Significant Events and News in July 2021

News capsule for the month of July 2021

Disclaimer- This article is not a listicle, rather a compilation of top newsworthy events. I wrote about my home state of Kerala and my country India before coming to the International news.

Kerala

• Kitex, the popular Garments company, decides to leave Kerala and abandon the Massive infrastructure project. The company received an official invite from Govt. of Telangana.
• Kerala reports the majority of the COVID-19 cases in the country.
• State’s first Zika Virus case reported in Capital- Trivandrum. Over 50 cases were reported from the city limits.
• Kerala SSLC 2021 results declared. Pass percentage crosses 99%.
• Kerala Governor Arif Muhammed Khan took a hunger strike against Dowry at his official residence Raj Bhavan backed by Gandhian Organisations.
• Onam Special Food Kits will start getting distributed from July 31st. First to get the same will be those who have AAY cards. For the rest of the cardholders, it will be from August 2nd.
• Kerala HSC or Class 12th Results published. The overall pass percentage is 87.67%.
• The state reports half the daily COVID-19 cases reported in India.
• Kerala Traders Union decides to violate the COVID-19 SOPs in the state from August 9th since they are not permitted to open the shops on all days.
• Demand for the resignation of, Minister A K Shashindran intensified after he was found to have been involved in settling the case lodged by the woman. The woman later said that she would continue with the legal action while NCP has declined the call for his resignation.
• Infighting becomes public in the Indian National League (INL), which is an ally of the LDF. This happened at their party meeting in Kochi. Later this week, there has been a sign of icebreaking and unifying of the warring factions.
• Kuthiran tunnel in Thrissur District was opened for the public on the 31st. It is the first tunnel road in Kerala and has 1200 LED lamps and blowers for safety. At present, only one direction of the tunnel road has been completed and opened.
• Supreme Court insists that Assembly Ruckus Case Investigation will continue against the Kerala Government’s decision to withdraw the same. SC has come in strong by confirming that Immunity is not applicable for grave violations of law and Penal offences.
• Opposition demands the resignation of Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty for being the prime accused in the case.

