• Indian Space Research Organisation launched Chandrayaan 2 from Satish Dhawan Space Center at  Chandrayaan 2 is India’s 2nd moon mission. Chandrayaan-1 was launched by ISRO on October 22, 2008 from Sriharikota. Note: ISRO Director: K. Sivan; Headquarters: Bengaluru; Established in: 1969.

• Raksha Mantri inaugurated the 1 kilometre long Ujh bridge in Kathua district and 40 Metre long Basantarbridge in Samba district of J&K. 1 Km long Ujh bridge is the longest bridge constructed by Border Roads  Organisation (BRO).

• Telangana Government and the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network announced that they are set to launch an innovative project to deliver emergency medical supplies such as blood and vaccines via drones. This pilot project, called Medicine from the Sky, will run in partnership with the State Government and HealthNet Global Limited.

• The number of districts in Tamil Nadu will go up to 35as the government announced its decision to carve out Tenkasi district from Tirunelveli district and Chengalpet district from Kancheepuram district.

• Vocalist S. Sowmya has been chosen for the Sangita Kalanidhi award of the Music Academy.

• The Britain swimmer Adam Peaty has break the world record in the men’s 100 metre breaststroke at the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, after winning the semi finals in 88 seconds.

• “Inter-Ministerial Committee”on legality of cryptocurrencies and blockchain has submitted its report to the Finance Ministry. The Committee recommended that all private cryptocurrencies, except any cryptocurrency issued by the state, be banned in India. The committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg in 2017.

• Government of India will provide 10,000 scholarships for heirs of the liberation war fighters of Bangladesh called ‘Muktijodhas’ over the next five years under the Nutan India-Bangladesh Maitree Muktijodha Sontan Scholarship Scheme.

• Boris Johnson will replace Theresa May as Britain’s next Prime Minister.

• President Ram Nath Kovind has transferred 2 Governors and made 4 new appointments across 6 States. New appointments are as follows:
  • Madhya Pradesh:Lalji Tandon will replace Anandiben Patel.
  • Uttar Pradesh: Anandiben Patel will replace Ram Naik.
  • West Bengal: Jagdeep Dhankhar will replace Keshari Nath Tripathi.
  • Bihar: Phagu Chuhanwill replace Lalji Tandon.
  • Nagaland: R.N. Ravi will replace P.B. Acharya.
  • Tripura: Ramesh Bais will replace Kaptan Singh Solanki.

• Lieutenant-General M.M. Naravane,has been appointed as the next Vice-Chief of the Army Staff.

• Andhra Pradesh has become the first state in the country to reserve jobs for locals. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/ Factories Act, 2019. Industries/ Factories Act, 2019 reserves 75% private jobs across all categories in industrial units, factories, joint ventures as well as the project that are in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

• India celebrated 23^rd July as the “National Broadcasting day”. On this day in 1927, the first ever radio broadcast in the country went on the air from the Bombay Station under the Indian Broadcasting Company. Note: On 8th of June, 1936, the Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio. Currently, AIR is one of the largest public broadcasting organisations in the world.

• The government has set a target for the installation of Rooftop Solar projects of 40,000 MegaWatt by 2022 in the country.

• Scientists in Bangladesh have developed a method to convert Jute fibre into low cost bio-degradable cellulose sheets named “Sonali”. The Eco-friendly jute poly bags made up of Sonali can be used in garments and food packaging work and they are not harmful for human health.

• The International Monetary Fund has lowered its annual growth forecast for India from 3% to 7% in financial year 2019-20. Note: Acting MD of IMF: David Lipton; Headquarters: Washington DC, USA.

• The Indian armed forces are all set to conduct the country’s first-ever simulated space warfare exercise “IndSpaceEx”.

• JATAN: Virtual Museum software has been developed by Human Centres Design and Computing Group, C-DAC, Pune, Maharashtra for the Digitization of Archaeological Museum.

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)celebrated the 159th Income Tax Day (Aaykar Diwas)on 24th July. Income Tax was introduced on 24th July, 1860 for the first time in India by Sir James Wilson. Note: Chairman of CBDT: Pramod Chandra Mody.

