Tag: civilservices

CURRENT AFFAIRS
20 May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Covid-19 vaccination should be deferred by 3 months after recovery, says government.

Vaccination should be deferred by three months after recovery in individuals having lab test proven SARS-2 COVID-19 illness, the Health Ministry said in a statement issued on Wednesday. SARS-2 COVID-19 patients who have been given anti-SARS-2 monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma should also defer vaccination by three months from the date of discharge from the hospital. The statement also recommended Covid-19 vaccination for all lactating women. The second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine should also be delayed by three months for anyone contracting the disease after the first dose. So far, there was no fixed gap for taking a vaccine in such situations. Individual physicians recommended a gap of two or four weeks depending on the condition of the patient. The fresh rules are part of the recommendations by NEGVAC the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 led by NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul which have been accepted by the Union Health Ministry.

B) Jaishankar intervenes with Singapore over Kejriwal’s remarks on new variant.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal does not speak for India, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar declared on Wednesday after Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan objected to Kejriwal’s claim that a highly infectious variant of Covid-19 that affects children is being transmitted from Singapore. Singapore and India have been solid partners in the fight against Covid-19. Appreciate Singapore’s role as logistics hub and oxygen supplier. Their gesture of deploying military aircraft to help us speaks of our exceptional relationship. However, irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships. So, let me clarify Delhi CM does not speak for India, Jaishankar said, after Singapore summoned Indian envoy to protest Kejriwal’s remarks. In a rather unusual diplomatic gesture, the Ministry of External Affairs announced that the Indian High Commissioner was summoned by the Singapore Government on Wednesday to convey strong objection to Delhi CM’s tweet on ‘Singapore variant.’ The High Commissioner clarified that te Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on COVID variants or civil aviation policy, said Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. In diplomatic protocol, it is usually the host country that announces if a foreign envoy is summoned to convey displeasure on a certain issue. Singapore’s move came soon after the political leaders in the country objected to Kejriwal’s assertions. Politicians should stick to facts! said Balakrishnan a day after Kejrwal claimed that the strain of the corona virus that is targeting children in Singapore was from there. The Foreign Minister of Singapore was the second to respond to the Delhi leader’s comments. Singapore maintains that the variant found in the country came from India. The Embassy of Singapore in its social media handle had responded to Delhi chief minister’s comment on Tuesday evening. There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions. There is no ‘Singapore variant’. The strain that is prevalent in many of the Covid-19 cases in recent weeks is B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India. Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 Variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health of Singapore in a statement issued on Tuesday.

C) Govt asks Whatsapp to withdraw update to privacy policy.

The Centre has sent a notice to WhatsApp asking it to withdraw a controversial update to its privacy policy and has sought a response within seven days. The government has also warned the Facebook-owned firm that failure to give a satisfactory response may result in steps in consonance with law. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), in the notice dated May 18, has told WhatsApp that deferring the May 15 implementation deadline does not absolve it from respecting the values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users, a Ministry source said. The notice directs WhatsApp to withdraw its Privacy Policy 2021, as the changes and the manner of introducing them undermine the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users and harm the rights and interests of Indian citizens. The source added that the Ministry has also highlighted how WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy is a violation of several provisions of existing Indian laws and rules. In fulfilment of its sovereign responsibility to protect the rights and interests of Indian citizens, the Government of India will consider various options available to it under laws in India. The government has given seven days’ time to WhatsApp to respond to this notice and if no satisfactory response is received, necessary steps in consonance with law will be taken, the source said.

D) Narada case hearing to continue on May 20, Kolkata Police register case against CBI.

The hearing at the Calcutta High Court in connection with the Narada case remained inconclusive on Wednesday and will continue on Thursday. The development implies that four heavy weight political leaders, including two Ministers, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, and MLA Madan Mitra and former Minister Sovan Chatterjee, arrested by the CBI on Monday, will have to the spend Wednesday night in judicial custody. Three of the four arrested, except Minister Firhad Hakim, were admitted to the State-run SSKM Hospital.  In another development, the Kolkata Police filed a case against CBI personnel under Section 51B of the Disaster Management Act. The case was filed at Gariahat police station in the city for violation of the restrictions imposed during the pandemic while arresting one of the accused. The CBI, along with personnel of central forces, had picked all the accused early on Monday morning from their respective residences. The CBI on Wednesday also filed a transfer petition to move the matter involving Narada case out of West Bengal and also made Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Law Minister Moloy Ghatak and Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee party to the case.

E) Cyclone Tauktae death toll rises to 45; another storm brewing in Bay of Bengal.

As many as 45 people have been killed due to cyclone Tauktae across 12 districts of Gujarat, officials said Wednesday. Fifteen deaths were reported from Amreli district in Saurashtra region, the worst affected in the cyclone. Eight people each were killed in Bhavnagar and Gir Somnath coastal districts, an official of the State Emergency Operation Centre said. While 24 deaths were due to wall collapses during the cyclone, six died after trees fell on them, five each because of house collapse and electrocution, four due to roof collapse, and one died due to a tower collapse, the official said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday undertook an aerial survey of affected areas in Gujarat and adjoining union territory of Diu to assess the devastation caused by Cyclone Tauktae. Modi is in Gujarat to review the situation in the state in the aftermath of cyclone Tauktae. He landed at Bhavnagar from Delhi around noon and proceeded for the aerial survey of Una, Diu, Jafarabad and Mahuva, an official said. Meanwhile, with Cyclone Tauktae yet to entirely abate, a new storm may be in the works, this time in the Bay of Bengal. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement Wednesday that a low pressure area— a precursor to cyclonic storm — was likely to form in the eastern Bay of Bengal and the Northern Andaman Sea by May 22 (Saturday). It is very likely to intensify gradually into a cyclonic storm during subsequent 72 hours and reach Odisha-West Bengal coast by May 26, according to the statement.

F) Only three teachers on polling duty died of Covid-19, says U.P. govt.

The Uttar Pradesh government has said that only three teachers died of Covid-19 while on duty during the recently-concluded panchayat polls, dismissing the figure of over 1,600 deaths claimed by teacher unions. Satya Prakash, under secretary in the basic education department, Uttar Pradesh, said on Tuesday that so far District Magistrates had provided the State Election Commission (SEC) a list of only three confirmed deaths of teachers. He also appealed to people to not fall for misleading reports not based on facts. The State government’s statement stands in stark contrast to the claim made by the Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, a union for primary teachers. The union earlier this week released a list of 1,621 teachers and staff of the basic education department who allegedly died of Covid-19 after being assigned duty in the panchayat polls and control rooms for the pandemic. The son of a science school teacher, who died of COVID-19, performs final rituals prior to lighting his father’s funeral pyre. Interestingly, the SEC had recently informed the Allahabad High Court that 77 polling officers and agents in 28 districts had died while on polling duty during the panchayat polls. Data from other districts was awaited, the SEC told the court on May 7. It also alleged that despite assurances by the State Chief Secretary on May 1, a day before counting, that unwell teachers and staff would not be asked to be on polling duty, those who were absent due to illness on counting and voting days had faced suspension and salary cuts. Reacting to the State basic education department’s claim of only three deaths, Dinesh Chandra Sharma, president of the Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, said the government statement was insensitive, irresponsible and far from reality. We won’t let them kill the rights of the children of the teachers who died. We will fight for their families at all levels, he said.

G) Vaccine caller tune removed due to shortage: AAP’s Atishi.

