NATIONAL NEWS
A) Kanwar Yatra decision after discussions with neighbouring States: Uttarakhand CM.
Any decision on allowing the Kanwar Yatra this year will be taken after discussions with neighbouring States, Uttarakhand’s new Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, after weekend consultations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. A senior official in the CM’s office confirmed that he has also held consultations with Yogi Adityanath, his counterpart in Uttar Pradesh. Among medical officers on the ground in Uttarakhand, however, there is a recognition that allowing the Kanwar Yatra could lead to an increased spread in Covid-19 cases and heightened challenges in managing the pandemic. Uttarakhand is reviewing its earlier decision to cancel the yatra, following the U.P. government’s announcement that the pilgrimage will begin from July 25, despite concerns that it could become another COVID super spreader event like the Kumbh Mela earlier this year. The Kanwar yatra is an annual monsoon pilgrimage by crores of devotees of Shiva largely from the northern States of U.P., Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh who walk over 100 km to fetch water from the Ganga, mostly at the pilgrimage sites of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand. Given the religious sentiments and health concerns involved, the decision on whether to cancel the yatra again has political ramifications, especially given that both U.P. and Uttarakhand are headed to the polls next year. Another major pilgrimage, the Char Dham yatra, has been stayed by the Uttarakhand High Court, an order which the State government is now challenging in the Supreme Court. Discussed and received [Mr. Modi’s] guidance on the development of the State, possible third wave of Corona, Char Dham Yatra and Kanwar Yatra, Dhami tweeted, along with a similar statement regarding his meeting with Shah. Dhami also tweeted a link to his interview with the Aaj Tak news channel in which he said, It is a matter of the faith of millions. However, people’s lives should not be threatened. Saving lives is our first priority. God would not like it if people lost their lives to COVID due to the yatra. This is also the concern of the medical officers tasked with controlling the pandemic on the ground. There was complete panic among the people during the second wave, with a shortage of oxygen, ventilators and ICU beds. We are taking steps to ensure all these facilities are there in the event of a third wave. But people must also follow the COVID protocols, said Ajay Kumar Nagarkar, additional chief medical officer for Haridwar, who initially handled oxygen management in the district’s COVID control room before he himself tested positive near the end of April, along with his entire family.
B) Chinese show banners at Indian villagers celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday
Chinese nationals displayed banners in protest from across the Indus river, close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), when Indian villagers were celebrating the birthday of the Dalai Lama in Demchok in eastern Ladakh According to Urgain Tsewang, village head of Koyul (Kakjung), one of the last settlements in the Demchok sector, the Chinese, comprising of Army personnel and civilians, came in five vehicles down unpaved roads and raised the banners 200 metres from a community centre where the Dalai Lama’s birthday was being celebrated. The incident occurred around 11 a.m. on July 6 at Dola Tamgo in Koyul village along the Indus river. We don’t understand Mandarin. They had scribbled something on the banner. They stood there for about half an hour, Tsewang told The Hindu. The land where they stood and protested on the Dalai Lama’s birthday is our land. It belongs to India, he stated. Videos shared by Tsewang showed a group of men holding a long banner in red with words on it. They are also seen carrying the Chinese flag. When contacted, Army authorities chose not to comment on the Chinese action. Mr. Tsewang stated that 10 days ago, the Chinese also protested when the locals were setting up a solar pump. Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the Dalai Lama in a phone call on the occasion on his 86th birthday. This is the first time Modi has publicly confirmed speaking with the Dalai Lama since he took over as PM in 2014. The developments come in the backdrop of a continuing deadlock in the talks at various levels to resolve the ongoing military stand-off in eastern Ladakh. While the first phase of disengagement at Pangong Tso was completed in February, efforts to work out an agreement for the second phase of disengagement at Gogra and Hot Springs have been held up. Other frictions areas at Demchok and Depsang still remain. A similar incident had occurred in the area in 2019 as well. In July 2019, as villagers held a local festival to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday, at least 11 Chinese men in civilian clothing came close to the LAC and raised banners from across the river bank which read, Ban all activity to split Tibet. The LAC in the area runs along the Indus river.
