CURRENT AFFAIRS
20 JULY 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) COVID Watch – Numbers and Developments.
The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stands at 11,15,080 with the death toll at 27,512. As per the Union Health Ministry release, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of India has fallen below 2.5% for the first time on 19 July. The Ministry told that this reduction was because of the focused efforts of the Centre and State/UT governments on efficient clinical management of hospitalized cases.
B) States, Union Territories differ on a date for reopening schools.
All educational institutions have been shut down since mid-March due to the pandemic, leaving 25 crore children across the country out of school. In many states, some form of distance learning has started by using online resources as well as television and radio programmes. On July 15, the HRD Ministry held a videoconference with the State representatives to discuss the School Safety Plan. Assam was the only State willing to open at the end of July. Of the 36 States and UTs, 21 said that they had not taken a decision yet, with five of those adding that they were awaiting guidance from the Centre. On the other hand, Delhi, which has the third-highest number of cases, said that it would like to open schools preferably in August. According to the Ministry document, Delhi has dropped to sixth place inactive cases. Bihar, Chandigarh and Haryana are also willing to reopen around Independence Day, while Puducherry says it will make a decision after July 31. The rest of the States are pitching for a date in September or beyond.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Indian American votes are crucial for ‘battleground’ states.
Less than 4 months are left for the elections and the democrats urged the Indian-American community to vote and support presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden emphasizing his character and history of support for the India-U.S. relationship. Tom Perez said that a significant difference in the elections can be made by the vote of Indian-American and the AAPI ( Asian-American and Pacific-Islander community). There are approximately 1.3 million American-Indian voters in 8 battleground States. These are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
B) China has crossed its 1960 claims along the LAC.
Chinese troops are currently present on the north bank of Pangong Lake in Ladakh in an area that is beyond what China described as its official boundary during talks with India in 1960, official records show. China’s tent which is set up on the bend of the Galway River, which sparked the violent face-off resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese personnel on June 15, was also beyond China’s territorial claims, as per the 1960 records. The records contradict China’s current claims of where the Line of Actual Control (LAC) runs. In 1960, India certainly viewed China’s presence in areas where the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) transgressed in May as being beyond Beijing’s own territorial claims.
C) UN draft declaration goes soft on demand for reform.
Despite India’s repeated demands for reform of the UN Security Council, the process of the expansion of the membership is expected to slow down this year. The General Assembly at the meeting which was held on September 15, 2008, had decided to proceed with the modalities so as to prepare and facilitate intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation. They also decided to increase the membership of the Security Council and other matters which are related to the Council. The Resolution of 2005 had expressed the strong global will to stop the misuse of military power.
D) Twitter disables Trump tweet over a copyright issue.
Twitter disabled a campaign-style video that is retweeted by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 19, citing a copyright complaint. The video included music from the group Linkin Park was disappeared from the Twitter feed of President late on 19 July with the notification that this media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner. Twitter began challenging the tweets made by Donald Trump in May and since them, twitter has repeatedly clashed with him. Twitter has disabled or commented on tweets made by Donald Trump because there were copyright complaints or violations of a policy against threatening violence.
SPORTS NEWS
A) Brathwaite, Brooks defy England.
Off-spinner Dom Bess removed nightwatchman Alzarri Joseph with his second ball of the day, having him caught by Ollie Pope at short-leg for 32. Shai Hope, whose only two Test hundreds came at Headingley in 2017, helped Brathwaite add 53 before he was caught behind jabbing at a Sam Curran cutter. After Chris Woakes had bowled the 41st over of the West Indies innings, umpire Michael Gough was quick to notice that Dom Sibley had used saliva on the ball. The umpires pulled out a sanitised tissue to clean the ball on both sides. The fielding side will get a warning if saliva is used. If a team does it more than twice, it will be given a five-run penalty.
