Only 2.24 crore individuals who filed returns in 2022-23 paid taxes out of the total 7.4 crore taxpayers, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, the Finance minister said out of 7.40 crore return filers nearly 5.16 crore declared zero tax liability.

However, the number of return filers grew by  6.18% in FY23, Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha.

According to government data, the number of persons who filed ITRs during the last four years has shown a rise. Meanwhile, in FY 22, more than 6.94 crore returns were filed of which more than 5.05 crore had zero tax liability. In FY21 and FY20, 6.72 crore and 6.47 crore ITRs were filed, respectively. Of this 4.8 crore in FY 21 and 2.9 crore assesses in FY 20 had zero tax liability.

India’s gross direct tax collection grew 20.33% to over `19.68 lakh crore in FY 23. Meanwhile, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Nitin Gupta during the Income Tax Day event said, “7% of the assesses who filed tax returns this year are new taxpayers.”

India women's cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur was criticised for being a bad example after she smashed the stumps and took a verbal swipe at umpires in a match against Bangladesh.

Media reports said Kaur could be fined 75 percent of her match fee and is also in danger of a two-game suspension for her behaviour in the one-day international, which ended in a rare tie on Jul 22.

Kaur hit the stumps after being given out on 14 and later said the umpiring was "pathetic."

She was then heard telling her opposite number Nigar Sultana to invite the umpires on stage after the post-match presentation, forcing the Bangladesh players to opt out of a joint photo session.

Casey Phair became the youngest player to feature at a Women's World Cup after coming on as a substitute in South Korea's 2-0 defeat to Colombia aged 16 years and 26 days.

The striker was born in the United States and was called up by the country at youth level, but has now made her debut for South Korea.

She came on in the 78th minute in Sydney, besting the previous record set by Nigeria's Ifeanyi Chiejine, who was 16 years and 34 days when she played at the 1999 World Cup.

Phair, born to an American father and a Korean mother, is the first player of mixed descent to make the senior South Korean women's football squad.

After missing out on Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabian soccer team Al-Hilal made a record 300 million euro ($332 million) bid for Kylian Mbappe, which could see the France striker join Cristiano Ronaldo in the oil-rich kingdom.

Paris Saint-Germain confirmed the offer for its player and has given Al-Hilal permission to open negotiations directly with Mbappe.

Al-Hilal's bid would make Mbappe the most expensive soccer player in history, overtaking the $262 million PSG paid for Neymar when the team signed the Brazilian from Barcelona in 2017.

The bid represents Saudi Arabia's most ambitious move yet as part of a determined recruitment drive to lure the game's biggest players to the country.

Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Roberto Firmino are among the big names to head to Saudi Arabia's lucrative league after Ronaldo agreed to a deal with Al-Nassr in December.

Messi opted against Al-Hilal, instead choosing MLS team Inter Miami after leaving PSG.

Saudi Arabia has sought in recent years to buy its way into international sports. Besides Ronaldo, whose contract reportedly earns him up to $200 million a year, Saudi-funded LIV Golf has shaken up professional golf.

The moves are part of efforts by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to leverage the kingdom’s oil wealth to provide new jobs and opportunities for Saudi Arabia’s youth. However, critics have dismissed the efforts as “sportswashing,” attempting to leverage professional sports to clean up the kingdom’s image as it remains one of the world’s top executioners and waging a yearslong war in Yemen.

U.S. intelligence agencies also believe Prince Mohammed ordered the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Q1) Zoramthanga is the Chief Minister of

1. Nagaland
2. Tripura
3. Meghalaya
4. Arunachal Pradesh
5. None of These

Q2) Who has been appointed as the new foreign minister of China?

1. Qin Gang
2. Wang Yi
3. Liu Jianchao
4. Kong Quan
5. None of These

Q3) Name the renowned Japanese mystery writer whose nonfiction trilogy “The Devil’s Gluttony” exposed human medical experiments conducted by a secret Japanese army unit during World War II and who died recently?

1. Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Yukio Mishima
3. Kanae Minato
4. Seiichi Morimura
5. None of These

Q4) What amount of non-performing assets (NPAs) have been recovered by the banks in the past five years?

1. Rs 7.15 lakh
2. Rs 9. 25 lakh
3. Rs 11 .19 lakh
4. Rs 1 7.15 lakh
5. None of These

Q5) Name the India women's cricket captain who was criticised for being a bad example after she smashed the stumps and took a verbal swipe at umpires in a match against Bangladesh?

1. Smriti Mandhana
2. Deepti Sharma
3. Harmanpreet Kaur
4. Renuka Thakur
5. None of These

Answers

1------------------5 None of These  Mizoram

2-----------------2     Wang Yi

3----------------- 4  Seiichi Morimura

4-----------------1   Rs 7.15 lakh

5-----------------3   Harmanpreet Kaur

Agriculture insurance companies are raking in huge profits as claims paid by these companies have been consistently dipping in the past few years. In 2022, the gross premium-to-claim settlement ratio was reduced to 21 per cent.

The latest data tabled in the Parliament by Union Minister for Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, shows that agriculture insurance premium has been going up while claims payment is down, under  the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the flagship agriculture insurance programme launched in 2016 for farmers to insure their yield loss.

In 2019-20, the ratio of gross premium-to-claims paid to farmers was 84 per cent, which reduced to 66 per cent in 2020-21, 60 per cent in 2021-22 and 21 per cent in 2022-23. In the first three years of the programme’s launch, the gross premium collection to payment of claims was high. It led to many private firms leaving the scheme. Later, most of them joined again. 

Every year, farmers protest over non-payment or delayed payment of claims across the country. There has been a slight decrease in the premium collection since 2019-20, but registered a drastic decline in claims payment.

The consistent decline in payment of farmers’ claims doesn’t augur well with sector experts. 

The Indian Navy plans to test its indigenous Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) post monsoon. This will add up to the indigenous systems being added by the Navy with the support of domestic orgnisations

Such USVs – also called drone boats – drew attention during the Ukraine conflict when in October 2022, the Ukrainian navy attacked Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula. They had deployed seven unmanned surface vessels (USVs) which were packed with ordinance and missiles. Later, in March and April, two more attacks were initiated on the Russian assets. Though all three attempts were repelled by the Russian Navy, they were enough to announce the arrival of USVs.

The maritime forces of the US, UK, China and France are working on more such unmanned systems — Naval Unmanned Aerial Systems (NUAS) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs).The Navy’s Weapons and Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment has indigenously designed and developed three types of Software-Defined Radios (SDRs) – SDR NC, SDR-Tac (tactical) – and SDR-NG, while the fourth one is in developmental stage and expected to undergo its testing phase by next year.

The SDR Naval Combat has been fitted in all Navy warships and is reportedly functioning well. The Navy entered into a contract to procure this device from Bharat Electronics Limited in 2021. The deal is worth over Rs 1,000 crore.The SDR-Tac is a four-channel multi-mode, multi-band, 19-inch rack-mountable, ship-borne software-defined radio system.

Lesson from Ukraine war

The Railway Protection Force will soon be seen in battle fatigue uniform like their counterparts in paramilitary forces. One of the central armed police forces, RPF is deployed for train escorting duties, passenger security, special drives and assistance to ticket checking operations.

Former railway minister Piyush Goyal had in March 2020 informed the Lok Sabha that out of the sanctioned RPF strength of 74,830, there are 61,869 RPF personnel on roll. All major railway stations, depots, yards and other vital railway establishments are manned by RPF round the clock.

The RPF is the only central armed force which has legal powers to arrest, investigate and prosecute offenders. They function under the authority of the Ministry of Railways. The RPF has its own companies and battalions and has also been deployed in Maoist affected zone, forested terrain and insurgency-hit areas. The RPF has been mandated for security of railway property besides protection of commuters and passenger areas.