Tag: PO

NATIONAL NEWS

A) Centre unveils new COVID recovery package, expands credit relief

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced fresh relief measures for the economy, the first such package after the second Covid-19 wave. The measures focused largely on extending loan guarantees and concessional credit for pandemic-hit sectors, and investments to ramp up healthcare capacities. The government pegged the total financial implications of the package, which included the reiteration of some steps that were announced earlier, such as the provision of food grains to the poor till November and higher fertiliser subsidies, at ₹6,28,993 crore. Economists, however, noted that the elements of direct stimulus in the package and its upfront fiscal costs in 2021-22 are likely to be limited. More stimulus steps may be needed to shore up the economy through the rest of the year, they said. Calling the measures an effort to stimulate growth, exports and employment as well as provide relief to COVID-affected sectors, Sitharaman announced an expansion of the existing Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by ₹1.5 lakh crore. She also announced a new ₹7,500 crore scheme to guarantee loans up to ₹1.25 lakh to small borrowers through micro-finance institutions. She also unveiled a fresh loan guarantee facility of ₹1.1 lakh crore for healthcare investments in non-metropolitan areas and sectors such as tourism. A separate ₹23,220 crore has been allocated for public health with a focus on paediatric care, which will also be utilised for increasing ICU beds, oxygen supply and augmenting medical care professionals for the short term by recruiting final year students and interns. Indirect support for exports worth ₹1.21 lakh crore over the next five years, free one-month visas for five lakh tourists, new seed varieties for farmers and additional outlays over the next two years to expand broadband to all Gram Panchayats, were also included in the package. The existing sop to spur employment, where the government bears EPF contributions for new employees earning less than ₹15,000 a month for two years, has been extended till March 31, 2022. Setting aside the guarantee schemes and the announcements that had already been made earlier, the step-up in the fiscal outgo within 2021-22 based on the fresh announcements is estimated at around ₹60,000 crore, said Aditi Nayar, rating agency ICRA’s chief economist. Economist DK Srivastava reckoned that the additional burden on the 2021-22 Budget from the ‘three direct stimulus initiatives’ providing free foodgrains, incremental health projects’ spending, and rural connectivity would be ₹1,18,390 crore or about 0.5% of estimated GDP for 2021-22.

 

B) No scientific data to show Delta plus variant reduces vaccine efficacy, says COVID Task Force chief

Amid rising concerns over the Delta plus variant of the virus, COVID Task Force chief V.K. Paul, who is also a Niti Aayog member, today said that there was no scientific data to establish that the new variant is highly transmissible or reduces vaccine efficacy. Speaking about the Delta plus variant, Paul said scientific knowledge about it is still at an early stage. The so-called Delta plus variant exhibits an additional mutation in the Delta variant and since this is a new variant, scientific knowledge is still in the early stage. Whether this additional mutation in the Delta variant is associated with increased transmissibility or excess severity of disease, or any adverse effect on vaccine efficacy is currently not established and we should wait for this information to emerge. And we should wait for these aspects to be studied systematically, he pointed out. Regarding the effectiveness of Covaxin and Covishield against the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Paul said that based on the scientific evaluation by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), both vaccines are effective against the coronavirus, including the Delta variant, which is presently the predominant variant in the country. When asked if India is close to giving indemnity to foreign vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna, Paul said the issue has multiple dimensions and it is not wise to give a timeline for such issues. The discussion for paving the way for internationally developed vaccines to India is going on. The issue has multiple dimensions and we are trying to find an agreed way forward at the earliest. We are trying to expedite the progress in every possible way, he said.

 

C) Delhi HC seeks Centre’s response to Alt News’s plea challenging new IT rules

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a response from the Central government on a petition by Alt News, an online fact-checking website, challenging the constitutional validity of the new Information Technology (IT) rules that seek to regulate digital news media. The court is already seized of similar pleas by major online news portals such as The Wire, The News Minute, and the Quint Digital Media Ltd. A vacation bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Subramonium Prasad, however, declined to pass any interim order on a fresh application filed by The Wire and Quint, which claimed that the Union government was threatening to take coercive action against online news outlets. The court has put the fresh applications for hearing next week when it reopens after the summer vacation. You have challenged the [IT] rules. You have made an interim application for their stay. That application has come up before the regular bench on at least two occasions. The action they [Centre] are now taking is implementation of those rules, the vacation bench remarked. Now the notice that has been sent to you is only by way of implementation of the rules, because there is no stay, the court said while declining to pass any order. Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrihnan, for the online news outlets, contended that they were forced to approach the court now as the government was threatening to take coercive action. It is our case that in a matter which is ex facie unconstitutional i.e. when the Central government sits in judgments over content of news media, any coercive steps which is proposed to be taken, I [online news outlets] can approach the court, Ramakrihnan argued. The last coercive step they were threatening was on June 18. They are saying ‘consequences will follow’ in their letter. Until then, we were engaging with them, she said, while stressing that notices were sent to the Centre by the court on their application for the stay of the IT rules. By this letter, they are forcing us into a disciplinary regime of the Central government. Until now, they were engaging with us only in correspondence. On June 18, they say ‘you comply or else’, she added.

 

D) 10-month gap between AstraZeneca doses delivers highest antibody boost: Oxford study

Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered 44-45 weeks apart generated nearly four times the level of antibodies than when the doses were given 8-12 weeks apart, says a report by the Oxford Vaccine Group, the developers of the vaccine, on Monday. Antibody levels remained elevated for nearly a year and a third booster dose of the vaccine, given to a subset of volunteers, also significantly boosted antibody levels to twice that after a second dose. A single dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, with a second dose given after a prolonged period, may, therefore, be an effective strategy when vaccine supplies are scarce in the short term. A third dose results in a further increase in immune responses, including greater neutralisation of variant SARS-CoV-2 viruses, and could be used to increase vaccine efficacy against variants in vulnerable populations, the authors report in a pre-print publication. This means the study is yet to peer-reviewed. Covishield, which is the India-made version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, is now the mainstay of India’s vaccination programme, comprising nearly 88% of the 32 crore doses administered so far. Though the dosage interval of the vaccine was initially designed as between 4-6 weeks, a supply crunch in May, as well UK data on the vaccine’s efficacy administered 8-12 weeks apart weighed on Indian experts to recommend a 12-16 week interval between two doses of the vaccine.

 

E) Centre extends tenure of Attorney General K.K. Venugopal by a year

The government has extended the tenure of Attorney General K.K. Venugopal by a year. Venugopal will continue as the government’s top law officer till June 30, 2022. This is the second time the Centre has extended his tenure. Venugopal, who was appointed Attorney General in July 2017, received his first extension of term in 2020. The 89-year-old took over as the 15th Attorney General after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi demitted office citing personal reasons. Venugopal, who had served as Additional Solicitor General in the Morarji Desai government, is a doyen of the Supreme Court Bar and an authority in Constitutional Law. He had recently represented the Union of India in a case which led to the cancellation of Class 12 exams due to the pandemic and the framing of an internal assessment scheme for the CBSE and the ICSE to evaluate the marks of students. Venugopal would be at the helm of the government’s legal defence in several sensitive cases pending in the Supreme Court, which includes the challenge to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the Citizenship Amendment Act.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Blinken, Lapid to meet in Rome to reset U.S .- Israel ties.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will meet in Rome on Sunday as their new governments look to turn the page on former President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose close alliance aggravated partisan divisions within both countries. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are focused on pragmatic diplomacy rather than dramatic initiatives that risk fomenting opposition at home or distracting from other priorities. That means aiming for smaller achievements, such as shoring up the informal cease-fire that ended last month’s war with Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers and replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. A major push to revive the long dormant peace process between Israel and the Palestinians could unsettle the delicate balance. Nobody thinks it’s a good idea to start charging through on a major new peace initiative, said Ilan Goldenberg, a Mideast security expert at the nonprofit Center for a New American Security. But there are things you can do quietly under the radar, on the ground, to improve the situation. That approach – of managing the conflict rather than trying to solve it – may succeed in papering over domestic divisions. But it also maintains a status quo that the Palestinians find increasingly oppressive and hopeless, and which has fueled countless cycles of unrest.

