The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 16th June ’21

Table of Contents

NEWS

‘Protest is a right, it’s not terrorism’: HC gives bail to 3 Delhi riots accused
Anything from salt to steroids used to ‘make’ antiviral drugs
- 45 FIRs Filed In Guj Over Selling Fake Remdesivir
Twitter loses legal shield in India for 3rd-party content
- ‘Twitter failed to fall in line with India’s new IT rules’
- Twitter has lost the coveted “safe harbour” immunity in India over its failure to appoint statutory officers on the company’s roll in line with the new IT rules, and its top executives, including the country managing director, could now face police questioning and criminal liability under IPC over ‘unlawful’ and ‘inflammatory’ content posted on the platform by any user.
- With this, Twitter becomes the only American platform to have lost the protective shield granted under Section 79 of the IT Act, even though others such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram remain protected, official sources said.
- Govt vax price not sustainable, hike it: BB, SII
Edible oil prices up 30-77% in metros in 1 yr
- The price of sunflower oil has seen a surge of over 50% across metros (77% in Kolkata) in the past 12 months, while mustard oil, palm oil and other edible oils now cost at least 30% more.
Never backed govt doubling vax dose gap, say scientists
- The Union health ministry announced the decision to change the gap from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks on May 13, when supplies of the shot were falling short of demand and infections were rising.
- It said the extended gap was recommended by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), based on evidence mainly from Britain.
- Yet the NTAGI scientists, classified as three of the 14 “core members”, said the body did not have enough data for such recommendation.
Apex court closes criminal cases against Italian marines in India
- The Supreme Court on Tuesday brought the curtain down on nine-year-old criminal proceedings and diplomatic wrangle over trial of two Italian Marines for the killing of two fishermen off the Kerala coast in lieu of Rs 10 crore additional compensation paid by Rome and chalked out modalities for handing over the money to the victims’ families.
‘Delta plus’ not yet variant of concern, but is under watch: Health ministry
- The health ministry on Tuesday said the ‘Delta plus variant’ is not yet a variant of concern and a watch is being kept as its presence has to be assessed and tracked in the country.

Financial NEWS

FMCG Sales Show Signs of Revival as Covid Curbs Ease
- Relaxation of Covid restrictions led to a 15-20% increase in sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) across grocery stores in general trade and a 25-30% jump in supermarkets and standalone modern trade outlets in the past week from the month earlier, industry executives of large companies said.
- Some shops have reopened and others have extended operating hours as curbs eased.
- Replenishment of stocks has more than doubled from what it was the same time last month, though it hasn’t reached 100%.
Vehicle Buying Ready to Move into Higher Gear
- Activity is picking up in the passenger vehicle market after several weeks as states have started unwinding restrictions.
- Out of around 25,000 auto retail outlets in India, more than 20,000 were open on Tuesday.
- Companies said enquiries, bookings and deliveries were improving day by day, while order cancellations were less than normal.
- Manufacturers that had shut factories amid the second wave are reworking their production schedules based on the market feedback.
- Flow of enquiries, bookings and retails are trending close to April average wherever relaxations have been enforced. In regions where restrictions are in place, for example South and a few regions in East, we are yet to see a recovery.

An acquittal with no good, but the bad and the ugly | TH

The recent judgment of a trial court acquitting Tarun Tejpal, a former editor of a newsmagazine, who was charged, in 2013, of having sexually assaulted an employee, a young woman journalist, during an event the newsmagazine had organised in Goa, has created a furore and raised many questions about the law.
The investigating officer has also been pulled up not only for the lapses in investigation but also for gaps in her knowledge of technology.
Back in 2002, based on the recommendations of the 172nd report of the Law Commission of India, two major changes were made in the Evidence Act
- The Act was amended to prohibit the defence counsel from asking questions to the prosecutrix in a rape case about her general character to impeach her credibility.
- The defence was not permitted to put questions to a witness in the cross-examination about the general immoral character of the prosecutrix and adduce evidence.
The Supreme Court of India has repeatedly said that the purpose of cross-examining a survivor of rape is not to humiliate her but to get to the truth of the case.
The law does not permit the character assassination of a victim any more.
The conduct of a survivor of sexual assault cannot be cast in a straitjacket formula.
Every omission does not amount to a contradiction; omission which by necessary implication leads to conflicting versions between the statements made before the police and the court would amount to contradiction.
However, it is quite natural for a survivor to share the incident in different words and details to different individuals.
She is not expected to share the same graphic details of the sexual assault on her to every individual she meets or wishes to reveal the details to.
The Indian Penal Code was amended in 1983 and disclosure of identity of the survivor of rape by anyone was made punishable under a newly added Section 228-A.
The entire emphasis on a fair investigation has to be to bring out the truth of the case before the court.
However, some lapses in investigation and ignorance about technical terms such as ‘hash-value’ with regard to electronic evidence, should not lead to a total rejection of the prosecution case.

