Recognizing that sand and dust storms and their negative impacts at different scales are issues of international concern, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 12 July as the International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms. Sand and dust storms present a formidable and wide-spread challenge to achieving sustainable development in its economic social dimensions.
In response to several recent General Assembly resolutions on Combating sand and dust storms, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Parties officially launched the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, committing the UN System to a proactive approach to combat Sand and dust storms, and to enhance cooperation and coordination on SDS at global regions.
The UNGA has designated 12 July as the International Day of Hope,a day to celebrate and promote hope as a guiding principle for individuals, communities, and nations alike. This resolution draws upon the enduring values of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which call for peace, dignity, tolerance, and shared progress.
Hope is also measurable. The Adult Hope Scale (AHS), developed by Snyder, is a validated instrument that separately assesses the agency and pathways components of hope. Building on this framework, the United Nations is supporting the development of a Voluntary Hope Index to guide national and global progress tracking.
Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) & Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully conducted the flight-test of indigenous Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile (BVRAAM) ‘Astra’ equipped with indigenous Radio Frequency (RF) Seeker from Su-30 Mk-I platform off the coast of Odisha on July 11, 2025.
Astra BVRAAM has a range exceeding 100 kms and is equipped with state-of-the art guidance and navigation system. In addition to various laboratories of DRDO, more than 50 public and private industries including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited have contributed towards successful realisation of the weapon system.
During the tests, two launches were carried out against high-speed unmanned aerial targets at different ranges, target aspects and launch platform conditions. In both the cases, the missiles destroyed the targets with pin-point accuracy.
In a remarkable decision taken at the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee, India’s official nomination for 2024-25 cycle, ‘Maratha Military Landscapes of India’ got inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming India’s 44th property to receive this recognition.
Spanning from the 17th to 19th centuries CE, this extraordinary network of twelve forts demonstrates the strategic military vision and architectural ingenuity of the Maratha Empire. India ranks 6th globally and 2nd in Asia Pacific Region for the most number of World Heritage Sites. 196 nations have ratified the World Heritage Convention, 1972.
India also has 62 sites in the Tentative List of the World Heritage, which is a mandatory threshold for any site to be considered as a World Heritage property in future. Every year, each State Party may propose just one site for consideration of the World Heritage Committee for inscription to the World Heritage List.
On behalf of GoI, Archaeological Survey of India is the nodal agency of all the World Heritage related matters in the country. Spread across the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the selected sites, include Salher, Shivneri, Lohgad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg, and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, along with Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu.
The ‘Hem Bahadur Malla Award 2080’, has been conferred on former Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha. The award was established in honour of the founder of Salt Trading Corporation, the late Hem Bahadur Malla. Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut handed over the award to Shrestha at an event organised jointly by the Nepal Public Administration Association and the Corporation.
The award was conferred on former Chief Justice Shrestha in recognition of his contributions to judicial leadership and institutional development. The prize carries a purse of Rs 200,000 along with a certificate of honour. Shrestha had served as the 25th Chief Justice.
NPCI International Payments Limited has announced significant progress in expanding India’s Unified Payments Interface acceptance across the United Arab Emirates, unveiling strategic initiatives to deepen the digital payment platform’s integration as both countries strengthen their financial connectivity.
NPCI International has established a solid foundation for UPI in the UAE through strategic collaborations with leading financial institutions and payment solution providers. Key partnerships with NeoPay from Mashreq Bank, Network International, and Magnati have enabled QR-based UPI acceptance across a rapidly expanding merchant network.
The initiative aligns with the Government of Dubai’s announced goal of achieving 90 % digital transactions by 2026. NPCI International, incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India in April 2020, serves as NPCI’s international arm devoted to deploying India’s indigenous real-time payment system and card scheme outside of India.
PhonePe and Google Pay maintained their duopoly followed by Paytm securing the third position. PhonePe recorded 854.7 Cr transactions, worth INR 11.98 Lakh Cr in the month under review. This transaction count is 1.5% lower than the 868.20 Cr transactions recorded in May.
On the other hand, Google Pay recorded 654.1 Cr UPI transactions in June, declining almost 3% month-on-month from 674.04 Cr transactions recorded in the preceding month. The overall UPI transaction count slumped to 18.40 Bn in June from an all-time high of 18.68 Bn in the previous month.
