Current Affairs 08th July 2021| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurates Virtual India Pavilion at 74th Cannes Film Festival

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar mentioned India has opened up a facilitation office for international filmmakers and all approvals are to be given in one go.
• Inaugurating the India Pavilion during the 74th Cannes Film Festival, the Minister hoped that the world comes out of the pandemic very soon and people come back to theatres once again.
• This is the second year when the pavilions are being virtually organized.
• Mr Javadekar stated, the virtual India pavilion can become a meeting place to meet and discuss the future of the world of cinema.
• The Minister further stated that many of the international films are being filmed in India with over 500 sites available. 
• He noted that the government has taken a number of steps to attract more international filmmakers to India.
• Mr Javadekar informed that a lot of Hollywood movies have got their VFX animation done in India and India’s contribution to world films is also increasing.

Common Eligibility Test for job aspirants across country from early 2022

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh stated that a Common Eligibility Test, CET for job aspirants will be conducted across the country from early 2022.
• This unique initiative is being undertaken with the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to screen and shortlist candidates for recruitment to Central Government jobs.
• The Minister mentioned, this initiative was scheduled to take off with the first such test before the end of this year, but is likely to get delayed due to COVID pandemic.
• In the launch of e-Book Civil List-2021 of IAS officers, Dr Jitendra Singh stated, the Common Entrance Test is a path-breaking reform carried out by Department of Personnel & Training to bring about “Ease of Recruitment” for young job aspirants.
• The Minister further informed that the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting CET has been constituted with the approval of the Union Cabinet.
• NRA will conduct CET to screen and shortlist candidates for jobs in Government sector for which recruitment is presently carried out through the Staff Selection Commission, Railway Recruitment Boards and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.

Govt creates ministry of cooperation 

• The Modi government announced a new ‘Ministry of Cooperation’ for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
• This new ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, adding that it will help deepen cooperatives as a “true people-based movement reaching up to the grassroots”.
• The ministry will work to streamline processes for ease of doing business for cooperatives and enable development of multi-state cooperatives (MSCS).
• In the country, a cooperative-based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Bangladesh: 1^st unit of the Rampal Maitree Power Project to be commissioned in Dec 2021

• India and Bangladesh have agreed to expedite work on the 1,320 MW Maitree Power Project and to ensure the timely commissioning of the first unit in December this year.
• The progress of the project was reviewed at a meeting between the Power Secretaries of India and Bangladesh.
• Bangladesh’s Power Secretary assured of the necessary support for completion of the project in time and appreciated the progress made by the project so far despite the COVID constraints since last year.
• The Maitree super thermal power project is a 1,320 MW coal-fired power station under construction in Rampal, Bangladesh.
• The project is an environmentally friendly supercritical technology based thermal power plant, and the first unit of this project would be commissioned in December 2021, coinciding with the Golden Jubilee celebration of Victory Day of Bangladesh.

About Bangladesh:

• Bangladesh, to the east of India on the Bay of Bengal, is a South Asian country marked by lush greenery and many waterways.
• Its Padma (Ganges), Meghna and Jamuna rivers create fertile plains, and travel by boat is common.
• It is home to the world’s largest river delta, which is formed by the Brahmaputra and the Ganges river.
• On the southern coast, the Sundarbans, an enormous mangrove forest shared with Eastern India, is home to the royal Bengal tiger.
• Capital: Dhaka
• Currency: Bangladeshi taka
• Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

J&K: Manoj Sinha initiates various online services of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board

• In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, in order to provide a personal experience to the devotees of Shri Amarnathji, launched various online services of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board.
• Mr Sinha stated that with the launch of the new online services of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, the devotees of Lord Shiva from across the world can perform online virtual Puja and Hawan at the Holy Cave Shrine.
• He noted that Online Prasad booking service was also extended to the devotees through this initiative.
• For millions of devotees who are unable to pay their obeisance at the Holy Cave shrine of Shri Amarnath Ji this year due to unprecedented COVID pandemic, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board has brought Darshan, Hawan and Prasad facility under the virtual mode.
• The devotees can book their Pooja, Hawan, and Prasad online and priests at the holy cave shrine will offer it in the devotee’s name.
• Prasad will be subsequently delivered at doorsteps of the devotees by the postal department.

