NATIONAL NEWS
A) IMA urges Centre, States not to let down guard against pandemic
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday warned that a third wave of the pandemic was inevitable and imminent and appealed to the Central and State governments not to let down their guard against Covid-19. It urged them to not allow mass gatherings in tourist and religious places sans Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the IMA said that while tourist bonanza, pilgrimage travel and religious fervour were all needed, they could wait for a few more months. Opening up rituals and enabling people without vaccination to participate in such mass gatherings were potential super-spreaders of a third wave. The past experience of last one and a half years of war with the virus and based on the emerging evidences, it is obvious that by making the universal vaccination reach the maximum possible population and strictly adopting to Covid-appropriate behaviours, we can face the third wave with confidence and mitigate its impact, it stated. It was painful to note in this crucial time when everyone needed to work for the mitigation of a third wave, in many parts of the country, both the government and people were complacent and engaged in mass gatherings without following Covid-19 protocols, it noted.
B) NEET to be held on September 12
The NEET entrance test for undergraduate medical and dental programmes will be held on September 12, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Monday. The examination was originally scheduled to be held on August 1. The application process will begin at 5 p.m. on July 13 through the National Testing Agency website, the Minister said. In order to ensure social distancing norms, number of cities where examination will be conducted has been increased from 155 to 198. The number of examination centres will also be increased from the 3,862 centres used in 2020, he said. The Minister added that face masks will be provided to all candidates at examination centres. The NTA will also ensure that staggered time slots during entry and exit, contactless registration, proper sanitisation and seating with social distancing are implemented, in line with COVID safety protocols. NEET (UG), or National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), is used for admission to MBBS and BDS courses as well as programmes for alternative or traditional medicine and nursing. More than 16 lakh students appeared for the exam last year. There is no clarity as yet on whether the NEET syllabus will be reduced or greater internal choice provided in the question paper, to take into account the fact that many school boards had reduced their syllabi by up to 30% due to the pandemic. The NEET examination is usually held in May, soon after Class 12 board examinations, so that admissions can be completed by August. However, with the second wave of the pandemic causing a cancellation of the Class 12 exams, there had been uncertainty about the fate of NEET as well. Last year, NEET was held in September, and then repeated in October to cater to those who missed the exam due to Covid-19. Some students had urged that multiple attempts be permitted this year as well, similar to engineering entrance examination JEE. However, the NTA had earlier announced that NEET will revert to a single date in 2021. It will also be conducted in pen-and-paper mode, unlike JEE which is a computer-based test staggered across multiple sessions.
C) J&K parties describe termination of 11 govt employees as ‘arbitrary, unjust’
Jammu and Kashmir parties, including the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Hurriyat, on Monday described the termination of 11 government employees, including two sons of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddion, under Article 311, as arbitrary and unjust. Salahuddion’s sons were working at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and the Skill Development Wing. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said at a press conference in the Chenab valley, It’s inexplicable to punish sons for the deeds of the father. Any report is not a final judgment. Let the facts be brought to the public domain. Over 20 employees have been fired this year. We already have opposed these unjust terminations. The dismissal on flimsy grounds was criminal. The Government of India continues to disempower people of J&K in the garb of pseudo nationalism, by trampling the constitution that ought to be upheld, the former Chief Minister said. One can capture a man but not an idea. You have to address the idea, she stated. NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar termed the termination of employees a measure blind to justice and arbitrary in nature. He said, The measure is a prima facie case of arbitrariness, where a non-judicial entity is establishing the guilt of the accused party without giving the accused a fair chance to contest the charges. After decades, the employees are being shown the door regardless of their length of service and the impact on their families. The accused employees should be allowed to knock on the doors of courts. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz , while calling the dismissal as arbitrary and illegal, observed, This illegal action will not stand the test before any court of law. The government has violated the basic legal requirement of not giving the dismissed employees a chance to explain their position. The Lt. Governor’s administration had closed the doors to any conciliation and reconciliation with the Kashmiri employees. This illegal action will necessarily deepen the political unrest in J&K, he asserted. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq expressed dismay over the employees’ dismissal. He stated, These removals are whimsical in manner, contrary to all norms of justice and fairness and issued under the guise of being a ‘threat to the security of the state’. Those dismissed are even mostly unaware of the exact nature of the charges against them. Post August 2019, new laws were introduced to deprive the people of J&K of employment opportunities in their own land, he said. The government should revoke this authoritarian order or give those dismissed a fair chance to challenge the charges, he added. The 11 employees were terminated from service last week under sub clauses of Article 311, which does not require any departmental inquiry. The terminations were made in the interest of the security of the State. The Union Territory government on April 21 this year constituted a special task force to identify and scrutinise the government employees, and lodge cases against those involved in any cases related to posing threat to the country’s security or are involved in any anti-national activities.
