Current Affairs in India

Article written by Ananya Nayar, Website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

India currently has more than 8.5 million Covid cases, and due to this there are less Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds for the number of patients testing positive and requiring hospital attention. More than 80% of the ICU beds in Delhi are now occupied, putting a strain on patients' health.

The Government is adding more beds to 22 more hospitals, but they are afraid that won’t help since it is predicted there will be 15,000 new cases a day in India in the winter, rather than 7,000 new cases per day that India was experiencing in the summer. Cases are rising steadily after Diwali, a national festival in India, where people met up to enjoy festivities and there were more social gatherings.

Image by Mohsen Atayi is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Many cities in India have been enveloped in pollution for the past week, crop burning, fireworks, vehicles and factory pollution are all contributors.

Pollution levels in the summer were 40 pm 2.5 average, compared to winter levels being up to 600 pm 2.5.

Image by Prakhar Misra is licensed under CC BY-ND 3.0

Earlier this week, Joe Biden was elected President of the United States. Biden will be good for India since he looked forward to strengthening the relationship between India and the US since 2006. When he was Vice President, Biden signed an agreement to support the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. Earlier, when Biden was VP, the US made it easier for the India defence system, and they partnered up to share information and devices, and they became part of the US alliance system. During Biden’s presidency, India will see strong ties with the United States for many things; against terrorism and more. Unlike Trump’s administration immigration laws, Biden will support Indian Citizens who seek the US for jobs, education, living and retirement. However, Donald Trump’s tight laws may not be as easy as expected to reverse, so there still will be a setback on immigration from India.

Image by Prime Minister's Office, Government of India is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

India, being a developing country has a ‘Minimum Support Price’ or MSP protocol. It is set to give a farmer a minimum wage for harvest if the market prices aren’t matching to set prices placed earlier. There have also been acute shortages of crops, so MSP applies there too. Twenty-two crops fall under MSP in India. Farmers are worried about the MSP and profit they will receive since 67% of India’s population falls under the Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains. The MSP price is declared after sowing, whilst the PDS price is declared after harvest.

In Ladakh, China and India remain in a deadlock. After 8 meetings, both senior military commanders have not faced a conclusion, it has been reported that there will be another meeting soon. Previously, China pushed that India vacate the Chushul sector and areas of Pangong Tso. Meanwhile, India was resolute that all troops on both sides go back to previous positions from April.