India and France will hold their annual Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi today. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will lead the Indian delegation while the French delegation will be led by Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to the French President.
 
In a statement, External Affairs Ministry said, the two sides will hold discussions on wide-ranging bilateral and global issues. Mr Bonne will also call on other Indian dignitaries. The last edition of the Strategic Dialogue was held in February last year in Paris.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the 306 Kilometer New Rewari – New Madar Section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor today.
 
He will also flag off the world’s first Double Stack Long Haul 1.5 Kilometer long Container Train hauled by electric traction from New Ateli -New Kishangarh during the event.
 
Governors and Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Haryana along with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal will also be present at the occasion.
 
The New Rewari – New Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor is situated in Haryana and Rajasthan. It consists of nine newly built dedicated freight corridor stations which includes three junction stations in New Rewari, New Ateli and New Phulera.
 
The opening of this stretch will benefit various industries in Rewari – Manesar, Narnaul, Phulera and Kishangarh areas of Rajasthan and Haryana and will also enable better usage of the container depot of CONCOR at Kathuwas. This section will also ensure seamless connectivity with the western ports of Kandla, Pipavav, Mundhra, and Dahej situated in Gujarat.
 
With the inauguration of this section, seamless connectivity between the Western and Eastern dedicated freight corridors will be achieved. The Prime Minister had on 29th of last month dedicated to the nation, the 351-kilometer New Bhaupur- New Khurja section of the Eastern freight corridor.
 
The Double Stack Long Haul Container Train Operation which adds an enhanced axle load of 25 tons will maximize capacity utilization. These wagons on a long-haul double stack container train on the western freight corridor can carry four times in terms of container units compared to the current traffic on Indian Railways.
 
These freight trains will run at the maximum speed of 100 km/per hour as against the current maximum speed of 75 km/per hour on the Indian Railway tracks. It has also been decided that the average speed of freight trains will be increased from existing speed of 26 km/per hour on Indian Railway lines to 70 km/per hour on the dedicated freight corridors.

The Bharatiya Janata Party today criticized the Opposition for doing politics over the development of COVID vaccines. Addressing the media in New Delhi, BJP Spokesman Sambit Patra said that it is very painful that such kind of politics is being done over Corona vaccine. He said, BJP President J. P. Nadda also asked the Congress and other Opposition parties to introspect over it as to why they are adopting such an attitude which can help the vested interest groups.

Mr Patra questioned why Congress is not happy over the development of two vaccines which is a big achievement for the country.

The International Jury for 51st edition of International Film Festival of India has been announced with eminent filmmakers from across the world. Pablo Cesar of Argentina has been named as the Chairman of the jury. The other jury members are, Prasanna Vithanage of Sri Lanka, Abu Bakr Shawky of Austria, Priyadarshan of India and Rubaiyat Hossain of Bangladesh.

The Chairman of the jury, Argentine filmmaker Pablo Cesar has contributed to the African cinema by making the critically acclaimed films, Equinox, the Garden of the Roses, Los dioses de agua and Aphrodite, the Garden of the Perfumes. Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage is considered as one of the pioneers of the third generation of Sri Lankan cinema. He has directed eight feature films including Death on a Full Moon Day, August Sun and Flowers of the Sky. He has won many prestigious national and international awards and has also been commercially successful in Sri Lanka.

Abu Bakr Shawky or “A. B.” Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian writer and director. His first feature film, Yomeddine, was selected to participate in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and will screen in the Main Competition section and compete for the Palme d’Or.

Rubaiyat Hossain is a Bangladeshi film director, writer and producer. She is notable for the films Meherjaan, Under Construction and Made in Bangladesh.

Priyadarshan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. In a career spanning over three decades, he has directed more than 95 films in various Indian languages, predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi. Tanvi Khurana, news desk.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new national COVID-19 lockdown in England, instructing people to stay at home to contain a more contagious variant of the coronavirus.  
 
Non-essential shops and hospitality would have to remain closed, while primary and secondary schools would close from today.
 
The announcement came yesterday, just hours after the government hailed Britain’s success in becoming the first country to begin rolling out the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca against COVID-19.
 
Johnson said a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom and now present in many other countries was spreading at great speed and immediate action was needed to slow it down.

The country’s COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 96.19 per cent as more than 19 thousand COVID patients recovered in the 24 hour period.

The Health Ministry said, the total number of recoveries has gone up to over 99 lakh 46 thousand. The actual caseload currently comprises only 2.36 per cent of the total positive cases. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is around two lakh 43 thousand.

In the past 24 hours, 16 thousand 505 new cases were reported taking the total number of positive cases in the country to over one crore three lakh. 214 deaths were also reported during the last 24 hours taking the toll to one lakh 49 thousand 649.

