There was quite a commotion before the departure of the India table tennis team for the Commonwealth Games. The build-up was not ideal either. There was uncertainty as to who would represent the team in Birmingham. But when the men's team defended its title on Aug 2, it was cathartic for the players and more so for the coach. There was pressure, especially after the women's team crashed out.

It ain't over until it's over — the saying perfectly sums up the exciting yet so unpredictable climax of the women's 71kg weightlifting competition of the 2022 Commonwealth Games at the NEC Hall 1 in Birmingham on Aug 1.

Harjinder sneaked into the top-three bracket and finished third with a total lift of 212kg (93kg in snatch and 119kg in clean & jerk). 

Q1.  Name the co-founder BharatPe  who has resigned recently  ?

1. Ashneer Grover
2. Bhavik Koladiya
3. Madhuri Jain
4. Shashvat Nakrani
5. None of These 

Q2. What amount of loans which  have been  written off  by the Bank in the last five financial years ?

1. About Rs 10 lakh crore
2. AboutRs 15 lakh crore
   
3. AboutRs 20 lakh crore
4. AboutRs 25 lakh crore
5. None of These

Q3. Name the US House Speaker who has visited Taiwan recently ?

1. Dennis Hastert
2.  John Boehner
3. Paul Ryan
4. Nancy Pelosi
5. None of These

Q4. Suresh N Patel  has been sworn in as  the

1. Chief Election Commissioner
   
2. Attorney-General for India
3. Central Vigilance Commissioner
4. Comptroller and Auditor General of India
5. None of These

Q5. Which among the following is the national language of Maldives ?

1. Sinhala
2. Dhivehi
3. Tamil
4. Malaya
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------  2  Bhavik Koladiya

2------------------1 About Rs 10 lakh crore

3----------------- 4 Nancy Pelosi

4-------------------3     Central Vigilance Commissioner

5   -------------------2    Dhivehi

     Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on  Aug 2 held extensive talks with an aim to ramp up overall bilateral strategic ties including in areas of trade and investment.

Solih, accompanied by a high-level delegation, arrived in Delhi on july 1 1n a four-day visit.

The Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and the overall bilateral ties including in areas of defence and security have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years.

After a meeting with Solih, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar  has said India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy and the Maldives' 'India First' policy are "complementary" and they take the special partnership forward.

Besides official engagements in New Delhi, President Solih will also visit Mumbai and participate in business events. The ties between India and the Maldives have been on an upswing since Solih took charge of the top office in November 2018.

Prime Minister Modi attended the inauguration ceremony of President Solih.

In December 2018, Solih visited India, which was his first overseas tour after becoming the president.

Modi visited the Maldives in June 2019 and it was his first overseas visit in his second term as the prime minister. Last week, Chief of Maldivian defence forces Maj Gen Abdulla Shamaal visited India.

In March, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, during a visit to Male, handed over a coastal radar system to the country.

India and Maldives share common perspectives on maritime security issues in the Indian Ocean and have been working together to expand defence cooperation.

Development cooperation has been a key pillar of the India-Maldives relationship with New Delhi providing Lines of Credit of over USD 1.2 billion (one billion=100 crores) for infrastructure and grants for community development projects to the island nation.

In August last year, the island nation sealed a contract for the implementation of an India-funded connectivity project.

Under the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) project, a 6.74 km long bridge and causeway link will be built to connect the capital city Male with adjoining islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi.

After three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand were caught with a cash in West Bengal, the Congress on july 31 suspended them while accusing the BJP of attempting to topple its coalition government in the state.

Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pande said the three MLAs were allegedly involved in a plot to weaken the party and mislead other MLAs. He said the coalition government with JMM is stable.

Sanjay Arora, a 1998-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer, was appointed as the Delhi Police Commissioner on july 31.

Arora, the current Director-general of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), has took  charge on Aug 1 . Once part of the Tamil Nadu Police special task force which later hunted down forest brigand Veerappan, Arora will succeed Rakesh Asthana, a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer who retired on july 31 .

Arora, 57, is the second successive non-AGMUT cadre IPS officer to head the Delhi Police and the third since the Delhi Police Act was passed in 1978 and a commissionerate was established. Arora is due for retirement in 2025.

Arora was Coimbatore Police Commissioner between 2002 and 2004. He was appointed as ITBP DG in 2021. He also had stints in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF).

Senior lawyer Abhay Nath Yadav, representing Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM), the management committee of Gaynvapi mosque, in ongoing litigation over Gyanvapi in Varanasi sessions and district court, died of massive heart attack.

Significantly, on August 4, a reply from the Muslim side in the ongoing Gyanvapi case was due, and Abhay Nath Yadav’s involvement would have been crucial.

The AIM which manages the affairs and upkeep of Gyanvapi mosque has challenged the maintainability of a suit filed by five Hindu women seeking permission for daily worship of the Shringar Gauri Sthal on the mosque premises.

 President Joe Biden announced that the United States had killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world's most wanted terrorists and a mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, in a drone strike in Kabul.

In a somber televised address, Biden said he gave the final go-ahead for the high-precision strike that successfully targeted Zawahiri in the Afghan capital over the weekend.

According to the official's account, the president gave his green light for the strike on July 25 -- as he was recovering in isolation from Covid-19. Biden said there were no civilian casualties in the operation.

The US official called Zawahiri's presence in the Afghan capital Kabul a "clear violation" of a deal the Taliban had signed with the US in Doha in 2020 that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

It was the first known over-the-horizon strike by the United States on an Al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan since American forces withdrew from the country on August 31, 2021.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who grew up in a comfortable Cairo household before turning to violent radicalism, had been on the run for 20 years since the 9/11 attacks. He took over Al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011, and had a $25 million US bounty on his head.