1. The Delhi government has collaborated with Google to launch a system that will enable commuters to track bus locations, arrival and departure times and routes on a real-time basis on their smartphones. The users will also be able to get an estimate of how long their trip is going to take.
2. The 15th and current Attorney General of India is K. K. Venugopal. He was reappointed by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2020. He had been first appointed to the post on June 30, 2017.
3. The Reserve Bank of India on July 14, 2021 barred MasterCard Asia / Pacific Pvt Ltd (MasterCard) from issuing new credit, debit and prepaid cards with effect from July 22 for its failure to comply with its data storage norms.
4. India and Asia’s first National Dolphin Research Centre (NDRC) will be set up on the banks of the River Ganges in the Patna University campus in Bihar. The work on the centre is expected to begin after the monsoon season.
5. India’s largest solar power park of 4.75 GigaWatt (GW) is set to come up in Rann of Kutch in Khavada, Gujarat. The renewable energy park will be built by the largest power producer of the country, NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of NTPC.
6. Bhutan has become the second country after Singapore to have BHIM-UPI acceptance at merchant locations. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with Finance Minister of Bhutan Lyonpo Namgay Tshering launched BHIM-UPI in Bhutan on July 13, 2021, through a virtual ceremony.
7. Pakistan’s Parliament on July 12, 2021, passed a bill that criminalizes torture and prevents custodial killings by the police or other government officials. The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2021 was adopted by the Senate, the Upper House of the bicameral parliament.
8. The sedition law was then borrowed and inserted into Section 124A of IPC in 1870, by the British. The sedition law was used in India to convict and sentence freedom fighters. It was first used to prosecute Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1897.