News Flash (23rd July 2020): Top 10 Stories Of The Day

1. Tamil Nadu colleges cancel exams, only final year students’ exam to be conducted

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami after listening to the recommendations of high-level committees came to the conclusion of cancelling semester exams of many courses for the previous academic year. The decision is applicable only to the following students-

• The first and second-year students of arts and science colleges and students of polytechnic courses
• The first-year students of postgraduate courses
• First, second and third-year students of bachelors of engineering courses (BE, BTech)
• First-year students of masters in engineering (ME)
• First and second-year students of masters of computer application (MCA – 3 years course) and first-year students of MCA (2 years course)

2. Govt of Gujarat takes a stand on private school’s fees schedule

Gujarat High Court ordered that no school can charge fees when they are physically nonfunctional. A circular issued by the department said: “It has come to the notice of the government that even during the total lockdown in the state, many self-financed and private schools were forcing and demanding fees from parents while at the same time, slashing down salaries of their teachers and staff by 40 to 50 percent and some were not even paying them at all.” “During such difficult times like Covid-19 situation, the noble profession of education is expected to support the students. Despite that, the self-financed schools confederation has refused to carry out any reduction in their fees. Looking at this, the government has decided that from the time schools were shut down due to Covid-19, till the time they resume, no school shall charge any fee from their students.” This notice came as a relief for many parents in the state

3. For the first time, rural internet users exceed the urban ones in India

As per the Internet and Mobile Association of India’s latest report called ‘Digital in India’, 227 million internet users belong to the rural areas, a number that is higher than those belonging to the urban areas which have only 205 users, despite its advantages. Easy accessibility, cheap data plans, and awareness is the reason behind this boost. At the same time it needs to be noted that while rural people have access to the internet, access is neither regular nor of high quality.

4. NASA shares first-ever image of North Pole of largest Moon

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede’s north pole became famous among the Twitterati the moment a picture of it was released by NASA. It is the ninth-largest object in the solar system and was captured by NASA’s Juno aircraft. ‘Hypnotic’’ beautiful beyond imagination’ are a few adjectives among many that are being addressed for this celestial being.

5. China launches its first independent Mars mission successfully

China launched its first unmanned probe to Mars last Thursday. It is expected to reach mars in February and would rover around the planet for 90 odd days. If successful,China would be the first country to deploy and land a rover on Mars. The rover is hence named Tianwen 1 or Questions to heaven

6. Indian citizens on a never-ending list for a US Green Card

Green card or permanent resident card is a sign that proves that holder can reside in the United States permanently. Due to a humongous migration and unfair immigration rules it was realized that if an Indian applies for a visa today, he will be granted the green card only after 195 years, thanks to the backlog. This crucial news made headlines because of Senator Mike Lee who made critical statements about the rights and protection of immigrant families on Wednesday. 

7. India and Pak revealed as targets of UK’s spy technology

As per the data released by Business Insider, UK is selling spy technology to countries that have been accused of using services like these to keep their populations under check and at times even commit acts against basic human rights. Licenses were granted to sell these services to countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, India among others. This equipment has the power to intercept and get data from mobile phones present in the area. Such dealings give away a notion that Britain thinks about its profits more than the rights and lives of fellow humans.

8. Justice Mishra’s questions Rajasthan’s speaker about the importance of  dissent in democracy

The Supreme court refused Rajasthani speaker’s plea regarding the stay of Sachin Pilot and MLA’S Petition. The legendary speaker Justice Arun Mishra asked the speaker whether a person who was elected by people not express his dissent. In a democracy, can somebody be shut down like this?

9. 1bn doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be produced by Serum Institute, price to be under Rs.1k

CEO Adar Poonawala promised that he will produce approximately 60-70 million doses a month once the vaccine finishes the trial and licensing stage that it is currently in. Affordability and massive production are the two main pillars that pharmaceutical companies need to adhere to in the India Market.

10. Facebook testing a new Page design without ‘Like’ button

Following the footsteps of Instagram, Facebook is also planning on completely removing the like button.  The ‘Follows’ count will indicate the number of  people that are actually receiving the Page’s update in their News Feed. The updated design and features are meant to make using Pages ‘less complex’.