1. The National Award-winning actor Surekha Sikri passed away on July 16, 2021, due to cardiac arrest at the age of 75. One of her most memorable performances was in the TV show Balika Vadhu, where the actor essayed the role of the family matriarch Kalyani Devi Singh, fondly addressed by everyone as Daadisa. Her last screen appearance was in Netflix’s anthology Ghost Stories (2020).
2. Haryana government on July 14, 2021, announced that India’s first Grain ATM ‘Annapurti’ has been set up as a pilot project in Farrukhnagar, Gurugram.
3. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on July 15, 2021 disbursed COVID assistance worth Rs 385 crore to 26 lakh registered construction workers of the state. Under the initiative, every registered construction worker from the state will get Rs 1,500 directly in their accounts.
4. Jammu & Kashmir has got its first real-time air-quality monitoring station with the inauguration of the first-ever Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) at J&K Pollution Control Committee headquarters at Rajbagh, Srinagar by Chairman Suresh Chugh on July 14, 2021. The system is a piece of highly sophisticated equipment that gives real-time air quality data of a particular area especially key parameters such as PM10, PM 2.5, NOX, SOX, Ozone, which determine the air quality of that area.
5. Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa launched the Electric Bike Taxi scheme in Bengaluru on July 14, 2021. The scheme is eco-friendly and aims to generate self-employment and serve as a bridge between public transport and daily travellers.
6. Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed on July 16, 2021 while covering the clashes between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city in Afghanistan. The photojournalist had been covering the situation in Kandahar over the past few days for Reuters news agency.
7. Gujarat High Court is set to become the first high court in the country to allow public viewing of proceedings through virtual mode. The high court has announced that it will be launching live streaming of court proceedings of all “willing benches” from July 17, 2021.
8. The World Youth Skills Day is observed every year on July 15 to celebrate the strategic importance of skills of entrepreneurship, decent work, and employment in young people.