THE
GOOD WORD
May 31, 2021 - Week 24
Volume 7S-3| Pages 2
2
Covid has no credible natural ancestor,
incriminating study points to China
May 28, London
More incriminating
evidence is out which
points to China’s
Wuhan laboratories
being the progenitors
of the Covid-19 virus.
Nations must grapple
with the consequences
of such a confirmation
and respond
strategically to control
such research and blunt
its potential for
biological-warfare.
Monday, British
professor Angus
Dalgleish and
Norwegian scientist Dr
Birger Sorensen
released a study that
concludes that Covid-19
(SARS-Coronavirus-2)
has ‘no credible natural
ancestor’. The amino
acid formation in the
virus contained four
positively charged acid
particles in a row,
where due to a
repulsion caused by
their similar charge
such a formation
becomes highly
unlikely in nature. It is
‘beyond reasonable
doubt’ that the virus
was created through
‘laboratory
manipulation’ the
study concludes.
The 22 page paper
looks back at
experiments done at
the Wuhan lab
between 2002 and
2019. It reveals that
with some American
assistance, Chinese
scientists built tools to
create a Covid-19 virus.
The work was focused
on ‘gain of function’
research to make the
virus more infectious to
humans.
Elaborating on the find,
in an exclusive
interview with
DailyMail.com,
Sorensen said amino
acids have a positive
charge, which causes
the virus to cling tightly
to a negatively charged
part of human cell like
a magnet, and so
Bharat First
3
Delhi HC dismisses PIL challenging
Central Vista, imposes fine
of 1 lac
Hardeep Singh Puri
said the new Parliament
building will be
completed by 2022 to
mark 75 years of
independence.
There is a shortage of
office space of 3.8 lac
sqm presently that the
project will supply,
saving an annual outgo
of Rs 1,000 crores
in
rent.
The vista will develop
the 3.2 km stretch from
Rashtrapati Bhavan to
India Gate. Slated to
end in 2026, it will have
also have a 10 building
common secretariat,
IAS Cadre Rules 1954
provide that incase of a
disagreement between
centre and state on the
posting of an officer,
the former will prevail.
Citing this the centre,
recalled Bengal Chief
Secretary Alpan
Bandhopadhyay and
ordered him to report
to New Delhi on May 31
where he stood
deputed to the ministry
of Public Grievances
and Pensions.
This decision comes
after Mamata and he
had kept PM Modi
waiting for 30 minutes
at a cyclone review
meeting, at the
Kalaikunda airbase.
Then the two left the
meeting abruptly after
arrival.
The bureaucrat had
An outpouring
of good wishes
for Anand
May 30, 2021 Delhi
May 31, Beijing.
China’s 10 year
census reported the
slowest pace of
population growth
since 1950 to 1.4
billion people. The
average fertility rate
of women at 1.3
children is at par with
ageing societies like
Japan. Worse the
working population
shrank over the last
decade while that
over 65 years
increased.
Consequently
President Xi Jinping,
has approved of a
new policy to allow
couples to have 3
children.
For decades China
had imposed a one
child policy. In 2015
it changed to a 2 child
policy. However, that
change has not
induced a surge in
birth rates that it
expected.
More: Sky.Com
China permits
couples to have
3 children
Visit IndiaWiki.org
Centre, West Bengal feud
intensifies
May 31, Delhi
Naveen Patnaik declines Central aid
After CBI gave NCB
Siddhart Pithani’s
phone
dump, the NCB had
arrested Pithani from
Hyderabad on May 26.
Pithani, Sushant Singh
Rajput’s roommate was
the first to see Sushant’s
body hanging last June.
The arrest is for supply
of marijuana to groups.
The agency is also
interrogating Sushant’s
cook Neerav and his
domestic help Keshav.
Rhea, Sushant’s once
friend and Showik, her
brother are out on bail
At: RepublicWorld-1-2
federal structure.
Monday, he declined
central aid for cyclone
Yaas reparation. He did
not wish to burden the
centre during a
pandemic and said he
would use state
resources instead.
Not only did Odisha
assist other states by
supplying oxygen
during the Covid crisis
but he also allayed
vaccine hesitancy by
being the amongst the
first to take the jab.
More at OpIndia
More at Nicholas
Wade, Zee News,
Swarajya, WION
The popular TV news
debate panelist, author
and columnist, Anand
Ranganathan disclosed
on Twitter, May 30, that
he had suffered a heart
attack.
In a moment of personal
agony he penned a tweet
tinged in humour “Taiyari
CoVID ki thi, out of
syllabus aa gaya!
