CURRENT AFFAIRS
10 May 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Himanta Biswa Sarma to be Assam’s new Chief Minister.
Himanta Biswa Sarma will succeed Sarbananda Sonowal as the 15th Chief Minister of Assam, his election at the Legislature Party meeting today ending weeks of speculation. Outgoing Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal proposed his name as the BJP Legislature Party leader soon after tendering his resignation to Governor Jagdish Mukhi on Sunday. Mr. Sarma, who became the BJP’s chief poll strategist after switching over from the Congress in 2015, was later named as Mr. Sonowal’s successor. The replacement of Mr. Sonowal with Mr. Sarma is the recognition of the fact that the latter has not only put out many fires for the BJP in Assam like the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) but also his role as Health and Finance Minister in Assam, in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hindu’s political editor Nistula Hebbar writes in a profile of Mr. Sarma. A Ph.D from Gauhati University, Mr. Sarma is a lawyer by training and was active in student politics as general secretary (for three terms) at Cotton College and with the All Assam Student’s Union. He joined the Congress in the 1990s and became an MLA from Jalukbari constituency defeating Asom Gana Parishad’s Bhrigu Phukan in 2001. Since then he has represented Jalukbari on behalf of the Congress till 2016 and from 2016 to the present on a BJP ticket. He became Minister in the Congress-led State governments and also rose to the position of the action man of the Tarun Gogoi government, and much of the credit for the 2011 Congress victory in the State is laid at his door. Mr. Gogoi and Mr. Sarma became at odds with each other over the former’s plans to promote his son, Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi in politics, while Mr. Sarma had earmarked the position of successor for himself. The differences became too big and the Congress’ high command was either unwilling or unable to sort it out. In either case, Mr. Sarma jumped ship and joined the BJP – despite the party’s own attack on Mr. Sarma a few months before this on the issue of a CBI inquiry against him in the Louis Berger case.
B) Mallikarjun Kharge writes to Naidu, Modi, offers 6 suggestions.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately convene an all-party meeting to collectively forge a holistic blueprint to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. In a letter to the Prime Minister, he alleged that the Union government seems to have abdicated its duties towards the people and the situation requires a collective and consensual effort. He also sent his set of six suggestions to tackle the crisis due to the pandemic and said the Prime Minister’s Office alone cannot handle it. Mr. Kharge said he is writing to convey his deep concern and a sense of anguish regarding the unprecedented crisis the nation faces. Calling for free inoculation, he said, Parliament had allocated ₹35,000 crores in the union budget to ensure free vaccines for all. Despite this, the Union government allowed private companies to set exorbitant and differential prices for vaccines and outsourced the procurement of vaccines to already stretched state governments. This will adversely impact millions of Indians. It is heartbreaking to witness millions of ordinary Indians scrambling to access basic healthcare, oxygen, medicines, ventilators, hospital beds and even crematoriums and cemeteries, he said, adding that ordinary Indians are selling their land, jewellery and expending their savings to ensure treatment for their loved ones. The leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha also called for free immunisation drive for all citizens and urged him to utilise the 35,000 crore earmarked by Parliament for this purpose.
C) Union Minister complains to U.P. CM on Covid response.
Minister of State with independent charge in the Ministry of Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar flagged concerns over the COVID-19 response in Uttar Pradesh in a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on May 8. Mr. Gangwar complained about officers not answering phone calls and patients being forced to visit multiple facilities before being admitted to a hospital. Mr. Gangwar, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Bareilly in U.P., participated in a review meeting called by the Chief Minister in Bareilly on May 8, where, sources said, the letter with suggestions and complaints was handed over. In a tweet on Sunday, Mr. Gangwar said the Chief Minister met the elected representatives and officials of Bareilly to review the ongoing second wave of COVID-19 and made suggestions to improve the healthcare provided to residents. In the letter, Mr. Gangwar said vendors were selling essential equipment needed by hospitals like ventilators for higher prices than before. He said the government should fix the prices of these machines. Mr. Gangwar wrote that it was important for COVID-19 patients to receive medical care as soon as possible, but he had come to know that when patients went to any government hospital, they were asked to first go to a district hospital and get a referral. The patients’ oxygen levels keep dropping while they had to visit multiple places before being admitted, he wrote. Terming it a cause of concern, he asked the Chief Minister to address the issue. He said those who had stored oxygen cylinders at home without needing them, and those who were selling them, should be identified. Mr. Gangwar complained that important officers involved with the COVID-19 response in Bareilly did not answer phone calls, which was leading to inconvenience to patients. The Minister suggested that all private hospitals in Bareilly should cater to COVID-19 patients.
D) Exemption from customs duties for Covid relief material.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 9 said GST exemption to domestic supplies and commercial import of COVID-19 drugs, vaccines and oxygen concentrators would make these items costlier for consumers as manufacturers would not be able to offset the taxes paid on inputs. Earlier in the day Ms. Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider exempting organisations, agencies and individuals supplying equipment and drugs related to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic from customs duty and other Central taxes. A list of items for COVID relief granted exemption from IGST for imports was issued on May 3, 2021. These were given exemption from Customs Duty/health cess even earlier. Hon. CM @MamataOfficial, may notice that items in your list are covered, she said, adding Full exemption from Customs duties, including IGST, is already available to ALL COVID relief material [not confined to a list] imported by @IndianRedCross for free distribution in the country. Ms. Sitharaman said: With effect from 3 May, 2021, full exemption from all duties has been provided to Remdesivir injections, Remdesivir API, and for a chemical for the manufacture of this drug.
