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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • 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
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • 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
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
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We Have To Get The Vaccination Right

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-01-02 05:54:09

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

Two developments on the first two days of the New Year have instilled hope in the minds of the people that 2021 will be safer and things will return to normal in a few months. In the first, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) appointed by the government approved the Oxford Institute-Astra Zeneca Covid (made in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India) vaccine for emergency use in India, subject to certain conditions. In the second, vaccination dry runs are happening at thousands of centres in all states across India today to test the protocols and the level of preparation.

With the SEC approval of the Oxford vaccine, it is hoped that the first shots will be administered to those whose names are on the priority list within 10 days. This has been made possible because Serum Institute had taken a huge business risk to produce and stock the vaccine at on-risk basis even before the mandatory approvals and is ready to supply these stocks to India as per order. Although the Oxford vaccine is reported to have only 70 percent efficacy, that is higher than the 50 percent prescribed by WHO and other experts. The best thing about the Oxford vaccine is that it does not need special storage provisions (like the Pfizer vaccine which needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees) and is best for the logistics nightmare in India.

The dry run that is happening today is like a trailer before the main movie. Although the Centre and the state governments have worked overtime to identify and specify vaccination centres and have trained nearly 1 lakh medical professionals to administer the doses to the people, the dry runs for two days would be helpful in identifying the possible glitches that might crop up and take corrective measures before the actual roll out.

As of now, everything looks hunky dory on paper. But since things go haywire in India despite our best efforts and intentions, it is required that the Centre and the state governments keep a close watch on the process. This is going to be the largest vaccination program in the world (even if India vaccinates just 60 percent of its population in the next 6 to 9 months) and it is absolutely necessary for us to get it right. The fight against the virus has been going on for long and at huge costs. It is time to provide a protective shield to the population so that the country can move ahead. 

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