ANSWER: C

• Karnataka government has launched the ‘Kashi Yatra’ scheme. The Kashi Yatra project, which offers a cash assistance of Rs 5,000 to each of the 30,000 pilgrims willing to conduct a pilgrimage to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
• For this scheme, the government will be using funds of up to Rs 7 crores from the accounts head of ‘Assistance to Manasa Sarovara Pilgrims’ which was announced in the chief minister’s budget speech for the financial year.
• According to Shashikala Jolle, the Minister for Religious Endowment, Hajj and Wakf, said, any pilgrim taking up the government-sponsored ‘Kashi Yatra’ would get the benefit only once in a life time.

ANSWER: D

• Rath Yatra of Puri is the annual chariot festival of Odisha which is traditionally known as Puri Rath Yatra.
• The Chariot festival is dedicated to Lord Jagannath, his brother Balbhadra and his sister Subhadra.
• The idols of the three deities are brought out by three priests out of the sanctum sanctorum or Garbha Grihaand carried to Gundicha Shrine in three giant wooden chariots.

Puri Rath Yatra 2022: Chandan Yatra

• On Akshaya Tritiya, the construction of the chariot begins, with a ritual of fire worship. The ritual takes place in front of the palace of the King of Puri.
• This day also marks thenew agricultural season for the farmers of Odisha and they start plowing their fields it also marks the beginning of the summer festival of the deities which is known as the Sandalwood festival or Chandan Yatra.

Puri Rath Yatra 2022: Suna Besha

• The Suna Besha is celebrated when the Chariots of the deities return to the main temple after returning from the Gundicha temple.

ANSWER: A

• SEBI was founded in 1988 and SEBI was given statutory recognition in 1992 on the recommendation of the Narasimham Committee.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)has slapped heavy penalties in a 2015 ‘dark fibre’ case that saw certain brokers exploiting the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) internet infrastructure to get faster connectivity to its colocation (colo) facilities.
• The markets regulator has imposed a penalty of Rs 7 crore on NSE and Rs 5 crore on former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chitra Ramkrishna.
• In this case, a total of 18 entities received penalties. It has also levied a fine of Rs 5 crore each on former Group Operating Officer Anand Subramanian and current Chief Business Development Officer Ravi Varanasi.
• Internet service provider Sampark Infotainment has been asked to pay Rs 3 crore. Online trading firms Way2Wealth and GKN Securities, too, have been asked to cough up Rs 6 crore and Rs 5 crore, respectively.

ANSWER: B

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out the inaugural flight of the Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator. The flight was carried out at the Aeronautical Test Range, Chitradurga, Karnataka.
• Operating in a fully autonomous mode, the aircraft exhibited a perfect flight, including take-off, way point navigation and a smooth touchdown. This flight marks a major milestone in terms of proving critical technologies towards the development of future unmanned aircraft and is significant step towards self-reliance in such strategic defence technologies.”
• Designed and developed by the Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a premier research laboratory under the DRDO, the unmanned fighter aircraft is powered by a small, turbofan engine.
• The vehicle’s airframe, as well as its undercarriage, flight controls and avionics system, were developed indigenously.
• It is a major achievement towards autonomous aircrafts which will pave the way for Aatmanirbhar Bharat in terms of critical military systems.

ANSWER: C

History

• It was in 1991, when the day was first established. Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy is remembered on this day.
• He was a famous doctor and West Bengal’s second chief minister. Interestingly, his birthday and death anniversary are on the same day. The day honour’s Dr Roy and also recognises everyone’s effort to patients.
• India celebrates National Doctor’s Day on July 1,the birth anniversary of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, an eminent physician, academician, freedom fighter and politician. Doctor’s Day is celebrated globally on different dates.
• The date changes from country to country. National Doctor’s Day marks the role of doctors who work tirelessly to ensure that patients remain in good health.
• The day celebrates the efforts taken by the healthcare staff for their hardwork and dedication.

National Doctor’s Day 2022: Theme

• For 2022, the theme for National Doctor’s Day is “Family Doctors on the Front Line.”

ANSWER: C

• According to a report by the Hurun Research Institute titled Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022, India is predicted to have 122 new unicorns in the following 2-4 years.
• The total worth of these potential unicorns is currently 49 billion US dollars. When a startup is valued at $1 billion USD, it is considered to be a Unicorn.

