CURRENT AFFAIRS
23 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) CBI court finds Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty of murder in Sister Abhaya case of 1992.
Twenty-eight years after the death of Sister Abhaya, a student nun belonging to the Knanaya Catholic community, at a convent hostel in Kottayam, a Special Court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Thiruvananthapuram has found the first and third accused in the sensational case, Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy, guilty of murder. The much-awaited verdict was pronounced by the Special Court judge J. Sanal Kumar on December 22. The second accused in the case, Father Jose Poothrukayil, was let off last year as the court held that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to proceed against him and a key witness (whose statement was not properly recorded) had died before the trial. A plea challenging this decision of the CBI court too was subsequently rejected by the Kerala High Court. On March 27, 1992, the body of the 19-year-old nun was found inside the well of the St. Pius X Convent Hostel in Kottayam. The local police and the Crime Branch investigated the case, but both the agencies concluded that it was a case of suicide, against the popular perception in Kerala at that time. At the time of the incident, Sister Abhaya was a second-year pre-degree student at the BCM College, Kottayam, where Father Thomas Kottoor was a teacher at the BCM College. Sister Sephy was the person in temporary charge of the convent hostel. What followed the death of the nun was nearly three decades of controversial inquiries by various agencies, the disappearance or death of suspects and witnesses, and unbelievable efforts to distort the case at every stage by unseen hands with political backing.
B) Kerala Governor disallows special Assembly session on new farm laws.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan today declined approval for a special assembly session planned on Wednesday to discuss and pass a resolution against the three contentious central farm laws, PTI reported. Khan’s decision evoked a sharp response from the government side, with Agricultural Minister V S Sunil Kumar calling it undemocratic, while opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said it was unfortunate and against democratic values. Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said the Governor’s decision was unprecedented and added the state government can take a decision after considering all legal aspects. The decision to convene the special one-day session was taken by the CPI-M led LDF government at a Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. The session would not be held on Wednesday since the Governor did not accord sanction, assembly sources told PTI. While Vijayan’s office had said the session was proposed to discuss the agricultural acts against which farmers have held country-wide agitations, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in a tweet had said Kerala was in total solidarity with the farmers’ struggle and the session would discuss and reject the laws. The government had in December last year convened a similar special session of the assembly, which passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, becoming the first state in the country to take such a measure then.
C) Gupkar Alliance takes lead in J&K DDC polls.
The Gupkar Alliance, a grouping of six parties, has taken a significant lead over the BJP in the District Development Council (DDC) polls held last week in J&K. Counting is still under way. Officials said the Alliance has won 52 DDC segments out of 280, while the BJP has won 33. The Alliance is leading in another 52 other seats, while the BJP is leading in 31. The official figures suggested that PDP has won 19 seats, NC 27, Peoples Conference (PC) one and the CPI(M) five. The Congress has won 13 seats and is leading in 10 others. The BJP, however, managed to win four seats from the bastions of the regional parties in Srinagar, Shopian and Bandipora.
D) U.P. Police ‘prevent’ Sisodia from visiting govt. school in Lucknow.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia was on Tuesday allegedly prevented from visiting a government school in Lucknow by the Uttar Pradesh police. Sisodia was on his way to check out a state-run school when police blocked his vehicle. The AAP leader said he had landed in Lucknow after accepting a challenge by Uttar Pradesh Education Minister Satish Dwivedi, who recently in a war of words between the two parties had invited Sisodia to visit schools in his State to compare the models of education in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. As quoted by a news agency, Dwivedi had on December 15 invited Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Sisodia to visit schools in Uttar Pradesh, and said it would open their eyes. On Tuesday, Sisodia’s car was not allowed to pass by the police, following which he spoke to a senior police officer on phone, kept on speaker mode. Sisodia alleged that the police were preventing him from visiting the school as the government wanted to hide the Yogi Model.
E) In 2019, 1.7 million deaths in India attributable to air pollution, says study.
In India, 1.7 million deaths were attributable to air pollution in 2019. This was 18% of the total deaths in the country, while the economic loss due to the lost output from premature deaths and morbidity from air pollution was 1.4% of the GDP (equivalent to ₹260,000 crore) during this time. This is as per a scientific paper titled ‘Health and economic impact of air pollution in the States of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 2019’. The study, published in the Lancet Planetary Health, documents the trends in health loss due to air pollution and its economic impact in every State of India using the latest improved methods and data. The data released indicated that household air pollution was decreasing in India, resulting in 64% reduction in the death rate attributable to it from 1990 to 2019, whereas the death rate from outdoor ambient air pollution increased during this period by 115%. The economic loss due to air pollution as a percentage of the state GDP was higher in the northern and central India states. It was the highest in Uttar Pradesh (2.2% of GDP) and Bihar (2% of GDP). India would benefit from investing further in state-specific air pollution control strategies, as this will facilitate its aspiration of reaching a US$5 trillion economy by 2024, said the paper. The findings in this analysis show that while 40% of the disease burden due to air pollution is from lung diseases, the remaining 60% is from ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and neonatal deaths related to pre-term birth, highlighting the broad-ranging impact of air pollution on human health, noted Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR.
