Author: Shivali Varshney, Vidhyarthi Darpan

CURRENT AFFAIRS
19 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Rajasthan turmoil: Vasundhara Raje speaks up. 

Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Mrs. Vasundhara Raje has spoken up for the first time on the political turmoil in Rajasthan. She said that it was unfortunate that the state was paying for the discord in the ruling party. She went on to list the problems the state was grappling with. Meanwhile, some hours after the BJP demanded a CBI enquiry into alleged phone-tapping of Rajasthan legislators, the Congress said that the Bhartiya Janta Party had admitted in front of the entire nation, its role in the conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

B) Covid-19 advisory for gated communities. 

The Health Ministry has issued a Covid-19 advisory for gated residential complexes by asking them to make provisions for sanitizer dispensers at all the entry points and in work areas as well.  The thermal screening of the people visiting is to be carried out at the entry points and only asymptomatic individuals shall be allowed to enter the premises. Vendors, household help, car cleaners, and delivery personnel will also undergo such screening daily. Social distancing and Physical distancing of at least six feet are to be followed as far as possible at all locations and at all times in all common areas, including parks, corridors, lift lobbies, gyms, and clubs. The advisory also recommends that all persons above 65 years of age, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 should stay at home and they do not keep any contact with the visitors or the staff as far as possible or the contract should be kept minimum.

C) Mathematician C.S. Seshadri passes away. 

One of the leading mathematicians of independent India C.S. Seshadri had passed away in Chennai late on July 17. He was 88 years old. He was a leader in the field of algebraic geometry. He made breakthroughs that lie at the base of many branches of this discipline. He began his career at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as one of the first batches of graduate students. Then he moved to Chennai in 1984 to the Institute of Mathematical Sciences. In 1989, C. S. Seshadri also got an opportunity to start the School of Mathematics as a part of the SPIC Science Foundation which has now evolved into the Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI).

D) CERT-In writes to Twitter on hi-profile hacking.

The cyber-security nodal agency of India, CERT-In has issued a notice to Twitter. The agency in its notice was asking the twitter for full details of the recent global hack targeting high-profile users. It asked for the complete information on all the Indian users affected. CERT-In has also asked Twitter for information on the number of users from India who have visited those malicious tweets and links and also whether the affected users have been informed by the platform about unauthorized access to their Twitter accounts or not. 

E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country stood at 10,73,109 with the death toll at 26,787. Tamil Nadu has sharply ramped up testing. However, the test positivity ratio still remains roughly around 10, with a marginal decline. Chennai still accounted for one in four tests performed in the State. With the state not releasing district-wise data on testing, the geographical spread of the testing remains unclear.

F) Thackeray moves SC against final year exams. 

The cabinet minister of Maharashtra Mr. Aditya Thackeray has moved to the Apex Court on 18 July against the decision of center to hold final year exams for colleges and universities in September. The exams had earlier been postponed due to the global pandemic of novel coronavirus and lockdown. The petition has been filed by Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiva Sena.  Thackrey tweeted that the petition is for each and every student across the country who was being forced to appear for an examination in an absolutely bizarre judgment of the situation by the UGC. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Govt. mulls Australia’s entry into Malabar drill. 

On 17 July, a key meeting of the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has discussed the issue that whether  Australia should be invited for the trilateral Malabar naval exercise with Japan and the United States or not. The final decision has not been taken after the discussion yet. The final decision is likely to become before the exercise, which could take place towards the end of the year 2020.

