March 2021- The Hindu

Date:20210313
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 Novavax, a U.S.-based biotechnology company developing a recombinant vaccine for COVID-19
 The Serum Institute of India has an agreement with Novavax to manufacture a substantial volume of the vaccine.
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 Bureaucrats cannot be State Election Commissioners: SC
 ‘Independent persons should hold post’
 The judgment criticised the Goa government for giving its Law Secretary the additional charge of State Election
Commissioner.
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 EDITORIAL
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 UN Secretary-General António Guterres has criticised “the many examples of vaccine nationalism and hoarding” in
the world
 “greatest moral test of our times”
 In Africa, only 13 countries, according to the Bloomberg tracker, have begun vaccinating. In contrast, over 10% of the
U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, or got both doses, as has 3% of the EU. The percentages nearly double when
accounting for their populations that have got at least one dose, reaching as high as 34% in the U.K.
 India is the third biggest vaccinator among countries
 fully vaccinated only 0.3% of its population
 ‘vaccine diplomacy’
 apparent “class divide” with the rich and those better informed disproportionately getting vaccinated as compared to
the poor
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 President Joe Biden’s push for an interim unity government in Afghanistan
 In a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, which was first published by Afghanistan’s TOLOnews, U.S. Secretary of
State Antony Blinken has proposed a senior-level meeting between the government and the Taliban in Turkey and a multilateral
conference of envoys from the U.S., Russia, China, Iran, India and Pakistan to discuss a lasting Afghan solution
 February 2020 agreement signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban, the U.S. is scheduled to
withdraw its troops by May 1
 Under Mr. Trump, the U.S. held direct talks with the Taliban excluding the Afghan government. And after reaching a
deal, the U.S. put pressure on the Afghan government to release prisoners, but failed to get any concessions from the insurgents
on reducing violence
 Afghan government representatives and the Taliban were holding talks in Doha, Qatar
 If the Biden administration decides to stick to the Taliban deal and pull back troops, there is no guarantee that the
intra-Afghan talks would hold. The Taliban would rather try to take over the whole country using force. If the government
accepts Mr. Biden’s proposal, Afghanistan’s elected leaders will have to share power with the Taliban and agree to amending the
Constitution, which means some of the country’s hard-won liberties could be sacrificed.
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 The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021
 notified towards the end of February by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
 two petitions already filed against it in courts in Kerala and Delhi
 grievance redressal mechanism for the end user or consumer of social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms and
the digital news web portals.
 smaller or medium-sized independent digital news and current affairs portals
 elaborate time-bound three-tier process whereby each and every such grievance is first handled at the level of the
portal itself by its own grievance officer, and if not satisfactorily settled, passes on to the self-regulatory body of the sector or
industry, and if yet not resolved, moves further up to an inter-ministerial oversight committee of the central government.
 Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, ad hoc emergency powers to block any content the government
considers problematic even without such token procedure
 confabulations
 fourth estate, or the fourth pillar
 Although the freedom of the press per se is not an explicitly prescribed fundamental right in the Indian Constitution,
and is, rather, a derivative right from Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) which give every citizen the right to free speech and
expression, and to practise any profession respectively
 illiberal democracy in Orbán’s Hungary or authoritarian democracy here at home
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 multi-nation exercise hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) named Desert Flag (March 3-27). Other than India
and the UAE, Bahrain, France, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States are also participating
 sixth edition of Desert Flag
 signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020 between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain
 in April2020, Saudi Arabia was India’s top supplier of oil followed by Iraq
 For South Korea, in late 2019, it was also Saudi Arabia as the top supplier
 Russia and the U.S. entering as strong alternatives
 January 2021 marked the first time since 1985 that the U.S. did not import oil from Riyadh
 pressure on Iran to restart the 2015 nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA)
 U.S. unceremoniously exited in 2018
 In 2013, an Indian oil tanker named MT Desh Shanti was confiscated near the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces and
taken to the port of Bandar Abbas on the pretext of the ship violating environmental norms.
 when Iran was under sanctions, and looking for oil payments from India
 Fast forward to January 2021; Iran confiscated a South Korean tanker, MT Hankuk Chemi, also from near the Strait of
Hormuz, lugging the ship to an Iranian port, once again highlighting that the vessel was violating environmental norms.
 Tehran and Seoul were locked in an argument over billions of dollars’ worth of oil payments frozen due to sanctions
against Iran over its nuclear programme
 Former Indian diplomats have even suggested an idea equitable to an ‘importers OPEC’, or Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Asian states which today have a much larger stake in West Asia’s oil than the West
 India’s security footprint in West Asia has seen a steady increase, and energy security and safe passage of sea routes
are one of the main driving factors
 The Indian Navy has made multiple port calls from the UAE and Kuwait to Iran and Qatar in recent years. In 2020,
India had also planned its first bilateral naval exercise with Saudi Arabia, which was postponed due to the novel coronavirus
pandemic.
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 Assam
 “The BJP-led government has failed to fix the minimum wages of tea garden workers since 2018. They had
announced an interim wage hike of ₹30 ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll and another interim amount of ₹50 before the 2021
Assembly poll, which was stayed by the Gauhati High Court because the planters were not consulted,”
 BJP and the AGP [Asom Gana Parishad] are using the wage issue to fool the workers
 The loosely termed ‘tea tribes’ and ‘ex-tea tribes’, broadly referred to as Adivasi, constitute about 20% of Assam’s
total population of 3.3 crore.
 The Adivasis, who were brought by the British colonists from central India almost 200 years ago for plantation work
and logging, can influence the outcome in 40-45 of the 126 Assembly seats in Assam
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 1977, the only time an incumbent government in Kerala won the people’s mandate to remain in power
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 Quad leaders for ‘open and free’ Indo-Pacific
 U.S., Japan and Australia would finance the vaccine initiative that India welcomed
 Vaccine Maitri initiative
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 variant ‘South African’ strain, B.1.351/501Y.V2
 NVX-CoV2373
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 Bring down benzene emission at fuel outlets, says panel
 Fix vapour recovery system to improve air quality: NGT-appointed committee
 A joint committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to study air pollution in Kerala has recommended
the installation of vapour recovery system at fuelling stations and retrofitting of diesel vehicles with particulate filters to improve
air quality.
 petrol refuelling stations were a major source of benzene emissions, volatile organic compounds, and particulate
matter 2.5 concentration
 installation of vapour recovery system is an important step in improving air quality
 implemented in coordination with the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization [PESO]
 CSIR-National Environment Engineering Research Institute, Chennai.
