8th July 2021
Inflationary pressure
News: International Monetary Fund warned against the inflationary pressure that may arise from the United states.
About the news:
The IMF warned that the fiscal support in the United States has the potential to fuel inflationary pressures.
It further warned that the risk of a sustained rise in prices could require raising interest rates earlier-than-expected.
In turn Higher interest rates in the U.S. can lead to tightening of global financial conditions and significant capital outflows from emerging and developing economies.
It says where post pandemic growth in the United States is reaching 7% in 2021, would benefit many countries through increased trade. However, the rising inflation could be more sustained than expected. The IMF forecasts global growth of 6%.
Pegasus
News: A digital platform named “Digital Violence” was launched by Forensic Architecture. Amnesty International and Citizen Lab to make an account of attacks against human right defenders.
About the news:
The platform showed connections between Digital violence of pegasus spyware and harms faced by lawyers, activists, and other civil society figures.
In India this spyware was used against Bela Bhatia and Anand Teltumbde and on nine human rights defenders who were accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, as per Amnesty International.
About Pegasus:
Pegasus is a Spyware that can be installed on devices running some versions of Apple’s mobile operating system, as well as on devices running Android. It was developed by the Israeli firm NSO.
Pegasus is capable of reading messages, call tracking, collecting passwords, mobile phone tracking, accessing the target device's microphone and video camera,and gathering information from apps.
Supreme court Judgement in Migrant Labour Case
About the case: the case was initiated last year after the national lockdown as thousands of landless labourers had started walking towards their home States due to the loss of employment and income.
Court quoted Right to Food under Article 21 of the Constitution, is the fundamental right of every individual.
Guidelines laid down by the court:
To protect the migrants during the time of pandemic were the food and travel arrangements.
The identity proof of the migrants should not be insisted upon by the governments since the labourers might not be able to furnish it.
The court asked the State governments to arrange transportation for workers who need to return to their homes.
July 31 has been set as the deadline for the States to implement the ‘One nation One Ration Card’ scheme.
The States need to complete the registration of migrant workers in order to provide dry ration to them.
It further recognised the need for direct cash benefit transfer to workers in the unorganised sector.