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Eco/Invest/Demography

NGT extends time for constitution of biodiversity management committees

The NGT noted that India is one of the recognised mega-diverse countries of the world, harbouring nearly seven to eight per cent of the recorded species of the world, and representing four of the 34 globally identified biodiversity hotspots.
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 aims to preserve biological diversity in India and provides mechanism for equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of traditional biological resources and knowledge.

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Govt must indemnify vaccine makers against all lawsuits: Adar Poonawalla

“We need to have the government indemnify manufacturers, especially vaccine manufacturers, against all lawsuits. In fact, COVAX and other countries have already started talking about that,” Serum Institute of India (SII) Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla . said.
It is because when frivolous claims come up, and something is blown out of proportion in the media, skepticism sets in that definitely something can happen due to the vaccine and to dispel that, the government needs to step in to spread the right information,
He also said that the vaccine makers are going to propose this to the government,

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Is Covid-19 Vaccine a victory for Big Pharma

It’s an incredible public relations coup for an industry desperate to rescue its image. Just last month, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty and has agreed to penalties of more than $8 billion after being prosecuted for its role in America’s horrific opioid crisis. Pfizer set an earlier record for a drug industry fraud settlement in 2009 at $2.3 billion, in a case over its fraudulent marketing of a painkiller, an antipsychotic and other drugs for conditions for which it hadn’t received approval.The turpitude of the pharmaceutical industry is so commonplace that it has become part of the cultural wallpaper. The screenwriters of the 1993 movie

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India at cusp of authorizing 1st set of Covid-19 vax, to cover around 30 cr targeted population: Harsh Vardhan

Observing the fact that despite festivals in October and November, Vardhan said no new surge of cases was observed in this period due to comprehensive testing, tracking and treatment policy implemented on the ground.
The Minister said that India’s Covid-19 pandemic growth has dropped to 2 per cent and the case fatality rate is amongst the lowest in the world at 1.45 per cent.

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Hackers’ broad attack sets cyber experts worldwide scrambling to defend networks

“This hack was so big in scope that even our cybersecurity experts don’t have a real sense yet in terms of the breadth of the intrusion itself,” adding that it would take some time to fully vet all the agencies and targets.

The breach appeared to provide President-elect Joe Biden with an immediate headache when he takes office on Jan. 20. His transition team’s executive director Yohannes Abraham told reporters on Friday there would be “substantial costs” and the incoming administration “will reserve the right to respond at a time and in a manner of our choosing, often in close coordination with our allies and partners.”

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Going forward health would be Govt’s top priority :Sitharaman

Government would look to provide not just buildings for hospitals but the technology and infrastructure apart from improving the availability of doctors and nurses to service the industry.
“Health and investment in health is going to be absolutely critical, not just to keep our lives safer but also to make health and health-related expenditures more predictable, for people not to do it out of pocket,” Sitharaman said.in a virtual address to a Confederation of Indian Industry conference, on Friday

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