Tag: REET

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Adivasi rights activist Fr. Stan Swamy dies in custody

Father Stan Swamy, 84, a Jesuit priest who had campaigned for the democratic and land rights of Jharkhand’s adivasis for over five decades, passed away today at 1.24 p.m in Mumbai. Dr. Ian D’Souza, medical director of the Holy Family Hospital where Fr. Swamy was admitted, told a division bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar of the Bombay High Court that Fr. Swamy had a pulmonary infection, following post-Covid-19 complications in the lungs and pneumonia. He also had Parkinson’s disease. Dr. D’souza said Fr. Swamy had suffered a cardiac arrest on July 4 at 4.30 a.m. He was put on a ventilator, and he never regained consciousness. Senior advocate Mihir Desai, representing Fr. Swamy, said, We have no grievance against the hospital. However, we cannot say the same thing about the National Investigation Agency [NIA] and State authorities. I am seeking judicial custody into this as there was a delay of 10 days in taking him to the hospital from jail. The Bench said, With all humility at our command, this is a shocking news. We passed that order, to take him to the hospital of his choice. We have no words to express our condolences. But since the doctor informed us here, so remaining matter on any other date we will hear. Desai said the NIA did not seek his custody even for a day and he was sent to the Taloja Jail as soon as he was arrested. He requested the court to pass an order to hand over Fr. Swamy’s body to Father Frazer. Fr. Swamy was shifted to the private hospital from the jail on May 29 after being directed by the High Court. He tested positive for Covid-19 on May 30 and suffered lower back pain and bilateral hearing loss among other ailments. He had told the court on May 21, I am eating less and less and my co-accused are worried about me. Only one thing that I would request the judiciary is to consider for interim bail. That is the only request. Political leaders and activists on Monday called for accountability over the death of 84-year-old jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet, Who in the apparatus of the Indian state will be held responsible for this tragedy? Make no mistake – it is the Indian state that killed Fr. Stan Swamy, who was such a passionate crusader for social justice. Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan said, This is nothing less than murder by the State of one of the gentlest & kindest men I have known. Unfortunately our judicial system is also complicit in this.

 

B) Board exams 2022: CBSE divides academic year into two terms, with 50% syllabus each

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced a special assessment scheme for class 10 and 12 board exams for the next year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, splitting the academic session into two terms, PTI reported. The board has also announced plans to rationalise the syllabus for the 2021-22 academic session and to make the internal assessment and project work more credible and valid. As per an official order by Joseph Emmanuel, Director (Academic), CBSE, the term one exams will be held in November-December, 2021 while the second term exams will be conducted in March-April, 2022. The syllabus for the academic session 2021-22 will be divided into two terms by following a systematic approach of looking into the interconnectivity of concepts and topics by the Subject Experts, he said. The Board will conduct examinations at the end of each term on the basis of the bifurcated syllabus. This has been done to increase the probability of having a board-conducted classes X and XII examinations at the end of the academic session, he said. The syllabus for the board examination 2021-22 will be rationalised similar to that of the last academic session to be notified in July 2021. Schools will also use alternative academic calendar and inputs from the NCERT on transacting the curriculum. Efforts will be made to make internal assessment, practical, project work more credible and valid as per the guidelines and moderation policy to be announced by the board to ensure fair distribution of marks, he added.

 

C) ‘Distressing’ and ‘shocking’ that people are still tried under Section 66A of IT Act, says SC

The Supreme Court on Monday found it distressing, shocking and terrible that people were still booked and tried under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act even six years after the Supreme Court struck down the provision as unconstitutional and a violation of free speech. Section 66A had prescribed three years’ imprisonment if a social media message caused annoyance or was found grossly offensive. The Supreme Court, in the Shreya Singhal judgment authored by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman in March 2015, had concluded the provision was vague and worded arbitrarily. On Monday, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh and advocate Aparna Bhat, for the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said the number of cases under Section 66A had actually increased post the judgment. What is going on is terrible, distressing! We will issue notice, Justice Nariman, heading a three-judge Bench also comprising Justices K.M. Joseph and B.R. Gavai, exclaimed. Attorney General K.K. Venugopal pointed out that law books published post the verdict featured the non-existent Section 66A in full. The police officer, while registering a case, looks at only the Section in the main text. The fact that the Section has been struck down is given only as a footnote. Venugopal submitted. And not being Mr. Venugopal, he [police officer] does not read the footnote. Justice Nariman said light-heartedly. But Justice Nariman agreed with Parikh that the state of affairs is shocking. Parikh said the court had to intervene and work out a mechanism to disseminate the Shreya Singhal judgment to every police station and trial court in the country. Yes, we will work out something, Justice Nariman assured. The government was given two weeks to file its reply and the PUCL was given a week to file its rejoinder. The case would be listed for hearing after this.

 

D) Gupkar alliance says it is disappointed with outcome of Delhi meeting with PM Modi

The People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of five political parties of Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday said it was disappointed with the outcome of the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24 in New Delhi. All the members of the PAGD have expressed their disappointment at the outcome of the Delhi meeting, especially at the absence of any substantial confidence-building measures (CBMs), such as releasing political and other prisoners from jails, and taking concrete steps to end the siege and atmosphere of suppression that has choked J&K since 2019, Gupkar alliance spokesman M.Y. Tarigami said. He underlined that the CBMs would have initiated the much-needed process of reaching out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who were the biggest stakeholders and sufferers of the problem. Hardening its position on the restoration of Statehood, Tarigami said, As far as restoration of Statehood is concerned, it has been BJP’s commitment on the floor of the Parliament and they must honour their word. So, any Assembly election must be held only after restoration of full Statehood for J&K. To this end, the PAGD has decided to reach out to other political parties in J&K, with a view to take a common position on the issue. The PAGD, which held a series of meetings on Sunday, reiterated to fight together to reverse the unconstitutional and unacceptable changes foisted on the people of J&K on 5th August 2019 using all constitutional, legal and political means at its disposal. The PAGD’s struggle for undoing these changes will continue as long as it takes while striving to achieve this objective as early as possible, it said. The alliance’s stand assumes significance as it comes a day ahead of the visit of the J&K Delimitation Commission to the Union Territory to hold meetings with political parties, civil society groups and the officials. Tarigami said the political parties associated with the alliance will take a decision about meeting the delimitation panel at the party level. The Commission, which is arriving on July 6 for a four-day visit, has invited the political parties in the Union Territory, besides the five members, including two MPs from the BJP and three from the NC. It has sought suggestions before redrawing the boundaries of seven new constituencies.

