oppn parties The Covid-19 Situation - Supreme Court Intervenes

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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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The Covid-19 Situation - Supreme Court Intervenes

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-23 03:31:10

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

Although it should have done it much earlier, it is good that the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of what it called "national health emergency situation" due to the surging Covid cases in the second wave and the problems being face by the people in getting treated and vaccinated all over the country. The court issued notices to the Centre and the states and UTs to know what measures were being taken to control and improve the situation and how resources were being allocated and distributed in an equitable manner so as not to cause undue sufferings in any region of the country. The court was concerned that too many HCs had issued orders that could be conflicting and said that it would issue uniform orders for the whole country if it though fit.

There is no doubt that the second wave of coronavirus has been ineptly handled - both by the Centre and the states. Ever since it became known (from the first week of March) that cases were rising, first alarmingly and then exponentially, the response was extremely slow and often knee-jerk. Super spreader events like the Maha Kumbh and rallies in state elections were allowed ignoring all health advisories. It also showed that the economically-debilitating, two-month long lockdown in the country, from end-March to May, 2020, ostensibly to break the chain but more importantly to ramp up infrastructure, had taught no lessons to the administration. India was not ready for the second wave and the familiar situation of shortages - of vaccines, hospital beds, safe houses for isolation, oxygen, medicines, et al - proved that the lockdown had served no actual purpose as far as ramping up health infrastructure was concerned.

Courts all over the country took notice of the situation, either suo motu or when petitions were filed. They started issuing orders ranging from ordering a lockdown (as in UP, which order was rightly stayed by the SC) to directing the state to ramp up health infrastructure or provide resources. But if the order of one HC goes against the order of another HC, states would land in trouble by following one or ignoring the other. Hence it would be better if the Supreme Court issues uniform orders for the entire nation after studying the matter in detail. 

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