CURRENT AFFAIRS
07 February 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Farmers’ ‘chakka jam’ goes off peacefully.

The three-hour chakka jam or road blockade protest called by farm unions went off smoothly today, despite some people being detained at a solidarity protest site within Delhi, as well as reports of detentions in Madhya Pradesh, Bangalore and Hyderabad. With the fears of chaos and violence looming in the background, security forces had stepped up deployment, and farm unions called off protests in U.P. and Uttarakhand. Members of different farmer outfits in parts of Punjab and Haryana on Saturday blocked several national and State highways and squatted on roads between 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. The protests, which saw the participation of the elderly, women and youth, were peaceful and no untoward incident was reported. Slogans were raised against the Centre, demanding the repeal of the laws. Sukhdev Singh, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), one of the largest farmers’ outfit in Punjab, said that its members blocked roads in 13 districts. Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) general secretary Sarvan Singh Pandher said its members blocked roads at 57 places in Amritsar and Tarn Taran among other districts. In Rajasthan, farmers at many places including Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Dholpur and Jhalawar in the State blocked the highways and main roads and held demonstrations, police said. The Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the suspension of Internet services at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri borders of Delhi till Saturday night, officials said. Apart from the three sites, Internet services will remain suspended in their adjoining areas too till 11:59 p.m. on February 6. The protests were held on a call from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a joint front of farmer unions, which had been agitating against the farm laws.

B) SC judge hails PM as ‘popular, vibrant and visionary leader’

Supreme Court justice M R Shah on Saturday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as our most popular, loved, vibrant and visionary leader, PTI reported. The praise for the prime minister by Justice Shah came during a function to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the Gujarat High Court. He is proud and privileged to participate in the function to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the Gujarat High Court and that too in the presence of their most popular, loved, vibrant and visionary leader, prime minister Narendra Modi, Shah said in his address. One of the essential features of the democratic republic established under the Indian Constitution is division of powers between Parliament, executive, and the judiciary,” the judge went on to say. He felt proud that the Gujarat High Court has never crossed the Lakshman Rekha (boundaries of power/code of conduct) and always delivered justice, he said. Last year, Justice Arun Mishra’s fulsome praise for Prime Minister Modi at an event had raised eyebrows. Justice Mishra, now a retired SC judge, had described Modi as internationally acclaimed visionary. In his address on Saturday, Justice Shah also said the Gujarat high court was his karmbhoomi where he practiced as a lawyer for 22 years and served as a judge for 14 years. Modi released a commemorative stamp at the function. He also hailed the country’s judiciary, saying it has performed its duty well in safeguarding people’s rights and upholding personal liberty.

C) Consensual sex between minors a legal grey area says Bombay HC, granting bail to teen convicted of rape. 

The Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a 19-year-old youth and suspended his 10-year sentence for raping his minor cousin. In its order, the court said that Incidents of consensual sex between minors has been a grey area under the law as minor’s consent is not valid in the eyes of law under Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO). In September 2017, the minor was living in her paternal uncle’s house. She is reported to have told a friend that her cousin had touched her inappropriately and that her stomach hurts. The friend told their class teacher who inquired about the same from the victim, and she told the teacher about being sexually harassed by the male cousin and subjected to penetrative assault. The ordeal was then described to the school principal after which a FIR was registered against the boy under section 376 (2) (n) and 354 of the Indian Penal Code, along with sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the POCSO. After the trial he was sentenced to suffer 10 years rigorous imprisonment. However, Justice S.S. Shinde noted that in the case at hand, facts are distinctive in the sense, victim is first cousin sister of the appellant. At the relevant time, she was a 15-year-old and appellant was 19. Both were students and living in one house. A fact cannot be overlooked that the victim had resiled [retracted] from her statement under Section 164 recording of confessions and statements of the Code of the Criminal Procedure. Even her mother was unfriendly to prosecution. Opinions of doctor that victim was subjected to sexual assault was subject to Forensic Science Laboratory report was not obtained till the conclusion of the trial. The court suspended his sentence and recorded, Victim said, her statement to the police and narrative in statement under Section 164 was at the instance of the class teacher. Therefore, in the proceedings, wherein suspension of sentence is sought, this Court cannot ignore the ‘evidence of victim’ and ‘her mother’. While granting bail to the youth, the Bench held that he is conscious of the fact that the passing of POCSO has been significant and a progressive step in securing children’s rights and furthering the cause of protecting children against sexual abuse. The letter and spirit of the law, which defines a child as anyone less than 18 years of age, is to protect children from sexual abuse. He is also conscious of the fact that consensual sex between minors has been in a legal grey area because the consent given by minor is not considered to be a valid consent in eyes of law.

D) Today’s times can’t be exaggerated as Emergency: N. Ram. 

The present times should not be compared to the Emergency as there were still spaces where one could air strong opinions and fight repression, N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, said on Saturday. He was speaking in a webinar organised by Live Law on Criminalising Journalism and Cinema. Ram said uneven implementation of law, and the higher judiciary, on more than one occasion, has failed to protect press freedom. The recent arrests and filing of criminal cases against several journalists and also other creative persons, has exposed and widened the fault lines in our Constitution. We used to think we have pretty good protection, but actually we don’t. There are many escape clauses in law which is aggravated by executive overreach and failure of the judiciary to adequately protect. India, he stated, had regressed in terms of freedom of press. There was a time when, in terms of freedom of press, India was in an enviable position among the developing nations. But that was 40 years ago, we had just come out of the dark chapter of Emergency. Political scientist Robin Jeffrey, in a book dealing with the Indian language press, called it India’s newspaper revolution. Today if he has to claim that they are in an enviable position, then he will be accused of spreading fake news, he observed. He wouldn’t say that this is like an emergency, he said. That would be a mistake. He have lived under Emergency, when there was total censorship, detention of journalists. Let’s not rush out to conclusions. There are still spaces where you can express vigorous opinion, strong condemnation of the acts of the executive, criticise the judiciary and so on, he noted.

E) After oils, FSSAI caps transfats in foods. 

