2ND COVISHIELD DOSE 4-8 WEEKS AFTER FIRST, INSTEAD OF 4-6 WEEKS

The central govt on Monday advised states to administer the second dose of Covishield at an interval of 4-8 weeks instead of the earlier bracket of four to six weeks.

The govt says that emerging global evidence shows protection from Covishield is greater when the second dose is given between six to eight weeks but not later than eight weeks.

COVID vaccine drive has completed 65 days in India and over 4 crore people have received vaccine doses. Of these 75 lakh have completed the two dose schedule of vaccination within the four to six weeks window.

Delaying the second dose could potentially mean that more doses are freed up for a larger number of people to get their first dose of the vaccine sooner.

UAE ‘BROKERED’ INDO-PAK TRUCE, CLAIMS A BLOOMBERG REPORT

A Bloomberg news report has claimed that the India-Pakistan ceasefire marked a milestone in “secret talks brokered” by the UAE that began months earlier.

The report predicted that the next step in repairing bilateral ties would be the reinstatement of two high commissioners. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not yet responded to the report, although several clues over the past few months pointed at the UAE’s role.

A day after military chiefs from India and Pakistan surprised the world on February 25 with a rare joint commitment to respect a 2003 ceasefire agreement, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah, who then met Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi after a few days.

The report, quoting unnamed officials, said the ceasefire was the beginning of a larger roadmap to forge a lasting peace between the neighbours. The next step involves reinstating envoys followed by the “hard part” — talks on resuming trade and a lasting resolution on Kashmir.

India and Pakistan are also set for the annual meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) scheduled to begin in New Delhi. The two-day annual meeting of the Indus Commissioners of India and Pakistan starts today.

The meeting is being held after a gap of more than two-and-a-half years – a period that witnessed Pulwama attack (February 14, 2019), Balakot air strike (February 26, 2019) and abrogation of special provisions under Article 370 that gave special status to J&K.

Under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, the Commission shall meet “regularly at least once a year, alternately in India and Pakistan”. This regular annual meeting shall be held in November or in such other months as may be agreed upon between the Commissioners, states one of the provisions of the treaty.

LOK SABHA CLEARS BILL ON MORE POWERS FOR DELHI L-G

The Lok Sabha yesterday cleared the contentious Govt of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2021, which seeks to give more powers to the Lieutenant Governor, a representative of the Central Govt and Delhi’s administrative head.

Criticising the move, Opposition party MPs accused the Modi govt of “murdering” the democracy and “damaging” the country’s federal structure.

The Bill effectively takes away powers from those who were voted by people and giving these to those who were defeated, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, however, said no rights were being taken away from the Delhi Govt. Insisting that it was not a political move, he said: “The aim is to bring clarity to laws, create a sound govt mechanism in Delhi, end ambiguity in running the affairs of the national Capital and enhance accountability.”

AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said: “We are being punished because we did not give permission for stadiums to be used as jails during the farmers’ protests. You cannot run Delhi through dictatorship. The BJP has been out of power for 22-23 years in Delhi and it can’t digest this fact.”

Congress’ Manish Tewari and his colleague JS Gill accused the BJP of trying to wrest power in states it lost.

A YEAR SINCE ‘JANATA CURFEW’

From a total of 360 COVID-19 cases to a single-day rise of 40,611 on Monday. One year after all of India stayed indoors in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to observe a ‘Janata curfew’, the country’s coronavirus story has been one of a dramatic rise, a steady fall and now an upswing again.

That day, India recorded seven deaths. And yesterday, 197 fatalities were reported, taking the death toll from the pandemic to 1,60,200.

Paving the way for the two-month strict nationwide lockdown that began on March 25, millions of people across the country stayed indoors on March 22, 2020 in an unprecedented and overwhelming response to the prime minister’s call.

A lockdown was clamped in the country from March 25 till May 31, affecting the economy badly.

The number of daily coronavirus cases peaked in September with 97,894 infections being reported on the 17th day of the month, after which India began witnessing a gradual decline in cases even though several other countries saw a surge in infections.

The daily rise in cases fell below 30,000 since December 14 (27,071) and the lowest daily increase of 8,635 infections was reported on February 2 this year.

The daily rise in cases, however, started remaining above 30,000 from March 18.

KEY COVID NUMBERS:

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 3,42,344

New Cases in last 24 hours: 40,605

Recovered in last 24 hours: 29,735

Increase in Active cases in last 24 hours: 10,673

No. of deaths in last 24 hours: 197

Most Affected States:

(S. No. / State / No. of Active Cases / New Cases in last 24 Hrs / Deaths in Last 24 Hrs)