 The Pollution Control Board has already suggested retrofitting of emission control devices of generators and replacing
diesel generators with gas-based ones
 promoting battery-operated vehicles and banning old diesel vehicles in a phased manner, greening of open areas,
and creation of green buffers along traffic corridors.
 The short term measures recommended include strict action against visibly polluting vehicles (to be initiated by the
Motor Vehicles Department), introduction of wet / mechanised vacuum sweeping of roads, controlling dust pollution at
construction sites, and ensuring transport of construction materials in covered vehicles.
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 The operation “Dolphin’s Nose,” carried out by the Counter Intelligence Department, Vijayawada
 In a joint operation —‘Dolphin’s Nose’ — conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State, Naval and Central intelligence
agencies, seven naval personnel and hawala operator were arrested for alleged espionage and suspected links with Pakistan’s
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)
 The importance of the Eastern Naval Command (HQ at Vishakapatnam, AP) has grown with the presence of the Ship
Building Centre, which builds the Arihant-class nuclear submarines.
 strategic Naval Alternative Operations Base (NAOB)in Visakhapatnam district.
 The NAOB and the Arihant Project are listed under the “top-secret” strategic weapons projects and are directly under
the control of the Prime Minister’s Office.
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 first summit on Friday of the four leaders of the Quad framework
 Quad virtual summit
 Secretary of State Antony Blinken
 in a March 3 speech described ties with China as “the biggest geopolitical test”.
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 Maths, physics no longer must for engineering admissions
 AICTE says bridge courses will be offered where needed
 new norms released by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for 2021-22.
 ma history correspondence delhi university
 Council Chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe
 in line with the multi-disciplinary approach of the new National Education Policy.
 students only need to score 45% in any three subjects from a list of 14 in order to qualify.
 “The new NEP is all about breaking silos and promoting multi-disciplinarity. We are creating flexibility. We must also
recognise the wide range of engineering programmes. We have some 240-odd specialisations and not all of them have the same
requirements,”
 physics, chemistry and maths would remain the bedrock of most engineering courses, but argued that students could
still take bridge courses in the first year of a B.E. programme.
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 Stop influx from Myanmar: Centre
 Northeastern States told that they do not have the power to grant refugee status
 The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to the Chief Secretaries of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and
Arunachal Pradesh to “take appropriate action as per law to check illegal influx from Myanmar into India.”
 State governments had no powers to grant “refugee status to any foreigner” and India is not a signatory to the
United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol.
 fled to Mizoram
 The Tatmadaw, or Myanmar military, had taken over the country after a coup on February 1. India and Myanmar
share 1,643-km border
 Border Guarding Force(BGF) along IMB (Assam Rifles)
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 Swedish bus maker Scania has denied local media reports that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was gifted a luxury bus by
its India arm in exchange for contracts.
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 The Supreme Court on Friday asked the government to respond to a plea challenging a special law enacted in 1991 by
the Congress government, which freezes the status of places of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
 Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.
 “arbitrary, irrational and retrospective” cut-off date bars Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from approaching courts
to “re-claim” their places of worship which were “invaded” and “encroached” upon by “fundamentalist barbaric invaders”.
 The Act declared that the character of places of worship-pilgrimage shall be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947
and no suit or proceeding shall lie in court in respect of disputes against encroachment
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 Centre may consider revising the number of people who get subsidised foodgrains under the National Food Security
Act
 Food Ministry was having conversations on a NITI Aayog paper on the issue, which recommended a reduction in the
NFSA coverage.
 launch of ‘Mera Ration’ mobile app for ration card holders
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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the foot march to re-enact the historic Mahatma Gandhi-led Salt
March, while launching the ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’, the government’s initiative to mark 75 years of India’s Independence.
 undertaken by 81 persons on April 5
 Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi in Navsari district, a distance of 386 km, will take them 25 days
 91st anniversary of the historic march against the tax on salt imposed by the British in India
 75th anniversary celebrations would continue till August 15, 2023
 five themes of the celebrations, Freedom Struggle, Ideas at 75, Achievements at 75, Actions at 75 and Resolves at 75
 For Indians, salt represented honesty, trust, loyalty, labour, equality and self reliance
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 Justice Indu Malhotra, the first woman judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court Bench directly from the Bar,
completed her last working day
 Justice Malhotra was on the Constitution Bench that unanimously decriminalised homosexuality between adults.
 She is known for her lone dissenting opinion in the Sabarimala judgment.
 The Supreme Court on Friday asked the government to respond to a plea to constitute district medical boards with
expert gynaecologists and even paediatricians to help rape survivors.
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 The implementation of the four new labour codes, replacing 29 Central labour laws, is likely to take place after the
ongoing State Assembly elections,
 The rules framed under the codes, which were passed by Parliament in 2019 and 2020, had been finalised
 With labour being a subject in the concurrent list, States would also be framing their own rules, the official said,
adding that it would be after the Central rules are notified.
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 President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised
the possibility of beginning to “mark our independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July.
 Mr. Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package that he said will help defeat the virus, nurse the economy back
to health and deliver direct aid to Americans struggling to make ends meet.
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 Russia said on Friday it backed the Taliban’s integration into a future interim government in Afghanistan
 May deadline looms for the U.S. to end its two-decade military involvement in the ravaged country.
 U..S Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote a letter to Afghan leaders, encouraging them to consider a “new,
inclusive government.”
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 Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa “vehemently” condemned the Rajapaksa administration’s invitation
to the Myanmar junta’s Foreign Minister, for a virtual meet of regional body BIMSTEC early April. The invitation “basically
legitimised the military takeover”
 ministerial meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation that Sri
Lanka now chairs.
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 China denied on Friday it was planning to hit e-commerce giant Alibaba with a record fine of almost $1 billion for
allegedly flouting monopoly rules
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 The World Health Organization said on Friday there was no reason to stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine
after several countries suspended the rollout over blood clot fears.
 Denmark, Norway and Iceland paused the use of the AstraZeneca jab as a precaution after isolated reports of
recipients developing blood clots.
 reports of blood coagulation disorders
 causal relationship has not been shown
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 The Civil Aviation Ministry is working on the airline sector’s demand to bring aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the
ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST)
 ATF or jet fuel cost, which account for 45-55% of an airline’s operating expenses, in India is among the highest in the
world. The industry been asking for it to be brought under the GST.
