CURRENT AFFAIRS
20 January 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) SC panel to meet State govts, farm unions from Jan 21; Delhi Police asks farmers stay out of national capital on Republic Day.
The Supreme Court-appointed committee on farmers’ issues has decided to meet with State governments and State Agricultural Marketing Boards, along with farm unions and cooperatives, to seek their views on the farm reform laws, starting January 21. The panel has laid out a two-month roadmap for consultations after their first meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile, at the Singhu border, leaders of protesting farm unions again met with senior Delhi Police officials, who asked them to hold their Republic Day tractor parade on the Peripheral Expressways outside Delhi rather than enter the city. The Supreme Court will hear the issue again on Wednesday, just hours before union leaders and Central Ministers meet for the tenth round of talks. The talks were originally supposed to be held on Tuesday, but were postponed to Wednesday afternoon. The SC-appointed panel began work on Tuesday, chalking out a plan to hold wide-ranging consultations on the contentious farm laws, including a proposal to set up a portal to accept online feedback. The protesting unions have made it clear they are not interested in engaging with the panel, but are intent on continuing with the direct dialogue process with the Centre. Several union leaders privately expressed concerns about the one-day postponement of the tenth round of talks, worrying whether the Centre was relying on developments in the Court in the morning to influence the afternoon’s talks. He added that the farmers were still intent on holding a tractor parade on Outer Ring Road in the capital on January 26, after the official parade. The Delhi Police officials today said that Outer Ring Road was too congested. They suggested we stay on the KMP that is, the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal, or Peripheral Expressways outside the city.
B) Repeal of farm laws only solution to break deadlock: Rahul Gandhi.
Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi, flanked by Randeep Singh Surjewala and K C Venugopal, addressing the media on the farmers agitation issue at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi, flanked by Randeep Singh Surjewala and K C Venugopal, addressing the media on the farmers agitation issue at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference ahead of the 10th round of talks between the protesting farmers and the Union government, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi today said that the new farm laws were designed to destroy farming and create monopolies for three-four capitalists. Releasing a booklet on the farm laws titled ‘Kheti ka Khoon’ (Murder of Farming) to highlight the plight of farmers, he said repealing the laws was the only solution to break the deadlock. The farm laws would destroy the mandi system; farmers won’t get the price they deserved and the middle class would be paying a price for food that they had never imagined, he said. The biggest business in this country is agriculture. Now we are seeing the last bastion which was protected from monopoly being overrun by these new laws. They are designed to destroy Indian agriculture by destroying the mandi, the Essential Commodities Act, and by making sure that no farmer can go to court to protect himself, he said. Asked about the Supreme Court appointed expert committee, he refused to offer any comment except to say, Everyone was seeing the reality of the Supreme Court.
C) India asks WhatsApp to withdraw privacy policy.
The Indian government has asked WhatsApp to withdraw the recent changes in the privacy policy of the messaging app, saying unilateral changes are not fair and acceptable. In a strongly worded letter to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said India is home to the largest user base of WhatsApp globally and is one the biggest markets for its services. The proposed changes to the WhatsApp terms of service and privacy policy raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens, it wrote. The Ministry asked WhatsApp to withdraw the proposed changes and reconsider its approach to information privacy, freedom of choice, and data security. Stating that Indians should be properly respected, it said, any unilateral changes to the WhatsApp Terms of Service and Privacy would not be fair and acceptable.
D) Red Fort access restricted after bird flu scare.
After a sample taken from a dead crow found at Red Fort tested positive for bird flu, orders have been issued to restrict the entry of public into the monument, officials said on Tuesday. Around 15 crows were found dead in the premises of the Red Fort a few days ago. Entry to the public into monument has been restricted till January 26 as a precautionary measure. On Saturday, samples from a dead owl in the Delhi zoo had tested positive for avian influenza. Last week, the Delhi government had banned the sale of processed and packaged chicken brought from outside the city and ordered the closure of the Ghazipur poultry market in east Delhi for 10 days after samples taken from crows and ducks at parks and lakes in the national capital tested positive for avian influenza.
E) FIR lodged against Amazon Prime’s web series ‘Mirzapur’
An FIR has been lodged in Uttar Pradesh against the makers of the web series ‘Mirzapur’ on charges of outraging religious feelings and portraying a particular community as linked to crime. The FIR was lodged at Mirzapur’s Kotwali Dehat police station on a complaint of Arvind Chaturvedi, a local journalist who has also written a book on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his police complaint, Chaturvedi said the plot and dialogues of the web series have hurt his religious, social and regional sentiments and that it has provided a wrong portayal of Mirzapur city. The FIR names executive producers of the series Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar and Bhaumik Gondaliya and Amazon Prime Video platform, where the series has been running. In the FIR, Chaturvedi alleges that the web series portrays a specific community as linked to crime, shows illicit relationships and incest, slang and abuses, and caste discord. The series also projects the judicial system as false and polluted, he says. Ajay Kumar Singh, SP Mirzapur, said the FIR was lodged and legal action taken. Chaturvedi said he wanted the name of Mirzapur to be removed from the series. This fight will go on till the name of the Mirzapur web series is changed, he told the media.