India

• Legendary Actor Dilip Kumar passes away.
• Himachal Pradesh ex-CM Veerbhadra sing passes away.
• 84-year-old Tribal Activist Stan Swamy passed away this week. He was arrested with UAPA charges and kept in Jail for more than a year.
• PM Modi wishes Tibet’s Dalai Lama for the first time in public. This move indicates a strategic shift amidst India’s rift with China.
• ICSE Results declared. Pass percentage crosses 99.5%.
• Kappa variant of COVID-19 variant is reported in UP.
• Authorities in France initiated a judicial probe into allegations of corruption in selling Rafale aircraft to India.
• Modi Govt. completed shuffling of its cabinet and appointment of new portfolios. The New cabinet has included many women, youth, etc., uniformly from poll-bound states showing both short and long-term strategies. Check the Full list of new ministers.
• India presents a three-point plan for Afghanistan. India previously evacuated its staff from Kandahar Consulate.
• Monsoon session of Parliament begins. This will be the first session post Second Wave as well as the newly appointed Ministers.
• Pegasus phone tapping and snooping case topped the headlines in the country for the past few days. The opposition created a ruckus in Lok Sabha, demanding an appropriate response and dedicated discussion on the same. It also raised the issue of rising fuel prices in the country.
• UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi cancel Kanwar Yatra overseeing the COVID-19 situation in the country.
• In his meeting with CMs, PM Modi spoke on concerns regarding rising cases in the various, especially Kerala and Maharastra. He talked about the 4T strategy to fight the pandemic.
• Central Govt. says in response to the Question raised in Rajya Sabha that there have been no deaths reported in India due to lack of Oxygen during Second Wave.
• Navjot Singh Sidhu is instated as the Punjab PCC President, despite rifts and objections within the Congress against the same.
• UP presents a draft bill for Population Control i.e., a Two-Child Policy in the state on World Population Day. A similar policy is being proposed in Assam.
• Foreign Minister S Jayashankar meets the Chinese counterpart in the SCO meeting. Critical issues like Ladakh, Afghanistan, etc., caught attention in the meeting.
• The recent Sero survey by ICMR shows two-third of the Indian population has anti-bodies.
• PM Modi inaugurates the newly renovated Gandhinagar Railway station with a 5-star hotel over the platform.
• CBSE Class 12th Results declared with a pass percentage of 99.37%
• ICSE Class 10th and 12th Results released.
• Lok Sabha passed three bills without debate amidst the ruckus in the house by the opposition.
• The three bills include- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021
• Parliament clears Juvenile Justice Amendment Act 2021, thus changing rules on adoption and criminal trials for juveniles.
• Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa resigns after two years of being in power. Basavaraj Bommai, the son of former Janatha Party CM S. R. Bommai, takes charge as the CM of Karnataka, possibly for the next two years. No CM from BJP has ever been able to stay full term in the state.
• Amidst the Pegasus spyware case, a call for removing Shashi Tharoor from the IT Panel is looming among pro-government members. This is amidst a call for an IT Panel meeting to discuss ‘Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy,’ which three officials boycotted.
• The most recent ICMR survey shows that Kerala, which reports half the cases in the country, has only 44% of the population with antibodies, while it is 85% in Madhya Pradesh.
• Kerala is able to detect one in six COVID cases, while UP detected one in 100 and Bihar the worst, i.e., one in 134 as per the Government data.
• US Washington Magazine report claims Indian Photojournalist Danish Siddhique was executed after checking his identity.
• Border clashes between Assam and Mizoram police force were reported on 26th, with alleged firing from both sides, killing 5 Assamese Police and injuring 60 others. The incident happened in the Barak Valley Region.
• Following the incident, Mizoram Police filed FIR against the Assam CM Hemath Bishwas Sharma amidst Barak Valley MLAs supporting Assam CM in the same post-incident.
• US Secretary of State Antony Bliken arrived in India on 27th for a two-day visit. He met Foreign Minister S Jayashankar and discussed the Indo-Pacific partnership and Bilateral issues. He also met NSA Ajit Doval to discuss few Regional and Security issues. He proceeded to Kuwait City after the visit to New Delhi.
• BJP leader Babul Supriyo leaves politics and resigns as an MP. He has been the MP of Asansol two times. He is speculated to have left BJP after he was upset about removing him from the Cabinet and the defeat of BJP in West Bengal.

