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Latest Current Affairs 31 January 2021

CURRENT AFFAIRS
31 January 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) India running world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccination programme: Modi on Mann ki Baat.

The country was very unhappy and disappointed to see the insult to the national flag, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio programme, Mann ki Baat. Mr. Modi said Made-in-India vaccine has not only made India self-reliant (Atma Nirbhar) but also has filled us with self pride. He said that whenever he addressed the citizens via this programme, he felt like being present amidst the people, talking about little things in life. He spoke about Pongal, Bihu, Makar Sankranti, Republic Day celebrations, Padma Awards and good news from cricket. As he read messages from listeners in Uttar Pradesh and Madurai, Mr. Modi said that he gets messages from world leaders about India’s contribution. The stronger and more self sufficient India becomes, the more we can serve humanity, he said. The PM used the example of the message from the Brazilian President to illustrate how Ramayan has left a deep imprint in different parts of the world. The Prime Minister spoke about the initiative of ‘India 75’ for young writers. Details of this initiative will be on the Human Resource Ministry website. PM Modi also lauded an artiste from Midnapore and a young daughter from Odisha, Bhagyashree, for their innovative art and craft. He mentioned about a school in Jharkhand where the principal has converted walls of the school and villages as learning boards with paintings. He mentioned about how Chile, thousands of kms away, celebrates Indian tradition of yoga with over 30 institutes. Chile is celebrating November 4 as national Yoga Day. The PM spoke about a listener’s request about Road Safety week, mentioned interesting slogans used by Border Roads Organisation and asked people to send innovative slogans. Mr. Modi mentioned about the benefits of FasTag on highways. 

B) Govt. will take every step to fulfil people’s expectations, says PM. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the current Budget Session the first of this decade and an opportunity to fulfil the dreams of freedom fighters, even as 18 political parties announced a boycott of President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to both Houses of Parliament on the contentious agriculture reforms laws. The last year was also a year which saw not one but several mini-budget-like packages announced as we dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, and this budget is to be seen as part of that series of mini-budgets presented by the government last year, said Mr. Modi, offering key hints on the Union budget to be presented on February 1. Mr. Modi added that the government would take every step to fulfil the expectations of the people and hoped that all members of Parliament would direct their energy to this goal. The Budget Session of Parliament will be held between January 29 and April 8, with a recess from February 15 to March 7. The continued protest by farmer unions on the three agriculture-related laws cleared by Parliament in the last Monsoon Session is expected to make this a stormy session.

C) BJP chief says Tamil Nadu has benefited a lot under the Modi government. 

BJP national president J.P. Nadda on Saturday officially announced that the party would fight the ensuing Assembly election in Tamil Nadu with the ruling AIADMK. Kick-starting the party’s election campaign from Madurai, Mr. Nadda declared that the BJP had decided to go along with the AIADMK and other like-minded parties in the coming election. He said the AIADMK had regional aspirations, while also assimilating national ones. The Prime Minister has showed dynamic leadership quality in COVID-19 management, vaccination and security of the nation, he said. Stating that Tamil Nadu needed mainstreaming, he said it was possible only with the BJP. All issues faced by the State can be addressed by Mr. Modi. Mr. Nadda listed out various benefits Tamil Nadu enjoyed under the Modi government. With the right person in the right place, right decisions are being taken, he said. As against ₹94,540 crore given to Tamil Nadu by the UPA Government under the 13th Finance Commission, the Modi government gave ₹5.42 lakh crore for the development of the State under the 15th Finance Commission. The Centre has given funds for the development of the textile industry and the defence corridor, aimed at economic development. According to him, Tamil Nadu got a good share of funds under schemes like Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan and PM’s Ujjwala scheme, meant to empower women and the common man. The needs of Tamil Nadu were taken care of through big projects like Metro rail, monorail, ₹20,000 crore investment in the Railways, 12 smart cities and AIIMS. Besides spending ₹1,200 crore on the AIIMS in Madurai, the Centre would be incurring a recurring annual expenditure of ₹2,000 crore on it, he said. A total of 100 medical students and 100 paramedical students will pass out every year from AIIMS, he said. The BJP leader said the DMK was against Tamil culture and was anti-national as it had rejected all national aspirations and did not support them.

D) China still ‘largest source of critical items’ for India.

China still remains the largest source of critical imports for India, from mobile phone components to pharmaceutical ingredients, and India is working on a multi-pronged strategy to reduce this reliance, which is a bigger concern than the imbalance in trade. The trade deficit is not in dollars, it is in overdependence, said Sanjay Chadha, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, speaking at the All India Conference of China Studies (AICCS), organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) Delhi and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M). A mobile phone requires 85% content coming from one country. If China were to stop the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for penicillin, we would not be able to produce it in this country. When somebody controls your production, that is a sentiment which raises concern. Mr. Chadha said that India was working on a multi-pronged strategy to reduce this dependence, ranging from the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to boost domestic manufacturing, a global effort involving India’s foreign missions to find alternatives to China, and the use of free trade agreements (FTAs) with other trading partners. COVID-19 had helped accelerate this change. When production in China was hit early in 2020, although its economy would recover by the summer and become the only major economy to avoid contraction last year, India shared with its foreign missions lists of items critically dependent on China, following which the missions linked up with suppliers in their countries. Mr. Chadha, however, sounded a note of caution, suggesting this process was at the beginning, not the end. Mr. Chadha said this was not so much a China obsession as it is to try and make supply chains resilient, either by way of adding or diversify sources. China still remained the biggest source of India’s imports, but imports last year fell 10.8%, the lowest since 2016. Two-way trade in 2020 reached $87.6 billion, down by 5.6%, while the trade deficit declined to a five year-low of $45.8 billion.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) U.K. sees smooth vaccine supplies after EU addresses ‘mistake’

