Tag: PO

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Supreme Court asks U.P. to reconsider plan to hold Kanwar Yatra

The Supreme Court on July 16 disagreed with the Uttar Pradesh government’s proposal to conduct a symbolic Kanwar Yatra amid the pandemic for compelling religious reasons, saying the fundamental rights of citizens across faiths and their right to life trumped religious sentiments. A Bench of Justices Rohinton F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai gave Uttar Pradesh time till July 19 to rethink their proposal and file an affidavit. If the State did not change its plans, Justice Nariman said the court will deliver whatever we have to deliver on July 19. We are of the prima facie view that this is a matter that concerns everyone of us as citizens of India and goes to the very heart of Article 21 (right to life), which has the pride of place in the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Indian Constitution. Health of the citizenry of India and the right to life are paramount. All other sentiments, albeit religious, are subservient to this basic fundamental right, Justice Nariman dictated in the order. The hearing began with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitting that the State must not permit movement. The top law officer explained the logistics of the yatra, its destination and what participants do, including that they collect Ganga jal (water) from Haridwar and perform abhishek at various Shiva temples. An affidavit was filed by the Centre late in the Supreme Court. After speed-reading the affidavit, Justice Nariman announced peremptorily, State of Uttar Pradesh cannot go on with this, 100%. The Bench refused to permit a physical yatra. Senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, for Uttar Pradesh, intervened saying, We only want a symbolic yatra. Past experience shows that a total ban would be inappropriate, the senior lawyer submitted for Uttar Pradesh. Vaidyanathan then proceeded to read out from Uttar Pradesh’s affidavit, explaining that its decision to hold the yatra was reached after considering the faith and religious sentiments and after consultations with the disaster management authorities. He explained the yatra would be held with a minimum number of people maintaining social distancing. The holy Ganga jal would be made available for abhishek at the nearest Shiva temples, he submitted.

 

B) Over 86% of breakthrough infections caused by Delta variant: ICMR 

A majority over 86% of the breakthrough infections after Covid-19 vaccination have been caused by the Delta variant, with hospitalisation of 9.8% of such cases and fatality observed in 0.4% of cases, according to the results of a nationwide study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on breakthrough Covid-19 infection. A breakthrough infection is a case of illness in which a vaccinated individual becomes sick from the same illness that the vaccine is meant to prevent. For the study, Clinical characterisation and Genomic analysis of COVID-19 breakthrough infections during second wave in different States of India’’, ICMR collected 677 clinical samples of individuals who have been partially or fully vaccinated but contracted the infection. The samples were collected from 17 States and Union Territories, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh. The study found that a total of 482 cases (71%) were symptomatic with one or more symptoms, while 29% had asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Fever (69%) was the most consistent presentation followed by body ache, including headache and nausea (56%), cough (45%), sore throat (37%), loss of smell and taste (22%), diarrhoea (6%), breathlessness (6%) and 1% had ocular irritation and redness, it noted. The southern, western, eastern and north-western regions predominantly reported breakthrough infection mainly from Delta and then the Kappa variant. Alpha was predominant behind reinfection in the northern region, it stated. Though this was not a study on the effect of the vaccines, it had been noted that among the 677 patients, 604 received Covishield, 71 Covaxin and two got China’s Sinopharm.

 

C) Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui killed in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province 

Noted Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed during a Thursday night clash between the Afghan special forces and Taliban attackers. Tolo News, a leading news channel of Kabul, reported that Siddiqui, working for Reuters news agency, was covering the clashes between the two sides in Kandahar over the last few days and he died in Spin Boldak district, which has a contentious international border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in a condolence message, expressed solidarity with the media, saying his government was committed to upholding freedom of expression. I am deeply saddened with the shocking reports that Reuters Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed while covering the Taliban atrocities in Kandahar, he said.  Reuters has reported that Siddiqui was in the main market of Spin Boldak when he was caught in a crossfire. Tolo News has reported that a senior commander of the Afghan special forces, Sediq Karzai, too was killed in the incident. The Indian journalist was embedded with Afghan security forces. Danish Siddiqui was travelling in an armoured Humvee with Afghan soldiers and he had shared videos over the past few days that showed the vehicle coming under attack on several occasions. In his last report filed on July 13 from Kandahar under highly difficult circumstances, Siddiqui had recorded the experience of Afghan commandos who conducted a raid to save a kidnapped policeman. Siddiqui was known for his compassionate photographic coverage of current developments in South Asia. In recent years, his photographs of the Rohingya refugees who were displaced by the Myanmar military from the Rakhine province, drew global attention to the plight of the displaced community that is currently living in camps in Bangladesh. The photographs of the Rohinyga refugees was recognised with a Pulitzer Prize. Earlier this year, he used innovative methods like drones to capture the scale of the second wave of Covid-19 in India. His photographs that showed funeral pyres burning in open spaces drew global attention to the tragedy that India faced during March-May 2021.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) 10,000 ‘jihadi’ fighters have crossed into Afghanistan from Pak., says Ashraf Ghani 

Pakistan has not severed its relationship with terror groups, said Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani in a pointed charge at the neighbouring country as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan sat a few feet away on stage at the Central and South Asia connectivity conference held in Tashkent on Friday. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who also attended the conference, referred to the problems with transit trade in his speech alluding to Pakistan. He said economic development and prosperity go hand in hand with peace and security. In a hard-hitting speech, Ghani said more than 10,000 ‘jihadi’ fighters have entered Afghanistan in the last month, according to intelligence reports, while the Pakistan government had failed to convince the Taliban to participate seriously in the peace talks. Contrary to repeated assurances by Prime Minister Khan and his Generals that Pakistan does not find a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in Pakistan’s interest and short of use of force will use its power and influence to make the Taliban negotiate seriously, networks and organizations supporting the Taliban are openly celebrating the destruction of the assets and capabilities of the Afghan people and State, Ghani said at the inaugural ceremony of the conference, as he listed the challenges and threats to regional connectivity. Responding to the charges a few minutes later, Khan said he was disappointed by the allegation that Pakistan had a negative role in the conflict. President Ghani, the country that is going to be most affected by turmoil in Afghanistan is Pakistan. Pakistan suffered 70,000 casualties in the last 15 years. The last thing Pakistan wants is more conflict, Khan said, addressing the Afghan President directly. I can assure you that no country has tried harder to get Taliban on the dialogue table than Pakistan. Khan said that apart from the violence in Afghanistan, outstanding disputes like Kashmir between regional players like India and Pakistan was the other big challenge to regional connectivity, and in comments to the media later, he blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) for creating hurdles to India-Pakistan dialogue.

 

B) Eric Garcetti to be the Ambassador to India from U.S.

More than a month after the United States announced the donation of 80 million doses of American-made COVID vaccines to dozens of countries including India, and Vice-President Kamala Harris called Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convey the decision, the vaccines are being held up by regulatory issues over indemnity, Indian and U.S. officials told. President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to the post of Ambassador to India. Mr. Garcetti’s nomination, which had been expected for weeks, was announced by the White House as part of a set of ambassadorial nominations. The Biden administration reacted to the death of Father Stan Swamy in custody in India and called on all governments to respect the role of human rights activists, saying it was saddened by his death.

