On 21st July, 2021 Liverpool was removed from the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites after being granted the title in 2004.
In 2012 the city was placed on the list for World Heritage in Danger. In Liverpool’s case, a $7 billion dollar regeneration plan for its historic waterfront caused the city’s removal from the list. The project also includes the building of luxury apartments which raised concerns.
Liverpool’s mayor, Joanne Anderson, said that she was disappointed by this decision taken by UNESCO.
Three monuments in the State of Andhra Pradesh have been identified under the Adarsh Smarak Scheme. These monuments will be provided with additional amenities and will be made into more tourist-friendly sites.
This scheme has been launched by the Ministry of Culture in the year 2014. Under this scheme improved visitor amenities are provided to attract tourists. This scheme has been taken up to maintain and develop 100 monuments protected monuments in the country.
In the year 2020, the Indian Air Force received approval from the defence ministry to procure 21 MiG-29 fighter jets besides 12 Sukhoi MK1 from Russia. In recent news, a spokesperson of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation has said that Russia will supply 21 MiG-29 fighters to India.
Designed by the Soviet Union, Mikoyan MiG-29 is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft. It was developed during the 1970s, along with the larger Sukhoi Su-27, to counter U.S. fighters such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15 Eagle. In 1982, the MiG-29 entered service for the soviet air force. This aircraft is equipped with air-to-surface missiles and various other munitions.
A guided missile named “Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) “which has been indigenously developed by India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has been successfully flight tested.
Rajnath Singh, India’s Defence Minister has congratulated DRDO for the successful test this missile.
Australia’s Brisbane will be the host of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics after receiving approval from the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Several countries and their cities had expressed interest in staging the 2032 summer Olympics. They are:
In a new process which the IOC has adopted the cities are not pit against each other against each other.. Unlike the past where the interested cities were selected on the basis of vote, in the new method IOC picks a preferred host city after conducting talks with all the interested cities and then the preferred city are put to vote at its session.
Starting this week, Tokyo is hosting 2020 Olympics; Paris will host the 2024 Games and the 2028 Summer Olympics will be hosted by Los Angeles.
NASA has announced that its new spacecraft, NEA Scout, has successfully undergone all the required tests and has now been safely tucked inside the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
NEA Scout is among one of several payloads that will hitch a ride on Artemis I, which is expected to be launched in November. Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) is a small spacecraft which is not bigger than a big shoebox. NEA Scout’s primary mission is to collect data from a near-Earth asteroid. This will be America’s first interplanetary mission that will be using special solar sail propulsion. This spacecraft has been made using stainless steel alloy booms and will deploy an aluminium-coated sail which is of 925 square feet. This spacecraft will take around two years to reach the targeted asteroid and will nearly 93 million miles away from the Earth during its encounter with the asteroid.
The spacecraft is equipped with high-grade scientific special cameras that can take pictures from ranges of 10 cm/pixels to 50 cm/pixels. Post taking the images it can also process them and reduce their file sizes before using its medium-gain antenna to send them to the earth-based Deep Space Network.
Artemis I is a crew-less test flight of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Under NASA’s Artemis programme, the space agency has aimed to land the first woman on the Moon in the year 2024 and also to establish sustainable lunar exploration programs by the year 2030.
Amid turmoil in the country of Haiti, Ariel Henry has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of the country.
The assassination of President Jovenel Moise caused turmoil in the country of Haiti. Among this turmoil the country has appointed Ariel Henry as its new Prime Minister.
Ariel Henry is a neurosurgeon and a former cabinet minister. He was selected to be the Prime Minister by the country’s President just days before he was assassinated. He will lead the nation until a new President is appointed through elections scheduled in the country for the month of September.
In his inauguration speech, he said that he hopes to create a suitable environment for the people to cast their votes at ease.
The United States, Germany and the United Nations have backed the appointment of the new Prime Minister. He faces a herculean task of managing the country reeling from crime, poverty, long-term political instability as well as natural disasters that includes a major earthquake and hurricanes.
The assassination of President Jovenel Moise still remains a mystery. The assault which occurred at midnight also left Moise’s wife seriously injured. As of now, the Haitian police have reported that at least 26 people have been arrested so far that includes local police officers, Haitian-americans and Colombians.
The Indian Institute of Heritage will be set up in Noida by the government. This will be a first of kind institution in the country.
The Indian Institute of Heritage will be set up and it will focus on the country’s rich heritage and will look to impart education on the cultural aspects of the nation.
This institute will offer the following PhD as well as masters course to the students of the institute.
This institute will be set up as deemed university by integrating the following institutes:
They will form the various schools of Indian Institute of Heritage.
Government of India’s Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), under its Investment Facilitation Cell, has setup Dairy Investment Accelerator.
Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund is a flagship scheme launched by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD). Under this scheme funds amounting to Rs. 15,000 crore have been setup to offer financial support to private companies, entrepreneurs, Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs), MSME and Section 8 companies. Benefits of this scheme can be availed to expand or set up new units in the areas of dairy processing, Animal Feed Plant and meat processing & its related infrastructure.
The benefits of this scheme are 3% interest subvention on loans with a 2-year moratorium with repayment period of 6 year. Along with this Rs 750 Crore credit guarantee will also be given.
The latest serological survey conducted nationwide by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found that up to two-thirds of the country’s population who are above the age of six have already been infected with the Coronavirus.
The fourth sero-survey findings are significant because it dissipates some worries regarding the third wave. This report will also help the government plan its gradual opening up process. ICMR says on the basis of the survey that unless the virus mutates further and begins to re-infect people the chances of a repeat of a second wave are slim. Still it does not rule out, localised surges in villages, districts or states. Looking at the national level, a 40 crore vulnerable population still leaves a fair chance for surges like the first wave, or smaller. The Director General of ICMR Dr Balram Bhargava has warned that the epidemic is far from over and people should take necessary precautions.
On 20th July, 2021, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” the Olympic motto was updated to “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together”. This updating was done to show solidarity around the globe at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games, Ski mountaineering was approved as an additional sport. This sport involves climbing mountains either by carrying the skies or on them and then descending on skis. This is a very popular sport in Italy. Five medal events for this category will be held at the 2026 Games.
The 2020 summer Olympics will be held from 23rd July to 8th August, 2021 in the city of Tokyo, Japan. It was originally scheduled to have been held in the year 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This event will be held behind closed doors keeping in mind the ongoing pandemic. This is the first instance of the Olympics being postponed instead of being cancelled. The Summer Paralympics will be held from 24th August till 5th September in Tokyo.
International Olympic Committee was founded in the year 1894 and it’s headquarter is located in Lausanne, Switzerland. Thomas Bach is the current president of the IOC.
On 20th July, 2021 China rolled out a 600km per hr high-speed maglev train in Qingdao located in the Shandong Province of East China.
Shanghai, the financial hub of China, is currently the only Chinese city which operates a high-speed maglev line. This line is operational since thy year 2003 and the Shanghai maglev train connects the Pudong airport to downtown Shanghai.
In the world, China has the largest high-speed railway network and covers 95% of its cities. By 2035, China aims to build 4,60,000 kilometres of highways, 25,000 kilometres of high-level sea lanes and 2,00,000 kilometres of railways.
Annually, on 20th July International Chess Day is celebrated. This day also marks the date of establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in the year 1924.
In the fifth century Chess was invented in India and was named “Chaturanga”. Chess is one of the oldest games and it is a very popular game which is played globally. Chess helps is developing skills such as strategy, tactics as well as visual memory.
This year’s Chess day will also mark the 97th anniversary of FIDE. FIDE was founded 20th July, 1924, at the eighth summer Olympic Games which was held in Paris. On July 20 in 1966 International Chess Day began and this day also coincided with the foundation day of FIDE. On 12th December, 2019 the UN General Assembly designated July 20 as World Chess Day. The headquarter of FIDE is in Lausanne, Switzerland and Arkady Dvorkovich is the current president.
In 2021, in the men’s category, four Indian players are among the top 100 players in the world with Vishwanathan Anand being ranked 16th globally. In the women’s category, India has seven players in the top 100 players in the world with Koneru Humpy ranked 3rd.
The top 3 ranked players are Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren.
The top 3 ranked players are Hou Yifan, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Koneru Humpy.
“AMLEX” an oxygen rationing device, the first of its kind in India, have been developed by researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar. This device can reduce oxygen wastage by regulating the oxygen flow from the cylinder by a patient.
The innovators of AMLEX have said that they hope the device created by them will help in saving and reducing the wastage of oxygen and helps the patients as well as the hospitals in the long run.