DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 12 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00/EX-KOLKATA `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES &ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM THE EDITORIAL PAGE NEGOTIATIONS TO RESUME ON JANUARY 8 Covaxin to protect COMMUNICATING THEVACCINE Talksinconclusive:Farmersinsiston BY RAJIB DASGUPTA against mutants, PAGE 6 repeal,Govtforclause-wisediscussion data in aweek: BUSINESSASUSUAL Bharat Biotech BY UNNY Tomar says hopeful, unions PRABHARAGHAVAN saynot backing NEWDELHI,JANUARY4 E Extrashot ● inarsenal down on THE HEAD of Bharat Biotech ex- EXPLAINED pressedconfidence at apress scrapping laws conference on Mondaythat AMID CONCERNS that Covaxin, the vaccine candidate Covaxin had been given developedbythe company, will emergency use authori- RAAKHIJAGGA& be effective on mutant strains of sation without full data, HARIKISHANSHARMA the novelcoronavirus —amajor Health MinisterDrHarsh LUDHIANA,NEWDELHI,JAN4 reason whythe candidatehas Vardhan has clarified been granted approval forre- that this wasa“strategic TALKSBETWEEN the Centre stricted use. decision”. “...This ap- and farmer unions opposedto The companywill be able to proval ensures India has the newagriculturelawsre- establish the “hypothesis” of the an additional vaccine mainedinconclusive Monday candidate's ability to protect shield in itsarsenal esp CM Mamata over twokey demands —repeal againstmutations in aweek, againstpotential mutant Banerjee of the newlyenacted laws and chairman and managing direc- strains in adynamic pan- provision of legal guarantee on torDrKrishna Ella said. demic situation -A the minimum supportprice — “It’s onlyahypothesis right strategic decision forour with the twosides drawing the now...but justgivemeone vaccine security,” he Bengal special hardline on their respective po- Women being trainedtodrive tractors, on the Jind-Patiala national highway on Monday. Express week’s time (and) I’ll give confir- postedonTwitter. sitions. matorydata,” Dr Ella said. He session to pass The talkswill resume on wasresponding to aquestion on January8when the twosides sit whether thereweredatato cause of the platform it uses, resolution across the table forwhat will be showCovaxin is effective against Covaxin would behighlyeffective the eight round of negotiations Headed for Delhi on the mutant strain of the SARS- againstsuchmutations. The vac- ever since the protests that CoV-2 virus that wasfirstde- cine uses an inactivatedplatform against new brought farmers from Punjab tected in the United Kingdom –itwas developedbyusing killed and Haryana to the gatesofDelhi R-Day: ‘daughters of and has since been found in strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. farm laws: CM on November 26. morethan 30 other countries. Bharat Biotech,whichhas Meanwhile, twoPunjab BJP Evidence from vaccines for sent around 5million doses of its leaders, SurjeetKumar Jyani and farmers’, riding tractors other viruses likerabies support candidatefor quality checksand EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE HarjeetSingh Grewal, who have the hypothesis, Dr Ella said —be- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 KOLKATA,JANUARY4 been in mediation with the tling changefor patriarchal farmers, will be meeting the The farmers-government meeting on Mondaybegan with a SUKHBIRSIWACH Haryana, farm unions don't just THE WESTBengal government Prime MinisterTuesdayevening. two-minutesilence forthe protesters who have died. PTI CHANDIGARH,JANUARY4 hope to attract eyeballs but also is settoconvene aspecial Jyani said: “Grewal and Ihad send amessagethat their fami- Assemblysession to pass areso- sought time from the PM. He has AS FARMERS threaten a“tractor lies stand behind them in the ag- lution againstthe Centre’s three calledustohiscampofficeat5.45 parade” to NewDelhi on the oc- itation. farm laws. pmTuesday.”Jyaniischairmanof After Adanis, RIL placates casion of Republic Dayiftheir At the Khatkar Toll Plaza -- Chief MinisterMamata an eight-member panel of BJP demands againstthe newagri- the farmers have made all such Banerjee on Mondaysaid, “We leaders,includingGrewal,coordi- farmers: With you, no cultural laws arenot met, join- tolls across Haryana “free” -- the will convene an Assemblyses- nating with the farmer unions. In ing them would be women from women aretrainedineverything sion soon to pass aresolution DelhisinceNovember28,theyre- Haryana villages. from howtostart atractor and againstthe three newfarm laws. turnedtoPunjab afew days ago. plans for contract farming At severalplaces across the switchitoff,beforebeing “I’m in favour of farmers and Emerging from the meeting state, women arereceiving train- handedthe steering. want withdrawal of these three with the unions Monday, Union basis” fortheir produce, and that ing to drive tractors, with