ˇ&’˚ ˆ(˘˜ ˜ ! ˘ ˇˆ &) ˚ ˘* +,-

1 ! " # $ % & & ' ( % & & ! ) * ' + ,- . - & / - & 00 ! -" 1"(2,With 2,82,970 new coron-avirus infections, includ-ing 8,961 Omicron variantcases, India s active cases haveincreased to 18,31,000, thehighest in 232 days. The infec-tions are likely to spike furthertill January 23 when the thirdCovid-19 wave in the countrymay peak with daily cases like-ly to remain below the fourlakh mark, said ManindraAgarwal, a scientist at theIndian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and one of theresearchers associated with theSutra Covid , Mumbai andKolkata have already reachedtheir peak in case numbers inthe past seven days, he to Agrawal,Covid-19 cases will peak inMaharashtra, Karnataka, UP,Gujarat, and Haryana thisweek, while States like AndhraPradesh, Assam, and TamilNadu may peak next week.)

2 The daily cases are pro-jected to peak on January 23 inIndia and stay below the fourlakh mark. Metro cities Delhi,Mumbai, and Kolkata havealready peaked, Agrawal had earlier pre-dicted that the Covid-19 thirdwave will peak by January end. Across the country, thetrajectories are changing sig-nificantly. I speculated earlierthat it is due to ICMR guide-lines for a changed testingstrategy. However, at manyplaces, these guidelines are notyet implemented and still, thetrajectory has changed! hesaid. According to a new Govtadvisory, individuals under-taking inter-State domestictravel and contacts of con-firmed Covid cases do notneed to get tested unless iden-tified as high risk based onage or hisview, there are two plausiblereasons for the change in theOmicron-led case trajectoryin India.

3 There are two groups inthe population, one with lessimmunity against Omicronand the other with more. Themutant first spread in the firstgroup causing a sharp the first group is exhaust-ed and so the spread is slower, he explained. Agrawal noted that therewas a lot of concern when theOmicron variant startedspreading in November lastyear. However, he said, in thelast week or so, people almosteverywhere have concludedthat the variant causes only mild infection and havedecided to handle it with stan-dard remedies instead of get-ting tested. The death toll in India hasclimbed to 4,87,202 with 441fresh fatalities. There has beena per cent increase inOmicron cases since Tuesday,the Ministry said. -" 1"(2,Situation in Afghanistan andin the neighbourhood willfigure prominently in the firstsummit between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andheads of State of five CentralAsian nations on January is hosting the conclave inthe virtual of the five nationswere to be invited as chiefguests for the Republic Dayparade this year.)

4 The ragingcorona pandemic forced Indiato change the schedule. TheRepublic Day parade for thesecond consecutive year willnot have any foreign countrychief guest. British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson was the chiefguest for last year s parade, buthe had to cancel the visit dueto surge in pandemic in hiscountry. Giving details of the forth-coming high-profile event, theMinistry of External Affairssaid here on Wednesday thePrime Minister will host thefirst India-Central AsiaSummit. Leaders are expectedto deliberate on steps to takeforward relations to newerheights as well as the evolvingregional security situation. The virtual summit will beheld with the participation ofthe five Presidents -Kazakhstan s Kassym-JomartTokayev, Uzbekistan s ShavkatMirziyoyev, Emomali Rahmon,of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan sGurbanguly Berdimuhamedowand Sadyr Japarov of KyrgyzRepublic.

5 Most of these coun-tries share border withAfghanistan. India has lot ofstakes in the restive will be the first engage-ment of its kind between Indiaand the Central Asian countriesat the level of leaders, theMinistry said in a statement. The first India-CentralAsia Summit is a reflection ofIndia s growing engagementwith the Central Asian coun-tries, which are a part of India s extended neighbourhood .Modi paid a visit to allCentral Asian countries in2015. Subsequently, there havebeen exchanges at high-levelsat bilateral and multilateralforums. During this summit, theleaders are expected to discusssteps to take forward India-Central Asia relations to newerheights. They are also expect-ed to exchange views onregional and internationalissues of interest, especiallythe evolving regional securitysituation.

