CURRENT AFFAIRS
04 October 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) The world’s longest highway tunnel opened in Himachal Pradesh
On 3 October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Atal Tunnel at Rohtang at an altitude of above 3,000 meters in Himachal Pradesh. After the inauguration, he said that the tunnel would provide new strength to the country’s border infrastructure. The 9.02 km-long-tunnel, built by the Border Roads Organization (BRO), is the world’s longest highway tunnel and connects Manali to the Lahaul-Spiti Valley. It provides all-weather connectivity to the landlocked valley, which remains cut-off for nearly six months in a year as the Rohtang Pass is snow-bound between November and April. Thanks to the tunnel, the people of the valley will have round-the-year road connectivity. The tunnel reduces the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and the travel time by about 4 to 5 hours. It is expected to boost tourism and winter sports in the region. The tunnel, also significant from the military logistics viewpoint, will provide better connectivity to the armed forces in reaching Ladakh.
B) Rahul, Priyanka meets Hathras gang-rape victim’s family.
On 3 October, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met the family of the Dalit woman who died after alleged gang rape this week, after the Uttar Pradesh government allowed them to visit Hathras. This came after police officials tried to convince them that Section 144 was in place and that their visit would be a violation of the Epidemic Diseases Act. Love Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), Gautam Buddh Nagar, told reporters that a large number of workers turned up on Delhi-Noida-Delhi (DND) flyway, leading to a traffic jam. When the Congress leaders persisted with their demand, they were allowed to go to Hathras in a group of 5 persons. Senior Congress leaders K.C. Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and P.L. Punia have accompanied Gandhi and Vadra. Congress workers who had come to join their leaders at the DND flyover were lathi-charged by the U.P. police. Former MP Kamal Kishore and Delhi Congress president Anil Choudhary faced blows. Vadra came out of the car and held the lathi of a policeman. She could be heard asking him not to hit the party workers. She also explained the situation to party workers and asked them to return, before moving on. Earlier in the day, the Gautam Buddh Nagar police made arrangements to stop Gandhi and Vadra in Noida. A heavy deployment of police personnel was made to prevent the Congress leaders from crossing the Delhi-U.P. border. Gandhi had tweeted that he would make another attempt to travel to Hathras and speak to the family of the 19-year-old girl who was brutally assaulted and murdered.
C) AIIMS medical board rules out murder in Sushant Singh Rajput case
While the CBI maintained on 3 October said that they are looking into all the aspects of the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, and that investigation is still underway, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) medical board that was set up to look into the case has ruled out murder. The AIIMS medical board has termed it a case of hanging and death by suicide. AIIMS forensic chief Sudhir Gupta said that they submitted their conclusive report to the CBI and there are no injuries indicating struggle or scuffle. The body has marks of hanging. The presence of any sedative material was not detected by the AIIMS toxicology lab. The complete examination of the ligature mark over the neck was consistent with hanging. He further added that a team of forensic doctors looked into the case and they have dismissed the claims of poisoning and strangling. Meanwhile, Kshitij Prasad, former executive producer of the Karan Johar-owned Dharma Productions, who had been arrested in the drugs probe being conducted in connection with the case, told a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court today that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) harassed and coerced him to falsely implicate actors Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Dino Morea. Prasad had earlier said that he was being forced to falsely implicate Karan Johar. NCB has denied Prasad’s allegations. The court has sent him to judicial custody till October 6. He had been remanded in the NCB’s custody till October 3.
D) Will waive compound interest for loans up to ₹2 crores, the government informs the Supreme Court.
The Centre has informed the Supreme Court of India that it will continue to handhold small and vulnerable borrowers and waive the compound interest (interest on interest) which is accumulated against their loans during the 6 month moratorium period that was announced during the lockdown. The waiver of compound interest is applicable only for the loans up to ₹2 crore, an additional affidavit filed by the Ministry of Finance. The relief of waiver of compound interest during the 6-month moratorium will be for MSME, education, housing, consumer durables, credit card, auto, personal and consumer loans, all up to ₹2 crores.
E) Bhim Army Chief demands ‘gun license for Bahujans’ and a 50% subsidy to buy pistols.
Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, who has been one of the leaders at the forefront of the campaign to demand justice for the Hathras gang rape victim, today demanded a ‘tatkal’ (fast-track) process for giving gun-owning licenses to Bahujans. He also said that the government should give 50% subsidy on the cost of pistols. He tweeted that the Constitution provides the right to life to every citizen, and this right also includes the right to protect oneself. Their demand is that gun licenses to the nation’s 20 lakh Bahujans should be provided on a tatkal basis. The government should give them a 50% subsidy to enable them to buy rifles and pistols. They will protect themselves. His demand comes in the wake of a rising number of crimes against Dalits. The National Crime Records Bureau data, which was released earlier this week, revealed an overall increase in crimes against the Scheduled Caste population, with Uttar Pradesh recording the highest number.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Trump hospitalized after Covid-19 diagnosis.
The President of the United States Mr. Donald Trump was in a military hospital on 3 October for the treatment after testing positive for Covid-19. Roughly 17 hours after he made the news of his being tested positive for coronavirus public, Donald Trump slowly walked from the White House to a helicopter which was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, which is situated in Bethesda, Maryland. He had worn a mask and a business suit. He did not speak to the reporters. The President will work in a special suite at the hospital for the next few days as a precautionary measure. White House doctor Sean P. Conley informed this late on 2 October that Donald Trump was doing very well, he did not need supplemental oxygen and had received the first dose of Remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral drug which was sold by Gilead Sciences Inc. that has been shown to shorten the hospital stays.
B) India, S. Africa move WTO on COVID-19 prevention, care.
India and South Africa, in a formal submission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on October 2, sought a waiver on certain provisions of the international agreements that regulate intellectual property rights to speed up efforts to prevent, treat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic. In the communication, the countries said there were several reports about intellectual property rights hindering or potentially hindering of affordable medical products to COVID-19 patients and that a particular concern for countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity were the requirements of a cumbersome and lengthy process of the import and export of pharmaceutical products. Many countries, especially the developing ones, may face institutional and legal difficulties when using flexibilities available in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). Beyond patents, other intellectual property rights may also pose a barrier, with limited options to overcome those barriers, noted the submission. Experts said that given this present context of global emergency, it was important for WTO members to work together to ensure that intellectual property rights such as patents, industrial designs, copyright, and protection of undisclosed information did not create barriers to timely access to affordable medical products, including vaccines and medicines, or to scaling up research, development, manufacturing, and supply of medical products essential to combat COVID-19. K.M. Gopakumar, who is the legal advisor of Third World Network has said that the waiver of TRIPS Obligation is a major initiative to ensure the availability and affordability of medical products required for COVID19 fights. The medical products companies especially medicine and vaccine manufacturers want to profit from pandemic by keeping the monopoly rights through intellectual protection. This proposal shows the political will of India and South Africa to exercise a legitimate right under the Agreement Establishing WTO to ensure the supply of medical products to fight COVID-19 at an affordable price.
C) British PM Johnson upbeat on EU trade pact before key talks.
On 3 October, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that there is a good deal to be done with the European Union on post-Brexit trade, as he prepared for scheduled talks with European Union chief Ursula von der. He told the reporters that the United Kingdom wants a free trade deal, but they are also prepared for negotiations to fail. They have resolved on either course, they are prepared for either course and they will make it work, but it is very much up to their friends and partners. Both parties are trying to strike a rudimentary trade deal before the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December, in order to avoid a barrage of uncertainty, tariffs, and red tape which would hurt economies on both sides. Deadlock remains But while negotiators have inched close to agreement in many areas during 6 months of talks, they remain deadlocked over European fishing boats access to U.K. waters. The EU is concerned that British plans to subsidize sectors such as technology will amount to unfair competition. Ms. von der Leyen on 2 October said that they should not forget that they have made progress in many, many different fields. They want a deal because we think it is better to have a deal as neighbors also, on top of these COVID times with devastating impact on the economies. But not at any price. Mr. Johnson said that an October 15-16 EU summit is effectively the deadline for a deal if it is to be ratified by the end of the year, though EU officials think talks may drag on beyond then.
