whatsapp no. 88986-30000 · 123 votes because a minister and a cpm mla could not vote on account of...

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1. Supreme Court gives green light to summons via WhatsApp and email

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR

The Supreme Court has taken ️a major decision which is bound to revolutionise the legal

system in the country. It has allowed serving of summons and legal notices through

WhatsApp, Telegram and Email.

The top court has decided that two blue ticks on a legal notice or summon sent via

WhatsApp would amount to legal evidence that the intended recipient has indeed seen the

document.

This order marks as a huge step towards digitisation of Indian legal proceedings, where

notices and summons used to be sent either by postal mail or delivered in person.

What brought this shift?

As per the Supreme Court, this innovation was necessary because of the challenges posed

by the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. Physical delivery of notices and summons has become

quite difficult because of the several localized lockdowns in various parts of the country.

Notably, just a few months ago, the top court had also allowed court hearings via video

conferencing across the country in view of the pandemic.

2. Rajasthan Political Crisis

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Polity & Governance

A tussle between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot has

pushed the government to the brink. A look at the similarities and differences with the

Madhya Pradesh situation where the resignation of Congress MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya

Scindia had toppled the government four months ago, and the reasons why the Congress

struggles to resolve such flare-ups:

If Pilot were to leave the Congress, how would the numbers stack up?

The difference between the combined strength of the Congress and that of the BJP-led

opposition is not razor-thin in Rajasthan, unlike in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress

government fell when 22 MLAs pulled out. In a House of 230, the Congress strength fell

from 114 to 92 (now down to 91 after one more resignation) which is below the BJP

strength of 107.

The numbers in Rajasthan, on the other hand, were tested just a month ago in the Rajya

Sabha elections. The two Congress candidates polled 123 of the 200 votes — its own 107,

all 13 independent MLAs, 2 two from Bharatiya Tribal Party and one from RLD. It also

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banks on the support of the two CPM MLAs in a crunch, which takes the tally to 125. It got

123 votes because a minister and a CPM MLA could not vote on account of their health.

The BJP got 74 votes — its own 72 and 3 from the Hanuman Beniwal-led Rashtriya

Loktantrik Party, less one vote disqualified. And unlike in MP, most of the independents in

Rajasthan are close to Chief Minister Gehlot. Despite Pilot being the PCC president since

2014, Gehlot had the upper hand in ticket distribution for the Assembly elections in 2018

and about 75% Congress MLAs are claimed to be loyal to him. The Pilot camp claims the

support of at least half the MLAs.

And the BJP is a divided house in Rajasthan, is it not?









Yes it is, and that is perhaps the key difference with MP. Also, the post of Chief Minister is at

the heart of the tussle between Pilot and Gehlot, while Scindia was not asking for chief

ministership, which made things easy for the BJP. If Pilot were to join the BJP, the question

would be whether he would settle for anything less than chief ministership, given that he is

already Deputy CM. Former BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and a large section of the

BJP leadership will not accept Pilot as Chief Minister.

Can Pilot not break the Congress and walk out along with MLAs loyal to him?

To escape the anti-defection law, two-thirds of Congress MLAs will have to leave the party.

That is a very big number — 72 out of the Congress’s ️107 ️MLAs. The ️other ️option ️is ️the ️‘Madhya ️Pradesh ️model’ ️— which means MLAs loyal to Pilot resign

so that the strength of the House comes down. They would then have to join the BJP, and

contest by-elections to fill the vacancies.

But since the difference in the combined strength is as large as 50, that many MLAs will

have to resign to bring the halfway mark down to a level where each side has 75. This is

assuming that the independents and smaller parties will align as before. If there is a switch

of sides by some of those who supported the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls, the

breakaway camp will need fewer than 50.

What are the roots of the power tussle?

Pilot was given charge of the Rajasthan Congress in January 2014 after it suffered one of its

worst defeats under Gehlot. Pilot, those close to him say, believed his appointment marked

a generational shift in the party, and that he would be CM if the party won again.

Gehlot has been around for a long time. He became Chief Minister for the first time in 1998,

when he was 47. He had been the PCC president, and had spearheaded the Congress campaign ️ that ️ defeated ️Bhairon ️ Singh ️ Shekhawat’s ️ BJP ️ (which ️ had ️ been ️ in ️ power ️ since ️1990, ️barring ️a ️year’s ️President’s ️Rule), ️and ️brought ️the ️Congress ️back ️to ️power. Gehlot

has since alternated as Chief Minister with Vasundhara Raje of the BJP.

