Good morning. Climate studies generally paint a grim picture and the latest follows this trend saying that millions of people have died due to heat over the last 20 years, the Supreme Court finally says that there is a need to look into the sedition laws and India’s GDP is in the doldrums. There is also the story of a rare bird that may have decided “I had enough of humans, I am going to the mountains”.
CORONAVIRUS NEWS
🔤 It’s Greek: WHO labels virus variants (both variants of interest VOI and variants of concern VOC) with Greek letters: UK VOC (Alpha), South Africa VOC(Beta), Brazil VOC (Gamma) and India VOC (Delta).
💉👩⚖️ Vaccination mess Programme: Supreme Court tells Centre to modify its vaccine policy as asking states to pay a higher price for it did not square with the drive. Also, ensure the poor do not get left out due to insistence on CoWIN registration, it said. The Delhi High Court also rapped the Centre over the issue of vaccine availability.
Absent guidelines and absent policy, you will have ad hoc decisions.
Supreme Court
💉🏭 Covaxin Facility: Three PSUs roped in to increase Covaxin capacity. One facility in UP’s Bulandshahr to begin production in next six months. Covaxin share is only 11% of total jabs. Unlike Covishield, it has to be taken in 4 weeks.
🙄 Herbal ‘Cure’: Andhra Pradesh gives nod to popular herbal cure even as its own agency reports “no harm, but no evidence of cure”.
⚠️ Warning Signs: UK is mulling lifting its lockdown, but scientists say the country may already be in its early stage of a third wave. The US has done a tremendous job in vaccinating most adults at least once but its top epidemiologist Dr Anthony Fauci says “don’t want to declare victory prematurely”. Peru 2X deaths due to Covid after review, now has the highest per capita deaths.
🚷 Lockdown: Uttarakhand extends curfew to June 8.
💰 More Money: EPFO tells its members that they can withdraw a second Covid advance – three months’ Basic Pay + DA Up to 75% of credit in their PF.
INDIA NEWS
👨🏻⚖️ About Time: Supreme Court says it is time “sedition” was defined. The Andhra Pradesh government had charged certain news channels with sedition along with an MLA for a speech.
🇮🇳 Central Vista Green: Delhi High Court says it will not stay the project as it is essential and of national importance. It even goes to fine the petitioners against the project Rs 1 lakh.
🤼♀️ Won’t Back Down: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee “allowed” chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyaya to retire and appointed him as her adviser. In response, the Centre sent him a showcause notice.
🔎😤 UP revamp?: For the first time, the BJP is meeting with ministers and party leaders in UP for feedback on the government. This after many complained over the leadership not being responsive to the people’s woes.
👫 Prevention Better Than Divorce: Goa announces it will start a 15-day premarital counselling sessions for couples as there was a rise in divorces.
🏝️ Lakshadweep Crisis: Home Minister Amit Shah says there will not be any changes in the island without taking the people into confidence.
🛩️ Get MiG Out: Friends of pilot Squadron Leader Abhinav Chaudhary who died in last week’s crash have begun an online petition to discontinue the MiG-21s also called “flying coffins”.
⛑️ Trapped: Five trapped in Meghalaya after an explosion in an “illegal” mine.
🤓 Runaround: After SC scrapped the Maratha quota law, Maharashtra decided to extend benefits under the EWS scheme to the community.
👩🔬 World’s First: IFFCO releases “nano liquid urea” that will help reduce dependency on conventional urea by upto 50%.
WORLD NEWS
🇨🇳👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻 More Kids!: China allows couples to have 3 children instead of two as population estimates suggest that the country (fertility rate 1.3%, ideal should be 2.1%) will see more old people and fewer young to support them.
I am willing to have three children if you give me 5 mn yuan (Rs 5 cr)”
One user on Chinese social media app Weibo
🇲🇽 Mexico Poll Violence: At least 34 candidates for midterm polls on June 6 have been killed since April. Violence has been such that campaigning has been suspended in several localities. Mexico President blames the media for sensationalising murders and making his govt look bad.
🇽🇹🗳️ At the Brink: Texas Democrats walk out of their House at the last minute to prevent the passing of a legislation called to be the “most restrictive” in terms of voting rights in the US.
🇮🇱 Israel Leadership: As Netanyahu’s exit seems likely, far-right leader Naftali Bennett may be the next PM under a power sharing agreement with centrist-secular Yair Lapid. Bennett had opposed the 2-nation plan.
⚖️ Racial Justice: Virginia Theological Seminary has begun paying reparations to descendants of Black people who were forced to work there.
🕵🏻 You Spy?: Iran will try a French national accused of spying. Iran had detained several foreign nationals ever since the US withdrew from a nuclear deal it had backed along with several European countries, including France.
🔊 Too Loud: Saudi Arabia has asked mosques to reduce their call to prayer volumes to a third after public complaints.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY NEWS
📉 Downturn: Last fiscal, the Indian economy contracted 7.3%. However, this could have been worse if not for the performance in the last quarter when the GDP grew by 1.6% although this may have been nullified with the 2nd wave. Here is an analysis on India’s fundamentals in the last seven years.
ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE & TECH
🥵 Hot, HOT, HOTTT!: Human induced global heating is responsible for 37% of all heat-related deaths between 1991 to 2018. Even hospitalisations have increased, so have cardiovascular disease and respiratory problems leading to more expenses.
🤳 Insta Change: Instagram is changing its algorithm after it was accused of suppressing pro-Palestine content during the conflict.
🐤 I’m Outta Here: Alpine parrots in New Zealand may have decided to go to the mountains to avoid humans. It’s still speculative, but there is some evidence to the theory.
News Of Today 