Tag: REET

NATIONAL NEWS 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

E) Akhilesh Yadav calls BJP the party with most goondagardi 

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

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

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

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

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

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

NATIONAL NEWS 

 

A) Yogi Adityanath’s move to control population

Following in Assam’s footsteps, whose Chief minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma, has been vocal in advocating population control for Muslims, the most populous state in India, Uttar Pradesh, is working towards a law that will restrict social welfare schemes, ration, government jobs and elections to local bodies, to those with two children, excluding all those who fail to conform to the two-child norm. The scheme of the state government finds an outlet in the controversial population draft law which has been prepared by the Uttar Pradesh Health Department based on the findings of the National Family Health Survey-4. On more than one occasion, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has publicly commented on the urgent need to control population growth. He had even tweeted two years ago that nuclear family is an expression of patriotism. The draft bill states that persons with more than two children after the enactment of the law shall be excluded from benefits of government-sponsored welfare schemes, will be barred from contesting election to local bodies, and shall be ineligible to apply for government jobs under the state government. They will be effectively barred from getting a promotion in a government job; their ration cards will be restricted to four members per family and he or she shall be ineligible to receive any kind of government subsidy. Control, stabilisation and welfare is what the law aims at, said the UP Law commission chairman A N Mittal. The introduction of the draft law which will be discussed has drawn the ire of opposition Samajwadi Party which said that the policy targets the second largest religious community, namely the Muslims, whose population accounts for 19.23 % of the state’s population. The proposed bill offers a slew of incentives to those with two children and these range from a soft housing loan, rebate on charges for utilities such as water, electricity, and house tax among other things. State Government employees who conform to the two-child norm will also get two additional increments during the entire service, maternity or paternity leave of 12 months with full salary and allowances and free health care facility and insurance coverage to the spouse. In addition, those with only a child will be entitled to free health care facilities and free insurance coverage to the single child till they turn 20, preference will be given to the single child in admission in all educational institutions, including IIMs and AIIMS, free education up to graduation level, scholarship for higher studies in case of a girl child and preference to a single child in government jobs. Public servants sticking to the one-child norm will be eligible for four additional increments in all apart from the incentives promised to the general public doing the same. The law, when it comes into force, will be applicable to all married couples in the state of Uttar Pradesh who have attained legal age of marriage. India was one of the first countries in the world to initiate a family planning programme, in 1952, aimed at lowering fertility and slowing the population growth rate.  State governments in the past, both Congress and the BJP, have tried to control population by incentivising those with two children and excluding those with more. India’s National Family Planning Programme is looking at reducing India’s overall fertility rate to 2.1 by 2025. Uttar Pradesh will be going to polls next year.

B) Milk gets more expensive

Leading milk supplier Mother Dairy has increased milk prices in Delhi-NCR and other cities by ₹ 2 per litre with effect from Sunday in all its outlets, citing rising input costs. Milk prices were last revised in December 2019. It may be recalled that milk cooperative Amul had hiked milk prices by Rs 2 per litre on July 1. Along with increase in Petrol prices selling at upwards of Rs 100  a litre and diesel hikes, to a rise in LPG prices, the burden on the common man has only increased. With the Opposition party, Congress declaring its intent of going on a nationwide campaign against rising fuel prices, concerns are that the hike in milk prices will only burn a hole in consumer’s pockets. Mother Dairy is available in over 100 cities and the price rise has been attributed to rising procurement costs which had gone up  by 8-10 % in the last one year, according to reports. Prices of Mother Dairy milk are also being revised across India east and central Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, Nagpur and Kolkata from July 11 onwards to the tune of ₹ 2/litre on the current prevailing MRP in respective markets, according to reports appearing in the press. Mother Dairy sells around 30 lakh litres of milk per day in Delhi-NCR, while the total sale is 35 lakh litre per day. As per the revised prices, token milk will be sold at ₹ 44 per litre from Sunday as against the current price of ₹ 42 per litre. Full cream milk poly pack will be available at ₹ 57 per litre up from ₹ 55 per litre now. Prices of toned milk has been revised to ₹ 47 from ₹ 45 per litre, while double toned milk rates have gone up to ₹ 41 from ₹ 39 per litre. Cow milk will cost ₹ 49 from Sunday as against ₹ 47 per litre now. Rates of half litre milk pouch have been increased by ₹ 1, which means an effective hike of ₹ 2 per litre.

C) Assam’s cow protection bill raises concern among its neighbours

Assam’s Cattle Preservation Bill has raised concerns among its immediate beef-eating neighbours, chief of whom, the state of Meghalaya has declared its intent off flagging its concerns with the Union Government. The Bill was introduced by Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma on July 7, who has said that the proposed legislation will seek to ban the movement of cattle to and from the State primarily to check cattle smuggling to Bangladesh.  The Bill will be placed before the State Assembly in the upcoming session and seeks to replace the existing Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950, that allows the slaughter of cattle above 14 years of age after approval from local veterinary officers. It will become an act, if passed by the state assembly .We will raise the issue not only with the Assam government but also the Centre if the law affects transit of cattle to Meghalaya from other States after studying the legislation, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said.  Sagma said the Meghalaya government had already discussed the Assam Bill with cattle-supplying states such as Bihar, Telangana and West Bengal. Transportation of cattle from these States to Meghalaya should not be a problem., Sagma said. All steps will be taken from our side to ensure that supply is not hampered because of the law to be passed by the Assam government,  Sangma said. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have legislations for the protection of cows and states like MP and UP have seen the brutal lynching of innocents by vigilante mobs on the suspicion of smuggling cattle. Very few arrests have been made in such cases.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) China evacuates citizens from Afghanistan

