NEWS

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Balram Bhargava has played a crucial role in offering novel coronavirus to Bharat Biotech to develop Covaxin and connecting Serum Institute of India with the University of Oxford to manufacture Covishield, former scientist of top medical research body Dr Raman Gangakhedkar told reporters.

Dr Gangakhedkar, who was the face of ICMR during the Covid-19 briefings last year, recalled how the country’s apex medical research institute was desperately looking for options when it detected the first case of novel coronavirus on January 30.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said farmers had the right to protest, but roads cannot be blocked indefinitely.

The apex court granted three weeks' time to farmer unions, leading the nearly year-long agitation along the borders of Delhi and elsewhere against the three central farm laws, to file their response on a petition seeking removal of the protesters from the roads. The court posted the matter for further hearing on December 7.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a woman resident of Noida urging that the protesters be removed from the roads of the national capital region (NCR).

After the BJP slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her silence on the recent attacks against the Hindu community in Bangladesh, All India Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not made a public statement on the same.

"Why is the PM silent? BJP should ask what the PM's stand on this is. India has always stood for human rights and protection of minorities. The prime minister should take a stand on it.We must act like a nation, not as representatives of one community or religion," said Sushmita Dev, who was recently elected as a Rajya Sabha MP.

With a flight from Sri Lanka marking the beginning of operations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the third international airport of Uttar Pradesh in Kushinagar.

The flight carried Buddhist monks and Buddha’s relics brought from Waskaduwa Sri Subuddhi Rajvihaa Temple in Sri Lanka by the Mahanayaka of the temple. The monks were accompanied by Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister Namal Rajapaksha, who is also the son of Sri Lankan Prime Minister. Later in the day, Modi visited Mahaparinirvana Temple 1 in Kushinagar to mark the Abhidhamma day amidst monks both from Sri Lanka and India.