CURRENT AFFAIRS
27 April 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) ECI ‘singularly responsible’ for Covid-19 surge, says Madras HC.
The Madras High Court on Monday squarely blamed the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the raging second wave of Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and asked if the officials were in some other planet when political parties took out Assembly election rallies without adhering to Covid-19 safety protocols despite several judicial orders. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said public health was of paramount importance and that it was distressing to note that Constitutional authorities had to be reminded of it. Only when a citizen survives, would he/she be able to enjoy the rights that a democratic republic guarantees to him/her, they said. They warned the ECI that a postponement of vote counting (scheduled for May 2) may be ordered if a blueprint on the maintenance of Covid-19 protocol at the counting centres was not produced before the court by April 30. The orders were passed on a writ petition filed by Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar, a contestant from Karur Assembly constituency, seeking a direction to the ECI to put in place stringent measures aimed at ensuring fairness in counting of votes. During the hearing, the Chief Justice expressed displeasure over the ECI having turned a blind eye to safeguarding public health.
B) MHA asks states to impose containment measures.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked States to impose localized restrictions and implement strict containment measures for at least 14-days to flatten the Covid-19 curve. In a letter to States on Monday, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said that considering the unprecedented surge, there is an urgent need for States and Union Territories to consider strict COVID management and control measures to bring the situation under control. States and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may impose local restrictions at district/sub district and city/ward level, with a view to contain the spread of COVID 19, the letter stated. The Health ministry had suggested night curfew, closure of malls and shopping complexes, and restricting office strength to 50% as some of the measures to contain the spread in areas that required intensive action. The spread of the infection has to be controlled through restricting the intermingling amongst people, the only known host for the COVID 19 virus. Social/ political / sports / entertainment / academic / cultural / religious / festival related and other gathering and congregations shall be prohibited. Marriages (attended by up to 50 persons) and funerals/ last rites (attended by up to 20 persons) may be allowed, Health Ministry said, adding that such localised restrictions should continue for 14 days. The Home Ministry also issued a clarification to the Sunday’s (April 25) order issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 on liquid oxygen. The order specifically excluded industries manufacturing ampules and vials, the pharmaceutical sector, and the defence forces from its ambit. The order had said that all liquid oxygen, including the existing stock with private plants shall be made available to the government and will be used for medical purposes only. Earlier on April 18, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had written to States prohibiting supply of oxygen for industrial purposes, except for the exempted nine industries that included the pharmaceutical, petroleum, nuclear energy and the steel sectors.
C) Govt. ordered Twitter to remove 50 posts critical of its handling of Covid-19 pandemic.
Twitter has removed over 50 posts from its platform following orders from the government. The majority of these tweets were critical of the Centre’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as India grappled with a record number of cases amid shortage of beds and medical oxygen. Many of the removed tweets had content related to shortage of medicine, beds, mass cremations, and the gathering of crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the pandemic. While blocked for viewing in India, these tweets will continue to remain visible outside the country. Some of the verified accounts which saw their tweets removed include Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera, Member of Parliament Revanth Reddy, a minister from West Bengal Moloy Ghatak, ABP News editor Pankaj Jha, Actor Vineet Kumar Singh, filmmaker Avinash Das and filmmaker and former journalist Vinod Kapri. The details of the order received by Twitter have been put up on the Lumen database, a project of the BerkmanKlein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University that collects and analyzes requests to remove material from the web. This story was first reported by technology news website Medianama. Earlier in February, the Centre had asked Twitter to remove nearly 1,200 accounts that had posted content related to ‘farmer genocide’ amid the ongoing protests by farmers against the new farm laws.
D) Karnataka announces 14-day lockdown.
The Karnataka Cabinet on Monday announced a partial lockdown across the State for 14 days starting from 9 pm on Tuesday (April 27). Only shops providing essential services would be open from 6 am to 10 am for the next two weeks, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced soon after a Cabinet meeting. There would be no public transport in the State and metro trains would not operate in Bengaluru City. All industries, except manufacturing, would remain closed. The garment industries, which hire lakhs of employees in the State, would remain closed. The Chief Minister said all agriculture-related activities would be allowed in rural areas. Agricultural markets in cities would remain closed. The government has also decided to provide free vaccination for Covid-19 for all those aged between 18 and 44 years in government hospitals and centres from May 1.
E) Tamil Nadu all-party meet resolves to allow oxygen production in Sterlite plant for four months.
