Correct Answer :   45th

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd. climbed eight spots to the 45th rank, the highest for an Indian company on Forbes' latest Global 2000 list of public companies worldwide.

* The Global 2000 ranks the largest companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets, and market value, Forbes said while releasing the 2023 ranking of the world's top 2,000 companies.

* JPMorgan, America's biggest bank with $3.7 trillion in assets, is at the top of the list for the first time since 2011 and has emerged stronger from this spring's regional banking crisis, with more deposits and opportunistic acquisition of the failed First Republic Bank, it said.

* Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway which topped the list last year, fell to the 338th position in the latest list due to unrealised losses in its investment portfolio. Saudi oil behemoth Aramco is in 2nd position followed by three giant-sized state-owned Chinese banks.

* Technology giants Alphabet and Apple are at 7th and 10th place, respectively.

* Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance, with sales of $109.43 billion and a profit of $8.3 billion, is the top-most-ranked Indian firm at the 45th spot, climbing from the 53rd position it had held in last year's ranking. Reliance has ranked ahead of well-known names like Germany's BMW Group, Switzerland's Nestle, China's Alibaba Group, US-based Procter & Gamble and Japan's Sony.

* State Bank of India climbed to the 77th spot from 105th in the 2022 ranking. HDFC Bank is at 128th position (153 in 2022) and ICICI Bank is at 163 (204 in 2022). Other Indian firms on the list include state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at 226 and HDFC at 232. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) made its maiden entry at 363 while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) slipped to 387th rank from 384 last year.

* Axis Bank (423), NTPC (433), Larsen & Toubro (449), Bharti Airtel (478), Kotak Mahindra Bank (502), Indian Oil Corporation (540), Infosys (554), Bank of Baroda (586), Coal India (591), Tata Steel (592), Hindalco (660) and Vedanta (687) are other notable Indian firms on the list. In all, 55 Indian firms figured on the list..

Source : Thehindu

Correct Answer :   New Delhi

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the first-ever National Training Conclave at the International Exhibition and Convention Centre, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on 11th June 2023.

Prime Minister's address was replete with many anecdotes and stories emanating from his rich political and administrative experience. By giving such examples in his address, he emphasised the importance of aspects like service orientation of government work, ownership in realising the aspirations of common man, need to break hierarchy and using experience of every person in organisation, importance of Jan Bhagidari, the zeal to improve and innovate the system, among other things. He added that the training modules should be oriented and developed such that these aspects are inculcated in the government officials.

Discussing his experience of earlier serving as CM and later as PM, Prime Minister underlined that the government has never lacked talented, dedicated and committed officials.

He said that just like the institution of the Army has built impeccable credibility in the eyes of public, it is the responsibility of all government servants to further increase the faith of people in the government system..

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   12 June 2023

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* Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul and former Italian prime minister who transformed the nation's politics with polarising policies and often alarmed his allies with his brazen remarks, died on Monday (12th June 2023) aged 86.

* Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving premier who counted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a close friend and gained notoriety for his "bunga bunga" sex parties, had suffered from leukaemia and recently developed a lung infection.

* Berlusconi founded Forza Italia, a center-right party, in 1994 with the aim of defeating the 'communists'.

* His party introduced a populist style of politics in Italy, propelling him to the upper ranks of the political establishment.

* He was also known as 'Il Cavaliere' (The Knight) and remained a flamboyant and influential figure in Italian politics.

Born : 29 September 1936, Milan, Italy.

Died : 12 June 2023, San Raffaele Hospital.

Correct Answer :   7.7%

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The unemployment rate in India fell to 7.7% in May 2023 due to a decline in the labour participation at 441.9 million, according to a data released by private economic think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy(CMIE).

* Unemployment rate in India among people aged 15 years and above fell to 7.7% in May 2023, from 8.5% in the previous month (April 2023), CMIE's Natasha Somayya K said in an analysis on its website.

* The unemployment rate inched down as a consequence of a fall in the labour participation, which implies a fall in the number of people who entered the labour market in search of work.

* Compared to April, labour participation rate (LPR) fell by 1.1% point to 39.6% in May 2023.

* There were around 147 million people in the urban labour force in April 2023, which inched down to 142.5 million in May 2023.

* According to the CMIE  data, the urban labour market recorded a fall in the number of employed as well as unemployed people.

* The 4.5 million fewer people in the urban labour force in May was the result of a combination of a decline in jobs by around 2.4 million and a fall in the number of unemployed in urban India by 2.1 million.