About J&K:

• Jammu and Kashmir was a state of India from 1954 to 2019, constituting the southern and southeastern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan and China since the mid-20th century. 
• The state of Jammu and Kashmir was accorded special status by Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
• At the same time, a reorganization act was also passed, which would reconstitute the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. 
• The reorganization took effect from 31 October 2019.
• Capital: Jammu(winter), Srinagar(Summer)
• Lieutenant Governor: Manoj Sinha
• National Parks: Dachigam National Park, Salim Ali National Park, Kazinag National Park, Kishtwar High Altitude National Park.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING NEWS

Aeldra provides unique ‘Zero Fee’ bank account to U.S. bound Indian students

• Students can fund the account and receive the debit card so that they have a functional U.S. bank account before they leave for the U.S. In addition, the account pays up to 50X interest rates compared to other banks in the U.S.
• To open an Aeldra bank account, students do not need to furnish a U.S. Social Security Number, U.S. address proof or even a U.S. visa.
• The account is tailored for Indian students, professionals and investors and includes 24X7 customer service provided by ‘concierges’ who understand the needs of Indian customers.
• “For Indian students preparing to begin their academic year in the U.S., easy access to money in a new country is a prime cause of concern.
• In India, Aeldra is based out of Bengaluru.

About  Aeldra:

• Aeldra is a Silicon Valley and Bangalore based Fintech providing Banking Services with FDIC Insurance through Blue Ridge Bank, N.A., Member FDIC.
• The FDIC – short for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government.

Razorpay and Mastercard jointly launch ‘MandateHQ’

• India-based fintech unicorn Razorpay and Mastercard have launched Mandate HQ, a platform dedicated to secure recurring payments.
• Razorpay’s Mandate HQ is an API-based plug-n-play solution that reduces the go-live time for any card issuing bank that wishes to enable recurring payments for its customers.
• MandateHQ will also enable businesses, especially subscription-based businesses, to get access to a wider customer base, who use debit cards, as recurring payments were mostly supported via credit cards previously.
• Razorpay’s MandateHQ solution can be fully integrated with any bank within 7 days, as opposed to other solutions which normally take a few weeks.
• In addition to its association with Mastercard, Razorpay has also partnered with the country’s three banks and is in talks with over 20 banks to help integrate this technology into their existing payment infrastructure in the next few weeks.

About Razorpay:

• Razorpay Software Private Limited provides online payment services.
• The Company offers an online platform that allows businesses to collect payments through credit cards, debit cards, net banking, and wallets.
• Razorpay Software serves clients in India.
• CEO: Harshil Mathur
• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• VP: Bill Gajda

About Mastercard:

• Mastercard Incorporated is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in the Mastercard International Global Headquarters in Purchase, New York.
• The Global Operations Headquarters is located in O’Fallon, Missouri, a municipality of St. Charles County, Missouri.
• MasterCard is a global bank card payment transaction processor, whose portfolio of brands and products include Maestro, Cirrus and MasterCard PayPass.
• It partners with financial institutions that issue credit cards, and with merchants who accept those cards.
• CEO: Michael Miebach

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENT AND RESIGNATION NEWS

43 leaders take oath as ministers in Cabinet Reshuffle

• As many as 43 new members are all set to be sworn in Prime Minister Modi’s new cabinet which will be one of the most inclusive with record representation of SC, ST members.
• It is learnt from reliable sources that post-expansion, there will be 12 members from the SC community, including two in the cabinet; eight members will be from Scheduled Tribe category in the council of ministers out of which three will be in the cabinet.
• Jyotiraditya Scindia, Pashupati Kumar Paras, Bhupender Yadav, Anupriya Patel, Shobha Karandlaje, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ajay Bhatt, Anurag Thakur are among the ministers, new and old, who will take the oath.

