CURRENT AFFAIRS
24 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers front rejects government’s talks offer yet again, seeks ‘concrete proposal’
Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a joint front of farmer unions, on Wednesday rejected the Union government’s recent offer to resume talks. Its leaders asserted that they were seeking the withdrawal of the three farm laws, and not amendments to them. At a press conference at the Singhu border, Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav stressed that farmers were ready for talks, but were waiting for a concrete proposal from the government and not a repetition of the already rejected proposals. He was reading out from a letter to the Agriculture Ministry by the Morcha in response to the government’s talks offer. Yadav said the government was treating farmers like political opponents and not citizens of this country with genuine concerns. The government should invite the farmers for talks with an open mind, a big heart and honest intentions, he added. Bharatiya Kisan Union general secretary Yudhveer Singh said the government was taking the protests lightly and playing with fire. Farmers represented around 60% population of the country and the government must listen to them. All-India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah said farmers had come all the way to Delhi to talk and get a solution for their concerns.
B) India loses Cairn Energy arbitration case.
British explorer Cairn Energy Plc has won an arbitration case against the Indian government, seeking ₹10,247 crore in retrospective taxes, sources said Wednesday. This is the second blow to the government in three months. An international arbitration tribunal had in September ruled against India levying retrospective taxes on the Vodafone Group. In the Cairn Energy case, an international arbitration tribunal ruled that the tax claim was not a valid demand and asked the government to repay the funds withheld, along with interest, to Cairn. India had seized dividend, tax refund, and shares to partly recover the dues. The judges unanimously ruled that India’s retrospective tax demand breached the U.K.-India bilateral investment protection treaty, Cairn said in a statement on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Cairn Energy surged as much as 45% in early London trading, its biggest intraday gain in almost 17 years.
C) Upset over idea of Jaitley statue, Bedi quits DDCA, wants his name removed from stands.
Lambasting the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for deciding to install a statue of its late former President Arun Jaitley at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground, spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi has asked the body to remove his name from the spectators’ stand, named after him in 2017. Lashing out at the DDCA’s culture, which he alleged promotes nepotism and puts administrators ahead of cricketers, Bedi also renounced his membership of the body. He made the demand in a scathing letter addressed to DDCA President Rohan Jaitley, the son of the late politician. Arun Jaitley was DDCA president for 14 years, from 1999 to 2013, before quitting cricket administration. The body plans to have a six-foot statue of him installed at the Kotla to honour his memory. DDCA had named one of the stands after Bedi in November 2017. Putting his decision in context, Bedi wrote that he was never a fan of Arun Jaitley’s working style and always opposed any decision that he did not agree with.
D) J&K DDC polls: Gupkar alliance increases tally to 110, BJP to 75.
The Gupkar Alliance, a grouping of six parties, increased its tally to 110 seats out of a total of 280 seats in Jammu and Kashmir’s District Development Council (DDC) polls, and the BJP bagged 75 seats, according to the results announced for 277 seats so far. The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats, followed by National Conference (67), People’s Democratic Party (27), and Congress (26). The maiden DDC polls were conducted in 280 seats, with each district divided into 14 constituencies. A significant number of independents (49) also managed to register their wins. In many of the districts, the independents are likely to play a key role in determining who becomes the district chairperson. J&K has 20 districts and it remains to be seen which party secures the maximum number of chairperson posts. According to the trends, the Gupkar alliance and the Congress are likely to have their chairmen in around 13 districts, while the BJP is confident of winning five to six.
E) Father Thomas Kottoor, Sister Sephy sentenced to life.
A special CBI court on Wednesday sentenced Fr. Thomas M. Kottoor and Sister Sephy to life imprisonment for the murder of 19-year-old novice sister Abhaya, who was found dead in a well at Pious X convent of the Knanaya Catholic order in Kottayam in March 1992. CBI Special Judge K. Sanal Kumar found the priest and nun guilty of murder and destruction of evidence under Sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The judge also imposed a second life sentence on Fr. Kottoor for house-trespass to murder under Section 449 of the IPC. The court said both life sentences would run concurrently. The judge also fined the accused ₹5 lakh each. The CBI had argued for capital punishment for the suspects. It said the case fell in the rarest of rare category, which warranted forfeiture of life. Fr. Kottoor and Sister Sephy pleaded for clemency. They cited ill-health. Sister Sephy said she had aged parents to support on her meagre stipend as a nun. The case, plagued by legal wrangling, had meandered through various judiciary levels for almost 28 years before reaching the trial stage in August last. The CBI case was that the accused had killed Sister Abhaya after the novitiate found them in objectionable circumstances when she went to collect drinking water from the convent’s kitchen on the night of March 27. The accused were startled by Sister Abhaya’s unexpected appearance. To prevent their liaison from being known, Sister Stephy bludgeoned her on the side of her head with the blunt side of an axe. The suspects dumped the victim’s body in the convent well to make it appear as suicide, the CBI had argued. The counsel for the defence said the accused would appeal the verdict in the High Court.
F) Republic Bharat fined £20,000 by U.K. regulator for hate speech against Pakistani people.