 

B) U.K.’s Hancock quits over breach of COVID-19 rules.

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday following revelations he broke government coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide, with former Finance Minister Sajid Javid taking up the role. The frontman for Britain’s response to the pandemic, particularly the nationwide vaccine roll-out, quit in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance, he wrote. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis. Mr. Johnson had initially stood by his Health Secretary after Mr. Hancock admitted breaking COVID-19 social distancing rules, when at the same time he was urging the public to stick by the measures. Opposition parties have accused the government of hypocrisy over breaches of lockdown rules which have seen many members of the public slapped with fines. Mr. Hancock conceded he had let the public down after The Sun newspaper published a security camera still obtained apparently from a whistleblower showing him kissing the aide. Labour party said the government needed to answer questions about the undisclosed appointment of the aide, former lobbyist Gina Coladangelo, to Hancock’s top advisory team. Both she and Hancock are married, and first met at university.

 

C) Twitter appoints US employee as new grievance officer, in violation of Centre’s new IT rules

A day after Twitter’s interim resident grievance officer for India stepped down, the social media giant has appointed its Global Legal Policy Director Jeremy Kessel as the new grievance officer. The appointment, though in keeping with the Indian government’s new rules for social networking websites to have a grievance officer, is in violation of the mandate of only appointing an Indian national to the position. The appointment comes a day after the resignation of Dharmendra Chatur, who was recently appointed as interim resident grievance officer for India by Twitter on May 31. The resignation had left Twitter without the Centre-mandated officer to address complaints from Indian subscribers. The social media company’s website no longer displays his name, as required under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. Twitter declined to comment on the development. The development comes at a time when the micro-blogging platform has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules. The new rules, which came into effect on May 25, mandate social media companies to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from the users or victims.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) COVID-19 resurgence ‘speculative’ for now, govt tells Supreme Court

The possibility of a resurgence in Covid-19 infection is speculative and will depend on the behaviour of citizens and the virus, the Health Ministry has told the Supreme Court. Possibility of any such resurgence would necessarily be speculative at this stage. However, the possibility of resurgence would depend on the behaviour pattern of the virus and the behaviour of the citizens, whether they follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour or not, the Ministry said. The government said there was no global scientific evidence that the virus would target children. Though there is no global scientific evidence of virus selecting to affect a particular age group, the Central government has ensured that all State governments are geared up to deal with any such potential threat to children, its affidavit filed through Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati noted. The government said it had received many requests for door-to-door vaccination, especially for the elderly and the disabled. However, there were several valid and germane reasons against it. These span from risk of high vaccine wastage to increased time involved in visiting beneficiaries. Other reasons include addressing Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) in an adequate manner in a home-setting, protocol of 30-minute observation post vaccination, break in cold chain of the vaccine due to frequent opening of the vaccine carrier at every household, health risk for vaccinators. On the vaccination of children below 18 years, the Centre said, as of now, companies manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines in India have only been given ‘Emergency Use Authorisation’ for vaccinating people of 18 years age and above. Therefore, COVID-19 vaccines are not recommended for persons/children less than 18 years due to the fact that the clinical trial cohort during phase 1,2 and 3 did not cover children below 18. Nevertheless, the government informed the court that the Drugs Controller General of India had on May 12 permitted Bharat Biotech to conduct clinical trials on the healthy volunteers aged between two and 18 years for its vaccine, Covaxin. The enrolment process for this trial has also begun, the affidavit said. The Centre said States had been cautioned to maintain a continuous vigil and plan in advance for any exigencies that may arise due to resurgence of the pandemic. Communications were regularly being sent to States regarding current trajectory of cases, need for adherence to Test-Track-Treat policy for containment of outbreaks, etc.

B) Two personnel injured in twin blasts at IAF Jammu station

In a terror attack, two low-intensity explosions left two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel injured at the Jammu Air Force Station on Sunday. The devices are suspected to have been dropped and detonated by unmanned aerial vehicles. Two low-intensity explosions were reported in the technical area of the Jammu Air Force Station. One caused minor damage to the roof of a building while the other exploded in an open area. There was no damage to any equipment. A probe is on, an IAF spokesman said. The sound of blasts was heard from inside the station around 1:40 a.m. and exploded within six minutes of each other. Two IAF personnel suffered minor injuries, officials said. An FIR under section 16,18,23 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, section 3 of Explosive Substance Act and 307, 120-B of the IPC has been lodged in the incident, Inspector General of Police Mukesh Singh told. The high-security Jammu Air Force Station is a technical airport and hosts helicopters and transport aircraft only. A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, besides the IAF teams, also visited the site at the airport. A few individuals have been questioned, they added. Security agencies suspect the use of a drone or a quadcopter in the attack. We are piecing together the evidence at the site, an official said. The attackers may have been operating the drone in close vicinity of the air base because such vehicles have limited range, officials said. Union Defence Minister Rajnath also spoke to Air Chief Marshal H.S. Arora, Vice-Chief of the Air Staff of the IAF, regarding the incident. Western Air Commander Air Marshal V.R. Chaudhari is scheduled to visit the base to assess the situation. IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria, who is on an official trip to Bangladesh, is monitoring the situation from there, officials said. Earlier this year, the Border Security Forces (BSF) foiled a few attempts to drop weapons by using drones on this side of the International Border in Jammu’s Samba and Kathua belt. There have been warnings that Pakistan-based terrorist groups could attempt to target military bases with drones. After the drone attack on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Eastern Saudi Arabia in September 2019, the armed forces held deliberations on the issue and put in place plans to procure counter-drone capabilities. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an anti-drone technology for short ranges which was deployed for Prime Minister’s security during the Independence Day address last August. Last December, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said that the Navy was procuring Smash-2000 rifles to counter drones, among other measures.

C) Twitter’s grievance office for India steps down

Twitter’s interim resident grievance officer for India has stepped down, leaving the micro-blogging site without a grievance official as mandated by the new IT rules to address complaints from Indian subscribers, according to a source. The source said that Dharmendra Chatur, who was recently appointed as interim resident grievance officer for India by Twitter, has quit from the post. The social media company’s website no longer displays his name, as required under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. Twitter declined to comment on the development. The development comes at a time when the micro-blogging platform has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules. The new rules which came into effect from May 25 mandate social media companies to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from the users or victims. All significant social media companies, with over 50 lakh user base shall appoint a grievance officer to deal with such complaints and share the name and contact details of such officers. The big social media companies are mandated to appoint a chief compliance officer, a Nodal Contact Person and a resident grievance officer. All of them should be resident in India. Twitter in response to the final notice issued by the government on June 5 had said that it intends to comply with the new IT rules and will share details of the chief compliance officer. In the meantime, the microblogging platform had appointed Chatur as interim resident grievance officer for India. Twitter now displays the company’s name in the place of grievance officer for India with a US address and an email ID. According to a government official, the company has lost legal protection as an intermediary and will be legally held responsible for all content posted by its users on the platform.