An all-party meeting convened by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday unanimously resolved to temporarily allow Vedanta’s sealed Sterlite copper smelter plant in Thoothukudi to produce oxygen alone for four months, albeit with conditions. Considering the need for oxygen and the prevailing Covid-19 situation, it was resolved that the temporary permit may be extended later on, an official release said. The meeting decided that production of copper or the operation of any other units would not be allowed in the plant under any circumstances. Tamil Nadu should be given priority in the [usage of] oxygen produced at the plant. After fulfilling the oxygen needs of Tamil Nadu, the supply could be provided to other States, said another resolution adopted at the meeting. After a specific period, the power supply from Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (Tangedco) would be disconnected, said the resolution. The parties favoured allowing technicians only in the area where oxygen would be produced. The State government would ensure necessary safety measures. Under any circumstances, any unit other than those producing oxygen would not be allowed. The meeting also resolved to constitute a monitoring committee to be headed by the District Collector to supervise oxygen production in the plant. Superintendent of Police, Sub Collector, Thoothukudi, engineers from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, two experts to be nominated by the State government, members of the general public from the area/environment experts from NGOs and three anti-Sterlite activists would be part of the panel that would decide on operating the plant producing oxygen.
F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,73,95,241 with the death toll at 1,95,578. Dr V.K. Paul, Member (health) at the NITI Aayog, involved closely in India’s COVID management strategy, has recommended that everyone should wear masks even at home. The time has come to recommend wearing a mask even if you are at home, said Dr. Paul at the weekly press briefing by the Health Ministry. Other officials present at the briefing, including Joint Secretary, Lav Agrawal, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi also emphasised the importance of masks and social distancing but underlined multiple times that people shouldn’t be panicking. Dr .Guleria said that 85% of those afflicted by the virus would recover without need of any medication and not everyone needed to rush to a hospital. There is unnecessary panic all around and this is causing more harm than good. This is causing hoarding of drugs and misuse of valuable medical resources. An oxygen level of 94-95 doesn’t need an oxygen concentrator and you shouldn’t try to raise it at those levels. Above 94 means your organs are getting adequate oxygen, said Dr. Guleria. Before the pandemic, we’ve managed patients with these machines at 88-90. If it’s below 94, consult with your doc. For hospitals, it’s important to prevent leakage. The benefits of (antiviral) Remdesivir aren’t well established, he added.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Nomadland’ wins Oscar for Best Picture, ‘My Octopus Teacher’ wins ‘Best Documentary Feature’
‘Nomadland’, a recession-era tale about a community of van dwellers in the American West, won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday. The film stars Frances McDormand as a widow in a depressed Nevada mining town who turns her van into a mobile home and sets out on the road, taking seasonal jobs and making friends along the way. McDormand won her third Oscar for ‘Nomadland’, cementing her reputation as one of the best actresses of her generation. McDormand’s win makes her a member of an elite club that includes Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis and Jack Nicholson as the winners of three acting Oscars. The late Katharine Hepburn won a record four. My Octopus Teacher, which has Indian filmmaker Swati Thiyagarajan as associate producer and production manager, won the best documentary feature at the Oscars, which also honoured actor Irrfan Khan and costume designer Bhanu in its ‘In Memoriam’ segment.
B) Radioactive material detected in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka said last week it detected radioactive material on a China-bound vessel berthed at the southern Hambantota Port. The vessel has been asked to leave the Port, according to officials, as the shipping company failed to obtain prior clearance for dangerous cargo, as per Sri Lankan law. China’s Minister of Defence Wei Fenghe, meanwhile, will visit Sri Lanka this week, in the second high-level visit from Beijing to Colombo in the past six months. The Minister will arrive on April 27 and leave on April 29, Mohan Samaranayake, Director-General of the Department of Government Information, told The Hindu. The Chinese Defence Minister and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General’s visit follows that of a high-powered delegation, led by senior Chinese leader and top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi, in October 2020. China has provided crucial support to Sri Lanka in the pandemic year, by way of a $1 billion loan, as well as a $1.5 billion currency swap facility to help the Colombo government boost its foreign reserves. India has recalled the second Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) that was airlifted on Saturday morning to Indonesia after the Indonesian Navy declared that it had located debris of the missing submarine, KRI Nanggala, suggesting that it had sunk. The Indian Navy had dispatched its DSRV from Visakhapatnam to support the Indonesian Navy in search and rescue efforts for its submarine KRI Nanggala that went missing on Wednesday with 53 personnel onboard.
