Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on  Oct 1 said Airtel will launch its 5G services in eight cities from today. These cities include Mumbai, Varanasi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

While speaking at the launch of 5G technology in the county at the India Mobile Congress, Mittal said that Airtel would roll out 5G services in most cities by March 2023 and the entire county by March 2023.

Reliance Jio, the nation's biggest telecom firm, will expand 5G telephony services offering ultra high-speed internet connectivity to every part of the country by December 2023, its chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Oct 1.

Jio had in September 2016 made an entry into the telecom sector, offering free voice calls and dirt-cheap data, forcing the competition to either match or fold up/consolidate.

Ambani has now promised affordable 5G services.

Ambani had at his flagship Reliance Industries Ltd's annual shareholder meeting in August announced the rollout of 5G services from four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata by Diwali.

Most of Jio's 5G is developed in India, and hence carries the stamp of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', he said, adding 5G and 5G-enabled digital solutions can bring affordable and high-quality education and skill development within the reach of common Indians.

It can deliver high-quality healthcare to rural and remote areas by turning existing hospitals into smart hospitals without much additional investment, making the services of the best doctors digitally available anywhere in India as well as improving the speed and accuracy of diagnostics and enabling real-time clinical decision making.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in September increased by 26% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1.47 lakh crore, Finance Ministry said on Oct 1. The collection increased on the back of YoY rise in imports of goods by 39% and 22% higher domestic transactions. This is the seventh month in a row when the GST collection has been more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore.

Of the total GST of Rs 1.47 lakh crore, central GST (CGST) is Rs 25,271 crore, state GST (SGST) is Rs 31,813 crore, ntegrated GST (IGST) is Rs 80,464 crore (including Rs 41,215 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 10,137 crore (including Rs 856 crore collected on import of 7goods).

The government has settled Rs 31,880 crore to CGST and Rs 27,403 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of Centre and the states after regular settlements in the month of September stood at Rs 57,151 crore for CGST and Rs 59,216 crore for the SGST.

Amid the concerns raised over the shrinking forex reserves, the RBI Governor has said two-third of the fall in India’s forex reserve during the current financial year is due to valuation changes arising from an appreciating US dollar and higher US bond yields.

Shaktikanta Das said in a statement while unveiling the RBI’s bimonthly monetary policy that India’s foreign exchange reserve stood at USD 537.5 billion as of September 23, 2022, down from USD 545 billion a week ago. However, Das said forex reserve was favourably placed compared with most peer economies.

Das added that the forex reserve is adequate. At USD 537.5 billion, India’s forex reserve covers for just over 8 months of imports. Forex reserves comprise 90% of foreign currency assets and the rest is gold and special drawing rights (SDRs) with the IMF. As per experts, the drop in reserves recently was largely due to plunge in valuation of major reserve currencies -- Euro, Pound sterling and Swiss Franc etc -- against the US dollar.

On the issue of RBI’s intervention on the exchange market to support the local currency, Das said rupee is a freely floating currency and its exchange rate is market determined. He said the RBI doesn’t have any fixed exchange rate in mind.

Antonio Inoki, the founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and former professional wrestler, has passed away at the age of 79.

      Inoki from Yokohoma City, Kanagawa Prefecture, was born on February 20, 1943. He moved to Brazil at the age of 13 with his family and worked on a coffee plantation.

He entered the world of Japanese professional wrestling at age of 17 under his real name in Tokyo at Taito Ward Gymnasium. He changed his name to 'Antonio Inoki' in 1962.

After a feud with Japan Pro-Wrestling led to his expulsion, he founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling, a highly popular wrestling promotion currently among the sport's hardcore fans. He went on to become the first-ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Former Nepal cricket captain Sandeep Lamichhane announced his return to Nepal on October 6 and confirmed that he will surrender to the authorities after facing rape charges, in a Facebook post shared by him.

The announcement comes as he remains a fugitive at large after rape allegations and diffusion notice issued by INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) at the request of Nepal Police.

Spin bowler Lamicchane has represented Nepal in 30 ODIs and 44 T20Is, taking 69 and 85 wickets respectively in both formats.

The Moroccan government called on sports apparel company Adidas to pull off the market its new jersey collection for Algeria’s national soccer team, alleging that the featured mosaic pattern amounted to “cultural appropriation” of Moroccan heritage.

Morocco’s Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication said in a statement that the design on the jerseys of the rival North African team depicts a traditional mosaic of coloured earthenware tiles, known in Morocco as zellige.

Zellige art and craftwork is present and practised across North Africa and Andalusia, an autonomous region of Spain.

Q1. Tulsi Tanti who died recently was

1. A nuclear scientist
2. An expert on renewable energy
3. A politician from Assam
4. Legendary Footballer
   
5. None of These

Q2. Name the city of Gujarat in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has laid the foundation stone and dedicated various projects worth more than Rs 3,400 crore during his two-day visit to his home state on Sep 29 ?

1. Rajkot
2. Vadodara
3. Ahmedabad
4. Surat
5. None of These

Q3. The Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has  said  that the government has deferred the implementation of the proposal to make six airbags mandatory in passenger cars by one year to

1. Jan 1 , 2023
2. Oct 1, 2023
3. Aug 15 , 2023
4. Dec 31 , 2023
5. None of These

Q4. Who among the following is the Chairman of the  National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) ?

1. Suraj Bhan
2. P. L. Punia
3. Vijay Sampla
4. R. S. Katheria
5. None of These

Q5. Name the state which will develop the largest jungle safari park outisde Africa ?

1. Haryana Karnataka Assam West Bengal None of These

1. Haryana
2. Karnataka
3. Assam
4. West Bengal
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------2  An expert on renewable energy

2----------------4   Surat

3---------------2  Oct 1, 2023

4----------------3  Vijay Sampla

5-------------------1 Haryana