oppn parties With Fresh Covid Strains Surfacing In India, Complacency Will Be Dangerous

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  • The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to investigate alleged irregularities in bulk Form 7 applications during Uttar Pradesh's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, take corrective steps and submit a compliance report. The Commission's counsel told the court that its officers had found the bulk applications false and had not acted on them
  • The INDIA bloc postponed its symbolic public impeachment proceedings against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to October 31 because of rain and reiterated plans for its November 1 march to Ramlila Maidan
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused opposition leaders of spreading rumours and attempting to create chaos amid the West Asia crisis, while Home Minister Amit Shah challenged them to seek a special parliamentary session to discuss their allegations against the Election Commission. Shah said the BJP was ready for a debate on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls
  • Amit Shah announced that the BJP would implement a Uniform Civil Code in Uttar Pradesh if it returned to power in next year's Assembly election. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav questioned why the BJP had waited through two terms in government before making the promise
  • The political dispute over the proposed sale of a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank to Fairfax intensified as Rahul Gandhi questioned the government's decision and raised concerns about employee protections and reservation policies. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the transaction, saying the bank had been revived through recapitalisation and that due process had been followed
  • Congress has asked Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer, State Election Commission and Kolkata Municipal Corporation to provide an online voter-roll search facility and email-based filing of claims and objections for the civic polls. The CPM has separately sought the relocation of three municipal returning officers' offices to north Kolkata to make access easier for voters
  • The Madras High Court directed Tamil Nadu's Cyber Crime Division to monitor online platforms for content amounting to criminal intimidation of sitting judges and ordered police to act against threats and personal abuse. It declined to impose a blanket ban on peaceful discussion or criticism of judicial decisions, distinguishing criticism of judgments from intimidation of judges
  • Six people, including five passengers and the pilot, were killed when a helicopter travelling from Badrinath to Dehradun crashed in Uttarakhand's Joshimath valley after losing communication and tracking contact. Operator Trans Bharat Aviation grounded its entire fleet as a precaution while authorities conducted search and rescue operations
  • The Reserve Bank of India intensified cybersecurity scrutiny of banks after a rise in attacks, asking lenders to demonstrate compliance with existing rules, examine vulnerabilities in application programming interfaces and explain preparations for AI-related risks. The review follows a leak of data belonging to 3,900 SBI customers and more than 700 unauthorised transfers worth about $2 million from two non-bank lenders
  • India's foreign-exchange reserves fell by $1.27 billion to $719.75 billion in the week ended October 23, marking a seventh consecutive weekly decline and the lowest level in more than two months. RBI data also showed bank credit grew 17.94% year-on-year to ₹232.54 lakh crore by October 15, ahead of 16.6% growth in deposits
  • The Sensex rose 308.49 points, or 0.42%, to close at 74,459.53 on Friday, while the Nifty 50 gained 116.35 points, or 0.51%, to settle at 23,053.10, crossing the 23,000 mark. IT stocks led the rally, with the Nifty IT index gaining over 2%, while mid-cap and small-cap shares came under pressure, with their respective indices falling 0.93% and 1.85%. For October, the Sensex gained 2.7% and the Nifty 1.9%, ending a two-month losing streak
  • Manisha Bhanwala became the first Indian woman to win a senior wrestling world title, defeating American Abigail Nette 8-6 in the 59kg freestyle final after trailing 0-6. India finished the women's freestyle competition with four medals, its best-ever haul at the championships
  • India defeated Japan 4-1 in the men's Asian Champions Trophy in Jalandhar to register a third consecutive victory. Abhishek Nain scored twice, while captain Harmanpreet Singh and Vishnukant Singh added one goal each
  • New Zealand beat India by 87 runs in the fourth T20 International at Auckland, with Glenn Phillips scoring 107 off 49 balls as the hosts posted 259-7. India were restricted to 172-9 but retain a 3-1 lead in the five-match series
  • Supreme Court wonders how scammers know who keeps huge funds in their accounts, says bank staff is involved in digital arrest scams and asks RBI to mandate indemnification by banks of money lost by customers in digital arrest scams
Congress conducts 'public impeachment' of CEC Gyanesh Kumar in mock Parliament at party chief Mallikarjun Kharge's house /////// Rahul Gandhi says Kumar is not going to survive as CEC
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With Fresh Covid Strains Surfacing In India, Complacency Will Be Dangerous

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-02-18 02:27:56

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

Even as India is in the midst of the largest vaccination drive in the world, new strains of the Covid-19 virus have surfaced in the country to cause fresh concerns. One of these strains is from South Africa where Covishield, the vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India and being used extensively in the country, was found to be ineffective against the strain. In fact, South Africa has even asked Serum to take back the consignment that was delivered.

As it is, we are witnessing laxity all across India despite Prime Minister Modi repeatedly warning the citizens that despite the vaccination drive, there has to be dawai bhi and kadai bhi. People have thrown all caution to the winds and thousands are seen on the streets without masks and crowding in public places is back with a vengeance. Cases are rising once again n Mumbai and the city's Mayor has already warned citizens that if the situation deteriorates, the government will be forced to enforce lockdown once again.

With cinema halls, clubs, swimming pools and schools resuming operations and with board exams and elections in four states and one Union territory slated to happen in the next couple of months, the risk is huge. Unless citizens do not follow health advisories and protocols, there is a huge chance that the gains of last few months will be washed away and India might once again start reporting a huge number of cases with the chances of community transmission.

Although lockdown is not an option now given the huge economic costs, especially as the economy is showing strong signs of rebounding, the Centre and the states must appeal to the people to strictly follow health protocols like wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing in public places. If that fails, the authorities should start taking penal action against the offenders. Any complacency now would be dangerous and push us back in the fight against the virus.

Pic courtesy: ndtv.com

 

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