Archives for May 2021

New Delhi: The vaccination strategy for COVID-19 has been formulated by the Centre in a “just, equitable, non-discriminatory” manner and any “overzealous” judicial intervention may result in unforeseen consequences, the government has told the Supreme Court.

In an affidavit filed by the Centre in response to the points raised by the top court, it said as vaccination of the entire country is not possible in one stretch due to the very suddenness of the pandemic, limited availability of vaccine doses and the vulnerability are the prime considerations.

The submission was made in a suo motu by the apex court case for ensuring essential supplies and services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The top court has taken up issues such as the projected demand for oxygen in the country at present and in the near future, how the government intends to allocate it to “critically affected” states and its monitoring mechanism to ensure supply.

The central government submitted that the vaccination policy conforms to the mandate of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution and was made after several rounds of consultations and discussions with experts.

State governments and vaccine manufacturers require no interference by the top court as dealing with a pandemic of this magnitude, the Executive does have room for free play in the joints, in the larger public interest, it said.

“Any overzealous, though well-meaning judicial intervention may lead to unforeseen and unintended consequences in absence of any expert advice or administrative experience, leaving doctors, scientists, experts and executive very little room to find innovative solutions on the go,” the Centre told the apex court in its 200-page affidavit.

It submitted that in the times of such grave and unprecedented crisis which the nation is fighting the disaster of an unprecedented magnitude, the executive functioning of the government needs the discretion to formulate policy in the larger interest.

“It is submitted that in view of the unprecedented and peculiar circumstances under which vaccination drive is devised as an executive policy, the wisdom of the executive should be trusted,” it said.

The government told the apex court that the price factor of vaccines will not have any impact on the ultimate beneficiary namely, the eligible person getting the vaccine since all state governments have already declared their policy decision that each State will be administering the vaccine to its residents, free of cost.

“Thus, while it is ensured that the two vaccine manufacturers are not unduly enriched from out of public money, the citizens are not supposed to make any payment for getting both doses of the vaccine,” the Centre said.

The Centre said that the apex court in a plethora of judgements has laid down the parameters for judicial review of executive policies, which can only be struck down or interfered with on the grounds of manifest arbitrariness, allowing sufficient play in the joints to the executive, to function in accordance with its Constitutional mandate.

On the issue of invoking compulsory licensing of provisions under the Patents Act to ensure availability of vaccines and drugs, the government told the apex court that the main constraint is in availability of raw materials and essential inputs and therefore, any additional permissions and licenses may not result in increased production immediately.

The affidavit stated that the Ministry of Health is making all efforts to enhance the availability of antiviral drug Remdesivir through ramping up of production and sourcing through imports.

“However, in view of the current constraints on the availability of raw materials and other essential inputs, the mere addition of more production capacity may not lead to the desired outcomes of enhanced supplies,” it said.

The Centre submitted that when there is a surge in cases and in demand of patented medicines/ drugs/ vaccines from all over the world the solution needs to be found out essentially at an executive level engaging at diplomatic levels.

“Any exercise of statutory powers either under the patents act 1970 read with Trips agreement and Doha declaration or in any other way can only prove to be counter-productive at this stage, the central government is very actively engaging itself with global organisations at a diplomatic level to find out a solution in the best possible interest of India,” it said.

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the party has to take note of its serious setbacks in assembly polls, and face the reality to draw the right lessons.

Addressing a crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Gandhi said she intends to set up a small group to look at every aspect that caused such reverses.

The meeting of the top Congress body has been convened to deliberate and introspect on the party’s poor performance in the just-concluded assembly elections.

The Congress fared poorly, drawing a blank in West Bengal and failing to win back power in Kerala and Assam, besides losing Puducherry. The party only came to power with the help of its ally DMK in Tamil Nadu.

“We have to take note of our serious setbacks. To say that we are deeply disappointed is to make an understatement. I intend to set up a small group to look at every aspect that caused such reverses and report back very quickly,” she told the meeting in her inaugural address.

Gandhi said the party needs to candidly understand “why in Kerala and Assam we failed to dislodge the incumbent governments, and why in West Bengal we drew a complete blank”.

“These will yield uncomfortable lessons, but if we do not face up to the reality, if we do not look the facts in the face, we will not draw the right lessons,” she noted.

Gandhi also said that the schedule to elect the new Congress president would also be discussed at the meeting.

She also hit out at the Modi government over the handling of the pandemic situation.

“The situation has become even more catastrophic. Governance failures have become even more stark. Scientific advice has been willfully ignored and the country is paying a horrendous price for the Modi government’s neglect of the pandemic, indeed its willful patronage of super-spreader events that were allowed for partisan gains,” she said.

Kolkata: At least 43 members of the third cabinet of the Mamata Banerjee-government were on Monday sworn-in as ministers during a low-key ceremony at the Raj Bhawan, amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers.

Three TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh were sworn-in virtually. Mitra is unwell and both Basu and Ghosh are recuperating from COVID-19.

Other elected legislators like Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim and Sadhan Pande also took oath at the ceremony, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present along with other state government officials.

Banerjee is scheduled to hold a cabinet meeting at the secretariat later in the day, during which she is expected to allot portfolios to the ministers.

Those who were sworn-in include 24 cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state (independent charge).

The Centre has so far provided nearly 18 crore vaccine doses (17,93,57,860) to states and UTs free of cost.

Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 16,89,27,797 doses, the ministry said.

“More than 1 crore COVID vaccine doses (1,04,30,063) are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.States with negative balance are showing more consumption (including wastage) than vaccine supplied as they have not reconciled the vaccine they have supplied to armed forces.

“Furthermore, more than 9 lakh (9,24,910) vaccine doses will be received in addition by the states and UTs within the next three days,” the ministry said.

Vaccination forms an integral component of the five point strategy of the Government of India of containment and management of the pandemic (including Test, Track, Treat and COVID Appropriate Behaviour), the ministry said.

Colorado Springs (US): A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday, police said. The shooting happened just after midnight in a mobile home park on the east side of Colorado Springs, police said.

Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

The suspected shooter was the boyfriend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He walked inside and opened fire before shooting himself, police said.

The birthday party was for one of the people killed, police said. Neighbor Yenifer Reyes told The Denver Post she woke to the sound of many gunshots.

I thought it was a thunderstorm, Reyes said. Then I started hearing sirens.

Police brought children out of the trailer and put them into at least one patrol car, she said, adding that the children were crying hysterically.

Authorities say the children, who weren’t hurt in the attack, have been placed with relatives.

Police on Sunday hadn’t released the identities of the shooter or victims. Authorities say a motive wasn’t immediately known.

My heart breaks for the families who have lost someone they love and for the children who have lost their parents, Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski said in a statement.

It was Colorado’s worst mass shooting since a gunman killed 10 people at a Boulder supermarket March 22.

The tragic shooting in Colorado Springs is devastating, Gov. Jared Polis said Sunday, especially as many of us are spending the day celebrating the women in our lives who have made us the people we are today.

Colorado Springs, population 465,000, is Colorado’s second-biggest city after Denver.

In 2015, a man shot three people to death at random before dying in a shootout with police in Colorado Springs on Halloween. Less than a month later, a man killed three people, including a police officer, and injured eight others in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city. 

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices on Monday hit record highs across the country after rates were increased for the fifth time in a week, following which Maharashtra joined Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in the league of states where petrol rates breached the Rs 100-a-litre mark.

Petrol price was hiked by 26 paise a litre and diesel by 33 paise per litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.

This was the fifth increase in prices since May 4, when the state-owned oil firms ended an 18-hiatus in rate revision during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.

The increase took petrol and diesel prices to their highest-ever level. In Delhi, petrol now comes for Rs 91.53 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 82.06 per litre.

While petrol prices had crossed the Rs 100-mark in some places in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh a few days back, Maharashtra’s Parbhani joined the league on Monday. Petrol in Parbhani was priced at Rs 100.20 a litre, while in Bhopal it came for Rs 99.55 a litre.

The fuel is sold at Rs 102.42 a litre in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and at Rs 102.12 in Anuppur of Madhya Pradesh.

This is the second time this year that rates in some parts have crossed the Rs 100-a litre mark. Rates had breached the physiological mark for the first time in mid-February.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh.

In five increases in the last one week, petrol price has risen by Rs 1.14 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.33 – more than neutralising all of the reduction that came between March 24 and April 15.

After raising petrol price by a record Rs 21.58 per litre and diesel by Rs 19.18 since the government raised excise duty to an all-time high in March last year, state-owned fuel retailers, IOC, BPCL and HPCL had reduced petrol price by 67 paise a litre and diesel by 74 paise per litre effected between March 24 and April 15.

Oil companies, who have in recent months resorted to unexplained freeze in rate revision, had hit a pause button after cutting prices marginally on April 15. This coincided with electioneering hitting peak to elect new governments in five states including West Bengal.

No sooner had voting ended, oil companies indicated an impending increase in retail prices in view of firming trends in international oil markets.

They said prices have been on a continuous uptrend since April 27, crude oil price is hovering near USD 70-per-barrel mark.

Central and state taxes make up for 60 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54 per cent of diesel. The union government levies Rs 32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 31.80 on diesel.

In Mumbai, the petrol price was hiked to Rs 97.86 a litre on Monday from Rs 97.61, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 89.17 from Rs 88.82, the price notification showed.