NATIONAL NEWS
A) Delhi govt ‘exaggerated’ oxygen needs by 4 times during second wave peak, says audit report
A report submitted by a Supreme Court-appointed oxygen audit team led by AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria said the Delhi government exaggerated its oxygen needs by four times during the peak days of the second wave of the pandemic. But the report also quoted the Delhi government’s version that the supply of oxygen from neighbouring States was erratic and unreliable at the time. The report is annexed with an affidavit filed by the Health Ministry in the Supreme Court. The Sub-group on Oxygen Audit Delhi led by Dr. Guleria recorded in its interim report that there was gross discrepancy in claims of oxygen consumption in Delhi. The oxygen consumption was portrayed as four times more than was actually required. There was gross discrepancy [about four times] in that the actual oxygen consumption claimed [1140 MT] was about four times higher than the calculated consumption based on the formula for bed capacity (289 MT), the report said. However, the sub-group referred to the Delhi government’s version that the schedule for the supply of oxygen was awry during those crunch days in May. Delhi had required adequate liquid medical oxygen stock to treat Covid-19 patients. It had to replenish its oxygen supply and avoid an SOS situation which the State had witnessed after April 24 on a consistent basis. At one point, the report recorded, the Centre was anguished over the discrepancy in liquid medical oxygen data uploaded. The report said it was not clear on what basis an allocation of 700 MT was sought by the Government of Delhi in the Supreme Court when the collected data had so many gross errors and it took an oxygen audit to point out the same. On May 5, the court had ordered the Centre to burn the midnight oil and prepare a comprehensive plan for the supply of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis. On May 7, it warned the Centre of coercive action if it did not supply 700 MT every day to Delhi. The orders had come amidst a large number of deaths during the raging second wave of the pandemic.
B) Optional exams in August for those unhappy with CBSE assessment, says Education Minister.
Class 10 and 12 students who are not satisfied with their marks assigned under the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) formula, will be given a chance to write their board examinations in August, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced on Friday. However, Nishank cancelled his planned interaction with students, failing to answer their queries on private CBSE candidates, entrance examinations and the current CBSE syllabus. The Minister’s office said that as he is still in hospital due to post-Covid-19 complications, he had been unable to directly interact with students as planned. The Minister posted a short audio message on Twitter detailing the Centre’s decision to cancel the Class 10 and 12 board examinations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the tabulation policy which the CBSE is using to calculate the results based on internal marks and scores from previous exams. The Board will declare results by July 31. For those who are not happy with the assessment formula, there is no need to worry. Exams will be conducted for you in August, said Nishank, adding that students’ health was the government’s top priority. CBSE has already said that those who choose to write the exams will have to abide by the marks they score, and cannot revert to the assigned marks under its tabulation policy. Nishank had previously said he would be interacting with students, and invited them to send in questions, concerns, doubts and suggestions via Twitter or Facebook. A number of such queries poured in from students, especially private candidates registered with the CBSE, seeking clarity on their examinations.
C) IT Minister slams Twitter for blocking his account over copyright violation.
Social media platform Twitter temporarily blocked Union Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s account on Friday afternoon after receiving a complaint for violation of U.S. copyright law. After his account was unblocked, Prasad lashed out at the microblogging platform, accusing it of violating the Information and Technology Act Rules by not giving him prior notice of the action, and of taking highhanded and arbitrary action against those who do not suit its agenda. The incident comes in the midst of a tussle between the Centre and Twitter over the company’s failure to comply with the new IT Act Rules which came into effect a month ago. Prasad said his account was blocked for almost an hour. He shared a screenshot of Twitter’s notice which said that it had received a compliant Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice for content posted on your account, and warned that accruing multiple DMCA strikes could lead to a suspension of your account. Twitter’s actions were in gross violation of Rule 4(8) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 where they failed to provide me any prior notice before denying me access to my own account, Prasad said. It is apparent that my statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of my interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers. Indicating that Twitter’s action had been provoked by his sharing a news clip of his interview to a television channel, he added that no channel or anchor has previously made any complaints about copyright infringements with regard to such clips being shared on social media. Further, it is now apparent as to why Twitter is refusing to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines because if Twitter does comply, it would be unable to arbitrarily deny access to an individual’s account which does not suit their agenda, said Prasad. Twitter’s actions indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform, he said. The Minister concluded his Twitter thread by strongly reiterating that no matter what any platform does they will have to abide by the new IT Rules fully and there shall be no compromise on that.
D) Centre can cut fuel cess by ₹4.5 per litre without revenue loss: ICRA.
The Union Government has room to cut the cess levies on petrol and diesel by ₹4.5 per litre without losing revenues, to ease inflationary pressures, rating agency ICRA said on Friday. Stressing that consumer sentiment had been singed by the second Covid-19 wave in the country, ICRA said that the record retail fuel prices are weighing upon disposable incomes and consumption and feeding into inflationary pressures. Retail inflation had crossed the central bank’s comfort zone at 6.3% in May. The revenue loss entailed by the rate cuts would be offset by the rise in fuel consumption expected over 2021-22 making this a revenue-neutral measure, the agency’s chief economist Aditi Nayar pointed out.