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has amended its rules to put a cap on trans fatty acids (TFAs) in food products, just weeks after it tightened the norms for oils and fats. Food products in which edible oils and fats are used as an ingredient shall not contain industrial trans fatty acids more than 2% by mass of the total oils/fats present in the product, on and from 01st January, 2022, as per the revised regulations notified recently and made public on Friday. In December, it capped TFAs in oils and fats to 3% by 2021, and 2% by 2022 from the current levels of 5%. The two percent cap is considered to be elimination of trans fatty acids, which we will achieve by 2022. We are happy to say that we will be reaching this goal a year sooner than the WHO deadline. We have held eight meetings with industry stakeholders and they are onboard to implement the rules, FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal told The Hindu. Trans fatty acids are present in baked, fried and processed foods as well as adulterated ghee, which becomes solid at room temperature. They are the most harmful form of fats as they clog arteries and cause hypertension, heart attacks, and other cardiovascular diseases.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Myanmar shuts down Internet as thousands hit the streets.

Myanmar’s junta shut down Internet in the country on Saturday as thousands of.people took to the streets of Yangon to denounce this week’s coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In the first such demonstration since the Generals seized power on Monday, activists chanted. Military dictator. fail, fail; Democracy. win. win and held banners reading against military dictatorship. Bystanders offered them food and water. Many in the crowd wore red, the colour of Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which won November 8 elections in a landslide, a result the Generals have refused to recognise claiming fraud. As the protest swelled and activists issued calls on social media for people to join the march, the country’s Internet crashed. Monitoring group Net Blocks Internet Observatory reported a national-scale Internet blackout. saying on Twitter that connectivity had fallen to 54% of ordinary levels. The junta has tried to silence dissent by temporarily blocking Facebook and extended a social media crackdown to Twitter and Instagram on Saturday. Norwegian mobile phone Company Telenor Asa said authorities had ordered lnternet providers to deny access to Twitter and Instagram until further notice.  Many had sidestepped the ban on sites such as Facebook by using virtual private networks to conceal their Icy cations, but the more general disruption to mobile data services would severely limit access to independent news. The lawyer for Ms. Suu Kyi and ousted President win Myint said he was unable to meet them because they were still being questioned. Ms. Suu Kyi faces charges of importing six walkie-talkies illegally while Mr. Win Myint is accused of flouting coronavirus restrictions.

B) U.S. moves to end terror designation of Houthis. 

The U.S. has moved to delist Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization, removing a block that humanitarian groups said jeopardized crucial aid as the country’s warring sides cautiously welcomed a push for peace by President Joe Biden. The grinding six-year war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, triggering what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. Nearly 80% of Yemen’s population need some form of aid for survival, says UN. A State Department spokesperson said on Friday they had formally notified Congress of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s intent to revoke the terrorist designations. The move comes a day after Mr. Biden announced an end to U.S. support for the Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen. This decision has nothing to do with our view of the Houthis and their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens, the spokesperson said. Their action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, they said, adding the U.S. remained committed to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory against attacks by the rebels. Mr. Blinken’s predecessor Mike Pompeo announced the designation days before leaving office last month, pointing to the Houthis’ links to Iran and a deadly attack on the airport in Yemen’s second city of Aden in December.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
06 February 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Massive farmers meeting in Shamli; Unions instruct farmers to keep tomorrow’s ‘chakka jam’ non-violent. 

Thousands of farmers turned up for a meeting in Shamli district in western Uttar Pradesh on Friday amid a growing clamour against the Centre’s agri-marketing laws in the region. People from Shamli and nearby districts started reaching Shamli’s Bhainswal village on tractors, two- and four-wheelers and on foot for a ‘kisan panchayat’ being held there by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The people gathered there despite the Shamli administration denying permission for the meeting and imposing prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC. This is the fourth major farmers’ meeting in western Uttar Pradesh after Muzaffarnagar, Mathura and Baghpat, besides some in Haryana, to support the ongoing stir against the farm laws. Scores of regional ‘khap’ leaders, Bharatiya Kisan Union members, and RLD vice president Jayant Chaudhary, among others, attended the event, even as security personnel were deployed in large number in the area. Chaudhary had on Thursday tweeted that there are 144 reasons why he will go to Shamli tomorrow, attaching to it a news article on the denial of permission for the event by the Shamli district administration. The RLD has already extended support to the ongoing peasants’ demonstrations at Delhi’s borders and in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The party’s farmer outreach programmes, which began Friday in Shamli, are further scheduled to be held in Amroha, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Agra, Hathras, and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, and at a couple of places in Rajasthan during the February month. Meanwhile, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha leadership has asked all protesting farm unions to ensure that chakka jam, or road blockage, from 12 noon to 3 pm, is a peaceful and non-violent protest. The SKM guidelines added that there will be no blockades within the entire National Capital Region of Delhi, except where protest sites are already located.

B) Comedian Munawar Faruqui, arrested for a joke he did not make, gets bail from Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to comedian Munawar Faruqui in a case registered by the Madhya Pradesh police for hurting religious sentiments. Interestingly, the police had argued that he was arrested because he was about to make a joke that would have offended religious sentiments. In a brief hearing, the three-judge Bench, led by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, also stayed a production warrant issued by the Uttar Pradesh government against Faruqui in a separate case based on the same facts. Noting that the allegations against him were vague, Justice Nariman said police had not complied with the lawful procedure prescribed under Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before arresting the comedian. Justice Nariman pointed out that the Supreme Court, in a scathing judgment in Arnesh Kumar versus State of Bihar in 2014, had warned State governments and their police from depriving personal liberty without following due process of law. Arrest was not a tool for harassment, the court had warned. Tell us, Mr. Kirpal, did the police follow Section 41 before they arrested him, Justice Nariman asked Faruqui’s lawyer. No, My Lord not at all, irpal replied. Then that is all is needed for granting bail, Justice Nariman said, before immediately issuing notice to the Madhya Pradesh police to explain their actions. The procedure under Section 41 was not followed despite the Supreme Court having adumbrated the necessity of it in the Arnesh Kumar judgment of 2014, Justice Nariman observed, before granting Faruqui ad-interim bail. On January 28, the Madhya Pradesh HC had refused bail, forcing the comedian to appeal to the top court. In the Arnesh Kumar judgment, the Supreme Court had delved into how arrest brings humiliation, curtails freedom and cast scars forever. The police had not learnt its lesson or shed its colonial image despite decades of Independence, the court had observed.

C) Govt’s U-turn on UPSC exams. 

