CURRENT AFFAIRS
20 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Suvendu Adhikari leads defections from TMC to BJP in Bengal.
West Bengal on Saturday witnessed one of the biggest political defections in recent times, with a host of Trinamool Congress leaders, including former Minister and heavyweight leader Suvendu Adhikari, joining the BJP at a rally addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Six MLAs of the Trinamool Congress, one each from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) , the Communist Party of India and the Congress joined the BJP. Sitting TMC MP from Bardhaman Purba Sunil Kumar Mondal also defected to the BJP. Along with Mr. Adhikari, who represents the Nandigram Assembly seat, the other MLAs who switched sides are Banashri Maity, MLA from Kanthi Uttar; Biswajit Kundu, MLA from Kalna; Saikat Panja, MLA from Monteshwar; Silbhadra Dutta, Barrackpore MLA; Sukra Munda, MLA from Nagrakata; and Dipali Biswas, Gazole MLA. Tapashi Mondal, CPI(M) MLA from Haldia; Ashok Dinda, CPI MLA from Tamluk; and Sudip Mukherjee, Congress MLA representing Purulia, joined the BJP. Other than the lawmakers, a number of district-level leaders of the Trinamool Congress, including some from the minority community, also joined the BJP. Mr. Adhikari joining the BJP, which comes after months of speculation of his political future, is being seen as the most significant political development ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The Trinamool Congress’s biggest challenge seems to be keeping its flock of leaders together as the development today may trigger exodus of other leaders from the party.
B) After marathon brainstorming, Cong. decides to hold “chintan shivir”.
After a nearly five-hour-long brainstorming session of its leaders, including members of the group of 23 (G-23), at its president Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence on Saturday morning, the Congress has now decided to hold a chintan shivir (conclave) to strengthen the party. The backdrop to this latest move is renewed calls among party members for Rahul Gandhi to take over as Congress president once again, Mr. Gandhi said he was willing to work for the party but didn’t quite make his stand clear on returning as the party chief. After the meeting, senior leader Pawan Bansal quoted Mr. Gandhi as saying that he is willing to work for the party as all of them desire. This is the first time Ms. Gandhi is meeting senior leaders in person ever since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions kicked in. It is also the first time she is meeting a section of the G-23 leaders, who had earlier asked for active, visible and full-time leadership. In August, they had written a letter to Ms. Gandhi arguing for collective leadership, organisational revamp, internal elections and decentralised decision-making process. Among the G-23 leaders attending Saturday’s meeting are Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithvi Raj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor. Other senior leaders include former Union Ministers P. Chidamabaram, Kamal Nath, Ambika Soni and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Party general secretaries Ajay Maken and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were in attendance.
C) Farmers already reaping benefits of new reforms: PM Modi.
Farmers are already reaping the benefits of the reforms brought in six months ago and better infrastructure and market access for the farm sector could take the rural economy to new heights, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. Mr. Modi urged industry to significantly scale up their domestic investments, so as to evoke greater confidence in the country’s growth story among foreign investors. It was imperative for businesses to devote more energy to bridging the rural-urban divide and support women, youth and smaller enterprises, he said in an address at the Assocham Foundation week. Keeping the country’s needs in mind, work on the formulation of new laws is continuing ceaselessly. The benefits of the farm reforms that were implemented six months ago, have also begun reaching the farmers. If our farm sector gets access to better promotion, infrastructure and markets, then our entire rural economy can reach the peak, he stated. India is also capable of fulfilling its own needs and help the world. From farmer to pharma, India has demonstrated this. Now in vaccines also, India will not only fulfil its own needs but also deliver on the hopes of several countries in the world, he asserted. Industry can help multiply the efforts of the government over the past six years to reduce the rural and urban divide. ASSOCHAM members can help give our villages’ produce a global platform. To ensure that the farmers in villages can reach global markets digitally, we are working on providing broadband connectivity to every village, he said. Mr. Modi referred to rural opportunities like organic farming and herbal products that could be promoted by industry bodies around the world. The Central government, State governments and farmer organisations should work together, he urged.
D) India may skip Covid second wave: healthcare experts.