Senior AAP leader Atishi on Wednesday claimed that the caller tune asking citizens to get vaccinated has been removed by the Centre due to the shortage of vaccines in the country. The caller tune asking all citizens to come forward and get vaccinated has been removed from all phone networks! So basically the Central Govt has accepted that there are not enough vaccines for everyone and so there is no point in encouraging people for vaccination! she tweeted. Till recently, the caller tune was being played before each call across all networks. These have now become less frequent and only some users are still getting the tune before the call connects. The Central government has been using the caller tune feature since the beginning of the pandemic as means to create awareness among the public. The Department of Telecom, on a request from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, had in March 2020 ordered all telecom firms to make a 30-second audio clip on coronavirus as a caller tune of mobile phone users. The earlier audio clips, voiced by actor Amitabh Bacchan, asked the public to follow Covid-19-appropriate behaviours such as masking up and maintaining physical distance. The latest caller tune was focused on the inoculation drive and asked people to get vaccinated, while assuring them that the vaccines are safe.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) U.S. to work with COVAX to allocate 80 mn vaccine doses.

The U.S. will work with the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) programme as well as its partners to decide how to allocate the 80 million doses of vaccine it is sending to other countries over the next six weeks. lndia, which is currently the global epicentre of the pandemic, is expected to receive a significant share of these vaccines, but administration officials have not released actual numbers. We’re looking at how we can get maximum coverage, because, I think, as all of you would agree, that demand exists everywhere, Gayle Smith, the U.S.’s Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security, said on a briefing call with reporters on Wednesday. We’re consulting closely with COVAX, which, as you know, is the largest vaccine delivery platform in the world and that is focused on, in particular, low income and low-middle income countries and with our partners , she said. Ms. Smith referred to COVAX as an absolutely critical and the central platform for vaccine allocation. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, on Tuesday, said vaccine allocation decisions would be made based on ‘equity’, in response to a question on whether India would be a recipient of the vaccines. The U.S. has deployed around SIOO million in assistance to India during this current wave of the pandemic. Transparent manner We, of course, will be making decisions based on equity, based on ensuring they are providing these vaccines in a transparent manner with the global community through COVAX and also through direct relationships, Ms. Psaki said. While India could theoretical use some of the vaccines it will produce as part of a Quad (India, the U.S., Australia and Japan) plan to supply at least I billion doses of to the Indo-Pacific by the end of 2022, the actual decisions will be taken based on ground conditions at the time, as per Ms. Smith. Biological E, a Telengana based pharmaceutical company, is collaborating with Johnson & Johnson to produce the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine under the Quad plan. Given the timeline for that production, I think its dispensation will depend to a great extent on the state of play around the world with vaccine coverage. That timeline is fairly extended. So, I think, while in principle those vaccine doses are available for internal use, but also for export to the rest of the world, the final allocation or plan for that will depend on what conditions we’re facing at the time they’re available, Smith said.

B) U.S. to waive sanctions on firm behind Russia’s Nord Stream 2.

The U.S. government will waive sanctions on the company behind Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe and its Chief Executive, a Washington source familiar with the plans and Germany’s Foreign Minister said on Wednesday. A U.S. State Department report to be delivered to Congress as early as Wednesday concludes that Nord Stream 2 AG and CEO Matthias Warnig, an ally of Ruse Sian President Vladimir Putin, engaged in sanctionable activity but that it was in the U.S. national interest to waive the sanctions, the source said. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the administration had waived the sanctions on those two parties but also imposed sanctions on Russian entities and ships linked to Nord Stream 2. We see this as a constructive step. which we are happy to further discuss with our partners in Washington. Mr. Maas said. The administration under Democratic President Joe Biden still opposed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline but felt it was important to send a signal about its commitment to ties with Germany, which were badly damaged under former President Donald Trump.  Russia’s state energy company Gazprom and its western partners are racing to finish the line to take Russian gas to Europe via Germany, under the Baltic Sea. The project, now about 95% complete, would bypass Ukraine, depriving it of lucrative transit fees and potentially undermining its struggle against Russian aggression.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
19 May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) CPI (M) drops high profile ministers from Cabinet positions.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) State committee on Tuesday dropped high-profile Ministers K.K. Shylaja, Kadakampally Surendran and A.C. Modieen from the next Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet. Instead, it nominated Shylaja as the party’s whip in the next Assembly. Shylaja’s non-inclusion in the Cabinet comes as a surprise for many. The Health Minister had been touted as the face of Kerala’s struggle against the Nipah virus and later Covid-19. Shylaja won with a decisive majority of 60,000 votes from Mattannur in Kannur. She told a television news channel that the party’s decision was paramount. It was a collective recommendation consistent with the CPI(M) line to rotate governmental responsibilities. Predictably, the CPI (M) nominated Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan as legislature party leader and consequently Chief Minister-designate. The party has included two women legislators in the new Cabinet. They are former Thrissur Mayor R. Bindu and Veena George. Bindu is the wife of CPI (M) acting State secretary A. Vijayaraghavan. The party has proposed M.B. Rajesh as the Speaker candidate. Democratic Youth Federation of India president and Vijayan’s son-in-law Mohammed Riyaz would get a Cabinet berth. Speaker candidate M.B. Rajesh told newspersons that the party paved the way for a new set of party leaders to gain legislative and administrative experience. The new Cabinet, a mix of youth and experience, also reflected Kerala’s social cross-section, said a party spokesperson. The CPI(M) had signalled a generational shift by withdrawing many high-profile Ministers, including Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Industries Minister E. P. Jayarajan and Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran, from the electoral arena of the recently concluded assembly polls. Vijayan has also indicated that it would be his final term as Chief Minister. The central leadership of the CPI(M) has refrained from criticising the decision to drop K.K. Shylaja from the Cabinet, putting the onus instead on the State committee. 

B) Live-in relationships morally and socially unacceptable, says Punjab & Haryana HC.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has said live-in-relationships are morally and socially unacceptable, an observation which runs contrary to the Supreme Court stand recognising them, PTI reported. The High Court made the observation while dismissing a petition filed by a runaway couple seeking protection. In their petition, Gulza Kumari (19) and Gurwinder Singh (22) said they were living together and intended to get married shortly. They apprehended danger to their lives from Kumari’s parents. In his May 11 order, Justice H S Madaan said, As a matter of fact, the petitioners in the garb of filing the present petition are seeking seal of approval on their live-in-relationship, which is morally and socially not acceptable and no protection order in the petition can be passed. The petition stands dismissed accordingly, his order said. According to petitioners’ counsel J S Thakur, Singh and Kumari were living together in Tarn Taran district. The woman’s parents in Ludhiana did not approve of their relationship. The couple could not get married as Kumari’s documents, which have details of her age, were in the possession of her family, Thakur added. The Supreme Court has taken a different view on the issue in the past. A three-judge bench of the apex court held in May 2018 that an adult couple had the right to live together even without marriage. It had made this clear while asserting that a 20-year-old Kerala woman, whose marriage had been annulled, could choose whom she wanted to live with. The top court had held that live-in-relationships were now even recognized by the legislature and they had found a place under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

C) Kejriwal announces free schooling, monthly allowance for children orphaned by Covid-19.

Delhi Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal on May 18 announced that if a child had lost both parents (one or both due to Covid-19), education will be provided free of cost to them and additionally Rs. 2,500 will be given to them every month till they are 25 years of age. Due to Corona and the lockdown many homes are facing financial difficulties. We have been thinking about a plan on how to help people overcome this difficulty. We have come up with four steps to provide relief during this tough time, he said. We have come up with several steps to provide relief during this tough time, assured Mr. Kejriwal said in a digital address. Screengrab from twitter.com/@ArvindKejriwal. We will give all ration card holders 5kg ration free from Delhi government + 5kg free ration from the Central government. For those without ration cards, Delhi government will give rations if people demand. If someone says they are poor, we will give ration without asking for income proof, he said. For those who have lost lives due to Corona, we will give Rs.50,000 ex-gratia to every family. If the deceased was the earning member of the family, we will give Rs.2,500 pension every month along with the ex-gratia of Rs.50,000. If a child has lost both parents [one or both due to coronavirus], education will be provided free of cost and we will give Rs.2,500 every month till they attain 25 years of age, he said.

D) Journalist in Manipur booked after saying cow urine and cow dung cannot cure Covid-19.