D) Classified U.K. Defence Ministry documents found at bus stop, says report

Classified documents from the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) containing secret information about a warship and the British military was discovered at a bus stop in southeastern England, according to a media report on Sunday. The MoD said an employee reported the loss of the documents last week, which were discovered by a member of the public in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning, the BBC report said. One set of documents reportedly discusses the likely Russian reaction to HMS Defender’s passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday and another lays out plans for a possible U.K. military presence in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led NATO operation there ends this year. It would be inappropriate to comment further, an MoD spokesperson said, as it was confirmed an investigation has been launched into the incident. A member of the public, who wishes to remain anonymous, found the 50-odd pages of documents and contacted the BBC when he realised the sensitive nature of the contents. The BBC believes the documents, which include emails and PowerPoint presentations, originated in the office of a senior official at the MoD. The documents relating to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender, show that a mission described by the MoD as an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, with guns covered and the ship’s helicopter stowed in its hangar, was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively. On Wednesday, more than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships shadowed the warship as it sailed about 19-km off Crimea’s coast. Moscow’s defence ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the destroyer’s path but the U.K. government rejected this account, denying any warning shots had been fired. The mission, dubbed Op Ditroite, was the subject of high-level discussions as late as Monday, the documents show, with officials speculating about Russia’s reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to Crimea. The bundle of documents also includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including sensitive observations about areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies. And there are briefing notes for last Monday’s session of the U.K.-U.S. Defence Dialogue, including observations on US President Joe Biden’s first months in office. Most of the papers are marked official sensitive, a relatively low level of classification used, according to the government, where there is a clear and justifiable requirement to reinforce the ‘need to know’.

E) OROP shows government commitment to veterans: Rajnath Singh

The decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll out ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) scheme, ending a decades long wait, was a testimony to the government’s unwavering commitment towards the welfare and satisfaction of the veterans, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday. Our aim is to take care of you in the same way as you all have taken care of the security of the country, Mr. Singh said addressing veterans in Leh during his three day visit to Ladakh. He interacted with 300 veterans, including Ashok Chakra winner Naib Subedar (Honorary) Chhering Mutup (Retd) and Maha Vir Chakra winner Colonel Sonam Wangchuk (Retd). Listing various measures taken by the government for the welfare of veterans, Mr. Singh said a number of steps have been taken to address the issue of resettlement, including organising job fairs through Directorate General Resettlement, in which a large number of veterans were given employment. Later, Mr. Singh met the elected representatives of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Leh, Kargil and officials in Leh. During his visit, he will also inaugurate infrastructure projects constructed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and interact with troops deployed in the region.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Blinken, Lapid to meet in Rome to reset U.S .- Israel ties.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will meet in Rome on Sunday as their new governments look to turn the page on former President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose close alliance aggravated partisan divisions within both countries. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are focused on pragmatic diplomacy rather than dramatic initiatives that risk fomenting opposition at home or distracting from other priorities. That means aiming for smaller achievements, such as shoring up the informal cease-fire that ended last month’s war with Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers and replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. A major push to revive the long dormant peace process between Israel and the Palestinians could unsettle the delicate balance. Nobody thinks it’s a good idea to start charging through on a major new peace initiative, said Ilan Goldenberg, a Mideast security expert at the nonprofit Center for a New American Security. But there are things you can do quietly under the radar, on the ground, to improve the situation. That approach – of managing the conflict rather than trying to solve it – may succeed in papering over domestic divisions. But it also maintains a status quo that the Palestinians find increasingly oppressive and hopeless, and which has fueled countless cycles of unrest. The Americans and Israelis will try to work out differences away from the public, as in Mr. Biden’s quiet diplomacy, when he privately urged Netanyahu to wind down the Israel-Hamas war ahead of a truce that took effect May 21. 

B) U.K.’s Hancock quits over breach of COVID-19 rules. 

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday following revelations he broke government coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide, with former Finance Minister Sajid Javid taking up the role. The frontman for Britain’s response to the pandemic, particularly the nationwide vaccine roll-out, quit in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by Matt Hancock. Opposition parties have accused the government of hypocrisy over breaches of lockdown rules which have seen many members of the public slapped with fines. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis. Mr. Johnson had initially stood by his Health Secretary after Mr. Hancock admitted breaking COVID-19 social distancing rules, when at the same time he was urging the public to stick by the measures. After The Sun newspaper published a security camera still obtained apparently from a whistleblower showing him kissing the aide. Labour party said the government needed to answer questions about the undisclosed appointment of the aide, former lobbyist Gina Coladangelo, to Hancock’s top advisory team. Both she and Hancock are married, and first met at university.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Centre raises alert on delta plus variant

The Union Health Ministry has warned States that the delta plus variant, which is currently a variant of concern, has increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells, and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response. Directing the States to initiate more focused and stringent measures to contain the virus spread, the Ministry has now also instructed that adequate number of samples from positive persons have to be sent to the designated labs so that clinical epidemiological correlations can be established. The Ministry in its written communication has advised immediate containment measures which must be put in place in districts and clusters, where the variant has been detected, including preventing crowds and intermingling of people. It has also advocated for widespread testing, prompt tracing as well as vaccine coverage on a priority basis, said a Ministry official. The Ministry has written to Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh where some districts have this variant, he said. Doctors across India have also cautioned against any relaxation in adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour. Archana Dhawan Bajaj, director, Nurture IVF said that the delta variant has been labeled as ‘Variant of Concern’ by World Health Organisation (WHO) for multiple reasons. The delta variant is more resistant to medication, treatment, and vaccination. Therefore, people who have been vaccinated can still be affected by this variant and can go on to get the clinical illness. Neutralising antibodies against this variant post-vaccination seem to be nearly five times lower in people who have already been vaccinated than the other variants, she said.

B) Delhi oxygen controversy: AIIMS chief clarifies it was only an interim report.

Amid controversy over a report on Delhi’s oxygen needs submitted by a Supreme Court-appointed panel headed by him, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria on Saturday said it is an interim one and oxygen requirements are dynamic and change from day to day. In the report, the five-member sub group headed by Guleria had said that Delhi’s oxygen needs were exaggerated by four times during the second Covid-19 wave. It is an interim report. The oxygen needs are dynamic and change from day to day. The matter is subjudice, AIIMS chief told PTI. Following the report, the BJP had on Friday accused the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation of criminal negligence, while the AAP government in turn charged the saffron party with cooking up such a report. On Saturday, Kejriwal sought to move on from the controversy and called for everyone to work together to ensure there is no shortage of oxygen in the next Covid-19 wave. May we work now if your fight over oxygen is finished? Let us together make a system so no one faces shortage of oxygen in the third wave, Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

C) Will push for delimitation and Statehood first, polls later, says Omar Abdullah 

