CURRENT AFFAIRS
03 January 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Central panel recommends approval for Covaxin.
An expert panel of India’s central drug authority today recommended granting permission for restricted emergency use of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin with certain conditions, a day after giving similar direction for the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine. Covaxin has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) on January 2 again deliberated on the emergency use authorization (EUA) application of the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm after it submitted additional data, facts and analysis subsequent to the January 1 review meeting, a source said. They have very robust Phase I and II results, in which good efficacy was shown. They are at present carrying out Phase III trials have to recruit around 25,800 participants. As of now they have approximately 22,000 across India they expect interim results by March, Dr. Savita Varma, a pharmacology professor from Haryana’s PGIMS who is working on the vaccine, told. Bharat Biotech applied to the Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use authorisation for its Covaxin shot on December 7. On January 1, the SEC recommended granting permission for restricted emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
B) Farmer groups say they will hold parallel tractor parade on Republic Day.
Tens of thousands of protesting farmers will march into Delhi on Republic Day and hold their own parallel tractor parade if their demands are not met by then, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders said on Saturday. After more than a month of camping at several points on the borders of Delhi, farmers groups issued an ultimatum to the Centre ahead of the next round of negotiations on Monday. If the government does not accede to our demands on January 4, we will hold a tractor rally on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway on January 6. That will be our rehearsal for Republic Day, said Darshan Pal, Punjab president for the Kisan Krantikari Union. They only have to issue in-principle statements that they will repeal the three laws, and promise a legal guarantee for MSP [or minimum support prices]. But if this is not done by January 26, we will surely enter Delhi peacefully, with our tractors, trolleys and farm vehicles, for our own kisan parade, he said. Similar parades would also be held in state capitals and district headquarters, he said. In the run-up to Republic Day, there is a full slate of protests being planned. The festival of Lohri, on January 13, will be marked as Kisan Sankalp Diwas by burning the copies of the three laws that farmers want repealed. January 18 will be celebrated as Mahila Kisan Diwas to underline the role of women farmers. On Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23, farmers will protest at the Raj Bhawans in all State capitals. The leaders are part of the seven-member coordination committee of the SKM, an umbrella platform for the diverse coalition of farmers groups gathered at the border. They were speaking to journalists at their first press conference in the capital since the protest began.
C) BCCI president Sourav Ganguly admitted to hospital after suffering heart attack.
The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was on Saturday admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata after he suffered chest pain. He suffered a mild heart attack and underwent primary angioplasty at a city hospital, doctors said. He had an acute myocardial infarction (MI) but is stable now. He is stable hemodynamically and has received loading doses of dual anti platelets and statin. Mr. Ganguly is undergoing primary angioplasty now. We are yet to decide on how many stent insertion is required for Mr. Ganguly, a doctor at Woodlands Hospital said. Ganguli was rushed to Woodlands Hospital after he fell ill during a workout session in the gym at his residence in Kolkata. Rupali Basu, CEO of Woodlands Hospital said that Mr. Ganguly is stable hemodynamically. He has received loading doses of dual anti platelets and statin and is undergoing primary angioplasty now, the hospital said in a press statement. Mr. Ganguly’s brother and secretary of Cricket Association of Bengal Snehashis Ganguly also added that his brother is stable. Sourav Ganguly is stable. Senior doctors are looking after him.
D) Farmer ends life at Ghazipur border.
A 70-year-old farmer from Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh allegedly ended his life by hanging at the Ghazipur border on Saturday morning, police said. Braving the cold wave, hundreds of peasants from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are protesting against the farm laws at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. Rajvir Singh, national vice-president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, said the farmer had been identified as Kashmira Singh from Bilaspur block of Rampur. He and his family have been actively participating in the protest for many days. In the suicide note written in Gurumukhi, he has held the government responsible for the current state of farmers as it had not been listening to their demands. BKU worker Manoj Sharma said Kashmira Singh was a well-to-do farmer and was contributing to the ‘langar’. Anshu Jain, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Indirapuram, said that the family and coordination committee didn’t want the post-mortem to be done. Keeping their sentiments in mind, they have sent the body to his native village. The body and the suicide note were recovered from a mobile lavatory stationed at the protest site. Prima facie, it seems like death by hanging. In the note, he hasn’t held anybody responsible for his death, she said. This is the second death at the Ghazipur border in two days. On Friday, a 57-year-old farmer from Baghpat died because of cardiac arrest.
