CURRENT AFFAIRS
24 January 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Farmers claim Delhi police nod for tractor parades.
The Delhi Police on Saturday gave permission to protesting farmer unions to hold their tractor parades on January 26 in the national capital, farmer leaders claimed. The tractor parades will start from the Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri border points of Delhi, but details will be finalised tonight, farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said after attending a meeting between the unions and the police. Mr. Kohar claimed that the Delhi Police has given its nod for the same. Talking to reporters, another farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that as thousands of farmers will participate in the parade, there will be no single route. Farmer leader Darshan Pal said that barricades set up at Delhi border points, will be removed on January 26 and farmers will take out tractor rallies after entering the national capital. While some former government officials had expressed concern that the protests could turn violent, the leaders said they would remain peaceful. The 11th round of talks between government officials led by Agricultural minister Narendra Singh Tomar and forty farm leaders earlier on Friday was inconclusive. Farmers stuck to their demands while the government urged them to consider its offer to hold discussions to address their concerns after deferring the laws.
B) India to continue ban on Chinese apps including Tik Tok.
The government has sent notices to Chinese apps, including Tiktok, that the order to block them will be continued. The notice has been issued by the Ministry of Electronics and IT after reviewing replies of blocked apps, according to a source who did not wish to be identified. When contacted, Tiktok confirmed to have received a reply from the government. They are evaluating the notice and will respond to it as appropriate. TikTok was among the first companies to comply with the Government of India directive issued on June 29, 2020. They continually strive to comply with local laws and regulations and do their best to address any concerns the government may have. Ensuring the privacy and security of all their users remains to be their topmost priority, a TikTok spokesperson said. The government has sent notices to Chinese apps, including Tiktok, that the order to block them will be continued.The government has sent notices to Chinese apps, including Tiktok, that the order to block them will be continued. The government had blocked 59 Chinese apps in June and 118 more apps, including PUBG mobile game, in September, 2020. The Ministry of Information Technology had blocked the apps under section 69A of the Information Technology Act after learning that the apps are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
C) Why not four rotating capitals for India?, asks Mamata.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday questioned why India should have only one capital at Delhi and suggested that there should be four rotating capitals in different parts of the country. The Chief Minister made the proposal while addressing a gathering after participating in a road show to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Why shouldn’t Kolkata be the capital of the country he was saying this because of their contribution to the freedom struggle. He will again urge the Centre that India should have four capitals one in south, one in north, one in east and in northeastern and Sudip-da (Leader of the Trinamool Congress in Lok Sabha Sudip Banerjee) you should demand that Parliament sessions be held in a rotating manner in each of the four places, Ms. Banerjee said. The Chief Minister said that they are not parochial, they are saying it for everyone, asking why a capital should not come up in the south at Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Karnataka, in the north at Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan and similarly in the east in Kolkata. Later in the day while participating at another event to honour Netaji at the Victoria Memorial along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister expressed her annoyance to slogans being raised at the venue. Among the slogans were cries of Jai Shri Ram! He think that government programmes should have a dignity. It is not a programme organised by a political party. He is thankful to the Prime Minister and Ministry of Culture for holding the event here in Kolkata, the Chief Minister said.
D) Vijay Mallya applies for ‘another route’ to stay in the U.K.
Vijay Mallya has applied to Home Secretary Priti Patel for another route to be able to stay in the U.K., the liquor tycoon’s barrister representing him in bankruptcy proceedings in the High Court in London confirmed during a remote hearing on January 22. The 65-year-old businessman, whose legal challenge to the Indian government’s extradition request was turned down at the Supreme Court level in the U.K. last year, remains in Britain on bail until Ms. Patel signs off on the order for him to be extradited to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering related to the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The U.K. Home Office has so far only confirmed that a legal process remains ongoing before the extradition order can be executed. This had raised widespread speculation that Mallya had sought asylum in the U.K., details of which are neither confirmed nor denied by the Home Office in Britain while an application is pending.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Iconic television and radio host Larry King passes away.
Veteran television and radio host Larry King died on Saturday at the age of 87. An official statement on his Twitter said he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The statement did not mention how he died, but reports earlier this month said that King had tested positive for the coronavirus. For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster, the statement read. Additionally, while it was his name appearing in the show’s titles, Larry always viewed his interview subjects as the true stars of his programs, and himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and audience. U.S. television host Larry King had been battling COVID-19 for weeks and had suffered several health problems in recent years. A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN, where he won many honors, including two Peabody awards. His CNN show Larry King Live, which ran from 1985 to 2010 made him a household name. In 2011, he received an Emmy award for lifetime achievement, a year after he announced his retirement. As per the Associated Press, King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama, Bill Gates to Lady Gaga.
B) Taiwan reports Chinese air incursions.
Eight Chinese bomber planes and four fighter jets entered the southwestern corner of Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Saturday, and Taiwan’s Air Force deployed missiles to monitor the incursion, the island’s Defence Ministry said. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has conducted almost daily flights over the waters between the southern part of Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea in recent months. However, they have generally consisted of just one or two reconnaissance aircraft. The presence of so many Chinese combat aircraft on this mission Taiwan said it was made up of eight nuclear-capable H-6K bombers and four J-16 fighter jets is unusual. A map provided by Taiwan’s Defence Ministry showed that the Chinese aircraft, which also included a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, flew over the same waters where the most recent Chinese missions have been taking place near the Pratas Islands, though still well away from mainland Taiwan. Taiwan’s Air Force warned away the Chinese aircraft and deployed missiles to monitor them, the Ministry added, using standard wording for how it responds to such activities. Airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued and air defence missile systems deployed to monitor the activity, it said in a brief statement. There was no immediate comment from China. In the past China has said it has been carrying out exercises to defend the country’s sovereignty and security. Beijing has watched with growing concern increasing U.S. support for democratic Taiwan. The flight by the Chinese bombers and fighters on Saturday came just days after Joe Biden assumed the U.S. presidency.
C) Indonesia makes room for an Indian hero.
Tucked away inside the Indonesian Embassy in New Delhi is a special room one that has been built in recognition of the nation’s freedom struggle from Dutch colonialism 74 years ago, and named, unusually, for an Indian leader, Biju Patnaik. The former Chief Minister of Odisha, who was a skilled pilot, flew several missions in 1947 to transport Indonesian leaders, including the nation’s tallest leader, President Sukarno, Vice-President Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir out of Indonesia, at grave risk to himself. They wanted to build a living memorial that would not just be a museum, so they decided that their meeting and videoconference room would be named the Bjiu Patnaik Room, says Hanafi, the Cultural and Social Counsellor at the Embassy, who helped execute the project that was completed by Indonesian Ambassador Sidhartho Suryodipuro this month, before he ended his tenure in Delhi. On the walls of the Biju Patnaik room are photographs, newspaper clippings and letters that document Mr. Patnaik’s secret assignments to fly out the Indonesian leaders, as well as his relations with the Indonesian leadership. Eventually, Indonesia won back its freedom. In 1950, President Sukarno was the chief guest at India’s first Republic Day, and India Indonesia ties remained strong for the next decade. A letter in the Patnaik room also tells the tale of how relations between the two countries soured after Indonesia didn’t support India in the 1962 war with China. Relations were revived only decades later, when in 2005, India and Indonesia signed a Strategic Partnership agreement; military exchanges and trade ties have grown since. The newly-inaugurated Patnaik room, is a reminder not only of the historical bonds between the two countries, but the imperative of keeping ties strong in the present as well, diplomats at the Embassy say.
