YK MYK CENTRE HAS TO THINK LAUNCHING A NATIONAL HEALTH ID CARD AKSHAY ASKS PEOPLE TO DONATE FOR RAM TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION OPINION SCREEN & CINEMA Morning India Rs. 5 RANCHI MONDAY, 18 JAN, 2021 PG-12, YEAR—10, ISSUE—254 (RNI NO: JHAENG / 2012 / 44137) WEATHER TODAY 4 MORE COVID VACCINES IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF TRIAL: SERUM INSTITUTE MAX 24 C MIN 09 C Sky will be clear. AT A GLANCE ROAD SAFETY MONTH TO BE INAUGURATED TODAY NEW DELHI: National Road Safety Month is all set to be inaugurated on Monday to create awareness about road safety and reduce road accidents in India. Activities planned during the month include launch of a film on road safety, flagging off of a National Championship Safe Speed Challenge from Wagah border to Kanyakumari, and giving away of awards for road safety. State governments, PSUs, and insurance companies will also participate in awarenesscreation activities with seminars, walkathons, poster-making competitions after the inaugural function for the campaign slated in Vigyan Bhavan here on Monday. EC TO VISIT POLLBOUND ASSAM, WB FROM TODAY NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora along with Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar will visit Assam and West Bengal beginning Monday to take stock of preparations for assembly polls to be held in the next few months. The commission would reach Guwahati on Monday evening and leave for Kolkata on January 20 evening according to the programme decided last week, official sources said. Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain was in West Bengal last week to meet officials. CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 1,05,60,536 TOTAL DEATH: 152,334 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 95,067,228 TOTAL DEATH: 2,033,105 Health care worker administering the COVID-19 vaccine, in Bengaluru on Sunday. ANI 2.24 lakh people given COVID-19 vaccine so far: Govt ‘Only 447 cases of adverse effect reported’ NEW DELHI: A total of 2,24,301 beneficiaries have been inoculated with COVID19 vaccine so far, out of which only 447 adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) were reported, the Union Health Ministry said on day two of the nationwide vaccination drive on Sunday. Addressing a press briefing, the ministry's Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said out of the 447 adverse events following immunisation, only three required hospitalisation. "Today being Sunday, only six states conducted vaccination drive and in 553 sessions a total of 17,072 beneficiaries were vaccinated," he said. The six states where the vaccination drive was carried out on Sunday are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur and Tamil Nadu, he added. Agnani said a total of 2,24,301 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till January 17 as per provisional reports, adding that 2,07,229 of them received the jabs on day one of the drive. "A total of 447 AEFI have been reported on January 16 and 17, out of which only three required hospitalisation. Most of the AEFI reported so far are minor like fever, headache, nausea," he said. He said a meeting was ADDRESSING A PRESS BRIEFING, THE MINISTRY'S ADDITIONAL SECRETARY MANOHAR AGNANI SAID OUT OF THE 447 ADVERSE EVENTS FOLLOWING IMMUNISATION, ONLY THREE REQUIRED HOSPITALISATION. held with all states and union territories on Sunday to review the progress of the drive, identify bottlenecks and plan corrective actions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against COVID-19 on Saturday and said the two vaccines being deployed will ensure a "decisive victory" for India against the pandemic. India has approved two vaccines -- Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India -for emergency use in the country. According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities. NEW DELHI: Apart from Covishield, the Serum Institute of India (SII) is working on four more vaccines against the novel coronavirus, according to Suresh Jadhav, executive director at one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers. Jadhav informed during a webinar that the firm has been working on five vaccines against the novel coronavirus, including the Covishield which got approval for emergency use roll-out for mass immunization drive began on Saturday. "For one (vaccine) we have received emergency approval, three others are in different stages of clinical studies while one is in the pre-clinical stage of the trial," he said. The SII has partnered with Novavax Inc to manufacture its potential Covid-19 vaccine for India and other countries. Under an agreement with the US drug developer, the Pune based drugmaker will develop two hundred crore doses of Novavax's vaccine candidate annually. The drugmaker will also manufacture the antigen component of the vaccine. The SII has also partnered with the US-based Codagenix to manufacture and supply its coronavirus vaccine. The firm's first Covid vaccine is developed from the masterseed of AstraZeneca/Oxford University's vaccine against the disease. It was approved by India's drug regulator on January 3 for emergency use authorization alongwith Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. However, both