1          Maharashtra     2,15,241           /           ↑24,645 /           ↑58

2          Kerala              24,077  /           ↑1,239  /           ↑12

3          Punjab              18,628  /           ↑2,299  /           ↑58

4          Karnataka         14,267  /           ↑1,445  /           ↑10

5          Chhattisgarh     9,205    /           ↑1,525  /           ↑12

6          Tamil Nadu       8,619    /           ↑1,385  /           ↑10

7          Madhya Prad.   8,592    /           ↑1,348  /           ↑2

8          Gujarat             7,847    /           ↑1,640  /           ↑4

9          Haryana           5,698    /           ↑865     /           ↑3

10        Rajasthan         4,006    /           ↑602     /           ↑5

11        Delhi                3,934    /           ↑888     /           ↑7

12        West Bengal     3,574    /           ↑368     /           ↑2

13        Uttar Pradesh   3,396    /           ↑538     /           ↑1

14        Telangana        2,958    /           ↑337     /           ↑2

15        Andhra Prad.    2,382    /           ↑310     /           ↑2

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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UIGHUR ABUSE: US, CANADA, UK & EU SANCTION CHINA OFFICIALS

The US, the EU, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, in the first such coordinated Western action against Beijing under US President Joe Biden. Beijing hit back immediately with punitive measures against the EU that appeared to be broader, blacklisting European lawmakers, diplomats and think tanks, including families, and banning their businesses from trading with China. Western govts are seeking to hold Beijing accountable for mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs in northwestern China.

“Amid growing international condemnation, (China) continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in statement ahead of meetings with EU and Nato ministers in Brussels this week. Canada’s foreign ministry said: “Mounting evidence points to systemic, state-led human rights violations by Chinese authorities.” British foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the measures were part of “intensive diplomacy” to force action against rights abuses.

SYDNEY FACES WORST FLOODS IN 60 YEARS

Australia was set on Monday to evacuate thousands more people from suburbs in Sydney’s west, battered by the worst flooding in 60 years, with torrential rains expected to continue for another day or two. Images showed submerged intersections, marooned livestock and cars up to their windshields in water, out of which poked the tops of street signs, as three days of rain swelled rivers in the most populous state of New South Wales.

Sunday was Sydney’s wettest day of the year, with almost 111 mm of rain, while 900 mm was dumped in some north coast regions in the last six days, or more than three times the March average, govt data showed.

Authorities said about 18,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas.

COP AMONG 10 DEAD IN US SUPERMARKET SHOOTING; FOCUS ON GUN LAWS AGAIN

A gunman killed at least 10 people including a police officer at a grocery store in Colorado on Monday, police said, in the latest shooting to hit the western state -- scene of two of the most infamous US mass murders.

The shooter is being held in custody and was injured, said Michael Dougherty, district attorney for Boulder County, located 30 miles northwest of the state capital Denver.

President Joe Biden -- who last month called on Congress to enact "commonsense" gun law reforms -- had been briefed on the shooting, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted.

The shooting follows another mass shooting last week at Asian-owned spas in the southeastern state of Georgia that left eight dead.

Colorado has previously suffered two of the most infamous mass shootings in US history.

In 1999, two teenage boys shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School before dying by suicide.

Then in 2012, a heavily armed man stormed a movie theater showing a Batman film in Aurora, Colorado, murdering 12. The gunman is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

On Monday, Colorado senator Michael Bennet -- a Democrat -- urged Americans "to revisit a national conversation about gun violence that does not regress into partisanship."

THE REST

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MUMBAI EX-TOP COP MOVES SUPREME COURT AGAINST STATE HOME MINSITER

Former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh on Monday moved the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, triggering a fresh crisis for the state’s ruling coalition which backed the minister even as the issue rocked Parliament.

Param Bir, removed as the Mumbai Police Commissioner five days ago, moved the apex court seeking an “unbiased, uninfluenced, impartial and fair” CBI probe into the allegations of corruption levelled by him against Deshmukh in his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Terming the March 17 order transferring him from the post of Mumbai Police chief before completion of the minimum fixed tenure of two years as “arbitrary” and “illegal”, the 1988-batch IPS officer said it was more of a politically influenced move by certain political parties aggrieved by the revelation of the alleged corrupt practices of Deshmukh.

BJP MPs demanded resignations of Uddhav Thackeray and Deshmukh in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, besides a CBI probe into Param Bir’s accusation that Deshmukh had called the now arrested cop Sanjay Waze to his residence in mid-February and ordered extortion worth Rs 100 crore a month.

The Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna has alleged that the BJP was using former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh to topple the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime in the state. It warned that any attempt to bring down  the MVA govt would trigger “fire”.

WITH ‘DON’T WASTE YOUR VOTE’ APPEAL, TMC LOOKS TO POACH LEFT VOTEBANK

Projecting itself as the only challenger that can stop the BJP juggernaut in the Assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress is eyeing the Left vote bank to bolster its chances of retaining power in West Bengal.

While releasing the party manifesto last week, CM Mamata Banerjee said: “Those who honestly want to defeat the BJP, vote for us. Do not waste your vote by casting it in favour of the CPM.”

This comes at a time when the Left Front’s political capital has been plummeting since the 2011 Assembly polls. In the 2016 Assembly polls, the Left Front got 29 per cent of the popular vote and 40 per cent if its partners’ share was considered. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Left Front’s vote pie shrank to 7 per cent, hinting that its traditional votes had shifted to the BJP. If the vote share of its partners was taken into account, the figure was 12 per cent.

