CURRENT AFFAIRS
26 May 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Don’t mix Trinamool leaders’ personal liberty with CBI office ‘siege’: SC tells Centre.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to let the CBI use West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s siege of and dharna at the premier investigating agency’s premises as a pretext for curbing the personal liberty of four TMC leaders arrested in the Narada sting tapes case, forcing the CBI to drop its appeal for their custody. A Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and B.R. Gavai said the agency was free to separately proceed against Banerjee, her Law Minister Moloy Ghatak and other TMC leaders for allegedly barging into its offices on May 17. But it would not allow their alleged actions hurt the rights of the accused, presently under house arrest. Take it that we do not appreciate dharnas and all But if some Chief Minister or Law Minister takes law into their hands, should the accused suffer? We do not like to mix the issue of liberty of citizens with whatever illegal acts of politicians. We will not do that, Justice Gavai addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI. Mehta replied, But they [CM] were doing it from them [accused]. Justice Gavai observed, So, therefore, you proceed against the (CM, Law Minister) for attempting to take the law into their hands. You have yourself quoted Lord Denning’s ‘Be ye never so high, the law is above you’. Mehta said, I used to believe in that. Well, we still believe in it! both Justices Saran and Gavai said in unison. The law officer said the incident suggested a larger malaise in the State. The role of the investigating agency was reduced to nothing. This is an extraordinary situation. There was a complete collapse of rule of law, and this is happening repeatedly. CBI offices with the arrested four men was in a state of siege on May 17. Unruly mobs pelted stones. Officers could not step out to produce the accused before the magistrate. If these facts cannot move My Lords’ conscience, there is nothing more I can say, he expressed his disappointment. The Bench, which refrained from commenting on the merits of the case, reacted to this by pointing out that a five-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court was already examining every factor regarding the case following a split verdict on the question of bail. When the CBI argued that the four accused would influence witnesses in the comforts of their house arrest, the Bench replied there were two sets of accused in this case. One set is those against whom charge sheet has been filed. The other set is those against whom charge sheet has not been filed. Now, tell us, who of the two is more influential? Justice Gavai asked.
B) CBI chief selection: In dissent note, Adhir Ranjan questions conduct of DoPT.
The conduct of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has been obnoxious during the selection process of a new CBI director and the meeting of the selection panel should be deferred, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in a dissent note that was submitted to the high-powered selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Justice of India NV Ramana is the other member of the committee that decides on the appointment of the CBI chief. Objecting to the manner in which DoPT — the nodal ministry for all important positions in the Central institutions — had short-listed 16 names out of a list of 109 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at the ‘eleventh hour,’ Chowdhury batted for cancelling the Monday meeting. However, as the CBI didn’t have a full-time director since February, the panel decided to go ahead with the meeting. The 16 names, whose dossiers were sent to the committee members on the day of the meeting, included present chief of the Border Security Force (BSF) Rakesh Asthana [Gujarat cadre:1984 batch] and the National Investigation Agency chief YC Modi [Assam-Meghalaya:1984 batch], both considered as favourite officers of the ruling dispensation. However, as The Hindu reported on Monday, they were excluded, as the CJI insisted on sticking to a rule that said a candidate should have six months or more for retirement. Chowdhury, too, is learnt to have strongly argued against these officials. The committee eventually short-listed three officers — VSK Kaumudi [Andhra Pradesh:86 batch], Kumar Rajesh Chandra [Bihar:85 batch] and Subodh Kumar Jaiswal [Maharashtra:85 batch] — from among whom one will be appointed as the new CBI chief. In his dissent note, Chowdhury cited the Supreme Court judgement in the Anjali Bharadwaj versus Union of India case concerning the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and argued for absolute transparency in the selection procedure of the CBI chief. The DoPT has no statutory backing to pick and forward only select names to the Selection Committee. Moreover, it seems, the DoPT, which is directly under the control of the Central Government, is deliberately trying to sabotage the purpose of this High Powered Selection Committee. The above conduct of the DoPT is most objectionable, he said in his dissent note.
