SC STAYS DELHI HC NOTICE AGAINST CENTRE, BUT WANTS PLAN ON OXYGEN

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the contempt notice issued by the Delhi High Court against the Centre in the matter of supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) to Delhi, stating that “the aim is not to haul up officers for contempt” and that such action will not bring oxygen.

While granting the stay, a Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah made it clear that it was not stopping the High Court from monitoring Covid-19 management-related issues, and directed a meeting between officials of the Centre and Delhi government by Wednesday evening to discuss issues related to oxygen supply.

The Bench headed by Justice Chandrachud said that “exercising powers under contempt jurisdiction will not solve the problem facing Delhi. When the country is facing a humanitarian crisis, the court must aim at problem solving”.

Taking a nuanced view of the oxygen production, demand and supply question vis a vis Delhi and the rest of India, the Bench asked the Centre to inform by Thursday how it planned to meet Delhi’s demand for 700 MT (metric tonnes) oxygen, in compliance with the Court’s order on April 30 directing it to meet any shortage in Delhi “on or before midnight of 3 May 2021”.

The Bench agreed to consider the Centre’s prayer for an audit to know oxygen needs and sought names of experts who could be included in a committee if and when it is constituted to look into the question.

Justice Chandrachud also mentioned that the Court had read reports about the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) doing “some remarkable work”, and suggested that the Union Health Secretary and Delhi Health Secretary have a meeting with BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to find out how a storage mechanism can be created for Delhi to meet any sudden increase in demand.

Piyush Goyal, the Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry who appeared before the Bench, repeated that shortage of containers was the main issue. “Stocks are existing in eastern parts like Jamshedpur etc but due to fewer containers, the supply is not coming in.”

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 35,62,715

New Cases in last 24 hours: 4,12,549

Recovered in last 24 hours: 3,30,676

Increase in Active cases in last 24 hours: 77,891

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 3,982 (2,30,151)

Daily Tests: 15,41,229

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 24.8%

Most Affected States:

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

1          Maharashtra     6,41,596           /           57,640  /           920

2          Karnataka                     4,87,288           /           50,112  /           346

3          Kerala              3,75,657           /           41,953  /           58

4          Uttar Pradesh   2,62,474           /           31,111  /           353

5          Rajasthan                     1,96,683           /           16,815  /           155

6          Andhra Pradesh            1,70,588           /           22,204  /           85

7          Gujarat             1,48,124           /           12,955  /           133

8          Chhattisgarh     1,29,211           /           15,157  /           253

9          Tamil Nadu       1,28,311           /           23,310  /           167

10        West Bengal     1,21,872           /           18,102  /           103

11        Bihar                1,13,479           /           14,836  /           61

12        Haryana                       1,13,425           /           15,416  /           181

13        Delhi                91,859  /           20,960  /           311

14        Madhya Pradesh           89,244  /           12,319  /           71

15        Telangana                    77,704  /           6,361    /           51

16        Odisha             71,081  /           9,889    /           16

17        Punjab              63,007  /           7,953    /           180

18        Jharkhand        59,531  /           5,770    /           141

19        Uttarakhand      59,526  /           7,783    /           127

20        JnK                  39,628  /           4,716    /           52

21        Assam              29,915  /           4,826    /           55

22        Goa                  27,964  /           3,496    /           71

23        Himachal Pradesh         25,902  /           3,842    /           32

24        Puducherry       11,717  /           1,819    /           18

25        Chandigarh       8,363    /           817       /           14

26        Manipur                        2,657    /           397       /           10

27        Meghalaya        2,135    /           269       /           6

AS WORLD CHIPS IN, SUPPLIES START REACHING HOSPITALS

White House’s Covid-19 testing kits in New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital; an Italian oxygen plant in the ITBP hospital in Greater Noida; a French oxygen plant at Indraprastha Apollo hospital in New Delhi; and Irish oxygen concentrators in PGI, Chandigarh.

Amid a rising Covid curve, as help pours in from the global community and as India departs from its 16-year-old policy of not accepting foreign aid, oxygen-related equipment and life-saving medicines from abroad have started reaching hospitals in Delhi and beyond.