The Union government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it is agreeable to giving UPSC aspirants who had exhausted their last chance in the last October 4, 2020 preliminary exam but are not age-barred, another crack at the exam this year. The move marks a virtual U-turn from the government’s earlier position, when it informed the Supreme Court on January 22 that it would refuse to give the aspirants, including last-attempters, another crack at the exams. An affidavit filed by it in the court a month ago argued that any additional attempt or relaxation in age for some candidates would amount to extending differential treatment. It would lead to an un-leveling of the playing field. The aspirants who moved the court had pleaded for another chance, saying their exam preparations for and performance in the October 4 exam floundered due to the innumerable, inevitable circumstances suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government said the leeway was an ex-gratia, one-time, restricted relaxation to those who appeared in the Civil Services Exam-2020 as their last permissible attempt.  Appearing before a Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar in a virtual court hearing, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju read out from a note, which said that the candidates given the leeway should not be age-barred. The note observed that candidates whose number of attempts had not been exhausted cannot avail of this one-time relaxation. The Bench asked the government to circulate the note. This relaxation for the candidates, and to the extent as prescribed shall be a one-time relaxation only and shall apply only for appearing in CSE-2021 and shall not be treated as a precedent. The relaxation shall not create any vested right whatsoever or any other purported right on ground of parity or otherwise, in favour of any other set/class of candidates at any time in the future, the note said. The case has been further scheduled for Monday.

D) One nation, one ombudsman: RBI to integrate consumer grievance redressal scheme. 

The RBI has announced that it will be integrating consumer grievances redressal under a single ombudsman as against the three schemes working at present. There are dedicated ombudsman schemes devoted to consumer grievance redressal in banking, non-bank finance companies, and digital transactions respectively, at present. To make the alternate dispute redress mechanism simpler and more responsive to the customers of regulated entities, it has been decided to implement, inter alia, integration of the three Ombudsman schemes and adoption of the ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach for grievance redressal, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday. The move is intended to make the process of redress of grievances easier by enabling the customers of the banks, NBFCs, and non-bank issuers of prepaid payment instruments to register their complaints under the integrated scheme, with one centralised reference point, he said. The RBI is targeting to roll out the e-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme in June 2021, he said. Das said financial consumer protection has gained significant policy priority across jurisdictions and the RBI has been taking a slew of initiatives on the same. In line with global initiatives on consumer protection, RBI has taken various initiatives to strengthen Grievance Redress Mechanism of regulated entities, he said. The RBI had operationalised the complaint management system (CMS) portal as a one stop solution for alternate dispute resolution of customer complaints not resolved satisfactorily by the regulated entities.

E) India is ‘Internet shutdown’ capital of world, says Anand Sharma. 

Congress leader Anand Sharma today described India as the Internet shutdown capital of the world. He attacked the government in the Rajya Sabha over the recent spate of internet bans to black out coverage of the farmers agitation in the border areas of Delhi. The country had seen seven Internet shutdowns in the New Year, five of which were at the farmers’ protest site in Delhi-NCR. India is the largest democracy of the world. But today we have become the Internet shutdown capital of the world, Sharma said during the motion of thanks debate. The constitutionality of the farm laws was questionable since agriculture figured only in the state list, giving the State the sole power to legislate on the subject, he stated. He questioned the delay by the Supreme Court in disposing of the petitions in this regard. When constitutional matters demand urgent hearing and decisions, delays and kicking the bucket down the road create tension, distrust and conflict. Parliament should take notice of this, he said. Petitions regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were also pending before the apex court. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut slammed the government for branding farmers as anti-nationals and Khalistanis. He also criticised the heavy fortification of Delhi’s borders. If you would have built such barricades at the international borders, as those put up at Delhi borders, China would not have dared to come into Indian territory, he said. Satish Chandra Misra (BSP) wanted to know what was stopping the Centre from repealing the farm laws if it was ready to put their operation in abeyance for 18 months. You keep saying that you will give MSP [minimum support price] to farmers, what we don’t understand is then why not put it in writing, he said.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Hundreds protest in Myanmar amid arrest of key Suu Kyi aide. 

Several hundred teachers and students protested at a Myanmar university on Friday as the military widened a dragnet against officials ousted in a coup that has drawn global condemnation and the threat of new sanctions. The rally took place after the arrest Win Htein, a key aide to de facto leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who has not been seen in public since be ing detained along with President Win Myint. A representative of Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy said on Friday she was being held at her residence in Naypyitaw, the country’s capital, and was in good health. As far as she know, she’s under house arrest and has not been taken to another place yet, NLD press officer Toe told AFP. Monday’s putsch ended the country’s 10-year dalliance with democracy that followed decades of oppressive junta rule, and sparked outrage and calls by U.S. President Joe Biden for the generals to relinquish power. On Friday, around 200 teachers and students at Yangon’s Dagon University staged a rally, where they displayed a three-finger salute borrowed from Thailand’s democracy movements, and sang a popular revolution song. Students chanted Long live Mother Suu and carried red the colour of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party. A similar protest took place across town in Yangon University. In Naypyitaw, dozens of employees from several Ministries posed for group photographs wearing red ribbons and flashing the democracy symbol. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 130 officials and lawmakers have been detained. Social media restrictions Twitter services experienced disruptions in Myanmar on Friday, with some saying it could not be used even with a VPN service. Twitter is now being restricted in #Myanmar on multiple network providers, said NetBIocks, which monitors Internet outages around the world. It also confirmed that other Facebook products Whatsapp and Instagram were facing disruptions.

B) Beijing warns off U.S. warship in S. China Sea.

China on Friday warned off a U.S. warship sailing near contested islands in the South China Sea, Beijing said, the first such encounter made public since the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The USS John S. McCain broke into China’s Xisha territorial waters without the permission of the Chinese government, Beijing’s military said in a statement, using its name for the disputed Paracel Islands. The People’s Liberation Army organised Naval and Air Forces to track, monitor and warn off the warship, the Chinese military said, blasting the U.S. for seriously violating China’s sovereignty and harming regional peace. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer on Thursday also conducted a routine transit through the waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, which Beijing says constitutes part of its territory. Washington has argued that such exercises are in line with international law and help defend right of passage through the region amid competing claims by China and other governments. China lays claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands. Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim parts of the region, believed to hold valuable oil and gas deposits. The U.S. Navy in late January sent an aircraft carrier group into the South China Sea.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
05 February 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Delhi Police to probe ‘international conspiracy’ to ‘defame’ India. 

