China’s new visa facilitation does not apply to foreign students

The Parliament has passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2021 with the Lok Sabha approved it on Monday. The Rajya Sabha has already passed the legislation.The Bill amends the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 which provides a framework for the functioning of the Legislative Assembly and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Bill amends certain powers and responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor. It further seeks to ensure that the Lieutenant Governor is necessarily granted an opportunity to exercise the power in select category of cases, in emergency. The Bill also gives powers to LG to make rules in matters which fall outside the preview of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. It has a provision that all executive action will be expressed to be taken in the name of the Lieutenant Governor. Replying to the discussion, Minister of State for Home, G. Kishan Reddy said the bill aims at promoting harmonious relations between the legislature and the executive in the national capital. He said it was a technical necessity as the Supreme Court, High court and other forums were discussing the ambiguity at different times and issuing the orders on the NCT Act 1991. Therefore, the Minister said, it’s the responsibility of Parliament to clear confusion and the ambiguity. While refuting the comments of some Members, he said, amendments in the Bill neither aimed at taking away the powers of elected government of Delhi nor give additional powers to the Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital. He also reminded the members that Delhi is a Union Territory with a Legislative Assembly with limited powers, in its originality. He said, the Government has to keep consulting the LG as the administrator. In case of any difference of opinion on any matter between LG and the Delhi government, the Minister said that the LG would refer the same to the President of India.

-The Parliament has passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with Rajya Sabha passing it on Monday. The Bill was cleared in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Bill seeks to modify the list of Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu. The Bill replaces the entry for the Devendrakulathan community with Devendrakula Velalar which includes Devendrakulathan, Kalladi, Kudumban, Pallan, Pannadi and Vathiriyan.Speaking on the Bill, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot said that no caste is being included and omitted with this legislation. He said, only the regrouping of some castes will be done so that the aspiration of these communities can be fulfilled. Gehlot said the government is committed towards the welfare of the Scheduled Caste and several historic decisions were taken in this regard. He said, the Narendra Modi Government has developed Panch Tirth (Five) memorials associated with Dr B R Ambedkar, besides building the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in the national capital. The five places are Dr Amedbkar’s birthplace in Mhow, the place in London where he stayed while studying, Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur, Mahaparinirvan Sthal in Delhi and Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai.

-In Tamil Nadu out of a total of 4528 contestant, 271 contestants withdrew their nomination on the last day of withdrawal on Monday when reports last came in. A total of 6.29 crore eligible voters will exercise their franchise for the 234 Assembly constituencies which goes to poll on 6th April.Speaking to media in Chennai Chief Electoral Officer, Sathyabratha Sahoo told that 3.09 crore voters are male,  3.19 crore voters  are female and 7192 are transgender. Sahoo told that so far flying squads in the state have seized  Rs.231.63 crore  worth cash, liquor, prize articles without valid documents.The election commission has received 1971 complaints through e-Vigil app  and action was taken on 1368 complaints.He told  that 18712  licensed arms have been deposited to district  authorities throughout the State.Replying to a question on Covid situation Sahoo emphatically said that there was no possibility of postponing the election. He said that election department  and the State health department is closely monitoring the Covid situation in the State. Polling will be held on 6th April from 7am to 7 pm. 

-Karnataka Health and Medical Education minister Dr. K Sudhakar has ruled out lockdown or semi lockdown due to the Covid surge in the state. Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru, he said that the situation is being closely monitored by the Covid Technical Advisory Committee and after a week of observation a meeting will be held with the Chief Minister to discuss the necessity to change the Covid guidelines. On the vaccination drive, the minister said that percent of wastage of vaccines has come down now. He informed that private hospitals will be asked to probe the possibility of administering Covid vaccine free of cost to the senior citizens. The state has reported 1445 new Covid cases and 10 deaths on Mondyay.At the same time 661 persons were discharged after recovery. The state had a positivity rate of 1.84 percent and case fatality rate of 0.69 percent.

-Indian Embassy in Beijing on Monday said that recent notification by Chinese authorities relating to visa facilitation for foreigners traveling to China, does not apply to foreign students.The Embassy in a notification said, Chinese authorities at various levels continue to maintain their position that, on account of last year’s announcement to suspend temporarily the entry of foreigners holding valid Chinese Visa and residence permits following the outbreak of Covid-19 in many countries in the world, overseas students are temporarily unable to enter China. Chinese authorities have been saying that they are aware of the concerns of the students and have asked all relevant Chinese universities to maintain close contact with the students, besides continuing with the online courses. But students lament that there is a lack of communication from their universities regarding any curriculum readjustments or any possible date of return etc. They have time and again highlighted the problems of online studies as many subjects involve lab practical.They have already lost one full year and are worried about the value of their degrees due to involvement of online courses.