 

C) Navjot Singh Sidhu meets Sonia Gandhi as Punjab Congress crisis escalates 

Former Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence, 10 Janpath, after the infighting in the State Congress intensified following reports that he will be made the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Punjab Harish Rawat, who was part of the meeting along with former party chief Rahul Gandhi, told reporters that Gandhi was yet to take a call on the proposed changes to revamp the PCC. After the hour-long meeting, Sidhu avoided speaking to the media but Rawat did. I had come here to submit my report on Punjab to the Congress chief and as soon as a decision is taken by the party president, I will come and share it with you, he said. Asked if Sidhu would be made PCC chief, he said, Who says this. On Thursday, however, Rawat, in response to the same question (whether Sidhu would be the new PCC chief), observed that a formula was being worked around it. What one puts as breaking news, it is their own interpretation. I don’t interfere in their area. And secondly, until the Congress president has cleared it, I don’t know what is on her mind and her last decision, he stated.

The leadership is desperate to broker peace between Chief Minister Captain (Retd.) Amarinder Singh and Sidhu before the State goes to the polls early next year. The crisis in the State Congress is said to have escalated on Thursday after Rawat hinted that Sidhu could be elevated as the PCC chief, with two working presidents, one from a Hindu community and the other a Dalit.

The suggestion, however, did not go do well with Captain Amarinder Singh’s camp. He is said to have reiterated his view that both the party and the government cannot be headed by Jat Sikhs (both him and Sidhu) and the party organisation should be headed by a Hindu leader.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who met Gandhi on Thursday, is learnt to have batted for the Chief Minister. While Capt. Singh met his loyalists at his farmhouse on Thursday, Sidhu met a group of MLAs, including dissident Ministers.

 

D) SBI-led consortium realises ₹792.11 cr. by sale of Kingfisher Airlines’ shares in Mallya case 

The State Bank of India-led consortium on Friday realised ₹792.11 crore by sale of shares in the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines in the Vijay Mallya case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had handed over the shares to the consortium. In the cases involving Mallya, diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the ED has so far transferred assets worth ₹12,762.25 crore to public sector banks. The accused persons have caused a total loss of ₹22,585.83 crore to them.

As on date, assets worth 58% of the total loss have been returned to the banks or confiscated in favour of the Central government. The ED has attached or seized assets worth ₹18,217.27 crore in these cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

In the Mallya case, the consortium had recovered ₹7,181.50 crore by liquidating the assets transferred to the lenders by the ED. A few days ago, the ED handed over assets worth ₹3,728.64 crore to the SBI-led consortium, including shares worth ₹3,644.74 crore, demand draft for ₹54.33 crore, and immovable properties valued at about ₹29.57 crore, said an ED official.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Why do you need the ‘colonial law’ of sedition after 75 years of Independence, CJI asks government

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, in what may be an unprecedented judicial criticism of the way the sedition law is used by the government to crush liberties, asked why a colonial law used against Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak continued to survive in the law book after 75 years of Independence. Sedition is a colonial law. It suppresses freedoms. It was used against Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak… Is this law necessary after 75 years of Independence? Chief Justice Ramana, heading a three-judge Bench, orally addressed Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre. The CJI said sedition or Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code was prone to misuse by the government. The use of sedition is like giving a saw to the carpenter to cut a piece of wood and he uses it to cut the entire forest itself, Chief Justice Ramana lashed out. The CJI’s oral statement in open court strikes a significant note amidst rising public denouncement of Central and State law enforcement agencies using the sedition law to silence dissent, muffle free expression, and deny bail to incarcerated activists, journalists, students and civil society members. A number of petitions have been filed highlighting the chilling effect sedition has on the fundamental right of free speech. The CJI’s remarks have also opened the floor for debate and introspection on the court’s own judgment in 1962, in the Kedar Nath case, which upheld Section 124A. The CJI drew the attention of the Attorney General to the conviction rates under sedition. If you look at the history of use of this Section 124A of IPC, you will find that the conviction rate is very low. There is misuse of power by executive agencies, the Chief Justice said. The CJI asked the government why it did not throw out the sedition law along with the hundreds of stale laws it had expunged from the statute books. Your government is taking out a lot of stale laws from the law books, why have they not looked into this, Chief Justice Ramana asked Venugopal. People had suffered and were scared of the misuse of the sedition law, Chief Justice Ramana said. We are not blaming any particular government or State. But do look at how Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is continuing to be used… How many unfortunate people have suffered? And there is no accountability for all this he noted. The CJI said the sweeping powers of Section 124A gives even a village police officer carte blanche to trample on the right to liberty and free speech of ordinary citizens. If a police officer wants to fix anybody in a village for something, he can use Section 124A… People are scared. Our concern is misuse of the law and the lack of accountability. Why has it continued in the statute book even after 75 years of our Independence, Chief Justice Ramana asked the government’s law officers repeatedly. The Chief Justice said the Supreme Court would definitely look into this Section 124A.

 

B) Maharashtra govt says pleas by Bhima Koregaon accused are ‘fallacious’ 

The Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that the plea challenging the order of extending the period of filing a chargesheet in the Bhima Koregaon violence case by the Sessions Court is fallacious. Advocate General (A-G) Ashutosh Kumbhakoni was arguing before a Division Bench of Justice S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar. The court was hearing a petition filed by Sudha Bharadwaj along with other accused in the case alleging that the Pune Sessions Court Judge K.D. Wadane was not authorised to take cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet and to grant an extension to Pune Police for filing the chargesheet. Kumbhakoni pointed out that on May 17, 2018, provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) were added to the case, and on January 24, 2020, the Centre passed an order to transfer the probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He said the petitioners’ contention is that the special NIA court comes into the picture after the UAPA is added. But just because a Special Court has been constituted does not mean the NIA court will come into the picture in the case, he added. The Bench asked: Special Courts have been constituted, then why not take the case before the Special Courts? The A-G replied that the Special Courts come into the picture only after the NIA comes into the picture. He also said the special NIA court had no jurisdiction to try and decide any pre-trial proceedings, and under the UAPA, the prosecution has no option but to go to the Sessions Court. The arguments will continue on July 23. In the last hearing, advocate Yug Chaudhry representing Ms. Bharadwaj, who is lodged at the Byculla jail, had pointed out that Wadane passed two significant orders, the first of which was on November 26, 2018, when he granted an extension of 180 days’ time period to the Pune police for filing the chargesheet in the case, as opposed to the mandated 90 days according to the Code of Criminal Procedure. He said that on December 21, 2019, Wadane had received the chargesheet, taken cognisance of it, and issued processes. Chaudhry also said that Wadane had acted outside of his jurisdiction and was not authorised to do so.

 

C) Hold bypolls to seven vacant Assembly seats in Bengal, Trinamool urges EC

A delegation of six Trinamool Congress MPs met the Election Commission on Thursday urging it to hold byelections to seven vacant Assembly seats in West Bengal, arguing that the number of Covid-19 cases at present were 17 times lower than the numbers in April-May when the Assembly polls were held. The delegation included Lok Sabha MPs Sudip Bandhopadhyay, Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’ Brien and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray. It is crucial for the TMC that these bypolls are held before November for Mamata Banerjee to continue in the Chief Minister’s chair. Article 164(4) of the Constitution states: A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister. Having lost the Nandigram seat in the Assembly polls by a margin of 1,956 votes, currently she is not a member of the Assembly. Banerjee took oath on May 5 and has time till November 5 as per the law. She was hoping to get elected from the Bhabanipur Assembly seat, her home constituency. To facilitate the by-poll, MLA and Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigned from the seat on May 21. Byelections to seven Assembly seats — Shamsherganj and Jangipur in Murshidabad, where the candidates died before the polls could be held; Santipur and Dinhata where the elected BJP MPs (Jagannath Sarkar and Nisith Pramanik) did not take oath as MLAs; and Khardah and Gosaba, where the successful candidates died after the polls were held, and Bhabanipur — are due in the State. The TMC delegation, in a memorandum submitted to the EC, said the law required that the vacancies must be filled within six months. In April 2021, when the eight-phase elections were held in the State, the number of Covid-19 cases rose from 6,000 cases per day to 17,000 per day, the memorandum pointed out. Despite the rise in Covid-19 cases and our repeated requests, the remaining phases of the polls were not clubbed together, as the EC concluded that it was safe to conduct elections, the memorandum says. The number of cases now was 17 times lower with fewer than 831 cases reported in July as per the data till Wednesday, the memorandum said, arguing that this was a conducive time to hold the polls.

