NATIONAL NEWS
A) At House panel meeting, BJP MPs oppose discussion on COVID-19 vaccines, variants; stage walkout.
A meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology on Wednesday to discuss vaccine development for Covid-19 and genetic sequencing of coronavirus and its variants saw high drama with the BJP members objecting to deliberations on these subjects, claiming that any investigation into it could demoralise the scientific community. Sources said the BJP members staged a walkout when Chairman and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh refused to postpone the meeting as demanded by them. They argued that it was not the opportune time to debate vaccine development since the country was still fighting the pandemic. They insisted that the question whether it was appropriate for the committee to discuss the matter be referred to the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. Countering them, Opposition members asserted that four lakh persons have lost their lives and a forensic assessment of the pandemic was essential and urgent. AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, IUML’s E.T. Mohammad Basheer, CPI’s Binoy Viswam and other Opposition members vehemently called for the meeting to continue. BJP MP from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj demanded a vote to settle the dispute. Maharaj had written to Ramesh ahead of the meeting, protesting against the choice of the subject. A few other BJP members too, sources said, wrote to Ramesh on similar lines. There were 11 BJP MPs and seven Opposition members. Ramesh, sources said, refused to hold a vote. He argued that the meetings of a parliamentary standing committee are always conducted through consensus. There would be no vote, he said, even if this is the last meeting I chair, one of the members who attended the meeting said. With the impasse continuing, Ramesh, the sources said, remained adamant that the meeting would not be postponed and he called for the witnesses who were waiting for nearly an hour. At this stage, the BJP MPs staged a walkout. A few of them returned to the meeting to hear the official. Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India K VijayRaghavan; Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology; and Director General of CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) Dr. Shekhar C. Mande; and other officials participated in the meeting. Niti Ayog member and Chairman of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 Dr. V.K. Paul, who was also called as a witness, skipped the meeting. During the last 90-minutes of the meeting, the members managed to ask a few questions, including why India’s genome sequencing is at a miserable 0.13 percentage as against the five percent target. So far, only genome sequencing of only 40,000 samples have been done. Now that technology transfer of Covaxin has been done to few other domestic manufacturers, questions were also asked on what will be the pricing for these new vaccines. Swarup did not answer the questions raised by the members on the issue.
B) ED transfers assets of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi worth ₹8,441.50 cr. to banks.
The Enforcement Directorate has transferred assets worth ₹8,441.50 crore to public sector banks that suffered losses to the tune of ₹22,585.83 crore due to frauds committed allegedly by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. All three accused have fled overseas. The agency said it recently transferred attached shares worth ₹6,600 crore to a State Bank of India-led consortium as per an order of a PMLA (Prevention of Money-Laundering Act) Special Court, Mumbai. On Wednesday, the Debt Recovery Tribunal, on behalf of the consortium, sold the shares of United Breweries Limited for ₹5,824.50 crore. Further realisation of ₹800 crore by sale of shares is expected by June 25. Owing to the help extended by the ED, the public sector banks had earlier recovered ₹1,357 crore by selling the shares. Thus, the banks shall be realising a total amount of ₹9,041.50 crore through sale of a part of the assets attached/seized by the ED, said the agency. As on date, of the total attachment worth ₹18,170.02 crore, assets valued ₹329.67 crore have been confiscated and properties worth ₹9,041.50 crore amounting to 40% of the total loss to the banks have been handed over to them. Based on the cases registered by the CBI, the ED had taken up a money-laundering probe that helped unearth a complex web of domestic and international transactions and stashing of assets abroad by the accused persons and their associates. They had used dummy entities controlled by them for rotation and siphoning of the funds provided by the banks. As part of the investigation, the ED took steps to attach or seize assets worth ₹18,170.02 crore, which included properties worth ₹969 crore located in foreign countries. The quantum of the attached and seized assets represents 80.45% of total bank loss of ₹22,585.83 crore, said the agency.
C) Rahul expected to appear before Gujarat court in defamation case on June 24.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to appear before a magistrate’s court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday to record his final statement in a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA over the former’s remark on the Modi surname. A week back, Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat A. N. Dave had directed Rahul Gandhi to remain present on June 24 to record his final statement in a defamation case filed by BJP MLA from Surat, Purnesh Modi, advocate Feroz Khan Pathan, a legal cell member of the Surat Congress, said on Wednesday. Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi in April 2019 under IPC sections 499 and 500 that deal with defamation. In his complaint, the MLA from Surat-West seat had alleged that Rahul Gandhi had defamed the entire Modi community by saying How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? while addressing a poll rally in 2019. In an election rally held at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, Rahul Gandhi had reportedly asked, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi…how come they all have Modi as the common surname. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? He was the Congress president when he had made this remark. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had appeared before the court in October 2019 and had pleaded not guilty for his comment. Rahulji is expected to attend the court proceedings on Thursday in a false defamation suit filed against him. He will arrive at 10 a.m. and leave at 12.30 p.m. He is coming only to attend the court proceedings, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda told reporters. Chavda said Gandhi will only be attending the court proceedings and no other engagements or political meetings have been planned.
