Month: May 2021

As infections dwindle, Spain mulls looser mask rules

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Spain is considering easing rules on wearing face masks outdoors, as early as in mid-June, officials said on Monday, as falling transmission and rising vaccination rates have lowered the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Masks have been mandatory indoors and out across most of Spain, regardless of social-distancing, since last summer.

But daily case numbers and the nationwide infection rate have been declining for months and nearly 40% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot, prompting some authorities to reconsider the rules.

After the capital Madrid and the central region of Castilla la Mancha said they were considering easing restrictions, Spain’s health emergency chief Fernando Simon said wearing masks outdoors might not be needed in the near future.

“If the (situation) evolves as it is currently doing … I believe it could be feasible that the mask would not be needed in outdoor open spaces in mid or late June and very likely, almost with (absolute) certainty, at the end of July,” he told a news briefing.

Simon, who defended a national approach to easing restrictions rather than a regional one, said it could even be possible to relax the use of masks indoors among highly vaccinated groups before the end of July.

Castilla la Mancha’s leader Emiliano Garcia-Page had said earlier his region was determined to abolish the obligation to wear face masks in open spaces before the rule’s anniversary in July but added he was seeking a nationwide approach.

His Madrid counterpart, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who won a landslide election this month after campaigning on looser pandemic restrictions, said her administration was considering a similar move.

Spain’s infection rate as measured over the past two weeks fell to 121 cases per 100,000 on Monday, nearly halving since the end of April, although with sharp regional disparities.

Spain’s tally of cases rose by 9,732 to 3.68 million from Friday while the death toll climbed by 70 to 79,905, Health Ministry data showed.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Close to commit over $1-bn to Moderna for COVID vaccine; provide price capping waiver, indemnity: Cipla to govt

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Seeking fast-track approvals to bring Moderna’s single-dose COVID-19 booster vaccine in India expeditiously, Cipla has requested the government for indemnification and exemptions from price capping, bridging trials and basic customs duty, while stating that it is close to committing over USD 1-billion as advance to the US major, sources said on Monday. Commending the government for its efforts to increase the vaccine availability in the country for achieving effective protection against COVID-19, the Indian pharma giant has said its discussions with Moderna on the COVID-19 booster vaccine are nearing finalisation and for that, they are seeking the “partnership and support of the government to make this programme successful”.

Requesting the government to provide confirmation on four critical points — exemption from price restriction, indemnification, bridging trial waiver and basic customs duty exemption, Cipla has said such an assurance will help make this significant financial commitment of more than USD 1 billion (over Rs 7,250 crore) advance to Moderna for its booster vaccine in India, sources privy to the development said. Cipla’s latest communication to the government, dated May 29, follows a high-level meeting held recently during which it was discussed that Moderna has proposed to launch a single-dose vaccine for the Indian market, for which, they were in discussion with Cipla and other Indian companies.

It was also discussed in that meeting that orders for supply of the vaccine in 2022 may be placed with Moderna expeditiously and that Cipla has evinced interest to procure 50 million doses from Moderna for 2022. It was also suggested that Cipla may be asked to submit their specific requests to the government on their request for a “confirmation from the Government of India in respect of stability in regulatory requirements/policy regime” and a decision on that can be taken thereafter expeditiously. Taking the matter forward, Cipla has now written to the government, “It is imperative Cipla brings Moderna booster vaccines to India urgently, having immediately made available the largest portfolio of COVID-19 drugs amongst Indian pharmaceutical companies, including the state-of-the-art antibody cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab.” Stating that Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has been rated at the highest efficacy with least side effects and that the US company was also leading the development of boosters and vaccines for adolescents and paediatrics, Cipla has told the government that it needs assurance from the government to include Moderna booster vaccine under the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy, announced in April and made effective from May 1.

The company has said it is a “need of the hour” to provide access to quality vaccine booster to bolster India’s fight against COVID-19 and that it is looking forward to the government’s assurance to help it expeditiously close its supply arrangement with Moderna. Seeking exemption from price restriction, Cipla said, “Given the size of the population we need to immunize with boosters, it is our avid belief that the government and private players can work together to deliver the vaccination programme, best serving the public interest.” “Any restriction brought on pricing may dissuade the mRNA players from providing their vaccines in India, considering the serious competing demand by other countries chasing the limited supply of vaccines,” a source quoted Cipla as having communicated to the Indian government.

