NATIONAL NEWS
Neeraj Chopra throws javelin for a gold
Neeraj Chopra ended India’s drought of gold medals by snagging the first Gold in Javelin throw in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. With the medal, the 23 year old from Panipat, Haryana, not only became the first Indian to win a gold, but also improved India’s tally from the London 2012 games. Wrestler Bajrang Punia got a Bronze on Saturday. This is India’s best-ever show on the world stage, surpassing the six medals (2 silvers and 4 bronzes) the country had won in London 2012. P.V. Sindhu (badminton), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing), the men’s hockey team and Bajrang Punia (wrestling) won bronze medals, Mirabai Chanu (weightlifting) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (wrestling) won silver medals. Last Wednesday, Chopra had become the first Indian javelin thrower in history to qualify for the final at the Olympics with a throw of 87.58m in his very first attempt, to top the qualification round. He got into the company of big leaguers and favourites, World Number 1, Johannes Vetter, who had thrown over 90 metres 17 times! On August 7, javelin’s uncertainty threw up a new Olympic champion, Chopra. It also led to the biggest shock of the tournament when pre-tournament favourite Vetter failed to make the top eight from a field of 12 finalists. The German had a poor start, only managing 82.52m with his best effort from the first three attempts, which was just below the cut-off. Ironically, in an interview Vetter had remarked how easy it was for him to throw over 90 metres. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch won silver with 86.67, while his countryman Vitezslav Vesely won bronze with 85.44. Chopra is only the second Indian ever to win an individual gold — shooter Abhinav Bindra finished on top of the podium in 2008. Just like he had in the qualifying round, a confident Chopra strode into the arena and led from the time he completed his first throw till the finish. Chopra was the second to throw in the 12-man final and he got off to a fine start with a throw of 87.03m. He then bettered it with 87.58 on his second and 76.79m on his third. Chopra’s rise began with a throw of 82.23m in the 2016 South Asian Games (where he won gold), aged just 19. His gold-haul would continue – through the Asian Championships, the Commonwealth Games (first Indian to medal in the event, and just the fourth Indian individual athletics gold medalist), and the Asian Games (smashing his own national record in the process, and throwing it a whole six metres further than the silver medalist). An injury to his right elbow in 2019, caused him to miss the entire year, but he returned in time to make the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualification mark. With his medals and his flowing locks, which he chopped off for the Olympics, and with videos of his fitness regimen doing the rounds online, the stocky Chopra will be now looking at joining the 90 metres plus club!
Nod to Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine
With Johnson and Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose COVID-19 vaccine given approval for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA), Indians will now have a choice of five vaccines to choose from to stave off COVID in the coming months. The single shot at protection against COVID, kicks in after 28 days of being vaccinated, according to the vaccine makers. In a tweet earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had tweeted that EUA had been granted to the vaccine and that India now had five EUA vaccines. While the exact time when the vaccine would be made available is not known, responding to a specific query by The Hindu on the vaccine availability timeline Johnson & Johnson India spokesperson said: While we look forward to meeting our delivery commitments it is premature for us to speculate on the timing of our vaccine deliveries. It may be recalled that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had allowed the emergency use of Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V and Moderna vaccines. The Health Ministry has maintained that it is continuously working towards ensuring increased supply of COVID-19 vaccines and in a response given in the Lok Sabha during this session maintained that COVID-19 vaccination protects from severe manifestation of disease and improving herd immunity and is accordingly likely to mitigate the impact COVID-19 may have with any future resurgence. Vaccines currently being utilized for immunization offer substantial protection again COVID-19 besides reducing severity of disease, hospitalization and deaths. The Ministry stated the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had also granted permission to conduct the phase I clinical trial of intranasal adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccine (BBV154) (in the age group of 18 and above) to Bharat Biotech International Limited, Hyderabad. So far children have been kept out of the vaccination drive by the government. The CDSCO has granted permission to conduct clinical trials of vaccines in children to — Phase II/ III clinical trial to Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad (in the age group of 2 to 18) for Whole-Virion Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine and Phase III clinical trial to Cadila Healthcare Ltd., Ahmedabad (in the age group of 12 yrs and above) for DNA-based vaccine. The outcomes of the clinical trials depend on data emerging from the trial for the purpose of its approval for launch in the country. Further, the CDSCO has not granted permission to conduct clinical trials of any imported COVID-19 vaccine on children in the country,’’ the Ministry had noted.