 

D) NHRC panel recommends CBI probe into complaints of heinous crimes after Bengal polls

The National Human Rights Commission committee formed to probe complaints of post-poll violence in West Bengal has recommended that cases of heinous crimes be transferred to the CBI. In its report to the Calcutta High Court on Monday, the panel said it received 1,979 complaints covering over 15,000 victims during its enquiry, which included visiting the State from June 24 to July 10. A large number of cases related to murders, rapes, molestation and vandalism were received from local sources in West Bengal while the teams were camping there, the report said. The Calcutta High Court-ordered panel, which was headed by NHRC member Rajiv Jain, concluded that the State government had exhibited apathy towards the victims and that there was retributive violence by Trinamool Congress supporters. There is need to provide justice to victims and restore their confidence in the criminal justice system, which can be best rendered by a neutral agency. Hence, it is recommended that all heinous cases, including murder, unnatural deaths, rape and grievous hurt, and complaints carrying these allegations, should be transferred to the CBI for investigation, the report said, adding that the trial of the CBI cases should be conducted outside West Bengal.

 

E) Rishabh Pant among two members of Indian squad diagnosed with Covid-19 in U.K. 

At least two members of India’s touring contigent in the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with Covid-19. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and throwdown specialist Dayanand Garani are understood to have contracted the virus during the Indian squad’s break after last month’s World Test Championship final loss to New Zealand. Consequently, India’s squad, which reassembled in London over the last couple of days, has travelled to Durham without five individuals due to Covid-19-related issues. Besides Pant and Garani, reserve opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and bowling coach Bharat Arun are understood to have been isolated for having come in close contact with Garani. Rishabh Pant in action during the ICC World Test Championship Final at Rose Bowl, Southampton on June 23, 2021.  It is understood that the three suspects who came in close contact with Garani have so far tested negative and have been asked to remain in isolation till Sunday. If their test on Sunday returns negative, they can join the rest of the group in Durham on Monday. The spurt of Covid-19 cases has cast a shadow on India’s preparation for the five-Test series against England, starting in Nottingham on August 4. India is scheduled to face SelectCounty XI in a warm-up game at Durham from July 20. It is understood that once Pant, who attended a Euro game at Wembley, was confirmed to have contracted the virus last week, three other players — a spinner, a pacer and a reserve pacer — served an isolation period before being cleared to enter the biosecure bubble and board the bus to Durham.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) China to send team to Pak. For bus blast investigation. 

China said on Thursday it will send a team to Pakistan to help investigate a blast on a bus that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, after it backed away from an earlier assertion that the explosion was a bomb attack. Zhao Lijian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, told a regular briefing that China would cooperate closely with Pakistan in the investigation. Wednesday’s blast sent the bus crashing into a ravine in Khyber-Paktunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan, where Chinese engineers have for several years been working on hydroelectric projects as part of Beijing’s massive Belt and Road. The blast, which killed 13 people, sent the bus crashing into a ravine. China is a close ally and major investor in neighbouring Pakistan, and various anti-Pakistani government militants have in the past attacked Chinese projects. On Wednesday, Mr. Zhao had called the blast a bomb attack but Pakistan said a mechanical failure caused a gas leak that led to the explosion. Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi met Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and urged Pakistan to investigate the blast but he stopped short of calling it an attack, according to a post on Thursday on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website. But Mr. Wang told Mr. Qureshi that if it was indeed a terrorist attack, Pakistan should immediately arrest the culprits and punish them. Mr. Wang, who is China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister, said lessons should be learned and both sides should strengthen security measures for ChinaPakistan cooperation projects to ensure their safe and smooth operation.

 

B) ‘General feared Trump’s Reichstag-style takeover’

The Pentagon’s top General feared late last year that then-president Donald Trump would abrogate the Constitution to retain power in a move resembling Adolf Hitler’s 1933 Reichstag takeover, according to a new book. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley saw Mr. Trump’s refusal to accept defeat to Joe Biden in the November election as a possible sign that he intended to retain power by any means, according to excerpts from the book by Washington Post reporters. Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker that were reported by the Post and CNN on Thursday. This is a Reichstag moment. The gospelofthe Fuhrer, Mr. Milley told Pentagon aides, the authors report. In 1933, Hitler took advantage of a suspicious fire at the Reichstag, the German Parliament, to suspend civil liberties and concentrate authority in his government, setting the stage for the Nazi consolidation of power. When Mr. Trump called for a march on Washington by supporters in November, Mr. Milley expressed worries that he was deploying brown shirts in the streets, the book says, referring to Hitler’s violent followers. And as Mr. Trump persisted in claiming, with no evidence, that there was poll fraud and planned another rally on January 6, when his followers attacked the Congress, Mr. Milley schemed with other top officials to resign, one by one, to signal that they would not go along with any coup by the outgoing president.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Immediately withdraw cases registered under repealed Section 66A of IT Act: Home Ministry tells States, UTs

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday asked the States and Union Territories to immediately withdraw the cases registered under the repealed Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, days after the Supreme Court expressed shock that it was being invoked even six years after the apex court had struck it down. The Supreme Court found it distressing, shocking and terrible that the provision held unconstitutional and a violation of free speech in the Shreya Singhal judgment authored by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman on March 24, 2015 — was still being used to book people. Through an advisory, the MHA asked the authorities in the States and Union Territories to direct all police stations not to register cases under the repealed provision and sensitise the law enforcement agencies for the compliance of the order issued by the Supreme Court. If any case has been booked in your State under Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000, it should immediately be withdrawn, said the advisory. In view of the Supreme Court judgment, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, through a letter in January 2019, and the MHA, via two letters in January and April 2019, had asked the States and Union Territories to sensitise the police department and local police authorities for strict compliance of the Court directive. The ministries had also said that all such cases, if any, should be withdrawn. It has been brought to our notice through an application in the Supreme Court that FIRs are still being lodged by some police authorities under the struck down provision…Supreme Court has taken a very serious view in the matter, said the latest advisory.

 

B) Taking suo moto cognisance, Supreme Court asks U.P. to clarify stand on Kanwar Yatra amid pandemic 

The Supreme Court on July 14 took suo motu cognisance of the Uttar Pradesh government move to reportedly go ahead with the annual Kanwar Yatra amid fears of a third wave of the pandemic. A Bench led by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman referred to media reports that U.P. was pushing for the yatra even as Uttarakhand had suspended it. The annual pilgrimage witnesses a heavy flow of pilgrims who put up bivouacs across Delhi and the northern belt of the country. The court said it wanted the State governments to clarify their stand on the conduct of the yatra amid a public health crisis. The citizens of India are completely perplexed. They don’t know what is going on. And all this amid the Prime Minister, when asked about a third wave of Covid-19 striking the nation, saying ‘we cannot compromise even one bit’, the court remarked. The yatra is scheduled to commence on July 25. The court issued notice to the Centre, U.P. and Uttarakhand and asked them to file their responses early for the Bench to take up the matter on July 16.

