visakhapatnam l friday l november 20, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Oxford Study confirms covid shot’s response in elderly The results of Oxford’s Phase-2 trial, published in the Lancet, show the vaccine is better tolerated in people above 56 years Findings Good news for India ‘Vaccine causes few side effects’ The Oxford University on Thursday confirmed that the Covid vaccine it is developing with AstraZeneca produced strong immune responses in older people, who are at highest risk. The Oxford shot is the best bet for India as it is being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute and does not need the cold chain facility for storing unlike Pfizer’s vaccine candidate ■ ■ ■ The study involved 560 adults, 240 of them over 70 years It showed that the vaccine provokes a response in T-cells that target the virus within 14 days of the first dose and a protective antibody response within 28 days of the booster dose The Lancet report claims the vaccine causes few side effects P12 Phase-3 Results of the Oxford vaccine are likely to be released by Christmas CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Big-time retooling of development models China to ride on domestic demand India to use tech solutions to grow J aya n ta R o y C h o w d h u r y @ New Delhi B i s m a h M a l i k @ Bengaluru Starting next year, China will rely more on domestic consumption to drive future growth for its $14.34-trillion economy which has used , an export-led model to accelerate its way out of poverty in the past four decades. “From next year on, China will embark on new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country We will foster a new develop. ment paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other,” Chinese president Xi Jinping on Thursday told a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation chief executives. The ratio of foreign trade to GDP has already dropped from 67% in 2006 to less than 32% in 2019, according to Chinese government data. In comparison, India’s foreign trade as a percentage of GDP stood at 40% in 2019. Last month, a conclave of the ruling Communist Party of China had adopted Xi’s formulations for the country’s 14th five-year plan, which will see China adopt a development model where domestic and foreign markets can boost each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay . The new development model comes amid a trade war with the US and a global pandemic, both of which impacted China’s status as the world’s factory with many transnational firms rethinking global supply chains and countries adopting a more protectionist stance to save businesses and jobs at home. Analysts feel China can afford to depend on its domestic demand to boost markets as its per-capita income has rapidly risen to $10,261, nearly five times that of India’s, with a sophisticated economy which was now exporting its surplus capital to set up a Belt and Road Initiative to connect markets across the globe to Beijing. However, this will not be a disruptive change as China had started relying more on domestic demand since the 2008 financial crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India’s regulatory framework is being simplified to promote innovation in the technology sector and the government is actively engaging with key stakeholders for this. “You must be aware of the recent decisions taken by the government to ease compliance burden for the tech industry We are actively . engaging with the stakeholders in the IT industry to chalk out a future policy framework for liberalising the sector and removing the compliance burden,” Modi said while inaugurating the 23rd edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2020 virtually . He was referring to the recent announcement by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) on removing ITeS/BPO firms from the OSP (Other Service Providers) compliance burden. Hailing MEITY’s recent approval to IT firms allowing their employees to work from their homes or anywhere in India, Modi said the policy decisions are aimed at liberalising the burgeoning tech industry . “India is currently at a sweet spot. Our tech solutions have the potential to go global and, thanks to technology our schemes have gone , beyond files and changed the lives of people on a large scale,” the Prime Minister added. While admitting that the Covid-19 pandemic had caused disruptions in the economy Modi , said that it is not the end of the road and has proven to be a silver lining for the tech industry due to large-scale adoption of digital technology . “We have been able to help millions of poor people in this country including farmers and , other marginalised sections, with the click of a mouse and cater to their needs within a short period of time. The IT industry showed resilience during the pandemic. Our fintech industry performed well and millions of transactions were carried out digitally due to people’s trust in technology Modi said. ,” Through technology we have enhanced human dignity. Millions of farmers receive monetary support in one click. At the peak of Covid lockdown it was technology that ensured India’s poor received proper and quick assistance. The scale of this relief has few parallels Narendra Modi Prime Minister The new development paradigm is a strategic decision we have made based on the current stage and conditions of development in China and with full consideration given to globalisation and changes in the external environment Xi Jinping President, China Send your views on citizen-friendly governance to S.I.T. All Abilities Park gets city to finals at global contest E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Retired IAS officer Dr Vijay Kumar, who heads the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the State government to probe the Visakhapatnam land cases, on Thursday sought suggestions from the general public and members of civil society on citizen-friendly governance. Kumar, in a press note, said the SIT will submit its report on land issues to the government by the end of the month, and will include suggestions from the public on governance. He requested that only suggestions, and not individual grievances, be sent. Individual grievances were obtained in November 2019 and the petitions have been addressed, he said, adding that suggestions should be precise and brief. Suggestions are to be sent to sit19 suggest@gmail.com on Nov 21 and 22. Visakhapatnam has received yet another feather in its cap. The Vizag Smart City project has figured in the final list under the ‘living and inclusion award’ category at the Smart City Expo World Congress, a prestigious international competition held in Barcelona. Vizag was the only Indian city to reach the final round in any category. It was the city’s All Abilities Park project that was selected for the expo. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and the Greater Visakhapatnam Smart City Corporation Ltd (GVSCCL) participated in the The All Abilities Park on Beach Road in Visakhapatnam | G Satyanarayana World Smart City Awards 2020 competition and submitted the project ‘Social integration through creation of All Ability Public Spaces — Parks for All Abilities’. GVMC Commissioner G Srijana said entries for this edition were received from 46 countries. “It is very happy and motivating that the Visakhapatnam Smart City Project is selected as a finalist,” she said.  Continued on P5 first resignation Education minister for just a few hours R a j e s h K u m a r T h a k u r @ Patna Barely hours after taking charge, Bihar’s newly minted education minister Dr Mewalal Chaudhary was forced to resign on Thursday after corruption charges swirling around him threatened to take the shine off Nitish Kumar’s fourth consecutive term as chief minister. Nitish, who is learnt to have directed the minister to quit, reallotted education as additional charge to Ashok K Chaudhary, who already holds the portfolios of building construction, social welfares, sci- ence and tech and minority welfare. Dr Chaudhary is an accused in a corruption case related to irregularities in the appointment of assistant professors in the Bihar Agriculture University when he was its Vice Chancellor. He, however, tried to brazen it out, saying “no chargesheet has been filed yet,” but couldn’t make the stink go away . After retiring in 2015, he managed to get the JD(U)’s Tarapur ticket and won the seat the same year. in 2017, a corruption case was lodged against him at Bhagalpur’s Sabour police station based on a di- rective from the then governor-cumchancellor, who went by the findings of inquiry panel that examined his appointment of 166 candidates. The JD(U) then expelled him but he managed to somehow creep into the party about two years later. How and why no chargesheet has been filed against him yet and how Nitish gave him the weighty portfolio despite his antecedents, remains a mystery Leader of the Opposition Te. jashwi Yadav sought to turn the screws against Nitish. “One resignation does not matter. We will take you on on many other issues of public concern,” he tweeted. SC restores dismissed PIL on farm laws E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Matter of jurisdiction Can Parliament enact a law on a subject that belongs to state list, is the constitutional question raised by the PIL The Supreme Court on Thursday restored a dismissed public interest litigation (PIL), which challenged the constitutional validity of the Centre’s three farm sector reform laws on the grounds that Parliament did not have powers to legislate on agriculture, as it is a state subject. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde had last month issued notice to the Centre on a batch of petitions against the farm laws. However, it had dismissed the PIL filed by lawyer M L Sharma against the same laws and asked him to approach the high court instead. During a brief hearing on Thursday the bench said, “We , will restore and keep your matter for admission after two weeks.” Sharma pointed out that he could not argue it on the day it was dismissed. “If I could not appear before the court and argue myself, then it amounts to non-appearance,” he reasoned. SEC again calls for meet to discuss poll preparedness, govt turns away E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada ‘Planning to meet Guv’ Sources said the SEC is planning to meet the Governor again and apprise him of the noncooperation from the govt For the second consecutive day the confrontation between , State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and the State government continued, with the SEC reportedly telling the government to facilitate a videoconference with district collectors and superintendents of police (SPs) — to take stock of the preparedness of the official machinery to hold the elections to gram panchayats — and the government declining. The two-hour videoconference was scheduled from 10 am on Thursday as sought by , the SEC, but there was no response from the government. Ramesh Kumar, in a previous communication to Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney con, veyed his intention to hold the videoconference. But Sawhney said the situation is not conducive to hold elections, and added that a meeting to assess the official machinery’s preparedness is not necessary now, though further consultations may be held once the Covid-19 P5 situation improves. “The point on which we had dismissed it was that there was no cause of action,” the bench said. Earlier, the court had decided to hear pleas of RJD lawmaker Manoj Jha and DMK MP from Tamil Nadu Tiruchi Siva, and one by Rakesh Vaishnav of the Chhattisgarh Kisan Congress against the three farm laws. Sharma, in his PIL, has said that these laws ran counter to Article 246 of the Constitution as agriculture falls in the state list instead of the Union List. express read Hafiz Saeed sentenced to 10 more years New Delhi: Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamatud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed was on Thursday sentenced to over 10 years in prison by a Pakistan court in connection with two terror financing cases Quota for kids of Covid warriors in med schools New Delhi: Wards of healthcare workers who died while on Covid duty will get reservation in admission to MBBS and BDS courses from the central pool from next year, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said | P7