| 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. Parliamentary panel moots Public Health Act to check malpractices by private hospitals There should be a comprehensive Public Health Act with suitable legal provisions to regulate private hospitals during a pandemic and curb black marketing of medicines, the standing committee on Home Affairs headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma has said in its report, which was submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Monday. The report noted that there were several instances of private hospitals selling beds reserved for Covid-19 patients at exorbitant rates. "The Committee strongly recommends that there is a need for a comprehensive Public Health Act, preferably at the national level, with suitable legal provisions to support the government in keeping checks and controls over the private hospitals as there have been reports about the selling of hospital beds by them," the committee said in its report. The Act, it said, should also keep a check on the black marketing of medicines and product standardisation. The panel has suggested that the government should proactively hold awareness campaigns regarding cheaper medicines so that people don't panic and spending big sums on expensive drugs. The Committee observed that in the initial phase of the pandemic, medical insurance was not extended to patients with Covid-19 infection. With exorbitant charges levied by the private hospitals, many patients had to suffer. "There is a need to have regulatory oversight on all hospitals working in the country to prevent refusal to accept insurance claims. The Committee strongly recommends that the target should be to make Covid-19 treatment cashless for all people that are having insurance coverage," the report said. The panel also expressed concerns over schools being shut for more than nine months, as a result of which many children were deprived of the Mid Day Meal scheme benefits. Many states continued the scheme by delivering dry ration to students at their homes or giving allowances, but this was not uniform. "The Committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs, along with the Department of Food and Public Distribution, may take up the matter with the State Governments to ensure that the local administrations are delivering the rations/ allowances in time and this should be continued until the schools reopen," the report said. Karnataka HC stays govt order dropping 61 criminal cases against Ministers, MLAs  A view of High Court of Karnataka. File The Karnataka High Court today restrained the State government from taking any further steps based on the August 31, 2020, Government Order (GO) granting permission for withdrawing 61 criminal cases, including those against MPs and MLAs from the BJP. A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S.Vishwajith Shetty, passed the interim order on a PIL petition filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties-Karnataka challenging the legality of the GO. The cases withdrawn include those registered against Pratap Simha and Sumalatha, MPs, Law Minister J, Madhuswamy, then Minister C.T. Ravi, Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil, Forests Minister Anand Singh, and M.P. Renukarcharya and Halappa Achar, MLAs. The Bench, on December 1, had declined to stay the GO but had pointed out a judgment of the apex court, which had said that public prosecutors could agree or disagree with government's brief for withdrawal of criminal cases, and would have to return the brief if the prosecutors disagree with the request for withdrawal. Referring to Section 321 of the Cr. PC, the Bench had said that criminal cases could be withdrawn only with the consent of the jurisdictional courts, and "no court is bound by such a decision taken to withdraw from the prosecution. Even if an application is made under Section 321 of the Cr. PC, the courts are duty bound to assess whether prima facie case is made out or not and that the court has power to reject the prayer". When the petition came up for hearing on Monday, the government sought time to comply with the December 1 directions. Though the Bench granted time to the government, it directed that no further steps would be taken based on August 31 order till then. The petitioner had alleged that the GO was vitiated as it was for extraneous political considerations, with many of the beneficiaries being from the ruling BJP. Farmers begin day-long relay hunger strikes; Govt invites unions for next round of talks  Farmers participate at a protest demonstration against the government's farm laws at the Delhi-UP border in New Delhi on December 21, 2020. Intensifying their agitation against the Centre's new agriculture laws, farmers began day-long 'relay' hunger strike on Monday morning at all sites of protest on Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Protesting farmers will participate in the hunger strike in batches and the first had 11 members, according to farmer leaders. Meanwhile, the government has asked protesting farmer unions to specify their concerns over its earlier proposal of amendments in the new agri laws and choose a convenient date for the next round of talks so that the ongoing agitation could end at the earliest. In a letter to 40 union leaders, Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said the Centre was making all efforts with "an open heart" to resolve the concerns raised by farmers. The previous five rounds of talks between the government and the unions had failed to break the deadlock, with