 

C) Supreme Court agrees to examine fresh plea challenging sedition law 

The Supreme Court will examine a petition filed by a retired Army General, who said a nearly 60-year-old judgment of the court that helped sedition survive in the Indian Penal Code was behind time and needed a relook. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana on Wednesday listed the case for hearing on July 15 and asked Major-General S.G. Vombatkere (retd.), represented by advocates P.B. Suresh and S. Prasanna, to serve a copy of his petition to Attorney General K.K. Venugopal. The petitioner argues that the 1962 judgment in the Kedar Nath case, which upheld Section 124A (sedition), a relic of the colonial legacy, was given at a time when doctrines such as ‘chilling effect’ on free speech were unheard of. The doctrine of ‘chilling effect’ on speech considers the probability of a legal provision causing psychological barriers in the free exercise of the right… This doctrine had not sufficiently developed in 1962. Even in the US, the doctrine was established only as late as 1967… The most concrete pronouncement on a statutory provision causing a chilling effect on speech is as recent as 2015 in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, he submitted. The Kedar Nath judgment was delivered during an era when the extent, scope and inter-relationship of fundamental rights like liberty, equality and dignity were rather restrictive, the plea said. In the judgment, the court had reasoned that without Section 124A, the State would be in jeopardy if the government was subverted. It, however, said that Section 124A would apply only to expressions that either intended to or had the tendency to cause violence. The maximum punishment was life imprisonment. The offence was classified as ‘cognisable’ and ‘non-bailable’. This judgment could hardly be seen as a beacon of light now, the petitioner contended. He referred to the Supreme Court’s recent judgments decriminalising homosexuality and declaring privacy as a fundamental right as testaments of how the times and attitudes have undergone a sea change over the years. The Constitution is a living document. All constitutional provisions have to be construed with regard to the march of time and the development of law, he stated. The petition said Section 124A criminalised expression based on vague terms such as ‘disaffection towards government’, ‘contempt towards government’, etc. The provision, by employing phrases like disaffection and contempt toward government, which are incapable of precise definition, causes a chilling effect on speech, constituting an unconstitutional invasion into the right of free speech, it said.

 

D) Haryana Police invoke sedition charges against protesting farmers 

Haryana Police have invoked sedition charges against a group of protesting farmers who allegedly attacked and damaged the official vehicle of Haryana Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa in Sirsa on July 11, during a demonstration against the Centre’s farm laws and BJP leaders. Sirsa’s Senior Superintendent of Police Arpit Jain confirmed to The Hindu that sedition charges under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code had been invoked against the accused and an investigation was under way. So far, no arrests have been made in the case, he said on Wednesday. The Sirsa police have registered the FIR under Section 124A (sedition), 307 (attempt to murder) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), in which two farmer leaders — Harcharan Singh and Prahlad Singh — have been booked. Apart from them, over 100 unidentified people have been booked. On July 11, the official car of the Deputy Speaker was attacked in Sirsa by a group of protesters shouting slogans and waving black flags. During the demonstration, protesters allegedly smashed the windscreen of vehicles by pelting stones. Gangwa, however, escaped unhurt. Reacting to the FIR, senior Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Darshan Pal said the government was trying to provoke farmers by taking such steps. By invoking sedition charges, the government is provoking the farmers. How can sedition and murder charges be justified if a windscreen of a vehicle was broken? We have already announced that all legislators, including those from the BJP, the Jannayak Janta Party and the Independents who support the laws, will be peacefully boycotted and will not be allowed entry into villages across the State. We will take a call on the issue at a meeting today [July 14], he added. The SKM is the umbrella organisation of farmer unions which is spearheading the ongoing protest.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) EU proposes effective ban on new petrol, diesel cars from 2035 

The European Union on Wednesday proposed an effective ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as of 2035 which, as part of a broad climate package, will accelerate a switch to zero-emission electric vehicles (EVs). The EU executive, the European Commission, proposed a 55% cut in CO2 emissions from cars by 2030 versus 2021 levels, much higher than the existing target of a 37.5% reduction in CO2 emissions by that time. The Commission also proposed a 100% cut in CO2 emissions by 2035, which would make it impossible to sell new fossil-fuel-powered vehicles in the 27-country bloc. This is the sort of ambition we’ve been waiting to see from the EU, where it’s been lacking in recent years, said Helen Clarkson, Chief Executive of the Climate Group, a non-profit group that works with business and government to tackle climate change. The science tells us we need to halve emissions by 2030, so for road transport it’s simple – get rid of the internal combustion engine. In order to boost sales EV sales, Brussels also proposed legislation that would require countries to install public charging points along major roads with a maximum distance of 60 km between them by 2025. The rollout of EVs is expected to create 3.5 million public charging stations for cars and vans by 2030, with that number to grow to 16.3 million by 2050. Even when buyers have been able to afford the price premium for a part- or all-electric vehicle, many have been deterred by range anxiety because of a lack of public charging stations. Car makers had telegraphed that they would accept tougher emission targets only in return for massive public investment in chargers. All the Commission’s proposals will need to be negotiated and approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, which could take around two years. Low-emission car sales surged in Europe last year, even as the Covid-19 pandemic knocked overall vehicle sales, and one in every nine new cars sold was an electric or plug-in hybrid.

 

B) Bush says withdrawal from Afghanistan withdrawal is a mistake, fears for women 

Former U.S. President George W. Bush criticised the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan in an interview with a German broadcaster released on Wednesday, saying he fears that Afghan women and girls will suffer unspeakable harm. Asked in an interview with German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle whether the withdrawal is a mistake, Bush replied: You know, I think it is, yeah, because I think the consequences are going to be unbelievably bad. The war in Afghanistan began under Bush following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops set in motion earlier this year by current President Joe Biden is now nearing completion. Taliban fighters have been surging through district after district, taking control of large swaths of the country.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) States complain of shortage as pace of immunization dips after Centre’s takeover of vaccine procurement.

The weekly pace of vaccination has declined to nearly 60% of what was seen in the week after June 21, when the Centre entirely took over vaccine procurement from the States. The slackening has resulted in several States complaining of a shortage and an inability to cater to demand. On June 21, the first day of the new policy, nearly 91 lakh doses were administered and until June 27, about 4 crore doses were administered. While the week after didn’t match up, the period from July 5 to July 11 saw only 2.3 crore doses dispensed. So far about 38 crore vaccines have been administered since the drive commenced in January. In the week since June 21, six lakh vaccines a day were the norm. However, the last time India crossed that daily figure was July 3. To meet the Centre’s commitment to fully vaccinate all Indian adults by the year end, at least eight lakh doses have to be administered every day. Several States have reported having to shut down vaccination centres due to unavailability of stocks. We have 3,96,750 doses left in hand. So, the total coverage will reach 1.70 lakh. This is definitely not enough…We need nearly 11.5 crore doses but have received 1.67 crore doses. We require 10 crore more doses. The government is continuing its efforts to get more vaccines, said Ma. Subramanian, Tamil Nadu Minister for Medical and Family Welfare. Maharashtra has administered 3.7 crore doses thus far. The State government has claimed it has the capacity to administer 15 lakh doses a day. Health Minister Rajesh Tope said 70 lakh doses had arrived last week but was exhausted in just three days. The State Assembly had recently passed a resolution demanding 3 crore doses per month from the Centre for the next three months.

