Tag: REET

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Kashmiri journalists, leaders were potential targets of Pegasus-based spying, reports The Wire

News and opinion website The Wire on Friday reported that Delhi-based Kashmiri journalists, a prominent civil society activist critical of the official policy towards Jammu and Kashmir, and over 25 people from Kashmir were selected as potential targets of surveillance between 2017 and mid-2019 by an as yet unidentified government agency that was also believed to be a client of the NSO Group of Israel. The Israeli firm has denied that the records accessed by the ‘Pegasus Project’ have anything to do with surveillance. According to The Wire report, the names include separatist leader Bilal Lone and the late S.A.R. Geelani, whose phones were forensically analysed by it. For the other potential targets in Kashmir, it was not possible, for one reason or another, to conduct forensic analysis. As The Wire and its media partners have noted, the appearance of a number in the leaked database does not necessarily mean that the phone in question had been infected; but it does mean that the phone number was likely selected for potential surveillance, it said. Others on the leaked database include at least two members of People’s Democratic party (PDP) chief and former chief minister of J&K Mehbooba Mufti’s family… their selection as potential targets of surveillance happened when Mufti was still chief minister of the erstwhile State and in a coalition with the BJP, it stated. J&K Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari’s brother Tariq Bukhari also appeared in the list, besides at least four members of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s family, including his son-in-law, journalist Iftikhar Gilani; and his son, scientist Syed Naseem Geelani, it noted. The current head of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was a potential target of surveillance between 2017 and 2019, apart from his driver, human rights activist Waqar Bhatti, and at least five Kashmiri journalists, including Muzamil Jaleel of The Indian Express, Aurangzeb Naqshbandi with The Hindustan Times at the time, Iftikhar Geelani (formerly with DNA) and Sumir Kaul of PTI, it said. Shabir Hussain, a Delhi-based political commentator from Kashmir, was also in the list.

B) Parliament fails to function for fourth day in a row The Parliament failed to function for the fourth day in a row following protests from the Opposition parties on issues ranging from the Pegasus controversy to the farmers’ agitation. In Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress MP Shantanu Sen was suspended for the remaining part of the Monsoon Session for snatching and tearing off the statement on Pegasus which the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) Ashwini Vaishnaw was reading. The motion seeking his suspension was moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan and passed by a voice vote. The Opposition parties protested against the move saying that they were not given any opportunity to respond. TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Sukendu Sekhar Ray said that the concerned member should have been given an opportunity to speak. O’Brien also pointed out that after the house adjourned on Thursday, Sen was roughed up. We saw boorish behaviour and hooliganism in this house, he said. In response, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said that this issue was not brought to his notice. The Congress Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh meanwhile asked the Chairman Naidu to allow for clarification on the statement on Pegasus made by IT Minister Mr Vaishnaw. Sen was asked to leave the house by Naidu, but he continued to sit in his seat. The house was adjourned till noon. The upper house was adjourned thrice at 12 and 12:30 pm since despite multiple pleas from the Deputy Chairman, Sen did not leave the house. Sen, in fact, remained seated inside the house even after the adjournments. His picture was circulated to all entry gates to the house with directions to the marshals that he should not be allowed inside. The convention dictates that no business can be transacted till the suspended member is removed from the house. Earlier in the day, Rajya Sabha Chairman Naidu berated the house for disruptions in the past three days. The moot question is who would benefit from a dysfunctional Parliament? Certainly not the country and its people, Naidu said. The only business that has been transacted in the last three days he said was a debate on Covid-19. The proceedings of the House hit a new low with the papers being snatchhed from the Minister and torn into pieces and thrown into the air. Such actions are a clear assault on our parliamentary democracy, he added. The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice on Friday due to the ongoing protests by the Opposition parties on issues ranging from the Pegasus controversy to the farmers’ agitation.

C) NSCS’ Budget allocation increased 10 times in 2017-18, says Prashant Bhushan 

The Budget allocation for the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) increased 10 times, from ₹33.17 crore in 2016-17 to ₹333.58 crore in 2017-18, said senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Friday. He alleged that it was the year when the NSO Group of Israel, which has developed the Pegasus spyware, was paid hundreds of crores for snooping on several eminent individuals’ phones. He tweeted, In 2016-17, NSA’s budget was ₹33.17 crs. Next year the budget increased 10x to 333 crores because 300 Crores was added under new head ‘cyber security R&D’. This is the year when NSO was paid 100s of Crs for Cyber hacking of Opp, Journos, Judges, EC, Activists using Pegasus! Wow. By NSA, Bhushan seems to be referring to the National Security Advisor, whose Budget comes under the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). According to the Expenditure Budget statements for the relevant years, the allocation for the NSCS first shot up 10-fold in 2017-18, but actual spending was less than double the previous year. However, in the following financial year, before the May 2019 general election, the spending by the NSCS shot up by over 13 times from the 2017-18 levels, to well over ₹800 crore. The allocation for 2016-17 was indeed ₹33.17 crore, which was later revised to ₹81.03 crore. However, the actual spending was ₹39.09 crore. In 2017-18, the allocation surged to ₹333.58 crore, but revised estimates put the likely spending at ₹168 crore. The actual expenditure was ₹61.18 crore. It was only in 2018-19 that the actual expenditure on this front shot up significantly. That year, ₹303.83 crore was allocated for meeting the ‘administrative expenses’. However, revised estimates presented later were much higher at ₹841.73 crore. While the original Budget allocation was earmarked as revenue expenditure, as per the revised estimates, only ₹125.84 crore was for revenue spending, with the balance ₹715.89 crore reflected as capital expenditure. The actual spending for 2018-19 ended up at ₹812.32 crore, with the proposed capex part fully spent, while the revenue spending was lower at ₹96.43 crore. The Opposition parties have demanded an independent probe into the alleged use of Pegasus software for spying on Ministers, politicians and journalists.

D) At least 60 dead as rains batter western Maharashtra.

At least 60 persons have lost their lives in landslides triggered by intense rain in western Maharashtra and the coastal Konkan region as monsoon fury continued unabated over the region on Friday. While the entire State, including the normally arid Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, have been receiving particularly heavy showers over the last 72 hours, the situation remained particularly grim in the Mahad and Poladpur tehsils in Raigad, Chiplun and Khed in Ratnagiri, as well as the ‘sugar belt’ districts of Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli. 49 of those killed died in three separate landslides in Raigad itself. Tragedy struck Taliye village in Mahad on Thursday evening when the entire village of around 35 houses was instantly buried in a major landslip in an incident strongly reminiscent of the 2014 Malin landslide in Pune. While precise casualty figures was not confirmed, authorities said so far more than 35 bodies had been recovered from the debris while more than 70 people were missing. Other sources said 38 bodies had been retrieved till now. Local people were the first responders as heavy rainfall, waterlogging, and disrupted connectivity delayed National and State Disaster Response Forces (NDRF and SDRF) teams. The relief teams struggled to clear boulders and damaged roads to reach the village. Rescue operations in Taliye had to be called off after 6 p.m. due to poor visibility compounded by increasing rain.

