NATIONAL NEWS
Venkaiah Naidu suspends 6 Trinamool MPs
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday suspended six TMC MPs for the day for carrying placards while protesting along with other opposition MPs over the Pegasus spying issue. Just as witnessed since the start of monsoon session, slogan-shouting TMC and other opposition MPs trooped into the well of the House, some holding placards, to demand a discussion on the issue of Israeli-made, military-grade Pegasus spyware allegedly being used to snoop on opposition leaders, government critics and journalists. Naidu took exception to the placards, which had anti-government slogans, before adjourning the proceedings of the House till 2 p.m. He first asked members to go back to their seats and then threatened to invoke rule 255 against those holding placards. As the members refused to budge, he ordered that those disobeying the chair and raising placards shall leave the House under rule 255. He, however, did not name anyone and said Rajya Sabha Secretariat will give the list. Later a Parliamentary Bulletin identified the six MPs suspended for the day as Dola Sen, Md. Nadimul Haque, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Shanta Chhetri, Arpita Ghosh and Mausam Noor. These members of the Rajya Sabha who entered the well of the House displayed placards, disobeyed the Chair and whose conduct was grossly disorderly in the House this morning (August 4, 2021) have been directed to withdraw immediately from the Council under rule 255 by the Chairman, it said. The six MPs, it said, shall absent themselves during the remainder of the day’s meeting. Earlier, soon after taking of oath by new member Jawhar Sircar and laying of official documents on the table of the House, Naidu said though he has not admitted notices given under rule 267 by Ramgopal Yadav and Vishambhar Prasad Nishad of the Samajwadi Party and V. Sivadasan of the CPI(M) over farmers agitation over three farm laws, a discussion on the issue under a different rule has been admitted. I have gone through it. It is an ongoing issue but important. So it is admitted for discussion under other provision, he said. A notice under rule 267 calls for setting aside of the business of the day to take up discussion on the issue being raised. Naidu, however, rejected 267 notices by Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC), Mallikarjun Kharge and K.C. Venugopal (both Congress), CPI(M)’s Elamaram Kareem and V. Sivadasan and Binoy Viswam of the CPI over the Peagus issue. Now there is agreement about farmers’ agitation. And also about price rise, economic situation. The government has also expressed willingness to discuss. Let us discuss the farmers’ issues. Let us discuss the economic situation, price rise and other issues, he said.
More than 6.07 lakh cyber security incidents observed till June 2021: Govt
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) observed over 6.07 lakh cyber security incidents in the first six months of 2021, of which about 12,000 incidents were related to government organisations, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. According to data from CERT-In, which is mandated to track and monitor cyber security incidents in the country, a total of 6,07,220 cyber security incidents were observed during 2021 up to June. This number stood at 2,08,456 in the year 2018; 3,94,499 in 2019; and 11,58,208 in 2020. The data was shared by Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. There have been attempts from time to time to launch cyber-attacks on Indian cyberspace. It has been observed that attackers are compromising computer systems located in different parts of the world and use masquerading techniques and hidden servers to hide the identity of actual systems from which the attacks are being launched, Chandrasekhar said. He added that according to the logs analysed and made available to CERT-In, the IP addresses of the computers from where the attacks appear to have originated belong to various countries, including Algeria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Netherlands, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the U.S., and Vietnam. The total number of cyber security incidents includes hacking of 15,651 Indian websites in 2021 (up to June). This number stood at 17,560 during the year 2018; 24,768 during 2019; and 26,121 during 2020. Likewise, a total number of 70,798, 85,797, 54,314 and 12,001 cyber security incidents were related to government organisations during the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 (up to June), respectively.
Pegasus: Hearing on petitions seeking probe on August 5
A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana is scheduled to hear on August 5 a petition filed by senior journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar for an independent probe headed by a former or sitting top court judge into the mass surveillance of over 142 potential targets, including journalists, lawyers, ministers, Opposition politicians, constitutional functionaries and civil society activists, using military-grade Israeli spyware Pegasus. The Supreme Court would also hear separate petitions filed by Rajya Sabha member John Brittas and Supreme Court advocate M.L. Sharma on the same issue, which has seen more petitions being filed, including one by the Editors Guild of India for an independent investigation into the Pegasus allegations and another by five journalists who were targets of surveillance. Ram and Kumar, in their petition, have said mass surveillance using a military-grade spyware abridges several fundamental rights and appears to represent an attempt to infiltrate, attack and destabilise independent institutions that act as critical pillars of our democratic set-up. They have sought a full disclosure from the government on whether it has authorised the snooping, which seems be an attempt to muzzle free speech and to chill dissent. The government, the petition said, had still not given a straight answer to whether the illegal hack was done with its blessings. The journalists have contended that spying has caused serious dents on the rights to free speech and privacy. It has no legal basis. In fact, the legal regime for surveillance under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act seems to have been completely bypassed, and civilians have become targets.
