CURRENT AFFAIRS
13 November 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Stimulus package 3.0: Focus on job creation, incentives for home buyers.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 12 November has announced a fresh set of relief and stimulus measures for the economy worth ₹1.19 lakh crore, including a scheme to boost re-employment chances of formal sector employees who lost their jobs amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Unveiling a list of 12 measures, she said they may be referred to as Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0. The measures, announced soon after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the country had entered into a technical recession in the first half of 2020-21, include a ₹65,000 crore additional outlay for providing fertiliser subsidies to farmers.
Highlights of the stimulus package include:
- ₹900 crore for research and development towards a Covid-19 vaccine.
- An additional ₹10,000 crore for spending through the MGNREGS and PM’s rural roads scheme. Effectively, this takes the total allocations for MGNREGA in the year close to ₹1.1 lakh crore, the FM said.
- To boost formal sector employment, a new Atmanirbhar Rozgar Yojana has been launched, under which the government will bear the entire employees’ provident fund (EPF) contributions for two years of all new employees hired between October 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, in firms with less than 1,000 employees.
- They are providing income tax relief for developers and home buyers. At the moment, on the differential between the circle rate and the agreement value, you get 10% relief. They have decided to increase the differential from 10% to 20% till June 30, 2021 for only primary sales of residential units of value upto ₹2 crore, the minister said.
- Entities in 26 stressed sectors identified by KV Kamath Committee, plus health care sector with credit outstanding of above ₹50 crore and up to ₹500 Crore as on February 29, 2020, would now be able to avail 20% additional credit for a period of five years, with a moratorium of one year on principal repayment.
B) India in ‘technical’ recession: RBI.
India’s economy rebounded sharply in the wake of the reopening from lockdowns, slowing the pace of its contraction to 8.6% in the second quarter, a ‘nowcast’ in the RBI’s monthly bulletin showed on Wednesday. Still, the estimate implies that India is likely to have entered a technical recession in the first half of 2020-21 for the first time in its history, with two successive quarters of GDP contraction, wrote an RBI official who authored an article in the bulletin. An Economic Activity Index, which tracks real-time data from 27 monthly indicators, showed that the economy had rebounded sharply from May/June, with industry normalizing faster than contact-intensive service sectors, pointing to a short-lived contraction. The index nowcasts GDP growth at (-) 8.6% in Q2, implying that India is likely to have entered a technical recession in the first half, Pankaj Kumar of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Department wrote in the article titled ‘An Economic Activity Index for India’.
C) A-G gives consent for criminal contempt action against Kunal Kamra.
Attorney-General of India K.K. Venugopal on 12 November have gave his consent to initiate criminal contempt action in the Supreme Court against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for a series of tweets which clearly cross the line between humour and contempt of court. They find that today people believe that they can boldly and brazenly condemn the Supreme Court of India and its judges by exercising what they believe is their freedom of speech. But under the Constitution, the freedom of speech is subject to the law of contempt. He believe it is time people understand that attacking the Supreme Court unjustifiedly and brazenly will attract punishment under the Contempt of Court Act, Venugopal observed in his consent letter. A resident of Aurangabad, Shrirang Katneshwarkar, had requested Venugopal’s permission under the Contempt of Court Act to initiate contempt proceedings against Kamra for his tweets. The Attorney-General has issued identical consent letters to other separate requests for contempt action against Kamra. Kamra’s tweets were targeted at the Supreme Court order granting interim bail to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on Wednesday. One of these tweets shows a picture of the Supreme Court building swathed in saffron colour with the ruling BJP flag flying atop it instead of the tricolour. The Attorney-General said this tweet of the picture of the Supreme Court building was a gross insinuation against the entirety of the Supreme Court of India. It insinuated that the Supreme Court is not an independent and impartial institution and so too its judges, but on the other hand is a court of the ruling party, the BJP, existing for the BJP’s benefit. He said the other tweets were also highly objectionable and left it to the Supreme Court to decide whether these tweets would also constitute contempt.
D) COVISHIELD completes enrolment of Phase-3 clinical trials.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on 12 November has announced the completion of enrolment of Phase-3 clinical trials for the COVISHIELD vaccine in India. The ICMR and the SII have further collaborated for clinical development of COVOVAX (Novavax) developed by Novavax, USA, and upscaled by the SII, noted a release issued by the ICMR. It added that the ICMR had funded the clinical trial site fees while SII had funded other expenses for COVISHIELD. At present, the SII and the ICMR are conducting Phase-2 and 3 clinical trials of COVISHIELD at 15 different centres across the country. COVISHIELD has been developed at the SII’s Pune laboratory with a master seed from Oxford University/AstraZeneca. The vaccine made in the U.K. is currently being tested in large efficacy trials in the U.K., Brazil, South Africa and the U.S. The promising results of the trials so far give confidence that COVISHIELD could be a realistic solution to the deadly pandemic. COVISHIELD is by far the most advanced vaccine in human testing in India. Based on Phase 2/3 trial results, the SII, with the help of the ICMR, will pursue the early availability of this product for India. The SII has already manufactured 40 million doses of the vaccine, under the at-risk manufacturing and stockpiling license from the DCGI, said the release.
E) Doorstep service for submitting Digital Life Certificate, boost for pensioners.
