Tag: latest Current Affairs

CURRENT AFFAIRS
10 April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Supreme Court refuses to entertain PIL on religious conversions.

The Supreme Court on Friday said people are free to choose their own religion, even as it lashed out at a very, very harmful kind of public interest petition claiming there is mass religious conversion happening by hook or crook across the country. Instead, a Bench led by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman said people have a right under the Constitution to profess, practise and propagate religion. Why should a person above 18 years not choose his religion? What kind of a writ petition is this? We will impose heavy costs on you. Withdraw it or argue and risk the consequences, Justice Nariman asked petitioner-advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. Justice Nariman reminded Upadhyay of the fundamental right under Article 25 of the Constitution to freely profess, practise and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health. Why do you think there is the word ‘propagate’? Justice Nariman asked the petitioner. Religious conversion is being done through a carrot-and-stick approach, Upadhyay had claimed in his petition. Justice Nariman said every person is the final judge of their own choice of religion or who their life partner should be. Courts cannot sit in judgment of a person’s choice of religion or life partner. He reminded Upadhyay of the Constitution Bench judgment which upheld inviolability of the right to privacy, equating it with the rights to life, of dignity and liberty. Upadhyay’s petition was dismissed as withdrawn. His plea to approach the Law Commission or the High Court with the plea was expressly not allowed by the Bench.

B) Stop vaccine export, fast track approval of other vaccines, Rahul tells PM Modi in a letter.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s conference with Chief Ministers, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking why Covid-19 vaccines were being exported at a time when India is facing vaccine shortage and requesting him to stop all vaccine exports to better meet local demand. Noting that centralisation and individualised propaganda are counter-productive, Gandhi also sought more say for State governments in vaccine procurement and distribution and fast track approval of other vaccines in addition to Covaxin and Covishield. The letter ended with seven specific suggestions, which included providing vaccine suppliers with the necessary resources to increase manufacturing capacity, immediate moratorium on vaccine export, fast track approval of other vaccines as per norms and guidelines, opening up vaccination to anyone who needs it, doubling the Central allocation for vaccine procurement from the current ₹35,000 crore, and providing direct income support to vulnerable sections in the second wave.

C) Rahul lobbying for pharma firms, says Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of lobbying for pharma companies after the latter’s letter to Prime Minister Modi on vaccine shortages, seeking fast track approvals for other vaccine candidates. Gandhi’s letter followed a rather acrimonious exchange of words between the Centre and the Maharashtra government on vaccine shortages and vaccination rates. Prasad’s response to the Congress leader’s letter came in a series of tweets. After failing as a part-time politician, has Rahul Gandhi switched to full time lobbying? First he lobbied for fighter plane companies by trying to derail India’s acquisition programme. Now he is lobbying for pharma companies by asking for arbitrary approvals for foreign vaccines, he tweeted adding that fighting a pandemic wasn’t a one trick game. Fighting a pandemic is not a one trick game. Apart from vaccination, there needs to be adequate focus on testing, tracing & treating. Rahul Gandhi’s problem is that he doesn’t understand all this and his ignorance is compounded by his arrogance, the Minister added. Referring to charges of vaccine shortages, Prasad said Congress-ruled States had a problem with basic commitment towards health care. He should write letters to his party’s governments to stop their vasooli (extortion) ventures & concentrate on administering the lakhs of vaccines they are sitting upon, he said. He also termed Gandhi as attention-seeking and asked why he hadn’t taken the vaccination himself, or whether it was an oversight or he doesn’t want it or has he already taken one in many of his undisclosed trips to foreign locations but doesn’t want to disclose?

D) Gehlot writes to Modi seeking at least 30 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine for Rajasthan.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the stock of coronavirus vaccines in the state will get over in the next two days and urged him to immediately provide at least 30 lakh doses. In a letter to the PM after a video conference with him on Thursday, Gehlot said the state has administered 86,89,770 doses till 7 April. The present stock of vaccine in Rajasthan will finish in the next two days. Therefore, it is requested that at least another 30 lakh doses of vaccine be provided to us immediately so that the momentum that we have built up can be maintained and maximum eligible beneficiaries can be vaccinated at the earliest, he said. 

E) Assembly elections 2021: Voter turnout lower in 90% of seats compared to 2016.

Compared to the 2016 Assembly election, turnout decreased in 90% of the 530 seats in the four States where voting for the 2021 State polls took place on April 6. Nearly 86% of the seats in Tamil Nadu, 95% in Kerala, 90% in Assam, and all the seats in Puducherry recorded lower turnout than in 2016. Despite the fall in numbers, 80%-plus voter turnout was recorded in more than 60% of the seats in Assam and Puducherry. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, on the other hand, only 17% and 6% of the seats recorded turnouts more than 80%. In Tamil Nadu, in 6% of the seats, mostly in urban areas, the turnout was less than 60%.

F) Vaccines aimed at curbing severe Covid-19, say experts.

Covid-19 vaccines are not infection-preventing but disease-modifier vaccines, said Samiran Panda, member of the government’s National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC). Dr. Panda was speaking to The Hindu on apprehensions about using a vaccine that isn’t 100% effective in disease prevention. He said both the vaccines now available in India will prevent the asymptomatic stage from moving into symptomatic stage and the symptomatic stage from developing severe disease where one requires intensive care. People aged above 45 years wait to register their name for vaccination at a primary health centre in Kodambakkam, in Chennai on April 9, 2021. The vaccines also help in reducing the number of deaths significantly, he noted. Scientifically, it is proven that the efficacy of both the vaccines available in India is more than 70-80%. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that any vaccine with a 50% efficacy will be useful in a pandemic time. So, people should not be hesitant about taking the vaccine, said Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Shekhar Mande.

G) Civilian was released in exchange for CRPF commando: official.

A civilian was released in exchange for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commando Rakeshwar Singh Minhas, who was abducted by the Maoists after an encounter on April 3 at Tarrem in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, a senior government official said. The civilian, identified as Kunjam Sukka, was released hours before the commando was handed over on Thursday to social activists and a group of journalists who had gone to the Sukma-Bijapur border to secure his release, the official said. However, when asked, Bastar Range Inspector General of Police Sundarraj P. told The Hindu that no civilian was arrested or taken into custody after the encounter. Sundarraj added, Many villagers were asked to help the security forces in retrieving the bodies and put the injured in choppers. They came on their own and stayed at the Tarrem camp. It is possible that one of the villagers returned on his own. Another official, however, said a person was apprehended after the encounter but no charges were pressed against him. On many occasions it happens that after an encounter the Maoists desert their positions and are detained by the security forces. In this case no formal charge was invoked, the official said. D.M Awasthi, Chattisgarh Director General of Police could not be reached for comment. Ganesh Mishra, a Bijapur-based journalist who left with a group of facilitators on April 8 to secure the commando’s release said that no civilian accompanied them. The Maoist leader who released the commando told me that he was being freed without any condition, said Mishra. In 2012, five Maoists were released by the Odisha government to facilitate the release of an abducted MLA, Jhina Hikaka.

H) Deposit compensation for Indian fishermen killed by Italian marines, SC tells Centre.

