2ND PHASE OF VACCINE TO COVER 60+, INCLUDE PRIVATE CENTRES

As new coronavirus cases crossed the 13,000 mark for the third time in six days on Wednesday, the Centre rushed multi-disciplinary teams to nine states and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir most of whom are witnessing a surge to support them in effectively tackling the pandemic.

The nine states are Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. COVID-19 cases rose sharply in Maharashtra with the state reporting 8,807 new infections, taking its total count to 21,21,119, the state health department said. The western state had reported 6,218 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

A decision on the next phase of COVID-19 vaccination was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The vaccine will be offered free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals, it was stated.

"The second phase of the world's largest vaccination drive will start from Monday in which anybody above 60 years, that may not be less than 10 crore people in the country, and 45 years plus with co-morbidities will be given vaccines in 10,000 government medical facilities and also over 20,000 private hospitals," Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told a media briefing.

"Whoever goes to the government centre will be administered vaccine free of cost. Indian government will pay for them. The government will purchase the necessary doses and will send them to all the states."

Javadekar said those who want to get vaccination from private hospitals will have to pay, but the amount will be decided by the health ministry within the next three-four days as they are in discussions with manufacturers as well as hospitals.

Asked if people will have a choice of vaccine, Covishield or COVAXIN, Javadekar only said that India is proud to have two vaccines which are both effective with proven efficacy.

The more affected states have been advised to increase testing in a focussed manner in the affected districts with the appropriate split of RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests and to also ensure that all symptomatic negatives of antigen tests are compulsorily tested via RT-PCR tests, the health ministry statement said. The positive persons must be promptly isolated/hospitalised, all their close contacts be traced and also tested without delay,it added.

As cases surged in some states, West Bengal made it mandatory for passengers travelling in flights from Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana to produce negative COVID-19 report.

The Delhi government is also asking travellers from five states-- Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh--to show negative COVID-19 test report before entering the national capital.

DE-ESCALATION IN LADAKH STILL A LONG WAY TO GO: ARMY CHIEF

The disengagement of armies of India and China from north and south banks of Pangong Tso is a "very good end result" and a win-win situation for both the sides, Army chief Gen M M Naravane said on Wednesday but stressed that there is a long way to go and the next steps towards it are de-escalation and de-induction of troops.

He also said there were no signs of an "overt collusion" between China and Pakistan during the Ladakh standoff but India caters to a long term strategy for not a two, but a two-and-half front war. With the half front, he was referring to the internal security.

Gen Naravane said there are strategies in place to address other pending issues in eastern Ladakh. Though the disengagement process has commenced, there is a trust deficit, he noted. The disengagement process began on February 10.

"We still have a long way to go. We have to move on to the stage of de-escalation. And of course, after that moving back of the troops, the de-induction of the troops which went to the higher reaches," he said at a webinar organised by Vivekanada International Foundation.

"In doing whatever we are doing, we are keeping in mind that we have to be wary. We will be very cautious. There is trust deficit. Unless that trust deficit is removed, we will, of course, continue to be very wary and watching every movement that happens on either side of the LAC," he said.

Naravane exuded confidence that with continued engagement with Pakistan, there could be some sort of an understanding because "unsettled borders and violence on the borders help no one".

He said China has been in the "habit of creeping forward", making very small incremental changes wherein each change was not big or worthy of a very strong reaction. "Because of these small incremental moves, which were never contested, he (China) has been able to achieve the aim without firing any shot or loss of life.

He also cited the example of the South China Sea where China militarised some of the islands. Naravane said this strategy will not work with India.

MOTERA CRICKET STADIUM NAMED AFTER MODI

The world’s largest cricket stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad was renamed the Narendra Modi Stadium and inaugurated on Wednesday by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, who is BCCI secretary.

The rebuilt stadium is a part of the proposed, sprawling Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave, which includes the world’s largest cricket stadium, and facilities for several other sports. The enclave is spread in over 220 acres on the Sabarmati river bank in the north east area of Ahmedabad.

“This stadium was conceptualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association at that time,” President Ram Nath Kovind said during his inaugural address on Wednesday.

The renaming has triggered a political controversy, with the Congress accusing the BJP of insulting an icon of the freedom movement. The BJP defended the move, saying it was recognition of the Prime Minister’s efforts in inspiring youth to rise in sports.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Beautiful how the truth reveals itself. Narendra Modi stadium. Adani end-Reliance end (the two bowling ends are named thuis!). With Jay Shah presiding. #HumDoHumareDo.”

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “This is the second time he (Modi) has insulted the two great sons of Gujarat and great international icons – one of them being Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the other being Patel. In 2017, on the khadi calendar…traditionally there was Gandhi with a charkha…that image is embedded in our heads…he removed that and came and sat himself. Today he has removed Patel’s name and put his own name. “We understand the acrimony, we understand the hatred you have towards these great icons, who chose the Congress route, who rejected the RSS and its ideology… We know how much you hate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. We are proud of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for several things that he has done, one of them is banning the RSS. Today, you have avenged that act, that great act of that great man called Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,” he said.

BJP leaders and Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar hit back at the Congress. “The Motera stadium has been renamed but the complex continues in the name of Vallabhbhai Patel,” Javadekar said during a briefing on cabinet decisions. Prasad added, “Have Sonia ji and Rahul Gandhi praised the Sardar Patel statue in Kevadiya, the tallest in the world?… They have not praised or visited a tourist place in India which is getting global attraction. What else is there to say?”

Other BJP leaders pointed out that several sports stadiums and tournaments are named for members of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

When asked to comment on this, Congress’s Khera said, “Successive governments, as a tribute to previous governments and previous prime ministers, definitely do this… But you knew you had done nothing for the next governments to remember you for… Therefore, you will pay your own tributes to yourself.”

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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AUSTRALIA PASSES LAW FORCING FACEBOOK, GOOGLE TO PAY FOR NEWS

Australia’s parliament passed a world-first law to force digital giants such as Facebook Inc. and Google pay local publishers for news content — a move that may unleash more global regulatory action to limit their power.

The legislation was passed Thursday and will ensure “news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a statement. “The code is a significant microeconomic reform, one that has drawn the eyes of the world on the Australian parliament.”

Regulators globally have been closely watching the legislation as they grapple with the advertising dominance of Facebook and Google, who now face the prospect of similar measures cascading around the world. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he’s discussed the new law with the leaders of India, Canada, France and the U.K.

The U.S. technology giants negotiated hard with the Australian government to extract concessions.

Among key concessions, Google and Facebook are free to decide themselves which commercial deals to pursue. And if the government decides they’ve made a sufficient contribution to the local news industry, they won’t be designated under the law. If the government does decide to apply the code, the companies will be given one month’s notice, and will also have more time to strike deals with media publishers before they’re forced into final-offer arbitration as a last resort.

BIDEN LIFTS TRUMP-ERA BAN BLOCKING IMMIGRATION, ENDS GREEN CARD FREEZE

President Joe Biden has lifted a freeze on green cards issued by his predecessor during the pandemic that lawyers said was blocking most legal immigration to the United States.

Former President Donald Trump last spring halted the issuance of green cards until the end of 2020 in the name of protecting the coronavirus-wracked job market a reason that Trump gave to achieve many of the cuts to legal immigration that had eluded him before the pandemic.

Trump on December 31 extended those orders until the end of March.

Trump had deemed immigrants a risk to the US labour market and blocked their entry to the United States in issuing Proclamation 10014 and Proclamation 10052.

Biden stated in his proclamation on Wednesday that shutting the door on legal immigrants does not advance the interests of the United States". To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here. It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world," Biden stated in his proclamation.

THE REST

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PAK, INDIA CAN RESOLVE KASHMIR ISSUE THROUGH DIALOGUE: IMRAN

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that Kashmir is the only dispute with India and it can only be resolved through dialogue.

Addressing the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Trade and Investment Conference which he co-chaired with his counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo, Khan said that he offered India an opportunity to hold peace talks on being elected as prime minister in 2018 but nothing came to pass.

"Immediately when I came into power, I approached our neighbour India and explained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the way forward for the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue," Khan said. "I didn't succeed but I am optimistic that eventually sense will prevail. The only way the subcontinent can tackle poverty is by improving trade relations," he added.

TOMAR SETS TERMS FOR TALKS WITH FARM UNIONS

The government is ready to resume talks with the protesting farmers if they respond to its offer to put the three farm laws on hold for one and a half years and iron out differences through a joint committee, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

“The government had been sympathetically holding discussions with the farmers. Even now, if their response comes, we are ready to talk,” he said on the sidelines of an event to mark the second anniversary of PM-Kisan. He was replying to a query on BKU leader Rakesh Tikait’s threat to march to Parliament on 40 lakh tractors if the laws were not repealed.

BIGGEST RIOTER: DIDI ON PM; SAYS WILL MEET FATE WORSE THAN DONALD TRUMP’S

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, branding him as the “biggest rioter”, who will meet a fate “even worse” than that of former US President Donald Trump.

Banerjee, speaking at a rally at Sahaganj in Hooghly district from where the PM had addressed a public meeting last week, also alleged that Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were spreading lies and hatred throughout the country. “He describes the TMC as a ‘tolabaj’ (extortionist) party, but what is he? Narendra Modi is the biggest ‘dangabaaz’ (rioter), the biggest ‘dhandabaaz’ (opportunist). You are selling the entire country for crores, what is that for? Cat money or rat money,” Banerjee said, referring to the BJP’s repeated allegations of “cut money” (commission) against the Trinamool Congress. The TMC boss exuded confidence that her party will come back to power after the Assembly elections.

“It will be game on (‘khela hobe’) in the Assembly polls... I will be the goalkeeper and you (BJP) will not be able to score a single goal. All shots will fly above the goal post,” Banerjee said, invoking the Bengali sentiment for football, the state’s most popular sport.

RIGHT TO SILENCE IS VIRTUE IN TODAY’S NOISY TIMES, FACEBOOK VP TELLS SUPREME COURT

“Right to silence” is a virtue in present “noisy times”, Facebook India Vice President and MD Ajit Mohan yesterday told the Supreme Court while contending that the Delhi Assembly has no legislative power to set up a panel to examine the issue of peace and harmony.

A Bench of Justices SK Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy reserved its verdict after lawyers representing Facebook official, Delhi Assembly and the Centre wrapped up submissions on the plea of Mohan challenging summons issued by the Peace and Harmony Committee for failing to appear before it as witness in connection with the north-east Delhi riots matter.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Facebook official, said setting up of the peace panel was not the core function of the Delhi Assembly as the law and order issue fell under the domain of the Centre in the national capital.

Senior advocate AM Singhvi, representing the panel of the assembly, had said the Assembly had the power to summon.

However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had opposed the submission of the panel of the assembly saying that the law and order squarely fell under the domain of Delhi police which is accountable to the Central government.

SEBI, FINMIN SEEK DETAILED REPORT FROM NSE AS TRADING HALTS DUE TO GLITCH

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday suspended trading in its cash and derivatives segments for over three hours—one of its worst-ever outage—jeopardising the interests of several market participants. The exchange cited issues with its telecom service providers that prevented stocks and index quotations from getting updated. The issue came to light less than an hour after normal trading commenced, with several brokers complaining that live price feeds had frozen.

At 11.40 am, the exchange halted equity market trading, forcing investors to redirect their cash market trades to the BSE—where “impact costs” are typically high due to shallow trading volumes.

With no communication from NSE on trade resumption even as the normal closing time of 3.30 pm approached, several brokers started cancelling open orders in the system and decided to square off intra-day cash market positions on the BSE.

This lead to distortion in several stocks prices, with shares of HDFC Bank and TCS witnessing an unusual drop on the BSE. Less than 15 minutes before close, NSE and BSE announced they were extending trading hours from 3:45 pm to 5 pm.

A NEW LEAD-FREE MATERIAL FOR CONVERTING WASTE HEAT TO POWER

Indian scientists have found a new lead-free material which can efficiently convert waste heat to power small home appliances and automobiles.

So far, most of the efficient thermoelectric materials developed by scientists use lead as a major constituent element, thereby restricting their use for mass-market applications.

Scientists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research have identified a lead-free material called Cadmium doped Silver Antimony Telluride which can efficiently allow recovery of electricity from “waste heat”, marking a paradigm shift in the thermoelectric puzzle, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced yesterday.

Thermoelectric energy conversion allows generation of electrical voltage when one end of a material is heated while keeping the other side cold. Finding an efficient material to realise this scientific principle has been a daunting task for scientists.

MOTERA TEST DAY 1: AXAR PATEL’S PINK-BALL PARTY

Spinner Axar Patel claimed a career-best 6/38 as India bundled out England for 112 on the opening day to put themselves in the box seat in the Day/Night third Test in Ahmedabad.

Rohit Sharma then helped the hosts weather a top-order wobble of their own and finish an eventful 13-wicket day on 99/3. Rohit was batting on 57 at stumps with Ajinkya Rahane on one at the other end with India eyeing a handy first-innings lead.

On a track where the ball spun from the first session, the English batsmen repeatedly played for the turn and got beaten by the straight ball instead.

India did not find scoring easy either against the swinging pink ball in the final session. The usually fluent Shubman Gill took 27 balls to open his account. Gill made 11, Pujara went for a duck, and Kohli was out on 27.

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Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,799 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,677 / 4,577, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 74,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest. - Maya Angelou

OFF TRACK

Just because somebody threw the rumour in the market that "Men are from mars and Women are from Venus", nobody dares, not even Nasa or Isro, to go to Venus.... Only Mars missions!!