Republic Bharat, the Hindi news channel arm of Republic TV, was fined £20,000, or around ₹19 lakh, by the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom), on Tuesday for broadcasting content that involved offensive language, uncontextualised hate speech and abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities. The channel has also been asked to air an apology. The fine was levied for the channel’s daily current affairs discussion programme ‘Poochta Hai Bharat,’ presented by Arnab Goswami and telecast on September 6, 2019. Ofcom’s order stated that the programme contained statements which amounted to hate speech against, and was abusive and derogatory about, Pakistani people on the basis of their nationality. It added that these statements would potentially be harmful and highly offensive to any person who did not share the sentiment being expressed by the presenter and his Indian guests. In Ofcom’s view, the potentially harmful and offensive nature of the content was compounded by the political context in which the episode of Poochta Hai Bharat was broadcast. The sanctions have been imposed on Worldview Media Network Limited, which holds the licence for airing Republic Bharat in the UK. The decision on breach of the Ofcom code was taken on February 24 this year and the fine has been laid on Tuesday.
G) PM to interact with farmers from six states on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday interact with farmers from six different states as part of an event to release the next installment of financial benefits under a central scheme. The Prime Minister’s Office said today that the event will be held virtually. As per details available, the PM will initiate the transfer of more than ₹18,000 crore to over nine crore beneficiary farmer families. The event is due to start at 12 noon and will be telecast live. The event is being held amid the ongoing farmers’ stir against the newly-formulated farm laws. The agitation on the Delhi borders is now nearing a month. PM Narendra Modi will release the next installment of financial benefit under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) on December 25 via video-conferencing. PM will enable the transfer of more than ₹18,000 crore to more than 9 crores beneficiary farmer families, the PMO said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Britain, France reopen cross-Channel travel.
France and Britain reopened cross-Channel travel on Wednesday after a 48hour ban to curb the spread of a new coronavirus variant but London has warned it could take days for thousands of trucks blocked around the port of Dover to get moving. The major transit hub reopened following an agreement between London and Paris to allow hauliers stranded in the U.K. to leave the country if they could produce a negative coronavirus test that was less than 72 hours old. It will take a few days to work our way through, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News. There’s going to be quite a lot of work to do. Much of Europe had swiftly banned British travellers following the emergence of a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 in Britain, and France’s decision to block freight movements sparked fears of food shortages. As dramatic images showed masses of lorries backed up in Dover, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under intense pressure to resolve the deadlock even as 11th-hour talks with Brussels on a post Brexit trade deal were at a stalemate. Mr. Jenrick said around 4,000 trucks were stranded in southern Kent county. Between 700 and 800 were parked alongside the motorway heading out of London via Kent and some 3,000 were at the nearby disused airport where drivers are to be tested.
B) Putin expects ties with U.S. to remain same under Biden.
With less than a month before Joe Biden moves into the White House, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he was not expecting much change in Moscow’s ties with Washington, while his aides said they were less optimistic. Mr. Biden is expected to take a tougher stance against Russia than Donald Trump. Mr. Putin was one of the last leaders to congratulate Mr. Biden on his election victory, sending his congratulatory six weeks after the November 3 vote and saying he was ready for collaboraticm. Mr. Putin told senior Russian officials he was not expecting any change in relations with the U.S. after Mr. Biden takes office, speaking after the president-elect promised to punish Russia for a major cyberattack. Now about the change of leadership in the U.S. and that it will be more difficult for us. He don’t think so. It will be business as usual, he said. Senior officials had earlier in the day said they did not expect anything good from the Biden administration. Mr. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was expecting nothing positive in ties with Washington.
C) Two linked to Russia probe among 15 pardoned.
U.S. President Donald Trump granted pardons on Tuesday to two people linked to a probe into alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia along with a list of others. They add to pardons already issued to political allies of Mr. Trump. The White House said in a statement that Mr. Trump had granted full pardons to 15 people and commuted all or part of the sentences for five others. A full pardon was given to George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser who admitted lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russians. Papadopoulos cooperated with investigators led by Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who conducted a two-year probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. He spent 12 days in jail after his guilty plea. Another full pardon was granted to Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who was also convicted in connection with Mr. Mueller’s probe. Blackwater guards Full pardons were also granted to four guards ofthe Blackwater security firm convicted over the 2007 killing of Iraqis. The guards were convicted of opening fire in Baghdad’s crowded Nisur Square, killing 14 civilians and injuring 17. The guards said they acted in self-defense in response to insurgent fire. The White House statement said the four men, former members of the military, have a long history of service to the nation.
D) Nepal SC forwards petitions to Constitutional Bench.
The Supreme Court of Nepal on Wednesday started hearing writ petitions filed against the dissolution of the House of Representatives by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. The court then forwarded the petitions to a Constitutional Bench. The Constitutional Bench, headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher J.B. Rana, will start hearing the petitions from Friday. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli recommended President Bhandari dissolve Parliament after he briefed his Cabinet colleagues during an emergency meeting on December 20. The Constitutional Bench will be in focus for the next few days as the Nepal Cornmunist Party (NCP) appears divided between two factions led by Mr. Oli and cochair of the party Pushpa Kamal Dahal Trachanda’ respectively. The Bench will examine the constitutionality of the decision to dissolve the House especially as the 2015 Constitution does not allow for such a move for political necessities. ‘Ihe judiciary’s intervention, however, is unlikely to repair the broken affairs of the NCP, which is now clearly divided between the factions led by Mr. Oli and his challengers Mr. Prachanda and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. Warring factions On Wednesday, a special meeting was convened under the leadership of Mr. Nepal and Mr. Prachanda which continued till late in the evening amid expectations that the group would declare the expulsion of Mr. Oli. The warring factions have adopted different tactics until now with the one led by Mr. Oli already preparing for general election and the Prachanda-Nepal-led faction focussing on the judicial and constitutional route to restore the dissolved Parliament. NCP general secretary Bishnu Prasad Poudel on Wednesday blamed Mr. Prachanda of triggering the current round of crisis and asked the Mr. Oli led faction to prepare for elections.
