Anoop Ramakrishnan and Akhil N.R., Shakshi.com, May 22, 2020 The near-total shutdown of legislatures in the country, due to COVID-19, has heavily impacted their primary responsibilities of passing laws, approving government expenditure, and supervising government action.

Impact of COVID-19 Due to the threat of COVID-19, both Parliament and state legislatures have curtailed their budget sessions. States like Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh cancelled their scheduled sessions and have instead issued ordinances for budgetary spending. Meanwhile, central and state governments have responded to the COVID-19 crisis by issuing over 4500 notifications.

Why do legislatures need to meet? The Constitution empowers legislatures to make laws. The executive gets to implement laws by means of policies, executive orders, and ordinances. While policies and executive orders do not need legislative approval, except for related expenditures, ordinances have limited validity without legislative consent. Ordinances are issued by the President or Governor only when the legislatures are not in session.

Further, legislatures are also empowered to oversee all actions of the government and hold the latter accountable for its actions and inactions. However, they don’t meet often, particularly, state legislatures. They meet for an average of 26 days a year, spending most of those days on the budget session. Consequently, legislations and budgetary proposals are often passed, as soon as they are introduced, without much deliberation. While Parliamentary sittings have also declined in number, that is compensated by the presence of an active standing committee system that scrutinises ministry actions and legislations. Such a committee system is either absent or inactive in state legislatures.

Thus, with governments issuing multiple orders and ordinances to tackle COVID-19, it is vital for legislatures to meet to deliberate and scrutinise these response measures and their potential consequences.

How will legislatures meet? The COVID-19 pandemic has stayed the standard practice of conducting legislative business physically in designated chambers. Thus, across the world, three different practices of legislatures have been observed: (i) physical meetings with distancing measures, (ii) virtual meetings, and (iii) no meetings at all.

India currently falls in the third category, with only Meghalaya assembly meeting (as usual without restrictions) on May 20. Interestingly, Parliamentary and assembly rules do not impose any physical or geographical restrictions on conducting sessions. The only requirement is that sittings have to be presided over by the Chairman/Speaker or an authorised MP/MLA. The Chairman/Speaker also has wide discretionary powers to decide on matters pertaining to running the House.

While this situation is not unique to India, most legislatures around the world have now had to adapt the way they function. They have adopted measures, such as, (i) social distancing, in France and Spain, (ii) mandatory wearing of masks, in Italy, (iii) plexiglass enclosures, in Greece, and (iv) online meetings, in Maldives and Estonia, with real-time debates, committee meetings and even vote casting.

The Indian Parliament has historically embraced technology, such as, teleprinters, computers, and live telecasts of proceedings. A precedent has also been set by the joint committee of the Parliament on salary and allowances, in April, when they met online to recommend a 30 % salary cut for MPs. Despite this, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats are currently evaluating the feasibility of holding virtual meetings of standing committees. However, with most legislatures slated to meet next only after July, there is no time like the present for legislatures to go online. It is imperative that government oversight by the legislature continues unhindered even in times of crisis.

Anoop Ramakrishnan and N.R. Akhil are Programme Officers at PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based research organization.

The Finance Commission headed by Sh. N. K. Singh and including its Members and senior officials today held a detailed meeting with the Power Ministry headed by the Union Minister for Power, Shri R. K. Singh on issues relating to the Reforms of the Electricity Sector in the States. This was in continuation to the recommendations made on the power sector by the Finance Commission in its report for the financial year 2020-2021.

As a lead-up to the Commission’s next report for the Financial Year 2021-2026 and taking into consideration the announcement of Rs. 90,000 crores Liquidity Injection for Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) by the Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, as one of the 15 measures in the first of the five tranches to combat the economic disruption from the coronavirus lockdown, which had stretched the finances of the Power DISCOMs. The Finance Minister’s announcements reflected the Prime Minister’s priority in accelerating Power Sector Reforms and taking up issues which have endemically hurt the Power Sector.

The Minister for Power highlighted to the Commission the current disconnect in the structures of the power system between decision making by the State Government and the financial consequences thereof, which are borne by the DISCOMs leading to losses. The Minister emphasized the need for the State Governments to be also conjointly responsible for the financial health of their fully owned DISCOMs. Towards this end the borrowing limits of the State Governments under the FRBM Act, needed to be recalibrated to take these liabilities into account. This would bring to fore the responsibility of the State Governments under whose control the DISCOMs operate. It will also bring financial transparency and bring about financially and managerially responsible behavior of the States with respect to DISCOMs.

