The Evening Wrap: CMs, Sonia oppose JEE/NEET during pandemic

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Wednesday 26, August 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day]( [alt_text]( Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. CMs, Sonia call for united fight against move to hold JEE/NEET during pandemic At a meeting called by Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi, opposition Chief Ministers spoke in support of a united fight against the government’s move to hold engineering and medical entrance exams in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting, attended by Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and V. Narayanasamy, also [attacked the government for not paying GST dues to the States](. Banerjee said the Chief Ministers must go to the Supreme Court again to request that the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) be deferred. “Let us go to the Supreme Court,” Banerjee told the leaders. “Let us talk about this matter. This is a mental agony for students. I have not seen so many atrocities in a democracy. The situation is very serious. We have to speak up for the children.” [ West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during a virtual meeting of Opposition CMs on August 26, 2020. The meeting was convened by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. ] West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during a virtual meeting of Opposition CMs on August 26, 2020. The meeting was convened by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. The JEE is scheduled from September 1 to 6, and the NEET exam is to be held on September 13. This gives the Chief Ministers a small window to act. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren laid out a detailed case for why it would be risky for his state to hold the exams now. “Exams must happen, but we are hurrying up. In my state we have very few centres. To accommodate these students, we will have to open all hotels and buses. Chances of contracting Covid will be higher. The Centre must help by taking more time. Otherwise, the Centre will blame states all over again if something goes wrong,” he said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, “We have to decide whether we want to fear or fight the government. The people who elected the BJP at the centre also elected all of us. But if we do something it is paap (sin) and if they do anything then it is punya (virtuous)?” He pointed out that while his state was gradually emerging from the lockdown, schools remained shut. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suggested that all the Chief Ministers should jointly meet the Prime Minister, as their States have not received GST compensation. Gandhi called the failure to pay GST dues nothing short of a betrayal. “In the meeting of the standing committee of finance on August 11, the Finance Secretary clearly said the central government is not in a position to pay their mandatory compensation of 14% for the current year. This refusal to compensate States is nothing short of betrayal on the part of the Narendra Modi government, betrayal of state governments and people of India,” she said. Loan moratorium: Don’t hide behind RBI, SC tells Centre The Supreme Court today [criticised the Centre for “hiding behind” the RBI]( without making clear its stand on the loan moratorium scheme introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. The court wanted to know whether the deferment of EMIs during the moratorium period – meant to help borrowers cope with the lockdown-induced financial crunch -- would lead to accrual of further interest once the freeze is lifted on August 31. The government is yet to file its affidavit. Noting that the issue had been pending for some months now, the court advised the government against adopting a blinkered vision, focussing only on the business interests of the banks and not on the plight of people financially affected by the “problems created by your lockdown”. [ ] The court said the government was empowered to take an independent stand under the Disaster Management Act. “The problem was created by your lockdown... It appears that the Union of India is not taking an independent stance and is relying on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)... This is not the time to look after business only, consider providing relief,” a Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, addressing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Mehta said the government was working in tandem with the RBI and it was unfair to say it did not have an independent view. The court gave the Centre time till September 1 to file a detailed affidavit, clarifying its stand. In an earlier edition of [The Hindu’s In Focus Podcast](, we looked at the issues around the loan moratorium and what’s at stake for borrowers and banks. Rahul urges Centre to “give money to the poor” to revive economy Slamming the government over its handling of the economy, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today said the Centre needs to [give money to the poor to revive consumption](. He added that “distractions” through media won’t help the poor or make the “economic disaster disappear”. His attack on the government follows an assessment by the RBI on Tuesday that demand will take a long time to mend and the shock to consumption is severe. “RBI has now confirmed what I have been warning for months. Govt needs to: spend more, not lend more,” Gandhi said. “Give money to the poor, not tax cuts to industrialists. Restart economy by consumption,” the former Congress chief tweeted. Mizoram complains to Centre about Assam Rifles The Mizoram government has written to the Centre [accusing paramilitary force Assam Rifles]( of boycotting the Independence Day celebrations in the State. Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo on August 24 informed the Ministry of Home Affairs that the head of the Assam Rifles in the State boycotted the I-Day celebration on August 15. [File Image]File Image Chuaungo also apprised the MHA of violations of Covid-19 protocols by Assam Rifles personnel on the Assam-Mizoram border on August 18. The personnel, he said, had barged into Mizoram in violation of the entry and safety protocols laid down by the State government to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Evening Wrap Vaccine Watch The [phase 2 human clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate](, which is to be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), began at Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College and Hospital in Pune with two volunteers being administered the vaccine. [ Image used for representation purpose. ] Image used for representation purpose. SII has partnered with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca for manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford. “We have got all the approvals from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO),” an official from SII said. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported [coronavirus cases]( from India stood at 33,03,068 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 60,607. The Delhi government today announced that it would [double the number of tests]( to be conducted in the national capital. “Recently, Delhi has witnessed a slight increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. However, the recovery rate has been more than 90% in the national capital. Keeping in mind the increase in the cases, the number of tests will be doubled in the coming days,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. From next week, 40,000 tests would be conducted in Delhi every day, he added. In Brief: Opposition leaders from the Congress, the Left and other non-BJP parties have asked civil society leaders to work together with them to develop a common minimum agenda, based on resolutions framed during a virtual ‘Janata Parliament’ held over the last week. Such an agenda could provide inputs to Opposition strategy in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, they said. Important demands which are under consideration include universalisation of the public distribution system (PDS), the right to healthcare, opposition to the government’s agriculture marketing ordinances, and a universal basic income. The Orissa High Court has [allowed a transman to stay with his woman live-in partner](, saying everyone has the right of self-determination of sex or gender and to enter into a live-in relationship with a person of his or her choice. A Division Bench of Justices S. K. Mishra and Savitri Ratho pronounced the judgment while hearing the petition of a transman who had sought the court’s intervention for restoration of a live-in relationship with a woman. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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