Much water has flown under the bridge ever since the election to the executive committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was held almost two weeks ago. Only three days later on December 24, the newly-elected WFI was abstained from functioning by the sports ministry. The ministry also directed the Indian Olympic Association to form an ad-hoc committee to run the sport in the country.

In the meantime, the only woman wrestler from the country to have won an Olympic medal, Sakshi Malik, announced her retirement from the sport while Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia and World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat returned their national sports awards protesting Sanjay Singh's elevation as the WFI president. Yet another protest hit the already troubled Indian wrestling on Jan 3  when hundreds of wrestlers gathered at Jantar Mantar. Protesting the loss of one crucial year of their careers, these agitating wrestlers accused the trio of Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh for the situation.

Amid all the upheaval, the world governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW), which suspended the WFI for not conducting elections last year, maintained a stoic silence. 

Q1. Name the former chief manager of the State Bank of India (SBI) who has been convicted by the  a special court for cheating the bank nearly two decades back, and said such crimes are "heinous in nature" as they intend to destroy the "economic fabric and financial edifice of the state" ?

1. M P Abraham
2. V B Mantri
3. Shikha Sharma
4. Pratip Chaudhuri
5. None of These

Q2. The MHA  has declared fugitive gangster Satinderjit Singh alias Goldy Brar  as a designated terrorist under the

1. National Security Act
2. Prevention of Terrorism Act  (POTA)
3. Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) 
4. Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)
5. None of These

Q3. Name the chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service  who on Jan 3   has vowed  that the agency would hunt down every Hamas member involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel  ?

1. Meir Dagan
2.  Tamir Pardo
3. Yossi Cohn
4. David Barnea
5. None of These

Q4. Name the social activist  who has announced his decision to return the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, bestowed upon him in 2002, as a mark of protest against the "role" of the US in the Israeli attack in Gaza ?

1. Dilip Pandey
2. Kiran Bedi
3. Sandeep Pandey
4. Kailash Satyarthi
5. None of These

Q5. Name the scheme under which  two remote villages along the Line of Control on the Keran Sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Jan 3  were electrified for the first time in 75 years of independence.

1. Panchayati Raj System
2. Vaibrant Villages Programme
3. Samridh Seema Yojna
4. Border Area Development Programme
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------------------2 V B Mantri

2-----------------------------4  Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)

3------------------------------4  David Barnea

4-------------------------------3 Sandeep Pandey

5--------------------------------3  Samridh Seema Yojna

In a mark of rising strategic ties between India and the United Arab Emirates, the militaries of both countries on  Jan 2  began their first joint exercise 'Desert Cyclone' in Mahajan, Rajasthan.

A UAE Land Forces contingent of 45 personnel is participating in the 1st edition of the India-UAE joint military exercise.

The aim of the exercise is to enhance interoperability in sub-conventional operations including Fighting in Built-Up Area (FIBUA) in desert/ semi desert terrain under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter on Peacekeeping Operations. The exercise will enhance cooperation and interoperability between both sides during peacekeeping operations.

The exercise will also foster collaborative partnership and help in sharing best practices between the two sides.

The UAE holds an important link in India's West Asia/ Middle East policy. Also, it is an important part of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) announced during the G20 summit in New Delhi in September.

India was the first country with which the UAE had inked the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022. An agreement was also signed in July 2023 for supply of up to 1.2 Million Metric Tonne Per Annum (MMTPA) of LNG for a period of 14 years starting from 2026.

There are around 3.5 million Indians working in the UAE, the largest anywhere outside the country. India has accorded significance to the relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the country five times in his two terms.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new terminal of Tiruchy International Airport and laid the foundation stones for 20 projects worth Rs 20,140 crore in Tamil Nadu on Jan 2 . The PM reached Tiruchy on a special flight at 10:10 am. Governor RN Ravi, Chief Minister MK Stalin, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister L Murugan, Ministers KN Nehru, EV Velu and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Tiruchy MP Su Thirunavukkarasar welcomed him at the airport.

Somalia said  on Jan 2  it was recalling its ambassador to Ethiopia, declaring that a controversial port deal Addas Ababa signed with the breakaway region of Somaliland was a violation of its sovereignty.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre also vowed that Somalia would defend its territory by "all legal means possible" following  agreement that gives landlocked Ethiopia long sought-after access to the Red Sea.

The government said it was appealing to international bodies including the United Nations and the African Union to stand with Somalia.

It said the memorandum of understanding signed in Addis Ababa on  Jan 1   was "null and void with no legal basis and Somalia will not accept it".

The government also said it was appealing to the United Nations, African Union, the Arab League and regional East African grouping IGAD among others "to stand with the right for Somalia to defend its sovereignty and force Ethiopia to adhere to international laws".

France has closed down its embassy in Niger until further notice, the foreign ministry said on Jan  2 , barely two weeks after the last French troops left the country in the wake of a coup that ousted a key Paris ally.

The closure of the embassy in Niamey represents one of the final chapters in the winding down of a French presence in its former colony following the July coup that left the country in the hands of military leaders.

It said that for the five months since the coup "our embassy has suffered serious obstacles making it impossible to carry out its missions" including a blockade around the mission.

Most staff, including the ambassador who was expelled by the new military leaders, left some time ago.

The military ousted elected leader Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and scrapped defence deals with France, its traditional security partner. Bazoum remains under house arrest in Niamey.

The last contingent of what was once 1,500 French troops deployed in the country to fight a jihadist insurgency left Niger on December 22.

Despite the French pull-out, other Western nations retain a presence in Niger.

The United States said in December that it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition its military regime committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.

A US official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or assisting Niger forces.

Smaller numbers of German and Italian forces also remain, with the West eager to avoid Russia seeking to fill any vacuum created by the French withdrawal.

HDFC Bank has executed transactions via the NPCI’s UPI payments app as part of the ‘UPI for secondary market’ facility . The app went live on Jan 1 .The move follows markets regulator Sebi allowing the facility through the UPI app developed by the National Payment Corporation of India (NCPI).

Effective January 1, Sebi and the stock exchanges permitted trading in the cash segment via block mechanism, on an optional basis, for the secondary market on the lines of Application Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA) for primary markets where investors’ funds will continue to remain in their savings account with the required funds being blocked instead of the investor having to upfront transfer the amount to the broker’s account for placing trades.  On December 29, the NPCI had said ‘UPI for secondary market’ facility will go live from January 1 in Beta phase for the equity cash segment.

The Centre has so far procured 25,000 tonnes of onion grown in the 2023 kharif season for maintaining a buffer stock, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh.

The government is procuring onion to maintain a buffer stock and use it for market intervention to boost domestic availability and keep prices in check.

The government has raised the buffer stock target to 7 lakh tonnes for the 2023-24 fiscal, against the actual stock of 3 lakh tonnes last year.

According to the Secretary, the government had procured 5 lakh tonnes from last year's rabi season and is purchasing 2 lakh tonnes of Kharif onion as the buffer stock target has been raised.

Of the 5 lakh tonnes of rabi onion lying in the buffer stock, the government has offloaded 3.04 lakh tonnes of onion through cooperative Nafed and NCCF in the market to check prices.

As a result, the all-India average retail price of onion has come down by 27.58 per cent to Rs 42 per kg from over a month ago.

To arrest sharp spikes in retail prices, the government has banned onion exports till March 31.