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 The Finance Ministry is likely to decide on infusion of ₹14,500 crore mainly in banks that are under the RBI’s prompt
corrective action (PCA) framework, to improve their financial health.
 Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India and UCO Bank are currently under this framework
 For the current financial year, the government had allocated ₹20,000 crore for capital infusion into PSBs to help them
meet their regulatory requirements.
 Most large state-owned lenders-already raised money from market sources, including share sale on a private
placement basis
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 Indian conglomerate Tata Sons plans to buy a majority stake in Alibaba-backed online grocery seller BigBasket
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 Withdraw directive on AT-1 bonds, SEBI told
 SEBI had earlier this week issued regulations that put a limit of 10% for cumulative investments by MFs in Tier I and
Tier II bonds
 The finance ministry has asked market regulator SEBI to withdraw its directive to mutual fund houses to treat
additional Tier I (AT-1) bonds as having maturity of 100 years as it could disrupt the market and impact capital raising by banks
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Date: 20210314
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 The National People’s Congress (NPC) of China
 on March 11 approved what it called “a decision on improving Hong Kong’s electoral system”.
 Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region (SAR)
 “one country, two systems” model since its return to China in 1997
 passed to plug “clear loopholes and deficiencies which the anti-China, destabilising elements jumped on to take into
their hands the power to administer the HKSAR”
 2019 pro-democracy protests
 Currently, 35 of the 70 members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council are directly elected through “geographical
constituencies”, while 35 are nominated from “functional constituencies” (referring to a range of special interest groups that are
broadly pro-establishment).
 Now, the size of the Legislative Council will be expanded to 90, with the additional 20 members joining the 35 others
who are nominated, thus reducing the share of directly elected representatives
 newly expanded Election Committee of 1,500 nominated members, up from 1,200 previously. The 300 new members
will include Hong Kong’s representatives to the NPC (the legislature) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
(the upper house), who are chosen by Beijing
 The committee-responsible for choosing Hong Kong’s Chief Executive
 also choose the additional Legislative Council members
 setting up of a new “candidate qualification review committee”
 reviewing and confirming” the qualifications of candidates for Election Committee members, the Chief Executive, and
Legislative Council members
 to ensure “the administration of Hong Kong by Hong Kong people with patriots as the main body”
 Basic Law — the Constitution that has governed Hong Kong since 1997
 SAR is a part of China but enjoys “a high degree of autonomy” and “executive, legislative and independent judicial
power”, except in foreign policy and defence
 “the socialist system and policies shall not be practised” in Hong Kong for 50 years
 amendment is the second major recent legislative change
 In 2020, as a response to the 2019 protests, China passed a new national security law that lists penalties for
“subversion”
 47 pro-democracy leaders were arrested under the new law after organising an informal primary election among pro-
democracy parties
 The city became a key gateway for foreign companies particularly because of its independent judicial system that
distinguished it from the mainland. It still remains a key gateway for investment, even though in 2018 its GDP was surpassed by
Shenzhen.
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 The Supreme Court
 validity of the reservation for the Maratha community
 Maharashtra
 50% limit on total reservation imposed by the court in the Indra Sawhney case (1992).
 16% quota for Marathas would take the total reservation in Maharashtra beyond the limit of 50%
 several other States, including Tamil Nadu, have passed laws that allow reservation going beyond 60%.
 102nd Amendment of the Constitution, by which the National Commission for Backward Classes was given
constitutional status.
 whether the judgment in Indra Sawhney vs Union of India, known as the Mandal verdict, needs to be referred to a
larger Bench or “requires a relook in the light of subsequent Constitutional amendments, judgments and changed social
dynamics of society, etc.”
 Indra Sawhney was a decision by a nine-member Bench, a Bench of at least 11 judges will be needed to reconsider
the question.
 reservation for Marathas effected through a 2018 Act (the Socially Economically Backward Class Act), and amended in
2019, is covered by the “exceptional circumstances” mentioned in the Indra Sawhney judgment, which had said the 50% limit
can be exceeded in “certain extraordinary situations” as a special case
 This relaxation, it said, was meant for people inhabiting remote and far-flung areas who are away from the
mainstream of national life and who may have “conditions peculiar to and characteristic to them”
 examine whether the State government had made out a case warranting such an exception for Marathas based on
the report of the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission headed by former Justice M.G. Gaikwad.
 Last September, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the 2018 Maharashtra law granting reservation to
Marathas in education and jobs.
 effect of the 102nd Constitution Amendment introduced in 2018. This amendment grants constitutional status to the
National Commission for Backward Classes and says the President would notify the lists of backward classes for all States in
consultation with the Governors.
 whether the power of State governments to make inclusions and exclusions from the list of backward classes has
been taken away
 important questions: whether the 102nd Amendment deprives States of the power to make laws for socially and
educationally backward classes and confer benefits on them, whether the newly introduced Article 342A of the Constitution
abridges the State legislatures’ power to enact laws under Articles 15(4) and 16(4), which respectively deal with special
provisions for other backward classes and reservation in employment
 Any judgment on the Maratha reservation issue would inevitably have to deal with three issues — the 50% ceiling on
total reservation, the power of States to determine who its backward classes are and confer benefits on them, and the legislative
competence of State legislatures regarding backward classes after the introduction of the 102nd Amendment.
 It was in M.R. Balaji vs State of Mysore (1962) that the Supreme Court first ruled that reservation, being a special
provision for backward classes, should not normally exceed 50%.
 The presumption behind the 50% rule was that equality of opportunity was the norm, and any special provision for
socially and educationally backward classes or reservation for backward classes in public employment was an exception.
 in State of Kerala vs. N.M. Thomas (1975), the majority of the Bench disagreed with the proposition. It said the special
measures in favour of backward classes in Articles 15 and 16 were not exceptions to the rule. On the contrary, these were an
emphatic way of ensuring equality of opportunity
 Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s opinion in the Constituent Assembly that reservation should be “confined to a minority of seats”
 strict rule could be relaxed in extraordinary situations given the country’s great diversity.
