CURRENT AFFAIRS
26 January 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Delhi Police permits tractor rally, with 37 conditions; farmers announce Budget Day march to Parliament.
The Delhi Police on Monday issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the farmers’ proposed tractor rally in New Delhi during Republic Day on Tuesday, after union leaders agreed to 37 conditions during a meeting with the police. According to the conditions agreed to, the organisers shall limit the number of participants in the rally to 5,000 persons, along with 5,000 tractors. The rally shall be held within the prescribed time period i.e. from 1200 hours to 1700 hours only on January 26, 2021. The participants in the rally should not indulge in any acrobatics, display of martial arts, or stunt driving. No weapons such as firearms, swords, spear, mashaals and lathis, including religious symbols other than the permitted ones, shall be carried. Meanwhile, farmer unions on Monday announced that they will march towards Parliament from different locations on February 1 when the annual Union Budget is scheduled to be presented, PTI reported. Darshan Pal of the Krantikari Kisan Union said the protesting farmers remain firm in their stand of repealing the three new farm laws and their agitation will continue till their demands are met. They will march towards Parliament on foot from different locations on the Budget day on February 1. As far as the tractor rally is concerned, it will give the government an idea of our strength and they will know the agitation is not just limited to Haryana or Punjab but it is an agitation of the whole country, he said. The farmers who have come for the tractor parade will not go back now and will join the protest. The agitation will continue till our demands met. Our stand remains the same, Pal told a press conference. Thousands of armed personnel have been deployed at the Rajpath and several border points of the national capital, which has been brought under a multi-layered security cover in view of Republic Day celebrations as well as the proposed tractor rally.
B) Indian billionaires increased their wealth by 35% during lockdown.
Indian billionaires increased their wealth during the lockdown by 35% to ₹3 trillion. The sharp increment in their wealth since the lockdown in March is enough to give every one of the 138 million poorest Indians a cheque for ₹94,045 each, according to Oxfam’s Inequality Virus Report, released on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The spike in the wealth of just the top 11 billionaires during the pandemic could easily sustain the MGNREGS or the Health Ministry for the next 10 years, stated the report, which also underscored how Covid-19 has deepened inequalities. While the wealthiest escaped the worst impact of the pandemic, the poor faced joblessness, starvation and death, the report noted. Mukesh Ambani, who has emerged as the richest man in India and Asia, was earning ₹90 crore an hour during the pandemic. At the same time, during the lockdown, 24% of the people in the country were earning under ₹3,000 a month. The increase in Ambani’s wealth alone could keep 40 crore informal workers out of poverty for at least five months, said the report. Meanwhile, 170,000 people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April 2020, the report said. The Oxfam report recommended reintroducing the wealth tax and effecting a one-time Covid-19 cess of 4% on taxable income of over ₹10 lakh to help the economy recover from the lockdown. According to its estimate, wealth tax on the nation’s 954 richest families could raise the equivalent of 1% of the GDP. The report also delved deeper into different forms of inequities, including educational, gender and health. These inequalities meant that the amenities to be able to wash hands and maintain distance, essential to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, were not available for a majority of the population. According to the report, only 6% of the poorest 20% have access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93.4 % of the top 20 %. About 59.6% of India’s population lived in a room or less, which meant that protocols necessary to prevent the spread of Covid-19 could not be followed. Calling the coronavirus pandemic the world’s worst public health crisis in a hundred years, the report said it triggered an economic crisis comparable in scale only with the Great Depression of the 1930s.
C) WhatsApp’s differential treatment of Indian citizens a cause for concern, says Centre.
The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp’s differential treatment of Indian users – in comparison to their European users when it came to its privacy policy was a cause for concern to the government. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Central government, said that the privacy policy offered by WhatsApp to its European users, specifically prohibition of any information shared with Facebook, while this provision is not present in the privacy policy offered to Indian citizens who form a very substantial part of WhatsApp user base. This differential treatment is a cause for concern to the government, the ASG said. The government is also concerned with the way Indian users have been subjected to these changes rather unilaterally. By not providing the Indian users the ability to opt out of this data being shared with other Facebook companies, WhatsApp prima facie seems to be treating Indian users with an all-or-nothing approach, ASG Sharma said. This, Sharma said, may infringe on Indian users’ interests in relation to information privacy and information security. Though the issue is between two private parties, Sharma said, the scope and expanse of WhatsApp makes it a germane ground that reasonable and cogent policies are put in place which is being done by the Personal Data Protection Bill. The Personal Data Protection Bill is being discussed by the Joint Committee of the Parliament, Sharma added. Taking note of the fact that the matter is being looked into at the highest level, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva adjourned the hearing in the case for March 1, by which the Centre will place on record the steps being taken on the issue. The court, however, declined to grant the plea of petitioner Manohar Lal to issue notice to WhatsApp. Lal, in his petition, has claimed that WhatsApp’s new privacy policy violates the right to privacy guaranteed under the Constitution. It said the new policy virtually gives a 360-degree profile into a person’s online activity without there being any supervision by the government.
D) Indian and Chinese troops clashed at Naku La in Sikkim.
Indian and Chinese troops clashed at Naku La in North Sikkim last week. The clashes resulted in some minor injuries on both sides, it has been learnt. It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on January 20, 2021 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols, the Army said in a statement. The clash occurred as People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops attempted to intrude into Indian territory, a defence source said. There were some minor injuries on both sides but the situation was resolved and under control, the source said. The clash occurred amid high alert and heavy deployment of troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on both sides since the standoff began. Given that this is peak winter and temperatures are extremely low, the situation has been largely quiet as both sides dug in while diplomatic and military-level talks continue attempts to work out an agreement for disengagement and de-escalation.
E) Beant Singh killing: SC gives govt. two weeks to decide on mercy plea.
The government told the Supreme Court on Monday that a decision on the mercy plea of Balwant Singh Rajoana, in jail for 26 years for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, would have some repercussions now. Appearing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre, sought three weeks’ time. Why three weeks? What are you doing? You said you will take a decision before Republic Day, Chief Justice Bobde asked Mehta. What are they doing? It has been 26 years of jail for him (Balwant Singh). Your Lordships have given them (government) a long rope, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for Balwant Singh, said, objecting to Mehta’s submissions. He is in jail for 26 years, yes, but he is in jail for the assassination of a former Chief Minister of Punjab, Mehta responded, adding that the government was examining the petition. Any decision, either way, may have some repercussions now, Mehta stressed. The court finally gave the government two weeks. Balwant Singh’s plea for Presidential mercy has been in limbo despite the government having decided over a year ago, in 2019, to spare his life in commemoration of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. In a petition to the Supreme Court from his jail cell, Balwant Singh has said his repeated pleas to the government about the fate of the mercy plea were met with silence. He called the delay inexplicable. The mercy petition was filed in 2012.
F) Allahabad HC defers final hearing of writ against U.P. anti-conversion ordinance.
The Allahabad High Court has deferred the final hearing of the writ filed against the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 to February 2, citing the petition moved by the Yogi Adityanath-led government to transfer the case to the Supreme Court. On Monday, the State government said an application to transfer the petition was pending in the apex court. Reports said the SC declined to accept the plea and said it would not intervene in the case. A HC Bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Siddhartha Varma listed the matter for February 2. The court is hearing a bunch of PILs challenging the constitutional validity of the ordinance.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Biden to sign executive order to boost ‘Buy American’ rules.
U.S. President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Monday requiring the federal government to increase its purchases of American goods, relative to foreign goods. Monday’s order asks agencies to update the existing ‘Buy American’ government procurement rules including by requiring an increase in the amount of domestic content that has to go into products being sold to the federal government and updating how the composition of products is measured. It also increased the government’s price differential for American products relative to foreign ones. The order also mandates the creation of a new senior position to oversee the Buy American programme and a website to publish any waivers to the sourcing requirements. Mr. Biden has been undoing a number of his predecessor Donald Trump’s policies such as those that were viewed as divisive, or harmed particular minority groups, or promoted American retrenchment from the world. However, Monday’s order is in the same thematic direction as at least some of Mr. Trump’s policies that sought to use the power of the federal government $600 billion a year in contracts to promote domestic rather than foreign industry. Some two-thirds of the purchases were made by the Defense Department. Manufacturing jobs have been on the decline in the U.S. over the last two decades, not just because sourcing abroad was more cost effective but also due to a significant increase in automation.
B) Israel extradites woman wanted for sex crimes.
Israeli authorities on Monday extradited a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her former students in Australia, capping a six-year legal battle that strained relations between the two governments and antagonized Australia’s Jewish community. Malka Leifer, who is wanted on 74 charges of child sex abuse in Australia, was placed on a flight early in the day, several hours before Israel was to close its international airport to nearly all air traffic due to a raging pandemic. Israeli media photographed Leifer boarding a plane at Ben Gurion Airport, her ankles and wrists shackled. Her lawyer, Nick Kaufman, confirmed the extradition. Leifer, a former teacher accused of sexually abusing several former students at a Jewish school in Melbourne, had been fighting extradition since 2014. Leifer, however, maintains her innocence. The protracted court case and repeated delays over her extradition had drawn criticism from Australian officials as well as the country’s Jewish leaders. This is an incredible day for justice! said Manny Waks, head of Voice against Child Sex Abuse, an organisation representing Leifer’s victims. They can now truly look forward to Leifer facing justice in Australia on the 74 charges, he said.
