ANS : C

• National Doctors Day is celebrated on July 1 every year to commemorate the birth and death anniversary of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.
• He was one of India’s most renowned physicians and the second Chief Minister of West Bengal.
• Roy was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.
• The theme for the 2023 year is “Celebrating Resilience and Healing Hands.” 

ANS : C

• Tushar Mehta reappointed as Solicitor General of India on 30 June
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the re-appointment of Tushar Mehta as Solicitor General of India.
• Solicitor General is the 2nd most senior law officer after Attorney General.
• The cabinet also appointed 6 law officers as Additional Solicitor Generals for the Supreme Court for a period of 3yrs.
• Mehta was appointed as Solicitor General for the first time in October 2018.

ANS : B 

• Deepak Parekh on 30 June 2023, announced his decision to step down as HDFC chairperson after serving as the chairman for 46 years.
• He left his Manhattan Bank job in 1978 to join HDFC when he was 33 and built it into India’s largest private sector housing finance company.
• The reverse merger of parent HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank is expected to be effective from July 1.

 Housing Development Finance Corporation(HDFC) :

• It is also known as Housing Development Finance Corporation and is India’s largest housing finance company and the largest private sector bank by assets.
• It was founded in 1977 by Deepak Parekh and has since grown to become one of the most respected financial institutions in India.
• In 2023, HDFC announced that it would merge with HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by market capitalization.
• The merger is expected to be completed in 2024. The merged entity will be the largest bank in India by assets and market capitalization.
• Headquartered in Mumbai, India
• Largest housing finance company in India
• Largest private sector bank by assets in India
• • Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India
  • Constituent of the Sensex and Nifty indices

ANS : A 

• Mary Kom was awarded the Global Indian Icon of the Year award at the annual UK-India Awards.
• Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to cinema across both nations.
• The Nehru Centre in London won the UK-India Award for Significant Contribution to UK-India Relations.
• The awards were organized by India Global Forum (IGF) as part of UK-India Week.

ANS : B 

• Tamil Nadu becomes India’s Top Electronics Exporter of 2023 with the export worth USD 5.37 billion while Uttar Pradesh was second.
• India’s total electronics exports for the fiscal stood at $23.5 billion- also a record high.
• The state was the No. 3 exporter of electronics, after Karnataka ($3.87 billion), Uttar Pradesh (3.77 billion) and Maharashtra (42.08 billion) in 2021-22.

ANS : B 

• The Centre has formulated a ‘Panchayat Development Index’ to evaluate different indicators responsible for ensuring targeted development in villages.
• Data from four districts in Maharashtra was compiled on a pilot basis to develop the index.
• The index committee launched a report that will provide a way forward with Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs).
• The Panchayat Development Index takes into account nine themes including a poverty-free and enhanced livelihood in the village, healthy village, child-friendly village, water sufficient village, clean and green village, village with self-sufficient infrastructure, socially just and socially secured villages, village with good governance, and women-friendly village​
• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has approved the revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan for implementation from 2022-23 to 2025-26.
• The focus of this program is on capacity building and training of elected representatives and functionaries to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions

ANS : A 

•  Alef Model A: World’s 1st electric flying car certified by US.
• US-based automotive and aviation company Alef Aeronautics has announced that it’s flying car has received a Special Airworthiness Certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
• Formed in 2015, the company had aimed to create world’s 1st flying car and now in 2023, the company has become the first to receive an approval for their flying car Alef Model A from the US government.
• The car is 100 percent electric and can be driven on public roads.
• The flying range is the car is 110 miles which is 177 km while the driving range is 200 miles which is 322 km.

ANS : D 

• The Greater Chennai City Police (GCP)  launched ‘Police Drone Unit’ for aerial surveillance over vast areas and quick detection of criminal activities.
• The unit has been established at a two-storey building and functions with over 20 trained police personnel. 
• It is an important milestone for the Tamil Nadu Police.
• This project is the first-of-its-kind in the country.
• The unit was established at the cost of ₹3.6 crore.
• In this Drone Police Unit, a total of nine drones under three categories namely — Quick response surveillance drones; heavy lift multirotor Drone and long range survey wing plane — are available and are equipped with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and can be operated up to a distance of 5–10 kilometers from the ground station.

ANS : C 

• New Zealand will become the first country to ban the thin plastic bags that supermarket customers use to collect their fruit and vegetables.
•  The new ban will also extend to plastic straws and silverware, as the government expands a campaign against single-use plastics it started in 2019 when it banned the thicker plastic shopping bags that customers used to carry home their grocery items. 
• The 2019 bag ban had already prevented more than 1 billion plastic bags from being used in New Zealand, and the new ban on thin bags would add a reduction of 150 million bags per year.

ANS : C 

•  India’s indigenous HDFC to seal place in top echelons of world’s most valued banking space.
• The merger between HDFC Bank and HDFC will give birth to a financial powerhouse that will claim the fourth spot in equity market capitalisation, valued at about $172 billion, trailing only JPMorgan Chase, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of America.
• With the merger likely effective July 1, the new HDFC Bank entity will have about 120 million customers. It’ll also increase its branch network to more than 8,300 and boast of a total headcount of more than 1,77,000 employees.