D) New IT Rules: SC gives petitioner a week to study whether it addresses issue of Islamophobic content on social media
The Supreme Court on Monday gave a week’s time to a petitioner to study the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021 and verify whether it addresses the issue of communally sensitive content posted on social media platforms. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana even suggested that the petitioner, advocate Khaja Aijazuddin, could approach the government. Aijazuddin said he had moved the apex court on the suggestion of the Telangana High Court. He sought directions to the government to restrain social media platforms from carrying Islamophobic content on their timelines and to direct a CBI or NIA to probe against Twitter and its users involved in putting out inflammatory posts. The petition referred to how massive publicity was given by the media that many of the positive cases of symptoms of coronavirus were found from Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in Delhi. The petition contended there was a massive trending of tweets on Twitter attaching the Muslim religion to the cause of spread of coronavirus. He said he was aggrieved with content trending on Twitter under the name and styled #Islamiccoronavirusjihad, etc. It amounted to promoting hatred against a particular religion, which is a criminal offence both under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act of 2000. The petition, filed in May, asked the court to direct the government to frame specific guidelines under the Information Technology Act of 2000 about hate messages against any religious community including Islamophobic posts on various social media platforms. The Bench, also comprising Justice A.S. Bopanna, addressed Aijazuddin, Have you not examined the recent IT Rules… it takes care of this… The petitioner, however, argued that the Rules did not consider religion but only defamatory content. The CJI said, Have you read the latest Rules? Please do your homework and come… list after a week. The new Rules were notified on February 25 under the Information Technology Act of 2000. It regulates social intermediaries, content on digital media and addresses cyber-crime. It comes in place of the Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines) Rules of 2011. Already, the different aspects of the new Rules are under judicial scanner. The government has recently moved the apex court to transfer the cases pending against it from various High Courts to it. The government’s transfer petition is likely to come up before a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on July 16.
E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,08,82,471 with the death toll at 4,08,950. Green signal for emergency approval of Zydus Cadila’s Covid-19 vaccine, for those aged 12 years and above, will take a few more days, confirmed Health Ministry officials on Monday while refuting claims by several State governments, of vaccine shortage. Senior officials speaking to The Hindu said that Zydus Cadila’s vaccine ZyCoV-D had already shown good results in phase-1, phase-2 trials and the phase 3 data (conducted in over 28,000 volunteers) was now under examination by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC). If all goes well, this vaccine’s supply will begin in August-September, said NITI Aayog (member) Health V.K. Paul recently. Zydus Cadila’s jab is a three-dose (0, 28th day and 56th day), intra-dermal vaccine which is administered using the PharmaJet needle-free system. It does not need very low storage temperatures and can be stored at 2-8 degree Celsius. The company sought emergency use approval for ZyCoV-D on July 1 and a statement issued by it said that the company had conducted a study during the second wave which re-affirmed the vaccines efficacy against new mutant strains, especially Delta variants.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) China military ‘drove away’ US warship in South China Sea
US move comes on the anniversary of a tribunal ruling that says Beijing has no claims over the South China Sea. China’s military said it drove away a United States warship that it said illegally entered Chinese waters near the disputed Paracel Islands on Monday, the anniversary of a landmark international court ruling that Beijing has no claim over the South China Sea. The USS Benfold entered the waters of the Paracels without the approval of the Chinese government, seriously violating China’s sovereignty and undermining the stability of the South China Sea, the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said. We urge the United States to immediately stop such provocative actions, the Southern Theater Command said in a statement. In a statement, the United States Navy 7th Fleet said the Benfold had asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law and dismissed Chinese claims of a serious violation of its sovereignty as false and a misrepresentation. It stressed that all ships have the right of innocent passage under international law as reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea and permission is not required. The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle, the statement said. The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did here. Nothing PRC (the People’s Republic of China) says otherwise will deter us. The Paracels, called Xisha in China, are among hundreds of islands, reefs and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea contested by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, with Beijing claiming historic rights to everything within its so-called nine-dash line, which covers most of the region. China took control of the Paracels, a chain of barren islands about 250 miles (400 kilometres east of Vietnam) and 220 miles (350 kilometres) southeast of Hainan Island, in the 1970s. They are also claimed by Vietnam, which calls them Hoang Sa, as well as Taiwan. All three countries require permission or advance notification before any military vessel sails through the area, the US Navy said. On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s nine-dash line and ruled that Beijing had no historic title over the South China Sea. It also said China had interfered with traditional Philippine fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal and breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by exploring for oil and gas near Reed Bank. China has repeatedly said it does not accept the ruling and has continued to expand its South China Sea presence over the past five years. In a written statement on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said freedom of the seas was an enduring interest of all nations. Nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea, Blinken said. The People’s Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway. He also repeated a warning to China that an attack on Philippine armed forces in the South China Sea would trigger a 1951 US-Philippines mutual defence treaty. We call on the PRC to abide by its obligations under international law, cease its provocative behavior, and take steps to reassure the international community that it is committed to the rules-based maritime order that respects the rights of all countries, big and small, he added.
B) Nepal’s apex court orders appointment of Deuba as prime minister; reinstates dissolved lower house
In a landmark verdict, Nepal’s Supreme Court on Monday directed President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister by Tuesday and reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for a second time in five months. A five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana issued the verdict stating that President Bhandari’s decision to dissolve the lower house upon a recommendation of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli was an unconstitutional act, delivering a major blow to the veteran Communist leader who was preparing for snap polls. The Bench issued a mandamus to appoint Deuba as the Prime Minister by Tuesday. Deuba, 74, has served as the prime minister on four occasions. The court also ordered summoning new session of House of Representatives at 5 PM on July 18. Chief Justice Rana also said that the bench has concluded that party whip does not apply when lawmakers take part in the voting to elect new Prime Minister as per Article 76(5) of the Constitution. The bench comprising four other senior most justices — Dipak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai — had concluded hearings in the case last week. President Bhandari had dissolved the 275-member lower house for the second time in five months on May 22 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19. Last week, the Election Commission had announced the schedule for mid-term elections despite the uncertainty over polls. As many as 30 petitions, including one by the opposition alliance led by the Nepali Congress, were filed against the dissolution of the House by the President. A petition was filed by the Opposition parties’ alliance with the signature of 146 lawmakers demanding reinstatement of the lower house of Parliament and appointment of Deuba as the prime minister. Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
