CURRENT AFFAIRS
03 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers’ groups demand special Parliament session to repeal three farm laws.
One week after they began their protests on the borders of Delhi, farmers’ groups demanded that the Centre call a special session of Parliament in order to repeal the three new agriculture reform laws. If their demands are not met, they threatened to “choke” the capital by blocking more of the entry points to the city. A truckers’ confederation also threatened a strike in northern India from December 8 in support of farmers. The Centre is only willing to consider more limited revisions of the laws. Senior sources in the BJP told The Hindu that while providing a legal safeguard for minimum support prices or writing it into the law is not something that the government wants to do, adequate safeguards within the Agricultural Produce Market Committee structure could be considered. The second demand that could be looked into is the grievance redressal mechanism under the new laws which makes the district administration very powerful. The protestors, meanwhile, are widening their scope and their allies. The All-India Motor Transport Congress, the apex truckers’ body, will go on a strike in North India from December 8 in support of farmers’ agitation, said its President Kultaran Singh Atwal. The Bharatiya Kisan Union-Tikait group, which has been blocking highways in Uttar Pradesh in a separate protest and had a separate meeting with Cabinet Ministers on Wednesday, has also joined hands with the wider movement for now.
B) Honey marketed by top Indian brands fail purity test.
Honey marketed by prominent Indian brands failed a key purity test, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found in an investigation. This comes at a time when there has been a trend of people making it a point to regularly consume honey in order to boost their immunity in view of the pandemic. There are a range of purity tests to determine if the honey has been adulterated with sugar. CSE food researchers selected 13 brands of raw and processed honey, including Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath and Zandu, and subjected them to tests that they are required to clear under India’s food regulatory laws in order to be labelled as honey. Most of the brands passed muster but when subjected to a test called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (which can ascertain the composition of a product at the molecular level), only three of the brands passed. The NMR test is not required by Indian law but is required by Indian companies who want to export honey. What they found was shocking, said Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team. It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India. They have found that sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected.
C) NGT extends complete ban on sale, use of firecrackers.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday directed a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during the Covid-19 pandemic in the National Capital Region (NCR) and all cities and towns where the ambient air quality is in the poor or worse categories. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel also directed that only green crackers will be permitted for Christmas and New Year between 11:55 pm and 12:30 am in areas where the ambient air quality is in the moderate or better categories. All district magistrates have been directed to ensure that firecrackers are not sold and that compensation from violators are recovered. Noting firecracker manufacturers’ opposition to the ban, the Bench observed that Right to business is not absolute. There is no right to violate air quality and noise level norms. This being crime under the law of the land cannot be a right. Nobody has the right to carry on business at the cost of health of others. All licenses already given or which may be given are inherently subject to overriding requirement of preventing damage to the environment and the public health.
D) Trinamool sees politics in Oxford Union postponing Mamata Banerjee speech.
The Oxford Union Debating Society, citing unforeseen circumstances, on Wednesday sought to postpone a scheduled virtual address by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the last moment, drawing flak from the ruling TMC, which sniffed political pressure from the highest level in the matter. Banerjee was set to become the first Indian woman Chief Minister to address the ‘The Oxford Union Debate’ around 2:30 p.m., but the organisers, at around 1.50 p.m., requested that the programme be rescheduled, stating that nothing prevails over circumstances sometimes. The TMC leadership, infuriated over the development, claimed that political pressure might have forced the organisers to take such a call. All sorts of pressure were applied from the highest level to stop Mamata Banerjee’s address. They condemn such politics, said a TMC spokesperson.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Interpol issues alert over Covid-19 vaccines.
The Interpol has issued a global alert to law enforcement agencies across its 194 member countries, asking them to prepare for organized crime networks targeting Covid-19 vaccines, both physically and online. The Interpol Orange Notice outlines potential criminal activity in relation to the falsification, theft and illegal advertising of Covid-19 and flu vaccines, with the pandemic having already triggered unprecedented opportunistic and predatory criminal behaviour, it said on Wednesday. The notice also includes examples of crimes where individuals were found to be advertising, selling and administering fake vaccines. As a number of Covid-19 vaccines come closer to approval and global distribution, ensuring the safety of the supply chain and identifying illicit websites selling fake products will be essential. The need for coordination between law enforcement and health regulatory bodies will also play a vital role to ensure the safety of individuals and well-being of communities, said the Interpol in a statement.
B) U.K. becomes first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine.
Britain today approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West’s first country to formally endorse a vaccine shot that it said should reach the most vulnerable people early next week. Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted the medicine authority’s approval as a global win and a ray of hope amid the gloom of the novel coronavirus, which has killed nearly 1.5 million people globally. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted emergency use approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in record time — just 23 days since Pfizer published the first data from its final stage clinical trial. The breakneck speed at which approval was given drew criticism from the European Union (EU). In an unusually blunt statement, the EU’s drugs regulator said its longer procedure to approve vaccines was more appropriate as it was based on more evidence and required more checks. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been reported to be 95% effective in preventing illness.
C) Chinese fintech giant considers selling stake in Paytm.
Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is considering selling its 30% stake in Indian digital payment processor Paytm amid tensions between the two Asian neighbours and a toughening competitive landscape, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Financial details of the possible transaction have not been firmed up and Ant, the Alibaba-backed payments-to-consumer credit behemoth, has not launched a formal sale process yet, Reuters reported. Paytm, which is also backed by SoftBank Group Corp among others, was valued at about $16 billion during its latest private fundraising round a year ago. At that valuation, Ant’s stake in the Indian firm is worth about $4.8 billion. Both Ant and Paytm said that the information was incorrect. A Paytm spokesman said that there has been no discussion with any of our major shareholders ever, nor any plans, about selling their stake. Ant’s possible exit from Paytm would be another step back from its ambitions of becoming a global payments leader.
