DAILY GK 21-22 JULY 2026
1.
INDIA HOSTS 16TH BRICS HEALTH MINISTER’S MEETING
·
The 16th
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)
Health minister’s meeting concluded in Chandigarh under
India’s BRICS chairmanship 2026.
·
The meeting concluded with the unanimous
adoption of the ‘Health Ministerial Declaration’ as its
key outcome.
·
Theme: The meeting was conducted under the theme, “Building
for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”.
·
The
meeting released the BRICS Good
Practices (GxP) White Paper and the
BRICS Compendium on Digital Health Architecture,
launched the BRICS Mission for Healthy
Lifestyle, the Healthy Lifestyle
Promotion Roadmap (2026–2029), and the BRICS
Network of Centres of Excellence (CoE) on Mental Wellness, and established the BRICS Expert Working Group on Traditional, Complementary and
Integrative Medicine (TCIM) and the
Sub-Working Group on the BRICS Integrated
Early Warning System (EWS).
2.
ALL-WOMEN ‘SAMUDRA PRADAKSHINA’ EXPEDITION
·
Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence (MoD),
virtually flagged off ‘Samudra Pradakshina‘, India’s
first-ever Tri-Service all-women circumnavigation sailing expedition.
·
Indian Army Sailing Vessel (IASV)
Triveni, crewed by nine
women officers from the Indian Army (IA), Indian Navy (IN) and Indian Air
Force (IAF), successfully completed a 314-day global
voyage covering nearly 25,500 nautical miles across four oceans, arriving at
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
·
The
expedition was originally virtually flagged off by Union Minister Rajnath Singh
on 11 September 2025 from the Gateway of India,
Mumbai.
·
The
IASV Triveni team crossed all meridians of longitude, the Equator twice, the
International Date Line, and the Three Great Capes (Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn,
and Cape of Good Hope).
·
Navika Sagar Parikrama: Completed in 254 days (10
September 2017 – 21 May 2018), this expedition marked India’s first all-women
naval circumnavigation, demonstrating maritime skill, endurance, and
operational excellence.
3. UN SOFI REPORT
·
The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) released its latest report
titled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World
(SOFI 2026): Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of a Healthy Diet”.
·
The
report estimated 645 million people (accounting
for 7.8% of the global population) faced hunger in 2025, marking a slight decline compared to the previous
year (8.1%).
·
However, the world is still far off track to meet the UN-mandated Sustainable
Development Goal(SDG-2) i.e. zero hunger
by 2030.
·
The report is prepared by 5 specialized
agencies of the UN:
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and
World Health Organisation (WHO).
·
The
number continues to be 61 million higher
than pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels (2019).
·
The
number of chronically undernourished
people could decrease to nearly 511 million by 2030 under
a quick-recovery scenario.
·
But, if disruption to oil, gas and
fertilizer supplies persists, then, the number could be as high as 522 million.
·
For
the first time since such data has been tracked, Africa has replaced Asia as the region with
the largest number of undernourished
people.
·
India’s Performance: Undernourished people (142.5 million, -42% in 20
years); CoHD (USD 4.11 per person per day in PPP); Affordable Healthy Diet
(520.1 million).
4.
INDIA’S FIRST PRIVATE ORBITAL ROCKET ‘VIKRAM-1’
·
Hyderabad
(Telangana)-based Skyroot Aerospace Private
Limited successfully launched Vikram-1, India’s first
privately developed orbital-class launch vehicle, under ‘Mission
Aagaman (arrival)’ from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR),
Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh (AP).
·
The mission made India the third
country, after USA and China, to achieve
private orbital launch capability following the Indian Space Policy 2023.
·
The mission also carried Cosmic
Bloom, a lotus artwork made from lab-grown diamonds, and an 18-karat
gold micro-rocket containing microscopic sculptures of Sir
C.V. Raman, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, and Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
·
The mission also carried a handwritten
postcard by Prime Minister Narendra Modi bearing the
message “Vande Mataram“, along with hundreds of
handwritten postcards from scientists, engineers, and well-wishers.
5.
INDIAN NAVY COMMISSIONS INS MALVAN WARSHIP
·
The
Indian Navy (IN) commissioned Indian Naval Ship (INS) Malvan
(Yard 524), Second of Eighth Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare
Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC), during a ceremony held at Naval
Base Karwar, Karnataka.