The feud between Gehlot and Pilot escalated after the Congress high command gave Gehlot

a third shot at chief ministership, with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections that were then

round the corner. The two leaders have been at loggerheads since, and each has made

comments against the other without taking his name on several occasions.

But why hasn’t it been sorted out? Many ️leaders ️argue ️that ️the ️party’s ️central ️leadership ️has ️weakened in the last six years.

Regional leaders wield considerable influence. The AICC in-charge of Rajasthan, Avinash

Pande, is seen as a lightweight, who does not have the stature to make Gehlot and Pilot sit

across the table and sort out their differences.









It is also difficult for the Congress to ignore caste equations. Pilot comes from the Gujjar

community, and one of the factors that went against his elevation was that it may not have

gone down well with the Meena community. Gehlot, on the other hand, belongs to the

backward Mali caste, and is not seen as a threat to any caste group — the dominant Jats,

Gujjars, Meenas, or Rajputs.

Even if the government does not fall, what will be the impact of this crisis? The ️crisis ️will ️ certainly ️undermine ️Pilot’s ️position. ️ Sources ️ close ️ to ️him ️ask ️how ️he ️can ️remain ️in ️the ️government, ️that ️too ️as ️number ️two, ️when ️an ️FIR ️says ️that ️the ️“Deputy ️CM ️says that he will be the CM. The mutual distrust between Gehlot and Pilot will deepen. It is

terrible optics for the party, too.

Can any other state too see such a crisis?

All is not well in Punjab and Chhattisgarh. Although Punjab CM Amarinder Singh does not

face any challenge to his leadership, there is rumbling — and the likes of former PCC chief

Partap Singh Bajwa and former Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu keep stirring the pot.

In Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Health Minister T S Singh Deo, who

was a contender for the post, are said to be no longer on talking terms.

Source: The Indian Express

3. New insights on Covid-19, key learnings from managing it

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; Science & Technology

As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its sixth month in India, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of

AIIMS, tells about key learnings from managing it, and new aspects that have emerged.

Edited excerpts:

In the beginning, we thought the virus was only causing respiratory infection, pneumonia.

Now there are patients with blood clots; the virus is targeting the transport of oxygen,

choking off its supply to other organs. Does this mean Covid-19 is now more a vascular

disease?

You are right. When it started, it was felt it was like any other viral pneumonia: as we see

with influenza, it causes predominantly upper respiratory problems and in some people it

goes to the lower respiratory tract and leads to fall in oxygen saturation. But we are

learning more and more about how this coronavirus behaves. We realised it causes a lot of

systemic effects. It causes inflammation of the inner lining of blood vessels and this leads to

narrowing of their area. Also, we see a lot of inflammatory markers enter the blood.

It caused a hypercoagulable state, which promotes clotting; and people were suddenly

dying because of clots blocking their blood vessels in the lung and heart. We have started to









see that happening in the brain, people with stroke and other neurological problems. In the beginning, ️we ️thought ️all ️this ️wasn’t ️a ️major ️issue ️but ️as ️we ️see ️more ️cases, ️it ️has ️become ️an issue. So the treatment has to be holistic.

The infection starts off with the lungs. So it is still a pulmonary disease. But it has

significant vascular problems. It can be termed as a vascular disease, to some extent. It can

also be termed as a systemic disease because it involves the entire body.

Some autopsies of Covid patients reveal people are dying from blood clots in the

brain which is causing the stroke. Is the virus travelling to the brain?

There is not much data on this. Doctors have tried to culture the virus from the brain itself.

Whether it causes encephalitis, where does the virus enter the brain and does it cause

inflammation in the brain or whether it causes inflammation of vessels supplying blood to

the brain – all these are being looked at. Probably, it is a little bit of both.

There could be viremia, the virus traveling from the blood to the brain, and causing some

changes; but a large amount of effect that happens is because of vessel involvement. You

can see that in our patients, they are not only presenting stroke even while in the ICU and

being treated for Covid-19; but it happens even later on, over the course of the disease

when the viral load may have come down but the inflammation persists.

