Hindustan Times News | 17th March 2022 | 8 AM

HT Daily News Wrap

Leaders demanded that the Congress leadership “initiate dialogue with other like-minded forces to pave the way for a credible alternative for 2024”, The International Court of Justice has asked Russia to immediately halt its military operation in Ukraine, Mansukh Mandaviya tells officials to stay alert, and intensify Covid-19 surveillance & other top news in this bulletin.

The Congress was mired in dissension on Wednesday as a group of senior leaders demanding internal reforms held a significant show-of-strength over a dinner meeting, even as the party’s leadership appeared to move towards trying to stem the turmoil after humiliating defeats in five state polls. The meeting of the so-called G-23 (group of 23) leaders saw the attendance of five former chief ministers, and at least eight former Union ministers, among others. At least five sitting members of Parliament were part of the discussions, during which the leaders demanded that the Congress leadership “initiate dialogue with other like-minded forces to pave the way for a credible alternative for 2024”, according to a statement released after the meeting. The leaders — the note was undersigned by 18 — also said they believed “the only way forward is for the Congress to adopt the model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision-making at all levels”.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday directed officials to maintain a high-level of alertness, conduct aggressive genome sequencing, and intensify Covid-19 surveillance across the country as cases reported from southeast Asia, China, and Europe increase once again, according to people familiar with the matter. While chairing a high-level meeting on Wednesday, the minister also reviewed the decision to resume international flights from March 27; no decision, however, was taken to revoke the earlier order, said officials. “The health minister chaired the meeting as Covid cases are on the rise in nearby countries such as China, Singapore, Vietnam,, and also Europe. He issued three important directions pertaining to Covid management such as intensified surveillance, aggressive genome sequencing, and to maintain high level of alertness in the country,” said a senior official. The International Court of Justice has asked Russia to immediately halt its military operation in Ukraine, in a 13-2 decision which means 13 voters were in favour of the direction to Russia, while 2 were against. Indian judge at the UN court Justice Dalveer Bhandari voted in favour of the majority, against Russia. “The Russian Federation, pending the final decision in the case, must immediately suspend the military operations it commenced in the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022,” the order of the UN court said. The rulings of the International Court of Justice are binding but there have been cases where countries have ignored them, as ICJ has no direct means of enforcing its orders. Justice Dalveer Bhandari is serving his second term at the World Court. In 2012, he was elected for the first term which continued till 2018. He was renominated by India and beat UK’s nominee Justice Greenwood to win another term at the ICJ. US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a war criminal while announcing an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine. Russia said the comments were “unforgivable” as it insisted that the war in Ukraine was “going to plan” amid talk of compromise at peace talks. Citing the reports of doctors and patients being held hostage by Russian troops in Ukraine’s Mariupol, Biden told a press briefing that the “world is united in our support for Ukraine and our determination to make Putin pay a very heavy price.” The new package announced for Ukraine includes drones, anti-armour and anti-aircraft systems. “More will be coming as we source additional stocks of equipment that … we are ready to transfer,” Biden said. “He (Putin) is a war criminal,” he later told reporters. The ministry of railways, which did away with concessions for senior citizens in March 2020, will not be restoring them yet, in an attempt to shore up finances — a move that is likely to be unpopular with tens of thousands of older passengers who benefited from the discount before the pandemic. “Due to challenges posed by Covid-19, total passenger revenue generated during 2020-2021 is less compared to 2019-2020 (pre- Covid period). Cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on railways, hence extending the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers, including senior citizens is not desirable at present,” railway minister Ashwani Vaishnaw stated on Wednesday in a written reply to a question in Parliament. Previously, railways offered 50% discount to female passengers and 40% to male passengers across all classes. The minimum age for availing this was 58 years for women and 60 years for men. The cost of the discount worked out to Rs 1,600 crore a year, 80% of the Rs 2,000 crore railways incurred on all concessions.