E) 16 AMU staff, ex-teachers die of Covid-19.
After 16 of its faculty members, other employees and retired teachers living in the vicinity of the campus died of COVID-19, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has written to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) asking for an analysis of the samples to find out what was behind the surge. In a statement on Sunday, AMU public relations officer Omar Peerzada said: In order to analyse the severity of Covid-19 and its suspected new variant that wreaked havoc in Aligarh as many faculty members, retired teachers and other employees of the university succumbed to it, the samples collected at the ICMR approved COVID-19 testing laboratory of the Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU have been sent for viral genome sequencing to the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi after suspicions of a new COVID variant fuelling the surge of Coronavirus cases in Aligarh. The statement said that the samples had been sent along with a letter by AMU vice-chancellor Prof. Tariq Mansoor to ICMR director general Prof. Balram Bhargava requesting him to order the concerned department to perform the analysis. The V-C’s letter said: This is to bring into your notice that 16 AMU faculty members, a number of retired teachers and employees in other categories, who were living in the university campus and adjoining localities have succumbed to COVID-19. This is giving rise to a suspicion that a particular viral variant may be circulating in the Civil Lines area of Aligarh in which AMU and many adjoining localities are situated.
F) Trinamool requests virtual parliamentary committee hearings.
The Trinamool Congress has written to Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging them to let parliamentary committee meetings be held virtually to enable them to address issues of public interest amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This is the TMC’s third letter on the issue, the party said, adding that the first letter was written in July 2020 and the second letter in August 2020. India has reported more than 3 lakh new COVID-19 cases per day for the past two weeks. In light of the prevailing circumstances, he urge your good offices to reconsider our request for conducting virtual meetings of parliamentary committees, including departmentally related standing committees, consultative committees and select committees, the letter from RS MP and the party’s national spokesperson Derek O’Brien said. He also said that the party had received a letter from the chairman’s office dated August 27, which stated that it was decided in a meeting that the matter regarding holding of virtual meetings of the Parliamentary Committees vis-à-vis existing provisions on confidentiality of the proceedings of the Committees, may be referred to the Committees on Rules in both the Houses. He further request you to share any findings/decisions that the Committees on Rules of both the Houses may have reached. He urge you again to allow the Parliamentary Committees to function virtually so that issues of public importance can be taken up timely and discussed, especially in light of the serious circumstances in the country, Mr. O’Brien said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Amid weekend clashes, Israel vows to keep Jerusalem order.
Israel vowed on Sunday to restore order in Jerusalem after hundreds of Palestinian protesters were wounded in a weekend of clashes with Israeli security forces, while the Justice Ministry put off a key court ruling on a flashpoint property dispute. Consecutive nights of violence around the revered AlAqsa mosque compound in the Old City has been the worst since 2017, fuelled by a years-long bid by Jewish settiers to take over nearby Palestinian homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel would decisively and Palestinians hurling stones at Israeli security forces in Jerusalem’s Old City. Tunisia said it has called for a meeting on Monday Of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation. Some 121 Palestinians were wounded in Saturday’s overnight clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Israeli police said 17 of its officers were wounded. The previous night more than 220 people again mostly Palestinians, were hurt as police stormed AlAqsa, saying Palestinians had thrown rocks at officers. Four Arab countries that normalised ties with Israel over the past year the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan all condemned Israel’s actions and voiced support for the Palestinians. On Saturday, thousands of Palestinians packed mosque compound for prayers. But police set up roadblocks to limit access to the Old City and avoid violent riots effectively preventing hundreds from praying.
B) Johnson calls for U.K. talks after Scottish Nationalists win.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday invited the leaders of the U.K.’s devolved nations for crisis talks on the union after Scotland’s pro-independence party won its fourth straight parliamentary election. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said the poll results proved that a second independence vote for Scotland was the will of the country and that any London politician who stood in the way would be picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people. The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with devolved governments in the latter three. Mr. Johnson congratulated Ms. Sturgeon on her re-election, but told the leaders of the devolved governments in a letter that the U.K. was best served when we work together. The letter invited the leaders to a summit to discuss plans to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and work out how the four nations can work together to overcome shared challenges. Final results of Thursday’s local elections showed that the SNP won 64 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament. Although it fell one seat short of securing an overall majority, the Parliament still had a pro-independence majority with the help of eight members of the Scottish Greens. Ms. Sturgeon said an independence referendum was now a matter of fundamental democratic principle, and did not rule out legislation paving the way for a vote at the start of next year. Mr. Johnson has the ultimate authority whether or not to permit another referendum on Scotland gaining independence. He wrote in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph that another referendum on Scotland would be irresponsible and reckless as Britain emerges from the pandemic. He has consistently argued that the issue was settled in a 2014 referendum where 55% of Scottish voters favoured remaining part of the U.K. But proponents of another vote say the situation has changed fundamentally because of the U.K.’s Brexit divorce from the European Union.
