The Union Cabinet on May 31 approved a Rs 1 lakh crore programme to create the world's largest grain storage capacity in the cooperative sector to reduce crop damages and prevent distress sales by farmers, besides strengthening the country's food security.

The government is planning to create 700 lakh tonne of grain storage capacity in the cooperative sector over the next five years and said the move will also help in creating job opportunities in rural India.

As per the plan, a godown of 2,000 tonne capacity will be established in each block.

This will help in strengthening the cooperative sector, as Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) can diversify into the storage of food grains.

This will take the total capacity to 2,150 lakh tonne.

There are 1 lakh PACS in the country, out of which around 63,000 are functional.

The  country's foodgrains production is around 3,100 lakh tonne, while the storage capacity is only 47 per cent of the total output.

At present, the total grain storage capacity in the country is about 1,450 lakh tone 

Q1. Which one of the following factories in Bengal as established by Portuguese?

1. Kasim Bazar
2. Chinsura
3. Hoogly
4. Srirampur

Q2. Concept of welfare state in Indian Constitution is included in

1. Fundamental Rights
2. Directive principles of state policy
3. Citizenship
4. Provision of Election Commission

Q3. India's first national park is

1. Nanda Devi National Park
2. Rajaji National Park
3. Jim Corbett National Park
4. Kanha National Park

Q4. What is colour of light related to?

1. Wavelength
2. Frequency
3. Quality
4. Velocity

Q5. In which of the following market structures, there is a variable demand curve?

1. Perfect competition
2. Monopoly
3. Oligpoly
4. Monopolistic competition

Answers

1---------------3   Hoogly

2---------------2 Directive principles of state policy

3---------------3  Jim Corbett National Park

4---------------1  Wavelength

5---------------3   Oligpoly

The Congress' lone Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra, Balu Dhanorkar, died at a private hospital in the National Capital Region on May 30.

Dhanorkar was 47 years old and is survived by wife Pratibha, an MLA, and two sons.

Dhanorkar, the Lok Sabha member from Chandrapur, underwent treatment for kidney stones at a hospital in Nagpur on May 26 and was rushed to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram neighbouring Delhi after some complications.

Dhanorkar started his political career in the Balasaheb Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in Chandrapur district and won the assembly election in 2014. However, he was keen on contesting the Lok Sabha election from Chandrapur, which was traditionally contested by the BJP's Hansraj Ahir.

Dhanorkar joined the Congress and defeated Ahir. His wife won from the Warora-Bhadrawati assembly seat in 2019. 

Lone Congress MLA in West Bengal Assembly, Bayron Biswas, on May 30   joined the TMC in the presence of the ruling party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Paschim Medinipur district.

Biswas, the MLA from the minority-dominated Sagardighi constituency in Murshidabad district, switched over to the TMC in the Ghatal area during the ruling party's ongoing mass outreach campaign "Trinamool eh Nabojowaar (New wave in Trinamool)."

Biswas had won the Sagardighi seat on a Congress ticket in a by-poll held earlier this year, thus giving the grand old party a representation in the state assembly, as it had failed to open its account in the 2021 assembly elections.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishanakr on May 30  told visiting British Minister Lord Tariq Ahmad that Britain was obliged to ensure the security of India's diplomatic missions in the UK and prevent misuse of democratic freedoms.

Jaishankar's assertions during a meeting with Lord Ahmad, the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, came against the backdrop of the vandalisation of the Indian High Commission in London by pro-Khalistan supporters on March 19.

In April, the Union Home Ministry had handed over the probe in the case of attack on the Indian mission in London to the National Investigation Agency after a meeting with representatives from Britain.

Jaishankar said he also discussed a broad range of issues ranging from the Free Trade Agreement and South Asia to Indo-Pacific and G20 with the visiting minister.

Meanwhile, Lord Ahmad said that India and UK share a long friendship and common values.

During the course of the day, Ahmad also met Foreign Secretary, Vinay Mohan Kwatra and G20 chief coordinator Harsh Vardhan Shringla amongst others.

Ahmad will now head to Hyderabad after visiting Jodhpur and New Delhi as part of his ongoing tour of the nation.