the farmers insisting on repeal of the three laws and camping at various border points of Delhi for over three weeks now. Aggarwal requested that the union leaders who have been in talks with the government provide details of their remaining concerns over its draft proposal, and "suggest a date as per convenience for the next round of talks". BJP leader's wife joins TMC; husband decides to divorce her  Sujata Mondal Khan joined the Trinamool Congress, in West Bengal on December 21, 2020. Videograb: Twitter/@AITCofficial BJP leader Sujata Mondal Khan, the wife of the president of West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and Bishnupur Lok Sabha MP Soumitra Khan, on Monday joined the Trinamool Congress, saying the BJP did not give her the respect she deserved. "I was a BJP worker when the party had two MPs. Now there are 18. There are many opportunists who are joining the BJP... it has become a B-team of the Trinamool Congress. Why should I not join the TMC now?" she told journalists at the Trinamoool Congress headquarters in Kolkata. Hours after his spouse announced her decision to join the Trinamool Congress, Soumitra said at a press conference that he would send a legal notice for divorce within 24 hours. Expressing surprise over the development, he said his wife was well aware of the misdeeds of the Trinamool Congress. He accused the Trinamool Congress of "ending his relationship" and "stealing his wife". Sujata expressed the hope that good sense would prevail over her husband and he would return to the Trinamool Congress. Soumitra was a Trinamool Congress MP before joining the BJP. This development comes two days after heavyweight Trinamool Congress leader Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP with nine MLAs (six from the Trinamool Congress, three from other parties) and one MP. Congress leader Motilal Vora passes away at 93  Senior Congress leader Motilal Vora. File Congress veteran Motilal Vora passed away at Delhi's Fortis Escort Hospital on Monday. He had completed his 93rd birthday on Sunday. He was admitted to Fortis on Saturday after complaining of breathing difficulties. Vora was discharged from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on October 16 after recovering from Covid-19. "Voraji was a true congressman and a wonderful human being. We will miss him very much. My love & condolences to his family and friends," former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted. Known to be a loyalist of the Gandhi family, Vora was a long-time treasurer of the Congress party and until the recent reshuffle in September, he was a party secretary in-charge of administration. A former Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh, he represented Chhattisgarh in Rajya Sabha until this April. Priyanka Gandhi writes to Adityanath urging him to protect 'gaumata' in U.P  Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath highlighting the plight of cattle in the State and suggested he could take "inspiration" from Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh on how to protect "gaumata". Referring to pictures of dead cattle from Sojna in Uttar Pradesh's Lalitpur, Vadra, who is the Congress in-charge for the State, asserted that Adityanath had promised building 'gaushalas' (cow shelters) to protect cattle when he came to power. However, such promises have remained on paper, she said. The Congress leader said the reasons for the death of the cattle in Sojna was yet to be officially ascertained but photographs clearly showed that they had died out of hunger and starvation. "Every time such pictures come out, discussions take place but no concrete action is taken. Who is responsible for this," Vadra asked, and alleged collusion between corrupt officials and 'gaushalas'. Taking on the BJP's dominant political discourse of cow protection in the Hindi-beltstates, Vadra quoted Mahatma Gandhi in her letter to remind the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister about the importance of protecting cows. "Gandhiji considered cow as a poem of compassion. She is the mother of crores of Indians. He believed that cow protection does not only mean the protection of the cow, but the protection of all those creatures which are helpless and weak," Vadra wrote in her letter, arguing that Uttar Pradesh had failed to deliver on its promise of cattle welfare. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,00,69,758 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,45,971. India has decided that all flights originating from the U.K. will be suspended from December 22 midnight till December 31, 2020 (23.59 hours) over fears of a new, fast-spreading strain of coronavirus in that country. The government is alert and there was no need to panic, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, amid concerns about the new strain which has caused a surge of infections in the UK. In Brief: Domestic stock markets suffered their worst single-day loss in more than seven months on Monday, tracking a sell-off across global equities over fears of a new coronavirus strain that has shut down much of the United Kingdom. The Sensex dropped 2,037.61 points, or 4.34%, to 44,923.08 at the weakest level of the day, and the broader Nifty benchmark tanked to as low as 13,131.45, falling 629.1 points, or 4.57%, from its previous close. A sell-off across sectors -- led by banking, financial services, automobile and metal shares -- dragged the markets lower. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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