CURRENT AFFAIRS
10 January 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) First phase of vaccination to start on January 16.
India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive is scheduled to start on January 16, with priority given to an estimated three crore healthcare workers and frontline workers, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. It added that this will be followed by voluntary vaccination of those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities, numbering around 27 crore. The announcement followed a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the status of the pandemic in the country and the preparedness of States and Union Territories for the roll-out of the vaccine. Emergency Use Authorization or Accelerated Approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines : Covishield and Covaxin whose safety and immunogenicity have been established, the release said. The vaccination exercise will use the principles of people’s participation (Jan Bhagidari), and the experience of elections (booth strategy) and Universal Immunization Program (UIP). There will be no compromise of existing healthcare services, especially national programmes and primary health care. They aim for it to be an orderly and smooth implementation driven by technology, noted the release.
B) Former Gujarat Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki passes away.
Former Chief Minister of Gujarat and former Union Minister Madhavsinh Solanki passed away in Gandhinagar on Saturday. He was 94. A four-time Chief Minister, he was a Congress stalwart in Gujarat, where the party last won the Assembly polls under his leadership in 1985. The party then won 148 Assembly seats, which still remains a record in State politics. He also served as a Union Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government. Solanki dominated Gujarat politics for decades and was regarded as a powerful politician and mass leader in the State. His social engineering theory KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) proved to be a powerful base in electoral politics that won the Congress landslide victories over two decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of the leader. In a Twitter post, he said, Shri Madhavsinh Solanki Ji was a formidable leader, playing a key role in Gujarat politics for decades. He will be remembered for his rich service to society. Saddened by his demise. Spoke to his son, Bharat Solanki Ji and expressed condolences. Om Shanti. Solanki’s son Bharatsinh Solanki also served as Union Minister in the UPA and was Gujarat Congress president twice.
C) Kejriwal announces ban on import of live birds.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced a ban on the import of live birds to Delhi and ordered the shutting down of Ghazipur poultry market in the wake of the avian influenza Outbreak across the country. He said a 24 hour helpline 23890318 has been set up for the assistance of people and the Delhi government has collected 104 samples till now which haw been to a laboratory in Jalandhar. Three recreational parks, including the Hauz Khas park and the Dwarka Sector 9 park, and the famous Sanjay Lake were dosed by the authorities on Saturday as several birds were found dead on their premises in last couple of days. In the last few days, there have been several cases of bird flu across various parts of the country, which is a cause for worry. Cases of bird flu have been registered in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. No confirmed case has been registered in Delhi until now, the Chief Minister said during a digital briefing. The Delhi government is following all guidelines and directions issued by the Central government with regard to the bird flu. Rapid response teams have been formed in every district to contain the spread and conduct proper surveillance. They win function under the District Magistrates, he said, According to Mr. Kejriwal, veterinary officers are conducting surveys in all bird markets, establishments and waterbodies across Delhi. The teams are specially focusing on the poultry market in Ghazipur, Shakti Sthal Lake, Bhalswa Lake, Sanjay lake, Delhi Zoo, DDA parks situated at Hauz Khas Village Pashchim Vihar and Dwarka.
D) Shriram City to focus on SME, gold loans.