The police in Imphal have booked journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem and political activist Erendro Leichombam under the National Security Act of 1980 over their Facebook posts allegedly deriding the death of State BJP president S. Tikendra Singh. The duo was arrested on May 13 after the BJP leader succumbed to Covid-19. Referring to his death, both had commented that cow urine and dung were not cures for infection by the virus. Their arrest was based on a complaint filed by Manipur BJP general secretary P. Premananda Meetei and vice-president Usham Deban Singh. An order issued by Imphal West District Magistrate Th. Kirankumar on Monday said Wangkhem be detained under Section 3(2) of National Security Act, 1980, until further orders as and when he is released on bail. The journalist and Leichombam were subsequently booked under NSA, Imphal West’s Superintendent of Police L. Meghachandra Singh said. On Monday, the district’s Chief Judicial Magistrate granted bail to the duo on the execution of a personal recognisance bond of Rs. 50,000 each with a surety bond of a like amount on condition that they will not repeat a similar offence in the future and be available for interrogation by the investigating officer as and when required. Both Wangkhem, 41, and Leichombam, 40, had been arrested twice earlier on charges of sedition and for criticising the government. The latter is the founder of the People’s Resurgence and Justice Alliance, a political party whose candidate in the 2017 Manipur elections included rights activist Irom Sharmila.

E) Prepare a Covid-19 strategy for children now, Rahul Gandhi cautions govt.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday urged the Narendra Modi government to prepare a Covid-19 protocol for children as they needed to be protected now. In the time to come, children will need protection from Corona. Paediatric services and vaccine-treatment protocols should already be in place. India’s future needs for the present Modi ‘system’ to be shaken out of sleep, Gandhi said on twitter. Even though the overall number of Covid-19 cases have stabilised, with the number of cases coming down in the past few days, experts are warning of a new third wave that can affect children. The Congress leader, who had warned of a Covid-19 tsunami as early as February last year, had also been warning of a third wave because of the slow pace and consistently declining numbers of vaccination due to vaccine shortage. GOI’s disastrous vaccine strategy will ensure a devastating third wave. It can’t be repeated enough — India needs a proper vaccine strategy! Gandhi had said last Saturday.

F) SC seeks response from West Bengal govt on plea seeking CBI/SIT probe into post-poll killings.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the West Bengal government on a petition seeking a CBI or SIT (Special Investigation Team) probe into the murder of two BJP activists in the violence after the victory of Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Assembly elections. A Vacation Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and B.R. Gavai issued the notice to the government on the joint petition filed by Biswajit Sarkar and Swarnalata Adhikari. Biswajit is the brother of Abhijit Sarkar, one of the two victims. Swarnalata is the widow of Haran Adhikari. They were represented by senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani. The Bench scheduled the next hearing on the issue for May 25. Jethmalani argued that there was total inaction and even subversion of the investigation on the part of the State administration and the police. The murders happened on the same day the Assembly election results were declared. The police stood by idly… The investigation into the crimes needs to be transferred to the CBI or a SIT and requires court monitoring, he submitted.

G) Justice Gavai recuses himself from hearing Param Bir Singh case.

Supreme Court judge Justice B.R. Gavai, one of the two judges on the Vacation Bench scheduled to hear a plea by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh challenging the internal enquiries instituted against him, recused himself from hearing the case on Tuesday. Singh has moved the Supreme Court alleging that the departmental enquiries against him was part of a conspiracy to frame him for levelling allegations of corruption against Anil Deshmukh, who resigned as Maharashtra Home Minister. He urged the apex court to shift the enquiries to another State. My brother [pointing to Justice Gavai] cannot hear the case, Justice Vineet Saran, the lead judge on the Bench, informed senior advocate Puneet Bali, who appeared for Singh. Justice Gavai also made it clear that he would withdraw from hearing the petition. In that case, we are recording in our order to list the case before another Bench, Justice Saran said.

H) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 2,53,96,581 with the death toll at 2,80,753. Less than 2% of India’s total population has been affected by Covid-19 so far and 98% of the population is still susceptible or vulnerable to the infection, the government said on Tuesday. Despite the high number of cases reported so far, we have been able to contain the spread to under 2% of the population, said Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal. The government said a continued decline has been noted in active cases in the last 15 days. From 17.13% of the total caseload reported on May 3, it has come down to 13.3%, it added. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday extended the deadline for schools to submit Class X exam results to June 30, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. On May 1, the CBSE had notified a policy for tabulation of Class X results based on internal assessment by schools, with the deadline for submission of marks as June 5. The CBSE had said in the notification that it would declare the results by June 20. On Tuesday, however, the Board extended the deadline for schools to submit the marks to June 30, keeping in view the situation of the pandemic, lockdown in States and safety of teachers and other staff members of affiliated schools.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Sri Lanka’s China-backed tax haven clears final hurdle.

A Chinese-funded tax-free enclave billed as Sri Lanka’s answer to Dubai and Singapore cleared the final legal hurdle on Tuesday as the Supreme Court in Colombo ruled it could go ahead with only minor tweaks. The largest single foreign investment in Sri Lanka is one of several massive Asian infrastructure projects funded by China as Beijing increases its regional footprint. Sri Lanka’s top court rejected 19 petitions challenging the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill and approved the $1.4 billion project subject to minor amendments which the government immediately said it accepted. Project officials have said they hope the brand new Port City, an area of reclaimed land, will attract billions of dollars for trade, banking and offshore services similar to what is available in Dutni and Singapore, two of its potential competitors. Named the Colombo Port City because of its proximity to Colombo’s main harbour, the sea reclamation carried out with considerable Chinese labour completed in 2019 has doubled the size of Colombo’s financial district by adding 269 hectares. Under the proposed legislation expected to be passed by Parliament, the Port City will be administered by a commission with unprecedented powers to fast track investment approvals. Il transactions within the Port City will be denominated in foreign currency and all salaries earned by any worker will be tax-exempt.

B) Bangladesh arrests scribe under Official Secrets Act.

A journalist in Bangladesh reporting on official corruption was arrested on charges of violating a colonial-era Official Secrets Act which carries a possible death penalty, authorities said on Tuesday. Rozina Islam, a senior reporter for the leading Prothom Alo newspaper, allegedIy used her mobile phone without permission to photograph documents related to government negotiations to buy coronavirus vaccines while she waited in the room of an official involved in the process, according to case documents seen by The Associated Press. Ms. Islam is known for reporting on corruption involving the Ministry of Health and others. Several of her recent stories have drawn attention to the millions of dollars spent procuring health equipment to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. She was held for more than five hours late on Monday in the room of a personal assistant of the secretary of the Ministry of Health, said her sister, Sabina Parvin. Her family said she was physically and mentally harassed while being held. Sensitive documents Ms. Islam was then handed over to police and faces charges under the Penal Code and Official Secrets Act for alleged theft and photographing of sensitive state documents, said Harun-or-Rashid, an Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. The charges carry a possible death penalty, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
18 May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Trinamool Ministers arrested by CBI in Narada case, get bail.

