CURRENT AFFAIRS
09 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Will only demand ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ from Amit Shah, say farmer leaders.
There was a mixed response to the Bharat Bandh called by farmers groups on Tuesday, with normal life affected in large parts of northern India, especially Punjab, as well as in Odisha, and the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Demonstrators in West Bengal and Maharashtra stopped trains, and in Gujarat, groups blocked three highways. Large numbers of protesters and leaders were detained during the day, including Members of Parliament, both pre-emptively and during agitations. Major highways around Delhi, and parts of northern India were blocked in a chakka jaam until 3 pm. Farm unions under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have been agitating for more than two months, demanding the repeal of the three contentious laws aimed at reforming agricultural marketing. The Bandh call was supported by at least 25 political parties, as well as major trade unions, traders and transport associations, and professional bodies such as the Bar Association of the Supreme Court. The farmers met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at 8 pm this evening. Farmers who did not wish to be named said that it was an unofficial meeting.
B) SC upholds Centre’s notification to acquire land for NHAI’s Chennai-Salem highway.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the green signal for the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Centre to acquire land for the construction of the 277.3 km long Chennai-Krishnagiri-Salem national highway project worth over ₹10,000 crore, saying national highways are the arteries of India’s economy. The eight-lane highway (NH179A and NH179B) is part of the first phase of the ‘Bharatmala Pariyojna’ project, which stretches across 24,800 km and has an estimated outlay of ₹5.35 lakh crore, to improve the efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps. The highway intends to cut travel time between Chennai and Salem by half. However, the project had faced opposition from locals, including farmers, over fears of losing their land. Environmentalists had pointed out that the project runs through reserve forest and water bodies. Justice Khanwilkar, who authored the judgment, said the Madras High Court had been wrong to quash the acquisition proceedings on the ground that no prior environmental clearance was taken. The apex court said it was too premature to have got such clearances. The government was not required by law to get them as it had, at the time, only expressed an intention to acquire certain land under Section 3A of the National Highway Act. It had also merely notified a certain stretch or a section of area to be a ‘national highway’ under Section 2(2) of the Act. No land had been vested with the NHAI.
C) Too much democracy hampering reforms, says NITI Aayog CEO.
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Tuesday said it is difficult to carry out tough reforms in India as there is too much of democracy, and emphasised that more reforms are needed make the country competitive, PTI reported. Addressing a virtual event organised by Swarajya magazine, Kant said that for the first time, the Centre has carried out hard reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour, agriculture, and the next wave of reforms must be pushed by the states. Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, they have too much of democracy. They needed political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done, he said. It is not easy to compete against China without hard reforms, Kant said. This government has demonstrated political will to carry out hard reforms, he added. The NITI Aayog CEO stressed that the next wave of reforms must come from States.
D) Can’t pass an order that will risk economy, says Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday orally said it would not pass any order that will risk the economy going haywire after the Union government revealed that a blanket waiver of interest on debts incurred by all classes and categories of borrowers for the moratorium period would mean forgoing an estimated over ₹6 lakh crore. If the banks were to bear this burden, it would necessarily wipe out a substantial and a major part of their net worth, rendering most of the banks unviable and raising a very serious question mark over their very survival, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan. The Supreme Court is hearing the government’s response to separate pleas made by industry, real estate, and power sectors, among others, for debt relief, including waiver of interest, for the six-month loan moratorium period, to help them get back on their feet amid the pandemic. Mehta said a possible crippling of the banking sector was one of the main reasons for not even contemplating waiver of interest and restricting relief to deferment of payment of installments. It was necessary for the Centre to rationalise any kind of financial relief. The government cannot do anything which would topple the overall economic scenario. There is a need to conserve and rationally use financial resources to deal with the economic effects pandemic over an uncertain and indeterminate time frame, Mehta submitted.
