NATIONAL NEWS
Supreme Court to hear N. Ram and Sashi Kumar’s plea on Pegasus next week
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear next week a petition filed by senior journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar for an independent probe headed by a former or sitting judge into mass surveillance of over 142 potential targets, including journalists, lawyers, ministers, Opposition politicians, constitutional functionaries and civil society activists, using military-grade Israeli spyware Pegasus. The petition was mentioned by senior advocate Kapil Sibal before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana. Sibal submitted that the petition ought to be heard urgently as it concerns issues affecting the fundamental rights, civil liberties of citizens and even national security. He said the issue was making waves not only in India but also globally. Such mass surveillance using a military-grade spyware abridges several fundamental rights and appears to represent an attempt to infiltrate, attack and destabilise independent institutions that act as critical pillars of our democratic set-up, the petition said. It has sought a full disclosure from the government on whether it had authorised the snooping, which seems be an attempt to muzzle free speech and to chill dissent. The government, the petition said, had still not given a straight answer to whether the illegal hack was done with its blessings. Respondents [Ministries of Home, Information Technology and Communications] have not categorically ruled out obtaining Pegasus licences to conduct surveillance in their response, and have taken no steps to ensure a credible and independent investigation into these extremely serious allegations, the petition highlighted. The spying had caused serious dents on the rights to free speech and privacy. It had no legal basis. In fact, the legal regime for surveillance under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act had been completely bypassed. Civilians had become targets. Surveillance/interception is justified only in cases of public emergency or in the interests of public safety, and the existence of such conditions must be inferred reasonably and cannot be determined solely on the assessment of the government. The hack/interception/decryption occasioned by the Pegasus spyware constitutes a criminal offence, the petition said.
Pegasus: No attempt by government to reach out to Opposition, say leaders
Opposition parties on Friday denied that the government has made any attempt to reach out to them. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the Opposition has already laid down its demands and it was up to the government now to show willingness to run the House. Government sources on Thursday had said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh may hold talks with senior opposition leaders on Friday, subject to the timing of his return from Tajikistan. But so far, the opposition parties said, nothing had come of the proposal. When asked if Singh had reached out to him and offered any peace deal, Kharge told The Hindu, Nothing. Mr. Singh himself telephoned me earlier. I told him as soon as you come, if you request all the floor leaders, we will come there. But there was no response to this, Kharge said. He added that he had had a meeting with Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi. They came to my chamber to say that the House should run. Then I said the simple way is to agree for a discussion on Pegasus. Kharge said, at a meeting of Opposition leaders from both Houses, it was agreed that a discussion on Pegasus cyber attack takes precedence over everything else. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader P. Chidamabaram has questioned the government’s ostrich-like attitude in avoiding a debate on alleged Pegasus cyberattack even as new details emerge. In the latest, France’s cybersecurity agency has confirmed that the mobile phones of two French journalists of news portal Mediapart were infected with the Pegasus spyware. Mediapart broke the story that the Rafale aircraft deal was being probed in France, Chidambaram pointed out. How long could the government duck, hide and scoot, he asked. Will the government give up its ostrich-like attitude and agree to the Opposition’s demand for a full discussion in Parliament on misuse of Pegasus spyware in India?, he said. The hacking of their phones with Pegasus was confirmed by IT specialists from the Agence Nationale de la Securite des Systemes d’Information (ANSSI) on Thursday, Mediapart reported.
Activist Bezwada Wilson slams government’s denial of manual scavenging deaths; demands apology
Condemning the Centre for its inhuman and cruel statement that no deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging in the last five years, Safai Karamchari Andolan convenor Bezwada Wilson said that at least 472 people have died cleaning human excreta during this period. He demanded an apology and a statement from the Prime Minister addressing the issue. Wilson was responding to Social Justice Minister Ramdas Athawale’s written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Congress MPs Mallikarjun Kharge and L. Hanumanthaiah had asked for the number of people engaged in manual scavenging who had died in the last five years. No such deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging, said the Minister’s response. The statement itself is a very inhuman statement. The practice is inhuman of course, but the statement is very inhuman and cruel. They know that people died, and they reported it in the last Parliament, and now in this Parliament they are saying that nobody died, said Wilson. The human rights activist accused the Centre of manipulating the definition of the word, noting that the question did not refer to those who clean dry latrines alone, but also included those who are forced to clean septic tanks and sewers without protective equipment. Employment of both is prohibited under the 2013 law against manual scavenging. Responding to a similar question in the Lok Sabha last year, the government had acknowledged that deaths have been reported among those cleaning septic tanks and sewers. It is completely misleading the whole Parliament. They are not just talking of any numbers, they are talking of the life of the citizens. So you are unable to protect the life of the citizens, said Wilson. They claimed in the last Parliament session, 340 deaths, but according to our records, it is 472 in last five years. In this year, 2021, so far, 26 people have died. And they have not even made one statement about it. This is a gross violation and the Prime Minister must answer for it, he added, demanding an immediate repeal and apology for the statement made in Parliament. Wilson pointed out that if the problem is not acknowledged, it will not be dealt with. How are you going to prevent the deaths? There is no action. Instead of doing preventive mechanisms to stop the deaths and the killings in the sewer line and septic tank, you are stating nobody died. Which means you want to kill more and more people, you are welcoming that, he said. You don’t feel shame, no remorse for the things that happened, he added.