SPORTS NEWS
Tokyo Olympics: Ravi Dahiya storms into wrestling final, assured of medal, while boxer Lovlina settles for bronze
Ravi Dahiya on Wednesday became only the second Indian wrestler to qualify for the gold medal clash at the Olympic Games when he sensationally turned around the 57kg semifinal by pinning Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev. The fourth seeded Indian was trailing 2-9 when Sanayev effected a few ‘fitley’ (leg lace) moves to pull ahead but as the clocked ticked away, Dahiya regrouped and got hold of his rival with a double leg attack that resulted in a victory by fall. Before this, Sushil Kumar was the only Indian to make the gold medal bout in 2012 London Games and settle for a silver. The 23-year Dahiya had won both his previous bouts on technical superiority en route the final. Dahiya outclassed Colombia’s Tigreros Urbano (13-2) in his opener and then outwitted Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov (14-4). Meanwhile, Deepak Punia will fight for bronze medal after he was outclassed by formidable American David Morris Taylor in the 86kg semifinals. It was always going to be a herculean task for Deepak to trouble the American, the 2018 world champion and the reigning Pan-American champion. It was hardly a contest as Taylor effected one move after another to win by technical superiority in the first period itself. In boxing, Lovlina Borgohain won India’s third medal – a bronze – at the Tokyo Olympics after losing to Turkish world champion Busenaz Surmeneli in their 69kg semifinal bout on Wednesday. She becomes only the second Indian woman pugilist and third overall, after Vijender Singh (bronze in 2008) and Mary Kom (bronze in 2012) to climb the podium. However, the 23-year-old was not satisfied with the result. I’ve just lost, and I am not really happy about it. I’ve had to be content with the bronze medal throughout my career. A medal is a medal, whether it is an Olympic medal or an inter-district one, she said right after the bout. Lovlina was outplayed by Surmeneli, who won the bout by a unanimous decision. Surmeneli bossed the bout from the start, landing clean, powerful and accurate combinations on Lovlina’s head to take an early advantage. The taller Indian, who received a standing count, replied with some well-directed counters but lost the first round 5-0. The Turkish boxer continued to attack with the same intensity and the Indian, who was served a warning, got tired due to Surmeneli’s power-packed punches. Lovlina still fought on bravely and managed to carry through the contest despite receiving another standing count. In hockey, the Indian women’s team put up a gritty performance but it was not enough to secure a maiden Olympic final berth as they lost 1-2 to world no.2 Argentina in a hard-fought semifinal. India still have a chance to win the bronze medal as they will take on Great Britain in the third-fourth place play-off match on Friday.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Biden urges New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign over sexual harassment allegations
U.S. President Joe Biden said on August 3 that Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat governor of New York, should resign from his post over allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women. The call came after the New York Attorney General’s Office released a detailed summary of its investigation into the charges. Investigators found that Cuomo had engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under New York State law, according to New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Speaking to reporters in Washington, Biden said, I think he should resign. Cuomo has denied inappropriate conduct and indicated he wouldn’t step down. Earlier, he also faced calls to quit from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. New York State Attorney General James said the report was based in part on nearly five months of interviews that two independent lawyers had conducted with some 179 individuals members of Cuomo’s staff, state police officers, additional state employees and others who interacted regularly with the governor. These interviews and pieces of evidence revealed a deeply disturbing yet clear picture, said James, Governor Cuomo sexually harassed current and former state employees in violation of federal and state laws. Investigators say he harassed women outside of government as well. The report stated, Specifically, we find that the governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.
Fully vaccinated one-third as likely to get COVID-19: study.
Fully vaccinated people in England were one-third as likely to test positive for COVID-19, according to an ongoing survey of the population released on Wednesday. The latest findings, from a long-running study by scientists at Imperial College London and market research company Ipsos MORI, were based on 98,233 swabs taken between June 24 and July 12. They showed one in 160 people infected with coronavirus, with a prevalence rate of 1.21% for unvaccinated respondents and 0.40% for those fully jabbed. The study also found that double vaccinated people may be less likely to pass on the virus to others than those who have not received a vaccine. However, officials and scientists in Britain have urged caution after the government eased all virus curbs in England on July 19, including the legal requirement to wear masks in certain indoor settings. A U.S. government document leaked last week warned that infections among fully vaccinated people are not as rare as previously thought and that such cases are highly contagious. Paul Elliott, a Professor at Imperial’s School of Public Health and director of the survey programme, said the findings confirm our previous data showing that both doses of a vaccine offer good protection against getting infected. However, we can also see that there is still a risk of infection, as no vaccine is 100% effective. COVID-19 cases registered daily by Britain’s Health Ministry have declined since the relaxation of rules, while population surveys have suggested they may still be rising, albeit at a slower rate. The trend has surprised experts and officials, who predicted a surge in new infections. The Imperial-Ipsos study covering the period up to July 12 showed even then cases were climbing more gradually than during the previous month.