The company has further requested for the government’s assurance that no price capping would apply for imported vaccines to be provided through private hospitals and that the booster vaccine can be covered under the liberalised pricing policy and kept exempt from any price capping. Cipla has also sought indemnity in case of any adverse effects or complications caused by the Moderna vaccine and cited instances of the US Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) and similar programmes in the UK, Canada, EU, Singapore and even the WHO-led Covax, that protect vaccine manufacturers/distributors from claims and underwrite the compensation burden.

On basic custom duty exemption, Cipla said it appreciates the government’s intent on exempting basic customs duty on import of COVID-19 vaccines and urged it to be extended to the whole of 2022. It also lauded NITI Aayog’s recent statement on “Myths and Facts on India’s Vaccination Process” where it had said that bridging trial requirement for vaccines approved by the US FDA, EMA and others will be waived off altogether for well-established vaccines, manufactured in other countries.

The company has sought confirmation that the Moderna booster vaccine, having received the USFDA’s Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) will not require a bridging trial in India. However, Cipla stated that as Moderna’s India partner, it will comply with post-marketing surveillance requirements. Similar requests for indemnity and exemption from bridging trials have been made by another US major Pfizer as well.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

WHO renames COVID-19 variants from India as ‘Delta’ and ‘Kappa’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said the two coronavirus variants first found in India will be known as “Delta” and “Kappa”.

“COVID-19 variant first found in India will be referred to as ‘Delta’ while earlier found variant in the country will be known as ‘Kappa’,” the WHO said.

According to the WHO, the new labels were chosen after wide consultation and a review of many potential naming systems.

Today WHO has announced a new naming system for key #COVID19 variants. The labels are based on the Greek alphabet (i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc), making them simple, easy to say and remember.

👉 https://t.co/aYCZfspZyb pic.twitter.com/Gxt14fwVqF

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 31, 2021

“The labels don’t replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information and will continue to be used in research. No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting Covid variants,” said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical lead COVID-19 at WHO.

Naming SARS-CoV-2 variants

WHO said, “The established nomenclature systems for naming and tracking SARS-CoV-2 genetic lineages by GISAID, Nextstrain and Pango are currently and will remain in use by scientists and in scientific research. To assist with public discussions of variants, WHO convened a group of scientists from the WHO Virus Evolution Working Group, the WHO COVID-19 reference laboratory network, representatives from GISAID, Nextstrain, Pango and additional experts in virological, microbial nomenclature and communication from several countries and agencies to consider easy-to-pronounce and non-stigmatising labels for VOI and VOC.

“At the present time, this expert group convened by WHO has recommended using labeled using letters of the Greek Alphabet, i.e., Alpha, Beta, Gamma, which will be easier and more practical to discussed by non-scientific audiences.”

Variants of concern

The world body added: “A SARS-CoV-2 variant that meets the definition of a variant of interest and, through a comparative assessment, has been demonstrated to be associated with one or more of the following changes at a degree of global public health significance:

“Increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology; or increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation; or
Decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics.”

Variants of interest

“A SARS-CoV-2 isolate is a Variant of Interest (VOI) if, compared to a reference isolate, its genome has mutations with established or suspected phenotypic implications, and either: has been identified to cause community transmission/multiple COVID-19 cases/clusters, or has been detected in multiple countries, or is otherwise assessed to be a VOI by WHO in consultation with the WHO SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution Working Group,” a WHO statement read.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IndiGo re-imposes leave without pay for all employees as passenger traffic declines

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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InterGlobe Aviation-led IndiGo has decided to again implement the leave without pay policy for its employees for 1.5 to four days as demand for air travel has been severely hit amid the second COVID-19 wave.

IndiGo had imposed leave without pay for its employees in 2020, but scraped it after a few months on seeing signs of recovery in air travel.

The airline has asked its pilots to undertake three days of leave without pay for the next three months with effect from June 1.

The move by the largest and the only profitable airline in India is significant as the aviation sector continues to remain under stress.