The Delhi police cyber cell has registered an FIR to investigate an “international conspiracy” to defame the country, said a senior police officer on Thursday. He said that they registered an FIR into the matter after 18-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg shared a ‘toolkit’ on Twitter, which she subsequently deleted. Thunberg’s name is mentioned in the FIR, but apparently not as an accused. More clarity on this issue is awaited from Delhi police. Soon after the news of the FIR came out, Thunberg on Thursday tweeted: I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest. She also tweeted an updated ‘toolkit’ in place of the one she had deleted. Typically, such tool kits are widely used by activists, PR agencies, and social movements in outreach campaigns. They are a handy way to educate a targeted audience about an issue, present a point of view, and motivate lay persons and ‘influencers’ to participate in the campaign. However, Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner of Police said that an FIR has been registered under section 124A (Sedition), 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy). Delhi Police is monitoring social media in connection with the Kisan agitation. In the process, Delhi police has identified more than 300 SM [social media] handles, which have been used for pushing hateful and malicious content. These handles are being used by some organisations/ individuals having vested interest and they are spreading disaffection against Govt. of India,  said Ranjan.

B) MPs stopped from meeting farmers. 

Former Union Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal reached the Ghazipur border on Thursday to meet farmers protesting against the farm laws. She was accompanied by more than a dozen MPs from different parties. However, because of heavy barricading at the border, they could not meet the farmers. Badal told reporters that the Lok Sabha Speaker was not allowing a discussion on the farmers’ protest. The purpose of the visit, Badal said, was to inform the Speaker about the situation at the protest site. They are here so that we can discuss this issue in Parliament, she said. She took on the Delhi Police for heavily barricading the border that rendered any movement impossible. It is unprecedented. The fortification is like that at the Pakistan border, she said. Why they are being prevented from meeting their own people? They are treating farmers as foreigners. When they can’t go and meet them, how can they come to Delhi for dialogue? How will the ambulances and fire brigade move in case of an emergency? It seems the farmers have been left to die, she said. Badal was accompanied by NCP MP Supriya Sule, DMK MP K. Kanimozhi and TMC MP Sougata Roy, among others. She had resigned from the Union Cabinet in September against the government decision to implement the three farm laws.

C) AAP slams Bill that seeks to delineate powers of Delhi government and LG, calls it ‘unconstitutional’

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is all set to introduce a legislation in the Budget session of Parliament to amend a 1991 Act pertaining to the powers and functions of the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor (LG). The proposed legislation received the Union Cabinet’s approval on Wednesday. The Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is among the 20 Bills proposed to be introduced in this Parliament session. The reason stated to move the legislation says, the Bill proposes to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, in the context of judgment dated 14.02.2019 of Hon’ble Supreme Court (Division Bench) in Civil Appeal No. 2357 of 2017 and other connected matters. According to changes proposed in the new Act, the LG could act in his discretion in any matter that is beyond the purview of the powers of the Assembly of Delhi in matters related to the All India (Civil) Services and the ACB. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in a press conference on 4 February, slammed the Bill as unconstitutional and as an attempt by the BJP to take over the governance of Delhi through the backdoor. He said that it undermined the legitimate powers of the democratically elected government of Delhi by giving more power than to the LG, who is a representative of the Union government.

D) Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments. 

The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,08,02,571 with the death toll at 1,56,197. Over 21% of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to Covid-19 in the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) latest national serosurvey, the government said on Thursday, noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the infection. The ICMR’s third national serosurvey was conducted between December 7, 2020 and January 8, 2021. Presenting the survey findings, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said 21.4% of the 28,589 people, aged 18 years and above, surveyed during the period showed evidence of past exposure to the coronavirus infection. Further, 25.3% of children aged 10 to 17 years from the same number of surveyed population have had the disease, he said. Urban slums (31.7%) and urban non-slums (26.2%) had a higher SARS-CoV-2 prevalence than rural areas (19.1%), Bhargava said, adding that 23.4% of individuals above 60 years of age had suffered from Covid-19. Blood samples of 7,171 healthcare workers were also collected during the same period and the seroprevalence was found to be 25.7%, the ICMR director general said. The survey was conducted in the same 700 villages or wards in 70 districts in 21 States selected during the first and second rounds of the national serosurvey.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

A) Farmers’ protest: U.S. calls for dialogue, recognises right to protest. 

Following expressions of support on social media to the farmers’ protest by several well-known personalities and celebrities, including pop icon Rihanna , climate activist Greta Thunberg and others, the U.S. government has also spoken, encouraging dialogue and supporting the right to peaceful protest. The U.S.’s reactions were recorded in a statement released by its Embassy in New Delhi and through a State Department statement released to a Wall Street Journal reporter on Thursday. Washington has also welcomed steps that would enhance the efficiency of India’s markets. They recognise that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy, and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same. They encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue. In general, the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India’s markets and attract greater private sector investment, a statement from the U.S. Embassy said. Access to information was fundamental to democracy, the U.S. said, in reaction to the Haryana government temporarily shutting down mobile Internet services in several districts last week and earlier this week, stating law and order reasons. They recognize that unhindered access to information, including the Internet, is fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy, the statement said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded by saying that it has taken note of the U.S. statement. It is important to see such comments in their entirety. The U.S. has acknowledged steps taken by India in agricultural reform. India and the U.S. are both vibrant democracies, Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

B) In first for Europe, Iran envoy sentenced to 20-year prison term over bomb plot. 

An Iranian diplomat accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in the European Union since Iran’s 1979 revolution. Belgian prosecution lawyers and civil parties to the prosecution said Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi was guilty of attempted terrorism after a plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) near Paris in June 2018 was foiled by German, French and Belgian police. The ruling shows two things: A diplomat doesn’t have immunity for criminal acts and the responsibility of the Iranian state in what could have been carnage, Belgian prosecution lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier told reporters outside the court in Antwerp. Three other Iranians were sentenced in the trial for their role as accomplices, with 15, 17 and 18-year sentences handed down respectively. It was established that the Iranian regime uses terrorism as statecraft and the highest levels of the Iranian regime are involved, Shahin Gobadi, a Paris-based spokesman for the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, which is part of the NCRI, said outside the court.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
04 February 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

A) No informal talks with farmer unions, says Agriculture Minister Tomar.

