India has a powerful case to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the principal UN organ must adapt to the evolving global conditions, not only to fulfill its objectives of maintaining international security but also to remain relevant, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in Saudi Arabia on his first visit to the Gulf Kingdom.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Security Council saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st Century.

Jaishankar said there is a broad global consensus over the need to reform the Council, particularly as it does not reflect the realities of the world, asserting that an expanded Council is not only in India's favour but also in favour of other unrepresented areas.

Jaishankar arrived in Saudi Arabia on  Sep 10 on a three-day visit to discuss ways to further strengthen relations between the two countries. It is his first visit to Saudi Arabia as External Affairs Minister.

He called on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and handed over a written message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him of the progress in bilateral ties on Sep 11.

He said there are several areas where India and Saudi Arabia can collaborate to help achieve the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

Jaishankar said India has come out of COVID-19 stronger in terms of capacity building and financial, digital and communication transformation.

He said the leadership of both the countries remained in constant coordination throughout the pandemic and dealt with ensuing challenges in a unified manner.

Jaishankar said as part of India's extended neighbourhood, the Gulf region in general, and the Kingdom in particular, are crucial to India's foreign policy priorities in the region.

Jaishankar said increased India-Saudi Arabia cooperation will benefit not only the region, but also the global community.

Air India on  Sep 12 said it will progressively induct 30 new aircraft, including 5 wide-body Boeing planes, from December this year, as the Tatas-owned airline looks to boost its domestic and international services.

The airline has signed leases and letters of intent for inducting 5 wide-body Boeing and 25 Airbus narrow-body planes over the next 15 months.

The planes being leased include 21 Airbus A320 neos, 4 Airbus A321 neos and 5 Boeing B777-200LRs.

The B777-200LRs will join the fleet between December 2022 and March 2023.

They will be deployed on routes from Indian metro cities to the US.

According to the release, the 4 A321 neo aircraft are expected to join the fleet in the first quarter of calendar year 2023, while the 21 A320 neos will be inducted in the second half of 2023.

These aircraft will be deployed on domestic sectors as well as for short-haul international destinations.

Currently, the airline's narrow-body fleet stands at 70 aircraft.

Out of them, 54 are in service and the remaining 16 aircraft will progressively return to service by early 2023.

Air India's wide-body fleet stands at 43 aircraft, of which 33 are operational.

The rest will return to service by early 2023.

A former unit of Russia's Gazprom is paying a 'meagre' penalty for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes it had failed to deliver to India since early June to absolve itself of all contractual liabilities.

Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS), under a long-term 20-year contract, was to supply 2.5 million tonne of LNG to state-owned GAIL (India) Ltd this year.

But it has not supplied any cargo or shipload of LNG since early June.

The price of LNG under the long-term contract comes to USD 12-14 per million British thermal unit and GMTS is paying 20 per cent of this for the default.

With alternative supplies costing at least three times the price of GMTS shipments, GAIL has reduced supply to users by about 10 per cent and is exploring options to advance some of the US supplies.

GAIL had in 2012 signed a 20-year deal with Russia's Gazprom to buy 2.85 million tonne of LNG.

Supplies started in 2018 and the full volume was to reach in 2023.

GMTS had signed the deal on behalf of Gazprom.

GMTS was moved to Gazprom Germania and in early April, Gazprom gave up the ownership of the German unit without giving a reason and placed parts of it under Russian sanctions.

As per the deal, GMTS was to supply LNG to GAIL from its portfolio of production.

But the Russian sanctions mean it cannot source LNG from Russia.

Under the long-term deal, GMTS was to supply 2.5 million tonne or a minimum of 36 cargoes of LNG to GAIL during the calendar year 2022.

GAIL received one cargo of LNG in June and nothing after that.

To mitigate the situation, GAIL is looking to advance volumes due from its separate US contract in 2023.

Also, unallocated volumes in the 5.8 million tonne a year contract with US entities are being shipped to India by hiring new ships.

Under the deal, GMTS was to progressively increase supplies to GAIL.

It shipped 2 million tonne of LNG in 2021 and was to supply 2.5 million tonne in 2022.

The full volume of 2.85 million tonne is to be reached in 2023.

The US and European nations have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.

·         Sri Lanka, a country picking up pieces after the death of democracy while facing enormous financial turbulence, found 11 worthy heroes on a cricket pitch as Dasun Shanaka's unheralded bunch crushed Pakistan by 23 runs to win their sixth Asia Cup title  in Dubai  on Sep 11 .

