NATIONAL NEWS
A) COVID-19 resurgence ‘speculative’ for now, govt tells Supreme Court
The possibility of a resurgence in Covid-19 infection is speculative and will depend on the behaviour of citizens and the virus, the Health Ministry has told the Supreme Court. Possibility of any such resurgence would necessarily be speculative at this stage. However, the possibility of resurgence would depend on the behaviour pattern of the virus and the behaviour of the citizens, whether they follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour or not, the Ministry said. The government said there was no global scientific evidence that the virus would target children. Though there is no global scientific evidence of virus selecting to affect a particular age group, the Central government has ensured that all State governments are geared up to deal with any such potential threat to children, its affidavit filed through Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati noted. The government said it had received many requests for door-to-door vaccination, especially for the elderly and the disabled. However, there were several valid and germane reasons against it. These span from risk of high vaccine wastage to increased time involved in visiting beneficiaries. Other reasons include addressing Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) in an adequate manner in a home-setting, protocol of 30-minute observation post vaccination, break in cold chain of the vaccine due to frequent opening of the vaccine carrier at every household, health risk for vaccinators. On the vaccination of children below 18 years, the Centre said, as of now, companies manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines in India have only been given ‘Emergency Use Authorisation’ for vaccinating people of 18 years age and above. Therefore, COVID-19 vaccines are not recommended for persons/children less than 18 years due to the fact that the clinical trial cohort during phase 1,2 and 3 did not cover children below 18. Nevertheless, the government informed the court that the Drugs Controller General of India had on May 12 permitted Bharat Biotech to conduct clinical trials on the healthy volunteers aged between two and 18 years for its vaccine, Covaxin. The enrolment process for this trial has also begun, the affidavit said. The Centre said States had been cautioned to maintain a continuous vigil and plan in advance for any exigencies that may arise due to resurgence of the pandemic. Communications were regularly being sent to States regarding current trajectory of cases, need for adherence to Test-Track-Treat policy for containment of outbreaks, etc.
B) Two personnel injured in twin blasts at IAF Jammu station
In a terror attack, two low-intensity explosions left two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel injured at the Jammu Air Force Station on Sunday. The devices are suspected to have been dropped and detonated by unmanned aerial vehicles. Two low-intensity explosions were reported in the technical area of the Jammu Air Force Station. One caused minor damage to the roof of a building while the other exploded in an open area. There was no damage to any equipment. A probe is on, an IAF spokesman said. The sound of blasts was heard from inside the station around 1:40 a.m. and exploded within six minutes of each other. Two IAF personnel suffered minor injuries, officials said. An FIR under section 16,18,23 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, section 3 of Explosive Substance Act and 307, 120-B of the IPC has been lodged in the incident, Inspector General of Police Mukesh Singh told. The high-security Jammu Air Force Station is a technical airport and hosts helicopters and transport aircraft only. A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, besides the IAF teams, also visited the site at the airport. A few individuals have been questioned, they added. Security agencies suspect the use of a drone or a quadcopter in the attack. We are piecing together the evidence at the site, an official said. The attackers may have been operating the drone in close vicinity of the air base because such vehicles have limited range, officials said. Union Defence Minister Rajnath also spoke to Air Chief Marshal H.S. Arora, Vice-Chief of the Air Staff of the IAF, regarding the incident. Western Air Commander Air Marshal V.R. Chaudhari is scheduled to visit the base to assess the situation. IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria, who is on an official trip to Bangladesh, is monitoring the situation from there, officials said. Earlier this year, the Border Security Forces (BSF) foiled a few attempts to drop weapons by using drones on this side of the International Border in Jammu’s Samba and Kathua belt. There have been warnings that Pakistan-based terrorist groups could attempt to target military bases with drones. After the drone attack on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Eastern Saudi Arabia in September 2019, the armed forces held deliberations on the issue and put in place plans to procure counter-drone capabilities. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an anti-drone technology for short ranges which was deployed for Prime Minister’s security during the Independence Day address last August. Last December, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said that the Navy was procuring Smash-2000 rifles to counter drones, among other measures.
C) Twitter’s grievance office for India steps down
Twitter’s interim resident grievance officer for India has stepped down, leaving the micro-blogging site without a grievance official as mandated by the new IT rules to address complaints from Indian subscribers, according to a source. The source said that Dharmendra Chatur, who was recently appointed as interim resident grievance officer for India by Twitter, has quit from the post. The social media company’s website no longer displays his name, as required under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. Twitter declined to comment on the development. The development comes at a time when the micro-blogging platform has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules. The new rules which came into effect from May 25 mandate social media companies to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from the users or victims. All significant social media companies, with over 50 lakh user base shall appoint a grievance officer to deal with such complaints and share the name and contact details of such officers. The big social media companies are mandated to appoint a chief compliance officer, a Nodal Contact Person and a resident grievance officer. All of them should be resident in India. Twitter in response to the final notice issued by the government on June 5 had said that it intends to comply with the new IT rules and will share details of the chief compliance officer. In the meantime, the microblogging platform had appointed Chatur as interim resident grievance officer for India. Twitter now displays the company’s name in the place of grievance officer for India with a US address and an email ID. According to a government official, the company has lost legal protection as an intermediary and will be legally held responsible for all content posted by its users on the platform.