B) The naval exercise has been delayed this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

On July 18, the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani has said that nearly 35 million Iranians may be infected from covid19 because the country still did not have herd immunity although 1/8th  of the population may have already been infected. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has killed more than 5,88,000 people and infected nearly 14 million around the world since first being detected in China late last year. Iran has been battling a revival of COVID-19. The figures show a rise in both the new infections and deaths since May. The overall toll is 13,979 dead out of 2,71,606 cases since Iran reported its first cases in mid-February. The rising numbers have prompted the authorities to re-impose restrictions in the provinces where the spread is maximum after being lifted country-wide in April, with Tehran extending them for an extra week on Friday.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
18 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Human trials for Covaxin

Three volunteers were administered Covaxin, the indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by Bharat Biotech, at Post-Graduate Institute (PGI) of Medical Sciences in Rohtak today. The Senior Professor and Head of Department of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine told that three volunteers were picked from a shortlist of eight people. The candidates were given health checks to ensure proper liver function and the absence of infection and then administered the vaccine. Dr. Chaudhry said that all three persons tolerated it well. There were no complaints. They observed them for two hours before releasing them. The immediate component of any type of allergic reaction has been taken care of. They will now look for any soreness at the local site over the next 24-48 hours. 

B) No one can touch an inch of India’s territory: Rajnath Singh. 

Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir to review the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Line of Control (LoC), said on July 17 that no country in the world can occupy or even touch the Indian territory. He also said that while talks should resolve the border issue with China, there was no guarantee about the extent to which they may do so. His comments came during his address to the troops at Lukung Border Observation Post (BOP) near Pangong Tso. He said that if anyone tries to harm India through any means then we will not tolerate that and will give a befitting response to them. 

C) Opposition parties oppose the digital-only campaign in Bihar.

Just after one day,  the Election Commission announced its decision to extend postal ballot facility to voters above 65 years of age, 9 Opposition parties met in Delhi in order to oppose the panel’s move to permit only digital campaigns for the upcoming Bihar Assembly election in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Together, the parties came up with a joint memorandum opposing the decision of the election commission to prohibit the traditional mode of the campaign and allow only a virtual election campaign. The memorandum contended that as per TRAI, only 34% of Bihar voters are having a smartphone.

D) COVID Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 10,37,267 till 16 July with the death toll at 26,279. The Health Ministry today said that less than 1.94% of all Covid-19 cases are in ICUs, 0.35% are on ventilators, and 2.81% are on oxygen beds. Meanwhile, the ICMR has asked the States and Union Territories to identify and approve all government and private facilities for conducting rapid antigen testing for Covid-19.

E) Pilot saga: The plot thickens

The Congress has alleged that ₹500 crores is being readied by Maharashtra BJP leaders to help topple the Rajasthan government. Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant has demanded that the state home department probe this allegation. Meanwhile, the move to disqualify Sachin Pilot and other rebel MPs has been put off for now, with the Rajasthan High Court deferring any action against them by the Speaker till Tuesday. It’s evident that Gehlot and the party apparatus in Rajasthan are determined to ensure his removal from the party. At the same time, there also seem to be constant overtures from the party’s central command and its senior leadership. Sachin Pilot was reported to have spoken to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on 15 July and to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on 16 July.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Nepal’s Ayodhya claim takes archaeological turn. 

The Department of Archaeology in Nepal is holding various cross-ministerial meetings in order to find an archaeological site in Thori, which is situated near the border town of Birgunj. The development comes just four days after Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli said the original birthplace of Lord Ram is not located in India but in Thori village around Birgunj. Thori village is known to have a group of ancient Hindu religious sites that seeks attraction of pilgrims from different parts of Nepal. In a interview, the l historian of Nepal, Jagman Gurung said that as per the geographical descriptions provided in Valmiki’s Ramayana, it seems that Ayodhya was situated near Janakpur. With different ministries, the department has been holding several meetings so as to discuss the possibility of starting archaeological studies in Thori village. 

B) U.S. officials have ‘lost their minds’: China.

In the latest verbal outburst between the two superpowers, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson on 16 July said that U.S. officials have lost their minds and they have gone mad in their dealings with Beijing. Huge tensions have run high between Washington and Beijing this year and some of the most outspoken critics of China in American Congress were this week hit with sanctions. This happened some days after the U.S. imposed visa bans and asset freezes on several officials of China. U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr accused Beijing as well of mounting an economic onrush so as to replace Washington as the world’s pre-eminent power and also to spread its political ideology around the world, this added fuel to the fire. 