          US Open 2022

Men's singles : Spain Carlos Alcaraz defeated  Norway Casper Ruud, 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–3 in the final

Women's singles : Poland Iga Świątek defeated  Tunisia Ons Jabeur, 6–2, 7–6(7–5) in the final

Men's doubles : United States Rajeev Ram / United Kingdom Joe Salisbury defeated  Netherlands Wesley Koolhof / United Kingdom Neal Skupski, 7–6(7–4), 7–5 in the final

Women's doubles : Czech Republic Barbora Krejčiková / Czech Republic Kateřina Siniaková defeated  United States Caty McNally / United States Taylor Townsend, 3–6, 7–5, 6–1 in  the final

Mixed doubles : Australia Storm Sanders / Australia John Peers defeated  Belgium Kirsten Flipkens / France Édouard Roger-Vasselin, 4–6, 6–4, [10–7] in the final

Q1. Name the country in which Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO )

Summit 2022 will be held ?

1. Turkmenistan
2. Tajikistan
3. Kazakhstan
4. Uzbekistan
5. None of These

Q2. Which of the following country has won Asia Cup T-20 final held in Dubai recently ?

1. Sri Lanka
2.  Pakistan
3. India
4. Bangladesh
5. None of These

Q3. Name the player who has won the US Open 2022 men's singles title recently ?

1. Casper Ruud
2. Carlos Alcaraz
3. Neal Skupski
4. Wesley Koolhof
5. None of These

Q4. Name the country which is the world's largest milk producer at about 210 million tonnes annually ?

1. China
2. Russia
3. India
4. Denmark
5. None of These

Q5. The International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 was held in

1. Greater Noida
2. Lucknow
3. Anand
4. Delhi
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------------4 Uzbekistan

2-------------------- 1  Sri Lanka

3----------------------2  Carlos Alcaraz

4-----------------------3   India

5------------------------1 Greater Noida

The Centre is considering using geospatial technology for mapping and monitoring water quality, and waste dumps in the river channel and to generate flood hazard potential zones on the entire Ganga Basin.

A proposal to develop a geo-portal of the entire Ganga basin by the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun (IIRS) was considered during the latest meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) at a proposed cost of Rs 5.4 crore. 

The research proposal was conceptualized on the basis of the use of space inputs in the monitoring of the Ganga River & special emphasis was on the development of tools & dashboards that can be used by field-level volunteers associated with NMCG.

The main objectives of this project are to develop a geo-portal of the entire Ganga basin for visualization and analysis of hydro-meteorological and other thematic parameters, to develop a geospatial solution for mapping and monitoring river water quality in respect of a few parameters, water level, and solid waste dumps in the active river channel or buffer area of the selected river stretches and to generate flood hazard potential zones for the selected stretch using geospatial techniques.

Nearly four months after a CBI raid at the premises of an AAP MLA, the Enforcement Directorate raided Amargarh legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjan Majra.

ED sleuths accompanied by paramilitary forces carried out searches at five properties including Tara Haveli in Sangrur, Tara Convent School, Tara Golden Homes and Tara Feed Industry in Malerkotla.

The ED searches reportedly followed up on the CBI raids at Gajjan Majra’s properties in May this year in an alleged bank fraud case involving over Rs 40 crore.

In a statement, the ED said it seized Rs 32 lakh in cash, some mobile phones and hard drives after a raid at one of the premises of Gajjan Majra and others in a money laundering investigation linked to a bank loan fraud.

The searches were carried out at the business and residential premises of the accused and their associates including Tara Corporation Ltd (renamed as Malaudh Agro Ltd), its directors Jaswant Singh, Balwant Singh, Kulwant Singh, Tejinder Singh and their associates and other sister concerns in Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Khanna, Payal and Dhuri.

The agency had registered a case on a complaint from Bank of India Model Town branch, Ludhiana against Gajjan Majra, Tara Corporation Ltd based at Gaunspura in Malerkotla and others over an alleged fraud of Rs 40.92 crore.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that it’s pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week.

The news came after days of apparent advances by Ukraine south of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital of Kyiv at the start of the nearly seven-month war.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that troops would be regrouped from the Balakliya and Izyum areas to Ukraine’s tern Donetsk region. Izyum was a major base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region and earlier this week social media videos showed residents of Balakliya joyfully cheering as Ukrainian troops moved in.

Konashenkov said the Russian move is being made “in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,’” one of the eastern Ukraine regions that Russia has declared sovereign.