The Central Government held the seventh round of talks with the representatives of 41 farmers’ unions at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi yesterday to address the issues concerning them. The meeting was attended by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash and representatives of various farmers’ unions. At the outset of the meeting, a two- minute silence was observed for those who had lost their lives during the agitation. Mr Tomar said that keeping in mind the discussions during the previous meeting the government is committed to finding solutions on farmers’ issues with an open mind and both sides need to take steps forward to find a solution.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government wanted farmer unions to discuss the three farm laws clause-wise, but they could not find any solution as farmers unions remained adamant on the repeal of these three laws. Mr Tomar said that the government and farmer unions both decided to meet again for the next round of talks on 8th of January for a further discussion to arrive at an amicable solution. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the Kochi – Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline to the nation at 11 AM through video conferencing today. In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it is a landmark day in India’s quest for Urja Aatmanirbharta. He said, this is a futuristic project that will positively impact many people.
 
The event marks an important milestone towards the creation of One Nation One Gas Grid. The 450 kilometre long pipeline has been built by GAIL (India) Limited. It has transportation capacity of 12 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per day. It will carry natural gas from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at Kochi, Kerala to Mangaluru, Karnataka, while passing through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The total cost of the project was about three thousand crore rupees and its construction created over 12 lakh man-days of employment. 
 
Laying of the pipeline was an engineering challenge as the route of the pipeline necessitated it to cross water bodies at more than 100 locations. This was done through a special technique called Horizontal Directional Drilling method. The pipeline will supply environment friendly and affordable fuel in the form of Piped Natural Gas, PNG to households and Compressed Natural Gas, CNG to the transportation sector. It will also supply Natural Gas to commercial and industrial units across the districts along the pipeline. Consumption of cleaner fuel will help in improving air quality by curbing air pollution.
 
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyoorappa and Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will participate in the inaugural function.

Beijing has started mass vaccination program amid concerns regarding its efficacy owing to the absence of phase 3 clinical trial data.

Beijing Municipal Health Commission said at a news conference on Sunday that more than 70000 people in 220 inoculation venues across Beijing have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine since the city began administering the jab among specific groups of people with higher infection risks on the first day of new year 2021. There are, however, strong concerns in the global medical community about the safety and efficacy of the Chinese vaccines. Chinese Foreign Ministry last week said, phase three trials are going smoothly, without giving a clear response on when China is planning to release the phase 3 clinical trial data.

China announced Thursday that it had granted conditional marketing authorization to its first self-developed COVID-19 vaccine. The inactivated vaccine was developed by the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co. Ltd. under Sinopharm’s subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

The conditional approval announcement for the CNBG vaccine came a day after the National Medical Products Administration said the vaccine showed 79.3% efficacy based on interim results from the Phase 3 clinical trials.
China’s vaccines are part of its diplomacy, shoring up ties with dozens of poorer nations facing the challenges of manufacturing, distributing and administering billions of doses.

China has also agreed to supply its vaccine to Covax, a World Health Organization-backed effort to provide a coronavirus vaccine to developing nations. But there has been little information about how the Chinese vaccines have performed in the final stage -phase 3 clinical trials. Meanwhile, some U.S. and European companies have published data on the safety and efficacy of their shots and started to deploy them.

Chinese vaccine manufacturers were initially at the forefront of the research, however, U.S. companies raced ahead to carry out the vital third-stage clinical trials. As per reports, Chinese companies now have third-phase trials running in at least 16 nations, with state-backed China National Biotec Group Co. testing from Argentina to Morocco; Sinovac Biotech Ltd. enlisting Brazil, Turkey and the Philippines among others; and CanSino Biologics Inc. testing in Pakistan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. So far, there hasn’t had any systematic data available.

Other provinces are also rolling out mass vaccination programs. Meanwhile, as per local media reports, quoting an online poll in Hong Kong, around 41 per cent of respondents expressed reservations about getting vaccinated while only 8 per cent said they would “definitely” get the shots. The top three reasons cited by those who did not want to take vaccines were “doubts over the effectiveness”, “worries about side effects” and “no choice of the manufacturer of the vaccine that is to be taken”.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said the data on safety and efficacy collected so far in the Phase 3 clinical trials of the CNBG vaccine is better than expected. The results are better than the 50% standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese authorities, but are far below the more than 90% efficacy shown by the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna, Inc.

Since July, China has vaccinated more than a million Chinese unofficially with three vaccines under emergency use authorization despite the vaccines’ safety and efficacy not being confirmed by Phase 3 clinical trials. Despite the absence of phase 3 trial data, NHC said the emergency use of the three COVID-19 vaccines showed no severe adverse effects on those inoculated. 

In Bihar, all educational institutions will be opened from today with strict compliance of covid protocols. Schools from Class 9th onwards, colleges and coaching institutes are permitted to allow only 50 percent of students. These institutions were facing closure from March last year due to corona pandemic. They have been asked to call students in batches on alternative days.
 
Principal Secretary Education Sanjay Kumar said students will be allowed to attend the physical classes only after the written consent of their parents or guardians. The educational institutions have to make arrangements for online classes for those who do not wish to attend the physical classes.
 
