CURRENT AFFAIRS
09 JULY 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Three NGOs linked to Congress under Home Ministry scanner.
An inter-ministerial committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to probe alleged violation of various legal provisions by 3 NGOs — the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT). All the three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are linked to the Congress, and party president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the RGF and the RGCT. The violations mentioned in the spokesperson’s tweet pertain to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Income Tax Act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust is not a FCRA registered association. The RGCT website says that it is a “registered, not-for-profit organisation” and was “established in 2002 to address the development needs of the underprivileged of the country, especially the rural poor.”
B) BJP’s charge
Recently, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had alleged that the RGF continuously received donations from the Chinese embassy between 2006 and 2009. The allegations came in the middle of a build-up of Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and the June 15 incident at the Galwan Valley, during which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
C) Chinese troops move out of PP15 area of eastern Ladakh.
Aas part of the disengagement underway to reduce tensions on the border, Chinese troops have fully moved out of the Patrolling Point (PP) 15 of the Hot Springs area in eastern Ladakh. Separately, on Tuesday, Chinese Consul General in Mumbai Tang Guocai acknowledged Chinese casualties, without revealing any numbers, during the Galwan clash on June 15, which resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. “At PP15, they have fully gone back. The disengagement is complete there. At PP17, the pullback is underway. At the Finger 4 area of Pangong Tso, some more people and vehicles have gone back but there is no pull back as yet. A complete disengagement at Pangong Tso is expected to take time. On the buffer zone that is being created, the source stated that it was not a buffer zone as being described, but it was decided only to prevent Galwan-like clashes during the disengagement process in future.
D) UAE is in support of open skies agreement with India.
On July 8, the UAE Ambassador, A.R. Albanna told that the UAE is eager to have an open sky agreement with India. India has a policy of open skies with SAARC countries. Those countries which are beyond the radius of 5,000-km need to enter into a bilateral agreement. They can determine mutually the number of flights that can be operated by their airlines between the two countries. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Civil Aviation, while addressing the webinar, said that though 2.7 million passengers have been flown on domestic airlines since May 25, yet there have only been 800 COVID-19 positive cases.
E) Amazon boosts India unit with $308 million.
Amazon.com has invested 23.10 billion rupees ($308.02 million) in Amazon Seller Services, an Indian unit. It is strengthening the business at that time when more and more people are doing their shopping online so as to avoid crowded public places. Amazon Singapore has made a significant portion of financing, data from business intelligence firm Tofler showed. The company’s Indian branch in May said that it would hire 50,000 temporary workers to meet a surge in online shopping in India. The company, which competes with Flipkart in India, has also been expanding its seller network in our country. Indian laws allows foreign e-commerce companies to operate as market places by connecting buyers with sellers online. Because of the imposition of lockdown in India, Amazon encouraged small shops sellers to join as sellers on its platform so as to boost local businesses and expand its reach even in this harsh time. In January, Jeff Bezos headed Amazon.com announced a $1 billion investment so as to bring more than 10 million small businesses online in India by 2025.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Trump starts withdrawal of U.S. from WHO. President Donald Trump on Tuesday formally started the withdrawal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO). This step is making good threats on the WHO to deprive of its top funding source over its response to the coronavirus. Public health advocates and Mr. Trump’s political opponents voiced outrage at the exit from the Geneva-based body, which leads the global fight on maladies from polio to COVID-19. Trump threatens to suspend the $400 million in annual U.S. contributions and afterwards announcing a withdrawal, Donald Trump administration formally sent a notice to UN Secretary-General. The withdrawal is effective in one year i.e. July 6, 2021. Joe Biden, Mr. Trump’s presumptive Democratic opponent in the November elections, vowed he would end the pullout if he won.