National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Saturday said his party will keep stressing and pushing for delimitation first, Statehood second, and elections later. Not delimitation-election-statehood but delimitation-statehood-election. If you have to conduct an election, return the statehood first. Whenever and wherever we get a chance, we will keep stressing on this, Abdullah said, in an interview to a few journalists at his residence in Srinagar, after the Abdullahs returned from Delhi where they met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24. Referring to senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s remarks made during the meeting with the PM, Abdullah said, Before Prime Minister’s address, Azad expressed the view on behalf of all of us and said that this timeline (delimitation-election-statehood) is not acceptable to us. Keeping his cards close to his chest on the participation of the three NC members of Parliament in the Delimitation Commission, Abdullah said, Dr. (Farooq Abdullah) Sahib is to take the view as and when necessary. There has been no fresh approach from the Delimitation Commission. As and when Commission makes an approach, Dr. Sahib will take the view. We will convey our stand to the Commission. He said all the Gupkar alliance members made it clear that they don’t accept August 5, 2019 decisions. We will continue to fight peacefully, constitutionally, legally and politically to undo the August 5 decision. We don’t want to betray people. If we tell people that we are seeking reversal of August 5 from Modi Sahib, it would be a betrayal? he added. The former chief minister made it clear that the struggle to restore J&K’s special status is a long one. It took BJP 70 years to fulfill its agenda. If it takes us 70 weeks or 70 months, or whatever time it takes, we will not retract from our mission, Abdullah said. He said the Prime Minister listened to the stand of the members of the Gupkar alliance. We conveyed to him that people are unhappy, he said. Abdullah said only two leaders, Azad and Muzaffar Hussian Baigh, referred to Article 370 as subjudice and therefore beyond discussion during the meeting with the PM. When the BJP could talk about the Ram temple despite it being before the court (then), why can’t we talk about Article 370? It is a subject of discussion. It was a subject in the DDC polls. We will continue to agitate the matter, he said.

 

D) CJI says former SC judge’s letter about ‘testing times’ became roadmap for his tenure 

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has said that a letter from a former Supreme Court judge at the time of his appointment as top judge, asking him to act with courage in these testing days, became the roadmap for his tenure. I feel that this message is indeed the roadmap for my journey as the Chief Justice of India. I shall treasure this message forever, Chief Justice Ramana said of the letter from former Supreme Court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran. The Chief Justice was speaking on Saturday at the virtual launch of Anomalies in Law and Justice, a book authored by Justice Raveendran. Chief Justice Ramana read out Justice Raveendran’s letter, which said, These are difficult days. Challenging days. Testing days. Being a Chief Justice requires courage to act, commitment to the cause of justice, concern for the common man, tact to deal with and obtain the cooperation of the brother judges in addition to the qualities expected of a judge. You possess all of them in abundance. Let the almighty lead you to a purposeful, meaningful and successful tenure. Chief Justice Ramana referred to Justice Raveendran’s rise to the top court from a humble background, with no family pedigree in the profession. The CJI is also a first-generation lawyer. Chief Justice Ramana took a leaf from Justice Raveendran’s legacy in the Supreme Court. He never tried, or made an attempt, to project himself as the saviour of the judicial process. He continued to be humble and believed that the office which he held did not exist for himself… He believed in the dictum, as Lord Denning said, ‘that the best judge is one who is less known and seen in the media’, Chief Justice Ramana said.

 

E) Activists seek 50 more days of work under MGNREGA

More than 2 lakh rural households have already completed their guaranteed 100 days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme within the first three months of the financial year, according to the scheme’s database. This is higher than seen at the same time last year, indicating even higher demand for work than 2020-21’s unprecedented levels. Given the high rates of rural job loss due to the Covid-19 pandemic, activists belonging to the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, asking for an additional 50 days of work to be provided under the scheme, with funding allocated from the disaster management budget. The MGNREGA scheme guarantees 100 days of non-skilled employment for every rural household each year, and proved a lifeline for migrant workers and families hit by the Covid-19 lockdown last summer. In acknowledgement of the disaster, the Centre increased MGNREGA funding by ₹40,000 crore for 2020-21. However, funding is back to pre-COVID levels this year, with the Centre arguing that there has been no nationwide lockdown, and there have been lower levels of reverse migration. Workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme. Photo used for representation purpose only.  However, the MGNREGA database shows that this year’s demand may be even higher than last year’s. As on June 26, 2.17 lakh rural households have already completed their 100-day quota and will not be able to seek any more work from MGNREGA this year. Last year, The Hindu had reported in the first week of July that 1.4 lakh households had completed their 100-day quota within the first quarter. (During early April 2020, most MGNREGA worksites were shut down across the country, resulting in low levels of work provided.) Throughout 2020-21, an unprecedented 72 lakh households completed 100 days of work. If the trend of the first quarter continues, this year will see an even higher number of families who run out of work under the scheme. In its letter to the PM, the Morcha pointed out that the Rural Development Ministry already has the power to notify 50 days of additional work for households in areas hit by drought or any other natural calamity. The Covid-19 pandemic is a severe calamity and has caused massive disruptions in the lives of the poor and each individual is impacted by it. The current situation demands that each NREGA worker can access additional employment for at least 50 days, said the letter, suggesting that a supplementary budget can be allocated from the National Disaster Relief Fund. It also called for wages to be tripled in accordance with Pay Commission recommendations and that MGNREGA workers infected by Covid-19 get a one-time monetary compensation as well.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Colombia President says his chopper was hit by gunfire.

President Ivan Duque said the helicopter he was flying in on Friday near the border with Venezuela was hit by gunfire in the first attack against a Colombian head of state in nearly 20 years. No one was injured, and authorities did not say which side of the border the shots came from. Colombia regularly accuses Venezuela of harbouring Colombian rebels on its territory. It is a cowardly attack, where you can see bullet holes in the presidential aircraft, Mr. Duque said in a statement. Mr. Duque said he was flying with the Defence and Interior Ministers and the Governor of Norte de Santander province, which borders Venezuela, when the helicopter was attacked. Photos released by the President’s office showed the tail and main blade had been hit. Mr. Duque said the aircraft’s safety features prevented a lethal attack. I have given very clear instructions to the entire security team to go after those who shot at the aircraft, he said. The U.S ., European Union and UN mission in Colombia all condemned the attack. The presidential delegation had left the town of Sardinata and was headed to the border city of Cucuta when they came under fire. Mr. Duque had attended an event in the Catatumbo region, one of the main coca-growing areas of the country.

 

B) Hong Kong police chief calls for fake news law.

Hong Kong’s new police chief called for a fake news law on Saturday and blamed the media for plunging trust in his officers in the politically polarised finance hub. His call comes as authorities carry out a sweeping crackdown on dissent and just days after outspoken newspaper Apple Daily was forced to fold following the freezing of its accounts under a tough new national security law. Surveys show the police have been the least popular disciplinary service in the city since Hong Kong was rocked by pro-democracy protests in 2019, during which allegations of police brutality emerged. Police chief Raymond Siu said much of the blame lay with the media. I understand that there are residents who are still hostile against us. In this regard, I told my colleagues that many of these torn relationships and hostility against the police are due to fake news, Mr. Siu said. There is no legal definition of fake news at the moment, but if there is any legislation that could help us bring these people to justice, as law enforcers, we absolutely welcome it, he added. Three former police officers were on Friday promoted to key positions in government.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Delhi govt ‘exaggerated’ oxygen needs by 4 times during second wave peak, says audit report

A report submitted by a Supreme Court-appointed oxygen audit team led by AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria said the Delhi government exaggerated its oxygen needs by four times during the peak days of the second wave of the pandemic.  But the report also quoted the Delhi government’s version that the supply of oxygen from neighbouring States was erratic and unreliable at the time. The report is annexed with an affidavit filed by the Health Ministry in the Supreme Court. The Sub-group on Oxygen Audit Delhi led by Dr. Guleria recorded in its interim report that there was gross discrepancy in claims of oxygen consumption in Delhi. The oxygen consumption was portrayed as four times more than was actually required. There was gross discrepancy [about four times] in that the actual oxygen consumption claimed [1140 MT] was about four times higher than the calculated consumption based on the formula for bed capacity (289 MT), the report said.   However, the sub-group referred to the Delhi government’s version that the schedule for the supply of oxygen was awry during those crunch days in May. Delhi had required adequate liquid medical oxygen stock to treat Covid-19 patients. It had to replenish its oxygen supply and avoid an SOS situation which the State had witnessed after April 24 on a consistent basis. At one point, the report recorded, the Centre was anguished over the discrepancy in liquid medical oxygen data uploaded. The report said it was not clear on what basis an allocation of 700 MT was sought by the Government of Delhi in the Supreme Court when the collected data had so many gross errors and it took an oxygen audit to point out the same.  On May 5, the court had ordered the Centre to burn the midnight oil and prepare a comprehensive plan for the supply of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis. On May 7, it warned the Centre of coercive action if it did not supply 700 MT every day to Delhi. The orders had come amidst a large number of deaths during the raging second wave of the pandemic. 

