tirupati l sunday l november 22, 2020 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l anantapur EDITION tibet’s leader-in-exile visits White House, A first in 60 yrs The head of Tibetan government-in-exile Dr Lobsang Sangay visited the White House on Saturday and met US officials Dr Lobsang Sangay Robert Destro meets u.s. coordinator for Tibetan issues u.s. acknowledgment of govt-in-exile? Sangay, who is the President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), was invited to the White House to meet the newly-appointed US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Robert Destro. The move is likely to enrage China, which has already criticised Destro’s appointment, saying it amounted to political manipulation aimed at destabilising Tibet ■ ■ For the last 60 years, the head of CTA was not allowed to visit the White House as the US did not recognise the Tibet’s govt-in-exile Appointment of a Special Coordinator for Tibet and the US engagement with Sangay are being read as Washington tacitly lending legitimacy to the government-in-exile Sangay Had visited the U.S. state department last month 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 Moderna, Pfizer vaccines could fizzle out India may not stand to benefit much at least in near future, either from Pfizer vaccine or the one from Moderna S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi People waiting in queue to get themselves tested for coronavirus at IGMC Stadium in Vijayawada on Saturday I Prasant Madugula AP viral watch 68,307 1,160 1,765 7 95,43,177 8,39,395 8,61,092 New samples tested New cases New recoveries Total samples tested New deaths 6,927 Total recoveries Total deaths Total cases popular mode APSRTC to resume bus services to TN on Nov 25 e x p r ess n e w s se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will resume bus services to Tamil Nadu on November 25, almost after a gap of seven months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, 60 buses will be operated to Tamil Nadu from various cities in the State as against 274 operated before the pandemic. In a statement issued here on Saturday APSRTC Exec, utive Director (Operations) KS Brahmananda Reddy said that in the first phase 60 buses will be operated to Chennai, Kanchi, Vellore and Pondicherry Majority of the bus . services will be operated to Chennai alone. Steps are being taken to make the online passenger reservation system (OPRS) available for the convenience of travelling public at the earliest, he said, adding that remaining bus services to Tamil Nadu will be resumed in a phased manner. The APSRTC has also initiated steps to resume bus services to Odisha. RTC bus services to Telangana were resumed on November 2 after signing an MoU with the TSRTC. WITH THIS ISSUE Kid You Not PLUS 12 PAGES 9.02% Positivity rate 1,78,711 14,770 Tests per million Active cases News of the successful phase 3 clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccines being developed by US biotech firms Moderna and Pfizer has cheered the world, but it may be a bit early for India to celebrate. Pfizer along with its German partner BioNTech has already applied for emergency use authorisation of its vaccine from the US drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, and if approved, it could be available for regulated use as early as next month. But, India may not stand to benefit much, at least in the near future, either from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the one being developed by Moderna. This is because of three reasons. Firstly, a bulk of all the vaccines being developed, PfizerBioNTech and Moderna included, has been pre-booked by rich countries, leaving low-income countries in the cold. Secondly the Pfizer-BioNTech , and Moderna vaccines need to be stored at extremely cold conditions, something the cold chains in India may not have the capacity to do. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine how many, how much Vaccine maker Annual Precapacity booked Price Moderna 500m-1b doses 78% $32-37 Pfizer -BioNTech 500m -800m 70% $20 AstraZenecaOxford-SII 1.2b 80% $3-5 Sputnik V 1.2b NA NA Johnson &Johnson 1b NA $10 Vaccine status in India  Homegrown vaccine under phase 2/3 trial in India, one each by Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila  Developed outside but under phase 3 trial in India, one each by Oxford University-AstraZeneca (Indian partner SII) and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute (Indian partner Dr Reddy’s)  Biological E is latest vaccine maker to receive permission to test indigenous vaccine in humans  30 Total Covid-19 vaccines under preclinical/clinical trials in India  500 million Total doses expected by June-July, 2021  Vaccines likely to be available by JuneJuly next year  Serum Institute of India 35 million doses per month Cost $3 per dose  Bharat Biotech 300 million annual (as of now, to be scaled to 500 million) Cost undisclosed candidate needs to be stored at -70 degree Celsius, which is impractical in India, while the one by Moderna requires to be kept at -20 degree Celsius. In India, most vaccines under the National Immunisation Programme, except the polio and rotavirus vaccines, need to be stored at 2-8 degree Celsius. The polio vaccine needs to be stored at -20 but once opened it can be simply refrigerated and used within four weeks. Storage of the Moderna vaccine, at -20, is difficult but not impossible. But the company has no immediate plans for distribution in India. Lastly, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are expensive. While the final price of the vaccine is yet to be fixed, they could cost up to $20-37 per dose, which may be unaffordable for the national vaccination prog ramme covering a huge population. This in effect means India will have to wait for its home grown vaccines such as the ones being developed by Bharat Biotech and Zydus, or those that are being developed here by Oxford’s AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik V  . continued on: p7 PPA recommends RCE at 2017-18 PL J aya n t h P @ Vijayawada In what clears a major hurdle for Polavaram Ir rig ation Project, the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) emphatically said that the Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) at 2017-18 price level has to be approved for the completion of the project not withstanding the 2017 Union Cabinet resolution. The PPA recorded the same in its minutes of the meeting held on November 2 and will now forward the same to Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), which in turn will recommend it to the Union Finance Ministry for clearance. According to the minutes of the meeting forwarded to the State government