D) Opening of tender for Central Secretariat buildings postponed again.
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) extended the last date of submission of bids and opening of technical bids for the construction of the first three buildings of the proposed new Common Central Secretariat from Wednesday to July 14. The CPWD issued a corrigendum on Tuesday extending the deadlines citing administrative reasons. This is the second time the deadlines have been pushed in a week, with the earlier extension being from June 16 to Wednesday. The CPWD had floated a modified tender on June 2, seeking technical bids for the construction and maintenance of three buildings to be made as a part of the larger Central Vista redevelopment project. The CPWD had first floated a tender on April 20. The project was estimated to cost ₹3,408 crore and would be the first of the 10 buildings proposed to be constructed.
E) Ramdev moves Supreme Court against FIRs over remarks on allopathy.
Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court against FIRs registered in various States against his alleged remarks on allopathy’s effectiveness in treating Covid-19 cases. He has urged the Supreme Court to protect him from any coercive action on the basis of the FIRs lodged by the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Patna and Raipur branches. Ramdev has also sought a transfer of the FIRs to Delhi and their consolidation. He has been booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005. The cases are based on his alleged remarks on video about allopathy and medicines such as Remdesivir, Fabiflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India to treat Covid-19 patients. The IMA had reacted to the remarks strongly and sent him a legal notice.
F) Cabinet approves additional food grain for Food Security Act beneficnotice.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the allocation of additional foodgrain to beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for another five months, from July to November. The Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to continue allocating additional 5 kg of food grain per person every month under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to the 81.35 crore beneficiaries, a government statement said. The additional foodgrain would entail a subsidy of ₹64,031 crore, it noted. As Government of India is bearing the entire expenditure towards this scheme without any contribution by States/UTs, an additional expenditure of about ₹3,234.85 crore would be required to be met towards transportation and handling and FPS dealers’ margins etc. by Government of India. Thus, the total estimated expenditure to be borne by Government of India will be ₹67,266.44 crore, it stated. The total amount of foodgrain to be distributed was estimated to be 204 lakh metric tonnes. Additional allocation will ameliorate the hardships faced by poor due to economic disruption caused by coronavirus, it added.
G) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,00,67,079 with the death toll at 3,91,331. The Union Health Ministry has said that ownership of a mobile phone is not a prerequisite for Covid-19 vaccination and production of address proof for availing vaccination is not mandatory. In a release issued on Wednesday, the Ministry said it was also not mandatory to pre-register online on Co-WIN for availing vaccination. For easy understanding of users, Co-Win is now available in 12 languages. These include Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Gurumukhi (Punjabi) and English, said the Ministry. While one of the nine identity cards, including Aadhaar, Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), ration card with photo and disability ID card, is required for availing of vaccination, special provisions have been made by Central Government for organising vaccination sessions for those who may not have any of the nine specified identity cards or own a mobile phone, noted the release.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Iran says it foiled attack on atomic energy agency building.
Iran said it foiled a sabotage attack on Wednesday on an atomic energy agency building in a mysterious incident that comes as the U.S. blocked Iran-linked websites and as talks to revive a nuclear deal progressed. State television said a sabotage operation against one of the buildings (of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) was foiled without causing any casualties or damage. The saboteurs failed to carry out their plan, the broadcaster added, without identifying the building or the nature of the attack that had been averted. The news of the attack came a day after the U.S. Justice Department said it. Earlier, Iran had shut down its Bushehr nuclear power plant temporarily seized 33 Iranian government-controlled media websites, which it alleged were hosted on U.S .- owned domains in violation of sanctions. Tehran warned on Wednesday that Washington’s decision to block the sites was not constructivefor ongoing talks aimed at bringing the United States back to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Wednesday’s sabotage attack also comes two days after Iran said it temporarily shut down its only nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the country’s Gulf coast for maintenance work. The developments come days after ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iran’s next President in an election the U.S. denounced as neither free nor fair. Mr. Raisi, seen as close to the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Monday he would not allow the nuclear negotiations to drag on. He is set to replace President Hassan Rouhani.
B) Khashoggi killers were trained in the U.S. : report.
Four members of the Saudi hit squad that killed U.S based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had received paramilitary training in the United States that had been approved by the State Department, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Khashoggi, a Saudi-born U.S. resident, who wrote for The Washington Post, was an outspoken critic of the Saudi leadership, with which he had once been close. He was murdered on October 2, 2018, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of agents sent from Saudi Arabia. Four of those operatives, The New York Times said, had received training from a private American security group, Tier 1 Group, a move first authorised by the administration of former President Barack Obama in 2014. That training continued at least until the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, the newspaper said. It cited a document provided to the Trump administration by a top official from the parent company of Tier 1 Group, the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, who had applied for a senior post at the Pentagon. In his written testimony, Louis Bremer confirmed that Tier 1 Group did provide training to the Saudi agents, but insisted that the training was protective in nature and unrelated to their subsequent heinous acts. The U.S. State Department, contacted by AFP, said it could not comment on this information but called for the responsible use of American military equipment and training.
