CURRENT AFFAIRS
08 September 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) The Government needs to be frightened out of its complacency, says Raghuram Rajan on GDP contraction.
In a LinkedIn Post, former RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan said that the 23.9% contraction in growth of GDP for the first quarter of Financial Year 2020-21 should alarm all of us and the government and its bureaucrats need to be frightened out of their complacency and into meaningful activity. He added that the reluctance of the Congress to do more today to conserve resources for a possible future stimulus is a self-defeating strategy. The growth potential of the economy will be damaged seriously without relief measures. He further said that the 23.9% contraction in India, which will probably be worse when estimates of the damage in the informal sector come out, compares with a drop of 12.4% in Italy and 9.5% in the United States 2 of the most COVID-19-affected advanced countries. Government-provided relief becomes all the more important.
B) Vodafone and Idea merge to become one brand: ‘Vi’
Vodafone and Idea, the 2 brands of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) have together been rebranded as “Vi” from Monday and with this new identity, the two distinct brands will now fade away. VIL said that the integration of 2 brands is the peak of the largest telecom integration in the world. Unveiling the new brand, Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO of VIL said that Vodafone Idea came together as a merged entity two years ago on August 31, 2018. Since then, they have focused on integrating 2 large networks. He said that brand integration not only marked the completion of the largest telecom merger in the world but also set the company on its future journey to offer world-class digital experiences to one billion Indians.
C) Govt intervention in education policy should be minimal, says PM
On 7 September, PM Modi said that the intervention of the government in the education policy should be minimal. He also stressed that the policy belongs to the whole country, rather than to any particular government in power. Modi was addressing the inaugural session of the Governors’ conference on the National Education Policy (NEP), which is being attended by State Education Ministers and Vice Chancellors. The focus of the conference is the NEP implementation. He also said that the education policy and the education system are an important means of fulfilling the aspirations of the country. The Central and the State governments, as well as local bodies, all have responsibility for the education system. But it is also true that the government’s interference or intervention in education policy should be minimal. Just as the foreign policy or defense policy are the policies of the country, not of the government, so is the education policy. It belongs to the whole country. He urged collective responsibility in implementing the policy.
D) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 42,44,604 with the death toll at 72,161. After recording a daily jump of 90,802 new cases, India has displaced Brazil to take second place after the United States in terms of the caseload. It is the second consecutive day when India reported over 90,000 new cases. Meanwhile, the Attorney General of India KK Venugopal went into self-isolation on 7 September after his colleague tested positive for the virus.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Chinese spokesperson says China ‘never recognized so-called Arunachal Pradesh’, calls it ‘south Tibet’.
Days after 5 Indians were reportedly abducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, the state-affiliated media outlet of China, Global Times reported foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian as saying that Beijing had no details on the Indian army sending a message to PLA about 5 missing Indians in the region. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had tweeted that the Indian army had sent a hotline message to the PLA about the alleged abduction incident. The Global Times report also quoted Lijian as saying that China had never recognized the so-called Arunachal Pradesh which is the south Tibet region of China.
B) Djokovic disqualified from U.S. Open.
Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the U.S. Open after a bizarre incident on 6 September. Trailing 5-6 in the first set of his U.S. Open fourth-round match against World No. 30 Pablo Carreno Busta, a frustrated Novak Djokovic unintentionally struck a lineswoman on the throat with the ball. Djokovic immediately realized that he had made a grave error and rushed over to check on the lineswoman. But the damage was done, and tournament officials following the rule book had no option but to disqualify Djokovic and award the match to Busta. While there is little doubt that Djokovic struck the lineswoman unintentionally, the Grand Slam rulebook leaves little room for excuses such behavior. The Serbian had to be disqualified for intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences”.
