CURRENT AFFAIRS
08 January 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) India’s GDP estimated to contract by 7.7% in 2020-21.
India’s real GDP is estimated to contract by 7.7% in 2020-21, as compared to a growth rate of 4.2% in 2019-20. Real GVA (Gross Valued added) at basic prices is estimated at ₹123.39 lakh crore in 2020-21, as against ₹133.01 lakh crore in 2019-20, showing a 7.2% contraction, as per advance estimates by the National Statistical Office. Only two sectors are estimated to record positive growth in GVA this year: Agriculture (3.4%) and Electricity, Gas, Water Supply & Other Utility services (2.7%) The sharpest decline in 2020-21 is expected in Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and Services related to broadcasting (-21.4%), followed by Construction (-12.6%), Mining and quarrying (-12.4%), Manufacturing (-9.4%), Public administration, defence and other services (-3.7%) and Financial, Real Estate and Professional Services (-0.8%).
B) Farmers take out tractor march against agri laws.
Amid tight security, thousands of farmers on Thursday started their tractor march from protest sites Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders against the three agriculture laws. Bharati Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that farmers participated in the march with over 3,500 tractors and trolleys. There were about 300 tractors when we flagged off the march from the Sampla toll gate. But as we joined the KMP [the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal] expressway, there were thousands more. It is no exaggeration to say there were thousands of tractors and farm vehicles joining us on the road, said AIKS joint secretary Vijoo Krishnan, who took part in the first stage of the march. This is a clear warning to the Modi-led BJP government that unless the three Acts and the draft Electricity Bill are withdrawn, the struggle will continue. This is only a rehearsal, nothing in comparison to what will happen on Republic Day. Not only in Delhi, but in every state, in every district of the country, we are preparing for similar tractor parades, he added.
C) Will farmers’ protest be a ‘problem’ like Tablighi Jamaat, SC asks Centre.
Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on Thursday voiced the Supreme Court’s apprehension that mass gatherings of protesting farmers could lead to a problem similar to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in March last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Same problem will arise from the farmers’ protest. Don’t know if they are protected from Covid-19. They must tell us what is happening, Chief Justice Bobde, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre. The court was hearing a petition seeking a CBI probe into the circumstances leading to the mass gathering of migrant workers, anxious to leave the National Capital for their villages and hometowns, at the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal, as well as the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Both incidents happened in March last year. The court issued notice to the Centre and the Delhi government. It also asked Mehta to file a detailed report on its guidelines to prevent Covid-19, including restrictions on mass gatherings.
D) Sonia asks govt. to cut excise duty on petroleum products.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday demanded that the Narendra Modi government charge the same rate of excise duty on petroleum products as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) did and give relief to common people. Excessive taxation by the Modi government has led to the highest ever price of petroleum products in the past 73 years and the government has so far collected ₹19 lakh crore in excise duty in the past six years, she said in a statement. In the midst of a collapsing economy because of corona, the Modi government is trying to convert the disaster into an opportunity to fill its treasury. Today the price of crude oil is $50.96 per barrel or just ₹23.43 per litre. Despite this, diesel is being sold for ₹74.38 and petrol at ₹84.20 per litre. This is the highest in the last 73 years, she added. The Congress president said the government was resorting to profiteering through excise duty instead of providing relief to common people. She said the repeated rise of LPG cylinder price had disturbed the household budgets. In a tweet, former party chief Rahul Gandhi alleged that since the government was looting people through heavy taxes, it was refusing to bring petroleum products under the ambit of the Goods and Services tax (GST). Earlier in the day, party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala held a press conference to share details about the UPA’s excise duty. When the Modi government came to power in May 2014, excise duty on petrol was ₹9.20 per litre and ₹3.46 per litre on diesel. The government has increased excise duty by ₹23.78 on every litre of petrol and ₹28.37 on every litre of diesel, Surjewala said.
