New Delhi, Jul 14 ,2020: Two Indian pharmaceutical companies are testing the Coronavirus vaccine on humans at different locations in the country and good news is being awaited soon.
Terming India as “pharmacy of the world”, on the fast-track mode to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr Balaram Bhargava told a press conference here on Tuesday that two Indian pharmaceutical companies — Zydus Cadila and Bharat Biotech International Ltd — were testing a Corona vaccine at different places in groups of 1,000 people each.
These companies had already conducted studies on the lethality and other side effects of the vaccine on mice and other organisms and submitted its findings to the Drug Controller General’s Office of India (DGCI).
Both indigenous candidate vaccines have undergone successful toxicity studies in rats, mice and rabbits. The data was submitted to DCGI following which both got clearance to start early phase human trials early this month.
He said after getting the approval, these companies have begun human trials of the Corona vaccine. “Work is also going on in this direction at the National Institute of Virus, Pune and scientists are working tirelessly day and night. India is perceived as an important player in vaccines for supply for the world,” Dr Bhargava said, adding that India contributes 60 per cent of the medicines supplied in the world and 60 per cent of the vaccine used against other diseases are Indian generics.
“Any vaccine no matter where it is developed in the world, ultimately will have to be scaled up in India,” he added.
New Delhi, Jul 8,2020: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the capital infusion for an overall value of Rs 12,450 crore in the three Public Sector General Insurance Companies.
The insurance firms include Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OlCL), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL).
Of the Rs 12,450 crore, Rs 3,475 crore will be released immediately while Rs, 6475 crore will be infused later.
Among the approved amount, Rs 2,500 crore of FY 2019-20 will also be infused.
Cabinet also approved increase in authorised share capital of NICL to Rs 7,500 crore and that of UIICL and OlCL to Rs 5,000 crore respectively to give effect to the capital infusion, an official statement said.
Further, the process of merger has been ceased so far in view of the current scenario and instead, the focus shall be on their profitable growth.
The capital infusion of Rs 3,475 crore will be allocated to three PSGICs viz. OlCL, NICL and UIICL as the first tranche in the current financial year and the balance amount will be released in one or more tranches.
To give effect to the infusion, the authorised capital of NICL will be increased to Rs 7,500 crore and that of UIICL and OlCL to Rs 5,000 crore respectively.
The capital infusion will enable the three PSGICs to improve their financial and solvency position, meet the insurance needs of the economy, absorb changes and enhance the capacity to raise resources and improved risk management.
In the current financial year, the immediate financial implication would be Rs 3,475 crore as a result of capital infusion in three PSGICs — OlCL, NICL and UIICL–as the first tranche which will be followed by Rs 6,475 crore.
To ensure optimum utilization of the capital being provided, the Government has issued guidelines in the form of KPIs aimed at bringing business efficiency and profitable growth.
In the meanwhile, given the current scenario, the process of merger has been ceased so far and/instead focus shall be on their solvency and profitable growth, post capital infusion.
New Delhi:July 07,2020: With fresh 22,252 new cases and 467 fatalities in the last 24 hours, India’s tally of coronavirus surpassed the seven lakh mark on Tuesday. While the total number of cases reached 7,19,665 including 2,59,557 active ones and 4,39,948 cured/discharged/migrated, the death toll, on the other hand, mounted to 20,160.
Meanwhile, the total number of samples tested up to July 6 is 1,02,11,092 of which 2,41,430 samples were tested yesterday, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said today.
New Delhi, Jul 4,2020: Syllabus for the ICSE and ISC annual exams for the next academic year will be reduced by 25 per cent due to the “significant shortening of the academic year and loss of the instructional hours” as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
Announcing this, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the board which conducts the ICSE and ISC annual exams, said in an official notification that “while a number of CISCE affiliated schools have tried to adapt to this changed scenario and have tried to keep alive the teaching learning process through online classes, there has been a significant shortening of the academic year and loss of the instructional hours.”
The Council said the syllabus reduction has been done keeping in mind the linear progression across classes while ensuring that the core concepts related to the subject were retained.
To make up for the loss in instructional hours during the current session 2020-2021, CISCE has worked with its subject experts to reduce the syllabi for all major subjects at the ICSE (Class 10) and ISC (Class 12) levels, the notification further said.
Also, CISCE announced the assessment scheme for pending Class 10 and 12 exams which have been cancelled in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Candidates will be assessed based on best of three marks, percentage subject project work, and subject project. Students will get an average of the best three percentage marks obtained from among the subjects for which board exams have been conducted.
While the subject project category refers to total marks obtained by the candidate in the internal assessment of the papers, the percentage subject project would be percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the internal assessment of the papers.