CURRENT AFFAIRS
26 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmer issues: Modi lashes out at Mamata; Trinamool hits back.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her government of destroying the State and depriving its over 70 lakh farmers of benefits from the Centre’s flagship PM-KISAN scheme under which ₹6,000 per year is given to each farmer. Modi also made a veiled attack on the once-potent political force in the State, the Left parties, saying that those who ruled the State for three decades brought it down and did not do anything for farmers. Assembly elections are due in West Bengal in April-May next year and the BJP has already launched a massive campaign to unseat the Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in the State. Banerjee has been West Bengal’s Chief Minister since 2011 after ending 34-year-old Left rule in the State. The people following one specific ideology ruled Bengal for 30 years, brought the State down, and the whole country knows about it. The parties that do not speak on the benefit of farmers in West Bengal are engaged in harassing the citizens of Delhi in the name of the farmers and are ruining the economy of the country, he said. The TMC hit back at Modi for his remarks. While he (PM Modi) publicly claimed his intention to help farmers of WB (West Bengal) through his PM Kisan Yojana and alleges non-cooperation of the state government, the fact is that he is trying to mislead the people with half-truth and distorted facts, Banerjee said in a statement. BJP is repeatedly saying the farmers of West Bengal are being deprived of cash under this scheme. That is not true. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked the Centre to route the cash benefits through the state government and not directly to the farmers. The intention of the Modi government is to reap political benefits, TMC MP Sougata Roy said. Meanwhile, aanother batch of farmers and farm labourers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Committee (KMSC) started today from Punjab on a tractor-trolley ‘march’ to Delhi.
B) Two AAP MPs raise slogans in Central Hall of Parliament against farm laws.
With the winter session of Parliament cancelled, two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs raised slogans against the three farm laws in a failed attempt to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to pay tributes to former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee on the occasion of his 96th birth anniversary, in the Central Hall of Parliament on Friday. AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh tweeted a video of himself and his Lok Sabha colleague Bhagwant Mann holding placards and raising slogans while PM Modi walked out without acknowledging the two. Singh and Mann held posters demanding legal provision for Minimum Support Price (MSP) and shouted slogans demanding repeal of the farm laws and asking the government to pay attention to the protesting farmers at the Singhu border. The Parliament session is not being called. The winter session is cancelled. How do we raise our voice? How do we flag the farmers’ concerns? Thirty-two farmers so far have lost their lives in this agitation but the government is completely immune to their travails, Singh told. When pointed out that the protest failed to draw PM Modi’s attention, Singh said that he doesn’t bother sparing a moment to look at the concerns of the nation, why would he bother about us.
C) Dry run for Covid-19 vaccine rollout in 4 States next week: Govt.
The Centre is gearing up for the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine across the country, with four States all set to initiate a dry run for vaccine administration next week, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, and Punjab have been selected considering the geographical locations. Each State will plan it in two districts and preferably in different (five) session type settings e.g. district hospital, CHC/PHC, urban site, private health facility, rural outreach etc., a Ministry release said. The Ministry added that this exercise will enable end-to-end mobilisation and testing of the Covid-19 vaccination process prior to actual implementation. It noted that this will also provide a hands-on experience to programme managers at various levels. This two-day activity is planned on December 28 and 29.
D) Rajinikanth hospitalized in Hyderabad while shooting for his next film.
Rajinikanth, who was in Hyderabad for a movie shoot, was admitted to a private hospital on December 25 morning following severe fluctuations in his blood pressure. The news acquires significance coming as it does less than a week before he is expected to launch a political party in Tamil Nadu. A press release issued at 12.30 p.m. from Apollo hospitals, Hyderabad, said that though he did not have any symptoms of Covid-19, his blood pressure showed severe fluctuations and needed further evaluation for which he has been admitted to the hospital. He will be investigated and monitored closely in the hospital till his blood pressure settles down before being discharged. Apart from fluctuating blood pressure and exhaustion, he does not have any other symptoms and is hemodynamically stable. Rajinikanth has been in Hyderabad for the past 10 days to complete the shooting for his next film, Annathey, produced by Sun Pictures.
