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 Hindustan Times, Nilavro Ghosh, November 04, 2020 The chair of Britain’s coronavirus vaccine task force says data evaluating the efficacy and safety of the two most advanced candidates should be available in early December. Kate Bingham told a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday that data on the two vaccine candidates — developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and Pfizer and BioNTech — should be available by then. After that, the vaccine candidates will need regulatory approval, Bingham says. “If we get that, we have the possibility of deploying by year end,” she says. Bingham acknowledged despite the government’s earlier estimate there would be 30 million doses of the Oxford vaccine available by September, there only will be about 4 million doses available by the end of the year, due to some manufacturing “hiccups” that have since been resolved. She says there will be about 10 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. Dr. Robin Shattock, one of the scientists behind an

 Hindustan Times, November 05, 2020 At least 102,591 new infections were recorded in the United States on Thursday as several states reported a spike in hospitalizations with Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin reporting a record one-day spike in the number of cases. The coronavirus pandemic saw the largest number of Americans vote by mailing in their ballots. The pandemic has also become a main issue in the elections - whose outcome remains undecided as several states continue counting - as the nation remains the world’s most affected. Fears of undetected community transmission remain in the minds of healthcare workers as the proportion of tests returning positive is greater in states like South Dakota, Iowa and Wyoming. According to Reuters, the proportion of tests coming back positive has reached over 50% in South Dakota and Iowa and Wyoming has seen the rates remain above 40%. Texas also recorded more than 9,000 new in the la

 Hindustan Times, Neeraj Chauhan, November 04, 2020 Twenty one months after a multi-agency probe was launched into the alleged irregularities in disbursement of loans by former ICICI Bank managing director (MD) Chanda Kochhar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against the former top banker, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot for allegedly using a web of companies to launder the money received as bribe from Videocon Group, people familiar with the development said. This is the first ever chargesheet against Chanda Kochhar, who had to step down in October 2018 from the ICICI Bank after allegations of multiple irregularities surfaced against her. The ED filed its chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a Mumbai special court on Tuesday, listing evidence and details of companies which were used to launder the ill-gotten money, people cited above said. It took five huge trunks to carry documents in court a

 Business Standard, Anurag Kotoky, November 06, 2020 IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, is in talks with Pratt & Whitney and CFM International Inc. for its next batch of jet engine orders, according to people familiar with the matter, a rare sign of dealmaking in a sector that’s been paralyzed by the virus pandemic. The discussions with the rival manufacturers relate to engines that would power about 150 new Airbus SE A320neo jets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Talks are preliminary and there’s no timeline on when any agreement may be reached, the people said. Based on the size of IndiGo’s last engine order -- a $20 billion transaction with CFM that covered 280 planes and was the largest engine order in history -- the new agreement could be worth around $10.7 billion, including service, repair, and maintenance. The pandemic presents a unique opportunity, however, for  IndiGo  to potentially bargain with the engine makers, both of w

 Business Standard, Subrata Panda, November 06, 2020 The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages Unified Payment Interface (UPI), has decided to allow Facebook backed messaging service  WhatsApp  to go live on UPI in the multi-bank model.  WhatsApp  can expand its UPI user base in a graded manner starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI, NPCI said in a statement today. Though the condition of 20 million will be a dampener, it is some relief for WhatsApp, which began its pilot run two years ago, while it awaited regulatory clearances to launch its UPI-based payments for its 400 million users in India. In August, NPCI had informed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that  WhatsApp  had met data localisation requirements. In a related development, NPCI has capped the share of total number of transaction that a third party application can process at 30 per cent of total volume of transactions processed in UPI, effective January 1,2021. “…with UPI re

 Hindustan Times, Subhadra Chatterji, November 06, 2020 The Union government’s special mission to provide jobs for migrant workers has been able to spend around 78% or Rs 38,921 crore out of its kitty of Rs 50,000 crore, triggering a debate if a large number of beneficiaries had returned to cities and let go of the scheme. The latest data on the scheme, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, also shows that it generated 473 million days of work, mostly in construction-related activities. As millions of migrant workers left cities after the Covid pandemic triggered a federal lockdown, the government announced in June that it will frontload funds in 25 ongoing schemes and the “focused campaign” will run in mission mode for 125 days across 116 districts in six states to help migrant workers get jobs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi kick-started the mission from Bihar on June 20. The state had received the largest number of migrant workers—3 million—since the pandemic swept through India, leaving dail

 Hindustan Times, Ritesh Mishra, November 06, 2020 Soon after the Chhattisgarh government announced that paddy procurement in the state will start from December 1 instead of November 1, the BJP alleged that farmer organisations will suffer huge losses as the harvesting has already started 15 days ago. The state agriculture minister claimed that there was a shortage of jute sacks in the market because of Covid-19 which has caused the delay in procurement. The BJP also demanded that Congress promise to procure paddy at Rs 25,000, which is around Rs 700 above than Minimum Support Price ( MSP). It further said that the difference amount being given in four installments, should be given in one go to the farmers. “During Raman Singh’s government, the paddy procurement always started from November 1 which was beneficial for the farmers of the state since the paddy harvesting starts from mid-October. Now, since the Congress government decided to procure from December 1, where will the farmers