E) Sourav Ganguly discharged from hospital.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was on Thursday discharged from Kolkata’s Woodlands Hospital. The former Indian cricket captain, who was admitted to the hospital on January 2 after a mild heart attack, said that he was absolutely fine. He is absolutely fine. Hopefully, he will be able to fly soon, Ganguly told reporters while coming out of the hospital. After his admission to the hospital on January 2, a coronary angiography was performed on him the same day. A team of doctors, including experts like Devi Shetty, visited and took stock of the 48-year-old former cricketer’s health. Ganguly has been diagnosed with triple vessel disease and the medical board decided that treatment of two other arteries will be done after two to three weeks.
F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,04,03,173 with the death toll at 1,50,536. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday wrote to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, urging them to take steps to curb the spike in Covid-19 cases. These States were reporting an upsurge in the number of daily new cases in the recent days, a release issued by the Health Ministry said. The States have been advised to maintain a ‘strict vigil’ and take steps to keep a check on the rising cases, especially in view of the new strain of the virus being observed in certain countries and which has also been reported in a few States in India. In his letter, Bhushan has drawn the attention of the States to the low and declining testing rates. Any laxity at this crucial junction may squander the results of the collective actions in containing the transmission, he noted.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Trump promises ‘orderly transition’ after his supporters storm U.S. Capitol; Congress certifies Biden victory.
A Joint Session of the U.S. Congress on Thursday formally certified the electoral victory of Joe Biden as the next U.S. President and Kamala Harris as the Vice President in the November 3 election. The certification of the election result by Congress, usually a formality since the losing candidate would have long since conceded, was hugely acrimonious and controversial this time around as the sitting President Donald Trump continued to insist that the election was ‘stolen’ from him. Acting on the President’s words, a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol for nearly four hours in a day that saw the death of four people. As a result, the Congress, which had convened to certify Joe Biden’s election victory, was evacuated midway. Both the House and Senate reconvened after a brief period to resume duties. Videos showed people breaking windows and pressing past barricades to get inside. Lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives were evacuated. After he repeatedly posted false accusations about the election, Twitter and Facebook suspended Trump’s account for violating user policy. After his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Trump said in a statement tweeted by his social media director Dan Scavino, Even though he totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th.
B) China compares U.S. violence to 2019 Hong Kong protests.
Commenting on the violence in Washington and storming of the U.S. Capitol, China on Thursday said it hopes the people in the U.S. can enjoy peace as it compared Wednesday’s events with the protests in Hong Kong. They believe that the people of the United States want stability and peace, and hope they can soon enjoy security and stability, especially amid the grim situation brought about by the pandemic, said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. The Foreign Ministry as well as state media in China compared the developments in Washington to protests in Hong Kong, where in 2019 protesters had stormed the legislative headquarters. Ms. Hua also tweeted a video of that incident on Thursday. While U.S. mainstream media denounced the protesters at the U.S. Capitol as ‘mobs’, they had called the violent protesters in Hong Kong ‘democratic heroes’, saying that the U.S. people were standing with them, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Ms. Hua as saying. Similarity with the protests in Hong Kong was a common theme in China’s state media’s coverage, even if the difference in contexts between protesters who were looking to overturn a fairly contested election and those who were calling for direct elections and universal suffrage to be introduced in China’s Special Administrative Region was left unsaid.
C) Indian-American named U.S. Army’s first CIO.
Indian-American Raj lyer has taken over as the first Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Army after the Pentagon created the position in July 2020. One of the highest ranking Indian-American civilians in the U.S. Department of Defense, Dr. lyer, who holds a PhD. in Electrical Engineering, serves as the Principal Adviser to the Secretary of the Army and directs representation of the Secretary in matters relating to information management/ information technology (IT), the Pentagon said in a statement. Equivalent in rank to a three-star General, Dr. lyer will supervise an annual budget of $16 billion for the U.S. Army’s IT operations. Over 15,000 civilians and military personnel posted across 100 countries work under him.