The Union government is not holding any informal talks with protesting farm unions, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told The Hindu on the sidelines of a press conference on February 3. They will inform them when formal talks will be held, he said. Asked about the farm unions’ stance that they will not hold talks with the government until the barricades at the protest sites are removed and farmers in police custody released, the Minister said he did not want to comment on a law and order issue. That is not his job, he stated. He suggested that unions should talk to the Delhi Police Commissioner regarding such concerns instead. On February 1, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a joint front of the farm unions, decided that talks will be held only after the unconditional release of the farmers who are in illegal police custody and police and administration harassment of different kinds against the farmers’ movement is immediately stopped. In the early days of the protest in November and December, several farm union heads engaged in informal, back channel conversations with multiple BJP leaders and Ministers, even before formal talks began. However, that pattern seems to have ended. Although the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister have both said the government’s previous offer still stood and the doors were open for resumption of dialogue, unions said they have not received any direct outreach from the government post Republic Day. Tomar confirmed this on Wednesday. Asked whether the government was informally engaging with the unions, he said, No. They will inform them when formal talks will be held.

B) Western celebrities’ comments on farmers’ protest not accurate: MEA. 

India on Wednesday said comments from Western celebrities in support of farmers’ protest was neither accurate nor responsible. The official statement was issued in response to a series of social media posts by singer Rihanna, activist Greta Thunberg, Meena Harris, niece of U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, and other western social media influencers. Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a detailed response. The response came hours after Rihanna said that why aren’t they talking about this [farmers protest]? Her tweet was followed by one from Swedish climate activist Thunberg. She said that they stand in solidarity with the farmers protest in India. Meena Harris commented, It’s no coincidence that the world’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as they speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. They all should be outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters. Meena Harris is the daughter of Maya Lakshmi Harris, sibling of Kamala Harris. The comments were followed by U.S. lawmaker Jim Costa of California. He described the developments around the farmers’ protest as troubling. In a social media post, he said, As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, he is closely monitoring the situation. The right to peaceful protest must always be respected. The comments from the U.S. came days after Canadian and British lawmakers raised the issue of farmers’ rights in public outreach repeatedly. The new Biden-Harris administration has not yet issued any official statement on the ongoing protests.

C) Former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur raises concerns over provisions of DNA Technology Bill.

Allowing investigating agencies to collect DNA samples from suspects as laid down in the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 will give them unbridled power that is easily capable of misuse and abuse and amount to a threat to the life, liberty, dignity and privacy of a person, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Lokur has observed in a written submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology. The panel, headed by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, tabled its report in Parliament on Wednesday. DNA testing is currently being done on an extremely limited scale in India, with approximately 30-40 DNA experts in 15-18 laboratories undertaking less than 3,000 cases a year. The standards of the laboratories are not monitored or regulated. The Bill aims to introduce the regulation of the entire process from collection to storage. The preamble of the Bill says that it aims to provide for the regulation of use and application of Deoxyribonucleic Acid [DNA] technology for the purposes of establishing the identity of certain categories of persons, including the victims, offenders, suspects, undertrials, missing persons and unknown deceased persons. Justice Lokur has questioned the need to collect DNA of a suspect. In his submission, he has argued that in a blind crime or a crime involving a large number of persons (such as a riot), everybody is suspect, without any real basis. This would mean that thousands of persons can be subjected to DNA profiling on a mere suspicion. Such an unbridled power is easily capable of misuse and abuse by targeting innocents, against whom there is not a shred of evidence. Such an unbridled police power ought not to be conferred on anybody or any agency as it would amount to a threat to the life, liberty, dignity and privacy of a person, he has said. Many members of the committee have also expressed concern over including suspects in this list, flagging that it could lead to misuse and targeting certain categories of people. In two dissent notes, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and CPI leader Binoy Viswam have said the Bill will lead to targeting of Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis. Justice Lokur has stated that the provisions of the bill can lead to targeting of select groupings, including social, linguistic, religious and other minorities on the ground of being suspects.

D) Government notice to Twitter for refusing to comply with order to block accounts. 

The Union government has issued a notice to Twitter to comply with its order of removal of content related to ‘farmer genocide’. The Centre alleged that the material was designed to spread misinformation to inflame passions and hatred and warned that refusal to do so may invite penal action. On Tuesday evening, Twitter restored over 250 accounts, hours after blocking them due to a legal demand. The platform, in a meeting with government officials, contested the order, arguing that these accounts were not in violation of Twitter policy, and declined to abide by the government order. A source in the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), which has sent the notice to the U.S.-headquartered firm, said Twitter was an intermediary and was obliged to follow the directions of the government and refusal to do so may invite penal action.

 

E) India does not agree with USTR’s report on ecommerce tax: Commerce Secretary.

India does not agree with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) report that the country’s 2% equalisation levy on foreign e-commerce firms discriminates against American companies, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said on Wednesday. Last month, an USTR investigation concluded that India’s 2% digital services tax on e-commerce supply discriminates against U.S. companies and is inconsistent with international tax principles. They do not agree with that conclusion, Wadhawan told reporters when asked whether India has responded to the USTR report. Basically, if there is an economic benefit from a certain jurisdiction then there has to be some taxation in that jurisdiction. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is also moving in that direction that if you have an economic presence and economic gain, then you must have taxation in that jurisdiction. You have billions of dollars of revenue in a certain jurisdiction, you have to pay taxes, he said. Some countries are protesting because they have huge domination in that kind of activity whether it is Facebook, Google or Amazon, he added.

 

F) Defectors are corrupt, says Mamata. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday came down heavily on the leaders who have defected from her Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the BJP, saying they were corrupt and her government would start an investigation against such people. There are some people who are running from here to there. Those who are involved in corruption will run away. Let them run away. He know very well who is into what. After the Assembly polls, all their shops will be shut down, she said at a party workers’ convention at Alipurduar in north Bengal. Banerjee, who did not name any of the defectors, referred to alleged irregularities in certain appointments in the Forest Department. She had ordered an investigation, she said. Rajib Banerjee was the Forest Minister before resigning from the TMC and joining the BJP. There is one boy who is making tall claims after going to the BJP. He has run away to the BJP after being involved in corrupt practices. We are investigating irregularities in recruitment of ‘Bana Sahayak’ in the Forest Department, she said.

 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Myanmar police file charges against Aung San Suu Kyi after coup. 

