Booster Covid-19 Doses for Adults, No Russia in UN Human Rights Council, Amit Shah on Hindi & More

📣 WHAT: All adults who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine at least nine months ago will be eligible for a third (booster/precautionary) dose starting April 10, in private hospitals only.

💉 NOTE: Unlike third doses for healthcare workers, frontline workers, and to those aged above 60, which are being administered free of cost at government vaccination centres—all others above 18 can avail a third dose, at a cost, in private centres only.

🔔 REMINDER: The third dose has to be of the same vaccine as the first two doses.


📍SETTING: 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in New Delhi

🗯 WHAT: Hindi will soon be made a compulsory subject for students in northeastern states till Class 10.

❗️ON THE RECORD: Hindi is the language of India. Citizens from different states should choose Hindi (as an alternative to English) to communicate with each other...Now the time has come to make the official language an important part of the unity of the country.—Home Minister Amit Shah

✍🏼NOTE: India does not have a national language; Hindi is one of 22 official languages, which also includes Assamese, Manipuri, Bodo, and Santhali.


NO LONGER FRINGE

IN THE LAST 24 HOURS

🤬 A video, dated April 2, went viral on social media, showing Bajrang Muni Das, the mahant of the Khairabad town’s Maharshi Shri Lakshman Das Udasin Ashram making rape threats to Muslim women during a procession in UP’s Sitapur district, the police. The cops have registered a case.

🙄 After a ban on hijabs and muslim traders at temple fairs, a boycott of halal meat, and protests against loudspeakers in mosques and Muslim fruit sellers—Hindutva groups are now asking Hindus not to engage Muslim drivers and Muslim-owned transport companies when they go for temple tours and pilgrimages.


🇵🇰 WHAT: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s move to dissolve Parliament, terming it "unconstitutional."

👉 NOW WHAT: A no-confidence vote will take place tomorrow, April 9, which PM Khan will most likely lose, after his allies leaving his ruling coalition in droves.

📒 WHO NEXT: If Khan looses the vote, a new Prime Minister, maybe Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, will be selected.

🗓 EITHER WAY: Fresh elections will be held in Pakistan within six months.


🇷🇺 WHAT: The United Nations General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, after horrific reports of alleged war crimes in Ukraine's surfaced.

🧮 THE COUNT: 93 in favour, 24 against—with 58 abstentions, including India. 

😇 FYI: According to Reuters, Russia had warned countries that a Yes vote or abstention will be viewed as an “unfriendly gesture” with consequences for bilateral ties. Yet, India was one of the abstentions (again).

❗️RELATED: At the heels of allegations against Russian troops of committing war crimes against civilians in Ukraine's Bucha, comes a video verified by the New York Times.showing Ukrainian troops killing captured Russian POWs—which is a violation of the Geneva convention.

💣 LATEST: At least 39 people were killed today in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, which was being used for civilian evacuations. Russia denies it launched the attack.


🇺🇸WHAT: The United States Senate has confirmed the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson as a Supreme Court Judge.

⭐️ She will become the the first Black woman judge to serve in the 233-year-old Supreme Court after Justice Stephen Breyer retires in June.

🧮 THE MATH: The 100-member US Senate is equally split between Democratic and Republican leaders, with Vice President Kamala Harris having a deciding vote in the case of a tie.

✍🏼 53 members of the senate voted for Jackson—all Democrats, and three Republicans: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney.

👉 LONG WAY TO GO: Besides Jackson, there have been only two Black justices, both men – Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall.

👉 Jackson is also only sixth woman justice in the US Supreme Court.


#ARTTHERAPY

TO END THE WEEK

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