A decrease in kidney function has been reported in some patients. Is the kidney also

a direct target?

The kidney can fail under multiple ways; one, when we have vessel involvement, and often

in advance-stage patients, (there is) septic shock which leads to a decrease in blood supply

to kidney causing kidney failure. Also, what we found, in around one-third of patients who

are critically ill — they do have acute kidney injury and require dialysis. We had

anticipated this to some extent.

At hospital level, does this mean we need more CT scans and dialysis machines?

From a diagnosis point of view, yes, you need to have a CT scan if you are looking at a

stroke. Dialysis is another important aspect; all Covid-19 critical hospitals have dialysis

machines in their ICUs. AIIMS has four in the hospital and one is in the Covid suspect area.

What do follow-ups show in recovered patients whose lungs, kidney, brain were

infected?

There are people who have residual damage. People who have had a stroke have neuro-

deficit in terms of paralysis or some part of the body not functioning. We have also seen a

number of patients who have severe pneumonia, were lungs get totally scarred. Although

they come out, some of them require oxygen at home after recovery. Three months down,

CT scans have shown lungs are in bad shape. There is a debate about whether we have to

give them steroids or other drugs to be able to decrease the fibrosis or put them under a

rehabilitation program so that their lung capacity can improve. Some patients keep

complaining of dry cough, which is due to scars in the lung. Some patients, over weeks,









have complained of weakness and of not having the energy to go back to work. In some

case, there are serious neurological problems.

Is it time to expand the symptoms?

With time, the symptoms have really expanded. When we started off, it was just cold, fever,

and cough. Now we have body ache, loss of sense of smell and taste and it will gradually

expand. It will become more challenging for the physician to suspect and diagnose Covid19.

I think we will have to be more liberal in our testing, especially in a hospital setting. We had this ️problem ️two ️months ️ago… ️patients ️with ️stroke ️didn’t ️get ️tested, ️went ️into ️the ️general ️ward, and underwent CT, MRI. And later, when the X-ray looked abnormal, they were

tested and came positive for Covid. This created panic. We are learning that we need to

have a low threshold for diagnosing and we should test all patients with an atypical

presentation.

There is recent evidence that there could be a post-Covid syndrome in children. How

serious is this?

That is still being evaluated. It has been reported from multiple places in the US and is seen

in individuals, who sort of recovered and then they have a fever, hyperinflammatory

syndrome which affects the skin, intestine, and has cardiac dysfunction. Many of these

patients require ICU care to support blood pressure. This is a syndrome that is still evolving

and mimics another similar disease, Kawasaki disease.

What is the preliminary evidence emerging in Indian patients with respect to

remdesivir, convalescent plasma therapy, and tocilizumab?

Both remdesivir and tocilizumab have only emergency-use authorisation. If you look at

data for remdesivir, initial studies did not show much benefit. Subsequent studies said it

showed some benefits in decreasing hospital stay by four days. There were suggestions

that in more severe patients it may have a mild benefit but it was significant to say that there ️ was ️ mortality ️ benefit. ️ But ️ I ️ don’t ️ think ️ we ️ have ️ strong ️ evidence ️ one ️ way ️ or ️ the ️other. Currently, it is only a promising repurposing drug rather than a really effective drug

for Covid-19.

There are two or three things we need to keep in mind about plasma therapy. Everyone

does not have a good amount of antibodies as shown by various studies from New York and

Europe. These studies have shown that in a community only 10-15 percent have antibodies and ️even ️people ️who ️recover ️don’t ️show ️that ️robust ️antibody ️production. ️What ️it ️means ️is ️that everybody is not fit for plasma donation and you have to check the blood to see

whether it has sufficient antibodies so that it can be given. Second is that the data is not

strong. There is a large study of 100 patients (with) randomised control trials, which

looked at plasma therapy and did not show any strong mortality benefit. It was also used

for Ebola and the evidence is not that strong.

In patients who are recovering, are we seeing people developing immunity for the

virus? Are we seeing patients being re-infected?









We are not seeing patients, which we can classically (categorise) under re-infection as of

now. However, there is a whole debate on immunity and how long does it last.

Classically, we relied on antibody formation of immunoglobulin E in the blood to say that

we have protection. What we really need to look at is, and which is difficult to do in a large

population, is neutralising antibodies.

