Q.) India & Sri Lanka signed Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to promote and protect foreign investment in each other’s territories in which year?
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
Q.) Rohingya refugees were sent to which newly developed island by Bangladesh?
- Koh Rong
- Bhasan Char
- Paradweep
- Char Kukrimukri
Q.) What is the scientific name of Covishield vaccine?
- AZD1222
- BNT162b2
- AD5-nCOV
- Gam-COVID-Vac
Keep the mask on | ToI
- Discovery of the South African and Brazil coronavirus variants in India
- High contagiousness
- Potential to cause re-infections
- Beat antibodies produced by vaccinations
- Mumbai, where local trains resumed full steam, is again seeing an uptick of infections.
- Though vaccination has crossed a month, progress has been slow.
- Efforts to reconfigure Covishield
- WHO has suggested that the vaccine could still prevent serious illness, which is an acceptable proposition at the moment.
Privacy at stake | Tribune
- In August 2017, the Supreme Court had ruled that the right to privacy is a fundamental right of Indian citizens.
- Today’s India is digitally active
- By 2022, we will have more than 80 crore smartphone users
- Supreme Court to WhatsApp - ‘you may be a 2 or 3 trillion dollar company, but people value their privacy more than your money.’
- WhatsApp is being accused of adopting double standards — one privacy policy for Europe and an altogether different one for India.
- Data harvesting has become a cause for concern not only in India but all across the world.
- The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which provides a framework for safeguarding the privacy of individuals’ personal data that is processed by various entities, was tabled in the Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019, and later referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for scrutiny.
- With the committee reported to have suggested 90-odd amendments, it will take time for the law to take shape.
- India’s data protection legislation must have a self-regulatory mechanism for government entities, besides a clearly delineated set of rules for private players.
- What’s more, the law should inspire confidence among the consumers.
SC nod for HP projects | Tribune
- The three-judge Green Bench of the Supreme Court gave clearance to a surfeit of development schemes — including hydro and hybrid power projects — in Himachal Pradesh
- Only recently, residents of Lahaul-Spiti had protested against the setting up of hydropower projects in the area.
- Because of its geography, Himachal Pradesh faces the dilemma of development.
- Tourism and horticulture have been the mainstay of its economy
- The state is trying to attract industries
- The state has immense potential for hydropower, but its cost-effectiveness and viability also need to be assessed.
Slow on safety
- India’s Road Safety Month, launched on January 18 as an extended form of the annual Road Safety Week for greater impact, has concluded with a bus accident in Madhya Pradesh that has claimed 51 lives.
- World’s worst record on road safety
- World Bank-commissioned report, Traffic Crash Injuries and Disabilities
- 1% of the world’s vehicles but 11% of all road accident deaths
- The Union Transport Ministry put the number of dead in 2019 at 1,51,113, and injured at 4,51,361
- In the wake of this bus mishap, the immediate response has been to order a magisterial inquiry, which is no substitute for a technical investigation conducted by safety experts.
- Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has actively campaigned for road safety, and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act of 2019 has provisions that aim to bring about change.
- But most States have been lukewarm
- National Road Safety Board
- Political parties and others fix illegal flag poles and spears on car bonnets and metal contraptions to SUV bumpers, which are deadly in an accident.
- Meeting the SDGs on transport and reduced road deaths and injuries will need actions that go beyond pious declarations.
A growing rights crisis in Lanka
- Indian leaders have committed to supporting the rights of minority Tamils in Sri Lanka to “live with equity, equality, justice, peace and dignity”.
- In pledges to the United Nations, the Indian government has also vowed to uphold global human rights.
- The human rights situation in Sri Lanka has worsened since Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President in 2019.
- At its next session starting February 22, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will face a crucial test in taking action for protecting vulnerable Sri Lankans and upholding international law.
- India, as a council member, will have a key role.
- Rajapaksa was the defence secretary in the government led by his brother Mahinda from 2005 to 2015, a period marked by particularly egregious human rights abuses.
- When Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the 2015 presidential election, there was hope for change.
- But now, fear has returned. Tamil communities in the north and the east fear increasing abuses.
- The religious rights of minorities are under attack, including interference with Hindu temples.
- In January, the authorities bulldozed a memorial at Jaffna university that commemorated Tamil civilian victims of the civil war.
- People who participated in a protest march in February are now facing criminal investigation.
- Last March, Rajapaksa pardoned former army sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, who killed eight Tamil civilians, including children.
- In October, the government amended the Constitution to remove constraints on political interference in Sri Lanka’s courts.
- Since 2012, the Human Rights Council has sought to work with Sri Lanka to promote reconciliation and accountability, efforts that India has backed.
- Sri Lanka is now rejecting that endeavor
- The UNHRC should recognise the government’s actions for what they are — an effort to impede justice.
- A new resolution is urgently needed to protect vulnerable minority communities in Sri Lanka, by upholding the principle of accountability for the worst crimes.
NEWS
- PM Modi to launch ‘Mahabahu-Brahmaputra’ initiative and several development projects in Assam today
- Civil Aviation Ministry issues fresh guidelines for international passengers arriving in India
- India supplied corona vaccines to 25 countries; 49 more nations in line for Made-in-India vaccines
- Foreign Ministers of India, Australia, Japan and US to meet today to discuss free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region
- 24 foreign diplomats to visit Jammu today after touring Kashmir
- Prime Minister to address Convocation of Visva-Bharati tomorrow
- I&B Minister hits out at Rahul Gandhi for talking about need for a separate Ministry for Fisheries
- Railways Minister Piyush Goyal says, Railways can play important role in development of West Bengal
- Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah to visit West Bengal to flag off 5th and last phase of BJP’s Parivartan Yatra
- UN Secretary-General criticises wildly uneven and unfair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines
- Sultan of Oman appreciates India for supplying COVID-19 vaccines
- Facebook blocks Australian users from sharing or viewing news content
- India to host workshop on "COVID-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward" today