India gets first automated COVID-19 testing machine

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan dedicated a COBAS 6800 testing machine in the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to the nation. The COBAS 6800 is the first fully automated, high-end machine for real-time COVID-19 PCR testing procured by the government, and is installed at the NCDC. “The COBAS 6800 will provide quality, high-volume testing with a high throughput of around 1200 samples in 24 hours. It will largely increase the testing capacity with reduction in pendency,” Vardhan said. The minister said COBAS 6800 is robotics-enabled minimising the chance of contamination as well as the risk of infection among health care workers since it can be operated remotely with limited human intervention. As the machine requires a minimum BSL2+ containment level for testing, it cannot be placed at just any facility. COBAS 6800 can also detect other pathogens such as viral Hepatitis B and C and HIV, according to an official statement.

SC says courts can’t monitor movement of migrant workers

The Supreme Court said that it is impossible for courts to monitor or stop the movement of migrant workers across the country and it is for the government to take necessary action in this regard. The Centre told the top court that migrant workers across the country were being provided transportation by the government to their destinations but they have to wait for their turn rather than starting walking on foot amid coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. A bench refused to entertain an application seeking a direction to the Centre to ask all district magistrates to identify stranded migrant workers and provide shelter, food to them before ensuring their free transportation to native places in view of the recent incident at Aurangabad in which 16 workers were mowed down by a goods train. The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta whether there was any way to stop these migrant workers from walking on the roads. Mehta said states are providing inter-state transport to the migrant workers but if the people start walking on foot instead of waiting for transportation, then nothing can be done.

President Kovind takes 30% salary cut

President Ram Nath Kovind has decided to take a 30 per cent salary cut for the whole year besides announcing a slew of other austerity measures to aid the nation’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The domestic tours and programmes of the president will be substantially reduced in order to follow social distancing restrictions and minimise expenditure, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique. Instead, the president will largely rely on technology to reach out to people, it said. Usually, the president travels to different parts of the country to attend various official programmes. There are state visits abroad too. The president gets a monthly salary of Rs 5  lakh. It is estimated that these measures will save nearly 20 per cent of the budget of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the current financial year, the statement said. These measures will result in savings of around Rs 40-45 crore annually by the Rashtrapati Bhavan that has an yearly budget of more than Rs 200 crore. 

CERT-In warns of mobile banking malware ‘EventBot’

A mobile banking malware called ‘EventBot’, which steals personal financial information, may affect Android phone users in India, the federal cyber-security agency has said in a latest advisory. The CERT-In has issued a caution, saying the Trojan virus may “masquerade as a legitimate application such as Microsoft Word, Adobe flash and others using third-party application downloading sites to infiltrate into victim devices”. A Trojan is a virus or malware that cheats a victim to stealthily attack its computer or phone-operating system. “It has been observed that a new Android mobile malware named EventBot is spreading. It is a mobile-banking Trojan and info-stealer that abuses Android’s in-built accessibility features to steal user data from financial applications, read user SMS messages and intercept SMS messages, allowing malware to bypass two-factor authentication,” the CERT-In advisory said. The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) is the national technology arm to combat cyber attacks and guard the Indian cyber space.

Vijay Mallya’s extradition expected within 28 days

Vijay Mallya lost his application seeking leave to appeal his extradition to India in the UK Supreme Court, setting a 28-day clock on his removal from the UK. The UK top court’s decision marks a big legal setback to the 64-year-old beleaguered liquor baron, who last month lost his High Court appeal against an extradition order to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya had 14 days to file his latest application to seek permission to move the higher court on the High Court judgment from April 20, which dismissed his appeal against a Westminster Magistrates’ Court extradition order certified by the UK home secretary. The latest decision, referred to as a pronouncement, means that under the India-UK extradition treaty, the UK Home Office is now expected to formally certify the court order for Mallya to be extradited to India within 28 days.

SC stays Gujarat HC order nullifying Chudasama’s election

The Supreme Court stayed the Gujarat High Court order nullifying state minister and BJP leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama’s 2017 election on the ground of malpractice and manipulation. A bench of Justices issued notice on Chudasama’s plea and sought response from his rival Congress candidate Ashwin Rathod, among others. Chudasama is currently the minister for law and justice, legislative and parliamentary affairs, education and some other departments in the Vijay Rupani government. The High Court had on May 12, nullified the election of Chudasama on the ground of malpractice and manipulation and also refused to stay the operation of the order till the disposal of his appeal. The High Court had held that the Returning Officer “illegally rejected” 429 postal ballots during the counting of votes, while the victory margin was only 327.  

MEA downplays face-offs between India, Chinese troops

Days after Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in two face-offs, India said it remained committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border with China noting that such incidents could have been avoided if there was a common perception about the frontier. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed in Pangong Tso lake area in Eastern Ladakh. Four days later, there was a similar face-off near Naku La Pass in North Sikkim. Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said India and China attach utmost importance to ensuring peace and tranquillity in all areas of Sino-India border regions and referred to affirmation about it by PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in their two informal summits. When asked about the latest incidents, Army chief Gen M.M. Naravane said the Indian troops were maintaining their “posture” along the border with China while infrastructure development in the areas was also on track. 

CAPFs canteens to sell only indigenous products from June 1

Taking a cue from PM Modi’s appeal to promote local products, Union home ministry decided that canteens of paramilitary forces will sell only indigenous products from June 1 in a bid to give fillip to small scale industries and Khadi. The countrywide network of over 1,700 Central Police Canteens (CPCs) sell products ranging from groceries, clothes to gift items worth Rs 2,800 crore annually to 50 lakh family members of about 10 lakh personnel. The CAPFs canteens comprise the CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB, apart from the commando force NSG. The CPCs were established in 2006. There are over 119 master canteens and 1,625 subsidiary canteens at various locations where these forces are deployed, be it along borders or the interiors of Naxal violence-hit or insurgency affected states. 

Newsmakers

Padma Bhushan recipient and Bangladesh’s National Professor Anisuzzaman has died in Dhaka. He was 83. India awarded him Padma Bhushan in 2014 for his distinguished service in fields of Bangla literature and education. He was also awarded Ekushey Padak and Swadhinata Padak, the highest state awards given by Bangladesh.

Veteran Bengali author Debesh Roy, who was conferred the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel ‘Teesta Parer Brittanto’, has died at the age of 84. He will also be remembered for books like ‘Borisaler Jogen Mondal’,  ‘Manush Khun Kore Keno’ and ‘Samay Asamayer Brittanto’. His first book was ‘Jajati’.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store