Gove said Johnson was very clear in the call to stress that the U.K. has contractual arrangements with pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Pfizer. The British government said Saturday that it does not expect any disruptions to its orders for coronavirus vaccines after the European Union emphasized it would not trigger an emergency provision of the Brexit deal as part of its strategy to monitor export of doses produced in the EU. Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said the government expects the vaccines to be supplied as planned after the EU addressed the mistake in its proposal to tighten export rules for COVID-19 vaccines produced in the 27 member nations. The U.K. government complained late Friday that the bloc had invoked an emergency clause in its divorce deal with Britain to introduce controls on exports from EU member Ireland into Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. After a call between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU’s executive commission, the EU said it was not invoking the article of the Brexit agreement allowing either side to override parts of the deal. Mr. Gove said Mr. Johnson was very clear in the call to stress that the U.K. has contractual arrangements with pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Pfizer. President von der Leyen was clear that she understood exactly the U.K. government’s position, so we expect that those contracts will be honored, we expect that vaccines will continue to be supplied, he added. While the U.K. has made progress in its campaign to vaccinate the population against the coronavirus, the EU has faced complaints and criticism for its slow start. Concerns over the pace of the rollout across the EU’s 27 member nations grew over the last week after British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said it could not supply EU members with as many doses as originally anticipated because of production capacity limits. AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot has said that vaccine delivery figures in the contract with the EU were targets, not firm commitments, and the company was unable to meet them because plants in Europe had lower than expected yields from the biological process used to produce the vaccine. However, the European Commission suspected that doses meant for Europe might have been diverted from an AstraZeneca plant on the continent to the U.K., where two other company sites are located. The EU also wants doses at two sites in Britain to be made available to European citizens.

B) U.S. lobby group urges India not to tighten foreign e-commerce rules. 

A U.S. lobby group that represents firms including Amazon.com and Walmart has urged India not to tighten foreign investment rules for e-commerce companies again, according to a letter seen by Reuters. India is considering revising the rules after traders in the country accused Amazon’s Indian division and Walmart’s Flipkart of creating complex structures to bypass investment regulations, Reuters reported this month. The U.S. firms deny any wrongdoing. India allows foreign e-commerce players to operate as only a marketplace but local traders say the U.S. giants promote select sellers and offer deep discounts, which hurts business for smaller local retailers. In 2018, India changed its foreign direct investment rules to deter foreign firms offering products from sellers in which they have an equity stake. The Centre is now considering tightening those rules again to include sellers in which a foreign e-commerce firm holds indirect stake through its parent, Reuters reported. Citing the Reuters story in a January 28 letter, the U.S.-India Business Council, part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged the Indian government not to make any more material restrictive changes to e-commerce investment rules. Any further changes in FDI rules would limit e-commerce firms from leveraging their scale, USIBC said in the letter seen by Reuters. USIBC also asked India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to engage in substantive consultation with companies on e-commerce regulation. USIBC and DPIIT did not respond to a request for comment. After the Reuters story was published last week, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents millions of brick-and-mortar retailers, said it has received assurances from India’s commerce minister that policy changes were in the offing.

Latest Current Affairs 30 January 2021

CURRENT AFFAIRS
30 January 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) India’s GDP to grow 11% in FY 2022, aided by V-shaped recovery: Economic Survey. 

India’s economic growth is likely to rebound with a 11% growth in the next financial year as it makes a ‘V-shaped’ recovery after suffering a pandemic-led carnage, according to the Pre-Budget Economic Survey, released on Friday. It needs to be kept in mind, however, that the GDP is projected to contract by a record 7.7% in the current fiscal ending March 31, 2021. This means that the 11% growth projection is on a much smaller base. India’s last annual contraction was in 1979-80, when the GDP shrank by 5.2%. The Economic Survey 2020-21 said the agriculture sector was the only silver lining while services, manufacturing and construction were most hit by the lockdown. After an estimated 7.7% pandemic-driven contraction in 2020-21, India’s real GDP is projected to record a growth of 11.0% in 2021-22 and nominal GDP by 15.4%. These conservative estimates reflect upside potential that can manifest due to the continued normalisation in economic activities as the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines gathers traction, the Survey said. The growth will be further supported by supply-side push from reforms and easing of regulations, push for infrastructural investments, boost to manufacturing sector through the Productivity Linked Incentive Schemes, recovery of pent-up demand for services, and increase in discretionary consumption subsequent to roll-out of the vaccine, it said. The survey, tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said there was likely to be a fiscal slippage during the year based on the available trends for April to November 2020. India is expected to witness a current account surplus during the current financial year after a gap of 17 years, the report said.

B) Unrest at Singhu border as groups of violent men attack farmers. 