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to deposit in its account the compensation given by Italy for the kin of two Indian fishermen killed by Italian Marines off the Kerala coast in February 2012. A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said the top court will disburse the compensation to the fishermen’s kin. It said that one week after the compensation is deposited in its account, the top court will hear the Centre’s plea for closure of case against the Italian Marines. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the victims’ kin have consented for compensation of ₹10 crore above the ex-gratia amount already paid in the case. Mehta added that the Kerala government has told the foreign secretary that it had consulted the victims’ families and they have consented in writing that they have agreed to the compensation.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Britain’s Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, passes away.

Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth and a leading figure in the British royal family for almost seven decades, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace said on Friday. The Duke of Edinburgh, as he was officially known, had been by his wife’s side throughout her 69-year reign, the longest in British history, during which time he earned a reputation for a tough, no-nonsense attitude and a propensity for occasional gaffes. It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the palace said in a statement. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss. A Greek prince, he married Elizabeth in 1947. He played a key role in modernising the monarchy in the post-World War Two period, and behind the walls of Buckingham Palace, he was a key figure the Queen could turn to and trust.

B) U.S. Navy conducts exercise in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone without prior consent.

In a rare and unusual public statement, the U.S. Navy announced that it had violated India’s maritime policy by conducting an exercise in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The U.S. Navy said its warship carried out Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in Indian EEZ. USS John Paul Jones asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the LakshadweepIslands, inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law, the U.S. Navy’s 7th fleet said in a statement dated April 7. India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law. This FONOP upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims, the statement said. The US Department of Defence releases FONOP reports every fiscal which show that the U.S. has been regularly conducting FONOPs in Indian EEZ, challenging what it calls are excessive maritime claims. From 2007 onwards till 2017, the U.S. carried out multiple FONOPs every year challenging excessive Indian maritime claims. No FONOP was carried out in 2018 and 2020 and one FONOP in 2019, according to the annual reports. There has been no comment on the incident from the government so far. A South Block official, on condition of anonymity, said it was only for military manoeuvres in our EEZ that we need nations to seek our permission and not if they are simply transiting. And the term ‘military manoeuvres’ is not defined anywhere.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
09 April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Survey the Gyanvapi Mosque near Kashi Vishwanath Temple: Varanasi court tells ASI

A local court in Varanasi on Thursday directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque compound adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple to find out whether it was a superimposition, alteration or addition or there is structural overlapping of any kind, with or over, any other religious structure. The court also directed the Director General of the ASI to constitute a five-member committee of experts, two out of whom should preferably belong to the minority community. The committee would trace as to whether any Hindu temple ever existed before the mosque in question was built or superimposed or added upon at the disputed site, said senior civil judge fast track court Ashutosh Tiwari in his order. The court said the committee would be entitled to enter every portion of the religious structure situated at the disputed site but shall first resort to only Ground Penetrating Radar or Geo-Radiology System or both to satisfy itself whether any excavation or extraction work is needed at any portion of the religious structure. The order came on a petition demanding the restoration of the land on which the mosque stands to the Hindus, on the grounds that Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had pulled down parts of the old Kashi Vishwanath Temple to build the mosque.

B) SC refuses to grant relief in petition challenging detention of Rohingya refugees in Jammu and their deportation to Myanmar. 

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to order the release of the Rohingya detained in Jammu, and also refused to protect them from being forcibly deported back to their country of origin. It, however, ruled that the deportation would have to be as per proper procedure. A Bench led by Chief Justice Sharad A. Bobde said it was not possible to agree with the plea of Mohammad Salimullah, a member of the Rohingya community represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl d’Souza, to release the detained Rohingya refugees immediately and direct the Union Territory government and the Ministry of Home Affairs to expeditiously grant refugee identification cards through the FRRO for the Rohingyas in the informal camps. However, the CJI, who pronounced the order, made it clear to the authorities that the Rohingyas in Jammu shall not be deported until the procedure is followed. The direction is in response to a request by Salimullah to direct the Centre to refrain from implementing any orders on deporting the refugees detained in the sub-jail in Jammu. In the previous hearing, before the court reserved the case for orders, the court had maintained a non-committal tone when its judicial conscience was tapped by Bhushan about the atrocities the Rohingyas may face on deportation back to Myanmar. The Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, had said the Rohingya who had fled persecution in Myanmar to India were deported back only after the government of that country confirmed their nationality. They are illegal immigrants. We are in touch with Myanmar. Once Myanmar confirms their nationality, they are deported, Mehta had said, explaining the deportation procedure. In India, no legislation has been passed that specifically refers to refugees. Hence, the Rohingya refugees are often clubbed with the class of illegal immigrants deported by the government under the Foreigners Act 1946 and the Foreigners Order 1948. This is coupled with discrimination against the Rohingya, who are largely Muslim refugees. Legally, however, a refugee is a special category of immigrant and cannot be clubbed with an illegal immigrant.

C) SC dismisses pleas of Maharashtra and Anil Deshmukh against CBI probe. 

The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a blow to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in Maharashtra and former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh by refusing their pleas to quash a CBI probe into allegations of corruption levelled against Deshmukh by transferred Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh. A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta upheld the Bombay High Court order for a CBI probe, saying the dramatis personae Deshmukh and Singh involved and the seriousness of the allegations require investigation by an independent agency. It is a matter of public confidence, Justice Kaul observed. Both the Maharashtra government and Deshmukh had appealed to the Supreme Court against the Bombay HC order for a preliminary enquiry by CBI into the contents of Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh. Allegations are extremely serious and things have got curiouser and curiouser. You see, both were heading their respective institutions when things went wrong between them. One was a Home Minister and the other one is of the senior-most police officers. This is not an everyday issue. These are two persons who closely worked with each other until they fell apart. So, an independent agency should enquire. The High Court is right, Justice Kaul told Maharashtra counsel, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi. Singhvi argued that Deshmukh had resigned within hours of the HC order. The basis of the HC order for a CBI probe was no longer there. But he was the Home Minister when the HC passed the order. It was after that, he resigned. He was clinging to his office, Justice Gupta reacted. Why should a suspect be heard before registration of an FIR? Justice Gupta responded. Sibal replied that the allegations in the letter were hearsay and not admissible as evidence. The letter says Waze told somebody, who told Bhujbal, who told someone who told me. He (Singh) had no personal knowledge about the allegations he made in the letter. How can a CBI enquiry be ordered on the basis of baseless allegations? Sibal asked. Sibal said Singh was collecting evidence on March 16, knowing that he would be transferred out soon. Mr. Sibal, that is why the court has ordered a preliminary enquiry, to find out whether there is evidence at all. This is a serious matter concerning a Home Minister and a senior police officer, Justice Kaul replied.

D) Rename night curfew as ‘Corona curfew’, says Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers of various States and Union Territories on Thursday on the developing Covid-19 situation in the country. He suggested that April 11 to 14 can be observed as ‘Tika (vaccination) Utsav’ for Covid-19 vaccination. They must concentrate on micro-containment zones. In places where night curfew has been imposed, he would urge to use the word ‘Corona Curfew’ to continue alertness about coronavirus. It will be better to start curfew timing from 9pm or 10pm till 5am or 6am, Modi said. Noting that people and administration both seem to have become casual, he called on everyone to get back to combating the coronavirus on a war footing.

E) Delhi High Court issues notice to Centre, EC on plea for compulsory masking during poll campaigns.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission (EC) on a plea seeking action against leaders, campaigners and candidates not following the mandatory use of face masks during the ongoing Assembly elections in various States and Union Territories. A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh gave the order on an application filed by Vikram Singh, chairman of the think tank Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) and former Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh. The Bench has posted the case for further hearing on April 30. The Assembly elections in Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry are scheduled to be held in various phases between March 27 and April 29. Advocate Virag Gupta, appearing for Singh, stated that despite various orders and guidelines, election campaigning was going on in full swing, without any regard to Covid-19 regulations. Reportedly, before the end of the first phase of campaigning in Assam and West Bengal, over 40 road shows and rallies had been organised by major political parties. At the same time, 59,117 fresh cases of Covid-19 were recorded in India on 25.03.2021, which is the highest in the last 159 days, the application said. It said the biggest casualty during the pandemic was the rule of law itself, as strict action was being taken against commoners, but hardly any action against politicians. Incidentally, this plea comes a day after the Delhi High Court ruled that wearing a mask is compulsory even if a person is driving alone in a private vehicle.

F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,30,42,847 with the death toll at 1,68,941. The Tamil Nadu government will reintroduce multiple restrictions from April 10 to tackle the steady increase in cases across the State, according to a Government Order issued on Thursday. The restrictions have been brought back as campaigning for the State Assembly elections and the voting has been completed in the State. The State recorded 27,743 active cases as on April 7, the government said. The major restrictions include a ban on international flights (except those allowed by the Ministry of Home Affairs), temple festivals and religious events, on small traders at Koyambedu wholesale market, and on small retail traders in all the districts. There will be no relaxations in containment zones and they will be under total lockdown.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) New Zealand bans travellers from India.

New Zealand on Thursday suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country. The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new cases of Covid-19 among fresh arrivals, of which 17 were from India. They are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference in Auckland. India is battling a deadly second wave of Covid-19 with daily infections this week passing the peak of the first wave seen last September. The suspension will start from 1600 local time on April 11 and will be in place until April 28. During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel. He want to emphasise that while arrivals of COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country-specific risk assessment, Ardern said. New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days.

B) U.S. commits to withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.

The U.S. on Wednesday committed to move remaining forces from Iraq, although the two sides did not set a timeline in what would be the second withdrawal since the 2003 invasion. The first “strategic dialogue with Iraq under U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration comes as Iranian linked Shiite paramilitary groups fire rockets nearly daily at bases with foreign troops in hopes of forcing a U.S. exit. The two nations agreed in a videoconference led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein that Iraqi forces were ready to take on more responsibility. The parties confirmed that the mission of U.S. and coalition forces has now transitioned to one focused on training and advisory tasks, thereby allowing for the redeployment of any remaining combat forces from Iraq, with the timing to be established in upcoming technical talks, a joint statement said. Iraq’s national security advisor, Qassem al-Araji, promised efforts to protect foreign forces and confirmed that the United States would move ahead with a pull-out. The American side promised to withdraw an important number of its troops from Iraq, he said.

C) U.K. to set up E43 million fund for migrants from Hong Kong.

The British government said on Thursday it is setting up a E43 million ($59 million) fund to help migrants from Hong Kong settle in the country as they escape increasing political repression in the former colony. The offer extends to holders of British National (Overseas) passports who have been offered special visas, opening a path to work, residency and eventual citizenship to up to 5 million of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million people. The integration programme will provide funding to help arrivals in accessing housing, education and jobs. Around 10% of the funds will go towards establishing 12 virtual welcome hubs across Great Britain and Northern Ireland to coordinate support and give practical advice and assistance, the British Consulate-General said. China has sharply criticised what it labels British abuse of the passports, saying it will no longer recognise them as travel documents or as a form of identification. But most residents also carry Hong Kong or other passports, so it’s not clear what effect that would have. The move delivers on the U.K.’s historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong who chose to retain their ties to the U.K. by taking up BN(O) status in 1997, the Consulate-General said in a statement, referring to the year Hong Kong was handed over to China.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
08 April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) As India stares at vaccine shortage, Health Minister accuses States of covering up ‘failures’ by spreading panic. 

Is India facing a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines? It might appear to be so when we consider that in recent days, several states, including direly affected Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh have complained about erratic vaccine supply. The Centre, however, has consistently maintained that there are no shortages. Today, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, in a no-holds-barred attack on opposition led-state Maharashtra, accused them of demanding universal vaccination for all adults to cover up their poor vaccination efforts. Maharashtra, which has, and continues to see, the highest number of cases and deaths, was putting its citizens in danger by allowing them to escape institutional quarantine for the sake of personal vasuli (personal extortion) , Harsh Vardhan alleged. Overall, as the state has lurched from one crisis to another, it seems as if the state leadership is happily sleeping at the wheels. Maharashtra’s Health Minister, however, today warned that the State had only three days’ vaccine stock left, and urged the Centre to expedite the delivery of vaccine doses to the State. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Tope remarked that the State daily vaccination rate was the fastest in the country and said Maharashtra needed a stable supply of at least 40 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines each week. At present, we just have 14 lakh vaccine doses, which will get over in the next three days. We’ve asked for 40 lakh more vaccine doses per week. At the moment, Maharashtra is reeling under a severe shortage with many districts and vaccination centers reporting that they have no doses to give, said the Health Minister. Tope also spoke of the various demands he had made to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan during a two-hour video conferencing with health ministers of nine States on Tuesday evening.

B) Vaccine bottleneck: SII gets lawsuit from AstraZeneca for delay in supply as production capacity stretched to the limit.

Adding another dimension to the controversy over vaccine shortages, Serum Institute of India (SII) has said that its production lines are under stress and India must provide it ₹3,000 crore ($408 million) to boost capacity. Adar Poonawala, CEO, SII, told NDTV that it was unable to export vaccines (which it sells at a higher price) because of restrictions placed by India and this was curtailing profits necessary for larger manufacturing capacity investments. The company produced about 65 million vaccines a month, most of it for India. However, with India now administering over 2-4 million doses a day, these could quickly dry up. Poonawala also said his company had been sent legal notices by AstraZeneca over delays, and a ban by the United States on exporting raw material necessary for making the Novavax vaccine meant that their production capacity had halved. Though the Centre has also ordered 20 million doses of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, there are again concerns on how quickly it can ramp production of the projected 120 million. Bharat Biotech, too, has reportedly requested funds from the government for ramping up production. India has supplied about 64.5 million doses of Covaxin and Covishield to at least 84 foreign governments as of March 29, and has administered 84 million to its own people. So far, only 5% of Indians have received at least one dose and only 0.8% have been fully inoculated.

