Maharashtra: Nashik corridor nod soon

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the cabinet would soon approve the Pune-Nashik semi-high speed corridor project to ensure that its work started as early as possible.

The ministry of railways approved the project last month. Pawar held a meeting to discuss the project with the authorities of the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. “A presentation on the project was made before Pawar as well the MLAs present,” a source in the MRIDC said.

The cost of the project has been pegged at Rs.16,039 crore. The length of the corridor would be around 235.15 km.

The travel time from Pune to Nashik would be an hour and 45 minutes once the semi-high speed corridor is ready. The MRIDC will be developing some high speed trains, which will ply on the corridor with regular trains. The high speed trains will initially have six coaches and run at a speed of 200 kmph.

The corridor will pass through Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik, providing connectivity to industrial zones such as Alandi, Chakan, Khed, Manchar and Narayangaon, among others.

Chinese apps Baidu, Weibo blocked in India

Weibo and Baidu Search, two of China’s biggest apps that were called the alternatives to Twitter and Google Search, have been blocked in India and according to reports, will be taken off the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Internet service providers have also been told to block these two apps. Weibo and Baidu Search are among 47 new apps that the Indian government banned on July 27 and added that the government is considering a decision to ban more apps.

PM Narendra Modi had an account on Weibo but he shut it down in the face of escalating tensions between India and China.

Blocking of these 47 apps follows the government’s first decision to ban 59 apps including the very popular TikTok and other apps like the UC Browser, Helo, Likee, Shareit, WeChat, CamScanner and Mi Community. 

These 59 apps were banned on June 29 and then the government added 47 more apps to the ban list, however, this time around the list was not made public.

Most apps in this second list of 47 include clones, or lite versions, of some of the apps that were a part of the 59 banned like TikTok Lite, Shareit Lite, CamScanner HD, BioLive Lite, Likee Lite etc.

These apps have been banned for engaging in activities that are “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

Reports have it that the government is also looking into 275 more Chinese apps that include the likes of PUBG Mobile and ByteDance’s Resso.

Tamil Nadu govt rejects three-language formula

The Tamil Nadu government rejected the Centre’s three language system proposed in the National Education Policy, asserting that there will be no deviation from the state’s decades-old two-language formula of Tamil and English.

The NEP, passed by the Union cabinet last week, said the mother tongue/local and regional language will now be the medium of instruction till at least Class V, and preferably beyond Class VIII. Also, Sanskrit will be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an option for students, including in the three-language formula.

The proposal was met with resistance in Tamil Nadu, with DMK chief and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly MK Stalin dubbing it as an attempt to “impose” Hindi and Sanskrit on non-Hindi-speaking states. The ruling AIADMK’s ally, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, too, had called the three-language system unacceptable.

The anti-Hindi movement of the 1960s, led by the DMK, had struck a chord among the people of TN and is believed to have contributed to the Dravidian party’s stellar win in the 1967 election under the Annadurai, unseating a Congress government in the state for the first time in post-Independent India. Former CMs MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa were also firmly against the “imposition” of Hindi.

Factory Activity Worsens in July

India’s manufacturing activity contracted at a faster pace in July after showing some recovery in June, as localised lockdowns by state governments took their toll on business activity.

The IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped to 46 in July from 47.2 in June. The reading pointed to a “marked deterioration in business conditions across the Indian manufacturing sector”, to which firms responded by cutting both staff numbers and purchasing activity, IHS Markit said in its report.

A reading below 50 is an indicator of contraction, while one above that shows expansion.

Data from Indian manufacturers shed more light on the state of economic conditions in one of the countries worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Centre imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25 to contain the spread of Covid-19. The restrictions were eased in phases starting May, but several state governments opted for stringent local shutdowns last month to quell outbreaks, impacting the pickup in activity.

Indicators such as unemployment data that had shown improvement in June were tepid in July due to the re-emergence of lockdowns.

The economy did not gather pace in July after the June spurt amid rising Covid-19 cases and mini shutdowns, denting the recovery. Retail remained sluggish, credit growth was lower, diesel demand fell and mobility indicators did not suggest increased activity in the month, it said.

According to the IHS Markit report, subdued demand was evidenced by another marked decrease in new orders placed with manufacturers last month, and attributed to often-cited prolonged closures at clients’ businesses. Further contraction in new export orders was seen, as international clients were hesitant to place orders while the duration of the pandemic remained uncertain. The latest reduction in exports was the softest for four months.

Contrary to prevailing conditions, manufacturers were increasingly optimistic over future activity, the report said. Sentiment toward the 12-month business outlook improved for the second month in a row to reach a five-month high. However, the degree of positivity was still well below the historical average, it said.

SII gets nod for Phase II, III of human trials of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine

The Drugs Controller General of India gave its approval to the Serum Institute of India in Pune to conduct Phase II and III human clinical trials of Oxford University-Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine, known as Covishield, being undertaken in India. Health Ministry officials said that the move is expected to ‘hasten the development of the Covid-19 vaccine.’ The approval was granted after taking into account the recommendations of a Subject Expert Committee on Covid-19 and a detailed evaluation of the vaccine candidate.