C) Adityanath launches U.P.’s population policy for 2021-2030
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday launched the State’s population policy for 2021-2030, stating that increasing population was the root cause of major problems and prevailing inequality in society. Increasing population can be an obstacle to development, he said, stating that the new policy was drafted keeping in mind all sections of society. The new policy aims to decrease the Total Fertility Rate from 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026, and to 1.7 by 2030. It also aims to increase Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate from 31.7 to 45 by 2026 and 52 by 2030; increase male methods of contraception use from 10.8 to 15.1 by 2026 and 16.4 by 2030; decrease Maternal Mortality Rate from 197 to 150 to 98 and Infant Mortality Rate from 43 to 32 to 22 and Under 5 Infant Mortality Rate from 47 to 35 to 25. Targeting population stabilisation, the draft of the policy also said the state would attempt to maintain a balance of population among the various communities. Awareness and extensive programmes would be held among those communities, cadres and geographical areas that have a higher fertility rate, the policy read. The policy comes at a time when The Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission has prepared a proposed draft bill for population control, under which a two-child norm would be implemented and promoted. A person who will have more than two children after the law comes to force would be debarred from several benefits such as government-sponsored welfare schemes, ration card units would be limited to four, and the person will be barred from contesting elections to local authority or any body of the local self-government, the draft says. The person contravening the law would also become ineligible to apply for government jobs under the State government, will be barred from promotion in government services, and will not receive any kind of subsidy. The provisions would come into force one year after the date of publication of the gazette, the draft says.
D) Congress high command to decide on leadership change in Chhattisgarh: Bhupesh Baghel
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said he was asked to take oath as the Chief Minister by the Congress high command and that it was for them to decide on whether there should be a change of guard now. He added that such arrangements take place while running coalition governments. Baghel’s comments are significant in the wake of reports that Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo wants the high command to ‘honour’ the rotation formula of changing the CM after two-and-a-half years, which was supposed to have been agreed to in December 2018. Baghel was speaking after meeting Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at 10, Janpath, the official residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, where the leaders are said to have discussed next year’s Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The high command instructed me to take the oath [as Chief Minister], so I took the oath. When they say someone else will be the Chief Minister, then it will be so, he said, adding, Such agreements happen in a coalition government but Congress has three-fourth majority in Chhattisargh. Baghel, who played a key role in overseeing the Congress’ campaign in the recent Assam Assembly, is likely to be given major responsibility for the U.P. elections as well. Congress treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal and senior leader from U.P., Rajeev Shukla, were also part of the hour-long meeting at 10 Janpath on Sunday. In April, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister’s parliamentary advisor, Rajesh Tiwari, who played a key role in Congress’ Assam campaign, was appointed an All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary for U.P. During the recent panchayat polls in the State, party workers from Chhattisgarh had gone for booth management and organising workers’s meetings, among other things. The Chief Minister later also met AICC’s Chhattisgarh in-charge P.L. Punia, who told a news agency that there is no ‘rotational plan’ to change Chief Minister.