Days after the chaos witnessed in the national capital on Republic Day, violence again erupted as a group of men claiming to be ‘locals’ stormed the farmers’ protest site at Singhu border near Delhi, demanding that the area be vacated. They went on to pelt stones and vandalised the tents of the protesting farmers. It is worth noting that the farmers had been protesting peacefully at this site for nearly two months. Multiple videos shared by reporters and independent journalists on social media showed security personnel standing mute witnesses as the group of ‘locals’ marched freely through the heavily barricaded and guarded approach to the Singhu protest site and launched attacks on the farmers camped there. They could also be seen chanting ‘Goli Maaro’ [shoot them] slogans, which were last used in early 2020 by groups opposed to the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Unrest at Singhu border is not a case of locals clashing with agitating farmers, but a concerted effort by goons to attack the farmers protest, said activist Yogendra Yadav, one of the spokespersons of the protesting farmers. Meanwhile, following an emotional speech by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, triggered by a police attempt to forcibly evict farmers from the Ghazipur protest site on the night of January 28, thousands of more farmers were reportedly on their way to Ghazipur and Singhu protest sites in a show of solidarity with their fellow farmers. In a related development, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference today warned the Narendra Modi government that if it doesn’t take steps to resolve the farmers’ unrest quickly, it could soon spread to other parts of the country. The only to way to resolve the issue, he said, was to repeal the three laws, and unless this demand is met, the farmers are not going to go home.

C) India could be reduced to ‘a country of incarcerated artists and flourishing lapdogs,’ Kunal Kamra tells SC. 

Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, facing contempt for scandalising the Supreme Court with his tweets, said the phenomenon of taking offence to comedy or satire has been elevated to the status of a much-loved indoor sport in a growing culture of intolerance. The suggestion that his tweets could shake the foundations of the most powerful court in the world is an over-estimation of his abilities.  Just as the Supreme Court values the faith public places in it, it should also trust the public not to form its opinions of the court on the basis of a few jokes on Twitter. His  tweets were not published with the intention of diminishing the faith of the people in the highest court, Kamra said in a six-page reply to the suo motu contempt notice against him. Taking offence was now seen as a fundamental right, Kamra said. Comedians like Munawar Faruqui are jailed for jokes they did not make. School students are interrogated for sedition, Kamra told the Supreme Court. Hope the court will demonstrate that free speech is a cardinal constitutional value. If the powerful are unable to tolerate rebuke and criticism, they will be reduced to a country of incarcerated artists and flourishing lapdogs, Kamra said. Jokes need no defence, he wrote, pointing out that they were based on a comedian’s perception. His job was to share his perception with his audience and make them laugh. Most people do not react to jokes that do not make them laugh. They ignore them like our political leaders ignore their critics. That is where the life of a joke must end, he told the Supreme Court.

D) Govt will abide by SC order to stay rollout of farm laws, says President; condemns Republic Day violence. 

The Union Government respects the Supreme Court and will abide by its decision to stay the implementation of the three farm laws, President Ram Nath Kovind told a joint sitting of Parliament on Friday, even as he strongly defended the new laws and asserted that 10 crore small farmers have benefited from them. Referring to the violence during the tractor parade and the chaos after groups of farmers stormed the Red Fort on January 26, the President said it was unfortunate that the national flag was disrespected on the occasion of Republic Day. The government has always respected freedom of expression and the holding of peaceful agitations in a democratic set-up. However, the recent acts of dishonouring the national flag and showing disrespect to the auspicious occasion of the Republic Day are unfortunate, Kovind said. While the Constitution gives us the right to freedom of expression, it is also expected that we abide by the laws and rules with equal sincerity, the President said. While the President’s address prepared by the Cabinet to showcase the achievements of the union government dwelt on agricultural reforms at length, it was boycotted by more than 20 Opposition parties, including the Congress.

E) Budget to be seen as building on ‘mini-budgets’: PM Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the current Budget Session the first of this decade and an opportunity to fulfill the dreams of freedom fighters. The last year was also a year which saw not one but several mini-budget-like packages announced as we dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic, and this budget is to be seen as part of that series of mini-budgets presented by the government last year, said Modi, offering key hints on the Union budget to be presented on February 1. Modi added that the government would take every step to fulfill the expectations of the people and hoped that all members of Parliament would direct their energy to this goal. The Budget Session of Parliament will be held between January 29 and April 8, with a recess from February 15 to March 7. The continued protest by farmer unions on the three agriculture-related laws cleared by Parliament in the last Monsoon Session is expected to make this a stormy session.

F) Dr Reddy’s eyes March launch of Sputnik V vaccine under Emergency Use Authorisation. 

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, which is conducting phase-3 trials of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, believes the jab can be expected to be launched in India through Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA), a senior official of the city-based drug maker said on Friday. The phase-3 trial is currently ongoing. We are dosing patients and we expect to complete the dosing as part of the phase-3 trials by February. After that they expect to compile the data and submit for Emergency Use Authorisation, and make the request to the DCGI with our dossier, company’s CEO of APIs and Pharmaceutical Services Deepak Sapra said. In September last, Dr. Reddy’s partnered with Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to conduct the clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine and for its distribution rights in India. Based on the approval from the DCGI, we believe that we should be in a position to launch the vaccine through a EUA in the month of March 2021 (in India), Sapra said at a press conference in Hyderabad. Sputnik V, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the world’s first registered vaccine against Covid-19 based on the established human adenoviral vector platform.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) U.S. is bombarding civilians in breach of Afghan deal: Taliban. 

