ANSWER: C

• The Tripura government will restart the ‘Vidyalaya Chalo Abhiyan’ after 8,850 school students were found to have dropped out from schools across Tripura during the covid-19 pandemic.
• The government has also announced a unique scheme called ‘Earn with Learn’

Under the Earn with Learn scheme:

• The college students will be given a remuneration for identifying and convincing students to re-join schools. They will get Rs 500 for each admission,” the teachers who will get involved in the project will be given Rs 200 for each admission.
• The government has decided to give away free school bags to more than 1.51 lakh students studying in pre-primary to Class III. It has been estimated to involve funding of over Rs 7.58 crore.
• Tripura has over 4,000 government schools along with those that are aided by the state.
• At present, the government is giving free books and school uniforms for girl, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and below poverty line students of Classes I to VIII.

ANSWER: A

• Prime Minister is set to participate in the first Leaders’ Summit of I2U2 virtually, along with leaders of Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
• The proposed virtual summit of India, Israel, UAE, and the USA dubbed “I2U2” is being projected as the Quad for West Asia. I2U2 is aimed to encourage joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
• The I2U2 Grouping was conceptualized during the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the four countries held on October 18 last year.
• Each country also has Sherpa-level interactions regularly to discuss the possible areas of cooperation.
• It intends to mobilize private sector capital and expertise to help modernize the infrastructure, low carbon development pathways for our industries, improve public health, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies.
• The Leaders will discuss the possible joint projects within the framework of I2U2 as well as the other common areas of mutual interest to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond.
• According to MEA, these projects can serve as a model for economic cooperation and offer opportunities for our businesspersons and workers.
• US President Joe Biden will convene the maiden Virtual Summit with Prime Ministers of India, Israel and the President of UAE during his upcoming visit next month to the Middle East.
• According to the White House, the meeting of I2U2 was a part of the Biden administration’s effort to revitalize American partnerships across the world. I2U2 leaders would discuss the food security crisis in the wake of the Ukraine war and other areas of cooperation.

ANSWER: C

• On 12 July 2022, NASA released new full-colour images taken from James Webb Space Telescope. It released the images of the Southern Ring, Planetary Nebula, showing a dying star clacked by dust and layers of light. Another image shows Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of 5 galaxies. An image revealing baby stars in Carina Nebula were also released.
• NASA called the release of photographs “The Dawn of New Era in Astronomy” in partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
• The pictures were released during a Televised Broadcast. As per the official website of NASA, these images represent the first wave of full-colour scientific images and the official beginning of the James Webb Space Telescope general science operations.
• Webb’s first observations were selected by a group of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

ANSWER: A

• Sri Lankan authorities confirmed that President Gotabaya had flown to Maldives after full approval of the country’s Defence Ministry.
• As per the PM’s office, “Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after president flees.”
• According to the Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, , Gotabaya Rajapaksa landed in Maldivian capital Male on a Sri Lanka Air Force plane adding that he is yet to receive a letter of resignation.
• According to the Parliament Speaker that he has not received Gotabaya’s resignation letter who departed from Sri Lanka hours before he was expected to resign amid widespread protests in the country.
• Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to be sworn in as interim President till a new President is elected by Parliament on July 20 and nominations for the presidency will be called for on July 19.

ANSWER: A

• This year, 14th News Maker Achiever’s Award took place in Maharashtra, where several personalities were felicitated for their commendable social work.
• District Magistrate of Pithoragarh, Dr Ashish Chauhan, was recognised with the ‘Best IAS Officer’ award for his enormous and splendid social work during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ashish Chauhan has a PhD in Medieval History and is an IAS officer from the 2012 batch. For many years now, Ashish Chauhan has been doing incredible work for farmers, communities, disaster management, healthcare, tourism, etc., in Uttarakhand.
• With a lot of patience, planning, and intelligence IAS Ashish Chauhan brought the rapidly increasing cases of Covid-19 under control and began masking, sample collection, testing, and sanitisation drives. Tips, awareness and guidelines were circulated to the public to promote cleanliness, and public announcements were made in the local language, Garhwali.
• To empower farmers and backward communities and drive people out of poverty, DM Ashish Chauhan launched the self-employment campaign. Officers and employees of the Horticulture Department, Agriculture Department, and Integrated Livelihood Cooperation Project prepared organic jam, juices, etc., from a local fruit Bedu. Bedu, also called Pahadi Anjeer (hill fig), has many nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, iron, etc., and may also be beneficial for preventing skin problems. All these organic products are marketed through Hilans – providing a range of pure and organic farm-produced products in Uttarakhand.
• In 2018, DM Ashish Chauhan and the District Panchayat President launched Harshil Apple Festival. Harshil is a hidden serene place in Uttarakhand that produces exceptional apples. To give more exposure to Harshil apples, Ashish decided to begin a two-day apple festival where buyers, businessmen, and investors showed up in impressive numbers. Previously, orders of apples went out for Rs.50/kg but, with the right marketing and exposure, 10kg apples are sold for approx. Rs 1,200-1,500/-. DM Ashish Chauhan reveals the Harshil Apple Festival has helped lots of people combat poverty and opt for better a standard of living.
• IAS Ashish Chauhan is also a social worker and activist who seizes all the right opportunities to carry out social work. His vision and altruistic approach have helped him achieve so much at a young age. During all his many tenures, Ashish discharged his duties and responsibilities immaculately.

