NATIONAL NEWS
India rejects China’s opposition to Venkaiah Naidu’s Arunachal trip
Amid continuing tensions between them in Ladakh, India and China on Wednesday exchanged sharp statements on Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi said it rejected a Chinese statement firmly opposing the visit. On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement in response to a Chinese state media question on the visit, asking India to stop taking actions that would complicate and expand the boundary issue. Naidu, on a tour of the Northeast, was in Arunachal over the weekend. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded that it reject[s] such comments. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, its spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India. Objecting to the visit of Indian leaders to a state of India does not stand to reason and understanding of Indian people, he noted. Neither China issuing a statement on an Indian leader visiting Arunachal nor India responding to it was unusual in and of itself; what was new was the sharpness of the exchange, underlining the current state of ties, the lowest since 1988, with an 18 month-long LAC crisis still unresolved. Bagchi also rejected China’s contention that the visit would complicate boundary issues, amid ongoing tensions in Ladakh. As we have mentioned earlier, he said, the current situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas has been caused by unilateral attempts of Chinese side to alter the status quo in violation of the bilateral agreements. Therefore, we expect the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols rather than trying to link unrelated issues. China’s statement came days after the latest round of military talks ended in a stalemate. The question to the foreign office on Naidu’s visit was posed by a state media outlet, in this case Xinjiang Television, suggesting the authorities wanted to make a statement on the issue. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in response,The Chinese government never recognises the so-called Arunachal Pradesh established unilaterally and illegally by the Indian side, and is firmly opposed to the Indian leaders’ visits to the area concerned. We urge the Indian side to earnestly respect China’s major concerns, stop taking any action that would complicate and expand the boundary issue, and refrain from undermining mutual trust and bilateral relations. It should instead take real concrete actions to maintain peace and stability in the China-India border areas and help bring the bilateral relations back on to the track of sound and steady development. China claims up to 90,000 sq km in Arunachal in the eastern sector, while India sees China as illegally occupying 38,000 sq km in Aksai Chin in the western sector.
Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Ashish Mishra denied bail
Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, was denied bail by a court in Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. Senior prosecution officer (SPO) S.P. Yadav told PTI that Chief Judicial Magistrate Chinta Ram rejected the bail applications of Ashish Mishra and his alleged accomplice Ashish Pandey. Ashish Mishra, who was arrested on October 9 by the special investigation team after 12 hours of questioning, had been sent to three days in police custody from Tuesday. The court also remanded Shekhar Bharti, arrested on Tuesday, in police custody for three days. Police have so far arrested four people in connection with the case — Ashish Mishra, Luvkush, Ashish Pandey and Bharti. One Ankit Das, who is said to be a close friend of Ashish Mishra, appeared before the SIT at the crime branch office in Lakhimpur earlier in the day. The investigators had summoned Ankit Das for questioning in connection with the October 3 violence that had left eight people, including four farmers, dead. Das is the nephew of former Minister Akhilesh Das, and the black SUV which allegedly knocked down the four farmers is said to be owned by him. At around 11 a.m., Das along with a team of lawyers arrived at the crime branch office in the reserved police lines area, the police said. On Tuesday, Ankit Das and one other identified as Latif had moved an application for surrender before the chief judicial magistrate.
Congress demands dismissal of Ajay Mishra in meeting with President
A Congress delegation, led by former party president Rahul Gandhi, met President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday and demanded the dismissal of Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra Teni, over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, and called for an impartial probe by two sitting judges of the Supreme Court. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was part of the delegation, claimed that President Kovind had assured them that he would talk to the government about it today itself. Though the Congress had written to the President, seeking time for a seven-member delegation, a five-member delegation eventually called on him. The delegation included former Defence Minister A. K. Antony, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, besides Gandhi and Vadra. They also presented a memorandum of facts about the Lakhimpur Kheri incident to the President. Demanding an inquiry by two sitting Supreme Court judges, Gandhi said, There cannot be an impartial inquiry and justice cannot be given till the time the MoS Home is sacked. This is the voice of not just the families of those killed but of all the farmers and this voice is being suppressed. The families want that the person who committed these murders should be punished, he added. Vadra told reporters that the demands raised by her party reflect what every right-thinking person would want the Central Government to do. The message that this government seems to be sending is that you will not get justice if you are a poor person, Dalit, farmer or a woman. There is no justice or the rule of law for them. And if you are a leader of the ruling party, then the law doesn’t apply on you, she told reporters after meeting the President. In the memorandum, the Congress said, It is important to note that on September 27th, 2021, the day of the Bharat Bandh called by protesting farmers against the three black laws, Shri Ajay Mishra Teni, MoS Home Affairs, in a public function openly threatened the agitating farmers and even boasted about his dubious antecedents. The Congress also noted that given that BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, were making conciliatory statements towards the MoS Home, the situation will not change without intervention. Further, no police official would dare to fairly investigate the son if the father continued in his post as a Minister. In these difficult circumstances, we call upon you as the custodian of our Constitution and the moral compass to this Government to immediately dismiss Union MOS Home Affairs, Sh. Ajay Mishra Teni; to direct an independent judicial investigation by a Commission comprising of two sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India or the High Court, the memorandum said.