India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January last year, with a goal towards a comprehensive pact that is expected to significantly enhance the bilateral trading relationship worth an estimated GBP 34 billion in 2022.

According to UK government statistics, India was the UK's 12th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022, accounting for 2.1 per cent of total UK trade.

India and Singapore on May 30  agreed to create opportunities for lifelong learning, building a future-ready workforce, and making knowledge and skill development a key pillar of strategic partnership.

This was discussed during the three-day visit of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Singapore. The minister also stressed on learning from the best practices of Singapore, collaborating and customising them to meet Indian needs.

Pradhan is on a three-day visit to Singapore and held meetings with various key ministers to strengthen existing ties and explore the possibility of widening the scope of bilateral engagement in education and skill development.

Pradhan discussed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which specifically focuses on providing early exposure to vocational education in middle schools, ensuring market relevance of training as well as building the capacity of the institutions to provide technical and vocational education.

He further discussed the work towards integrating the skills qualifications framework with the higher education qualification framework and investing in developing short-term and long-term training programs to provide skilling, re-skilling and upskilling opportunities.

Pradhan also had an insightful discussion with Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong. They had "fruitful conversations on strengthening" skill development and vocational training linkages through all mechanisms for creating a seamless architecture for skilling and lifelong learning.

Building on the outcomes of the G20 Future of Work workshop in Bhubaneswar, they also discussed ways in which India can leverage the expertise and knowledge of Singapore for addressing common challenges and transforming the Indian skills ecosystem.

President Droupadi Murmu will embark on a state visit to Suriname from June 4, her first since assuming office in July last year, the Ministry of External Affairs announced.

Murmu will hold bilateral talks with her Suriname counterpart Chandrikapersad Santokhi and be the chief guest at celebrations to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indians in the South American nation.

The President will be in Suriname till June 6 and visit places of historical and cultural importance and interact with members of the Indian community and diaspora.

On the second leg of her tour, Murmu will be on a state visit to Serbia from June 7, the first-ever by a head of state from either side, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

The first ship carrying 452 Indian labourers arrived in Suriname's capital Paramaribo on June 5, 1873.

Most of the labourers hailed from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The Indians, who arrived in Suriname as contract labourers for plantations, have maintained their connection with their roots in India.

.It said Suriname also has the distinction of being the most prominent foreign country in the world in the field of promotion of the Hindi language. The World Hindi Conference 2003 was held in Paramaribo.

In Serbia, Murmu will have a bilateral meeting with President Aleksandar Vucic, and meet Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, and Speaker of the National Assembly Vladimir Orlic.

The President will also address a business event and interact with the Indian community.

The CBI has filed a corruption case against British aerospace and defence company Rolls Royce PLC, top executives of its Indian unit and arms dealers for alleged "kickbacks" in the procurement of Hawk 115 Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft for the Indian Air Force and Navy.

The CBI has registered a case against Tim Jones, Director Rolls Royce India, alleged arms dealers Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu Choudhrie, Rolls Royce Plc and British Aerospace Systems under IPC section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act after completing a six-year-old preliminary enquiry registered in December 2016.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had approved the procurement of 66 Hawk 115 AJTs on September 3, 2003, under which 24 BAE Hawk 115Y AJTs in flyaway condition with all the accoutrement along with material for 42 aircraft to be manufactured by HAL were cleared for GBP 734.21 million, equivalent to Rs 5653.44 crore (calculated at Rs 77 per GBP), was sanctioned.

Procurement of 42 aircraft, to be licence manufactured by HAL at an additional cost of GBP 308.247 million, equivalent to Rs 1944 crore, and a payment of GBP 7.5 million to Rolls Royce as a Manufacturer's licence fee was also cleared.

Subsequent contracts signed with Rolls Royce/BAE had an integrity clause that barred the engagement of any middlemen or payment of a commission.

In case of violation, the company could have been debarred for any Government of India work for the next five years besides penalty.

The contracts also included a penal clause for using undue influence where the supplier had to give an undertaking that no commission or fee was paid to any person in relation to the contract.