E) The road ahead is more daunting than the 1991 crisis: Manmohan Singh 

The 1991 economic reforms lifted millions out of poverty, unleashed the spirit of free enterprises, and catapulted India into a $3 trillion economy but the road ahead is even more daunting than the 1991 crisis, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said today. To mark the 30th anniversary of economic liberalisation and the opening up of the Indian economy on July 24, Dr. Singh issued a statement in which he recalled the achievements, but expressed his pain at the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the loss of lives and livelihoods. The country needs to recalibrate its priorities to a dignified life for all Indians, he said. It gives us immense joy to look back with pride at the tremendous economic progress made by our nation in the last three decades. But I am also deeply saddened at the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of millions of fellow Indians. The social sectors of health and education have lagged behind and not kept pace with our economic progress. Too many lives and livelihoods have been lost that should not have been, Dr. Singh said. It is not a time to rejoice and exult but to introspect and ponder. The road ahead is even more daunting than during the 1991 crisis. Our priorities as a nation need to be recalibrated to foremost ensure a healthy and dignified life for every single Indian, he added.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Tokyo Olympics begins with no-frills opening ceremony 

Thy sky over the National Stadium in Tokyo exploded in indigo and white as fireworks marked the start of the opening ceremony for the Olympics on Friday, celebrating the world’s best athletes set to compete amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Postponed for a year, organisers were forced to take the unprecedented step of holding the Games without fans as the novel coronavirus is on the rise again, taking lives around the world. Even the opening ceremony, normally a star-studded display teeming with celebrities, was eerily silent, with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules, and signs calling on the spectators to be quiet around the venue. Japan had billed the Olympics as an echo of the 1964 Tokyo Games, which marked the country’s return to the world stage after its devastating World War Two defeat, but this time showcasing its recovery from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. But hundreds of protesters carrying placards that read Lives over Olympics protested around the venue. The protesters, a mix of people in white surgical masks, yelled Stop the Olympics as they marched. The opening ceremony will be marked by high-profile absences, including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wooed the Games to Tokyo. A number of top sponsors and economic leaders will also stay away, highlighting strong opposition to the sporting extravaganza in COVID-fatigued Japan. Only a third of the nation has had even one dose of vaccines, prompting worries the Games could become a super-spreader event. More than 100 people involved with the Olympics have already tested positive. The Olympics have been hit by a string of scandals, including the exit of senior officials over derogatory comments about women, jokes about the Holocaust and bullying. The Games run until August 8.

B) Pelosi says Capitol probe will go on despite GOP’s boycott plans. 

Unfazed by Republican threats of a boycott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that a congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection will take on its deadly serious work whether Republicans participate or not. The Republicans’ House leader, Kevin McCarthy, called the committee a sham process and suggested that GOP lawmakers who take part could face consequences. Mr. McCarthy said Ms. Pelosi’s rejection of two of the Republicans he had attempted to appoint was an egregious abuse of power. The escalating tension between the two parties is emblematic of the partisan anger that has only worsened since former President Donald Trump’s supporters laid siege to the Capitol. With most Republicans still loyal to Mr. Trump, and many down playing the severity of the violent attack, there is little bipartisan unity to be found. Mr. McCarthy said on Wednesday that he would withdraw the names of all five Republicans he had appointed after Ms. Pelosi rejected two of them. Ms. Pelosi made clear that she won’t relent, and Democrats mulled filling the empty seats themselves.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Dainik Bhaskar group faces raids by Income Tax officials; Opposition CMs condemn action

One of the country’s largest media houses, the Dainik Bhaskar group, has come under the scanner of the taxmen. The Income Tax department launched extensive search operations and raids at multiple locations, including in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. According to sources, the raids/search operations by the I-T teams are underway at the group’s office in Delhi, Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Mumbai in Maharashtra, and a few other locations also. More than 30 premises, including offices and residential premises of the promoters of the group, are being raided/searched by over 100 taxmen in a joint exercise launched on Thursday morning. In Bhopal, I-T personnel also searched the residence of Sudhir Aggarwal, the Bhaskar group’s promoter. On the website of the Dainik Bhaskar, one of the largest circulating Hindi dailies, the group has stated that scared of its coverage of floating dead bodies in the river Ganges during the pandemic, the government launched raids on the Bhaskar group. It added that besides the offices, the I-T sleuths are also raiding the residences of key personnel of the group. The taxmen have seized mobiles of the employees, it claimed, adding there was no woman in the I-T teams that came to raid the group’s offices and other premises. However, the sources in the I-T department maintain that the raids are being carried out following a tip-off the department received about alleged tax evasions by the group and its various companies. Headquartered in Madhya Pradesh, Dainik Bhaskar group has more than 60 editions operating in a dozen States in many languages. Meanwhile, Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh tweeted that tax officials are present at half-a-dozen premises of the group, including at its office at Press Complex in Bhopal.

B) Trinamool, BJP MPs scuffle in Rajya Sabha over Pegasus snooping row 

Rajya Sabha proceedings took an ugly turn on Thursday when Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw rose to read out a statement on the Pegasus spyware episode, only to have TMC MP Shantanu Sen snatch his papers and tear them. Minutes later, after the House was adjourned, TMC and BJP MP nearly came to blows. Opposition members from many parties, including the TMC, Congress and the Left, were in the well of the House protesting against various issues when the incident took place. Their protests had led to two adjournments already, the first just a minute after the House convened at 11:00 a.m. and the second at 12:00 p.m. Vaishnaw struggled to read his statement in the din, when all of a sudden TMC MP Shantanu Sen snatched and tore the statement. Undaunted, Vaishnaw got another copy and tried to continue reading. But midway through the statement, he tabled it and the House was adjourned. The Minister’s statement was full of contradictions and white lies. So one of our members snatched and tore it, TMC chief whip Sukendu Sekhar Ray said. Later, according to the TMC, after the House adjourned and the live transmission was switched off, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri gestured to Sen, asking him to come to his seat. Rajya Sabha, unlike the Lok Sabha, can seek clarifications on a Minister’s statement. In Thursday’s din, however, that opportunity was lost. When the government is using military grade spyware, the supposition that this is a question that the IT Minister can answer is preposterous, O’Brien said. He added that only a few members could seek clarifications and that too for a very short time.

C) Farmers debate agriculture laws at parallel Kisan Sansad outside Parliament 

A small group of 200 farmers reached Parliament Street on Thursday to begin a Kisan Sansad protest, which ran in parallel to the proceedings at Sansad Bhawan barely a kilometre away. We are showing them how to conduct a Parliament with knowledgeable discussions. The government says the farmers are uneducated, they say they need to educate the farmers about the impact of these three farm laws. Listen to the debates here. Is it not clear that the farmers have understood how their lives and livelihoods will be hurt by these laws? said All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah. These laws will lead to the end of the existing mandi system and MSP procurement. It will result in farmers, agricultural labourers and mandi workers being deprived of their jobs. And when the private mandis come, replacing the government mandis, their infrastructure will only benefit Ambani and Adani, not farmers, said Jasbir Kaur, committee member of Punjab Kisan Union, speaking during the first hour of the Sansad. She was one of only seven women among the protestors on Thursday. If the fields and crops of this country go into the hands of corporates, if they take control of our harvests and our grain, then it is the people who will go hungry and face starvation. That is why this is the protest not just of farmers, but of the people. This is a jan sansad, said Raminder Singh Patiala, a leader of the Kirti Kisan Union. Half of the protestors were from Punjab, where the agitation has been strongest, with the other half hailing from other States. Regarding the Pegasus issue that has consumed Parliament’s time, several farm leaders privately said they suspect they may also be targets of surveillance. Even as the Parliament session was ongoing, more than 20 MPs from Kerala arrived at the Kisan Sansad to express their solidarity, but were not allowed on the farmers’ stage. We just want to say that we stand with the farmers’ struggle. We don’t see this as a party issue, MPs from Kerala are in support across party lines, said V. Sivadasan, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

