Nearly 88% of Rs 2000 banknotes valued at Rs 3.14 lakh crore have returned to the banking system, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said . Out of the total notes returned, about 87% have come back in the form of deposits and the remaining around 13% has been exchanged into other denomination banknotes.

The RBI in may had announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation and gave public time till September 30 to either deposit such notes in accounts or exchange them at banks. “According to the data received from the banks, the total value of Rs 2000 banknotes received back from circulation is Rs 3.14 lakh crore up to July 31, 2023. Consequently, Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as at the close of business on July 31 stood at Rs 0.42 lakh crore,” RBI said in a statement.

Country bids adieu to Rs ​2000 notes

Rs 3.14 lakh crore Value of Rs 2000 note retuned to banks as on July 31

Rs 3.62 lakh crore Total value of Rs 2000 notes in circulation as on March 31, 2023.

Rs 2.73 lakh crore Value of Rs 2000 note came to banks in the form of deposits

Rs 0.42 lakh crore Value of Rs 2000 notes in circulation as on July 31.

87% Share of Rs 2000 notes returned in the form of deposits

Star Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen  jumped to the ninth and 11th spots respectively in the latest BWF (Badminton World Federation) world rankings for the following semifinal finishes at Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament.

While Prannoy gained one spot, Sen improved two places after they lost in the semifinals in three hard-fought games against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen and Indonesia's Jonatan Christie respectively in Tokyo last week.

Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth also went up a rung to the 19th position, while national champion Mithun Manjunath moved four places to the 50th position.

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu remained static at the 17th spot, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stayed at the world number 2 position in the latest chart.

Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri and Gayatri Gopichand also improved two spots to the 17th position.

Q1. Name the country’s largest lender which  on Jul 31 has  raised Rs 10,000 crore at a coupon rate of 7.54% via its third infrastructure bond issuance ?

1. Reserve Bank of India
2. State Bank of India
3. Punjab National Bank
4. Bank of Baroda
5. None of These

Q2. The Brookfield Asset Management has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to explore opportunities to manufacture renewable energy and decarbonization equipment in

1. Germany                                                                                                        
2. Russia
3. Australia                                                               
4. US
5. None of These

Q3. Name the former Uruguay defender  who has retired from professional soccer on Jul 31 , ending a 20-year career at age 37 ?

1. José María Giménez
2. Diego Godin
3. Facundo Torres
4. Sergio Rochet
5. None of These

Q4. Name the India’s largest coal producer which has  witnessed a growth of 13.4 per cent to 53.6 MTs compared to the same period last year?

1. Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL)
2. Central Coalfields Limited (CCL)
3. Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL)
4. Coal India Limited (CIL)
5. None of These

Q5. Name the Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives  who has remarked that the Southeast Asian country was looking to increase food production by purchasing millets from Tamil Nadu and making agriculture profitable ?

1. Saraswathy Kandasami
2. S Prakadeesh Kumar
3. A. Kohilan Pillay
4. Sivarasa Rasiah
5. None of These

Answers                                                                                   

1------------------2   State Bank of India

2------------------3  Australia

3------------------2   Diego Godin

4------------------4   Coal India Limited (CIL)

5------------------1   Saraswathy Kandasami

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Aug 1  shared the stage with NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the Lokmanya Tilak National Award ceremony in Pune.

Pawar attended the event held to confer Modi with the Lokmanya Tilak Award in recognition of his 'supreme leadership' and for 'awakening the feeling of patriotism among citizens'.

Pawar did not entertain requests from members of the opposition INDIA alliance to not share the stage with Modi.

The award was constituted in 1983 to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak and is presented every year on August 1, Tilak's death anniversary.

Gangster Sachin Bishnoi, who was allegedly involved in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, was extradited from Azerbaijan.

Officers from the Delhi Police's Special Cell had travelled to the Azerbaijan capital Baku to monitor the progress in the case.

Bishnoi alias Sachin Thapan was successfully extradited from Baku, the officials said.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab's Mansa district on May 29, 2022.

Tipu Sultan Khan alias Samar, a YouTuber from Jharkhand, was arrested from Gharwa  for allegedly sharing objectionable and defamatory content against chief minister Hemant Soren and others on his YouTube channel.

According to police, the content that Khan aired on his YouTube channel was "highly objectionable, insulting, derogatory and full of acrimony and caste bias."

Garhwa SP Anjani Kumar Jha said that the YouTuber has been booked under various sections under the SC /ST Act, Prevention of Atrocities Act, along the IT Act. 

The Rohini Commission, constituted to examine the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), has submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu.

The Commission for Other Backward Classes was appointed through an October 2017 notification to examine the sub-categorisation of OBC.

Justice G Rohini, a retired chief justice of the Delhi High Court is its chairperson.

The Commission had been entrusted with the task to study the various entries in the Central List of OBCs.

An Afghan branch of the Islamic State group on Jul 31  claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Pakistan that killed at least 54 people at a pro-Taliban party's election rally, in one of the region's worst attacks in recent years.

Islamic State in Khorasan Province made the claim in a statement posted on its Amaq website. It said the attacker detonated an explosive vest, and that the bombing in the northwestern town of Bajur was part of the group's continuing war against forms of democracy it deems to be against Islam.

Hours earlier, hundreds of mourners in Bajur carried caskets draped in colourful cloths to burial sites following the previous day’s attack at the election rally for the Jamiat Ulema Islam party. Officials said the bombing killed 54 people, including at least five children, and wounded nearly 200.

The attack appeared to reflect divisions between Islamist groups, which have a strong presence in the district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. The Jamiat Ulema Islam party has ties to the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.