The Taliban on Friday rejected Washington’s accusations that it had not lived up to its promises in Afghanistan, in turn claiming the U.S. was ‘bombarding civilians’. The U.S. signed a landmark deal with the insurgents last year, agreeing to withdraw its troops from the country in return for security guarantees after a stalemate on the battlefield. The other side have violated the agreement, almost every day they are violating it, Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman said. They are bombarding civilians, houses and villages, and we have informed them from time to time, these are not just violations of the agreement but violations of human rights. The U.S military has in recent months carried out air strikes against the Taliban fighters in defence of Afghan forces in some provinces. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid added on Twitter that the allegations against the group were unfounded and that it was fully committed to the agreement. John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that the Biden administration remains committed to the Taliban-U.S. deal and ending the war in a responsible way. However, he said, the Taliban are not meeting their commitments to reduce violence, and to renounce their ties to al-Qaeda. They are still involved in trying to get a negotiated settlement, he added. The agreement, signed in Doha last year, required the Taliban to halt attacks on U.S. forces, sharply decrease the level of violence in the country, and advance peace talks with the government in Kabul.

B) Biden taps nuclear deal veteran to resume negotiations with Iran. 

The new U.S. administration under Joe Biden has named Rob Malley, an architect of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, as its special envoy to resume talks with Tehran, defying pressure from hawks who accuse him of being too conciliatory toward the Islamic republic. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is building a dedicated team, drawing from clear-eyed experts with a diversity of views, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. Mr. Malley, a childhood friend of Mr. Blinken, has been serving as head of the International Crisis Group, an independent non-governmental organisation focused on conflict resolution. Before that, he was one of the chief negotiators on the 2015 nuclear deal reached by Iran and world powers, under which Tehran was promised economic relief for curbs in its contested nuclear programme. The deal was reached under Barack Obama.

C) Pfizer vaccine not linked to deaths: EU regulator.

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus jab has no link to reported post-vaccination deaths and no new side effects, the EU’s medicines regulator said on Friday based on the first data from the vaccine’s rollout. The update by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) followed reports that dozens of mainly elderly people had died in Norway and other European countries after receiving a first shot of the vaccine. The EMA said it had concluded that the data did not show a link to vaccination with Comirnaty (the name of the vaccine) and the cases do not raise a safety concern. The benefits of Comirnaty in preventing COVID-19 continue to outweigh any risks, and there are no recommended changes regarding the use of the vaccine, the EMA said. The EMA authorised AstraZeneca’s vaccine for use in adults throughout the EU on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population. The regulator licensed the vaccine to be used in people 18 and over.

Latest Current Affairs 29 January 2021

CURRENT AFFAIRS
29 January 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Delhi Police issue notice to 20 more farmer leaders. 

The Delhi Police on Thursday issued notices to 20 more farmer leaders for defying terms and conditions agreed upon for the tractor rally. DCP (Headquarters) Chimoy Biswal confirmed that notices had been sent to farmer leaders who met with the police for the rally. In the letter, the leaders have been asked to explain why legal action should not be taken against them and other members of their organisations. They have been told to file a reply within three days. The letter further said that despite agreeing to the mutually decided terms and conditions for the rally, the farmer leaders acted in an irresponsible manner on January 26. Militant elements occupied the stage and delivered provocative speeches right from the early hours of the day. Meanwhile, the Ghaziabad administration has given an ultimatum to protesting farmers to vacate U.P. Gate by January 28 midnight or face forcible removal, officials said. Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey has communicated to the protesters camping at the U.P. Gate at Delhi border to vacate the spot by tonight or the administration will remove them, a district official said.

B) AIKS raises questions on police narrative, hints at conspiracy. 

Reacting to allegations that farmer organisations are responsible the violent turn of events on Republic Day, one of the protesting unions, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) put out a series of tweets raising questions about the government’s version of what transpired on the day of the tractor rally. The turn of events on Republic Day points clearly to the complicity of the BJP Gov. & @DelhiPolice in aiding & abetting the disruptors. The following questions have to be answered: The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee which isn’t part of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) was allowed permission behind the stage of SKM & wasn’t surrounded by barricades while the SKM mobilisation was heavily barricaded. What is their relationship with the police and the BJP Gov?? asked AIKS. In subsequent tweets, it went on to ask, Why did police go against the route plan agreed with the SKM leadership and allow an alternative route to the KMSC which was allowed to reach up to the Red Fort? Why did police resort to brutal unprovoked lathi-charge on the [tracgtor] Parade from Palwal at Sikari after it peacefully crossed 15 km while the mutually agreed route was to cover 45 km? Why the police that resorted to brutal lathi-charge on peaceful protestors from Palwal made no effort to stop the group from reaching Red Fort? And finally, There have also been many instances of farmers handing over agent provocateurs to the police including on 26 Jan 2021 & the anti-social elements who claimed to have come with the intention to shoot farmers’ leaders. What is the police action on them?