D) Amarinder to attend Sidhu’s induction as Punjab Congress head 

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh will be participating in the Congress party function on July 23, where his detractor Navjot Singh Sidhu will take charge as Punjab Congress president along with four working presidents. Ahead of the function, the Chief Minister has invited all Congress legislators, Members of Parliament and senior party leaders to Punjab Bhawan on Friday, asking them to leave together for the installation of the new Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee team at the party office. Chief Minister @Capt_Amarinder Singh has invited all @INCPunjab MLAs, MPs and senior party functionaries at Punjab Bhawan for tea at 10 am on Friday. They will all then go to Punjab Congress Bhawan together from there for the installation of the new PPCC team, said a tweet from Chief Minister’s official handle on Thursday. After Sidhu’s elevation as Punjab Congress chief, Capt. Amarinder has been maintaining that he would not meet the former unless he (Sidhu) publicly apologised for his personally derogatory social media attacks against him (Capt. Amarinder). The All India Congress Committee on July 18 appointed Sidhu as president of the Punjab Congress Committee, and four working presidents — Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel, and Kuljit Singh Nagra. Nagra and Gilzian extended the invitation to the Chief Minister, which was signed by over 50 legislators, including Sidhu. The move is being seen as a show of strength and a pressure tactic in the backdrop of Capt. Amarinder’s continued opposition to Sidhu’s elevation as the party’s State chief.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Israel appoints commission to review NSO.

Israel has established a commission to review allegations that the NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus phone surveillance software was misused, the head of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee said on Thursday. The defence establishment appointed a review commission made up of a number of groups, lawmaker Ram Ben Barak said. When they finish their review, we’ll demand to see the results and assess whether we need to make corrections, the former deputy head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency added. Pegasus has been implicated in possible mass surveillance of journalists, human rights defenders and 14 heads of state. Their phone numbers were among some 50,000 potential surveillance targets on a list leaked to rights. Group Amnesty International and Paris-based Forbidden Stories. NSO has said the leak is not a list of targets or potential targets of Pegasus. NSO chief executive Shalev Hulio told Army Radio on Thursday that he would be very pleased if there were an investigation, so that we’d be able to clear our name. He also alleged there was an effort to smear all the Israeli cyber industry. Mr. Hulio said the company could not disclose the details of its contracts due to issues of confidentiality, but said he would offer full transparency to any government seeking more details.

B) Foiled attempt to kill President: Madagascar

Madagascar said on Thursday it had foiled an attempt to assassinate President Andry Rajoelina and arrested six people, two of whom, according to diplomatic sources, were French nationals. Several foreign and Madagascar nationals were arrested on Tuesday, July 20, as part of an investigation into an attack on state security, prosecutor Berthine Razafiarivony said in a statement. According to evidence in our possession, these individuals devised a plan to eliminate and neutralise various Madagascan figures, including the head of state, she said. The statement gave no details about the alleged operation. Public Security Minister Fanomezantsoa Rodellys Randrianarison said six arrestshad been made, comprising a foreigner, two dual nationals and three Madagascans. The police had information about this affair for months, he told a news conference on Thursday. They swooped to make simultaneous arrests in different locations and seized money and weapons, he said. There are also official documents which prove their involvement, he said.

C) Categorically stand by findings of Pegasus Project: Amnesty International 

Amnesty International on July 22 said it categorically stands by the findings of the Pegasus Project and asserted that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The comments by Amnesty International came after some media reports quoting a few Israreli journalists said that the human rights group has claimed that it never said that the recently leaked phone numbers was specifically a list of numbers targeted by Pegasus spyware. Amnesty claimed that the false rumours being pushed on social media are intended to distract from the widespread unlawful targeting of journalists, activists and others that the Pegasus Project has revealed. Amnesty International categorically stands by the findings of the Pegasus Project, and that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The false rumours being pushed on social media are intended to distract from the widespread unlawful targeting of journalists, activists and others that the Pegasus Project has revealed, Amnesty International said in a statement.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Mamata urges Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of Pegasus spyware row

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the Pegasus spyware row, and asked all Opposition parties to form a united front against the BJP without any delay. My humble regards to our Hon’ble Supreme Court. Why can’t the court take suo motu cognisance when judges’ phones are tapped? Either take suo motu cognisance or set up an SIT [special investigation team] monitored by you to know whose phones were affected. Only the judiciary can save democracy, she said. Banerjee was addressing the annual Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata, which was telecast live across several States, including Delhi. (The July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally is an annual one organised by the Trinamool Congress to commemorate the 1993 Kolkata firing). The Trinamool Congress chairperson asserted, We have to come together; we must forget our individual interests and come together to save the country. To work together, we must form a front without any delay. She would visit New Delhi later this month and would be happy to attend any meeting of Opposition leaders between July 26 and 29. I also want to meet important leaders. Chidambaram ji [Congress leader P. Chidambaram] will be there, Sharad ji [NCP chairperson Sharad Pawar] will be there, I am ready to attend any meeting between July 26 and 29, she stated. Banerjee, who is likely to visit Delhi after two years on July 25, remarked, The general election is still two-and-a-half years away but nothing will be achieved if we form an alliance just before it. The Chief Minister urged each and every Opposition party to start working together to make a front and not leave matters for the last moment. If the doctor comes after death, nothing will happen. If the treatment is done on time, the patient can be cured. Now is your time. The more time you waste, the more the situation will worsen, she emphasised. The Chief Minister alleged that her phone was tapped. She said she had put plasters on her phone as they [Centre] tap everything.

 

B) Parliamentary panel on IT to discuss Pegasus issue on July 28 

The Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, will deliberate on the use of Pegasus spyware against nearly 300 persons in India, on July 28. Officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy), the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Department of Telecommunications have been summoned to depose on the subject, Citizens’ data security and privacy. The committee has had several rounds of meeting on the subject. It was deliberated upon in two meetings held in November 2019. The panel has not submitted a report so far because all investigation remained inconclusive. The government has neither confirmed nor denied the involvement in the snooping episode targeting activists in 2019. The latest revelations show that it is a more serious situation. Does the government have access to Pegasus or not is the key question, one of the members said.

 

C) Pandemic orphaned 1.1 lakh in India, over 10 lakh globally, says Lancet report

As many as 1.19 lakh children in India lost their primary caregiver (parent or custodial grandparent) due to Covid-19, placing the country at the third spot after Mexico (1.4 lakh) and Brazil (1.3 lakh), according to estimates in a new study published in The Lancet. Globally, this figure stood at 11.34 lakh between March 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. Children who lost either a mother or a father were 10.42 lakh, including 1.16 lakh in India. The study developed estimates of pandemic-associated orphanhood and caregiver deaths using excess mortality and deaths for 21 countries that accounted for 76·4% of global deaths between March 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. It then used these findings to develop global extrapolations. It was conducted by researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control’s COVID-19 Response Team, the Imperial College, London, the University of Oxford, and the World Bank, among others. More than 15 lakh children around the world had lost at least one primary caregiver or a co-residing grandparent. This figure stood at 1.86 lakh for India. There were up to five times more children with deceased fathers than mothers. For example, in India, an estimated 25,500 children lost their mother and 90,751 their father and 12 children both parents. The study underlines that such children are at greater risk of family separation and institutionalisation and recommends investments towards strengthening family-based care, with the help of a surviving caregiver or through kinship, foster care or adoption.