C) Security agencies can’t have unfettered access to online data: German court.

On 16 July, Germany’s highest court  said that the security services had too much free access to people’s online data and ordered legislation to be revised to set higher hurdles. German intelligence services and police agencies currently possess the right to ask telecom and Internet companies for info of their users which can be their names, birth dates, passwords and IP addresses as well. This was done to help their investigations. But the Constitutional Court situated in Karlsruhe agreed with complaints which are brought by privacy activists.  They contended in their complaints that the access to data was unconstitutional and is a violation of the right to telecoms privacy of the citizens. Judges held that the current powers to retrieve data were unreasonable. They further contended that they agreed that intelligence bodies are sometimes needed to get personal data from smartphones or other devices to maintain public security, but this should only be done in cases in which there is a specific danger and not in general. Until the end of 2021,German legislators have amended the telecommunications law in order to include thresholds for the use of these powers.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
17 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Coronavirus cases reached 1 million tolls in India. 

On 16 July, the number of coronavirus cases reported from India crossed the million mark. The country also passed another grim milestone on the same day, with the number of deaths crossing 25,000. India has 3,31,146 active Covid-19 cases, which is around a third of the country’s total tally, which had risen to 10,01,449 with the death toll at 25,582. On 16 July, the country witnessed a single-day increase of 32,695 cases. The Ministry said that the recovery rate has risen to 50% mid-June and thereafter. There has also been a steady rise in recoveries and a decline in the number of active cases.

B) Contempt plea over the committee on 4G restrictions in Kashmir.

The Center has informed the Supreme Court that a special committee which is chaired by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had met twice on the need to review the restrictions imposed on the 4G Internet connections in Jammu and Kashmir but postponed a decision on the issue due to the remarkable situation of continued terror attacks in the Valley. In an order issued on May 11, the Supreme Court had directed the Center to form a special committee to consider the restoration of 4G services in the Valley. This was meant to be a high-powered committee, different from a review committee. Both the Attorney General and the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the J&K administration, were responding to a contempt petition filed by the Forum for Media Professionals (FMP). The FMP argued that the Center had defied this SC order by failing to form this committee, and therefore must be held accountable for contempt of court. When Venugopal and Mehta informed the court that the committee had indeed been formed and had met twice, the court pointed out that the details of this committee were not in the pubic domain. 

C) No postal ballot facility for voters above 65 in Bihar elections: Election Commission. 

The Election Commission has decided not to extend the facility of postal ballot to voters above 65 years of age for the Bihar assembly elections and by-elections due in the near future, in view of logistical and manpower constraints, and Covid-19 safety protocols. It had earlier recommended extending optional postal ballot facilities to those above 65 years of age in order to minimize their vulnerability and exposure at polling stations.

D) Archer out of the second test for breaking protocol. 

On 16 July, England pacer Jofra Archer was released from the second Test against West Indies. This was done because he breaks the bio-security protocols of the team. He will now undergo two Covid-19 tests during a five-day isolation period. The series is being played amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the first Test in Southampton passed off without any incident of coronavirus. Jofra Archer apologized which was not written in the statement given by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Air bubbles for now.  

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India has signed bilateral agreements with France and the US which will allow the airlines of each country to operate international flights starting Friday. He added that similar arrangements are being worked out with Germany and the UK as well. He said that American carrier United Airlines will be operating 18 flights between India and the U.S. from July 17 to July 31, and Air France, 28 flights between Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Paris from July 18 to August 1. 

B) High profile Twitter accounts hacked. A series of high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on 15 July, with some of the eminent personalities including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden,  television show star Kim Kardashian, former U.S. President Barack Obama, billionaires Elon Musk, Amazon and Microsoft owner Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates respectively and rapper Kanye West, among many others used to solicit digital currency. As per Twitter,  it was a coordinated attack that targets its employees with access to internal systems and tools. In a number of tweets, the hackers used the access to take control of many highly-visible twitter accounts and they Tweeted on their behalf. Twitter was forced to take the extreme step of stopping many verified accounts from tweeting altogether.

