1. COVID Warriors Get Bigger Legal Shield
In the backdrop of persistent attacks on health care workers in the front line of the battle against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Centre has approved an ordinance to make such attacks a cognisable and non-bailable offence, expedite investigation, imprison those convicted to up to seven years, and impose stringent penalties on vandalism and damage to property.
Underlining its importance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 manifests our commitment to protect each and every healthcare worker who is bravely battling COVID-19 on the frontline.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Reliance-Facebook Deal Will Boost Jiomart, Take It to 3 Crore Small Kirana Shops, Says Mukesh Ambani
In the largest FDI in the Indian technology sector, US Internet giant Facebook will be buying 9.99% stake in Reliance Industries Ltd’s digital unit Jio Platforms Ltd, for $5.7 billion (more than Rs 43,450 crore). While helping Reliance pare its debt of nearly Rs 3 lakh crore, the deal will also give the oil-to-telecom giant access to the over 400 million-strong database of WhatsApp, as it seeks to jumpstart its commerce business under JioMart. Facebook, in turn, makes its long-awaited foray into Indian telecom space.
The deal has come at a time when global mergers and acquisitions have hit roadblocks due to the COVID-19 crisis.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Palghar Lynching: Sarpanch Says She Watched Attack for 2 Hrs, NCP Leader Couldn’t Control Mob Either
The lynching of two sadhus and their driver has set off a political war of words in Mumbai between the Opposition BJP and the government. On the ground in the forest, though, is a story of how local officials, including an NCP leader and former MLA candidate, a sarpanch and the police could do little to check a mob fired by a dangerous rumour mill
The Indian Express spoke to several local residents, eyewitnesses, police and local officials to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the murders right under the nose of the police.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Excruciating Hours, Bad PPE Doctors’ Key Issues
Doctors and nurses at some of the main coronavirus disease (Covid-19) hospitals have said that they continue to work with substandard protective gear, lack access to proper meals, and have to pull in long, gruelling shifts, giving details of how those at the front lines of the pandemic remain vulnerable – from the disease as well as contagion-wary citizens.
The problems persist even as the government has taken several steps to prevent attacks faced by several health workers – doctors, nurses and workers who go to neighbourhoods for disease surveillance.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. COVID-19: Gujarat Becomes 2nd Worst-Hit, 39 Deaths Countrywide
The gravity of the COVID-19 outbreak continues to be grim in Maharashtra and Gujarat with the two western states accounting for more than 52% of the total 1,273 fresh cases recorded across the country on Wednesday. Of the 39 new deaths, 79% came from the two western states — 18 from Maharashtra and 13 from Gujarat.
With 229 fresh cases recorded in the last 24 hours, Gujarat on Wednesday emerged as the second worst affected state after Maharashtra, which reported 431 new cases.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Affluent in OBC, SC/ST Not Letting Quota Benefits Trickle Down, Review Lists: Bench
Pointing to concerns within the OBCs and the SC/STs that reservation benefits are not reaching the truly deserving among them, the Supreme Court Wednesday said the government is “duty-bound” to periodically review the process in order to ensure that the benefits “trickle down and are not usurped by” the affluent in these categories.
Ruling as unconstitutional a January 2000 order of the Governor of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh which provided 100 per cent reservation to ST candidates in posts of school teachers in Scheduled Areas, a five-judge Constitution Bench said: “Now there is a cry within the reserved classes.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Rapid Testing on Hold, Govt Plans to Scale Up PCR Tests
India is working on testing up to 50,000 people a day by the end of the month -- using the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or RT-PCR test -- as the country approaches the May 3 deadline for the end of the ongoing lockdown, resulting in a potential increase in infections.
The move comes even as efforts to boost testing using rapid testing kits (RTKs) that do antibody tests have floundered. Experts have always warned that these aren’t good at early diagnosis and better used to track an infection’s spread in a population; the initial RTKs imported by India have also given readings with wide variations. causing the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to suspend on Tuesday their use for two days.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Governor Says No Takers for Bengal COVID Toll, Mamata Targets Centre
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Centre of dispatching faulty COVID-19 testing kits to the state, and strongly criticised it for sending teams to assess the situation on the ground.
“They are showing an attitude that they would have been happy if there were more COVID-19 cases in Bengal,” Banerjee told a press conference. “Rapid test kits sent to the state have now been withdrawn because they were faulty. Thankfully, our health department ordered some kits which were very useful. If there has been a health hazard here, then we are not responsible for it. Whose fault is it? We have to conduct timely tests. If we fail to do so, then patients may die,” she said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Bill Gates Hails PM's Leadership in Effort to Contain COVID
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Wednesday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and gave a thumbs-up to the government’s efforts to flatten the curve of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We commend your leadership and the proactive measures you and your government have taken to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 infection rate in India, Gates said in a letter to Modi.
(Source: The Times of India)
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