As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the UPI transactions in June accounted for INR 24.04 Lakh Cr, a 4.4% decline from INR 25.14 Lakh Cr worth transactions recorded in the previous month. Out of the 18.40 Bn UPI transactions recorded in June, 18.09 Bn transactions were recorded by the UPI app platforms
Securing the third position, Paytm accounted for 7% of the UPI app market share in June, after recording 126.9 Cr transactions worth INR 1.34 Lakh Cr. The transaction count increased marginally MoM from 125.75 Cr transactions recorded in May. Navi and Flipkart-backed super.money contributed in the UPI app market share, with a weightage of 2.24% and 1.20% respectively.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 2.70 lakh on Shriram Finance and ₹4.88 lakh on HDFC Bank for violations of regulatory norms. HDFC Bank was fined for violating norms on foreign investment in India while granting a term loan to its client.
Shriram Finance was penalised for violating certain provisions of digital lending norms following a statutory inspection with reference to its financial position as of 31 March 2024.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on July 11 clarified that loans sanctioned by banks against the voluntary pledge of gold and silver as collateral, up to the collateral-free limit, will not be considered a violation of the guidelines on collateral. In June 2025, the central bank released the final guidelines for lending against gold and silver collateral.
According to the guidelines, lenders shall not grant any advance or loan against primary gold or silver, or financial assets backed by primary gold or silver, such as units of Exchange-Traded Funds or units of Mutual Funds. Loans should also not be granted where the ownership of the gold is doubtful.
A suitable document or declaration must be obtained from the borrower in all cases, affirming that the borrower is the rightful owner of the eligible collateral. Additionally, lenders must not avail loans by re-pledging gold or silver that has already been pledged to them by their borrowers.
The survey, earlier called the National Achievement Survey, is conducted every three years by NCERT under the Union ministry of education. The latest edition took place on December 4, 2024, with 3,365 students from 81 government and private schools appearing for the test in Chandigarh.
Through multiple-choice questions, Class 3 students were quizzed about language and mathematics. The questions for Class 6 students pertained to language, mathematics and the world around us, while those for Class 9 were about language, mathematics and science.
Building upon the foundations laid by the National Achievement Survey (NAS), PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 is designed to assess schools as comprehensive entities, focusing on the overall health of the education system in each district. This includes State Government, Government-Aided, Central Government and Private Recognised Institutions alike.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the inclusion of an additional seven products, including Banarasi paan, on the e-NAM platform in a bid to provide more opportunities and better prices to farmers. The seven commodities include sugarcane, Marcha rice, Katarni rice, Jardalu mango, Shahi litchi, Magahi paan and Banarasi paan.
With this, the total number of products on the e-NAM platform has now increased to 238. The new products were approved after extensive consultations with key stakeholders, including state agencies, traders, subject-matter experts and Small Farmers' Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC).
Launched in 2016, eNAM is a government initiative to digitise and unify agricultural commodity trading in India, enhancing market efficiency and farmer income through technology-enabled transparent trading. The platform supports online bidding, real-time price discovery, quality-based transparent auctions, and immediate payment settlements.
The Centre has launched a new dedicated online portal for submitting and processing proposals under the Deendayal Divyangjan Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) and the District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRC) Scheme to streamline the application process.
According to an official communication dated July 7 from the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), the e-Anudaan portal (grants-msje.gov.in) has now been discontinued for DDRS and DDRC-related proposals. In its place, a new exclusive instance of the e-Anudaan portal has been rolled out and is live at https://grants.depwd.gov.in.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meeting in Paris (France), decided to remove three properties located in Madagascar, Egypt and Libya from the List of World Heritage in Danger. These removals are the result of extensive efforts by States Parties, with UNESCO's support, to significantly reduce threats to these sites.
In recent years, UNESCO has made "considerable and targeted efforts" to support its African Member States. Since 2021, three sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Senegal have also been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger,.
Prajakta Koli, a prominent actor, content creator, author, and activist, has achieved a significant milestone by being named among the 100 most influential digital voices in the inaugural TIME 100 Creators List in 2025. This prestigious acknowledgment positions Koli as the first and only India-born creator to be featured on this esteemed list.
She is joined by global luminaries such as Jimmy Donaldson (Mr. Beast), Khabane Lame, Kai Cenat, Mel Robbins to name a few in the prestigious list. With over 7 million YouTube subscribers and 8 million Instagram followers, Prajakta Koli, known by her online moniker Mostly Sane, demonstrates the profound impact of digital platforms in amplifying authentic voices.
ISRO successfully conducted two hot tests of the Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System (SMPS) on July 03, 2025 at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri. Two short duration hot tests were conducted for 30s and 100s to validate the test article configuration.
During the 100s test, simultaneous operation of all RCS thrusters in different modes (steady state; pulsed) along with all LAM engines was also successfully demonstrated.