World/International

• Haiti President Jovenal Moise is assassinated.
• US troops leave Bagram Air Base without any prior notice. Taliban gains ground to fill the vacuum.
• Tokyo Olympics to be conducted without audience or fans in the gallery.
• Face Masks And Social Distancing Scrapped in the UK.
• Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrated its centenary on July 1st.
• Lambda variant of COVID-19 is expected to be the strongest yet as per the Malaysian Govt.
• Jeff Bezos became the richest person again. China plans to carry out a Climate Migration programme.
• Spin Boldak check-post on Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan stands captured by Taliban in a recent offensive; Pakistan closes its border with Afghanistan and bars movement of refugees from the country.
• 13 along with 9 Chinese workers killed in a bus explosion in Pakistan’s Northern Kohistan close to its border with China. Local authorities claim Gas leak for the same while China condemned the incident and called it an act of terrorism.
• 11 Army Soldiers were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in a terror attack.
• Recent Pegasus phone tapping issue spread across the globe targeting political opponents and journalists. France declares probe into the same in the country targeting two journalists.
• Tokyo 2020 Olympics began on 23rd July amidst the concerns of Pandemic and spread of cases within the Olympics village. Over 11,000 athletes will compete against each other in the event.
• Delta variant of Corona Virus remains the cause of concern in the US, with rising cases across all 50 states. Los Angeles county has ordered compulsory indoor masking.
• Sher Bahadur Deuba replaces K. P. Sharma Oli as the PM of Nepal.
• Rioting and Looting in South Africa kill many and leave the country in turmoil after the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma.
• The state of California is experiencing one of its worst forest fires in recent years.
• Ever Given Ship leaves the Suez Canal after paying fines and dues.
• The USA celebrated its Independence Day on July 4th. It missed its vaccination target, which was fixed at 70%.
• Eric Adams wins NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary Elections for this year. He will be the candidate who will compete with GOP’s Curtis Silwa for becoming the Mayor of New York City.
• French President Emmanuel Macron’s phone was hacked by Pegasus software. He changed his phone soon after the expose.
• Flooding was reported in Belgium and Germany, considered to be the worst flooding scenario in more than 100 years.
• Henan province in China saw a massive flood that killed 99 people. Reports of few foreign journalists being harassed for their coverage have been out.
• China initiated a crackdown on IT and Gaming Tech-Giant Tencent and also on Online Cab service Didi. This comes after few months of the crackdown on Alibaba.
• The US reinstates the mask mandate considering the spread of Delta Variant. CDC calls the new wave, pandemic of the unvaccinated. It also made vaccination compulsory for all federal employees.
• Massive wildfires were reported in Southern Turkey that left homes and forests charred. Tourists in the region are evacuated on time.
• India set to assume the UNSC presidency for a month in August.
• Qin Gang will be the new ambassador of China to the US. He is a staunch anti-west diplomat.
• Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi the Chengdu, China, on July 25 to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
• Taliban delegation meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Tianjin China, on the 28th. It called upon the Taliban not to give safe havens to Uighar rebels, and in return, China promised full support to the Taliban.
• US Congress creates bipartisan January 6th Commission, and its starts the hearing.

Technology

• Google Meet will hereby enforce 60 minutes time limit for its call for ordinary users replacing unlimited time. G-Suite users can continue to get an unlimited time limit.
• China unveils 600 km/h maglev train prototype.
• US President Joe Biden said that Facebook is killing people in the context of vaccine misinformation, only to retract the statement later on.
• Pegasus is spyware used for snooping into phones. It is built and licensed to operate by NSO, which is based in Israel. Governments across the globe are the main clients of this software.
• Jeff Bezos completes his space travel, Rivalling Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, who traveled on 12th July. Bezos traveled in Blue Origin space rocket crossing the Karman line on 20th July. Both companies have decided that they will open their bookings for Space tourism.
• Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, is also known as the iPhone City. Flood has disrupted the production and sale of iPhones. Foxconn, the company that manufactures iPhones for Apple, is struggling to meet the delivery and sales.
• Facebook says it will limit the targeting of ads to teenagers.
• By default, teenagers’ Instagram accounts will be set as private.
• The Government of India unveils ‘Sandes,’ a local messenger app, as an alternative to Whatsapp.
• One Plus Nord 2 smartphone is released in India.
• Zomato saw a massive surge in the stock market post its IPO last week.
• China’s crackdown on big-tech causes the loss of hundreds of billions of USD and prospective future expansion to the countries.
• Telegram announces that its latest update will provide the feature to video call, 1000 people at a single time accompanied by screen sharing with sound.

Olympics

• After a year of postponement and concerns of superspreaders in the host city, Tokyo 2020 Olympics was inaugurated on July 23rd. The games are scheduled to go on till 8th August.
• The city of Tokyo is under a strict lockdown, no athlete is allowed to move out of the village, and the stadiums are going without fans.
• Olympics this time will host 33 Sporting events and games.
• The top three positions in the medal tally are held by China, the USA, and Japan. There is a tight competition among the top three places, with each medal becoming important.
• The host of the Olympics, Japan, is seeing its best tally performance in the history of the Olympics.
• Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica becomes the fastest woman in the world.

If you are interested in news capsules. Check out here.

I have started a Telegram Channel which will contain the record of all my articles. Follow my blog for behind-the-scenes and informative content.

Suggested Reading