CURRENT AFFAIRS
18 March 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Cancellation of 3 crore ration cards serious: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was a very serious matter if the Centre has really cancelled around three crore ration cards, including those of tribals and the poor, solely because they could not be biometrically linked with Aadhaar. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde asked the Centre to respond to an allegation made in a petition by Koili Devi, represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, that such cancellations had led to starvation deaths across the country. The insistence on Aadhar and biometric authentication had led to the cancellation of nearly four crore ration cards in the country according to the Union of India. The Union of India casually gives an explanation that these cancelled cards were bogus. The real reason is that the technological system based on iris identification, thumb prints, non-possession of Aadhaar, non-functioning of the internet in rural and remote areas, etc, led to large-scale cancellation of ration cards without notice to the family concerned, a report submitted by the petitioner side said. Gonsalves said the petition is based on reports that an estimate of roughly two to four crore ration cards have been cancelled in the country without prior notice to the beneficiaries. Right to food, which the ration card symbolised, cannot be curbed or cancelled because of lack of Aadhaar.
B) Must act quickly to stop second ‘peak’ of Covid-19 cases, PM tells CMs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed concern over a rise in Covid-19 cases in parts of the country and called for quick and decisive steps to check the emerging second peak, PTI reported. In a virtual interaction with state chief ministers over the pandemic situation and the ongoing vaccination drive, Modi said in states like Maharashtra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, the number of Covid-19 cases has seen a rise, while nearly 70 districts in the country have seen an increase in the positivity rate by over 150% of late. If we do not stop it here, then a condition for a nationwide outbreak may emerge, he said and called for quick and decisive steps to stop it. Modi also spoke against wastage of vaccines. The average of Covid-19 vaccine wastage in India is 6.5%, with Telangana and Andhra Pradesh recording 17.6% and 11.6% wastage respectively, the Centre said today, as it called for optimal utilisation of the jabs.
C) Antilia bomb scare: Maharashtra police chief transferred.
Under flak for ‘mishandling’ of the bomb scare outside Mukesh Ambani’s residence, the Maharashtra Government on Wednesday transferred Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh from the post. Senior IPS officer Hemant Nagrale, holding additional charge of Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP), will be the new Mumbai Police Commissioner and replace Singh, who has been posted to the State Home Guard, State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said. Deshmukh, who met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier in the day, made the announcement on Twitter amid speculation in media over Singh’s handling of the Sachin Vaze episode. Vaze is at the focus of a probe by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in a case related to the recovery of an SUV with explosives near Ambani’s house in Mumbai. Vaze, arrested in the case on March 13 for his alleged role in the crime, was attached to the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of city police’s crime branch till recently.
D) Pilot killed in MiG-21 jet crash.
A Group Captain of the IAF was killed on Wednesday morning when a MiG-21 Bison fighter jet crashed while taking off for a combat training mission from an airbase in central India. The IAF lost Group Captain A. Gupta in the tragic accident. The IAF expresses deep condolences and stands firmly with the family members, a statement said. The incident occurred at 10:50 a.m., it has been learnt. Wreckage of the Indian Air Force MiG-21 Bison fighter jet lies in a field in Gwalior on March 17, 2021. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident. The MiG-21 Bison is the only variant of the MiG-21 in service and is in the process of being phased out.
E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,14,71,579 with the death toll at 1,61,680. Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a high number of daily Covid-19 cases, accounting for 71.1% of the 28,903 new infections, the Union Health Ministry has said. It said 83.91% of the new cases are from Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Maharashtra alone accounts for 61.8% of the daily new cases, with 17,864 cases. It is followed by Kerala with 1,970, while Punjab reported 1,463 new cases, the Ministry said. Kerala is reporting a consistently declining trend over the last one month. India’s total active caseload has reached 2.34 lakh (2,34,406) comprising 2.05% of the total infections, the government said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Peace with Pakistan will give India direct access to Central Asia, says Imran Khan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said India will be benefit economically by having peace with his country as it will enable New Delhi to directly access the resource-rich Central Asia region through Pakistani territory. Delivering the inaugural address at the launch of the two-day Islamabad Security Dialogue, Khan also said that his government, after coming to power in 2018, did everything for better ties with India and it was for India to reciprocate. India will have to take the first step. Unless they do so, we cannot do much, he said. India last month said that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence. India has said the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment free of terror and hostility. India has also told Pakistan that talks and terror cannot go together and has asked Islamabad to take demonstrable steps against terror groups responsible for launching various attacks on India. Khan dwelt at length on the issue of peace in the region, including peace between Pakistan and India, saying the unresolved Kashmir issue was the biggest hurdle between the two countries. If India gives the Kashmiris their right under the UN (resolutions), it will be greatly beneficial for Pakistan as well as for India, he said and added, India can access Central Asia after peace. Khan said that having a direct route to the Central Asian region will economically benefit India. Central Asia is rich in oil and gas. Central Asia, in the modern context, generally includes five resource-rich countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
B) Georgia massage parlour shootings leave 8 dead; suspect captured.
Shootings at two massage parlours in Atlanta and one in the suburbs Tuesday evening left eight people dead, many of them women of Asian descent, authorities said. A 21-year-old man suspected in the shootings was taken into custody in southwest Georgia hours later after a manhunt, police said. The attacks began around 5 p.m., when five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlour in a strip mall near a rural area in Acworth, about 50 km north of Atlanta. Two people died at the scene and three were transported to a hospital where two of them also died. Around 5:50 p.m., police in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, responding to a call of a robbery in progress, found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds at Gold Spa. While they were at that scene, they learned of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside the business. It appears that they may be Asian, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said. The killings came amid a recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans that coincided with the spread of the coronavirus across the United States.
