(1) Punjab Police initiates a crackdown against Waris Punjab De
By late noon on February 23, the country was abuzz with footage of a huge crowd of Sikhs—armed with lathis, swords, and guns—breaking barricades and taking over the Ajnala Police Station in Punjab’s Amritsar district. The police stood down because the bus they had arrived in carried the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scripture. The person at the centre of the chaos was Amritpal Singh, the Sikh religious preacher whose Waris Punjab De faced a police crackdown on March 18.
The Punjab Police arrested at-least 112 persons and detaining several others for questioning. Amritpal Singh escaped after he changed vehicles to evade getting caught. Six criminal cases have been registered by the police against him. Mobile Internet services were shutdown in most parts of the State.
Amritpal Singh openly supports the cause of Khalistan; also, Amritpal imitates Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the radical Sikh leader of the 1980s. There are other parallels with the 1980s situation: the State administration seems paralysed, the police ineffective, the Sikh institutions, even religious ones, silent.
The looming trouble in Punjab is being inflamed by a mix of religious fanaticism, foreign-aided opportunism, and a societal crisis. The mobilisation of a section of the Sikh diaspora in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia for the cause of separatism is also a worrying sign for India.
(2) Tamil Nadu Budget
The Tamil Nadu Budget for FY24, which was presented on Monday, March 20, is hailed by CM M.K. Stalin as an example of the ‘Dravidian Model’ ideology, which represents as an inclusive growth model, he added. While the much-anticipated announcement on disbursal of monthly assistance of ₹1,000 for women family heads was made by Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, some main highlights of the TN budget were:
- TN government to give Rs. 14,000 crop loan to farmers through co-operative societies besides ₹1,500 crore for other allied activities such as goat rearing, dairying, poultry and fisheries, in 2023-24.
- Nearly 1 crore women may get covered under ‘Magalir Urimai Thogai’ scheme - which is the State government’s scheme of universal basic income.
- The flagship healthcare programme ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ (MTM) will be expanded to workers in factories and unorganised sectors, including migrant workers. The scheme will cover 8.35 lakh workers in 711 factories across the State in the first phase.
- CM’s breakfast scheme is to be expanded to all primary schools. The allocation of Rs. 500 crore will benefit 18 lakh students studying from Classes I to V.
- The State government announced the Tamil Nadu Coastal Restoration Mission. The mission, to be implemented with World Bank assistance at an estimated cost of ₹2,000 crore over the next five years, is aimed at preventing sea erosion, reducing marine pollution and conserving marine biodiversity.
- A new wildlife sanctuary called the ‘Thanthai Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary’ spread across 80,567 hectares in the forest areas of Anthiyur and Gobichettipalayam in Erode district is to be notified. This will be the 18th wildlife sanctuary in the State.
- The state’s GSDP is estimated to have grown at around 14 per cent in nominal terms in 2022-23 and it is likely to be sustained at the same level next year.
Some other highlights of the budget are shown in the graphic below:
(3) Finland happiest country in the world: U.N. report
For the sixth year running, Finland secured the top spot in the World Happiness Index. India was ranked 126th of the 137 countries on the report, below neighbours China, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Last year, India was ranked 136.
The World Happiness Report, first published in 2012, is based on people’s own assessment of their happiness, as well as economic and social data. The report considers six key factors: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption. It assigns a happiness score based on an average of data over a three-year period.
While Ukraine’s ranking improved from 98 to 92 this year, despite the Russian invasion, its overall score fell from 5.084 to 5.071, on a scale of zero to 10. Northern Europe once again dominated the top spots — with Denmark in second place followed by Iceland. Israel occupied the fourth position, up five spots from last year. While the same countries typically top the list each year, Baltic countries are rising rapidly towards Western European levels, the authors said. Knocking France off the 20th spot, Lithuania became the only new country in the top 20 with Estonia in at number 31, up from 66 in 2017.
War-scarred Afghanistan, which has occupied the bottom spot on the table since 2020, saw its humanitarian crisis deepen since the Taliban government took power in 2021 following the US-led military pullout.
(4) India rejects TB drug patent application
On Thursday, the Indian Patent Office rejected U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) attempt to extend its monopoly on manufacturing the anti-TB Bedaquiline drug in India. The company wanted to renew its patent on fumarate salt (a formulation salt of Bedaquiline). It said that it had invented the method for making a derivative of quinoline in its salt form. However, the Office said that the methods were “known in the scientific world for more than three decades” and rejected the application.
India is not the only country where J&J holds a patent in the manufacturing of Bedaquiline.
Patents for TB drugs are important since generic pharma companies cannot make Bedaquiline drugs if a patent is given to J&J. This means the drug is available only at the prices the J&J sets. Currently, bedaquiline costs $400 for a 6-month regime. The rejection is expected to lower the cost of bedaquiline by up to 80%.
The drug is crucial for treating multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB). The number of people suffering from MDR TB is the highest in India. The patent’s rejection would help India meet its goal of eliminating TB by 2025.
Also read | Explained | Bedaquiline, India’s anti-tuberculosis fight, and a patent battle
(5) The XBB.1.16 variant
Over the past week, daily COVID-19 cases have spiked. On Saturday, 1,590 cases were registered. This is the highest in 146 days. Active cases in India stood at 8,601. Most of the active cases were recorded in Kerala and Maharashtra.
The Prime Minister held a high-level meeting and directed officials to increase whole genome sequencing of COVID positive samples to track new variants. One such variant is the XBB.1.16. Recently, more COVID-19 samples have shown infection from XBB.1.16.
The XBB.1.16 is a sublineage of XBB lineage. XBB itself is a recombinant of Omicron sublineages BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75. XBB.1.16 does not lead to more severe infections, but the recent spike in the number of cases has been attributed to the new variant.
Also read |Explained | XBB.1.16, the Omicron recombinant behind India’s new COVID spike
Another reason for the spike may be more people getting tested after showing symptoms of influenza infections. Influenza cases, too, increased in the past weeks. However, experts have assured that the spike of cases is nothing to be alarmed about.
Along with a rise in cases, the Health Ministry noted insufficient testing levels in States. It fell short compared to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) i.e 140 tests/ million. The vaccination numbers for the precautionary dose is low, too. While primary COVID vaccination (97%) and second dose (90%), India’s precautionary dose uptake stands at 27%.
Editorial |No cause for alarm: On the Omicron recombinant XBB.1.16 in India
