1) 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.
2) 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.
3) President Kovind Laid 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.
4) China is certified malaria-free by 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).
5) New jumping spider species named after 26/11 martyr Tukaram Omble
•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. He was elected by the state leaders during the legislature party meeting in Dehradun.
6) 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.
7) 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.
