West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s outburst against Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday was not a first but it brought to the fore, yet again, the role of the Governor in relation with the elected government and legislature. Mr. Dhankhar and his counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra appear to be testing the limits of their power and confronting the elected governments and legislatures in recent weeks. Tired of Mr. Dhankhar’s constant tirade against her on Twitter, Ms. Banerjee blocked him on the platform. The Governor then sent her a message for “dialogue and harmony amongst constitutional functionaries” but promptly posted that too on Twitter. The Chief Minister said the Governor was trying to treat the elected government as “bonded labour”. He has been summoning the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police on a regular basis, and when they do not turn up, taking to Twitter and often tagging the Chief Minister. Mr. Dhankhar also had a run-in with Assembly
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, in a recent briefing, noted that 90 million cases of coronavirus have been reported since the Omicron variant was first identified 10 weeks ago. His statement comes in the context of many countries easing their restrictive movement measures amid public fatigue. From WHO’s perspective, the blanket lifting of restrictions poses a problem as most people appear to believe that Omicron is less threatening compared to previous variants and that two shots of vaccines are an adequate defence against the virus. He underlined that a narrative that “preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary” had taken hold and this was problematic. This was false, he underscored at the briefing, as the virus continues to evolve and four of the six WHO regions globally are reporting an increasing trend in deaths.Britain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Finland are on the path of easing COVID-19 restrictions. In
