RELIEF MEASURES
    Date :02-Jul-2020

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BY EXTENDING the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to provide free ration for over 80 crore people, mostly poor, by five months till November end, the Centre has taken care of a pressing issue dogging a large populace following the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent long lockdown. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi took it upon himself to unfold the free ration scheme, instilling a soothing assurance among the countrymen still harried by the pandemic. The Prime Minister also insisted on ensuring affordable and universal vaccination against the coronavirus. Vaccination for the country’s vast and diverse population must need to factor in the affordability quotient and Mr. Modi’s exhortation should set the ball rolling for the scientific and pharma communities. Yet, the lament of the PM on people’s recklessness after the unlock phase was unmistakable. The way people threw caution to wind after first hint of relaxation has affected India’s fight against COVID-19 pretty badly. It is for the larger society to think and act upon its reckless behaviour to keep the country safe from further spread of the deadly virus. PLOT
 
UNRAVELS AFTER
 
the self-serving steps of taking up unnecessary cudgels against India and accusing New Delhi of interfering in Nepal’s internal politics to keep hold on power, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s poorly hatched plot is slowly unravelling. Mr. Oli is facing the heat from his own ruling party leaders who are seeking his ouster for poor handling of domestic affairs. Mr. Oli did manage to buy some time and sympathy to resurrect his sagging political fortunes by kicking off a map row with India, clearly on the insistence of close buddy China. However, by accusing India of hatching a conspiracy to remove him was a poor political as well as diplomatic move by the Nepal PM. It has failed to cut ice with his own Nepal Communist Party leadership, many of whom were already skeptical of his untenable tilt towards China. Nepal has started to get the wind of China’s debt trap when the PLA troops surreptitiously got control over one of its border villages. The Chinese move followed by Mr Oli’s attempt to blame India has set the alarm bells ringing in the communist party leadership. Much more upheavals are on cards in the Himalayan nation.