It is possible that there might be neutralising antibodies in sufficient amount but are not being ️ picked. ️ Second, ️we ️ are ️ also ️ learning ️ about ️ the ️ body’s ️ immune ️ response; ️we ️ have ️realised that cell-mediated immunity is also activated and giving protection through T-cells

in the blood. We may be protected to some extent, more than what we are thinking right

now. The big question is how long does this protection last. That is difficult to predict.

What is the biggest Covid mystery today?

First, when we look at transmission, the challenge is how much of it is airborne compared

to droplet infection and so what measure do we need to take.

The second issue is what we should do with regard to the inflammation and systemic effect

on organs. We know that steroids make a big difference. Are there any other drugs,

immunomodulators, or anti-inflammatory drugs, which along with steroids, may actually

help decrease the systemic effects of virus? Not only save lives but reduce the multi-organ

effect? Finally, we need to really see how fast we can get an effective and safe vaccine.

Source: The Indian Express

4. Defying U.S., China and Iran near trade and military partnership

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper II; IOBR

Aim of participation

The partnership would vastly expand Chinese presence in banking, telecommunications,

ports, railways and dozens of other projects. In exchange, China would receive a regular

supply of Iranian oil over the next 25 years.

The document also describes deepening military cooperation, potentially giving China a

foothold in a region that has been a strategic preoccupation of the United States for

decades. It calls for joint training and exercises, joint research and weapons development

and intelligence sharing — all ️to ️fight ️“the ️lopsided ️battle ️with ️terrorism, drug and human

trafficking and cross-border ️crimes.”

The partnership — first ️ proposed ️ by ️ China’s ️ leader, ️ Xi ️ Jinping, ️ during ️ a ️ visit ️ to ️ Iran ️ in ️2016 — was ️ approved ️ by ️ President ️ Hassan ️ Rouhani’s ️ cabinet ️ in ️ June, ️ Iran’s ️ Foreign ️Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said last week.









Iranian officials have publicly stated that there is a pending agreement with China, and one

Iranian official, as well as several people who have discussed it with the Iranian

government, confirmed that it is the document obtained by The Times, which is labeled “final ️version” ️and ️dated ️June, ️2020.

In Beijing, officials have not disclosed the terms of the agreement, and it is not clear whether ️Mr. ️Xi’s ️government ️has ️signed ️off ️or, ️if ️it ️has, ️when ️it ️might ️announce ️it.

Impact on China-US relations

If put into effect as detailed, the partnership would create new and potentially dangerous

flash points in the deteriorating relationship between China and the United States.

It ️ represents ️ a ️major ️ blow ️ to ️ the ️ Trump ️ administration’s ️ aggressive policy toward Iran

since abandoning the nuclear deal reached in 2015 by President Obama and the leaders of

six other nations after two years of grueling negotiations.

Renewed American sanctions, including the threat to cut off access to the international

banking system for any company that does business in Iran, have succeeded in suffocating

the Iranian economy by scaring away badly needed foreign trade and investment.

Iran ️ has ️ been ️ one ️ of ️ the ️ world’s ️ largest ️ oil ️ producers, ️ but ️ its ️ exports, ️ Tehran’s ️ largest

source of revenue, have plunged since the Trump administration began imposing sanctions in ️ 2018; ️ China ️ gets ️ about ️ 75 ️ percent ️ of ️ its ️ oil ️ from ️ abroad ️ and ️ is ️ the ️ world’s ️ largest ️importer, at more than 10 million barrels a day last year.

At a time when the United States is reeling from recession and the coronavirus, and

increasingly isolated internationally, Beijing senses American weakness. The draft

agreement with Iran shows that unlike most countries, China feels it is in a position to defy

the United States, powerful enough to withstand American penalties, as it has in the trade

war waged by President Trump.

“Two ️ancient ️Asian ️cultures, ️two ️partners ️in ️the ️sectors ️of ️trade, ️economy, ️politics, ️culture ️and security with a similar outlook and many mutual bilateral and multilateral interests will ️consider ️one ️another ️strategic ️partners,” ️the ️document ️says ️in ️its ️opening ️sentence.

Source: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/449938/Defying-U-S-China-and-Iran-

near-trade-and-military-partnership

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whatsapp no. 88986-30000 · 123 votes because a minister and a cpm mla could not vote on account of...

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