India to push for action against terror at G-20

November 15, 2015

New Delhi, Nov 15: After a series of deadly terror attacks in Paris, India is set to raise its pitch to seek stronger global actions against the menace, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to call upon G-20 leaders assembling in Turkey to push for early adoption of the long-pending Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism by the United Nations.

namoThe G-20 summit at Antalya in Turkey on Sunday and Monday seems set to be overshadowed by Paris attacks and Modi is likely to stress that the fight against terrorism and sponsors of terrorism will require greater and more effective international cooperation. He will argue that the global consensus against terrorism should not be allowed to be held back by a few and the world must unequivocally reject “selective approaches” in combating terrorism.

The prime minister will join other G-20 leaders for a dinner in Antalaya on Sunday to discuss global terrorism and refugee crisis. He is likely to call for international efforts to counter ideology that underpins extremism and draws youths to terrorism, officials told Deccan Herald in New Delhi.

Modi will also refer to anti-India terrorism emanating from Pakistan. He is likely to recall the November 26-29, 2008 terror strikes in Mumbai and call upon world leaders to nudge the Pakistan government to bring to justice the masterminds of the attacks, which had left over 170 killed and countless others injured. The similarity between 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and the string of terror strikes in Paris late on Friday already caught the attention of the international community.

Though the G-20 generally focuses on international economy, Turkey, which currently holds the presidency of the bloc, also included in the agenda issues related terrorism, with particular emphasis in the situation in Iraq and Syria, where Islamic State still controls large territories.

Modi, who was on a visit to London till Saturday, and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday agreed to continue to work together to disrupt all financial and tactical support for terrorist networks to prevent terror strikes and to counter violent extremism, including through exchanges of best practices and technologies.

New Delhi has of late sharpened its criticism against the United Nations Security Council for its “less than robust” response to the threat of terrorism, especially in Asia and Africa.

“The increasing number and brutality of terrorist acts meanwhile vividly illustrates the ineffectiveness of the (UN Security) Council to counter terrorism,” Ashoke Mukherjee, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, told the General Assembly of the international organisation on Thursday.

India is likely to redouble efforts to end impasse in the negotiations over the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, which New Delhi has been pushing for since 1996.

Though a draft text of the CCIT is pending before the General Assembly since 2008, negotiations are currently deadlocked, primarily due to disagreements over the definition of terrorism.

“I would like the UN that is celebrating its 70th anniversary to not waste anytime in defining terrorism,” Modi said in London on Saturday.

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Agencies
June 27,2020

Mumbai, Jun 27: The Shiv Sena on Saturday hit out at the BJP over its charge that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) had accepted donations from the Chinese embassy, and asked it whether the issue had any connection with intrusion by the neighbouring country in Ladakh and the martyrdom of 20 Indian soldiers.

The Sena also alleged that those raising questions against the government over the standoff with China were being labelled as Chinese agents by the BJP.

BJP chief J P Nadda had on Thursday targeted the Congress and the Gandhi family saying that the RGF had allegedly accepted donations from the Chinese embassy. Hitting back, the Congress had said that the RGF issue raised by the BJP government was a "manufactured charge" and "diversionary tactic" to deflect attention from the LAC crisis.

"What do you mean by Congress gets money from China? Instead of responding to the issues raised by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over the Chinese incursions, the BJP leaders accused the Congress of receiving funds from China," the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"Will BJP's revelations about the donations stop the Chinese activities along the border? The BJP should tell what connection does these donations have with the Chinese incursion and the martyrdom of 20 soldiers," it added.

"In our country, many political leaders and parties, and not just the Congress, are beneficiaries of foreign countries. The BJP speaking about this is like throwing stones in the mud," it said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said that Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India twice in the last six years.

"He was hosted in Gujarat. But it is a fact that China has betrayed. Holding talks on the one hand and continuing with the offensive along the border on the other hand is China's old policy," it said.

In the present scenario, the entire country stands firmly with PM Modi. This crisis is not for the BJP or the Congress, but for the entire country, whose prestige is at stake, it said.

"The BJP can fight with the Congress any time later.

But now is the time to fight against China. It should speak on that," the Sena said.

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News Network
May 5,2020

New Delhi, May 5: India registered the biggest jump in numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, with 3,900 new cases and 195 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

"3,900 COVID-19 cases and 195 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, the largest spike till now in both," according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India reached 46,433, including 1,568 deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

According to the latest update by the MoHFW, 12,727 patients in the country have been cured and discharged, or have migrated, as of today morning. At present, there are 32,138 active cases in the country.

Maharashtra with 14,541 cases is the worst-affected state by the disease, while Gujarat with 5,804 cases is second on the list.

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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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