E) 21-year-old tipped to be Thiruvananthapuram mayor.
In a surprise move, the district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday proposed 21-year old Arya Rajendran’s name for the post of mayor of Thiruvananthapuram. If the party’s State Committee approves the choice, it will make her the youngest person to occupy that post. Though party leaders remained tight-lipped about the decision, CPI (M) sources confirmed the news. An official announcement is expected on Monday. Rajendran, who won from the Mudavanmugal ward in the state capital, is a B.Sc student at the All Saints College in the city. She is the current State president of the Balasangham, a children’s organisation. She is also a member of the State Committee of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the CPI (M)’s Kesavadev Road branch committee. Her father is an electrician, while her mother is an LIC agent.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Russia backs increase in oil output by OPEC+ from Feb.
Russia expects to support an increase in oil production by the group, known as OPEC+, of another 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from February at next month’s summit of the leading global oil producers, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. Oil prices are trading above $50 per barrel, after coming under pressure this week from concerns that new fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus will lead to reduced fuel demand. In comments, cleared for publication on Friday, Mr. Novak also said that Moscow views an oil price between $45 and $55 per barrel as the optimum level to allow for recovery of its oil production, which has been significantly reduced as part of the OPEC supply deal. Russia, other leading oil producers and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a group known as OPEC, agreed to reduce output to support the global oil market as the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened fuel demand. Since the agreement on a record global supply cut in April, OPEC has progressively reduced the cuts and is expected in January to release an extra bpd into the market.
The group holds its next online summit on January 4. If the situation stays normal and stable, we will support this position (increase by bpd), Mr. Novak told reporters.
B) Israeli jets fly over Beirut, blasts reported in Syria.
Israeli jets flew very low over parts of Lebanon early on Friday, terrifying residents on Christmas Eve, some of whom reported seeing missiles in the skies over Beirut. Minutes later, Syria’s official news agency reported explosions in the central Syrian town of Masyaf. Other Syrian media said Syrian air defences responded to an Israeli attack near the town in the Hama province. There was no immediate word on what the target was or whether there were any casualties. Israeli jets regularly violate Lebanese airspace and have often struck inside Syria from Lebanese territory. But the Christmas Eve flights were louder than usual, frightening residents of Beirut who have endured multiple crises in the past year, including the catastrophic August 4 explosion at the city’s port that killed over 200 people and destroyed parts of the capital. That explosion resulted from the detonation of a stockpile of ammonium nitrates that was improperly stored at the facility. There was no immediate word from Israel on Friday’s flights and alleged attacks on Syria. In the past few years, Israel has acknowledged carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Syria, most of them aimed at suspected Iranian weapons shipments believed to be bound for Hezbollah. In recent months, Israeli officials have expressed concern that Hezbollah is trying to establish production facilities to make precision guided missiles.
C) Russia opens criminal case against Navalny’s ally Sobol.
Russian law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case against Lyubov Sobol, an ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and took her in for questioning early on Friday after raiding her home, Mr. Navalny and his supporters said. There was no immediate comment from the police. Supporters of Mr. Navalny said the police action appeared to be a response to Ms. Sobol visiting the home of an alleged FSB security service agent in Moscow. Mr. Navalny had earlier said the man took part in a botched plot to poison him in August. The FSB has dismissed Mr. Navalny’s allegations as a provocation designed to discredit it. Ms. Sobol was briefly detained on Monday after visiting the alleged agent’s flat and ringing the doorbell. She was not let into the man’s flat. But Ivan Zhdanov, a la. wyer for Mr. Navalny’s anticorruption organisation, said police suspected Ms. SCP bol of violating the sanctity of someone’s home with the use or threat of violence, a charge that carries a punishment of up to two years in jail. Mr. Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics, said the authorities’ response was disproportionate and confirmation that his allegations were true. He was airlifted to Germany in August for emergency medical treatment after col. lapsing on a plane in Russia. Germany has said he was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him, an assertion many Western nations accept. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any suggestion Russia’s authorities were involved in poisoning him. Mr. Putin has said the incident was part of a U.S.-backed plot to try to discredit him.