C) Oli’s comment ‘outrageous’: former MP Karan Singh. 

Former MP Karan Singh has said in a personal statement that the Prime Minister of Nepal, K.P. Sharma Oli is trying to do everything to detach his country from India. Karan Singh, who is also related to the Nepal royals, said that the claim of Oli about the supposed origin of Lord Ram as  Nepalese was completely strange. This statement has hurt the sentiments of many Hindus across the world. Karan Singh also served as India’s envoy to Nepal. He also said that the statement given by PM Oli could have been dismissed as the gymnastics of a distorted mind, except that it comes fast on the heels of Oli’s unforeseen unilateral action regarding a territorial dispute with India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
16 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) I am not joining BJP, says Sachin Pilot.

 

Speaking exclusively, former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot categorically denied that he was going to join the BJP. The news that I am joining the BJP is absolutely false. He said that no, I am not joining the BJP. Pilot also confirmed that he had been in touch with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but those talks have not led to any resolution. He clarified that his grievances were not against the party but specifically against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. He remains a Congress MLA from Tonk. In a related development, Rajasthan Speaker has issued notice to Pilot and other MLAs to initiate disqualification proceedings against them. The All India Congress Committee (AICC), however, has been sending mixed signals: it stated that the doors remained open for Pilot, but at the same time also dissolved all District Congress Committees that had his appointees. Gehlot, meanwhile, announced that the Congress had proof of the BJP’s attempts to poach its MLAs in Rajasthan ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, and that was why similar precautions (that is, MLAs being bundled off to a resort) were being taken. The Rajasthan CM also had scathing words for his former deputy. He said that speaking good English, giving good bytes, and being handsome was not everything in politics, What is inside your heart for the country, your ideology, policies, and commitment… Everything is considered.

 

 

B) Reliance’s 5G move; Google to invest ₹33,737 crore in Jio. 

 

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced that his group’s digital arm Jio is developing a home-grown 5G telecom solution. Reliance Jio has designed and developed a 5G solution from scratch. It will be available for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available, and could be ready for field deployment next year. The larger context here is that China, and specifically the telecom giant Huawei, had very much been in the lead in establishing 5G networks across the world. The Chinese firm was also expected to be part of India’s 5G rollout plans, as it had earlier been permitted to participate in trials for the new technology.  Meanwhile, Google has said it is investing ₹33,737 crore in Jio Platforms for a 7.7% stake, adding to a slew of investments since April that has crossed ₹1.52 lakh crore. Google joins Facebook, which opened the investment cycle in various Platforms of Jio by picking up a 9.99% stake for ₹43,573.62 crore, as well as chipmaker Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc.

 

 

C) Election Commissioner Lavasa appointed as ADB vice-president. 

 

On 15 July, the multilateral agency announced that Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa has been appointed as vice-president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Appointed as Election Commissioner in January 2018, Lavasa was set to succeed Sunil Arora as the next Chief Election Commissioner in April next year. He still has two years of his tenure left. If he takes up the ADB job, this will be only the second instance of an Election Commissioner’s premature exit in the poll body’s history. During the 2010 Lok Sabha campaign, Lavasa had prepared a dissenting note on the decisions taken by the poll panel on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The EC panel had given a clean chit to Modi on all complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations. Subsequently, Lavasa began to skip panel meetings by alleging that minority decisions were being suppressed in a manner contrary to well-established conventions observed by multi-member statutory bodies. Later the Income Tax department sent a notice to his wife Novel S Lavasa over alleged discrepancies in returns filings. The Enforcement Directorate also started investigating Lavasa’s son, Abir Lavasa, for allegedly violating foreign exchange laws.

 

 

D) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments

 

The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 9,66,048  with the death toll at 24,960. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma, said at a meeting on 15 July that the government should set up a national database of migrant workers so that they do not fall out of the social security cover. Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, along with others from his Ministry were also present at the meeting. The officials informed the panel that if a nationwide lockdown had not been imposed, the number of cases could have gone up to 50 lakh and we would have seen nearly 1.5 lakh deaths.

