WARANGAL  THURSDAY  DECEMBER 24, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION COVAXIN’S EARLY TRIALS SHOW PROMISING RESULTS Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine has shown dual immune response, according to phase 1 & 2 results released on Wednesday VACCINE CANDIDATE CURRENTLY IN PHASE-3 HIGH ANTIBODIES IN PHASE-1 VOLUNTEERS The vaccine has proceeded to phase 3 trial and the company has planned to test it in 26,000 individuals aged between 12 and 65 years across several states in the country. The Hyderabad-based firm, which has developed the vaccine in collaboration with the ICMR, has already sought P9 emergency use approval from the Drug Controller General of India ■ ■ In a double-blind, multi-centre, phase 2 clinical trial, 380 healthy individuals were randomised to receive two vaccine formulations and two intramuscular doses of vaccines four weeks apart In a follow-up of the phase 1 trial, Covaxin produced high levels of neutralising antibodies that remained elevated in all participants 6-12 months RESEARCHERS CLAIM COVAXIN’S ANTIBODIES COULD LAST THAT LONG 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 Hussainsagar man-made, not wetland: TSPCB V N I L E S H @ Hyderabad Farmers gesture during their ongoing protest against the new farm sector reform laws, at the Singhu border in Delhi on Wednesday | PARVEEN NEGI Talks ball back in Centre’s court as farmers seek concrete ideas EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE in their bank accounts through @ New Delhi/Chandigarh direct transfer as part of the PM Kisan Saman Nidhi Yojna. THE weeks-long deadlock over “We urge the government the new farm laws continued not to repeat the meaningless on Wednesday with farmer un- amendments we have already ions demanding that the Union rejected but come up with a government offer concrete pro- concrete proposal in writing so posals, abandon its stubborn- that the process of negotiation ness and accept their demands can be started as soon as posto end their agitation. Both sible,” Swaraj Abhiyan chief sides have now indicated they Yogendra Yadav said. He is a are ready for talks without member of the SKM. budging on their core agenda. “The government is conAfter a meeting of their um- stantly holding talks with sobrella body, the Sanycalled farmer leaders Committed ukt Kisan Morcha and organisations to reforms (SKM), farmer leaders who are not associatsaid they were ready Union agriculture ed with our movefor talks but are wait- minister Narendra ment. This is an ating for the Centre to Singh Tomar said tempt to break our come to the table with the government movement. It is dealan open mind. In a let- will continue with ing with protesting ter addressed to Vivek farmers, the way it reforms in the Aggarwal, Joint Secdeals with the Opposifarm sector. retary in the Union “However old and tion,’’ Yadav added. agriculture ministry, strong the protest Rashtriya Kisan they said there was no is, a solution can Mazdoor Mahasangh clarity on various be arrived at only president Shiv Kumar sticking points like Kakka said: “The govthrough talks,” guaranteeing the minernment should abanhe said imum support price don its stubbornness mechanism, electricity amend- and create conducive environment (ordinance) and ordinance ment for talks with protesting on air quality . farmers and accept their deThe Centre is already on mands. We have already told record as saying that it is ready Union home minister Amit to discuss and address all con- Shah that protesting farmers cerns of the agitating farmers. will not accept amendments.” And Prime Minister Narendra All India Kisan Sabha leader Modi will continue his out- Hannan Mollah alleged that reach by interacting with farm- the government wants to delay ers from six states on Friday. this resolution of the agitation The day will also see nine crore and break the morale of the farmers receiving `18,000 crore farmers. EXPRESS READ Abhaya murder case: Priest, nun get life term Trump refuses to sign Covid-19 relief bill T’Puram: A CBI special court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to the catholic priest and nun, who were found guilty of Sister Abhaya’s murder. Father Thomas Kottoor was awarded double life sentence and imposed `6.5 lakh fine, whereas Sister Sephy was sentenced to life and slapped a fine of `5.5 lakh | P7 Washington: US President Donald Trump has refused to sign the Covid-19 relief bill, saying the $600 stimulus payment to Americans was not enough as he asked Congress to increase it to $2,000. Trump said that the bill delivered too much money to foreign countries, but not enough to Americans | P11 THE Hussainsagar lake does not come under the protection of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The board has stated this in a strongly-worded response to a petition filed by TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy over the demolition of the Secretariat complex and the construction of a new one. One of the issues raised in the petition was that the location is 80 m from the lake and any activity in the area can be started only after obtaining Fork out `10K cr in Cairn tax case, India told ‘Permissions sought before razing Sectt’ In a strongly-worded response to a petition filed by TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy in the NGT, the TSPCB has stated that the govt had taken all necessary permissions before razing the Secretariat necessary permission from the authorities constituted under the Wetlands Rules, 2017. However, the TSPCB has said Hussainsagar is a man-made waterbody, according to the clarification obtained by the Roads and Buildings Department from the Minor Irrigation Department. Thus, it does not fall under the definition of wetlands as stated in the Rules. Another issue raised in the petition was that of the construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated due to the demolition of the old Secretariat complex. It alleged that the Telangana government had gone ahead with the demolition without the necessary statutory permissions. To this, the TSPCB has mentioned that till November 30, of the total 1.14 lakh tonnes of C&D waste generated due to the demolition, 53,531 tonnes (46.8 per cent) was processed. About 