CURRENT AFFAIRS
28 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Make buying local a new year resolution: PM.
In his last ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address for 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to make a New Year resolution to substitute foreign-made products for indigenous goods in 2021 for the sake of the country. Mr. Modi also asked manufacturers to make sure that Indian-made products are up to global standards, as a part of the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India push and Vocal for Local campaign. He reiterated his earlier appeal to Indians to make a list of products used daily, identify which ones are made abroad and look for Indian substitutes. Think of things manufactured abroad that have permeated into our lives unknowingly, in a way, shackling us down. Let us find out their substitutes made in India. and decide that henceforth we shall use products made with the hard work and sweat of the people of India. You make New Year resolutions every year this time one has to certainly make a resolution for the sake of the country, Mr. Modi said, according to an English translation of his address released by the government.
B) Congress, Akalis slam BJP over use of offensive terms against farmers.
The ruling Congress and former NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday hit out at the BJP, accusing party leaders of using derogatory terms against protesting farmers. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked BJP leaders to stop maligning the farmers and their genuine fight for justice by calling them offensive names like ‘urban naxals’, ‘khalistanis’, ‘hooligans’ etc. If the BJP cannot distinguish between anguished citizens fighting for their survival and terrorists-militants-hooligans, it should give up all pretense of being a people’s party, said the Chief Minister in a statement. A party which treats citizens exercising their democratic right of protest as Naxals and terrorists has lost all right to rule over those citizens, he added. Hitting out at BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh over his alleged description of farmers in Punjab as ‘urban naxals’, Captain Amarinder said with these remarks, the BJP leadership had hit a new low in its desperation to promote its political agenda. He pointed out that such protests by angry farmers were taking place not just in Punjab but also in BJP-ruled states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
C) Nadda posts video of old Rahul Gandhi speech to attack him over opposition to farm laws.
BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday shared an old video of Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Lok Sabha in which he seems to be advocating the need for farmers to get rid of middlemen and sell their produce directly to industry, as he accused the Congress leader of playing politics over the ongoing farmers’ protest. What is this magic happening Rahul ji. You are opposing now what you had advocated earlier. You have nothing to do with the country’s or farmers’ interests. You have to play politics only. But this is your bad luck that your hypocrisy will not work. People of the country and farmers have recognised your double standards, Mr. Nadda tweeted in Hindi along with the video clip. The Congress has backed the farmers’ protest against three agriculture-marketing laws which give cultivators an option to sell their produce directly to private players. In his speech, apparently made in the last Lok Sabha when he was an MP from Amethi, Mr. Gandhi is heard saying that a farmer during his trip to Uttar Pradesh asked him to explain the magic behind a packet of potato chips costing ₹10 while farmers sell potatoes for ₹2 per kg. When he asked what they thought was the reason for this, the farmer said factories are located very far from them and if they could sell their produce directly there, they would get all the money without middlemen earning any cut, Mr. Gandhi is heard saying in the short video posted by Mr. Nadda. That was the idea behind a food park, and this is in a way what farmers and labourers of Amethi and 10-12 districts of Uttar Pradesh have been fighting for, he says in the clip.
D) Validity of driving licence, RC extended till March 31.
The Union Transport Ministry on Sunday extended the validity of motor vehicle documents like Driving Licence (DL), Registration Certificate (RC) and permits till March 31, 2021, in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had earlier issued advisories dated March 30, 2020, June 9, 2020 and August 24, 2020 in connection with extension of validity of documents related to Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has extended the validity of vehicular documents like DLs, RCs, permits etc. till March 31, 2021 in the light of need to prevent spread of COVID-19. The Ministry has today issued a directory to the States and Union Territory administrations in the regard, a MoRTH statement said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Sri Lankan police seize 20,000 kg of turmeric.