* This resulted in a total of 129.5 million people in the urban workforce, and around 13 million unemployed persons, it added.

* The rural labour force reduced to 299.4 million in May from 306.5 million in the April 2023.

Correct Answer :   IIT Mandi

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Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi have developed smart biodegradable microgels to make agricultural practices more sustainable and minimise adverse impact caused by use of insecticides and agrochemicals.

* The research has been published in the "Carbohydrate Polymers" journal.

* According to officials, modern agriculture relies heavily on application of various agrochemicals such as insecticides, herbicides, and fertilisers on crops to meet the demand of food for the growing population.

* These agrochemicals are excessively used in the fields to compensate their loss via leaching, degradation, rain fall, evaporation, dust drift etc. The frequent use of such agrochemicals results in high cost and causes adverse effect on environment, including both groundwater and soil and human health," Garima Agrawal, Assistant Professor, School of Chemical Sciences, IIT Mandi told.

* "The main objective of this research is to develop sustainable farming practices that can minimise the adverse environmental impact of currently prevalent agricultural practices involving excessive use of agrochemicals. These chemicals when frequently applied to the fields, affect the quality of the soil. Additionally, these excessive agrochemicals slowly percolate through the soil and contaminate the groundwater also," she said..

Source : The Hindu Businessline

Correct Answer :   $130

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The central government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 8 June 2023 signed a loan agreement worth $130 million, the finance ministry said in a statement on Monday (12th June 2023).

Aim : The deal aims to increase farmers‘ income and improve access to irrigation in Himachal Pradesh.

Signing ceremony : The Himachal Pradesh Subtropical Horticulture, Irrigation, and Value Addition Project was attended by Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, representing the Government of India, and Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission.

The project builds upon a pilot financed by ADB’s project readiness facility which demonstrated the subtropical horticulture production over 200 hectare and prepared the draft water user association (WUA) act and the draft state horticulture development strategy," said Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission.

According to the ministry, the project interventions will help increase the income and resilience to the effects of climate change of at least 15,000 farm households across seven districts in the state - Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, and Una.

These households have stopped farming or have reduced their farming areas because of a lack of irrigation facilities and crop damage by wild and stray animals, it added.

“The project will improve on-farm irrigation and water management in about 6,000 hectare of farmland by rehabilitating or building new irrigation schemes and strengthening the capacity of WUAs for micro irrigation management through joint efforts from the state’s Jal Shakti Vibhag (Water Resources Department) and Department of Horticulture (DOH)," the ministry said.

The project Aim : To establish an ecosystem that enables farmers to access subtropical horticulture markets seamlessly. To facilitate this, farmers will be organized into cluster-wide community horticulture production and marketing associations (CHPMAs), as well as district-wide CHPMA cooperative societies. Overseeing these efforts will be a farmer producer company (FPC), acting as the apex institution for state-wide agribusiness development.

Correct Answer :   Nitin Agarwal

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Nitin Agarwal, an IPS officer of the 1989 Kerala cadre, has been appointed as the new director general of the Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday (11th June 2023) night. This appointment comes after a vacancy of over five months in the position.

Presently serving as the Additional DG of operations at the headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Delhi, Agarwal will now assume the role of leading the BSF.

The BSF is India's leading security agency responsible for safeguarding the 4,096-kilometer-long international borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. In addition, it carries out various responsibilities in the realm of internal security. The BSF comprises a workforce of over 2.65 lakh personnel serving in diverse roles.

For the past five months, the additional charge of the BSF has been held by Sujoy Lal Thaosen, the Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) issued an order appointing Nitin Agarwal as the director general of the BSF. The order stated that Agarwal's tenure would begin from the date of assuming the post until July 31, 2026, which marks his superannuation date, or until further instructions, whichever comes earlier.

The position of BSF chief had remained vacant for over five months since the retirement of Pankaj Kumar Singh on December 31, 2022.

Who is Nitin Agarwal?

Nitin Agarwal, an IPS officer of the 1989 Kerala cadre, currently holds the position of Additional Director General of Operations at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He attained the rank of ADG in 2014 while serving with the ITBP. Agarwal completed his B-Tech (1983-1987) and M. Tech (1987-1989) from IIT Delhi, as mentioned on his LinkedIn profile. Outside of work, he enjoys playing tennis.

Throughout his career, he has held various notable positions, including IG Training at ITBP, IG Sashastra Seema Bal, and ADG-Police with Kerala Police. In the initial stages of his professional journey, Agarwal served as an Assistant Engineer at the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers.