“The second wave has been difficult for all of us and has also resulted in reduction of passenger loads. As a result our commercial schedule had to be curtailed accordingly. Unfortunately due to the reduced capacity we will have to institute an LWP program for all employees which would range from 1.5 to 4 days depending on the employee group (except for band A &B). All pilots would undertake 3 days of LWP for the next 3 months effective 1st June 2021,” IndiGo wrote to employees on May 31.

“Number of days applicable for non-crew flight operation employees will be informed by their vertical heads shortly,” the mail to employees read.

On May 30, SpiceJet had written to employees regarding salaries and said that there has been a sudden drop in traffic affected revenues, cash flows and the company is reverting to structure of paying employees as per work hours contributed. In addition, the airline said that there would be graded deferment of up to 35 percent of May salaries for some employees and the deferred amount will be released from second week of June.

Daily domestic air passenger traffic has fallen to under 1 lakh since May 5 from the highs of over 3 lakh in February of 2021. In light of the fall in traffic, the government has also reduced domestic aviation capacity (number of flights) to 50 percent from 80 percent earlier.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

STARTUP DIGEST: Paytm readies for Diwali listing, Delhi HC cracks whip on Twitter, Delhivery raises funds ahead of IPO

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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There were several important startup updates during the day on Monday, which include India’s most valued startup Paytm has received board approval for an initial public offering (IPO), Delhi HC has issued a notice to Twitter, asking the microblogging site to comply with IT rules; rural fintech Jai Kisan raises $30 million; General Motors backed auto data startup Wejo is all set to go public. Here are the startup stories that made headlines today:

Paytm board grants in-principle approval for IPO

Paytm board has given an in principle nod for an initial public offer, CNBC-TV18 learns. The IPO, which is expected around Diwali this year as CNBC TV 18 had reported earlier, will give the company a valuation of more than $25 billion, a big jump from its current $16 billion valuation.

The board that met Friday evening, comprises founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma; Ravi Adusumalli, managing partner at Elevation Capital; Munish Varma, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers; Pallavi Shroff, founder and managing partner of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas law firm; Eric Jing, executive chairman of Ant Group; Todd Combs, investment manager at Berkshire Hathaway; Mark Schwartz, vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, and Michael Yao, senior vice president of Alibaba Group.

The issuance will include secondary sale by Paytm’s investors on pro-rata basis. Paytm will likely split its stock as part of the IPO process. Post board approval, Paytm investors will need to approve IPO-related aspects. CNBC TV 18 had reported on May 28 that the DRHP filing is likely to be completed by June-July.

According to investment research firm Bernstein, Paytm’s revenue base will double by FY23 to ~$ 1 Bn, with non-payments revenue contributing ~33%, led by credit tech.

Delhi HC cracks whip on Twitter; says have to comply with new IT rules

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to social media platform Twitter for non-compliance of the new Information Technology rules. The court said that the digital media will have to comply with the new norms if they have not been stayed. The notice was issued while the Delhi High court was hearing a plea over Twitter’s non-compliance.

The bench of Justice Rekha Palli gave Twitter three weeks to reply and posted the matter for hearing on July 6.

Twitter told the court that it has complied with the rules and has already appointed Resident Grievance Officer on May 28. However, the Central government contested the claim, saying that the microblogging site has not adhered to the new rules yet.

Under the new digital rules, social media companies like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have to appoint officials such as a resident grievance officer, a chief compliance officer, and a nodal contact person, as well as complaint resolution, monitoring of objectionable content, compliance report, and removal of objectionable content.

As per govt sources, Facebook, WhatsApp and Google have already complied with the new IT rules which came into effect on May 25.

Zerodha’s profit at Rs 1,000 crore in FY21: Nithin Kamath

Online stockbroking platform Zerodha’s profit more than doubled in the last financial year (FY21) to Rs 1000 crore, co-founder Nithin Kamath tweeted on Sunday.

Kamath’s tweets came on the back of a report that Zerodha’s board passed a resolution approving a salary of up to Rs 100 crore per annum each to Nikhil Kamath and Seema Patil.

“Firstly the reported figure isn’t the actual salary being drawn. This is an enabling resolution that allows us as working promoters to draw salaries up to the number in case of liquidity requirements. Didn’t anticipate that this would get this much attention”, Kamath tweeted.

