Tag: currentaffairsquiz

NATIONAL NEWS

A) New IT rules only to tackle misuse of social media: Ravi Shankar Prasad.

With Twitter and WhatsApp up in arms against the government’s new guidelines for social media platforms, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told The Hindu in an interview today that these guidelines are to deal with the issue of misuse of such platforms. He stressed that these rules only give a redressal mechanism to the users, with complaints to be handled between the users and the social media intermediary. The government, he said, is not involved. On the issue of tracing the originator of the WhatsApp messages, the Minister said ordinary users of WhatsApp have nothing to fear. I am giving my word, he said. The issue is not of use, but misuse and abuse of these platforms, and do the victims of abuse have a forum or not. And we [government] are out of it. This is between the social media platforms and their users who are the victims of abuse. These rules are for the good of their users only. It is unacceptable that they will earn good revenue here, with which we have no quarrel, but if any helpless victim is having an issue with misuse, they should go to America. When a distraught mother approaches me saying that my daughter’s ex-boyfriend is circulating her intimate photographs. What should I do? Ask her to complain to America, as Twitter says? This scenario is not acceptable.

B) Kejriwal appeals to Modi to allow doorstep delivery of ration.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a digital address, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the doorstep delivery of ration scheme that was stopped by the Central government. The doorstep delivery of ration scheme was scheduled to be rolled out from June 7. Mr. Kejriwal said that there was a ‘ration mafia’ that existed in the Capital for several years and that his government was trying to end it by starting the doorstep delivery of ration scheme. No government has had the audacity to fight this mafia but we have tried and when we were about to roll it out, we have been stopped. We have tried to take approval from the Central government almost five times now and have rectified all the objections raised, Mr. Kejriwal said. He added that if there could be home delivery of pizza and burgers and mobile phones why could there be not home delivery of ration and said that home delivery of ration should be started across the country as ration shops were super spreaders due to the crowds that gathered there. I am not doing this work for credit. I do not want any credit for this. I will tell the world that it was Modi’s idea. This is not the time to fight. How can the country run if you are fighting with the government in West Bengal, in Maharashtra, in Lakshadweep, the people of Delhi and farmers, Mr. Kejriwal asked.

C) Delhi hospital revokes ban on talking in Malayalam.

An order banning nursing staff of a Delhi government-run hospital from speaking in Malayalam in the hospital has been revoked, the Medical Director of the hospital said on Sunday. The hospital is yet to share the new order. On Saturday, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER) banned nursing staff from speaking in Malayalam in the hospital and warned of ‘serious action’ if they did not talk in English or Hindi, as per an order issued by the hospital. The order was issued without our knowledge and it has been revoked, Anil Agarwal, Medical Director of the hospital, said on Sunday. Nurses had criticised the ban and said that they always talked to patients in Hindi. A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language is being used for communication in working places in GIPMER. Whereas maximum patient and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless, causing a lot of inconvenience. So it is directed to all Nursing Personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication, otherwise serious action will be taken, read the order issued on Saturday.

D) Punjab, T.N., Kerala perform well in school education index.

Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have all scored higher than 90% in the Education Ministry’s Performance Grading Index for 2019-20, which was released on Sunday. Gujarat dropped from second to eighth rank in the index, while Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the only States which have seen actual regression in scores over this period. The index monitors the progress that States and Union Territories have made in school education with regard to learning outcomes, access and equity, infrastructure and facilities, and governance and management processes. Punjab has recorded the highest score of almost 929 out of a possible 1,000, showing a huge jump from 769 last year. The State topped the charts in terms of equity, infrastructure and governance, and shared the top spot in the domain of access with Kerala. In fact, Punjab overtook the Union Territory of Chandigarh, which had topped both previous editions of the index, but has now slid to second place with a score of 912. Tamil Nadu also overtook Kerala, with a score of 906, largely driven by improvements in the State’s educational governance and management, as well as in terms of infrastructure and facilities. Gujarat, which had the second highest score in the previous edition, dropped to eighth place. It has regressed in the key domain of access, which measures enrolment of students in school and the ability to keep them from dropping out as well as mainstreaming out-of-school students. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh saw a glaring drop in their governance scores, pushing both States to an overall performance that was worse than in the previous edition. The new Union Territory of Ladakh was included separately for the first time in this edition, and had the lowest score of just 545.

E) BJP to train 1 lakh health volunteers to perform essential medical services.