 

D) Completely false to say no one died due to oxygen shortage: Delhi Health Minister 

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on July 21 said there have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country. If there was no shortage of oxygen, why did hospitals move court? Hospitals and the media had been flagging oxygen shortage issues daily. Television channels showed how hospitals were running out of the life-saving gas. It is completely false to say that no one died due to oxygen shortage. There have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country, he said. The Central government on July 20 informed the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were specifically reported by states and UTs during the second Covid-19 wave. But there was an unprecedented surge in demand for medical oxygen during the second wave and it peaked at nearly 9,000 MT compared to 3,095 MT in the first wave following which the Centre had to step in to facilitate equitable distribution among the states, it said. Interestingly, Maharashtra Health Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Rajesh Tope on Wednesday clarified that there was no record in the State of any death due to shortage of oxygen during the two waves of the pandemic.

 

E) Govt seeks more time share data that RTI activist says was provided to him two months ago 

A day after the Finance Ministry told the Rajya Sabha it needed more time to furnish data on sale of electoral bonds as asked by an MP, RTI activist Kanhaiya Kumar said on Wednesday the details had been provided to him via an RTI reply by the SBI two months ago. Trinamool Congress MP Santanu Sen had sought the details of the sale of the bonds during the 15th and 16th phase, which was in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Puducherry, Assam and Kerala from March to May. Sen also asked about the bonds sold since the scheme started in 2018 and the cost of printing the same. The government seeks more time to furnish the replies, the written reply by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday. Kumar, a Bihar-based RTI activist, had received a reply from the SBI, the only bank authorised to sell the bonds, on May 14 to his query. As reported by The Hindu on May 18, the SBI reply had said bonds worth ₹695.34 crore had been sold from April 1 till 10. The SBI had declined to share the details of the political parties that encashed them and the commission it earned from the sales, both of which were asked by Sen too. The questions are submitted 15 days in advance. The SBI has already provided this information in response to my RTI query. So it’s quite obvious that they have information in requisite format. Still, the Ministry says it needs more time to furnish the replies, Kumar said.

 

F) Supreme Court criticises Goa, Vedanta’s delayed review pleas in mining case 

A Supreme Court Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has slammed the Goa government and Vedanta for preferring to file their review petitions against a February 2018 judgment after the retirement of two judges who authored it. A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta, in their February 7, 2018, judgment, cancelled 88 mining leases, which were renewed by the BJP government in Goa in 2015 to benefit private mining leaseholders. Their 102-page judgment had traced the rapacious and rampant exploitation of Goa’s fragile ecology by private mining lease holders, whose sole motive was to make profits, for years. The verdict had noted how these leases were hastily renewed by the State in 2014 with retrospective effect from 2007, just in the nick of time before an amended Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act made auction of leases mandatory to mine notified minerals like iron ore. Review petitions are heard by the same Bench that passed the original judgment. Justices Lokur and Gupta retired on December 30, 2018 and May 6, 2020, respectively. The State of Goa preferred its four review petitions in November 2019, after Justice Lokur’s retirement. Vedanta preferred its four review petitions in August 2020, right after Justice Gupta’s retirement. Justice Chandrachud and Justice Shah, the second judge on the Review Bench, said no cogent grounds were furnished by either Goa or Vedanta to justify their delay between 20 and 26 months to file their review petitions. Under the Supreme Court Rules of 2013, a plea for review has to be filed within 30 days of the judgment. Dismissing the review, the Review Bench observed that such practice must be firmly disapproved to preserve the institutional sanctity of the decision-making of this court. The review petitioners were aware of the decision of this court. Keeping in mind the above, we are inclined to dismiss these review petitions on the ground of limitation alone. However, in any event, we also find that no legitimate grounds for review of the judgment… and dismiss these review petitions on merits as well, Justice Chandrachud and Shah recorded in their recent five-page order.

 

G) Centre’s wrong decisions ‘killed’ 50 lakh people, alleges Rahul Gandhi 

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said wrong decisions of the Government of India (GoI) killed 50 lakh people during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a tweet, Gandhi cited a report of the Washington-based think tank, Centre for Global Development, that offered three different scenarios of excess deaths in India between January 2020 and June 2021. The Truth. GOI’s wrong decisions during Covid second wave killed 50 lakh of our sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers, he tweeted, tagging the working paper of the Centre for Global Development. The study – authored by Abhishek Anand, Justin Sandefur and Arvind Subramanian (former chief economic advisor to the GoI) – projected three different estimates: a conservative estimate of 3.4 million deaths using civic registration data from the States; another estimate of 4 million deaths using infection fatality ratio and finally, a third estimate of 4.9 million deaths based on an analysis of a consumer pyramid household survey. Gandhi’s criticism of the government’s handling of the second wave of Covid-19 comes a day after the Rajya Sabha debated the issue on Tuesday. Participating in the debate, Congress’s deputy leader Anand Sharma raised the issue of excess deaths and urged the Centre to reconcile the figures from the States in order to give compensation to those who died of Covid-19.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) To reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan President must go

The Taliban on Friday said they don’t want to monopolise power, but insisted there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed. In an interview with the Associated Press, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, also a member of the group’s negotiating team, laid out the insurgents’ stance on what should come next in a country on the precipice. The Taliban have captured territory in recent weeks, seized border crossings and are threatening a number of provincial capitals, as U.S. and NATO soldiers leave Afghanistan. This week, the top U.S. military officer, General Mark Milley, said that the Taliban have strategic momentum, and he did not rule out a complete Taliban takeover. But he said it is not inevitable. I don’t think the end game is yet written, he said. Afghans who can afford it are applying by the thousands for visas to leave Afghanistan, fearing a violent descent into chaos. The U.S.-NATO withdrawal is more than 95% complete. Shaheen said the Taliban will lay down their weapons when a negotiated government acceptable to all sides in the conflict is installed in Kabul and Mr. Ghani’s government is gone. I want to make it clear that we do not believe in the monopoly of power because any governments who (sought) to monopolise power in Afghanistan in the past, were not successful governments, said Shaheen, apparently including the Taliban’s own five-year rule in that assessment. So we do not want to repeat that same formula. But he was also uncompromising on the continued rule of Mr. Ghani, calling him a war monger and accusing him of using his Tuesday speech on the Islamic holy day of Id-al-Adha to promise an offensive against the Taliban. Shaheen dismissed Mr. Ghani’s right to govern, resurrecting allegations of widespread fraud that surrounded Mr. Ghani’s 2019 election win. After that vote, both Mr. Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah declared themselves President. After a compromise deal, Mr. Abdullah is now No. 2 in the government and heads the reconciliation council.

B) Xi Jinping visits Tibet border region, first by Chinese leader in years. 

