oppn parties Covid, Omicron, Three T's, Vaccination, The Government And The People

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Tiranga Rally Is Excellent. Breaking The Law Was Not

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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Covid, Omicron, Three T's, Vaccination, The Government And The People

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-01-13 03:42:46

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Centre has categorically stated that people must not treat Omicron as common cold. It has also said that the three Ts - testing, tracking and treating - along with vaccination, including the 'precautionary' dose, is necessary in fighting the virus. The importance of vaccination, despite Omicron infecting fully vaccinated persons, cannot be understated as BMC commissioner has disclosed that in Mumbai, 96% of the patients seeking oxygen-supported emergency beds in city hospitals are found not to have taken even a single dose of vaccine.

While the Centre has emphasized on the three Ts, its other policy of not making testing mandatory for asymptomatic contacts of infected persons is puzzling. Omicron is said to show very mild symptoms which people tend to ignore. But it is also said to be more prevalent in asymptomatic persons. Hence, leaving out asymptomatic contacts out of the purview of mandatory testing creates a situation where these people might be infected and would go around spreading the virus undetected.

Also, testing is being conducted very erratically across India. Hence we had a situation where cases in Mumbai and Maharashtra were thought to be dipping in the last few days before jumping back again strongly on Wednesday. This kind of feedback due to uneven testing across days tends to confuse matters and mislead experts. It is also a negative for policy formation. States should be told to conduct testing evenly on all days. They should also be told to give out figures of fresh cases every day along with the corresponding number of tests conducted on that day so that the positivity rate can be easily determined.

Also, there are repeated warnings from health experts about the misuse and overuse of drugs, especially molnupiravir, in treating Covid. The Centre must come out with a fresh advisory to warn the medical fraternity and people against the random use of untested and unverified drugs. It must also ensure that such drugs are either not made available with chemists or are dispensed only in emergencies with proper recording of the transaction. 

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