Important Days
International Day of Cooperatives: 3 July
The United Nations celebrates the International Day of Cooperatives every year on the first Saturday of July to increase awareness of cooperatives.
In the year 2021, the International Day of Cooperatives will be celebrated on 3rd July with a focus on the contribution of cooperatives to combating climate change. This July 3rd, the International Day of Cooperatives (#CoopsDay) will be celebrated as “Rebuild better together”.
Cooperatives around the world will showcase how they are meeting the COVID-19 pandemic crisis with solidarity and resilience and offering communities a people-centred and environmentally just recovery.
National
President Kovind laid the foundation stone for Ambedkar Memorial and Cultural Centre
President Ram Nath Kovind laid the foundation stone for Ambedkar Memorial and Cultural Centre in Lucknow. The cultural centre will come up at 5493.52 sq meter nazool land in front of Aishbagh Eidgah in Lucknow and have a 25-ft high statue of Dr Ambedkar.
The centre, to come up at a cost of ₹45.04 crores, will also have an auditorium having a capacity of 750 people, library, research centre, picture gallery, museum and a multi-purpose convention centre.
International
China is certified malaria-free by the WHO
Following a 70-year effort, China has been awarded a malaria-free certification from WHO – a notable feat for a country that reported 30 million cases of the disease annually in the 1940s.
China is the first country in the WHO Western Pacific Region to be awarded a malaria-free certification in more than 3 decades. Other countries in the region that have achieved this status include Australia (1981), Singapore (1982) and Brunei Darussalam (1987).
Globally, 40 countries and territories have been granted a malaria-free certification from WHO – including, most recently, El Salvador (2021), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), Paraguay (2018) and Uzbekistan (2018).
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- China Capital: Beijing;
- China Currency: Renminbi;
- China President: Xi Jinping.
Pushkar Singh Dhami to be next chief minister of Uttarakhand
Pushkar Singh Dhami will be the next chief minister of Uttarakhand. He will be the youngest CM of Uttarakhand. 45-year-old Pushkar Singh Dhami, an MLA from the Khatima constituency in Udham Singh Nagar district.
He will replace Tirath Singh Rawat, who resigned from the post. Dhami was elected by the state leaders during the legislature party meeting in Dehradun.
Useful notes for all competitive exams:
- Governor of Uttarakhand: Baby Rani Maurya.
Agreements
AJNIFM, Microsoft partner to build AI, emerging technologies
The Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management (AJNIFM) and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership to build an AI and emerging technologies centre of excellence at AJNIFM.
The collaboration seeks to explore the role of cloud, AI and emerging technologies in transforming and shaping the future of public finance management in India. The centre of excellence will serve as a central body for research, AI scenario envisioning and tech-led innovation.
AJNIFM and Microsoft will jointly explore use cases of emerging technologies in finance and related areas, across central and state ministries and public sector enterprises.
Microsoft will partner closely with AJNIFM to define the future of public finance management in India, providing the technology, tools and resources to build a strong ecosystem of partners, upskill government officials and build thought leadership.
Summits and Conferences
7th Indian Ocean Naval Symposium Concludes in France
The 7th edition of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), concluded in France on July 01, 2021. The biennial event was hosted by the French Navy at La Réunion from 28 June to 01 July 2021.
From India, Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy, participated in the inaugural session of the event virtually. France is the current chair of the Symposium, which assumed the Chairmanship on 29 June 2021 for a two-year tenure.
The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) is a series of biennial meetings, held between the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region, to enhance maritime cooperation among Navies of the member states, by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues such as maritime security cooperation, discuss regional maritime issues, and promote friendly relationships.
The first such symposium was held in 2008 with India as host. The chairmanship and location of the Symposium rotate between the various member states.
Sports
Indian Wrestler Sumit Malik gets two-year ban for doping
Indian wrestler Sumit Malik was banned for two years by the sport’s world governing body UWW after his B sample also returned positive for a prohibited stimulant. The 28-year-old has one week to decide if he would accept the sanction or challenge it.
He was handed a provisional suspension last month for failing a dope test during the World Olympic Qualifier event in Sofia, where he had qualified for the Tokyo Games in the 125 kg category.
Mariyappan Thangavelu named flag-bearer for Tokyo Paralympics
Top para high-jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu was named the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent in the Tokyo Paralympics, which begins on August 24.
Thangavelu, who is defending the T-42 gold he had won in the 2016 Rio Paralympics during the August 24 to September 5 showpiece in Tokyo, was picked for the honour by the executive committee of the national body.
The 25-year-old Thangavelu, who was conferred with the Khel Ratna, the country’s highest sporting award, last year is one of the 24 para-athletes picked by the selection committee for the Tokyo Paralympics.
Thangavelu, who hails from Salem district in Tamil Nadu, suffered a permanent disability at the age of five when a bus crushed his right leg below the knee.
Books and Authors
Pan Macmillan to publish Nathuram Godse’s biography
The book titled “Nathuram Godse: The True Story of Gandhi’s Assassin” by Mumbai-based journalist Dhaval Kulkarni will be published by Pan Macmillan India in 2022.
A biography of Nathuram Godse, Mahatma Gandhi’s infamous assassin, situates the man and his most defining act in the larger context of modern Indian history and contemporary society and politics.
The book was acquired at auction by Teesta Guha Sarkar, editorial head at Pan Macmillan India, from Anish Chandy, founder of Labyrinth literary agency. “The book will be a deep-dive account and delve into the cataclysmic chain of events both before and after Gandhi’s murder.
Obituary
Former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld passes away
Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time defence secretary and the one-time presidential candidate whose reputation as a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of a modern US military was unravelled by the long and costly Iraq war, died recently. Rumsfeld is the only person to serve twice as Pentagon chief. The first time, in 1975-77, he was the youngest ever.
Miscellaneous
New jumping spider species named after 26/11 martyr Tukaram Omble
A group of scientists who discovered two new species of jumping spiders from the Thane-Kalyan region named one of them after the brave police constable Tukaram Omble who lost his life in the 26/11 terror attacks.
The species is called ‘Icius Tukarami.’ The paper citing the discovery of the new species was published in the Russian science journal Arthropoda Selecta by scientists Dhruv A. Prajapati, John Caleb, Somnath B. Kumbhar, and Rajesh Sanap.