CURRENT AFFAIRS
24 March 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) All those above 45 can get vaccinated for COVID-19 from April 1.
The government has announced that from April 1, people above 45 will be eligible to get COVID-19 vaccines. It has requested them to get registered for the inoculation. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Cabinet after its meeting, Union Minster Prakash Javadekar said that even people without comorbidities who are more than 45 can get vaccinated. Javadekar said the Cabinet also decided that the second dose of the vaccine can be taken between four and eight weeks, on the advice of doctors. It was allowed to be taken between four to six weeks earlier, but scientists have now said that taking the second dose between four and eight weeks gives improved results.
B) 81% of samples in Punjab turn out to be positive for U.K. variant
With 81% of the latest batch of 401 COVID-19 samples sent by the State for genome sequencing testing positive for the U.K. variant, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday appealed to the people to get themselves vaccinated, even as he urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to widen the vaccination ambit since this mutant had been found to be infecting young people more. Expressing concern over the emerging situation, the Chief Minister stressed the need for the Central government to urgently open up vaccination for a bigger section of the populace. The process needed to be expedited, he said, pointing to the fact that experts had found the existing Covishield vaccine to be equally effective against the U.K. variant. It was essential to vaccinate more people to break the chain of transmission, he added. Capt. Singh also urged people to strictly adhere to all Covid-19 safety protocols, including wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. The appeal came after the State’s Covid expert committee head, K.K. Talwar, apprised him of the developments on the new variant in the State, which has been witnessing a surge in the number of Covid-19 positive cases during the last few weeks. Singh said Dr. Talwar had informed him that though the UK variant B.1.1.7 was more infectious, it was not more virulent. The B.1.1.7 variant is spreading rapidly in many parts of the world, representing 98% of the new cases in U.K. and 90% in Spain. Authorities in the U.K. have suggested it was up to 70% more transmissible than the original virus.
C) Turmoil in Bihar Assembly over Bill that empowers police to arrest anyone without warrant. Vehement opposition to a Bill introduced in the Bihar assembly by the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday led to unprecedented turmoil in the House, with police being called in to physically evict legislators who had laid siege to the Speaker’s chamber. Members of the opposition Grand Alliance, comprising the RJD, the Congress and the Left, were agitated over the Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021. The RJD legislators moved a motion against the Bill, raising slogans against it. The Bill, which was introduced last week, seeks to rename the Bihar Military Police and empowers it to arrest people without a warrant. Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav, who courted arrest while participating in a procession taken out against the ‘black law’, had given an inkling of what was in store at an early morning press conference. Today is the birth anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia who famously said that if the streets go empty, the legislature goes rogue, said Yadav, who also tweeted an Urdu couplet in the memory of revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who were executed on this date in the year 1931. When the Bill came up for debate, agitated Opposition members trooped into the well, where marshals tried to prevent them from clashing with those in the treasury benches. Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha adjourned the House till 4.30 p.m. but ended up being held hostage inside his chamber as Grand Alliance members surrounded it from all sides, shouting slogans.
D) Loan moratorium case: SC asks lenders to refund penal interest on EMIs.
The Supreme Court has directed banks and financial institutions to refund compound interest/penal interest collected on EMIs during the period of moratorium granted during the Covid-19 lockdown, from March 1 to August 31 last year. It is directed that there shall not be any charge of interest on interest/compound interest/penal interest for the period during the moratorium, a Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah ordered in a 148-page judgment. The court said the amount accumulated as compound/penal interest or interest on interest during the six-month moratorium on term loan EMIs should be given as credit/adjusted in the next instalment of the loan account. Justice Shah, who authored the judgment, reasoned that additional interest in the form of compound or penal interest is usually collected from loan defaulters. When the payment of installments had already been deferred during the moratorium, what was the need to burden borrowers, who were already reeling under the financial loss of a pandemic and lockdown, the court asked. The judgment also spelt relief for banks and lenders, with the court lifting its nearly six-month bar on them from declaring accounts of borrowers as non-performing assets (NPAs). In October last year, the apex court had stopped banks and lenders from declaring accounts of borrowers as NPAs. The court refused to entertain complaints from petitioners that the government did not do enough to ease the burden of financial strain during the pandemic.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) AstraZeneca may have used outdated info in vaccine trial: U.S.
Results from a U.S. trial of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine may have used outdated information, U.S. federal health officials said in a statement early on March 23. The Data and Safety Monitoring Board said in a statement that it was concerned that AstraZeneca may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data. AstraZeneca had reported on Monday that its Covid-19 vaccine provided strong protection among adults of all ages in a long-anticipated U.S. study, a finding that could help rebuild public confidence in the shot around the world and move it a step closer to clearance in the U.S. The company aims to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks. The government’s outside advisers will publicly debate the evidence before the agency makes a decision.
B) India abstains from vote on Sri Lanka resolution at UNHRC.
India on Tuesday abstained from a crucial vote on Sri Lanka’s rights record at the UN Human Rights Council. The resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ was, however, adopted after 22 member states of the 47-member Council voted in its favour. The government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main grouping representing war-affected Tamils of the island’s north and east, had sought opposite outcomes on the passage of the resolution. They had both been hopeful of getting India’s support to their respective calls. In a pre-vote statement, the Indian delegation said India’s approach to the question of human rights in Sri Lanka was guided by the two fundamental considerations of support to the Tamils of Sri Lanka for equality, justice, dignity and peace, and ensuring the unity, stability and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. They have always believed that these two goals are mutually supportive and Sri Lanka’s progress is best assured by simultaneously addressing both objectives, India said, reiterating its earlier position. India said it supports the call by the international community for the government of Sri Lanka to fulfill its commitments on the devolution of political authority, including through the early holding of elections for Provincial Councils and to ensure that all Provincial Councils are able to operate effectively, in accordance with the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution.