 

 

E) Supreme Court to hear appeals from Martha Quota. 

 

On a day-to-day basis, from July 27,the  Supreme Court of India will start hearing of a batch of appeals challenging a decision of the Bombay High Court upholding a State law providing reservation to Maratha community in education and government jobs in Maharashtra. On 15 July, a three-judge Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao decided to hear the appeals via virtual court system. However, the court declined to pass any interim orders. Several appeals have been filed against the HC decision allowing 12-13% quota to the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act. They have argued that the decision is erroneous as the State law has breached the 50% cap on reservation fixed by a Constitution Bench in the Indira Sawhney judgment.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

 

A) India and European Union push trade talks. 

 

India and the European Union (European Union) committed to a framework for strategic cooperation until 2025, and vowed to cooperate on their response to the coronavirus pandemic and at the United Nations Security Council. The assurances came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen via videoconference on 15 July. In a new initiative to revive talks on a free trade agreement that have been suspended since 2013, the two sides announced a “high-level dialogue” between Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan to try and take the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) forward. PM Modi said that their partnership is important for global peace and stability, and this reality is clearer given the situation around the world. He also referred to shared “universal values” of democracy, pluralism, respect for international institutions and multilateralism between India and the EU. In particular, officials said the leaders discussed India’s tensions with China at the Line of Actual Control, the situation with Iran and concerns over cross-border terrorism from Pakistan. The EU leadership also raised concerns over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Citizenship Amendment Act.

 

 

B) Government reviews the progress of disengagement talks at LAC. 

 

The fourth round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China held on 14 July in Eastern Ladakh went on for 15 hours as both sides worked to finalise the the next phase of disengagement. Details of the talks are awaited. The focus of the talks was to work out the modalities of the second phase of disengagement from the standoff areas, and also the pullback of the massive deployment of troops of China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In a separate development, the Defence Ministry on 15 July once again gave emergency powers to the armed forces to procure weapons systems costing upto ₹300 crores on an urgent basis.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
15 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Sachin Pilot sacked from all posts

There have been rapid developments in the Rajasthan story but the summing up is as follows :

Sachin Pilot, the rebel in this case, has been sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and as state party chief, offices that he had held simultaneously. The move came soon after he failed to attend a second meeting of party MLAs, to which he had been invited to make peace. Sachin Pilot is now scheduled to hold a press meet tomorrow at 10 am where he will presumably present his side of the story in more detail. Randeep Surjewala announced the decision to remove Sachin Pilot from party and Cabinet posts, in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, incumbent Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who seems to have, with great effort, foiled Pilot’s attempt to bring down his government, held a Cabinet meeting at his residence at 7.30 pm and a meeting of the Council of Ministers at 8 pm on July 14.

One complication is that Gehlot’s numbers are far from straightforward. After three MLAs decamped this morning, the Congress now has the support of 100 MLAs, which is the half-way mark in the 200-member assembly. Yesterday, Gehlot had claimed the support of 106 MLAs. The ball is now in the BJP’s court. Given the new numbers, the party has said that Gehlot must face a floor test. It has also sent a senior leader, Om Mathur, to Jaipur.

B) Centre limits duration of online school sessions. 

The Ministry of Human Resource Development on 14 July released guidelines that schools can hold live online classes for a maximum of 1.5 hours per day for Classes 1-8, and three hours per day for Classes 9-12. For kindergarten, nursery and preschool, the guidelines don’t recommend any screen time for children; they only recommend that teachers spend a maximum of 30 minutes per day to interact with parents and guide them. These guidelines, prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), are only advisory in nature, and State governments have been asked to build on them and formulate their own rules based on local needs.

Over 25 crore students have been out of school since mid-March. The Pragyata guidelines acknowledge that these students live in households which fall into different categories: those having computers or smartphones with 4G, those with smartphones but limited or no internet access, those with TV with cable or DTH, those with a radio set or a basic phone with FM radio, and those with no communication devices at all.