 

B) Uttarakhand cancels Kanwar Yatra over fears of Third Wave of Covid-19 

Uttarakhand has decided to cancel the Kanwar Yatra in view of the Covid-19 situation, giving top priotity to the protection of human life, according to an official statement. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami following a meeting with senior state officials on Tuesday evening. In the meeting, a detailed discussion was held on the occurrence of the delta plus variant of COVID, the possibility of a third wave and its effects in the country and abroad. The opinion of experts in this regard was also considered, said the statement issued after the meeting. The Chief Minister directed the Home Secretary  and Director General of Police to take appropriate action. He also directed that the officials of neighbouring states should be requested to coordinate and take effective action so that they can be successful in stopping the pandemic.

 

C) Poll strategist Prashant Kishor meets Rahul Gandhi in Delhi amid factional strife in Punjab Congress

Ahead of a likely organisational and government reshuffle in Punjab, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met poll strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence, PTI reported. Other party leaders like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AICC general secretary Punjab-in-charge Harish Rawat and KC Venugopal were also present during the meeting, where they are learnt to have discussed the party’s overhaul in Punjab and efforts to end factionalism in the state unit ahead of assembly elections. Kishor had earlier met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on the impending changes in the Punjab Congress. Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, who have been at loggerheads, have made a number of public statements against each other in recent months. Amid the tiff, the Gandhis have met the Punjab chief minister and Sidhu separately. There was no official word on what was discussed at the meeting with Kishor which lasted about an hour, but sources said the new Punjab Congress body would be announced in the next few days and the discussions were focused on it. There have been hectic deliberations over the past few days over the likely changes in the Punjab government and the party’s state unit. Both Sidhu and Amarinder Singh have also met the three-member AICC panel headed by Mallikarjun Kharge. The panel had earlier submitted its report to the Congress chief with its recommendations. The CM had then said any decision taken by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi would be acceptable to him and the party. The role for Sidhu in the organisation has remained a sticking point from the beginning as he is keen on the post of PCC chief, which is not acceptable to the chief minister, according to party sources. 

 

D) India’s first Covid-19 patient tests positive again 

A medical student at Wuhan University, China, who was the first Covid-19 patient in the country, has tested positive for the virus again. District Medical Officer K.J. Reena confirmed that the student, hailing from Mathilakam, near Kodungallur, has tested positive. The student did the screening test for travelling to Delhi for her study purpose. Her RT-PCR test is positive. As the student is asymptomatic, she is under observation at home, the DMO said. She has not taken Covid-19 vaccine. The third year medical student in Wuhan university was tested positive on January 30, 2020, becoming the first Covid-19 case in the country, when she came for holidays to her house at Mathilakam. She was discharged from hospital on February 20, 2020, after she tested negative. The student was continuing her studies online at Wuhan University when she was tested positive again. Nobody else in her family has tested positive so far, according to the Health officials.

 

E) Serum Institute to produce Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine 

Serum Institute of India (SII) will be producing at least 300 million doses of Sputnik V a year, with the first batch of the Russian vaccine against Covid-19 from its facility likely to be rolled out in September. These details emerged with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF announcing, on Tuesday, a partnership with the vaccine maker to manufacture Sputnik V for the India market as well as for exports to several countries. We have reached a partnership agreement with Serum Institute of India to manufacture Sputnik V, Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev said in a media briefing from Moscow. The process of technology transfer to Serum was underway for the last three months and the firm is expected to release the first batch of the vaccine in September. As part of the technical transfer process, SII has already received cell and vector samples from Gamaleya Center, the developer of Sputnik vaccine. With their import approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the cultivation process has begun, RDIF said in a statement. India is set to emerge as a leading production hub for Sputnik vaccine. RDIF’s partnership with Serum follows similar agreements it has got into with a clutch of other vaccine makers in India, including Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen, to manufacture around 850 million doses a year of the vaccine.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Sher Bahadur Deuba becomes Nepal’s PM for fifth time 

Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday became the country’s Prime Minister for the fifth time after the Supreme Court’s intervention. President Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed the Opposition leader as the Prime Minister in accordance with Article 76(5) of the Constitution. This is the fifth time that 75-year-old Deuba is returning to power as the Prime Minister of Nepal. His appointment is in line with the ruling issued by the Supreme Court on Monday to make way for his claim to premiership, replacing incumbent K.P. Sharma Oli. In line with the apex court’s verdict, President Bhandari named Deuba as the Prime Minister, Bhesh Raj Adhikary, personal secretary of President Bhandari, told reporters. A programme to administer the oath of office and secrecy to Deuba will be held at 6:00 PM in the evening, Adhikary said. Previously, Deuba served as Nepal’s Prime Minister four times, from June 2017–February 2018, June 2004–February 2005, July 2001–October 2002 and September 1995–March 1997. Deuba is required to seek a vote of confidence from the House within 30 days of his appointment as the Prime Minister, as per the constitutional provisions. The Supreme Court on Monday overturned Prime Minister Oli’s May 21 decision to dissolve the House of Representatives and ordered the appointment of Deuba as prime minister. The five-member Constitutional Bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana said that Oli’s claim to the post of prime minister was unconstitutional. Reinstating the House yet again — the court had restored the House earlier on February 23 after Oli dissolved it on December 20 — the bench has ordered to make arrangements for holding the House meeting by 5 PM on July 18. In its order, the constitutional bench said President Bhandari’s decision to reject Deuba’s claim to form a new government was unconstitutional.

B) 1983 World Cup hero Yashpal Sharma dies of cardiac arrest 

1983 World Cup hero Yashpal Sharma, who was admired for being a gutsy middle-order batsman at the peak of his prowess, died on Tuesday in New Delhi after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. He was 66 and is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. Yes, Yashpal is no more with us. We just received the information from his family, a former India teammate of Yashpal confirmed to PTI. According to sources, Yashpal collapsed at home after returning from his morning walk. In his international career, Yashpal played 37 Tests, scoring 1,606 runs, and 42 ODIs in which he made 883. He also picked up one wicket each in the two formats. He was known for his gutsy attitude and his stroke-filled half century in the semifinal against England in the 1983 campaign at Old Trafford will forever be etched in public memory. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar expressed shock at his teammate’s demise. The 1983 squad had met on the sidelines of a book launch here couple of weeks ago. It is unbelievable. He was the fittest among all of us. I had asked him that day when we met about his routine. He was a vegetarian, teetotaller, used to have soup for his dinner and very particular about his morning walks. I am just shocked, Vengsarkar said. As a player, he was a proper team man and a fighter. I fondly remember the 1979 Test against Pakistan in Delhi (where Vengsarkar scored an unbeaten 146 and Yashpal 60). We both had a partnership which helped us save the game. I knew him since my university days. Still can’t believe it, he added. He was also a national selector in the early 2000s and was part of the panel which gave M S Dhoni his maiden India call-up in 2004. Yashpal was also part of the selection panel that picked the triumphant 2011 World Cup squad under Dhoni’s leadership. So, from being a part of a World Cup-winning to picking one that also won the trophy, Yashpal had seen it all. In between, he also witnessed closely a phase of immense turmoil in Indian cricket when the then captain Sourav Ganguly had a bitter fallout with the team’s Australian coach Greg Chappell in 2006. As a selector, he had famously backed Ganguly at that time.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) IMA urges Centre, States not to let down guard against pandemic

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday warned that a third wave of the pandemic was inevitable and imminent and appealed to the Central and State governments not to let down their guard against Covid-19. It urged them to not allow mass gatherings in tourist and religious places sans Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the IMA said that while tourist bonanza, pilgrimage travel and religious fervour were all needed, they could wait for a few more months. Opening up rituals and enabling people without vaccination to participate in such mass gatherings were potential super-spreaders of a third wave. The past experience of last one and a half years of war with the virus and based on the emerging evidences, it is obvious that by making the universal vaccination reach the maximum possible population and strictly adopting to Covid-appropriate behaviours, we can face the third wave with confidence and mitigate its impact, it stated. It was painful to note in this crucial time when everyone needed to work for the mitigation of a third wave, in many parts of the country, both the government and people were complacent and engaged in mass gatherings without following Covid-19 protocols, it noted.

B) NEET to be held on September 12

The NEET entrance test for undergraduate medical and dental programmes will be held on September 12, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Monday. The examination was originally scheduled to be held on August 1. The application process will begin at 5 p.m. on July 13 through the National Testing Agency website, the Minister said. In order to ensure social distancing norms, number of cities where examination will be conducted has been increased from 155 to 198. The number of examination centres will also be increased from the 3,862 centres used in 2020, he said. The Minister added that face masks will be provided to all candidates at examination centres. The NTA will also ensure that staggered time slots during entry and exit, contactless registration, proper sanitisation and seating with social distancing are implemented, in line with COVID safety protocols. NEET (UG), or National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), is used for admission to MBBS and BDS courses as well as programmes for alternative or traditional medicine and nursing. More than 16 lakh students appeared for the exam last year. There is no clarity as yet on whether the NEET syllabus will be reduced or greater internal choice provided in the question paper, to take into account the fact that many school boards had reduced their syllabi by up to 30% due to the pandemic. The NEET examination is usually held in May, soon after Class 12 board examinations, so that admissions can be completed by August. However, with the second wave of the pandemic causing a cancellation of the Class 12 exams, there had been uncertainty about the fate of NEET as well. Last year, NEET was held in September, and then repeated in October to cater to those who missed the exam due to Covid-19. Some students had urged that multiple attempts be permitted this year as well, similar to engineering entrance examination JEE. However, the NTA had earlier announced that NEET will revert to a single date in 2021. It will also be conducted in pen-and-paper mode, unlike JEE which is a computer-based test staggered across multiple sessions.

C) J&K parties describe termination of 11 govt employees as ‘arbitrary, unjust’

Jammu and Kashmir parties, including the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Hurriyat, on Monday described the termination of 11 government employees, including two sons of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddion, under Article 311, as arbitrary and unjust. Salahuddion’s sons were working at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and the Skill Development Wing. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said at a press conference in the Chenab valley, It’s inexplicable to punish sons for the deeds of the father. Any report is not a final judgment. Let the facts be brought to the public domain. Over 20 employees have been fired this year. We already have opposed these unjust terminations. The dismissal on flimsy grounds was criminal. The Government of India continues to disempower people of J&K in the garb of pseudo nationalism, by trampling the constitution that ought to be upheld, the former Chief Minister said. One can capture a man but not an idea. You have to address the idea, she stated. NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar termed the termination of employees a measure blind to justice and arbitrary in nature. He said, The measure is a prima facie case of arbitrariness, where a non-judicial entity is establishing the guilt of the accused party without giving the accused a fair chance to contest the charges. After decades, the employees are being shown the door regardless of their length of service and the impact on their families. The accused employees should be allowed to knock on the doors of courts. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz , while calling the dismissal as arbitrary and illegal, observed, This illegal action will not stand the test before any court of law. The government has violated the basic legal requirement of not giving the dismissed employees a chance to explain their position. The Lt. Governor’s administration had closed the doors to any conciliation and reconciliation with the Kashmiri employees. This illegal action will necessarily deepen the political unrest in J&K, he asserted. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq expressed dismay over the employees’ dismissal. He stated, These removals are whimsical in manner, contrary to all norms of justice and fairness and issued under the guise of being a ‘threat to the security of the state’. Those dismissed are even mostly unaware of the exact nature of the charges against them. Post August 2019, new laws were introduced to deprive the people of J&K of employment opportunities in their own land, he said. The government should revoke this authoritarian order or give those dismissed a fair chance to challenge the charges, he added. The 11 employees were terminated from service last week under sub clauses of Article 311, which does not require any departmental inquiry. The terminations were made in the interest of the security of the State. The Union Territory government on April 21 this year constituted a special task force to identify and scrutinise the government employees, and lodge cases against those involved in any cases related to posing threat to the country’s security or are involved in any anti-national activities.

D) New IT Rules: SC gives petitioner a week to study whether it addresses issue of Islamophobic content on social media

The Supreme Court on Monday gave a week’s time to a petitioner to study the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021 and verify whether it addresses the issue of communally sensitive content posted on social media platforms. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana even suggested that the petitioner, advocate Khaja Aijazuddin, could approach the government. Aijazuddin said he had moved the apex court on the suggestion of the Telangana High Court. He sought directions to the government to restrain social media platforms from carrying Islamophobic content on their timelines and to direct a CBI or NIA to probe against Twitter and its users involved in putting out inflammatory posts. The petition referred to how massive publicity was given by the media that many of the positive cases of symptoms of coronavirus were found from Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in Delhi. The petition contended there was a massive trending of tweets on Twitter attaching the Muslim religion to the cause of spread of coronavirus. He said he was aggrieved with content trending on Twitter under the name and styled #Islamiccoronavirusjihad, etc. It amounted to promoting hatred against a particular religion, which is a criminal offence both under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act of 2000. The petition, filed in May, asked the court to direct the government to frame specific guidelines under the Information Technology Act of 2000 about hate messages against any religious community including Islamophobic posts on various social media platforms. The Bench, also comprising Justice A.S. Bopanna, addressed Aijazuddin, Have you not examined the recent IT Rules… it takes care of this… The petitioner, however, argued that the Rules did not consider religion but only defamatory content. The CJI said, Have you read the latest Rules? Please do your homework and come… list after a week. The new Rules were notified on February 25 under the Information Technology Act of 2000. It regulates social intermediaries, content on digital media and addresses cyber-crime. It comes in place of the Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines) Rules of 2011. Already, the different aspects of the new Rules are under judicial scanner. The government has recently moved the apex court to transfer the cases pending against it from various High Courts to it. The government’s transfer petition is likely to come up before a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on July 16.

E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,08,82,471 with the death toll at 4,08,950. Green signal for emergency approval of Zydus Cadila’s Covid-19 vaccine, for those aged 12 years and above, will take a few more days, confirmed Health Ministry officials on Monday while refuting claims by several State governments, of vaccine shortage. Senior officials speaking to The Hindu said that Zydus Cadila’s vaccine ZyCoV-D had already shown good results in phase-1, phase-2 trials and the phase 3 data (conducted in over 28,000 volunteers) was now under examination by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC). If all goes well, this vaccine’s supply will begin in August-September, said NITI Aayog (member) Health V.K. Paul recently. Zydus Cadila’s jab is a three-dose (0, 28th day and 56th day), intra-dermal vaccine which is administered using the PharmaJet needle-free system. It does not need very low storage temperatures and can be stored at 2-8 degree Celsius. The company sought emergency use approval for ZyCoV-D on July 1 and a statement issued by it said that the company had conducted a study during the second wave which re-affirmed the vaccines efficacy against new mutant strains, especially Delta variants.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) China military ‘drove away’ US warship in South China Sea