 50% ceiling is not a hard-and-fast rule and that it may be breached if a State’s backward class population is
considered high
 Tamil Nadu has enacted a law to protect its 69% total reservation. As the Tamil Nadu law, which was subsequently
included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution (by which the Act would be beyond judicial review on the ground of violation
of anyone’s fundamental rights)
 10% quota for the economically weaker sections among those who do not fall under any reservation category. By this
move, the Centre has already exceeded the 50% limit
 whether backward classes should also be classified and determined only by the Centre, just as the list of Scheduled
Castes is made by the Union government
 As of now, only the President, or the Central government, can make modifications in the list of Scheduled Castes in
respect of any State or Union Territory in the country. And this can be done only through a Parliamentary law. Article 342A,
introduced through the 102nd Amendment, is similarly worded — it says that the President notifies the Backward Classes for
each State or Union Territory in consultation with the Governor in the case of a State. It also says State governments must
consult the National Commission for Backward Classes on all matters of policy concerning socially and educationally backward
classes.
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 Retrospective laws and the Cairn tax dispute
 What did the Permanent Court of Arbitration rule and how is the Indian government planning to respond?
 In December last year, a three-member tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands ruled
against India in its long-running tax dispute with the U.K.-based oil and gas company Cairn Energy Plc and a subsidiary, Cairn UK
Holdings Ltd
 The tribunal ordered India to pay about $1.4 billion to the company
 Following this, Cairn Energy has successfully moved courts in five countries, including the United States and the
United Kingdom, to recognise its claim as per the arbitration award, according to PTI. The Netherlands, France, and Canada are
the other three countries.
 Cairn Energy to seize assets of the Indian government in these jurisdictions by way of enforcing its claim, in case the
latter doesn’t pay its dues
 2014 when Indian tax authorities started questioning Cairn Energy requesting information on the group’s
reorganisation in the financial year 2006-07
 by 2015, the authorities
 draft assessment order
 principal tax amount of $1.6 billion that was due
 2006-07, was one in which big corporate changes and developments took place in Cairn Energy
 floated an Indian subsidiary, Cairn India
 early 2007 got listed on the Indian bourses
 Cairn Energy had transferred all of its India assets, which were until then held by nine subsidiaries in various
countries, to the newly-formed Cairn India.
 tax authorities claimed that in the process of this reorganisation, Cairn Energy had made capital gains worth ₹24,500
crore. This, the department asserted, was the basis of the tax demand.
 In 2011, the U.K.-based Vedanta Resources bought a nearly 60% stake in Cairn India.
 Vodafone’s battle with the government of India
 The Vodafone case in 2007 was triggered by Hong Kong’s Hutchinson Telecommunications’ sale of its stake in India’s
Hutchinson Essar to Vodafone International Holdings, based out of the Netherlands.
 The Hong Kong firm made a capital gain on this, which the Indian tax authorities deemed fit to tax.
 The Supreme Court quashed the taxman’s demand, concluding that it did not agree that the sale of shares in this case
“would amount to transfer of a capital asset within the meaning of Section 2(14) of the Indian Income Tax Act”.
 Union Budget of 2012, the Income Tax Act, 1961 was amended to make sure that even if a transfer of shares takes
place outside India, such a transfer can be taxed if the value of those shares is based on assets in India. And this was applied
retrospectively. The action against Cairn Energy was based on this move. India lost its arbitration case against Vodafone as well
 What happened after the tax claims in the Cairn Energy dispute?
 Cairn UK Holdings Ltd. appealed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The tribunal, while providing the company
relief from back-dated interest demands, however, upheld the main tax demand.
 initiated proceedings of arbitration under the U.K.-India bilateral investment treaty
 the government sold Cairn’s almost 5% holding in Vedanta Ltd
 The claimants, Cairn Energy and Cairn UK Holdings, argued that till the amendment was made to tax retrospectively
in 2012, there was no tax on indirect transfers (transfer by a non-resident of shares in non-Indian companies which indirectly
held assets in India). They also said the government had approved the 2006 reorganisation.
 2012 amendments
 “manifest breaches” of the U.K.-India bilateral investment treaty
 India’s defence
 its 2006 transactions were taxable irrespective of the 2012 amendments.
 “Indian law has long permitted taxation where a transaction has a strong economic nexus with India”.
 ============
 Taking note of the detention of Jamia Millia Islamia student Safoora Zargar, who was pregnant when Delhi police
arrested her in April 2020 over the Citizenship law protests and the Delhi riots, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council’s
Working Group against Arbitrary Detentions (WGAD) has adopted an opinion critical of the government’s workings, and referred
the case to three Special Rapporteurs for action.
 case part of an “unfortunate trend”.
 The Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to the HRC body’s decision. The WGAD report said it had written to
the Indian government on July 22, 2020, with a request for a reply for information in the Zargar case within three months, but
the government had not responded nor requested an extension of time.
 International law experts say the WGAD’s opinion is not actionable by the Human Rights Council, but could set India
and the HRC on a further collision course.
 ============
 Sri Lanka will soon ban the burkha or face veil
 Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara said the authorities would henceforth use the controversial Prevention
of Terrorism (PTA) law — that human rights defenders have termed “draconian” — to deal with religious extremism, with wide-
ranging powers to detain suspects for up to two years, to “deradicalise” them
 “The burkha is something that directly affects our national security… this [dress] came into Sri Lanka only recently. It
is a symbol of their religious extremism
 signed documents outlawing the burkha, the move awaits Cabinet approval. Over 1,000 madrasas would be shut
 year-long controversy over the government’s policy of mandatory cremation of COVID-19 victims, based on
unsubstantiated claims that the bodies would contaminate ground water.
 Muslims, who make up about 10% of the 21-million population
 ============
 Passengers refusing to wear masks properly or follow social distancing norms during a flight despite repeated
warnings could be put on a no-fly list for a period of three months to two years or more, according to an order issued by aviation
safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
 such passenger may be treated as ‘unruly passenger’ and the procedure in respect of handling such unruly passenger
as provided in CAR (civil aviation requirements) shall be followed by the concerned airline
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 rapporteury
 ============
 The High Court of Karnataka has declared that action for dereliction of duty or other proceedings can be initiated
against investigation officers if they are found to have furnished to any third party, data retrieved from electronic gadgets that
could impinge on privacy of any person connected to the probe in criminal cases.
 responsibility of the officers to safeguard the information or data retrieved from electronic gadgets such as
smartphones, computers, laptops and storage units, including email accounts, etc.
 “The disclosure, making public or otherwise in court proceedings, would have to be determined by the judge of the
court concerned by passing a judicial order
 The court, however, said that use of data retrieved from electronic gadgets protected by passwords would not
amount to violation of right to privacy of a person in criminal case as access to such data by the police would come within the
exceptions carved out by the Supreme Court in Justice Puttaswamy’s case on right to privacy
 ============
 Sri Lanka to ban burkha, shut 1,000 madrasas
 Following the Islamic State-inspired Easter terror bombings in Sri Lanka in April 2019, attributed to a local Islamist
radical network, the government temporarily banned the face veil using emergency laws.