Suffered a bad heart
attack yesterday.”
There has been an
outpouring of good
wishes and blessings for
a speedy recovery from
well wishers since. The
tweet has received over
thirty thousand
responses in less than a
day.
Anand who is much loved
for his fact filled, brisk
paced interventions on
TV debates thanked well
wishers for an
overwhelming response.
breached service rules,
by being on the
premises but failing to
attend the PM’s
meeting for disaster
management. The
centre’s overlooking it
would set the wrong
precedence on
adherence to its
directions, weakening
national cohesiveness
in a federal structure.
Forced, the Bengal CM
had to announce the
CS’s retirement on
May 31. She then
appointed him her
Chief Advisor for 3
years.
Monday the centre
sent a notice under
section 51 of the DM
Act giving 3 days to
show cause. A penalty
of a 1 year jail term or
with fine could follow.
More at OpIndia,
RepublicWorld.Com
May 31, the Delhi High
Court upheld the
Central Vista, in New
Delhi, as an essential
project of national
importance and allowed
construction to proceed
on the Avenue. The
bench of chief justice
DN Patel and justice
Jyoti Singh observed it
was an integral part of
the overall project and
imposed a fine for Rs 1
lac on the PIL
petitioners for trying to
stop work on it citing a
pandemic.
Housing and Urban
Affairs minister,
a defense enclave and
top official residences.
The North and South
blocks will be converted
to museums.
Mr Puri also clarified
that heritage buildings
will not be touched.
Earlier on May 8
th
, he
had allayed concerns on
the felling of trees due
to this project stating.
‘Only few (sic) trees will
be transplanted in
entire project. Overall
green cover will
increase.’
At:NewsOnAir.Gov.In,
SwarajyaMag.Com-1-2
New Parliament Building, Artist Impression courtesy Hardeep Puri
May 23, Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has
asked its mosques to
stop broadcasting
prayers on external
loudspeakers and
instead use them only
for the Azan (call to
prayer) and Iqamat
(second call for
communal prayer).
Mosques can
continue to broadcast
prayers on internal
speakers in a way
that the imam’s voice
is confined to the
premises only. The
volume of the
speaker should not
exceed a third of the
device’s maximum
sound level. The
notice reasons that
reading the Quran on
external amplifiers is
disrespectful to the
book if it is not being
heard by people
outside.
A penalty will be
imposed on violators.
More:
RepublicWorld.Com
Saudi restricts
loudspeaker
use in mosques
NCB revives
Sushant probe
Rizvi publishes
purged Quran
Waseem Rizvi, the
former chairman of Shia
Central Waqf Board, UP,
created a ‘new Quran’
by removing 26 verses
that allegedly promote
violence. He urged PM
Modi to use it at
madrassas and
institutes. Earlier, a
justice Nariman led SC
bench had imposed a
fine of Rs 50,000 and
dismissed his plea to
have them removed.
At: India.com, OpIndia
Odisha’s CM set a
sterling example of how
centre-state relations
ought to work in a
become more
infectious. But because,
like magnets, the
positively charged
amino acids repel each
other, it is rare to find
even three in a row in
naturally occurring
organisms, while four in
a row is 'extremely
unlikely’. 'The laws of
physics prevent four
positively charged
amino acids in a row.
The only way you can
get this is if you
artificially manufacture
it,' Dalgleish told
DailyMail.com.
This is a marked shift
from the stance of the
scientific community in
February 2020, when a
group of 27 scientists
published a statement
by the Lancet that
‘condemned’ theories
suggesting Covid-19
does not have a natural
origin. It was later
found to be spurious.
Dalgleish and Sorensen
had 'prima facie
evidence of retro-
engineering in China'
for a year. They found
that Chinese scientists
created the virus in a
lab in Wuhan, then
tried to cover their
tracks by reverse-
engineering versions of
the virus to make it
look like it evolved
naturally from bats in
sequence years ago. A
natural virus pandemic
would be expected to
mutate gradually and
become infectious but
less pathogenic, which
did not happen in the
case of Covid-19.
This points to a more
stringent limit on gain
of function or other
research with biological
warfare potential.
Laboratories which
apart from detecting
and treating viral
infection would also be
able to thwart
biological warfare are
needed.
More at: DailyMail
Ahalyabai Holkar stamp courtesy Wikipedia
May 31, 2021 |
Week 24 | Volume
7S-3
Bharat First
Visit IndiaWiki.org
PAGE 2 THE GOOD
WORD
How ‘woke’ folks are
out to tarnish government’s image
Over the past 50
days, India has been
relentlessly hauled
over the coals. Its
national image and
the reputation of its
government has been
battered. The country
has even been
taunted as a ‘failed
state’ by the
punditry.