C) 16 Opposition parties to boycott President’s joint address to Parliament. 

Leaders of 16 Opposition parties, in a joint statement on Thursday, announced their decision to boycott President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to a joint sitting of Parliament on Friday over the Union government’s undemocratic attitude towards the farmers. The Budget session will get underway on Friday and President Kovind will address the first sitting this year of both Houses. But Opposition leaders have set the tone for a stormy session by announcing their decision to skip the Presidential address over the Centre’s refusal to repeal the three farm laws and its handling of the farmer agitation. These leaders also asserted that an impartial investigation will reveal the Central Government’s nefarious role in orchestrating those events. The Prime Minister and the BJP Government remain arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response. Shocked by this insensitivity of the Government, we, the following opposition political parties, reaffirming the collective demand for the repeal of the Anti Farmer Laws and in solidarity with the Indian Farmers, have decided to boycott the President’s address to both the Houses of Parliament on Friday, January 29, 2021, read the joint statement, signed by senior Opposition leaders. The signatories include representatives from the Congress, NCP, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, National Conference, DMK, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI, and CPI-M. The BSP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, YSR Congress, Biju Janata Dal and AAP have not signed the joint the statement even though some of them had protested against the farm laws during their passage in Parliament last September. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi appealed to opposition leaders to desist from their proposed boycott of the President Ram Nath Kovind’s joint address.

D) Stopping hate on TV as essential as police lathis, barricades to prevent riots: Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court on Thursday said stopping hate on television was as essential for law and order as arming policemen with lathis and putting up barricades to prevent the spread of violence and riots. Control over certain kind of news which agitate people to violence and riots is a law and order problem. Preventing it is as powerful as putting up barricades. Preventing instigation is as important as providing lathis to policemen, Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre. The CJI said the court, by government control, did not mean to curb free speech on TV. People can take any tone on TV as long as they don’t incite violence, hatred, communal riots. We are interested only with people instigating and inciting violence and riots. These are situations which cause loss of lives and property. That is what we are worried about, Chief Justice Bobde explained.

E) One more Bombay High Court POCSO fiasco. 

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that a man holding the hands of a minor girl and opening the zip of his trouser does not fall under the purview of ‘sexual assault’ or ‘aggravated sexual assault’ of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The observation was made by a single judge Bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala on January 15 while passing an order on an appeal filed by a 50-year-old man challenging a Sessions court’s order convicting him of sexually assaulting and molesting a five-year-old girl. The convict, Libnus Kujur, was in October 2020 convicted under sections 354-A (1)(i) (outraging modesty) and 448 (house trespass) of the IPC, and sections 8 (sexual assault), 10 (aggravated sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act. He was sentenced to five years in jail. In her judgment, Justice Ganediwala noted that while the prosecution has established that the accused entered the house of the victim with an intention to outrage her modesty or sexually harass her, it has not been able to prove the charge of ‘sexual assault’ or ‘aggravated sexual assault’. This ruling is reminiscent of another verdict, delivered on January 19, also by a single judge, Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. It had acquitted a man charged under the POCSO Act, ruling that mere touching or pressing of a clothed body of a child, without skin to skin contact, did not amount to sexual assault. Subsequently, the Supreme Court stayed this verdict.

F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments. 

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,07,13,640 with the death toll at 1,54, 031. The government on Thursday said a fifth of the districts in the country had reported no new cases for a week. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 immunisation campaign has covered 2.4 million people. India has successfully contained the pandemic, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, noting that fewer than 12,000 cases were reported in the past 24 hours. He said 146 of India’s 718 districts have had no new cases for a week and 18 districts for two weeks. India has flattened its Covid-19 graph, Dr. Vardhan added. With infections falling, the government said that from February 1, it would lift curbs on the use of public swimming pools, allow cinema halls and theatres to seat more than 50% of capacity, and let all types of exhibition halls to operate.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) New Zealand, Vietnam top Covid-19 performance index; India 86 from 98 countries. 

New Zealand and Vietnam were ranked the best-performing countries in their response to the pandemic, according to a Covid-19 performance index put together by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank, which sought to assess the impact of geography, political systems, and economic development in assessing outcomes. The index, which was based on six different indicators, including confirmed cases, deaths per million people, and the scale of testing, sought to gauge the relative performance of countries, and assessed 98 countries in the 36 weeks that followed their hundredth case. India ranked 86th out of 98 countries, while the United States placed 94, and Brazil at the bottom of the index. New Zealand and Vietnam led the list, followed by Taiwan, Thailand and Cyprus in the top five. Sri Lanka was the best performing nation in South Asia, ranking 10, while the Maldives was at 25, Pakistan at 69, Nepal at 70, and Bangladesh at 84.

B) Biden reverses Trump decision on H-1B for spouses. 

A week after his inauguration, US President Joe Biden has withdrawn a Trump-era rule rescinding work authorisation for H4 visa holders, who are spouses of those possessing H-1B work visas, with majority of them being highly-skilled Indian women. An H-4 visa is issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders, most of whom are Indian IT professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The H4 visa is normally issued to those who have already started the process of seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status in the US. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on Monday said the rule titled, ‘Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorisation’, was being withdrawn. Spouses of Indian professionals on H-1B visas, mostly women, are the biggest beneficiaries of the Obama-era rule that gave employment authorisation cards.