At least 14 countries have already started sending their material in aircraft and ships, and they are being sent out, mostly to government hospitals.

From the US to Russia, Italy to Thailand, Germany to Ireland and France — countries have been sending oxygen concentrators, some have been building oxygen plants, some are sending ventilators, while others are sending rapid testing kits, and essential medicines.

TWO OF JAISHANKAR'S TEAM TEST POSITIVE IN LONDON, ALL GO IN QUARANTINE

Hours after an in-person meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in London, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed a UK media report that two members of his delegation have isolated themselves. The Ministers and the delegation members were tested in India on Sunday and found COVID negative.

Soon after the UK media outlet The Sun broke the story about two members of the Indian delegation invited to attend a G-7 conclave of foreign ministers, Jaishankar conceded that he was made aware on Tuesday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases.

Jaishankar has cancelled all in-person meetings and decided to continue the rest of his engagements through the virtual mode.

The UK media has now started raising doubts about the genuineness of the Indian delegation's covid negative certificates even as further tests have been sought.

Jaishankar had arrived in London on Monday for a four-day visit at the invitation of UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to join the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting as one of the guest ministers.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

US BACKS COVID VACCINE PATENT WAIVER PLAN PROPOSED BY INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA

US President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday announced support for a global waiver on patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines, offering hope to poor nations that have struggled to access the life-saving doses.

India, where the death count hit a new daily record amid fears the peak is still to come, has been leading the fight within the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow more drugmakers to manufacture the vaccines -- a move pharma giants opposed.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that while intellectual property rights for businesses are important, Washington "supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines" in order to end the pandemic.

"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," she said in a statement.

Biden had been under intense pressure to waive protections for vaccine manufacturers, especially amid criticism that rich nations were hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the W.H.O. called the US decision "historic" and marked "a monumental moment in the fight against COVID19."

Tai cautioned said that negotiations "will take time given the consensus-based nature" of the WTO.

THE REST

========

BENGAL WARNED OF "STERN ACTION" IN 2ND HOME MINISTRY LETTER OVER VIOLENCE

On a day West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee was sworn in for a third term after a decisive win against the BJP, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs shot off another letter to the state government asking why it had not written back about measures taken to stop the violence after last month's elections.

"I remind you that no report has been submitted despite my asking for details on post-poll violence on May 3rd. Non-compliance of this second letter would be taken seriously," Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said in the second letter dispatched to state government two days after he wrote the first letter.

Bhalla also asked the West Bengal Chief Secretary why adequate measures to stop the violence have not been taken so far. "There are fresh reports which suggest that post-poll violence has not stopped. Immediate measures should be taken to stop violence and report regarding the same should be sent immediately," he wrote.

Both the BJP and the Left have slammed the Trinamool Congress and accused it of attacking their workers amid victory celebrations after the May 2 results.

The Trinamool Congress and the West Bengal Police have rebuffed most of the charges saying a large number of fake videos and images from older incidents were being spread on social media.

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN MARATHA QUOTA, TERMS IT UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The Supreme Court yesterday cancelled the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the Maratha community brought in by Maharashtra in 2018, saying it exceeded the 50 per cent cap imposed earlier.

A five-judge bench examining the constitutional validity of the 16 per cent reservation brought in by the earlier BJP government in Maharashtra said the move violated equality. The bench comprised Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta, and S Ravindra Bhat.

"States have no power to add any caste to socially economically backward caste list due to the amendment made by parliament," the Supreme Court observed. "States can only identify the castes and suggest to the Centre...Only President can add the caste to SEBC list guided by the National Backward Classes Commission."

The constitution bench also said there was no need to revisit the 50 per cent cap on reservation imposed by the Supreme Court in the 1992 Mandal judgment.

In 2018, the BJP government in Maharashtra had passed the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act that provided 16 per cent reservation to the Maratha community.

Questioning what happens to the fundamental concept of equality if the quota system has no cap, the Supreme Court, at a hearing in March, said, "What about the resultant inequality? How many generations will you continue?"