Four political heavyweights, including two ministers of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government and a party MLA, were on Monday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) in the Narada sting operation case and were granted interim bail in the evening. Senior Ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Minister and former Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor who recently quit the BJP, Sovan Chatterjee, were all picked up from their residences in the early hours of the day and brought to the CBI headquarters at Nizam Palace in south Kolkata. The four of them were produced before a virtual city court, where the counsels representing the CBI sought a 14-day judicial custody. The lawyers representing the arrested members said there was no need for custody of any of the accused since the chargesheet has been filed. The defence counsels also said such custodial interrogation is not required in the time of a pandemic. The central investigating agency may also appeal before the higher courts opposing the bail. The Narada tapes, which were allegedly shot sometime in 2014, were made public in 2016, months before the State went to Assembly Polls. The purported videos showed about a dozen TMC leaders, MPs and Ministers accepting cash on camera from an operator of a fictitious company. In March 2017, the Calcutta High Court directed CBI to probe the tapes and the agency filed an FIR against 13 persons in April, 2017, including the four persons arrested today. The main allegation in the case was that the said accused as public servants demanded and accepted illegal gratification to show favour to a private person who was posing as a representative of a fictitious company at the time of transaction and discreetly recording the same, a press statement issued by the CBI said. The CBI also added that all the four arrested were ministers in the State government and sanction was received from competent authorities to prosecute them on May 7, 2021. The arrests triggered dramatic developments and protests across the city, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushing to the CBI office at Nizam Palace. Banerjee was at the CBI office for almost six hours. Some of the lawyers representing those arrested said Banerjee dared the CBI authorities to take her into custody. The TMC described the arrests as political vendetta and questioned why BJP leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy, who were both named in the FIR, had not yet been arrested. Mathew Samuel, who carried out the sting on behalf of the portal Narada News, also asked why Adhikari, now a BJP MLA and leader of the Opposition, had not been quizzed. Meanwhile, hundreds of Trinamool Congress supporters gathered outside the CBI office. Violence erupted, with the TMC supporters throwing stones and bottles at the central forces, who resorted to baton charge. The TMC supporters remained at Nizam Palace till late in the evening and left only after the news of the TMC leaders being granted bail reached them.

B) 1,621 teachers died of Covid-19 during U.P. panchayat polls, says union.

The number of teachers and staff who died of Covid-19 after being assigned duty in the panchayat polls and in Covid-19 control rooms has gone up to 1,621, a union for the primary teachers in Uttar Pradesh claimed on Sunday. The union also alleged that despite assurances by the state chief secretary on May 1, a day before counting, that unwell teachers and staff would not be asked to be on polling duty, those who were absent due to illness on counting and voting days had faced suspension and salary cuts. Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shikshak Sangh president Dinesh Chandra Sharma said the number of primary education department teachers and staff to die on polling duty during the pandemic had gone up to to 1,621. The union released a list of the 1,621 people. Moreover, he added, many teachers and staff with heart diseases died due to tension and heart attack. As reported on May 2, Covid-19 safety protocols were not followed at the counting centres of the panchayat polls by the district administration, said Sharma. What’s worrying is that even after the so much of loss of life, administrative officials in districts are harassing primary teachers, he said. Basic education department teachers and staff are allowed to work from home but in several districts like Unnao, Rae Bareli, Lucknow, Basti, Banda and Hardoi, they have been assigned duty at Covid-19 control rooms at the cost of their safety, he said. The union demanded that a compensation of Rs.1 crore be provided to the kin of the staff and teachers who died during polling duty. The union also demanded that the government withdraw all punitive action against the teachers and staff absent on polling duty and declare all teachers, including the deceased, as corona warriors. The Allahabad High Court on May 11 had said that the compensation provided to kin of polling officers who died on duty during the panchayat polls due to the deliberate act on the part of the State and the State Election Commission to force them to perform duties in the absence of RTPCR support should be at least Rs.1 crore. The State government had recently told the court that it would provide a compensation of Rs.30 lakh to the family members of the deceased polling officers, including teachers and sikhsa mitras.

C) Petition in SC to stop action against those questioning Centre’s vaccine policy.

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to direct the Delhi Police Commissioner to stop the registration of FIRs against persons who have voiced their dissent against the Centre’s vaccination policy and Covid-19 management by pasting posters and brochures in public places. Advocate Pradeep Kumar Yadav said free speech and expression is guaranteed under the Constitution. The Supreme Court in the Shreya Singhal judgment has held that sharing of information on social media is not a criminal offence under the Information Technology Act. The petitioner referred to the fact that the Supreme Court, while hearing the suo motu case on Covid-19 management, had specifically told State authorities to not take penal action against people who seek medical help or vent their grievances about Covid-19 management on social media. Contrary to this, authorities are registering FIRs against the innocent persons over their hate speech against the Hon’ble PM with regard to his official functions over the second wave of COVID-19 crisis and government vaccine policies, the petition said. The petition mentioned the arrest of over 20 people in Delhi in connection with posters against the Prime Minister regarding the vaccination policy.

D) Miniscule risk of developing blood clots after Covishield jab, says Health Ministry.

Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) data in India showed that there was a minuscule but definitive risk of thromboembolic events after the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine (known as Covishield in India). A statement issued by the Health Ministry on Monday noted that the reporting rate of these events in India is around 0.61/million doses, which is much lower than the four cases/million reported by UK’s regulator Medical and Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA). Germany has reported 10 events per million doses. There were no potential thromboembolic events reported following administration of Covaxin vaccine. Bleeding and clotting cases following Covid-19 vaccination in India are minuscule and in line with the expected number of diagnoses of these conditions in the country, a report submitted by the National AEFI committee to the Health Ministry noted. Since the vaccination drive was initiated, more than 23,000 adverse events were reported through the Co-WIN platform from 684 of the 753 districts of the country. Of these, only 700 cases (9.3 cases/million doses administered) were reported to be serious and severe in nature. The AEFI Committee has completed an in-depth case review of 498 serious and severe events, of which 26 cases have been reported to be potential thromboembolic (formation of a clot in a blood vessel that might also break loose and be carried by the blood stream to plug another vessel) events, following the administration of Covishield vaccine, with a reporting rate of 0.61 cases/ million doses, said the release.

E) TN skips virtual meeting with Union Education Minister.

Representatives from the Tamil Nadu School Education Department chose not to participate in the virtual meeting organised for State Education Secretaries on Monday. Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had announced that he would be attending the meeting virtually and had outlined the objectives as reviewing the Covid-19 situation, online education and work around the National Education Policy (NEP). The meeting had called for the participation of the Education secretary alone, and not State Ministers of Education. In a letter to the Union Minister sent on Sunday, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi had said that it would be appropriate only if the Education Department Minister participates along with officials from the Department for such a high-level meeting. He had further said that he was ready to participate and share their views on the implementation of NEP. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had said that I should take part in it as the Minister of the department and we subsequently wrote to the Centre as well about my participation in the meeting. But there hasn’t been any response, and we chose not to participate, said Anbil Mahesh, speaking at Tiruchi on Monday afternoon. We are not looking to fight with them, but want to be able to participate and put forth our views on the NEP and other issues discussed, he added. The DMK was strongly opposed to the National Education Policy when it came out in 2020 and had demanded it to be withdrawn. Many of our suggestions which we had put forth when the draft NEP was released were not taken into consideration. There are many aspects that need further discussion including the three-language policy, and the NEP also does not say much about how it is going to help underprivileged students or about reservations, Anbil Mahesh said.

F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 2,51,11,469 with the death toll at 2,76,186. The first batch of the adjunct COVID therapy drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) — developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad — was today released for emergency use. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally handed over the drug to Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. Bihar has lost the highest number of doctors to the second wave of Covid-19 — 69 — followed by Uttar Pradesh (34) and Delhi (27). According to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) registry, 244 deaths have been recorded in the second wave, with the youngest physician who died being Dr. Anas Mijahid, 25, from Delhi. While last year we lost nearly 730 doctors across India, this year in a short period of time we have lost 244 doctors, said IMA president J.A. Jayalal.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Gaza’s rockets part of resistance, says collective led by Arundhati Roy, Nayantara Sahgal.

Rockets fired by Palestinians against Israel are part of a resistance which is supported by international law, a group of writers and artistes led by Arundhati Roy and Nayantara Sahgal has declared. In a statement, the collective accused Israeli government of killing Palestinian children and blamed Israeli settlers for illegally trying to snatch Palestinian land. Palestinians in Gaza fired rockets at Israel. The rockets did not start or define the brutality that followed. The rockets came as part of a resistance backed by international law of an illegal occupation, declared the statement from the collective. It said Israeli retaliation with extreme force killed civilians, including children. The collective urged the Egyptian air force to provide a ‘no-fly zone’ above Gaza strip and pointed to the lack of political will in the Arab world to protect the Palestinians. The group, consisting of some of the leading artistes, authors and actors, drew attention to the U.N. General Assembly resolution 1514 of 1960 that supported a decolonisation process.

