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The common man wants Kejriwal to be PM: AAP

January 12, 2014

Arvind-KejriwalNew Delhi, Jan 12: Amid lack of clarity in Aam Aadmi Party on declaring its Prime Ministerial candidate, senior party leader Gopal Rai said the common man wants Arvind Kejriwal to occupy the top post.

"It is the people who want (Kejriwal as the PM). Arvind Kejriwal doesn't want (to be a PM) but the aam aadmi wants. (They want that) there should be a prime minister who is one of them. Even we would want that he emerges as the prime minister," Rai told PTI.

AAP has launched a massive membership drive after its declaration that it would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from 20 states.

Rai, who was publicly rebuked at Ralegaon Siddhi by Anna Hazare last month, said despite the soured relationship with AAP, party members still shared an ideological relationship with the veteran activist.

Asked about party leader Yogendra Yadav's comment that he wanted to see Kejriwal as India's prime minister, Rai said what matters is what the common man wants.

"My will or that of Yadav or Kejriwal may not necessarily be the country's will. What matters is what the country wants. The common man wants that India gets a prime minister like Arvind Kejriwal. He is a hope among the people," he said.

The AAP leader, who is overseeing the party's membership drive -- 'Mein Bhi Aam Aadmi' -- said although BJP won elections in four states last year, the Delhi assembly victory had an impact on the nation.

"In the five states that went to polls last year, BJP won in four while AAP won 28 seats in Delhi, but it had a huge impact on the whole country," he said.

He said people now feel politics is coming closer to them, which is why it is an important change.

The AAP leader said party members and Anna got along well because they shared a common ideology.

"We got together at Jantar Mantar... We had our own background and priorities based on our ideologies.

"He has played an important role in giving this whole movement a new change in the country... it has been registered in history. On a personal level, all of us respect him," he said.

Rai said the Lokpal Bill passed in Parliament was not the bill everyone fought for.

The existing bill will not help curb corruption, he said.

"That is why, when Annaji said yes to the Lokpal Bill, we publicly said it is not the Lokpal for which people fought for so long.

"And we said to bring that Lokpal, we will continue our efforts. Because with the Lokpal that has been passed, there is going to be no change in corruption... In the Lok Sabha polls, bringing the Janlokpal will be one of our major issues," he said.

He also spoke about being publicly rebuked by Hazare in Ralegaon Siddhi and asked to leave the village.

"As far as that particular incident is concerned, we were forced to think that while Annaji was talking about the Janlokpal, there were people, who have internal links with certain parties, trying to divert this whole movement, and that is when I protested.

"Annaji was upset probably because it was an open programme. He asked me to leave the village. I said I will leave the village but will not leave the fight," he said.

Rai had on December 13 last year tried to interrupt former General V K Singh's speech at the venue of Hazare's indefinite fast for Lokpal bill in Ralegaon Siddhi and was soundly rebuffed by the activist for the unseemly conduct.

The AAP leader raised some objections, which led to a heated argument between him and Gen Singh, following which the septuagenarian asked Rai to immediately leave the village.

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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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Agencies
February 7,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7: Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac on Friday began presenting the fifth budget of the CPI(M)-led LDF government for the 2020-21 fiscal by making remarks against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the unanimous resolution passed by the state assembly against it.

Stating the amended act was posing a threat to the basic credentials of the Constitution, he said the country was witnessing the biggest protests ever in the post-Independence era.

Students and women are at the forefront of the anti- CAA agitations and the hope of the country lies in the youth who hit the streets vowing they would not let the country down, he said.

Coming down heavily on the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Isaac said a communalised government machinery, leaders who talk only about "disgust and hatred" and their party workers who consider violence as their duty was the current reality in the country.

"Generally speaking, it is the present India...The concerns triggered by Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are beyond words. The fear of detention centres are hanging above the head of over 19 lakh people of Assam who have lived as Indians till yesterday," he said.

Quoting from a poem 'Fear' by a 15-year old boy from Wayanad Dhruvath Gautham who wrote 'fear is country and silence is an ornament!,' Isaac said "even the imagination of our children is now filled with fear".

Referring to the stringent opposition raised by the Left government in the state against the CAA and NRC, the finance minister lavished praise on the joint protests led by the ruling LDF and opposition UDF against the central act.

Setting aside political differences, the rival fronts in the state had joined hands to protest when the country had faced existential threat which had become a model for other states, he said.

When Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala jointly protested at the same venue against CAA, Kerala became a model to other states, the senior leader added.

The state showcased the same unity while passing a resolution requesting the centre to repeal the CAA and filing a suit in the apex court against this under the Article 130, he said.

"The country's economy is heading towards a severe economic crisis like that witnessed in 2009," he said.

Earlier, the references to anti-CAA protests had found a place in the Pinarayi Vijayan government's policy address also.

While presenting the policy address in the House, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan had read out references to anti- CAA resolution passed by the house, despite disagreeing with it.

Reading out the the anti-CAA stand of the state government, the Governor said "our citizenship can never be on the basis of religion as this goes against the grain of secularism which is part of the basic structure of our constitution.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Jaipur, Mar 11: A 85-year-old man in Jaipur, who had returned from Dubai on February 28, has tested positive for coronavirus, a state government official said on Wednesday.

He was found presumptive positive in the first test on Tuesday and hence, a second test was conducted with fresh samples, the reports of which arrived late Tuesday night, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Rohit Kumar Singh, said.

“The man who travelled to Dubai has been tested positive for coronavirus. It has been confirmed now,” Singh said.

“We have also got the manifest of the Spicejet flight he took from Dubai to Jaipur and are doing due diligence on that,” the official said, adding that intense contact tracing was underway.

The man has been kept in isolation at the SMS Hospital here.

“The man came to the hospital on Monday with symptoms of the virus. After the first test, his wife and son too have been kept in isolation at the hospital. The two, however, do not have coronavirus affliction symptoms,” Singh said.

A total of 235 people who came in contact with the octogenarian and his family have already been traced and are being monitored, he said.

Other contacts are also being traced, Singh added.

An Italian couple, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, are also admitted in the hospital but their condition is improving, he said.

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