F) Syllabus for JEE and NEET not to be reduced.
The syllabus for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will not be reduced in 2021, the Education Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. However, since several Class 12 boards have cut down their syllabi this year, both the engineering and medical entrance tests will offer more choices in their question paper patterns. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has reduced its Class 12 board examination syllabus by 30% in view of the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The syllabus of JEE and NEET will remain unchanged for the year 2021. However, unlike previous years, this year the candidates will have options to answer the questions in JEE and NEET Examinations, said the Ministry statement. It was issued as a clarification after Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s comments at a webinar on Monday were reported to suggest that the entrance tests would also be based on a reduced syllabus.
G) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,05,94,880 with the death toll at 1,52,763. Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog member (Health) V.K. Paul said today that concerns about adverse effects and serious problems post-immunisation now seem to be negligible and stressed that both the vaccines are safe. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that as per the data available so far, only 0.18% is the Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI), and 0.002 is the percentage of the people who were hospitalised following immunisation. These are fairly low, in fact, lowest in the world in the first three days. He added that India recorded the highest number of first day vaccinations for Covid-19 immunisation.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) U.S. won’t lift travel ban: Biden team.
Shortly after U.S. president Donald Trump announced the lifting of Covid-19 related travel restrictions on parts of Europe and Brazil, the incoming Biden administration said it would reverse the move. Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Monday removing restrictions on air travel for most non-U.S. citizens and permanent residents travelling from the Area, Ireland, the U.K. and Brazil starting January 26. The restrictions instituted last year were also applied to Iran and China these were not reversed by the executive order. Also, starting January 26, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has said that all those travelling by air into the U.S. Will need to show a negative COVID-19 test results before boarding their flights. These tests will have to be done during the 72-hour window before departure. Mr. Trump’s order cited this and cooperation from the countries on which restrictions were removed as reasons for easing the travel rules. This cooperation stands in stark contrast to the behaviour of the governments and state-owned enterprises of the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which repeatedly have failed to cooperate with the U.S. public health authorities and to share timely, accurate information about the spread of the virus, the order said.
B) Biden to introduce Bill for eight-year citizenship path.
United States President-elect Joe Biden plans to unveil a sweeping immigration Bill on the first day of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizen. ship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status a massive reversal from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. The Bill puts Mr. Biden on track to deliver on a major campaign promise important to Latino voters and other immigrant communities after four years of President Donald Trump’s restrictive policies and mass deportations. Expected to run hundreds of pages, the Bill is set to be introduced after Mr. Biden takes the oath of office Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the legislation. Under the legislation, those living in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2021, without legal status would have a five-year path to temporary legal status, or a green card, if they pass background checks, pay taxes and fulfill other basic requirements. From there, it’s a three-year path to naturalisation, if they decide to pursue citizenship. The Bill provides one of the fastest pathways to citizenship for those living without legal status of any measure in recent years, but it fails to include the traditional trade-off of enhanced border security favored by many Republicans, putting its passage in a narrowly divided Congress in doubt.
C) Chinese COVID-19 vaccines find takers in Southeast Asia.
China has signed deals with as many as 20 countries, many of which are in Southeast Asia, to offer its home-developed COVID-19 vaccines, Chinese media has reported. With five vaccines being developed in China, Beijing is offering them both as donations and on a commercial basis. Among the countries that are ordering Chinese vaccines are Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan, Brazil, Ukraine, and Serbia, according to reports in the Chinese state media. Pakistan on Monday became the first country in South Asia to approve a Chinese vaccine, giving the nod for emergency use for Sinopharm’s vaccine. Its officials are also in talks with another Chinese company, Cansino Biologics, for orders. Many orders for Sinovac Earlier this month, China offered its vaccines to Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as it held a multilateral dialogue with the four countries and Pakistan on anti-epidemic cooperation, but so far they have not agreed on orders. A third Chinese vaccine, CoronoVac, by the firm Sinovac, which is already being used fairly widely in China, has so far had the biggest takers overseas among the five Chinese vaccines. While Indonesia has placed orders for 125.5 million doses and its President Joko Widodo received a shot of CoronoVac live on television, Malay. sia has ordered 14 million doses, Chinese media reported. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offered the vaccine during a recent tour of Southeast Asia, and Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar are also expected to announce orders. China has offered 3 lakh doses to Myanmar.
SPORTS NEWS
A) India beats Australia by 3 wickets to retain Border-Gavaskar trophy.
An Indian cricket team saddled with broken bones and battered bodies showed a never-seen-before zeal to retain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy with a historic three-wicket win over Australia in the fourth and final Test here, successfully chasing a 328-run target to seal the four-match series 2-1. This is only India’s second Test series victory in Australia. Rishabh Pant (89 not out off 138 balls) played a critical role in chasing down the target on a fifth day wicket and ending the home team’s 32-year-old unbeaten run at the ‘Fortress Gabba’ in Brisbane. The BCCI has announced a ₹5 crore bonus for the triumphant Indian team.
