India and Russia will carry out the 12th edition of the Indo-Russia Joint Military Exercise (INDRA) at Volgograd city in Russia in August. The 13-day exercise will start on August 1, 2021.

The Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences announced on July 23, 2021, that a 150-million years old fossilized skeleton which was discovered in the mountains of Southern Chile was determined to be the ancestor of the modern crocodile. The species has been named Burkesuchus mallingrandensis.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the ‘Nadi ko Jano’ app on 25 July 2021.

China has unveiled plans to build the first-of-its-kind clean commercial nuclear reactor that will not require water for cooling and is expected to be safer than traditional reactors. The molten-salt nuclear reactor will run on liquid thorium rather than uranium.

Srihari Nataraj became the first Indian swimmer to take part in a classification A heat. He finished 27th with a time of 54.31s in the men’s 100m backstroke event on July 25, 2021. Sajan Prakash became the second Indian to swim a classification A heat on July 26.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee has approved The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, without any changes.
The Bill amends the term ‘major airport’ to include a group of airports. It also increased the threshold of annual passenger traffic in a major airport to 35 lakh. Previously, an airport with annual traffic of more than 15 lakh was called a major airport. AERA will regulate tariffs and other charges for aeronautical services for major airports and also a group of airports.

Russian athletes are competing under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. All the 335 sportspersons from Russia are not allowed to use Russia’s name, anthem, or flag at the Tokyo Olympics, as Russia was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2019 from competing as a country at the Olympics after a doping scandal.

Government has permitted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route for renewable energy projects, including offshore wind energy projects.
Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh recently replied in Lok Sabha that Government notified the ‘National Offshore Wind Energy Policy’ in 2015, to provide basic framework for developing offshore wind sector. The Government also enabled private investors to carryout offshore wind resource assessment.

Sumit Nagal became the first Indian to win a singles match in the Olympics in 25 years after 1996 when he progressed to the second round of the men’s singles on July 24 after beating Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. He lost to world no. 2  Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

Union Government is implementing Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) as a sub scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2020-21.
It aims to promote traditional indigenous practices. The scheme focusses on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes on-farm biomass recycling. Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs 12200 per hectare for 3 years is provided for cluster formation.

The Kakatiya Rudreshwara Temple, popularly known as Ramappa Temple at Palampet, Warangal, Telangana was inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List on July 25, 2021 during the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee in Fuzhou, China. The temple has become the 39th site in India to gain the prestigious tag.

India’s ace weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has claimed a silver medal in the Women’s 49kg category, at Tokyo 2020 Olympics on July 24, 2021.

HDFC ERGO General Insurance announced the launch of Optima Secure, a new health indemnity insurance product that seeks to redefine the value customers can get from their insurance plan.

Former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa has come out with a book titled “An Ordinary Life: Portrait of an Indian Generation.”

Multilink, one of India’s fastest-growing fintech companies with a network of 1,00,000+ agents spread across India, said it will begin its strategic partnership with NSDL payments bank to build agent points across India, and the strategic tie-up will also result in providing banking facilities to rural and urban areas through NEO banking systems.

Indian Women’s National Team Forward, Ngangom Bala Devi has been named as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Women’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21.

The Government of Bangladesh is working to develop a social media platform dubbed as ‘Jogajog’. Apart from this, the government is also working to develop a communication app called ‘Alapan’ as an alternative to Whatsapp.

Gujarat High Court became the first court in the country to formally start live streaming of proceedings. Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana announced that steps would soon be taken to replicate this to some extent inthe Supreme Court as well.

FinMin Joint Secretary Rashmi R Das was appointed to UN Tax Committee. Rasmi Ranjan Das, a Joint Secretary of the Finance Ministry has been appointed to the UN tax committee as a member for the term period 2021 to 2025.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has launched a technology innovation hub called ‘C3i Hub’ to find cyber security solutions for anti-drones technologies, intrusion detection system, block-chain and cyber physical system.

To manage hearing loss in newborns and young children, Punjab government launched an automated auditory brainstem response system (AABR) under a universal newborn hearing screening programme. By doing so, Punjab has become the first state in the country to introduce the system.

UNESCO: Historic Urban Landscape project launched for Gwalior, Orchha. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, the cities of Orchha and Gwalior have been selected by UNESCO under its ‘Historic Urban Landscape Project.’ This project was started in the year 2011.

India has scored 90.32 percent in the 2021 UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. India’s score was 78.49 percent in 2019. The survey is conducted by United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) every two years since 2015 .

A finger-sized fossil of a ’Microsaur’ from 308 million years ago has been unearthed in the United States.
The research finds a new species called a microsaur, which were small, lizard-like animals that roamed the Earth before proper dinosaurs made their appearance. The study gives more data on the evolution of different animal groups, including amphibians and reptiles.

The Indian Olympic Association roped in the Adani Group as a sponsor for the Indian contingent at the ongoing Tokyo Games. IOA secretary general Rajiv Mehta, who is in Tokyo, announced the development.

The standalone health insurer Max Bupa Health Insurance, has rebranded itself as ‘Niva Bupa Health Insurance’.

The UN’s cultural agency UNESCO has voted narrowly to remove Liverpool’s waterfront from its list of world heritage sites, citing concerns about overdevelopment, including plans for a new football stadium.

NASA and the Canadian space agency are building a telescope named the Super pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope or Superbit.

Senior India defender Sandesh Jhingan was named the AIFF men’s Footballer of the Year, while midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam was picked as the Emerging Player for 2020-21 season.

The G20 Environment Ministerial Meeting 2021 was organised on July 22, 2021, at Naples, in Italy. From India, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav participated in the two-day meeting virtually, along with Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Choubey and senior officials.