The Minister briefed the Commission about the reforms in the pipeline for the turnaround of the DISCOMs. This included the new tariff policy which is under consideration for approval. It includes path breaking reforms in the power sector. Amendments are proposed to the Electricity Act of 2003. The Minister informed the Commission that the old schemes of the Ministry are being amalgamated into a new scheme for which he requested the Commission's for a support of Rs. 3 lakh crores over a five year period. This scheme would primarily focus on steps for reduction of losses, separate feeders for agriculture and smart prepaid meters.

The Chairman and Members while appreciating the Power Minister for the initiatives being taken in the power sector provided useful suggestions to the Ministry on the issues of regulatory capture, financial engineering, sustainability of reforms, etc.

It will be recalled that the 15th Finance Commission in its report for FY 2020-21 noted that most States have reduced, to some extent, their aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and the difference between average cost of supply and average realizable revenue (ACS-ARR) after implementation of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) in 2016-17. However, the progress did not appear to be sustainable unless systemic issues in the power sector are suitably addressed. In view of the above, the Minister and the Commission felt that robust and systemic reforms are required to improve the health of the power sector.

The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is releasing Index of Eight Core Industries for the Month of April, 2020.

The growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for April 2020 declined by 38.1% (provisional) compared to decline of 9 percent (provisional) previous month of March 2020.In view of nationwide lockdownduring April 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, various industries viz. Coal, Cement, Steel, Natural Gas, Refinery, Crude Oil etcexperienced substantial loss of production.

Finalgrowth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for January’2020 remains unchanged at 2.2%.The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).Detail of yearly/monthly index and growth rate is provided at Annexure. Monthly growth rates of Index of Eight Core Industries (Overall) is depicted in the graph:

5. The summary of the Index of Eight Core Industries is given below: Coal- Coal production (weight: 10.33per cent) declinedby 15.5 per cent in April, 2020 over April,2019. Its cumulative index declined by 0.4 per cent during April toMarch, 2019-20over corresponding period of the previous year.

Crude Oil-Crude Oil production (weight: 8.98per cent) declined by 6.4 per cent in April, 2020 over April,2019. Its cumulative index declined by 5.9 per cent during April toMarch, 2019-20over the corresponding period of previous year.

Natural Gas- The Natural Gas production (weight:6.88per cent) declinedby19.9 per cent in April, 2020 over April,2019. Its cumulative index declined by 5.6 per cent during April to March, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Refinery Products- Petroleum Refinery production (weight: 28.04per cent) declined by 24.2 per cent in April, 2020 over April,2019. Its cumulative index increased by 0.2per cent during April to March, 2019-20over the corresponding period of previous year.

Fertilizers-Fertilizers production (weight: 2.63 per cent) declined by 4.5 per cent in April, 2020 over April,2019. Its cumulative index increasedby 2.7 per cent during April toMarch, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Steel-Steel production (weight: 17.92per cent)declinedby 83.9 per cent in April, 2020 over April,2019. Its cumulative index increased by 3.4 per centduring April to March, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Cement-Cement production (weight:5.37per cent) declinedby 86.0 per cent in April, 2020over April,2019. Its cumulative index declinedby0.9 per centduring April to March, 2019-20over the corresponding period of previous year.

Electricity- Electricity generation (weight:19.85per cent) declinedby 22.8 per centin April, 2020over April,2019. Its cumulative indexincreased by1.0per cent duringApril to March, 2019-20over the corresponding period of previous year.

Major Suman Gawani, an Indian Army officer who served as a women peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in 2019 is being awarded the prestigious “United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the year Award” on 29 May 2020. She will receive the award from the UN Secretary General Mr Antonio Guterres during an online ceremony being organised at the UN Headquarters, New York on the occasion of International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. Major Suman will be receiving this award alongwith a Brazilian Naval Officer Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo.

Major Suman served as a Military observer in UNMISS from November 2018 to December 2019. While at the mission, she was the principal focal point of contact for gender issues for Military Observers in the mission. The officer encouraged participation in joint military patrols to maintain gender balance, irrespective of the hardships under extreme field conditions. She visited various mission team sites across South Sudan to integrate gender perspective into the planning and military activity in the mission.

