-The Telegraph The Centre had last November announced a Rs 900-crore project but none of this money went to either Covishield or Covaxin India’s shortage of Covid-19 vaccines that precludes immediate inoculation for all adults is rooted in the Narendra Modi government’s lack of funding for key vaccines under development and evaluation, experts have said. The experts, who have tracked global vaccine efforts, said the Indian government’s lack of investments contrasted with the...

-The Hindu PM chairs meeting; number of new cases crosses 1 lakh. The Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine may be cleared for emergency use in India within 10 days, a highly placed official confirmed to The Hindu on condition of anonymity. The possible approval for a third vaccine candidate comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Sunday to review the situation and the on-going vaccination programme with the number of...

-The Hindu To be funded by multiple institutions, the initiative, SUTRA PIC, is led by Department of Science and Technology. The government has unveiled a programme to research on ‘indigenous’ cows. To be funded by multiple scientific ministries, the initiative, SUTRA PIC, is led by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). It has the Department of Biotechnology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Ministry for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha,...

-Livemint.com Soaring sales of herbicide tolerant, genetically modified cotton seeds put farmers across states at risk New Delhi: Regulatory failure has led to a surge in sales of unapproved herbicide tolerant (HT) genetically modified (GM) cotton seed packets in the ongoing Kharif planting season, putting thousands of farmers at risk across states such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The regulatory failure has been precipitated by the fact that the genetic engineering...

-The Hindu ‘Commercial release of the seed is a socio-political issue’ “The commercial release of genetically modified mustard wasn’t merely a scientific issue but a ‘socio-political one’ that required the understanding of a wide section of society,” K. VijayRaghavan, 64, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) said in an interview. He was formerly Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, that had funded the development of the seed. While the transgenic plant has been cleared for commercial cultivation...