UP, MP INK PACT FOR KEN-BETWA RIVER INTERLINKING PROJECT

About four decades after conceptualisation, India’s first river interlinking project, connecting Ken river in Madhya Pradesh with Betwa in Uttar Pradesh, is finally set to get off the drawing board.

On Monday, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat signed a tripartite agreement for the project implementation with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present at the event virtually.

Likely to be deemed a national project, the Centre will foot 90 per cent of the cost while the remaining 10 per cent will be shared by the two states.

After work starts, the Rs 37,611-crore project will take eight years to complete,

DELHI LOWERS LEGAL DRINKING AGE TO 21

In a major reform, the Delhi govt has reduced drinking age in the city from 25 to 21, removing an anomaly in its excise policy. Delhi was among a few states and UTs that had a higher age bar even as the rest of the country had moved on. The govt has also announced that it will exit the liquor business.

These two are among a host of decisions, including checking the liquor mafia, ensuring quality control, transforming the liquor buying experience of customers and, finally, increasing the excise revenue by 20% in the first year, announced by the AAP govt as part of its new excise policy on Monday. The policy will come into effect after it is notified in a couple of days.

While Congress said this was a move towards making Delhi “nashe ki rajdhani” capital of intoxication), BJP said these moves would promote the private liquor mafia.

WHY LIMIT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION TO QUOTA, WHY NOT PROMOTE EDUCATION: SC

The Supreme Court Monday wondered why affiramtive action should be limited to reservation and not include measures like promotion of education and establishing more institutes for uplift of backward classes.

“Why stop at reservation? Why can’t other things also be done? Why not promote education, establish more institutes. Somewhere this matrix has to move beyond reservation. Affirmative action is not just reservation. There has to be something more,” Justice S Ravindra Bhat, who is part of the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the challenge to the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, which provides reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and admissions, said.

The bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, and also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer and Hemant Gupta, is also considering if the 1992 Indra Sawhney case verdict by the nine-judge Constitution bench capping the quota limit at 50 per cent needs to be sent to a larger bench for reconsideration.

Justice Bhat’s remarks came as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, defending the Maharashtra law, said that the court cannot tell the govt that reservation can only be 50 per cent. “Suppose the govt gives 70 per cent reservation; the court can strike it down saying it was not done properly. But the court cannot tell govt that it can only be 50 per cent,” he argued.

On the court’s query about promoting education and educational facilities, Sibal said, “Your Lordships have to leave it to States and the Centre with regard to how to take affirmative action and the way forward.”

The Indra Sawhney case was decided in tumultuous times, Sibal said. He said it was decided at a time when the nation needed peace and tranquility. It was not a judicial exercise but a balancing act to put quiet to the tumult, he added.

SIX COMPANIES WIN BIDS TO BUILD FLYING TRAINING SCHOOLS AT AAI AIRPORTS

Six companies have won bids to build flying schools at five Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports — Belagavi, Jalgaon, Kalaburagi, Khajuraho and Lilabari.

Samvardhane Technologies, SkyNex Aero, Asia Pacific Flight Academy (of the GMR group), JetServe Aviation group, Red Bird Flight Training Academy & Chimes Aviation declared winners in the bidding process.

The aggressive bidding means windfall gains for the govt-owned AAI, which was maintaining these idle airports at huge cost and earning almost zero revenue. AAI, in FY21, is staring at its first loss since inception due to impact of the pandemic. The ministry of civil aviation had planned to turn non-operational airports into pilot academies to help meet burgeoning demand in India and overseas.

India’s pilot shortage means that the country’s fast-expanding carriers have to hire foreign pilots or even cancel flights at times. The govt’s latest move will save valuable forex going out of the country. With growth in the Indian aviation sector, over 9,000 trained pilots would be required in the next five years.

NATIONAL FILM AWARDS

Late Sushant Singh Rajput’s film "Chhichore" bagged the National Film Award for best Hindi film at the 67th National Film Awards on Monday.

Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut was named best actress for her roles in “Manikarnika” and “Panga”.

Manoj Bajpayee and Dhanush shared the best actor honour for their roles in “Bhonsle” and “Asuran”, respectively.

Director Priyadarshan’s Malayalam film “Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham” was declared the best feature film and Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan was named best director for Hindi film “Bahattar Hoorain” by the National Film Award jury, headed by filmmaker N Chandra, who said they judged the movies “not as gods but as parents”.

The award for the best film on social issues went to Marathi film “Anandi Gopal”, the Nargis Dutt award for National Integration was given to “Taj Mahal” and the best popular providing wholesome entertainment was given to the Telugu film “Maharshi”.

The Indira Gandhi award for first film went to Malayalam film “Helen” by Mathukutty Xavier.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A goal is created three times. First as a mental picture. Second, when written down to add clarity and dimension. And third, when you take action towards its achievement. -Gary Ryan Blair

OFF TRACK

A little fellow came into the house with a new harmonica. "Grandpa, do you mind if I play this in here?"

"Of course not, dear. I love music. In fact, when your grandma and I were young, music saved my life."

"How come?"

"Well, once we were caught in a severe flood. The dam broke and when the water hit our house it knocked it right off the foundation. Grandma got on the dining room table and floated out safely."

"And you?" "Me? I accompanied her on the piano!"