F) PM Modi awarded ‘Legion of Merit’ by Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was awarded the ‘Legion of Merit’ by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday for his role in advancing the India-U.S. relationship. The award was also presented to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. India, the U.S., Japan and Australia constitute the ‘Quad’ group of countries seen as an alternative to Chinese dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. The award was presented by O’Brien to India’s U.S. Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who accepted it on Modi’s behalf. The Legion of Merit, instituted in 1942 by former U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces and also members of foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) armed forces and sometimes heads of state or government. The award is presented to foreign recipients in four categories: Chief Commander, Commander, Officer and Legionnaire. Other Indians who have won the award include Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa who received the Legion of Merit (Degree: Chief Commander) in 1949 from then U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
G) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 1,01,01,060 with the death toll at 1,46,472. The new strain of Covid-19 reported in the U.K. seems to increase transmissibility and infection rate but the mutation has so far not affected the severity and case fatality of the disease, V.K. Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said today at a press conference. He added that, as of now, the mutation had not been detected in India, and that it had no impact on the potential of the emerging vaccines being developed in India or available internationally. There is no cause for concern, no need to panic, as of now. But we have to stay vigilant, he said. Dr. Paul cautioned that SARS-CoV-2 was a smart virus which changes its behaviour. The new strain in the U.K. has undergone 17 changes, increasing its transmissibility by 70%. In a way, it has become a super-spreader. We are keeping a close watch on the developments and the recently collected virus samples are being prioritised for genetic sequencing, he explained. Replying to a question on some passengers from the London-Delhi Air India flight on Monday who tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in India and the precautions in place for more incoming flights, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the Union Health Ministry has issued comprehensive guidelines with respect to the passengers who came from, or through, U.K. from November 25 to December 23. Their lists will be shared with the States/UTs so that their samples are collected for conducting tests. Contact tracing will be done in positive cases, he said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Kushner joins flight from Israel to Morocco.
The first Israel-Morocco direct commercial flight landed in the North African kingdom on Tuesday to mark the latest U.S.-brokered diplomatic normalisation deal between the Jewish state and an Arab country. U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner was on board along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat. The U.S.-Israeli delegation was welcomed at the airport by Moroccan officials, ahead of a programme that includes a meeting with King Mohammed VI at the royal palace, and a visit to the grave of Mohammed V. The trip is aimed at showcasing the Trump administration’s achievements in Middle East diplomacy, weeks before Mr. Trump is replaced at the White House by President-elect Joe Biden. Morocco became the third Arab state this year, after the UAE and Bahrain to normalise ties with Israel under U.S.-brokered deals, while Sudan has pledged to follow suit. Speaking at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, Mr. Kushner said the country’s recent string of breakthrough deals marked a step towards a more normal co-existence between Jews and Muslims. The state we have lived in for the last 75 years, where Jews and Muslims have been separated, is not a natural state, he said before getting on the plane, which was painted with the Hebrew, Arabic and English words for peace.
B) Israel on the brink of fourth poll in two years.
Israel was headed on Tuesday for its fourth election in less than two years, with its Parliament set to dissolve at midnight after lawmakers rejected a last-ditch effort to salvage the fractured ruling coalition. The government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been inChing towards collapse for weeks and now the rightwing incumbent looks set to face a re-election battle as his long-awaited trial on corruption charges gets under way next year. The coalition, led by Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud and his rival Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party, has until the start of Wednesday to pass a 2020 budget or Parliament will automatically dissolve. Mr. Gantz demanded the government pass a budget covering both 2020 and 2021, arguing Israel needs stability. But Mr. Netanyahu has refused to endorse a 2021 budget. On Sunday, Blue and White said it had an agreement with Likud on a Bill to buy more time to pass both the 2020 and 2021 budget. But after yet another war of words between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz, Parliament rejected the Bill on Tuesday, with lawmakers voting against the coalition proposal 49 to 47.
C) ‘British PM, EU chief discussed Brexit, COVID-19 situation’.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen discussed Brexit and the COVID-19 crisis during a phone call on Monday evening, an EU source said. The previously undisclosed conversation came as London and Brussels try to thrash out a last-gasp post Brexit trade deal and scramble to respond to a new strain of the novel coronavirus detected in the U.K. Mr. Johnson and Ms. von der Leyen are pressing to break a logjam over fishing rights with just nine days to go before Britain leaves the EU single market and customs union. The two sides are haggling over the cut EU fishermen would take to their current catches in Britain’s rich waters and the length of a transition period to phase in the changes.
The talks have risked being overshadowed by the crisis over the new coronavirus strain found by London, that has seen countries in Europe and around the world cut travel links to Britain. The EU is scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after cross-channel traffic was left snarled as France shut down entry for passengers and goods.
Ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 members are to meet later Tuesday to try to hammer out a plan to allow cargo to start moving again and EU nationals to return home.
