India have consolidated their third spot in the latest ICC ODI Team Rankings after the away series victory over England.

Rishabh Pant's maiden ODI century and Hardik Pandya's all-round heroics fired India to an emphatic five-wicket win over England in the third ODI, helping the visitors seal the series 2-1.

With a rating of 109 points, India are three rating points clear of Pakistan (106) in the list.

New Zealand continues to reign supreme at the top of the table with 128 rating points, while England is second with 121.

After successfully leading Bangladesh to a 3-0 win over West Indies in the ODI series, skipper Tamim Iqbal announced his retirement from the T20I format. Tamim was adjudged as the Player of the Series after Bangladesh defeated West Indies in the third and final ODI by four wickets on  july 16 .

 Q1. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said  that single packages of food items like cereals, pulses and flour weighing up to 25 kg from July 18 will be considered as 'prepackaged and labelled', and liable to GST of

1. Three per cent
2. Five per cent
3. Seven per cent
4. Ten   per cent
5. None of These

Q2. Name the IMF chief  who has cited the example of the unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka to warn other countries that they could also face a similar situation in the face of high debt levels and limited policy space ?

1. Kristalina Georgieva
2. Ursula von der Leyen
3. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
4. David Malpass
5. None of These

Q3. India's agricultural and processed food products exports during the first three months of the current financial year 2022-23 (April-June) rose  to 

1. 10 per centnt
2. 14 per cent
3. 20  per cent
4. 24  per cent
5. None of These

Q4. Name person whose name has been cleared by the market regulator Sebi  for the MD & CEO post of NSE Chitra Ramkrishna Vikram Limaye Ashishkumar Chauhan R.H. Patil None of These

1. Chitra Ramkrishna
2. Vikram Limaye
3. Ashishkumar Chauhan
4. R.H. Patil
5. None of These

Q5. Name the veteran Indian shooter who has  created history by winning the country's first-ever ISSF World Cup gold medal in men's skeet in Changwon ?

1. Anjum Moudgil
2. Ashi Chouksey
3. Sift Kaur Samra
4. Mairaj Ahmed Khan
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------2     Five per cent

2-----------------1     Kristalina Georgieva

3-----------------2    14 per cent

4------------------3    Ashishkumar Chauhan

5------------------4    Mairaj Ahmed Khan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on  July  16  inaugurated the 296-km-long Bundelkhand Expressway, which passes through seven districts of Uttar Pradesh and has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath welcomed Modi by offering him a local 'Bundeli' stole at the inauguration ceremony at Kaitheri village in Orai tehsil of Jalaun district.

Modi had laid the foundation stone for the construction of the expressway on February 29, 2020 and it has been completed in about 28 months.

It extends from NH-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

The four-lane expressway, which can be later expanded into six lanes, passes through seven districts -- Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah.

Besides improving connectivity in the region, the government expects the Bundelkhand Expressway to give a major boost to economic development and create thousands of jobs for the local people.

 As elected lawmakers from across the country gear up for voting in the presidential poll on july 18 , those from Uttar Pradesh will have the maximum vote value among MLAs, while the vote value of those from Sikkim is the lowest.

Members of Parliament have a much higher vote value at 700.

The vote value of each of the 403 MLAs of Uttar Pradesh is 208, which pegs the cumulative value at 83,824.

Each MLA of Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand has a vote value of 176 followed by that of Maharashtra (175), Bihar (173), Andhra Pradesh (159).

The cumulative vote value of the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly is 41,184 and that of 81-member Jharkhand is 14,256.

The vote value of the 288-member Maharashtra assembly is 50,400 and 243-member Bihar house is 42,039 and 175-member Andhra Pradesh assembly is 27,825.

The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.

Among smaller states, the vote value of each MLA of Sikkim is 7, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram (8 each), Nagaland (9), Meghalaya (17), Manipur (18) and Goa (20).

The vote value of an MLA of the Union Territory of Puducherry is 16.

The vote value of 72-member Sikkim assembly is 224, 40-member Mizoram assembly is 320, 60-member assembly of Arunachal Pradesh is 480, 60-member Nagaland assembly is 540, 60-member Meghalaya house is 1020, 60-member Manipur assembly is 1080 and 40-member Goa assembly is 800.

The value of the vote of a Member of Parliament was reduced to 700 from 708 due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.