C) Every Indian deserves safe life, says Rahul on Covid-19 vaccine access.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today batted for universal access to the Covid-19 vaccine, saying every Indian deserves the chance to a safe life. He was reacting to the Health Ministry’s statement on Tuesday that the vaccine needs to be given to those who need it and not those who want it. The vaccine is currently available to all Indians above the age of 45 years. It’s ridiculous to debate needs and wants. Every Indian deserves the chance to a safe life, Gandhi said on Twitter, using the hashtag “#CovidVaccine”. He later shared a video of a person being beaten up by police in Indore for alleged violation of Covid-19 norms. Such type of shameful, inhuman behaviour in the name of enforcing Corona guidelines is unacceptable to the country. Where should the public go when policemen who are supposed to protect people commit such atrocities, he said in a tweet in Hindi.

D) It’s compulsory to wear a mask even when driving alone in a private vehicle, says Delhi HC.

Wearing a mask or face cover in a vehicle occupied by either a single person or multiple persons is compulsory in the view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, the Delhi High Court ruled on Wednesday. A mask is a ‘suraksha kavach’ for preventing the spread of the corona virus, Justice Prathiba M. Singh remarked, while dismissing four different pleas challenging the ₹500 challan issued to persons for not wearing face masks while travelling alone in a private car. A vehicle which is moving across the city, even if occupied at a given point in time by one person, would be a public place owing to the immediate risk of exposure to other persons under varying circumstances, the court said. In one of the four cases, a lawyer, who was on his way to his chambers at Tis Hazari Courts on August 9, 2020, and driving his privately owned car, was stopped near Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, Rajpur Road, Civil Lines by the police. The lawyer was in his car travelling alone, with his mask hanging on his face, from one of his ears. The case of the lawyer is that since he was in his car alone, he had not put on the face mask and that he had intended to wear the mask as soon as he stepped out of the car. He stated that the four windows of his car were closed. When the police official stopped his car, he was informed that non-wearing of mask by him is in violation of the Delhi Epidemic Diseases (Management of Covid-19) Regulations, 2020, and a sum of ₹500 was imposed on him as fine. The lawyer had sought to declare that privately owned cars are private places for the purpose of the Regulations of 2020. Apart from refund of the amount of ₹500, he had also sought a compensation of ₹5 lakh. Justice Singh highlighted that a person travelling in a vehicle or car, even if he is alone, could be exposed to the virus in various ways. The person may have visited a market, or workplace, or hospital or a busy street, prior to entering the car or vehicle. Such a person may be required to keep windows open for the purposes of ventilation.

E) EC sends notice to Mamata on model code violation.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses an election campaign rally for the Assembly polls, at Baneswar in Cooch Behar district, West Bengal on April 7, 2021. The Election Commission today sent a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister and All-India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee stating that her appeal to minority voters not to divide their votes was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The EC asked the Chief Minister to respond within 48 hours, failing which it would take a decision without any further reference to her. The notice said a BJP delegation led by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had met the EC and complained about Banerjee’s speech during a campaign event in Tarakeshwar on April 3 appealing to Muslim voters not to let their votes get divided among political parties. He is requesting his minority brothers and sisters with folded hands don’t divide the minority votes after listening to the devil (shaitaan) person who had taken money from the BJP (sic), the EC quoted Banerjee as saying. The EC said it found Banerjee’s speech to be in violation of the MCC, which was imposed after the West Bengal Assembly polls were announced on February 26. Among the clauses highlighted by the notice were those against the use of caste or communal appeals to voters and intimidation of voters.

F) India has world’s third highest number of billionaires, says Forbes report.

Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in India and also the wealthiest in Asia, is ranked 10 on the global billionaires’ list. India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world after the U.S. and China, according to a new list by Forbes magazine, which said Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani reclaimed his spot as Asia’s richest person, dethroning Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma, who was the richest person in the region a year ago. Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s billionaires is topped by Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos for the fourth year in a row. His net worth is $177 billion, up $64 billion from a year ago as a result of surging Amazon shares, Forbes said. On the second spot is SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who was the biggest gainer in dollar terms. Musk’s fortune ballooned to $151 billion, a whopping $126.4 billion more than a year ago, when he had ranked 31 and was worth $24.6 billion, it said. The main reason: a 705% climb in Tesla shares, Forbes said. Ambani, the richest person in India and also the wealthiest in Asia, is ranked 10 on the global billionaires’ list. He reclaimed his spot as Asia’s richest person with a net worth of $84.5 billion. Ambani has become the richest person in Asia, ranked Number 10 and worth an estimated $84.5 billion. He nudges out Jack Ma of China, Asia’s richest person a year ago, whose rank dropped to 26 (from 17 last year) despite a nearly $10 billion jump in his fortune to $48.4 billion, Forbes said. Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, the second richest person in India, is ranked 24th on the global list of billionaires with a net worth of $50.5 billion. Chairman of the Poonawalla Group and founder of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, Cyrus Poonawalla is ranked 169th on the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires with a net worth of $12.7 billion. Poonawalla ranks seven on the list of Indian billionaires. Founder of HCL Technologies Shiv Nadar, the third richest person in India, is ranked 71st globally and has a net worth of $23.5 billion. The three richest Indians alone have added just over $100 billion between them, Forbes said. At 724, the U.S. has more billionaires than any other country in the world (up from 614 last year). China is closing the gap with 698 billionaires, up from 456 last year.

G) Hackers target LinkedIn users with fake job offers.

A hacking group is ‘spear phishing’ business professionals on LinkedIn with fake job offers to get remote control over the victim’s computer, according to researchers at eSentire. Spear phishing is an email or electronics communications scam in which a victim receives an email that leads them to a fake website infected with malware. The aim of the attack is to steal data or install malware on victims’ device. According to researchers, hackers are spear phishing with a malicious zip file using the job position listed on the target’s LinkedIn profile. For instance, if the LinkedIn member’s job is listed as Senior Account Executive—International Freight, the malicious zip file would be titled Senior Account Executive—International Freight position. Once a user opens the fake job offer, they initiate the installation of file-less backdoor, titled ‘more_eggs’. Once loaded, the backdoor trojan can download additional malicious plug-ins and provide hands-on access to the victim’s computer.

H) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 12,913,854 with the death toll at 1,68,207. The Central government has decided to allow Covid-19 vaccination sessions at workplaces with about 100 eligible/willing beneficiaries. States/UTs have been asked to prepare for the launch by April 11, a Health Ministry official told The Hindu, adding that the move was aimed at making the vaccine accessible, quality-focused and citizen-centric. Only employees of a workplace aged 45 years and more will be eligible for vaccination at the workplace. No outsider, including eligible family members, will be allowed for vaccination at the Covid-19 vaccination centre at the workplace, he said. While there is no change in the eligibility criteria the vaccine is offered to willing beneficiaries who are 45 years old and above this is the first time that a vaccine is being offered outside a hospital setting.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Backlash after Pakistan PM links rape to dress of women. 