E) Maharashtra records first fatality from Delta plus strain
An 80-year-old patient from Ratnagiri district in the Konkan region became Maharashtra’s first fatality due to the Delta plus variant of the novel coronavirus, Health Minister Rajesh Tope confirmed on Friday. District officials said the deceased, who was from Ratnagiri’s Sangameshwar taluk, was suffering from other age-related comorbidities as well. Tope, speaking in Jalna, said that of the 21 ‘Delta plus’ patients identified thus far in seven districts across Maharashtra, only one had succumbed to the infection; the others were stable and some had been discharged from hospital. While urging people to strictly observe Covid-19-appropriate behaviour in the wake of the spread of the new variant, the Health Minister ruled out suggestions for an immediate stringent lockdown. The Delta variant is not new… with one death, the remaining 20 cases are being closely monitored by authorities. While there are not a large number of patients at present, we are collecting more samples in each of the 36 districts and the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) is assisting the State government in this, Tope said. He observed that the proportion of the cases in which the Delta plus variants were detected was barely 0.005%.So, while the Delta plus type has not yet grown significantly and not an immediate matter of concern, the variant’s properties are serious, Tope said. The highest number of Delta plus variant cases have been found in Ratnagiri, followed by seven in Jalgaon, two in Mumbai, and one case each in Palghar, Thane and Sindhudurg districts.
F) Chidambaram slams govt for insisting on polls in J&K before granting statehood
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said it was bizarre that the government wants to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir first and grant Statehood later. He said the Congress and other parties in Jammu and Kashmir want statehood first and the elections later. Congress and other J&K parties and leaders want Statehood first and Elections afterward. Government’s response is Elections first and Statehood later, he said on Twitter. The horse pulls the cart. A state must conduct elections. Only such elections will be free and fair. Why does the government want the cart in front and the horse behind? It is bizarre, he added. Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs and revocation of its special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, and said the Centre’s priority was to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly so that polls can be held.
G) Indigenous aircraft carrier, to be named INS Vikrant, is biggest ship made in India
The indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) that will be christened INS Vikrant, after its decommissioned sibling, can carry a total of 30 aircraft (fighters and helicopters). The biggest ship made in India and carrying a price tag of over ₹20,000 crore, it has an overall length of 263m and breadth of 63m. The towering vessel has 15 decks and displacement (weight) of 40,000 tonnes. Propelled by four gas turbines, it is expected to touch a speed of 30 knots (approximately 55 kmph). Its endurance is 7,500 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots (32 kmph), Navy sources said. The vessel can carry up to 1,500 personnel and has 2,300 compartments (in its hull), while a total of 2,100 km cables were used within. Cochin Shipyard Limited, which built the IAC, is expected to fully hand it over to the Indian Navy in 2022. After successful completion of basin trials in November 2020, preparation is on for sea trials. As per estimate, India needs three aircraft carriers one each in Western and Eastern naval commands, while the third can be docked for maintenance, if needed.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Amid vaccine shortage, Bhutan for mixing doses. Bhutan’s Prime Minister on Thursday said he has no problem in mixing-and matching COVID-19 vaccine doses to immunise a population of about 7,00,000 people in the tiny Himalayan nation. Bhutan, nestled between India and China, has one of the world’s lowest COVID-19 fatality counts, with just one person dying from the infectious disease since the pandemic began. Prime Minister Lotay Tshering who is also a practicing urologist – said over 90% of the country’s eligible population had received a first dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and that the deadline to administer the second dose after a gap of 12 weeks was scheduled to end this month. Knowing immunology, knowing how our body reacts to vaccines, I am comfortable to secure a second dose of any vaccine that is, of course, approved by the WHO. Earlier this year, India provided 5,50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Bhutan. But New Delhi has no surplus to give to any nation as India exits the worst of a deadly wave of the coronavirus that doubled its death toll in two months.
B) Tibet gets first bullet train, links Lhasa to India border.
China on Friday started operating the first bullet train line in Tibet, linking Lhasa to Nyingchi near the border with Arunachal Pradesh. The China State Railway Group said the 435-km line, on which construction began in 2014, has a designed speed of 160 km per hour and would connect the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region to the border city of Nyingchi with a travel time of three and a half hours. Over 90% of the track is 3,000 metres above sea-level, state media quoted the railway group as saying, and the line is the first electrified high speed rail (HSR) line, as China refers to bullet trains, in Tibet. China has the world’s longest HSR network. The Lhasa-Nyingchi rail is one among several major infrastructure projects recently completed in Tibet’s southern and southeastern counties near the Arunachal border. Last month, China completed construction of a strategically significant highway through the Grand Canyon of the Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is called in Tibet. This is the second significant passageway to Medog county that borders Arunachal, the official Xinhua news agency reported, directly connecting the Pad township in Nyingchi to Baibungin Medog county. The Lhasa-Nyingchirailis one section of the SichuanTibet railway line connecting the two provincial capitals, another strategic project deemed important enough for President Xi Jinping to officially launch it and described by the Chinese leader as a major step in safeguarding national unity and a significant move in promoting economic and social development of the western region. This will be the second railway line connecting Tibet to the hinterland, following the already open Qinghai-Tibet rail. The first section of the new line, from Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, to Yaan, was finished in December 2018, while work on the 1,011 km Yaan-Nyingchi line will compete the entire railway line by 2030. Zhu Weiqun, a senior Party official formerly in charge of Tibet policy, was quoted as saying by state media the railway will help transport advanced equipment and technologies from the rest of China to Tibet and bring local products out.