 

E) 12 BJP MLAs suspended from Maharashtra Assembly for 1 year

Twelve BJP MLAs have been suspended from Maharashtra Assembly for one year for ‘abusing’ and ‘misbehaving’ with the presiding officer in chair, both inside and outside the Assembly. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab presened a resolution to suspend the MLAs and the House passed it on majority vote. The BJP, while boycotting the House, termed it an act to suppress its voice and an attempt to bring down the number of the Opposition. The MLAs, Dr Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Harish Pimple, Jaikumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Narayan Kuche, Bunty Bhangdiya, Parag Alvani and Ram Satpute, will be barred from entering the legislative premises for the next 12 months. The ruckus inside the Assembly took place as the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government brought a resolution seeking empirical data on OBCs from the Central government. Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis raised a point of objection before senior Minister Chhagan Bhujbal presented the resolution, claiming the State government did not follow the Supreme Court directions for 15 months, which resulted in the scrapping of political reservation for OBCs. After allowing Fadnavis to speak, Sena MLA Bhaskar Jadhav, who was the presiding officer in the Speakers’ chair, directed Bhujbal to read out the reply and present the resolution. As he denied Fadnavis an opportunity to reply to Bhujbal, agitated BJP MLAs rushed in front of his chair and attacked the mike. They also tried to lift the sceptre in front of the Speaker’s chair. The House was adjourned for 10 minutes after the resolution was passed. It was then adjourned three times for 15 minutes and once for 30 minutes. When I was inside the Deputy Speaker’s chamber, BJP MLAs rushed inside and started abusing me and circled me. Fadnavis was there and he did not stop them, said Jadhav in the Assembly. Only Shelar later apologised to him twice. Fadnavis accepted that there were some heated exchange of unsuitable words as the BJP MLAs were angry. But we apologised later. Suspending Opposition MLAs is an attempt to lessen our numbers, which is an undemocratic act, he claimed. The ruling coalition, however, went ahead with the resolution and subsequently all the 12 MLAs were suspended for a year.

 

F) Use of facial recognition to verify vaccine beneficiaries was without any authorisation

Even though the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has admitted in a recent RTI query response to the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) for online verification of beneficiaries at vaccination centres, it failed to provide any legislative or legal order that authorised the use of such technology. The MoHFW has also said that no privacy impact assessment of the use of FRT was conducted prior to its deployment. Facial recognition authentication is used as one of the methods for Aadhaar Authentication for online verification of beneficiary prior to Covid-19 vaccination wherein facial template is captured and sent to UIDAI for verification of image of beneficiary, the Ministry said in response to an RTI filed by the not-for-profit Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF). It also stated that no additional procurement has been made for the implementation of FRT-based verification and that a pilot project for such authentication is still under way. However, MoHFW failed to specify any legislative or legal order that authorised the use of FRT nor could they provide copies of any relevant privacy impact assessment, the IFF said, adding that the reply stated that use of FRT for verification of the beneficiaries’ data would be according to the terms furnished in the ‘Verifier & Vaccinator Module User Manual’ included in the CoWin portal. However the manual was not available on the CoWin portal or any open source webpage. The IFF said the government was also unable to provide any information related to the accuracy of the FRT used, any third party assessments which may have been conducted, and the exhaustive list of databases with which the facial recognition technology will be linked in order to identify individuals.

 

G) Twitter failed to comply with new IT Rules: Centre to Delhi High Court

The Central government on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that micro-blogging site Twitter has failed to comply with India’s law regulating tech companies that are rendering their services as ‘intermediaries’. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), in an affidavit filed before the high court, stated that despite three months time being granted to all Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs) to comply with the Information Technology (IT) Rules 2021, Twitter has failed to fully comply with the same. Twitter, last week, had informed the high court that the interim Resident Grievance Officer and the interim Nodal Contact Person in India had resigned from their positions in June. The tech giant had stated that it was in the final stages of appointing a replacement, meanwhile the grievances of Indian users are being addressed by the Grievance Officer. The Meity, however, pointed out that as per the details gleaned from Twitter’s website, the grievances from India are currently being handled by its personnel situated in the United States of America which amounts to non-compliance with the IT Rules 2021. In India, Section 79 of the IT Act shields social media platforms or intermediaries such as Twitter from liability for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by it in certain cases. The Ministry said when an intermediary fails to observe the IT Rules, the intermediary could be liable for any punishment under any law for the time being in force in respect of the offending content. The Ministry stated that the immunity conferred on intermediaries is a conditional immunity subject to the intermediary satisfying the various conditions. The IT Rules, 2021 are the law of the land and Respondent No. 2 (Twitter) is mandatorily required to comply with the same, it added. The Ministry’s affidavit came in response to a petition by advocate Amit Acharya, seeking to appoint a Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021. Acharya, in his plea filed through advocates Akash Vajpai and Manish Kumar, had claimed that he wanted to raise grievance against two alleged offensive and objectionable tweets at the Resident Grievance Officer. However the Petitioner was unable to find the contact details of the Resident Grievance Officer on the website of Twitter, he had said.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Learn to live with virus, Johnson tells Britons. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Monday that his government plans to scrap laws requiring face masks and social distancing later this month, though he acknowledged that lifting the restrictions will drive surging coronavirus cases even higher. Mr. Johnson said legal controls will be replaced by personal responsibility when the country moves to the final stage of its lockdown-lifting roadmap. That is scheduled to happen on July 19, though he said a final decision would come on July 12. This means people can throw away masks after months of enforced face-covering, though businesses and transit operators may still require them, and they will still be recommended in some enclosed spaces. Mr. Johnson said he would set out how the country would learn to live with this virus – a major shift in tone from a leader who has previously painted CO. VID-19 as an enemy to be vanquished. I want to stress from the outset that this pandemic is far from over, he said, predicting that cases could hit 50,000 a day by July 19. We must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from COVID.

 

B) Israel looks to renew law that keeps out Palestinian spouses.

Israel’s Parliament is set to vote on Monday on whether to renew a temporary law first enacted in 2003 that bars Arab citizens of Israel from extending citizenship or even residency to spouses from the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Critics, including many left-wing and Arab lawmakers, say it’s a racist measure aimed at restricting the growth of Israel’s Arab minority, while supporters say it’s needed for security purposes and to preserve Israel’s Jewish character. The law creates an array of difficulties for Palestinian families that span the wardrawn and largely invisible frontiers separating Israel from east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories it seized in the 1967 war that the Palestinians want for a future state. You want your security, it’s no problem, you can check each case by itself, said Taiseer Khatib. His wife of more than 15 years, from the West Bank city of Jenin, must regularly apply for permits to live with him and their three children in Israel. There’s no need for this collective punishment just because you are Palestinian, he said. Israel’s dominant rightwing parties strongly support the law, and it has been renewed every year since being enacted. But Israel’s new government includes opponents of the measure, and the right-wing opposition led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned it won’t provide the votes needed to renew the law. Ahead of the vote, PM Naftali Bennett called on Mr. Netanyahu to join him in renewing the law. Harming state security for a quarter of a political point is not the right thing to do, he said.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M) renew calls for JPC probe into Rafale deal

A day after the Congress demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on July 4 put out an online survey asking why the Modi government was not ready for it. Among the choices given by Gandhi to the question were guilty conscience, saving friends, JPC does not want a Rajya Sabha seat, and all the above. Why is the Modi government not ready for a JPC probe? – guilt conscience (sic), saving the friends, JPC does not want a Rajya Sabha seat and all of these are right, he said in Hindi on Twitter, while putting out the survey. Gandhi has been alleging corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal for long now and had made this as a major poll plank in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which the Congress lost badly. A French judge has been appointed to lead a highly sensitive judicial probe into suspected corruption and favouritism in the ₹ 59,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal with India, French investigative website Mediapart has reported. The Congress has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal, alleging corruption in the purchase of the fighter jets, and said such an investigation is the only way forward to find the truth. The main opposition party had further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should order the investigation and come clean on the deal. The CPI (M), too, reiterated the demand for a JPC probe. The CPI(M)’s highest body discussed the issue at its meeting on Saturday. The Polit Bureau reiterates its demand raised in September 2018 for the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the role of the Prime Minister and the government in this whole episode and establish the truth of the deal, said a statement issued on Sunday. It noted that France’s public prosecution services had ordered an investigation by a French judge into the 2016 deal following a decision by its financial branch. Judicial investigation was formally opened into the Inter-Governmental Agreement on June 14. The statement pointed to a French investigative website’s expose of official papers which allegedly show that Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation entered into an agreement with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group on March 26, 2015, which was 15 days before PM Modi’s announcement of the new deal, which excluded state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. This reconfirms the apprehensions raised by the CPI(M) that PM Modi’s turnaround from the earlier purchase agreement,is mired in deep corruption and money-laundering, said the Polit Bureau’s statement. It also condemned the Essential Defence Services Ordinance, 2021, claiming that it aimed to prohibit legitimate protests in ordnance factories against the naked loot of national assets.

 

B) After Rajouri, drones and unmanned vehicles now banned in Srinagar.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on July 4 banned the use and possession of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles in the capital Srinagar, a week after two Indian Air Force personnel were injured in twin drone-driven blasts on the technical airport in Jammu. To secure the aerial space near the vital installations and highly populated areas, it is imperative to discontinue the use of drones in all social and cultural gatherings to eliminate any risk of injury to the life and damage to property, Srinagar District Magistrate Mohammad Aijaz said in an order. Issued under Section 144 of the Cr.PC, it says that the decentralised airspace access has to be regulated in view of recent episodes of misuse of drones posing a threat to security infrastructure as reported by the media and other reliable sources. Keeping in view the security situation apart from concerns of breach of privacy, nuisance and trespass, it is extremely dangerous to let unmanned aerial vehicles to wander around in the skies within the territorial jurisdiction of Srinagar, the order reads. Persons already having drone cameras in their possession were directed to report to the local police station. Moreover, the government departments using drones for mapping, surveys and surveillance in agricultural, environment conservation and disaster mitigation sector shall inform the local police station before undertaking any such activity in public interest, it said. Srinagar has become a second district in Jammu and Kashmir to ban the use and possession of drones. Earlier, the Rajouri administration banned it in the wake of the Jammu attack.

 

C) Will protest every day outside Parliament during monsoon session: Samyukt Kisan Morcha

A group of around 200 farmers will protest against the Centre’s three farm laws in front of Parliament every day during the monsoon session, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) announced on Sunday. The umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions said at a press conference that two days before the session begins, a ‘chetavani patra’ (warning letter) will be given to all the opposition MPs to protest the laws inside the House. We will also ask the opposition MPs on July 17 to raise the issue every day inside the House while we will sit outside in protest. We will tell them to not to benefit the Centre by walking out of a session. Don’t let the session run till the government addresses the issue, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni said. Parliament’s monsoon session is set to begin on July 19. We will be continuously protesting outside Parliament till they hear our demands, Charuni said. He added that five people from each farmer union would be taken to join the protest. The SKM also called for a nationwide protest on July 8 against the rising prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders. It asked people to come out and park their vehicles at state and national highways from 10 a.m. till 12 p.m.. Whatever vehicle you have, tractor, trolley, car, scooter, just bring it to the nearest state or national highway and park it there. But don’t create a traffic jam, he said. He also asked for LPG cylinders to be brought to the protest.

 

D) Pushkar Singh Dhami sworn in as new Uttarakhand CM

Pushkar Singh Dhami was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, along with a 11-member cabinet, in Dehradun on Sunday. The oath of office was administered on Dhami and his ministers by Governor Baby Rani Maurya at a simple function held on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan in the presence of a host of MPs and MLAs of the ruling BJP and senior government officials. Pushkar Singh Dhami, on July 4, 2021, was sworn-in as the 11th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.  No new face has been inducted into Dhami’s cabinet, which remains as it was under his predecessor Tirath Singh Rawat. The only difference is that this time, all the ministers are of cabinet rank. The Ministers sworn in on Sunday are Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Bansidhar Bhagat, Yashpal Arya, Bishan Singh Chufal, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Ganesh Joshi, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya and Yatishwaranand. Rekha Arya, Dhan Singh Rawat and Yatishwaranand, who were ministers of state in Tirath Rawat’s cabinet, have been elevated to cabinet rank. Earlier in the day, Dhami met Satpal Maharaj at his residence with a bouquet of flowers amid reports that the senior leader and a few other MLAs of the saffron party were sulking since Saturday as they were not happy with his election as the new leader of the BJP legislature party in Uttarakhand. Dhami later said there was no resentment anywhere. All those said to have been unhappy with the party high command over its choice of the new Chief Minister were present at the swearing-in ceremony and were sworn in as ministers. At 45, Dhami takes over as the youngest Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. A two-time MLA from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district, Dhami replaces Tirath Singh Rawat, who resigned on Friday. Dhami is considered to be close to Maharashtra Governor and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who is his political mentor. Dhami takes over the reins of power at a time when Uttarakhand has a few months to go for the Assembly polls, which are due early next year. Dhami is a promising young Thakur leader from the Kumaon region who began his political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in 1990. He was the officer on special duty (OSD) to his political mentor Koshyari when the latter was the chief minister of Uttarakhand. He also served as the president of the BJP’s Uttarakhand Yuva Morcha from 2002 to 2008. An attempt by the saffron party to strike the right caste and regional balance ahead of next year’s Assembly polls is evident in its choice of Dhami as the new chief minister. As State BJP chief Madan Kaushik is a Brahmin from the Garhwal region, having a Thakur leader from Kumaon as the Chief Minister is a clever move aimed at wooing two major sections of the electorate in the two regions of the hill State.

 

D) RLD chief calls Saina Nehwal a ‘sarkari shuttler’ after she congratulates Adityanath on BJP performance in UP local polls

When badminton star Saina Nehwal has congratulated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the BJP’s thumping victory in elections to the posts of the district panchayat chief, it prompted a sharp comment from RLD president Jayant Chaudhary, who called her a sarkaari shuttler. In a tweet on Saturday night, Nehwal had said, Hearty congratulations for thumping victory in Zila Panchayat Chairperson election in UP @myogiadityanath sir. Nehwal had joined the BJP ahead of the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. Reacting to Nehwal’s tweet almost one-and-half-hours later, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Chaudhary tweeted, Sarkaari shuttler recognises BJP skill in smashing peoples’ verdict! I think voters need to play a subtle drop shot on celebs trying to influence their decisions! The BJP on Saturday claimed to have swept the elections to the posts of the district panchayat chief even as the SP alleged that the ruling party kidnapped voters and used force to stop them from voting. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of making a mockery of the elections, saying it is strange that while most results in the polls for the district panchayat members were in favour of his party, the BJP gained in the contest for the district panchayat chief. Though the panchayat polls in UP are not held on the party symbol and the state Election Commission did not announce the party affiliation of the winning candidates, the BJP claimed that the candidate backed by it won on 67 of 75 posts. The elections for these were held on Saturday.

 

E) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,05,70,217 with the death toll at 4,02,343. The ongoing second COVID wave presented itself with a lowered mean age of patients, higher percentage of hospitalisations despite lesser comorbidities, and had patients with breathlessness in greater frequency, said a new government study, ‘Clinical profile of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in first and second wave of the pandemic: Insights from an Indian registry-based observational study’. Recently published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, the study was jointly conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), using data collected under the National Clinical Registry for Covid-19 (NCRC). Doctors and researchers across the country have expressed concern about the fact that the study found a greater percentage of younger patients being more affected during the second wave and worse, mortality increased for all age groups except in the less-than-20 age group. As per the study, mortality among hospitalised patients increased by 3.1% in the second wave. Also, a higher proportion of patients complained of shortness of breath, developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), and required oxygen support and ventilators in the second wave. Sanjeev Dutta, HOD and senior consultant Pediatrics, QRG Health City, Faridabad, speaking about the study which analyses the characteristics of the first wave (April 2020 to Jan 2021) and the second wave (which started around Feb-Mar 2021), said: In both the waves, people above 60 years were mostly affected, but the second wave also affected a significantly younger population under 40 years and many had no comorbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension and diminished immunity status.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Chinese astronauts complete first spacewalk at new station.

Chinese astronauts successfully performed the country’s first tandem spacewalk on Sunday, working for seven hours outside the new Tiangong station in orbit around the Earth. Tiangong’s construction is a major step in China’s ambitious space programme, which has seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the moon. Three astronauts blasted off last month to become the station’s first crew, where they are to remain for three months in China’s longest crewed mission to date. On Sunday morning, two of them exited the station for around seven hours of work in the first spacewalk at Tiangong, the China Manned Space Agency said. The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the complete success of the first spacewalk in our country’s space station construction, the space agency said. Their tasks involved elevating a panoramic camera outside the Tianhe core module, as well as testing the station’s robotic arm which will be used to transfer future modules around the station, state media said. The astronauts installed foot stops on the robotic arm and, with its support, carried out other assembly work, added the space agency. In a video clip of Mr. Liu leaving the cabin, he exclaimed: Wow, it’s too beautiful out here. Television footage showed the astronauts preparing for the spacewalk by donning gear and conducting health checks while exercising.

 

B) Thousands in Brazil join anti-Bolsonaro protests. 

Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets on Saturday to protest against President Jair Bolsonaro, who faces an investigation over an allegedly corrupt COVID-19 vaccine deal. It was the third day of demonstrations against the government, which is also confronting mounting pressure from a parliamentary inquiry into its handling of the pandemic that has claimed over lives in the country. Lima Mendes, a 47-yearold physician taking part in a Rio de Janeiro protest, squarely blamed the government for the high death toll. This government has killed more than people she said. In its first two months of hearings, the parliamentary panel of inquiry focused on the government’s delays in ordering vaccine supplies. The inquiry took a sudden turn, however, after a Health Ministry official, Luis Ricardo Miranda, said he had faced atypical, excessive pressure to approve the purchase of three million doses of the Indianmade Covaxin vaccine at a cost far higher than for other vaccines.

 

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Pushkar Singh Dhami to be sworn in as Uttarakhand CM on Sunday

Two-time MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami was chosen by the BJP legislature party and will be sworn in as chief minister of Uttarakhand on Sunday. Dhami’s selection follows the resignation of his predecessor Tirath Singh Rawat yesterday. Rawat had submitted his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya as he was caught in a legal bind over his continuation as chief minister, an office, which required him to be elected as member of the Uttarakhand Assembly within six months of having taken oath. This, in turn, was rendered impossible by a clause in the Representation of the People Act which disallows by-polls for vacant seats if the tenure of the state assembly expires within a year. Uttarakhand goes to polls in March 2022. Left with no option, Rawat submitted his resignation paving the way for a new man to be elected by the party to head the state. New Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami flanked by former CM T.S. Rawat and State BJP chief Madan Kaushik after Mr. Dhami was elected leader of the State legislature party. Forty-five-year-old Dhami will be the state’s10th chief minister and is considered to be close to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. He will be the third chief minister in four months to head the state, beleaguered by serious infighting in the ruling party. Dhami was the officer on Special Duty to the state’s second chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiari a year after the formation of the new state. Uttarakhand goes to polls in March 2022 and at the time of writing this, it is learnt, he is unlikely to be the face of the state where most of the MLAs have decided to fight the elections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Watch this space for this fast-developing story.

 

B) Punjab’s power crisis

Power and the availability of power may decide who comes to power in Punjab which is the grip of an unprecedented power crisis amidst soring mercury. The State has been witnessing some pitched protests by farmers and common people against the shortage of power. People are complaining that power cuts in the state lasts for hours on stretch. The demand for power is close to 14,225 MW while the supply is at 12,800 MW, a shortfall, the state government is unable to bridge. As paddy transplantation is in full-swing, farmers are reportedly upset that they are not getting their eight-hour power supply. Consumers have taken to the streets as they sweat it out in the summer heat. With the state government having to take some tough measures like staggered power supply in order to divert power for agricultural crops, there is also a ban on air conditioners in government offices. With the state slated to go to polls next year, opposition party AAP with 16 MLAs has promised 300 units of free power to every household in Punjab if voted to power next year. On Saturday, AAP party supporters protested in front of the residence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh forcing the Punjab police to disperse the crowds  with water cannons.

 

C) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,05,26,959 with the death toll at 4,01,516. The Union Government has sent multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, Odisha and Chattisgarh on Saturday, following a high number of COVID cases being reported from the states. The teams will monitor the COVID-19 management protocol being followed in the states assessing testing, surveillance, availability of beds, and vaccination progress. On the progress of vaccination, V K Paul, chairman of the National Empowered Group on Vaccine, told journalists that the estimate of 216 crore vaccine doses to be administered  by year-end was aspirational and based on an optimistic assessment on what the vaccine manufacturers had conveyed to the Government. Till date 34 crore people have been vaccinated with at least one dose since the drive began on January 16, the government said.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Investigation of Rafale deal

A French judge will investigate the controversial 2016 ₹59,000 crore sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets to Indian government. Back home, the Opposition Congress claimed it has been vindicated. The party was engaged in a Twitter battle with the BJP on the matter. The deal inked between the Indian government and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault, originally initiated by the Congress-led UPA government in 2012 and executed by the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government in 2016, has been mired in controversies following allegations of hidden commission and payoffs to middle-men who facilitated the deal. The Parquet National financier (PNF), the French judicial institution responsible for tracking down serious economic and financial crimes, was reportedly reluctant to investigate even as several French mainstream newspapers and websites reported that there were shortcomings in the deal. French website Mediapart had even accused the French Anti-corruption Agency of burying suspicions surrounding the September 2016 deal, as AFP reported today. In a series of exposes in 2018, The Hindu, had also reported how the deal was unfavourable to India and was more expensive on the Indian exchequer; the report also exposed several shortcomings in the defence deal prompting the government to accuse the paper of stealing official documents. Several media reports today spoke of how three months ago, Mediapart had claimed millions of euros of hidden commissions were given to a go-between who helped Dassault conclude the sale, of which some… could have been given as bribes to Indian officials. Dassault responded that no wrong-doing was flagged in the group’s audits. After the reports, France’s Sherpa NGO, which specialises in financial crime, filed an official complaint for corruption and influence peddling among other accusations, prompting an investigating magistrate to be designated to probe the deal. In this first complaint, the NGO had pointed out how Dassault chose as its Indian partner, Reliance Group, which has had no previous experience on defence aircrafts. Dassault had initially won a contract in 2012 when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power, to supply 126 jets to India, and had been negotiating with Indian aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). By March 2015, those talks had almost reached a conclusion, according to Dassault. Readers might recall how back in January 2016, at the time of the negotiations, Reliance had financed a film co-produced by Julie Gayet, the partner of Francois Hollande, who was president at the time, forcing Hollande to clarify that there was no conflict of interest. Hollande  added in good measure that France had no say in who Dassault’s Indian partner was. The former president has repeatedly said that it was the Indian government that had suggested businessman Anil Ambani’s firm. France’s Le Monde newspaper also revealed that France in 2015 cancelled a 143.7-million-euro tax adjustment targeting a French firm belonging to Reliance, at the time when the deal was being negotiated. As investigations kick in, the Union Government will have its task cut out in defending its decision.

 

B) Twitter in crosshairs

Micro-blogging site Twitter caught in the crosshairs of the Union Government filed an affidavit in the High Court today in which it has claimed that it was in the last stages of hiring a grievance officer. Twitter had initially appointed Dharmendra Chatur, Principal Associate at Poovayya & Co., a Bangalore based law firm, who resigned from the post within a month prompting the micro-blogging site to appoint its California-based global legal policy director Jeremy Kessel as the new grievance officer for India. The new IT rules require an Indian resident for the job. The Union government is party to the petition in front of the court. The affidavit was in response to a notice issued by the Delhi High Court Twitter’s alleged non-compliance with the new information technology rules. Twitter and the Government of India have been engaged in a bitter feud with the latter accusing the California based firm of violating IT rules which mandate the appointment of a grievance official, an Indian resident based in India, to address the complaints of users. The new rules came into effect from May 25. IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today praised  social media platforms Google, Facebook and Instagram for publishing their first compliance report on voluntary removal of offensive posts as per new IT rules, terming it a big step towards transparency.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Trinamool seeks Tushar Mehta’s removal as Solicitor General over his meeting with BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari; Mehta denies meeting him

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking the removal of Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta over his meeting with West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in New Delhi. The letter, written by TMC MPs Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Mahua Moitra, stated that the meeting between Adhikari and the Solicitor General (SG) reeks of impropriety as the BJP MLA is an accused in the Narada and Saradha cases where investigations are underway. According to the letter, the meeting curiously took place subsequent to Adhikari’s meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah. The TMC MPs claimed that Adhikari was accused in various cases of cheating, bribery and illegal gratification related to the Narada and Saradha scam cases. The SG is appearing for the CBI in the Narada case in the Supreme Court and the high court, besides advising the investigation agency in the Saradha chit fund scam, they said. Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari interacts with the media in Kolkata on July 2, 2021 as party leaders hold posters of alleged victims of post-poll violence. The meeting between Adhikari and the solicitor general not only reeks of impropriety, there is a direct conflict of interest and also taints the position of the second highest law officer of the country, the Solicitor General, they added. To maintain the neutrality and integrity of the office of the Solicitor General of India, necessary steps be taken for the removal of Mehta from the post, the TMC MPs said in the letter to the prime minister. Meanwhile, Mehta has issued a statement denying that he met the BJP leader. He claimed that Adhikari had come to his residence unannounced. Mehta said, Suvendu Adhikari came to my residence/office yesterday, unannounced. As I was in a pre-scheduled meet, my staff asked him to wait. After my meeting, my staff informed him of my inability to meet him. He left without insisting to meet me. Hence, the question of my meeting with him did not arise. Reacting to Mehta’s denial, Moitra tweeted, Z category BJP protectee enters high security official residence of Solicitor General of India uninvited, waits 20 mins over a cup of tea & apparently leaves without a mtng. CCTV footage to back your version, Mr. SG? Truth never been your forte!

 

B) Jammu drone attack an act of terror, says Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria; LeT could be behind it, says J&K DGP 

Security agencies suspected the role of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the twin drone-driven blasts on the Indian Air Force’s technical airport in Jammu on June 27. The drones could have come from across the border, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said on Friday. The investigation [into the airbase blasts] is in progress. We haven’t reached any conclusion as to who is actually involved. However, on the basis of the past history of the LeT using drones to drop weapons, narcotics and ready-made improvised explosive devices (IED), we suspect the outfit is involved, Singh said in Jammu. Meanwhile, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said on Friday that the drone strikes were an act of terror aimed at targeting key military assets. He added that the Indian Air Force is in the process of bolstering its capabilities to deal with such security challenges. The Chief of Air Staff said the IAF has carried out a detailed analysis in terms of implications of drones and other similar capabilities falling into the hands of non-state actors, and taking a series of measures to counter them. What happened at Jammu was essentially a terrorist act which attempted to target our assets there. The attempt failed of course. The assets were not damaged. Two explosives were used, he said, in an interactive session at a think tank. Explosives-laden drones were used to carry out an attack on the Jammu Air Force station on Sunday in the first such instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying unmanned aerial vehicles to strike at vital military installations in India. The Chief of Air Staff said a detailed investigation into the attacks was underway and that all sets of measures would be on the table based on the findings of the probe. We have gone over the subject in terms of the implications of this kind of capabilities in the hands of non-state actors and the kind of effect the armed drone capabilities would have in future conflicts, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said. He said the IAF analysed to a large extent the requirements in terms of planning and required systems and infrastructure to enhance its abilities to go for a soft kill and to have a counter-drone system.

 

C) Former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala released from Tihar Jail; plans to visit protesting farmers 

Released from Tihar Central Jail on Friday on completion of a 10-year jail term in a teachers’ recruitment scam, former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Om Prakash Chautala said he planned to visit farmers at protest sites. Addressing party workers assembled at the Delhi-Gurugram border to welcome the octogenarian leader, Chautala thanked them for supporting his party against the wrong policies of the government and assured them that he would continue to fight for the poor, the downtrodden and the farmers. Chautala said doctors had advised him a few days of rest, after which he would visit the protesting sites to meet farmers and seek their blessings. He said he will visit villages across the country. He was jailed in 2013 in connection with the Junior Basic Training teachers recruitment scam case. He was on emergency parole since March 26, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sunaina Chautala, principal general secretary, women’s cell, INLD, said the release of Chautala had infused new energy into the workers and the party would return to power with a thumping majority. A large number of workers holding party flags with the INLD symbol and sporting green headgear turned up at the Delhi-Gurugram border on National Highway-48 to welcome Chautala.

 

D) Assets of Ahmed Patel’s son-in-law, Dino Morea, DJ Aqeel attached in money-laundering case 

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached the assets of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s son-in-law, actors Dino Morea and Sanjay Khan, and DJ Aqeel in a money-laundering case involving Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech group, PTI reported. It said a provisional order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the assets of the four people, valued at ₹8.79 crore. Out of this, the value of attachment of assets for Khan is ₹3 crore, for Dino Morea it is ₹1.4 crore, for Aqeel Abdulkhalil Bachooali, popularly known as DJ Aqeel, it is ₹ 1.98 crore, and for Irfan Ahmed Siddiqui, who is Patel’s son-in-law, it is ₹2.41 crore, the central probe agency said in a statement. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that Nitin Sandesara and Chetan Sandesara, absconding promoters of the Sterling Biotech group, have diverted proceeds of their crime to the four people. The promoter brothers Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, Chetan’s wife Dipti Sandesara and Hitesh Patel have been declared fugitive economic offenders by a special court, it said. The money-laundering case pertains to the alleged ₹14,500-crore bank-loan fraud said to have been perpetrated by Sterling Biotech and its main promoters and directors.

 

E) Police action over actor Chetan Kumar’s remarks on ‘brahminism’ sparks row in Karnataka 

Kannada actor and activist Chetan Kumar has been questioned thrice this month after an FIR was filed by the Bengaluru Police for his critical remarks on brahmanism. Some members of the Brahmin community have objected to his comments, arguing that the very use of the word was defamatory and abusive and had hurt their sentiments. Attempts to criminalise use of the term brahmanism — widely used by several anti-caste thinkers including Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Periyar E. V. Ramasamy to denote caste-based hierarchy, discrimination and notions of superiority — have sparked a controversy in Karnataka. While several writers and intellectuals have rallied behind the actor, his detractors have been vociferous, especially on social media. State Labour Minister A. Shivaram Hebbar, also a Brahmin, termed the use of the term defamatory and called for Kumar’s arrest. He also alleged the actor was making these statements for monetary gains, prompting the latter to sue the Minister for defamation seeking damages of ₹1 and a public apology. Defending his remarks, Kumar said he had only rearticulated what Bahujan thinkers have said.

 

F) Deciding cases not an easy task, have to keep in mind repercussions of setting a precedent, says CJI N.V. Ramana

Judging is not an easy task, Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana said on Friday. On one hand, the judge should focus on law, the precedents and facts of a case and, on the other, the human aspect. Judges should use the little discretion law allows to keep sight of the human suffering and toll behind every case. A decision of the court would echo through time. It would have repercussions. A judgment becomes the law of the land. A judge had to keep all this in mind while dealing with a case, he stated. Deciding cases is not an easy task. We not only have to focus on the law and precedents surrounding the issue before us, as well as the facts of the case, but also the repercussions of what we decide and the precedent we may be setting. This makes it necessary for us judges to be logical and objective and theoretically sound. However, we should not lose sight of the people and their difficulties behind the cases. The little discretion that is given to us, is the area in which a judge has flexibility to display his philosophy, he observed. The CJI was speaking at a farewell organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association for retiring judge Justice Ashok Bhushan. He said Justice Bhushan, besides his remarkable judgments, had, as a humanist judge, left a mark in the hearts and minds of the people of the country. The CJI termed the Bar the protector of the institution. He said, Lawyers must respect the institution and protect the judiciary from any onslaught which is likely to affect the functioning of the judicial system. I know, the Supreme Court Bar is always a frontrunner when it comes to supporting the institution from motivated attacks. They always cherish the contribution of judges and appreciate their hard work. They never forget the efforts of judges. The CJI underscored that the strength of the institution lay in the unity of the Bar and the Bench.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Six million EU citizens apply to stay in U.K.

More than six million EU citizens have applied to stay in the U.K. after Brexit, the government said on Friday, nearly twice the number thought be living in Britain before it left the bloc. There was a late flurry of applications ahead of a June 30 deadline for the settlement scheme, designed to allow EU citizens residing in the U.K. to retain the same rights as they enjoyed before Brexit. But since the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1, EU citizens wishing to settle or stay have faced tougher tests to secure residency and employment. The final figure of 6.02 million applications, with 5.1 million grants of status, is far higher than the 3.7 million EU nationals originally estimated to be in the country when the scheme launched in March 2019. More than 4,00,000 applications were made in the final month before the scheme ended, the Home Office said, adding that those who had missed the deadline on reasonable grounds could still make a late application. When we left the EU we promised to protect the rights of EU citizens who have made their life in the U.K ., and developed the hugely successful EU Settlement Scheme to ensure they could call the U.K. home in the years to come, Home Secretary Priti Patel said. The government has touted the settlement scheme as the successful delivery of promises made to EU nationals in the U.K. after Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc in December and the end of free movement. However, immigration rights campaigners have complained that the most vulnerable – including children placed in care, young adults previously in care, the homeless and the elderly – have been allowed to slip through the scheme’s net.

 

B) U.S. issues moratorium on death penalty at federal level. 

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has issued a moratorium on federal executions while it reviews policies and procedures, the Department said in a statement. U.S. President Joe Biden had said on his campaign website that he would legislate the end of capital punishment at the federal level and incentivise states to follow suit. The Department of Justice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but is also treated fairly and humanely. That obligation has special force in capital cases. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement released on Thursday. Apart from the moral case against the death penalty, the data show that in its application, it is biased against racial minorities, especially African Americans. Under former President Donald Trump, the federal government carried out 13 executions. This is the highest number of executions under any presidency since the 19th Century, Reuters reported. The review, ordered by Mr. Garland, will include an assessment of the risk of pain and suffering caused by pentobarbital – a lethal injection drug. The Trump administration’s DoJ had adopted a single drug, instead of a three drug protocol. The review will also look into a November 2020 expansion of federal execution methods beyond lethal injection and policy changes to expedite executions.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) During a pandemic years when teaching moved online, only 1 in 5 Indian schools had internet facilities 

In the academic year that ended with school closures due to Covid-19, only 22% of schools in India had internet facilities, according to Education Ministry data released on Thursday. Among government schools, less than 12% had internet in 2019-20, while less than 30% had functional computer facilities. This affected the kind of digital education options available to schools during the pandemic, as well as the plans for hybrid learning in the days ahead. The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report collates data from more than 15 lakh schools across the country. As the first wave of Covid-19 entered India in early 2020, schools were closed in mid-March, just weeks before the end of the 2019-20 academic year. The vast majority of the country’s 26 crore school children have not stepped foot in a school since then, depending on various forms of distance education instead. The availability of digital education whether via live, synchronous teaching on apps like Zoom, or through recorded lectures, emails, Whatsapp or educational apps was largely dependent on whether schools, teachers and parents had access to the necessary infrastructure. In many States, teachers came to school and taught in their own empty classrooms, using their blackboards and lab facilities, while facing a computer screen that communicated the lessons to their students at home. However, the UDISE+ data makes clear the digital divide which made this a viable option only in some States. In many Union Territories, as well as in the State of Kerala, more than 90% of schools, both government and private, had access to working computers. In States such as Chhattisgarh (83%) and Jharkhand (73%), installation of computer facilities in most government schools paid off, while in others such as Tamil Nadu (77%), Gujarat (74%) and Maharashtra (71%), private schools had higher levels of computer availability than in government schools. However, in States such as Assam (13%), Madhya Pradesh (13%), Bihar (14%), West Bengal (14%), Tripura (15%) and Uttar Pradesh (18%), less than one in five schools had working computers. The situation is worse in government schools, with less than 5% of UP’s government schools having the facility. The connectivity divide is even starker. Only three States — Kerala (88%), Delhi (86%) and Gujarat (71%) — have internet facilities in more than half their schools. This will make it hard for most schools to implement the options for hybrid learning as schools try to re-open with staggered attendance post the pandemic. 

 

B) Akhil Gogoi set free, slams govt for ‘misusing’ NIA, UAPA 

Assam MLA and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi walked out of jail on Thursday after a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) acquitted him of all charges in the second of the two cases related to the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act violence in the State in December 2019. The activist-turned-politician, who represents the Sibsagar Assembly constituency in eastern Assam, was discharged in the first case on June 25. He was in jail since December 2019 and had spent the last few months in the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital due to ailments. The NIA had pursued the cases filed under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA) for alleged criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between groups on grounds such as religion, race and language, assertions against national integrity, and support to a terrorist organisation. The cases were registered on the basis of two FIRs lodged with the Chabua police station in Dibrugarh district and the Chandmari police station in Guwahati. The Chandmari case had the additional charge that he had links with a Maoist organisation. The court has proven that the government’s charges against me were bogus. This is a historic day for the Indian judiciary, Gogoi told journalists after his release. A case was filed against me for my links with CPI [Maoist]. In another case, I was charged with inciting violence during the anti-CAA agitation. The court proved these were fake charges that kept me in jail for more than a year and a half, he said. He slammed the BJP-led State government for misusing the UAPA and NIA. The court’s judgement would influence future cases, he stated.

 

C) A journalist is not expected to dramatise incident and make news: Allahabad HC 

A journalist is not expected to dramatise a sensational and horrifying incident and make news by putting his subject in a pitiable condition and in danger of death, the Allahabad High Court has noted. The court made the observation while rejecting the bail plea of a journalist in Lucknow, who is co-accused of abetting a person’s suicide and filming it outside the U.P. Vidhan Sabha last year. The journalist keeps an eye on anticipated or sudden events happening in society and brings them to the information of all the people through various news media without any tampering, this is his business, the court said on June 21. Journalists Shamim Ahmad and Naushad Ahmad allegedly contacted a man who was facing eviction from his house and induced him to set himself ablaze in front of the State Assembly so that they may film the incident and telecast it on television. The journalists allegedly surmised that if the tenant of the house did as they suggested no one would be able to force him to evict from the house. The man allegedly poured oil and set himself on fire, while the accused scribes were filming it. The person died in a hospital on October 24, 2020. An FIR was lodged in the matter under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Justice Vikas Kunvar Srivastav said that from the details and statements recorded in the case, it was prima facie established that the accused Shamim Ahmad tempted the deceased that if he attempted to take his own life in front of the U.P. Assembly, the video-filmed act would prevent him from being evicted.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Trump Organisation CFO surrenders ahead of expected charges Trump Organisation CFO Allen Weisselberg surrendered to authorities early on Thursday ahead of expected charges against him and former President Donald Trump’s company, according to multiple news outlets. Weisselberg was seen walking into the courthouse in lower Manhattan around 6:20 a.m. with his lawyer. New York prosecutors are expected to announce the first criminal indictment on Thursday in a two-year investigation into Trump’s business practices, accusing his namesake company and Weisselberg of tax crimes related to fringe benefits for employees. The charges against the Trump Organisation and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, remained sealed on Wednesday night but were to be unveiled ahead of an afternoon arraignment at a state court in Manhattan, according to two people familiar with the matter.

 

B) Nine European countries authorise Covishield.

At least nine countries in Europe have given recognition to the Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), informed sources have said. The confirmation came on Thursday when the European Union started the ‘Green Pass’ facility, which will allow travellers vaccinated with an authorised set of vaccines to travel within the EU zone covering 27 countries. The recognition by the nine countries is a ‘national’ move by the states and not by the European Union headquartered in Brussels. The list of EU Member States that have recognised Covishield as a valid vaccine includes Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain. That apart, Estonia has confirmed that it will recognise all the vaccines authorised by the Government of India for travel of Indians to Estonia, said an informed source. Switzerland, not a EU member, too allows Covishield as Schengen state. Supporting the move by Germany, ambassador Walter J. Lindner said, Confirming that a double shot of Covishield is fully recognised by Germany as valid proof of anti-COVID vaccination. Germany however has a travel ban in place for Indians as India has been recognised as a virus variant country. This (confirmation) does nevertheless not modify existing travel or visa restrictions for travellers from areas of concern/ virus variant areas, said Lindner, clarifying the German position on travel from India. The clearance by the nine European countries came on a day when the ‘Green Pass’ was introduced by the EU which is meant for travel within 27 Member States of the European Union. The clearance by the nine countries, however, is unlikely to translate into an automatic clearance of Covishield as an equivalent to the ‘Green Pass’, which recognises Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty, Moderna’s Spikevax, Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) that created the authorised list is yet to include Covishield, which is based on AstraZeneca formula, as an acceptable vaccine. The clearance of Covishield by nine European countries showed that some EU Member States are making individual policies that are suitable to their health and international requirements. Air France, for example, has declared that Indian passengers who have taken doses cleared by EMA (Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty, Moderna’s Spikevax, Vaxzevria of Oxford-AstraZeneca and Janssen by Johnson & Johnson) are required to undergo 7 days of ‘mandatory quarantine’. These passengers must present a Covid-19 vaccination certificate demonstrating that at least 4 weeks have elapsed since the first dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or 2 weeks have elapsed since the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccine, or since the first dose of these vaccines if the passenger holds proof that they previously have been infected with Covid-19, said Air Frace laying down the domestic requirement which places additional conditions on even those Indian passengers who have taken doses of the vaccines meant for the ‘Green Pass’ from the EU.

NATIONAL NEWS 

A) Covid-19 compensation: SC pulls up NDMA for ‘failing to perform its duty’

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), of which the Prime Minister is the ex officio chairperson, for failing to perform its duty to recommend ex gratia assistance for families of those who lost their loved ones to the Covid-19 pandemic. The National Authority [NDMA] failed to perform its duty, the Supreme Court held. A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan gave the NDMA six weeks to frame the guidelines for fixing the ex gratia meant for these families. The court, however, left it to the wisdom of the NDMA to fix the amount of ex gratia. The PIL petitioners, advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and Reepak Kansal, had asked for a payment of ₹4 lakh each to the families of the Covid-19 dead. Not proper for the court to ask government to pay a particular amount, the court said. The judgment, pronounced by Justice M.R. Shah on the Bench, held that the government could not excuse itself of its duty to pay ex gratia by saying that such payments would entail huge expenditure. The court pointed to Section 12 of the Disaster Management Act of 2005 and said the term ‘minimum standards of relief’ mentioned in the provision included payment of ex gratia. Justice Shah dismissed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission that Section 12 was merely recommendatory and not mandatory. Instead, the court drew the government’s attention to the word shall used in Section 12 and said this made the payment of ex gratia to victims’ families a mandatory and statutory duty. The court, in this regard, said Section 12 (iii) held that the National Authority shall recommend guidelines for the minimum standards of relief to be provided to persons affected by disaster, which shall include ex gratia assistance on account of loss of life. The court, meanwhile, directed that death certificates of Covid-19 patients should show the exact cause of death. As regards insurance and social security claims of those affected by Covid-19, the court ordered the Union of India to take appropriate steps in compliance with the 15th Finance Commission Report.

 

B) Bharat Biotech denies any wrongdoing over Brazil Covaxin deal

Covaxin manufacturer Bharat Biotech on June 30 asserted that it had followed a routine ‘step-by-step approach’ towards getting contracts and regulatory approvals for supply of the vaccine in Brazil and added that it had neither received any advance payments nor supplied any vaccines to the South American country’s Health Ministry. Reacting to media reports, including a Rio De Janeiro-datelined news report in which Reuters cited Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga announcing the suspension of a $324-million Indian vaccine contract in the wake of allegations of irregularity linked to President Jair Bolsonaro, the Hyderabad-based company laid out the timeline of developments related to its efforts to supply the vaccine to Brazil. Stating that discussions with the Brazilian Ministry had begun in November 2020, Bharat Biotech said that over the course of eight months, a step-by-step approach, similar to what was observed in other countries where the company sought approvals, had been followed. Subsequently, Covaxin received emergency use authorisation in Brazil on June 4. On the issue of pricing, Bharat Biotech said it had been clearly established that the vaccine would be priced between $15 and $20 per dose for supplies to governments outside India. The pricing for Brazil had also been indicated at $15 per dose. Also, while advance payments had been received from several countries at the same price points, with supplies in process, pending approvals, as of June 29, Bharat Biotech has not received any advance payments or supplied any vaccines to MOH Brazil, the company said. Elaborating on the procurement process in Brazil and other countries, Bharat Biotech said a common approach, widely accepted and established in the industry, was followed for Covid-19 vaccines and several vaccines for routine immunisation. The vaccine maker said it had partnered with Brazil’s Precisa Medicamentos for assistance, guidance and support with regulatory submissions, distribution, insurance and conduct of phase III clinical trials. The trials, approved recently by Brazil’s health regulator ANVISA, are to be conducted on 5,000 participants.

 

C) Drones, flying objects banned in J&K Rajouri district 

The Rajouri district administration on Wednesday banned the sale or possession of flying objects, as at least five sorties of drones around the security installations in Jammu since Sunday, including the IAF’s technical airport recently, have the security agencies on the tenterhooks in J&K. In exercise of powers vested to me under Section 144 of the CrPC, a ban is imposed on storage, sale, possession, use and transport of any drone or small flying objects, toys in the district, Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Kumar Savan said in an order. Security personnel keep vigil during a high alert in Jammu on June 28, 2021 after two drones were noticed hovering over Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military station area the previous night. The order has directed all those in the district who already possess any such gadgets to deposit them with the local police station against proper receipt. The government agencies using drones for mapping, surveys and surveillance will get the local police station incharge and the executive magistrate informed. It warned of punitive action against those who violate the order. Rajouri is close to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Pir Panjal valley. The move comes two days after two explosions, apparently ferried and dropped by two drones, rocked the technical airport of the IAF in Jammu on Sunday.

 

D) Navjot Singh Sidhu meets Priyanka Gandhi 

Former Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been leading a public battle against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on Wednesday had a closed-door meeting with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The two are said to have discussed Sidhu’s role in the revamp exercise of the Punjab unit ahead of next year’s Assembly election. Post her meeting, Vadra called on former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the latter’s house alone. Though the cricketer-turned-politician did not accompany her, Vadra is believed to have played the role of an emissary. Had a long meeting with @priyankagandhi Ji, Sidhu tweeted, along with a photograph of his with Vadra. Party insiders say Gandhi may meet Sidhu but the schedule is not known yet. On Monday, Sidhu’s team had informed reporters that the Punjab Congress leader would be meeting Gandhi and Vadra in Delhi a day later. Though he arrived in Delhi from Patiala on Tuesday, there was no scheduled meeting. When reporters asked Gandhi about it, expressing surprise, he said, I don’t know what fuss you all are making. Sidhu’s claim also stood in sharp contrast with what Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh experienced during his Delhi visit last week. While Capt. Singh met the three-member panel of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), set up to end Punjab factionalism, the Gandhis did not meet him. For the past couple of months, Punjab Congress has been witnessing a political turmoil with several senior leaders speaking out against their own government, and Sidhu has been at the forefront. While a majority of the MLAs are learnt to have said that Capt. Amarinder was best placed to lead the Congress into next year’s Assembly elections, many complained about his inaccessibility, predominance of bureaucrats in running the affairs of the State, and the existence of liquor, sand and transport mafia. Sidhu had gone to the extent of alleging that the Chief Minister was protecting the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in most cases, including the 2015 sacrilege case in which the Guru Granth Sahib was desecrated at Bargari (Faridkot). The three member AICC panel — comprising Mallikarjun Kharge, Harish Rawat and J.P. Aggarwal — in its report is learnt to have suggested around 20 action points, including action in the sacrilege case as well as cracking down on various mafia operating in the State. Since then, a special investigation team has questioned former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Lok Sabha member Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was the Deputy CM when Akalis were in power. The AICC panel is also learnt to have suggested that Sidhu needed to be suitably accommodated in the party or the government. However, Capt. Amarinder is said to be resisting any move to make Sidhu the Pradesh Congress Committee chief. The Punjab unit of the Congress is expected to be revamped in the next few days based on the feedback party leaders gave to the AICC panel as well as Gandhi.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) U.S. aircraft involved in Black Sea incident: Putin 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was operating in sync with a British destroyer during last week’s Black Sea incident. Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia had annexed in 2014. Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters. Speaking Wednesday during a marathon live call-in show, Putin said that the U.S. aircraft’s apparent mission was to monitor the Russian military’s response to the British destroyer. He added that Moscow was aware of the U.S. intentions and responded accordingly to avoid revealing sensitive data. In Wednesday’s incident, Britain insisted the Defender had been making a routine journey through an internationally recognized travel lane and remained in Ukrainian waters near Crimea. The UK, like most of the world, recognises Crimea as part of Ukraine despite the peninsula’s annexation by Russia. Russia denounced the Defender’s move as a provocation and warned that next time it could fire to hit intruding warships if they again try to test Russian military resolve.

B) Israel seeks to build wider ties across West Asia.

Israel’s new Foreign Minister said on Wednesday his landmark visit to the United Arab Emirates was just the start of a road to wider peace in West Asia, reaching out to Arab states still wary of normalising ties. Cabinet Minister to visit the Gulf state since the countries forged ties last year, also reiterated Israel’s concern about the Iran nuclear deal being negotiated in Vienna. The trip comes amid unease in Israel and Arab capitals about U.S. efforts to reenter a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, which then President Donald Trump quit in 2018 in a move backed by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies. This visit isn’t the end of the road to peace, it is just the beginning, he told reporters. Our hand is out stretched. I hope this visit is the first of many and that together with our new friends we continue to make history in the entire region. The UAE and Bahrain normalised ties with Israel under so-called Abraham Accords brokered by Mr. Trump’s administration, creating a new regional dynamic based on mutual concern over Iran and Islamist groups. Sudan and Morocco followed suit. Mr. Lapid declined to comment on whether Israel was coordinating with Gulf states over Iran, saying he did not want to embarrass his hosts by remarking on a neighbour while in the UAE, but noted his country was worried about the nuclear deal. Gulf states have called for a stronger deal of longer duration that also addresses Tehran’s missiles programme and support for regional proxies that Iran has denied giving.