The unicorn has made public its intention to use Rs 200 cr of its profits for a share buyback. The buyback will be at a valuation of $2 bn. The company also plans to invest upto Rs 1500 crore from surplus funds of the company in other businesses.

Mensa raises $50 mn in Series A funding

Mensa Brands has raised $50 million in its Series A round of funding. The funding was led by Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners as well as prominent angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Mukesh Bansal, Rahul Mehta of DST Global and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global.

The startup launched by former Myntra CEO and Medlife co-founder Ananth Narayanan launched aims to create a technology-led ‘House of Brands’ built for the e-commerce industry.

Mensa Brands’s vision is to partner and invest in digital-first brands and scale them exponentially. This is the latest venture in India to launch a ‘Thrasio model’ business, named after the popular American company which is an acquirer of Amazon third-party private-label businesses.

Over the next 3 years, Mensa looks to acquire 50+ brands across categories including home, garden, apparel, personal care and beauty Mensa has also additionally raised debt financing facilities from Alteria Capital and InnoVen Capital.

Ananth Narayanan, founder and CEO of Mensa Brands said in a statement, “Scaling digital brands from India is a large opportunity. Incredibly excited and passionate about partnering with terrific founders and helping scale their brands globally. Having seen this first hand at Myntra and Medlife we know the effort it takes to scale a brand digitally – we will be a true trustee of your brand.”

Rural fintech platform Jai Kisan raises $30 mn from Mirae Asset

Rural fintech platform Jai Kisan has raised $30 million in debt and equity in Series A funding round led by from Mirae Asset. New investor Syngenta Ventures along with existing investors Blume Ventures, Arkam Ventures, NABVentures, Prophetic Ventures and a slew of angels, also participated. The debt was raised from Trifecta Capital and Stride Ventures.

The funding will be used to hire talent and enhance engineering and data science capabilities, expand into new geographies, and start building an on-book portfolio, said the startup in a statement.

Founded 3 years ago, Jai Kisan has developed its own system — which it calls Bharat Khata — that aims to help individuals and businesses get access to cheaper financing and ensures that the money they raise is being used for agri-inputs and equipment.

Plum raises $15.6 mn capital from Tiger Global

Group health insurance startup Plum has raised $15.6 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global with participation from earlier investors Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Tanglin Venture Partners, Incubate Fund and Gemba Capital. The round also saw the participation of a slew of angel investors including Kunal Shah Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh among others.

The new funds will be used to scale its engineering, business development and operations teams. The company is looking to build insurance products for micro enterprises with small teams that cannot afford to pay annual premiums, it said.

The 15-month-old startup has raised $5mn in earlier rounds since inception. The platform is currently working with over 600 organizations, clocking a 110 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth, it said in a statement. The firm has insured 40,000 people just in the last 3 months and works with SMEs, corporations and startups including Groww, Unacademy, Twilio, CleverTap, UrbanLadder, smallcase and Simpl.

Delhivery raises $277 million ahead of IPO: Report

Logistics startup Delhivery has raised $277 million in what is expected to be the final funding round before the firm files for an IPO later this year, as per Techcrunch. The new round valued the 10-year-old startup at about $3 billion.
The latest round of funding was led by Boston-headquartered investment firm Fidelity. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Abu Dhabi’s Chimera, and UK’s Baillie Gifford also participated, as per the report. Delhivery refused to comment on the funding at the moment.

The 10-year-old startup counts SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global Management, Times Internet, The Carlyle Group, and Steadview Capital among its list of investors. The company has so far raised about $1.23 billion.

MOPP Food raises capital

Cloud kitchens startup MOPP Food has raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding from India Accelerator’s iAngel Network. The firm plans to use the funds in expanding across Delhi-NCR and add more brands to its portfolio.
The company claims it is presently clocking more than 8000 monthly orders and aims to cross 1 million monthly orders by 2026. Furthermore, MOPP food is also working on its expansion plan to launch 250 cloud kitchens across 30 cities by 2026, as per a company statement.

Convin raises Rs 2.5 crore from Titan Capital & 9Unicorns

Conversation intelligence platform Convin hasraised Rs 2.5 crore in a pre-seed round of funding led by Titan capital and 9Unicorns. Several angel investors, including Kunal Shah (Founder, Cred), Abhishek Goyal (Founder, Tracxn), Ramakant Sharma (Founder, Livspace), Sunder Nookala (Founder, Huminos), and Rajesh Razdan (Founder, Devtron Labs), also participated in the round.
The startup will use the funds to develop its products and build the core team to achieve product-market fit.

