CURRENT AFFAIRS
27 March 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Supreme Court refuses to stay sale of electoral bonds ahead of key Assembly polls.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the sale of electoral bonds before Assembly elections in crucial States like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The judgment by a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde said the scheme began in 2018 and continued in 2019 and 2020 without any impediments. Chief Justice Bobde, who read out the judgment, said the court found no reason to stall the sale of electoral bonds now. The judgment came on an urgent application moved by the NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, to stay the sale scheduled between April 1 and 10. The NGO, also represented by advocate Neha Rathi, voiced serious apprehensions that sale of electoral bonds before Assembly elections would further increase illegal and illicit funding of political parties through shell companies. Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had said the sale was announced after getting permission from the Election Commission of India (ECI). The ECI registered its support for the electoral bonds scheme during the last hearing in the case earlier this week.
B) Supreme Court rules in favour of Tata Sons, sets aside NCLAT judgment restoring Cyrus Mistry as chairman.
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled completely in favour of multi-billion dollar salt-to-software conglomerate, Tata Sons Private Limited, by setting aside a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) decision to re-instate minority shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji group’s scion, Cyrus Mistry, as its chairman. A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde rejected arguments that the ouster of Mistry as chairman by the Tata Sons Board was oppressive. Chief Justice Bobde, who read out the judgment, said every question of law raised in the dispute falls in favour of the Tatas. The court dismissed the appeals filed by the Shapoorji Pallonji group. The Bench said the question of a fair compensation for Shapoorji Pallonji group cannot be adjudicated in the Supreme Court in this case. The apex court, by ruling in favour of the Tatas, seemed to have acknowledged their argument that NCLAT judgment effectively amounted to vesting the control of the company with minority (Shapoorji Pallonji group). Minority with 18% holding has been effectively given power to rule over all the Tata Companies, senior advocate Harish Salve for Tata Sons had submitted during the extensive hearings. The NCLAT decision had served a blow to corporate democracy and rights of the board of directors, Tata Sons had argued in its appeal. Tata Sons said the Tribunal crossed its jurisdiction by terming the appointment of current incumbent N. Chandrasekaran as illegal while restoring Mistry as chairman.
C) Modi praises 1971 martyrs, meets minority leaders in Dhaka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday paid rich tributes to the martyrs of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 at Dhaka’s National Martyrs Memorial and said the sacrifice of the participants in the historic war will remain a lasting legacy in South Asia. Modi reached the memorial soon after landing at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport where he was received by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her council of ministers. The Indian leader also planted an ‘Arjun’ sapling at the memorial grounds which contain the unmarked graves of the martyrs. Beginning his interactions, Prime Minister Modi met with the leaders of the ruling alliance in Dhaka and interacted with a delegation of the Muktijoddhas or former guerrillas who fought in the war of 1971. He also met with the leaders of the religious minorities of Bangladesh. Earlier, Modi arrived in Dhaka on a two-day visit to Bangladesh during which he will attend the celebrations of the golden jubilee of the country’s independence, the birth centenary of ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and hold talks with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
D) Centre extends validity of driving licenses, vehicle documents till June 30.
Considering the grim pandemic situation that continues now and the need to prevent the spread of Covid-19 across country, the Road Transport Ministry has again advised enforcement authorities to treat as valid all the vehicle related documents – like fitness, permit, registration and driving license whose validity has expired since February 1, 2020 or would expire by June 30, 2021. Enforcement authorities are advised to treat such documents valid till June 30, 2021. This will help out citizens in availing transport related services, while maintaining social distancing, stated a Road Ministry advisory. Earlier, in the backdrop of Covid-19 in 2020, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued advisories on March 30, June 9, August 24, and December 27. It was advised that the validity of Fitness, Permit (all types), License, Registration or any other concerned document(s) might be treated to be valid till March 31, 2021. It had issued such advisory as citizens were facing long queues in front of transport offices. Now, the Road Ministry has said that all the above referred documents may be treated to be valid till June 30, 2021. This covers all documents whose validity has expired since February 1, 2020 or would expire by June 30, 2021. It may be the last advisory in this regard, it added.
E) Partial response to Bharat Bandh; police disrupt farm union’s press conference in Ahmedabad.