China evacuated 210 nationals from Afghanistan as U.S. troops stepped up their withdrawal from the war-torn nation, the airline that carried out the emergency chartered flight said. A Xiamen Airlines flight departed the capital Kabul for the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, on July 2 carrying Chinese citizens who had been stranded in Afghanistan, it said in a Thursday social media post. Among them were 22 people who were later confirmed to be infected with coronavirus, despite the airline taking top-notch epidemic prevention measures during the flight and upon landing, it added. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that recent returnees included coronavirus patients and called on all nationals to leave Afghanistan, without revealing further specifics of the evacuation flight. In order to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in Afghanistan, the Chinese government has reminded citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country as soon as possible and provided necessary assistance, its Consular Affairs Department said in a Wednesday social media post. Chinese health authorities reported 25 new imported coronavirus cases in Hubei province on Wednesday, 22 of which were from the Kabul flight. The flight was organised by the Chinese government, reported the state media tabloid Global Times. In recent weeks, Beijing has harshly criticised what it sees as a hasty and chaotic withdrawal by Washington. The U.S. disregards its responsibilities and duties and withdraws troops from Afghanistan hastily, dumping the mess and war on the Afghan people and countries in the region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a routine briefing Friday. The U.S., as the original culprit of the Afghan issue, bears unavoidable responsibility for the current situation in Afghanistan. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to discuss the deteriorating Afghan security situation with counterparts from Russia, India, Pakistan and numerous Central Asian countries at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation next week. The evacuation flight was hailed as a patriotic victory by Chinese social media users, with related trending hashtags gaining more than 300 million views on Weibo.

B) Afghanistan to rush troops to border as Taliban extend gains. 

Afghan authorities prepared on Saturday to try to retake a key border crossing seized by the Taliban in their sweeping offensive to capture new territory that led a veteran warlord to deploy his militiamen in the western city of Herat. As US troops continued their withdrawal, the Taliban said its fighters had seized two crossings in western Afghanistan completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China. It now holds 85 percent of the country, a Taliban official said, controlling about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts a claim impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government. Meanwhile Beijing, which has criticised Washington for its hasty withdrawal, urged its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible after evacuating 210 nationals. The complex and severe domestic security situation prompted the evacuation warning, the foreign ministry said. On Friday Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said their fighters had captured the town of Islam Qala on the Iranian frontier and the Torghundi crossing with Turkmenistan. A spokesman for the governor of Herat province said on Saturday the authorities were deploying fresh troops to retake the Islam Qala post, the biggest trade crossing between Iran and Afghanistan. They will be sent there soon, he said. The Afghan government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban’s gains as having little strategic value, but the seizure of multiple border crossings and the taxes they generate will likely fill the group’s coffers with new revenue. With the Taliban having routed much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, the government holds little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must largely be reinforced and resupplied by air. The air force was under severe strain even before the Taliban’s lightning offensive overwhelmed the government’s northern and western positions, putting further pressure on the country’s limited aircraft and pilots. The status quo is not an option, Biden said of staying in the country. I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan. Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future, but he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that would look like. Asked if a Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: No, it is not. Afghan commandos clashed with the insurgents this week in a provincial capital for the first time, with thousands of people fleeing Qala-i-Naw, in Badghis province.

NATIONAL NEWS 

 

A) Decision on Covaxin nod likely in 4-6 weeks, says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is likely to take a decision on including Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in its list of vaccines approved for Emergency Use, within four to six weeks, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, WHO said at a webinar organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). An Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the WHO is necessary for a vaccine company to supply vaccines to global facilities such as COVAX or international procurement. So far eight vaccines have got a EUL from the WHO. It is mandatory to supply a complete dossier listing safety, efficacy and manufacturing conditions of the vaccine to the WHO. I understand that Bharat Biotech is in this process and I think a decision on their case is likely in the next four to six weeks, said Swaminathan. The EUL assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, as well as risk management plans and programmatic suitability, such as cold chain requirements. The assessment is performed by the product evaluation group, composed by regulatory experts from around the world and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG), in charge of performing the risk-benefit assessment for an independent recommendation on whether a vaccine can be listed for emergency use and, if so, under what conditions. In late May, Bharat Biotech said it has submitted 90% of the data required for the pre-qualification process. Last Saturday, the firm publicised its long-awaited phase-3 trial efficacy data via a non-peer-reviewed pre-print publication, reporting an overall 77.8% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 based on analysis involving 25,800 volunteers. The two-dose vaccine was also 93.4% effective against severe disease and 63% protective against asymptomatic Covid-19. Moreover, it was 65% protective against the Delta variant of the coronavirus, the most widespread in India and linked to a rising number of cases in Europe as well as the United States. At Friday’s seminar, Dr. Swaminathan said that it was frustrating that countries were contemplating and testing booster doses for themselves when large parts of the world, especially Africa, hadn’t yet got vaccinated. The target was to have at least 10% of the world fully vaccinated by September and 40% by December. She said that it was unlikely that the world would be sufficiently protected at least until the next year and a half and ‘herd immunity’ was only likely when 80% had been vaccinated. So far only 5% of Indians have been fully vaccinated and only 21.8% have got at least one dose of the vaccine.

B) Opposition fears Cooperation Ministry is bid by Centre to ‘hijack’ cash-rich cooperatives, which fall under ambit of states

A row is about to erupt between the Treasury and Opposition benches in the Monsoon Session of Parliament that is set to start on July 19 over the Ministry of Cooperation formation, which was announced on July 5. The portfolio has been given to Home Minister Amit Shah after Wednesday’s Cabinet expansion. The government said the Ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country and do much to streamline the processes for ease of doing business and enable development of Multi-State Co-operative Banks (MSCBs). Significantly, the MSCBs have now been solely taken under the Reserve Bank of India for regulatory purposes. Opposition leaders, however, said the move was to hijack the cooperative movement that currently falls under the State governments. Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who was the former Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly — a State with a strong cooperative movement — told The Hindu that the move is planned to hijack the cooperative movement. They [the BJP] want total control of the cooperative movement across the country and that’s why they have made Amit Shah in charge of the Ministry. Cooperatives is a State subject under entry 32 of the State list under the Schedule 7 of the Constitution. How can they create a ministry without an Act of Parliament, Chennithala, a sitting lawmaker from Kerala, said. The cooperative model has been a source of political power in States such as Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. And many of these cash rich cooperatives are controlled by Opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, CPI(M) and the Congress in some of these States. The government is yet to explain the purpose and objective of this Ministry. And the appointment of Shah raises several questions, as it encroaches on a State’s power. Our party will raise this in Parliament, CPI general secretary D. Raja said. On Thursday, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that the move was taken with an eye on the cash reserves of the cooperative banks.