 

B) Optional exams in August for those unhappy with CBSE assessment, says Education Minister.

Class 10 and 12 students who are not satisfied with their marks assigned under the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) formula, will be given a chance to write their board examinations in August, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced on Friday. However, Nishank cancelled his planned interaction with students, failing to answer their queries on private CBSE candidates, entrance examinations and the current CBSE syllabus. The Minister’s office said that as he is still in hospital due to post-Covid-19 complications, he had been unable to directly interact with students as planned. The Minister posted a short audio message on Twitter detailing the Centre’s decision to cancel the Class 10 and 12 board examinations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the tabulation policy which the CBSE is using to calculate the results based on internal marks and scores from previous exams. The Board will declare results by July 31. For those who are not happy with the assessment formula, there is no need to worry. Exams will be conducted for you in August, said Nishank, adding that students’ health was the government’s top priority. CBSE has already said that those who choose to write the exams will have to abide by the marks they score, and cannot revert to the assigned marks under its tabulation policy. Nishank had previously said he would be interacting with students, and invited them to send in questions, concerns, doubts and suggestions via Twitter or Facebook. A number of such queries poured in from students, especially private candidates registered with the CBSE, seeking clarity on their examinations.

 

C) IT Minister slams Twitter for blocking his account over copyright violation.

Social media platform Twitter temporarily blocked Union Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s account on Friday afternoon after receiving a complaint for violation of U.S. copyright law. After his account was unblocked, Prasad lashed out at the microblogging platform, accusing it of violating the Information and Technology Act Rules by not giving him prior notice of the action, and of taking highhanded and arbitrary action against those who do not suit its agenda. The incident comes in the midst of a tussle between the Centre and Twitter over the company’s failure to comply with the new IT Act Rules which came into effect a month ago. Prasad said his account was blocked for almost an hour. He shared a screenshot of Twitter’s notice which said that it had received a compliant Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice for content posted on your account, and warned that accruing multiple DMCA strikes could lead to a suspension of your account. Twitter’s actions were in gross violation of Rule 4(8) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 where they failed to provide me any prior notice before denying me access to my own account, Prasad said. It is apparent that my statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of my interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers. Indicating that Twitter’s action had been provoked by his sharing a news clip of his interview to a television channel, he added that no channel or anchor has previously made any complaints about copyright infringements with regard to such clips being shared on social media. Further, it is now apparent as to why Twitter is refusing to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines because if Twitter does comply, it would be unable to arbitrarily deny access to an individual’s account which does not suit their agenda, said Prasad. Twitter’s actions indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform, he said. The Minister concluded his Twitter thread by strongly reiterating that no matter what any platform does they will have to abide by the new IT Rules fully and there shall be no compromise on that. 

 

D) Centre can cut fuel cess by ₹4.5 per litre without revenue loss: ICRA.

The Union Government has room to cut the cess levies on petrol and diesel by ₹4.5 per litre without losing revenues, to ease inflationary pressures, rating agency ICRA said on Friday. Stressing that consumer sentiment had been singed by the second Covid-19 wave in the country, ICRA said that the record retail fuel prices are weighing upon disposable incomes and consumption and feeding into inflationary pressures. Retail inflation had crossed the central bank’s comfort zone at 6.3% in May. The revenue loss entailed by the rate cuts would be offset by the rise in fuel consumption expected over 2021-22 making this a revenue-neutral measure, the agency’s chief economist Aditi Nayar pointed out.

 

E) Maharashtra records first fatality from Delta plus strain 

An 80-year-old patient from Ratnagiri district in the Konkan region became Maharashtra’s first fatality due to the Delta plus variant of the novel coronavirus, Health Minister Rajesh Tope confirmed on Friday. District officials said the deceased, who was from Ratnagiri’s Sangameshwar taluk, was suffering from other age-related comorbidities as well. Tope, speaking in Jalna, said that of the 21 ‘Delta plus’ patients identified thus far in seven districts across Maharashtra, only one had succumbed to the infection; the others were stable and some had been discharged from hospital. While urging people to strictly observe Covid-19-appropriate behaviour in the wake of the spread of the new variant, the Health Minister ruled out suggestions for an immediate stringent lockdown. The Delta variant is not new… with one death, the remaining 20 cases are being closely monitored by authorities. While there are not a large number of patients at present, we are collecting more samples in each of the 36 districts and the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) is assisting the State government in this, Tope said.  He observed that the proportion of the cases in which the Delta plus variants were detected was barely 0.005%.So, while the Delta plus type has not yet grown significantly and not an immediate matter of concern, the variant’s properties are serious, Tope said. The highest number of Delta plus variant cases have been found in Ratnagiri, followed by seven in Jalgaon, two in Mumbai, and one case each in Palghar, Thane and Sindhudurg districts.

 

F) Chidambaram slams govt for insisting on polls in J&K before granting statehood 

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said it was bizarre that the government wants to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir first and grant Statehood later. He said the Congress and other parties in Jammu and Kashmir want statehood first and the elections later. Congress and other J&K parties and leaders want Statehood first and Elections afterward. Government’s response is Elections first and Statehood later, he said on Twitter. The horse pulls the cart. A state must conduct elections. Only such elections will be free and fair. Why does the government want the cart in front and the horse behind? It is bizarre, he added. Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs and revocation of its special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, and said the Centre’s priority was to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly so that polls can be held.

 

G) Indigenous aircraft carrier, to be named INS Vikrant, is biggest ship made in India 

The indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) that will be christened INS Vikrant, after its decommissioned sibling, can carry a total of 30 aircraft (fighters and helicopters). The biggest ship made in India and carrying a price tag of over ₹20,000 crore, it has an overall length of 263m and breadth of 63m. The towering vessel has 15 decks and displacement (weight) of 40,000 tonnes. Propelled by four gas turbines, it is expected to touch a speed of 30 knots (approximately 55 kmph). Its endurance is 7,500 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots (32 kmph), Navy sources said. The vessel can carry up to 1,500 personnel and has 2,300 compartments (in its hull), while a total of 2,100 km cables were used within.  Cochin Shipyard Limited, which built the IAC, is expected to fully hand it over to the Indian Navy in 2022. After successful completion of basin trials in November 2020, preparation is on for sea trials. As per estimate, India needs three aircraft carriers one each in Western and Eastern naval commands, while the third can be docked for maintenance, if needed. 

