Morning Digest: Centre brings into force stringent law to curb irregularities in exam; ECI begins work on Assembly polls in four States, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on June 22, 2024

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 that has provision for up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹1 crore for malpractices and organised cheating in government recruitment exams was notified by the Union government to come into effect from June 21.

The Election Commission has kicked off preparations for holding Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir by updating electoral rolls in these States. The terms of the existing legislative Assemblies will end on November 3 (Haryana), November 26 (Maharashtra) and January 5, 2025 (Jharkhand) and polls are required to be conducted before the completion of their terms.

The death toll in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy in Tamil Nadu rose to 50 with 13 more persons losing their lives after consuming spurious liquor at Karunapuram. The victims included five women and a transperson. The Crime Branch-CID has taken over the probe into the hooch tragedy deaths in Karunapuram in Kallakurichi town. Police sources said documents and case diary files were handed over by the Kallakurichi town police to the CB-CID team.

India’s first indigenously developed coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, was a joint collaboration between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) with intellectual property (IP) rights jointly shared between the two organisations. That is what the public record states. However, filings by the BBIL at patent offices in India, the United States and Europe suggest that only its scientists and personnel are credited as ‘inventors’ of the vaccine with no mention of ICMR scientists.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was acting with bias against Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder Arvind Kejriwal, who was booked in the excise policy case, the Delhi court observed on June 20 while granting him bail. The court’s order was then put on hold by the Delhi High Court on June 21.

The government on June 21 imposed stock limits on tur and chana dals till September this year to check hoardings and control prices. The Centre has issued an order imposing stock limits, which will be applicable to wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers, millers and importers, an official statement said.

Amid multiple controversies that the National Testing Agency (NTA) is currently embroiled in, the agency on June 21 issued a notification postponing the Joint CSIR-UGC-NET due to “unavoidable circumstances and logistical issues”. This comes days after the Union Education Ministry cancelled UGC-NET following inputs from the Union Home Ministry suggesting that the integrity of the examination had been compromised. Over the past few days, students across the country have been questioning the testing agency over the irregularities in NEET-UG, and now about the cancellation of UGC-NET.