Latest Current Affairs 28 January 2021

CURRENT AFFAIRS
28 January 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Farmer unions blame violence on ‘conspiracy’; cancel Budget Day march to Parliament. 

Farmers’ unions have blamed Tuesday’s violence on a conspiracy hatched with the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) and anti-social elements such as Deep Sidhu. They claimed that the incidents on Republic Day had exposed the anti-farmer forces and vowed to continue a peaceful protest. After an emergency meeting under the chairmanship of veteran Punjab leader Balbir Singh Rajewal, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said they had discussed the violent incidents in New Delhi and concluded that the Union Govt. has been severely shaken by this peasant agitation. Therefore, a dirty conspiracy was hatched with Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and others against the peaceful struggle of other farmer organisations. After the Republic Day parade plans were made, anti-social elements like Deep Sidhu and others, including the KMSC, attempted to torpedo the farmers’ agitation, the SKM said. The farm unions condemned the violence, the government, the KSMC, and the anti-social elements who tried to damage the struggle. The organisations resolved not to allow the government and other forces inimical to the peaceful movement to break this struggle. Yesterday’s events exposed and isolated the anti-farmer forces clearly, said the SKM statement. The SKM claimed that the KMSC was not part of the organisations which jointly undertook the struggle, noting that the Punjab union had set up its own separate protest site with a separate stage at the Singhu border within 15 days of the start of the agitation. Although the KMSC is part of the negotiations with the Centre along with the other unions, SKM leaders emphasised that this was only because the government had invited the rogue Punjab union. Meanwhile, union leaders announced that they have cancelled the scheduled march to Parliament on Budget Day, February 1. Instead, they now plan to hold ‘jan sabhas’ across the country on January 30, Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary.

B) Delhi Police detain 200, name key farmer leaders in FIRs. 

The Delhi Police have detained 200 people in connection with the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day, officials said on Wednesday. Police said they are likely to detain and question more people in connection with Tuesday’s violence in the national capital. Tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers on Tuesday to storm the national capital and highlight their demands. The Delhi Police has also registered 22 FIRs so far in connection with the violence that left over 300 policemen injured. More than 35 farmer leaders have been named in the FIRs, including Rakesh Tikait, Darshan Pal Singh, Rajinder Singh, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Buta Singh Burjgil, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, and Yogendra Yadav. Interestingly, Deep Sidhu, the man widely believed to be behind the incitement that led to the violence at Red Fort on Tuesday, has not been named in any FIR. Sidhu was an election agent for Sunny Deol, a BJP MP. He has been photographed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and has been a campaigner for the BJP.

C) Three TV journalists booked in U.P. for showing students ‘shivering in cold’ during govt function. Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Dehat district have booked three television journalists on charges of airing a baseless news report of children of a government school shivering in cold in knickers and cotton shirts during a drill at a public function on January 24. The event was part of a government function held at the Eco Park in Kanpur Dehat on the occasion of U.P. Foundation Day. Minister for Technology Ajit Singh Pal, MLAs and officials were present. The FIR was lodged at the Akbarpur police station on a complaint of Sunil Dutt, district basic education officer. Dutt accused the three journalists of publishing baseless and misleading reports and videos that suggested that pupils were made to shiver in cold while performing drills and yoga. Children perform at a Uttar Pradesh Foundation Day function attended by State Minister Ajit Singh Pal at Kanpur Dehat district on January 24, 2021. Three journalists have been booked by the district police for airing news report showing children of a government school shivering in cold during the event. The three, working for a local TV channel, have been identified as Mohit Kashyap, Amit Singh and Yaseen Ali. The three were not even present at the event, officials said. Visuals of the event shows pupils performing drills apparently in summer uniform and holding toy guns. The FIR accused the journalists of suggesting that the officials were busy while the children shivered in cold. In the complainant, Dutt said the pupils were made to take off their winter-wear only while performing yoga and exercise, and that subsequently they wore their warm clothes. Yoga and physical exercise could not be carried out in winter clothes and required loose clothing, he pointed out.

D) Supreme Court stays Bombay High Court POCSO order. 

The Supreme Court has stayed a controversial Bombay High Court verdict, which acquitted a man found guilty of assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on the grounds that he groped his victim over her clothes and there was no ‘skin-to-skin’ contact between them. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on Wednesday took cognisance instantaneously after Attorney General K.K. Venugopal made a special mention in court, saying the High Court decision would set a very dangerous precedent and cripple the intention of POCSO to punish sexual offenders. On January 19, a single judge of the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench created a furore after he acquitted a man under POCSO Act and held that an act against a minor would amount to groping or sexual assault only if there was skin-to-skin contact. The High Court had concluded that mere touching or pressing of a clothed body of a child did not amount to sexual assault. Venugopal said that in the future, because of the order, an accused could claim innocence under POCSO by arguing that the child he assaulted was clothed and there was no direct physical skin-to-skin contact between them. The Bench issued notice to the accused and to the State of Maharashtra after registering a case on the basis of Venugopal’s mentioning.