"LIKE SHAH BANO, ARTICLE 370": UDDHAV THACKERAY URGES PM ON MARATHA QUOTA

While the BJP has attributed the court’s quashing of the quota law to lack of coordination by the MVA in representing the state’s side, the ruling coalition has lobbed the ball in the Centre’s court, urging the Union government to take a decision.

CM Uddhav Thackeray has urged the Centre to save the reservation for Marathas in jobs and education.. The court's decision was "unfortunate", but "I think this battle is not lost yet", Thackeray said.

"Today, the Supreme Court said it is not your right to take this decision. So now what? The Supreme Court has shown us the way, by saying this is the right is of the Centre and the President," he said.

Addressing the Prime Minister, he said, "The way you showed courage and removed Article 370, and previously in the Shah Bano case... So Prime Minister it is your right. You should help us".

THIRD COVID WAVE INEVITABLE, DIDN’T FORESEE CURRENT FEROCITY: SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR TO PM

THE Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister Wednesday said a third wave of Covid-19 was inevitable given the high levels of the circulating virus and that they couldn’t predict a time frame for it. Dr K V Vijay Raghavan also admitted that experts had not anticipated the “ferocity” of the second wave currently sweeping the country.

Addressing a briefing of the Union Health Ministry, Vijay Raghavan said, “Phase 3 is inevitable given the high levels of circulating virus. But it is not clear on what timescale this Phase 3 will occur. Hopefully, incrementally, but we should prepare for new waves.”

He also said previous infections and vaccines could cause the coronavirus to further mutate in order to survive. “Therefore, we should be prepared scientifically to take care of that.’

About the reasons behind the second surge, the PSA said both the fact that the immunity from the first wave was not widespread and lowering of guard were responsible. “In early 2021, something changed rather importantly. A very large number of people, all over the world, had been infected, and as immunity increases, a virus can’t spread. But, it seems, there are pockets it can go through.”

He said they also believe the virus has become more efficient in transmission, and the health authorities needed to take that into account. “The changes in biology that we are seeing, along with the increased transmission… suggest a new approach. Earlier, the virus infected people, they were largely asymptomatic, and it had a certain profile of progression. Now, because of fewer (uninfected) people available, it has adopted a hit and run lifestyle.”

VijayRaghavan characterised these new variants as “fitter” viruses, capable of breaking through increased host immunity. He said as the virus adapts more, it could increase or decrease disease severity, but the rate of transmission will likely slow down. “Vaccines are effective against the current variants, new variants will arise all over the world. But variants which increase transmission will likely plateau; immune-evasive variants, and those which lower or increase disease severity, will arise,” he said.

DESI DOCS IN US SEEK IMMUNITY RELIEF BY INDIA, SO THEY CAN HELP IN COVID FIGHT

Indian physicians in the US are getting a thumbs down from New Delhi in their effort to seek “blanket immunity and indemnification” from the Indian government for offering virtual or in-person Covid-19 services.

Such a blanket immunity and indemnification, which would spare physicians from most legal liabilities, “will mobilise thousands of Indian doctors in the USA to come forward to offer their expertise and provide compassionate and competent care urgently and relieve the heavy burden on the overstretched physicians and systems in India,” the American Association of Physicians of Indian-Origin (AAPI) said in a letter to Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and union health minister Harsh Vardhan. But AAPI sources said they got a thumbs down from the ministry of health for in-person treatment liability waivers. The organisation is now working through companies such as eGlobal doctors, which provide liability cover, even as it seeks to convince the health ministry to find a way out.

There are an estimated 80,000 physicians of Indianorigin in the US, and AAPI says thousands are ready to sign up to help Covid-19 patients with virtual tele-health and scores more ready to fly out to India to offer in-person expertise and treatment.

AMID COVID SURGE, FARM GROUPS URGE DEFYING LOCKDOWN-LIKE CURBS

Farm organisations agitating against the Centre’s agri-marketing laws have urged residents of Punjab to oppose the Covid-induced lockdown-like restrictions by converging on the roads on May 8.