 Hindustan Times, Jayashree Nandi, November 06, 2020 The Union environment ministry has constituted the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and adjoining areas through a notification issued on Thursday. MM Kutty, ex-secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, and former chief secretary, Delhi, has been selected to be the chairperson of the commission. On October 29, Centre had issued an ordinance on constituting a commission to coordinate, resolve issues, implement air pollution management strategies in Delhi-NCR. It also replaced the SC-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority constituted in 1998, and all other ad hoc committees on air pollution. The centralised body will have a wide range of powers, including issuing directions, entertaining complaints, regulating and prohibiting activities that are likely to cause or increase air pollution, laying down parameters and standards, restricting industry, activities, processes, and directing closure or prohibiting a

 ANI-NDTV-November 05, 2020 UN General Assembly Adopts India's Annual Resolution On Counter-Terrorism India at forefront of counter-terrorism: TS Tirumurti, Permanent Representative to the United  Nations New York: Permanent Representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti on Wednesday announced that India's annual resolution on the issue of counter-terrorism was co-sponsored by over 75 countries and adopted by consensus in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. "India at forefront of counter-terrorism. Delighted that the annual resolution tabled by India "Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction" was co-sponsored by more than 75 countries and adopted today by consensus in First Committee of UN General Assembly," Mr Tirumurti wrote on Twitter. India, a victim of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism, has been at the forefront in highlighting the serious threat to international peace and security emanating from acqu

 Reuters-Business Line-November 05, 2020 Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN, being developed with Indian Council of Medical Research, was earlier expected to be launched in the second quarter of next year An Indian government-backed Covid-19 vaccine could be launched as early as February - months earlier than expected - as last-stage trials begin this month and studies have so far showed it is safe and effective, a senior government scientist told Reuters. Bharat Biotech, a private company that is developing COVAXIN with the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), had earlier hoped to launch it only in the second quarter of next year. “The vaccine has shown good efficacy,” senior ICMR scientist Rajni Kant, who is also a member of its Covid-19 task-force, said at the research body's New Delhi headquarters on Thursday. “It is expected that by the beginning of next year, February or March, something would be available.” Bharat Biotech could not immediately be contacted. A

 Hindustan Times, Anonna Dutt, November 06, 2020 Almost 40% of all the persons who tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) across age groups were found to be asymptomatic, as per data from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The data was presented while discussing sensitivity and use of various detection tests by the doctors at the recent National Grand Rounds, a virtual platform for doctors across the country to discuss recent trends and issues in Covid-19 management. With 73.5%, the highest proportion of asymptomatic cases was reported among children below the age of 12. The proportion decreased linearly with age, with only 38.4% of the cases among those above the age of 80 being asymptomatic. “This is the data from our centre. The relevance comes in when we question the validity of an RT PCR test. As there are no symptoms in many of the patients, we do not come to know on which day we are sampling them,” said Dr Urvashi Singh, professor, department of microbiolog

 Telegraphindia-November 05, 2020 Coal India has reverted to a pre-Covid coal auction structure from November, allowing its subsidiaries to determine the pricing as sales pick up. With the onset of the pandemic, the public sector miner had brought down the reserve price of the fuel sold through auctions close to zero during the first half of the ongoing fiscal. This was done to keep sales buoyant during the pandemic amid cash flow concerns among coal consumers. Subsequently in October, the miner set an upper limit of 10 per cent over the notified price for coal sold through e-auctions. Coal India officials said the objective was to test the market demand. Under the new rules, auctioned coal fetched 13 per cent premium over the notified price, while a special spot auction for importers fetched a 14 per cent increase over the notified value. Overall 16.8 million tonnes (mt) of coal was sold through the auction route in October compared with 5.8mt in the corresponding month of the previou

 PIB-November 03, 2020 There have been several media reports alluding to steep increase in service charges by certain Public Sector Banks (PSBs).  In this context, the factual position is as follows:      Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts including Jan Dhan accounts - No service charge is applicable on the 60.04 crore BSBD accounts, including 41.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened by the poor and unbanked segments of society, for the free services prescribed by RBI. Regular Savings accounts, Current Accounts, Cash credit accounts & Overdraft accounts:  In this regard, while the charges have not been increased, Bank of Baroda had made certain changes w.e.f. 1st November, 2020, with regard to the number of free cash deposits and withdrawals per month.  The number of free cash deposits and withdrawals, have been reduced from 5 each per month to 3 each per month, with no change in the charges for transactions in excess of these free transactions. Bank of Baroda has since informe