on Saturday , the PPA stated that duly considering the Revised Cost Committee (RCC) report dated March 17, 2020, it has approved the recommendation of 2017-18 PL at `47,725.74 crore, of which `45,60.91 crore is the power component and ` 7,214.67 crore is the water supply component. ... The funding mechanism for the increase in project cost at 2017-18 PL as recommended by RCE in its report dated March 17, 2020, needs to be finalised for project completion.” The PPA stated so pointing out that the Union Cabinet in March 2017 had decided that the Centre would provide 100 per cent of the remaining cost of the irrigation component only for the period starting from April 1, 2014 to the extent of the cost of the irrigation component on that date. However, the PPA added that a decision on the request of AP gover nment to include water supply component in the irrigation component cost may be taken by MoJS. Sources told TNIE that the 2013-14 PL recommendation was approved so that release of reimbursement will not be stopped until the 2017-18 PL gets final clearance. Home Minister Amit Shah waves at the crowd gathered outside the Chennai airport on Saturday | EXPRESS AIADMK & BJP will fight upcoming polls together: Amit Shah worth `67,378 crore at an event held in Kalaivanar THE alliance between BJP Arangam. Speaking here, and AIADMK will continue Palaniswami and Deputy for the upcoming Assembly Chief Minister O Panneerelections, in which the battle selvam said their party’s alliwill be between ‘dynasty’ and ance with the BJP would con‘development’. This was the tinue for next elections. message conveyed during Amit Shah assured the Union Home Minister and Centre’s support for all the BJP’s election strategist development schemes and Amit Shah’s visit to the State, welfare measures being imwhich was turned plemented by the into a celebratory Palaniswami govevent by its ally the , ernment. Shah also AIADMK. Chief lauded the Tamil What have the Minister Edappadi Nadu government’s DMK and the K Palaniswami got Covid containment a high-octane start Congress done for strategies and measthis country or to his party’s elec- Tamil Nadu when ures, which have tion campaign, with they were in power brought down the the Home Minister case numbers by a for 10 years? ter ming TN the substantial measAmit Shah, Union best-governed State ure in the recent Home Minister in the country . past. The State’s reShah was accordcovery rate at 97 per ed a grand welcome at the cent, Shah pointed out, was airport. Overwhelmed by the highest in the country. The crowd that had gathered by Union Minister also did not the roadside on his way from miss the opportunity to train the airport to hotel, Shah his guns on the DMK, which stepped out of his motorcade will be contesting for power to interact with the public. in TN after 10 years. “The Shortly afterwards, he de- DMK would face rout in the clared open the Kannankot- elections, as only ‘democrattai-Thervoy Kandigai reser- ic forces’ will prevail,” Shah voir and laid the foundation said, while reminding the for infrastructure projects public about the 2G scam. T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Henceforth, postgraduate Ayurveda doctors can perform surgeries E XPR E S S N E W S S E RVIC E @ New Delhi floral offering Grandeur marks the annual Pushpa Yagam celebrated at Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala on Saturday | Express Postgraduate degree holders of Ayurveda can now perform orthopaedic, ophthalmology dental and ENT procedures , as well as surgeries, besides general surgery . The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) said in a gazette notification that those holding masters in Ayurveda will get formal training for such procedures and surgeries, hitherto done only by practitioners of modern medicine. The CCIM amended Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations 2016, to allow the PG students of Ayurveda medicine to practise g eneral surgery . The Act has also been renamed Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations, 2020. The training modules for surgical procedures will be added to the curriculum of Ayurvedic studies. The gazette notification says the students will be trained in two streams of surgery and would be awarded titles of MS (Ayurved) Shalya Tantra (gen- eral surgery) and MS (Ayurved) Shalakya Tantra (diseases of eye, ear, nose, throat, head and oro-dentistry). The development indicates the growing emphasis on traditional medicine under the Narendra Modi government. The Indian Medical Association, the largest body of private doctors in India, has been openly opposing policy moves by the Centre to mix modern medicine with the traditional systems of ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homoeopathy (AYUSH). EIGHTH STuDENTS TO ATTEND CLASSES FROM nOV 23 Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh announced that classes for eighth students will begin on Monday, strictly following Covid-19 protocol. Classes for ninth and tenth students began in all government schools on November 2 after a gap of seven months. Steps are also being taken to conduct classes for sixth and seventh students from December 14, the Education Minister said. P4 temple of learning An exclusive library for women’s empowerment E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @Rajamahendravaram The cultural capital of AP has exclusive reading space for women. This library was set up on the premises of Danavaipeta park in 2013. The library draws many women from the neighbourhood, for the exclusive space it offers. It has a collection of 7,000 books. Speaking to TNIE, library incharge Priyadarshini says, “The library has a diverse collection of books, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, academic, magazines and newspapers.” “The idea is to encourage women to read after dropping their children at school or after completing household chores. Opening of such exclusive pub- lic libraries for women was one of the steps taken by the State government to give more space for women,” she added. “After school hours, we come to the library as a group and spend at least an hour browsing novels, books on Telugu literature and newspapers,” said Kavitha, a Class X student. “I am more relaxed sitting in a room with only women around me. You don’t face the problem of men staring at you,” says Nikhita, who visits the library twice a month, taking home three books each time. Nearly 640 members are enrolled in the library Many stu. dents come here to prepare for competitive exams. The concept of an exclusive library for women was initiated by former MLA R Surya Prakash Rao. The exclusive women’s library at Danavaipeta in Rajamahendravaram