Domestic Politics
Three people were killed and 15 were wounded in a suicide bombing near Kabul on Wednesday. Another blast on the same day wounded three. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, a Taliban spokesman said that they were looking into the cause of the blasts. [Reuters]
Suresh Tiwari, a legislator from Uttar Pradesh, in a video which went viral, was seen requesting people to boycott Muslim vendors. Following this, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s governing party, issued a notice to him. [Al Jazeera]
Facing pressure from foreign retailers to fulfil export orders, Bangladeshi garment factories in Dhaka and Chittagong resumed operations on Monday. This has raised fears of an increase in the spread of the COVID-19. [New Indian Express]
On Wednesday, Indian authorities issued guidelines to allow migrant labourers, students, pilgrims, and tourists to return to their home states. The order requires them to stay under home quarantine for 14 days, unless institutional quarantine is recommended. Prior to the announcement, millions of workers remained stranded across various states during the lockdown, with about 100 million living in squalid conditions. [NDTV, BBC]
Following the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to reduce overcrowding in prisons due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Assam released numerous “illegal migrants” from its detention centres. According to rights groups, several detainees are Indian citizens and were wrongfully held. [Al Jazeera]
International Relations
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said that Bangladesh will not allow boats carrying roughly 500 stranded Rohingya Muslims to land on its shores. Following this, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged Bangladesh to accept the boats “in a spirit of solidarity”. [Al Jazeera]
Business and Finance
In an all-cash deal, Facebook teamed with India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and invested $5.7 billion for a 9.99% state in Jio platforms, making Facebook the largest minority shareholder. This includes a commercial partnership with Whatsapp, which has 400 million users in India. Facebook aims to tap into India’s growing digital market, which Jio holds considerable control over, given its mobile network and movie, news, and shopping apps. [CNN, Economic Times]
Health
Indian drug-maker Serum commenced mass production of a COVID-19 vaccine that was developed by the University of Oxford, despite no evidence to prove its efficacy. That being said, the vaccine showed promising results from animal testing. Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum, hinted that the company would not patent the vaccine and would keep it affordable. [SCMP]
Image Source: Telegraph India
South Asia in Review: April 30, 2020
Read more about the latest events in Britain and Ireland.
April 30, 2020
