1) World Population Day celebrated on 11th July
•World Population Day is observed globally on 11th July every year. This day is observed to raise awareness among people about the impact of a growing population and issues including gender equality, the importance of family planning, poverty, maternal health, human rights, etc.
•This year theme of World Population Day 2021: “the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility”.
2) World Malala Day: 12 July
•The United Nations has declared 12th July as World Malala Day to honour the young activist, Malala Yousafzai. Malala Day is commemorated, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai to honour women and children’s rights around the world.
•On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen after she publicly advocated for the education of girls. Despite the attack, Malala soon returned to the public eye, fiercer in her views than earlier and continued her advocacy for gender rights. She founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation to help young girls go to school and also co-authored a book titled “I Am Malala”, an international bestseller.
3) India’s first Cryptogamic Garden Inaugurated in Uttarakhand
•India’s first cryptogamic garden, with around 50 different species grown, has been inaugurated in Deoban area of Dehradun in Uttarakhand. The garden is situated at a height of 9,000 feet and is spread over an area of three acres. Located in the district’s Chakrata town, the garden was inaugurated by social activist Anoop Nautiyal.
4) Nitin Gadkari inaugurates India’s first private LNG Facility plant at Nagpur
•The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, inaugurated India’s first private Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility plant at Nagpur in Maharashtra. The plant has been set up on Kamptee Road near Nagpur Jabalpur Highway, by Baidyanath Ayurvedic Group, the makers of Ayurvedic medicines.
•Once operational, this LNG filling station in Nagpur will be the first such facility to operate on a commercial basis. LNG is a clean, pollution-free and cost-effective liquid fuel, which is also easy to store and reduces logistics costs.
5) PM Modi receives 1st copy of ‘The Ramayana of Shri Guru Gobind Singh’
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the first copy of “The Ramayana of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji” which is written by the late Baljit Kaur Tulsi—the mother of noted lawyer KTS Tulsi. The book is published by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. Apart from this, the Prime Minister also shared the audio of the Gurbani Shabad recital by KTS Tulsi, the sitting Rajya Sabha MP of Congress from Chhattisgarh.
6) Twitter appoints Vinay Prakash as resident grievance officer for India
•Twitter has named Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) for India, as per the information updated on its website. Users can contact Vinay Prakash using an email ID listed on the page. Earlier the US-based company had announced the appointment of California-based Jeremy Kessel as the new Grievance Officer for India.
•However, as per the new IT rules in India, social media platforms with over 50 lakh users are mandated to appoint three key personnel namely chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer, and all these three personnel have to be residents in India.
7) Nirmala Sitharaman attends 3rd G20 finance ministers meeting
•Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman participated virtually in the Third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting under the Italian Presidency. The two-day meeting saw discussions on a wide range of issues including global economic risks and health challenges, policies for recovery from the CoVID-19 pandemic, international taxation, sustainable finance and financial sector issues.
•The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors reaffirmed their resolve to use all available policy tools for as long as required to address the adverse consequences of COVID-19. Smt. Sitharaman appreciated the Italian G20 Presidency for identifying three catalysts of resilient economic recovery from the pandemic as being Digitalization, Climate Action and Sustainable Infrastructure and shared the Indian experience of integrating technology with inclusive service delivery during the pandemic.
8) Abiy Ahmed wins landslide victory in Ethiopian election
•Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party was declared the winner of last month’s national election in a landslide, assuring a second five-year term for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The National Election Board of Ethiopia said the ruling party won 410 seats out of 436 contested in the federal parliament. Abiy Ahmed came to power in April 2018 after the former prime minister resigned.
9) Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi won Commonwealth Points of Light award
•Hyderabad’s hunger activist Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi, who has been feeding thousands of people every day as part of his food drive ‘Hunger Has No Religion’ was awarded a top UK award recently. In order to honour Maqsusi’s efforts, he was conferred with the Commonwealth Points of Light award for his drive that helps to feed 1,500 people on a daily basis. The award is for those ‘outstanding individuals who are making a change in their community.
10) Argentina beats Brazil to Lift Copa America 2021
•Lionel Messi-led Argentina beat Neymar’s Brazil 1-0 to win the Copa America final match, held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. With this win, Lionel Messi has secured his first major international trophy. The 2021 Copa America was the 47th edition of the annual international men’s football championship organised by South America’s football ruling body CONMEBOL.
•Earlier the tournament was scheduled to be held in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time since 1991 that no guest nation took part in the tournament.
11) BCCI forms 7-member working group for domestic cricket
•The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has formed a seven-member working group, to look into the compensation package for the domestic players and the other aspects of domestic cricket. The main focus of the group will be the remuneration of domestic players for the previous season wherein tournaments were cancelled, due to COVID-19.