Following his promotion and the recent order, Agarwal has been placed at Level-16 of the Pay Matrix, which entitles him to an increased salary in his new position. As per the 7th Pay Commission Pay Matrix, the salary range for Level 16 falls between ₹2,05,400 and ₹2,24,400. In addition to the salary, Agarwal will also be entitled to various perks and allowances associated with his new role.

Nitin Agarwal's appointment coincided with the bi-annual four-day border talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and its Bangladeshi counterpart, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), taking place in Delhi. As there was no regular director general (DG) at the time, Sujoy Lal Thaosen led the BSF delegation in these talks. Once the discussions conclude on June 14, Agarwal is expected to assume his role as the new head of the BSF. This marks the 53rd edition of these talks, with the previous meeting held in July of the previous year when the BSF delegation visited Dhaka.

Correct Answer :   12 June

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The World Day against Child Labour has been observed annually on 12 June since 2002. This significant day was established by the International Labour Organization (ILO), and all United Nations member countries have since been commemorating it.

World Day against Child Labour serves as a call to action, urging individuals, organizations, and governments to take decisive steps in combating child labour and promoting awareness about its detrimental effects. It is a reminder for collective efforts to be made towards eradicating child labour and creating a better future for children worldwide.

World Day against Child Labour Theme 2023 :

* The World Day Against Child Labour 2023 will focus on the theme of "Week of Action against Child Labour." The International Labour Organization (ILO) plans to initiate a week-long campaign dedicated to raising awareness about the injustices of child labour and inspiring individuals to actively oppose it.

* Aim : The aim is to encourage collective action and mobilize efforts to combat child labour, emphasizing the importance of creating a world where children are protected, educated, and given the opportunity to flourish.


World Day against Child Labour History :

* Child labour remains a significant concern, particularly in impoverished and developing nations, as it robs children of their childhood and innocence. To bring attention to this issue, the International Labour Organization (ILO) designated June 12 as the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002.

* Recognizing its significance, the United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year for the Eradication of Child Labour. This initiative aims to raise awareness and take concerted actions to eliminate child labour worldwide.


World Day against Child Labour Significance :

* The World Day Against Child Labour carries immense importance as it seeks to eradicate child labour globally. Marked every year on June 12, this occasion serves as a powerful reminder that countless children across the world still suffer from exploitative and dangerous work environments.

* Child labour not only violates the rights of children but also hinders their well-being, access to education, and overall development. The event aims to raise awareness about this pressing issue and mobilize efforts towards ending child labour.

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   China

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China announced the successful completion of the JF-22 wind tunnel’s final evaluation on May 30, 2023, marking a significant milestone in the country’s pursuit of hypersonic capabilities.  

* Named the JF-22, the wind tunnel located in the Huairou District in northern Beijing is reportedly able to simulate flights of up to 10 kilometers per second or 30 times the speed of sound, making it the fastest in the world according to China’s Institute of Mechanics, its operator.

* The JF-22’s construction began in 2018 and was completed in August 2021. The tunnel is 167 meters long and four meters in diameter.

* Unlike most other existing facilities which use mechanical compressors to generate high-speed airflow, the 265-meter-long wind tunnel relies on chemical explosions.

* The facility will support the development of a space-to-earth shuttle system. But the tunnel may also be used for developing hypersonic weapons for Beijing. These weapon systems are designed to travel at speeds greater than Mach 5, which is five times the speed of sound or approximately 6,174 kilometers per hour (3,836 miles per hour).

* The Chinese military already fielded several hypersonic weapons, such as the DF-17 and DF-21 ballistic missiles. The speed and maneuverability of hypersonic missiles make them extremely challenging to detect and intercept.  .

Source : Aerotime

Correct Answer :   Kilauea

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One of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, continued to erupt Thursday (8th June 2023), sending up fountains of lava from its crater floor.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the eruption began at 4:44 a.m. Wednesday (7th June 2023) local time with the glow of lava at the summit, and moved its volcano alert level from "warning" to "watch," and the aviation warning in the area to "red."

Viewers can see the glowing red lava ooze out of Kilauea for themselves via a livestream on YouTube. On Thursday(8th June 2023) morning, the stream showed lava bubbling to the surface of the crater and oozing down the volcano.

The eruption is confined to a closed area of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, the service said.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said on Twitter that populated areas were not under threat. Lava flows from other parts of the volcano have destroyed populated areas in years past..

Source : USA Today