The value of the vote of an MP in a presidential election is based on the number of elected members in legislative assemblies of states and union territories, including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Electoral College for the presidential election comprises the members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and those of the legislative assemblies of states and union territories including Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir.

Before it was bifurcated into two union territories of Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir in August 2019, the erstwhile state of J&K had 83 assembly seats.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, the Union Territory of J&K will have a legislative assembly, while Ladakh will be governed directly by the Centre.

The government had announced that elections to the legislative assembly would be held after the completion of the delimitation of assembly constituencies.

Recently, the Delimitation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir notified its final order in which it has recommended a 90-member House for the newly carved out union territory.

A boundary line delineated in 1960 by a committee will be the basis for the realignment of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh interstate boundary as the two states attempt to solve their longstanding border disputes.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal counterpart Pema Khandu held their third meeting on the disputes at Namsai in Arunachal. Later, they jointly issued the ‘Namsai Declaration’. It reads: “This declaration is signed between the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on July 15, 2022, at Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh to minimize the border dispute between the two states in respect of 123 villages placed before the Local Commission by Arunachal Pradesh…”

After the first two meetings held between the two CMs on Jan. 24 and April 20 this year, it was decided inter alia that all border issues would be confined to those raised before the Local Commission in 2007.

Both states decided to constitute 12 “regional committees”, each covering 12 districts of Arunachal and the counterpart districts of Assam for joint verification of 123 villages. They will make their recommendations to the respective governments keeping in view the historical perspective, administrative convenience, contiguity and people’s will to delineate the interstate boundary.

Sarma and Khandu  have agreed in principle regarding 37 villages. The final decision will be made based on the recommendations of the regional committees. Twenty-eight villages, which are within the constitutional boundary of Arunachal, will remain with it. Three villages, on which claims were withdrawn by Arunachal, will remain with Assam. The locations of six villages could not be located in Assam and if they exist in Arunachal, they will continue to be with it. It was also agreed upon that the regional committees will submit their first tranche of reports on areas where consensus is arrived at before Aug. 15.

      India  has assured Sri Lanka that it will continue to support democracy, stability and economic recovery in the country, which is at a crucial juncture, amid the unprecedented political crisis and economic turmoil.

The assurance was given to Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena by India's High Commissioner Gopal Baglay when he called on the Sri Lankan leader.

The meeting took place a day after Speaker Abeywardena accepted the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with a severe foreign exchange shortage hampering the import of essentials including food, fuel and medicines.

The economic crisis also sparked a political crisis in the country after a popular uprising against the government forced Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign as president.

The island nation off the tip of southeast India needs about USD 5 billion in the next six months to cover basic necessities for its 22 million people, who have been struggling with long queues, worsening shortages and power cuts.

India has been the principal source of foreign assistance to Sri Lanka this year.

India's assistance has been in the form of currency swaps, deferment of repayment of Sri Lanka's liabilities to the Reserve Bank of India under the Asian Clearing Union mechanism, credit assistance of more than USD 1.5 billion for fuel, food, medicines, fertilisers, and other essential commodities.

As Mexican marines closed in on infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero deep in the mountains of his native state of Sinaloa, it was a 6-year-old bloodhound named "Max" who rousted from the undergrowth the man allegedly responsible for the murder of a U.S. DEA agent more than three decades ago.

While the United States' motivation to find Caro Quintero was never in doubt — hence the $20 million reward for information leading to his capture — there was less certainty about the commitment of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had made clear his disinterest in pursuing drug lords.

Yet on july 15 , three days after López Obrador and U.S. President Joe Biden met in the White House, the most wanted target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was in Mexican custody.

Mexico's Attorney General's Office said in a statement that Caro Quintero was arrested for extradition to the U.S. and he would be held at the maximum security Altiplano prison about 50 miles west of Mexico City.

Samuel González, who founded the organized crime office in Mexico's Attorney General's Office and is now a security analyst, said that to López Obrador's benefit, the arrest "shows evidence that there's no protection of capos" from his administration.

González believes Caro Quintero has long been a thorn in the bilateral relationship but said that "without a doubt" his capture was the fruit of the recent negotiations in Washington.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar both expressed gratitude for Mexico's efforts to catch the man blamed for the brutal torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985 — a case that brought a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations.