Daily updates 11 and 12 July 2021

12 July 2021
-------------------------------
11th and 12th July 2021 Daily GK Update: Read Daily GK, Current Affairs for Bank Exam

National News

1. Nitin Gadkari inaugurates India’s first private LNG Facility plant at Nagpur

• The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, inaugurated India’s first private Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility plant at Nagpur in Maharashtra. The plant has been set up on Kamptee Road near Nagpur Jabalpur Highway, by Baidyanath Ayurvedic Group, the makers of Ayurvedic medicines.
• Once operational, this LNG filling station in Nagpur will be the first such facility to operate on a commercial basis. LNG is a clean, pollution-free and cost-effective liquid fuel, which is also easy to store and reduces logistics costs.

International News

2. Abiy Ahmed wins landslide victory in Ethiopian election

• Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party was declared the winner of last month’s national election in a landslide, assuring a second five-year term for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
• The National Election Board of Ethiopia said the ruling party won 410 seats out of 436 contested in the federal parliament. Abiy Ahmed came to power in April 2018 after the former prime minister resigned.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Ethiopia Capital: Addis Ababa;
• Ethiopia Currency: Ethiopian birr.

State News

3. India’s first Cryptogamic Garden Inaugurated in Uttarakhand

• India’s first cryptogamic garden, with around 50 different species grown, has been inaugurated in Deoban area of Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
• The garden is situated at a height of 9,000 feet and is spread over an area of three acres. Located in the district’s Chakrata town, the garden was inaugurated by social activist Anoop Nautiyal.
• Cryptogamae means “hidden reproduction” referring to the fact that no seed, no flowers are produced. Thus, cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants.
• Algae, bryophytes (moss, liverworts), lichens, ferns and fungi are the best-known groups of cryptogams that require moist conditions to survive.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Governor of Uttarakhand: Baby Rani Maurya;
• The chief minister of Uttarakhand: Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Appointments News

4. Twitter appoints Vinay Prakash as resident grievance officer for India

• Twitter has named Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) for India, as per the information updated on its website. Users can contact Vinay Prakash using an email ID listed on the page.
• Earlier the US-based company had announced the appointment of California-based Jeremy Kessel as the new Grievance Officer for India.
• However, as per the new IT rules in India, social media platforms with over 50 lakh users are mandated to appoint three key personnel namely chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer, and all these three personnel have to be residents in India.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Chief Executive Officer of Twitter: Jack Dorsey.
• Twitter formed: 21 March 2006.
• Headquarters of Twitter: San Francisco, California, United States.

Schemes and Committees News

5. BCCI forms 7-member working group for domestic cricket

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has formed a seven-member working group, to look into the compensation package for the domestic players and the other aspects of domestic cricket.
• The main focus of the group will be the remuneration of domestic players for the previous season wherein tournaments were cancelled, due to COVID-19.

The group will have the following members:

• Rohan Jaitley (North Zone)
• Yudhvir Singh (Central Zone)
• Jaydev Shah (West Zone)
• Devajit Saikia (North-East Zone)
• Avishek Dalmiya (East Zone)
• Santosh Menon (South Zone)
• Mohammed Azharuddin (South Zone).

Summits and Conferences News

6. Nirmala Sitharaman attends 3rd G20 finance ministers meeting

• Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman participated virtually in the Third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting under the Italian Presidency.
• The two-day meeting saw discussions on a wide range of issues including global economic risks and health challenges, policies for recovery from the CoVID-19 pandemic, international taxation, sustainable finance and financial sector issues.
• The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors reaffirmed their resolve to use all available policy tools for as long as required to address the adverse consequences of COVID-19.
• Smt. Sitharaman appreciated the Italian G20 Presidency for identifying three catalysts of resilient economic recovery from the pandemic as being Digitalization, Climate Action and Sustainable Infrastructure and shared the Indian experience of integrating technology with inclusive service delivery during the pandemic.

Awards

7. Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi won Commonwealth Points of Light award

• Hyderabad’s hunger activist Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi, who has been feeding thousands of people every day as part of his food drive ‘Hunger Has No Religion’ was awarded a top UK award recently.
• In order to honour Maqsusi’s efforts, he was conferred with the Commonwealth Points of Light award for his drive that helps to feed 1,500 people on a daily basis. The award is for those ‘outstanding individuals who are making a change in their community.

Sports News

8. Wimbledon Championships 2021: Complete List Of Winners

• In the men category, Novak Djokovic defeated Matteo Berrettini in the Wimbledon final, 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, to win his sixth Wimbledon title and 20th Grand Slam trophy.
• With this win, he has equalled his total major men’s singles titles record with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, with each of them winning 20 titles.

Here is the Complete List of Winners in Different Categories:

S. No.	Category	Winner	Runner Up
1.	Men’s Singles	Novak Djokovic (Serbia)	Matteo Berrettini
2.	Women’s Singles	Ashleigh Barty (Australia)	Karolína Plíšková (Czech Republic)
3.	Men’s Doubles	Nikola Mektić  and Mate Pavić	Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos
4.	Women’s Doubles	Hsieh Su-wei  and Elise Mertens	Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina
5.	Mixed Doubles	Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk	Joe Salisbury and Harriet Dart

About the Wimbledon:

• Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, which also includes the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.
• The tournament is held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877. 

9. Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmudullah announces retirement from Test cricket

• Bangladesh cricketer Mahmudullah Riyad has announced his retirement from Test cricket in the middle of Bangladesh’s one-off Test match against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club.
• Mahmudullah made his Test debut in 2009 during Bangladesh’s tour of the West Indies.
• The right-handed batsman in 50 matches and 94 innings has scored 2914 runs at an average of 33.49. The 150 not out in the ongoing Test against Zimbabwe is his career-best figure and has five centuries and 16 half-centuries under his belt.

10. Samir Banerjee wins Wimbledon Junior Men's title

• Indian-American Samir Banerjee has won the Wimbledon Junior Men`s title at Number 1 Court. He defeated Victor Lilov of America by 7-5, 6-3 in the Junior Men`s finals to lift the trophy at All England Club.
• For the first time since 2014, and only the second time since 1977, there was an all-American conclusion to the boys` singles event. Notably, both 17-year-olds were unseeded for The Championships.

11. Argentina beats Brazil to Lift Copa America 2021

• Lionel Messi-led Argentina beat Neymar’s Brazil 1-0 to win the Copa America final match, held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. With this win, Lionel Messi has secured his first major international trophy.
• The 2021 Copa America was the 47th edition of the annual international men’s football championship organised by South America’s football ruling body CONMEBOL.
• Earlier the tournament was scheduled to be held in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time since 1991 that no guest nation took part in the tournament.

Books and Authors News

12. PM Modi receives 1st copy of 'The Ramayana of Shri Guru Gobind Singh'

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the first copy of "The Ramayana of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji" which is written by the late Baljit Kaur Tulsi—the mother of noted lawyer KTS Tulsi.
• The book is published by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. Apart from this, the Prime Minister also shared the audio of the Gurbani Shabad recital by KTS Tulsi, the sitting Rajya Sabha MP of Congress from Chhattisgarh.

Important Days

13. World Population Day celebrated on 11th July

• World Population Day is observed globally on 11th July every year. This day is observed to raise awareness among people about the impact of a growing population and issues including gender equality, the importance of family planning, poverty, maternal health, human rights, etc.
• This year theme of World Population Day 2021: "the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility".
• In 1989, World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United National Development Programme as an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• United Nations Population Fund Headquarters: New York, United States
• United Nations Population Fund Executive Director: Natalia Kanem.
• United Nations Population Fund Founded: 1969.

14. World Malala Day: 12 July

• The United Nations has declared 12th July as World Malala Day to honour the young activist, Malala Yousafzai.
• Malala Day is commemorated, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai to honour women and children’s rights around the world.
• On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen after she publicly advocated for the education of girls.
• Despite the attack, Malala soon returned to the public eye, fiercer in her views than earlier and continued her advocacy for gender rights.
• She founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation to help young girls go to school and also co-authored a book titled “I Am Malala”, an international bestseller.

Obituaries News

15. Ayurveda Medicine Doyen, Dr P K Warrier passes away

• Veteran Indian Ayurveda practitioner, Dr P.K. Warrier, who was the most respected name in Ayurveda across the world, has passed away. He was 100.
• He was the chief Physician and Managing trustee of Arya Vaidya Sala, a healthcare centre located in Kottakkal, Kerala, and known for its heritage and expertise in Ayurveda.
• The doyen of Ayurveda, Dr Warrier, was honoured with the Padma Shree in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2010. His autobiography titled Smrithiparvam won the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award in 2009.