CURRENT AFFAIRS
21 JULY 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Congress MLA alleges Pilot offered him ₹35 crores to join BJP.
Rajasthan Congress MLA, Giriraj Singh Malinga has alleged that Sachin Pilot had offered him ₹35 crores to switch to BJP, but he rejected the offer. He also said that he had informed Gehlot about the secret offer. Sachin Pilot responded by saying that he was not surprised though he was sad. He would take appropriate and strictest possible legal action against the MLA.
Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been called by the Rajasthan police to appear for questioning in connection with investigations into an alleged conspiracy to topple the Rajasthan government.
B) SC asks UP to consider having retired SC judge on panel probing Dubey encounter.
The Supreme Court of India has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to expand the committee which is probing the encounter deaths of gangster Vikas Dubey and his crime partners. The apex court has asked the state to consider a former SC judge and a retired police officer. The three-judge Bench led by the CJI Bobde found substance in the arguments that there have been about 6,126 police encounters in which 122 persons have been killed in Uttar Pradesh. The court has declined to spare a sitting SC judge for the probe committee.
C) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 11,45,653 with the death toll at 27,966. India reported its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus infections on 20 July of 40,425 new cases. The toll rose by 681 to 27,497. The recovery rate stood at 62.61%. The Kerala government has made it compulsory for all the migrant workers entering the state to undergo rapid antigen assay-based tests for the coronavirus, followed by 14 days of room quarantine.
D) PM Modi to visit Ayodhya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of other VIPs, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, will attend the ceremony for laying of the foundation stone for the Ram temple in Ayodhya which will be held on 5 August. A 40 kg silver brick will be laid as the foundation stone by the Prime Minister. The PTI reports that three-day-long Vedic rituals will be held before the main ceremony, which will begin on August 3.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Oxford Covid-19 vaccine triggers an immune response.
In a new research paper published in The Lancet, the scientists of Oxford University have said that their experimental vaccine, in an early trial, produced a dual immune response in hundreds of people aged between 18 to 55. The trials showed that the injection led them to make antibodies and T-cells that can fight the coronavirus. Though these results are promising, yet they are still preliminary only. The effects of the vaccine were calculated by the number of antibodies and T-cells it produced in the blood of the volunteers and not in any response to the virus itself.
B) Sri Lanka to research on Ravana’s aviation routes.
Sri Lanka’s aviation authority has said that it will lead a research project to study the aviation routes of mythological character Ravana. The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka has asked the public to search and provide any relevant documents and literature. They asked them to contact an email ID and phone number to research the topic of King Ravana and the ancient domination of aerial routes that are lost now. The project sought to bring out an authoritative narrative about King Ravana as there are a lot of stories.
C) Trump refuses to clearly say upon accepting election results.
The President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump has refused to accept the results of the upcoming presidential election which are going to be held in November. In an interview which was held on 19 July, Donald Trump said that it was too early to make such an ironclad guarantee. Counting a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote and scoffing at recent polls that show him lagging behind presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
D) Iran to continue work with India on the Chabahar line.
In the latest development to India, Iran’s Chabahar-Zahedan railway project, the Railway Minister of Iran has said that Iran and India are determined to continue cooperation on the railway line. These remarks contradict the remarks of the Iranian officials who had earlier said that India was not a part of the project. Meanwhile from the meeting which was held on 20 July, it is unclear that whether it means that there has been some progress in the issues pending since December 2019 and whether India will now sign an agreement with the government of Iran to take the project forward.