Noting that members from different categories may be present in the same class, the guidelines advise schools to survey students before making decisions on the mode of teaching. The goal is NOT to try and recreate face-to-face classrooms over the internet. Schools should not assume that teaching-learning through synchronous communication is the only requirement or even desirable in order to support effective digital learning. Synchronous or real-time communication could be the Zoom classes that many private schools have begun, or other video or audio conferencing, allowing instant feedback. The guidelines said that children exposed to digital technologies or gadgets for a longer time are prone to severe health issues. 

C) Sattankulam deaths: CBI gets custody of accused.

The CBI has been granted custody of the five Sattankulam police man till 16 July who were involved in the custodial deaths of traders P. Jayaraj and J. Benicks. The five accused were produced before the Madurai Chief Judicial Magistrate on July 13. The CBI has to produce the accused before the court on July 16.

D) CBI indicates panel probe in Dubey’s case.

On 14 July, the Supreme Court hinted at the possibility of setting up a commission, headed by a retired judge, to probe the UP police’s encounter killing of history-sheeter Vikas Dubey and his associates last week, as well as the murder of eight police officers at Bikru village in Kanpur. Responding to the PILs seeking a court-monitored CBI or NIA probe into both the incidents, the Court gave the UP government time till 16 July to tell the court what kind of committee it wanted. The case will be taken up next on July 20.

E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments. 

The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 9,32,445 till July 14 with the death toll at 24,271. With cases rising steadily, there is no bend in sight for the India’s new infections curve. The Union Health Ministry said today that recovery rates in 20 states is more than the national average of 63%. Of these, Uttar Pradesh has a recovery rate of 64%, Odisha 67%, Assam 65%, Gujarat 70%, and Tamil Nadu, 65%. The Ministry added that 86% of India’s active coronavirus cases are confined to 10 states. Meanwhile, the Bihar government announced that the complete lockdown in the state will be extended from July 16 to July 31.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Another round of LAC disengagement talks 

On 14 July, the military commanders of India and China began a crucial round of negotiations to finalize a time-bound disengagement process for friction points such as Pangong Tso and Depsang. The talks would also cover the modalities of pulling back a large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Around 11:30 a.m., the fourth round of Lt General-level talks began. The meeting was held at a designated meeting point in Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC which is the de-facto border between both the countries. 

B) Britain bans Huawei from future role in 5G network 

On 14 July, the Britain government  backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a limited role in the U.K.’s new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing. Mr. Dowden conceded that this announcement means more Britons will have to wait longer to get full access to the speedy new network. 

The UK’s mobile service providers will not be allowed to buy new Huawei 5G equipment after 31 December, and they must also remove all of Huawei’s 5G kits from their networks by 2027. The decision gives British telecom operators until 2027 to remove Huawei equipment already in Britain’s 5G network.  The UK’s Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden made this announcement in the House of Commons. The move, coming on the heels of Washington’s security concerns over the Chinese’s firm’s 5G technology, could delay the roll-out of 5G in the UK by a year.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
14 JULY 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) SC gives ex-royals right to manage deity’s property.

On July 13, the Supreme Court held that the erstwhile Travancore royal family is the human ministrant or the shebait (manager) of the properties belonging to Sree Padmanabha, chief deity of the famed and fabulously rich Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala. A Bench of Justices U.U. Lalit and Indu Malhotra, in a judgment, brought quietus to a dispute of over a decade on whether the temple and its considerable assets should devolve to the Kerala government following the death of Travancore ruler Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma in July 1991. Arguments were raised both to and fro — senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal for the royals and some devotees represented by a team of advocates of P.B. Suresh, Vipin Nair and Karthik Jayashankar — on whether the 26th Constitutional Amendment, which put an end to privy purses enjoyed by erstwhile rulers, would nudge the temple and properties into the hands of the State. In fact, the Kerala High Court, in 2011, directed the State to take over the temple and exhibit its treasures for public viewing in a museum.