·
INS Malvan becomes the first
Indian naval vessel ever to be commissioned at Karwar and
the 7th warship inducted by the Navy in 2026.
·
The
vessel has 70-80 metres (m) long,
displaces over 896-1,100 tonnes, has a beam of 11.36 m and shallow 2.7m
draft, optimized for operations in littoral zones.
6.
LR-SAM - ‘KUSHA’
·
Defence
Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully
conducted the maiden flight test of ‘Kusha‘Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM)
from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.
·
Kusha missile system: A versatile air-defence platform designed to intercept and neutralise fighter
aircraft, stealth platforms, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles,
precision-guided munitions (PGMs).
·
Kusha
employs three distinct interceptor missile variants for targeting incoming
projectiles at different ranges.
·
M1 Missile: Short-to-medium-range
interceptor missile that can take down a target within an operational range
of 150 km (kilometres).
·
M2 Missile: Medium-to-long-range
interceptor having a 250 km range.
·
M3 Missile: Long-range missile
with an extended reach up to 350–400 km.
7.
AGRICULTURE LEADERSHIP AWARD 2026
·
Gujarat was honoured with the Agriculture Leadership
Award 2026 for its performance
in horticulture at the 17th Agriculture Leadership Conclave-2026 held in
New Delhi.
·
Introduced
in 2008 on the recommendation of agricultural
scientist M. S. Swaminathan, the Agriculture Leadership
Award by Agriculture Today Group recognises
exceptional innovations and performance in the agriculture sector by states and
institutes.
8.
72ND NATIONAL FILM AWARD FOR THE YEAR 2024
·
The
awards were announced by Jayaraj,Chairperson
of Feature Film Jury; Aseem Sinha, Chairperson of
Non-Feature Film Jury; and A. Chandrasekhar, Chairperson of Best Writing
on Cinema Jury, in New Delhi.
·
Best Feature Film: Article 370, directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, was
named as the Best Feature Film award for 2024.
·
In
addition, the film won two more awards in “Best
Actress” and “Best Music
Direction” categories.
·
Malayalam Actor Mammootty and Actor Kartik Aaryan were jointly
named as the Best Actor in Leading
for their acclaimed performance in Bramayugam
(Malayalam film) andHindi sports
drama Chandu Champion, respectively.
·
With this honour, Mammootty won his 4th National Film Award after
Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Mathilukkal (1989), Ponthan Mada and
Vidheyan (1994) and Dr. Ambedkar (1999).
·
The actors will share the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus award) and the cash prize
of Rs. 2 lakhs.
·
Actress Yami Gautam bagged
the “Best Actress” for the Hindi film
(Article 370), marking her career 1st-ever National Film Award.
·
Rajkumar Periyasamy won the National Award for Best Direction for Tamil film “Amaran”.
·
Mythological
sci-fi action film, Kalki 2898 AD,
directed by Nag Ashwin, bagged the award for
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
·
Famous
Actor Randeep Hooda won the Award
for Best Debut Film of a Director for film
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (Hindi).
9.
LOKMANYA TILAK NATIONAL AWARD 2026
·
Dr. Rohit Tilak, President of the Lokmanya Tilak
Trust announced the selection of National Security Advisor (NSA)
Ajit Doval for Lokmanya Tilak National Award for 2026.
·
The award was instituted in 1983, to recognise the individuals for
their outstanding contributions to the country’s progress and development.
·
Socialist Leader SM Joshi was the 1st
recipient of Lokmanya Tilak National Award.
10.
WORLD’S BEST CORPORATE BANK
·
DBS Bank Limited, a Singaporean
multinational banking was awarded the World’s Best Corporate
Bank at the 2026 Global Bank Awards by
‘Global Finance magazine’, becoming
the first Southeast Asian bank to win this accolade since the category’s
inception in 2005.
·
DBS
held the title of ‘Safest Bank’ in Asia by Global Finance for 17 consecutive years (2009–2025).
·
Santander (Spain) as World’s Best Bank, State
Bank of India as World’s Best
Consumer Bank, BBVA (Spain) as World’s Best Emerging Markets Bank, Ecobank
(Togo) as World’s Best Frontier Markets Bank, and CIBC Mellon (Canada) as
World’s Best Sub-Custodian Bank.