First, there was the
second wave of
Covid-19 that
resulted in thousands
of untimely deaths.
Apart from the large
numbers who are
reduced to faceless
statistics in natural
disasters and
epidemics, these now
include Indians from
elite and middle-class
families. In short,
people we either
know or know about.
Initially there were
severe shortages of
oxygen cylinders for
Covid patients.
Although this was
eventually managed,
and in a short time,
there were
subsequent hiccups
associated with the
demand for anti-
Covid vaccinations far
exceeding supply.
Although in absolute
terms, 195 million
Indians had received
at least one jab by
May 25 — second
only to the United
States — this
accounted for merely
3.1% of the
population,
suggesting a long
haul ahead.
In democratic
societies there is a
tendency to pillory
the government for
anything short of
super-efficiency in
crisis management.
Since the
mainstream media is
dominated by those
whose inclinations
are visibly Left-liberal
and, increasingly,
woke, the quantum
of disquiet tends to
be amplified in the
case of governments
with different
orientations.
President
Donald Trump was, of
course, the biggest
casualty of this
phenomenon
although, to be fair,
the bigoted denial of
Covid by some of his
pig-headed
supporters made his
administration a
delicious target.
In Britain, where,
after a period of
hesitation and
confusion, the Boris
Johnson government
moved resolutely to
vaccinate as many as
possible, the
criticisms have not
waned. Yet, as local
body polls and
parliamentary by-
elections have
shown, there is a
striking mismatch
between carping
media voices and the
popular mood. This
may not be a
universal principle,
but it does suggest
that the loudest
voices may not be the
most representative
ones — as was
demonstrated during
the 2016
demonetisation.
In India, Covid-19
management hasn’t
yet become an
electoral issue but if
the media narrative is
any indication, the
impression is being
fostered that
Narendra Modi’s
government has
made an almighty
mess and forfeited its
moral right to rule.
From conjuring
imagery reminiscent
of the 1943 Bengal
famine to suggestions
of ineptitude at all
levels, it is being
gleefully suggested
that India is back to
the days when its
sufferings sustained
the West’s sense of
cultural superiority.
The emergency
medical assistance
from overseas has
been held up as proof
of the demise of
Modi’s Atmanirbhar
Bharat aspirations.
To the accusations of
faltering in the face
of the second wave,
has been added the
fulminations over the
Central Vista project
in Delhi. The exercise
has been described as
‘tasteless’, a show of
‘vanity’ and an
example of arrogance
and misplaced
priorities. Aesthetics
has been added to
the anti-Modi
grudges.
Finally, the Indian
government’s spat
with Twitter,
Facebook and other
transnational
companies over
adherence to
domestic norms has
been presented as
evidence of
authoritarian
impulses and a threat
to basic freedoms.
The three very
different issues have
coalesced in a larger
political operation —
to secure the political
defeat of Modi in
2024, with next year’s
Uttar Pradesh
election as the
curtain-raiser.
It is not a coincidence
that most of the
social media stalwarts
who have been
fulminating about
Modi having lost the
plot are those who
were loudest in
warning India against
him in 2014. The
global ‘woke’
fraternity has been
egged on to disregard
national sovereignty
on the ground that a
conflict will erode
foreign investor
confidence. The anti-
Modi battles have
been cheered on by
Indian academics
overseas who feel
exiled from the
power structure in
New Delhi.
Confronted with this
assault, it would be
wrong for the
government to
develop a siege
mentality. The Modi
government has
hitherto been on top
of the game by
focusing single-
mindedly on
governance and
capacity building. This
must not change.
Perceptions are
important, but at the
end of the day they
depend almost
entirely on the lived
experiences of
ordinary people and
not on who screams
the loudest. What is,
however, also
necessary is clarity
over policy, complete
sincerity of purpose,
a willingness to
engage with the
larger public and,
above all, humility.
Mistakes must be
admitted and
rectified.
It was only to be
expected that the
ousted Old
Establishment would
leave no stone
unturned—including
cynical alliances with
foreign entities — to
attempt a comeback.
They will have to be
determinedly
countered with
imagination, sobriety,
and exemplary
performance. India is
still looking to Modi
to overcome
challenges and
uphold national self-
esteem.
----------------------------
By Swapan Dasgupta
Well-known journalist
and political
commentator
From the Times of India
Image: Economic TImes
Environment day Image courtesy: netpower.com
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