Police have filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment. She will be detained until February 15 for investigations, according to a police document. Myanmar’s army seized power on Monday, detaining Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and cutting short a transition to democracy in a takeover that has drawn condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. A police request to a court detailing the accusations against the 75-year-old Nobel laureate said walkie-talkie radios had been found in a search of her home in the capital Naypyidaw. It said the radios were imported illegally and used without permission. The document reviewed on Wednesday requested Suu Kyi’s detention in order to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning the defendant. A separate document showed police filed charges against ousted President Win Myint for offences under the Disaster Management Law. Suu Kyi endured about 15 years of house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as she led the country’s democracy movement. She remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the flight of Muslim Rohingya refugees in 2017. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said earlier in a statement that its offices had been raided in several regions and urged authorities to stop what it called unlawful acts after its victory in a November 8 election. Army chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power on the grounds of fraud in the election, which the NLD won in a landslide. The electoral commission had said the vote was fair.

 

B) Joe Biden’s Homeland Security chief confirmed. 

Joe Biden’s immigration reform push received a boost on Tuesday when the Senate confirmed his pick to head the Department of Homeland Security, as the U.S. President seeks to roll back Donald Trump’s hardline policies. Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas, confirmed on a modestly bipartisan vote, becomes the first Latino and the first immigrant to head up DHS. His approval gives the expansive agency its first permanent leadership in nearly two years, and came ahead of Mr. Biden’s signing of three executive orders aimed at streamlining immigration. including an effort to reunite children separated from their parents at the border with Mexico. They are a follow-up to the executive orders that Mr. Biden signed on his first day in office as he takes aim at U.S. immigration policy after four years of Mr. Trump’s ‘America First’ approach. The new action by the Democratic President is aimed at streamlining the U.S. immigration process, officials said, with Mr. Biden to order a review of all the legal obstacles to immigration and integration put in place under Mr. Trump. The review will likely lead to dramatic changes in policies, according to a senior government official, who said the goal is to restore faith in our legal immigration system, and promote integration of Americans. President Trump was so focused on the (Mexico border) wall that he did nothing to address the root cause of why people are coming to our southern border, the official said. It was a limited, wasteful and naive strategy, and it failed.

 

C) U.S. extends New START nuclear treaty with Russia. 

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday extended the New START nuclear treaty with Russia by five years, saying it hoped to prevent an arms race despite rising tensions with Moscow. One day before the treaty was set to expire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was extending New START by the maximum allowed time of five years. President Biden pledged to keep the American people safe from nuclear threats by restoring U.S. leadership on arms control and nonproliferation, Mr. Blinken said in a statement. The United States is committed to effective arms control that enhances stability, transparency and predictability while reducing the risks of costly, dangerous arms races. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on legislation extending the accord on Friday, meaning that the treaty signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2010 will run until February 5, 2026. The last remaining arms reduction pact between the former Cold War rivals, New START caps to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington. Former President Donald Trump’s administration tore up previous agreements with Moscow and unsuccessfully sought to expand New START to cover China. Mr. Blinken said the U.S. would use the coming five years to pursue diplomacy that addresses all of Russia’s nuclear weapons and to reduce the dangers from China’s modern and growing nuclear arsenal.

CURRENT AFFAIRS
03 February 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Police block journalists from reaching protest site at Singhu Border. 

On Tuesday, at the Singhu border, Delhi Police stopped the entry of journalists and others wanting to visit the protesting farmers. Earlier, those wanting to visit the protest site and the main stage could cross the barricades preventing farmers from entering the national capital and interact with the protestors. But now, even smaller lanes and other entry routes to the protest site have been cut off. On Friday, a group of ‘locals’ backed by the BJP had clashed with the farmers and tried to damage their tents and other utilities. Delhi Police resorted to tear gas and lathi charge before peace returned. Meanwhile, Congress leaders took to Twitter on Tuesday to target the Narendra Modi government over the arrangements made to stop protesting farmers from entering the city. Prime Minister sir, you are at war with our own farmers? asked party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who posted a video of the massive deployment of police and paramilitary forces at Delhi’s borders. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also shared photographs of barricades put up by the police. Four photos showed concertina and barbed wires, freshly laid concrete with spikes to puncture tyres, and different tiers of concrete and mobile iron barriers. GOI [Governmemt of India], Build bridges, not walls! tweeted Rahul Gandhi.

B) Parliament adjourned multiple times as Opposition demand discussion on farm laws. 

A day after the presentation of the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, which was convened at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, saw multiple adjournments after Opposition parties demanded that the House take up a discussion on the farmers’ protest. Though Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said that time will be allotted for the same on Wednesday, the Opposition members refused to budge. They raised slogans inside the Upper House, resulting in the House being adjourned four times without conducting any business. A similar trend was observed in the Lok Sabha, which was adjourned thrice due to incessant protests from the Opposition benches. The House saw brief discussions on the motion of thanks on the President’s address and papers being laid on the table.

C) A win for Amazon as Delhi HC directs Future Retail to keep status quo on Reliance deal. 

In a significant win for Amazon, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to maintain status quo in relation to its ₹24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail, which has been objected to by the American e-commerce giant. Justice J.R. Midha said the court was satisfied that an immediate interim order was required to be passed to protect the rights of Amazon. Respondents (FRL) are directed to maintain status quo as on today at 4:49 p.m. till pronouncement of the reserved order, the Judge said. Amazon has approached the high court seeking direction to order enforcement of the award by Singapore’s Emergency Arbitrator (EA) restraining FRL from going ahead with its ₹24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail. Amazon has sought to restrain the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group from taking any steps to complete the transaction with entities that are a part of the Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (MDA) Group.

D) SC agrees to examine plea challenging Tamil Nadu’s 69% reservation.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a petition seeking an immediate stay on the implementation of a Tamil Nadu law that allows 69% quota in educational institutions and government jobs in the State. A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan issued notice and gave the Tamil Nadu government two weeks to file its response to a writ petition filed by a student, C.V. Gayathri, through her father, S. Vaitheeswaran, challenging the constitutionality of the Tamil Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of seats in Educational Institutions and of appointments or posts in the Services under the State) Act of 1993. The law is protected under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution from judicial review. Section 4 of the Act provides 30% reservation to the Backward Classes, 20% for Most Backward Classes and de-notified communities, 18% for Scheduled Castes, and 1% for Scheduled Tribes. Thus, a total of 69% reservation is provided. The petition said the Act was contrary to the principle laid down by a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case, which had concluded that reservation of 50% shall be the rule; only in certain exceptional and extraordinary situations for bringing far-flung and remote areas population into mainstream, said 50% rule can be relaxed. 