The BJP on Sunday concluded a review of the relief work done by its workers in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 and said in the coming days, it will train 1 lakh health volunteers across the country to operate medical devices and perform other essential medical services. BJP president J.P. Nadda had called a meeting of the party’s general secretaries and the presidents of its different wings to take stock of the preventive and relief work carried out by the saffron party during the second wave of the pandemic and its performance in the recently-held Assembly polls. The leaders also deliberated on post-poll violence in West Bengal, BJP general secretaries told reporters after the meeting. The meeting was held at Mr. Nadda’s residence and was attended by all the eight BJP general secretaries besides its general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh and presidents of its yuva, kisan, mahila, OBC, SC, ST and minority morchas. After the meeting, Mr. Nadda, Mr. Santhosh and the other general secretaries went to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence. Talking to reporters outside Mr. Nadda’s residence, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav said a report was presented to the party chief on the relief work carried out by the party amid the pandemic. It was decided that the party will train 1 lakh health volunteers across the country, including imparting technical knowledge, to operate ventilator and other essential medical devices, he added. The Scheduled Tribe wing of the party was asked to focus on promoting the Centre’s Vandhan Yojana for tribals. Similarly, the kisan morcha will facilitate the training of farmers at the farmers producers organisations (FPOs) across the country and the women’s wing will promote the Poshan Abhiyan among women, which aims to achieve a malnutrition-free India, Mr. Yadav said.

F) Six minority groups can show NPR enrolment slips for long-term visas.

Migrants belonging to the six non-Muslim minority communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while applying for long-term visas (LTVs), can also produce National Population Register (NPR) enrolment slips as proof of duration of their stay in India, according to a Union Home Ministry manual. The NPR number is part of an illustrative list of more than ten documents that could be provided to apply for a LTV, which is a precursor to acquiring Indian citizenship either by naturalisation or registration under Section 5 and 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 for the six communities Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from the three countries. The special provision of LTVs for Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan was first made in 2011. The NPR was first compiled in 2010 simultaneously with the decadal Census exercise and later updated in 2015. It already has a database of 119 crore residents. The NPR is a register of usual residents linked with location particulars down to the village level and is updated periodically to incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration. The Citizenship Rules framed in 2003 says that NPR is the first step towards compilation of National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) or NRC. The next phase of the NPR, expected to include contentious questions on date and place of birth of father and mother, last place of residence and mother tongue was to be simultaneously updated with the 2021 House Listing and Housing Census that has been indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19.

G) Priyanka Gandhi asks why Modi govt. reduced oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday questioned the Narendra Modi government’s decision to reduce oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds between September last year and January this year despite experts predicting an inevitable second wave of COVID-19. From September 2020 to January 2021, the Modi government reduced: Oxygen beds by 36%, ICU beds by 46%, Ventilator beds by 28%. Why? When every expert in the country, the Parliamentary Committee on Health and their own Sero-surveys warned them that additional beds would be needed for an inevitable second wave #ZimmedarKaun? Ms. Vadra asked on Twitter and in a 45-seconds video message. In the video, she asked if the lives of Indian citizens were less important than the Central Vista project as that had been declared an essential service. When they came into power, they cut the health budget by 20%. They promised AIIMS everywhere, they said district facilities will be upgraded, but they did nothing. Instead, the Central Vista project was declared an ‘essential service’ and people are working day in and day out to complete it by 2023. Is the health of the Indian citizens less important than the Central Vista project? Ms. Vadra asked. The Congress leader, who launched an online campaign ‘Zimmedar Kaun’ [Who’s responsible] last week, has been consistently raising issues related to alleged mismanagement in handling the second wave of COVID-19. In the past one week, she has raised the issue of export of oxygen and vaccines that resulted in a shortage of these items when India was in the grip of a devastating second wave. In a separate tweet, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi questioned the Modi government’s priorities and accused it of leaving the citizens atmanirbhar (self dependent) for vaccines while it was busy fighting for blue tick with Twitter, a reference to the social media company removing the verified sign from twitter handles of some RSS leaders including chief Mohan Bhagwat. Twitter, though, has restored the blue tick on the handles of the top RSS leaders.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) LoC remains quiet since February deal.

There has been no exchange of fire nor infiltration attempts from across the Line of Control (LoC) for over 100 days since the commitment by India and Pakistan to adhere to the 2003 ceasefire, two defence officials on the ground said. There have been no infiltration attempts so far. No reported infiltration as well. However, presence of terrorists at launch pads is reported. There has not been any reduction in the numbers, a senior officer on the ground said. The border population is the biggest beneficiary. It is a huge relief for the villagers as they are able to move freely as no firing is taking place, the officer stated. As per data from the Army, last year there were over 4,600 Cease Fire Violations (CFV) and 592 CFVs this year till the commitment came into effect on February 25. For comparison, till June 1, 2020 there were 1,531 CFVs. However, smuggling still continues as there are several villages ahead of the LoC fence, the officer said, adding that in these 100 days there have been major seizures of narcotics and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) material, grenades and pistols. The guns are quiet, but we have not lowered our guard, he said. As per surveillance inputs, several movements of terrorists were noticed close to the LoC despite no attempts to infiltrate. For instance June 1, three groups of six terrorists each were noticed in Lipa valley in the Keran, Naugam and Rampur sectors. While the group in Keran wasn’t identified, the groups at Naugam and Rampur were identified as belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen respectively, according to ground inputs. Similarly, there were at least seven instances of terrorist groups spotted close to the LoC in May.

B) Ahead of summit with Putin, Biden backs European allies. 

