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Congress replies to AAP queries

December 17, 2013

ArvindKejriwalNew Delhi, Dec 17: The Aam Aadmi Party refused to reveal its cards on Monday after the Congress replied to the former’s 18 issues that sought clarity before forming a government with the Congress’ “unconditional support”.

An AAP meeting is scheduled on Tuesday to take a final decision. All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge for Delhi, Shakeel Ahmed, said 16 of the 18 points raised by the AAP were administrative tasks for “which there is no need for our support”.

“On full statehood for Delhi, we have conveyed that the Congress is for giving Delhi full statehood, as was mentioned in our manifesto, but this is an issue which is in the Centre’s domain,” he said.

On the AAP’s concern over the Lokpal Bill, the Congress said Delhi already “has a strong Lokayukta. If they want to modify the Delhi Lokayukta Act within the laid down parameters, they are free to do it and there is no need for the AAP to come to the Assembly or Parliament,” Ahmed said.

AAP legislator and spokesperson Manish Sisodia said the party “wants to form” a government but “does not want to negotiate with any party behind four walls of a room.”

“We will consider the Congress’ reply on Tuesday and take a decision,” Sisodia said. “People have been telling AAP leaders that they did good by bringing in the public domain their talks with the Congress on issue-based support.”

“If President’s Rule is imposed for a day, let it be so,” Sisodia said, pointing to the AAP’s commitment to hold public meetings across the city and seek people’s views on government formation.

AAP leader Yogendra Yadav also echoed a similar view. “The AAP’s political affairs committee will meet at 10 am on Tuesday and take the issue forward in view of the Congress’ reply,” he said.

Raj Niwas sources said if the AAP failed to take a decision on government formation in the next 48 hours, there was a strong possibility that the new 70-member Assembly may be kept under suspended animation by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung as tenure of the present Assembly would come to an end on December 18.

On whether the AAP would be able to take a decision in the next 48 hours, Yadav said: “Constitutional procedures have their own calendar. For us, constitutional deadlines are not important. We will inform the lieutenant governor about our decision on government formation when we are ready.”

The AAP is the second-largest party in the Assembly with 28 MLAs. Jung invited Arvind Kejriwal after the BJP, which had support of 32 MLAs, expressed its inability to form a government.

After Kejriwal sought more time from Jung on Saturday, he sent a report to President Pranab Mukherjee about possible options of suspending the Assembly and imposing President’s Rule in case the AAP did not form the government.

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, however, did not disclose contents of the report. “We are examining the report legally,” he said.

The Congress, which was drubbed in the Assembly elections after a 15-year rule, wrote to Jung on Friday, offering “unconditional support” to the AAP which, in turn, sought clarity on 18 issues including the Jan Lokpal Bill, full statehood for Delhi, audit of private power companies, among others.

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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
July 12,2020

Gurugram, Jul 12: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the whole world was appreciating India's successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking ahead of the mega tree plantation drive of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Officers' Training Academy in Kadarpur village here, the Home Minister also lauded the contribution of security forces in the battle against COVID-19 in the country.

"India is one of the most populous countries. Everyone thought how will a country like India battle COVID-19, there were apprehensions but today the whole world is witnessing how one of the most successful battles against COVID-19 has been fought here," the Home Minister said.

"In India's battle against COVID-19, all of our security forces are playing a huge role, nobody can deny it. Today, I salute these corona warriors. They have proved that they not only know how to fight terrorism but also against COVID with help of people," he added.

The Union Home Minister said that many jawans have given up their lives during the COVID-19 crisis phase and paid tributes to them.

"I have talked to families of those jawans and today once again I thank them, your sacrifice will not go waste. Whenever the history of the human race's fight against COVID-19 is written, the contribution of India's security forces will be mentioned in golden ink," he said.

He also hailed the plantation drive and said that trees planted today should be taken care of by the jawans till they reach maturity, he added the trees chosen for plantation today consisted mostly those which had a long life and would help the generations to come.

Together the CAPFs have targeted to plant around 10 lakh tree saplings across the country today. Heads of all the CAPFs or their representatives were present in the event held at Gurugram. 

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Agencies
February 16,2020

Lucknow, Feb 16: Resident doctors at the AMU's Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital on Sunday demanded that the charges slapped against Dr Kafeel Khan under the National Security Act be withdrawn.

Dr Khan was arrested by the UP Special Task Force from Mumbai on January 29 in connection with a speech he had delivered during an anti-CAA protest at Aligarh Muslim University on December 12.

The Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) held a protest march on the hospital campus against the slapping of the NSA against the Gorakhpur doctor after he was granted bail in connection with the alleged hate speech.

RDA president Dr Hamza Malik said the move was a "blatant attempt to crush dissent and a violation of the Constitution of india".

He said by targeting the doctor, the UP government had done a great disservice to the entire medical community.

The AMU Students' Coordination Committee also described the decision to charge Dr Kafeel under the NSA a "direct assault" on a member of the medical fraternity who is "known for his upright behaviour and a champion of free speech".

Committee spokesperson and former AMU Students' Union president Faizul Hasan said by charging Dr Kafeel under the NSA even after he got bail was "a direct violation of a Supreme Court ruling on such issues".

Hasan said Dr Kafeel's fate should serve as an eye-opener for the rest of the country regarding the democratic rights in Uttar Pradesh.

The doctor was earlier arrested for his alleged role in the death of over 60 children within an week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur in August 2017. Short supply of oxygen at the children's ward was blamed at that time for the deaths.

About two years later, a state government probe cleared Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the Yogi Adityanath government.

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