6 The summit is symbolic ofthe importance attached bythe leaders of India and theCentral Asian countries to acomprehensive and enduringIndia-Central Asia partner-ship, the statement inception of the India-Central Asia Dialogue at theForeign Ministers level, thethird meeting of which washeld in New Delhi fromDecember 18-20, 2021, hasprovided an impetus to India-Central Asia relations, the state-ment said. -" 1"(2,Two IndiGo planes withhundreds of passengers onboard came close to collidingwith each other mid-air onJanuary 7 shortly after takingoff from KempegowdaInternational Airport (KIA), atan altitude of over 3000 feetover incident occurredwhen IndiGo flights 6E 455departing for Kolkata and 6E246 for Bhubaneswar weregiven permission to depart atthe same time.)

7 The DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA), which is investigatingthe matter, has said that itwould take the strictest actionagainst those responsible forthe incident. The incident wasnot recorded in any logbookand was not reported by theAirports Authority of India. Both the aircraft took offfrom Bengaluru airport in aspan of about five minutes. DGCA said that the twoIndiGo planes were involvedin breach of separation atBengaluru airport. Breach ofseparation happens when twoaircraft cross the minimummandatory vertical or hori-zontal distance in the these aircraft departedfrom the Bengaluru airportwithin a span of approximate-ly 5 minutes on the morning ofJanuary 7. On the morning of theincident, the north runwaywas being used for departuresand the south runway forarrivals.

8 Later, the shift incharge decided to close thesouth runway but failed toinform the air traffic controllerof the south tower, said offi-cials. As a result, the two flightswere given permission for take-off at the same time from theconverging runways. Thisresulted in a situation where theaircraft moving in the samedirection were about to collidewith each other. A radar con-troller saw this and immedi-ately intervened to alert the air-craft. ! " # $ % -" 1"(2,The Supreme Court onWednesday ordered thepersonal presence of ChiefSecretaries of Andhra Pradeshand Bihar via video conferenceat 2 pm over non-payment ofex-gratia compensation to kinof those who died of Covid-19. The court ordered them todisburse compensations inthree days and review rejectedapplications. At 2 pm the CSof AP appeared through thevirtual mode and assured theSC that whoever has notreceived the Covid compensa-tion will have their applicationsreviewed or else he is ready toface contempt.)

9 The bench of Justices MRShah and Sanjiv Khanna laternoted in its order that, the CSsof AP and Bihar turned upthrough virtual mode. It isreported that by now AP hasreceived 49,292 applications,31,000 were found eligible and6,000 were rejected. AP sayspayments to 28,000 claimantshave been made. Another10,000 is remaining out ofwhich 5,000 clearance is thereand payment will be there inthe next three days. Also, 6,000rejected claims will be exam-ined by the grievance redressalcommittee suo motu. If it isfound that the rejection hasbeen incorrect, the State shallreach out to all those claimantsand give them the opportuni-ty to remove defects. The APCS has assured the court thatAP shall ensure that not a sin-gle claimant who is eligible forcompensation shall be deprivedof it.

10 We trust and hope that theCS will stand by what he hasassured to this court. The CS of Bihar could notspeak to the bench despitebeing connected due to audioissues. However, the advocateappearing assured the SC thatall attempts will be made toreach the poor and illiterate sothat they can submit theirapplications. Looking into thepeculiarity of the State, moreeffort is needed by the State ofBihar to reach the eligible per-sons, / kin/ family members ofthe ones who succumbed toCovid-19, the court top court further orderedthat no claims be rejected ontechnical grounds. ! " # $ % -" 1"(2,Air India canceled eightflights on India-US routesfrom Wednesday onwards dueto the deployment of 5G inter-net in North America whichcould interfere with aircraft snavigation systems.)