The U.S. will stand with its European allies against Russia. President Biden has promised ahead of the first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir putin. Mr. Biden will to Europe on Wednesday. and is set to attend both the G-7 and NATO summits as well as holding a high-stakes meeting with the Russian leader in Geneva on June 16. The summit comes amid the biggest crisis in ties between the two countries in years, with tensions high over a litany of issues including hacking allegations, human rights and claims of election meddling. In an op-ed for the Washington Post published on Saturday. the U.S. President promised to shore up Washington’s democratic alliances in the face of multiple crises and mounting threats from Moscow and Beijing. We are standing united to address Russia’s challenges to European security. starting with its aggression in Ukraine, and there will be no doubt about the resolve of the US. to defend our democratic values, which we cannot separate from our interests, he wrote. President Putin knows that I will not hesitate to respond to future harmful activities, he said. When we meet, I will again underscore the commitment of the United States, Europe and like. minded democracies to stand up for human rights and dignity.

NATIONAL NEWS

A) Twitter removes blue tick from Bhagwat, other RSS functionaries’ accounts; restores them after outcry.

Social media giant Twitter on Saturday removed the blue verification tick from the accounts of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other senior functionaries, only to restore it after a lot of hue and cry by Sangh sympathisers on social media, PTI reported. Taking strong objection, Rajiv Tuli, a functionary in RSS’s Delhi unit, told PTI that this clearly shows biasness and a clear example of ‘tech feudalism’ by Twitter. He cited several Twitter handles which have been inactive but continue to remain verified. The blue tick, which is a verification badge, was removed from five accounts belonging to senior functionaries of the RSS, the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor, sources in the Sangh said. The blue tick on Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu’s personal account was also removed, before being subsequently restored. Reacting to the removal of the blue tick from the Vice-President’s account, Twitter said the referenced account has been inactive since July 2020. Meanwhile, there have been zero tweets from Bhagwat’s account. As per Twitter’s verification policy, Twitter may automatically remove the blue verified badge and verified status if the account becomes inactive or is incomplete. Inactivity is based on logging in and to keep the account active, the account holder must make sure to log in at least every 6 months, Twitter said. Later in the day, the verification badge of Bhagawat, Suresh Soni, Arun Kumar, Suresh Joshi and Krishna Gopal was restored.

B) Govt issues ‘one last notice’ to Twitter to comply with IT rules.

The government on June 5 issued a notice to Twitter giving it one last chance to immediately comply with the new IT rules and warned that failure to adhere to the norms will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT Act. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that Twitter’s refusal to comply with the rules demonstrated the microblogging site’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India on its platform. Despite being operational in India for more than a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc has doggedly refused to create a mechanism that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India-based, clearly identified resources, the IT Ministry said. The Ministry said that though with effect from May 26, 2021, consequences follow given Twitter’s non-compliance with rules, however, as a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc. is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules, failing which the exemption from liability available…shall stand withdrawn and Twitter shall be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India. The notice, however, did not given a specific deadline to comply with the rules.

C) Middle-class badly hit, need loan moratorium, says plea in Supreme Court.

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court to direct the government to offer moratorium on loans for the period between June and August, saying the pandemic has wrecked homes and is pushing the middle-class into poverty. It is not a hidden truth that the middle-class have been badly hit by the financial implications of Covid-19. The second wave has actually been worse than the first, and the death toll is just one of the indicators of its severity, Distress Management Collective, an NGO represented by advocate Jose Abraham, said. The weekly extension of lockdowns since the last one and a half months had resulted in more people from the middle-class losing their jobs, and those who have their jobs safe at the moment, faced prospects of substantial salary cuts, the petition said. A report by Pew Research Centre stated that about 32 million people were driven into poverty by the pandemic last year, it noted. Loan accounts should not be classified as non-performing assets by banks and financial institutions for non-payment of monthly instalments between April and August. The plea asked the court to intervene with the Union government to roll out a financial package primarily focusing on the severely affected sections of society and also keeping in mind an imminent third wave. Consider the grievances of scores of borrowers who have availed housing loans or loans that fall in other categories from banks, it stated. It referred to how work had slowed for professionals like lawyers, who have shifted back to their hometown. The Small and Medium Enterprises [SME] sector has also been badly jolted by the second wave of the pandemic, it said. The emergence of the second wave had come at a time when the SME sector had hardly recovered from the blow received by the first wave, it pointed out.