E) Akhilesh Yadav calls BJP the party with most goondagardi
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP of being the party with the most goondagardi (hooliganism), as he lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government headed by Yogi Adityanath for the violence and clashes that broke out during the local body polls. The amount of goondagardi that has happened in U.P. perhaps, I may not have used the word goonda in my political career so far. Since we have witnessed the panchayat polls on TV and heard from people, there cannot be a bigger goondagardi wali party (party with hooliganism) than the BJP, Yadav said at a press conference in Lucknow. The ruling BJP had on Saturday claimed victory in 635 out of 825 block pramukh posts in the State even as the Samajwadi Party accused the government of misusing its administrative machinery to forcefully capture the posts in high-intensity elections. The voting and the nomination for the block pramukh polls were marred by incidents of brawls, scuffles, clashes and firing in 17 districts, including Etawah, where an officer of the rank of SP City was allegedly slapped while trying to prevent a crowd of BJP supporters from breaching the barricade near a polling booth.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Billionaire Richard Branson takes off for high-altitude launch into space a week short of 71st birthday
A twin-fuselage jet took off on Sunday carrying a Virgin Galactic rocket plane primed to soar more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert with British billionaire Richard Branson aboard in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, Reuters reported. Branson, one of six Virgin Galactic Holding Inc employees strapping in for the flight, has touted the mission as a precursor to a new era of space tourism, with the company he founded poised to begin commercial operations next year. Sunday’s high-altitude launch of the VSS Unity rocket plane marks the company’s 22nd test flight of its SpaceShipTwo system, and its fourth crewed mission beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It is also the first to carry a full complement of space travelers — two pilots and four mission specialists, Branson among them. A week away from his 71st birthday, Branson and his crewmates walked onto the tarmac of New Mexico’s Spaceport America waving to a throng of onlookers before boarding waiting Unity rocket plane parked at the end of a taxiway. Video posted online by Virgin Galactic showed Branson earlier arriving at the spaceport on his bicycle and greeting his crewmates with a hug. A festive gathering of space industry executives, future customers and other well-wishers were on hand to witness the launch event, which was livestreamed in a presentation introduced by late-night television host Stephen Colbert. Among those present was fellow billionaire and space industry pioneer Elon Musk, who also is founder of electric carmaker Tesla Inc. Separating from the mothership when it reaches an altitude of 50,000 feet, Unity’s rocket engine will then ignite to send the spaceplane streaking straight upward to the blackness of space some 55 miles (88.5 km) high, where the crew will experience about four minutes of microgravity. With the engine shut down near the peak of its climb, the craft will then be shifted into re-entry mode before gliding back to a runway landing at the spaceport. The entire flight, from takeoff to touchdown, would last about 90 minutes. Assuming the mission goes well, Virgin has plans for two further test flights of the spaceplane in the months ahead before beginning regular commercial operation in 2022. This is no discount travel service. But demand is apparently strong, with several hundred wealthy would-be citizen astronauts already having booked reservations, priced at around $250,000 per ticket. The Swiss-based investment bank UBS has estimated the potential value of the space tourism market reaching $3 billion annually by 2030.
B) Kabul airport installs anti-missile system as Taliban advance
Afghan authorities said on Sunday that they have installed an anti-missile system at Kabul airport to counter incoming rockets, as the Taliban pressed on with a blistering offensive across the country. Washington and its allies are due to end their military mission in Afghanistan at the end of next month, even as the insurgents say they now control 85 per cent of the country – a claim that could not be independently verified and is disputed by the government. The Islamic fundamentalist group’s rapid gains in recent weeks have raised fears about the security of the capital and its airport, with Nato keen to secure a vital exit route to the outside world for foreign diplomats and aid workers. The newly installed air defence system has been operational in Kabul since 2am Sunday, the interior ministry said in a statement. The system has proven useful in the world in repelling rocket and missile attacks. Interior ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian told AFP it had been installed at the airport, though officials did not offer details about the type of system or who had installed it. But Afghan security forces spokesperson Ajmal Omar Shinwari said the system was given by our foreign friends. It has very complicated technology. For now our foreign friends are operating it while we are trying to build the capacity to use it, he said. The Taliban have regularly launched rockets and mortars at government forces across the countryside, with the jihadist Islamic State group (ISIS) carrying out similar strikes on the capital in 2020. ISIS also claimed responsibility for a rocket attack this year at Bagram Air Base, the biggest US military facility in the country, which was recently handed over to Afghan forces. Over the years, the US military installed several C-RAMs (counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems) across its bases, including at Bagram, to destroy incoming rockets targeting the facilities, a foreign security official and media reports said. The C-RAMS includes cameras to detect incoming rockets and alert local forces. The Taliban do not have any organised capacity but have demonstrated that they can fire modified rockets from vehicles and create panic, especially if aimed at an airport, a foreign security official said. Turkey has promised to provide security for Kabul airport once US and Nato troops leave next month. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey and the United States had agreed on the scope of how the airport would be managed under the control of Turkish forces.