E) AAP alleges that Kejriwal was kept under house arrest.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was being kept almost under house arrest by the Central government’s Delhi Police. The Delhi Police denied the allegation. After the Chief Minister met farmers at Singhu border, the Central government’s Delhi Police, on directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has barricaded the house of the Chief Minister of Delhi from four sides and kept him almost under house arrest. No one can meet him and he cannot come out, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said while addressing a press conference. He claimed that when party MLAs went to meet the Chief Minister, Delhi Police beat them up and even a maid was not allowed to go to Kejriwal’s house.
F) Andhra Pradesh’s mysterious illness continues.
In the city of Eluru in Andhra Pradesh, the number of people affected by a mysterious illness has now risen to over 500. According to officials, 525 patients were admitted with epilepsy, dizziness and vomiting-like symptoms in the last four days (since December 5). The victims include children, women and the aged. West Godavari district Joint Collector Himanshu Shukla said 171 patients were undergoing treatment in Eluru Government General Hospital (GGH), 354 were discharged, and 22 cases have been referred to Vijayawada and Guntur GGH. Patients were collapsing suddenly with epilepsy and frothing. They were complaining of headache and dizziness. Over 50 fresh cases were reported in the last 12 hours, said a doctor. Of the total, 73 were aged one to twelve years, 288 patients were between 12 to 35 years, and 169 were above 35 years. The recovery percentage is good, Shukla said. Meanwhile, the mysterious disease was spreading to other colonies in Eluru town and the neighbouring villages, the locals said.
G) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 97,28,905 with the death toll at 1,41,520. A 90-year-old woman from Northern Ireland on Tuesday became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine marking the start of the UK’s mass vaccination programme against the deadly disease. Margaret Keenan, from Enniskillen, said she felt so privileged to receive the jab at University Hospital, Coventry. Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine outside trial conditions, the BBC reported.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Biden picks retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as Defence Secretary.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate retired General Lloyd Austin as his Defence Secretary according to reports, making Gen. Austin the first African American in the post, if he is confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gen. Austin, Mr. Biden has passed over contenders for the job, such as former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Pentagon official Michéle Flournoy. Mr. Biden could announce his nomination of the 67 year-old four-star General on Tuesday, as per Politico, which first reported the story. Gen. Austin formerly headed the U.S. Central Command overseeing combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria. Gen. Austin oversaw the U.S. response to the rise of the Islamic State (IS) including a $500 million failed programme to recruit Syrian fighters against IS and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. U.S. law requires a seven year cool-off period from the Army before becoming Defence Secretary Gen. Austin will need a waiver from the U.S. Congress if he is to be confirmed to the position. If that happens, it will be the second time in recent history with U.S. President Donald Trump having got a waiver for his nomination Jim Mattis, who became Defence Secretary in 2017.
B) Sri Lanka to get $300 mn Chinese tyre factory.
Sri Lanka announced on Tuesday the first large-scale Chinese investment in manufacturing in the country, a $300-million tyre factory near a strategic deep-sea port. Western nations, as well as regional power India, have long been concerned about Chinese influence in Sri Lanka through projects under its gargantuan Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The factory will be adjacent to the Hambantota port, which was leased to a Chinese company in 2017 after Sri Lanka failed to service the $1.4-billion debt from Beijing used to build it. Generous concessions Sri Lanka’s Cabinet approved the setting up of the tyre plant under legislation that allows generous tax concessions, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters in Colombo. He said Shandong Haohua Tire Co Limited will export at least 80% of production, with the option of selling the rest on the local market. The announcement came just weeks after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa unveiled the country’s 2021 budget, banking on a huge Chinese real-estate development in Colombo to attract more investment and revive the island’s economy. The Colombo Port City a $1.4 billion land reclamation project which started in 2014 has doubled the size of Sri Lanka’s current financial district. When Mr. Rajapaksa was President between 2005-15, Colombo borrowed billions from China, accumulating a mountain of debt for a string of infrastructure projects including an international airport dubbed the world’s emptiest by media for its lack of flights.