D) ‘Bank NPAs set to rise, deposit growth outpacing credit flow’

Gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratios of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) are expected to shoot up in the coming quarters, according to data compiled by BCT Digital. This is despite the regulatory interventions to provide relief to both borrowers and lenders in the wake of the pandemic. The GNPA for the banking system was at 7.5% in September 2020, an improvement from pre-pandemic levels. This is expected to shoot up to 13.5% in a basecase scenario and 14.8% in an extreme scenario by September 2021 as per RBI’s assessment in the latest Financial Stability Report (FSR), said Jaya Vaidhyanathan, CEO of Bcr Digital, which helps banks manage risk. For public sector banks, GNPAs are expected to zoom from 9.7% in September 2020 to 16.2% and 17.6% in the base case and extreme scenarios, respectively, by September 2021, she added. As per data that BCT Digital has collated from the FSR, the September 2015 quarter saw year-on-year (YOY) credit growth of 9.4%. It declined to 8.8% in March 2016, the first quarter after the asset quality review was mandated. In March 2017, YOY credit growth slowed sharply to 4.4% while September 2019 saw 8.7% growth. Credit grew 5.9% and 5%, in March and September 2020, respectively. Deposit growth, however, has quickened. September 2015 saw YOY growth of 9.9% while March 2016 and March 2017 posted 8.1% and 11.1%, respectively. Growth was 10.2%, 8.6% and 10.3% in September 2019, March 2020 and September 2020. Care Ratings recently said FY21 credit growth was the lowest in 4 years as lenders and borrowers have remained risk averse.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) About 100 killed in Burkina Faso in deadliest attack since 2015.

Around 100 civilians were killed overnight in the deadliest attack in Burkina Faso since jihadist violence erupted in the country in 2015, security and local sources said on Saturday. The attack occurred during the night of Friday to Saturday when armed individuals staged an incursion into the northern town of Solhan, a security source said. The toll, which is still provisional, is about 100 dead, men and women of different ages, the source said. The government confirmed the attack and the death toll. Assailants struck around 2 a.m. local time (7.30 a.m. IST) against a position of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP), an anti-jihadist civilian defence force which backs the national army, before attacking homes and carrying out executions, a local source said. The VDP was set up in December 2019 to help Burkina’s poorly-equipped military fight jihadists but it has suffered more than 200 fatalities, according to an AFP tally. The volunteers are given two weeks’ military training, and then work alongside the security forces, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties. In addition to the heavy human toll, the worst recorded to date, homes and the market were set on fire, another security source said, voicing concern that the still temporary toll of a hundred dead may increase. The authorities have declared three days of national mourning, ending Monday night at 11:59 pm. Sohlan, a small community around 15 kilometres from Sebba, the main city in Yagha province near the border with Mali, has been hit with numerous attacks in recent years. On May 14, Defence Minister Cheriff Sy and military top brass visited Sebba to assure people that life had returned to normal, following a number of military operations. The massive attack by suspected jihadists came hours after another attack Friday evening on Tadaryat village in the same region, where at least 14 people were killed. Since 2015 Burkina Faso has struggled to fight back against increasingly frequent and deadly jihadist attacks from groups including the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS). The attacks first started in the north near the Mali border, but have since spread to other regions, particularly in the east. Around 1,300 people have died and more than a million have fled their homes.

B) China hits out at U.S., EU consulates in Hong Kong.

China on Saturday berated the U.S. and EU consulates in Hong Kong for displaying candles to commemorate the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown, slamming it as a clumsy political show’ to destabilise the city. Candles were seen lit in the windows of the U.S. consulate building, which is next to the residence of Hong Kong’s Beijing-appointed leader Carrie Lam, and the European Union’s office on Friday night. The missions also posted photographs of their Tiananmen memorials on social media. Any attempt to exploit Hong Kong to carry out infiltration or sabotage activities against the mainland crosses the red line  is absolutely intolerable, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong office of China’s Foreign Ministry said. We again urge the organs of relevant countries in Hong Kong to immediately . stop meddling with Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs at large, and avoid playing with fire. For three decades in Hong Kong, huge crowds, often tens of thousands strong, have held candlelight vigils on June 4 for those killed in 1989 when tanks and troops crushed pro-democracy protests in Beijing. However this year’s vigil was banned at a time when Hong Kong authorities are carrying out a sweeping clampdown on dissent following huge and often violent democracy protests two years ago. Flashes of defiance still flickered across the city Friday night as residents simultaneously turned their mobile phone lights or lit candles in multiple districts across the city to mark the date. There were online calls for people to turn off the lights at home and place candles in their windows in commemoration.

C) G7 nations reach historic deal to tax big multinationals.

A group of the world’s richest nations reached a landmark deal on Saturday to close cross-border tax loopholes used by some of the world’s biggest companies. The Group of Seven (G7) said it would back a minimum global corporation tax rate of at least 15%, and put in place measures to ensure taxes were paid in the countries where businesses operate. After years of discussion, G7 finance ministers have reached a historic agreement to reform the global tax system to make it fit for the global digital age, British finance minister Rishi Sunak told reporters. The accord, which could form the basis of a global pact next month, is aimed at ending a decades-long race to the bottom in which countries have competed to attract corporate giants with ultra-low tax rates and exemptions. That has in turn cost their public coffers hundreds of billions of dollars a shortfall they now need to recoup all the more urgently to pay for the huge cost of propping up economies ravaged by the coronavirus crisis. Ministers met face-to-face in London for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a copy of the final agreement seen by Reuters, the G7 ministers said they would commit to a global minimum tax of at least 15% on a country by country basis. We commit to reaching an equitable solution on the allocation of taxing rights, with market countries awarded taxing rights on at least 20% of profit exceeding a 10% margin for the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises, the text added. The ministers also agreed to move towards making companies declare their environmental impact in a more standard way so investors can decided more easily whether to fund them, a key goal for Britain. Rich nations have struggled for years to agree on a way to raise more revenue from large multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, which often book profits in jurisdictions where they pay little or no tax. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration gave the stalled talks fresh impetus by proposing a minimum global corporation tax rate of 15%, above the level in countries such as Ireland but below the lowest level in the G7.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) B.1.617 variant drove surge in Covid-19 cases in last 2 months.

