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7 suspected terror launch pads targeted in surgical strike; several killed

September 29, 2016

New Delhi, Sep 29: Seven terror launch pads were targeted across the LoC by special forces of the Indian Army during the 'surgical strike' overnight in which heliborne and ground forces were used, defence sources said today.

Kashmir

The sources said the operation began at around mid-night last night and ended at around 4:30 AM this morning. The terror launch pads targeted were in the range of 2 to 3km from the Line of Control(LoC) and were under surveillance for over one week, the sources said. They said the operation was a combination of heliborne and ground forces.

The announcement of the sudden action by the army was made today by the DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, 11 days after the terror strike by Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM on an Indian army camp in Uri in Kashmir over which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the attackers will not go "unpunished" and that the sacrifice of 18 jawans will not go in vain.

"Based on very credible and specific information which we received yesterday that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the Line of Control with an aim to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu & Kashmir and in various other metros in our country, the Indian army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launch pads." Gen Singh told a news conference during which External affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup was also present. The strikes were carried out across the LoC, he said.

Pakistan, however,dismissed as "fabrication of truth" India's claim that it has conducted a military operation across the LoC to target terrorist launching pads, terming it as a "quest" by India to create media hype by rebranding cross-border fire as surgical strike.

"There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross border fire initiated and conducted by India which is existential phenomenon," Pakistan army said in a statement in Islamabad.

The announcement of the strikes by the Indian army was made soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS).

Prime Minister Modi informed President Pranab Mukherjee, J and K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and former Premier Mahmohan Singh among others on the surgical strikes.

Details of duration of the surgical strikes or when exactly it was conducted or the places targeted were not immediately given.

Sources said that at least two terror camps were struck during the surgical strikes. Sharing details, Gen Singh said the operations were basically focused to ensure that the terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens of our country.

"During these counter terrorist operations, significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who are trying to support them.

"The operations aimed at neutralizing the terrorists have since ceased. We do not have any plans for continuation of further operations. However the Indian armed forces are fully prepared for any contingency that may arise," he said.

The DGMO said he had spoken to the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations and explained India's concerns and also shared with him details of the operation.

"It is India's intention to maintain peace and tranquility in the region, but we can certainly not allow the terrorists to operate across the Line of Control with impunity and attack the citizens of our country.

"In line with Pakistan's commitment made in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control for any terrorist activities against India, we expect the Pakistani army to cooperate with us with a view to erase this menace of terrorism from our region."

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Shaan
 - 
Thursday, 29 Sep 2016

56 inch Chest Rocks, right decision by indian army, proud of indian army and thanks to indian (Modi) government for understanding the feelings of people of india. Jai ho, Jai hind, Vande matharam.

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News Network
April 26,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 26: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday urged media houses not to resort to layoffs and pay cuts while the whole community is facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister said the state government will also take necessary steps to test the media personnel in the state to ensure they have not contracted the deadly virus.

He also pointed out that the pandemic has severely impacted the media sector with many newspapers even reducing the number of pages.

"Journalists are among those who have been affected the most. Journalists on the field are also in danger. We have come to know about the reporters affected with coronavirus in other states. The government will take necessary precautions including testing to ensure that journalists don't contract the disease," Vijayan said.

He said the newspapers were not receiving advertisements these days because there are no social or public events resulting in less commercial activities in the society.

"I would like to urge the media houses not to engage in layoffs or salary cuts during this pandemic. Journalists are working shoulder to shoulder with health workers. During this pandemic, scribes are out in the field collecting news, despite the threat of disease and it was admirable," Vijayan said.

The chief minister said the government has asked the PRD to release the dues to various media houses.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given nod to the Serum Institute of India (SII) for conducting phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of the Oxford University developed Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the country.

Government officials said that the approval for conducting phase 2 and 3 clinical trials by the SII was granted by DCGI Dr V G Somani late Sunday night after a thorough evaluation based on the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19.

"The firm has to submit safety data, evaluated by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), to the CDSCO before proceeding to phase 3 clinical trials," a senior official said.

"As per the study design, each subject will be administered two doses four weeks apart (first dose on day one and second dose on day 29) following which the safety and immunogenicity will be assessed at predefined intervals," the official said.

As a rapid regulatory response, the expert panel at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Friday, after a detailed deliberation and considering the data generated on the vaccine candidate in phase 1 and 2 of the Oxford University trial, had recommended granting permission for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the potential vaccine, 'Covishield', on healthy adults in India,  the officials said.

Currently, phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine candidate is going on in the United Kingdom, phase 3 clinical trial in Brazil and phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in South Africa.

The officials said that the SII had submitted a revised proposal on Wednesday after the SEC on July 28, following deliberation over its application, had asked it to revise its protocol for the phase 2 and 3 clinical trials besides seeking some additional information.

The panel had also recommended that the clinical trial sites which have been proposed for the study be distributed across India.

According to the revised proposal by the SII, 1,600 people aged above 18 years will participate in the trials across 17 selected sites, including AIIMS-Delhi, B J Medical College in Pune, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) in Patna, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, AIIMS-Jodhpur, Nehru Hospital in Gorakhpur, Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research in Mysore.

"According to the application, it would conduct an observer-blind, randomised controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of 'Covishield' on healthy Indian adults," the official said.

The SII, which has partnered with AstraZeneca, for manufacturing the Oxford vaccine candidate for Covid-19 had submitted its first application to the DCGI on July 25 seeking permission for conducting the phase 2 and 3 trials of the potential vaccine. 

Initial results of the first two-phases of trials of the vaccine conducted in five trial sites in the UK showed that it has an acceptable safety profile and homologous boosting increased antibody response, sources had said.

To introduce the vaccine, SII, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold, has signed an agreement to manufacture the potential vaccine developed by the Jenner Institute (Oxford University) in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca. 

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News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has fired around 50 of its India executives as part of its restructuring in the country, three sources with direct knowledge said.

The move underscores the struggles Walmart has faced in expanding its wholesale business in India. The Bentonville, Arkansas based company currently operates 28 wholesale stores where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers.

The firings mostly affected executives in the company’s real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust, two of the sources said.

“It’s happening because focus is shifting to e-commerce rather than physical (stores),” said one source, who declined to be identified as the decision is not public.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

Walmart has placed bold bets on India’s e-commerce sector. In 2018, it paid $16 billion to acquire a majority stake in India’s online marketplace Flipkart, in its biggest global acquisition.

The second source added that while Walmart could slow down the pace of opening new wholesale stores, the focus will increasingly be on boosting sales through business-to-business and retail e-commerce.

Some of the executives were sacked last week and more could be let go on Monday, two sources said.

In a statement to India’s Economic Times newspaper, which first reported the news, Walmart said it was always looking for ways to operate more effectively and that “this requires us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organized in the right way to best meet the needs of our members.”

Walmart has around 600 staff in its India head office out of a total of around 5,300 nationally, one of the sources said.

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