State-owned Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) on Apr 24 reported a more than two-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 840 crore for the March quarter, helped by a decline in bad loans and a rise in interest income.

The bank had earned a net profit of Rs 355 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, total income increased to Rs 5,317 crore as again

st Rs 3,949 crore a year ago, BoM said in a regulatory filing.

BoM managing director A S Rajeev said the bank plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore via share sale during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal to meet Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) norms of markets regulator Sebi.

Another Rs 1,000 crore would be raised from Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) or Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) depending on the market situation.

The bank was ready with Rs 1,000 crore share sale plan in the last quarter itself.

Currently, the government of India holds a 90.97 per cent stake in the bank.

Ajinkya Rahane, who has added a dash of aggression to his batting style, made a comeback to the Indian team on Apr 25  for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia as the BCCI announced a 15-man squad for the one-off contest.

The WTC final will be played in London at the Oval from June 7 to 11.

Aggressive batter Suryakumar Yadav, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and young stumper-batter Ishan Kishan, who were all part of the home series against Australia, have been dropped for the contest.

BCCI's five-man selection panel, secretary Jay Shah along with skipper Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid met on Apr 24 evening to decide on the squad.

India's Test squad WTC final

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat.

Several politicians, including former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and 'khap' leaders on Apr 25  met with the protesting wrestlers and extended their support to them.

Hooda, Udit Raj, another Congress leader, CPI leader Brinda Karat, who was stopped from joining the stir by the wrestlers in January, were welcomed by the wrestlers, a day after they had sought support from all quarters.

Hooda spent about 35 minutes with the wrestlers at the Jantar Mantar, where the grapplers had started their protest in January, demanding the removal of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment and intimidation by them.

Delhi Capitals captain David Warner has been fined Rs 12 lakh for maintaining a slow over-rate during their IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium .

Delhi defeated Sunrisers by seven runs in a low-scoring match.

The Supreme Court on Apr 25  issued notice to the Delhi government on a plea of seven women wrestlers seeking direction to the Commissioner of Delhi Police of registering a FIR against WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly assaulting women wrestlers.

Noting that there are serious allegations in the plea, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha while seeking response from GNCTD posted the plea for Apr 28 . The court also directed for redacting the identities of the petitioners.

Q1. In its ongoing efforts to evacuate Indians stranded in strife-torn Sudan, the Indian  government has launched a rescue operation called

Operation Ganga

Operation Godavari

Operation Kaveri

Operation Yamuna

None of These

Q2.  Name the Indian-origin CEO involved in youth development services in the US and who  is among 15 experts appointed as members of the newly-formed racial justice advisory board in New York City ?

Neal Mohan

Sundar Pichai

Satya Nadella

Udai Tambar

None of These

Q3. Name the Sri Lanka Prime Minister  who has unveiled a special commemorative cover for Sita Temple near the historic town of Nuwara Eliya on Apr 23  and laid the foundation stone for the meditation centre at Ramayana fame Ashoka Vatika site to boost tourism in the cash-strapped country ?

Dinesh Gunawardena

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake

D. M. Jayaratne

Ranil Wickremesinghe

None of These

Q4. Name the former UN Secretary-General  who on Apr 25  has  urged Myanmar’s ruling military to take the initiative in finding a way out of the country’s violent political crisis, including releasing political detainees, after a surprise meeting with the army leader who seized power two years ago?

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

U Thant  

Ban Ki-moon

Javier Perez de Cuellar  

None of These

Q5. Name  the BJP MLA from Noida and son of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who  has been elected unopposed as Cycling Federation of India (CFI) president in the Annual General Body meeting in Nainital ?

Anurag Thakur

Pankaj Singh

Jaipal Singh

Suraj Singh

None of These

Answers

1-----------------3   Operation Kaveri

2------------------4   Udai Tambar

3------------------1   Dinesh Gunawardena

4------------------3  Ban Ki-moon

5-------------------2   Pankaj Singh

Fighter jets of the air forces of India and the United States took part in a joint exercise at Kalaikunda Air Force Station in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district.

As part of the Cope India 2023 exercise, five top-notch fighter jets of the two air forces took off in quick succession from the air force base.

The Indian Air Force has employed Tejas, Rafale, Jaguar and Su-30 MKI fighter jets while F-15 is representing the United States Air Force in the exercise.

The exercise, which began on April 10, will conclude on Apr 24 .

A simultaneous 12-day exercise of transport aircraft was held at Panagarh Air Force Station in Paschim Bardhaman district from April 10.

Veteran BJP leader and former Vidhan Sabha speaker Dr Rajiv Bindal was  on Apr 24 appointed Himachal Pradesh BJP President, replacing Lok Sabha MP Suresh Kumar Kashyap.

Bindal, who belongs to Solan,  was the state unit chief of the party before Kashyap was appointed state party president in 2020 as Bindal had resigned from his post following a Heath department scam. Bindal is confident of BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda. He has been a minister and assembly speaker and is seen as a solid organizational leader.