Tnpsc Current Affairs in English – 7th July 2023
1. Who has been appointed as the Solicitor- General of India?
[A] Tushar Mehta
[B] Bipin Rawat
[C] Girish Chandra Murmu
[D] P.K.Srivastava
Answer: [A] Tushar Mehta
The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet approved the reappointment of Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor-General of India. The reappointment is for three years, beginning on July 1, 2023. The committee also approved the reappointment of six Additional Solicitor Generals of India for the same period.
2. The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCEM) was launched in which state/UT?
[A] Madhya Pradesh
[B] Odisha
[C] Kerala
[D] West Bengal
Answer: [A] Madhya Pradesh
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi launched the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCEM) in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh. He also released the guidelines for Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission. The Mission was introduced in the Union Budget 2023, focuses on addressing the significant health challenges posed by sickle cell disease, particularly among tribal populations of the country.
3. As per RBI data, what is the total external debt of India at the end of March 2023?
[A] USD 24.7 billion
[B] USD 124.7 billion
[C] USD 224.7 billion
[D] USD 624.7 billion
Answer: [D] USD 624.7 billion
India’s external debt, at end-March 2023, increased by USD 5.6 billion to USD 624.7 billion from the year-earlier period. The external debt to GDP ratio declined to 18.9% at end-March from 20% a year earlier, as per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
4. Which country was recently approved as a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)?
[A] Iran
[B] Israel
[C] Afghanistan
[D] Myanmar
Answer: [A] Iran
Iran was formally approved as a member of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with China, Russia and Central Asian countries. Iran became a full member of the SCO at the organization’s virtual meeting hosted by India, 18 years after it acquired observer status in the security and trade cooperation organization.
5. What is the recent rank of Indian Football Team in FIFA World Rankings in 2023?
[A] 124
[B] 100
[C] 79
[D] 45
Answer: [B] 100
India’s men’s national football team moved up from the 101st to the 100th rank in FIFA World Rankings. The team surpassed Lebanon and New Zealand to achieve the feat. This advancement now keeps India as the 18th- ranked team in Asia and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). In the month of June, India gained 4.24 ranking points in seven matches.
6. Harinderpal Singh Sandhu, who was seen in the news, plays which sports?
[A] Cricket
[B] Hockey
[C] Squash
[D] Table-Tennis
Answer: [C] Squash
Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Harinderpal Singh Sandhu defeated Rachel Arnold and Ivan Yuen of Malaysia in the final to win the Asian mixed doubles squash championship. India ended their campaign with two medals as the pair of Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh secured a bronze.
7. In 2022, the maximum new discoveries of animals and plants were recorded from which
tate/UT?
[A] Uttarakhand
[B] Goa
[C] Kerala
[D] Tamil Nadu
Answer: [C] Kerala
India added 664 animal species to its faunal database in the year 2022. These comprise 467 new species and 197 new records species found in India for the first time. The country also added 339 new plant taxa – 186 taxa that are new to science and 153 taxa as new distributional records from the country in 2022. In 2022, the maximum new discoveries of animals and plants were from Kerala.
8. Who received the ‘Elephant Family environmental award’?
[A] Kartiki Gonsalves
[B] A R Rahman
[C] Resul Pookutty
[D] Gulzar
Answer: [A] Kartiki Gonsalves
King Charles III and Queen Camilla presented the Elephant Family environmental award to Indian conservationists: filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves behind Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ and the Real Elephant Collective (TREC) of 70 Adivasi artists. ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the 2023 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film earlier this year.
9. ‘Regional Symposium on Child Protection, Safety and Child Welfare’ was held in which city?
[A] Mumbai
[B] New Delhi
[C] Varanasi
[D] Hyderabad
Answer: [B] New Delhi
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India organized a Regional Symposium on Child Protection, Safety and Child Welfare in New Delhi. Union Child and Women Development Ministry under Child Protection Services, Rs. 2000 per month was offered for non-institutional childcare, but this has now been increased to Rs 4000 per month under Mission Vatsalya.
10. What is the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection for the month of June?
[A] Rs 1.41 lakh crore
[B] Rs 1.61 lakh crore
[C] Rs 1.81 lakh crore
[D] Rs 2.01 lakh crore
Answer: [B] Rs 1.61 lakh crore
India’s Goods & Services Tax (GST) collections rose 12% to over ₹1.61 lakh crore in June, as per the Finance Ministry. The gross GST collection has crossed 1.60 lakh crore mark for the fourth time since the roll-out of the indirect tax regime six years ago on July 1, 2017.