Nova & Other Vaxes | ToI

In 150 days of vaccination in India, around 259 million doses have been administered, which is roughly 12% of the 2.1 billion doses that have been administered globally.
This looks good in absolute terms.
But it’s dispiriting when you consider that the biggest demography, 590 million Indians in the 18-44 age group, has received just 44.2 million doses.
America’s quick pace of vaccination – 54.4% adults fully vaccinated – means good news for India.
Comforted by quick coverage, America’s drug regulator is reluctant to offer an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for new vaccines.
An American vaccine that may have missed the EUA bus is the one developed by Novavax, which this week announced that its phase-3 clinical trial conducted across the US and Mexico has achieved 90.4% efficacy overall.
Novavax has a technology transfer and manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute to make 1.1 billion doses for the Covax facility.
This vaccine is based on the protein subunit platform, the most popular technology platform among vaccines under clinical development.
Its storage conditions are ideal for India’s supply chain.
The challenge ahead is for Serum, which has initiated phase-3 clinical trials on this vaccine, calling it Covovax, to meet the Indian regulator’s requirements.
Serum must process data fast and submit it to the regulator.
And if safety and efficacy tests pass muster, the regulator must grant EUA with the same dispatch it showed for India’s two other vaccines.
If, as reported, 200 million shots are available in September-December, Covovax will make an appreciable difference in vaccination coverage.
We should have also got a clear picture by now of what’s happening to J&J’s single dose vaccine.
It’s the only single-dose vaccine that’s been approved by FDA, WHO and the European Medicines Agency.
It has a shelf life of two years.

Dissent Isn’t Terrorism | ToI

Delhi high court’s strong and just observations while granting bail to Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha and Pinjra Tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal.
HC’s order puts Delhi Police’s terrorism charge against the trio in grave doubt.
The court couldn’t find evidence on record to justify three key UAPA provisions – committing terrorist acts, raising funds for terror, and conspiracy – slapped on them.

In the Narwal and Kalita bail orders, Justices Mridul and Bhambhani observed that the state in its anxiety to suppress dissent has “blurred the line between the constitutionally guaranteed ‘right to protest’ and ‘terrorist activity’”.
The judges flagged lack of “specific, particularised, factual allegations”.
The larger point here is that laws like UAPA must be applied with rigorous fairness, not because non-autonomous police forces reckon that overenthusiastic use of these blunt instruments will earn them brownie points.
The Delhi HC said it clearly: “Foisting extremely grave and serious penal provisions engrafted in sections 15, 17 and 18 UAPA frivolously upon people, would undermine the intent and purpose of Parliament in enacting a law.”
Courts must not condone state agencies “crying wolf ”, the HC warned.
Hopefully, courts everywhere and at all levels will act with this in mind.
Let’s recall again that journalist Siddique Kappan has been incarcerated under UAPA since October.
As for events that led to the trio’s arrest, the northeast Delhi riots, Delhi Police should, following judicial critique of its claims on ‘conspiracies’, look seriously and fairly into who and what caused those awful days of violence and killing.
Misapplication of laws is not a substitute for proper investigative work.

Good together | Pioneer

The 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between India and Nepal had one very strong element
- MUTUAL RESPECT FOR THE SOVEREIGNTY AND INTEGRITY OF EACH OTHER
With 70 years gone, the treaty has proved to be a milestone in bringing India and Nepal closer.
Are bilateral relations strained?
It is because the present nature of India-Nepal relations is merely seen through the lens of politics.
Understandably, Nepal stands very critical to geostrategic rivalry and competition between India and China, and often its location surpasses all other considerations.
Yet, people-to-people ties between India and Nepal have stood firm.
While the borders across South Asia are contested, such as India-Pakistan and India-China, India shares an open border with Nepal.
Despite the large scale of risks involved, India has supported the idea that it is a gateway to people, culture and civilisation.
Meanwhile, there is another narrowed aspect of seeing the India-Nepal relations through the prism of social media.
The hashtags #GoBackIndia #BackOffIndia during the 2015 earthquake and border disputes in the last two years were seen as defining moments that weaken the bond.
Paid pro-China social media campaigns
Chinese interests in Nepal are primarily focused on handling pro-Tibet voices, encroaching Nepalese territory for an extended strategic depth and leasing out critical areas of interests within Nepal.
To achieve these, China has one tool: fabricated facts, lies and social media manoeuvring.

ANS

Q.) “New START” is a nuclear arms control treaty involving which 2 nations?

USA, Iran
Russia, North Korea
USA, Russia
USA, China

Q.) An emerging mutant from the Delta variant called ______ that allows the coronavirus to “escape” antibodies, is an international Variant of Concern (VOC), marked by being highly infectious and significiantly able to reduce the potency of vaccines.