E) CBSE Class 10, 12 exams from May 4; schedule has double shifts for first time. 

The CBSE Class 12 Board examinations will be conducted in two shifts for the first time in order to reduce the total duration of the examination. The examination schedule, which includes 111 subjects, will be completed in 39 days, less than the allotted 45 days in the 2020 schedule. The afternoon shift will be held on four days, with papers in subjects that are not offered in schools abroad being conducted, said a CBSE statement. Class 12 students will begin with the English paper on May 4 and finish on June 11, when a slew of elective subjects ranging from Agriculture to Beauty and Wellness have been scheduled. The Class 10 schedule begins with several regional language examinations on May 4, and ends on June 7, with the Computer Applications paper. In total, the Class 10 schedule includes 75 subjects. The examinations are being held later than usual this year, to account for the fact that schools have not been able to physically open their doors to students for most of the academic year due to the Covid-19 lockdown. It is only in the last two months that some students in Class 10 and 12 are returning to the physical classroom, after months of study at home with limited support via television and online resources.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine 91.6% effective: Lancet study. 

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19, according to results published in The Lancet on Tuesday that independent experts said allayed transparency concerns over the jab, which Moscow is already rolling out. Sputnik V named after the Soviet-era satellite was approved in Russia months before results from its final-stage clinical trials were published, leading to scepticism from experts. But the new analysis of data from 20,000 participants in Phase 3 trials suggests that the two-dose vaccination offers more than 90% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19.

B) China calls for all parties to safeguard Myanmar’s stability. 

China on Tuesday called for all parties to help maintain stability in Myanmar, as it refrained from criticising the military leadership for seizing power in a coup and the international community to not interfere. Beijing said it was not in favour of external powers taking actions that would raise tensions, the Foreign Ministry said, with analysts in Beijing expressing concerns over possible sanctions from the U.S., which strongly criticised the military led coup that threatened to undo the transition to democracy that has been under way since 2011. China had on Monday said it hopes all parties in Myanmar can properly handle differences under the constitutional and legal framework and safeguard political and social stability, not mentioning the democratic transition, which, a number of countries, including India, had voiced support for in their statements following this week’s developments. Even prior to 2011, China maintained close relations with the Myanmar military leadership and often backed the country from the threat of sanctions as a permanent member of the UNSC. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the international community should not take any action that would raise tensions in Myanmar. They have maintained communication with all relevant parties with regard to the matters to be discussed at the UN Security Council, he said. Any action taken by the international community should be conducive to political and social stability in Myanmar and beneficial to a peaceful resolution, instead of worsening tension and further complicating the situation. China’s State media outlets have refrained from calling the seizing of power a coup. The official Xinhua news agency on Monday only reported the Myanmar military announced a major cabinet reshuffle hours after a state of emergency was declared. The Communist Party run Global Times quoted an unnamed expert in Beijing as saying the military’s actions can be viewed as an adjustment facing Myanmar’s imbalanced power structure, referring to the declining popularity of the military and the growing political power of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NI.D).

CURRENT AFFAIRS
02 February 2021

NATIONAL NEWS:

 

A) Budget 2021: No change in IT slabs, new cess introduced. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman loosened the exchequer’s purse strings and presented an expansionary Budget for 2021-22 on Monday, with a push for infrastructure and health care spending even as she sought to reduce the fiscal deficit from an estimated 9.5% of GDP this year without ostensibly raising the tax burden. While there was little direct succour for sectors or sections worst-affected by the pandemic, the government is betting on a real GDP growth of 10%-10.5% in the coming year, riding on the multiplier effect of infrastructure spending which it hopes will also spur demand and job creation. Invoking Rabindranath Tagore’s aphorism, Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark, Sitharaman compared the Budget to Team India’s successful comeback in the Test series against Australia and said it provides every opportunity for our economy to raise and capture the pace that it needs for sustainable growth. She announced some big-ticket reform signals for global investors, such as enhancing the FDI limit in the insurance sector from 49% to 74%, and an ambitious new strategic disinvestment policy which will kick off with the sale of two public sector banks and a general insurance company in 2021-22. The Budget proposes setting up a new development finance institution to fund infrastructure projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline, and the creation of an asset reconstruction firm to take over public sector banks’ bad loans to cope with rising NPAs. However, just ₹20,000 crore has been earmarked for recapitalisation of banks, which lower than expectations given the festering stress on bank’s books in the aftermath of the pandemic. Setting aside ₹35,000 crore for the Covid-19 vaccination program, Sitharaman said more funds will be provided if the need arises. The overall Budget outlay for ‘Health and Wellbeing’, she said, was ₹2.23 lakh crore, marking a 137% rise over 2020-21. Proposing a capital expenditure of ₹5.54 lakh crore in the year, 34.5% higher than 2020-21, the finance minister has targeted a fiscal deficit of 6.8% of GDP, with gross market borrowings of about ₹12 lakh crores. Analysts said this the Budget’s fiscal arithmetic was perhaps the most credible in recent years, but achieving disinvestment and non-tax revenue targets will be critical to meet the 6.8% of GDP target.

B) Some of the Budget highlights:

• No change in personal income tax; new agri infra cess on select goods. 
• Highway and road works announced in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam (all four states go to polls this year).
• Vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles – all vehicles to undergo fitness test in automated fitness centres every 20 years (personal vehicles), every 15 years (commercial vehicles)
• A new scheme, titled PM Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Bharat Yojana, to be launched to develop primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare.
• No IT filing for people above 75 years who get pension and earn interest from deposits.
• Fiscal deficit stands at 9.5% of the GDP; estimated to be 6.8% in 2021-22.
• A Unified Securities Market Code to be created, consolidating provisions of the Sebi Act, Depositories Act, and two other laws.
• An IPO of LIC to debut this fiscal.
• Disinvestment target of ₹1.75 lakh crore; strategic sale of BPCL, IDBI Bank, Air India to be completed.
• Margin capital required for loans via Stand-up India scheme reduced from 25% to 15% for SCs, STs and women.
• Gas pipeline project to be set up in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (LPG scheme) to be extended to cover 1 crore more beneficiaries.

