NATIONAL NEWS
A) New IT rules only to tackle misuse of social media: Ravi Shankar Prasad.
With Twitter and WhatsApp up in arms against the government’s new guidelines for social media platforms, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told The Hindu in an interview today that these guidelines are to deal with the issue of misuse of such platforms. He stressed that these rules only give a redressal mechanism to the users, with complaints to be handled between the users and the social media intermediary. The government, he said, is not involved. On the issue of tracing the originator of the WhatsApp messages, the Minister said ordinary users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear. I am giving my word, he said. The issue is not of use, but misuse and abuse of these platforms, and do the victims of abuse have a forum or not. And we [government] are out of it. This is between the social media platforms and their users who are the victims of abuse. These rules are for the good of their users only. It is unacceptable that they will earn good revenue here, with which we have no quarrel, but if any helpless victim is having an issue with misuse, they should go to America. When a distraught mother approaches me saying that my daughter’s ex-boyfriend is circulating her intimate photographs. What should I do? Ask her to complain to America, as Twitter says? This scenario is not acceptable.
B) Kejriwal appeals to Modi to allow doorstep delivery of ration.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a digital address, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the doorstep delivery of ration scheme that was stopped by the Central government. The doorstep delivery of ration scheme was scheduled to be rolled out from June 7. Mr. Kejriwal said that there was a ‘ration mafia’ that existed in the Capital for several years and that his government was trying to end it by starting the doorstep delivery of ration scheme. No government has had the audacity to fight this mafia but we have tried and when we were about to roll it out, we have been stopped. We have tried to take approval from the Central government almost five times now and have rectified all the objections raised, Mr. Kejriwal said. He added that if there could be home delivery of pizza and burgers and mobile phones why could there be not home delivery of ration and said that home delivery of ration should be started across the country as ration shops were super spreaders due to the crowds that gathered there. I am not doing this work for credit. I do not want any credit for this. I will tell the world that it was Modi’s idea. This is not the time to fight. How can the country run if you are fighting with the government in West Bengal, in Maharashtra, in Lakshadweep, the people of Delhi and farmers, Mr. Kejriwal asked.
C) Delhi hospital revokes ban on talking in Malayalam.
An order banning nursing staff of a Delhi government-run hospital from speaking in Malayalam in the hospital has been revoked, the Medical Director of the hospital said on Sunday. The hospital is yet to share the new order. On Saturday, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER) banned nursing staff from speaking in Malayalam in the hospital and warned of ‘serious action’ if they did not talk in English or Hindi, as per an order issued by the hospital. The order was issued without our knowledge and it has been revoked, Anil Agarwal, Medical Director of the hospital, said on Sunday. Nurses had criticised the ban and said that they always talked to patients in Hindi. A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language is being used for communication in working places in GIPMER. Whereas maximum patient and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless, causing a lot of inconvenience. So it is directed to all Nursing Personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication, otherwise serious action will be taken, read the order issued on Saturday.
D) Punjab, T.N., Kerala perform well in school education index.
Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have all scored higher than 90% in the Education Ministry’s Performance Grading Index for 2019-20, which was released on Sunday. Gujarat dropped from second to eighth rank in the index, while Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the only States which have seen actual regression in scores over this period. The index monitors the progress that States and Union Territories have made in school education with regard to learning outcomes, access and equity, infrastructure and facilities, and governance and management processes. Punjab has recorded the highest score of almost 929 out of a possible 1,000, showing a huge jump from 769 last year. The State topped the charts in terms of equity, infrastructure and governance, and shared the top spot in the domain of access with Kerala. In fact, Punjab overtook the Union Territory of Chandigarh, which had topped both previous editions of the index, but has now slid to second place with a score of 912. Tamil Nadu also overtook Kerala, with a score of 906, largely driven by improvements in the State’s educational governance and management, as well as in terms of infrastructure and facilities. Gujarat, which had the second highest score in the previous edition, dropped to eighth place. It has regressed in the key domain of access, which measures enrolment of students in school and the ability to keep them from dropping out as well as mainstreaming out-of-school students. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh saw a glaring drop in their governance scores, pushing both States to an overall performance that was worse than in the previous edition. The new Union Territory of Ladakh was included separately for the first time in this edition, and had the lowest score of just 545.
E) BJP to train 1 lakh health volunteers to perform essential medical services.
The BJP on Sunday concluded a review of the relief work done by its workers in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 and said in the coming days, it will train 1 lakh health volunteers across the country to operate medical devices and perform other essential medical services. BJP president J.P. Nadda had called a meeting of the party’s general secretaries and the presidents of its different wings to take stock of the preventive and relief work carried out by the saffron party during the second wave of the pandemic and its performance in the recently-held Assembly polls. The leaders also deliberated on post-poll violence in West Bengal, BJP general secretaries told reporters after the meeting. The meeting was held at Mr. Nadda’s residence and was attended by all the eight BJP general secretaries besides its general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh and presidents of its yuva, kisan, mahila, OBC, SC, ST and minority morchas. After the meeting, Mr. Nadda, Mr. Santhosh and the other general secretaries went to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence. Talking to reporters outside Mr. Nadda’s residence, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav said a report was presented to the party chief on the relief work carried out by the party amid the pandemic. It was decided that the party will train 1 lakh health volunteers across the country, including imparting technical knowledge, to operate ventilator and other essential medical devices, he added. The Scheduled Tribe wing of the party was asked to focus on promoting the Centre’s Vandhan Yojana for tribals. Similarly, the kisan morcha will facilitate the training of farmers at the farmers producers organisations (FPOs) across the country and the women’s wing will promote the Poshan Abhiyan among women, which aims to achieve a malnutrition-free India, Mr. Yadav said.