Justice Lalit, who wrote the judgment, categorically held that the death of a ruler does not affect the royal family’s shebaitship of the temple. “ Shebaitship was always in the royal family and the Ruler represented the unbroken line of shebaits,” the judgment said. Shebaitship does not lapse in favour of the State by principle of escheat (reversion of property to the State). Accepting the royals’ submission that the temple is a public temple, the court issued a slew of directions for its transparent administration in the future. It directed the setting up of an administrative committee, with the Thiruvananthapuram district judge as its chairperson. The other members would be a nominee of the trustee (royal family), the chief thanthri of the temple, a nominee of the State and a member nominated by the Union Ministry of Culture. The panel would take care of the daily administration of the temple.

B) Will invest $10 billion in India, says Google chief. 

On July 13, CEO of google Mr. Sundar Pichai said that technology giant Google will invest $10 billion (₹75,000 crore) in India over the next five to seven years with a focus on digitizing the economy and building India-first products and services. Speaking at the company’s annual event, he also said that they will do this with the help of a mix of equity investments, partnerships and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. Four major areas will be focused in the investments, First is  key to digitization by enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their native language, building products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs, empowering businesses on their digital transformation journey, and leveraging technology and artificial intelligence for social good in areas such as health, education and agriculture. Mr. Pichai also spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi via videoconference early on Monday. Mr. Modi tweeted that the interaction was “extremely fruitful”.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Corps Commanders’ talks today at Chushul. 

India and China are scheduled to hold the fourth round of Corps Commanders talks at Chushul on July 13, in which the details of the second phase of disengagement along the border would be discussed. The focus of the talks, scheduled around 11.30 a.m, would also be on pulling back the massive deployment of troops and equipment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). 

The troops of India and China have completed the first phase of disengagement from the stand-off areas in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra and a partial disengagement from Pangong Tso last week.

B) Iran drops India from Chabahar rail project, cites funding delay. 

Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement to construct a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, the Iranian government has decided to proceed with the construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project. Last week, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami inaugurated the track-laying process for the 628 km Chabahar-Zahedan line, which will be extended to Zaranj across the border in Afghanistan. Officials told The Hindu that the entire project would be completed by March 2022, and that Iranian Railways will proceed without India’s assistance, using approximately $400 million from the Iranian National Development Fund. The development comes as China finalises a massive 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership deal with Iran, which could cloud India’s plans.

The railway project, which was being discussed between the Iranian Railways and the state-owned Indian Railways Construction Ltd (IRCON), was meant to be part of India’s commitment to the trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan to build an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia. In May 2016, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran to sign the Chabahar agreement with Iranian President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ghani, IRCON had signed an MoU with the Iranian Rail Ministry.

C) Iran, China set to clinch 25-year deal

Iran and China are close to finalising a 25-year Strategic Partnership which will include Chinese involvement in Chabahar’s duty-free zone, an oil refinery nearby, and possibly a larger role in Chabahar port as well. According to leaked versions of the 18-page “Comprehensive Plan for Cooperation between Iran and China”, being finalised by officials in Tehran and Beijing, the cooperation will extend from investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and upgrading energy and transport facilities, to refurbishing ports, refineries and other installations, and will commit Iranian oil and gas supplies to China during that period.

The proposed tie-up comes even as Iran decided last week to go ahead on its own with the construction of a railway line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, in Afghanistan for which an MoU had been signed with the PSU Indian Railways Construction Ltd. (IRCON) four years ago. The MoU, signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran in 2016, was to construct the Chabahar-Zahedan railway as “part of transit and transportation corridor in trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan”. However, despite several site visits by IRCON engineers, and preparations by Iranian railways, India never began the work, ostensibly due to worries that these could attract U.S. sanctions. The U.S. had provided a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port and the rail line to Zahedan, but it has been difficult to find equipment suppliers and partners due to worries they could be targeted by the U.S. The Ministry of External Affairs and IRCON declined to comment. However, asked if the MoU with IRCON had been cancelled, India could still join at a later date.