Earlier last week, the committee had deferred its approval and suggested eight changes to the initial proposal. These changes included a fair distribution of the clinical trials across cities in India, proper demarcation of Phase II and III, revision of the 41 per cent dropout rate to make it at par with other vaccine studies, and making cellular immunity a part of the immunogenicity assessment.

A revised proposal submitted by the SII, proposed that 1600 people above 18 years of age 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 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.

The institute said it would conduct an observer-blind, randomised controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of ‘Covishield’ on healthy Indian adults. In the proposed study design, it has been stated that each subject will be administered two doses four weeks apart, the first dose on day one and second dose on day 29, following which the safety and immunogenicity will be assessed at predefined intervals. Studies in the United Kingdom have so far shown that a single dose of the vaccine led to a four-fold increase in antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) spike protein in 95 per cent of participants one month following the vaccination. Additionally, a Tcell response that peaked by day 14 and remained for two months after injection was observed in all subjects.

AstraZeneca had forged deals with multiple countries to produce more than two billion doses of the investigational Covid-19 vaccine. The tie-up with SII is to manufacture about a billion doses for low and middle-income countries.

Rajya Sabha Member Amar Singh Dies At 64

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has died after battling an illness. He was 64. The Rajya Sabha MP had gone to a hospital in Singapore in March for surgery in a kidney-related illness. He had undergone a kidney transplant in 2011.

Amar Singh was a key leader in the Samajwadi Party at a time when the party moved to support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2008, after the Communist Party of India withdrew from the government over a nuclear deal with the US.

Many leaders have tweeted their condolences. 

Amar Singh is survived by his wife Pankaja Singh and two daughters - Drishti and Disha.

A flamboyant politician who often did not pay much heed to demands of political correctness in his interactions, including with the media, Amar Singh shot into the league of top politicians as Mulayam Singh Yadav's close aide.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh had been battling a long illness before he died.

Amar Singh was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1996. After he was expelled by the Samajwadi Party in 2010, he was elected to Rajya Sabha again in 2016

The former Samajwadi Party leader, however, had praised party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav while he was leaving, with a parting note: "I am blessed by him... he has given me liberation."

Amar Singh is survived by his wife Pankaja Singh and two daughters - Drishti and Disha.

A flamboyant politician who often did not pay much heed to demands of political correctness in his interactions, including with the media, Amar Singh shot into the league of top politicians as Mulayam Singh Yadav's close aide.

However, with the emergence of Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav as the main face of the Samajwadi Party - Akhilesh Yadav later became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh - Amar Singh's influence started waning.

It was he who brought actor Jaya Prada, who was once a Telugu Desam Party MP, into the Samajwadi Party, and she was elected to Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh's Rampur twice.

Amar Singh and the Bachchans were also very close at one point. But in 2016, their relationship took on strains after Mr Singh went public with his complaints against Jaya Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party leader.

In February this year, Amar Singh released a video expressing "regret" over his behaviour towards Amitabh Bachchan and his family. The former Samajwadi Party leader recorded and posted the video on his Facebook account after receiving Mr Bachchan's message on the death anniversary of his father.

Amar Singh was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1996. After he was expelled by the Samajwadi Party in 2010, he was elected to Rajya Sabha again in 2016 as an independent member but with support from the Samajwadi Party, with whom he was seen to have burnt his bridges.

Covid-19: Amit Shah tests positive

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit have tested positive for coronavirus, the latest among prominent public figures in the country to have contracted Covid-19, while Uttar Pradesh minister Kamal Rani Verma succumbed to the infection on Sunday.

Taking to Twitter, 55-year-old Shah said he had undergone a coronavirus test after showing initial symptoms “My health is fine, but I am getting admitted to a hospital on the advice of doctors,” he tweeted in Hindi and urged those who had come in contact with him in the last few days to get tested for coronavirus and isolate themselves.

The last known public function which Shah attended was on Saturday at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts where he addressed a webinar on the occasion of the 100th death anniversary of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. About 50 people were physically present at the event.

Government sources said the home minister was also present at the last meeting of the Union Cabinet held on Wednesday by following strict social-distancing norms along with wearing of masks. Several politicians including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief MK Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP president JP Nadda, were among those who wished Shah a speedy recovery.

In Uttar Pradesh, Kamal Rani Varun (pictured above), the only woman cabinet minister in the state, died of Covid-19 at a hospital in Lucknow on Sunday. She was 62. The technical education minister, who tested positive for the virus on July 18, breathed her last at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

She had comorbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and hyperthyroidism, a senior doctor at the hospital said.

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit tested positive for Covid-19, but has been advised home quarantine since his infection was mild, the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai said on Sunday. The 80-year old Purohit was in self-isolation since July 29 after three people in the Raj Bhavan tested positive for the coronavirus.