The surge of Covid-19 cases in the country in the last two months shows a correlation with the rise in B.1.617 variant of the SARS-CoV-2, according to INSACOG, a grouping of 10 national laboratories. April and May witnessed a deadly second wave of coronavirus cases that swept through the country, stretching the healthcare infrastructure to its limits. According to INSACOG, the B.1.1.7 lineage of the virus, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is declining in proportion across India in the last one and half month. The B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus has been named ‘Alpha’. The B.1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2 was first reported from Maharashtra but it is now seen in other states such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana. The current surge in cases seen over the last two months in some states shows a correlation with the rise in the B.1.617 lineage of SARS CoV-2, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) said. The B.1.617 lineage has further evolved into three sublineages – B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3. Early data shows B.1.617.2, dubbed as Delta by WHO, has higher transmission advantages over the other two sub-lineages. B.1.617, initially termed as double mutant, has three new spike protein mutations. Two mutations — E484Q and L452R — are in the area important for antibody-based neutralisation. The third mutation — P681R in B.1.617 — along with the reversion of E484Q allows its sub-lineage to be more infectious. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has termed it as ‘Variant of Concern’. B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3 sub-lineages have two receptor binding domain mutations L452R and E484Q. The former has seven spike mutations while the latter has seven to eight. In the case of B.1.617.3, it has nine to 10 spike mutations and two receptor binding domain mutations L452R and T478K. In the case of all the three sub-lineages, the mutations have the potential to reduce antibody efficacy and neutralisation by vaccine sera, which, however, remain to be established.

 

B) Panel to decide on CBSE Class 12 assessment criteria in 10 days.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday constituted a 13-member committee to work out an objective criteria for assessment of Class 12 students after their board exams were cancelled. The panel will submit its report within 10 days. In view of the uncertain conditions due to Covid-19 and the feedback obtained from various stakeholders, it was decided that Class 12 board exams of CBSE will not be held this year. It was also decided that CBSE will take steps to compile the results as per a well defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner, said CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj. A 13-member committee has been constituted for the purpose. The panel will submit its report within 10 days, he added. The government on Tuesday cancelled the CBSE Class 12 Board exams amid the continuing Covid-19 pandemic across the country.

 

C) Vaccinating children not priority from WHO perspective: Vaccines expert.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) top vaccines expert says that immunising children against the coronavirus is not a high priority given the extremely limited global supply of vaccines. Dr. Kate O’Brien says vaccinating children is not a priority from a WHO perspective, even as increasing numbers of rich countries authorise their Covid-19 shots for teenagers and children. Dr. O’Brien says since children are not typically at risk of getting severely ill or dying from Covid-19, vaccinating them during the pandemic is mostly aimed at stopping transmission, rather than protecting them from disease. Canada, the U.S. and the European Union have all recently approved some Covid-19 vaccines for children age 12 to 15 as they approach their vaccination targets for adults. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously urged rich countries to donate their Covid-19 shots to poor countries rather than immunise their adolescents and children. Fewer than 1% of Covid-19 vaccines administered globally have been used in poor countries. Dr. O’Brien says it’s not necessary to vaccinate children before sending them back to school if the adults in contact with them were immunised.

D) No decision yet on indemnity to vaccine makers: Govt.

The Union government was still in negotiation and no final decision had been taken on indemnity to either foreign or local Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, NITI Aayog member (health) Dr. V.K. Paul said at a Health Ministry press conference on Friday. India had overtaken the U.S. in providing at least one dose of vaccine, he said, adding, As of Thursday night, India has administered 17.2 crore doses, while the U.S. has administered 16.9 crore doses. While the priority of the government was to provide vaccine cover to the vulnerable elderly population and those with comorbidities, Bharat Biotech and Zydus have already started testing vaccines on children. But we have to understand that we will need 25-26 crore doses to cover this population as we cannot have partial coverage. All this will be taken into account when we strategise. Information-gathering and analysis on the matter is on, he noted. Dr. Paul cautioned that at a time the second wave seems to be on the wane, the virus could come back in case people don’t act responsibly. When the peak is declining, we should not suddenly get back to the same behaviour as before the second wave. We have to buy time to ensure we achieve a high coverage of vaccination, he pointed out. Lav Aggarwal, joint secretary, Health Ministry, providing details of the Covid-19 graph in the country, said there had been a continuous decrease in cases and recoveries were far exceeding the new cases. Recoveries are exceeding the daily cases reported. There has been a steady decline in case positivity across the country. India has registered a continuous decrease in cases since its peak on May 7. If we analyse data in comparison to May 7, the highest reported peak, we are recording a 68% decline in daily cases, he stated.