F) Six minority groups can show NPR enrolment slips for long-term visas.
Migrants belonging to the six non-Muslim minority communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while applying for long-term visas (LTVs), can also produce National Population Register (NPR) enrolment slips as proof of duration of their stay in India, according to a Union Home Ministry manual. The NPR number is part of an illustrative list of more than ten documents that could be provided to apply for a LTV, which is a precursor to acquiring Indian citizenship either by naturalisation or registration under Section 5 and 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 for the six communities Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from the three countries. The special provision of LTVs for Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan was first made in 2011. The NPR was first compiled in 2010 simultaneously with the decadal Census exercise and later updated in 2015. It already has a database of 119 crore residents. The NPR is a register of usual residents linked with location particulars down to the village level and is updated periodically to incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration. The Citizenship Rules framed in 2003 says that NPR is the first step towards compilation of National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) or NRC. The next phase of the NPR, expected to include contentious questions on date and place of birth of father and mother, last place of residence and mother tongue was to be simultaneously updated with the 2021 House Listing and Housing Census that has been indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19.
G) Priyanka Gandhi asks why Modi govt. reduced oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday questioned the Narendra Modi government’s decision to reduce oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds between September last year and January this year despite experts predicting an inevitable second wave of COVID-19. From September 2020 to January 2021, the Modi government reduced: Oxygen beds by 36%, ICU beds by 46%, Ventilator beds by 28%. Why? When every expert in the country, the Parliamentary Committee on Health and their own Sero-surveys warned them that additional beds would be needed for an inevitable second wave #ZimmedarKaun? Ms. Vadra asked on Twitter and in a 45-seconds video message. In the video, she asked if the lives of Indian citizens were less important than the Central Vista project as that had been declared an essential service. When they came into power, they cut the health budget by 20%. They promised AIIMS everywhere, they said district facilities will be upgraded, but they did nothing. Instead, the Central Vista project was declared an ‘essential service’ and people are working day in and day out to complete it by 2023. Is the health of the Indian citizens less important than the Central Vista project? Ms. Vadra asked. The Congress leader, who launched an online campaign ‘Zimmedar Kaun’ [Who’s responsible] last week, has been consistently raising issues related to alleged mismanagement in handling the second wave of COVID-19. In the past one week, she has raised the issue of export of oxygen and vaccines that resulted in a shortage of these items when India was in the grip of a devastating second wave. In a separate tweet, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi questioned the Modi government’s priorities and accused it of leaving the citizens atmanirbhar (self dependent) for vaccines while it was busy fighting for blue tick with Twitter, a reference to the social media company removing the verified sign from twitter handles of some RSS leaders including chief Mohan Bhagwat. Twitter, though, has restored the blue tick on the handles of the top RSS leaders.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) LoC remains quiet since February deal.
There has been no exchange of fire nor infiltration attempts from across the Line of Control (LoC) for over 100 days since the commitment by India and Pakistan to adhere to the 2003 ceasefire, two defence officials on the ground said. There have been no infiltration attempts so far. No reported infiltration as well. However, presence of terrorists at launch pads is reported. There has not been any reduction in the numbers, a senior officer on the ground said. The border population is the biggest beneficiary. It is a huge relief for the villagers as they are able to move freely as no firing is taking place, the officer stated. As per data from the Army, last year there were over 4,600 Cease Fire Violations (CFV) and 592 CFVs this year till the commitment came into effect on February 25. For comparison, till June 1, 2020 there were 1,531 CFVs. However, smuggling still continues as there are several villages ahead of the LoC fence, the officer said, adding that in these 100 days there have been major seizures of narcotics and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) material, grenades and pistols. The guns are quiet, but we have not lowered our guard, he said. As per surveillance inputs, several movements of terrorists were noticed close to the LoC despite no attempts to infiltrate. For instance June 1, three groups of six terrorists each were noticed in Lipa valley in the Keran, Naugam and Rampur sectors. While the group in Keran wasn’t identified, the groups at Naugam and Rampur were identified as belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen respectively, according to ground inputs. Similarly, there were at least seven instances of terrorist groups spotted close to the LoC in May.
B) Ahead of summit with Putin, Biden backs European allies.
The U.S. will stand with its European allies against Russia. President Biden has promised ahead of the first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir putin. Mr. Biden will to Europe on Wednesday. and is set to attend both the G-7 and NATO summits as well as holding a high-stakes meeting with the Russian leader in Geneva on June 16. The summit comes amid the biggest crisis in ties between the two countries in years, with tensions high over a litany of issues including hacking allegations, human rights and claims of election meddling. In an op-ed for the Washington Post published on Saturday. the U.S. President promised to shore up Washington’s democratic alliances in the face of multiple crises and mounting threats from Moscow and Beijing. We are standing united to address Russia’s challenges to European security. starting with its aggression in Ukraine, and there will be no doubt about the resolve of the US. to defend our democratic values, which we cannot separate from our interests, he wrote. President Putin knows that I will not hesitate to respond to future harmful activities, he said. When we meet, I will again underscore the commitment of the United States, Europe and like. minded democracies to stand up for human rights and dignity.
