AP bhubaneswar l sunday l january 03, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l late CITY EDITION mastermind of ’08 mumbai attack lakhvi held in Pak Lashkar-e-Toiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was arrested in Pakistan on terror financing charges Funding terrorism through dispensary acting under global pressure A UN proscribed terrorist, Lakhvi was arrested from Lahore by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province on Saturday. Lakhvi (61) is accused of running a dispensary to fund terrorism activities. He was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case. His trial will be held before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore, official sources said ■ ■ The arrest follows Paris-based terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force’s pressure on Pakistan to take action against terrorists using its territory to carry out attacks in India Lakhvi was designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations in December 2008 for being associated with LeT and al-Qaeda  1.5 Lakh pak rupees paid monthly to Lakhvi towards ‘personal expenses’ 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 Bharat Biotech’s swadeshi Schools to reopen partially for vaccine receives panel nod Class X and XII from January 8 Sumi Sukanya Dutta @ New Delhi A government appointed panel of the apex drug regulator on Saturday recommended emergency use authorisation for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, India’s first homegrown vaccine against Covid-19, a day after it approved a vaccine against coronavirus by AstraZeneca-Oxford University. The committee said the recommendation for the vaccine’s restricted use in emergency situations was in the “public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode, especially in the context of infection by mutant strains.” Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with the ICMR, has developed Covaxin from inactivated SARS CoV 2, isolated at the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Although the vaccine has demonstrated good safety and immunogenicity in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, it is still undergoing phase 3 trials and, therefore, its ef- ficacy remains to be established. The Centre also issued a statement that the subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organization, following its meetings on Friday and Saturday, recommended the vaccines for consideration and final decision of the Drugs Controller General of India. “Grant of permission for restricted emergency use of vaccine (is being given), subject to multiple regulatory conditionalities, to Serum Institute of India, Pune,” said a statement by the ministry of health and family welfare. The back-toback permission granted to the vaccines could mean they will be rolled out simultaneously in about a week. Sources said the unscheduled meeting of the SEC on Saturday to reconsider Bharat Biotech’s application was called under government pressure after the panel had refused permission a day earlier citing insuffiContinued on: p7 cient data. E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar A participant gets a dummy vaccination shot as part of the country-wide dry run of the Covid vaccination programme in Hyderabad on Saturday | VINAY MADAPU Covaxin Phase-III trial on at SUM hospital Bhubaneswar: Even as subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation recommended Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use, the Phase-III trials of the vaccine is currently on at the IMS and SUM Hospital here. People not affected with Covid-19 can volunteer for Covaxin trial. The city-based health facility is the only institution from Odisha to have been selected along with 25 other sites across the country for the trial. Around 1000 volunteers will be recruited at the site to receive either the test vaccine or the placebo in a double blind 1:1 randomisation process, which is expected to end next week. “People from nearby places can enroll for the trial. They will be followed-up monthly for at least seven months,” said Principal Investigator Dr E Venkata Rao. IIM-S foundation stone laying Focus on Brand India: Modi to students E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Sambalpur Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked students to align their career with the aspiration of the country to give Brand India a global recognition. Laying the foundation stone of the permanent campus of IIM, Sambalpur, through video-conferencing, the Prime Minister said this will not only showcase the culture and resources of the State but also give Odisha a global recognition in the field of management. The Prime Minister said IIM students need to find innovative solutions for making local global as they can work as a bridge between the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission, local products and international collaboration. “You have to show your management skills with the mantra of Innovation, Integrity and Inclusiveness”, he said. Modi asked them to work on the ideas of improving tourism in the light of immense local potential of Sambalpur. He asked them to work on the local products such as local handicraft, textiles and tribal art along with better management of abundant minerals and other resources of the region. The Prime Minister said new technologies with digital connectivity and work from anywhere concept have turned the world into a global village. “India has undertaken rapid reforms in recent months and Farmers threaten R-Day tractor rally if deadlock continues E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Chandigarh A day after the farmers threatened to step up their agitation, the protesters on Saturday issued an ultimatum to the government and said they would take out a tractor rally to Delhi on January 26 if their demand for the repeal of the farm laws and legalising of MSP was not met. Announcing the decision of the seven-member coordination committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, chief of BKU (Rajewal group) Balbir Singh Rajewal and president of Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab Darshan Pal said: “We have given a call for a tractor-trolley parade to Delhi on January 26. The parade with the national flag will be called the ‘farmers republic parade’ and will take place after the official parade.” “We intend to be peaceful. We told the Central government long ago that it has only two options, either repeal the three farm acts or use force to evict us,” the farm leaders said. Rajewal and Pal said the time had come for decisive action. They had chosen January 26 for the rally for two reasons: Republic Day represented the supremacy of the people while the day will also mark two months of their protest. The tractor rally on January 26 will go ahead if there is no resolution during the talks on Monday Lohri/makar . sankranti on January 13 will be observed as Kisan Sankalp Diwas by burning the copies of the three laws. January 18 will be celebrated as Mahila Kisan Diwas to underline the role of women farmers, and January 23, the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, will be observed as Azad Hind Kisan Diwas. Protests will be held outside Raj Bhavan in all state capitals. The leaders said although the government had agreed to “minor demands” on air pollution and Electricity Amendment Bill, it was yet to give them legal shape.  Continued on: p7 E X PRESS READ 5 players isolated; Covid-19 protocol breach probe on Chennai: Five members of the Indian team — Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubhman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini — have been isolated from the rest of the contingent after a fan posted a video of them dining at an indoor restaurant. The five will be allowed to train during the period, but under strict protocols, and will not be allowed to mix with the rest of the squad, the Cricket Australia said | P11 tried not only to keep pace with the changes but also to anticipate and surpass them,” he added. Modi asked the student to research the way Covid-19 crisis was handled in India with innovation and collaboration at such a big scale. He said students should study how capacity and capability was expanded in such a short time. He expressed happiness that the country is coming out of the shortterm approach of problem-solving and how the focus now is on longterm solutions. He gave example of Jan Dhan accounts and how LPG connection coverage in the country improved from 55 per cent in 2014 to 98 per cent today , to illustrate his point of mass scale innovation, planning and implementation. Continued on: p5 sourav suffers mild heart attack Indian cricket board president and former India skipper Sourav Ganguly suffered a ‘mild’ heart attack on Saturday when he was in the gym and had to be admitted to a private hospital where doctors found multiple blockages in his coronary arteries. Ganguly underwent angioplasty and a stent was placed in one of the arteries. Doctors treating him said his condition is stable. Ganguly was rushed to the hospital in the afternoon following complaint of chest pain. Sourav’s brother Snehasish Ganguly said in the afternoon that he was stable. Cricket fraternity, led by Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, wished Sourav a speedy recovery. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited him in the hospital. p11 W I T H T H I S I S S UE Forces of Nature PLUS 12 PAGES After nine months since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, schools in Odisha will reopen, though only for Class X and XII/Plus II students, from January 8. As per a notification issued by the School and Mass Education (SME) department, classes will be held for a minimum of 100 days including Saturdays and Sundays. Classes will be held from January 8 to April 26 for Class X and January 8 to April 28 for Plus II students as per the revised syllabus. The decision is applicable to all gover nment, aided and private schools affiliated to the CBSE, CISCE and other Boards. “The decision has been taken to ensure students can prepare for their examinations and also appear for the all India competitive tests,”said SME Additional Secretary Pratap Kumar Mishra. The SME department also announced the schedule of State High School Certificate (HSC) and Plus II exams, which will be conducted from May 3 to 15 and from May 15 to June 11 respectively Practical exams will . take place from April 27 to May 2 for matric students and April 29 to May 14 for Plus II students. However, online classes and remote learning will continue to be encouraged and no student will be forced to attend classes. Written con- SCHOOL SOPs Face mask, regular hand-washing compulsory Max 20-25 students in a class. Fixed seating with roll number marked on desks Staggered recess and lunch breaks to prevent crowding Isolation rooms to shift students/ staff with Covid-like symptoms Students to bring water bottle, tiffin box with them. No outside vendors allowed. No sharing of food, study materials Schools in containment zones to remain closed. No entry for teachers from containment zones School transport discouraged. Parents to ensure ward’s commute Daily sanitisation of school, classrooms. Committee to supervise ing among students during classes by making seating arrangements accordingly Classrooms will have to be . sanitised on a daily basis under direct supervision of a team comprising a teacher and a parent from school management committee as members. Regular hand-washing by students and staff would be mandatory Face masks should be worn by . all throughout the period. Every school will have a separate isolation room ready to shift any student or staff showing Covid-like symptoms. There will be no school transport and parents would have to take responsibility of their children’s commute. Hostel facilities will remain shut for now and will be allowed to reopen only when it is deemed safe, the notification stated. Hostels to remain closed sent may also be sought from parents for students willing to come to school, stated the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the department on Saturday . As per the SOP schools will have , to ensure proper physical distanc- The decision has been taken to ensure students can prepare for their examinations and also appear for the all India competitive tests Pratap Kumar Mishra, SME Additional Secretary