Pakistan rights campaigners have accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of baffling ignorance after the former cricketer blamed how women dress for a rise in rape cases. In a weekend interview, Mr. Khan said an increase in rapes indicated the consequences in any society where vulgarity is on the rise. The incidents of rape of women have actually very rapidly increased in society, he said. He advised women to cover up to prevent temptation. This entire concept of purdah is to avoid temptation, not everyone has the willpower to avoid it, he said, using a term that can refer to modest dress or the segregation of the sexes. Hundreds of people signed a statement circulating online on Wednesday, calling Mr. Khan’s comments factually incorrect, insensitive and dangerous. Fault rests solely with the rapist and the system that enables the rapist, including a culture fostered by statements such as those made by (Khan), the statement said. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent rights watchdog, said on Tuesday it was appalled by the comments. Not only does this betray a baffling ignorance of where, why and how rape occurs, but it also lays the blame on rape survivors, who, as the government must know, can range from young children to victims of honour crimes, it said. Pakistan regularly ranks among the worst places in the world for gender equality. 

B) Iranian ship attacked in Red Sea, report says it was Israeli payback. 

An Iranian freighter was hit by an explosion in the Red Sea, Tehran said on Wednesday, after U.S. media reported Israel had struck the ship in retaliation for past Iranian strikes on its vessels. Iran was at pains to stress that the freighter was a civilian ship, although other sources said it had been used by Iranian commandos as a base for shipping protection and other duties in the area. The explosion comes at a sensitive time as U.S. President Joe Biden attempts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran which was strongly opposed by Israel and abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018. The blast struck the Iranian commercial vessel MV Saviz off the coast of Djibouti Tuesday morning, Foreign Ministry spokesman said Khatibzadeh said, adding an inquiry had been opened into the cause. The accident caused no casualties and a technical investigation is under way to determine its circumstances and origin, he said. Our country will take all necessary steps through international bodies in this regard. Mr. Khatibzadeh said the Saviz was a civilian vessel that had been deployed in coordination with the International Maritime Organization to protect shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Many foreign governments have stationed protection vessels in the area since a rash of attacks by Somali pirates between 2000 and 2010. This ship has been serving as Iran’s logistics station for technical and logistical support in the Red Sea, the spokesman added. The New York Times cited a U.S. official as saying Israel had informed Washington it had struck the ship in retaliation for earlier Iranian strikes on Israeli vessels. The paper said that according to the Israelis, the Saviz had been damaged below the water line. There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli authorities to the Times report.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
07 April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Vaccines being given as per ‘need’ and not as per ‘want’, says Centre.

Amid demands from several quarters that the age limit for Covid-19 vaccination be relaxed in view of the spike in cases, the Centre on Tuesday said the aim was to protect those who were most vulnerable, and the idea was not to administer the vaccine to those who want it but to those who need it, PTI reported. During a weekly press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that many people were asking why the government wasn’t opening up vaccination for all those above 18 years. The basic aim is to reduce death through vaccination. The other aim is to protect your healthcare system. If healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, paramedics and others fall sick, who will work in hospitals? So the aim, for any country, is to protect those who are the most vulnerable. The aim is never to administer the vaccine to those who want it but to those who need it, Bhushan said. NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said the narrative has to be seen in a scientific way. So far, nobody doing vaccine research has shown that if given on this scale, it leads to herd immunity, he said, adding that it is not yet scientifically proven. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray have also written to Modi requesting a relaxation of the age limit for the vaccination. Kejriwal urged him to relax the norms for opening vaccination centres and lift the age criterion for getting inoculated, reiterating that the Delhi government can vaccinate all the residents of the city within three months if the necessary permissions are granted by the Centre. Thackeray requested the prime minister to allow people above 25 years of age to receive Covid-19 shots, which he said will protect the young people from the rapid spread of coronavirus at a time when they are stepping outside their homes to earn a livelihood.

B) Assembly elections: Polling ends in Tamil Nadu with 65.11% turnout by 7 p.m, Puducherry records 78%

Polling in Tamil Nadu’s 234 Assembly seats concluded today, with the state witnessing a turnout of 71.79% by 7 p.m. In neighboring Puducherry, which is set to elect its 15th Legislative Assembly from 30 constituencies, the rate of polling gathered pace over the day to finish at an overall voter participation rate of about 78%. Kerala saw a turnout of 73.40% by 6 p.m., with the high voting percentage being interpreted as advantageous by all the parties. The Congress-led UDF has claimed that it indicates an appetite for change, while the CPI(M)-led LDF has said that it is a seal of approval for their past five years of governance. Narikurava women show their inked finger at Agaramcheri in Tirupathur district, which comes under Ambur constituency. The third phase of polling in West Bengal and Assam today saw polling percentages of 84.21% and 82.28% respectively. In all, 475 assembly constituencies across four states and one union territory saw polling.

C) President appoints N.V. Ramana as CJI with effect from April 24.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday appointed Justice N.V. Ramana as Chief Justice of India with effect from April 24. Incumbent CJI Sharad A. Bobde had recommended Justice Ramana, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, for appointment as the 48th Chief Justice of India in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Law and Justice on March 24. In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution, the President is pleased to appoint Sri. Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from April 24, 2021, the Ministry of Law and Justice notification said. With this, both the Supreme Court and the government have followed the seniority norm followed in the appointment of CJIs. Justice Ramana will be CJI till August 26, 2022. He was elevated as judge in the Supreme Court on February 17, 2014 while he was the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. Justice Ramana was born in an agricultural family on August 27, 1957 in Ponnavaram village in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh.

D) Bharti Airtel sells spectrum worth ₹1,497 crore to Reliance Jio.

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has entered into an agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm to transfer ‘Right to Use’ for some of its 800 MHz spectrum in three circles to the Mukesh Ambani-led firm. Following this agreement, Bharti Airtel will receive a consideration of ₹1,037.6 crores from Reliance Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Reliance Jio will assume future liabilities of ₹459 crores relating to the spectrum, Bharti Airtel said in a statement. The sale of the 800 MHz blocks in these three circles has enabled us to unlock value from spectrum that was unutilised. This is aligned to our overall network strategy, Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said. As per the agreement, which is subject to statutory approvals, Reliance Jio will acquire right to use spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) circles through spectrum trading. In a separate statement, Reliance Jio said it will now have 2X15MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Mumbai circle and 2X10MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi circles, thereby further consolidating its spectrum footprint in these circles. The trading agreement is in accordance with the Spectrum Trading Guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications and is subject to the requisite regulatory and statutory approvals. The aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is ₹1,497 crores, inclusive of present value of associated deferred payment liability of ₹459 crores, subject to any transaction-related adjustments, Reliance Jio added. Reliance Jio was the biggest bidder in the recently held spectrum auction by the Department of Telecom, acquiring 488.35 MHz of spectrum for ₹57,122.65 crore. Majority of auction payout by Reliance Jio will be for the spectrum in the 800 MHz band (₹34,491 crore). Reliance Jio was followed by Bharti Airtel which bid for 355.45 MHz of spectrum for ₹18,698.75 crore.

E) Chhattisgarh Health Minister flags erratic vaccine supply.