Here’s the final list of ministers:

S.No	Minister	Portfolio
1	Narendra Modi: Prime Minister	Also in charge of personnel, public grievances and pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; all important policy issues; and all other ministries not allocated to other ministers
2	Rajnath Singh	Defence Minister
3	Amit Shah	Home Minister, Cooperation Minister
4	Nitin Gadkari	Road Transport and Highways Minister
5	Nirmala Sitharaman	Finance Minister, Corporate Affairs Minister
6	Narendra Singh Tomar	Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister
7	S Jaishankar	External Affairs Minister
8	Arjun Munda	Tribal Affairs Minister
9	Smriti Irani	Women and Child Welfare Minister
10	Piyush Goyal	Commerce Ministry and also holds Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles
11	Dharmendra Pradhan	Education Minister, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister
12	Pralhad Joshi	Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Coal Minister, Mines Minister
13	Sarbananda Sonowal	Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister, AYUSH Minister
14	Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi	Minority Affairs Minister
15	Giriraj Singh	Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj
16	Mahendra Nath Pandey	Heavy Industries Minister
17	Narayan Tatu Rane	Minister for MSME
18	Sarbananda Sonowal	Ports and Shipping Minister besides holding charge of AYUSH Ministry
19	Virendra Kumar	Social Justice and Empowerment Minister
20	Jyotiraditya M Scindia	Civil Aviation Minister
21	Ramchandra Prasad Singh	Steel Minister
22	Ashwini Vaishnaw	Railways, Communication and Electronics and IT Ministry.
23	Pashu Pati Kumar Paras	Food Processing Industries Minister
24	Kiren Rijiju	Law & Justice Minister
25	Raj Kumar Singh	Minister of Power & Minister of New and Renewable Energy
26	Hardeep Singh Puri	Minister for Petroleum and will continue in the Housing and Urban Development ministry
27	Mansukh Mandaviya	Health Minister as well as the Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers
28	Bhupender Yadav	Environment, Forest & Climate Change Minister, Labour & Employment Minister
29	Parshottam Rupala	Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
30	G. Kishan Reddy	Culture and Tourism Minister, Minister for Development of Northeast
31	Anurag Singh Thakur	Information and Broadcasting Minister and Youth Affairs and Sports
32	Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh	Independent charge of Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.

 

Minister of State:

S.No	Minister	portfolio
1	Subhas Sarkar	Minister of State for Education
2	Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad	Ministers of State for Finance
3	Rajkumar Ranjan Singh	Minister of State for External Affairs and Education
4	Bharati Pravin Pawar	Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare
5	Bishweswar Tudu	Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti
6	John Barla	Minister of State for Minority Affairs
7	Dr. L. Murugan	MOS in the Information and Broadcasting and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying ministry
8	Pankaj Choudhary	Ministers of State for Finance
9	Anupriya Singh Patel	Minister of State for Commerce and Industry
10	Meenakashi Lekhi	MOS in External Affairs and Culture Ministry
11	Annpurna Devi	Minister of State for Education
12	Ajay Bhatt	Minister of State for Defence and Tourism
13	Shripad Naik	Minister of State for Port, Shipping and Waterways and Tourism

 

Jim Whitehurst step down as IBM president

• IBM has announced that Jim Whitehurst has decided to step down as President of the company just 14 months after joining in that role.
• Whitehurst has played a pivotal role in the $34 billion IBM and Red Hat integration announced in 2018.
• He will continue to work as senior advisor to Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM.

About Jim Whitehurst :

• James Moon Whitehurst is an American business executive.
• He was the President at IBM and chair of the board at Red Hat, and previously Chief Executive Officer at Red Hat and Chief Operating Officer at Delta Air Lines.

About IBM:

• International Business Machines Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 170 countries.
• IBM, in full International Business Machines Corporation, leading American computer manufacturer, with a major share of the market both in the United States and abroad. Its headquarters are in Armonk, New York.
• Garry Kasparov playing against Deep Blue, the chess-playing computer built by IBM.
• CEO: Arvind Krishna
• Founder: Charles Ranlett Flint

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

Indian Army names firing range in Gulmarg to honour Vidya Balan

• Basking in the success of her recently released Sherni and making the nation proud by becoming the only actor from 395 new invitees to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the governing body behind the Oscars, Vidya Balan has now achieved yet another feat as a military firing range in Gulmarg, Kashmir, is named after the actress.
• Honouring the varied accomplishments of Vidya, the Indian Army has named a military firing range in Gulmarg as the Vidya Balan Firing Range.