Bikayi to raise $10 mn in funding led by Sequoia: Report

WhatsApp integrated merchant e-commerce platform Bikayi is all set to raise a fresh round from new and existing investors, reported Entrackr.
As per the report, Bikayi is raising $10-11 million led by Sequoia Capital. Entrackr reports that the term sheet has been signed and the deal is almost done.

Bikayi had raised $2 million in its seed round from Mantis Ventures, Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund in 2020 when it participated in Y-Combinator’s Summer Batch.

Banks warns customers of account suspension if they deal in cryptocurrency
After shutting bank accounts of crypto exchanges in India, leading banks are now cautioning customers against dealing in cryptocurrencies. In an email to customers, banks, including HDFC Bank and State Bank of India, have said that users who deal in virtual currencies may face account suspension citing a 2018 circular from the Reserve Bank of India.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court had struck down the RBI circular in March last year citing “proportionality” and saying the RBI has failed to show the damage that these tokens are doing to the financial system.

The Indian government is still in the process of formulating a bill on cryptocurrencies. As the regulation and legality of cryptocurrencies remains in grey, banks have lately started distancing themselves from cryptocurrency exchanges like Wazir X, Coin DCX, ZebPay.

Amazon pressed to call for a racial-equity audit

Amazon should review how it is addressing racial justice and equity after a shareholder proposal on the topic won strong backing, New York State’s top pension official said on Friday.

As per Reuters, a significant number of investors want more transparency about the company’s business practices on a range of issues. 44% of votes cast supported a call for a review of the company’s impact on equity, diversity and other areas. The investor group that submitted the resolution, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, pointed out that it would’ve passed if it weren’t for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ shares, which represent 14% of voting power at the company.

Bezos, who presided over his last shareholder meeting as chief executive on May 26, controls the votes of more than 70 million shares, according to Amazon’s proxy statement. He is set to step aside as CEO on July 5 to become executive chairman of Amazon’s board.

Wejo to go public; deal values at $800 million

Auto data startup Wejo will go public through a reverse merger with blank-check company Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. With this deal, the British company will be valued at $800 million. The $800 million enterprise value for Wejo implies an estimated $1.1 billion pro forma equity value.

The deal will raise $330 million in proceeds for Wejo, the companies said. That includes $230 million from Special-Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Virtuoso and another $100 million referred to as Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE).

Investors in the PIPE include General Motors as well as data management company Palantir Technologies Inc, which billionaire Peter Thiel co-founded, Reuters reported. The sizes of their investments or stakes have not been disclosed.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Amazon to buy MGM: Here are some M&As in global media and entertainment industry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The recent news of Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon buying MGM for a jaw dropping $8.45 billion caught the attention of everyone. Another major merger and acquisition (M&A) likely to happen this year is that of Verizon selling its media group to PE firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion, CNBC reported.

With streaming of digital content the way forward, it seems like large M&A deals in the space will keep the industry abuzz for some time.

Verizon – Apollo Global

• Verizon is one of the largest communication technology companies in the world. In 2015, the company bought AOL for $4.4 billion and in 2017, acquired Yahoo for $4.5 billion. Now, Verizon is selling everything pertaining to media for $5 billion to Apollo. Verizon will get $4.5 billion in cash and retain 10 percent stake in the soon to be rebranded company named Yahoo.
• Power brands such as TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance and Engadget will also be a part of the deal with Apollo getting them for a low valuation. The deal is expected to be complete by the second half of this year.
• Verizon also sold HuffPost to Buzzfeed, had shut down or sold off properties such as Tumblr and Yahoo Answers. In 2013, Yahoo bought Tumblr for 1.1 billion.

Embracer Group buys Gearbox Entertainment Co

• Sweden based video gaming company Embracer Group has acquired video game developer Gearbox Entertainment for $1.3 billion early this year.
• Post-acquisition, properties such as Borderlands and Brothers in Arms franchises, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, 007 James Bond and Halo franchises will be a part of Embracer.

