National & International Appointments
1. Basavaraj Bommai elected as 23rd Chief Minister of Karnataka
- Basavaraj S Bommai (61 years) has been unanimously elected as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka.
- He will succeed BS Yediyurappa, who resigned on July 26, 2021.
- Prior to this, he was the Home Minister in the BSY government.
- He is a 3-time member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Shiggaon since 2008.
- He was a member of Karnataka Legislative Council between 1998 and 2008.
- He previously served as Minister for Water Resources and Cooperation between 2008 to 2013.
Arts & Culture
2. Dholavira inscribed as India’s 40th UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Dholavira, Harappan City in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutchch has been inscribed as 40th UNESCO World Heritage Site of India with effect from July 27, 2021.
- The historic of ‘Dholavira’ was on the UNESCO’s tentative list since 2014.
- Dholavira: a Harappan city’ is one of the very few well preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE.
- With this, India has entered the Super-40 club for World Heritage Site inscriptions.
Defense
3. Indo-Russia Joint Military Drill ‘Exercise INDRA 2021’
- Indo-Russia Joint Military Drill ‘Exercise INDRA 2021’ is to be held in August 2021 at Volgograd, Russia
- It is the 12th Edition of Indo-Russia joint military exercise that will be held from 1 to 13 August 2021.
- 250 personnel from both the nations will form part of this exercise that will involve conduct of counter terror operations against international terror groups, under UN mandate.
- It will strengthen mutual confidence and interoperability between both armies.
Important Dates
4. World Hepatitis Day: 28 July
- World Hepatitis Day is observed every year on 28 July to raise global awareness of the burden of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes a range of health problems, including liver cancer.
- 28 July was chosen for World Hepatitis Day as it is the birthday of Nobel-prize winning scientist Dr Baruch Blumberg, who discovered hepatitis B virus (HBV).
- Theme of World Hepatitis Day 2021: ‘Hepatitis Can’t Wait’.
National & International Appointments
5. Rakesh Asthana appointed Delhi Police Commissioner
- Rakesh Asthana (1984-Gujarat cadre IPS officer) has been appointed Delhi Police Commissioner with immediate effect.
- He was set to retire on July 31.
- He was serving as Director General, Border Security Force.
- This is one of the very few instances when an IPS officer outside of AGMUT cadre has been appointed as Delhi Police chief.
- Asthana had earlier served as the Special Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Sports
6. Japan’s Yuto Horigome wins Olympics’ First Gold for Skateboarding
- Yuto Horigome (22 years) of Japan has won the first ever skateboarding competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
- He scored 37.18 points to win the first ever Olympic Gold medal for skateboarding in the men’s street skating competition, held at Ariake Urban Sports Center, Tokyo
- Kelvin Hoefler of Brazil won silver and Jagger Eaton of United States clinched the bronze.
- Skateboarding's inclusion into the Olympics marks a turning point for the sport, that was originated in US
State Affairs
7. Puri becomes India’s first city to provide quality drinking tap water
- Puri (Odisha) became first Indian city where people can avail high quality drinking water directly from the tap on 24-hour
- Due to this, people will need not have to store or filter drinking water.
- No metropolitan city in India has such facility till now.
- Similar facilities are available only in cities like London, New York and Singapore.
- Puri would no more be burdened with 400 metric tonne of plastic waste. Water fountains have been developed at 400 locations in Puri.
Science & Technology
8. ISRO gears to launch its Merchandise Programme
- ISRO has come up with the customised-themed merchandise programme in partnership with multiple companies to create awareness and kindling interest of students, children and the public in the domain of space and technology
- So far, eight companies have registered with ISRO on a non-exclusive basis with registration fee regarding customised ISRO-theme-based articles/models and it includes Indic Inspirations (Pune), 1947IND (Bengaluru) and Ankur Hobby Centre (Ahmedabad).
Sports
9. Carissa Moore becomes Olympic women's surf champion
- U. S. surfer Carissa Moore is the first woman to ever win a Gold medal at the Olympics women's surf champion.
- She defeated Bianca Buitendag of South Africa and registered a score of 14.93.
- Italo Ferreira of Brazil has defeated Kanoa Igarashi of Japan with massive lead in men's surfing event and secured gold medal
- Surfing made its Olympic debut during three days of competition at Tsurigasaki Beach, in Chiba province, 40 miles from Tokyo.
Important Dates
10. World Nature Conservation Day: 28th July
- World Nature Conservation Day is observed on July 28 every year to raise awareness to protect Mother Earth.
- Aim: To conserve the animals and trees that are on the verge of going extinct from the natural environment of the Earth.
- Conservation is the principle of resource use, allocation, and protection of the health of the natural world, which is important for both renewable and non-renewable energy.
Summits & Conferences
11. Central & South Asia connectivity conference 2021 held
- Uzbekistan hosted high-level International Conference titled as ‘Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities’ at Tashkent.
- The conference was an initiative of the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
- Delegates from over 40 countries and about 30 international organizations, and heads of think tanks participated in the conference.
- Minister of External Affairs of India Dr. S. Jaishankar also participated in the conference.
International Affairs
12. Sunseap to build world’s largest floating solar farm in Indonesia
- Sunseap Group in Singapore has planned to spend $2 billion for building the world’s largest floating solar farm and the energy storage system in Duriangkang Reservoir, Batam Island, Indonesian.
- It will double renewable power generation capacity of Indonesia.
- It will be the largest solar floating farm in the world, spanning around 1,600 hectares
- Construction of the ambitious project is due to begin in 2022 and is planned for completion in 2024.
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