had sent their proposals to the sports ministry. 

Exactly two months before celebrating his 39th birthday, Indian football icon Sunil Chhetri signed a new one-year deal with Bengaluru FC with an option of an additional year.

The world's third highest international goal-scorer among active players, Chhetri unveiled a banner at the Kanteerava Stadium  after India's win over Lebanon in the SAFF Championship semifinal , stating his decision to stay at the club with which he has won seven trophies.

Chhetri, who joined as club captain at the time of its inception in 2013, is the Blues' longest serving player, having been part of 10 seasons with the club.

During this period, he has won the I-League (2014, 2016), the Federation Cup (2015, 2017), the Super Cup (2018), Indian Super League (2019) and most recently the Durand Cup (2022).

Chhetri has over 250 appearances for Bengaluru FC across competitions, scoring 116 goals in the process.

The talismanic striker was also the club's top-scorer on seven occasions.

Q1. Name the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader  who has joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as the deputy chief minister ?

1. Praful Patel
2. Ajit Pawar
3. Supriya Sule
4. Sunil Tatkare
5. None of These

Q2. The highway India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway will connect Moreh in Manipur, India with Mae Sot in Thailand via

1. China
2. Bhutan
3. Myanmar
4. Bangladesh
5. None of These

Q3. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Eradication Mission from tribal dominated Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh – targeting to eradicate the genetic disorder by

1. 2030
2. 2040
3. 2047
4. 2050
5. None of These

Q4. Name the country which will be formally approved as a member of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with China, Russia, and Central Asian countries ?

1. Iran
2. Bangladesh
3. Myanmar
4. Nepal
5. None of These

Q5. Name the Finland's new economic affairs minister and the member of the far-right Finns Party who has  announced his resignation after only 10 days in office following an uproar over past alleged pro-Nazi remarks ?

1. Alcide De Gasperi
2. Altiero Spinelli
3. Anna Lindh
4. Vilhelm Junnila
5. None of These

Answers

1--------------2   Ajit Pawar

2-------------3   Myanmar

3-------------- 3  2047

4----------------1   Iran

5----------------4      Vilhelm Junnila

The much-awaited SCO Summit will be over in about two hours time on  Jul 4. After India decided to host it virtually, most members who were gearing up to travel to Delhi to attend it in-person will now have around 10 minutes of time each to talk, deliberate and agree on issues that would later translate into the joint declaration.

The Summit being organised under India’s chairmanship will be more like a conference now where leaders will not be able to have bilaterals on the sidelines – like in Samarkhand last September. Discussions are likely to be held around issues ranging from terrorism to security, trade and politics.

The virtual Summit which will be anchored by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will also be attended by Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin (who according to Kremlin was gearing up to attend the Summit in person), Chinese Premier Xi Jingping and Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif amongst other heads of state.

PM Modi and President Putin had a telephonic conversation recently talking stalk of the situation in Russia post the minor rebellion caused by Wagner and also about the need to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. India’s relations with Pakistan are at an all-time low due to terrorism while with China are not ‘normal’ as External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar keeps reiterating due to the LAC standoff.

SCO is the world’s largest regional organisation in terms of area, covering approximately 60 per cent of Eurasia and 42 per cent of the world population, representing 25 per cent of the global GDP, 25 per cent of the world’s oil reserves and 50 per cent of natural gas and uranium deposits. Iran will join as member of this grouping on Jul 4 .

The subjects on which the members will deliberate will include terrorism, security situation in Afghanistan, enhancing cooperation between SCO states which includes improving connectivity through multi-modal routes. The theme for India’s Presidency is `SECURE” which is an abbreviation for security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for soverignity and territorial integrity and environmental protection. India has also been pushing for deeper cooperation on de-radicalisation strategies.

India has hosted over 100 meetings under its SCO chairmanship and most were in person meetings. The most well known was the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting that was held in Goa – which was attended by Sergey Lavrov, Bilawal Bhutto and Qin Gang.

Meanwhile, the members of the SCO include India, Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikstan. Their dialogue partners include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are likely to be dialogue partner. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on  Jul 3  asked the council of his ministers to ensure the benefits of government welfare and development schemes to every section of the society. After reviwing the performances of almost all key ministeries, the PM Modi dwelt upon the government developnetal agendas minutely asking the ministers to complete projects  withing the fix time frame.

Later after meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the meeting was fruitful with the council of ministers.

The PM also presented a roadmap for BJP for 2047.

India's consulate in San Francisco came under an attack from Khalistan supporters who tried to set the diplomatic facility on fire in the second such act of violence within months, drawing strong condemnation from the US government which termed it a "criminal offence".

A video by Khalistan supporters, dated July 2 posted on Twitter, showed the act of arson at the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.

The video, with the words “violence begets violence” emblazoned over it, also showed news articles related to the death of Canada-based Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, one of India's most-wanted terrorists who carried a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada last month.

Vandalism or violence against diplomatic facilities or foreign diplomats in the US is a criminal offence.

This is the second time within months that the Indian Consulate in San Francisco came under attack from Khalistani supporters.

On March 19, a group of pro-Khalistan protesters attacked and damaged the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.

Raising pro-Khalistan slogans, the protesters broke open the makeshift security barriers raised by the city police and installed two so-called Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises.

A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia , killing four men and wounding two boys in the latest outbreak of gun violence in the United States. The victims were apparently random, with no connection immediately known between them and the shooter.

The shootings took place over several city blocks in the southwestern neighborhood of Kingsessing. Responding officers chased the suspect as he continued to fire, and he was arrested in an alley after surrendering.

The Philadelphia violence marks the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023.

So far this year, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year.

There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006,  in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been injured.

A move that could again disrupt the telecom industry, the country’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio has launched a phone at Rs 999. Called Jio  Bharat, the device comes at the lowest entry price for an internet-enabled phone. The purpose of the company is to migrate  250 million 2G mobile subscribers with feature phones to 4G.

The company is also offering a plan worth Rs 123 per month for unlimited voice calls and 14 GB of data.

Users can use features like UPI-enabled through JioPay, the phone will have JioCinema, JioSaavn, and FM Radio.