About Indian Army:

• The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces.
• The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff, who is a four-star general.
• Commander-in-Chief: President Ram Nath Kovind
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chief of the Army Staff: General Manoj Mukund Naravane

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SUMMITS & CONFERENCES

1st edition of The Indo Pacific Business Summit Organised by CII

• CII in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs is organizing The Indo Pacific Business Summit  held from 6-8 July 2021 virtually.
• Theme of the Indo Pacific Business Summit is Developing a Road Map for Shared Prosperity.
• The Summit will have participation of Government, Enterprises, Business Chambers, Think Tanks &  Experts from all the countries in the region.

Purpose :

• The Summit would seek to identify current and future trade and investment opportunities within this region.
• It would dwell upon various thematic and sectoral sessions for discussion like physical and digital connectivity, development of robust supply chains, start-ups, healthcare, skilling, climate change and blue economy vis-a-vis current and future trade & investments opportunities highlighted by the governments within this region.

About Indo Pacific Business Summit :

• This summit was organised in the backdrop of Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI).

About Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI) :

• IPOI was announced by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during 14th East Asian Summit. 
• This initiative seeks to ensure security and stability of the regional maritime sector.
• It is an open, non-treaty-based initiative for countries to work together to find cooperative and collaborative solutions to common challenges in Indo-Pacific region.

About Ministry of External Affairs :

• Founded: 2 September 1946
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Union Minister : S. Jaishankar
• Minister of State : V. Muraleedharan

About Confederation of Indian Industry :

• President: T. V. Narendran
• Founded: 1895
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Director General : Chandrajit Banerjee

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Virgin Orbit launches 7 satellites from 747 jet In 3rd Mission

• Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit delivered 7 satellites from 747 jets from three countries namely the United States, Netherlands & Poland.
• Virgin Orbit sent its first batch of satellites into orbit & It is the second successful rocket launch from a plane.
• The jets are took off from California’s Mojave Desert
• LauncherOne is a 70-foot-long (21-m-long) two-stage rocket, capable of delivering up to 1,100 pounds (500 kg) of freight to orbit.
• The drop occurred at an altitude of about 37,000 feet (11,000 meters).
• The satellites are from the U.S. Defense Department, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and Poland’s SatRevolution company.

About Virgin Orbit :

• Founded: 2 March 2017
• Headquarters location: Long Beach, California
• CEO : Dan Hart

China launches new meteorological satellite – Fengyun-3E 

• On July 05, 2021, China launched the new Fengyun-3E (FY-3E) meteorological satellite from the SLS-2 launch site at China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.
• The China National Space Administration informed, the satellite is launched onboard the Long March-4C carrier rocket, which placed it into its planned orbit.

About the Satellite :

• Fengyun-3E(FY-3E) will be the world’s first meteorological satellite.
• The Satellite Equipped with 11 remote sensing payloads & it is the fifth in the series and the third operational satellite.
• The satellite is designed to serve for eight years. 
• It will provide atmospheric temperature, humidity, and other meteorological related parameters, which will contribute to China’s weather forecast capacity.
• The FY-3E will monitor the global coverage of snow and ice, sea surface temperature, and natural disasters.
• In addition to that, the satellite will monitor solar and space environments and their effects, as well as ionospheric data to meet the needs of space weather forecasts and supporting services.
• The mission marked the 377th flight mission for the Long March rocket series 

About China :

• Currency: Renminbi
• Capital: Beijing
• President: Xi Jinping

About CNSA :

• Administrator: Zhang Kejian
• Headquarters : Beijing, China
• Founded: 22 April 1993

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPS & SERVICES

Central Government Launches Online Course Mobile App ‘Matsya Setu’ For Aqua Farmers

• On July 06, 2021, Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Giriraj Singh launched a mobile app ‘Matsya Setu for aqua farmers.
• The app has been developed by the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar, with the funding support of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad.