Supreme Court notice on plea for mechanism to examine bills of ‘overcharged’ COVID-19 patients
The Supreme Court has decided to intervene in a plea for a mechanism to probe whether private hospitals fleeced desperate COVID-19 patients and their families, dragging them into financial ruin at the time of their dire need for medical care during the pandemic. A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has admitted a petition to direct the government to set up a mechanism to examine if private hospitals overcharged COVID-19 patients, preferring profit over public health. The court has issued notice to the Union of India, through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on a plea by Abhinav Thapar to set up an audit and scrutiny mechanism of the bills of COVID-19 patients who have accused hospitals of swindling them. The issue which has been raised in the petition concerns a wide strata of society consisting of patients and their relatives who have been overcharged during the COVID-19 pandemic and the issue which has been raised would merit serious attention, the Supreme Court underscored in its order. It said the complaints made include those by families of COVID-19 patients who died. We will set up some mechanism, the Bench, also comprising, Justice B.V. Nagarathna orally observed. Noting that the petition was filed in public interest, the court said the specific aspect canvassed in the petition is that during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients had to take recourse to seeking medical facilities in private hospitals as a result of the inadequacy of the public health infrastructure and there were widespread complaints of overcharging of hapless patients. Families, including of those who did not survive the pandemic, have been brought to economic ruin, as a result, the order said. The Bench highlighted Thapar’s reference to how local bodies like the Pune Municipal Corporation have already issued notice to private hospitals for overcharging patients and ensured refund of excess amounts charged. A writ of mandamus is sought to the Centre and the State Governments to set up a mechanism for scrutinising and auditing the bills of COVID-19 patients who have complaints of being overcharged… Issue notice to the Union of India for the present, returnable in four weeks, the court ordered.
Prioritise children who need COVID-19 vaccination the most, says expert
Children are extremely unlikely to develop complications, severe disease or death due to COVID-19, unlike even the youngest adult, and panic created by any bad outcomes in children can in fact be counter-productive for the entire paediatric vaccination process, according to experts. Speaking about balancing benefits and risks of COVID-19 vaccination in children in India, Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, vice chairman, research cell, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala, said age was the most significant risk factor for COVID-19 complications. The important question was, is vaccination of crores of healthy children worth it just to prevent a few asymptomatic and mild infections for the first few months alone? The short period of protection makes paediatric COVID-19 vaccination unattractive – when done for the purpose of preventing infection. The concept of ‘herd immunity’ is not valid any more for the virus, as sterilising immunity does not occur and reinfection/breakthrough infections are common, he stated. It did not make sense to vaccinate enormous numbers of children to prevent one rare complication. We should prioritise children who need vaccines the most. These will be children with comorbidities, who are more likely to develop complications. An additional subgroup will be children who live with people with cancer and immunosuppressed or elderly relatives – these children also may be considered for vaccination on a case by case basis, he noted. There was need to keep a careful watch for any vaccine-related complications that may arise in the sub-group. Vaccines produce different complications in different age groups and we should watch this carefully, he stressed.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
India, Iran discuss ways to fight drug trafficking from Afghanistan
Illegal production of drugs in Afghanistan has impacted Iran severely for several decades, the Embassy of Iran has said. The statement came after Indian and Iranian officials held a virtual meeting on Wednesday following the largest seizure of heroin at the Mundra port in Gujarat on September 15. We discussed and examined ways and means of mutual cooperation in fighting drug trafficking which accordingly resulted in some positive outcomes. It is for many decades that narcotic drugs production and organised drug trafficking from Afghanistan has posed a major threat to Iran, our region and to the world, said the Embassy of Iran after the meeting. The discussion is important because of the seizure of around 3,000 kg heroin in the Mundra port managed by the Adani Ports, on September 15. The operation led to the largest drug haul in the history of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Initial reports had indicated that the containers carrying the substance originated from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. The National Investigation Agency has been probing the incident over the last several days. The drug haul also impacted Iran’s trade as the Adani Group declared that containers from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan will not be handled at the port from November 15. As an immediate neighbour to Afghanistan, Iran has also been significantly impacted by other developments in that country, said the Embassy without elaborating. Analysts and commentators however have pointed out that a large amount of narcotic substances that were with various narcotic producing groups in Afghanistan were made to disappear from the country as the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15. It is yet to be investigated if the discovered drugs in the Mundra port were part of such a consignment that was sent out by active Afghan syndicates to prevent the Taliban from gaining access to them.
Taliban Threatens US, EU With Refugees Influx If Sanctions on Afghanistan Continue
European countries are concerned that if the Afghan economy collapses, large numbers of migrants will set off for the continent. United States and European Union envoys have been warned by Afghanistan’s new Taliban government against attempts to pressure them through sanctions. The new government noted that the sanctions will undermine security and could trigger a wave of economic refugees. According to a statement published on Tuesday, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told Western diplomats at talks in Doha that weakening the Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone because its negative effects will directly affect the world in (the) security sector and economic migration from the country, We urge world countries to end existing sanctions and let banks operate normally so that charity groups, organisations and the government can pay salaries to their staff with their own reserves and international financial assistance, the statement said, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP). According to Daily Sabah, the European countries, in particular, are concerned that if the Afghan economy collapses, large numbers of migrants will set off for the continent, piling pressure on neighboring states such as Pakistan and Iran and eventually on EU borders. Washington and the EU have said they are ready to back humanitarian initiatives in Afghanistan, but are wary of providing direct support to the Taliban without guarantees it will respect human rights, in particular women’s rights. Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on Wednesday told a conference that Taliban government was not currently a priority, but the international engagement was important. There is no clear path for unfreezing Afghan government funds, highlighting the economic challenges Afghanistan faces under its new Taliban rulers. According to Reuters, Al Thani reiterated Qatar’s position that recognizing the Taliban government was not currently a priority, but the international engagement was important. Taliban overthrew Afghanistan’s former US-backed government in August after a two-decade-long conflict, and have declared a new rule under the movement’s hardline interpretation of religious law. But efforts to stabilise the country, still facing attacks from the rival extremist group the Daesh-Khorasan Province (Daesh-K) group, have been undermined by international sanctions; banks are running out of cash and civil servants are going unpaid.