Taking suo moto cognisance, SC says Dhanbad judge death case has wider ramifications
Spurred by the murder of a judge in Jharkhand, the Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the mounting concerns about the dangers faced by the subordinate judiciary, especially trial judges, in the line of duty. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) noted that the death of Judge Uttam Anand, who was fatally knocked down by a vehicle while he was out for a morning jog in Dhanbad on Wednesday, had wider ramifications on the independence of the judiciary. The suo motu case has been titled ‘In Re: Safeguarding courts and protecting judges (death of Additional Sessions Judge, Dhanbad). The Supreme Court said it would be focussing on the larger aspects of the case, including the threats and appalling working conditions in which trial judges function. The Bench said its suo motu case would not interfere in any manner with the inquiry opened by the Jharkhand High Court on Thursday specifically into the judge’s death. The Dhanbad case has wider ramifications. We are getting reports that judicial officers are under attack across the country. We want to examine this issue and may seek reports from the States, the CJI observed. The court, to start with, asked the Jharkhand government and the Director General of Police to file their affidavits in a week. A video footage of the incident showed Anand being knocked down from behind by a vehicle. The incident was initially considered a hit-and-run until the video surfaced, leading to a murder investigation.
College cut-offs to soar as 70,004 CBSE Class 12 students cross 95%
The number of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students scoring above 95% in Class 12 has almost quadrupled over the last two years, meaning that cut-offs for college admissions are likely to hit levels never seen before. In a year when schools were closed and board examinations cancelled, 99.37% of the CBSE’s beleaguered 2021 cohort passed their final year, a huge leap from the 88.78% pass of the previous year. However, a sharper spike in the number of high-scoring students means that the marks needed to get into top colleges will shoot up significantly as well. Two years ago, before Covid-19 disrupted the education system, an elite 1.5% of the 2019 class — just 17,693 students — scored above 95%, giving most of them a reasonably good chance of admission into a college of their choice. This year, that group has grown almost 300% to a whopping 70,000 students. They make up 5.4% of their class. Overall, 2.2 lakh students, 17% of their class, scored above 90% this year. This is more than double the 94,299 students who crossed that mark in 2019. The overall results are not really comparable with past years given that the 2021 board exams were completely cancelled due to the pandemic, which had also partially affected the 2020 exams. This year, final results were calculated by schools in accordance with a Supreme Court-approved formula using Class 10 board exam scores, Class 11 final exam marks and the marks obtained in Class 12 practical exams and internal assessments such as mid-terms, unit tests and pre-board exams. Schools were also asked to moderate marks as needed to ensure that the overall performance of their students aligned with the average past performance over the last three years. Given this unusual marking system, the Board decided not to publish any merit list of the top 0.1% of students this year. Nor will it issue merit certificates. Results are still under process for 1,060 new schools that did not have any past performances to use as reference, as well as a few other schools that had not completed the moderation process. This means that the results have been delayed for 65,184 candidates whose marks will be declared by August 5. Of the 13.04 lakh candidates for whom results were declared, 12.96 lakh passed Class 12. Girls performed marginally better, with a 99.67% pass percentage, in comparison to 99.13% for boys. The Kendriya Vidyalaya schools as well as the schools of the Central Tibetan Schools Administration all achieved 100% pass percentage.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Israel launches booster dose for those above 60. Israel launched a campaign on Friday to give people aged over 60 coronavirus booster shots, at a time when the rest of the world is still struggling to complete the standard course. Kicking off the campaign, President Isaac Herzog, 60, received a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. We are beginning the booster vaccination so that life in Israel can return to normal as soon as possi ble, Mr. Herzog said after getting the injection. With this new step of the Israeli government. I believe that it’s also a lesson to the entire humankind that we have to protect each oth er and take the necessary steps. An Israeli epidemiologist of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Hagai Levine, acknowledged his country was going it alone with third shots, which have yet to be approved in the U.S. or EU. This decision is based on experts’ opinion, on logic but not on solid scientific evidence, but that is okay, Dr. Levine said. In public health and in medicine, you sometime make a decision based on your experience and reason. Israel was quick to roll out its vaccination campaign and had dropped many restrictions on public gatherings in June, as new COVID-19 cases shrank from 10,000 a day to less than 100. About 55% of its nine million population has been double vaccinated, most with the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. About one million Israelis eligible for the shot, however, still refuse to be vaccinated.
Navy carrier on course in South China Sea: U.K.
The U.K. government on Friday denied it was provoking Beijing with the deployment of its most powerful Navy task force in a generation, after Chinese state media issued a blunt warning. The flotilla has entered the disputed South China Sea after exercises with Asian allies. It is led by the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, and comprises other Royal Navy vessels plus U.S. and Dutch warships. In an editorial, the nationalist state-run newspaper Global Times warned U.S. allies China might feel compelled to send a message to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Just as a popular Chinese phrase indicates: To execute one as a warning to a hundred, it said. Addressing the U.K. and allied strike force specifically, it said: We seriously warn this group: They are obliged to remain restrained and obey the rules. Please follow the current international shipping lanes and stay at least 12 nautical miles away from the Chinese islands and reefs. The carrier strike group is lawfully navigating the South China Sea, just as one third of global shipping does on an annual basis, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said. It is taking the most direct route through international waters.
SPORTS NEWS
Lovlina Borgohain assures India of a boxing medal at Tokyo Olympics
Lovlina Borgohain outsmarted former World champion Nien-Chin Chen to reach the women’s 69kg semifinal and assure India of another medal at the Tokyo Olympics today. The two-time World championships bronze medallist gave a fine performance against an experienced opponent to record a 4-1 victory in the quarterfinals. Lovlina will be the second Indian woman boxer after Mary Kom, and third overall, to clinch an Olympic medal. She has pulled herself up after the disappointing show in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The taller Lovlina, who had got a first round bye and beaten accomplished German boxer Nadine Apetz in the second round, put up an excellent exhibition of long range boxing to stay ahead of her powerful opponent. In the process, Lovlina avenged her defeat to Chen in the 2018 World championships semifinals in New Delhi.
