CURRENT AFFAIRS
30 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers write to Centre, insist that repeal of reform laws shall be first on the agenda of Dec 30 talks. Protesting farmer unions on Tuesday wrote to the Centre on the talks scheduled between the two sides tomorrow, saying the discussion will only be on the modalities of repealing the three legislations and providing a legal guarantee on the MSP. The government has invited the protesting farmers for the sixth round of talks on Wednesday. In its letter on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which represents 40 farmer unions, said the discussion will be only on modalities for the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee on MSP. The Morcha further said the agenda of the meeting should also include amendments to be made and notified in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 to exclude farmers from its penal provisions. Through the letter, the Morcha also formally accepted the government’s invitation for the dialogue. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has offered to set up free WiFi hotspots at the Singhu border for the protesting farmers. Addressing a press conference, AAP leader Raghav Chadha said on Tuesday that they want the farmers to stay in touch with their family. They have identified a few spots to install the WiFi hotspots. This is an initiative of Arvind Kejriwal and the party. Farmers from various parts of the country have been camping at different border points of Delhi for over a month now to demand repeal of the three agriculture laws, which were pushed through Parliament in September amid strong protests by Opposition parties.
B) Rajinikanth opts out of entering politics, citing health, Covid-19.
Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday announced that he will not be starting a political party and entering the electoral fray as his health condition does not permit him to engage in full-scale political activity amidst a pandemic. The actor was recently admitted to Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad due to severe fluctuations in his blood pressure and advised bed rest for a week. Rajinikanth had on December 3 said that he would announce on December 31 the date for the launch of his proposed political party and float it in January next. However, on Tuesday, he tweeted a letter opting out of politics and apologised to his fans and Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) members for disappointing them with his decision. The announcement has taken many by surprise, with the BJP hoping that even if not through a formal political party, the star would throw his influence behind the NDA in Tamil Nadu ahead of Assembly polls early next year. C T Ravi, the BJP’s national general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu said Rajinikanth’s decision was his private affair but the NDA was still hoping for a declaration of support from the latter, despite the cancelled plans for a political party. The BJP had hoped that the charismatic actor would add his considerable popularity to its efforts while many in the rival camps questioned his political moorings and ideological leanings. The party has tied up with the ruling AIADMK for the upcoming Assembly polls, and while it hasn’t on its own managed much traction on the ground, it was counting on Rajinikanth’s massive fan following to introduce a third element in the largely bipolar polity of the State. That hope is now over.
C) Karnataka Legislative Council deputy chairman found dead on rail track.
Karnataka Legislative Council Deputy Chairman S.L. Dharme Gowda was found dead on a rail track in Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka in the early hours of Tuesday, with police sources claiming he died by suicide. The body was found on a rail track near Gunasagara in Kadur taluk, they said. Dharme Gowda, 64, who was an MLC from JD(S), is survived by his wife, son and a daughter. His brother, S L Bhoje Gowda, is also an MLC. According to sources, Gowda had left his farmhouse at Sakharayapattana in a private car on Tuesday evening but did not return home, following which his family members and staff started searching for him. He had reportedly asked his driver to stay at a distance and went alone on the pretext of talking to someone, the sources said, adding that a suicide note has been recovered.
D) Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa expressed shock over the incident, terming it unfortunate.
Gujarat BJP’s senior-most parliamentarian and former Union Minister Mansukh Vasava on Tuesday resigned from the party in protest against a MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) notification declaring 121 villages of Narmada district as ‘eco-sensitive zone’ in his constituency, Bharuch. He claimed that this notification would affect farmers and local tribals. The prominent tribal leader said he would resign from the Lok Sabha in the budget session of Parliament. Vasava, who belongs to the Vajpayee-Advani era of the BJP, has been a Lok Sabha member since 1998. He decided to resign from the party a week after he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the withdrawal of the Ministry notification. Vasava has been very vocal about the rights of the tribal people in Bharuch and Narmada districts . Last week, he had written to Modi, seeking his intervention to withdraw the Ministry order in the interest of farmers and local tribals. In his resignation letter to State BJP president C.R. Paatil, Vasava said that he is resigning so that the image of the party is not damaged because of his mistakes. He have been a loyal worker of the party. He will also submit his resignation to the Lok Sabha speaker during the budget session of the parliament. He posted the letter on his social media accounts besides sharing it with the local press.
E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,02,43,099 with the death toll at 1,48,465. A total of samples of 6 U.K.-returnees have been found to be positive with the variant of SARS- CoV-2 virus reported from U.K. 3 in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, 2 in CCMB, Hyderabad and 1 in NIV, Pune, said information released by the Health Ministry. It added that all these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated health care facilities by respective state governments. Preliminary results from a cohort study found no statistically significant difference in hospitalisation and 28-day case fatality between cases with the new coronavirus variant (VOC 201212/01) and wild-type comparator cases. There was also no significant difference in the likelihood of reinfection between variant cases and the comparator group, said a second technical briefing report by Public Health England. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Tuesday said it has introduced a new 24×7 Covid-19 testing facility, which gives test results in a just 13 minutes at a cost of ₹ 4,500. Since its launch on December 15, CSMIA has witnessed an average of 30-35 such tests per day, it said in a release. A total of 400 express tests had been carried out at the airport till December 28, and these included passengers who had connecting flights to destinations outside Maharashtra, it said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) U.K. flight ban likely to be extended.
There could be a short extension of the ban on flights from the U.K. until the government gets a fuller picture of the new strain confirmed from as many as six passengers who arrived in India last week, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri said on Tuesday. Once the genome sequencing is completed and they have a fuller picture, that will give them the confidence to open up flights again, Puri said at a press conference. The ban on Indian and British airlines providing services to the UK was imposed last week and is in force till December 31. On whether there would be a similar ban on flights from other countries such as South Africa where the strain has been confirmed, the Minister said that the government was monitoring the situation.
B) French fashion designer Pierre Cardin passes away.
French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, hailed for his visionary creations but also for bringing stylish clothes to the masses, died Tuesday aged 98. Cardin, who was born to a low-income family in northern Italy but became a France-based fashion superstar, died in a hospital in Neuilly in the west of Paris, his family said. It is a day of great sadness for all their family. Pierre Cardin is no more, the statement said. After a lifetime spanning a century, he had left France and the world a great unique artistic heritage and not only in fashion, it added. Born into poverty in 1922 near Venice in northern Italy, his family emigrated to France when he was a small child. Italian by birth, Pierre Cardin never forgot his origins while bringing unconditional love to France,” said his family. He grew up in the French industrial town of Saint Etienne and was apprenticed to a tailor in Vichy at the age of 17, already specialising in women’s suits. Moving to Paris, he designed the mesmerizing sets and costumes for the film Beauty and the Beast with poet, artist and director Jean Cocteau in 1947. After a stint with Christian Dior, he set up his own fashion label in 1950.