• The Digital Communications Commission(DCC) approved the cumulative penalty of 3050 crore on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. The penalty was imposed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for not providing points of interconnection to Reliance Jio when it entered the market.

• Asian Development Bank has sanctioned 1925 cr project for up-gradation of power generation and distribution in Tripura.

• Researchers discover Dracaena cambodiana,a dragon tree species in the Dongka Sarpo area of West Karbi Anglong district in Assam. This is for the first time that a dragon tree species has been reported from India.

• Priti Patel has been appointed as Britain’s Home Secretary in the newly-unveiled Boris Johnson Cabinet. She has become the Britain’s first Indian-origin Home Secretary.

• Reliance Industries Ltd has jumped 42 places to become the highest-ranking Indian firm on the Fortune Global 500 list.  RIL’s present ranking in the list is 106.

• India remembered its brave hearts on 26^th July which is celebrated as Kargil Vijay Diwas. This year nation is celebrating the 20 years of victory in Kargil war.

• BS Yeddyurappa took oath as Karnataka CM.

• Apple has announced the acquisition of chip-maker Intel”s smartphone modem business for $1 billion. Note: Present CEO of Apple:Tim Cook.

• The leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha,Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was appointed as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The PAC has 15 members from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha. The term of office of members of the committee does not exceed one year at a time.

• Kristof Milak shattered Michael Phelps’ long-standing world record in the 200 metres butterfly at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Hungarian teenager Milak won the final in 1:50.73, breaking the previous record of 1:51.51, set by Phelps in 2009.

• The BCCI has approved the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA). The ICA is only open to former men and women cricketers.

• Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi,the first democratically elected leader of the North African country passed away. He was the world’s oldest sitting president.

• The Western Railway General Stores Depot (GSD)has become the first in Indian Railways to open a heritage gallery of the printing and allied machines used in the Western Railway Printing Press since (1948) at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai.

• Gujarat ranks on top in the installation of rooftop solar projects with an installed capacity of 261.97 megawatts.

• Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh launched the statewide tree plantation programme ‘Clean-Green Arunachal Campaign 2019’in  Under this campaign State Forest department had planted 1-lakh tree saplings in 24 hours.

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)has announced that Bengaluru-based education and learning app Byju’s,which is owned by Think and Learn Private Limited, has replaced Oppo India as the official Team India sponsor.

• American star Caeleb Dressel destroyed Michael Phelps’s World record in the 100 metres butterfly at the World Aquatics Championships 2019 in Gwangju (South Korea). Caeleb Dressel took 50 seconds in the semi-final event, breaking the old record of 49.82 seconds set by Michael Phelps.

• WhatsApp has partnered with NITI Aayog,under the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), to announce its plan to support and promote women entrepreneurs in India.

• IPS officer V.K. Johri has been appointed as the next Director General (DG)of the country’s largest border guarding force, Border Security Force (BSF).

• Lt Gen Paramjit Singh will be the next Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Indian Army.

• The 3rd edition of Khelo India Youth Games 2020 will be held in Guwahati.

• World Health Organization observed 28^th July as “World Hepatitis Day”.  The theme for 2019 is “Invest in eliminating hepatitis”. Note: WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; Director General: Tedros Adhanom.

• The rasagola,a popular dessert of Odisha,has received the geographical indication tag from the Registrar of Geographical Indication.

• Odisha Chief Minister announced in the State Assembly that the Sachivalaya or Secretariat building in Bhubaneswar will now be called ‘Lok Seva Bhavan’.

• Vidisha Baliyan, a 21 year old girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar city,was crowned the Miss Deaf World 2019 title.The international beauty pageant was held in Mbombela, South Africa.

• United Nations observes 30^th July every year as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Tagline for 2019: Human Trafficking: call your government to action.

• The International Cricket Council has launched the inaugural World Test Championship thus setting the stage for a long tournament in red-ball cricket to determine the World Test Champion. The top 9 Test teams will compete in the 2-year long tournament. Each team will play three home and three away The top 2 teams at the end will compete in the ICC World Test Championship Final in the UK in June 2021.