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India seeks up to 500 million Covid-19 vaccine doses
India hopes to receive up to 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by July to inoculate about 250 million people, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said.
"There is a high-level expert body going into all aspects of vaccines," he tweeted. Serum Institute of India and other private companies have been teaming up with organisations from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to United States drug developer Novavax in a scramble to secure vaccines for the country of 1.3 billion people.
India stops large-scale Sputnik-V vaccine trial
India's drug regulator has turned down a proposal from Dr Reddy's Laboratories to conduct a large study in the country to evaluate Russia's Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine and has asked it to first test the vaccine in a smaller trial.
The recommendations by an expert panel of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation noted that safety and immunogenicity data from early-stage studies being conducted overseas is small, with no inputs available on Indian participants.
Rice exports could jump to record heights on Thai drought effects
India's rice exports this year may rise by 42 per cent from a year ago because of reduced shipments from rival exporters.
"The jump could be up to 14 million tonnes from last year's 9.9 million tonnes," said Mr B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters' Association.
"Thailand's shipments are falling due to the drought. Vietnam is struggling because of lower crop. That share is naturally coming to India."
Netflix wins legal battle over rogue billionaires series
Netflix on Wednesday won the right to stream a series featuring Indian tycoons who ran into trouble with the law.
An Indian court allowed the American streaming giant to release the bulk of the episodes of Bad Boy Billionaires: India - a series that documents the travails of beer tycoon Vijay Mallya, diamantaire Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy, founder-owner of the Sahara India Pariwar.
However, an episode on a software tycoon is still being challenged in another local court.
Missile armed with torpedo tested
India's defence ministry said on Monday that it successfully tested a missile armed with a torpedo that could strike enemy submarines more than 645 kilometres away.
Dubbed the SMART (Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo) system, it was launched from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.
Former police officer, accused in Assam job scam, arrested
Retired Indian Police Service officer P.K. Dutta was detained on Tuesday, a month after he was named as the prime accused in a job recruitment scam in Assam.
He was on the run since the Assam government cancelled a written exam to recruit police sub-inspectors after the question paper was leaked on social media last month.
Dutta was detained at Kakarbhitta on the Nepalese side of the India-Nepal border while he was on his way to Assam by road.
Home Guard jobs to kin of those killed by elephants
The West Bengal government will provide jobs to the next of kin of victims killed by elephants in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Tuesday.
"A villager killed by an elephant used to get a compensation of Rs2.5 lakh from the state government. We have decided that a family member of a victim will get a job in the Home Guard department," she said.
At least 433 people were killed by elephants across West Bengal between April 2014 and September last year.
Actor Sonu installs mobile tower in Haryana village
After distributing smartphones to the students of a government school in Chandigarh, actor Sonu Sood and his friend Karan Gilhotra have helped students who were struggling to access online classes at Morni in Haryana.
The duo, with the help of Indus Towers and Airtel, installed a mobile tower in the village on Monday to enable uninterrupted connectivity.
New city to be developed like Navi Mumbai
The Goa government is planning to develop a parallel city near the capital Panaji on the lines of Mumbai's Navi Mumbai township, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.
The announcement of Merces village as the location comes at a time when the state has witnessed large-scale urbanisation, especially in the tourism-friendly coastal belt and townships such as Margao, Vasco, Mapusa and Ponda.
Palaniswami to be AIADMK's chief minister candidate Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK on Wednesday announced that Chief Minister K. Palaniswami will be the party's chief ministerial candidate for the assembly polls next year.
The much expected announcement was made by party Coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam in Chennai.