B) At UN, India supports Palestine, but without getting into specifics.

At the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, India, a non-permanent member, reaffirmed its support for Palestine, but stopped short of making any direct reference to the status of Jerusalem or the future Israel-Palestine borders. Wrapping up his over-4-minute-long speech at the Security Council, T.S. Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN said, In conclusion, India reiterates its strong support for the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday tweeted the national flags of 25 countries, from the United States to Albania, that he said were resolutely standing with Israel and supporting our right to self defence. India’s flag was not among them. Ambassador Tirumurti’s statement made two things clear. One, he said the violence began in East Jerusalem a week back, referring to the clashes in the Al-Aqsa compound and East Jerusalem’s neighbourhood. This means, India doesn’t see Hamas’s rocket firing on May 10, which followed Israeli forces storming Al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning, as the trigger of the conflict. India has also urged both sides to refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood. Here, it is Israel which is trying to unilaterally change the status quo by moving to evict the Palestinian families, and deploying troops to the Al-Aqsa compound. India said the historic status quo at the holy places of Jerusalem, including Haram esh-Sharif/Temple Mount must be respected. So, without naming any country, India has, in effect, called for the eviction process to be stopped and status quo ante to be restored at the Al Aqsa compound.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
17 May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Centre admits COVID spread to rural areas, issues SOPs.

COVID’s ingress is now being seen in peri-urban, rural and tribal areas as well, the Health Ministry admitted on Sunday, weeks after a rising number of cases have been reported from rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat among other States. The Ministry in its document SOP on COVID-19 Containment and Management in Peri-urban, Rural and Tribal areas said there is a need to enable communities, strengthen primary level healthcare infrastructure at all levels to intensify COVID-19 response in these new areas, while continuing to provide other essential health services. The Ministry said with the larger spread of COVID-19 cases, it is important to ensure that these areas are equipped and oriented to manage COVID-19 cases. In every village, active surveillance should be done for influenza-like illness/ severe acute respiratory infections(ILI/SARI) periodically by health workers, noted the Ministry in its latest SOP. The Ministry said that depending upon the intensity of surge and number of cases, as far as feasible, contact tracing should be done as per Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme’s (IDSP’s) guidelines for contact tracing of COVID-19 cases in community settings amid reports of several bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims having been found abandoned and floating in the Ganga. The Ministry has also directed that staff should be trained in performing Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) and that provision for RAT kits should be made at all public health facilities including sub-centres (SCs)/ Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs). These patients should also be counselled to isolate themselves till test results are available. Those asymptomatic but having history of high-risk exposure to COVID patients (exposure of more than 15 mins without a mask within 6 feet distance) should be advised quarantine and tested as per ICMR protocol, notes the Ministry. The document further notes that on discharge, patients should be counselled for post-COVID management at home and leaflets regarding danger signs (e.g. breathlessness, chest pain, recurrence of fever, low oxygen saturation, etc.), precautions and various respiratory exercises. Patients with other co-morbidities should also be followed up and primary assessment of other co-morbidity (e.g. measuring blood pressure, blood glucose level) should be arranged and any modification treatment, if necessary, should be decided by a primary health centre medical officer, says the document. The Ministry has advocated for use of telemedicine services for providing post-COVID follow-up care.

B) Second batch of Sputnik V arrives.

India on Sunday received the second consignment of Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine that recently joined the country’s arsenal against COVID-19. Second batch of Sputnik V arrives in Hyderabad, India!, the vaccine developers tweeted. Russia’s Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev said in a tweet: given the recent launch of the Russian vaccine in the Indian vaccination campaign, this second delivery has become very timely. Describing Sputnik V as a Russian-Indian vaccine, he told news agency ANI we expect that its production in India will be gradually increased up to 850 million doses per year. There are plans to introduce single-dose vaccine soon in India-Sputnik Lite. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, the marketing partner of Sputnik V in India, tweeted that the consignment that arrived today in Hyderabad contains 60,000 doses of the second dose component of the #SputnikV vaccine. Samples from the consignment will be sent for release to the Central Drugs Laboratory. The first consignment consisting of 1.5 lakh doses that arrived in Hyderabad on May 1 was cleared for use on May 13 by the Central Drugs Laboratory in Kasauli. Samples drawn from all consignments would be sent to the central facility in Himachal Pradesh and the vaccine used on getting clearance. Dr. Reddy’s CEO-API and Services Deepak Sapra said this at a media briefing on May 14, following the soft launch of the vaccine by the company as part of a limited pilot. The first dose was administered in Hyderabad. The maximum retail price of the vaccine is ₹995, including a 5% GST. The company said this was the rate at which it would be supplying the vaccine to the government and private sector.

C) DRDO developed drug to be distributed in Delhi.

An anti-coronavirus drug developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be launched tomorrow, with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh distributing around 10,000 doses to some hospitals in Delhi. The drug, called 2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2-DG, was developed by a DRDO lab in collaboration with Hyderabad-based pharma giant, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the country’s top drug regulator, has approved the medicine for emergency use. The drug had shown promising results in its phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials. It was also found to be effective in cutting short the hospital stays of patients and reducing supplemental oxygen dependence.

D) Already booked appointments for Covishielf second dose will remain valid.

The Union health ministry on Sunday clarified that already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield vaccine will remain valid and the same will not be cancelled on Co-WIN platform. It, however, said requisite changes have now been done in the Co-WIN digital portal, as a result of which further online or on-site appointments will not be possible if the period after first dose date for a beneficiary is less than 84 days. The Centre had on May 13 extended the gap between the first and second doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks based on the recommendations by the COVID Working Group chaired by N.K. Arora. The Government of India has communicated this change to states and UTs. The Co-WIN digital portal has also been reconfigured to reflect this extension of interval for two doses of Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) to 12-16 weeks, the Ministry said. However, there have been reports in a section of the media suggesting that people who had pre-booked their appointments for the second dose in less than 84 days on Co-WIN are being turned back from vaccination centres without getting the second dose of Covishield, it said. Additionally, already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield will remain valid and are not being cancelled by Co-WIN. Further, the beneficiaries are advised to reschedule their appointments for a later date beyond the 84th day from the date of first dose of vaccination, the Ministry added.

E) ‘Entire globe is a unit’ government says while justifying vaccines export.

The entire globe is a unit during a pandemic. This is how the government justified in the Supreme Court its decision to export vaccines amidst a surging second wave of Covid-19. A page in the Ministry of External Affairs’ website shows that between January and April 2021, India exported 663.698 lakh Made in India Covid-19 vaccine supplies to over 90 countries and UN health workers and peacekeepers. Once an epidemic takes (the) form of a pandemic, its management has to be done keeping the entire globe as (a) unit, a March 11 affidavit of the Health Ministry informed the apex court. The document sheds further light into the much criticised-move to export COVID-19 vaccines. In fact, according to the affidavit, the government reasoned it was not possible to take a country or States-specific approach. The government envisaged vaccine export as part of a global action to vaccination. The Centre reasoned that it was necessary to protect the high-risk population in other countries to break the chain of transmission and minimise chances of import of COVID-19 cases to India. India is not immune to the pandemic till the world at large has contained the disease, the Centre argued. It said the export was limited and done giving highest priority to domestic needs. But this is not all. The government, in the affidavit, gives another dimension to why it exported vaccines and opted for staggered immunisation. It said both were done to avoid disproportionality between the production of COVID-19 vaccines and the country’s available health infrastructure and manpower. Simultaneous vaccination without priority classification would have led to commotion, the Centre told the Supreme Court. The affidavit highlights the need for adequate manpower and sufficient infrastructure to cope with the immunisation drive. The document indicates that the available health infrastructure and manpower may not match up. To illustrate, having received one crore vaccine doses for a particular State or city, the vaccine drive would need sufficient number of medical staff who can administer the vaccines and infrastructure like hospitals, primary health centres, etc. It is needless to mention that manufacturing of vaccine would not be proportionate to the available manpower and infrastructure facilities in the country, the government justified.