With a record spike in Covid-19 cases in Chhattisgarh and the Union Health Ministry also ticking off the State for failing to control the spread of the virus, State Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo today hit back, saying that the supply of vaccines have been erratic, with supplies nearly running out on Monday. Deo said with the spiralling cases, a partial lockdown in the affected districts cannot be ruled out. The State on Monday reported the highest number of 7,302 Covid-19 cases in a day and 44 fatalities. Chhattisgarh’s Durg district is the latest entrant in the top ten districts with maximum active cases. The Union Health Ministry has said the number of deaths in the State is also worrying.

F) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,27,13,188 with the death toll at 1,67,190. In view of rising Covid-19 cases in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal government on Tuesday imposed seven hours of night curfew with immediate effect but exempted people of certain professions from it. The decision was taken after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the city. The DDMA order for curfew from 10 pm to 5 am will continue till April 30. People travelling during curfew hours will require s soft or hard copy of an e-pass which can be obtained from the Delhi government website. Those exempted from the night curfew include pregnant women, patients, those travelling to and from airports, railway stations, and state bus terminus on showing tickets, officials related to the functioning of offices of diplomats, and those holding any constitutional post on the production of valid identity card, among others.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Russia does not believe in ‘military alliance systems’, says foreign minister Lavrov on the subject of Quad. 

A solution to the Afghan civil war should balance the ethnic and religious groups of Afghanistan and no group should be left out of the final settlement of the war, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov here on Tuesday after holding bilateral discussions with his Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar. Lavrov said India and Russia are working for stability and connectivity in the Asia-Pacific and urged that security alliances should not come up in Asia. The Taliban movement is a part of Afghan society. Decision on the settlement in Afghanistan should foresee the participation of all political, ethnic and religious groups in the country. Otherwise the solution will not be stable. This decision has to be based on balance of ethnic, political and religious interests, including in the legislative bodies, Lavrov said. Any exclusion of any group from this process will not lead to an implementable and sustainable agreement which can lead to resumption of hostilities, which is not the desire of the stakeholders, he said in response to a question after both the ministers issued press statements. Apart from the Afghan situation, the major issue on the agenda for Tuesday’s talks was the delivery of the Russian S400 missile defence system and the threat of U.S. sanctions that the delivery could attract. Though the ministers said the specific issue did not come up during the discussion, diplomatic sources confirmed that all issues were discussed. Significantly, the Indian membership in the Quad featured at the talks, according to Lavrov. Answering a question, Lavrov indirectly took up the Quad and said he has heard of an ‘Asian NATO’ and ‘Middle East NATO’ and argued that Russia does not believe in the military alliance systems.

B) Don’t team up, China cautions Japan ahead of Biden-Suga meet.

China’s Foreign Minister cautioned Japan against teaming up with the U.S to counter Beijing, as Japan speaks up more on human rights in the Xinjiang region in China and Hong Kong ahead of a U.S.-Japan summit next week. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, in a phone call on Monday evening that their two countries should ensure that their relations do not get involved in the so-called confrontation between major countries, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said. It quoted Mr. Wang as saying that China hopes that Japan, as an independent country, will look at China’s development in an objective and rational way, instead of being misled by some countries holding biased view against China. Japanshares US. concerns about China’s military buildup and claims to territory in the South and East China Seas. However, its major trade and investment interests in China have at times reined in its criticism of its larger neighbour. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is to travel to Washington to meet President Joe Biden on April 16 in what will be the U.S. leader’s first in-person summit since taking office in January. Mr. Biden, in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump, has stressed rebuilding ties with European and Asian allies as the U.S. prepares for competition with a rising China.

C) Beijing holds aircraft carrier drills near Taiwan.

China is holding naval drills involving an aircraft carrier battlegroup near Taiwan, which it said were aimed at safeguarding Chinese sovereignty, an apparent allusion to Beijing’s claim to the self-governed island. The navy said the exercises involving the Liaoning, one of its two aircraft carriers, were routine and assigned under an annual schedule. China has been upping its threat to take control of the island militarily with exercises and routine incursions into the island’s air defence identification zone by Chinese warplanes. The Navy’s statement late on Monday did not say when the exercises began, but it said more such drills would be held in future. It said the exercises aimed to assist in improving the ability to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, terms often interpreted as being directed at Taiwan’s democratically elected government, which has refused to give in to Beijing’s demands that it recognise the island as part of Chinese territory.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
06 April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Anil Deshmukh resigns as Maharashtra Home Minister, to be replaced by Dilip Walse Patil.

Senior NCP leader and party chief Sharad Pawar’s aide Dilip Walse Patil was on Monday given the charge of Maharashtra Home department following the resignation of Anil Deshmukh. Earlier in the day, Deshmukh, the state’s Home Minister, resigned from the State Cabinet. The resignation comes after the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary investigation into the allegations leveled against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. In his resignation letter, Deshmukh said, Bombay High Court in a petition filed by Adv Jayashri Patil has directed the CBI to conduct preliminary investigation. As a result, it is not morally correct for him to continue as state’s Home Minister. He have therefore decided to resign. On March 30, the Bombay High Court had pulled up Patil for the same plea seeking a CBI inquiry into the allegations against Deshmukh stating that it was prima facie filed for cheap publicity. A Division of Justices S.S. Shinde and Manish Pitale had stated, Entire petition is cut-copy-paste. What is your locus standi? Can you set criminal law in motion? Prima facie, we are of the opinion that such petitions are filed for cheap popularity. It is unacceptable. Addressing Patil, Justice Shinde had said, you are a doctorate of law. Please show us some original pleading in your petition. You have only reproduced conversations between the former Commissioner and Home Minster. You are only extracting paragraphs after paragraphs. However, a Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni ordered the CBI to conclude the inquiry into Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh within 15 days and take further action as necessary. Singh had written a letter last month, after being transferred from the position as Mumbai Police Commissioner, alleging that Deshmukh had told suspended police officer Sachin Vaze to collect ₹100 crore extortion money from hoteliers in the city.

B) Rafale Deal: Fresh revelations reveal 1 million euros paid to an Indian accused of money-laundering.

French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation had paid one million euros to an Indian company owned by a middleman in connection with the €7.87-billion Rafale deal between India and France in 2016, French anti-corruption agency Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA) found in its audit, according to a French media report. That middleman is now accused of money-laundering in India in another defence deal. The company said the money was used to pay for the manufacture of 50 large replica models of Rafale jets, even though the inspectors were given no proof that these models were made. Yet, against all apparent logic, the AFA decided not to refer the matter to prosecutors, according to an investigation by Mediapart. Rafale was originally shortlisted in the Medium Multi-Role Contract Aircraft (MMRCA) deal for 126 jets, but the deal got held up over pricing and technology transfer issues. Dassault had provided AFA with a proforma invoice dated March 30, 2017, supplied by an Indian company called Defsys Solutions, which, according to the AFA investigation report, was related to 50% of the total order (€1,017,850), for the manufacture of 50 models of the Rafale C, with a price per unit of €20,357. However, the report said Dassault was unable to provide the AFA with a single document showing that these models existed and were delivered, and not even a photograph when AFA inspectors subsequently found these details in mid-October 2018 and asked the company for an explanation. The inspectors thus suspected that this was a bogus purchase designed to hide hidden financial transactions, it said. Defsys Solutions is one of Dassault’s sub-contractors in India for the Rafale deal. However, the company with 170 employees is not a specialist in making models and instead assembles flight simulators and optical and electronic systems for the aeronautical industry, often under licence for foreign companies, according to the report. In addition, the company belongs to the Gupta family, one of whom is being investigated in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. Sushen Mohan Gupta was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2019 for kickbacks in the AgustaWestland deal and later released on bail. Rafale was originally shortlisted in the Medium Multi-Role Contract Aircraft (MMRCA) deal for 126 jets, but the deal got held up over pricing and technology transfer issues.