 The Economic Times, Atanu Biswas, November 06, 2020 In 2000, a 5-4 US Supreme Court decision on the Bush vs Gore case ended the recount of ballots in Florida, and George W Bush won Florida — by a meagre 537 votes, a margin of 0.009% — and the presidency of the US. Twenty years on, the US election may again be heading towards multiple legal battles. President Donald Trump has already filed lawsuits in swing states Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. Even in the early hours of Wednesday US time morning, he had tweeted, ‘We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the election’. There is, however, a remarkable difference between ‘Bush vs Gore’ and ‘Trump vs Biden’ — nobody alleged the ‘stealing’ of the election in 2000. This time around, the president himself has launched an attack on the democratic system of his country. While at the time of writing vote-counting was still underway in many states, and millions of mail-in ballots were yet to be counted that could dramatically change the

 The Telegraph online-November 06, 2020 Flush with the inflow of dollars, the Reserve Bank of India is exploring the possibility of buying gold and AAA rated corporate bonds as its traditional investment in government securities is witnessing diminishing returns in the wake of an easy monetary policy being followed by  central banks across the world. Foreign exchange reserves of the apex bank have jumped to more than $560 billion at present from $478 billion in March, with gold holdings valued at $36.86 billion. The central bank has taken a liking to the yellow metal in recent times and has stepped up its investments. By the end of March, the apex bank held 653.01 tonnes of gold, with 360.71 tonnes overseas with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements. During the previous fiscal, the RBI bought more than 40 tonnes. In value terms, measured in dollars, the share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased to 6.40 per cent in March from 6.14 per cent.

  Shayan Ghosh and Kalpana Pathak-Hindustan Times-November 04, 2020 Lenders to Future group have signed inter-creditor agreements (ICA), paving the way for a potential restructuring of the group’s stressed loans, two people aware of the development said. The move by the lenders, comprising a clutch of banks, is part of a contingency plan to cope with a possible collapse or inordinate delay of Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) planned acquisition of Future group’s assets because of Amazon.com Inc.’s legal challenge, the people said, requesting anonymity. Amazon, an investor in Future Coupons Pvt. Ltd, is seeking to stall the deal, citing breach of a non-compete agreement. Banks have time till December 31 to agree on a resolution plan if they wish to restructure these loans, according to norms released by the Reserve Bank of India in August. They will have an additional six months to implement the plan. “We still have close to two months before invoking the resolution plan, the contours

  A vaccine for Covid-19 is not yet available but many rich countries and some middle-income ones have entered partnerships to reserve vaccine doses. This shopping spree means that there will be fewer doses for billions in low-income countries, according to an  analysis  by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center.   Currently there are nearly 200 Covid-19 candidates that are moving forward through the development and clinical trials processes, and over ten candidates are already in Phase-3 large-scale trials, the analysis found. The confirmed purchases from countries cover nearly four billion doses of vaccines, with another five billion doses under negotiation.  There will not be enough vaccine to cover the world’s population until 2024, according to current models taking into account the manufacturing capacity.  “An ambitious effort to create a global system of vaccine equity is being undermined as a handful of countries—including those who made a commitment to equality—secure as man

 Kanchan Chaudhari-Hindustan Times-November 04, 2020 The Bombay high court has rejected Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan’s pleas seeking default bail in connection with the Yes Bank fraud case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked the Wadhawans in March along with Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and his family members for alleged conspiracy, cheating, and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Yes Bank allegedly invested Rs 3,700 crore in DHFL’s short-term non-convertible debenture between April and June 2018. Kapoor allegedly received Rs 600 crore as kickbacks from DHFL in terms of loan advanced to two firms, DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited and Morgan Credits Private Limited. Kapoor’s three daughters hold 100℅ stakes in DOIT, while Morgan Credits is controlled by his wife. The Wadhawans, who were arrested on April 26, earlier filed applications before a special CBI court seeking bail on the grounds that the inves

 Harshit Sabarwal-Hindustan Times-November 04, 2020 An index of emerging-market currencies fell the most since March after President Donald Trump claimed victory in the US election and said he would petition the Supreme Court to intervene, raising the stakes in a vote that was already too close to call. The benchmark MSCI gauge declined as much as 0.8%, with the Mexican peso tumbling 3% and South Africa’s rand down 2%. The offshore yuan, a key barometer of US-China relations, weakened 0.7% after gaining earlier amid speculation Democratic nominee Joe Biden would emerge victorious. The ruble bucked the trend, strengthening as much as 0.6%, though it pared the advance as oil prices reversed gains in the wake of Trump’s statement. MSCI’s index of emerging-market equities was little changed after dropping as much as 0.6% and rising as much as 0.4%. “While it may not come as a complete surprise to the markets, delays and/or lack of a clear result prolongs uncertainty, and raises the possibi