ANSWER: C

• Open network for digital commerce (ONDC) is a set of standards for voluntary adoption by sellers or logistics providers or payment gateways.
• The objective is to democratise the fast-growing e-commerce sector in the country to help small retailers and reduce the dominance of online retail giants.
• According to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the presence of open network for digital commerce, a Unified Payments Interface-type protocol, will be gradually expanded to more cities after the successful launch of its pilot phase.
• It provides small retailers the freedom to choose any logistics player and seller platform based on different parameters like location and rates.
• The initiative is also aimed at curbing the dominance of two large multinational e-commerce players — which control more than half of the country’s e-commerce trading, limit access to the market and give preferential treatment to certain sellers and squeeze supplier margins.
• The ONDC was launched in five cities in April – Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore.
• As many as 20 organisations of national repute have confirmed investments of Rs 255 crore into the ONDC. Lenders, such as the State Bank of India, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda, have already committed investments.

ANSWER: D

• Heavy rains in Karnataka’s Ballari district over the last few days have damaged one of the structures at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi.
• According to police officials, a portion of the 16-pillar salu mantapa, located near the Virupaksha Temple, collapsed on Sunday.
• According to an official at the Hampi Police Station that due to the recent rains, eight out of the 16 pillars of the structure have fallen.
• This is not the first time that this structure has been under threat due to weather conditions. In 2015 and 2013, too, there was similar damage due to rains and loosening of soil under the structure.
• This development comes after many such world heritage sites were underwater for days in August due to rains and subsequent flooding in north Karnataka.
• The ancient town of Hampi, the seat of power of the erstwhile Vijayanagar empire, is a tourist hotspot. It was the only place in India and the second choice in the New York Times’ list of ‘52 Places to Go in 2019’.
• The ruins and remains of the glorious 14th century kingdom were recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 while in February 2018, it was chosen by the union government as one of the 10 tourist destinations across India to be developed as an ‘Iconic Tourism Site’.
• The place is best known for several Hindu temples constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture. However, Hampi’s most famous icon is the stone chariot in the Vittala Temple. Over six lakh tourists, including foreigners, flock to the heritage site annually.

ANSWER: D

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate stealth frigate ‘Dunagiri’, built by warship-maker Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, in Kolkata.
• Christened after a mountain range in Uttarakhand, ‘Dunagiri’ is the fourth ship of P17A stealth frigates. A follow-up of the P17 Shivalik-class frigate, Dunagiri has improved stealth features, advanced weapons sensors and platform management systems.
• ‘Dunagiri’ is the reincarnation of the erstwhile ‘Dunagiri’, the Leander-class anti-submarine warfare frigate which was in service for 33 years from 1977 to 2010.
• The first two ships of P17A Project were launched in 2019 and 2020. The third ship (Udaygiri) was launched at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders on May 17 earlier this year.
• The launch of the fourth ship within such a short span is a testimony to the impetus provided towards self-reliant shipbuilding with a focused approach.
• P17A ships have been designed in-house by Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design.

ANSWER: D

• The HP Government replaced Chief Secretary Ram Subhag Singh with a 1988-batch IAS officer, RD Dhiman, Additional Chief Secretary (Power and Industry).
• Chief Secretary Ram Subhag, a 1987-batch officer, will superannuate in July 2023.
• Subhag has been posted as Principal Adviser (PA) Administrative Reforms.
• Two officers whom Dhiman superseded have also been appointed as principal advisers to the government. They are Subhag’s wife Nisha Singh (Training) and Sanjay Gupta (Public Grievances).
• Incidentally, Subhag is the fifth Chief Secretary not to complete the tenure during the present regime.
• The other such officials include VC Pharka, Vineet Chawdhary, BK Aggarwal and Anil Khachi.
• RD Dhiman is due to retire in December this year and as such his tenure as Chief Secretary will coincide with the Jai Ram government’s term. Dhiman too had applied for the CIC post.

ANSWER: A

• The Cabinet also approved the signing of a loan agreement through the Department of Economic Affairs with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Rs 1,098.89 crore externally-aided Himachal Pradesh Rural Water Improvement and Livelihood Project for providing clean drinking water to every household.
• The project would be financed through a loan of Rs 760.77 crore (69.2 per cent) by the ADB and a counter fund of Rs 338.12 crore (30.8 per cent) by the government.