C) Congress demands answers from PM on latest ‘revelations’

The Congress today asked for a thorough inquiry into the Rafale fighter aircraft deal and demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the latest ‘revelations’. At a press conference, Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed that the report by the French news portal, Mediapart, has vindicated former party chief Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of corruption in the deal. In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi had alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal and made the issue central to his poll plank. Does it now not require a full and independent investigation into India’s biggest defence deal to find out how much bribery and commission in reality, if any, was paid and to whom in the Indian government? Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi answer to the nation now?asked Surjewala. How can middleman and payment of commission be permitted in a government-to-government Defence Contract or in any defence procurement in violation of the mandatory Defence Procurement Procedure [DPP], asked Surjewala.

D) Assam polls: 171 votes cast in a booth with 90 voters.

Five Assam polling personnel have been suspended after it was found that the 90 eligible voters of the booth had ended up casting 171 votes. The Dima Hasao District Election Officer has also ordered a re-poll at the 107(A) Khotlir Lower Primary School polling booth in the Haflong Assembly constituency, which went to the polls in the second phase on April 1. The booth was an auxiliary polling station of the main voting centre at Mouldam Lower Primary School nearby. The constituency had recorded 74% voting, markedly less than the second phase average of 80.96% across 39 Assembly constituencies of southern, central and parts of northern Assam. The District Election Officer had issued the suspension order citing dereliction of duty on April 2, but it came to light on April 4 evening. A district official said that according to the polling personnel, the villagers who came to vote at the auxiliary booth had come with their own list of voters. The chief of the interior village refused to accept the official voters’ list and the villagers cast their votes according to the one the chief was armed with, he said. The district officials did not clarify why the polling officials let the villagers have their way.

E) Fight against Maoists will intensify: Amit Shah.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a visit to Chhattisgarh, today said that the fight against Maoists will be intensified in the coming days and the loss of lives of jawans will not go waste. Shah made the comment after attending a wreath-laying ceremony in Jagdalpur, two days after 22 security personnel were killed in an ambush by the Maoists in south Bastar’s Tarrem. One CRPF commando is still missing.Shah, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, and other dignitaries laid the wreath on the mortal remains of the security personnel. Later, Shah attended a security review meeting at Jagdalpur police lines with CM Baghel and senior officials. After the meeting Shah said, In the past five-six years many security camps have been opened in core areas of Maoists in Chattisgarh. This attack is a result of their desperation.

F) LG to shut its mobile phone business.

South Korea’s LG Electronics on Monday said the company is closing its mobile business unit after nearly six years of losses totalling $4.5 billion. The move makes it the first major smartphone brand to withdraw from the market. LG said the mobile phone business will wind down by July 31, although inventory of some existing models may still be available post that. LG’s strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone sector will enable the company to focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services, the company said in a statement. LG will continue to leverage its mobile expertise and develop mobility-related technologies such as 6G to help further strengthen competitiveness in other business areas, it added. For existing mobile customers, LG will provide service support and software updates for a period of time, varying by region. The company noted that details related to the employment will be determined at the local level. LG’s exit would present an opportunity to Apple and Samsung to gain more customers, especially in the U.S. where LG’s market share was 9% in December 2020.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Japan expresses concerns to China on Hong Kong, Uighurs. 

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Tuesday expressed strong concerns to his Chinese counterpart about Chinese incursions into territorial waters, the situation in Hong Kong and the human rights situation of China’s Uighur minority. China’s extensive territorial claims in the East and South China Seas have become a priority issue in an increasingly testy Sino-U.S relationship and are a security concern for Japan. In a phone conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Mr. Motegi expressed strong concern about China’s incursions into territorial waters, as well as the Hong Kong situation and human rights issues concerning the Uighur minority, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. He also strongly called for concrete action, the statement said. China claims a group of uninhabited Japan-controlled islets, called the Senakaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The issue has plagued bilateral relations for years. The two also discussed a broad range of regional issues and agreed on the importance of international cooperation to solve the situation in Myanmar, where a coup has been followed by a brutal military crackdown on street protests.

B) Vietnam’s PM Phuc sworn in as President. 

The man behind Vietnam’s successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, was formally sworn in as President in Hanoi on Monday. Mr. Phuc, 66, was Vietnam’s PM for the last five years, a period in which the economy boomed, and his government’s COVID-19 response won plaudits at home and abroad. Following secret voting on Monday, Mr. Phuc scored the maximum votes among the almost 500-member rubber-stamp national Assembly. This is his well-deserved award, said Nguyen Khac Giang, a Vietnamese politics expert. Vietnam is run by the Communist Party and offlcially led by the party general secretary, President, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, 62, a former deputy minister of public security , was sworn in as PM on Monday.

C) Philippines slams China over continued ‘incursion’.

Aides of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday criticised China for what they called territorial incursions by hundreds of its vessels, which his legal counsel warned could damage ties and lead to unwanted hostilities. Mr. Duterte’s lawyer Salvador Panelo called the prolonged presence of boats an unwelcome stain on relations that risked unwanted hostilities that both countries would rather not pursue. They can negotiate on matters of mutual concern and benefit, but make no mistake about it our sovereignty is non-negotiable, Mr. Panelo said. Mr. Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque echoed the view: They will not give up even a single inch of our national territory or our exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The comments from the presidential palace are unusually strong given Mr. Duterte’s reluctance to confront Beijing, which he has sought to befriend. Foreign Ministry also rejected China’s view that Whitsun Reef was a traditional fishing ground in its waters, and said it would send a diplomatic protest each day that China boats stayed there.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
05 April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) Modi reviews ‘alarming rate of growth’ in COVID-19 cases at high-level meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reviewed the COVID-19 situation and vaccination exercise in the country amid an alarming rate of growth in infections and deaths, with 10 states contributing to more than 91% of them. Mr. Modi said the five-fold strategy of testing, tracing, treatment, COVID-appropriate behaviour and vaccination if implemented with utmost seriousness and commitment would be effective in curbing the pandemic’s spread, according to an official statement. The reasons for the sharp rise in cases could be mainly attributed to the severe decline in compliance of COVID-appropriate behaviour, especially in the use of masks and social distancing, pandemic fatigue and lack of effective implementation of containment measures at the field level, it said. A detailed presentation was made which highlighted that there is an alarming rate of growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country with 10 states contributing to more than 91% of cases and deaths due to COVID, it said. It was noted in the meeting that vaccine manufacturers are ramping up their production capacity and are also in discussion with other domestic and offshore companies to augment the same. Noting that the situation in Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh is of serious concern, a presentation in the meeting highlighted that the western state has contributed 57% of the total cases and 47% of deaths in the country in the last 14 days. Earlier, with daily coronavirus cases crossing 90,000 a day very near the numbers seen last September Mr. Modi chaired a high-level meeting. The meeting, attended by top officials at the Centre including the Home Secretary, Secretaries of Health, Principal Scientific Adviser, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, veered around the view that the spike in cases was due to severe decline in people complying with Covid-appropriate behaviour. This meant, as several communiques from the Centre have reiterated over the past month, that people had largely abjured the use of masks, maintaining ‘2 Gaj ki Doori’, (six feet distance), pandemic fatigue and that authorities weren’t effectively implementing containment measures at the field level.