China’s President Xi Jinping this week became the first Chinese leader in many years to visit Tibet as well as its southeastern border region with India, as he inspected a newly opened and strategically important railway line. The official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday Mr. Xi arrived in Tibet on Wednesday, landing at the airport in Nyingchi, a town near the border with India’s Arunachal Pradesh. The Xinhua report said Mr. Xi drove to the Nyang river bridge to inspect the Yarlung Zangbo river, or Brahmaputra river — the Nyang is its second largest tributary. He also visited Nyingchi town and its railway station to inspect the newly built Sichuan-Tibet railway. Videos circulating on social media all through Thursday showed Mr. Xi had also visited Lhasa. Friday’s was the first official confirmation of the visit. This is Mr. Xi’s first visit to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) since taking over as the general secretary of the Communist Party of China in 2012. He had visited in 2011 when he was Vice-President. Xi’s visit to Lhasa in 2011 was on July 21 that year, supposedly to mark the ‘60th Anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet’, although no one’s sure why that date was chosen — it’s usually May 23. So yesterday could have been considered by the PRC as the 70th Anniversary, observed Tibetologist Robbie Barnett on Twitter. The Seventeen Point Agreement was signed on May 23, 1951. China refers to the agreement as heralding what it calls the peaceful liberation of Tibet. The agreement has been rejected by the Dalai Lama, who has said the Communist Party had both forced it on Tibet and subsequently violated its commitments, leading him to eventually flee to India in exile in 1959. Mr. Xi’s visit to Lhasa and the Potala Palace is expected to mark the anniversary. His visit to the border region and Nyingchi assumes particular significance coming a month after China 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 kilometres 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. 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, the second significant passageway to Medog county that borders Arunachal.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Pegasus snooping may have helped in toppling of Congress-JD(S) govt in Karnataka in 2019

In the run up to the toppling of the opposition-run state government in Karnataka in July 2019, the phone numbers of deputy chief minister G. Parameshwara and the personal secretaries of chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former chief minister Siddaramaiah were selected as possible targets for surveillance, according to the news website The Wire, which reviewed records of numbers that were of interest to an Indian client of Israel’s NSO group. The records indicate that the phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time when an intense power struggle was taking place between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress-led state government in 2019, after 17 ruling alliance’s legislators abruptly resigned to force a trust vote in the assembly, the report stated. Reacting to the development, the Congress said that the BJP used Pegasus spyware t execute Operation Lotus’ and toppled the state government.

B) SC gives two weeks to Manipur to respond to activist father’s compensation plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Manipur government two weeks to respond to a plea for compensation made by the father of activist Erendra Leichongbam, who was detained for two months under the National Security Act (NSA) for his Facebook posts questioning the efficacy of cow dung and urine as a cure for Covid-19 in the context of the death of a BJP leader due to coronavirus. A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah on Monday directed the State to forthwith release Leichongbam, saying he should not spend another night in prison. On Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for Manipur, strove for quietus in the case. He said the activist was released immediately after the apex court order. We have shown the gesture of immediately releasing him… Now let it be. But Justice Chandrachud said this was a serious matter concerning personal liberty. Somebody lost their liberty for over two months… It is a serious matter, Mr. Mehta, he remarked. Mehta said the activist could have taken legal recourse and this petition was filed only after months. Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for Leichongbam’s father, L. Raghumani Singh, said the petition filed by his client had two prayers. First, to quash the May 17 detention order passed by the District Magistrate of Imphal West District against his son and, secondly, payment of compensation for his detention. Then, we will have to justify the order of detention on merits, Mehta took a combative stance after his earlier one to take the case no further. Justice Chandrachud reasoned, But Mr. Mehta, this [seeking compensation] is the choice of the petitioner. Farasat submitted, Yes, responsibility [for the detention] has to be fixed. Mehta responded, Something else is being done here… It seems the petitioner is only incidental. On Monday, Farasat argued that the government was increasingly using preventive detention provisions in cases in which even ordinary penal sections did not apply. He submitted that the Facebook posts were criticism against the advocacy of cow dung and urine as a cure. The stringent NSA provisions have been slapped on the activist to chill his free speech.

C) SC in majority verdict quashes part of 97th Constitutional amendment on cooperatives

The Supreme Court on July 20 in a 2:1 majority verdict upheld the validity of the 97th constitutional amendment that deals with issues related to effective management of cooperative societies but struck down a part inserted by it which relates to the Constitution and working of cooperative societies. A Bench of Justices R.F. Nariman, K.M. Joseph and B.R. Gavai which pronounced the verdict said, We have struck down part IX B of the Constitution related to cooperative societies but we have saved the amendment. Justice Nariman said, Justice Joseph has given a partly dissenting verdict and has struck down the entire 97th constitutional amendment. The 97th constitutional amendment, which dealt with issues related to effective management of co-operative societies in the country was passed by Parliament in December 2011 and had come into effect from February 15, 2012. The change in the Constitution has amended Article 19(1)(c) to give protection to the cooperatives and inserted Article 43 B and Part IX B, relating to them. The Centre has contended that the provision does not denude the States of its power to enact laws with regard to cooperatives. The top court’s verdict came on the Centre’s plea challenging the Gujarat High Court’s 2013 decision striking down certain provisions of the 97th constitutional amendment while holding that Parliament cannot enact laws with regard to cooperative societies as it is a State subject.

D) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,11,86,841  with the death toll at 4,18,226. While two-thirds of the general population had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, a third does not have antibodies, making approximately 40 crore people still vulnerable to infections, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said on Tuesday. Presenting the results of the fourth national COVID serosurvey, Dr. Bhargava said States, districts and areas without antibodies run the risk of infection waves. The survey noted that more than half of the children (6-17 yr) were seropositive while sero-prevalence was similar in rural and urban areas. It was also found that 85% of health care workers (HCWs) had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 while one-tenth of the HCWs were unvaccinated, he said.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) U.S. condemns ‘extra-judicial surveillance’ of journalists, activists and regime critics.

The Biden administration has condemned the harassment and ‘extrajudicial surveillance’ of journalists and others in reaction to reports published by a consortium of news websites that Israeli company NSO Group’s spyware, Pegasus, was used for illegal hacking and surveillance of individuals in India and other countries. The United States condemns the harassment or extrajudicial surveillance of journalists, human rights activists, or other perceived regime critics, a White House spokesperson said via email to The Hindu in response to a question on what U.S. President Joe Biden’s position on the issue was. Only on Monday U.S. President Joe Biden had said that China and Russia were protecting and even accommodating cyber hackers and their hacking. The news reports on Pegasus say that in addition to actually or potentially targeting journalists, leaders of the opposition in India, and others, a database of phone numbers that allegedly belonged to the NSO Group contained the numbers of two U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials in New Delhi and employees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Just as states have the duty to protect human rights, businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, including by ensuring that their products or services are not being used by end-users to abuse fundamental freedoms, the spokesperson told The Hindu on Tuesday.

B) Leftist rural teacher declared president-elect in Peru

Rural teacher-turned-political novice Pedro Castillo has become the winner of Peru’s presidential election after the country’s longest electoral count in 40 years. Castillo, whose supporters included Peru’s poor and rural citizens, defeated right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori by just 44,000 votes. Electoral authorities released the final official results on Monday, more than a month after the runoff election took place in the South American nation. Wielding a pencil the size of a cane, the symbol of his Peru Libre party, Castillo popularised the phrase No more poor in a rich country. The economy of Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the poverty level to almost one-third of the population and eliminating the gains of a decade. Castillo has promised to use the revenues from the mining sector to improve public services, including education and health, whose inadequacies were highlighted by the pandemic. Those who do not have a car should have at least one bicycle, Castillo, 51, told The Associated Press in mid-April at his adobe house in Anguía, Peru’s third poorest district. Since surprising Peruvians and observers by advancing to the presidential runoff election, Castillo has softened his first proposals on nationalising multinational mining and natural gas companies. Instead, his campaign has said he is considering raising taxes on profits due to high copper prices, which exceed USD 10,000 per ton. Historians say he is the first peasant to become President of Peru, where until now, Indigenous people almost always have received the worst of the deficient public services even though the nation boasted of being the economic star of Latin America in the first two decades of the century. There are no cases of a person unrelated to the professional, military or economic elites who reached the presidency, Cecilia Méndez, a Peruvian historian and professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, told a radio station.

C) Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos reaches space on 1st passenger flight

Jeff Bezos blasted into space Tuesday on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. The Amazon founder was accompanied by a hand-picked group: his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands, and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas — the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space. Named after America’s first astronaut, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket soared from remote West Texas on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a date chosen by Bezos for its historical significance. He held fast to it, even as Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson pushed up his own flight from New Mexico in the race for space tourist dollars and beat him to space by nine days. Unlike Branson’s piloted rocket plane, Bezos’ capsule was completely automated and required no official staff on board for the anticipated 10-minute, up-and-down flight. Blue Origin was shooting for an altitude of roughly 66 miles (106 kilometers), more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) higher than Branson’s July 11 ride. The 60-foot (18-meter) booster accelerated to Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound to get the capsule high enough, before separating and aiming for a vertical landing. The passengers were expected to get three to four minutes of weightlessness to float around the spacious white capsule. Then the window-filled capsule was going to head to a parachute touchdown on the desert floor, with Bezos and his guests briefly experiencing nearly six times the force of gravity, or 6 Gs, on the way back.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Govts need to take steps to hold NSO Group accountable: WhatsApp CEO

Following revelations that NSO Group’s ‘Pegasus’ software may have been used to snoop on journalists, politicians and activists worldwide, including holders of 300 Indian phone numbers, WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart has called on governments and companies to take steps to hold the Israeli technology firm accountable. The list of India-based phone numbers include those related to recently appointed Minister for Communication, IT and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, dozens of journalists, as well as ambassadors/high commissioners of several countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, China and Saudi Arabia. In a tweet, Cathcart said, This is a wake up call for security on the Internet. The mobile phone is the primary computer for billions of people. Governments and companies must do everything they can to make it as secure as possible. Our security and freedom depend on it. WhatsApp had in 2019 sued the NSO Group, accusing it of using the former’s messaging service to conduct cyber-espionage on roughly 1,400 user accounts, including those of journalists and human rights activists. Cathcart added that there is a need for more companies, and, critically, governments, to take steps to hold NSO Group accountable. Once again, we urge a global moratorium on the use of unaccountable surveillance technology now. It’s past time, he said. Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a jibe aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tweeted, We know what he’s been reading everything on your phone! #Pegasus. Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who exposed surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), said the NSO Group should bear direct, criminal liability for the deaths and detentions of those targeted by the digital infection vectors it sells, which have no legitimate use.

B) Pegasus spyware: Congress wants Amit Shah sacked, Modi probed

Accusing the government of treason and compromising on national security over the Pegasus spyware issue, the Congress on Monday demanded the sacking of Home Minister Amit Shah and a probe into the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala held Shah responsible for the Pegasus spying issue and said his party’s first demand is his dismissal from the post he occupies. He said the Congress will take all Opposition parties on-board over the issue and decide whether to ask for a judicial or parliamentary probes in the matter. Our first demand is the immediate sacking of Minister of Home and Internal security Amit Shah and a probe into the role of the Prime Minister in the matter, he told reporters. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said Shah should immediately resign as he does not deserve to occupy the position he is holding. Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Modiji promotes digital India, but what we are seeing is Surveillance India. Accusing the Modi government of murdering the Constitution, law and dismantling national security, Surjewala said it is guilty of treason. The Modi government is the deployer and executor of this illegal and unconstitutional snooping and spying racket through Israeli surveillance software Pegasus, he said.

C) Monsoon session of Parliament sees a turbulent start

The monsoon session had a stormy start on Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi unable to introduce his new Ministers, as is customary after the reshuffle, on the first day of Parliament, due to Opposition protest against fuel prices’ hike and farm laws. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that in his 24-year career as a parliamentarian he had never witnessed such a disruption of the customary introduction of Ministers and Congress MP Manickam Tagore asserted that the BJP had done the same when Manmohan Singh, as Prime Minister, had sought to introduce his Ministers in the House. As soon as the Lok Sabha convened and Modi rose to speak, Opposition members protested, carrying placards on fuel price hike and raising slogans demanding the repeal of the three controversial farm laws. Modi responded by pointing out the diversity in his new Council of Ministers and the ‘disrespect’ shown to them by Opposition members. I thought there would be an atmosphere of excitement in the House today, because women, Dalits, Adivasis have been made Ministers in large numbers… I would have been happy to introduce them, he said. It should make everyone proud that several women, several people belonging to the SC/ST community have taken oath as Ministers. Several new Ministers are children of farmers and also belong to OBC [Other Backward Classes] communities. It seems some people cannot digest more women, SC, ST, and OBC community members becoming Ministers, he added. Rajnath Singh spoke as the din did not die down. Healthy traditions have been set by following conventions in Parliament. In my last 24 years of parliamentary life, I have not seen a single instance where the Prime Minister could not introduce his Council of Ministers, even if it’s one. It is sad, unfortunate and not a healthy trend, he said.

D) Opposition attempting to obstruct development trajectory, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah responded to disruptions in Parliament amid news reports on large scale snooping on journalists and prominent public figures via the software Pegasus, terming them as attempts by the Opposition to obstruct India’s development trajectory through ‘conspiracies’. He wrote this in a blog on his website after both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day after the Opposition parties raised protests on fuel price hikes, the three controversial farm laws and the Pegasus snooping scandal, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Comission (JPC) probe on the snooping and Shah’s resignation. Using a phrase often associated with him, Shah wrote, People have often associated this phrase with me in a lighter vein but today I want to seriously say the timing of the selective leaks, the disruptions…Aap Chronology Samajhiye! [please understand the chronology] this is a report by the disruptors for the obstructors. Disruptors are global organisations which do not like India to progress. Obstructors are political players in India who do not want India to progress. People of India are very good at understanding this chronology and connection, he said.

E) Supreme Court orders release of Manipur activist held over Facebook posts

The Supreme Court on July 19 directed the release of Manipur-based activist Erendro Leichombam, who was detained under the National Security Act for his social media posts allegedly on the efficacy of cow dung and urine as cures for Covid-19 in the context of the death of a BJP leader due to the virus. A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah, remarking that the activist could not be detained in jail even for one night, ordered his release by 5 p.m. on July 19. The court said his continued detention would be a violation of his fundamental right to life and due process of law. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government would file a response in the case but did not pose any objections otherwise. Advocate Shadan Farasat, for Leichombam’s father L. Raghumani Singh, said the government was increasingly using preventive detention provisions in cases in which even ordinary penal sections do not apply. Farasat submitted that the Facebook posts were criticism against the advocacy of cow dung and urine as a cure. He said stringent NSA provisions had been slapped against the activist to chill his free speech. The lawyer submitted that his client’s son had spent days in custody pursuant to criminal cases initiated against him followed by a spell in preventive detention after grant of bail. The petition has sought the quashing of a May 17 detention order and the grounds of detention issued by District Magistrate, Imphal West District. The petition by the father contended that the detention was in violation of an April 30 order of the Supreme Court that had barred authorities from taking legal action or muzzling voices critical of the government’s COVID management.

F) SC asks Kerala to explain why it relaxed Covid-19 curbs for Bakrid

The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala less than 24 hours to explain its reasons for relaxing Covid-19 restrictions between July 18 and July 20 for Bakrid celebrations while noting that any incident which directly affected lives would be viewed sternly and result in prompt action. A Bench of Justices Rohinton F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai asked Kerala to file its affidavit by evening and posted the case for hearing as the first case on July 20 taking into consideration the situation and the celebrations going on in the State of Kerala. Kerala counsel, advocate G. Prakash, said only some shops had been opened in a controlled manner. The court, meanwhile, closed its suo motu case on the conduct of the Kanwar Yatra by Uttar Pradesh after the State informed on Monday that there will be no Kanwar Yatra at all, it has been completely postponed in 2021. Senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, for Uttar Pradesh, said the Kanwar sanghs had come forward and agreed to postpone the yatra considering the current public health situation. What My Lords have intended has had a beneficial effect, Vaidyanathan submitted. Justice Nariman said authorities needed to know that any untoward incidents which directly affect lives will be looked upon sternly and prompt action taken immediately. On Friday, the court, while rejecting Uttar Pradesh’s proposal to conduct a symbolic Kanwar Yatra amid the pandemic for compelling religious reasons, said the fundamental rights of citizens across faiths and their right to life trumped over religious sentiments. However, on Monday, senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for P.K.D Nambiar, intervened to say that while Uttar Pradesh had stopped the yatra, Kerala had displayed a casual attitude to lockdown restrictions owing to Bakrid. Kerala relaxed lockdown curbs on the occasion of Eid on the day the Prime Minister called for caution… Kerala has continued to throw up alarming numbers [of COVID cases] even while many other States have improved their situation, Nambiar said in his plea. He said the decision to open up markets were a product of discussions between Chief Minister Vijayan and the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasaayi Ekopana Samithi. Hence, no medical advice was sought. Communal and political considerations had driven Kerala to open up. Government of Kerala is ready to sacrifice the health and lives of innocent citizens during the critical situation. Political interests and causes cannot overcome the fundamental rights of the citizens of this nation, the plea said.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Pakistan accuses India of ‘using’ FATF for political ends

India is using the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for political designs against Pakistan, said the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticising External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for a statement claiming credit for Pakistan’s continuance on the world body’s watchlist. According to a Pakistan MFA statement on Monday, Jaishankar’s reported comments, made to a group of BJP members as part of a training workshop, vindicated Pakistan’s repeated accusation that India had pushed for Pakistan’s grey listing in 2018 for political rather than technical reasons, which continues to date. India’s credentials for assessing Pakistan in FATF as co-chair of the Joint Group or for that matter any other country are subject to questions, which we urge FATF to look into, the MFA in Islamabad said, adding that the Pakistani government is also considering contacting the FATF President for appropriate action, although it is unclear what that action would be. On Sunday, news agency ANI had reported that Jaishankar had addressed ruling party members as part of a series of e-Chintan workshops on Indian foreign policy achievement’s under the Modi government. According to the report, Pakistan’s grey listing for the past three years, including the most recent decision of the FATF plenary session to keep Pakistan on its increased monitoring list, were cited as the outcome of Indian efforts by the Minister. Due to us (government), Pakistan is under the lens of FATF and it was kept in the grey list. We have been successful in pressurising Pakistan and the fact that Pakistan’s behaviour has changed is because of pressure put by India by various measures, Jaishankar was quoted as saying. The FATF plenary had announced on June 25 that despite completing 26 of 27 tasks required, Pakistan’s failure to complete the last task on convicting all UNSC banned terrorists, meant it would not be delisted for the moment, and had handed down another 6-point list of tasks to be completed as well. Pakistan has consistently maintained that India has politicised FATF. The recent Indian statement makes clear their malintent. Manipulating an important technical forum for narrow political designs against Pakistan is disgraceful but not surprising for the Modi Government, Pakistan’s foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi alleged in a tweet on Monday.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Sidhu’s likely elevation as Punjab Congress president set to see opposition

In an apparent attempt to garner support, former Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday continued to meet several party leaders across the State amid likelihood of his elevation as Punjab Congress Committee president, even as at least 10 MLAs came out openly in support of Chief Minister Captain (retd) Amarinder Singh, urging the high command not to let him down. In Delhi, Congress members of Parliament (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) informally met over lunch at Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa’s residence and are likely to seek an appointment with party president Sonia Gandhi for a ‘rethink’ on Sidhu’s proposed elevation. Officially the meeting was to formulate the party’s position on the call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to raise the farmers’ issue and not allow any other business in the House during the Monsoon session unless the farm laws are repealed. But the photo-op at Bajwa’s house was meant to convey their opposition to Sidhu’s impending elevation. The former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief had met Capt. Amarinder on Saturday. Asked what they would do if the high command went ahead with its decision, an MP at the meeting said, The party may not actually split, but it has already virtually split. There will be no-cooperation from our side. Prominent MPs, including Lok Sabha members Manish Tewari, Ravneet Bittu, Jasbir Gill and Perneet Kaur, wife of the Punjab Chief Minister, attended the lunch. In Chandigarh, senior MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, sharing a statement on behalf of MLAs, urged the high command not to let down the Chief Minister because of whose unrelenting efforts the party stands well entrenched in Punjab. There was no doubt that the appointment of State PCC chief was the prerogative of the party high command but at the same time washing dirty linen in public has only decreased the party graph during the last couple of months, said the MLAs in the joint statement. The MLAs backing Captain Amarinder are Harminder Singh Gill, Fateh Bajwa, Gurpreet Singh, Kuldip Singh Vaid, Balwinder Singh Laddi, Santokh Singh Bhalaipur, Joginderpal, Jagdev Singh Kamalu, Primal Singh and Sukhpal Khaira. They said that Capt. Amarinder commanded immense respect across different sections of society, particularly the farmers for whom he even endangered his chair as Chief Minister while passing the 2004 Termination of Waters Agreement Act.

 

B) In a move that runs counter to its own earlier judgement, SC mulls limit to role as policy watchdog   

The resolve voiced by a Division Bench of the Supreme Court in July to examine the extent to which the judiciary can question the government’s Covid-19 policies contradicts the court’s three-judge Bench judgment in May, which held that courts cannot be silent spectators when constitutional rights of citizens are infringed by executive policies. The May 31 judgment by a Supreme Court Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat is associated with the Centre’s reversal of its dual vaccine pricing policy. On July 14, a Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari said courts should not undermine the executive at a time when a collective effort was required to overcome the public health crisis. Can the court tell the Executive to get the formula (for vaccines) from companies abroad or decide the number of ventilators… These are times of crisis when everybody has to be cautious… Is this when the court should get into all this? Executive has the benefit of experts with their expert knowledge… We will hear submissions on how far constitutional courts should go into these matters… How much we should restrain ourselves, Justice Saran had observed orally. There are certain norms based on which every institution should function, Justice Maheshwari had noted. The oral remarks from the Division Bench hardly gel with the observations made under a sub-heading ‘Separation of Powers’ in the May judgment authored by Justice Chandrachud that a public health crisis like Covid-19 does not mean the Constitution should be kept away and forgotten by the government. The Justice Saran Bench was hearing an appeal by the Uttar Pradesh government against an Allahabad High Court order of May 17, which had described the medical system in smaller cities and villages of the State during the pandemic as Ram Bharose (at the mercy of the gods).