E) Congress unimpressed by CMs’ letters on vaccine policy.

The Opposition Congress remained unimpressed by the letters written by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to fellow Chief Ministers criticising the Centre’s vaccination policy. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioned both Reddy and Patnaik, asking why they could not pose the same questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although both Reddy’s YSR Congress and Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal claim they want to maintain an equal distance from the Opposition and the ruling BJP, they have often been found on the government’s side on critical issues. Reddy, in his letter written on Thursday, wrote that the situation had come to Centre vs State and urged Chief Ministers to speak in one voice. Reacting to the letter, Ramesh tweeted, All I ask Jagan is: who made the vaccine issue Union vs States? Who unilaterally decided the Union govt will abdicate vaccinating 18-44 year olds? Why weren’t states consulted before this policy was rolled out? Why don’t you ask the PM these questions? Patnaik, in his letter, was more guarded on the Centre’s role. The best option is for the government of India to centrally procure the vaccines and distribute it among the states so that our citizens are vaccinated at the earliest, he wrote, exhorting Chief Ministers to come to a consensus on the issue. Patnaik claimed that he has also written to Modi, but that the letter was not made public, unlike his letter to the Chief Ministers. It’s all very well for Odisha CM to write to all CMs, but why can’t he write to PM & persuade him? After all, BJD has always supported BJP in Parliament for past 7 years. Several like-minded parties have already written to PM earlier asking for procurement of vaccines by Union Govt, Ramesh tweeted.

F) Make in India project cleared for submarines.

A ‘Make in India’ project worth Rs 43,000 crore to build six conventional submarines has been cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the government said in a statement. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Friday approved the issuance of a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the construction of six conventional submarines under Project-75I at an estimated cost of Rs 43,000 crore. At a meeting, the DAC also approved the procurement of air defence guns and ammunition for the Army at an approximate cost of Rs 6,000 crore. This is a landmark approval, being the first case processed under the Strategic Partnership (SP) model. This would be one of the largest ‘Make in India’ projects and it will create a tiered industrial ecosystem for submarine construction in India, Singh said on Twitter on the submarine deal. With this approval, India would be enabled to achieve its 30-year submarine construction programme envisioned by the government to acquire national competence in their building and for Indian industry to independently design and construct them, he noted. The deal would take at least two-three years to be concluded, and the given the high technology and the long timelines, the cost would be spread over many years, a defence official said.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) EU opens anti-trust probe against Facebook.

European Union and British regulators opened dual antitrust investigations into Facebook on Friday to look into whether the company distorts competition in the classified advertising market by using data it collects from rival services. The EU’s executive commission said that it’s also looking at whether the way Facebook embeds its own classified ad service, Marketplace, into the social network gives it an advantage in reaching customers, in violation of EU competition rules. The U.K.’s competition watchdog said in a simultaneous announcement that it launched its own probe to examine whether Facebook’s collection and use of data gave it an unfair advantage over competitors providing classified data and online dating services. Facebook collects vast troves of data on the activities of users of its social network and beyond, enabling it to target specific customer groups, said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice president in charge of competition policy. We will look in detail at whether this data gives Facebook an undue competitive advantage, in particular on the online classified ads sector. The investigation is the latest salvo by EU regulators trying to rein in the dominance of big tech companies.

B) Biden expands list of Chinese firms off-limits for U.S. investors.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded a blacklist of Chinese firms that are off-limits to American investors over their links to Beijing’s military-industrial complex, in a sign of Washington’s continued pressure campaign against the Asian power. Former President Donald Trump in November issued a list of 31 Chinese companies that were deemed to be supplying or supporting China’s military and security apparatus, later adding even more firms. But after legal challenges put the sanctions in doubt, Mr. Biden’s team reviewed the blacklist, removing some names and ultimately expanding it to 59 firms that Americans are prohibited from having a stake in. Many are subsidiaries of companies already included. The sanctions target companies involved in Chinese surveillance technology used to facilitate repression or serious human rights abuses, which undermine the security or democratic values of the United States and our allies, according to a White House statement. The initial list published under Mr. Trump included major telecoms, construction and technology firms, such as China Mobile, China Telecom, video surveillance firm Hikvision, and China Railway Construction Corp. China National Offshore Oil Corporation was added to the list in January. The investment ban takes effect on August 2 and current shareholders have a year to divest.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) India in talks with foreign vaccine-makers for ‘local manufacturing’, says Foreign Secretary.

India was in talks to allow major foreign vaccine manufacturers to carry out local manufacturing, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Thursday. Addressing the WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Health Partners’ Forum, he stated that India was fighting an exceptionally severe second waveof the pandemic. We are also part of the discussions with major vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna about sourcing and possible local manufacturing of their vaccines in India. We have also helped expedite the introduction of Sputnik-V vaccines, he said, elaborating on the role of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in securing vaccines. India had been demanding easier access to raw materials necessary for production of vaccines. Shringla said MEA’s representatives have been working to ease regulatory disruptions to these supply chains. India would create global scale capacities necessary to fight the pandemic. A number of serious global conversations are underway on this in platforms such as the G7, the G20, QUAD, BRICS, the United Nations and the WTO itself, he added.

B) Every journalist entitled to protection under 1962 Kedar Nath judgment, says SC, quashing sedition case against Vinod Dua.

The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a sedition case registered against senior journalist and Padma Shri awardee Vinod Dua for his critical remarks about the Prime Minister and the Union Government in a YouTube telecast. It also underscored its 59-year-old verdict that strong words of disapproval about the ruling regime does not amount to sedition. A Bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit upheld the right of every journalist to criticise, even brutally, the measures of the government with a view to improve or alter them through legal means. The free speech of a journalist should be protected from charges of sedition. The apex court judgment by Justice Lalit upheld the spirit and intent of its 1962 Kedar Nath Singh judgement, which said that commenting in strong terms upon the measures or acts of Government, or its agencies, so as to ameliorate the condition of the people or to secure the cancellation or alteration of those acts or measures by lawful means, that is to say, without exciting those feelings of enmity and disloyalty which imply excitement to public disorder or the use of violence is not sedition. Every journalist is entitled to protection under the Kedar Nath Singh judgment, Justice Lalit declared. The 1962 judgment had said Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (sedition) was intended only to punish subversion of a lawfully established government through violent means. The court acknowledged the submission made by Dua, who is currently recovering from Covid-19, that there is a recent trend against the media where State governments who do not find a particular telecast to be in sync with their political ideologies register FIRs against persons of the media primarily to harass them and to intimidate them so that they succumb to the line of the State or else face the music at the hands of the police. The judgment came as a blow to the government, which had even raised the question whether journalism itself could legally be termed a profession. The government had said that a professional was someone who had a client relationship. The verdict on Thursday may spell a push-back from the court against the indiscriminate number of sedition cases being filed against critical journalists, citizens, lawyers and activists. Recently, another Bench of the Supreme Court, in a separate case on sedition charges levelled against two Telugu channels by the Andhra government, had said it was time to define the limits of the sedition law. The complaint against Dua was filed by a BJP leader. Besides sedition, the other charges included causing public nuisance, printing of defamatory matter and making statements conducive to public mischief.

C) Kerala retains top position in Niti Aayog’s sustainable development goals index 2020.

In the year 2020, India saw a major decline in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to industry, innovation and infrastructure as well as decent work and economic growth, according to the NITI Aayog’s 2020 SDG Index. Kerala retained its position at the top of the rankings in the third edition of the index, with a score of 75, followed by Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, both scoring 72. At the other end of the scale, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing States. However, all States showed some improvement from last year’s scores, with Mizoram and Haryana seeing the biggest gains. Developed by a global consultative process on holistic development, the 17 SDGs have a 2030 deadline. The NITI Aayog launched its index in 2018 to monitor the country’s progress on the goals through data-driven assessment, and foster a competitive spirit among the States and Union Territories in achieving them. In March, a UN assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs said the region India is part of may see rising inequality due to the pandemic. The NITI Aayog Index shows some improvement in the SDG on inequality, but a look at the indicators used to assess this goal shows that the think tank has changed the goalposts. In 2019, the indicators for inequality included the growth rates for household expenditure per capita among the bottom 40% of rural and urban populations, as well as the Gini coefficient a measure of the distribution of income in rural and urban India. The 2018 indicators included the Palma ratio, another metric for income inequality. Such economic measures have been omitted from the indicators used for this SDG in the 2020 edition of the NITI Aayog’s Index. Instead, it gives greater weightage to social equality indicators such as the percentage of women and SC/ST representatives in State legislatures and the panchayati raj institutions, and the levels of crime against SC/ST communities. The only economic indicator this year is the percentage of population in the lowest two wealth quintiles. The SDGs that do deal directly with wages and industrial growth better reflect the fact that India’s economy has taken a beating over the last year. The country’s score on the SDG related to industry and infrastructure dropped 10 points to 55, while the scores on decent work dropped three points to 61. The Clean Water and Sanitation SDG also saw a five-point drop, despite flagship government schemes in this sector.

D) Happy you cancelled Board exams, submit evaluation criteria within 2 weeks, SC tells Centre.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it was happy that the government chose to cancel the Class XII Board exams and gave the CBSE and ICSE two weeks to place on record the objective criteria by which they intend to assess the performance of the students. We are happy you have decided in-principle to cancel the exam… but what are the objective standards [for assessment]. That is not spelt out here in this letter, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, the lead judge on the Bench, asked Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre. Venugopal said the process for fixing the criteria may take a little time and asked the court to anyway dispose of the petition filed by an advocate, Mamta Sharma. The prayer made in the petition had been fulfilled with the cancellation of the exams. Justice Khanwilkar, however, said the petitioners would want to address the court once the government placed on record the assessment standards. Both sides may have issues concerning the objective criteria, he said. Any issue, let them file an application, Venugopal replied. Justice Khanwilkar said the court would prefer to keep the petition pending till the objective criteria were also scrutinised. Initially, the government suggested filing the standards in four weeks, but the court insisted on two weeks. The students have apprehensions. Many students want to go outside for further education. This requires an urgent decision. Let the persons concerned interact on a day-to-day basis, Justice Khanwilkar said. Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, the other judge on the Bench, also asked why the government needed even two weeks, as objective criteria for assessment had also been notified last year when the Board exams were similarly cancelled due to the pandemic. The ICSE, represented by advocate J.K. Das, urged the court to give more time, at least three weeks, to prepare the criteria for assessment.

E) Labour Ministry sets up panel to fix minimum wages.

The Union Labour and Employment Ministry on Thursday said it had set up an expert group for fixing minimum wages and national floor minimum wages. The Ministry said it had issued an order to constitute the group to provide technical inputs and recommendations on both issues. The group, set up for three years, would be chaired by Professor Ajit Mishra, director of the Institute of Economic Growth. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Prof. Tarika Chakraborty, National Council of Applied Economic Research Professor Anushree Sinha, Labour Ministry Joint Secretary Vibha Bhalla, and V.V. Giri National Labour Institute Director General H. Srinivas would be its members. A senior advisor to the Ministry, D.P.S. Negi, would be the member-secretary, it said. The expert group will give recommendations to the government on minimum wages and national floor wage. To arrive at the wage rates, the group will look into the international best practices on the wages and evolve a scientific criteria and methodology for fixation of wages. The decision is part of the Centre’s implementation of the Code on Wages, 2019, which mandates a statutory national level floor wage.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Olympics: ‘We cannot postpone again,’ says Tokyo 2020 boss.

The head of Japan’s Olympics organising committee on Thursday ruled out another suspension of the Games, despite deep disquiet at the prospect of thousands of athletes and officials arriving during a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections. Already postponed from last year at the cost of an extra $3.5 billion, a scaled-down version of the Games, with no foreign spectators, is set to start on July 23. But with a slow vaccine rollout, Tokyo and nine other regions under a state of emergency, and rising numbers of severe coronavirus cases, most Japanese oppose hosting the Olympics. Most of the capital’s city council, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, agree, the Tokyo Shimbun paper reported on Thursday. Illustrating the public anxiety, residents in one training venue, Ota City, were furious over a decision to give preferential vaccinations to staff attending to visiting Australian softball players, media also said. However, organising committee president Seiko Hashimoto countered the gloom, telling the Nikkan Sports newspaper, We cannot postpone again. Hashimoto, who competed in seven summer and winter Olympics as a cyclist and skater, also told the BBC that while the Japanese were understandably worried, they should be reassured that a bubble situation was being carefully constructed. I believe that the possibility of these Games going on is 100%, she added. One thing the organising committee commits and promises to all the athletes out there is that we will defend and protect their health. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also appeared confident of pulling off a successful Olympics and Paralympics as he plans a snap vote afterwards, the Asahi newspaper said. Authorities have not decided whether Japanese spectators will be allowed to attend Olympics events. There are fears that shouting, hugging and high-fiving could promote contagion. Though avoiding the rates of some other nations, serious cases of Covid-19 are rising in Japan, where the infection tally stands at nearly 750,000, with more than 13,000 deaths. The nation’s most senior medical adviser said on Thursday that public health guidance, including his, was not reaching the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in charge of the event. We are now considering where we should give our advice, Shigeru Omi told lawmakers. If they want to hold (the Games), it’s our job to tell them what the risks are.

B) Biden intends to overhaul Trump’s China blacklist.

U.S. President Joe Biden intends to this week overhaul a list of Chinese firms that U.S. investors are allowed to own shares in, as the President re-evaluates the world powers’ post-Trump relationship while maintaining pressure on Beijing. Donald Trump prohibited Americans from buying stakes in 31 Chinese companies that were deemed to be supplying or supporting China’s military and security apparatus. The list included major telecoms, construction and technology firms such as China Mobile, China Telecom, video surveillance firm Hikvision, and China Railway Construction Corp. The measures by the White House aimed at quelling the Asian giant’s rise and which has left ties between the two severely strained. Beijing repeated its outrage at the Trump-era blacklist on Thursday and vowed to protect Chinese companies’ rights, claiming the blacklist was politically motivated and ignores the facts and actual situation of the firms involved. The ban severely undermines normal market rules and order and damages, the interests of global investors including US investors, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. Mr. Biden’s new order will see the Treasury Department create a list of firms that would be hit with financial penalties for their links with China’s defence and surveillance technology sectors, Bloomberg News reported. He is expected to keep the list largely intact, while the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will add new firms to the list.