International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on  Jul 26  formally invited 203 countries, but not Russia and Belarus, to participate in the Paris Olympics which begin in a year's time.

Bach had said in mid-July that neither Russia nor its ally in the invasion of Ukraine, Belarus, would be invited as a team.

The IOC has however left the door open for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals in the 2024 Summer Games without their teams competing.

Bach is on a three-day visit to the French capital to mark the one-year-to-go milestone on Jul 26 .

Guatemala were not invited either because it is currently suspended from the Olympic movement due to alleged government interference with the independence of the National Olympic Committee there.

Q1) During the Gupta Empire, the term “UPARIKARA” was used for

1. An extra tax levied on all subjects.
2. Periodic supplies of fruits, firewood, flowers etc.
3. It was a voluntary offering by people to the king.
4. King’s customary share of the production normally amounting to 1/6th of the production.

Q2) Tuluva Narasa who ruled the Vijaynagara Empire for the period 1491-1503 belonged to which dynasty?

1. Sangama Dynasty
2. Saluva Dynasty
3. Tuluva Dynasty
4. Aravidu Dynasty

Q3) Chola Empire was divided into:

1. Mandalams, Nadu, Kurram & Valanadu
2. Mandalams, Nadu, Malkhand & Avanti
3. Mandalams, Bhoomi, Avanti &Valanadu
4. Mandalams, Nadu, Kurram & Malkhand

Q4) Which Pala ruler founded the famous Vikramashila University for the Buddhists’?

1. Mahipala
2. Devapala
3. Gopala
4. Dharmapala

Q5)  Which of the following are the four Agnikula classes of Rajputs?

1. Tomars, Pariharas, Chauhans, Pawars
2. Chandellas, Tornars, Solankis, Chauhans
3. Chandellas, Pariharas, Chauhans, Pawars
4. Pariharas, Chauhans, Pawars, Solankis

Q6)  Who had succeeded Mir Jumla as governor of Bengal in the reign of Aurangzeb?

1. Siphr Sukoh
2. Izid Bakhsh
3. Shaista Khan
4. Shah Shuja

Q7) Which of the following leader was not present in the very first meeting of Indian National Congress?

1. Dadabhai Naoroji,
2. Kashinath Trimbak Telang
3. Pherozeshah Mehta
4. Surendranath Banerjee

Q8) When was congress split?

1. At Surat session in 1906
2. At Benares session in 1905
3. At Madras in1908
4. At Lahore in1909

Q9) Which of the following, according to Gandhiji, is an essential principle of Satyagraha?

1. Infinite capacity for suffering
2. Non-violence
3. Truth
4. All the three

Q10) Gandhiji's "The Story of My Experiments with Truth" was originally written in Gujarati. Who translated it into English?

1. Maganlal Gandhi
2. Mahadev Desai
3. Pyarelalji
4. Sushila Nayyar

Answers

1-----------------1   An extra tax levied on all subjects.

2---------------------3   Tuluva Dynasty

3---------------1   Mandalams, Nadu, Kurram & Valanadu

4---------------------4    Dharmapala

5----------------4   Pariharas, Chauhans, Pawars, Solankis

6-----------------------3   Shaista Khan

7------------------------4   Surendranath Banerjee

8------------------------1   At Surat session in 1906

9------------------------4   All the three

10----------------------2   Mahadev Desai

Thousands of people demonstrated across Mizoram on July 25  to express solidarity with the Zo people in ethnic strife-torn Manipur.

NGO Co-ordination Committee, a conglomerate of five major civil society organisations including the Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) and Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), organised the rallies in different parts of the state, including capital Aizawl.

Chief Minister Zoramthanga, Deputy CM Tawnluia, ministers, and MLAs of the state cutting across party lines took part in the massive protest rally in Aizawl.

Thousands of common people joined them in the peaceful protest with placards and posters, decrying the violence in the neighbouring state.

The gathering in Aizawl was so huge that the city came to a standstill with participants claiming that the state has not seen such a large demonstration in recent years. The offices of the ruling MNF were closed to extend support to the programme.

The opposition BJP, Congress and Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) also kept their offices shut in support of the solidarity rallies.

From the rally, NGO Co-ordination Committee chairman R Lalngheta urged the Centre to end the violence in Manipur.

