The purchase of Haifa port by Adani is important from Israel’s point of view, says Israel’s Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon.

He went on to say that Adani will make it the port that it needs to be, adding that Adani isn’t the only Indian company they are working with as the other joint venture partners include Tata, Kalyani, and HAL.

Adani invested $1.2 billion (Rs 100 crore) in the port project. Israel feels very comfortable with India and would like to see India become a member of the UNSC.

Israel's handing over of the strategic port of Haifa to an Indian company, the Adani Group, is a reflection of the trust that the country has in India, Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon said on Feb 23.

India and Israel are associated in a trilateral with UAE for over a year.

The I2U2 (India, Israel, USA and UAE) grouping is doing well too and is having a meeting at present in the UAE.

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken twice in the past two months and both leaders will have an in-person meeting once the calendar of events permits it. Israel is busy with the budget meeting and establishing the new government whereas India is busy with G20 and SCO.

Meanwhile, the two countries are working on taking forward the Free Trade Agreement- which the two have been working on for the past 10 years. The sectors that they would further collaborate on will include renewable energy, smart mobility, cyber and homeland security and water technology.

Q1. Name the AAP's Bathinda (Rural) MLA  who has been arrested by the  Punjab Vigilance Bureau on the alleged charges of graft ?

1. Vijay Singla
2. Fauja Singh Sarari
3. Rashim Garg
4. Amit Rattan Kotfatta
5. None of These

Q2. Name the chief engineer of Jharkhand who has  been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in implementation of some schemes ?

1. Virendra Kumar Ram
2. Sudeep Singh
3. Rajiv Kumar Mishra
4. Naresh Singh
5. None of These

Q3. India is set to sign a Rupee-Dirham trade deal with the

1. Oman
2. Iran
3. United Arab Emirates
4. Saudi Arab
5. None of These

Q4. Name the country with the Indian Navy-affiliated IFC-IOR  has signed an MoU on maritime awareness ?

1. Maldives
2. Seychelles
3. Sri Lanka
4. Mauritius
5. None of These

Q5. The Union Education Ministry has once again “reiterated” and directed all states and union territories to “align” their age for admission to class I at

1. Five Years
2. Six Years
3. Seven Years
4. Eight Years
5. None of These

Answers

1-----------------4  Amit Rattan Kotfatta

2-----------------1  Virendra Kumar Ram

3-----------------3  United Arab Emirates

4-----------------2 Seychelles

5------------------2 Six YearsC

The Gujarat High Court on  Feb 22 directed Clock manufacturing firm Oreva Group, the company which maintained the Morbi suspension bridge that collapsed killing 135 people, to pay Rs 10 lakh as interim compensation to the kin of each deceased and Rs 2 lakh to each injured within four weeks.

The court ordered that every injured person should be paid interim compensation of Rs two lakh.

The suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi town collapsed on October 30 last year, killing 135 persons and injuring 56 others.

Oreva Group, led by its MD Jaysukh Patel, was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the bridge with a special investigation team (SIT) formed by the state government citing several lapses on the part of the firm.

In an unusual incident, the Ranchi district administration issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC in the Itki block of the state capital to keep villagers away from the wild elephant, which trampled four people to death on Feb 21.

According to forest officials, the elephant has taken the lives of over 16 people so far in five districts of Jharkhand in the past 12 days after it got separated from its herd. The deaths were reported from Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Chatra, Lohardaga and Ranchi districts.

Under this order, five or more people assembling in a single place is prohibited, it added. Meanwhile, people are being made aware to keep away from the wild tusker by the forest officials.

As per official data, there has been a rise in the man-elephant conflicts as 133 people were killed in jumbo attacks in 2021-22, against that 84 in 2020-21.

Three years after the BJP-led government's abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Feb 21 decided to impose the property tax in the Union Territory from April 1.

The Housing and Urban Development department has announced the rules for levy, assessment and collection of property tax in the Municipalities and Municipal Councils of the UT. Both residential and non-residential properties have been included in the collection of the property tax.

The Union Home Ministry gave its clearance to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a case against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and six others including an IAS officer in a case of alleged collection of "political intelligence" through a Feedback Unit (FBU) set up to check corruption.

The FBU in question had been set up by the AAP government in 2015 and was allegedly used for spying and collecting political intelligence. The Delhi government has also been accused of misappropriating funds allocated for the project.

In a letter dated Feb 17, the MHA had given its consent to India's premier investigation agency to register a case under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and initiate the process of investigation into the matter.

The sanction to prosecute comes following the approval given by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena, earlier this month on a request note of CBI seeking his consent to file an FIR against Sisodia and others as there was prima facie evidence to prosecute them for illegally setting up and running the snooping unit to spy on political rivals and government officials.

The Uttar Pradesh government has cancelled 72 industrial plots allotted to cabinet minister Rakesh Sachan 11 years ago in 2012-13 during Samajwadi Party rule when Sachan was the SP MP from Fatehpur and considered to be very close to late Mulayam Singh Yadav and the then PWD and irrigation minister Shivpal Yadav.

Cancelling the allotment of the plots, the UP Industrial Development department also recommended a probe into the role of five officials of the Fatehpur industry department who were instrumental in the allotment of plots.

Reacting to the development, Sachan, now the cabinet minister for MSME, said that he himself had got all the allotments made in his name cancelled.

Soon after assuming office as MSME minister in Yogi Adityanath's government, he had directed officials to cancel the allotment of such plots where industrial units were not set up, he claimed.

Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has launched his 2024 presidential bid with a promise to "put merit back" and end dependence on China, becoming the second community member to enter the Republican Party's presidential primary after Nikki Haley.

Ramaswamy, 37, whose parents migrated to the United States from Kerala and worked at a General Electric plant in Ohio, announced his presidential bid during a live interview on Fox News's prime time show of Tucker Carlson, a conservative political commentator.

He is the second Indian-American to enter the Republican presidential primary.

Earlier this month, two-term former governor of South Carolina and former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Haley announced her presidential campaign.