Q1. What amount  of losses which  the Indian Railways has suffered losses due to agitations and other disruptions in the last four years ?

1. Rs 151 crore
2. Rs 904 crore
3. Rs 62 crore
4. Rs 1,376.44 crore
5. None of These

Q2. According to data tabled by the Ministry of External Affairs in the parliament the number of Indians who  have renounced their citizenship between 2011 and June 2023 is over

1. 17.50 lakh
2. 15.50 lakh
3. 12 .50 lakh
4. 10.50 lakh
5. None of These

Q3. Name the  IAS officer who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Chhattisgarh, a day after the central agency conducted raids at her premises in connection with a money laundering case ?

1. Sameer Vishnoi
2. Ranu Sahu
3. S K Langa
4. S K Langa
5. None of These

Q4. Name the   country’s fourth largest private lender which  has  announced a 67% rise in net profit to Rs 3,452 crore for the quarter that ended June, helped by higher interest income ?

1. Axis Bank
2. IDFC  First Bank
3. Kotak Mahindra Bank
4. Karnataka Bank
5. None of These

Q5. Name the  first woman admiral who will   lead  the US Navy ?

1. Nancy Elizabeth Brown
2. Ann E. Rondeau
3. Lisa Franchetti
4. Michelle J. Howard
5. None of These

Answers

1------------------------4     Rs 1,376.44 crore

2------------------------1   17.50 lakh

3------------------------2   Ranu Sahu

4-------------------------3 Kotak Mahindra Bank

5-------------------------3  Lisa Franchetti

A group of people pelted the Lucknow-Gorakhpur Vande Bharat train near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh with stones recently, to vent their ire days after the train mowed down a herd of goats. Another group, some examinees in Bihar, damaged the railway property, angry over alleged irregularities in the Non-Technical Popular Category examinations in 2022.

The coaches of over 12 trains were set on fire by unruly youths in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh protesting against the Agnipath scheme, which was not even remotely related to the railway. The list of such incidents is bigger showing how the Indian Railway is a soft target during agitations.

As a result, the Railways run into huge losses, owing to damage to property and disruptions in services, including cancellation of trains. Resorting to stone-pelting on running trains has become a common act of vandalism during agitations in the country.

“Around 4,233 incidents of stone-pelting on trains were reported by the Railways during the last three years, from 2020 to 2022,” Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Upper House of Parliament in a written reply.

According to a source, the Railways suffered losses to the tune of Rs 151 crore in 2019, Rs 904 crore in 2020, Rs 62 crore in 2021 and Rs 259.44 crore in 2022, due to agitations and other disruptions. In summary, the Indian Railways faced a whopping loss of around Rs 1,376.44 crore in the last four years.

Muslim-majority nations expressed outrage  on jul 22  at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden. Some prepared for street demonstrations following midday prayers to show their anger.

In Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, protesters planned demonstrations after Swedish police permitted a protest  on jul 21  in which an Iraqi Christian living in Stockholm kicked and stood on a Quran, Islam's holy book, outside of the Iraqi Embassy. Hours before that, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish Embassy and lit a fire to show their anger at his threats to burn the book.

Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani has ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d’affaires from Sweden. 

Beating the analyst’s expectations, ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest private lender has  reported a 40% rise in net profit to Rs 9,648 crore in the quarter that ended June this year, driven by higher interest income and loan growth.

The bank had posted Rs 6,905 crore net profit in the same quarter the previous year.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid, rose 38% to Rs 18,227 crore during the first quarter from Rs 13,210 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Maintaining that a globally mobile workforce is going to be a reality in future, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence on  Jul 21 , about India having the potential to become one of the largest providers of skilled workforce in the world.

In his virtual address at the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers Meet in Indore, Modi highlighted the skills and dedication of India’s frontline health workers during the Covid pandemic and added that it reflects India’s culture of service and compassion.

The prime minister also emphasized the role of G20 nations in globalizing the development and sharing of skills "in their truest sense."

While commending the efforts of member nations to initiate the international referencing of occupations by skills and qualifications requirements, PM Modi highlighted the need for new models of international cooperation and coordination, and migration and mobility partnerships.

Further, he suggested sharing statistics, information and data regarding employers and workers for a start, which will empower countries across the globe to formulate evidence-based policies for better skilling, workforce planning, and gainful employment.

While underlining that employment is one of the most important economic and social factors, he said the world is at its threshold over some of the greatest changes in the employment sector and stressed the need to prepare responsive and effective strategies to address these rapid transitions.

Modi claimed that this is the era of 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' and added that technology has become and will remain the core driver for employment. He also highlighted India’s capability in creating countless technology jobs during the last such technology-led transformation and also touched upon the host city Indore which is home to many startups leading the new wave of such transformations.

With an emphasis towards skilling the workforce using advanced technologies and processes, PM Modi said that skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling are the mantras for the future workforce.

He gave examples of India’s ‘Skill India Mission’ making this a reality, and ‘Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana’ which has trained more than 12.5 million of India’s youth so far. 

Modi also threw light on India’s ‘eShram portal’ that has seen almost 280 million registrations and is being leveraged for targeted interventions for these workers. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will distribute more than 70,000 appointment letters to newly-inducted recruits on Jul 22  and address them via video conferencing.

The Rozgar Mela will be held at 44 locations across the country.

The recruitments are taking place across central government departments as well as state governments and Union Territories supporting this initiative.

The Rozgar Mela is a step towards the fulfilment of the commitment of the prime minister to accord the highest priority to employment generation.

Enforcement Directorate has  arrested businessman Sujit Patkar, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and civic doctor Kishore Bisure in connection with the multi-crore jumbo Covid centre scam.

The two were produced before the special judge for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases, M G Deshpande, who remanded them in ED custody till July 27. The ED is probing the money laundering angle in connection with contracts given out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for setting up or managing Covid field hospitals, called ‘jumbo centres’, during the pandemic.

The grinding violence that has roiled Manipur for more than two months burst onto the national centre stage as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CJI D Y Chandrachud expressed deep anguish over a graphic video of two disrobed women being brutalised by a mob, calling the incident "shameful" and "unacceptable."

The incident in a village in Kangpokpi district that was captured in the 26-second video and stoked a nationwide outrage took place a day after ethnic violence erupted in the northeastern state on May 3 but the horrific footage surfaced only on July 19  and became viral after the internet ban was lifted.

The Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said the police have arrested two men.