Mizos of Mizoram share ethnic ties with Kukis of Manipur, Kuki-Chins of Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and Chins of Myanmar. They are collectively identified as Zos.

The central government has not enumerated caste-wise population other than Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Census since independence, the Lok Sabha was informed.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said some political parties and a few organisations have requested to collect caste details in the forthcoming Census.

He said in the Census, the castes and tribes which are specifically notified as Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) as per the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, as amended from time to time, are enumerated.

Veteran Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Madan Das Devi who had served as the joint secretary of the outfit, passed away.

Hailing from Maharashtra, the 81-year-old Hindutva ideologue died at the Rashtrotthan Hospital after a prolonged illness.

According to him, the RSS ideologue was instrumental in developing leadership skills among top-rung BJP and RSS leaders.

A full-time Pracharak (campaigner), Devi was staying in Bengaluru for treatment of his old age-related ailment.

China has removed outspoken foreign minister Qin Gang from office and replaced him with his predecessor, Wang Yi.

In an announcement  state media gave no reason for Qin's removal, but it comes after he dropped out of sight almost one month ago amid speculation over his personal affairs and political rivalries.

The ministry has provided no information about Qin's status in keeping with the ruling Communist Party's standard approach to personnel matters within a highly opaque political system where the media and free speech are severely restricted.

The move comes amid a foreign backlash against China's increasingly aggressive foreign policy, of which Qin was a chief proponent.

Renowned Japanese mystery writer Seiichi Morimura, whose nonfiction trilogy “The Devil’s Gluttony” exposed human medical experiments conducted by a secret Japanese army unit during World War II, died. He was 90.

His official website and publisher, Kadokawa, said Morimura died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital.

“Akuma no Hoshoku,” or “The Devil’s Gluttony,” which began as a newspaper series in 1981, became a bestseller and created a sensation across the country over atrocities committed by Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731 in China.

From its base in Japanese-controlled Harbin in China, Unit 731 and related units injected war prisoners with typhus, cholera and other diseases as research into germ warfare, according to historians and former unit members. Unit 731 is also believed to have performed vivisections and frozen prisoners to death in tests of endurance.

Morimura began contributing articles to magazines while working in hotels. He won the prestigious Edogawa Rampo Prize for his mystery fiction in 1969 and the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1973.

Born in 1933 in Saitama, just north of Tokyo, Morimura survived harsh U.S. bombings of the Tokyo region toward the end of World War II and developed pacifist principles. He wrote a book about his commitment to defending Japan’s postwar pacifist Constitution and opposing nuclear weapons. He joined protests against a 2015 reinterpretation of the constitution by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe allowing greater military activity.

His 1976 novel “Ningen no Shomei” (“Proof of the Man”), a mystery about a young Black man who is murdered, revealed the dark side of postwar Japan and was made into a movie.

Another popular novel, “Yasei no Shomei” (“Proof of the Wild”), published a year later depicts a conspiracy over genocide in a remote village.

Amid growing concern over large amounts of bad loans being written off by banks, the government has said non-performing assets (NPAs) worth Rs 7.15 lakh crore have been recovered by the banks in the past five years.

Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Bhagwat Karad said that the amount (Rs 7.15 lakh crore) recovered also includes written-off loans. In the last five years, banks have written off Rs 10.5 lakh crore in bad loans. When banks write off loans, they remove them from their books and stop counting such loans as their assets.

The MoS Finance explained that as per RBI guidelines, NPAs are removed from banks’ balance sheets after four years by way of a write-off.  “Such write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers to repay. As borrowers of written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment and the process of recovery of dues from the borrower in written-off loan accounts continues, write-off does not benefit the borrower,” the minister said.

The minister further said that gross NPAs of banks have declined in the last five years from Rs 10.37 lakh crore (gross NPA ratio of 11.18%) in March 2018 to Rs 5.71 lakh crore (gross NPA ratio of 3.87%) as on March 2023. Meanwhile, finance minister Nirmala Sitharamn has told parliament that the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) has so far acquired three borrower entities with an aggregate debt exposure of Rs 21,349 crore.

Banks wrote off Rs 10.5L cr NPAs in 5 yrs

In the last five years, banks have written off Rs 10.5 lakh crore bad loans. When banks write off loans, they remove them from their books and stop counting such loans as their assets. Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Bhagwat Karad said the amount (Rs 7.15 lakh crore) recovered also includes written-off loans