CURRENT AFFAIRS
12 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers prepare to block Delhi-Jaipur highway, picket toll plazas.
More farmers are streaming towards the capital in response to the protesting unions’ call to intensify the agitation on Saturday by blocking the Delhi-Jaipur highway and picketing toll plazas. Police personnel have been deployed to deal with the situation and provide alternative routes for commuters. For the last two weeks, tens of thousands of farmers have gathered at several points on Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They are demanding a full repeal of three contentious agricultural marketing reform laws passed by Parliament in September. More farmers have now joined the dharna sites at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Palwal, said a statement from the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee. Farmers from Tamil Nadu have arrived and groups of farmers from almost all states of India shall be arriving to join the Delhi protest soon, it added. In Amritsar, thousands of farmers and farm labourers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Samiti started their tractor-trolley ‘march’ to Delhi on Friday to ensure that the ongoing agitation doesn’t lose steam. The Samiti is the only Punjab outfit which is still continuing with the ‘rail roko’ agitation, preventing the movement of passenger trains in Amritsar. Both carriageways of the Delhi-Agra Highway have been blocked at Palwal by farmers from Madhya Pradesh for the past week. In Uttar Pradesh, the Tikait faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union is making plans to besiege toll barriers. With thousands of farmers protesting against the Centre’s new agri laws staying put at Delhi borders, several routes in the national capital remained off bounds for commuters on Friday. The Delhi Traffic Police took to Twitter to inform people about road closures.
B) West Bengal Governor sends report to Centre on law and order in the State.
The Centre on Friday received a report from Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on the prevailing law and order situation in West Bengal, a day after BJP president J.P. Nadda’s convoy was attacked in the state, officials said. The State government, however, has not sent any report as sought by the Union Home Ministry on the serious security lapses during Nadda’s two-day visit to West Bengal. The Home Ministry has received a report from the West Bengal governor on the law and order situation in the state. Asked about the contents of the report, the official said that it is under examination. Dhankar, however, took to social media to voice his concerns. In a series of tweets, the Governor said that he had alerted the chief secretary and the director general of police of the possibility of the collapse of law and order during Nadda’s scheduled rally but their non responsive stance signals failure of constitutional machinery in the state. The report from the Governor was sought after Nadda’s convoy was attacked on Thursday in Diamond Harbour, the Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. Meanwhile, a defiant West Bengal government on Friday decided not to send the state’s chief secretary and police chief to New Delhi in compliance with a summons from the Union Home Ministry. West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Director General of Police (DGP) Virendra have been called by the Home Ministry, and were expected to explain the law and order situation in West Bengal.
C) China’s rise has attracted a great deal of attention: Gen. Rawat.
In the midst of conflicts in the last three decades, the global financial crisis and the mushrooming of many multilateral organisations, China’s rise has been one of the most defining moments of the 21st century, said Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat on Friday. He also said that the Covid-19 pandemic had turned from a global health crisis to an economic crisis with global ramifications. In recent years, China’s economic and military rise, coupled with competition to increase influence in the region, has attracted a great deal of attention. At present, there are over 120 warships of extra-regional forces deployed in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in support of various missions. For now, by and large, the region has remained peaceful, albeit under contestation, Gen. Rawat said, talking of the developments in the Indo-Pacific at the Global Security Summit. On the post-Covid situation, Gen. Rawat said the world was entering a new geopolitical phase likely to be based on nationalism, protectionism, and strategic realignments. They are, and they will, continue to witness the rise of nationalism, economic patriotism, shift towards buying local brands, the need to take back supply chains, and the shifting of strategic industries within the country’s boundaries even at the expense of increased production costs, he said.
D) Delhi HC stays CIC order directing IAF to provide info on PM’s foreign visits.