In a move that could bring relief to lakhs of central government pensioners, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions on 12 November has introduced a chargeable doorstep service for submission of Digital Life Certificate (DLC) through postmen. The India Post Payments Bank of the Department of Posts and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have launched the initiative of the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW). The facility to submit life certificate online via Jeevan Pramaan Portal was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November, 2014 to provide a convenient and transparent facility to pensioners for submission of Life Certificate, said a release. In order to make this facility available across the country, DoPPW roped in the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and utilised its huge network of postmen and gramin dak sevaks in providing doorstep facility to pensioners for submission of life certificate digitally, it said. Pensioners can get detailed information about the facility on ippbonline.com. It is a chargeable service and would be available to all the Central government pensioners across the country, irrespective of their pension accounts being in different banks.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) India, China had candid discussions, says MEA.
India and China held frank discussions and exchanged views on disengagement at all friction points in the Western Sector of India-China border areas during the November 6 senior military commanders talks, said an official of the Ministry of External Affairs. Addressing the weekly interaction with the media on 12 November, official spokesperson of the Ministry, Anurag Srivastava, said both sides pushed for settlement of outstanding issues. The talks were candid, in-depth and constructive and both sides exchanged views on disengagement at all friction points along the Line of Actual Control in the western sector of India-China border areas, said Mr. Srivastava elaborating on the talks held between senior commanders to resolve the months-long tension. Mr. Srivastava said that India and China have agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through military and diplomatic channels, and, taking forward the discussions at this meeting of the senior commanders, push for the settlement of other outstanding issues. Both sides were working out modalities to finalize a plan for phased disengagement and de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, beginning with the North Bank of Pangong Tso. Multiple sources had confirmed that the proposal from the Chinese side put forward during the talks on November 6 includes pulling back their troops and equipment from Finger 4 to Finger 8 on the North Bank. Chinese official media, however, denied on Thursday that such a disengagement plan is being discussed.
B) ’26/ 11 masterminds not in Pak. list’
India on 12 November has hit at Pakistan for omitting the names of the masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks from a consolidated list of most wanted/ high-profile terrorists, and asked Islamabad to -show sincerity in delivering justice to the families of 166 victims of the attacks 12 years ago. While the [Federal investigation Agency ] list includes a select few members of the Labhkar-e-Taiba, a United Nations-designated terror entity based in Pakistan, including crew members Of the boats used to execute the 26/11 attacks. it glaringly omits the mastermind and key conspirators 01 the heinous terror attacks, said Ministry of External Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Anurag. The list made it dear that Pakistan had au the it needed to those who planned Mumbai attacks, he stated. The Government of India has repeatedly called on the Government Of Pakistan to give up its obfuscation and dilatory tactics in discharging its international Obligations in the Mumbai terror attacks trial. he added. The report. compiled by the Federal Investigation Agency (HA). mentions 19 Pakistanis in its most wanted list of terrorists who were involved in planning and providing financial help in the Mumbai attacks, It was released on Wednesday. Trial yet to be concluded Based on the evidence provided by India and amid international pressure, the FIA registered a case on February 12, 2009, under various sections to probe the attacks. The 19 include Amjad Khan. The FLA dossier describes him as a “crew mernber of ex Lashkar-e-Taiba (boat Al-Hussaini and boat Al-Fauz), Who also purchased boat Al Fauz, which was used during Mumbai terror attacks. It says that he also purchased Yamaha Motor boat engine, life jackets, boats etc. from ARZ water sport Karachi, these things were tested in Mumbai attacks and recovered by Indian authorities.
SPORTS NEWS
A) Pucovski gets Test call up.
The prodigiously talented pair of Will Pucovski and Cameroon Green were among five uncapped players picked on 12 November in a 17 member Australian Test squad for the four-match series against India, starting on December 17. The other uncapped Test players in the Tim Paine-led side are fast bowler Sean Abbott, whose bouncer led to the accidental death of Phil Hughes in 2014, leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson and allrounder Michael Neser. Fine performances All the players who are yet to wear the Baggy Green have been called on the back of extraordinary performances on the domestic circuit in recent times, Cricket Australia said. National selector Trevor Hohns said the Sheffield Shield performances augur well for the country’s cricketing future. Up against a strong Indian line-up and seeking to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they lost for the first time in 2018-19, the fresh faces in the Australian Test squad will join the seasoned stars who dominated their most recent Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand at home. The limited-overs leg, which will comprise three ODIS and as many Y201s, will be held prior to the Test series, starting November 27. Cummins is vice-captain World No. 1 pacer Pat Curnmins was named Paine’s Test team deputy. The selectors also named a 19-member Australia-A squad, which includes nine members from the Test team, for the tour matches.
B) IPL 2020 viewership zooms north.
The just-concluded 13th Indian Premier League saw a record-breaking 28 per cent increase in viewership compared to the last edition, the tournament in the UAE providing welcome relief to a world scarred by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic and the biobubbles that players had to endure for weeks made organizing this edition a challenging feat. LPL chairman Brijesh Patel said. IPL has always endeavored to provide a world-class sports event for its fans. He thanked title sponsor Dream, which associated itself with the hugely popular league after the BCCI parted ways with its earlier partner, VIVO. -With Dream 11 coming on board as the title sponsor for LPL 2020, we are happy to see a digital sports brand like Dream 11 increasing fan engagement through fantasy sport. It’s equally heartening to see how Dream 11 has integrated its users in all Dream 11 IPL match activations. The match countdown, Dream 11 Champion Fans wall and the virtual guest box have all been brought about to bring the fans to the forefront, he added.
