Q1. The armed forces have carried out an integrated surveillance and firepower training exercise known as Buland Bharat to test “simulated war conditions in high altitude area” at the Mandala High Altitude Firing Ranges in

1. Arunachal Pradesh
2. Ladakh
3. Sikkim
4. Nagaland
5. None of These

Q2. Name the state  government which  has proposed adding a clause to land laws in addition to existing rules, in order to prevent large-scale land purchases by outsiders ?

1. Jammu and Kashmir
2. Ladakh
3. Uttarakhand
4. Sikkim
5. None of These

Q3. Name the former Audi boss  who will plead guilty over the "dieselgate" vehicle emissions-cheating scandal, a German court said  on May 3, which would make him the first auto CEO to be convicted in the resulting lawsuits ?

1. Safra Catz
2. Jamie Dimon
3.  Tim Cook
4. Rupert Stadler
5. None of These

Q4. Name the former  Chairman and Managing Director of WAPCOS  who and his son Gaurav  have been arrested by the CBI after it found over Rs 38 crore cash from their premises in one of the biggest seizures of cash by the agency ?

1. Rajinder Kumar Gupta
2. Trilochan Dutt
3. Kumar Alok
4. Satish Jha
5. None of These

Q5. India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index-2023 in the list 180 countries has fallen to

1. 142
2. 156
3. 161
4. 171
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------1   Arunachal Pradesh

2----------------3  Uttarakhand

3----------------4   Rupert Stadler

4----------------1  Rajinder Kumar Gupta

5---------------3   161

Awaiting the Indian government's clearance for his visa to return from London for his mother's last rites, JKNPP founder Bhim Singh's son has apologised to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for participating in an anti-government protest last year after which he was blacklisted by the High Commission.

In an open letter to the prime minister, Ankit Love (39) said he regrets throwing eggs and stones at the High Commission during the February 2022 protest, and requested the PM to intervene so that he could return and perform the funeral of his mother Jay Mala (64).

Mala, a Supreme Court lawyer, died on April 26 and her body has been kept at the mortuary of Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu after Love requested it be kept there till he returns to perform the last rites.

This comes even as his relatives are engaged in a tussle to take control of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) which has been in a disarray following Bhim Singh's death on May 31, 2022.

Shortly before the death of Bhim Singh, his two nephews -- former minister Harsh Dev Singh (ex-JKNPP chairman) and former legislator Balwant Singh Mankotia -- resigned from the party to join the Aam Aadmi Party.

While Mankotia, who had also served as JKNPP president, later joined the BJP, Harsh Dev returned to the JKNPP recently and claimed to have been elected as state party president.

However, Harsh Dev's return brought together Vilaskshan Singh and another faction led by prominent leader and Bhim Singh's close aide P K Gangoo.

Both Vilaskshan Singh and Gangoo contested Harsh Dev Singh's claim.

They claimed to be the president of the party, Gangoo is its working president.

The armed forces have carried out an integrated surveillance and firepower training exercise known as Buland Bharat to test “simulated war conditions in high altitude area” at the Mandala High Altitude Firing Ranges in Arunachal Pradesh even as tensions continue to prevail along the Line of Actual Control with China.

The exercise validated plans for bringing down integrated firepower by orchestrating synchronised firing by artillery guns and fire support components of the infantry, aimed toward the destruction of designated targets.

As per the official message tweeted by Indian Army’s Gajraj Corps Artillery, Infantry, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Special Forces conducted day and night training for integrated surveillance and application of fire to maximize destruction at target.

The SSB and ITBP are the Border Guarding Forces under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Gajraj Corps, under which the exercise was held, handles major responsibilities which span from counterinsurgency to the Line of Actual Control in West Arunachal Pradesh including the Tawang area.

It will now be more difficult for outsiders to buy land in Uttarakhand. In order to prevent large-scale land purchases by outsiders, the government has proposed adding a clause to land laws in addition to existing rules.  The government has decided the background of the buyer, if he is from outside the state, should be thoroughly verified.