C) New IT rules: Supreme Court to hear govt.’s transfer plea on July 16

The Supreme Court on Friday listed for July 16 a government petition to transfer the cases challenging the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, from various High Courts to itself. A Bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna tagged the plea to a pending special leave petition titled ‘Justice for Rights Foundation versus Union of India’. Justice Khanwilkar said the case would be listed before an appropriate Bench on July 16. The government petition is likely to come up before a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. The ‘Justice for Rights Foundation’ case, pending before the Justice Chandrachud-led Bench, primarily concerns the regulation of content shown on over-the-top (OTT) platforms. The Bench has been examining the issue in the backdrop of the new IT Rules. On March 23 last, it stayed all proceedings in High Courts on the issue.

D) J&K will have reserved ST seats for the first time, says delimitation panel 

The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission on Friday said it would base its final report on the 2011 Census and also take into account the topography, difficult terrain, means of communication and convenience available while delimiting seven additional seats for the 83-member Assembly of the Union Territory (UT), besides granting reservation to the Schedule Tribe (ST) and Schedule Caste (SC) communities. Delimitation is not a mathematical exercise. It must reflect the political aspirations of society bound in a particular geography. Though the population forms the base [for delimitation], the commission shall take into account constituencies’ practicality, geographical compatibility, topography, physical features, means of communication and convenience available, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said, after the three-member panel completed its four-day consultation tour of J&K. The earlier delimitation panels did not acknowledge the difficult terrains and people’s difficulties, he pointed out. Chandra clarified that 24 seats reserved for Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) would not be delimited in this process. The commission will also specify the number of seats to be reserved for the SC and the ST in the Legislative Assembly of the UT. It will be for the first time that seats will be reserved for the ST in J&K, he noted. J&K has already seven seats reserved for SC people, mainly in the Kathua-Samba belt in the Jammu region. It will be for the first time that STs, including Bakerwals and Gujjars, will get reservation in this delimitation exercise. The maximum population of Gujjars and Bakwerwals are from the PirPanjal Valley, comprising Poonch and Rajouri districts in the Jammu region. On the process of arriving at a final draft, Chandra said the commission had taken into account the representations made by 290 groups, comprising 800 people. A draft report will be prepared, wherein the suggestions of the associate members will also be taken into account. Thereafter, it will be in the public domain for a consensus. Only after the fresh comments, the final draft will be prepared. Opportunity will be given to people at large to take into account all the views, he stated. Most of J&K’s political parties, during the meetings with the panel, have stressed on immediate restoration of statehood after the new constituencies are delineated by the panel.

E) Won’t compel users to accept new privacy policy, WhatsApp tells Delhi HC

Whatsapp told the Delhi High Court on Friday that till the data protection bill comes into force, it would not compel users to opt for its new privacy policy as it has been put on hold. Whatsapp also clarified before bench of Chief justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that it would not limit the functionality for users who are not opting for new privacy policy in the meantime. Appearing for the instant messaging platform, Senior Advocate Harish Salve said, We voluntarily agreed to put it (the policy) on hold… we will not compel people to accept. Salve said that Whatsapp would nonetheless continue to display the update to its users. The court is hearing the appeals of Facebook and its firm WhatsApp against the single-judge order refusing to stop the competition regulator CCI’s order directing a probe into WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) ‘Legitimacy aspect’ of who should rule Afghanistan should not be ignored, says Jaishankar

Voicing concern over the spiralling violence in Afghanistan, India said on Friday that the legitimacy aspect of who should rule the war-torn country is of importance and should not be ignored as it called for immediate reduction in violence there. Of course we are concerned at the direction of events in Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said while responding to a question during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. His remarks came in the midst of Taliban militants seizing dozens of districts in recent weeks and are now thought to control about a third of the country, ahead of the withdrawal of U.S. and Western troops from Afghanistan by September 11. Under a deal with the Taliban, the U..S and its NATO allies agreed to withdraw all troops in return for a commitment by the militants that they would prevent extremist groups from operating in areas they control. The point right now we stress is that we must see a reduction in violence. Violence cannot be the solution for the situation in Afghanistan, Jaishankar said. At the end of the day, who governs Afghanistan has a legitimacy aspect to it. I think that is something which cannot and should not be ignored, said Jaishankar, who is in Russia on a three-day visit. For more than 30 years, there have been international conferences, there have been groups, there have been formats to discuss how to stabilise and bring about peace in Afghanistan, he said, adding that the reason is because it has proven implications for regional security and regional stability. If we have to seek peace within Afghanistan and around, it’s important for India and Russia to work together to ensure that much of the progress in economic, social terms are maintained. We are committed to an independent, sovereign and democratic Afghanistan, he said. India, a major stakeholder in the peace and stability of Afghanistan, has been supporting a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. The U.S. and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on February 29, 2020 after multiple rounds of negotiations to bring lasting peace in war-torn Afghanistan and allow U.S. troops to return home from America’s longest war.

B) Oil prices firm as U.S. inventories decline.

Oil prices rose for a second day on Friday as data showed a draw in U.S. inventories but were heading for a weekly loss amid uncertainty over global supplies after an OPEC+ impasse. Brent crude oil futures were up 36 cents, or 0.5%, at $74.48 a barrel by 1220 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up 54 cents, or 0.7%, at $73.48. Prices on both sides of the Atlantic were on track for a more than 2% weekly drop, dragged down by the collapse of output talks between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, together known as OPEC+. U.S. crude and gasoline stocks fell and gasoline demand reached its highest since 2019, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, signalling increasing strength in the economy. A bullish EIA stock report helped the oil market rebound into the black, said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM. Clearly, U.S. oil markets are tight. However, the only way to prevent further losses is for the threat of an OPEC+price war to be contained.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) SC grants bail to 13 who were in jail for two decades despite proving juvenility.