the drugmakers are being criticised for less transparent data in their clinical trials and receiving the approvals without completing the due process of drug licencing. IND VS AUS: 4TH TEST, DAY THREE ‘SUNDAR’ INNINGS BRISBANE: The record-breaking partnership between Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar pulled India back in the contest on day three of the fourth Test against Australia at The Gabba on Sunday. At stumps, Australia were at 21/0 in their second innings. The hosts are leading by 54 runs. David Warner is unbeaten on 20 runs while Marcus Harris is not out on one run. India were bundled out for 336, falling 33 runs short of the hosts' first-innings total. Thakur top-scored for India as he made 67 runs while Sundar accumulated 62 runs. Thakur and Sundar's 123-run resilient partnership enabled visitors to reach the 300-run mark after losing six wickets under 190 runs in the first innings. Meanwhile, both the batters completed their half-centuries. The duo also registered the highest seventh-wicket partnership for India at The Gabba, Brisbane. Thakur and Sundar broke Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar's 58-run partnership record for the seventh-wicket set in 1991. The partnership was finally broke by pacer Pat Cummins as he sent Thakur (67) back to the hut in the final session of the game. His knock was studded with two sixes and nine fours off 115 balls. Navdeep Saini, in a hurry of scoring runs quickly, was bagged by Josh Hazlewood. Cold wave conditions persist in north India NEW DELHI: Parts of north India remained under the grip of an intense cold wave on Sunday with night temperatures dropping below the 5 degrees Celsius-mark at some places and dense fog enveloping several areas. The minimum temperature in Delhi dropped to 5.7 degrees Celsius but it is likely to rise over the next two days due to a change in the wind direction, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The national capital will see shallow fog on Monday morning and light rain is likely to occur, the IMD said. The city's minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to settle around 8 and 17 degrees Celsius. An IMD official said easterly winds are blowing in Delhi that are not as cold as northwesterly winds coming in from the snow-clad western Himalayas. Hence, the minimum temperature is likely to rise by a few notches over the next two days. Meanwhile, Delhi's air quality index (AQI) improved slightly to the 'very poor' category from 'severe' on Saturday as favourable wind speed helped in dispersion of pollutants. The city's AQI was 329 at 8.30 pm on Sunday. The 24hour average AQI was 407 on Saturday, 460 on Friday, 429 on Thursday, and 354 on Wednesday. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor'. UK INVITES PM MODI FOR G7 SUMMIT NEW DELHI/LONDON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited by his UK counterpart Boris Johnson to attend the G7 summit in the UK as a guest in June this year. The summit will be held in England's Cornwall region from June 11 to 13. Last year, US President Donald Trump had extended an invite to Prime Minister Modi for an expanded G7 meeting to discuss China. On Sunday, an official statement issued by the British High Commission in New Delhi said that Prime Minister Johnson will use the G7 presidency to unite leading democracies to help the world build back better from coronavirus and create a greener, fairer and more prosperous future. The G7 - UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US - along with the EU is the only forum where the world's most influential and open societies and advanced economies come together for closeknit discussions. The UK has also invited heads of Australia and South Korea to attend as guest countries to deepen the expertise and experience around the table. The statement said that Prime Minister Johnson's ambition is to use the G7 to intensify cooperation between the world's democratic and technologically advanced nations. Between them the 10 leaders represent over 60 per cent of people living in democracies around the world. Describing the G7 as the most prominent group of democratic countries, Johnson said it has long been the catalyst for decisive international action to tackle the greatest challenges we face. "From cancelling developing world debt to our universal condemnation of Russia's annexation of Crimea, the world has looked to the G7 to apply our shared values and diplomatic might to create a more open and prosperous planet," he said. Coronavirus, he said is "doubtless the most destructive force we have seen for generations and the greatest test of the modern world order we have experienced. It is only right that we approach the chal- lenge of building back better by uniting with a spirit of openness to create a better future." The statement said that as "the pharmacy of the world, India already supplies more than 50 per cent of the world's vaccines, and the UK and India have worked closely together throughout the pandemic." Recalling that the UK was the first P5 member to support a permanent UNSC seat for India and the first G7 member to invite India to a G7 summit in 2005, the UK government said that as the current BRICS President and G20 President in 2023, India will play a key role in driving multilateral cooperation around the world. NITISH WOOS NRIS TO INVEST IN BIHAR PATNA: In a bid to attract Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) of Bihar origin, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held talks through video conference with members of the Bihar-Jharkhand Association of North America (BJANA). Nitish invited BJANA members on Saturday evening to visit Bihar and see for themselves what he said was the development undertaken in the state in the last 15 years. He also promised all possible help on land acquisition and other necessary infrastructure development required for setting up new industrial units in Bihar. The Chief minister said Bihar had come a long way in infrastructure development in the last 15 years with road connectivity to every village and towns with major cities. "We have achieved the target to reach from any remote place to Patna in six hours and are now working to reduce the time to just five hours,” he said. 20 Indian-Americans in Biden administration, 17 at key WH positions WASHINGTON: Less than 100 hours ahead of his historic inauguration, US President-elect Joe Biden has either nominated or named at least 20 Indian Americans, including 13 women, to key positions in his administration, a new record in itself for this small ethnic community that constitutes one per cent of the country's population. As many as 17 of them would be part of the powerful White House complex. The January 20th inauguration, the 59th in all, wherein Biden would be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States is already historic in the making as for the first time ever a woman Kamala Harris would be sworn as the vice president of the country. Harris, 56, is also the first ever Indian-origin and African American to be sworn in as the vice president of the United States. It is also for the first time ever that so many Indian-Americans have been roped into a presidential administration ever before the inauguration. Biden is still quite far away from filling all the positions in his administration. Topping the list is Neera Tanden, who has been nominated as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and Dr Vivek Murthy, who has been nominated as the US Surgeon General. Vanita Gupta has been nominated as Associate Attorney General Department of Justice, and on Saturday, Biden nominated a former foreign service official Uzra Zeya as the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. The dedication that the Indian-American community has shown to public service over the years has been recognised in a big way at the very start of this administration! I am particularly pleased that the overwhelming majority are women. Our community has truly arrived in serving the nation, Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswami told PTI. Mala Adiga has been appointed as Policy Director to the future First Lady Dr Jill Biden and Garima Verma would be the Digital Director of the Office of the First Lady, while Sabrina Singh has been named as her Deputy Press Secretary. For the first time ever among the Indian-Americans include two who trace their roots to Kashmir: Aisha Shah, who has been named as Partnership Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy, and Sameera Fazili, who would occupy the key position of Deputy Director at the US National Economic Council (NEC) in the White House. White House National Economic Council also has another Indian American, Bharat Ramamurti, as Deputy Director. Gautam Raghavan, who served at the White House in the previous Obama Administration returns to the White House as Deputy Director in Office of Presidential Personnel. Among Biden's inner circle is his top confident for year Vinay Reddy, who has been named as Director Speechwriting. Young Vedant Patel all set to occupy a seat in the White House lower press, behind the briefing room, as Assistant Press Secretary to the President. He is only the third-ever Indian American to be part of the White House press shop. Three Indian-Americans have made their way to the crucial National Security Council of the White House, thus leaving a permanent imprint on the country's foreign policy and national security. They are Tarun Chhabra: Senior Director for Technology and National Security, Sumona Guha, Senior Director for South Asia, Shanthi Kalathil: Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights. Sonia Aggarwal has been named Senior Advisor for Climate Policy and Innovation in the Office of the Domestic Climate Policy at the White House and Vidur Sharma has been appointed as Policy Advisor for Testing for the White House COVID-19 Response Team. Two Indian Americans women have been appointed to the Office of the White House Counsel: Neha Gupta as Associate Counsel and Reema Shah as Deputy Associate Counsel. Also, for the first time in any administration, the White House would have three other South Asians in key positions. Pakistani-American Ali Zaidi as Deputy National Climate Advisor White House; Sri Lankan American Rohini Kosoglu as Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President and BangladeshiAmerican Zayn Siddique: Senior Advisor to the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.