F) Rahul Gandhi tweets ‘offending’ poster, dares Delhi Police to ‘Arrest me too’

Challenging the arrests of 24 persons by the Delhi police for posters that surfaced across the city questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to donate vaccines to neighbouring countries, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi posted the ‘offending’ poster on his Twitter account daring the police to arrest him. All the posters uniformly pose the question: Modiji humare bachon ka vaccine videsh kyon bhej diya? (Why did you send vaccines meant for our children abroad?). Mr Gandhi said, Arrest me too. Nearly six crore doses of vaccines have been sent out to various countries. So far, a little over four crore persons have got both doses in India and 14 crore people have got a single dose as per the latest numbers on the centralised vaccination website CoWin. The persons were arrested under a rarely used law of Prevention of Defacement of Property Act and most of them have been released on bail. Celebrate, India is a free country. There is freedom of speech, except, when you ask a question of the Honourable Prime Minister, senior Congress leader and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram wrote on Twitter. He said the poster asks a simple question and before PM Modi could answer the Delhi police had answered with arrest. Congress Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh pasted the poster next to his nameplate at his official residence opposite the Lodhi Garden. He said this smacks of a lawless state gone amuck.

G) Plea in SC to use PM-Cares fund for vaccines, oxygen plants.

A plea was filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to utilise the PM-CARES fund for immediate procurement of vaccines and establishment of oxygen plants, generators and their installation in 738 district hospitals across the country. The petition, filed by advocate Viplav Sharma, said the government needs to loosen its PM-CARES purse strings and use the money to help common people urgently access medical care and oxygen. These government hospitals are easily accessible at no cost to common people of every district in the country who are desperately seeking medical oxygen as basic life-saving support, the petition said. The petition also asked for a stay on an April 24 notification of the Centre granting exemption on import duty of medical equipment relating to oxygen generation owing to its acute and rising demand. The petition said the exemption has been wrongfully capped for only three months. People may need this equipment for more than that period. Three months’ cap on the exemption period is too short a period from the standpoint of logistics involved in importing this highly sophisticated medical equipment in India by over 300 hospitals, it said. The plea asked the court to issue directions to States and Union Territories to ensure that private and charitable hospitals have actually procured, installed and commissioned medical plants or equipment with essential backup for medical oxygen for COVID-19 patients. The petition said States and UTs should ensure the setting up of electric and other kinds of crematoriums in cities and improve the existing ones. It also sought the preparation of a ‘National Plan’ in consultation with Chief Secretaries and States.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Kurz expects to be charged but cleared in perjury case.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz expects to be charged but eventually cleared in an investigation into whether he gave false testimony to a parliamentary commission, he said on Sunday, ruling out the idea of resigning if indicted. The investigation by anticorruption prosecutors, made public, last week poses a stiff political challenge for the conservative Mr. Kurz, 34, who governs in coalition with the Greens. Mr. Kurz has painted himself as the victim of opposition parties trying to trap him into saying something that could be construed as perjury before the commission, which is looking into possible corruption under his previous coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) which collapsed in 2019. After every word of mine on 58 pages (of testimony) is put on the scale, I certainly expect a criminal complaint, that’s right, he told the Krone newspaper in an interview, adding he had not yet been questioned by prosecutors. But he said he was confident he would be exonerated in the case, which centres on whether he answered truthfully when asked about appointments to state holding company OBAG. He have spoken to numerous lawyers and several university professors. The tenor was always the same: no one can imagine that there will be a conviction here, he told the paper. In a separate interview with the Oesterreich newspaper, he rejected the idea of stepping down if indicted.

B) As U.K. prepares to reopen, B.l.617.2 strain sparks worry.

As England, Scotland and Wales prepares to unlock parts of their economy on Monday, the future roadmap for reopening has been put in doubt over the more transmissible B.1.617.2 strain, or the Indian strain. According to government data, the case numbers of the Indian variant have risen from 520 to 1,313 this week. However, Heath Secretary Matt Hancock expressed confidence that existing vaccines are effective against the new variant. Mr. Hancock said the government had a high degree of confidence that vaccines would stand up to the BI.617.2 variant, following new early data from Oxford University. That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic, he said. The British government has come under criticism from opposition politicians over its decision to put Pakistan and Bangladesh on its red list before India. Mr. Hancock rebuffed the suggestion the decision was influenced by a planned trip by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April to assist in post-Brexit trade talks. They take these decisions based on the evidence, he said over the visit which was eventually scrapped because of surging COVID-19 cases in India. Indoor hospitality and indoor entertainment such as cinemas, museums and sports venues are to open their doors in most parts of the U.K. for the first time in months on Monday. People and families will also be able to meet with some restrictions in private houses under the new measures. Mr. Hancock said the reopening could go ahead because of the country’s successful vaccination campaign and close monitoring of cases. However, he sounded a note of caution over plans to completely lift restrictions on June 21. We’re in a race between the vaccination programme. And the virus, and this new variant has given the virus some extra legs in that race, but we have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome, he said. The government’s former chief scientific Adviser said the U.K. now found itself in a perilous movement.  Britain is one of the countries the worst hit with over 127,000 deaths.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
16 May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Delhi Police arrests 15 people, lodges 17 FIRs over posters critical of Modi’s handling of vaccination drive.

Delhi Police has registered 17 FIRs and arrested 15 people for allegedly pasting posters critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the vaccination drive against Covid-19, officials said on Saturday, PTI reported. The posters reading ‘Modiji humare bachon ki vaccine videsh kyu bhej diya (PM why did you send vaccines of our children to foreign countries?) were pasted in several parts of the city, they said. On Thursday, police received information about the posters, following which senior officers of the districts were alerted. And based on further complaints, as many as 17 FIRs were registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections including section 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act across various districts of the Delhi Police, the officials said. A senior police officer said, More FIRs are likely to be registered if further complaints are received in this regard. As of now, investigation is underway to ascertain as to on whose behalf these posters were being put up at various places across the city and accordingly further action will be taken in the matter. Delhi Police comes under the purview of the Central government, and reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

B) Plea in SC seeks CBSE, ICSE Class 12 exams cancellation.

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to direct the authorities to cancel the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) exams for Class 12 students. The petition asked both the boards to instead conceive an objective methodology to declare the Class 12 results within a specific time-frame. Issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to cancel the examination of Class 12 and devise an objective methodology to declare the result within a specific time-frame, advocate Mamta Sharma, who filed the petition, urged. He said the CBSE and ICSE notifications deferring the exams to an unspecified date should be quashed. Students cannot be made to suffer uncertainty in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. There should not be any uncertainty regarding exams crucial to the future academic study of Class 12 students, the plea stated. Last year, the apex court asked the boards to determine and declare Class 12 exam results on the basis of their earlier grading. The petitioner said the same methodology could be used this year too. Both the boards cannot remain mute spectators and opt to wait and watch for the pandemic wave to ebb. Delay would put the future of the students in peril. The boards had cancelled the Class 10 exams. The same should be done for Class 12 students. As far as the innocent students of Class12 are concerned, a step-motherly, arbitrary, inhuman direction have been issued to postpone their final examination for an unspecified duration instead of following the directions propounded and accepted by them last year, the petition said.

C) Govt must explain massive under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths in Gujarat, says Congress.

