CURRENT AFFAIRS
07 August 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Post of J&K Lieutenant-Governor passes from bureaucrat to politician
On 5 August, following the resignation of G.C. Murmu, the first Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir will be BJP politician Manoj Sinha. Murmu, whose resignation came exactly one year after the UT was created, is expected to be appointed as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Murmu, in recent weeks, had been caught in some controversies that suggested disagreements with the Centre. Notably, his comments suggesting that 4G internet should be restored in the Valley ran into trouble with security agencies, which had recommended against it. In another instance of disagreement, the Election Commission of India (EC) had pulled him up for saying elections in the UT would follow the delimitation exercise, on the grounds that this was for the EC to decide.
B) RBI keeps interest rates unchanged, foresees contraction in real GDP.
The RBI has decided to keep the benchmark repo rate, already at its lowest since 2000, unchanged at 4%, and the reverse repo rate at 3.35%. The decisions were announced after the 24th bi-monthly meeting of the RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das. The RBI had last cut the rates on May 22 to boost demand in an economy suffering under the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. As regards outlook for the rest of the year, Governor Shaktikanta Das said India’s GDP would contract in the first half of FY21 as well as the full financial year.
C) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 20,21,264 with the death toll at 41,609. India on 6 August has recorded 56,282 new cases and the day also saw a record rise in the death toll, with 904 deaths reported. Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said India’s coronavirus recovery rate has now risen to 67.62%, while the death rate has fallen to 2.07%. The Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, has taken a bet on another prospective coronavirus vaccine candidate as it looks to take the lead in any prospective global vaccine rollout.
D) Swapna claimed connections with CMO, bureaucrats: NIA.
Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the diplomatic gold-smuggling case, has claimed that she had personal acquaintance with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in her official capacity as the representative of UAE Consular General, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) informed the Special Court. The accused had also given statements that she had high connections with top bureaucrats and the office of the Chief Minister.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) MoD takes down a report on Chinese incursion.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has removed from its website a document that had admitted to Chinese incursions on Indian territory in Eastern Ladakh. The removed four-page MoD document, under the sub-heading of Chinese Aggression, had stated that the Chinese side transgressed in the areas of Kugrang Nala, Gogra, and the north bank of Pangong Tso lake on May 17-18, 2020. The Congress said that the report was removed after Rahul Gandhi tweeted about it on the morning of August 6 by citing its content to ask why the Prime Minister is lying about the border situation. After the documents were removed, Gandhi again slammed the PM on Twitter by saying that forget standing up to China, India’s PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying that China is in our territory and removing the documents from websites won’t change the facts.
B) Won’t move back any further at Pangong Tso, India tells China.
India has reportedly told China that it will not move back any further in the region along Pangong Lake, as military commanders of the two sides continue discussions on disengagement in Eastern Ladakh. In the last meeting, China had demanded that India vacate a critical post to break the deadlock in the disengagement negotiations. It wanted India to remove a critical post called the Dhan Singh Thapa post located on Finger 3, one of the spurs along the Lake, as a pre-condition for Chinese forces to move further back towards the direction of Finger 8, where India believes the Line of Actual Control (LAC) lies. But India has refused to do so, on the grounds that the post on Finger 3 is within Indian territory.
C) Following Twitter, Facebook also acts against Trump’s post.
Facebook Inc. has taken down a post by U.S. President Donald Trump. The company said the post violated its rules against sharing misinformation about the coronavirus. The post contained a video clip from an interview Trump had recorded with Fox & Friends (a morning news show hosted by Fox News Channel) earlier in the day, where he claimed that children are “almost immune” to Covid-19. A tweet containing the video, posted by the Trump campaign’s @TeamTrump account and shared by the president was also later hidden by Twitter Inc. for breaking its Covid-19 misinformation rules.
D) India rejects China’s UNSC move on Kashmir.
A day after China prompted the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the Kashmir issue in a closed-door meeting, India “firmly” rejected the Chinese initiative and reiterated that Kashmir was a domestic issue. The Chinese move came on the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. China had initiated a similar move on August 16 last year when it revived “the India-Pakistan Question” at the UNSC. The issue had not been taken up at the Council since the India-Pakistan war of 1971.
SPORTS NEWS
A) Vivo no longer IPL 2020 title sponsor.
The BCCI on 6 August, confirmed that their title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo has been suspended for the upcoming edition of the IPL. In a one-line statement, the BCCI confirmed the news but did not provide details. The BCCI will now initiate the process to find a new title sponsor, with the season-opener just six weeks away.