Centre denies existence of its own panel to deny information under RTI
The Centre has denied the existence of a committee it had set up to oversee medical oxygen supply during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020! The denial comes in the wake of deaths on account of short supply of Oxygen in the months of April and May this year, and is consistent with the Centre’s position that there were no deaths on account of the dearth of Oxygen. What is also surprising is that the statement comes just two weeks after the Centre argued strenuously before the Central Information Commission (CIC) against disclosing information about this committee on the grounds of strategic interests, commercial confidences, intellectual property and Cabinet papers. Last week, the Central Information Commission, (CIC) had called the blanket denial of information as far-fetched and unjustified, and directed a response within 10 days. In response, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said the committee does not even exist. However, an order dated, April 4, 2020 by the DPIIT, seen by this newspaper, had not only announced the setting of the committee under the then Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra, but had also spelt out the objective for setting up the committee. It was to to review the existing production and supply of medical oxygen and cylinders in the country and to ensure adequacy of production capacity, availability of oxygen gas cylinders and measures to augment their supply, a disruption-free supply chain and smooth storage, transportation and supply to end-users, and an effective communication mechanism with States through nodal teams constituted for the purpose. A DPIIT official, who was a member of the committee, also told The Hindu the panel had been constituted and held meetings. Apart from DPIIT officials, the committee included a Health Ministry representative, two AIIMS doctors, and representatives of the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers Association and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization. The records of this committee must be made public as it handled the crucial issue of medical oxygen. Given its stated objectives, the committee clearly recognised the issues at stake back in April 2020, so what did they do about it? This gains significance in the light of the chaos and disaster caused by oxygen shortages during the second wave of the pandemic, said activist and freelance journalist Saurav Das, who filed the initial RTI request, noting that the Supreme Court was ultimately forced to create its own taskforce to carry out the duties entrusted to this committee. Das had filed a request under RTI, seeking information on the nine-member committee set up in April 2020 under the chairmanship of Mohapatra to ensure adequate availability of medical oxygen in the wake of the pandemic. He requested information on the members, dates, agenda, minutes and presentations of the committee’s meetings till date, as well as what steps it took to ensure adequate availability of oxygen.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
China steps up vaccine outreach with new global push.
China’s declaration this week that it would provide 2 billion doses of vaccines to the world by year-end marks a stepped up effort by Beijing to take the lead in international vaccine cooperation and position itself as representing developing countries, amid growing concerns over widening vaccine inequity with the West. The announcement came at an international meeting organised on August 5 by Beijing, which brought together foreign ministers, health ministers and other senior officials from a number of countries including Sri Lanka and Pakistan in South Asia; Thailand, Malaysia Indonesia, and Philippines in the ASEAN region; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico in Latin America; Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa in Africa; officials from Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary and the UAE; and the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the meeting was aimed at strengthening international cooperation on vaccines and promoting fair and equitable distribution of vaccines around the world. At the forum, Mr. Wang read out a message from President Xi Jinping announcing the provision of 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of the year as well as a donation of US$100 million to the COVAX Facility for distributing vaccines to developing countries. Mr. Wang said China has no political purpose and there have never been any political conditions attached to such cooperation. Beijing has, however, stepped up its criticism of the U.S. in particular in recent months both for failing to step up to provide vaccines to developing countries as well as for what China has called politicising the ongoing investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Its vaccine outreach comes as Beijing looks to build a broad coalition of support including at the UN and the WHO as it pushes back against criticism from the West over the question of access to investigators looking into the origins of the pandemic in Wuhan, China, where it began. Initial studies from phase three trials have shown China’s vaccines, including the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines that lead China’s vaccine exports, are less effective than the mRNA vaccines but do offer protection against serious infection and may help reduce hospitalisation rates. Some countries using Chinese vaccines, including China, are considering a third booster dose of the vaccines to increase their effectiveness, particularly against the Delta variant. China in June said it had administered more than 1 billion doses at home and plans to fully vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of the year. China is currently dealing with the biggest spread of local clusters in over a year, and as yet has offered no timetable to when it will open up to international travel with strict restrictions and effective travel bans still remaining in place for most countries, including India. The Chinese government last week said it had stopped issuing passports and passport renewals to Chinese nationals to curb outbound travel amid concerns over the current spread, the first time it had done so since the start of the pandemic. The crucial UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, held within the first week of India’s Presidency of the powerful global body, galvanised members to call for an end to the violence and hostilities, and helped reveal to the outside world the dire situation facing the war-torn country, India’s envoy has said. India assumed the Presidency of the UN Security Council for the month on August 1. India wrapped up a hectic first week with discussions on Afghanistan on August 6 amidst a deteriorating security situation in the country as the Taliban carried out its military offensive.