About Matsya Setu :

• The Matsya Setu is an online course app with the objective to bring the latest freshwater aquaculture technologies to the aqua farmers of the country.
• Matsya Setu app has species-wise/ subject-wise self-learning online course modules, where renowned aquaculture 
• This app explains the basic concepts and practical demonstrations on breeding, seed production and grow-out culture of commercially important fishes like carp, catfish, scampi, murrel, ornamental fish, and pearl farming.
• The modules are divided into small video chapters for the convenience of the learners, along with additional learning materials.
• Quiz/Test options are also provided for self-assessment.
• In that app Farmers can also ask their doubts through the app and get specific advisories from experts.
• The platform also hosts the necessary information about enhanced management practices that are required to sustain the quality of soil and water along with feeding and health management in aquaculture operations.

About Central Institute Of Freshwater Aquaculture :

• Founded: 1987
• Location: Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
• Director: Dr. S.K.Swain

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BOOKS & AUTHORS

A New Book Titled India To The Rescue Authored by Sushant Singh & Shruthi Rao

• A new children’s book, India To The Rescue, Authored by Sushant Singh & Shruthi Rao.
• The Book was published by Juggernaut Books.

About the Book :

• It is based on journalist Sushant Singh’s Operation Cactus: Mission Impossible in the Maldives.
• The Book hails the operation as one of the country’s quickest, boldest and most successful missions.

About Sushant Singh :

• Sushant Singh is a journalist and senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. 
• He is the author of Mission Overseas.

About Shruthi Rao :

• Shruthi Rao is a Children’s writer who has authored over ten books.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

Ex Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh passes away

• On July 08, 2021, Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passed away.
• He was 87.

About  Virbhadra Singh :

• Virbhadra Singh was popularly known as Raja Sahib.
• He was the 4th and longest-serving Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
• He was an elected member of the Lok Sabha in 1962, 1967, 1971, 1980 and in 2009.
• He served as the Chief Minister of the state for six times, from April 8, 1983 to March 5, 1990, December 3, 1993 to March 23, 1998, March 6, 2003 to December 29, 2007 and then for the sixth time from December 25, 2012 to December 26, 2017.
• Singh, who is a nine-time MLA and five-time member of Parlia .
• He was a member of the Indian National Congress.
• Singh also served as union deputy minister in Tourism and Civil Aviation, Minister of State for Industries, Union Minister of Steel and Union Minister of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME).
• Prior to his death, he served as MLA from Arki constituency. 

About HP :

• Chief minister: Jai Ram Thakur

Olympic gold-winning hockey legend Keshav Datt Passes away

• On July 07, 2021, Two-time Olympic gold medallist in hockey, Keshav Datt, Passed away.
• He was 95.

About Keshav Datt :

• Born on December 29, 1925 in Lahore.
• Datt was a member of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics.
• He also captained the Mohun Bagan hockey squad from 1951-1953 and again in 1957-1958 & as a Mohun Bagan player he won the hockey league six times and Beighton Cup three times in a span of 10 years.
• He was a part of the team that won gold medals at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. 

Achievements :

• Keshav Dat  was conferred with the Mohun Bagan Ratna award in 2019, becoming the first non-footballer recipient of the honour.

Daily CA On July 07 :

• World Chocolate Day, sometimes referred to as International Chocolate Days, is an annual celebration of chocolate, occurring globally on July 7.
• A unique scientific exercise serving the combined national objectives of reducing desertification and providing livelihood and multi-disciplinary rural industry support has been initiated by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).  The project named “Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought” (BOLD) is the first of its kind exercise in India which was launched from the tribal village NichlaMandwa in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
• In Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Territory Administration accorded sanction to uploading of Geotagged photographs through ‘PROOF’ (Photographic Record of On-site Facility) mobile application while preferring bills in the concerned Treasuries against the budget allotted through BEAMS application.
• The Odisha Government has approved five major industrial projects giving a big push to the steel production capacity of the state.
• National Tiger Conservation Authority, NTCA, has approved the conversion of the Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary in Rajasthan’s Bundi district into the fourth tiger reserve in the state.
• PayU, India’s leading online payment solutions provider, has partnered with WooCommerce, an open-source, customizable e-commerce platform, to enable WooCommerce merchants with digital payments infrastructure, and end-to-end digitalization of business processes.
• Paytm announced the launch of Postpaid Mini, a need-based and consumption-based credit for users to help them manage their household finances.
• President Ram Nath Kovind appointed eight new governors giving them charge of administration of new states.
• Lt. Gen. Dr. Madhuri Kanitkar, Deputy Chief, Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) in the Ministry of Defence, has been named the new Vice-Chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), Nashik.
• Road Transport and Highways and MSME Nitin Gadkari declared that he is “brand ambassador” of Khadi Prakritk Paint and noted that he would promote it across the country so as to encourage young entrepreneurs to take up the manufacturing of cow dung paint.
• Neha Parikh, the former Indian-American president of the travel website Hotwire, has been appointed as the new CEO of Waze, a crowd-sourced navigation app and a subsidiary of tech giant Google.
• South Korea’s national flag carrier Korean Air has been named the airline of the year by aviation publication Air Transport World.
• Sirisha Bandla was the second Indian-origin woman to head to space as part of Virgin SpaceShip Unity on July 11.
• On July 05, 2021, Union Minister of Ayush (IC) Shri Kiran Rijiju launched five portals of importance and four publications were released Virtually.
• On July 05, 2021, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced Mary Kom, the six-time world boxing champion, and Manpreet Singh, the men’s hockey team skipper, will be India’s flag-bearers at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.
• Grand Master Hou Yifan won the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship. She defeated GM Harika Dronavalli from India by 15-13.
• Levon Aronian became the winner of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid chess tournament held in virtually. The Armenian grandmaster defeated the Russian chess player Vladislav Artemiev.
• On July 07, 2021, Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar passed away.
• On July 05, 2021, Hollywood director and producer, Richard Donner, Passed away.

Daily CA On July 08 :

• Union Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurates the Virtual India Pavilion at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.
• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh stated that a Common Eligibility Test, CET for job aspirants will be conducted across the country from early 2022. This unique initiative is being undertaken with the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to screen and shortlist candidates for recruitment to Central Government jobs.
• The Modi government announced a new ‘Ministry of Cooperation’ for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
• India and Bangladesh have agreed to expedite work on the 1,320 MW Maitree Power Project and to ensure the timely commissioning of the first unit in December this year. The progress of the project was reviewed at a meeting between the Power Secretaries of India and Bangladesh.
• In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, in order to provide a personal experience to the devotees of Shri Amarnathji, launched various online services of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board.
• Aeldra provides a unique ‘Zero Fee’ bank account to U.S. bound Indian students. The account is tailored for Indian students, professionals and investors and includes 24X7 customer service provided by ‘concierges’ who understand the needs of Indian customers.
• India-based fintech unicorn Razorpay and Mastercard have launched Mandate HQ, a platform dedicated to secure recurring payments. Razorpay’s Mandate HQ is an API-based plug-n-play solution that reduces the go-live time for any card issuing bank that wishes to enable recurring payments for its customers.
• As many as 43 new members are all set to be sworn in Prime Minister Modi’s new cabinet which will be one of the most inclusive with record representation of SC, ST members.
• IBM has announced that Jim Whitehurst has decided to step down as President of the company just 14 months after joining in that role.
• Honouring the varied accomplishments of Vidya, the Indian Army has named a military firing range in Gulmarg as the Vidya Balan Firing Range.
• CII in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs is organizing The Indo Pacific Business Summit  held from 6-8 July 2021 virtually. Theme of the Indo Pacific Business Summit is Developing a Road Map for Shared Prosperity.
• Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit delivered 7 satellites from 747 jets from three countries namely the United States, Netherlands & Poland. Virgin Orbit sent its first batch of satellites into orbit & It is the second successful rocket launch from a plane.
• On July 05, 2021, China launched the new Fengyun-3E (FY-3E) meteorological satellite from the SLS-2 launch site at China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.
• On July 06, 2021, Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Giriraj Singh launched a mobile app ‘Matsya Setu for aqua farmers. The app has been developed by the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar, with the funding support of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad.
• A new children’s book, India To The Rescue, Authored by Sushant Singh & Shruthi Rao. The Book was published by Juggernaut Books.
• On July 08, 2021, Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passed away.
• On July 07, 2021, Two-time Olympic gold medallist in hockey, Keshav Datt, Passed away.