US move comes on the anniversary of a tribunal ruling that says Beijing has no claims over the South China Sea. China’s military said it drove away a United States warship that it said illegally entered Chinese waters near the disputed Paracel Islands on Monday, the anniversary of a landmark international court ruling that Beijing has no claim over the South China Sea. The USS Benfold entered the waters of the Paracels without the approval of the Chinese government, seriously violating China’s sovereignty and undermining the stability of the South China Sea, the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said. We urge the United States to immediately stop such provocative actions, the Southern Theater Command said in a statement. In a statement, the United States Navy 7th Fleet said the Benfold had asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law and dismissed Chinese claims of a serious violation of its sovereignty as false and a misrepresentation. It stressed that all ships have the right of innocent passage under international law as reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea and permission is not required. The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle, the statement said. The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did here. Nothing PRC (the People’s Republic of China) says otherwise will deter us. The Paracels, called Xisha in China, are among hundreds of islands, reefs and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea contested by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, with Beijing claiming historic rights to everything within its so-called nine-dash line, which covers most of the region. China took control of the Paracels, a chain of barren islands about 250 miles (400 kilometres east of Vietnam) and 220 miles (350 kilometres) southeast of Hainan Island, in the 1970s. They are also claimed by Vietnam, which calls them Hoang Sa, as well as Taiwan. All three countries require permission or advance notification before any military vessel sails through the area, the US Navy said. On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s nine-dash line and ruled that Beijing had no historic title over the South China Sea. It also said China had interfered with traditional Philippine fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal and breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by exploring for oil and gas near Reed Bank. China has repeatedly said it does not accept the ruling and has continued to expand its South China Sea presence over the past five years. In a written statement on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said freedom of the seas was an enduring interest of all nations. Nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea, Blinken said. The People’s Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway. He also repeated a warning to China that an attack on Philippine armed forces in the South China Sea would trigger a 1951 US-Philippines mutual defence treaty. We call on the PRC to abide by its obligations under international law, cease its provocative behavior, and take steps to reassure the international community that it is committed to the rules-based maritime order that respects the rights of all countries, big and small, he added.

B) Nepal’s apex court orders appointment of Deuba as prime minister; reinstates dissolved lower house

In a landmark verdict, Nepal’s Supreme Court on Monday directed President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister by Tuesday and reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for a second time in five months. A five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana issued the verdict stating that President Bhandari’s decision to dissolve the lower house upon a recommendation of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli was an unconstitutional act, delivering a major blow to the veteran Communist leader who was preparing for snap polls. The Bench issued a mandamus to appoint Deuba as the Prime Minister by Tuesday. Deuba, 74, has served as the prime minister on four occasions. The court also ordered summoning new session of House of Representatives at 5 PM on July 18. Chief Justice Rana also said that the bench has concluded that party whip does not apply when lawmakers take part in the voting to elect new Prime Minister as per Article 76(5) of the Constitution. The bench comprising four other senior most justices — Dipak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai — had concluded hearings in the case last week. President Bhandari had dissolved the 275-member lower house for the second time in five months on May 22 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19. Last week, the Election Commission had announced the schedule for mid-term elections despite the uncertainty over polls. As many as 30 petitions, including one by the opposition alliance led by the Nepali Congress, were filed against the dissolution of the House by the President. A petition was filed by the Opposition parties’ alliance with the signature of 146 lawmakers demanding reinstatement of the lower house of Parliament and appointment of Deuba as the prime minister. Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

NATIONAL NEWS 

 

A) Kanwar Yatra decision after discussions with neighbouring States: Uttarakhand CM.

Any decision on allowing the Kanwar Yatra this year will be taken after discussions with neighbouring States, Uttarakhand’s new Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, after weekend consultations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. A senior official in the CM’s office confirmed that he has also held consultations with Yogi Adityanath, his counterpart in Uttar Pradesh. Among medical officers on the ground in Uttarakhand, however, there is a recognition that allowing the Kanwar Yatra could lead to an increased spread in Covid-19 cases and heightened challenges in managing the pandemic. Uttarakhand is reviewing its earlier decision to cancel the yatra, following the U.P. government’s announcement that the pilgrimage will begin from July 25, despite concerns that it could become another COVID super spreader event like the Kumbh Mela earlier this year. The Kanwar yatra is an annual monsoon pilgrimage by crores of devotees of Shiva largely from the northern States of U.P., Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh who walk over 100 km to fetch water from the Ganga, mostly at the pilgrimage sites of Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri in Uttarakhand. Given the religious sentiments and health concerns involved, the decision on whether to cancel the yatra again has political ramifications, especially given that both U.P. and Uttarakhand are headed to the polls next year. Another major pilgrimage, the Char Dham yatra, has been stayed by the Uttarakhand High Court, an order which the State government is now challenging in the Supreme Court. Discussed and received [Mr. Modi’s] guidance on the development of the State, possible third wave of Corona, Char Dham Yatra and Kanwar Yatra, Dhami tweeted, along with a similar statement regarding his meeting with Shah. Dhami also tweeted a link to his interview with the Aaj Tak news channel in which he said, It is a matter of the faith of millions. However, people’s lives should not be threatened. Saving lives is our first priority. God would not like it if people lost their lives to COVID due to the yatra. This is also the concern of the medical officers tasked with controlling the pandemic on the ground. There was complete panic among the people during the second wave, with a shortage of oxygen, ventilators and ICU beds. We are taking steps to ensure all these facilities are there in the event of a third wave. But people must also follow the COVID protocols, said Ajay Kumar Nagarkar, additional chief medical officer for Haridwar, who initially handled oxygen management in the district’s COVID control room before he himself tested positive near the end of April, along with his entire family.

B) Chinese show banners at Indian villagers celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday 

Chinese nationals displayed banners in protest from across the Indus river, close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), when Indian villagers were celebrating the birthday of the Dalai Lama in Demchok in eastern Ladakh According to Urgain Tsewang, village head of Koyul (Kakjung), one of the last settlements in the Demchok sector, the Chinese, comprising of Army personnel and civilians, came in five vehicles down unpaved roads and raised the banners 200 metres from a community centre where the Dalai Lama’s birthday was being celebrated. The incident occurred around 11 a.m. on July 6 at Dola Tamgo in Koyul village along the Indus river. We don’t understand Mandarin. They had scribbled something on the banner. They stood there for about half an hour, Tsewang told The Hindu. The land where they stood and protested on the Dalai Lama’s birthday is our land. It belongs to India, he stated. Videos shared by Tsewang showed a group of men holding a long banner in red with words on it. They are also seen carrying the Chinese flag. When contacted, Army authorities chose not to comment on the Chinese action. Mr. Tsewang stated that 10 days ago, the Chinese also protested when the locals were setting up a solar pump. Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the Dalai Lama in a phone call on the occasion on his 86th birthday. This is the first time Modi has publicly confirmed speaking with the Dalai Lama since he took over as PM in 2014. The developments come in the backdrop of a continuing deadlock in the talks at various levels to resolve the ongoing military stand-off in eastern Ladakh. While the first phase of disengagement at Pangong Tso was completed in February, efforts to work out an agreement for the second phase of disengagement at Gogra and Hot Springs have been held up. Other frictions areas at Demchok and Depsang still remain. A similar incident had occurred in the area in 2019 as well. In July 2019, as villagers held a local festival to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday, at least 11 Chinese men in civilian clothing came close to the LAC and raised banners from across the river bank which read, Ban all activity to split Tibet. The LAC in the area runs along the Indus river.