The officer was selected to attend a specialised training on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) at Nairobi and participated in various UN forums to demonstrate how a gender perspective can help in protecting civilians, especially from conflict related sexual violence. Apart from supporting the UNMISS Force initiatives, she also trained the South Sudan government forces on CRSV related aspects. The officer also commanded the UN Peacekeepers Day Parade organised at UNMISS, where she commanded twelve contingents of UNPOL, Military and Civilians.

Foundation Stone for a Missile Park "AGNEEPRASTHA" was laid at INS Kalinga by Cmde Rajesh Debnath, Commanding Officer, in the presence of Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, FOC-in-C (East) on 28 May 20.

The Missile Park ‘AGNEEPRASTHA’ once completed will be dedicated to all the Officers, Sailors and Support Staff of INS Kalinga, who have served in this premier op-support Base of the ENC since its establishment in 1981. The Park also commemorates the award of the prestigious Unit Citation to INS Kalinga for the year 2018-19.

‘AGNEEPRASTHA’ aims to capture glimpses of Missile History of INS Kalinga since 1981 till date. The Missile Park has been set up with a replica of missiles and Ground Support Equipment (GSE) that showcase the evolution of missiles handled by the unit. The exhibits have been created from scrap / obsolete inventory which have been reconditioned in-house. The main attraction is P-70 'Ametist', an underwater launched anti-ship missile from the arsenal of the old 'Chakra' (Charlie-1 submarine) which was in service with IN during 1988-91.

‘AGNEEPRASTHA’will also provide a one-stop arena for motivation and stimulation of inquisitive minds regarding the missiles and related technologies, from school children to Naval personnel and their families. It is also intended to encourage a feeling of ownership and pride in the role of the Unit, and highlight the necessity of contribution of all personnel irrespective of rank/trade towards the overarching objective of ordnance availability, reliability and delivery on target, each and every time.

Chhattisgarh State presented their Annual Action Plan for 2020-21 for consideration and approval of Ministry of Jal Shakti. Significantly, Jal Jeevan Mission launched under the Ministry of Jal Shakti is aimed to provide adequate potable drinking water of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis to every rural household of the country by the 2024. A budget of whopping Rs 3.60 lakh Crore has been allocated for this scheme.

Under this life changing Mission, Chhattisgarh State has planned to have 100% Functional Tap Water Connection (FHTC) by 2023-24. Out of 45 lakh households in the State, it’s planned to provide tap connections to 20 lakh households. While planning for universal coverage of households, priority is being given to water scarce areas, quality-affected areas, SC/ ST dominated habitations/ villages, aspirational districts, Sansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana villages. Govt of India has approved Rs 445 Crore for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in the State in 2020-21.

State is laying emphasis on water quality monitoring and surveillance. Chhattisgarh has been battling with the issue of rapid ground water depletion and chemical contamination of Arsenic, Fluoride, Iron, etc. in water since many years; thus, taking cognizance of the situation the state was advised to ensure provision of potable water in these habitations. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, emphasis is being given on water quality surveillance through active participation of frontline functionaries as well as involving the community. School and college students are being encouraged to use the Field Test Kits to test the quality of water being provided in the rural areas.

In every Gram Panchayat, GP or their sub-committee i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committees have been constituted for planning at village level. Village Action Plans have been carried out for villages, based on which the action plan has been finalized. State is ensuring convergence of funds from various sources like MGNREGS, 15th Finance Commission Grants to rural local bodies, SBM, etc. for taking up works related to strengthening of water resources, aquifer recharge, grey water management, etc.

It’s the endeavour of the Government to provide tap connections in rural households on priority basis during prevailing CoVid-19 situation, so that rural people don’t have to go through the hardship of fetching water from public stand-posts and standing in long queue. Government intends that the poor and marginalized sections of the society get water through tap connections inside their house premises and avoid going to standposts and ensuring social distancing, thereby keeping the rural communities safe from being infected.

With summers in full swing, monsoons approaching, and country grappling with COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more imperative to provide livelihood to the migrant workers who have returned to their native villages. These migrant labourers are basically skilled and semi-skilled ones, whose services could be effectively utilized in villages by providing jobs related to water supply especially plumbing, fitting, water conservation works, etc. in every village to ensure sufficient ground water availability leading to water security, water availability for agriculture and most importantly will help in provision of drinking water to every rural household.

