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Modi's roadshow after voting earns ire; Election Commission called BJP’s puppet

Agencies
December 14, 2017

Ahmedabad/New Delhi, Dec 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'roadshow' after casting his vote in the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections has created a fresh controversy with senior Congress leader P Chidambaram accusing the Election Commission of allowing a 'political campaign'.

Modi exercised his franchise on Thursday at Nishan School in Ranip area of Sabarmati Assembly constituency where BJP's sitting legislator Arvind Patel is fighting against Congress candidate Jitubhai Patel.

After voting, Modi came out of the polling booth to acknowledge a massive crowd. He walked down the road showing his inked finger to the crowd that roared with "Modi! Modi!" slogans. The prime minister after acknowledging the crowd drove off.

Congress leader P Chidambaram has accused the Election Commission of allowing the prime minister a "roadshow", saying it is a gross violation of rules and that the Commission was "sleeping on the job". "It is an election campaign. What is the EC doing?" he tweeted, reacting Modi displaying his inked finger.

The prime minister had violated the model code of conduct by holding a "roadshow" after voting in the Gujarat Assembly polls, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged.

Addressing a press conference, he said the poll panel was a "puppet and frontal organisation" of the ruling BJP as it took no action against Modi.

"It is a sad day for the country as EC has denigrated the Constitution," Surjewala said.

Modi had created a similar controversy in 2014 as a prime ministerial candidate for taking a selfie with his party symbol and interacting with journalists after casting his vote.

When the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer B B Swain was asked about the complaint lodged by Congress against the road show organised by the prime minister while casting his vote and it being aired by television channels, the CEO said, "I will have to look in to it."

On Thursday, about 2.2 crore voters were expected to cast their votes across 93 constituencies (40 Central Gujarat and 53 North Gujarat) at 25,558 polling booths to decide the fate of 851 candidates, including 782 males and 69 women candidates.

"The elections so far are going on peacefully, with minor reports of skirmishes between couple of persons outside polling areas. There were some defects with EVMs or VVPATs during mock testing and we have replaced them. However, defects are much lower than what we saw in the first phase," Swain said. "There is also complaint of bluetooth getting connected to EVM at a booth in Ghatlodia. We have initiated a process in the issue."

Informal reports coming in from various quarters suggest that almost 45% of electorate have cast their votes till 1 pm. Voting began at 8 am.

Among the prominent personalities who cast their votes in the second phase include Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel who cast his vote from his Mehsana constituency with his spouse; Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother Hiraba in Gandhinagar; BJP president Amit Shah at Kameshwar in Naranpura constituency with his wife and son Jay Shah; former chief minister Anandiben at Shilaj; Union finance minister Arun Jaitley at Vejalpur constituency in Ahmedabad and Governor O P Kohli in Gandhinagar.

Among key opposition members, former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela cast his vote at Vasaniya Mahadev in Gandhinagar. State Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki also excercised his franchise in the morning. Meanwhile, Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel and his parents cast their votes from Viramgam constituency in North Gujarat.

State bureaucrats, including Gujarat chief electoral officer B B Swain and state chief secretary J N Singh were seen casting their votes.

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News Network
August 7,2020

Kozhikode: An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot the Kozhikode tabletop runway on landing there today. The Boeing 737 “fell off” the runway into the valley, broke into two causing death and devastation. 

According to reports, around 20 people were dead including two pilots.

An Air India spokesperson said: “Air India Express flight IX 1344 operated by Boeing 737 aircraft from Dubai to Calicut overshot the runway at Kozhikode at 7.41 pm Friday. No fire reported at the time of landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew on board. Rescue operations are on and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing this accident. “Prima facie, the aircraft landed beyond the touchdown point and fell into a valley. It has broken into two. We suspect some casualties. More information is awaited,” said a senior DGCA official.

Taking to twitter, defence minister Rajnath Singh wrote: “Devastating news from Kozhikode, Kerala. I am deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to an accident carrying several passengers on Air India flight. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.”

Foreign minister S Jaishankar tweeted: “Deeply distressed to hear about the Air India Express tragedy at Kozhikode. Prayers are with the bereaved families and those injured. We are ascertaining further details.”

While, senior BJP leader from Kerala K J Alphons tweeted: “Second tragedy of the day in Kerala: Air India Express skids off the run way at Kozhikode, front portion splits , pilot dies and lots of passengers injured . All passengers evacuated. Very lucky the aircraft didn’t catch fire.”

More details are awaited.

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News Network
January 21,2020

Beijing, Jan 21: The Chinese official investigating a pneumonia outbreak stemming from a new coronavirus said the disease can spread from person to person but can be halted with increased vigilance, as authorities on Tuesday confirmed a fourth death.

Zhong Nanshan said there was no danger of a repeat of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic that killed nearly 800 people globally during a 2002-2003 outbreak, which started in China, as long as precautions were taken.

"It took only two weeks to identify the novel coronavirus," state news agency Xinhua quoted Zhong as saying late on Monday.

The outbreak was still in its early stages and China had good surveillance and quarantine systems to help control it, he added.

The outbreak has spread from the central city of Wuhan to cities including Beijing and Shanghai, with more than 200 cases reported so far. Four cases have been reported outside China - in South Korea, Thailand and Japan.

Australia on Tuesday said it would screen passengers on flights from Wuhan amid rising concerns that the virus will spread globally as Chinese travellers take flights abroad for the Lunar New Year holiday starting this week.

Authorities around the globe, including in the United States and many Asian countries, have stepped up screening of travellers from Wuhan.

Chinese authorities confirmed a total of 217 cases of the virus in China as of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Monday, state television reported, 198 of which were in Wuhan.

A fourth person died on Jan. 19, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said. The 89-year-old man, who had underlying health diseases including coronary heart disease, developed symptoms on Jan. 13 and was admitted to hospital five days later, it added.

Zhong, who is renowned in China for his work fighting SARS in 2003, confirmed that the virus can pass from person-to-person.

Fifteen medical workers in Wuhan had been diagnosed with pneumonia, with one other suspected case, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said. Of the infected staff, one was in critical condition.

In Shanghai, officials on Tuesday confirmed a second case involving a 35-year-man who had visited Wuhan in early January, and said they were monitoring four other suspected cases.

The virus causes a type of pneumonia and belongs to the same family of coronaviruses as SARS. Symptoms include fever and difficulty in breathing, which are similar to many other respiratory diseases and pose complications for screening efforts.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday an animal source appeared most likely to be the primary origin of the outbreak and that some "limited human-to-human transmission" occurred between close contacts.

The Geneva-based U.N. agency convened an emergency committee for Wednesday to assess whether the outbreak constitutes an international health emergency and what measures should be taken to manage it.

So far, the WHO has not recommended trade or travel restrictions, but a panel of independent experts could do so or make other recommendations to limit spread.

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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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