(1) Supreme Court grants Kejriwal bail in excise policy case
The Supreme Court granted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal bail in the liquor excise policy scam on Friday (September 13). In his first remarks after being released from the Tihar Jail, Mr. Kejriwal said he will continue to fight “anti-national” forces working to weaken the nation, and asserted the incarceration has only strengthened his resolve.
Justice Surya Kant ruled that the prolonged imprisonment of the Delhi CM constituted an “unjust deprivation of liberty” but upheld the legality of the arrest concluding that there were no procedural irregularities. In contrast, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan deemed the CBI’s arrest of Mr. Kejriwal as “unjustified.”
The top court however barred Mr. Kejriwal from visiting the Chief Minister’s office or the Delhi Secretariat as part of bail conditions imposed. He was also ordered not to make any public comment on the merits of the case.
Also read | Supreme Court granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal in corruption case: Key takeaways
And now, two days after he walked out of prison on bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would resign from his post in two days. He called for an early Assembly election in the national capital, allowing the people of Delhi to decide if he is honest.
(2) Ayushmann Bharat: Centre expands insurance coverage for people aged 70 and above
The Union Cabinet expanded the health insurance coverage for citizens over 70 years of age under the Ayushmann Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana scheme, allowing them to avail ₹5 lakh exclusively for their individual medical expenses. Previously, the scheme was split between all members in eligible families. The scheme’s expansion gave elderly members over 70 an exclusive ₹5 lakh sum. For existing beneficiaries, this sum is additional to the previous ₹5 lakh insurance split between family members.
The expansion is particularly useful for those above 70, seeing how the number of people reporting ailments increases sharply with age. The 75th National Survey focusing on health showed that 27.7% of respondents over 60 said they suffered from an ailment. This is against 11.4% between 45-59 years old. The figure increases even more for those over 70 and 80 (32.8% and 36.7%) respectively.
However, an important aspect of the scheme is the exclusion of outpatient expenses, medicines and diagnostic tests. This is crucial since these outpatient medications include those that the elderly take for chronic and non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and so on.
Most elderly over 60 years suffer from at least one non-communicable disease. A survey of 5,169 elders by HelpAge India showed that only 13.4% of respondents aged between 70 - 79 years did not have any NCD. This figure was 9.6% for those over 80.
Besides this, other concerns have been raised about the scheme. Some of these include the condition of hospitals empanelled in the scheme, delayed and rejected claim payments discouraging private hospitals from accepting PMJAY beneficiaries.
Also read:Does the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana need a design change?
(3) Trump and Harris face off in presidential debate
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first debate in the run-up to the November Presidential elections on Tuesday last week (September 10), with Harris ‘winning’ the debate in most opinion polls.
After the debate, billionaire pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Harris on social media, calling her a “steady-handed” leader. Swift’s fan base is vast, and her reach amongst younger voters is massive. While the endorsement or debate alone may not decide the elections, the latter provided Harris a platform to establish her identity, away from the role of being Biden’s vice president. In a contest where the margins are thin in crucial swing States, such an opportunity carries much weight.
Also read:The battleground States that could decide the U.S. Presidential elections | Data
Some crucial electoral issues that were discussed in the debate include abortion access, immigration and the economy. Abortion access is one of the biggest issues for the Democrat voter after the Supreme Court rolled back abortion access as a constitutional right. This made abortion illegal in large parts of the country.
Trump’s comments about immigrants in Ohio abducting pets for eating did not go down well with the audience. Harris dubbed his proposal to increase tariffs as a “sales tax” against her proposal of taxing the richest more.
(4) Sitaram Yechury passes away
Veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi on Thursday (September 12, 2024). He was 72.
Mr. Yechury was admitted to the hospital on August 19 with “pneumonia-like” symptoms and was on respiratory support for the past few days. He died at 3.03 p.m. Born on August 12, 1952, Mr. Yechury was serving his third term as CPI(M) general secretary, a post to which he was elected in 2015.
In one of his last video messages from the hospital room, Mr. Yechury paid tribute to former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on August 22. In an emotional farewell message to the former CM who had passed away a few days before, Mr. Yechury said, “It’s most unfortunate that I had to connect from AIIMS to convey my feelings, emotions and revolutionary Lal Salaam to Buddho Da.”
He is survived by wife Seema Chisti and daughter Akhila Yechury. The timeline graphic below looks at the veteran Communist’s political life:
(5) Typhoon Yagi affects populations across Vietnam, China, Philippines, and more
Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, was downgraded to a tropical depression on September 8, 2024, after wreaking havoc in northern Vietnam, Southern China, and the Philippines.
Originating near the micro-nation of Palau near the Philippines on August 31, 2024, it made landfall in the Philippines on September 2, 2024. Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing mostly in landslides and widespread flooding in the acrchipelago nation.
The powerful typhoon made landfall on the Chinese tropical vacation island of Hainan on September 6, 2024 after it swept south of Hong Kong, bringing many aspects of life in the region to a halt and forcing about a million people in the country’s south to leave their homes. It killed three people and injured nearly a hundred others, before landing in Vietnam.
Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades. It made landfall on September 7, 2024 with winds of up to 149 kph and despite weakening on September 8, 2024, downpours continued and rivers remained dangerously high.
Floods and landslides have killed almost 350 people in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, according to the latest official figures.
Published - September 17, 2024 12:40 pm IST