4,578 tonnes of iron, wood and other material were segregated for recycling. It has also stated that the Roads and Buildings Department had obtained necessary permissions from the GHMC prior to taking up the demolition, in compliance with the Construction and Demolition Waste Rules, 2016. On September 1, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority issued Environmental Clearance (EC) for the proposed new Secretariat complex. CONTINUED ON P5 MASTER’S STROKES WILL LIVE ON EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi BARELY three months after Vodafone Plc won an international arbitration against India’s `22,100 crore retrospective tax demand, the country on Wednesday suffered another blow arising from the controversial 2012 amendment to its tax laws. This time, a three-member arbitration tribunal under the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague, has directed India to pay UKbased energy giant Cair n $1.2 billion in damages, along with interest and legal costs. The final amount India would have to pay if it doesn’t challenge the award is likely to be $1.4 billion (over `10,300 crore), say sources. “The tribunal ruled unanimously that India had breached its obligations to Cairn under the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty the ,” company said on Wednesday . The Government of India, for its part, said that it “will be studying the award and all its aspects carefully in consultation with its counsels”. CONTINUED ON P12 OPENING UP 100% FDI in DTH sector, 20-yr licence E N S @ New Delhi T H E U n i o n C ab i n e t o n Wednesday cleared the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s revised guidelines allowing 100% FDI in directto-home (DTH) sector and doubling licence validity to 20 years. Earlier, the ministry allowed only 49% FDI in the sector. Among the other changes is licence fee will be collected on a quarterly basis instead of annually, to make it in tune with the licence fee regime of the telecom sector. Also, DTH operators will be permitted to operate a maximum of 5% of their total channel carrying capacity as platform channels. “In India, more than six crore houses get DTH services. The commerce ministry had earlier decided 100% FDI in DTH services but DTH services could not get that benefit as the I&B ministry’s guidelines allowed only 49% FDI. The new guidelines will be in sync with the commerce ministry’s guidelines,” Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. Welcoming the new guidelines, leading DTH player Tata Sky said the decision to grant licences to the operators for 20 years would provide certainty to the industry . OTHER CABINET DECISIONS  Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archives of India and Children’s Film Society to merge with NFDC World-renowned Batik artist Yasala Balaiah, 81, whose claim to fame was his versatile paintings depicting Telangana’s rural culture, died in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Here are some of his timeless works which brought a refreshing whiff of rural splendor | P2  A total of `59,000 crore for Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme to benefit 4 crore Scheduled Caste students in next 5 yrs | P9 VHP TO SEEK FUNDS FROM 3 CR IN TS FOR RAM MANDIR EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad VOLUNTEERS of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will reach out to three crore people among 40 lakh families in over 9,000 villages across Telangana to seek funds for the construc- tion of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The outfit has formed a State unit of the Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Mandir Nirman Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan to collect donations from devotees. It has also constituted five-member teams which will conduct a door-to-door fundraising campaign from January 15 to February 27. Following the call by the VHP Dubbaka MLA Raghu, nandan Rao, who is also a lawyer, has donated `1 crore on b e h a l f o f h i s cl i e n t , M Ramakrishna. Addressing a press confer- ence here on Wednesday, Alok Kumar, the central working president of the VHP and national convenor of the Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Mandir Nirman Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan, said transparency will be ensured at all levels. CONTINUED ON P4 FACE IT Full declaration of ingredients, not cosmetic, made mandatory S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi IT has now become mandatory for manufacturers of cosmetics and make-up products in India to declare all ingredients, even those with concentration of less than 1%, to help buyers make more informed choices. Thus far, there was no Central law mandating them to declare the full composition of their skin and make-up prod- ucts — though there is such a rule for drugs — and licences were granted without getting detailed information. In order to ensure greater quality control of cosmetic products being manufactured, imported and used in India, the government has also decided to set up the first Central Cosmetics Laboratory and appoint inspectors across states. Till now, there have been very few instances of crackdown on makers of spurious cosmetics. Under the new cosmetics rules, 2020 notified by the Union ministry of health and family welfare recently following consultations with the drug technical advisory board, hair dyes containing paraphenylen- ediamine or other dyes, colours and pigments should be labelled with warnings. Special provisions have been introduced on fluoride content in toothpaste as well. It should not be more than 1000 ppm and the fluoride content shall be mentioned on the tube and carton. According to the norms, no cosmetic, the manufacture, sale or distribution of which is prohibited in the country of ori- gin, can be imported. Also on the import ban list are cosmetics containing hexachlorophene — a chemical preservative known for harmful effects. Besides, cosmetics tested on animals cannot be imported. Inspectors will have to inspect at least once in three years all premises licensed to manufacture cosmetics to ensure that the rules of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940 are being met.