The government has also released preventive measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 in all government and private schools and higher educational institutions. Temperature of staff and students will be checked before they enter the premises. There should be arrangement for hand sanitizers, liquid soaps and digital thermometer. Two masks will be given to each student of the educational institutions.

A bird flu warning has been sounded in Rajasthan after the confirmation of its virus in dead crows in Jhalawar district. Animal Husbandry Department has set up a state-level control room and sent its teams to the district for effective monitoring.

Yesterday, seven crows were found dead at the iconic Jal Mahal in Jaipur, taking the toll to 252 in the state. Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Kunji Lal Meena said that the deaths due to bird flu have been mainly reported among crows, with most of them from the Kota and Jodhpur divisions. He said, the virus is dangerous and necessary guidelines have been issued.

All field officers and poultry farm owners have been asked to remain vigilant. Effective monitoring is ensured at all sites, especially in wetlands, Sambhar Lake and Kaila Devi bird sanctuary. Mr Meena said, the crow deaths were reported on December 25 in Jhalawar.

Their samples were sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal and the bird flu virus was detected. So far, the death of 100 crows has been reported from Jhalawar, 72 from Baran, 47 from Kota, 19 from Pali, seven from Jodhpur and seven from Jaipur.

Medical experts have welcomed the government’s decision to approve two Corona virus vaccines for emergency use in the country.  

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Singh Guleria has lauded the work done by Indian laboratories in making indigenous vaccines. He said, the research has been done in the country and it’s truly an Indian vaccine. Dr Guleria said, these vaccines are cost-effective and easy to administer as they can be stored at temperatures between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.

Lieutenant General Ved Chaturvedi of Sir Gangaram Hospital, Delhi has said that the Corona vaccines approved by government are fully safe.

Dr. Naresh Trehan of Medanta Medicity has said that the vaccine will be fully effective after its two dosages.

World Health Organisation has welcomed India’s decision to allow the use of two COVID-19 vaccines. Its Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, WHO welcomes the first emergency use authorization given to COVID-19 vaccine in the WHO South-East Asia Region. It will help intensify and strengthen the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the Region.

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given its approval for restricted use of two Covid-19 vaccines – Serum Institute of India’s, Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in emergency situation. The announcement for granting permission to these two vaccines was made by the Drug Controller General of India VG Somani during a press conference yesterday. 

Government has said that the Covid-19 vaccines introduced in India will be as effective as any vaccine developed by other countries.

The Health Ministry has come out with a series of frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccine on various aspects. The Ministry said, various phases of vaccine trials are undertaken to ensure its safety and efficacy. In the initial phase Covid vaccine will be provided to the selected priority groups as they are at higher risk.

The first group who will be vaccinated includes healthcare and frontline workers. The second group to receive COVID 19 vaccine will be persons, over 50 years of age and persons under 50 years with comorbid conditions. The Ministry has said that vaccination for COVID-19 is voluntary. However, it has advised to receive the complete schedule of COVID-19 vaccine for protecting one-self against this disease. This will also limit the spread of this disease to the close contacts including family members, friends, relatives and co-workers.

The next round of talks between the Central Government and farmer unions will be held in New Delhi today. Earlier, 6th round of talks between Government and Farmer Unions was held on 30th of last month.
 
During the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had assured the Farmer leaders that the government is committed to solving their problems and both sides need to take steps forward to arrive at an amicable solution. He said, consensus on two out of four issues was reached during the meeting. Mr Tomar said the first issue was an ordinance related to the Environment and the second was on Electricity Act.
 
Mr Tomar had assured the Farmer Unions that MSP and the Mandi system will continue like before. The demand of the Farmer Unions for an MSP law and the difference between MSP and market rates for agricultural produce will be referred to a committee when it is constituted.
 
On the Unions’ demand for the repeal of Farm Laws the Minister had said that this too can be referred to a committee which will study the constitutional validity and propriety keeping in mind the welfare of farmers. Mr Tomar had assured the farmers that government has an open mind and is willing to resolve all issues with clear intentions. Agriculture Minister asked the Union leaders to put forward their proposals which the government will study and discuss. He complimented the Farmer Unions for keeping the agitation disciplined and peaceful. The Minister had assured that the government is taking all possible steps for the welfare of farmers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the National Metrology Conclave today through video conferencing.

He will also dedicate National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya to the nation and lay the foundation stone of the National Environmental Standards Laboratory. Science and Technology Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan will also be present on the occasion.

The National Atomic Timescale generates Indian Standard Time with an accuracy of 2.8 nanosecond. Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya is supporting testing and calibration of laboratories for quality assurance, at par with international standards.

The National Environmental Standards Laboratory will aid self-reliance in the certification of ambient air and industrial emission monitoring equipment.

National Metrology Conclave 2021 is being organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi which is entering into its 75th year of inception. The theme of the conclave is Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation.