Poonawalla, during an interaction with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through a video conference, expressed optimism that the COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by October-November this year and the next phase of the trial can start in mid-August in India. According to a press note released by the CMO, Poonawalla has informed that the Oxford University vaccine has shown promising results in the first phase trial.
She also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre of "murdering the democracy" in the name of polls.
Uncapped left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar has joined the test squad from the Pakistan A team currently in Hamilton.
Recognising the malaise of paid news, the Election Commission has proposed to the government to make it an electoral offence even as it continues to tackle it itself by monitoring the expenditures of candidates.
The ability to make out fake news from real could save the coming generations a huge amount of conflict and heartburn, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
'The Constitution must reflect the reality of mature states because otherwise it is the Centre that will become irrelevant,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
There were mixed reactions from parties to Markandey Katju's charge that three ex-chief justices of India had compromised in giving extension and elevation to an additional judge of Madras high court at UPA government's instance, with some including All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam demanding a probe while others questioned the timing of his disclosure.
Vaccines Covishield and Covaxin work against SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, while effectiveness tests against the Delta Plus variant is ongoing, the government said.
The council wants the government to stick to its fiscal consolidation road map.
Move will be a setback for India which wants information on black money probe based on leaked data
The bench said that 'argument on the preliminary issue and the claim of privilege raised by the Government of India is reserved'.
BCCI to seek SC approval to relax tenure reform
'NSCN-IM leader Muivah warns that the NSCN-IM has come very close to an honourable solution to the peace process with the Government of India, but if it does not materialise, then the Nagas will go away so far that it would be difficult to bring them back to the negotiating table easily,' note Sandeep Pandey and Meera Sanghamitra.
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on the basis of a seven-day rolling average the positivity rate of COVID-19, which was 11 per cent during the first week of August, has come down to 8 per cent now.
Attorney General K K Venugopal on Tuesday said the crisis in the Supreme Court seems to be unresolved and hoped it will be "fully settled" in a couple of days, remarks that come a day after he stated that everything was settled in the higher judiciary.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza had no hesitation in terming India a far better team but said 'my Asia Cup was won' when Tamim Iqbal batted with one hand in their tournament opener, against Sri Lanka.
The 'antisera' has been developed by the ICMR in collaboration with a Hyderabad-based bio-pharmaceutical firm. "With Biological E Limited we have developed an horse 'antisera' and we have just got clearance for conducting clinical trials for that," ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said at press briefing.
Mukherjee conferred with the Jordanian monarch on a wide variety of subjects, including terrorism, UN Security Council reforms, enhancement of bilateral trade.
'Given Chinese sensitivity to anything to do with Tibet -- and the fact that in the 1950s it was the Tibet issue which led to the deterioration of India-China relations and the border war in 1962 -- India should be particularly careful in not triggering a Chinese reaction which it may not be able to handle,' says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
England skipper Joe Root said it is up to the International Cricket Council, and not the players, to decide whether the "difficult" Motera pitch is suitable for Test cricket after his side was crushed inside two days by India in a low-scoring day-night encounter.
The ceremony will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The ongoing peace talks between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-IM leadership and the Government of India have reached a 'sensitive stage' and efforts are on to iron out a longstanding solution to the over six decades old Naga political problem, observed P Chidambaram in his last press conference as the home minister.
'We want to make sure that we are certainly targeting the entire Indian American community.'
Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, currently chairman of Press Council of India, on Monday stirred a controversy by alleging that three ex-Chief Justices of India had compromised in giving extension to an additional judge of Madras high court at the instance of the United Progressive Alliance government in the wake of pressure from one of its allies, apparently Dravida Munnetra Kazahagham.
While most banks in India store all this data on Indian servers in their core banking systems, the current directive addresses new-age payment and fintech companies operating in the space
A BJP source admitted that a census will inevitably reconfirm the numerical majority of the OBCs. 'That will overturn social equations and consign the upper castes to a twilight zone of marginalisation. The RSS won't accept it.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
"The government has cleared seven names out of the 106 judges and one out of the nine for chief justices, so far. I expect that the government will clear the rest of the names very soon. These appointments will take care of pendency to some extent. I seek the cooperation and support of the Government to enable access to justice and to strengthen democracy," CJI N V Ramana said.
Thirty districts in the country, including 13 in Kerala, eight in Mizoram, four in Meghalaya, three each in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, two in Sikkim and one in Meghalaya are reporting a weekly positivity rate of over 10 per cent.
'India's print media appears to be on the ventilator, gasping for breath, cutting staff, cutting salaries, cutting editions, cutting off its hands and legs,' notes Krishna Prasad.
The death toll also saw a record single-day increase of over 350 fatalities to move closer to the 8,500-mark, more than one-third of which have been recorded in 11 days since June 1 -- the day that marked the beginning of a phased exit from most restrictions imposed under a nationwide lockdown with effect from March 25.
'PM Modi is not taking Kashmir's stance as far as the Naga issue is concerned.'
'A sense of purpose is lacking in India's diplomacy.' 'This is what happens when foreign policy becomes the stuff for grandstanding before the domestic audience,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
An application filed by a Lucknow scribe has claimed that the son of slain journalist, Jagendra Singh, was pressurised and threatened by the alleged killers of his father, following which he had written a letter to his lawyer on July 23 wishing to withdraw the petition.
Both nations have to find ways to be sensitive to each other's politico-strategic and economic concerns, say Dr Rahul Mishra and Sana Hashmi.
The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and chief ministers with the exception of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
'Vinoo Mankad's legacy has been to tell the aspiring Indian cricketer to believe in oneself. He was a great proponent of self-belief. He was the one who kept saying to me that you need to keep scoring runs and keep at it. When you get a 100, let that be the knock on the selector's door.'
India is expected to press for text-based negotiation during the current session of the United Nation General Assembly. Suman Guha Mozumder reports from New York
Gen Rawat's comments about the supporting role of the Air Force came at a conference when asked about the growing perception that the Indian Air Force was not keen on setting up the proposed theatre commands integrating the capabilities of the three forces.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India does 'have its own reasons' for opposing the controversial Decision Review System, says International Cricket Council Chief Executive Dave Richardson, admitting that the technology is not foolproof yet.
What did Narendra Modi tell former Utah governor Jon M Huntsman when he met him? Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from Washington, DC.
