CURRENT AFFAIRS
03 October 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Hundred gather at Jantar Mantar in order to demand justice.
Security was beefed up in the Jantar Mantar area as hundreds of civil society activists and students, and some politicians gathered to protest against the Hathras gang-rape and murder case. While the police order had permitted a gathering of only 100 people, several hundred turned up, with many standing with candles after sunset. Senior lawyer Prashant Bhusan, actor Swara Bhasker, CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat and Sitaram Yechury, and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj were among those who gathered at Jantar Mantar, demanding justice for the Hathras victim. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad had called for a protest at India Gate. But after the Delhi Police imposed restrictions on crowds in the area, Azad said the agitation had been shifted to Jantar Mantar, 3 km away. Bhim Army supporters joined the protesters at Jantar Mantar on the evening of 2 October. He will visit Hathras. Their struggle will continue till the time UP CM doesn’t resign, & justice is served. He urged the Supreme Court to take cognizance of the incident.
B) U.P. Police block the Trinamool delegation from meeting Hathras victim’s family.
One day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped and briefly detained while going to the meet the woman’s family, a 4 member delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was also stopped by the police from visiting the village of the 19-year-old gang-rape victim in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh. In a statement, the party said that the delegation of TMC MPs was stopped by police around 1.5 km from the victim’s home. One of the MPs who were stopped said that they are peacefully proceeding to Hathras to meet the family and pay the condolences. They are traveling individually and maintaining all protocols. They are not armed. Why are they stopped? What kind of jungle raj is this that the elected member of Parliament is prevented from meeting a grieving family. They asked.
C) The family alleges intimidation by district administration.
The family of the Hathras victim on 2 October alleged that the district administration was intimidating them and not letting them leave their area in the village or talk to the media. The brother of the victim said that the Police have blockaded them from all sides, roofs, lanes, and in the village. They are not letting them speak to the media after sneaking past the police cordon and taking a route through fields. He boy also said that the administration had snatched the mobile phones of all the family members and that they were unable to contact others. He also alleged that the District Magistrate had kicked his uncle in the chest, following which he fainted.
D) Another Dalit teen murdered in U.P., 3 arrested.
After the death of the victim of the Hathras gang-rape on 29 September and the death of the Balrampur gang-rape victim on 30 September, police on 1 October said that a 14-year-old, also a Dalit, was found murdered in the Gopiganj area in eastern Uttar Pradesh. On 2 October, Bhadohi police said that they had arrested 3 people on charges of smashing the head of the Dalit minor with bricks and killing her. Police are waiting for the autopsy report for confirmation of sexual assault. As per the police, the previous animosity between the family of the girl and the accused was behind the murder. On September 28, the accused had threatened to destroy them and abused the victim’s family. When she went to the fields to answer a call of nature on October 1, the accused found her alone and murdered her.
E) COVID Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 64,66,732 with the death toll crossing the one lakh mark. The Kerala government has imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prohibits the assembly of more than 4 people, to control the rising coronavirus cases. Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta said that the order will come into force on October 3 and will be implemented till October 31. Moreover, Covid-19 patients and those quarantined in Kerala can exercise their franchise through postal votes in the forthcoming elections to local bodies. The voting time has also been increased and the polling stations will remain open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the voters to exercise their franchise. The sweeping changes to allow postal ballots and increase the voting time were made through the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. Meanwhile, global markets fell after news broke of the U.S President and his wife tested positive for Covid-19.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Donald Trump tests positive for Covid-19.
U.S. President Donald Trump on 2 October has confirmed that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus. He and her wife were tested positive for COVID-19. They will begin their quarantine and recovery process immediately. They will get through this together. Trump had earlier announced that he will begin the quarantine process after his close aide Hope Hicks tested positive for the virus. A White House doctor has told AP that Trump will continue carrying out duties without disruption. For now, however, the development stands as the most serious known health scare encountered by a sitting American President. The COVID diagnosis marks a major blow for Trump, who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them even as cases continue to surge in the U.S. The President is also a known skeptic of mask-wearing, one of the most basic steps to help prevent the spread of the disease. He has previously disparaged reporters and his opponent in the upcoming elections, former Vice-President Joe Biden, for always appearing in public with a mask. Trump has also consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable to contracting Covid-19, even as White House staff and allies caught the infection and fell sick.
B) Relief for Indian IT workers as U.S. judge blocks H-1B visa ban.
In a major relief to thousands of Indian IT professionals, a federal judge in the U.S. on 1 October has blocked the enforcement of a temporary visa ban by the Trump administration on a large number of work permits, including the most sought after H-1B visas. The judge ruled that President Donald Trump had exceeded his constitutional authority. The order was issued by a U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California. This applies to members of organizations that had filed a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce and Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, TechNet, a technology industry group, and Intrax Inc., which sponsors cultural exchanges. This ruling places an immediate hold on a series of damaging visa restrictions that prevent manufacturers from filling crucial, hard-to-fill jobs. In June, Donald Trump had issued an executive order that had halted the issuing of new H-1B visas, which are widely used by major American and Indian technology companies, and other work visas till the end of the year. He had argued that the U.S. needed to save and protect jobs for its domestic workforce at a time when millions of them had lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