Farmers protesting the three contentious agricultural laws disrupted road and rail transport, and closed down shops in much of Punjab and Haryana in response to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) call for a Bharat bandh on Friday. Parts of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan also saw shutdowns, while there was a scattered impact in other States. SKM leaders were detained by police in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, and some local farmer leaders were placed under precautionary house arrest in Uttar Pradesh. In Ahmedabad, police entered a press conference being addressed by the BKU-Tikait group’s general secretary Yudhvir Singh and detained him along with eight other farmer leaders. This is wrong. This is a dictatorship. It is not a crime to speak to the press. It is a right in a democracy, he told journalists, even as the police pulled leaders out of their chairs and led them to police vans. In Bengaluru, farmer leaders attempted to hold a mock funeral procession for the three farm laws, but were detained by city police at multiple locations. In which democracy does the police not allow citizens to hold a peaceful protest? We have even withdrawn the bandh, but not allowing us to hold a demonstration is undemocratic, rued farmer leader Kodohalli Chandrashekhar, detained at a protest in front of Town Hall.
F) Elections not on a level playing field, says N. Ram.
Elections are not on a level playing field owing to distortion of democracy by money power, said The Hindu Publishing Group Director N. Ram. Speaking at the panel discussion of political party representatives on elections and the launch of a publication on Assembly election 2021 ‘Ippodhu’, Ram said media had the duty of discussing such issues. A huge proportion of electoral bonds has gone to the BJP, he said. Pointing to the conduct of the Supreme Court on the question of constitutional validity of electoral bond scheme ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, Ram said the issue has to be discussed. Quoting from Ambedkar’s speech in the Constituent Assembly, he said the leader had warned against internal threat to democracy by bhakti or hero worship.
G) Ramesh Jarkiholi CD scandal: Woman files complaint through lawyer.
Hours after releasing a video, the woman in the CD scandal involving BJP MLA and former Minister in the Karnataka government Ramesh Jarkiholi submitted a complaint through a lawyer to the Commissioner of Police, Kamal Pant, seeking action against the leader. Taking cognisance, Pant asked lawyer K.N. Jagadish Kumar to approach Cubbon Park police station to file a complaint. In the complaint, the woman accused Jarkiholi of sexually assaulting, cheating, and threatening her after promising a government job. The woman said that the MLA had assaulted her twice and even forced her to share private pictures and talk to him. She further stated in the complaint that he made the video to defame her, thinking that she may file a complaint.
H) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,18,63,815 with the death toll at 1,62,495. There is no direct causal relation established between deaths and Covid-19 vaccination, with adverse events reported being well within the anticipated numbers, said the expert group investigating the adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). The national committee looking at AEFI examined 412 cases of severe adverse events, including 79 deaths (recorded until March 13) and found that deaths happened in cases where the person had underlying conditions, including heart problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, N.K. Arora, member, National Task Force on COVID-19 told.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Beijing sanctions Britons over Xinjiang.
China slapped sanctions on several British politicians and organisations on Friday after the U.K. joined the European Union and others in sanctioning Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region. The U.K. responded by accusing China of violating human rights on an industrial scale. China sanctioned four British institutions and nine individuals, including prominent lawmakers who have criticised the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. It said they would be barred from visiting Chinese territory and banned from having financial transactions with Chinese citizens and institutions. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the censure imposed by the EU, the U.S., Britain and Canada was based on lies and disinformation, flagrantly breaches international law and basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs, and severely undermines China-U.K. relations. China does not stir up trouble, but China is not afraid when others do, Yang Xiaoguang, China’s charged affaires in London, said at a news conference. China is not the first to shoot, neither will we be passive and submissive to threats from the outside, he said. Today’s world is not the world of 120 years ago. The Chinese people will not be bullied.
B) Egypt races to dislodge giant vessel blocking Suez Canal.
Tugboats and a specialised suction dredger worked on Friday to dislodge a giant container ship that has been stuck sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal for the past three days, blocking a crucial waterway for global shipping. The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground in the narrow canal that runs between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. It got stuck in a single lane stretch of the canal, about 6 km north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez. The ship, owned by the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, has blocked traffic in the canal. Around of world trade flows through the canal. The closure also could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the West Asia. At least 237 ships were waiting for the Ever Given to be cleared. A team from Boskalis, a Dutch firm specialised in salvaging, started working with the canal authority on Thursday. The rescue efforts have focused on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel’s bow.