UNSC meeting at Afghanistan galvanised members to call for end for violence.
The crucial meeting being convened by Russia on the fast-evolving situation in Afghanistan is expected to see the participation of Pakistan, China and the US. During the Council briefing, Afghanistan’s UN envoy Ghulam Isaczai said that the Taliban continued to enjoy safe haven in and supply and logistic line extended to their war machine from Pakistan. Graphic reports and video of Taliban fighters congregating close to the Durand Line to enter Afghanistan, fundraising events, transfer of dead bodies for mass burial, and treatment of injured Taliban in Pakistani hospitals are emerging and are widely available, Mr. Isaczai told the Council. This is not only a naked violation of the 1988 UN Security Council sanction regime, but also leads to further erosion of trust and confidence towards establishing a collaborative relationship with Pakistan to end the war in Afghanistan, Mr. Isaczai said. Stressing that the future of Afghanistan cannot be its past, Mr. Tirumurti, addressing the UNSC briefing in his national capacity, said terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries in the region must be dismantled immediately. He also said that terrorist supply chains disrupted, a reference to Pakistan, as New Delhi stressed it is time for the Security Council to decide on actions to ensure an immediate cessation of violence. It needs to be ensured that Afghanistan’s neighbours and the region are not threatened by terrorism, separatism and extremism. There needs to be zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, he said, adding that it is equally important to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used by terrorist groups to threaten or attack any other country. Those providing material and financial support to terrorist entities must be held accountable, he said. India’s second week of the Presidency will open with Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing a high-level virtual open debate on ‘Enhancing Maritime Security – A case for International Cooperation’ on August 9. The meeting on maritime security, one of the three signature events scheduled during India’s presidency, assumes significance as this will be the first time that an Indian Prime Minister would be presiding over a meeting of the UN Security Council. The Maritime Security high-level event will be the first-of-its-kind in the Security Council. This holistic concept has never been discussed before in the Council. This is also something of high priority to our Prime Minister for international peace and security, Mr. Tirumurti said, adding that Our Mission has worked closely with the UN Secretariat and with other member states of the Council, to put this high-level event together. During the week, Mr. Tirumurti, as President of the UN Security Council, chaired the Troop and Police Contributing Countries meeting on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). India is among the highest troop contributing countries to UNIFIL. India one of largest troop contributors for UNIFIL over 21 years. Paid tribute to #peacekeepers who made ultimate sacrifice, Mr. Tirumurti tweeted. Under India’s Presidency, the Council issued a press statement on the escalating violence in Afghanistan and condemned in the strongest terms the deplorable attack against the United Nations compound in Herat, Afghanistan. It expressed deep concern over the high levels of violence in the war-torn country following the Taliban’s military offensive, declaring that it does not support the restoration of the Islamic Emirate. The Council also issued a Presidential Statement on the drawdown and closure of African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur on the first working day of India’s Presidency.