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim bail to 13 prisoners who have languished in Agra Jail over two decades despite proving their juvenility at the time of the commission of the crime. A Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and V. Ramasubramanian allowed them bail when the government of Uttar Pradesh did not raise any objection. The petition filed through advocate Rishi Malhotra had highlighted the unfortunate and sorry state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh, where many prisoners continued to languish in jail despite proving their claim of juvenility. An accused can raise a claim of juvenility at any stage of a criminal trial or even any time after his conviction and sentence for a crime. If the claim is found true, the court should maintain the conviction, but set aside the sentence and forward the case to the Juvenile Justice Board. A juvenile can be punished only for a maximum period of three years. According to the petition, there were clear and unchallenged rulings from the Juvenile Justice Board declaring the 13 prisoners as juveniles at the time of commission of their crime. Yet no steps have been taken to release them forthwith. The miseries are further compounded by the fact that these petitioners who are languishing in Agra Central Jail have already undergone judicial incarceration for periods ranging from 14 to 22 years, the petition said. Malhotra said they had spent years in hardcore jails among hardcore criminals. This completely negates the purpose and objects of Juvenile Justices Act, the petition said. The petition argued that a delay in raising the ground of juvenility could not be a reason to let them languish behind bars for years. The claim could be raised even at the stage of advanced appeal before the Supreme Court. The delay in raising the claim of juvenility cannot be a ground for rejection of such claim. The claim of juvenility can be raised in appeal even if not pressed before the trial court and can be raised for the first time before the Supreme Court, though not pressed before the trial court and in the appellate court, the petition referred to 2012 judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue.

B) Facebook ought to appear before Delhi House panel: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said Facebook ought to appear before the Delhi Legislative Assembly Committee of Peace and Harmony enquiring into the circumstances leading to the February 2020 communal riots. Investigation of a socially complicated problem was within the domain of the legislature, it noted.The judgment pronounced by Justice S.K. Kaul, however, said the committee cannot behave like a prosecution agency trying to probe whether Facebook was innocent or guilty of anything. The court said the committee cannot delve into prohibited zones of law and order and criminal prosecution. These were the domains of the Centre. Besides, courts were already seized of the criminal trials of the accused in the riots. The official representing the social media giant need not respond to questions from the committee on these domains. The court criticised the Delhi government side for its remarks in the Press about Facebook in connection with the riots. The statements made in the Press conference by respondents were hardly conducive to the proceedings before the committee, the court stated in its verdict. The judgment was reserved in February last. The case concerns a petition filed by Facebook India head Ajit Mohan against summons issued to him by the committee. He had challenged the summons and the threat of breach of privilege posed by the panel if he refused to testify about any role played by social media platforms in the events leading up to the riots. The apex court found Mohan’s petition premature. The court agreed with the Delhi Assembly that he had been summoned for his assistance in dealing with a social problem. He had not been subjected to any coercive action. The court also recognised the polarising effect of social media. Mohan had urged the court to recognise his right to silence as a virtue in these noisy times.

C) Twitter appoints India compliance executive, yet to fill other roles to meet IT rules.

Twitter Inc’s India unit has appointed an interim chief compliance officer and said it will soon designate two other executives to comply with the country’s new IT rules, the social media giant said in a court filing on Thursday. The IT rules are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making them more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. The Centre said in a court filing earlier this week that Twitter no more enjoys liability protection against user-generated content in India as the U.S. microblogging giant has failed to comply with the new rules. The filing came in a case against Twitter by a user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said the company was not complying with the new IT rules, which became effective end-May and also require the appointment of certain new executives. Twitter will try to fill the nodal contact person’s job on an interim basis within 2 weeks and would appoint an interim grievance officer on or before July 11, the company said in the June 8 filing. It has posted job openings for all three positions and will try to make an offer of employment to resident Indians, as asked by rules, within 8 weeks, Twitter said. The California-based company is setting up a liaison office in India, it aadded Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said anyone working in India needs to follow the rules and laws of the country. Vaishnaw, who was inducted into the Cabinet on Wednesday, took charge of his three ministries – Electronics and IT, Communications and Railways, on Thursday. He is a former IAS officer of the 1994-batch and has previously held leadership roles across major global companies such as General Electric. Law of land is supreme, Twitter must follow the rules, the IT Minister said on his first day in the office.

D) Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh passes away. 

Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and veteran Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passed away after prolonged illness on Thursday in Shimla. He was 87 years old. The six-time Chief Minister, who had twice recovered from Covid-19 in the past three months and remained under observation at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), was placed on ventilator support after he suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this week. Dr. Janak Raj, Senior Medical Superintendent, IGMC, said Singh passed away following multi-organ failure in the early hours of Thursday. The State government declared three days mourning from July 8 to July 10 as a mark of respect to Singh. He will be cremated at Rampur, his native place, on July 10. Singh was a nine-time MLA was elected to the State Legislative Assembly for the first time in October 1983. He remained Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh from April 8, 1983 to March 5, 1990; December 3, 1993 to March 23, 1998; from March 6, 2003 to December 29, 2007; and from December 25, 2012 to December 26, 2017. He was at present MLA from the Arki Assembly constituency in Solan district. Singh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962 and in all, he was a five-time MP.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Spectators to be banned from Olympic venues; Tokyo under virus emergency from July 12.