The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed a Central Information Commission (CIC) direction to the Indian Air Force (IAF) to provide an RTI activist information regarding each foreign visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertaken on IAF aircraft. Justice Navin Chawla also sought a response from the RTI activist, Commodore (retired) Lokesh K. Batra, who had requested certified copies of Special Flight Returns Part-I and Part-II relating to foreign visits of Modi and Singh undertaken on IAF aircraft from April 1, 2013 onwards. The IAF had moved the High Court challenging the July 8, 2020, order of the CIC, saying that the information sought was extremely sensitive in nature as it related to details of the Prime Minister’s security apparatus. The information so sought includes details related to the entire entourage, names of Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel accompanying the Prime Minister of India on foreign tours for his personal safety, and the same, if disclosed, can potentially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, the IAF said. Justice Chawla noted that the details sought were sought of not only passengers, including the SPG personnel, but also officials of the government accompanying the Prime Minister.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Astra-Zeneca to use part of Sputnik V vaccine in its own trials.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s Russian branch said on Friday it would use part of Russia’s homemade Sputnik V vaccine in further clinical trials. They announce a clinical trial programme to assess safety and immunogenicity of a combination of AZD1222, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and Sputnik V, developed by Russian Gamaleya Research institute, AstraZeneca said in a statement published on its website in English and Russian. The pharmaceutical company said that adults over the age of 18 will be enrolled in the trials. Both the AZD1222 and Sputnik V jabs use human adenovirus vectors. Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, which funded the development of Sputnik V, said in a statement on Friday that on November 23, it offered AstraZeneca the option “to use one of the two vectors of the Sputnik V vaccine in additional clinical trials of its own vaccine. Those trials are expected to start before the end of this year. Combinations of different Covid-19 vaccines may be an important step in generating wider protection through a stronger immune response and better accessibility, AstraZeneca said in its statement.
B) PM, Uzbek President discuss Afghan projects.
India and Uzbekistan plan to cooperate on connectivity projects in Afghanistan and will participate in a trilateral dialogue with Iran, said the two sides after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a virtual summit on Friday. Both addressed the need to fight terrorism and shared the same vision on the future of the Afghanistan peace process. They have similar concerns about extremism, fundamentalism and separatism. They both stand firmly together against terrorism. They also have a similar approach on regional security issues, Mr. Modi said in his opening statement welcoming President Mirziyoyev to their first virtual summit. The two sides signed a Dollar Credit Line Agreement between the Export-Import Bank of India and the Uzbekistan Government and several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) including in the areas of renewable energy and information technology on the sidelines of the meeting. The leaders instructed their officials to fast-track the conclusion of the ongoing Joint Feasibility Study that will pave the way for commencement of negotiations on a Preferential Trade Agreement, MEA joint secretary Adarsh Swaika said, adding that the two leaders acknowledged that the current bilateral trade level of about US $285 million (2018) was far below the potential.
C) Award-winning S. Korean director Kim Ki-duk dead.
South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk, a controversial figure both for his work and his personal life, died in Latvia from COVID-19 complications on Friday, a Latvian film official said. Kim, who had won awards at the Venice, Cannes and Berlin film festivals, had been staying in the Latvian capital Riga in a private capacity after travelling to neighbouring Estonia for work, according to Dita Rietuma, director of Latvia’s state National Film Centre. Kim, 59, died at a hospital in Riga, Ms. Rietuma told Reuters, citing the director’s private secretary. Latvian media Delfi first reported Kim’s death, referring to Vitaly Mansky, a Russian documentary film director who was reportedly working with Kim. Kim earned global praise as a regular at international festivals, but also faced criticism, especially over his portrayals of women, including in the ultra-violent film Pieta. That movie won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2012. Kim had not directly responded to those claims, but appealed in November after losing a lawsuit he pursued against one of the actresses and a local TV network that broadcast her accusations.
D) Key Obama-era officials among Biden’s Cabinet picks.
President-elect Joe Biden announced several administration picks on Thursday, including Obama-era officials such as former National Security Adviser Susan Rice as White House Domestic Policy Council director and exchief of staff Denis McDonough as veterans affairs secretary. The appointments, laid out by Mr. Biden’s presidential transition team, highlight the diversity which Mr. Biden pledged to bring to his Cabinet. This is the right team for this moment in history, and I know that each of these leaders will hit the ground running on day one to take on the interconnected crises families are facing today, Mr. Biden said in a statement. Ms. Rice had been a contender for Secretary of State. But she was expected to face intense opposition from Republicans in the Senate confirmation process over her role in the Benghazi crisis of 2012, and that prestigious Cabinet position went to Mr. Biden’s close adviser, Antony Blinken. Ms. Rice’s appointment may come as a surprise given her experience in foreign policy. The position, which she tweeted she was “humbled and excit• ed” to take, does not need Senate confirmation.
Mr. McDonough, 51, served multiple roles in Barack Obama’s administration, including White House Chief of Staff and Deputy National Security Adviser. He has been nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling government agency tasked with managing a healthcare network that serves nine million enrolled veterans.
He also named Tom Vilsack, 69, Mr. Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture for two full terms, to the same role.
International trade expert Katherine Tai has been chosen to be the U.S. Trade Representative. Ms. Tai, currently the chief trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee, would be the first Asian American and first woman of color in the USTR role