The All-India CPI-IW for April, 2020 increased by 3 points and stood at 329 (three hundred and twenty nine). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by (+) 0.92 per cent between March and April, 2020 compared to (+) 0.97 per cent increase between corresponding months of previous year.

The maximum upward pressure in current index came from Food group contributing (+) 2.43 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Rice, Wheat, Wheat Atta, Arhar Dal, Moong Dal, Mustard Oil, Fish Fresh, Goat Meat, Poultry (Chicken), Brinjal, Cabbage, Cauliflower, French Bean, Green Coriander Leaves, Lady’s Finger, Palak, Potato, Radish, Tomato, Banana, Lemon, Mango (Ripe), Sugar, Cooking Gas, etc. are responsible for the increase in index. However, this increase was checked by Garlic, Onion, Parval, Petrol, Flowers/Flower Garlands, etc., putting downward pressure on the index.

Year-on-year inflation based on all-items stood at 5.45 per cent for April, 2020 as compared to 5.50 per cent for the previous month and 8.33 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, Food inflation stood at 6.56 per cent against 6.67 per cent of the previous month and 4.92 per cent during the corresponding month an year ago.

At centre level, Doom-Dooma Tinsukia recorded the maximum increase of 14 points followed by Salem (12 points) and Surat (10 points). Among others, 9 points increase was observed in 2 centres, 8 points in another 2 centres, 7 points in 3 centres, 6 points in 2 centres, 5 points in 5 centres, 4 points in another 5 centres, 3 points in 11 centres, 2 points in 10 centres and 1 point in 18 centres. On the contrary, Chhindwara, Vadodara, Bhilai, Yamunanagar and Jamshedpur recorded a decrease of 1 point each. Rest of 12 centres’ indices remained stationary.

Around 76 Online Job Fairs conducted by NCS during the lockdown Period Posted On: 29 MAY 2020 4:49PM by PIB Delhi

The Ministry of Labour and Employment under its National Career Service (NCS) project has now started offering free online “Career Skills Training” in partnership with TCS ION for its registered job-seekers. This course on soft skills assists the learners in enhancing personality development with modules on corporate etiquette, improving inter personal skills, making impactful presentation including other necessary soft skills demanded by the industry today. The training module is available in Hindi and English on the NCS portal.

The Ministry is implementing the NCS Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like job search, job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships etc through an on-line portal (www.ncs.gov.in). There are around 1 crore active job seekers and 54 thousand active employers registered on NCS and around 73 lakh vacancies have been mobilized through the portal so far. Around 1000 employment exchanges including 200 Model Career Centers across the country are integrated with NCS.

NCS has also taken a number of other initiatives to mitigate the challenges in the labour market due to COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown of the economy.

Online Job Fairs are beingorganized to bridge the gap between job aspirants and employers where the complete cycle from job posting to selection of candidate can be completed on the portal. Around 76 Online Job Fairs have been conducted by NCS during the lockdown Period.

A Special link for Work from Home Jobs and Online Trainings has been created on NCS portal Home Page to give direct access to job-seekers to such jobs.

NCS also offers the functionality of creation of video profiles for job-seekers in partnership with HIREMEE, a platform which provides online assessment and hiring services. Job-seekers can showcase their ability to recruiters using short video clips. All services on NCS are free.

Who are associate members? Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of states, for which the Delimitation Commission is set up, are drawn in as associate members to help the panel in its task.

Background: The government had on March 6 constituted the Delimitation Commission, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.

The commission will delimit the constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, and of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland in accordance with the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 2002.

What is Delimitation? Delimitation literally means the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a state that has a legislative body.

Who carries out the exercise? Delimitation is undertaken by a highly powerful commission. They are formally known as Delimitation Commission or Boundary Commission. These bodies are so powerful that its orders have the force of law and they cannot be challenged before any court.

Such commissions have been constituted at least four times in India — in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952; in 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962; in 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972 and last in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.

The commissions’ orders are enforced as per the date specified by the President of India. Copies of these orders are laid before the Lok Sabha or the concerned Legislative Assembly. No modifications are permitted.

Composition of the Commission: According to the Delimitation Commission Act, 2002, the Delimitation Commission appointed by the Centre has to have three members: a serving or retired judge of the Supreme Court as the chairperson, and the Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner nominated by the CEC and the State Election Commissioner as ex-officio members.