Spectators will be banned from Olympic venues in Tokyo because of a virus state of emergency, Japan’s Olympic minister announced on Thursday, meaning the Games will happen mostly behind closed doors. We reached an agreement on no spectators at venues in Tokyo, Tamayo Marukawa said, after talks involving local and national government officials, organisers and Olympic and Paralympic chiefs. Most Olympic competition will happen in Tokyo, but a few events will be held outside the Japanese capital. Marukawa said that, in other areas, organisers would decide on concrete measures for spectators after discussions with each local governor. The public has already been asked to stay away from the marathon, which is being held in the northern Hokkaido region to beat Tokyo’s summer heat. And large parts of the torch relay traversing the country have also been held behind closed doors because of virus concerns. The spectator decision comes after Japan’s government said on Thursday that Tokyo would be under a virus state of emergency from July 12 to August 22. The measure is much looser than harsh lockdowns seen elsewhere, but comes with infections rising in the capital and concern about the increased prevalence of the Delta variant.

B) Cairn Energy claims order to attach 20 Indian properties in Paris

The Cairn Energy dispute with India over the settlement of a $1.2 billion award from The Hague took a dramatic turn on Thursday, with the company saying it had secured a French court order allowing it to freeze at least 20 Indian properties in Central Paris. However, the government denied all knowledge of the award. It said it had filed an appeal against the tribunal decision of the Permanent Court at The Hague delivered in December 2020. Government is trying to ascertain the facts, and whenever such an order is received, appropriate legal remedies will be taken, in consultation with its Counsels, to protect the interests of India, a Finance Ministry statement said. Earlier, a Cairn Energy spokesperson had told The Hindu that the ball is in India’s court to stop the enforcement proceedings of assets. Our strong preference remains an agreed, amicable settlement with the Government of India to draw this matter to a close, and to that end we have submitted a detailed series of proposals to them since February this year, the spokesperson said in a statement. However, in the absence of such a settlement, Cairn must take all necessary legal actions to protect the interests of its international shareholders, the statement added. According to sources, the award by the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris was the necessary preparatory step to taking ownership of the properties and ensuring all proceeds from the sale of the properties would be accrued to Cairn Energy PLC as part of its efforts to enforce the award from The Hague delivered in December last in Cairn’s favour. While the Paris properties are estimated to yield about $23 million, Cairn sources had told The Hindu that they have identified assets worth about $70 billion in several jurisdictions that they could potentially attach through court orders. Cairn lawyers have registered The Hague award in courts in at least 10 jurisdictions, including the U.S., the U.K., Netherlands, Canada , France, Singapore, Japan, the UAE and even the Cayman Islands. In June, Cairn lawyers had approached the court in the Southern District of New York, making the plea that Air India should be made liable for the outstanding settlement, and said that other state-owned corporations could be targeted as well. The government has until next week to file its challenge in that court. Government has already filed an application on March 22, 2021 to set aside the December 2020 international arbitral award in The Hague Court of Appeal. Government of India will vigorously defend its case in Set Aside proceedings at The Hague, the Finance Ministry asserted on Thursday. Despite the snowballing dispute, both the government and Cairn Energy said they were open to continuing talks over the issue. In December, the three-member tribunal in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled unanimously against the retrospective tax levied by India on Cairn in 2015, ruling that the tax fell afoul of the bilateral investment pact.

NATIONAL NEWS 

 

A) 43 Ministers take oath following Cabinet expansion

The long anticipated reshuffle and expansion of the Union Cabinet got over today as 43 Ministers took oath at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. This is the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019. The PM inducted Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane and Jyotiraditya Scindia as Cabinet ministers while dropping almost a dozen ministers. Modi’s Cabinet now has 78 ministers. Among the new faces in the Cabinet are BJP leaders Bhupendra Yadav and Meenakshi Lekhi, Tamil Nadu BJP President L Murugan, John Barla, a prominent voice from north Bengal, and Shoba Karandlaje, vice-president of the BJP in Karnataka. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, ahead of the Cabinet expansion, several ministers, including many seniors, tendered their resignations to pave way for new faces. The incumbents who resigned include Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Information and Broadcasting Minsiter Prakash Javadekar. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot, who has been appointed as Governor of Karnataka, has also resigned. Education Minister Ramesh Pohriyal ‘Nishank’, under whose leadership the National Education Policy was released, has also quit citing health reasons. Mr. Nishank, who tested positive for Covid-19 on April 21, was admitted to AIIMS in June again following post-Covid complications. Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, has stepped down. Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar confirmed to The Hindu that he has also quit. Minister of State for Woman and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri has also resigned, and so have junior ministers Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Ratan Lal Kataria and Raosaheb Danve. Asansol MP and Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Babul Supriya has also tendered his resignation.

B) PTI challenges new IT rules in Delhi High Court.

India’s largest news agency, Press Trust Of India (PTI), has approached the Delhi High Court, challenging the 2021 Information Technology (IT) Rules. It said the Central government was attempting to regulate digital news media. A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice J.R. Midha issued notice to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on the petition. The court tagged the plea to be heard along with similar petitions filed by several online news outlets against the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on August 20. PTI has challenged the constitutional validity of the rules as it purports to regulate publishers of news and current affairs content, particularly digital news portals, by imposing sweeping government oversight and a vaguely worded ‘Code of Ethics’. The plea argued that the IT Rules would usher in an era of surveillance and fear, thereby resulting in self-censorship, which results in abridgment/ violation of Fundamental Rights as enshrined under Part III of the Constitution of India. The rules were notified on February 25, 2021. PTI said the rules enabled the government to virtually dictate content to digital news portals, and squarely violate media freedom. They introduce digital portals with ‘news and current affairs content’ as a specific and targeted class to be subject to regulation by a loose-ranging ‘Code of Ethics’, and to be consummately overseen by Central Government officers, all of which is violative of the Constitution. The news agency observed that the rules went beyond the object and scope of the IT Act, as the content to be regulated by the IT Act, as offences, was limited to sexually explicit material, child pornography, showing private parts of individuals, cyber terrorism, etc. to be prosecuted and tried by normal courts. The petition drew the distinction between news outlets and intermediaries such as social media platforms. Intermediaries were immunised from the consequences of the content hosted by them, and hence they may need to be separately regulated, it stated. PTI, being in the business or practice of news and journalism, was not an intermediary, it said. The Petitioner (PTI) seeks no safe harbour and is not entitled to any safe harbour provisions for the content that it hosts and publishes and it takes full responsibility for the content it publishes, it noted.