Sri Lanka police on Sunday seized 20,000 kg of turmeric smuggled by sea, reportedly from India, amid a shortage persisting since Sri Lanka banned imports to support local farmers in the pandemic year. Four Sri Lankan nationals were arrested, police said. The consignment had been loaded to a fishing trawler mid-sea. We suspect it came from India. It was apprehended along the island’s southern coast, police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana told. The pandemic, which hit Sri Lanka in March, has severely impacted its economy, prompting the government to restrict imports and pledge greater support to local farmers. Sri Lanka consumes an estimated 7,000 tonnes of turmeric annually the ingredient is widely used across different cuisines in the island nation and nearly 5,000 tonnes were imported from India until COVID-19 struck the country. Meanwhile, consumers are still finding it hard to purchase turmeric at reasonable prices in the capital and other districts, and point to a black market where a kg is sold for up to LKR 5,000 (roughly U,940), though the government capped the maximum retail price of turmeric powder at LKR 750 (about 091) a kg. Agriculture Department officials had earlier indicated that local production may pick up by early 2021, but it remains to be seen how much of the local demand their produce can meet. Earlier this year, Colombo-based traders wrote to the government, seeking the release of 1 million kg of turmeric, imported from India prior to the pandemic, and stuck at the Colombo Port, to ease the pressure in the local market. The consignment is yet to be cleared for sale in the local markets, sources said.
B) Chinese delegation in Nepal for dialogue with rival NCP factions.
A high-level diplomatic team led by vice-minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China, Guo Yezhou, arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to hold a dialogue with the two factions of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). The Chinese team will meet its counterpart in Foreign Affairs Department of the NCP, led by former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, on Monday morning. They have fraternal relationship not just with the Communist Party of China but also with the Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(M) and Communist Party of Bangladesh. They maintain communication among ourselves as a matter of routine. Since there have been some upheavals in Nepal in the recent past, they may share some of their thoughts with the visiting delegation too, said Ram Karki, deputy Head of Foreign Affairs Department of the NCP. The Chinese team is in Kathmandu to try and broker a truce between the Oli and the Prachanda Nepal factions, which appears like a challenging task in the backdrop of the dissolution of the Pratinidhi Sabha (House of Representatives). The visiting delegation is expected to meet with cochair of the party Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, the two figures leading the two factions of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, respectively. Actions of the warring factions in the past few days have indicated that the divide between the two sides is more or less complete. During months-long tension between the two sides, it was Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi, who played a key role in creating a stable channel of dialogue between Mr. Oli and Mr. Prachanda.
C) Pearl murder: Sindh govt. will not free four accused.
Pakistan’s Sindh province government has decided not to release British-born al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides, accused of kidnapping and murdering U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, in view of a Supreme Court order, according to a media report. In a surprise move, a two judge Bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday directed security agencies not to keep Sheikh and other accused under any sort of detention and declared all notifications of the Sindh government related to their detention null and void. The court observed that the four men’s detention was illegal. The court, however, had clarified that the accused should not be released if there is a Supreme Court restraining order regarding their detention. Citing its sources, the Express Tribune newspaper said that the provincial government will not release these men in view of the Supreme Court’s September 28 order. A three-judge apex court Bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam, which is hearing the appeal by the Sindh government, on September 28 noted that till the next date of hearing, the accused shall not be released.
SPORTS NEWS
A) Dhoni named captain of ICC ODI and T20 teams of decade, Kohli for tests. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Sunday named captain of ICC’s ODI and T20 International teams of the decade while Virat Kohli stamped his pre-eminence in world cricket after being voted the skipper of the Test team. Indians dominated the limited-over teams by having three and four players in the ODI and T20I respectively while England have maximum number of players four in the Test side. The 39-year-old Dhoni, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, was one of the three Indians in the ODI team of the decade, the others being Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli. Dhoni has three other compatriots in the T20I team Rohit, Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Besides being named captain of Test team, Kohli is the only player in the world to have been voted in the teams of the decade in all formats. The teams of the decades were announced by the ICC ahead of the Awards of the Decade ceremony, to be held in virtual mode on Monday.