 ============
 The “gregarious flowering of bamboo” inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and the nearby Mudumalai
Tiger Reserve and Gudalur forest division in Tamil Nadu this year may pose a threat to wildlife in the Nilgiri biosphere, a major
tiger and elephant habitat.
 bloomed, a phenomenon said to occur once in the life cycle of bamboo plants
 Thorny bamboo (Bamboosa bambos) is a monocarpic (flowering only once) plant belonging to the Poaceae family
(grass family), and its flowering cycle varies from 40 to 60 years
 But protection from fire and grazing is essential for proper establishment of seedlings
 ============
 ountries like the U.S. have started using mobile vaccination centres and have established vaccination centres in
supermarkets to rapidly cover the entire population. In India a similar approach, especially mobile vaccination units, can rapidly
cover many villages.
 Public health programmes rely heavily on information-education-communication
 ============
 Human eye colour ranges from black, brown to blue, green, and even red. Eye colour is primarily determined by
melanin abundance within the iris pigment epithelium, which is greater in brown than in blue eyes
 There are two forms of melanin – eumelanin and pheomelanin – and the ratio of the two within the iris as well as
light absorption and scattering by extracellular components are additional factors that give irises their colour.
 Absolute melanin quantity and the eumelanin–pheomelanin ratio are higher in brown irises, while blue or green irises
have very little of both pigments and relatively more pheomelanin.
 ============
 Martian ‘blueberries’ find a parallel on Earth
 Similar haematite concretions have been found in Kutch, Gujarat
 In 2004, NASA’s Mars exploration rover ‘Opportunity’ found several small spheres on the planet, informally named
Martian blueberries.
 made of iron oxide compounds called haematites
 presence of haematites suggests that there was water present on Mars.
 “The widely accepted formation mechanism of haematite concretion [hard solid mass] is precipitation from aqueous
fluids. Haematite is known to form in oxidising environments
 water must have also played a crucial role in the formation of grey haematite on Mars
 “The haematites on Mars not just show the presence of water, they also indicate that the planet had an atmosphere
with oxygen as haematites need oxygen to stabilise
 Kutch area is a potential Martian analogue locality.
 occurrences of hydrous sulphate in the Matanumadh area of Kutch, resemble Martian surficial processes.
 transformation from the wet and humid to dry and arid environment on Mars is mimicked by the history of Kutch
 ============
 Unlike the mRNA vaccine platform used by Pfizer and Moderna, where vaccine efficacy reached 94% and 95%,
respectively, the vector-based vaccine platform technology used by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have shown lower
efficacy.
 While vaccine efficacy is 66% for Johnson & Johnson vaccine, AstraZeneca vaccine showed 55.1% efficacy when the
second dose is administered less than six weeks after the first but 81.3% when the gap between the two doses is over 12 weeks.
In contrast, Sputnik V has 91.6% efficacy
 low efficacy of adenovirus-based vaccine in some people because of pre-existing antibodies?
 pre-existing antibodies to the adenovirus vector will affect the development of antibodies against the new target the
adenovirus is carrying as antigen
 “Pre-existing antibodies against adenoviruses will stop the adenovirus particles from getting into cells and making the
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.”
 neutralising antibodies against adenovirus subtype Ad5
 adenovirus subtype Ad26
 While Johnson & Johnson uses a single dose of Ad26 subtype, the Sputnik V vaccine uses a combination of Ad26 and
Ad5 for the first and second dose, respectively
 Sputnik V. “Immunity against the first vector will not interfere with the second dose as it contains a different
subtype,”
 The AstraZeneca vaccine uses chimpanzee adenovirus. Antibodies against the chimpanzee adenovirus are not
prominent in people anywhere in the world
 While using the same adenovirus subtypes for repeat vaccinations might result in reduced efficacy in the case of
vector-based vaccines, the inactivated vaccines do not face this problem, as seen in the case of rabies and inactivated polio
vaccine
 Theoretically, repeat doses with inactivated vaccines will raise the height of immune response with no chance of any
reduction of efficacy
 inactivated virus vaccine (Covaxin) or mRNA vaccine
 ============
 Cosmologists have hypothesised that supermassive black holes wander in space
 moving black hole
 ============
 China is no longer compliant with Hong Kong’s joint declaration
 Beijing announced sweeping changes to the region’s electoral system
 Sino-British Joint Declaration-1997
 UK announcing a visa scheme offering millions of its residents a pathway to U.K.’s citizenship
 Beijing has acted decisively to dismantle Hong Kong’s democratic pillars after massive protests there in 2019.
 China’s rubber-stamp Parliament on Thursday voted to give Beijing the power to veto candidates as it moves to
ensure that only “patriots” run the city.
 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it “a direct attack on autonomy promised to people in Hong Kong under
the Sino-British Joint Declaration”.
 The European Union warned China it could take “additional steps” as it condemned the vote
 Brussels has previously decided to limit exports of equipment that could be used for surveillance in Hong Kong and
EU Foreign Ministers have discussed the possibility of broader sanctions if the situation worsens.
 ============
 Bolivia’s former interim President Jeanine Anez was arrested on Saturday on terrorism and sedition charges
 La Paz’s El Alto airport
 ============
 Streaming giant Netflix is testing a way to crack down on password sharing with people living elsewhere
 ============
 A U.S. judge on Friday ordered Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to be temporarily removed from a government
blacklist that barred American investment in the company.
 targeting Chinese firms, including Xiaomi, state oil giant CNOOC, and social media darling TikTok
 Xiaomi was one of nine firms classified by the Pentagon as “Communist Chinese military companies”.
 blacklisting, Xiaomi — which overtook Apple last year to become the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer
 decision came the same day U.S. regulators listed Huawei and ZTE among Chinese telecom gear firms deemed a
threat to national security, signalling that a hoped-for softening of relations is not on the cards.
 ============
 Myanmar protests
 activists marked the death anniversary on Saturday of a student whose killing in 1988 sparked an uprising against the
military government.