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Amid vaccine shortage, Bhutan for mixing doses. Bhutan’s Prime Minister on Thursday said he has no problem in mixing-and matching COVID-19 vaccine doses to immunise a population of about 7,00,000 people in the tiny Himalayan nation. Bhutan, nestled between India and China, has one of the world’s lowest COVID-19 fatality counts, with just one person dying from the infectious disease since the pandemic began. Prime Minister Lotay Tshering who is also a practicing urologist – said over 90% of the country’s eligible population had received a first dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and that the deadline to administer the second dose after a gap of 12 weeks was scheduled to end this month. Knowing immunology, knowing how our body reacts to vaccines, I am comfortable to secure a second dose of any vaccine that is, of course, approved by the WHO. Earlier this year, India provided 5,50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Bhutan. But New Delhi has no surplus to give to any nation as India exits the worst of a deadly wave of the coronavirus that doubled its death toll in two months. 

 

B) Tibet gets first bullet train, links Lhasa to India border. 

China on Friday started operating the first bullet train line in Tibet, linking Lhasa to Nyingchi near the border with Arunachal Pradesh. The China State Railway Group said the 435-km line, on which construction began in 2014, has a designed speed of 160 km per hour and would connect the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region to the border city of Nyingchi with a travel time of three and a half hours. Over 90% of the track is 3,000 metres above sea-level, state media quoted the railway group as saying, and the line is the first electrified high speed rail (HSR) line, as China refers to bullet trains, in Tibet. China has the world’s longest HSR network. The Lhasa-Nyingchi rail is one among several major infrastructure projects recently completed in Tibet’s southern and southeastern counties near the Arunachal border. Last month, China completed construction of a strategically significant highway through the Grand Canyon of the Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is called in Tibet. This is the second significant passageway to Medog county that borders Arunachal, the official Xinhua news agency reported, directly connecting the Pad township in Nyingchi to Baibungin Medog county. The Lhasa-Nyingchirailis one section of the SichuanTibet railway line connecting the two provincial capitals, another strategic project deemed important enough for President Xi Jinping to officially launch it and described by the Chinese leader as a major step in safeguarding national unity and a significant move in promoting economic and social development of the western region. This will be the second railway line connecting Tibet to the hinterland, following the already open Qinghai-Tibet rail. The first section of the new line, from Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, to Yaan, was finished in December 2018, while work on the 1,011 km Yaan-Nyingchi line will compete the entire railway line by 2030. Zhu Weiqun, a senior Party official formerly in charge of Tibet policy, was quoted as saying by state media the railway will help transport advanced equipment and technologies from the rest of China to Tibet and bring local products out.

NATIONAL NEWS

A) Government committed to the democratic process for completion of delimitation exercise: Modi tells J&K leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his meeting with 14 leaders of eight mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir said his government was committed to the democratic process and asked for cooperation in completing the delimitation exercise for Assembly seats in the Union Territory which would lead to elections and eventual statehood. Government sources said that in his address to political leaders from J&K, Prime Minister Modi said Dilli ki doori kam honi chahiye aur Dil ki door bhi (The distance from Delhi the seat of central power, and the distance between hearts should both be removed) to convey the spirit in which the meeting was called. He also asked that political parties constructively engage with the delimitation exercise following which Assembly polls could be held in the Union Territory. He emphasised that there can be political differences but national interest should be prioritised, said the source. Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad, who led the Congress delegation at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Thursday, said they had placed five demands, including restoring full Statehood and holding elections. 

Azad told reporters after the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, that in the new Bill, the government should protect land rights and guarantee employment for locals. The other demands by the Congress delegation, which included J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir and former deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, also raised the issue of the return of Kashmiri pandits to the valley and the release of all political detainees. However, he didn’t specifically mention the restoration of special status for J&K under Article 370 or status quo ante. Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference told PTI, after the meeting, that his party would continue to challenge through legal and constitutional means the abrogation of the special status of J&K under Article 370 of the Constitution. There is a loss of trust which needs to be restored immediately and for that, to begin with, the Centre should work for the restoration of complete statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah, who is a Lok Sabha member, said. I conveyed to the prime minister that statehood means reverting even the IAS and IPS cadres of Jammu and Kashmir. The state has to be in totality, he said.

 

B) Class 12 results: SC asks State Boards to notify in 10 days own schemes for internal assessment of final marks.

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed State Boards to notify their respective schemes for internal assessment of the final marks of Class 12 students within the next 10 days and ordered them to declare the results by July 31. A Bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari refused to entertain a plea for a uniform scheme of assessment to be made applicable across Boards in the country. The court said each Board, whether CBSE, ICSE or State Boards, was autonomous and independent. They could formulate their own schemes after consultation with experts. However, the Bench clarified that allowing Boards to form their own independent schemes did not preclude the court from judicially reviewing their correctness and validity when an occasion arose. By directing the State Boards to declare their results before July 31, the court ensured that students across the country get a level playing field in college admissions and other opportunities for higher studies. Earlier, the CBSE and the ICSE had agreed in the Supreme Court to announce the internal assessment results of their Class 12 students by July 31. During the hearing, Justice Khanwilkar orally remarked that University Grants Commission (UGC) should announce a cut-off date for admissions to prompt school Boards to declare Class 12 results on time. There should not be any cause for uncertainty, Justice Maheshwari noted. Most States have canceled their Class 12 exams due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  

 

C) Why was DRDO’s Covid-19 drug license given only to one laboratory, asks Madras HC 

The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Centre to explain by Friday the reason for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) having partnered with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory in Hyderabad alone to produce 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), an adjunct drug to treat Covid-19 patients.  Justices N. Kirubakaran and T.V. Thamilselvi wanted to know why the DRDO had not issued licenses to as many reputed laboratories as possible to ramp up production of the oral powder that has been approved to be used as an adjunct in treating moderate to severe Covid-19 patients. The judges said it was imperative on the part of the government to give a fillip to the production, especially when lakhs had died during the first two waves of the pandemic and the threat of the third wave was looming large. They directed a Central government standing counsel to ascertain the response of the Ministry of Defence, DRDO & Union Health Ministry by Friday.  The interim direction was issued on a public interest litigation petition filed by D. Saravanan, a private sector employee based in Chennai. According to the petitioner, DRDO’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) had come up with the oral powder 2-DG and obtained emergency use authorization from the Drugs Controller General of India.  However, surprisingly, the license for manufacturing the drug had been granted only to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory, which had planned to sell it at a price of ₹990 per sachet containing 2.34 g of the oral powder. Fearing that such monopoly might not augur well when lakhs of lives were being lost to the pandemic, the litigant insisted on the granting of the license to multiple pharmaceutical companies. His counsel T. Sundaravadanam insisted that DRDO should not only share the technical know-how about the drug with multiple pharmaceutical companies but also ensure that it was sold at an affordable price. 

 

D) Rahul Gandhi appears before Surat court in a defamation case.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared before a magistrate’s court in Surat on Thursday to record his statement in a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA and denied making any defamatory remarks on people with ‘Modi’ surname. The suit was filed by Surat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi over Gandhi’s alleged remark on the ‘Modi’ surname. In his statement before Surat’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) A N Dave, Gandhi denied making any defamatory remarks on people with Modi surname during a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. When the magistrate asked Gandhi if he had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave ₹30 crore to an industrialist, Gandhi told the court that being a national leader, he keeps raising issues of corruption and unemployment in his addresses in the interest of the nation, and it is his right to do so. When the court asked if he had said all people with Modi surname are thieves, Gandhi claimed he never said such words. Besides, to most of the remaining questions related to the evidence and statements of witnesses in the case, Gandhi said I don’t know. After recording the statement, the magistrate kept the case for next hearing on July 12. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had appeared before the court in October 2019 and pleaded not guilty for his comment. Legislator Purnesh Modi filed a complaint against Gandhi in April 2019 under Indian Penal Code Sections 499 and 500, that deal with defamation. A week back, CJM Dave directed Gandhi to remain present on June 24 to record his statement in the case. In his complaint, the MLA had alleged that Gandhi defamed the entire Modi community by saying How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? while addressing a poll rally in 2019.

SPORTS NEWS 

A) Best Test team should be decided over at least three games: Kohli after losing WTC final 

Echoing the views of head coach Ravi Shastri, India skipper Virat Kohli has said that the best Test team in the world should be decided by a best-of-three final and not a one-off game like it was in the inaugural edition. India were able to bounce back to win the series against Australia and England but couldn’t do so with the World Test Championship final, a one-off game against New Zealand which ended with Kohli’s men losing by eight wickets on Wednesday. Well, look, firstly, I’m not in absolute agreement of deciding the best Test side in the world over the course of one game, to be very honest, Kohli said in the post-match press conference. If it is a Test series, it has to be a test of character over three Tests, which team has the ability to come back into the series or totally blow away the other team. It can’t just be a pressure applied over two days of good cricket and then you suddenly are not a good Test side anymore. I don’t believe in that. Shastri had advocated a three-match finale before the team departed for England earlier this month. Kohli feels a multi-game final would also capture the essence of Test cricket much better than a one off showdown. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Russia, U.K. spar over Black Sea incident.

Russia accused Britain on Thursday of spreading lies over a warship confrontation in the Black Sea and warned London that it would res- pond resolutely to any further provocative actions by the British Navy off the coast of Russia­ annexed Crimea. Russia summoned the British Ambassador in Moscow for a formal diplomatic scolding after the warship breached what the Kremlin says are its territorial waters but which Britain and most of the world say belong to Ukraine. Britain said Russia was sowing inaccuracies and disputed Russia’s account, saying no warning shots had been fired and that no bombs had been dropped in the path of the Royal Navy destroyer Defender. Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ambassador Deborah Bronnert to deliver a tough demarche diplomatic jargon for a telling off  spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused London of barefaced lies. We believe it was a deliberate and premeditated pro- vocation, Kremlin spokes- man Dmitry Peskov said of the incident, in which Moscow said it fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of the British destroyer. In the event of a repeat of unacceptable provocative action — if those actions go too far, no options can be ruled out in terms of legally defending Russia’s borders, Mr. Peskov told reporters. The Black Sea, which Russia uses to project its power in the Mediterranean, has for centuries been a flashpoint between Russia and its competitors such as Turkey, France, U.S. and the U.K. Russia seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and considers areas around its coast to be Russian waters. Western countries deem the Crimea to be part of Ukraine and reject Russia’s claim to the seas around it. Ukrainian waters: Boris British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the warship was acting in accordance with the law and had been in international waters. The important point is that we don’t recognise the Russian annexation of Cri- mea, he told reporters. These are Ukrainian waters and it was entirely right to use them to go from A to B. He also disagreed with the suggestion that relations with Russia were at an historic low. I can remember times in my own lifetime when things have been far worse, he said. Britain has also disputed the Russian version of events, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab saying: No shots were fired at HMS Defender. The Royal Navy ship was conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, he told reporters on a visit to Singapore: We were doing so in accordance with inter- national law and the Russian characterisation is ppredictably inaccurate. Under international law of the sea, innocent passage permits a vessel to pass through another state’s territorial waters so long as this does not affect its security. During its 2008 war with Georgia, Russia bristled at U.S. warships operating in the Black Sea, and in April the U.S. cancelled the deployment of two warships to the area. BBC released footage from the ship showing a Russian coast guard warning that he would shoot if the British ship did not change course. 

 

B) Amid vaccine shortage, Bhutan for mixing doses.

Bhutan’s Prime Minister on Thursday said he has no problem in mixing-and matching COVID-19 vaccine doses to immunise a population of about 7,00,000 people in the tiny Himalayan nation. Bhutan, nestled between India and China, has one of the world’s lowest COVID-19 fatality counts, with just one person dying from the infectious disease since the pandemic began. Prime Minister Lotay Tshering who is also a practicing urologist – said over 90% of the country’s eligible population had received a first dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and that the deadline to administer the second dose after a gap of 12 weeks was scheduled to end this month. Knowing immunology, knowing how our body reacts to vaccines, I am comfortable to secure a second dose of any vaccine that is, of course, approved by the WHO. Earlier this year, India provided 5,50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Bhutan. But New Delhi has no surplus to give to any nation as India exits the worst of a deadly wave of the coronavirus that doubled its death toll in two months.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) At House panel meeting, BJP MPs oppose discussion on COVID-19 vaccines, variants; stage walkout.

A meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology on Wednesday to discuss vaccine development for Covid-19 and genetic sequencing of coronavirus and its variants saw high drama with the BJP members objecting to deliberations on these subjects, claiming that any investigation into it could demoralise the scientific community.  Sources said the BJP members staged a walkout when Chairman and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh refused to postpone the meeting as demanded by them. They argued that it was not the opportune time to debate vaccine development since the country was still fighting the pandemic. They insisted that the question whether it was appropriate for the committee to discuss the matter be referred to the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. Countering them, Opposition members asserted that four lakh persons have lost their lives and a forensic assessment of the pandemic was essential and urgent. AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, IUML’s E.T. Mohammad Basheer, CPI’s Binoy Viswam and other Opposition members vehemently called for the meeting to continue.  BJP MP from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj demanded a vote to settle the dispute. Maharaj had written to Ramesh ahead of the meeting, protesting against the choice of the subject. A few other BJP members too, sources said, wrote to Ramesh on similar lines.  There were 11 BJP MPs and seven Opposition members. Ramesh, sources said, refused to hold a vote. He argued that the meetings of a parliamentary standing committee are always conducted through consensus. There would be no vote, he said, even if this is the last meeting I chair, one of the members who attended the meeting said.  With the impasse continuing, Ramesh, the sources said, remained adamant that the meeting would not be postponed and he called for the witnesses who were waiting for nearly an hour. At this stage, the BJP MPs staged a walkout. A few of them returned to the meeting to hear the official. Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India K VijayRaghavan; Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology; and Director General of CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) Dr. Shekhar C. Mande; and other officials participated in the meeting. Niti Ayog member and Chairman of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 Dr. V.K. Paul, who was also called as a witness, skipped the meeting. During the last 90-minutes of the meeting, the members managed to ask a few questions, including why India’s genome sequencing is at a miserable 0.13 percentage as against the five percent target. So far, only genome sequencing of only 40,000 samples have been done. Now that technology transfer of Covaxin has been done to few other domestic manufacturers, questions were also asked on what will be the pricing for these new vaccines. Swarup did not answer the questions raised by the members on the issue. 

 

B) ED transfers assets of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi worth ₹8,441.50 cr. to banks.

