Q1) The overall rice production in the country is down by about

1. Three percent
2. Six percent
3. Nine percent 
4. Eleven percent
5. None of These          

Q2) The first master’s course in energy transition and sustainability will commence in the newly set up IIT-Delhi-Abu Dhabi Campus from

1. Dec 2023
2. Jan 2024
3. Apr 2024
4. Jan 2025
5. None of These          

Q3) Name the President of UAE  with whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation regarding the crisis in West Asia after the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

1. Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
2. Muḥammad bin Zāyid Āl Nahyān
3. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
4. Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
5. None of These          

Q4) Name the state cabinet that has decided to conduct the caste census.

1. Uttar Pradesh
2. Chhattisgarh
3. Telangana
4. Andhra Pradesh
5. None of These

Q5) Name Bigg Boss winner and YouTuber who has been booked by the Noida police for making available snake venom at rave parties.

1. Elvish Yadav
2. Dhruv Rathee
3. Amit Bhadana
4. Emiway Bantai
5. None of These        

Answers

1-----------------------------3   Nine percent 

2-----------------------------2   Jan 2024

3----------------------------- 2    Muḥammad bin Zāyid Āl Nahyān

4-----------------------------4     Andhra Pradesh

5----------------------------  1   Elvish Yadav 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Nov 1  said that Indo-Bangladesh relationship is reaching new heights in various domains. Modi said after the joint inauguration of three projects, including two railway initiatives, alongside his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.

Addressing the occasion virtually, Modi underscored how India’s connectivity efforts acted as a lifeline during the Covid-19 pandemic, facilitating the dispatch of 4,000 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen from India to Bangladesh. He also noted that in the last nine years, trade between the two nations has tripled, significantly enhancing their connectivity initiatives. He expressed the joint celebration of the success of India-Bangladesh cooperation. 

Modi described the inauguration of the India-Bangladesh rail project, the Agartala-Akhaura Cross Border Rail Link, as a ‘historic’ moment, representing the first rail link between the northeast of India and Bangladesh, solidifying their bilateral relations. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, speaking at the event, emphasized that the three projects, including two railway ventures, would further bolster infrastructure development collaboration, fostering a stronger bond between the two countries. She also expressed her gratitude to Modi for the warm hospitality extended during her visit for the G20 Summit in September.

India had extended a grant assistance of `392.52 crore to Bangladesh for the Agartala-Akhaura Cross Border Rail Link. As part of the Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line, a 65-km broad gauge route was constructed between Bangladesh’s Mongla Port and the existing rail network in Khulna. The inauguration of Unit 2 of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Bangladesh’s Rampal was celebrated as a project under India’s development initiatives. The 12.24-km rail project, with 6.78 km in Bangladesh and 5.46 km in Tripura between Nischintapur and Gangasagar, is expected to cut travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka.

Rail, energy projects

Rs 392.52 crore extended to Bangladesh for the Agartala-Akhaura Cross Border Rail Link

A 65-km broad gauge route was constructed under the Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line project

Unit 2 of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Bangladesh’s Rampal inaugurated

Ernakulam Central Police has  registered a case against Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar for allegedly causing communal disharmony and violation of public order through his Facebook post.

The Facebook post of Rajeev Chandrashekar was made  after the bomb blast at Kalamassery at the Jehovah’s Witness convention, a Christian religious group that originated in the US in the 19th century killing three people. 

CERT-In has started its probe into the Apple threat notification issue raised by opposition MPs, and a notice has been sent to the company, IT Secretary S Krishnan said .

He hoped that Apple would cooperate with the investigation by CERT-In on the issue.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur.

Several opposition leaders have claimed that they have received an alert from Apple warning them of "state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government, a charge IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw rejected but assured a thorough probe.

Those who received such notifications included Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, K C Venugopal, Supriya Shrinate, T S Singhdeo and Bhupinder S Hooda; Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

The lone NCP legislator Kamlesh Singh has announced the withdrawal of his support to the Hemant Soren-led alliance government in Jharkhand.

JMM Spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya, however, said that the withdrawal of support from Singh will not make any impact on the present government. In the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, the ruling alliance has 48 MLAs — 30 of JMM, 17 of Congress and one of RJD.

The BJP on the other hand, has 26 MLAs along with three of AJSU Party. The NCP and CPI (ML) have one MLA each, besides two other Independents. 

Kozhikode, the coastal city in Kerala, and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, have joined the coveted club of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the ‘literature’ and ‘music’ categories respectively. With the latest additions, the network now has 350 cities in more than 100 countries, representing seven creative fields; crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts and music. On World Cities Day on Oct 31 , 55 cities join UCCN, after their designation by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay

Across the world                                                                          

Some of the other cities that were announced as the latest additions to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network  are Asaba (Film/Nigeria), Buffalo City (Literature/US), Bukhara (Crafts and Folk Art/Uzbekistan), Casablanca (Media Arts/Morocco), Hobart (Literature/Australia), Kathmandu (Film/Nepal), Taif (Literature/Saudi Arabia) and Ulaanbaatar (Crafts and Folk Art/ Mongolia).

Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will begin an eight-day visit to India on November 3. This will be the king's sixth visit to India after his coronation in November 2008.

The Bhutanese King had earlier visited India in April this year, which generated considerable interest, particularly due to the increased attention on the Doklam issue. Doklam is an area disputed between China and Bhutan located near their tri-junction with India.

India-Bhutan border shares an international border that is 699 km long and adjoins the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim. Bhutan has time and again reiterated that it stands by India’s security, and will not take any steps that will compromise India’s security.

However, Bhutan and China have been holding border talks since 1984, and in 2021, they agreed to initiate a three-step measure to resolve the boundary dispute.

India remains an important stakeholder in the border dispute between Bhutan and China, given the importance of the trijunction to India’s security. There have been reports suggesting that China has been insisting on swapping territory with Bhutan by offering 495 sq km in the disputed Jakarlung and Pasamlung valleys in the north with 269 sq km in the west at the Doklam trijunction that will provide China strategic control over Chumbi Valley having implications for India’s security.

It may be noted that China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently held talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Dr Tandi Dorji in Beijing recently.

Braj Kishore Ravi, the ex-DGP rank officer from Tamil Nadu who recently opted for voluntary retirement, has joined the Congress party.

Ravi was set to retire on December 31 this year but put down his papers three months before the end of his tenure.

His father late Tul Mohan Ram was a former MP (1962-1977) and a freedom fighter.

The 1989 batch IPS officer hails from Saharsa district in Bihar.