C) Adityanath launches U.P.’s population policy for 2021-2030  

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday launched the State’s population policy for 2021-2030, stating that increasing population was the root cause of major problems and prevailing inequality in society. Increasing population can be an obstacle to development, he said, stating that the new policy was drafted keeping in mind all sections of society. The new policy aims to decrease the Total Fertility Rate from 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026, and to 1.7 by 2030. It also aims to increase Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate from 31.7 to 45 by 2026 and 52 by 2030; increase male methods of contraception use from 10.8 to 15.1 by 2026 and 16.4 by 2030; decrease Maternal Mortality Rate from 197 to 150 to 98 and Infant Mortality Rate from 43 to 32 to 22 and Under 5 Infant Mortality Rate from 47 to 35 to 25. Targeting population stabilisation, the draft of the policy also said the state would attempt to maintain a balance of population among the various communities. Awareness and extensive programmes would be held among those communities, cadres and geographical areas that have a higher fertility rate, the policy read. The policy comes at a time when The Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission has prepared a proposed draft bill for population control, under which a two-child norm would be implemented and promoted. A person who will have more than two children after the law comes to force would be debarred from several benefits such as government-sponsored welfare schemes, ration card units would be limited to four, and the person will be barred from contesting elections to local authority or any body of the local self-government, the draft says. The person contravening the law would also become ineligible to apply for government jobs under the State government, will be barred from promotion in government services, and will not receive any kind of subsidy. The provisions would come into force one year after the date of publication of the gazette, the draft says.

D) Congress high command to decide on leadership change in Chhattisgarh: Bhupesh Baghel 

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said he was asked to take oath as the Chief Minister by the Congress high command and that it was for them to decide on whether there should be a change of guard now. He added that such arrangements take place while running coalition governments. Baghel’s comments are significant in the wake of reports that Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo wants the high command to ‘honour’ the rotation formula of changing the CM after two-and-a-half years, which was supposed to have been agreed to in December 2018. Baghel was speaking after meeting Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at 10, Janpath, the official residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, where the leaders are said to have discussed next year’s Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The high command instructed me to take the oath [as Chief Minister], so I took the oath. When they say someone else will be the Chief Minister, then it will be so, he said, adding, Such agreements happen in a coalition government but Congress has three-fourth majority in Chhattisargh. Baghel, who played a key role in overseeing the Congress’ campaign in the recent Assam Assembly, is likely to be given major responsibility for the U.P. elections as well. Congress treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal and senior leader from U.P., Rajeev Shukla, were also part of the hour-long meeting at 10 Janpath on Sunday. In April, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister’s parliamentary advisor, Rajesh Tiwari, who played a key role in Congress’ Assam campaign, was appointed an All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary for U.P. During the recent panchayat polls in the State, party workers from Chhattisgarh had gone for booth management and organising workers’s meetings, among other things. The Chief Minister later also met AICC’s Chhattisgarh in-charge P.L. Punia, who told a news agency that there is no ‘rotational plan’ to change Chief Minister.

E) Akhilesh Yadav calls BJP the party with most goondagardi 

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the BJP of being the party with the most goondagardi (hooliganism), as he lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government headed by Yogi Adityanath for the violence and clashes that broke out during the local body polls. The amount of goondagardi that has happened in U.P. perhaps, I may not have used the word goonda in my political career so far. Since we have witnessed the panchayat polls on TV and heard from people, there cannot be a bigger goondagardi wali party (party with hooliganism) than the BJP, Yadav said at a press conference in Lucknow. The ruling BJP had on Saturday claimed victory in 635 out of 825 block pramukh posts in the State even as the Samajwadi Party accused the government of misusing its administrative machinery to forcefully capture the posts in high-intensity elections. The voting and the nomination for the block pramukh polls were marred by incidents of brawls, scuffles, clashes and firing in 17 districts, including Etawah, where an officer of the rank of SP City was allegedly slapped while trying to prevent a crowd of BJP supporters from breaching the barricade near a polling booth.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Billionaire Richard Branson takes off for high-altitude launch into space a week short of 71st birthday 

A twin-fuselage jet took off on Sunday carrying a Virgin Galactic rocket plane primed to soar more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert with British billionaire Richard Branson aboard in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, Reuters reported. Branson, one of six Virgin Galactic Holding Inc employees strapping in for the flight, has touted the mission as a precursor to a new era of space tourism, with the company he founded poised to begin commercial operations next year. Sunday’s high-altitude launch of the VSS Unity rocket plane marks the company’s 22nd test flight of its SpaceShipTwo system, and its fourth crewed mission beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It is also the first to carry a full complement of space travelers — two pilots and four mission specialists, Branson among them.  A week away from his 71st birthday, Branson and his crewmates walked onto the tarmac of New Mexico’s Spaceport America waving to a throng of onlookers before boarding waiting Unity rocket plane parked at the end of a taxiway. Video posted online by Virgin Galactic showed Branson earlier arriving at the spaceport on his bicycle and greeting his crewmates with a hug. A festive gathering of space industry executives, future customers and other well-wishers were on hand to witness the launch event, which was livestreamed in a presentation introduced by late-night television host Stephen Colbert. Among those present was fellow billionaire and space industry pioneer Elon Musk, who also is founder of electric carmaker Tesla Inc. Separating from the mothership when it reaches an altitude of 50,000 feet, Unity’s rocket engine will then ignite to send the spaceplane streaking straight upward to the blackness of space some 55 miles (88.5 km) high, where the crew will experience about four minutes of microgravity. With the engine shut down near the peak of its climb, the craft will then be shifted into re-entry mode before gliding back to a runway landing at the spaceport. The entire flight, from takeoff to touchdown, would last about 90 minutes. Assuming the mission goes well, Virgin has plans for two further test flights of the spaceplane in the months ahead before beginning regular commercial operation in 2022. This is no discount travel service. But demand is apparently strong, with several hundred wealthy would-be citizen astronauts already having booked reservations, priced at around $250,000 per ticket. The Swiss-based investment bank UBS has estimated the potential value of the space tourism market reaching $3 billion annually by 2030.

B) Kabul airport installs anti-missile system as Taliban advance

Afghan authorities said on Sunday that they have installed an anti-missile system at Kabul airport to counter incoming rockets, as the Taliban pressed on with a blistering offensive across the country. Washington and its allies are due to end their military mission in Afghanistan at the end of next month, even as the insurgents say they now control 85 per cent of the country – a claim that could not be independently verified and is disputed by the government. The Islamic fundamentalist group’s rapid gains in recent weeks have raised fears about the security of the capital and its airport, with Nato keen to secure a vital exit route to the outside world for foreign diplomats and aid workers. The newly installed air defence system has been operational in Kabul since 2am Sunday, the interior ministry said in a statement. The system has proven useful in the world in repelling rocket and missile attacks. Interior ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian told AFP it had been installed at the airport, though officials did not offer details about the type of system or who had installed it. But Afghan security forces spokesperson Ajmal Omar Shinwari said the system was given by our foreign friends. It has very complicated technology. For now our foreign friends are operating it while we are trying to build the capacity to use it, he said. The Taliban have regularly launched rockets and mortars at government forces across the countryside, with the jihadist Islamic State group (ISIS) carrying out similar strikes on the capital in 2020. ISIS also claimed responsibility for a rocket attack this year at Bagram Air Base, the biggest US military facility in the country, which was recently handed over to Afghan forces. Over the years, the US military installed several C-RAMs (counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems) across its bases, including at Bagram, to destroy incoming rockets targeting the facilities, a foreign security official and media reports said. The C-RAMS includes cameras to detect incoming rockets and alert local forces. The Taliban do not have any organised capacity but have demonstrated that they can fire modified rockets from vehicles and create panic, especially if aimed at an airport, a foreign security official said. Turkey has promised to provide security for Kabul airport once US and Nato troops leave next month. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey and the United States had agreed on the scope of how the airport would be managed under the control of Turkish forces.