 Saturday’s protests erupted after posters spread on social media urging people to mark the death anniversary of
Phone Maw, who was killed by security forces in 1988 inside what was then known as the Rangoon Institute of Technology
campus
 His death and that of another student sparked widespread protests against the junta, known as the 8-8-88 campaign
 ============
 Nigerian security forces stepped up efforts on Saturday to rescue dozens of students who were abducted from their
hostels in Kaduna state
 Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Mando
 ============

20210317
 ======
 Tamil Nadu
 Fifteenth Finance Commission’s report
 pointed out that the prevalence of anaemia among women and children is 55% and 50.7%, against the national
average of 53.1% and 58.6%.
 ======
 A severe deficit in the number of OBC, SC, ST candidates recruited as faculty in Central institutes of higher education
has been revealed by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in Parliament
 62% unfilled vacancies for SC in the IIMs and 90% for OBC in the IISc, while vacant positions are on average about
38% to 52%, taking Central Universities, IISERs, IIT (non-faculty), IGNOU, and Sanskrit Central Universities into account.
 trend seen earlier in the IIT system extends to many more institutions
 mismatch between the government’s equity-building goals and actual recruitment outcomes
 In the case of the IITs, an official committee suggested that the way out would be to exempt these institutions from
reservation, as provided for under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019, or to
dereserve lower faculty positions after a year, if suitable candidates from the beneficiary communities are not found.
 The failure of the Central higher education institutions to recruit faculty to all the reserved positions is usually
attributed to the absence of enough qualified candidates, as the Education Ministry’s committee for IITs did.
 remedial measures suggested by the panel was to start government-sponsored preparatory programmes, which
would both equip aspiring faculty, and create a pool of research talent.
 Such courses would also make these institutions of higher learning more socially responsive, meeting the goal of
addressing historical deprivation of communities based on caste
 ======
 schism meaning-a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or
belief.
 dystopian meaning-relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice
 Czech writer Karel Čapek first mentioned robots in a 1920s play
 vestige meaning-a trace or remnant of something that is disappearing or no longer exists.
 artificial intelligence (AI), the engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution-embedded in the recommendations we get
on our favourite streaming or shopping site; in GPS mapping technology; in the predictive text that completes our sentences
when we try to send an email or complete a web search - the more data we generate, the smarter it gets- decoding proteins last
year
 Automation, big data and algorithms
 toward eradicating hunger, poverty and disease — opening up new and hitherto unimaginable pathways for climate
change mitigation, education and scientific discovery
 Already, AI has helped increase crop yields , raised business productivity, improved access to credit and made cancer
detection faster and more precise . It could contribute more than $15 trillion to the world economy by 2030, adding 14% to
global GDP. Google has identified over 2,600 use cases of “AI for good” worldwide. A study published in Nature reviewing the
impact of AI on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) finds that AI may act as an enabler on 134 — or 79% — of all SDG
targets.
 Yet, the study in Nature also finds that AI can actively hinder 59 — or 35% — of SDG targets
 For starters, AI requires massive computational capacity, which means more power-hungry data centres — and a big
carbon footprint
 Together, Big Tech’s big four — Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook — are worth a staggering $5 trillion,
more than the GDPs of just about every nation on earth. In 2020, when the world was reeling from the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, they added more than $2 trillion to their value.
 AI has the potential to improve billions of lives, it can also replicate and exacerbate existing problems, and create new
ones.
 AI facial recognition and surveillance technology discriminating against people of colour and minorities. Or how an AI-
enhanced recruitment engine, based on existing workforce profiles, taught itself that male candidates were preferable to
female.
 AI also presents serious data privacy concerns
 our digital footprints being harvested and sold without our knowledge or informed consent
 the algorithms know us better than we know ourselves
 Our level of addiction to our devices, the inability to resist looking at our phones, and the chilling case of Cambridge
Analytica — in which such algorithms and big data were used to alter voting decisions
 In a world where the algorithm is king
 in 2016, it took less than a day for Microsoft’s Twitter chatbot, christened “Tay”, to start spewing egregious racist
content, based on the material it encountered
 How then do we ensure that AI applications are as unbiased, equitable, transparent, civil and inclusive as possible?
 Without ethical guard rails, AI will widen social and economic schisms, amplifying any innate biases at an irreversible
scale and rate and lead to discriminatory outcomes
 UNESCO has developed a global, comprehensive standard-setting draft Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial
Intelligence to Member States for deliberation and adoption.
 The UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap on Digital Cooperation-lays out the need for multi-stakeholder efforts on global
cooperation so AI is used in a manner that is “trustworthy, human rights-based, safe and sustainable, and promotes peace”.
 NITI Aayog’s Responsible AI for All strategy
 =====
 Nirav Modi case
 The jeweller
 Punjab National Bank
 Wandsworth Prison in London.
 Extradition of accused persons who have fled India is the toughest task before the CBI
 Bofors gun case of the 1980s-90s
 enterprising wheeler dealer, Ottavio Quattrocchi, (said to be close to a political family in India) was allowed to escape
from India with the then government’s connivance
 never brought back to face trial in India despite overwhelming evidence against him
 Vijay Mallya, the liquor baron of Karnataka, who received huge financial favours from a few banks, has been dodging
imprisonment and repatriation to India
 In all cases of extradition
 offence alleged against him was not in the statutes of the country where he is living
 political considerations had weighed in the mind of the requesting country in demanding extradition
 country seeking transfer of the offender did not fulfil human rights requirements, particularly in respect of hygiene in
the prison in which he was proposed to be lodged
 The London judge rejected all three contentions put forward by Mr. Modi’s counsel
 another instrument of torture for the prosecution is the so-called Letter Rogatory (LR), which the relevant court in
India will have to issue to the corresponding court abroad to get hold of documents or examining witnesses in the countries
involved.
 financial crime in current times is too complicated for agencies such as the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to
unravel all the facts in quick time
 ==========
 pandemic
 healthcare personnel, from ASHA workers with only basic training, to highly specialised intensive care physicians
 anecdote meaning
 a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
 an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay.
 the depiction of a minor narrative incident in a painting
 sentinel meaning-a soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch-an indicator of the presence of disease.
 Data collection for HIV control is sample-based, under the unique Indian design of sentinel surveillance, established in
1986 and still continuing
 A probable case of polio is defined as an acute onset of flaccid paralysis
 Counting of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and laboratory tests for polioviruses (including molecular methods
distinguishing wild from vaccine viruses) were crucial for polio elimination in India. The commonality between HIV/AIDS and
polio programmes is the availability of denominator-based data. The denominator for polio elimination is the national total
under-five population. So, we knew the total disease burden. And when it reached zero, we knew polio was eliminated.
 we have only the numerator data on various diseases, including COVID-19, but not the denominator — in short we do
not have a comprehensive and quantified profile of any disease in the entire population, including those under vertical
programmes — tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, AIDS.
