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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Vaccine Production Needs To Be Increased And More Vaccines Need To Be Approved

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-08 06:32:24

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Is India's vaccination programme in the danger of getting derailed? Three things point to this. In the first, more than 10 states have made representations to the Centre for additional stocks saying that their stocks will not last for the next 3-4 days. Maharashtra’s case is particularly grim with reports of several centres in the state stopping vaccination due to low or no stocks. In the second, AstraZeneca has already served a legal notice on Serum Institute for reneging on supply commitments while Serum has petitioned the Centre to provide Rs. 3000 crore to ramp up production. In the third, despite three months having passed since the vaccination drive started, India is still making do with only two vaccine candidates and others have not been approved for inoculation in the country. Russia is willing to get Sputnik manufactured in India and India would do well to approve it after necessary tests. There are other candidates too which can be seriously looked at. India has manufacturing capacity and it should be used gainfully now.

The government has to take these decisions fast. It has to approve other vaccine candidates and get those vaccines manufactured in India. Import is an option but it will be costly as Serum supplies Covishield at a highly-subsidized rate of just Rs. 150 per dose to the government. At the same time, it must look into ways to ramp up production and supplies of both Covishield and Covaxin. Presently, India is administering between 25 to 35 lakh doses per day. At this rate, India needs 9 crore doses per month. At their present production capacity, both Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech are incapable of servicing the vaccine programme. Production has to be ramped up and new vaccines have to be approved if the vaccination drive is to be sustained at current levels and expanded in the near future.

 

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