Why Delimitation? To provide equal representation to equal segments of a population. Fair division of geographical areasso that one political party doesn’t have an advantage over others in an election. To follow the principle of “One Vote One Value”.

How delimitation is carried out? Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.

Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census. Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.

About 40% of the paracetamol API manufactured in the country is consumed in the domestic market, while the rest is meant for exports.

What is an API? Every medicine is made up of two main ingredients — the chemically active APIs and chemically inactive, excipients, which is a substance that delivers the effect of APIs to one’s system.

API is a chemical compound that is the most important raw material to produce a finished medicine.

In medicine, API produces the intended effects to cure the disease. For instance, Paracetamol is the API for Crocin and it is the API paracetamol that gives relief from body ache and fever.

Fixed-dose combination drugs use multiple APIs, while single-dose drugs like Crocin use just one API.

How an API is manufactured? API is not made by only one reaction from the raw materials but rather it becomes an API via several chemical compounds. The chemical compound which is in the process of becoming an API from raw material is called an intermediate.

There are some APIs that pass “through over ten kinds of intermediates in a process when it changes from being a raw material into an API”. The long manufacturing process is continued until it is purified and reaches a very high degree of purity.

What’s the concern for India now? How COVID 19 induced pandemic has affected? Despite being a leading supplier of high-quality medicines to several countries, Indian pharmaceutical industry is highly dependent on China for APIs.

In the 2018-19 fiscal, the government had informed the Lok Sabha that the country’s drug-makers had imported bulk drugs and intermediates worth $ 2.4 billion from China.

But with an frequent lockdowns due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, supplies of raw materials from China to produce drugs for treating HIV, cancer, epilepsy, malaria, and also commonly-used antibiotics and vitamin pills, are likely to be hit.

How India lost its API market to China? During the early 90s, India was self-reliant in manufacturing APIs. However, with the rise of China as a producer of API, it captured the Indian market with cheaper products and it eventually led to high economies of scale for China.

China created a low-cost API manufacturing industry. The industry was backed by the low cost of capital followed by aggressive government funding models, tax incentives. Their cost of operation is one-fourth of India’s cost. Even the cost of finance in China is 6-7 per cent against India’s 13-14 per cent.

So, due to low-profit margins and non-lucrative industry, Indian pharma companies over the years stopped manufacturing APIs.

Background: ASF has been seen in other Asian countries as well. Most recently, the Philippines had to cull more than 7,000 pigs to arrest the spread of ASF.

About African Swine Fever (ASF): ASF is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects domestic and wild pigs, typically resulting in an acute form of hemorrhagic fever.

It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s. The mortality is close to 100 per cent, and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop it spreading is by culling the animals. ASF is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.

According to the FAO, “its extremely high potential for transboundary spread has placed all the countries in the region in danger and has raised the spectre of ASF once more escaping from Africa. It is a disease of growing strategic importance for global food security and household income”.

The law will be added to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, or Basic Law, to require the territory to enforce measures to be decided by the NPC’s standing committee, a small body controlled by the governing party that handles most legislative work.

Details: The law is called the “NPC Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Safeguard National Security”. It essentially empowers the NPC to draft new national security laws for Hong Kong.

The scope of the laws could cover any activity that “seriously endangers national security”.

It is aimed at enabling “measures to counter, lawfully prevent, stop and punish foreign and overseas forces’ use of Hong Kong to carry out separatist, subversive, infiltrative, or destructive activities”.

What next? Now approved, the NPC’s standing committee will draft the law — a process that is expected to take about two months. It will then be implemented upon promulgation by the Hong Kong government, bypassing the city’s legislature via a rarely-enacted constitutional backdoor.

The law will drastically broaden Beijing’s power over Hong Kong, which last year was roiled by anti-government protests calling for greater democracy and more autonomy from mainland China.

What’s the issue now? This act has been criticised by legal experts as it undermines the “one country, two systems” model. Since 1997, Hong Kong has been governed by the Basic Law, which gives the SAR “executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication”. Only matters of defence and foreign affairs are handled by the central government.

International condemnation: This move is being seen as a direct violation of China’s international commitments by the United States and its allies – the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The US and allies are extremely concerned that this action will exacerbate the existing deep divisions in Hong Kong society. US has already revoked the special trading status given to Hong Kong.