KEY POINTS:

• The city of Bengaluru, which currently has 33 unicorns, will receive 46 new additions, followed by Delhi NCR with 25, Mumbai with 16, Chennai with 5, and Pune with 3. Bengaluru currently has the most unicorns in the nation. It’s anticipated that the remaining unicorns will appear in 20 additional cities.
• Tiger Global has invested in 27 of these potential Unicorns, followed by the international venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which has invested in 39 of them.
• The majority of these prospective unicorns were founded in 2015.

About the Survey:

• The survey states that 63% of these businesses focused on consumer-facing businesses, while the remaining 37% belonged to the business-to-business (B2B)industry that provided services to the financial services, logistics, healthcare, and education sectors.
• The report has divided would-be unicorns into groups: Gazelles, which are startups with the greatest likelihood of becoming unicorns in the next two years, and Cheetahs, which are startups with the potential to become unicorns in the following four years.
• It claimed that the pandemic had sped up the rise of startups.
• Experts claim that a record 44 unicorns emerged in 2021, making India the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.
• In addition, the experts noted that there are now 65 percent more unicorns, 51 percent more gazelles, and 71 percent more cheetahs in the nation.
• According to the report’s findings, product and market fit will continue to be what motivates Indian businesses.

ANSWER: A

• The researchers from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) rediscovered a rare, threatened and presumed extinct species Brachystelma attenuatum after a gap of 188 years.
• The scientists hail from BSI in Dehradun and Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla.
• This species was first discovered and described in 1835 by British botanists — John Forbes Royle and Robert Wight — from Doongie village (now Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh).
• In 2020, while conducting field surveys in the Western Himalayas, some interesting tuberous plants were observed in the Bhoranj region of Hamirpur.
• These plants were brought to the BSI and there it was identified as Brachystelma parviflorum, a species thought to be extinct by the scientists 186 years ago.
• Another presumed extinct species, ‘Brachystelma attenuatum’ has been rediscovered in Hamirpur and Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh.

ANSWER: C

• July 1 marks the completion of five years since the Goods and Services (GST) was introduced in our country. It was first discussed in the report of the Kelkar Task Force on indirect taxes in 2003.
• GST Bill was first introduced in 2014 as The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill.
• This got an approval in 2016 and was renumbered in the statute by Rajya Sabha as The Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016.
• The tax base has almost doubled in the last five years from 6.63mn to over 13mn.
• The introduction of GST has simplified business processes, tax administration and compliances in India, that helped India in improving its rank in Ease of doing Business.
• GST has eliminated the tax arbitrage that existed among the states under the CST/VAT regime.

ANSWER: D

• A cultural programme, ‘Sindhu Darshan 2022’, under the campaign ‘Not drugs, life is important’ was organised by the Public Relation Department at Kehloor auditorium in Raura sector, Bilaspur. The evening was organised in collaboration with North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC), Patiala.
• Over 100 artistes from seven states presented a unique cultural bouquet and mesmerised the audience with folk dances and songs of their respective states.
• Various dance forms such as Siddhi Dhamaal of Gujarat, Bihu of Assam, Kalvelia of Rajasthan, Mor (Peacock) of Uttar Pradesh, Ghumar of Haryana, Jindua of Punjab and Kahluri dance of Himachal Pradesh were presented during the occasion.
• Artistes also performed a skit on drug abuse to create awareness among people about the ill-effects of drugs.
• NZCC started the cultural journey from Udhampur in Jammu on June 18 and culminated it in Bilaspur.

ANSWER: D

• Among the places attracting tourists is the famous tourist place Shikari Mata temple in Mandi district. A large number of tourists from different parts of the country are thronging this sacred place to pay obeisance to local deity Shikari Mata.
• The Shikari Mata temple is situated in the Seraj Assembly constituency of Mandi district at an elevation of around 11,000 feet above sea level.
• Temple of Shikari Mata is roofless, which also arouses curiosity of visitors.
• The temple, it is believed, was in existence during the time of Pandavas. The temple has a great significance in the holy book Markandeya Purana and the Mahabharata.