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- Indore Airport Starts International Flights | NSA Ajit Doval Hosts BIMSTEC
Today’s important current affairs, which are essential for students preparing for government jobs:
NATIONAL
1. India will host BIMSTEC
- On July 16, India will host the 5th BIMSTEC National Security Advisors (NSA) meeting in New Delhi.
- The full form of BIMSTEC is ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’.
- The BIMSTEC meeting will be chaired by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
- This meeting is being organized to strengthen regional security cooperation and address shared challenges such as terrorism, cyber security, maritime security, and transnational organized crime.
- Such meetings typically discuss issues like cyber security, terrorism, smuggling, cross-border crime, and satellite cooperation.
- The BIMSTEC National Security Advisors’ meeting is a platform for dialogue on security among member countries.
- The current chair of BIMSTEC is Bangladesh. Its delegation will be led by the PM’s Defense Advisor Brigadier General (Retired) A.K.M. Shamsul Islam.
BIMSTEC
- BIMSTEC is a regional group of seven member countries from South and South-East Asia.
- BIMSTEC was established in 1997 as the BIST-EC group and was later renamed BIMSTEC.
- Its member countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
- This organization connects the coastal and neighboring countries of the Bay of Bengal through cooperation in security, trade, transport, energy and people-to-people relations.
The last meeting of BIMSTEC National Security Advisors in 2024 was held in Myanmar.
2. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar attended the EU meeting in Brussels
- On July 15, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar visited Brussels (Belgium).
- Met with Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
- In this meeting, the progress of India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations was discussed.
- During this, both leaders discussed in detail the strengthening of India-European Union strategic partnership.
- In this meeting, along with S Jaishankar, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada also participated.
- Along with this, Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, was also present in this meeting.
- During this visit, discussions were held on the current situation in West Asia, the need to maintain peace and stability in the region, and safe and uninterrupted maritime trade.
- Along with this, deliberations were also held on advancing the India-EU strategic partnership and making the global supply chain more robust and reliable.
- S Jaishankar discussed issues related to business and investment, technology, supply chain, clean energy and regional security with India-EU.
- Both sides also deliberated on the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine crisis, the situation in West Asia, and other global and regional security issues.
- The European Union (EU) is a political and economic platform of 27 countries of Europe.
- The main objective of this union is to maintain free trade, use of shared currency (Euro) and regional peace among member countries.
EU was established on 1 November 1993 under the Maastricht Treaty.
SPORTS
3. FIDE changed the format of Chess Tournament World Cup
- On July 14, FIDE announced a format change for the World Cup, the world’s largest chess tournament.
- According to the new rules, there will be no knockout matches from the beginning. All players will first play in the Swiss League.
- Until now, the FIDE World Cup was played entirely in knockout format. From 2027, it will begin with the Swiss System.
- Previously, the World Cup lasted about four weeks. With the new format, the competition will be shortened by about a week.
- All players will get the opportunity to play at least 9 matches.
- Now each player will get 45 minutes for the entire match and an additional 30 seconds per move.
- The Swiss stage will be completed in just five days, with four days being double rounds. After this, from the Round of-16 onwards, the same old knockout format will remain, which will have two classical games.
- The number of players in the Open group has been increased from 206 to 224 and in the women’s category from 107 to 128.
- Along with this, the total prize money has also been increased to approximately 32 crore rupees, which was earlier 26 crore rupees.
- This will include approximately 22 crore for the Open category and 10 crore rupees for the women’s category.
In the new change, the prize money for winners in both groups will remain around 1.15 crore and 48.1 lakh rupees only.
Miscellaneous
4. First international flight started from Indore Airport in Madhya Pradesh
- From July 15, the first international flight started from Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport.
- This first flight was from Indore to Abu Dhabi, which was flagged off by CM Dr. Mohan Yadav.
- This service has been started by Air India Express. This flight will operate 4 days a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
- The journey from Indore to Abu Dhabi will be completed in approximately 3 hours 15 minutes.
- This flight will boost trade, investment and tourism.
- This service has been started under Madhya Pradesh’s Civil Aviation Policy-2025.
- Under the Civil Aviation Policy-2025, the state government has approved 8 new air routes, one of which is Indore.
- Under this policy, the goal has been set to develop airports every 150 km, so that all regions of the state can get better air connectivity.
- The target for development of these schemes across the state has been set for the year 2030.
- Under this scheme, there is a plan to develop an MRO hub, which will promote the aircraft maintenance industry.
5. ‘Grey Hornbill’ returns to Gir forests after 60 years
- 15 After more than 60 years, the Indian ‘Grey Hornbill’ has returned to the Gir forests of Gujarat.
- It is also known as ‘Chilotro’ in the local language. A recent scientific study has confirmed its presence in the Gir forest area.
- The Grey Hornbill species had been missing from this region for six decades, the main reason being the loss of homes.
- The Forest Department will now monitor and conserve this rare bird. The Grey Hornbill helps in seed dispersal and maintaining forest density.
- Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Grey Hornbill had completely disappeared.
- In Gir, 28 birds were released in the year 2021-22, so that their survival and adaptation to the new environment could be scientifically monitored.
- 11 male hornbill birds were fitted with satellite transmitters, enabling researchers to continuously track their activities, habitat preferences, and breeding behavior.
The Grey Hornbill bird is considered very important for Gir’s ecosystem.
6. Allahabad High Court applies pre-2021 law in IVF procedure
- On July 16, the Allahabad High Court upheld the pre-2021 law in the IVF process during a hearing.
- The court has decided to apply the age limit of the Surrogacy Regulation Act 2021 to previously frozen embryos as before.
- According to the Surrogacy Regulation Act 2021, for IVF treatment, the woman’s age should be between 21 to 50 years and the man’s age should be between 21 to 55 years.
- According to the Allahabad High Court, if embryos were frozen before the 2021 law came into effect under surrogacy or IVF process, then they cannot be denied the process later on the basis of crossing the age limit.
- Women over 50 years of age may also be permitted as an exception after certain special circumstances and health examinations.
- Actually, the court gave this decision during the hearing of a case of a couple from Lucknow.
- Even after 17 years of marriage, they tried IVF several times but were not successful. After which the doctor advised them surrogacy.
- Three embryos were preserved on July 18, but by the time the surrogacy process started, the woman had turned 50. That’s why the couple approached the court.
- According to the Surrogacy Regulation Act 2021, IVF facility is available only for married couples or single women (divorced or widowed) suffering from infertility.
- Unmarried couples and LGBTQ+ couples are not allowed to avail IVF benefits under this Act.
Article 21 of the Constitution
- The fundamental right to reproductive autonomy means that every individual, especially women, has the right to make their own decisions related to reproduction.
- This right falls under Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty) of the Indian Constitution.
- The related law is the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which was amended in 2021.
Today in History
- In 1661, the Swedish Bank issued the first note in Europe.
- In 1856, remarriage of Hindu widows received legal recognition.
- In 1925, National Geographic published natural color photographs of underwater scenes for the first time.