Details: The Bill calls for sanctions against those responsible for repression of Uighurs and other Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang province, where the United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps.

It singles out the region’s Communist Party secretary, Chen Quanguo, as responsible for “gross human rights violations” against them. The Bill also calls on U.S. firms operating in Xinjiang region to ensure their products do not include parts using forced labour.

Who are Uighurs? Uighurs are a Muslim minority community concentrated in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang province.

They claim closer ethnic ties to Turkey and other central Asian countries than to China, by brute — and brutal — force.

Why is China targeting the Uighurs? Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region within China — its largest region, rich in minerals, and sharing borders with eight countries, including India, Pakistan, Russia and Afghanistan.

Over the past few decades, as economic prosperity has come to Xinjiang, it has brought with it in large numbers the majority Han Chinese,who have cornered the better jobs, and left the Uighurs feeling their livelihoods and identity were under threat.

This led to sporadic violence, in 2009 culminating in a riot that killed 200 people, mostly Han Chinese, in the region’s capital Urumqi. And many other violent incidents have taken place since then.

Beijing also says Uighur groups want to establish an independent state and, because of the Uighurs’ cultural ties to their neighbours, leaders fear that elements in places like Pakistan may back a separatist movement in Xinjiang.

Therefore, the Chinese policy seems to have been one of treating the entire community as suspect,and launching a systematic project to chip away at every marker of a distinct Uighur identity.

The order would make it easier for federal regulators to argue that the companies are “suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts.”

What’s the issue? The move follows his anger at Twitter over its decision this week to append fact-check labels to several of his tweets about mail-in voting, along with links to accurate information on the topic.

Twitter’s move to tag the President’s tweets comes after years of being accused of ignoring the President’s violation of platform rules with his daily tweets.

What protects social media companies? A 1996 law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, essentially bars people from suing providers of an “interactive computer service” for libel if users post defamatory messages on their platforms.

It says intermediary website operators — a category ranging from social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to blogs that let readers post comments — will not be treated as the publisher or the speaker for making others’ posts available.

A related provision also protects the sites from lawsuits accusing them of wrongfully taking down content. It gives them immunity for “good faith” decisions to remove or restrict posts they deem “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.”

How does the executive order target this shield? By putting forward a vision for an exception to websites’ legal immunity. The order argues that if a site restricts access to others’ content in bad faith and goes beyond removing the types of objectionable content detailed in the law, it should be deemed a publisher rather than a neutral platform — thus losing its legal immunity from lawsuits.

What next? If this vision were the law, it would mean that social media companies could be sued for defamatory content over what other people post on their platforms.

Even under the executive order’s vision of the law, such lawsuits might fail: A court would first have to decide that the social media firm had sufficiently engaged in enough editorial conduct to lose its immunity.

But the order could discourage such companies from taking an active role in curating the content on their platforms — and raise the risk and cost of doing business.

It is a far-right Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

Formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND according to its French name), the then-ruling party of Rwanda.

The Interahamwe were the main perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, during which an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi, Twa, and moderate Hutus were killed from April to July 1994, and the term “Interahamwe” was widened to mean any civilian bands killing Tutsi.

Uttar Pradesh government will develop 800 km roads as Herbal roads in the state.

These herbal roads will have medicinal and herbal trees along with the land on their both sides.

These include trees like like Peepal, Neem, Sehjan along with other herb varieties like Brahmi, Ashvagandha and Jatrofa.

These 800 kilometer roads will be along national and state highways passing through state and the herbal garden along with them will keep air-borne, bacterial and other diseases at bay.

Women peacekeepers from India and Brazil have jointly won the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year 2019 Award.

Major Suman Gawani of the Indian Army and Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo have been chosen for the award.

About the award: Created in 2016, the United Nations “Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award” recognizes the dedication and effort of an individual military peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Resolution For the first time, two peacekeepers will receive the award jointly for their contribution to this important cause.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the creation of the WHO Foundation.

It is an independent grant-making entity that will support the organization’s efforts to address the most pressing global health challenges.

The Foundation will support global public health needs by providing funds to the WHO and trusted implementing partners, but is legally separate from WHO.

It’ll be Headquartered in Geneva. The Foundation will work with individual donors, the general public and corporate partners to strengthen health systems globally.