News Analysis India

Tag: Harm

  • Canadian PM Trudeau once again comments on farmers’ protest amid diplomatic tussle with India

    Despite India’s warning to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his earlier remarks on farmers’ protests, the PM has once again commented that he “will always stand up for the right of peaceful protests”.

    Speaking at a press conference after the External Affairs Ministry issued a demarche to Canadian High Commissioner, Trudeau said, “Canada will always stand up for the right of peaceful protests anywhere around the world.” Meanwhile, the Sikh Council UK has demanded the political leaders to support the Canadian PM.

    “Political leaders should stand alongside @JustinTrudeau to oppose human rights violations by the Indian authorities & not bow to bullying,” the Sikh Council UK said in a tweet.

    Farmers are protesting in Delhi and its border areas against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    On Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a demarche to Canadian High Commissioner, saying that the remarks made by the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, some Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament on Indian farmers’ protest will have “seriously damaging impact on ties between India and Canada”.

    According to an official statement issued by the MEA, “The Canadian High Commissioner was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs today and informed that comments by the Canadian Prime Minister, some Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament on issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs.”

    Such actions, if continued, would have a seriously damaging impact on ties between India and Canada, the Ministry further said.

  • WHO Urges People To Follow COVID-19 Safety Measures Even After Vaccine Rollout

    The World Health Organization, during a media briefing on December 4, urged people to follow the safety measures even after the vaccine is rolled out as it will not put an end to the deadly virus. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the progress in vaccines gives people a lift ‘and we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel’. He also said that the organization is worried about the growing perception of people about how the pandemic is over as this can turn out to be harmful.

    The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 65 million people worldwide with the global death toll at 1,524,462. As per the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, the United States has reported a total of 14,772,535 positive virus cases and has a death toll of 285,550.The US currently has the highest number of reported cases in the world, making it the epicentre of the deadly virus.

    Recently, Pfizer Inc’s CEO Albert Bourla has said that the company is “not certain” if its COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed in collaboration with German drugmaker BioNTech SE prevented the transmission of the novel coronavirus. This comes just days after the UK became the world’s first country to give formal authorisation to Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine for mass rollout. Also, Bahrain on December 5 became the second nation in the world to grant an emergency-use authorisation for the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer. However, the country did not reveal information about the number of vaccines that it had purchased. Pfizer told the Associated Press that the details of its sales agreement with Bahrain, including the “timing of delivery and the volume of doses,” was confidential and declined to comment.