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 home and staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: Covid Watch: ICMR says no community transmission The number of coronavirus cases in India had risen to 2,93,549 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 8,330. Despite daily numbers for new cases routinely hovering at the 10,000 mark, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) continues to insist that India does not have community transmission of Covid-19, and that the prevalence of the disease is very low. "There is a heightened debate around the term. The WHO has not defined it. The prevalence is so low in our country, below 1%. In urban areas, it is a little higher, and it's a little higher in containment zones. We are definitely not in community transmission. It is only a term," said Balram Bhargava, ICMR's Director General. The ICMR also released details of India's first sero-survey, where blood samples are collected from the general population and tested for antibodies that the body may have produced in response to Covid-19. Bhargava said that, according to the survey, only 0.73% showed a prevalence of the virus, and this was indicative of the success of the nationwide lockdown. "This means the lockdown was successful in preventing rapid spread. However, it means a large section of the population is still susceptible. Local lockdown measures, particularly in containment areas, need to continue," he said. HRD Ministry releases college rankings The Ministry of Human Resources today released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for colleges in India, a day after the QS World University Rankings showed that India's best — including IISc and most IITs — have slipped in the global lists. At the release of the NIRF today, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said Indian Universities suffered in global rankings because of 'perception'. "The global agencies give us a lower ranking due to 'perception', which is a subjective parameter, and I do not agree with it," he said. A view of IIT-Madras The NIRF was launched by the HRD Ministry in 2016. This year's results were set to be announced in April but were delayed by the Covid crisis. IIT Madras has emerged as the best institution overall in the rankings. "90% of the parameters in NIRF are completely objective and fact-based, while only 10% is based on the subjective parameter of perception by academic peers and employers," Pokhriyal said. Acknowledging that Indian institutions also struggle on the "internationalisation" parameter in global rankings, he expressed confidence that the NIRF ranking will reach a point where international institutions will want to be included in the Indian ranking system rather than vice versa. Congress under pressure in Rajasthan Following allegations by the Rajasthan government's chief whip that efforts were on to destabilise the Ashok Gehlot government by luring away MLAs, the Congress has despatched its chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala to Jaipur by a special chartered flight to bring things under control. The development comes ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled for June 19. On Wednesday, in a written complaint to Director General of Police (Anti-Corruption Bureau), the party's chief whip Mahesh Joshi had sought action against individuals seeking to destabilise the government through inducements targeted at Congress and independent MLAs. Shortly thereafter, the MLAs were taken away to a luxury resort on the Delhi highway, where they are expected to remain until the elections. "The crisis concerning the Congress members in the Rajasthan Assembly ahead of the June 19 Rajya Sabha elections could be related to the party's internal politics," The Hindu's Sandeep Phukan reports, citing a senior Congress leader. "Though the ruling party is comfortable in terms of numbers, as 51 first preference votes are required to elect an MP, sources say, political rivals are trying to exploit a sense of disenchantment among a section of MLAs". Apparently, not everyone is thrilled over the choice of an 'outsider', former Kerala Lok Sabha member and party general secretary K.C. Venugopal, as one of the Congress candidates. PM points to opportunity in current crisis Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated his call for using the current crisis to make India self-reliant. He said it was time to make bold decisions and investments to set up a globally competitive domestic supply chain, and not have a conservative approach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his interaction through video conference on COVID-19, in New Delhi. File photo Speaking at the annual plenary of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) via video-conferencing, he said it was time to "pull the Indian economy out of the 'command and control' mode and take it to a 'plug and play' mode." In Brief: In a bid to reduce the spread of fake, harmful content and promote meaningful discussion on the platform, Twitter has announced a new feature that would encourage users to think before they retweet articles without reading. If a user decides to retweet a write-up without opening the link and reading it, Twitter would prompt him or her to read it first before sharing. Reuters reports that American company Moderna Inc has confirmed plans to start a trial of its much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine on 30,000 volunteers in July, as the company enters the final stage of testing. The government's minimum support prices for agriculture crops are way higher than domestic market prices and international rates, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, as he highlighted the need to find alternative solutions before an "economic crisis" is created. A firefighter sprays disinfectant at a COVID-19 containment zone in Chennai. File The Madras High Court on Thursday asked why a complete lockdown can't be implemented for some more time in Chennai. It raised the question while observing that the pandemic situation in the city and its suburbs was alarming. Despite the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government to contain the coronavirus spread, the number of cases is "steeply rising and the situation has become alarming", the Bench noted. The Karnataka government on Thursday decided to extend the ban on virtual classes for students up to Class 7. A cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa took the decision following complaints by parents against private schools organising several hours of online classes. The Primary and Secondary Education Department, too, received a number of complaints against the conduct of online classes for school students. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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