Current Affairs in Short: 11 September 2020

Health Secretary urges States/ UTs to ensure unrestricted movement of medical oxygen between states

• Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has urged the States and Union Territories (UTs) to ensure that there is no restriction on the movement of medical oxygen from one State to another.
• Oxygen support is one of the key clinical management in the treatment of COVID-19 patients across India. According to the Union Health Ministry, so far, less than 3.7 percent of positive COVID-19 patients are on oxygen support in the country.
• The Health Ministry issued the direction after getting to know that few states were trying to curb free inter-State movement of oxygen supply by exercising provisions under various Acts and also mandating the manufacturers and suppliers located in the State to restrict their oxygen supplies to only the hospitals of the State.
• The Health Secretary emphasised that the availability of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen is an important pre-requisite for managing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19.
• The Health Secretary strongly reinforced that it is the responsibility of every State to ensure that every hospitalised COVID patient receives oxygen.

RIC Foreign Ministers Meeting held, Indian EAM takes over RIC Chairmanship

• The RIC Foreign Ministers meeting took place in Moscow on September 10, 2020 between the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and State Councillor/Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi.
• During the meet, the foreign ministers of the three nations exchanged views on further strengthening the RIC trilateral cooperation. They also held discussions on topical issues of international and regional importance with the spirit of mutual understanding, friendship and trust. 
• The Ministers noted that common development and cooperation among the three countries is necessary for promoting global growth, peace and stability. They further reiterated their support for inclusive multilateralism and respect for universally recognized principles of international law.
• The Ministers further expressed appreciation for the continuation of joint activities held under the RIC framework. The Indian EAM and Chinese Foreign Minister further thanked Russian Foreign Minister for the chairmanship of RIC during the past one year. 
• Following this, the Russian Foreign Minister officially handed over the RIC chairmanship to the External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar.

Reliance Industries becomes world's 40th most valuable firm

• Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the world’s 40th most valuable firm. The company achieved the feat after it became the first Indian company to cross USD 210 billion in market capitalisation intra-day.  
• This is the first time that an Indian company has crossed the USD 200 billion market capitalisation milestone. 
• The Reliance Industries Limited is at present the world’s 40th most valuable firm, ranked ahead of companies including Oracle, PepsiCo, SAP, Exxon Mobil, Novartis and Pfizer. RIL is, in fact, ranked among Asia's top 10 most valuable companies.

Pak exploiting UN platform for making hate speeches against India, should self-evaluate instead: India

• India recently slammed the Pakistan delegation at the United Nations' High-Level Forum on Culture of Peace for exploiting UN platform for making hate speeches against India and said that they should instead do a self-evaluation of their own system and record of protecting minorities.
• Indian Counsellor Paulomi Tripathi stated that Pakistan's talk of 'culture of peace' at the international platform is a "decoy to divert attention from their own shameful records."
• She further stated that before making absurd allegations against India, where equal rights of people of all faiths are guaranteed by the constitution, the delegation of Pakistan must do itself a favour of looking at their own system and records of protecting minorities.
• Tripathi also stated that the Pakistan delegation has yet again exploited a UN platform for hate speech against India and this happens at a time when Pakistan continues to provoke a culture of violence both at home and across its borders.

India, US ask Pakistan to expeditiously bring perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice

• India and the United States of America have asked Pakistan to expeditiously bring the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and the Pathankot airbase attack to justice. 
• This was announced in a joint statement released after the India-US Counter Terrorism Joint Working Group meeting and the India-US Designations Dialogue which concluded on September 10, 2020. 
• Both India and the US said that there is an urgent need for Pakistan to take an immediate, sustained and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist activities. Both sides denounced the use of terrorist proxies and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism in all its forms. 
• The two nations also laid emphasis for concerted action against all terrorist networks, including al-Qa’ida, ISIS, Lashkar e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizb-ul Mujahideen.

US revokes visas of more than 1,000 Chinese students 

• The United States has revoked the visas of over 1,000 Chinese students and researchers, deeming them to be a security risk. 
• The US State Department said that the revocation of the visas was authorized by a proclamation signed by President Donald Trump.
• The Trump administration has claimed that the Chinese students have come to the US to steal intellectual property to advance China’s economic and military sectors.
• On the other hand, China has accused the United States of racial discrimination. As per reports, nearly 3, 70,000 Chinese students are enrolled in US universities.