CURRENT AFFAIRS
12 August 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) 4G internet on a trial basis in two districts of J&K after August 15.
Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal informed the Supreme Court on 11 August that high-speed 4G Internet access will be opened up after Independence Day on August 15 in one district each, of Jammu and Kashmir’s divisions. The Centre said that a blanket removal of the 4G ban was not possible now, considering the “overall situation” and “threat perception” to national, border, and local security. Appearing in front of a three-judge Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana, Venugopal read out an additional affidavit which stated that the “carefully calibrated” opening up of 4G access will be on a trial basis. The access will be limited to specified areas that are not adjacent to the international border and have not seen low-intensity terrorist activities. The access will be strictly monitored to protect national, border, and local security. The decision is based on recommendations made by a Supreme Court-constituted special committee headed by Union Home Secretary A.K. Bhalla, which met on August 10. The committee will review the situation every week and meet again after 2 months.
B) Urdu poet and lyricist Rahat Indori passes away.
Renowned Urdu poet Rahat Indori, who was being treated for Covid-19, died of a heart attack at the Aurobindo Hospital in Indore. He was 70 years old and had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the day. On the morning of 11 August, he had tweeted that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and that he would keep everyone updated through social media. After initial symptoms of Covid-19, his corona test was done on 10 August which came out positive. With a body of poetical works spanning half a century, Indori was known for the lyrics of songs such as “M Bole to” from Munnabhai MBBS (2003), and “Neend Churai Meri” from Ishq (1997). Earlier this year, his poem “Bulati hai Magar jane ka nahi” went viral on social media, especially among the young.
C) Daughters will also have equal coparcenary rights in joint Hindu family property: SC
The Supreme Court by holding that daughter cannot be deprived of their right to equality ruled on 11 August that the daughters will also have equal coparcenary rights in the joint Hindu family property. They will exercise this right even if the father had died before the passing of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005. Coparcener is a term used for a person who assumes a legal right in the parental property by birth only. A three-judge Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S. Nazeer, and M.R. Shah said that the provisions which were contained in the substituted Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 provide daughter the status of a coparcener who were born before or after the amendment as a son along with same rights and liabilities.
D) Textile Ministry in downsizing mode.
In the last few weeks, the biggest push for the government’s vision of ‘minimum government and maximum governance’, a campaign slogan dating back to 2014, has been coming from the Textiles Ministry. The Ministry on 11 August abolished 5 advisory boards and withdrew officers from industry bodies. It is planning to withdraw its representatives from export promotion councils and is also shutting down two public sector undertakings (PSUs) as part of a rationalization exercise. The Ministry wound up the All-India Handloom Board on July 27; the All-India Handicrafts Board and the Cotton Advisory Board on August 3; and the All-India Powerloom Board and the Jute Advisory Board on August 4.
E) COVID Watch: Numbers and Developments.
The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 23,23,036 with the death toll at 46,156. India on Tuesday recorded 53,601 new cases. The health of former President Pranab Mukherjee, who recently tested positive for Covid-19, has worsened. He continues to be on ventilator support following an emergency life-saving surgery for a brain clot in the Army’s Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital. He was admitted to R&R hospital on 10 August in a critical condition. The former president who underwent life-saving emergency surgery for brain clots on August 10 has not shown any improvement and his health status has worsened. He remains on ventilator support, the Hospital said.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Russia registers its Covid-19 vaccine.
0n 11 August, Russia became the first country in the world to officially register said vaccine candidate, despite widespread skepticism from the international scientific community. President Vladimir Putin has even said that one of his daughters has already been inoculated. Putin emphasized that the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and has proved to be effective, offering lasting immunity from the coronavirus. However, it turns out that Phase 3 trials of the vaccine, which normally last for months and involve thousands of people, are yet to be conducted. He said that while Covid-19 has put the entire scientific and medical community on an accelerated track to finding solutions, vaccine development traditionally takes several years of testing before any candidate is marketed as safe to use by the general population.
B) Trump leaves media event after a man is shot near the White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump was on 10 August came out of a news conference after Secret Service agents wounded and shot a person who was claiming to be an armed person outside the White House. According to the U.S. Secret Service, a 51-year-old man approached an officer, told him he had weapons and assumed a “shooter stance”, whereupon the officer shot him in the torso. At Trump’s briefing, an agent walked on stage as Trump was speaking and led him away.
C) China extends the Hong Kong council’s term.
Chinese lawmakers have extended the term of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council by at least a year in order to deal with the vacuum left by postponing the city’s elections. Hong Kong’s leader said in late July that local elections planned for September would be postponed because coronavirus cases had surged in the international finance hub, a move which infuriated democracy supporters and drew concern from Western governments. The city’s Legislative Council, known as LegCo, will continue to perform its duties for no less than one year until the term of the next council begins, reported Chinese state broadcaster CCTV although the fate of four opposition lawmakers barred from seeking re-election remains unclear. However, the resolution did not mention how the 70 incumbent lawmakers would be handled, including four disqualified from running for re-election last month. LegCo president Andrew Leung added that the disqualification of the four lawmakers would apply to the next term, not the extended one.
D) Indian, Afghan officials discuss Loya Jirga.
Indian and Afghan officials in Delhi and Kabul discussed the outcome of the Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, in Afghanistan that advised the release of 400 Taliban militants convicted of serious crimes. According to officials, the two sides discussed the likelihood of intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha, Qatar, which have been put off to next week, as well as the hopes for a permanent ceasefire, in a briefing two days after the Jirga’s decision. The intra-Afghan talks could now take place on August 16-17 in Doha, once President Ghani’s government releases all the men, bringing the total number of Taliban fighters released to about 5,500. It is hoped that the release of the Taliban prisoners will include those demanded in exchange for the release of the Indian hostage, who was an employee at a power plant project run by Indian engineering company KEC. He was abducted at gunpoint by Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s Baglan province two years ago.