 

C) U.P. Assembly Elections: Mayawati tries to win support of Brahmins 

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati is again trying to win the support of the dominant Brahmin community ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2022, despite suffering repeated failures since 2012. On Sunday, Mayawati appealed to the community to take ‘inspiration’ from the Dalits and remain ‘firm’ in not falling for any lure or gimmicks deployed by other parties, especially the ruling BJP. Mayawati said she was ‘proud’ that the Dalit community, to which she belongs, did not fall for any amount of lure they were tempted with by other parties, especially the BJP in the last few elections. She claimed that the Dalits voted one-way for her despite attempts to mislead them with money, visits to their homes by BJP leaders, and khichdi (meal). To attract the community to her party and build consensus among them that their interests were secure only under a BSP government, Mayawati has deputed Satish Chandra Mishra, Rajya Sabha MP and Brahmin face of the BSP, to start a campaign with special meetings for the community starting July 23. The campaign will start from the politically-sensitive town of Ayodhya. In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BSP was reduced to 19 seats. It was a huge fall for the party since it came to power with a full majority in the 403-member Assembly in 2007. Mayawati admitted that the BSP did not win many seats in 2017 but stressed that her vote percentage did not fall that drastically. Our vote percentage was even more than the Samajwadi Party’s, she said. While the BSP secured over 22% votes, the SP, which contested less number of seats due to an alliance with the Congress, got around 21.8% though it won more than double the seats won by the BSP. Mayawati said the upper caste communities, especially Brahmins, were in distress in U.P. under the BJP rule. In the last election, she said, the Brahmins voted heavily in favour of the BJP and helped it secure a five-year-term in power. But she now feels that the Brahmins are now ‘repenting’ and would not be ‘mislead’ by the BJP again.

 

D) Midday meals result in better health for next generation, says study 

Girls who had access to the free lunches provided at government schools, had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not, says a new study on the inter-generational benefits of India’s midday meal scheme published in Nature Communications this week. Using nationally representative data on cohorts of mothers and their children spanning 23 years, the paper showed that by 2016, the prevalence of stunting was significantly lower in areas where the midday mean scheme was implemented in 2005. More than one in three Indian children are stunted, or too short for their age, which reflects chronic under nutrition. The fight against stunting has often focused on boosting nutrition for young children, but nutritionists have long argued that maternal health and well-being is the key to reduce stunting in their offspring. Noting that interventions to improve maternal height and education must be implemented years before those girls and young women become mothers, the study has attempted a first-of-its-kind inter-generational analysis of the impacts of a mass feeding programme. The paper was authored by a researcher from the University of Washington and economists and nutrition experts at the International Food Policy Research Institute. It found that the midday meal scheme was associated with 13-32% of India’s improvement in height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) between 2006 and 2016. The linkages between midday meals and lower stunting in the next generation were stronger in lower socio-economic strata and likely work through women’s education, fertility, and use of health services, said the paper. The midday meal scheme was launched in 1995 to provide children in government schools with a free cooked meal with a minimum energy content of 450 kcal, but only 6% of girls aged 6-10 years had benefited from the scheme in 1999. By 2011, with an expansion in budget, and state implementation following a Supreme Court order, coverage had grown to 46%. The study tracked nationally representative cohorts of mothers by birth year and socio-economic status to show how exposure to the scheme reduced stunting in their children.

 

E) Danish Siddiqui to be buried at Jamia Millia Islamia graveyard 

Slain photojournalist Danish Siddiqui will be laid to rest at the Jamia Millia Islamia graveyard, according to a statement released on July 18. Jamia Millia Islamia [JMI] Vice-Chancellor accepted the request of the family of late photojournalist Danish Siddiqui to bury his body at the JMI graveyard meant exclusively for university employees, their spouses and minor child, the university said in the statement. Siddiqui had done his masters from the university. His father Akhtar Siddiqui was the Dean of Faculty of Education there. Danish Siddiqui had studied at AJK Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC) from 2005 -2007. The Officiating Director of AJK MCRC said, Danish was one of the brightest stars in our hall of fame and a proactive alumnus who kept returning to his alma mater to share with students his work and experiences. We will miss him deeply but are determined to keep his memory alive. Professor Sabeena Gadihoke said his photographs were hard-hitting but he never compromised on the dignity of those within his frames. Danish had the unique ability to bestow a journalistic picture with empathy and to give dignity and grace to his subjects, she added.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Winds of change in Sri Lanka

From the time the pandemic struck last year, China has topped the charts in providing crucial and timely support to Sri Lanka, by way of over $2 billion in loans and a currency swap, not to mention Sinopharm vaccines totalling over a million in donation and about six million for procurement. However, China is curiously under more public scrutiny in the island nation than ever before. Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu’s correspondent in Colombo, explains this week what has changed in how Sri Lankans perceive their country’s relationship with China, and the significance of this perception shift. But how much that shift applies to the leadership is another question. In a rare diplomatic gesture last week, Sri Lanka issued a commemorative coin marking the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party. Newly appointed Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa leaves after signing documents during his swearing-in ceremony, in Colombo on July 8, 2021.  Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s leading political family, which has made no secret of its wishes to cultivate deeper ties with China, is expanding its hold over the country’s politics. Basil Rajapaksa, brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, was on Thursday sworn in as Sri Lanka’s Minister of Finance, becoming the fourth Rajapaksa brother and fifth member of the first family to enter the Cabinet. In this profile of the Rajapaksas, Meera Srinivasan examines the rise, fall, and rise again of this political family, and how they have managed to secure their grip on the island’s politics.

 

B) Because of Taliban’s claims, India to temporarily close its consulate in Kandahar

As the Taliban’s claims about taking Afghan territory grow, India has decided to temporarily close its consulate in Kandahar, sending a special Indian Air Force flight to evacuate about 50 diplomats and security personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) back to Delhi, government sources confirmed to The Hindu. Officials said the move was purely precautionary, and stemmed from reports that if the Taliban continue to push on to the southern city of Kandahar, which was their headquarters in the 1990s, the fighting in the city with Afghan Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) could get fierce. A day after The Hindu’s report, the Ministry of External Affairs said the move was a purely temporary measure in view of the fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces. The security situation in Kandahar continues to remain grim with fierce fighting going on.  India has been closely watching the situation in the Afghan cities of Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif. Operations at India’s other Consulates in Herat and Jalalabad were suspended in April 2020, when all Indian personnel were brought back to Delhi due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ahead of a full security review. Addressing a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said India is concerned at the direction of events in Afghanistan. The Taliban, meanwhile, claimed on Friday to be in control of 85% of Afghanistan after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan following a sweeping offensive launched as U.S. troops pulled out of the country. With U.S. troops almost completely out of Afghanistan and the Taliban making rapid territorial gains in the country, President Joe Biden said the U.S. was not in Afghanistan for nation-building purposes and that it was for the Afghans to decide their future. Mr. Biden also said that the U.S. military mission would conclude by August 31. In a rare diplomatic gesture, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar travelled to Tehran on Thursday, and called on Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, a month before he assumes office. Mr. Jaishankar made a transit halt in Tehran on his way to Moscow.