1.COVISHIELD completes enrolment of phase 3 clinical trials:- The Indian Council of Medical Research and Serum Institute of India announced on November 12, 2020, that the enrolment of phase 3 clinical trials for COVISHIELD, a potential candidate of COVID-19, has been completed in India. For COVISHIELD, the clinical trial site fees have been funded by ICMR while other expenses have been taken care of by SII. Currently, ICMR and SII have been conducting phase 2/3 clinical trial of COVISHIELD vaccine candidate at 15 different centres all over the country and has completed the enrolment of all 1,600 participants on October 31, 2020.

COVISHIELD: Collaboration between ICMR and SII:

While commenting in the association, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawala stated that ICMR has played a significant role in strengthening India’s fight against COVID-19. The collaboration between the two will further help in putting India at the forefront of developing an effective vaccine. He added that the partnership between ICMR and SII further testifies the significance of public-private institutes collaborating to scale up the management as well as contain the virus.

2.FM Nirmala Sitharaman Conference Updates: Centre to provide Rs 900 crores for COVID Suraksha Mission:- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced new stimulus package worth Rs 2.65 lakh crore during her press conference on November 12, 2020. The stimulus amount aims to fund new measures that were announced by the Finance Minister as a part of 12 announcements made under Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0. As a part of the new stimulus package, the Finance Minister announced grant of Rs 900 crores to the Department of Biotechnology for COVID Suraksha Mission for research and development of the Indian COVID vaccine. The Minister also announced an additional outlay worth Rs 10,000 crores for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the current financial year to give a boost to rural employment.

3.Prime Minister Modi unveils life-size statue of Swami Vivekanand at JNU Campus:- Prime Minister Modi on November 12, 2020, unveiled a life-size statue of Swami Vivekanand via video-conferencing at the campus of Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi. The Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was also present during the event. According to the statement released by the central university earlier, the life-size statue of Swami Vivekanand was to be unveiled by PM Modi on November 12. The statue has been installed at the university campus. The unveiling of Swami Vivekanand’s statue was preceded by a programme on him from 5.30 pm. Prime Minister Modi addressed the crowd via video-conferencing and also shared his thoughts on the teachings of Swami Vivekanand.

4.Jharkhand Assembly passes resolution on Sarna Code: Know all about it!:- Jharkhand Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Sarna Code during a special one-day assembly session on November 11, 2020. The resolution seeks the inclusion of Sarna as a separate religion in the 2021 Census. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the resolution will now be sent to the Centre for approval. The opposition parties had submitted a proposal seeking discussion on the resolution. The proposal was accepted by Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato.

Sarna Code: Key Highlights 

• Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had tabled the proposal seeking the provision of a separate ‘Sarna Code’ for the tribalsin the state.
• The BJP legislators had proposed an amendment to the resolution seeking removal of the oblique from ‘tribal/Sarna’ word in it.
• The Jharkhand CM said that his government is sensitive to people’s sentiments and accepted the amendment and following this, all the parties supported the resolution.
• The resolution seeks a special column for followers of the ‘Sarna’ religion in the Census 2021.

 5.Operation Green Scheme: Centre announces 50 percent subsidy for air transportation of fruits, vegetables:- The central government on November 11, 2020 announced a new scheme- Operation Green– under which a 50 percent subsidy will be provided to the Himalayan and North-Eastern states for air transportation of 41 notified fruits and vegetables to any place in the country. Under the scheme, the airlines will provide direct air transport subsidy to the supplier, consignor, consignee or agent by charging only 50 percent of the actual contracted freight charges. The balance 50 percent will be claimed by the airlines as subsidy from the  Ministry of Food Processing Industries. The announcement was made by Union Food Processing Industries Ministry in a statement. The amended guidelines were notified on November 2, 2020.

Operation Greens Scheme: Key Highlights 

• Under the Operation Greens scheme, the consignments of all notified fruits and vegetables irrespective of price and quantity will be eligible for the 50 percent freight subsidy.
• Around 21 fruits will be eligible for the air subsidy including Mango, Banana, Guava, Orange, Mousambi, Litchi, Kiwi, Lime, Lemon, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Papaya, Apple, Almond, Pear, Sweet Potato, Chikoo, Passion fruit, Jackfruit, Kinnow and Aonla.
• Around 20 vegetables will be eligible for the air subsidy including Onion, Potato, Tomato, French beans, Garlic, Brinjal, Capsicum, Carrot, Cauliflower, Bitter Gourd, Green Chillies, Cucumber, Peas, Large Cardamom, Okra, Ginger, Cabbage, Squash and dry Turmeric.
• The air transportation of these commodities is allowed from all airports in the northeastern states including in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim (Bagdogra) and Tripura and Himalayan states including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.