Other mergers on the anvil

• AT&T plans to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery as it is trying to grow their media house to compete with Netflix and Disney despite the debts they are in from their media acquisitions.
• In 2018 Discovery took over Scripps and Comcast fought hard with Fox Networks to acquire Sky.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Internet-based video surveillance systems installed at 269 stations: Railways

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Internet-based video surveillance systems have been installed at 269 railway stations in 10 zones and these can store footage for 30 days, Railway public sector unit RailtTel said on Monday. RailTel has also set up centralised security control rooms for the internet protocol-based system with funds allocated under the Nirbhaya Fund.

This was done after a Railway Board order asked the public sector unit to provide these surveillance systems at all A1, A, B, C, D and E category railway stations, coaches of premium trains and suburban electric multiple unit trains. “These centralised control rooms will display video feeds from VSS (video surveillance systems) installed by RailTel at stations of respective zones,” the railways said in a statement. “This project is being executed by utilising the Nirbhaya Fund aimed at providing better safety for women. Currently, 269 stations have been provided with IP-based VSS by RailTel. Work at 31 more stations is in progress and will be completed soon. RailTel has also floated a tender for this work at 456 stations,” it said.

CCTV cameras under the system use optical fiber cables and the video feed is not only displayed at local Railway Protection Force (RPF) posts but also at centralised CCTV control rooms at the divisional and zonal levels, the statement said. CCTV cameras of stations and video feeds are monitored at three levels to ensure enhanced safety and security at railway premises, it said. A network management system (NMS) has also been provided for monitoring of cameras, servers, UPS and switches, and these can be viewed from any web browser by authorised personnel, the statement said. Seventeen stations under the South Central Railway have integrated VSS Control Room and it was inaugurated on Monday. The other zones which have this facility include East Central Railway, Southern Railway, South Western Railway, Western Railway, West Central Railway, Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, North Western Railway, North Central Railway and South-Central Railway.

“We will be completing the work at 756 stations by March 2022. We are installing four types of IP cameras (dome type, bullet types, pan-tilt-zoom type and Ultra HD-4k) to ensure maximum coverage inside Railway premises. This will give an extra edge to the RPF officials to improve security,” said CMD RailTel Puneet Chawla. The recording of the video feeds from CCTV cameras will be stored for 30 days for playback, post-event analysis and for investigation purposes. Important videos can be stored for longer duration, officials said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Karnataka’s global tender for COVID-19 vaccines turns out to be damp squib

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Karnataka had floated a global tender to procure two crore COVID-19 vaccines earlier this month, as the state battles a devastating second wave of the pandemic, but the process has fallen flat after two suppliers that had applied to procure the Sputnik V vaccine for the state did not meet the requirements.

The state is now directly communicating with vaccine manufacturing companies, a top official said on Monday.

The two companies, Mumbai-based Bulk MRO Industrial Supply, a startup backed by the likes of Y Combinator, and Bengaluru-based Thulasi systems had come forward to supply the Sputnik V vaccine. However, Karnataka deputy chief minister Ashwath Narayan on Monday said that both companies had failed to provide necessary documents and had also not turned up for virtual meetings.

“In response to the short-term global tender floated on May 15, two distribution companies had submitted applications. But they had not annexed the required technical and supply-ensuring documents. There was also no representation from these companies for the virtual meetings held,” the deputy chief minister told the media on Monday.

“The process of communication has already begun directly with vaccine manufacturing companies as the government is not in a position to wait given the threat of possible third wave,” Narayan said.

CNBC TV 18 reached out to Gaurang Shah, cofounder of Bulk MRO Industrial Supply, but did not receive a response. CNBC TV 18 could not reach out to Thulasi Systems till the time of publishing this.

The Karnataka government had approved Rs 843 crore for the global procurement of vaccines.

The state has seen intermittent shortages of the COVID vaccines and had also put vaccination for the age group of 18-44 yrs on hold because of the gap in supply. The government is currently vaccinating only priority groups such as street vendors and cab drivers in this age group.

The state is also using its stock of Covaxin only for those due for second doses. The Karnataka health minister tweeted on Thursday that the state has received a total Covaxin supply of 17.8 lakh doses, which includes 1.94 lakh doses through state procurement, and added that the available stock of Covaxin will be used to provide 2nd dose on priority.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow