CURRENT AFFAIRS
01 December 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers urge PM to listen to their ‘mann ki baat’
It is time for the Prime Minister to listen to the “mann ki baat” of the farmers or pay a heavy price for not doing so, farmer leaders said on Monday, the fifth day of their protest on the borders of Delhi. Their demand for the repeal of the Centre’s three agricultural reform laws is non-negotiable, they added. The Centre may be softening its own stance. After the protesting farmers rejected Home Minister Amit Shah’s invitation for talks on the condition that the protest be moved from the Delhi borders to the Burari grounds, there have been at least two meetings among senior Ministers and Cabinet officials, and several unofficial contacts between the government and the Punjab union leaders. Shah and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met BJP President J.P. Nadda late on Sunday night, and Tomar was seen leaving Shah’s residence again on Monday afternoon. Tens of thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been massed outside the Tikri and Singhu border crossings for five days, and a crowd is now growing at the Ghazipur border point as well. Traffic into the city has been severely affected, and farmers have threatened to blockade more border points. A senior Cabinet Minister who hails from Punjab signaled that the Centre may be ready for an unconditional dialogue. Speaking at a joint press conference of protest leaders at the Singhu border, Bharatiya Kisan Union-Dakaunda chief Jagmohan Singh slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attitude. Singh accused the government of doublespeak and an authoritarian and fascist attitude, and warned that Modi would pay a heavy price if the farmers demands were ignored. He urged the government to engage with the farmers on the core agenda of the three laws, and stop distracting them with other issues. Gurnam Singh Chadhuni, head of another faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, denied the allegation that only Punjab farmers are protesting.
B) Another BJP ally threatens to break off over farm laws.
After the Akali Dal broke off ties with the ruling BJP, another ally has threatened to quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over farm laws. In a tweet addressed to Home Minister Amit Shah, Rajasthan MP Hanuman Beniwal, chief of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), has demanded that the three new agricultural laws at the core of massive farmer protests near Delhi be scrapped. Beniwal also urged the BJP-led central government to talk to the farmers immediately instead of Thursday, when a second round of ministerial talks has been scheduled over the protests.
C) After Cyclone Nivar, TN braces for Cyclone Burevi.
Just a few days after Cyclone Nivar battered the region, a depression has formed over the Bay of Bengal. It is likely to intensify further into a deep depression and bring widespread rainfall over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and south coastal Andhra Pradesh from December 1, the India Meteorological Department said that a depression has formed over southeast Bay of Bengal, the department tweeted and in a subsequent post on pre-cyclone watch for south Tamil Nadu and south Kerala coasts, said it is very likely to intensify further into a deep depression during the next 12 hours. Once the system attains the strength of a cyclonic storm it will be named ‘Burevi’, it added. Scattered to widespread rainfall activity has already been forecast over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, Mahe, Lakshadweep, south coastal Andhra Pradesh and south Rayalaseema from December 1 to 3.
D) Audio feed in Rajya Sabha got disrupted during farm bills debate, claims CPWD.
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on Sunday claimed that the audio feed in Parliament got disrupted for nearly 20 minutes when the three contentious Agricultural Bills were debated in the Rajya Sabha on September 20 during the monsoon session of Parliament. This comes against a background of allegations by Opposition leaders that the audio feed had been deliberately switched off. The three Bills were passed amid a din, with the entire Opposition up on its feet. Eight members were suspended following the pandemonium in the Upper House while others sat on a nightlong dharna. The CPWD’s clarification was prompted by an RTI query by transparency activist Saket Gokhale. CPWD, which maintains the facility, clarifies that the feed was disrupted between 13:05 Hrs to 13:35 Hrs on 20 Sept, 2020 due to the damages caused to the microphones (mics) at the Chairman’s seat by some of the Hon’ble MPs, the department tweeted. It laid the blame on Opposition members, some of whom pulled out the microphone at the Chairman’s table. At that time, Deputy Chairman Harivansh was in the chair. The disruption of the audio feed for Rajya Sabha TV also meant that many of the MPs who were sitting in the Lok Sabha chamber as part of Covid-19 protocol could not hear the proceedings or participate in the debate. He added that he will be seeking access to video footage of the Chairman’s camera in Rajya Sabha from the day of the Farm Bill debate between 13:05 to 13:35.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Moderna seeks emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine.
Vials with a sticker reading “COVID-19/Coronavirus Vaccine/Injection only” are seen in front of a Moderna logo. Moderna Inc. said it would ask U.S. and European regulators on Monday to allow emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine as new study results confirm that the shots offer strong protection. Moderna is just behind Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in seeking to begin vaccinations in the U.S. in December. Across the Atlantic, British regulators are also assessing the Pfizer shot and another from AstraZeneca. Moderna created its shots with the U.S. National Institutes of Health and already had a hint that they were working. But it said that over the weekend, it obtained the final needed results, which suggested that the vaccine was more than 94% effective. Of the 196 Covid-19 cases so far in its huge U.S. study, 185 were trial participants who received the placebo and 11 had got the real vaccine. The only people who got severely ill 30 participants, including one who died had received dummy shots, said Dr. Tal Zaks, the company’s chief medical officer.
B) PM holds virtual conference with vaccine companies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual conference with heads of three vaccine development and manufacturing companies: Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, Pune, Biological E Ltd, and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Hyderabad. Biological E got permission to begin human trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in October. Gennova is scheduled to begin human trials of its proprietary m-RNA vaccine similar to that of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna later in December, and Dr. Reddy’s has tied up with Russia’s RDIF and Gamaleya to test the Sputnik V vaccine on Indian volunteers. If all steps go according to plan and pending regulatory approvals, these companies are expected to begin making millions of doses of vaccine by next year. The PM advised all the departments concerned to engage with the manufacturers and seek to resolve matters so that the efforts by these companies beat fruit in order to serve the needs of the country and the entire world, said a press statement on Monday. On Saturday, Modi had visited the manufacturing facilities of Serum Institute of India, Pune, Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad, and Zydus Cadilla, Ahmedabad. These are biotechnology firms whose vaccine candidates are at advanced stages of human trials in India.