C) Former union minister R Kumaramangalam’s wife Kitty murdered at her home in Delhi

Kitty Kumaramangalam, wife of late former Union Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, was murdered in a robbery attempt at her residence in South West Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 night. The accused has been arrested, police said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Ingit Pratap Singh said that the accused has been identified as Raju, 24, who was the victim’s washerman. Police said that the accused visited the house around 9 p.m.. As soon as the domestic help opened the door, she was overpowered and confined in a room. Two men then entered and assaulted Kitty, following which the accused smothered her with a pillow. DCP Singh said that briefcases were found opened at the crime spot. Police said Raju has been arrested and a lookout is on for two of his accomplices. Mr. Singh said that the accused Raju was handed over a bag by his two associates after the robbery and when he opened it, only clothes were found inside. It appears that the two made a fool of him as well, Mr. Singh said, adding that they’re yet to ascertain details because the two are yet to be arrested.

D) Calcutta High Court judge recuses himself from hearing Mamata’s election petition

Calcutta High Court Justice Kaushik Chanda on Wednesday recused himself from hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election petition on the Nandigram poll results. The matter will now be assigned to a new Bench. The Chief Minister had filed the petition in June, alleging irregularities in the counting process in the Nandigram Assembly election held in 2021. The matter came for hearing before Justice Chanda. Ms. Banerjee had urged the judge to recuse himself from hearing the petition alleging that the judge had links with the BJP. During the hearing, Ms. Banerjee’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi had referred to numerous cases where justice Chanda had represented the BJP as a counsel. Justice Chanda, however, imposed a cost of ₹5 lakh on Ms. Banerjee for maligning the image of the judge. Several Trinamool Congress leaders had publicly made statements alleging that Justice Chanda had links with the BJP. The sum of ₹5 lakhs will be set aside for the welfare of Covid-19 victims. Ms. Banerjee lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram poll with a narrow margin of 1,956 votes.

E) Indemnity issues hold up U.S. vaccine doses donation to India.

More than a month after the U.S. announced the donation of 80 million doses of American-made Covid-19 vaccines to dozens of countries including India, and Vice-President Kamala Harris called Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convey the decision, the vaccines are being held up by regulatory issues over indemnity, Indian and U.S. officials confirmed. According to the officials, the demand by the U.S. companies, including Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson to be granted an indemnity or waiver of liability has yet to be resolved for commercial distribution, which is also holding up the donations from the U.S. Since June 3, the U.S. has already distributed 40 million doses to about 12 countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh. The delay is not from the U.S. side, an American Embassy spokesperson said to queries about the fact that the shipments are yet to be announced. India has determined that it needs further time to review legal provisions related to accepting vaccine donations. Once India works through its legal process, our donation of vaccines to India will proceed expeditiously. The MEA declined to comment on the issue, directing queries to the Ministry of Health. Health Secretary Bharat Bhushan told The Hindu that the specific provisions of indemnification are still under discussion, indicating that not only are the U.S. vaccine donations on hold for the moment, but also that a cloud of doubt hangs over the delivery of Moderna vaccines, which have already received Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in India. The first consignment of Moerna vaccines was due to arrive this week. Last month, the U.S. announced the distribution of 80 million doses of American made vaccines as part of its COVID-19 Global Response and Recovery Framework. The countries that have received the U.S. donations so far include South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, Honduras, Colombia, Pakistan, Peru, Ecuador, Malaysia, & Bangladesh. Other nations like Sri Lanka received the first batch of an expected five million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines that are being funded by the World Bank, while Maldives had earlier received Pfizer vaccines through the international COVAX alliance. Before we can ship doses, each country must complete its own domestic set of operational, regulatory, and legal processes that are specific to each country, the U.S. Embassy spokesperson said, in an explanation of how other countries had received their doses.

F) Legendary actor Dilip Kumar dies at 98 due to prolonged illness

Dilip Kumar, India’s enduring film legend through the decades, died at a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday after prolonged illness, his family and doctors treating him said. He was 98. The actor, known to generations of film-goers as ‘tragedy king’ for his portrayal of the brooding, intense romantic in classics such as Mughal-e-Azam and Devdas, had been admitted to the Hinduja Hospital, a non-Covid-19 facility in Khar, since last Tuesday. He passed away due to prolonged illness at 7.30 a.m., Dr. Jalil Parkar, who had been treating Kumar, told PTI. The Hindi cinema veteran, the last of the golden troika with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, was admitted to hospital last month following episodes of breathlessness. He was then diagnosed with bilateral pleural effusion, a build-up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lungs, and underwent a successful pleural aspiration procedure. He was discharged after five days only to be admitted to the hospital again. Kumar, born Yousuf Khan and often known as the Nehruvian hero, did his first film, Jwar Bhata, in 1944 and his last, Qila, in 1998, 54 years later. The five-decade career included Mughal-e-Azam, Devdas, Naya Daur, and Ram Aur Shyam, and later, as he graduated to character roles, Shakti and Karma.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Megaship heads out of Suez after Egypt deal. 

Egyptian authorities announced the release on Wednesday of a hulking shipping vessel that had blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week in March after running aground. The m.v. Ever Given left the canal’s Great Bitter Lake, where it had been held for more than three months amid a financial dispute. The development came after its Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd ., reached a settlement with canal authorities over a compensation amount following weeks of negotiations and a court stand-off. The settlement deal was signed in a ceremony on Wednesday in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, after which the vessel was seen sailing to the Mediterranean Sea. The company said the vessel would undergo a dive survey in Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Port Said, before resuming her voyage to the next port where her cargo will be discharged. Officials did not reveal details on the terms of the settlement. At first, the Suez Canal Authority had demanded $916 million in compensation, which was later lowered to $550 million. In addition to the money, local reports said the canal would also receive a tugboat. The money, according to canal authorities, would cover the salvage operation, costs of stalled canal traffic, and lost transit fees for the six days the ship had blocked the crucial waterway.

B) Amnesty, Citizen Lab launch online platform to map the use of Pegasus spyware to target activists, jouwaterway

An online database about the use of the spyware Pegasus was recently launched by the Forensic Architecture, the Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab to document attacks against human rights defenders. In a statement on July 3, Amnesty said the interactive platform — Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror — showed the connections between ‘digital violence’ of Pegasus spyware and the real-world harms lawyers, activists, and other civil society figures face. Amnesty said NSO Group, which makes the spyware, was a major player in the shadowy surveillance company and Pegasus had been used in some of the most insidious digital attacks on human rights activists in the world. The spyware enabled an attacker to get complete access to a person’s phone, including contacts, calls, camera and messages, it said. The investigation reveals the extent to which the digital domain we inhabit has become the new frontier of human rights violations, a site of state surveillance and intimidation that enables physical violations in real space, said Shourideh C. Molavi, Forensic Architecture’s researcher-in-charge. The platform, available at digitalviolence.org, lists out targets of the spyware in India, which include activists Bela Bhatia and Anand Teltumbde. In 2020, Amnesty and Citizen Lab had revealed that the spyware was used on nine human rights defenders who were accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. The spyware campaign…targeted lawyers and activists Nihalsing B. Rathod, Degree Prasad Chouhan, Yug Mohit Choudhary, and Ragini Ahuja; academics Partho Sarothi Ray and P.K. Vijayan, a journalist who prefers to stay anonymous, and a human rights collective – Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JAGLAG), received malicious e-mails on the group’s official ID, which is accessed by all of its members, including lawyer Shalini Gera. Another JAGLAG member, Isha Khandelwal also received malicious emails on her personal account, a blog post by Amnesty on June 15, 2020, said

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Union Cabinet reshuffle likely this week.

The long anticipated reshuffle and expansion of the Union Cabinet is likely to take place this week, according to highly placed sources. The expansion, with 24 slots to fill and multiple ministries held by a single minister to be decoupled, has been talked about for a while now. The reshuffle is most likely to be announced either on July 7 or July 9. Several shoo-ins in the Union Cabinet a leader from north-central India who is owed a ministerial berth as a political quid pro quo, and a leader from eastern India have both cancelled their travel plans and have been asked to be in Delhi on those dates. Sources in the BJP said the Cabinet expansion will also affect the organisational appointments in the party as a senior general secretary of the BJP is expected to get a Cabinet berth. Government sources were largely mum but did say that inductions will be taking into account needs of States going to the polls in next year, including from Uttar Pradesh, where NDA ally Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal is likely to be inducted. Multiple ministries are currently being handled by one minister or other there are four such clusters of ministries that need to be redistributed and the Cabinet reshuffle exercise is likely to address that issue, said a source. According to the Constitution, the number of ministers in the Union council of ministers cannot exceed more than 15% of total Lok Sabha MPs. This puts the number of ministerial slots empty as of now at 24 — a sizeable number. Whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fill the slots in one go or just restrict it to some necessary inclusions like that of Jyotiraditya Scindia who joined the BJP last year and helped topple the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government, is yet to be seen. As of now Scindia and former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who gave way to Himanta Biswa Sarma after his government was voted back to power in Assam seem to be the strongest candidates in the list of inclusions.

 

B) Release all 15 Bhima Koragaon case co-accused pending trial: UNHR chief

All 15 co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon case should be released pending trial, said the United Nations Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday, as she expressed concern over the death of 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal activist Stan Swamy in custody. The statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which follows similar concerns from the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and the European Union (E.U.) Human Rights Chief on Monday, said Bachelet was ‘disturbed’ and ‘saddened’ by the news of Swamy’s death, and called on the Indian government to ensure that no one is detained for exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly and of association. High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and the U.N.’s independent experts have repeatedly raised the cases of Father Stan and 15 other human rights defenders associated with the same events with the government of India over the past three years and urged their release from pre-trial detention, said the statement issued by the OHCHR spokesperson. The High Commissioner has also raised concerns over the use of the UAPA in relation to human rights defenders, a law Father Stan was challenging before Indian courts days before he died, the rights agency said, making a particular mention of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), that allows authorities to detain suspects without charging them, and allows courts to hold them without bail. In light of the continued, severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is even more urgent that States, including India, release every person detained without a sufficient legal basis, including those detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views. This would be in line with the Indian judiciary’s calls to decongest the prisons, the OHCHR statement said. Several international human rights agencies have expressed concern over the custodial death of Swamy and his treatment at the Taloja Jail, where he was kept despite suffering from the debilitating Parkinson’s disease, and was shifted to hospital only on May 29 this year. His interim bail hearing was in progress in the Bombay High Court on Monday when news of his death was announced.

 

C) Opposition writes to President seeking accountability for Stan Swamy’s death

Ten Opposition parties have urged President Ramnath Kovind to act against those responsible for foisting false cases on human rights activist Fr. Stan Swamy for his continued detention in jail and alleged inhuman treatment resulting in his death. The signatories to a letter to the President include Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader Deve Gowda, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, his West Bengal and Jharkhand counterparts Mamata Banerjee and Hemant Soren respectively, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, NC leader Dr. Farooq Abdullah, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and his CPI counterpart D. Raja. The Opposition parties said they were writing to express their deep anguish and to express intense grief and outrage at the death of Fr. Swamy, who was jailed last October under the UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act] in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. The 84-year-old Jesuit priest was working with Adivasis in Jharkhand. The Opposition pointed out that he was denied treatment for his various ailments, including Parkinson’s. It was only after a nationwide campaign was conducted that even a sipper to drink liquids was made available to him in jail, they said. Numerous appeals made to shift him out of the overcrowded Taloja jail that had seen a huge rise in Covid-19 cases were not heard and his bail plea too was rejected. It was only on the intervention of the Bombay High Court that he was admitted to a private hospital, where his condition started deteriorating after he contracted Covid-19. And this step came too late, the Opposition alleged. We are urging your immediate intervention as the President of India to direct ‘your government’ to act against those responsible for foisting false cases on him, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment. They must be held accountable, the letter said. The Opposition parties urged the government to release forthwith all those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and other detenues under ‘politically motivated’ cases misusing draconian laws like UAPA and Sedition.

 

D) Delhi HC gives Twitter two days to come up with timeline for appointing Grievance Officer

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday gave two days’ time to Twitter to come up with a specific timeline for appointing a Grievance Officer in compliance with India’s new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021. It’s been more than two weeks…If the interim Grievance Officer ran away on June 21, the least Twitter was expected to do was to appoint a fresh officer in these 14 days before the matter came up today, Justice Rekha Palli remarked. Twitter admitted that it was currently not in compliance with the 2021 IT Rules as it was in the process of appointing its Grievance Officer and the Nodal Officer. How long does the process of appointing a Grievance Officer take? If Twitter thinks it can take as much time as it wants in our country, I will not permit that, Justice Palli cautioned the micro-blogging site. Justice Palli directed Twitter’s counsel to come up with a clear picture of the compliance timeline by July 8, the next date of hearing. Otherwise you [Twitter] are in trouble, the judge warned.

 

E) Amarinder meets Sonia amid infighting in Punjab Congress, says her decisions will be acceptable

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence here amid infighting in the state unit, and said whatever decisions she takes on changes in the organisation and the government will be acceptable to him, PTI reported. The meeting was part of the party leadership’s efforts to end factionalism in the poll-bound state. It lasted around 90 minutes and the two leaders discussed governance and political matters. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was present during the meeting, along with senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who headed the party panel set up to resolve the in-fighting in the Punjab Congress. The meeting assumed significance as the party high command has been trying to resolve the internal rift in the Punjab unit of the Congress and there is talk of its revamp, with just months to go for the assembly polls. Congress leader and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, attacking him on issues like the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and the subsequent police firing on protesters. After his meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Singh told reporters, Whatever decision the Congress president takes, we will implement it in Punjab. The decisions taken by the Congress chief on anything — the party and the government — will be acceptable. He said the party was all geared up for the assembly elections in the state, slated for early next year. Singh’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi came days after Sidhu had met former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

 

F) CBSE to make ‘surprise’ inspections, verify schools’ preparation of Class 10, 12 results to ensure there is no bias

CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) officials will conduct surprise inspections of the school committees preparing this year’s Class 10 and 12 results, and will inspect the Rationale document that is meant to ensure that the mark determination process is being done in an objective manner. CBSE’s controller of examinations Sanyam Bhardwaj has written to all regional offices asking them to complete such inspections by July 12. In the letter sent on Tuesday, Dr. Bhardwaj asked senior officers of the CBSE’s regional offices to visit schools under their jurisdiction as a top priority in order to verify the work done by the schools and ensure that the board’s result tabulation policy is being implemented effectively. In order to have actual information of the result work of the schools, it may be ensured that while visiting the schools, no prior intimation be given to the schools and only sudden inspection is carried out, said the letter. The official visiting the school may also sign on documents inspected, especially Rationale documents, it added. The CBSE Tabulation Policy for Class 12 marks gives a lot of discretion to school results committees to assign and even revise marks of individual students in order to ensure they align with the school’s historical performance. In order to reduce the possibility of bias, each panel must include two external members and also record the justification for all its decisions in a Rationale document, Dr. Bhardwaj had told. CBSE officials were being asked to take pictures of all the documents they inspected during their surprise visits and include it in a point-wise report to be submitted to Dr. Bhardwaj by July 12. Schools would be chosen for inspection so that all categories of schools — government, private, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas — were covered, said the letter.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Wreckage of Russian plane found. 

Wreckage from a plane that went missing on Tuesday in Russia’s Far East region of Kamchatka was found. Around 5 km (three miles) away from a runway at an airport on the coast where it was supposed to land, officials said. The plane belonged to a company called Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise and had been in operation since 1982, Russian state news agency Tass reported. The company’s director, Alexei Khabarov, told Interfax that the plane was technically sound before taking off in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. A criminal investigation into the incident has been launched. Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise’s deputy director, Sergei Gorb, said that the plane practically crashed into a sea cliff, which wasn’t supposed to be in its landing trajectory. The plane was on approach for landing when contact was lost about 10 km (six miles) away from Palana’s airport. The head of the local government in Palana, Olga Mokhireva, was aboard the flight, spokespeople of the Kamchatka government said. In 2012, an Antonov An-28 plane belonging to Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise crashed into a mountain while flying from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk and coming in for a landing in Palana. A total of 14 people were on board and 10 of them were killed. Both pilots, who were among the dead, were found to have alcohol in their blood, Tass reported.

 

B) U.K. court quashes 1972 convictions of 3 black men. 

Appeal court judges in London on Tuesday overturned the convictions of three black men for attempting to rob a corrupt police officer nearly half a century ago. The Court of Appeal cleared the trio following a referral by a criminal cases review commission, and comes just over a year after the acquittals of four men in a similar case. The latest ruling is the third time convictions have been overturned based on the tarnished evidence of discredited British Transport Police officer Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell. The three men – all aged between 17 and 20 at the time – and three friends wereaccused of trying to rob Ridgewell in 1972 on the London Underground while travelling from Stockwell station, south London. All bar one of The Stockwell Six were convicted, largely on the word of the corrupt officer, who himself was jailed for seven years and died of a heart attack in prison in 1982. At their trial, the accusedtoldjurorsthat officers, including RidGewell, who had previously served in the South Rhodesian,now Zimbabwean, police force, had lied and subjected them to violence and threats. It is most unfortunate that it has taken nearly 50 years to rectify the injustice, Julian Flaux, one of the three judges to hear the case, said on Tuesday. The two remaining members of the Stockwell Six who were convicted have not yet been traced. Lawyers for the men said it was deeply troubling that it had taken so long for the convictions to be overturned.