E) No protection from arrest for makers of ‘Tandav’

The Supreme Court today declined to pass an order to protect the makers and artists of Amazon Prime’s ‘Tandav’ web series from arrest even as it agreed to examine their plea to club the FIRs registered against them in various States on the charge of hurting Hindu religious sentiments. A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan asked them to approach the concerned lower courts for interim relief, including bail. The court also rejected their plea to quash the FIRs. The court did not appear convinced when the makers and artists explained that the web series was a political satire and urged the court to protect their freedom of artistic speech and expression. Justice M.R. Shah, on the Bench, said free speech is not absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions. One of the actors, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, described to the court that he had enacted a character whose dialogues in the series had no connection whatsoever to his own individual beliefs. You cannot play the role of a character which hurts the religious sentiments of others, Justice Shah responded.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Iran says Israel is waging a psychological war. 

A top Iranian official on Wednesday said Israel was waging a psychological war after the Jewish state’s Army said new offensive options were being drawn up in case they were needed against the Islamic republic. Mahmoud Vaezi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, also vowed that his country was ready and willing to defend itself. They have no intention of going to war, but they are serious about defending the country, he said. Israel, a close U.S. ally, accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies. Israel’s military chief General Aviv Kochavi said on Tuesday he had ordered new plans be drawn up this year to counter Iran’s nuclear capabilities, in case political leaders decided to target the country. The power to initiate them lies with the political echelon, Gen. Kochavi stressed. However, the offensive options need to be prepared, ready and on the table. Mr. Vaezi shot back on Wednesday, accusing Israel of conducting a psychological war. Iran’s recent military manoeuvres, testing missiles and drones, Mr. Vaezi added, showed that our armed forces are trained to defend Iran. Gen. Kochavi’s remarks came nearly a week after the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who has signalled he wants to return to dialogue with Iran.

B) Pak. plans to hold Senate polls through open vote. Pakistan Cabinet has decided to table a Bill in Parliament to amend the Constitution for holding the Senate elections through open vote. The decision was taken during the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan. The government wants the (Senate) polls to be held in a transparent manner and without horse-trading. This is why we want Senate polls to be held through an open ballot, Information Minister Shibli Faraz told the media after the meeting. He said that in the past, money was used in Senate elections and votes were bought making the House election a mockery. The Minister asked what was the use of an upper house in which people come through purchasing of votes. Mr. Faraz also said that people opposing the proposed move are forgetting that their own party had demanded open ballot in the past. The government will present a constitutional amendment Bill in the Parliament so that Senate polls are held through open ballot, he said.

Latest Current Affairs 27 January 2021

CURRENT AFFAIRS
27 January 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Farmers’ protests take a violent turn on Republic Day. 

Tens of thousands of farmers atop tractors broke barriers, clashed with police, and entered the city from various points to reach the Red Fort on Republic Day. One young man was seen hoisting a yellow triangular flag at the Red Fort’s flagpole – the centrepiece of the country’s Independence Day celebrations. The flag was the ‘Nishan Sahib’, a symbol of Sikh religion seen at all Gurdwara complexes. One farmer, Navdeep Singh Hundal, 26, died amid the clashes in central Delhi. While the police claimed that he died when his tractor overturned, some farmers alleged that he was killed in police firing and have begun a sit-in protest. Farmer union leaders, who have been spearheading the two-month protest at the national capital’s border points to demand a repeal of the farm laws, disowned the protesters who deviated from the route approved by the police. Earlier in the day, a clash broke out between police and protesting farmers after the latter reached ITO and tried to push towards Lutyen’s Delhi, and the police responded with a lathi charge and use of tear gas shells against them. The farmers, who began their march from different border points much before the time allotted to them for their tractor rally, reached ITO in Central Delhi despite the police denying them permission for it. The Delhi Police had given permission for a tractor parade on selected routes only, and with the proviso that the rally takes place after the official Republic Day parade on Rajpath concluded. However, chaos ensued as the farmers decided to head towards central Delhi in the morning itself. Notwithstanding the violence and chaos in the capital on Republic Day, the Centre is inclined to continue talks with the agitating farmer leaders, a top government source told. 

B) India’s heritage, military might on display at Rajpath. 

India celebrated its 72nd Republic Day on Tuesday across the country, albeit in a muted manner, due to the pandemic. Delhi Police advised people to watch the live telecast of Republic Day parade at home due to Covid-19 protocols. Invitees attending the parade at Rajpath had to comply with the Covid-19 advisory that included temperature check, use of sanitiser, mask, and social distancing. The Camel Contingent of Border Security Force take part at Republic Parade. The Camel Contingent of Border Security Force take part at Republic Parade. This time, there was no chief guest at the Republic Day parade. Additionally, the route of the marching contingent ended at the India Gate C-Hexagon instead of at the Red Fort. The parade culminated in a single Rafale aircraft flying at a speed of 900km/hr. This year also marked the first time that the newly inducted Rafale fighter aircraft featured in India’s Republic Day fly past as it carried out the ‘Brahmastra’ formation by itself, and participated in the ‘Eklavya’ formation with four other fighter jets.

C) Padma awards for 2021 announced; late Col. Santosh Babu bestowed Maha Vir Chakra. 