The Congress on Saturday raised the issue of under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths in some states, especially in Gujarat, and demanded an explanation from both the central and the state governments. Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Shaktisinh Gohil in a joint press conference pointed out that the deaths in Gujarat this year were more than double the number in 2020 and said that the substantial increase can only be attributed to a pandemic. The two Congress leaders cited a news report which showed that Gujarat had issued about 1,23,000 death certificates between March 1 and May 10, as against about 58,000 certificates issued during the same period last year, and said they got these verified after collecting data from 33 districts of the state. The Congress leaders said the sum of the number of the death certificates collected nearly tallies with the numbers published and that comes to 1,23,873 in 2021 against 58,068 last year. However, during the period March 1 to May 10, the government of Gujarat has officially admitted to only 4,218 Covid-related deaths. Chidambaram said the difference between the increase in the number of death certificates (65,805) and the official Covid-related deaths (4,218) must be explained. It cannot be explained as natural annual increase’ or due to other causes, he noted. They have a strong suspicion that the bulk of the increased number of deaths is due to COVID and the state government is suppressing the true number of Covid-related deaths. They have a strong suspicion that the Government of India, in conjunction with some state governments, is suppressing the true numbers of new infections and Covid-related deaths. If our suspicions are true, this is a grave misdeed apart from being a national shame and a national tragedy, he said.

D) Government’s ‘disastrous’ vaccination policy’ will ensure third wave, says Rahul.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday called for a national vaccine strategy and claimed that the government’s disastrous inoculation policy will ensure a devastating third wave in the country. He also accused the Prime Minister of making mother Ganga cry after bodies of suspected coronavirus victims were found floating in the river. The Government of India’s (GOI’s) disastrous vaccine strategy will ensure a devastating third wave. It can’t be repeated enough. India needs a proper vaccine strategy, he said on Twitter. Tagging media reports which had documented that over 2,000 bodies were found in a 1,140 km area along the Ganga, he said, One who used to say ‘Ganga’ has called him has made Mother Ganga cry. Gandhi and the Congress have been attacking the prime minister and his government over its vaccine strategy and handling of the pandemic.

E) Cyclone Tauktae has intensified, moving towards Gujarat: IMD.

Cyclonic storm Tauktae has intensified and is heading towards the coast of Gujarat and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, though it could bring gusty winds and showers to Mumbai, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday. The cyclonic storm is very likely to intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm by late Saturday night, the IMD said, adding it was very likely to move north-northwestwards and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Naliya around May 18. As it would bring very heavy rainfall in that region, cities like Mumbai would not be affected much, the IMD added. There will be strong winds and heavy rainfall at isolated places on May 17 over north Konkan, including Mumbai, the met department said.

F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 2,45,77,613 with the death toll at 2,68,139. Bodies of the deceased are buried in the sand near the banks of the Ganga allegedly due to shortage of wood for cremation during the second wave of coronavirus at Shringverpur Ghat in Prayagraj on May 15, 2021. The West Bengal government on Saturday announced a complete lockdown from Sunday till May 30 in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the State. We are taking some strict measures to contain the pandemic, starting Sunday 6 am till 6 pm of May 30, Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said. During this period, all government and private offices, shopping complexes, malls, bars, sports complexes, pubs and beauty parlours will remain closed, he said. Movement of private vehicles, taxis, buses, metro rail, suburban trains will also be disallowed during the 15- day lockdown period. Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, the vaccination programme for people aged between 18 and 45 will start in two or three days. The State’s Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma. Subramanian on Saturday said that Tamil Nadu had already paid ₹46 crore for 15 lakh doses of vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, of which five lakh doses have arrived. The drive to vaccinate people in the18-45 age group will soon start in one of the locations in Chennai in two to three days, said the Minister after holding a review meeting in Coimbatore along with Food Minister R. Sakkarapani and Forests Minister K. Ramachandran.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Israeli air strikes destroy Gaza building that housed media outlets, kills several Palestinian children.

An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets on Friday, the latest step by the military to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with the militant group Hamas. The strike came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera, other offices, and residential apartments. The strike brought the entire 12-storey building down, collapsing with a gigantic cloud of dust. There was no immediate explanation for why it was attacked. A fireball and smoke billow up into the air during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City, in Gaza Strip on May 15, 2021. The strike came hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, in the deadliest single strike of the current conflict. The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people. The spiralling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising at a time when there have been no peace talks in years. Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what was now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest. U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived Friday as part of Washington’s efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the U.N. Security Council was set to meet Sunday. But Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official said Friday, to discuss the negotiations. Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv. The strike on the building housing media offices came in the afternoon, after the building’s owner received a call from the Israeli military warning that it would be hit. AP’s staff and others in the building evacuated immediately. Al-Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatar’s government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.

B) Cairn Energy sues Air India in U.S. court to enforce $1.2 billion arbitration award.

Cairn Energy has sued flagship carrier Air India to enforce a $1.2 billion arbitration award that it won in a tax dispute against the country, according to a U.S. District Court filing reviewed by Reuters. The move ratchets up pressure on the Union government to pay the sum of $1.2 billion plus interest and costs that the British firm Cairn was awarded by an arbitration tribunal in December. The body ruled India breached an investment treaty with Britain and said New Delhi was liable to pay. Cairn filed the lawsuit on May 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to make Air India liable for the judgment that was awarded to Cairn. The lawsuit argued that the carrier, as a state-owned company, is legally indistinct from the state itself. The nominal distinction between India and Air India is illusory and serves only to aid India in improperly shielding its assets from creditors like [Cairn], the filing said. Air India and the Union government did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment. In February, Cairn filed a separate case in a U.S. court to recognise and confirm the arbitration award, including payments due since 2014 and interest compounded semi-annually. Responding to queries about the case filed in a U.S. Court, a company spokesperson said, Cairn is taking the necessary legal steps to protect shareholders’ interests in the absence of a resolution to the arbitral award. Cairn remains open to continuing constructive dialogue with the Government of India to arrive at a satisfactory outcome to this long-running issue.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
15 May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Petition in Supreme Court asks for vaccine clinical trial data to be made public.

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to make public the segregated data of clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines administered under the Emergency Use Authorisation granted by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). Former member of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation Dr. Jacob Puliyel, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, asked the court to direct the government, its bodies and the vaccine manufacturers – the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to transparently reveal clinical trial and vaccination data, including the recording and reporting of adverse events. Further, the petition urged the court to direct the government to not issue any coercive mandates for use of these inadequately tested vaccines. Bhushan argued that courts should reiterate that vaccine mandates are repugnant to the right of humans to autonomy and right to self-determine what may be injected into their bodies. The respondents (Centre, its agencies like DCGI and ICMR and vaccine manufacturers) have maintained opacity about the clinical trial data of the two vaccines administered through emergency authorisation in India. Non-disclosure of this important data violates the basic ethics of clinical research that requires results of clinical research studies to be published and brought to the knowledge of the medical community, participants to the research, and the general population, the petition said. Dr. Puliyel, also represented by advocate Cheryl d’Souza, said the lack of transparency raised concerns over the efficacy and safety of the two vaccines. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a strong statement advocating for public disclosure of all clinical trial results. According to the statement, when data is not released it means that doctors, patients and medical regulators cannot make informed decisions about which treatments are best, the petition stated. The petition said transparency in publishing clinical trial data by the Central Drugs Standard Controls Organisation (CDSCO) that granted final approval for the vaccines by various manufactures to enter the immunisation chain flowed from Section 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, which required the government to make proactive disclosures of its records through the internet and other means of communications to the general public.

B) Vice President, Lok Sabha Speaker say no to virtual meetings of Parliamentary panels.