C) As new IT rules come into force on May 26, Facebook says it ‘aims to comply’
Social media giant Facebook on Tuesday said it aimed to comply with the provisions of India’s new IT rules of intermediaries, which come into effect on Wednesday. The U.S.-headquartered firm added that it continued to discuss the issues related to the new guidelines with the government. Replying to a query on its readiness to comply with the new guideline, a Facebook spokesperson said, We aim to comply with the provisions of the IT rules and continue to discuss a few of the issues which need more engagement with the government. The three-month deadline for social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to comply with new, stricter rules for intermediaries ends on Tuesday even as at least five industry bodies, including the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the US-India Business Council (USIBC), have written to the government for up to a one-year compliance window, particularly in the view of the pandemic. The Centre on February 25 notified the ‘The Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021’, which make it mandatory for platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram to aid in identifying the originator of unlawful messages, while also requiring social media networks to take down such messages within a specific time frame, set up grievance redressal mechanisms, as well as assist government agencies in investigation. The significant social media intermediaries were given three months for compliance.
D) Assembly polls prove BJP juggernaut is stoppable: Pinarayi Vijayan.
The recently concluded Assembly elections in various States have busted the myth that the BJP juggernaut is unstoppable, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said in an interview with The Hindu. After he led the Left Democratic Front (LDF) back to power for a second consecutive term in Kerala, Vijayan said the electoral victory of the LDF in Kerala and the ascension to power of the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu had buoyed the prospects of a national alternative to the BJP at the Centre. So certainly, alternatives will emerge, he said. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is part of the DMK- led alliance in Tamil Nadu. In that sense, we are allies. Both States have often cooperated on a host of issues. I am sure we will continue to do so, he said.
E) Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi goes missing: Antiguan media.
Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi is understood to have gone missing in Antigua and Barbuda with the police launching a manhunt to trace him since Sunday, local media outlets reported. Antiguanewsroom, a local media outlet, quoted Commissioner of Police Atlee Rodney on Tuesday as saying that the police are following up on the whereabouts of Indian businessman Mehul Choksi, who is rumoured to be missing. The media reports say Choksi, who had taken citizenship of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, was seen driving in the southern area of the island on Sunday. Later, his vehicle was found but there was no trace of Choksi, the reports said. Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning off ₹13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), using letters of undertaking. While Modi is in a London prison after repeated denial of bail and is contesting extradition to India, Choksi had taken the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme, before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018. The scam came to light subsequently. Both are facing a CBI probe. Since Choksi already has an Interpol Red Notice pending against him, he can be detained in any of the Interpol member countries and deported to India.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) U.S. calls for ‘transparent’ new probe into COVID-19 origins.
The United States called on Tuesday for international experts to be allowed to evaluate the source of the SARS-Cov-2 and the early days of the outbreak in a second phase of an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. U.S. intelligence agencies are examining reports that researchers at Wuhan Institute of Virology were seriously ill in 2019 a month before the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, according to U.S. government sources who cautioned on Monday that there is still no proof the disease originated at the lab. Phase 2 of the COVID origins study must be launched with terms of reference that are transparent, science-based, and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreak, U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a video message to the annual ministerial meeting of the World Health Organization. Mr. Becerra did not mention China directly, where the first known human cases of COVID-19 emerged in the central city of Wuhan in December 2019. The origin of the virus is hotly contested. In a report issued in March, written jointly with Chinese scientists, a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that introduction through a laboratory incident was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway. A WHO spokesman, Tarik Jasarevic, asking about a follow-up mission, told Reuters on Monday that the agency was reviewing the recommendations from the report at the technical level. China on Monday dismissed as totally untrue reports that three researchers in Wuhan went to hospital with an illness before the coronavirus emerged in the city. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that, according to a statement from the laboratory, it had not been exposed to COVID-19 before December 30, 2019, and a zero-infection record is kept among its staff and graduate students so far.
B) Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in adolescents.
The possibility of children returning to normal life in the U.S. became stronger on Tuesday with vaccine manufacturer Moderna announcing that its Covid-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 is 100% effective in preventing symptomatic infections in 12-17 year olds after two doses. The company said that it would approach the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to extend the use of its vaccine to this age group, in early June. Two thirds of the 3,732 individuals aged 12-17 received two doses of the vaccine in Moderna’s latest clinical study. None of them developed serious Covid-19 (equivalent to 100% efficacy) while four developed Covid-19 in the placebo group, the company said. A single dose of the vaccine resulted in 93% efficacy based on the case definition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is modified, given the lower overall rate of infections in adolescents. The teenagers in the study will be monitored for a year after their second dose, the New York Times reported. They are encouraged that mRNA-1273 was highly effective at preventing Covid-19 in adolescents, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said. Some have criticised the U.S. for vaccinating children who are less susceptible to serious Covid-19 infections while more vulnerable adult populations in countries across the world, including India, are yet to be vaccinated. The Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine was recently approved for emergency use in 12-15 years. Pfizer and Moderna are in the process of conducting vaccine trials on children in the 6 months to 11 years group.