D) Classified U.K. Defence Ministry documents found at bus stop, says report
Classified documents from the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) containing secret information about a warship and the British military was discovered at a bus stop in southeastern England, according to a media report on Sunday. The MoD said an employee reported the loss of the documents last week, which were discovered by a member of the public in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning, the BBC report said. One set of documents reportedly discusses the likely Russian reaction to HMS Defender’s passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday and another lays out plans for a possible U.K. military presence in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led NATO operation there ends this year. It would be inappropriate to comment further, an MoD spokesperson said, as it was confirmed an investigation has been launched into the incident. A member of the public, who wishes to remain anonymous, found the 50-odd pages of documents and contacted the BBC when he realised the sensitive nature of the contents. The BBC believes the documents, which include emails and PowerPoint presentations, originated in the office of a senior official at the MoD. The documents relating to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender, show that a mission described by the MoD as an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, with guns covered and the ship’s helicopter stowed in its hangar, was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively. On Wednesday, more than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships shadowed the warship as it sailed about 19-km off Crimea’s coast. Moscow’s defence ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the destroyer’s path but the U.K. government rejected this account, denying any warning shots had been fired. The mission, dubbed Op Ditroite, was the subject of high-level discussions as late as Monday, the documents show, with officials speculating about Russia’s reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to Crimea. The bundle of documents also includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including sensitive observations about areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies. And there are briefing notes for last Monday’s session of the U.K.-U.S. Defence Dialogue, including observations on US President Joe Biden’s first months in office. Most of the papers are marked official sensitive, a relatively low level of classification used, according to the government, where there is a clear and justifiable requirement to reinforce the ‘need to know’.
E) OROP shows government commitment to veterans: Rajnath Singh
The decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll out ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) scheme, ending a decades long wait, was a testimony to the government’s unwavering commitment towards the welfare and satisfaction of the veterans, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday. Our aim is to take care of you in the same way as you all have taken care of the security of the country, Mr. Singh said addressing veterans in Leh during his three day visit to Ladakh. He interacted with 300 veterans, including Ashok Chakra winner Naib Subedar (Honorary) Chhering Mutup (Retd) and Maha Vir Chakra winner Colonel Sonam Wangchuk (Retd). Listing various measures taken by the government for the welfare of veterans, Mr. Singh said a number of steps have been taken to address the issue of resettlement, including organising job fairs through Directorate General Resettlement, in which a large number of veterans were given employment. Later, Mr. Singh met the elected representatives of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Leh, Kargil and officials in Leh. During his visit, he will also inaugurate infrastructure projects constructed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and interact with troops deployed in the region.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Blinken, Lapid to meet in Rome to reset U.S .- Israel ties.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will meet in Rome on Sunday as their new governments look to turn the page on former President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose close alliance aggravated partisan divisions within both countries. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are focused on pragmatic diplomacy rather than dramatic initiatives that risk fomenting opposition at home or distracting from other priorities. That means aiming for smaller achievements, such as shoring up the informal cease-fire that ended last month’s war with Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers and replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome defence system. A major push to revive the long dormant peace process between Israel and the Palestinians could unsettle the delicate balance. Nobody thinks it’s a good idea to start charging through on a major new peace initiative, said Ilan Goldenberg, a Mideast security expert at the nonprofit Center for a New American Security. But there are things you can do quietly under the radar, on the ground, to improve the situation. That approach – of managing the conflict rather than trying to solve it – may succeed in papering over domestic divisions. But it also maintains a status quo that the Palestinians find increasingly oppressive and hopeless, and which has fueled countless cycles of unrest. The Americans and Israelis will try to work out differences away from the public, as in Mr. Biden’s quiet diplomacy, when he privately urged Netanyahu to wind down the Israel-Hamas war ahead of a truce that took effect May 21.
B) U.K.’s Hancock quits over breach of COVID-19 rules.
U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday following revelations he broke government coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide, with former Finance Minister Sajid Javid taking up the role. The frontman for Britain’s response to the pandemic, particularly the nationwide vaccine roll-out, quit in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by Matt Hancock. Opposition parties have accused the government of hypocrisy over breaches of lockdown rules which have seen many members of the public slapped with fines. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis. Mr. Johnson had initially stood by his Health Secretary after Mr. Hancock admitted breaking COVID-19 social distancing rules, when at the same time he was urging the public to stick by the measures. After The Sun newspaper published a security camera still obtained apparently from a whistleblower showing him kissing the aide. Labour party said the government needed to answer questions about the undisclosed appointment of the aide, former lobbyist Gina Coladangelo, to Hancock’s top advisory team. Both she and Hancock are married, and first met at university.