11. Which country is the present President of European Union, as of July 2023?
[A] UK
[B] Spain
[C] Ukrain
[D] Switzerland
Answer: [B] Spain
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that he reached Kyiv to hold talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as the country kicked off its European Union’s presidency. A year ago, Ukraine was given the EU candidacy status. Officials from the EU, Ukraine, G7 countries, and nations like Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey held a meeting earlier in Denmark to discuss about the issues.
12. Which neighbouring country of India has got the Parliament nod for domestic debt restructuring plan?
[A] Afghanistan
[B] Sri Lanka
[C] Myanmar
[D] Bangladesh
Answer: [B] Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has obtained Parliament nod for domestic debt restructuring plan, to recover from the worst economic crisis. Domestic debt restructuring (DDR) is a key condition in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, through which a bailout package of USD 3 billion was approved for Sri Lanka in March.
13. Which country’s sportsperson has won his second ‘Lausanne Diamond League’ title?
[A] India
[B] USA
[C] Australia
[D] Bangladesh
Answer: [A] India
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra clinched the prestigious Diamond League title for the second consecutive time by throwing his spear to 87.66 metres. Neeraj faced competition from Germany’s Julian Weber, who took an early lead following an 86.20m throw on the first attempt.
14. Which Indian Tennis player won his maiden title on the ATP World Tour- the Mallorca Championships?
[A] Rohan Bopanna
[B] Somdev Devvarman
[C] Yuki Bhambri
[D] Ramkumar Ramanathan
Answer: [C] Yuki Bhambri
Yuki Bhambri clinched his maiden title on the ATP World Tour, winning the doubles trophy at the Mallorca Championships with South African partner Lloyd Harris. The pair defeated the Dutch-Austrian combo of Robine Hasse and Philipp Oswald in the final of the grass-court event.
15. Which company successfully completed its first manned mission to the edge of space?
[A] Virgin Galactic
[B] Blue Origin
[C] Tesla
[D] Boeing
Answer: [A] Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic successfully completed its first manned mission to the edge of space. The mission featured two Italian Air Force personnel who were funded by the organisation. Virgin Galactic is the space venture established by British entrepreneur Richard Branson.
16. When is the ‘World Asteroid Day’ observed every year?
[A] June 15
[B] June 30
[C] July 15
[D] July 30
Answer: [D] June 30
‘World Asteroid Day’ is an annual global event which is observed on June 30. It is the anniversary of the Tunguska event in 1908 when a meteor air burst decimated about 2,000 square km (500,000 acres) of pine forest in central Siberia, Russia. The Tunguska asteroid event was the Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history.
17. What is the theme of ‘Zoological Survey of India Day’ in 2023?
[A] Mission Life
[B] Mission Nature
[C] Mission Earth
[D] Mission Globe
Answer: [A] Mission Life
Union Minister for Environment and Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav inaugurated a three-day celebration programme of the 108th Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) Day with Special Focus on ‘Mission Life’ in Kolkata. As part of the celebration, the first two-day Animal Taxonomy Summit was organised by ZSI, where 400 delegates across India and abroad including the Natural History Museum will be participating.
18. Which social media platform has introduced a limit to viewing the posts to fix data scraping?
[A] Facebook
[B] Twitter
[C] Instagram
[D] Snapchat
Answer: [B] Twitter
To address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation, social media Major Twitter applied the following temporary limits. Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts per day, Unverified accounts to 600 posts per day, New unverified accounts to 300 per day.
19. Which country’s kabaddi team won the Asian Championships title?
[A] Pakistan
[B] Bangladesh
[C] South Korea
[D] India
Answer: [D] India
The Indian men’s kabaddi team beat Iran 42-32 in the final to defend its Asian Championships title. It was India’s eighth title in the continental championships. Captain Pawan Sehrawat helped India with two touch points and gave a 10-4 lead. India were leading 23-11 at half time. India had beaten arch-rivals Pakistan in the final in the last edition held in Iran in 2017.
20. Which bank appointed former NPCI MD A.P Hota as its Chairman?
[A] State Bank of India
[B] Federal Bank
[C] Canara Bank
[D] Karnataka Bank
Answer: [B] Federal Bank
A.P. Hota, the former MD & CEO of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has been appointed as Federal Bank’s chairman following approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He was serving as an independent director on the board of the bank since 2018. The RBI has accorded approval for the appointment of Mr. Hota as the part-time chairman of the bank with effect from 2023 to 2026.