one Sikkim Nain, from SafaKheri bills forthe sakeofthe country AgricultureMinisterNarendra AASHISHARYAN the companyhad no plans to en- suchsession held forthose be- village, said around hundred of and the farmers,” she said. Singh Tomar told reporters, “We NEWDELHI,JANUARY4 tercorporateorcontract farm- longing to Jind district, at them from the district have been Five stateAssemblies so far wantedaclause-wise discussion ing, noworinthe future. Khatkar Toll Plaza on Jind-Patiala attending the training sessions have passedresolution against on the laws,sothat we could pro- TARGETED BY farmers opposed RIL also said it had, through its National Highway,onMonday. at the toll plaza, with similar Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the OxfordVaccine the three farm laws.Earlier,the ceedonthe wayforward.The to the newagriculturelaws, subsidiaryReliance Jio Infocomm, Women have been present in preparations on across the state. Group, receivesthe OxfordUniversity/ AstraZeneca Covid-19 Congress and Leftparties had de- discussion wasmainlycentred Mukesh Ambani-ledReliance mentionedapetition before the large numbers at the protests be- “This is justatrailer forthe gov- vaccine in Oxford, Britain, on Monday. Reuters mandedanAssemblysession in on this. We discussedthe issue of Industries Limited (RIL) said Punjab and Haryana High Court, ing held by farmers at Delhi bor- ernment. We will take our trac- this regard. MSP briefly, but could notarrive Mondaythat the company in whichithad sought urgent ders, nowintotheir second tors to the RedForttoparticipate Banerjee also indicated that at adecision. Therefore, the gov- would always supportthe de- government intervention to stop month. By having women ride in the tractor parade. It will be a her government is ready to im- ernment and the unions decided mand of the farmers for“fair and vandalism of itstowers. intothe Capital on January26 historical event,” said Nain, 38. plementthe PM-Kisan scheme, CONTINUEDONPAGE2 profitable price on apredictable CONTINUEDONPAGE2 now, while riding tractors, astar- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 38 UK variant cases saying that she has asked the Centretogivedetails of the scheme as well as all those who now; strain isolated, have registeredfor it on the Union government’s portal. Banerjee said, “I had repeat- GST tax credit Day after clashes, road-widening NIV to test vaccines edly asked the Centretotransfer funds allotted under the PM- It has been detected in 11 Kisan scheme to the stategov- probe: I-T surveys leaves homes demolished in MP EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE samples at the CSIR Instituteof ernment... They(Centre) have NEWDELHI,JANUARY4 Genomics and Integrative Biology sought verification of this data. I (IGIB), NewDelhi; 10 samples at understood that the Centrewas THE NUMBER of samples de- the National InstituteofMental trying to politicise the matter. at Zee, L&T offices IRAMSIDDIQUE tected with the the new, more Health and Neurosciences We realisedthat farmers should INDORE,JANUARY4 contagious strain of the novel (NIMHANS), Bengaluru; eight notsufferbecause of this... take timelyaction,” sources famil- coronavirus —the UK “variant samples at the National Centrefor CONTINUEDONPAGE2 KHUSHBOONARAYAN iar with the development said. IN WHAThas deepenedanxi- under investigation” VUI- Disease Control (NCDC), New &AANCHALMAGAZINE Sources said starting 11 am eties in the wake of the commu- 202012/01—isnow 38, the gov- Delhi; five samples at the MUMBAI,NEWDELHI, on Monday, the I-TDepartment nal tension during rallies by ernment said on Monday. National InstituteofVirology WORLD JANUARY4 conductedsurveysatover15lo- right-wing organisations in few “All these persons (detected (NIV), Pune; three samples at the cations in the Mumbai and districtsinMadhya Pradesh, the with the UK strain of the virus) Centrefor Cellular and Molecular THE INCOME Tax(I-T) Chennai offices of the companies local administration in Indore have been kept in single room Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad; and Department Mondayconducted under Section 133A of the partiallydemolished13houses isolationindesignatedHealth one sample at the National surveysatthe offices of Zee Income TaxAct. Some surveys in the minority-dominated Carefacilities by respective State InstituteofBiomedical Genomics Entertainment Enterprises Ltd were also conducted at their as- Chandan Khedi villagelast Governments. Their close con- (NIBG), Kalyani. and Larsen &Toubro(L&T) Ltd as sociateoffices in afew other cities Wednesday, stating these were tactshavealso been put under Significantly, NIV Pune has partofanongoing taxinvestiga- across the country, said sources. illegal encroachmentsongov- One of the houses that wasdemolished. Vishnukant Tiwari quarantine. Comprehensive con- nowsuccessfullyisolated and tion