B) Maharashtra introduces new restrictions.

While ruling out a stringent lockdown, the Uddhav Tackeray-led Mahasrashtra government on Sunday tightened restrictions further by announcing a night curfew and weekend lockdown across the State in wake of the relentless uptick in Covid-19 cases. The fresh norms, which come into effect today, include a curfew from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. (Monday to Friday), a ban on gatherings of five or more persons throughout the day, and, in a determined bid to preclude gatherings, a closure malls, restaurants and bars. Theatres and cinema halls are to remain shut as well, while playgrounds and gardens are to remain closed as well. In their lieu, home delivery services will be permitted while essential services will continue unhindered. The new rules are to last till April 30, said a government notification. In order to keep the economic spokes running, there will be no curbs on industrial operations and construction activity. Agriculture and agricultural activities, transportation of food grains and agricultural commodities will continue as usual too. Film shoots, too, will be permitted, though in the strict absence of crowds. Everything except essential services will be closed on weekends. While no new restrictions are put on traffic, public transport will run at 50 % capacity. All types of shops, malls, markets, except groceries, medicines, vegetables are to remain closed till April 30.

C) Bodies of 22 jawans recovered in Sukma encounter. 

Police recovered bullet-riddled bodies of 17 jawans in the jungles of Chhattisgarh on April 4, raising to 22 the number of security personnel killed in a fierce gunbattle with Naxals the previous day the biggest massacre in more than a year that also left 30 injured. The dead include personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and the District Reserve Guard (DRG), the official said. It was not clear how many were from which unit. Eighteen jawans were missing after five security personnel were killed on April 3 in the fierce gun battle with Naxals in a forest along the border between Bijapur and Sukma districts in Chhattisgarh, police had said. On Sunday, bodies of 17 missing personnel were recovered during a search operation, the official said. Some weapons of the security forces were missing, he added. Two bodies have been retrieved and choppers have been sent to recover the bodies of other jawans, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police (DGP) D.M Awasthi said earlier on Sunday, adding that one jawan was still missing. Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on April 4 and directed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG Kuldiep Singh to visit the encounter site. Mr. Baghel who was in Assam for election campaign is returning to Chhattisgarh. Five security personnel, including two from the CRPF, were killed and more than 12 others were injured in an encounter with Maoists in Sukma district on Saturday. Two Maoists were said to be killed and the body of a woman cadre was recovered from the site of the encounter.

D) EC rejects Mamata Banerjee’s complaint of rigging at Nandigram booth.

The Election Commission on Sunday warned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that her conduct at a polling booth in Nandigram was under its scanner and rejected her allegations of rigging and violence on April 1, the day of voting for the second phase of State Assembly elections. Ms. Banerjee, who is a candidate from Nandigram, reached a polling booth at Boyal in the Assembly segment on polling day, where she alleged that her party polling agent was not allowed inside the booth and outsiders were trying to create trouble while Central forces were protecting them under instructions from the Home Ministry. While the Chief Minister sat inside a polling booth at Boyal Primary School for almost an hour, passions ran high among supporters of both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP outside. The EC slammed Ms. Banerjee for her conduct and wrote that as a poll candidate and CM she sought to weave a media narrative to mislead the voters. The EC said tensions outside the polling booth could have had an adverse impact on law and order across West Bengal and may be some other States while the voting was underway. It added, there could not have been a greater misdemeanor. The EC warned Ms. Banerjee that it was examining the incident for violations under Section 131 and 123(2) of The Representation of the People Act, which deal with disorderly conduct outside the polling booth and attempts by a candidate to exert undue influence or interfere with free exercise of electoral right. There is no evidence at all to suggest that the BSF jawans who were deployed at the polling station indulged in any inappropriate behaviour. Moreover, the complaint that they did not allow the voters to go inside the booth is far from the truth, Election Commission of India secretary general Umesh Sinha wrote on April 3. The letter called the Chief Minister’s allegations factually incorrect, without any empirical evidence whatsoever and devoid of substance.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Pakistan court jails Hafiz Saeed’s five aides.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced five leaders of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) to nine years of imprisonment each in a terror financing case. Three of them — Umar Bahadar, Nasarullah and Samiullah — have been convicted for the first time since the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore pronounced its verdict some time ago in the terror financing cases registered by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab police. The other two — JuD spokesperson Yahya Mujahid and senior leader Prof Zafar Iqbal — had already been convicted for many years in other terror financing cases. ATC Lahore Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar on April 3 handed down nine-year imprisonment to each five of them. The Judge also ordered a six-month jail term to Saeed’s brother-in-law Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki in the same case. The court found the JuD/LeT leaders guilty of offence of terrorism financing. They had been collecting funds and unlawfully financing the proscribed organisation, LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba]. The court has also ordered confiscation of assets made from funds collected through terrorism financing, the CTD said. The JuD leaders were presented in the court amid high security and the media was not allowed to cover the proceedings. The CTD of Punjab police had registered 41 FIRs against the JuD leaders, including 70-year-old Saeed, in terror financing cases. The trial courts have so far decided 37 of them.

B) Philippines accuses China of plans to occupy more areas.

The Philippines’ Defence Secretary said on Sunday that China was looking to occupy more areas in the South China Sea, citing the continued presence of Chinese vessels that Manila believes are manned by militias in disputed parts of the strategic waterway. The continued presence of Chinese maritime militias in the area reveals their intent to further occupy (areas) in the West Philippine Sea, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement, using the local name for the South China. It was the second hostile statement by Mr. Lorenzana in two days as he repeated calls by the Philippines for Chinese boats to leave Whitsun Reef, which Manila calls the Julian Felipe Reef, located within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone. Chinese diplomats have said the boats anchored near the reef numbering more than 200 based on initial intelligence gathered by Philippine patrols were sheltering from rough seas and that no militia were aboard. On Saturday, Mr. Lorenzana said there were still 44 Chinese vessels at Whitsun Reef, despite improved weather conditions. The Chinese Embassy responded to Mr. Lorenzana’s comments, saying it was completely normal for Chinese vessels to fish in the area and take shelter near the reef during rough conditions. It added, Nobody has the right to make wanton remarks on such activities. An international tribunal invalidated China’s claim to 90% of the South China Sea in 2016, but Beijing does not recognise the ruling and has built artificial islands in the disputed waters equipped with radar, missiles batteries and hangars for fighter jets.