CURRENT AFFAIRS
10 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers reject Centre’s amendment proposals, plan to intensify agitation.
Protesting farmer leaders have rejected the Centre’s proposal to amend the three contentious agricultural marketing laws, and vowed to intensify their agitation until the laws were repealed. They plan to block the capital’s highways toward Agra and Jaipur by December 12, and hold a nationwide dharna two days later. The Centre delivered its written proposal to the farmer leadership at the Singhu border point on Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after tens of thousands of farmers began their protest, camping on Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The Centre’s proposal offered a written assurance that government procurement at minimum support prices will remain, along with proposals to amend the laws to deal with the concerns raised by farmers regarding parity between state-run and private mandis, registration of traders, and dispute resolution mechanisms. There is nothing different in this from what has been said during the discussions, which we have repeatedly rejected. The government wants to dress up its old proposals in new clothes. It’s an insult to the farmers of this country, said Darshan Pal, president of the Krantikari Kisan Union.
B) Opposition leaders urge President to persuade Centre to accept farmer demands.
The government should not have any misunderstanding that the farmers will give up and the agitation will be called off before these farm bills are withdrawn, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said, after a delegation of opposition leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind and urged him to persuade the government to accept the demands raised by farmers’ groups. The delegation that met President Kovind consisted of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D Raja and DMK leader TKS Elangovan. They urge upon them, as the custodian of the Indian Constitution, to persuade the government not to be obdurate and accept the demands raised by India’s annadata, the joint memorandum signed by the five leaders read. Their point to the President was that this was passed in an anti undemocratic manner, a proper consultation and discussion would have prevented this kind of situation. The farmers are carrying out a very heroic and courageous strike and keeping this in mind the government should immediately repeal the act, Yechury said.
C) Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech Covid-19 vaccine applications put on hold.
An expert committee of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has kept on hold, pending more evidence, proposals by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech requesting emergency use authorisation of their vaccine candidates in India, a person closely connected with the approval process confirmed this. When evaluating their applications on Wednesday, the committee members opined that they needed more data to gauge the vaccines’ efficacy. Neither company presented data from their ongoing phase-3 trials. .The committee consists of members from multiple disciplines and meets periodically to recommend approval, or rejection, of new drugs and vaccines. The SII is testing a vaccine candidate developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, on 1,600 volunteers in India. This vaccine is yet to be approved by regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom for public use. Were any of these countries’ regulators to approve, we would consider it favourably for approving in India. But now we have neither this nor convincing India-specific data, the person added. The Union Health Ministry termed as fake news a media report on Wednesday which said that SII and Bharat Biotech‘s applications were rejected. However, a ministry spokesperson didn’t offer additional clarification. Meanwhile, a delegation of foreign envoys visited manufacturing facilities of vaccine makers Bharat Biotech and Biological E in Hyderabad’s Genome Valley on Wednesday. Bharat Biotech said a team comprising Ambassadors, High Commissioners and government representatives of 70 countries, from across the world, visited the facility and had interacted with company officials. They extensively discussed about Covaxin, the company said. Both SII and Bharat Biotech are relatively ahead of other vaccine companies in India that are developing potential vaccines for Covid-19, having initiated large human trials, or phase-3 trials.
C) Cabinet approves setting up of public Wi-Fi networks.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for setting up of public Wi-Fi networks across the country to accelerate the proliferation of broadband internet services. These networks, which will be called PM-WANI (Wi-Fi Access Network Interface), will be set up at Public Data Offices (PDOs). During a press conference announcing the decision, Communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said these PDOs can be opened up by anyone, including tea shops or a public office, and there will be no license fee for providing broadband internet through these public Wi-Fi networks. Providers will get themselves registered with DoT through an online registration portal without paying any fee. The registration will be granted within seven days of the application, an official release said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Quad is a ‘devious policy’ to involve India in anti-China games, says Russia.
Russia hit out at the 4-nation quadrilateral strategic dialogue or Quad, calling it a devious policy by western powers to engage India in anti-China games. While Moscow has expressed concerns about the United States’ Indo-Pacific policy and criticised the Quad (a formation that includes the U.S., Australia, Japan and India) as a“divisive and exclusivist concept, this is the first time it has suggested that India-Russia ties could be affected by it. India is currently an object of the western countries’ persistent, aggressive, and devious policy as they are trying to engage it in anti-China games by promoting Indo-Pacific strategies, the so-called Quad, while at the same time the West is attempting to undermine our close partnership and privileged relations with India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at Moscow-based think tank Russian International Affairs Council. This is the goal of the U.S.’s very tough pressure on New Delhi in the MTC [military and technical cooperation] area, Lavrov stated, which diplomats said indicated growing MTC between India and the U.S. In the past month, India hosted military exercises with all the members of the Quad, and signed the final pending ‘foundational agreement’ BECA, which facilitates intelligence-sharing between Indian and U.S. militaries. The incoming Biden administration is also expected to press harder on India against its purchase of the S-400 anti-missile system from Russia, which could attract U.S. sanctions.
B) Chinese vaccine 86% effective, says UAE.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Wednesday that it has approved a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that is being tested in the country after preliminary data showed that it was 86% effective. The U.A.E.’s Ministry of Health and Prevention said it reviewed an interim analysis by Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned vaccine maker, of data from late-stage clinical trials, which showed that its vaccine was 86% effective in preventing infection from Covid-19. The development represents a political and scientific win for China, which has three other vaccine candidates in late-stage trials.