Shriram City Union Finance Ltd., which has reached pre covid 19 levels in disbursements will focus on its core business of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and gold loans in FY22, a top official said. During December, they reached the pre-COVlD-19 levels in disbursements against the corresponding year-earlier period and also for Q3, said MD & CEO Y.S. Chakravarti. The first quarter was a washout. In the first half, they disbursed Rs. 4387 crore against 11,475 crore, he added. The disbursement in Q3 is about Rs. 6000 crore, and they hope to be able to keep up the momentum in Q4, the CEO said. The pongal season will drive two-wheeler sales in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Out of the total portfolio, SMEs accounted for 55%, personal loans 20%, and gold loans 7-8% he added. On an average, the nonbanking finance Company had been disbursing loans worth about Rs. 6000 crore quarter. It is targeting a growth of 12% to 15% during FY22 by prioritising lending to SMEs and for gold loans. While no new branches were being planned, Mr. Chakravarti said as far as SME loans were concerned, they would be entering new territories that could bring in additional revenue of Rs.400 crore to Rs. 500 crore in the first 12 months of operations. Currently, the company disburses SMEs loans of Rs. 12 lakh to Rs.15 lakh in five States, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. This accounted for Rs. 1000 crore revenue during Q2 of FY21. The NBFC also distributes small ticket business loans of Rs.1 lakh. In retail lending, we can’t go beyond 18% and that’s why we are looking at growth over FY20, Mr. Chakravarti said. On gold loans, he said South India had a higher share in network and assets under management-contribution, especially in SME and gold loans. This is expected to increase in coming quarters due to business revival and festivals. Gold loan schemes would be introduced in Punjab and Haryana in a phased manner, he added.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Army apprehends Chinese soldier south of Pangong Tso.
A Chinese soldier was apprehended in the early hours of January 8 on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the area south of the Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh, the Army said on Saturday. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier had transgressed across the LAC and was taken into custody by Indian troops deployed in this area. The PLA soldier is being dealt with as per laid down procedures, and the circumstances under which he had crossed the LAC are being investigated, an Army statement said. Troops from either side are deployed along the LAC since a stand-off erupted in May last year due to unprecedented mobilisation and forward concentration by Chinese troops, the Army added. In a similar incident in October last year, a Chinese soldier identified as Corporal Wang Ya Long was apprehended in the Demchok area and was later handed over to the PLA. The Defence Ministry recently said that the Army has completed Advance Winter Stocking and winter preparations and troops are well entrenched to counter any misadventure by Chinese forces. With temperatures plummeting to minus 30 degrees Celsius and set to go down further, both sides have dug in for the harsh winter. The Army has deployed around 50,000 troops in addition to tanks and other equipment along the disputed boundary in eastern Ladakh to match the Chinese deployments since the beginning of the stand-off.
B) Boeing 737-500 plane feared crashed after losing contact in Indonesia.
An Indonesian Sriwijaya Air plane is feared to have crashed into the sea after the Boeing 737 lost contact with air traffic control in the capital Jakarta, with flight tracking data suggesting that the jet plunged into a steep dive just four minutes after take-off. It was unclear how many passengers and crew were aboard Sriwijaya Air’s Boeing 737-500 when it left Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta international airport. It had a capacity of about 130. However, 62 passengers and crew were listed on an unconfirmed manifest, including seven children and three infants, local media reported. The usual flight time is about 90 minutes over the Java Sea between Java island and Kalimantan, Indonesia’s section of Borneo island. Data from FlightRadar24 said the plane reached an altitude of nearly 11,000 feet (3,350 metres) before dropping to 250 feet. It then lost contact with air traffic control. Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta, the tracking agency said on its official Twitter account. Broadcaster Kompas TV quoted local fishermen as saying they had found debris near islands off the coast of Jakarta, but it could not be immediately confirmed as belonging to the missing jet.
C) Trump banned permanently from Twitter; says he ‘won’t be silenced’.
Twitter has banned President Donald Trump’s account citing the risk of further incitement of violence. The social platform has been under growing pressure to take further action against Trump following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter had initially suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Trump has reacted by vowing that he and his support base would not be silenced. At the time of permanent suspension, he had 88.7 million followers and followed 51 people. In a statement hours after he was banned, Trump said that he predicted this would happen. They have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while they also look at the possibilities of building out their own platform in the near future. They will not be silenced. Twitter is not about free speech. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely. Stay tuned, he said, indicating that some announcements in this regard were forthcoming. Twitter also started deleting new tweets posted by Trump on official government account @POTUS and suspended the account of his presidential campaign. The company said accounts used by Trump to try to get around the ban could face permanent suspension as well under its ban evasion policies.