C) ‘Cruel blow to federalism, vengeful towards farmers,’ says P Chidambaram. 

Congress leader and former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram slammed the Union Budget, stating that on the 10-point test that they had suggested on 28th January, the Budget fails on most points. It barely passes on one point. The FM gave out a mind boggling figure of ₹223, 846 crore for Health, a breathtaking rise from the Budget Estimate of the current year of ₹94,452 crore. As he had warned, it was a conjurer’s trick. She added the one-time cost of vaccination (₹35,000 crore) and the Finance Commission grants amounting to ₹49,214 crore. She also included the allocations to the Department of Water and Sanitation. Shorn of these add-ons, the allocations for Health were ₹72,934 in 2020-21, and ₹79,602 crore in 2021-22. Chidamabaram also objected to the government using the Finance Bill provisions to make amendments to non-money bill issues and said it was being done to deny Rajya Sabha its right. The Finance Minister flattered him by quoting the same couplet from Tirukkural that he had recited in one of his early budget speeches, said P. Chidambaram. She flattered to deceive, he added. She deceived those who were listening to her speech, especially the MPs, who had no clue that she had imposed cesses on a large number of products, including petroleum and diesel: ₹2.50 on petrol per litre, and ₹ 4.00 on diesel per litre is a cruel blow to the average citizen, including the farmer, Chidambaram said, adding, it was a vengeful act against the thousands of farmers who took out the longest tractor rally in history. It was also a cruel blow to federalism because the States do not get a share of the revenue from cesses.

D) Twitter blocks several accounts posting messages in support of farmers’ stir, unblocks them after furore.

Microblogging site Twitter on Monday, citing legal demands, blocked several accounts, including that of the news magazine The Caravan, the actor Sushant Singh, and political activists and bloggers who were posting messages in support of the ongoing farmers’ agitation. One aberration was the account of Shashi Shekhar, CEO of Prasar Bharati, India’s public service broadcaster, which was also blocked. The blocking of The Caravan’s official handle marked the first time in India that a news media account has been blocked. The accounts were taken down after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY), following a request by the Ministry of Home Affairs, asked Twitter to act against 250 tweets/Twitter handles. A MeITY statement said that it had directed Twitter to block around 250 Tweets/ Twitter accounts which, as per government allegations, were using #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag and making fake, intimidatory and provocative Tweets on Saturday (January 30). Most of the blocked accounts had been unblocked at the time of publication of this newsletter.

E) Farmers plan ‘chakka jam’ on February 6; Govt goes for iron bars to create ‘wall’ at Singhu border.

Farmers’ unions have issued a call for a ‘chakka jam’ or road blockage across the country on February 6. Farmers are expected to block roads from 12 pm to 3pm in protest against the government’s refusal to heed their demand for the repeal of the three agri laws, against the internet ban around protest sites, against the arrest of several farmers, and attempts to evict them from protest sites by force. Meanwhile, workers under the watch of police personnel on Monday were seen hooking iron rods between two rows of cement barriers on a flank of the main highway at the Singhu border to further restrict the movement of the protesting farmers, PTI reported. Another portion of the highway at the Delhi-Haryana border is practically blocked now as a makeshift cement wall has come up there. A worker drilling rods in cross-formation between two rows of solid barriers said the other flank was done yesterday. Cement is to be poured in the space between the barriers on this flank to make a makeshift wall. The move comes days after violent clashes between some protesters and police on January 26 during the tractor parade by the agitating farmers. Security personnel from the paramilitary forces, RAF and CRPF, were seen in relatively less numbers compared to the past few days but a large number of police personnel manned the stretch spanning a mile from the protest site. Besides the makeshift wall on the highway, a small trench was also dug up earlier across an inner street a little off the highway, and cement barricades put up on both the sides. The protesting farmers and leaders at a tent, however, showed no signs of being cowed down and asserted that these barricades put up around us can’t cage our spirit.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

A) Aung San Suu Kyi, other leaders detained following military coup in Myanmar. 

Reports says a military coup has taken place in Myanmar and leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained under house arrest. Myanmar’s military staged a coup on Monday, detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and declaring that it has taken control of the country for one year under a state of emergency. The intervention came after weeks of rising tensions between the military, which ruled the country for nearly five decades, and the civilian government, over allegations of fraud in November’s elections. The military last week signaled that it could seize power to settle its claims of irregularities in the polls, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won easily.Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained in the capital Naypyidaw before dawn on Monday, NLD spokesperson Myo Nyunt told AFP, just hours before Parliament was meant to resume for the first time since the elections. They heard they were taken by the military. With the situation they see happening now, they have to assume that the military is staging a coup, he said. The military then declared, via its own television channel, a one-year state of emergency. The developments triggered a quick response from the United States and Australia, with both calling for the release of detained NLD leaders and the restoration of democracy. India has expressed deep concern over the reports of an unfolding military coup in Myanmar. They have noted the developments in Myanmar with deep concern. India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. They believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. They are monitoring the situation closely, a press statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs declared.

B) No Indian role in developing ECT in Colombo.

Reneging on a 2019 agreement with India and Japan, Sri Lanka has decided to develop the strategic East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port on its own. The Sri Lankan government would instead offer the West Container Terminal to India for possible investments, a senior government source told. The decision was taken at Monday’s Cabinet meeting helmed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, when members unanimously agreed to proposals submitted by the Minister of Ports and Shipping, the source said. It comes amid mounting pressure from Port union workers against any foreign role or investment in the ECT project, where nearly 70% of the transhipment business is linked to India. Asked about the development, a senior Indian source said that they would hope that Sri Lanka does not unilaterally decide on this matter, as there is a tripartite agreement on it. For New Delhi, the strategic ECT project in Colombo has been high on priority. It has figured in talks at the highest levels, including when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited in January. A week after his visit, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told agitating Port worker unions that the Adani Group Government of India’s nominee would invest in the terminal, and that the Terminal would not be sold or leased to any foreign entity, signalling that his govern. ment was taking forward the 2019 memorandum of cooperation (MOC). The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) was to hold a 51% stake in the operations, while India and Japan together would hold 49%, as per the MOC, which was signed by the former Maithripala Sirisena.