Terming the curbs a means to conceal the failure of governments to ramp up essential medical facilities and frame a scientific policy to deal with the pandemic, farmers’ groups from Punjab on Wednesday appealed to every family to send at least one member to the protest sites along Delhi borders.

The call to violate the curbs – shops have been asked to stay open, too – came after a meeting at Delhi’s Singhu border. Representatives of Punjab farmers will suggest opposing the lockdown-like restrictions across the country at a meeting of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha scheduled for Friday.

There are plans to move larger jathas to the protest sites on May 10 and 12.m

FINALLY, CENTRE FLAGS SURGE LINK TO DOUBLE MUTANT

Over a month after the Centre said that the “double mutant variant” of the Coronavirus (B.1.617) hasn’t been detected in numbers “sufficient” to link it to the current surge, it admitted otherwise Wednesday.

It said that the “surge in cases seen over the last one and a half month in some states” shows a “correlation with the rise in (presence) B.1.617.” However, the Centre added a key caveat: the epidemiological and clinical correlation of B.1.617 and the surge is not “fully established”.

Significantly, the Centre included B.1.617, under the category of “Variant of Concern,” along with B.1.1.7 (UK variant); B.1.351 (South Africa variant), and P1 (Brazil variant).

Having said that, the data reveals a telling pattern. Of the about 13,000 samples sequenced, 3532 were found to have Variants of Concern. Of these, 1527 had the B.1.617 variant.

DOCS’ BODY REFUTES GULERIA’S ‘UNSCIENTIFIC’ COMMENTS ON CT SCANS

The Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) has rebutted AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria’s claims that a CT scan is equivalent to 300-400 x-rays and should be avoided for mild Covid-19 cases.

The IRIA called these claims “misleading”, saying it is “shocked and disappointed” by the senior doctor’s comments.

In a seven point rebuttal issued Wednesday, the IRIA argued that CT scans are an important component of Covid diagnosis as well as determining the severity of the disease.

COVID VACCINE IMPORT: DRUG CONTROLLER ISSUES GUIDELINES

The Drug Controller General of India on Wednesday issued guidelines for state governments and private corporate and other entities to import Covid vaccines not authorised or licensed in India but authorised by the regulators of the US, UK, EU and for vaccines on WHO emergency use list.

The guidelines would enable industry bodies, private entities and states to directly import Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson among other foreign approved vaccines directly after getting the necessary clearances.

Under the new vaccine policy applicable from May 1, states and private entities can negotiate and procure foreign approved vaccines.

New guidelines facilitate the imports and say, “After obtaining the import licence, the importer or the authorized agent of the vaccine maker can import the vaccine and procure it.”

DEATH IN CHHATRASAL STADIUM; SUSHIL KUMAR’S ROLE UNDER SCANNER

Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar’s role is under scanner after his name emerged in connection with a brawl that led to the death of a wrestler inside the Chhatrasal Stadium complex in north Delhi, police said on Wednesday.

Kumar, the country’s only athlete to have won two individual Olympic medals, was named in the FIR, they said.

According to police, a 23-year-old wrestler died and his two friends got injured after they were allegedly brutally assaulted by other wrestlers inside Chhatrasal Stadium in northern part of the city.

INDICATORS

Sensex 48,677 (+424), Nifty 14,618 (+122), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 69672.43

Nasdaq 13,582 (-51) Dow 34,230 (+97), S&P 4,168 (+3)

US$-Rs. 73.94 GBP-Rs. 102.81, Euro-Rs. 88.78, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.12, Can$-Rs. 60.21, Aus$- Rs. 57.19

GBP 0.71 /US$, Euro 0.83 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.29 /US$, Aus$ 1.29 /US$, Sing 1.33 /US$, Bang Taka 83.26 /US$, Can$ 1.22 /US$, Mal Ring 4.11 /US$,

Pak Re 152.42 /US$, Phil Peso 47.99 /US$, Russian Rouble 74.76 /US$, NZ$ 1.39 /US$, Thai Baht 31.11 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.51 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 57,026

Dollar Index 91.30 Brent Crude 68.98  BDI 3,157.00

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,789 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,528 / 4,428, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 75,300

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. - Napoleon Hill