Daily NEWS Summary: 25.07.2020

Rajasthan Saga

Addressing his MPs at a meeting of the Legislative Party of Congress today, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot said Congress would even approach the president if necessary to resolve the impasse politics in the state.
Meanwhile, the ruling by the Rajasthan High Court on Friday to hear in detail the challenge presented by rebel congressional MPs against anti-disqualification laws has opened the debate on what is considered a law set out in the tenth annex to the Constitution.
In 1992, a constitutional bench of five Supreme Court judges upheld the constitutional validity of Constitution Amendment 52, which passed anti-defection laws.
In addition, a decision of the bench of the Constitution of the Supreme Court ruled that a governor is obliged to call a meeting of the Assembly for a ground test on the recommendation of the cabinet.
The Constitutional Court’s decision of five Supreme Court justices in Nabam Rebia against the vice president of July 13, 2016 ruled that a governor cannot use his “discretionary power” and must strictly adhere to “aid and to the councils ”of the cabinet to convene the House.

On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Twitter that he had tested positive for Covid-19. In a message, Chouhan, 61, wrote: “My dear residents of the state, I had symptoms of Covid-19, and after a test my report came back positive.”

Significant number of IS terrorists in Kerala, Karnataka: UN report

A UN report on terrorism warned that there were significant numbers of ISIS terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka. Report said al-Qaida, a member of the Indian subcontinent terror group, which is believed to number 150-200 militants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, is planning attacks in the region.
The 26th report of the Analytical and Sanctions Monitoring Team on ISIS, Al-Qaida and Associated Individuals and Entities indicated that Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) operates under the Taliban aegis of the Afghan provinces of Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar.
According to the report, one member state reported that Indian affiliate ISIL (Hind Wilayah), which was announced on May 10, 2019, has between 180 and 200 members, many of them in Kerala and Karnataka.

The number of corona virus infections reported in India was 13,83,769 at the time of publication of this summary, with a death toll of 32,090. For the first time, India has really increased the testing, it has recorded over 4.2 lakh Covid-19 tests that are done in a single day. 420,898 samples were analyzed in the past 24 hours, while tests per million (TPM) increased further to 11,845 and cumulative tests to 1,58,49068, as the Union Department of Health of the United States said today.

Meanwhile, the director of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Professor GVS Murthy, said there could not be a uniform peak in Covid-19 cases in a large country like the India, because each state would have its own balance sheet. Depending on when people were exposed to the infection.
The peak could be seen in states like Delhi in late July or early August, while it could be around September in others like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Murthy said. “In states like Jharkhand, it may take longer since the spread did not start until after the return of the migrant workers,” he added.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday on Saturday addressed his strong objections to the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 opinion to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, saying the proposed changes were testament to from a mindset that “Environmental regulations are an unnecessary regulatory burden.” The former environment minister, who now heads the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said the notification ignored human health and well-being.

In a statement to the United Nations, Australia officially rejected China’s land and maritime claims in the South China Sea, aligning more closely with the United States as tensions mounted, the BBC reported. In its declaration, Australia said the claims, which take in the majority of the sea, have “no legal basis”. Apart from the U.S. and Australia, other countries that have contested China’s claims over the South China Sea region include Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.