The Pushkar Singh Dhami government has expressed concern over population imbalance in different areas of the state several times in the past. To prevent imbalance, the chief minister has already given instructions to keep an eye on ‘undesirable elements’ coming from outside.

The police have also been asked to verify suspicious people coming from outside the state.

India’s ranking has fallen to 161 in the World Press Freedom Index-2023 in the list 180 countries. It is for the second year India is slipping in the ranking. According to the report by global media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) alias Reporters without Borders, India is down 11 points in the index this year. The situation has gone from “problematic’’ to ‘very bad’ in three countries, including India and Tajikistan, it added.

In its annual report, the Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) assessed the state of freedom for media countries. In 2021, India’s ranking was 150, down from a ranking of 142 on the press freedom index. The report also stated that violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in the world’s largest democracy.

The RSF released the report on  May 3 with details of media freedom collected from across 180 countries. Pakistan is ranked at 150, seven points up, while Nepal is at 95. Sri Lanka is up 11 points at 135, while Myanmar at 173 has moved 3 points higher. The report has stated that the Indian media landscape is like India itself--huge and densely populated--and has more than 1,00,000 newspapers including 36,000 weeklies, and 380 TV channels.

The report said that Mukesh Ambani owns more than 70 media outlets that are followed by at least 800 million Indians. 

Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early  May 3, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. The Ukrainian president denied it, saying: “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow.”

Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

There was no independent verification of the reported attack on the Kremlin, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it.

Zelenskyy was in Finland to secure greater firepower for his armed forces as they figure out how to dislodge Russian troops from occupied areas of Ukraine.

The Nordic countries — Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland — have been among Kyiv’s strongest backers since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Before the meeting with Zelenskyy in Finland’s capital, Nordic officials appeared ready to provide more aid as the war stretches into its 15th month.

Myanmar’s ruling military council on  May 3  said it was releasing more than 2,100 political prisoners as a humanitarian gesture. Thousands more remain imprisoned on charges generally involving nonviolent protests or criticism of military rule, which began when the army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

State-run MRTV television reported that the head of Myanmar’s military council, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, had pardoned 2,153 prisoners on the most important Buddhist holy day of the year, marking the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.

With the Wadia group's low-cost Go Airline (India) Limited squarely blaming engine supplier, the US-based Pratt & Whitney for its financial woes and taxiing it to file a bankruptcy petition, the latter has responded.

However, the official declined to elaborate further on its allegation against Go Airline.

Curiously, Go Airlines had said that it has been forced to apply to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for voluntary bankruptcy after Pratt & Whitney, the exclusive engine supplier for its Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet, refused to comply with an award issued by an emergency arbitrator appointed in accordance with the 2016 Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

Continuing further, Go Airlines had said that even if Pratt & Whitney complied with the arbitration award, it would be able to resume full operations by August/September 2023.

The airline has filed a case in a US court against Pratt & Whitney to comply with the Arbitration Award.

The airline said it has resorted to approaching NCLT despite the infusion of Rs 3,200 crore by the promoters into the airline in the last three years, of which Rs 2,400 crore was injected in the previous 24 months and Rs 290 crore in April 2023 alone.

Thus, the total promoter investment in the airline since its inception is approximately Rs 6,500 crore.

The company said the airline has also received significant support from the Government of India's Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

The grounding of close to 50 per cent of its A320neo fleet due to the serial failure of Pratt & Whitney engines, while it continued to incur 100 per cent of its operational costs, has set the airline by Rs 10,800 crore in lost revenues and additional expenses.

Moreover, the airline has paid Rs 5,657 crore to the lessors in the last two years of which approximately Rs 1,600 crore was paid towards lease rent for non-operational grounded aircraft from the funds infused by the promoters and the Government of India's Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

In order to recover these (and other) losses, Go Airlines sought compensation of approximately Rs 8,000 crore in the SIAC arbitration.

The airline is yet to respond to Pratt & Whitney's charge of missing its financial obligations, its total debt to Indian banks and other lenders and dues to its employees.