The Enforcement Directorate has transferred assets worth ₹8,441.50 crore to public sector banks that suffered losses to the tune of ₹22,585.83 crore due to frauds committed allegedly by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. All three accused have fled overseas. The agency said it recently transferred attached shares worth ₹6,600 crore to a State Bank of India-led consortium as per an order of a PMLA (Prevention of Money-Laundering Act) Special Court, Mumbai. On Wednesday, the Debt Recovery Tribunal, on behalf of the consortium, sold the shares of United Breweries Limited for ₹5,824.50 crore. Further realisation of ₹800 crore by sale of shares is expected by June 25. Owing to the help extended by the ED, the public sector banks had earlier recovered ₹1,357 crore by selling the shares. Thus, the banks shall be realising a total amount of ₹9,041.50 crore through sale of a part of the assets attached/seized by the ED, said the agency. As on date, of the total attachment worth ₹18,170.02 crore, assets valued ₹329.67 crore have been confiscated and properties worth ₹9,041.50 crore amounting to 40% of the total loss to the banks have been handed over to them. Based on the cases registered by the CBI, the ED had taken up a money-laundering probe that helped unearth a complex web of domestic and international transactions and stashing of assets abroad by the accused persons and their associates. They had used dummy entities controlled by them for rotation and siphoning of the funds provided by the banks. As part of the investigation, the ED took steps to attach or seize assets worth ₹18,170.02 crore, which included properties worth ₹969 crore located in foreign countries. The quantum of the attached and seized assets represents 80.45% of total bank loss of ₹22,585.83 crore, said the agency.

 

C) Rahul expected to appear before Gujarat court in defamation case on June 24.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to appear before a magistrate’s court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday to record his final statement in a criminal defamation suit filed by a Gujarat MLA over the former’s remark on the Modi surname. A week back, Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat A. N. Dave had directed Rahul Gandhi to remain present on June 24 to record his final statement in a defamation case filed by BJP MLA from Surat, Purnesh Modi, advocate Feroz Khan Pathan, a legal cell member of the Surat Congress, said on Wednesday.  Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi in April 2019 under IPC sections 499 and 500 that deal with defamation. In his complaint, the MLA from Surat-West seat had alleged that Rahul Gandhi had defamed the entire Modi community by saying How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? while addressing a poll rally in 2019. In an election rally held at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, Rahul Gandhi had reportedly asked, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi…how come they all have Modi as the common surname. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? He was the Congress president when he had made this remark. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had appeared before the court in October 2019 and had pleaded not guilty for his comment. Rahulji is expected to attend the court proceedings on Thursday in a false defamation suit filed against him. He will arrive at 10 a.m. and leave at 12.30 p.m. He is coming only to attend the court proceedings, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda told reporters. Chavda said Gandhi will only be attending the court proceedings and no other engagements or political meetings have been planned. 

 

D) Opening of tender for Central Secretariat buildings postponed again.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) extended the last date of submission of bids and opening of technical bids for the construction of the first three buildings of the proposed new Common Central Secretariat from Wednesday to July 14. The CPWD issued a corrigendum on Tuesday extending the deadlines citing administrative reasons. This is the second time the deadlines have been pushed in a week, with the earlier extension being from June 16 to Wednesday. The CPWD had floated a modified tender on June 2, seeking technical bids for the construction and maintenance of three buildings to be made as a part of the larger Central Vista redevelopment project. The CPWD had first floated a tender on April 20. The project was estimated to cost ₹3,408 crore and would be the first of the 10 buildings proposed to be constructed. 

 

E) Ramdev moves Supreme Court against FIRs over remarks on allopathy.

Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court against FIRs registered in various States against his alleged remarks on allopathy’s effectiveness in treating Covid-19 cases. He has urged the Supreme Court to protect him from any coercive action on the basis of the FIRs lodged by the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Patna and Raipur branches. Ramdev has also sought a transfer of the FIRs to Delhi and their consolidation. He has been booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005. The cases are based on his alleged remarks on video about allopathy and medicines such as Remdesivir, Fabiflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India to treat Covid-19 patients. The IMA had reacted to the remarks strongly and sent him a legal notice.

 

F) Cabinet approves additional food grain for Food Security Act beneficnotice.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the allocation of additional foodgrain to beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for another five months, from July to November. The Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to continue allocating additional 5 kg of food grain per person every month under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to the 81.35 crore beneficiaries, a government statement said. The additional foodgrain would entail a subsidy of ₹64,031 crore, it noted. As Government of India is bearing the entire expenditure towards this scheme without any contribution by States/UTs, an additional expenditure of about ₹3,234.85 crore would be required to be met towards transportation and handling and FPS dealers’ margins etc. by Government of India. Thus, the total estimated expenditure to be borne by Government of India will be ₹67,266.44 crore, it stated. The total amount of foodgrain to be distributed was estimated to be 204 lakh metric tonnes. Additional allocation will ameliorate the hardships faced by poor due to economic disruption caused by coronavirus, it added. 

 

G) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments.

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,00,67,079 with the death toll at 3,91,331.  The Union Health Ministry has said that ownership of a mobile phone is not a prerequisite for Covid-19 vaccination and production of address proof for availing vaccination is not mandatory. In a release issued on Wednesday, the Ministry said it was also not mandatory to pre-register online on Co-WIN for availing vaccination. For easy understanding of users, Co-Win is now available in 12 languages. These include Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Gurumukhi (Punjabi) and English, said the Ministry. While one of the nine identity cards, including Aadhaar, Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), ration card with photo and disability ID card, is required for availing of vaccination, special provisions have been made by Central Government for organising vaccination sessions for those who may not have any of the nine specified identity cards or own a mobile phone, noted the release.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Iran says it foiled attack on atomic energy agency building.

Iran said it foiled a sabotage attack on Wednesday on an atomic energy agency building in a mysterious incident that comes as the U.S. blocked Iran-linked websites and as talks to revive a nuclear deal progressed. State television said a sabotage operation against one of the buildings (of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) was foiled without causing any casualties or damage. The saboteurs failed to carry out their plan, the broadcaster added, without identifying the building or the nature of the attack that had been averted. The news of the attack came a day after the U.S. Justice Department said it. Earlier, Iran had shut down its Bushehr nuclear power plant temporarily seized 33 Iranian government-controlled media websites, which it alleged were hosted on U.S .- owned domains in violation of sanctions. Tehran warned on Wednesday that Washington’s decision to block the sites was not constructivefor ongoing talks aimed at bringing the United States back to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Wednesday’s sabotage attack also comes two days after Iran said it temporarily shut down its only nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the country’s Gulf coast for maintenance work. The developments come days after ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected Iran’s next President in an election the U.S. denounced as neither free nor fair. Mr. Raisi, seen as close to the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Monday he would not allow the nuclear negotiations to drag on. He is set to replace President Hassan Rouhani.

B) Khashoggi killers were trained in the U.S. : report.

Four members of the Saudi hit squad that killed U.S based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had received paramilitary training in the United States that had been approved by the State Department, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Khashoggi, a Saudi-born U.S. resident, who wrote for The Washington Post, was an outspoken critic of the Saudi leadership, with which he had once been close. He was murdered on October 2, 2018, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of agents sent from Saudi Arabia. Four of those operatives, The New York Times said, had received training from a private American security group, Tier 1 Group, a move first authorised by the administration of former President Barack Obama in 2014. That training continued at least until the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, the newspaper said. It cited a document provided to the Trump administration by a top official from the parent company of Tier 1 Group, the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, who had applied for a senior post at the Pentagon. In his written testimony, Louis Bremer confirmed that Tier 1 Group did provide training to the Saudi agents, but insisted that the training was protective in nature and unrelated to their subsequent heinous acts. The U.S. State Department, contacted by AFP, said it could not comment on this information but called for the responsible use of American military equipment and training.