 For COVID-19, computerised medical records informed us about how many were tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection —
and among them, how many were positive, hospitalised, survived or died. All statistics are available in the public domain.
Everyone knows that the numbers cover only a fraction of the total, but what proportion of the total, will remain unknown
forever.
 COVID-19 epidemic curve that peaked in September and steadily declined to the present
 For COVID-19, there are non-pharmacological preventive interventions — face masks, hand hygiene, physical
distancing — and pharmacological prevention by vaccination
 authentic information communicated effectively to the public for self-motivated behaviour modification. In other
words, a ‘social vaccine’.
 India’s AIDS Task Force designed and successfully applied ‘social vaccine’ during the HIV/AIDS epidemic and this was
continued by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO). Sadly, there was no crosstalk between the COVID-19 programme
and NACO; hence principles of social vaccine, so effectively deployed in AIDS prevention, were not adopted for COVID-19
prevention
 COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, authentic health education regarding vaccination is conspicuously lacking, leading to
considerable vaccine hesitancy among even healthcare staff.
 Post-vaccination surveillance, vital for assessing vaccine efficacy and safety, is not being conducted
 COVID-19 has strong social determinants of infection transmission — overcrowding, lack of cough/sneeze etiquette,
and urban-rural divide in health awareness and education. These factors are common for influenza and TB too. Typhoid, cholera,
leptospirosis, scrub typhus, malaria, rabies, etc. have environmental determinants. In countries where public health is given
equal status with healthcare, public health addresses both social and environmental determinants and controls these diseases
 Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
 =====
 A robust economic relationship
 U.S.-India collaborations
 bilateral trade in goods and services to the desired goal of $500 billion
 In the five years to 2019, bilateral trade grew at a CAGR of 7.7% per year to $146 billion. If we assume the same rate
of growth, the $500 billion target will be achieved by 2036. To ensure this, the CAGR would need to be set at 11.9%
 =====
 Assam
 Mising community
 =====
 The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary will be “personally responsible” and “appropriate
action” will be taken on failure to give information on the ‘rule curve’ for the Mullaperiyar dam to the Supreme Court-appointed
Supervisory Committee.
 The ‘rule curve’ in a dam decides the fluctuating storage levels in a reservoir. The gate opening schedule of a dam is
based on the ‘rule curve’. It is part of the “core safety” mechanism in a dam
 three core safety issues — the monitoring and performance of the instrumentation of the dam, finalising the ‘rule
curve’ and fixing the gate operating schedule
 Kerala has adopted an obscurantist and obstructive stand... Kerala government is somehow not comfortable with
Tamil Nadu operating the dam
 Kerala is preventing the finalisation of the ‘rule curve’. We are not able to access data which is in their terrain. There
is no road built, the power supply has not been restored, though we had paid for it... How do we function?
 The Kerala government, represented by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, has accused Tamil Nadu of adopting an
“obsolete” gate operation schedule dating back to 1939.
 lack of proper supervision of water levels in the dam located along the Periyar tiger reserve
 ======
 Since 2019, when Parliament passed the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, the
IIMs have been actively lobbying the Education Ministry to exempt them from the law’s requirements to reserve faculty
 positions for SCs, STs, OBCs and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). They had earlier cited a 50-year old Central government
memo which exempted scientific and technical posts from reservations.
 In November that year, the Education Ministry told the Lok Sabha that the 20 IIMs had only 11 faculty from the SC/ST
categories.
 excuse of unavailability of qualified candidates.
 affirmative action programmes
 ======
 Cannot send back Myanmar exiles: MP
 Most of them have relatives in our State. There are 16 to 17 roads that connect Myanmar to India, there is a small
river, it is very easy to cross over to India. There is no fencing
 refugees from Myanmar belong to the Chin ethnic group, comprising Lai, Tidim-Zomi, Lusei and Hualngo tribes —
related to the dominant Mizos in the Northeast.
 The MHA in a letter, dated March 10, to the four States said the State governments have no powers to grant
“refugee” status to any foreigner” and India is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967
Protocol.
 standard operating procedure (SoP) was issued in 2011 by the Central government and amended in 2019 which has
to be followed by law enforcement agencies while dealing with foreign nationals who claim to be refugees
 Chin refugees
 About 98% of the Myanmar nationals claim that they belong to the police force and fire service. They chose to leave
the country rather than obey the military regime
 The influx could not be prevented because much of the border is porous
 ======
 pernicious meaning-implies irreparable harm done through evil or insidious corrupting or undermining
 ======
 HC wants end to postings for money
 Bench urges CJ to initiate suo motu proceedings against Karnataka govt.
 the High Court of Karnataka has urged the Chief Justice to initiate suo motu proceedings against the State
government to put an end to the “pernicious practice” of posting officers “for monetary considerations and reasons other than
public interest”.
 A Bench of Justice R. Devdas passed the order on March 15 taking note of the “high-handedness” of the tahsildar and
the Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Bengaluru South taluk, who acted contrary to the law even when an issue related to the
grant of a parcel of land, the value of which was several crores of rupees, was sub judice before the High Court.
 such high-handed action on the part of the respondent-authorities [tahsildar and AC] could not have happened if the
authorities were sensitive about their powers and functions
 due to the fact that postings are given to such sensitive offices not on merit or with public interest in mind
 respondent-authorities are fearless of the consequences of being in conflict with the law. Such officers are
emboldened by the fact that they are protected by the government
 ======
 The Karnataka State Board of Auqaf (wakf) has restricted the managements of mosques and dargahs from using
loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
 Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000
 loudspeakers used during daytime shall adhere to ambient air quality standards in respect of noise.
 ======
 Tuni rioting case, including former Minister and Kapu reservation agitation leader
 ======
 Govt. committed to protecting interests of bank staff: Nirmala
 UPA government had “nationalised corruption” and “privatised taxpayers’ money”.
 Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day that the Centre was “privatising profit and nationalising loss”.
 public enterprise policy based on which we have identified those four areas in which we said government presence,
public sector presence, will be there, and bare minimum presence is what we have said, in financial institutions are also there.
 even in financial sector we will still have the presence of public sector enterprise... not all of them are going to be
privatised
 ======
 ‘Census interim data by 2024’
 Ministry tells parliamentary panel that NPR data will also be available by LS poll
 The provisional data for the latest Census and National Population Register (NPR) will be available before the Lok
Sabha election in 2024
 The previous Census was conducted in 2011 and the NPR, which has a database of 119 crore residents, was last
updated in 2015
 The first phase of Census House-listing and Housing Census that was to be conducted along with the NPR from April
1, 2020, was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
 mobile application has been developed for collecting the Census details and NPR and residents can also self-
enumerate The fieldwork for the first phase of Census 2021 that will provide data on housing conditions, household amenities
and assets possessed by the households is expected in 2021-22.
 The fieldwork for population enumeration phase to provide data on demography, religion, SC/ST, language, literacy
and education, economic activity, migration and fertility will be done in 2023-24.
 The committee was informed that the mobile app through which Census will be conducted will be available in 16
languages.
 NPR database had been created by collecting family-wise data and it can be strengthened by linking Aadhaar to each
member.
 Aadhaar Act, 2016
 ======
 Tenth Schedule of Constitution says nominated RS member must be disqualified if he joins any party after expiry of
six months from oath
 ======
 On February 8, 2012, the SIT had filed a closure report, giving clean chit to Mr. Modi and 63 others.
 in the 2002 Godhra riots
 ======
 The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that increases the
time period within which an abortion may be carried out.
 Opposition MPs said the Bill still did not give women the freedom to decide, since they would need a nod from a
medical board in the case of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks
 Currently, abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception, and two doctors if
it is done between 12 and 20 weeks. The Bill allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two
doctors in the case of certain categories of women, between 20 and 24 weeks.
 For a pregnancy to be terminated after 24 weeks in case of substantial foetal abnormalities, the opinion of the State-
level medical board is essential.
 The original Bill was framed in 1971
 ======
 The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Bill to set up a Development Finance Institution
 Budget provided for an initial amount of ₹20,000 crore for the institution.
 ======
 Congress
 group of 23 dissenters (G-23)
 ======
 P.K. Sinha, Principal Adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), has relinquished his high-profile position on
personal grounds
 He was appointed in the PMO first as Officer on Special Duty briefly and then as Principal Adviser, a position specially
created for him, in September 2019.
 ======
 The COVID-19 crisis offers an unexpected opportunity for countries to decouple their economies from fossil fuels and
accelerate the shift to renewable energy sources, says the World Energy Transitions Outlook report, brought out by the
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
 contain the rise of temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius.
 director general of IRENA Francesco La Camera
 renewable technologies and complemented by green hydrogen and modern bioenergy
 Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Natake, who delivered the keynote address, criticised the leaders for continuing to
invest in fossil fuel commitments, saying, “We cannot eat coal and we cannot drink oil.”
 ======
 China will allow travellers only if they take its vaccines
 Little relief as such vaccines are unavailable in India
 A number of China’s overseas missions, including its embassy in New Delhi, have announced they will begin
“facilitating” travellers provided they have taken “Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines”.
 The ban has been a particular concern for many Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities, who have been
unable to return to China. There are at least 23,000 Indians studying in China, most in medical colleges.
 starting from 15 March, 2021, the Chinese Embassies and Consulates in India will provide the persons having taken
Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine and holding the Certificates of Vaccination with the following facilitating measures
 The announcement did not say if it would apply to students.
 Indian students, who account for the fourth-largest segment of international students in China
 with many of the Chinese apps used for online teaching banned last year, when India restricted more than 200
Chinese apps in the wake of the June border clash in the Galwan Valley.
 After WeChat was banned and students complained to their colleges, one university, the newspaper reported, began
to use the Alibaba-owned DingTalk and Tencent’s Meeting for online classes. Eventually, those apps were banned as well.
 The larger concern for the students, who will have to pass challenging exams in India after graduation to be able to
practice, is their inability to receive laboratory training as they remain unable to return.
 ======
 ‘Post-vaccine blood clots a form of rare cerebral thrombosis’
 WHO rules out link between AstraZeneca vaccine and clots
 Scientists at the Germany-based Paul-Ehrlich-Institut report that the blood clots observed in some of those
vaccinated are a “special form of very rare cerebral vein thrombosis”. This corresponds to a deficiency in platelets and bleeding
following vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
 The recommendations from the institute were the reason Germany put on hold ongoing vaccinations until a full
review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
 several cases of immune thrombocytopenia, a lack of platelets in the blood that can lead to bleeding and bruising
 Denmark was the first country to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11 as a precautionary
measure. Iceland and Norway followed suit.
 Last Friday, Bulgaria suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine
 Sweden and Latvia, too, have suspended use
 Several EU countries — France and Italy for instance — have called a halt to the AstraZeneca vaccine
 The blood clots observed post vaccination, however, are less than the background number of such thrombosis events
even without vaccination
 (WHO) has ruled out any link between AstraZeneca’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and
reported blood clots.
 ======
 ‘No parliament should discuss internal issues of other nations’
 Birla’s remarks come days after U.K. MPs discussed farm stir
 Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
 remarks in the Central Hall of Parliament while hosting the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) president Duarte Pacheco
 The Speaker’s remarks are significant as they come just days after lawmakers in Britain discussed the farmers’
protests in India in the British parliament.
 Mr. Pacheco, a member of the Portuguese Parliament
 Mr. Pacheco described India as a special friend of the IPU that had played an important role in parliamentary
diplomacy.
 Portugal supports India's claim for permanent member of the Security Council
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 ‘Due process not followed in quota law’
 Maratha quota law was enacted without following the specific procedure laid out in the 102nd Constitutional
Amendment to recognise socially and educationally backward classes.
 procedure is laid out in Article 342A introduced by the Constitution amendment in 2018. Under Article 342A, only the
President in consultation with the Governor can specify SEBC in a State
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 Quad officials hail vaccine drive
 Production of U.S. shots a path-breaking effort: Muraleedharan
 plan to provide 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Southeast Asian countries by 2022
 The Quad vaccine collaboration initiative is a pathbreaking effort, envisioning manufacture of U.S. vaccines in India —
and delivery to countries in the Indo-Pacific region with support of Japan and Australia
 In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced the pledge of an additional $77 million for the
Quad effort, in addition to about $400 million that Australia has already committed for regional vaccine access.
 billion vaccines planned would be manufactured at a Hyderabad-based private company “Biological E” (BE), with U.S.
support
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