Late singer and music composer S.P. Balasubramaniam, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan have been conferred India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. In the annual national honours list, singer K.S Chithra, former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, and Nripendra Misra, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are among the 10 recipients of the Padma Bhushan. The Padma Bhushan will be conferred posthumously to former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel, and Shia cleric Kalbe Sadiq. Colonel B Santhosh Babu, Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar Regiment, who was in Galwan as part of Operation Snow Leopard, and lost his life along with 19 others in the violent clash with China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) in June last year, has been posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), the country’s second highest war time gallantry award. Five other personnel deployed in Galwan have been awarded the Vir Chakra four of them posthumously. The Vir Chakra is the third highest war time gallantry award. Babu’s father said he was not 100% satisfied with the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously awarded to his son. More than 900 police and central armed police force (CAPF) personnel received medals, including 207 gallantry medals, on the eve of Republic Day. Assistant Sub Inspector Mohan Lal of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who was killed in the suicide attack in Pulwama on February 14, 2019, was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG) posthumously. None of the 21 Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel who faced Chinese aggression and thwarted incursions in various sectors in Eastern Ladakh last year in April-May received any medal this year. ITBP had recommended gallantry medals for the 21 personnel in August last year.

D) Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking transfer of petitions against U.P. anti-conversion law. 

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Uttar Pradesh government’s plea to transfer to the court all petitions filed in the Allahabad High Court challenging the new law that criminalises inter-faith marriages, Live Law reported. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde took exception to the request, and asserted that no constitutional court should be taken lightly. If the Allahabad High Court is going to decide the cases, why should we interfere? the top court asked. People are making light of High Courts these days. The High Court is a constitutional court.

E) Ayodhya mosque construction starts. 

The formal construction of the Dhannipur Mosque Project was launched on Republic Day with the unfurling of the tricolour, singing of the National Anthem, and the planting of saplings of various trees, including tamarind, mango, neem and guava at the five-acre plot in Dhannipur village here. The plot was allotted by the Uttar Pradesh government on the directions of the Supreme Court in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title suit. The soil testing procedure for the structure has also been initiated. The members of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), which is overseeing the construction, assembled at the place at 8:30 am. After a brief Republic Day ceremony, conducted in the presence of police personnel, IICF chief trustee Zufar Faruqi planted the first sapling, a tamarind tree, to mark the symbolic and low-key start of the project in the one-third area of the plot that will be developed as a green patch. IICF chief trustee Zufar Faruqi planted a sapling, followed by other members to mark the symbolic and low-key start of the Dhannipur Mosque Project. IICF chief trustee Zufar Faruqi planted a sapling, followed by other members to mark the symbolic and low-key start of the Dhannipur Mosque Project. The project would comprise three parts: a mosque based on a modern design and a solar panel roof; a multi-specialty 200-bed hospital and community kitchen; and an Indo Islamic Cultural Research Centre, consisting of a library, underground museum and publication house. The project is estimated to cost around ₹100-110 crore, which would be collected through charity but without any door to door fund-raising, Hussain said. Incidentally, the organisers did not invite any of the former litigants or persons associated with the Babri Masjid case to the event. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Biden reimposes ban on travellers from Europe, adds South Africa to restricted list.

Reversing his predecessor Donald Trump’s policy, U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday reimposed a ban on travellers from Europe and Brazil. The White House also barred travelers from South Africa from entering the U.S. due to the emergence of a new variant of coronavirus in that country. The President is taking these steps on the advice of his COVID-19 and medical team, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily press briefing. President Biden has decided to maintain the restrictions previously in place for the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Brazil, Psaki said. The U.S. government has said that it will require airline passengers entering the country to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before boarding their flights. With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants spreading, this isn’t the time to lift restrictions on international travel, Psaki said. And in light of the contagious variant B1351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list, she said. Additionally, beginning January 26, international travellers to the United States must provide proof of a negative test within three days of travel to airlines prior to departure, she added. This applies regardless of citizenship, she asserted.

B) Dutch police detain over 180 in third night of curfew.

Dutch police detained more than 180 people in a third night of unrest in cities across the Netherlands, where roaming groups of rioters set fires, threw rocks and looted stores in violence triggered by a night curfew aimed at curbing the coronavirus. The first curfew since the Second World War followed a warning by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) over a new wave of infections due to the British variant of the virus, and was imposed on Saturday despite weeks of declines in new infections. They have had riots in the past, but it’s rare to have this for several nights across the entire country, said National Police spokeswoman Suzanne van de Graaf. It’s not only in known problem areas, but much more widespread. Riot police with shields and batons were called out in more than 10 cities, many of which had issued emergency ordnance to provide officers with greater powers to conduct searches. Police scuffled with rioters in several cities late into the night, chasing them down narrow streets with vans or on foot as helicopters hovered overhead. In the capital Amsterdam, groups of youths threw fireworks, broke store windows and attacked a police truck, but were broken up by massive police presence. Ten police were injured in Rotterdam, where 60 rioters were detained overnight after widespread looting and destruction in the city centre, a police spokeswoman said. Supermarkets in the port city were emptied, while rubbish bins and vehicles were set ablaze. Two photographers were hurt after being targeted by rockthrowing gangs, police said. The Dutch government said it will not back down on its curfew. They don’t capitulate to people who smash shop windows. That is not the case, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra was quoted as saying by Dutch news agency ANP.

Latest Current Affairs 26 January 2021

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.

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