E) Free vaccination for 3 crore frontline workers in first phase: Health Minister.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said that free coronavirus vaccination will be provided to over three crore prioritised beneficiaries. In the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination, free vaccine shall be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries, including one crore healthcare workers and two crore frontline workers, said the Health Minister. He added that details of how the remaining 27 crore priority beneficiaries will be vaccinated by July are being finalized. Earlier in the day, Mr. Vardhan, who visited the GTB Hospital in Delhi to review a dry run for the COVID-19 vaccination, said that the safety of vaccine is the prime concern. He want to assure all Indians that the vaccine is aimed at safeguarding your health, he said, adding that positive news can be expected soon. All misconceptions and disbelief is detrimental to ensuring that we have sustained and suitable coverage. The dry run will cover urban/rural/hard to reach terrains and private setting. Besides giving the vaccine the dry run will cover all other aspects. This will help us weed out any gaps, he said.
F) Five Indian players in quarantine amid investigation about breach of protocol.
Five India Test players, including vice-captain Rohit Sharma, rising opener Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, have been put in isolation and an investigation launched into a possible breach of the bio-security protocol by them, Cricket Australia said on Saturday. While BCCI brass had initially ruled out any investigation on its part, Cricket Australia’s late statement said a joint probe is on and the five have been isolated from the remaining team after a fan put out a video of them eating at an indoor restaurant on Twitter. The person claimed that he had hugged Pant but later retracted. The BCCI and Cricket Australia (CA) were today alerted to a video post on social media that purported to show Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini eating at an indoor venue in Melbourne on New Year’s Day, CA said in a statement. India and Australia are engaged in a four-Test series right now and the third match is due to start on January 7 in Sydney.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Amid tensions with U.S., Iran Guards vow strong response.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami vowed on Saturday to respond to any action the enemy takes, in a visit to a strategic Gulf island, amid rising tensions with the U.S. Mr. Salami was speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of the U.S. killing of top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in a Baghdad drone strike on January 3, 2020. They are here today to evaluate and be assured of their powerful capabilities at sea and against enemies who sometimes boast and threaten, Mr. Salami said. Mr. Salami inspected the troops stationed on Abu Musa island, accompanied by the Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri. They would respond with a reciprocal, decisive and strong blow to whatever action the enemy would take against us, Mr. Salami warned. Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands are located in the Gulf near the entrance to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes. The islands are under Iranian control but are also claimed by the UAE. Tensions have been building up in the run-up to the anniversary of Soleimani’s killing.
B) Iran plans to enrich uranium to up to purity, says IAEA.
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it intends to produce uranium enriched to up to 20% purity, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna accord, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday. Iran informed the agency of its intention to enrich uranium at a rate of up to 20% in its Fordow underground plant, to comply with a law recently passed by the Iranian Parliament, an IAEA spokesperson told AFP. The letter dated December 31 did not state exactly when this enrichment activity would begin, the spokesperson added. It is an additional blow, a diplomat based in Vienna told AFP, as Tehran continues to retaliate to U.S. sanctions by progressively abandoning limits on its nuclear activity laid down in the deal. According to the latest report available from the UN agency, published in November, Tehran was enriching to levels greater than the limit provided for in Vienna agreement (3.67%) but not exceeding the 4.5% threshold, and still complied with the Agency’s very strict inspection regime. But there has been turmoil since the assassination in late November of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. In the aftermath of the attack, blamed on Israel, hardliners in Tehran pledged a response and Parliament passed a controversial law calling for the production and storage of at least 120 kg per year of 20% enriched uranium and to put an end to the IAEA inspections intended to check that the country is not developing an atomic bomb. The Iranian government had opposed the initiative at the time.