Healthcare experts have said that there may not be a second peak of Covid-19 in the country and even if it occurs, it is unlikely to be as strong as the first one. The comments come as the country’s Covciud-19 caseload surpassed the one crore mark, though the number of daily cases and daily fatalities have been continuously coming down. Noted virologist Dr. Shahid Jameel said India’s curve for daily cases is on a downward slope since a peak in mid-September. At this time, they are getting about 25,500 cases daily compared to over 93,000 cases per day in mid-September. He believe the worst is over. But there will be small peaks in the future just as they witnessed in late November, he said. They don’t think there would be a second peak as they have gone through the festive season (Dussehra to Diwali) and a State election without a significant jump. What is the reason for this? If they go by the second national sero-survey, likely cases were 16 times confirmed cases. By that factor, India would have 160 million cases now, he told PTI. When asked about a possible second peak of COVID-19, noted clinical scientist Dr. Gagandeep Kang opined the transmission will not be as rapid as was seen the first time and the peak will not be as high. She said that she don’t think the exposure is enough to say that they have herd immunity and won’t need to worry about it again, but she think it is enough to ensure that they will have some level of protection so that the transmission will not be as rapid as was seen the first time and the peak will also be not as high.
E) Stand-off with India amid COVID-19 showed China’s intention: Rajnath Singh.
The military stand-off with India in the northern sector amid the COVID-19 crisis showed China’s intentions, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday. Mr. Singh, who presided over the Combined Graduation Parade held at Air Force Academy (AFA) in Dundigal, around 45 km from Hyderabad, said India believed in solutions for any issue peacefully and through talks. They don’t want conflict, but peace. However, they will not tolerate any harm to the country’s self-respect, Mr. Singh said, while addressing the newly commissioned Flying Officers of the Indian Air Force. This is the new India, they are no longer weak. They are capable of answering any transgression, aggression and unilateral action at the border, he said. Stating that Pakistan continued its nefarious act at the border despite losing four wars, Mr. Singh said. In the western sector, Pakistan is still fighting proxy wars through terror despite losing four wars against us.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) U.S. planning to close its last two consulates in Russia.
Donald Trump’s outgoing administration is planning to close the two remaining U.S. consulates in Russia, the State Department confirmed on Saturday, as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office amid high tensions with Moscow. The U.S. will close its consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and suspend operations at its post in Yekaterinburg, a Department spokesperson said. The decision followed consultation with Ambassador John Sullivan and was part of efforts to ensure the safe and secure operation of the U.S. diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation, the spokesperson said. CNN reported that a State Department letter to Congress this month said the move was a response to on going staffing challenges for the U.S. Mission in Russia in the wake of the 2017 Russian imposed personnel cap on the U.S. Mission. Ten diplomats assigned to the consulates will reportedly be relocated to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, while 33 local staff will lose their jobs. The Department said the resulting realignment of personnel at U.S. Embassy Moscow will allow us to ad. Vance our foreign policy interests in Russia in the most effective and safe manner possible. No action related to the Russian consulates in the U.S. is planned, the spokesperson added. The closures would leave the Embassy as the last U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia. Moscow ordered the closure of the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg in March 2018 during a diplomatic spat sparked by the poisoning of Sergei Skripal on British soil.
B) China appoints new General for India border command.
China has appointed a new People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General to head its Western Theatre Command, its biggest military command which is responsible for the India border, replacing a long-standing General who oversaw a tumultuous four-year period that saw renewed border tensions. The announcement was made on Friday when President Xi Jinping, also Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), presented four military and armed police officers with certificates of order promoting them to the rank of General, the State media reported. Among the four were Zhang Xudong, who was named as Commander of the Western Theatre Command. The three other promoted othcers were Guo Puxiao, Political Commissar of the CMC Logistic Support Department, Li Wei, Political Commissar of the PLAYS Strategic Support Force which is responsible for cyber warfare, and Wang Chunning, Commander of the People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF), which is tasked with internal security. General Zhang has no prior experience in the Western Theatre, Tibet or Xinjiang, having spent much of his career in the northeastern Shenyang Military Region (now under the Northern Theatre Command) and since 2017 as the Commander of the Central Theatre Command, which is responsible for the security of the capital, Beiiing. General Zhao was in charge during the 2017 Dole lam crisis, when ties between India and China were strained during a 72-day stand-off on the plateau near the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, and also during the current tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which erupted in early May when the PLA carried out multiple transgressions across the LAC. In October 2017, he was appointed to the Communist Party’s 19th Central Committee.