The parliamentary panels cannot meet virtually till the necessary rules are amended by both Houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said in reply to a letter written by Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday. The standing committees of Parliament, which are non-partisan platforms to analyse the functioning of the government, have not met even once since the onset of the second wave of the pandemic. More than a year after the demands were first raised by the panels’ chairpersons, the necessary changes in the rules have not been amended since their physical meetings were held for a few months when it was believed that Covid-19 was on the wane. Last week, in a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu, Kharge said that Parliament could not be a mute spectator to the suffering of the people. He urged Naidu to allow online meetings of the panels. Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla last year held a series of meetings where it was argued that the confidentiality clause dictated that only physical meetings of the panels can be held, keeping the proceedings and deliberations secret. It was decided that the issue be referred to the committee on Rules in both the Houses. As physical meetings of the committees were being held regularly, following the guidelines strictly, the matter rested there and the situation had not arisen for considering the matter by the Rules Committees in both the Houses, the letter stated. The Rajya Sabha secretariat assured Kharge that the meetings of the committees would be considered shortly once the situation improves for better. It was informed that the issue of confidentiality can be resolved during the session as any amendment to the rules can be approved by the respective Houses only after the matter is considered by the Rules Committee. Senior Congress leader and chairman of the committee on Home Affairs Anand Sharma who, on Tuesday, wrote to Naidu making the same demand, said: In a democracy, accountability can neither be delayed nor evaded. His colleague and chairman of the panel on Science and Technology Jairam Ramesh wrote on Twitter that nowhere in the world had Parliament run away from its duties like in India. In spite of repeated requests for almost a year, virtual meetings of Standing Committees have been inexplicably disallowed. The PM has all his meetings virtually, but 30 odd MPs cannot, he said.

C) Congress slams Centre as Delhi Police question Youth Congress chief over Covid-19 relief work.

The Congress on Friday asked if providing oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs to Covid-19 patients is a crime under the Narendra Modi government. This follows the questioning of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief B V Srinivas by the crime branch of the Delhi Police. Today every person has to decide if providing oxygen, helping people to get life-saving drugs like Remdesivir, arranging beds or providing food to ambulance drivers is a crime. It seems to be a crime according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Today, Modi ji and [Home Minister] Amit Shah Ji sent Delhi Police to the office of the IYC office to question Srinivas ji. Can there be a more despicable act than this? Is it a sin committed by the Youth Congress and the Congress to provide help that the Modi government has been unable to do? he stated. The government should be ashamed of itself, he said. He asserted that the Youth Congress would continue to provide oxygen and other life-saving drugs to needy patients. They [Delhi Police officials] wanted to know the details of how are we helping people. We answered all their questions, Srinivas said. Using hash tag #IStandWithIYC to express solidarity, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted, The one who saves is always greater than the one who destroys. While former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh tweeted to call the Delhi Police’s move as atrocious, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too reacted on Twitter when former Rajya Sabha member Shahid Siddiqui said that a police official had also come to his place to find out how Vadra mananged to help him with Remdesivir injections for his wife. If helping someone in need is now a crime, I will commit it again and again. To my mind it’s a far greater crime to silently watch and do nothing while people die desperately searching for medicine and gasping for air, Vadra said, lending her support to the IYC. At an online press conference, All India Congress Committee in charge of Delhi Shaktisinh Gohil said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Anil Chaudhary and former MLA Mukesh Sharma also received notice for such questioning. A Delhi Police official claimed that the questioning followed a direction from the Delhi High Court on a writ petition filed by Dr. Deepak Singh about politicians involved in illegal distribution of Covid-19 medicines, etc. 

D) Sputnik V to be priced at ₹995.40 per dose.

Sputnik V has now joined India’s immunisation programme against Covid-19, with the first dose of the Russian vaccine being administered in Hyderabad today. The maximum retail price of the imported vaccine is ₹995.40 per dose. As part of a limited pilot, the soft launch of the vaccine has commenced and the first dose was administered in Hyderabad on May 14, said Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, the marketing partner in India for the vaccine of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). It follows the imported doses of Sputnik V that arrived in the country on May 1, receiving regulatory clearance from the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli, on May 13. Further consignments of Sputnik V are expected over the upcoming months. Subsequently, supply of the vaccine will commence from Indian manufacturing partners.

E) Many districts in Kerala on rain alert.

District administrations in Kerala have scrambled to deal with a potential rainfall-related emergency, with the turbulent weather conditions over the Arabian Sea expected to trigger torrential rains over the next few days. Five Kerala districts Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Ernakulam were on red alert today (Friday), given the likelihood of extremely heavy rainfall, according to a corrected weather update issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at 1 p.m. In a 10 a.m. update, the weather agency had downgraded the red alerts that were sounded in three districts on Friday to orange alerts. As per the latest update, Kottayam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad , Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad are on orange alert today (Friday) and Kannur and Kasaragod on yellow alert.

F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 2,41,00,326 with the death toll at 2,62,951. Lockdown restrictions in Tamil Nadu are set to become more stringent from tomorrow. Provision and grocery stores and shops selling meat would be allowed to function only from 6 am to 10 am across Tamil Nadu from Saturday. Tea shops will be closed. These shops were earlier allowed to remain open from 6 am to 12 noon. E-registration would be made mandatory from May 17 for inter-district and intra-district movement even for essential purposes, weddings or funerals of close relatives and also for travelling for medical treatment and for elderly care, a Government release said on Friday evening. Shops on pavements, which were earlier allowed to sell vegetables, flowers and fruits till 12 noon, would not be allowed any more. In neighbouring Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday extended the state-wide lockdown till May 23. Vijayan said the government is taking steps to mitigate the ill-effects of the lockdown, chiefly loss of livelihood. He announced free food kits for the population and immediate distribution of social welfare pensions. The government would support Anganwadi teachers and Kudumbashree units, he added.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Oli reappointed Nepal PM. 

K.P. Sharma Oli, heading a minority government, was sworn in as Nepal’s Prime Minister on Friday, four days after the embattled leader lost a crucial vote of confidence in Parliament. The 69-year-old Chairman of the Communist Party of MarxistLeninist) was reappointed as Prime Minister by President Bidya Devi Bhandari in his capacity as leader of the largest political party in Nepal’s House of Representatives. Mr. Oli will head a minority government as he does not enjoy a majority in Parliament after losing the vote of confidence on Monday. He was reappointed to the post on Thursday night as the Opposition parties failed to secure majority seats in Parliament. Mr. Oli will now have to take a vote of confidence at the House within 30 days, failing which, an attempt to form a government under Article 76 (5) of the Constitution would be initiated by the President. The Ministers of Mr. Oli’s Cabinet were also sworn in during the ceremony. All the Ministers from the old Cabinet have been included in the new Cabinet. Pradeep Gyawali has been reappointed as Foreign Minister while Ram Bahadur Thapa and Bishnu Poudyal were appointed as Ministers for Home and Finance.

 

B) Kabul mosque bombing kills 12 devotees. 

A bomb ripped through a mosque in northern Kabul during Friday prayers, killing 12 worshippers, and wounding 15, Afghan police. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, the latest in a surge in violence as U.S. and NATO troops have begun their final withdrawal from the country, after 20 years of According to Afghan police spokesman, Ferdaws Faramarz, the bomb exploded as prayers had begun. The mosque’s Imam, Mofti Noman, was among the dead, the spokesman said and ad, ded that the initial police investigation suggests the Imam may have been the target. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied any insurgent connection to the mosque attack, condemning it and accusing Afghanistan’s intelligence agency of being behind the explosion. Both the Taliban and government routinely blame each other for attacks. The attackers are rarely identified, and the public is seldom informed of the results of investigations into the many attacks in the capital. One worshipper, Muhibullah Sahebzada, said he had just stepped into the building when the explosion went off. Stunned, he heard the sound of screams, including those of children. as smoke filled the mosque. The explosion comes on the second day of a three-day ceasefire announced by the Taliban for Id-ul-Fitr, follows the fasting month of Ramzan. The Afghan government has said it would abide by a truce. So far, many of the attacks in Kabul have been claimed by the Islamic State group’s lcxal affiliate, though the Taliban and government routinely trade blame.