The Evening Wrap: ICMR's BSL-3 labs reach Kozhikode for testing of Nipah virus

The ICMR’s National Institute of Virology in Pune on September 14 sent its mobile BSL-3 laboratory to Kozhikode in Kerala to test samples for Nipah virus in the district itself after five cases, including two deaths, were reported there. A team of experts from the Department of Animal Husbandry has also been deployed to assist the State in the surveillance of animals, official sources told PTI. Apparently, samples will be collected from bats to check for the presence of the Nipah virus. The brain-damaging virus has killed two people and infected three others in Kozhikode district so far. On Wednesday, a 24-year-old health worker became Kerala’s fifth confirmed Nipah case since its recent outbreak. “The ICMR’s mBSL-3, which is the first biosafety level-3 containment mobile laboratory of South Asia, has been stationed at Kozhikode. It will help in early testing and detection of the infection at the district itself,” an official source said. So far, the samples were being sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The mobile laboratory was set up in February last year to investigate newly emerging and reemerging viral infections that are highly infectious and of lethal potential to human beings. Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar visited the ICMR’s National Institute of Virology in Pune and held a review meeting in view of the Nipah virus cases reported in Kozhikode. A five-member central team comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, RML Hospital and NIMHANS has been stationed in Kerala to take stock of the situation and assist the state government in the management of the Nipah virus infection. The Kerala government on September 14 said there was no need to be apprehensive about the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode district but caution needs to be exercised by people as they go about their daily activities. The Kerala government said the monoclonal antibody required for treatment of those infected by the Nipah virus has arrived in the state. State Health Minister Veena George said a meeting was held between the Principal Secretary of the Health Department and the Union Health Ministry earlier in the day and now the monoclonal antibody has arrived. All reported births and deaths to be digitally registered on Centre’s portal from October 1 All reported births and deaths in the country will be digitally registered on the Centre’s portal from October 1, according to a government notification. The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 that paves way for digital birth certificates which will be a single document to be used for admission to educational institutions, applications for driving licence, government jobs, passports or Aadhaar, voter enrolment, and registration of marriage, among others, will come into effect from October 1. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 (20 of 2023), the Central government hereby appoints the 1st day of October 2023 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” said a notification by Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan. The centralised database will also update the National Population Register (NPR), ration cards, property registration and electoral rolls. NPR, first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015 through door-to-door enumeration, already has a database of 119 crore residents. NPR is the first step to the creation of National Register of Citizens (NRC), as per the Citizenship Act. It will be compulsory for States to register births and deaths on the Centre’s Civil Registration System (CRS) portal and share data with the RGI which functions under the Union Home Ministry. The Act authorises the government to “collect Aadhaar numbers of parents and informant, if available, in case of birth registration.” Presently, either parent voluntarily provides Aadhaar number for a newborn’s birth certificate generated through the CRS. As on March 31, Aadhaar has a saturation of 93% for a projected population of 138.72 crore. Centre agrees in Supreme Court to place on record its mechanism to control prices of life-saving, essential drugs The Centre has agreed to place on record in the Supreme Court its mechanism for controlling the price of life-saving and essential drugs. Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said on September 13 that the government would file an updated affidavit. The court listed the petition filed by All India Drug Action Network, represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, on October 4. In November 2022, the government had revised the list and prices of essential medicines. Under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order of 2013, the work of revising the applicable ceiling price of notified drugs was initiated by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, the government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India. The Health Ministry, in April, had said that it has been able to cap the ceiling prices of 651 out of 870 essential medicines listed under the National List of Essential Medicines, due to which the approved ceiling price of medicines had decreased by an average of 16.62%. The court has been hearing the case for years. The petition had raised objections on the formula for drug pricing. It had said the formula institutionalised “super-profits in the guise of price control, excluded from price control life-saving medicines for diseases such as malaria and TB, excluded all fixed dose combinations which amount to 50% of the market.” The NGO had said the government’s pricing policy further excluded essential medicines belonging to the same chemical class, besides drugs provided in the national health programmes such as for HIV, diabetes, hypertension and anaemia, medicines with appropriate dosages for children and patented medicines. The government had at the time countered that the pricing policy was formulated after due and deliberate consultations with the objective to make essential drugs affordable for the common man. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast Decoding the new RBI guidelines on floating rate EMIs The RBI has issued a new circular on how banks should go about resetting interest rates on floating rate loans. Interest rates have been rising throughout this year, and customers haven’t been too happy with the way banks impose changes on their loans. But the new RBI guidelines promise to increase transparency and clarity. For one, borrowers will now be given the option to shift from a floating to a fixed rate of interest. Secondly, banks have to offer them the choice of whether they want to raise the EMI or extend the loan tenure, or do a combination of both. What prompted the RBI to come up with these new rules? How will they benefit borrowers? And will it enable more equitable information-sharing between lenders and borrowers? Naresh Goyal sent to 14-day judicial custody in bank fraud case A court in Mumbai on September 14 remanded Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal to 14-day judicial custody in a money laundering case linked to an alleged fraud of ₹538 crore at the Canara Bank. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Goyal on September 1 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency’s office here. The 74-year-old businessman was produced before the court at the end of his ED remand on Thursday. Goyal was sent to judicial custody by the court as no further remand was sought by the probe agency. The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives of the now grounded private airline in connection with an alleged ₹538-crore fraud case at the Canara Bank. The FIR was registered on the bank’s complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd to the tune of ₹848.86 crore of which ₹538.62 crore was outstanding. Parliament special session | BJP, Congress issue whip for all MPs to be present The BJP and the Congress have issued a whip to all their MPs, asking them to be present during the upcoming five-day Parliament special session from September 18. BJP leaders said the whip has been issued to the MPs from the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha, a day after the government listed a special discussion on Parliament’s journey of 75 years, starting from the Constituent Assembly, on the first day of the session. The Congress also issued a three-line whip to all its MPs, in view of some key agenda that may be brought in during the session. “Very important issues will be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha during this special session i.e. from September 18 to 22, 2023. All members of Congress party in the Rajya Sabha are requested to kindly remain present in the House from 11 a.m. onwards till the adjournment of the House from September 18 to September 22 without fail and support the party’s stand,” the three-line whip states. “This may be treated as most important,” it added. A similar whip was issued for all Congress MPs in Lok Sabha. The government has also listed the bill on the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners to be taken up for consideration and passage during the session. The bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the last Monsoon session. The special session, which is unusual for its timing, is likely to see the proceedings of Parliament moving from the old building to the new building. The other listed business for Lok Sabha includes ‘The Advocates (Amendment) Bill-2023’ and ‘The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill-2023’, already passed by Rajya Sabha on August 3. Besides, ‘The Post Office Bill-2023’ has also been listed in the Lok Sabha business, according to an official bulletin. The bill was earlier introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2023. The list of businesses is tentative and more items can be added. The government has also convened a meeting of the floor leaders of all political parties on September 17, a day before the start of the five-day session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said. In Brief: Supreme Court joins National Judicial Data Grid, its data now a click away Real-time data on the filing and disposal of cases in the Supreme Court will now be available at the fingertips of the common man, just a click of a mouse away. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud announced the onboarding of the Supreme Court on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) in open court on Thursday. The NJDG portal is a national repository of data relating to cases instituted, pending and disposed of by the courts across the length and breadth of the country. Anantnag operation resumes, two LeT militants encircled: police Security forces resumed the anti-militancy operation in Anantnag’s Gadool hamlet on September 14, a day after three officers were killed in a gunfight. According to the police, two militants were hiding in the area and a contact was established in the morning. “Our forces persist with unwavering resolve as they encircle two LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] terrorists including Uzair Khan,” a police spokesman said, in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). The area of operation is dotted with thick jungles and slopes, providing the hiding militants a cover, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 14 September 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( National Institute of Virology sends mobile BSL-3 lab to Kozhikode for early detection of Nipah virus The [ICMR’s National Institute of Virology in Pune on September 14 sent its mobile BSL-3 laboratory to Kozhikode in Kerala to test samples for Nipah virus]( in the district itself after five cases, including two deaths, were reported there. A team of experts from the Department of Animal Husbandry has also been deployed to assist the State in the surveillance of animals, official sources told PTI. Apparently, samples will be collected from bats to check for the presence of the Nipah virus. The brain-damaging virus has killed two people and infected three others in Kozhikode district so far. On Wednesday, a 24-year-old health worker became Kerala’s fifth confirmed Nipah case since its recent outbreak. “The ICMR’s mBSL-3, which is the first biosafety level-3 containment mobile laboratory of South Asia, has been stationed at Kozhikode. It will help in early testing and detection of the infection at the district itself,” an official source said. So far, the samples were being sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The mobile laboratory was set up in February last year to investigate newly emerging and reemerging viral infections that are highly infectious and of lethal potential to human beings. Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar visited the ICMR’s National Institute of Virology in Pune and held a review meeting in view of the Nipah virus cases reported in Kozhikode. A five-member central team comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, RML Hospital and NIMHANS has been stationed in Kerala to take stock of the situation and assist the state government in the management of the Nipah virus infection. The Kerala government on September 14 said there was no need to be apprehensive about the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode district but caution needs to be exercised by people as they go about their daily activities. The Kerala government said the monoclonal antibody required for treatment of those infected by the Nipah virus has arrived in the state. State Health Minister Veena George said a meeting was held between the Principal Secretary of the Health Department and the Union Health Ministry earlier in the day and now the monoclonal antibody has arrived. All reported births and deaths to be digitally registered on Centre’s portal from October 1 [All reported births and deaths in the country will be digitally registered on the Centre’s portal from October 1]( according to a government notification. The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 that paves way for digital birth certificates which will be a single document to be used for admission to educational institutions, applications for driving licence, government jobs, passports or Aadhaar, voter enrolment, and registration of marriage, among others, will come into effect from October 1. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 (20 of 2023), the Central government hereby appoints the 1st day of October 2023 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” said a notification by Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan. The centralised database will also update the National Population Register (NPR), ration cards, property registration and electoral rolls. NPR, first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015 through door-to-door enumeration, already has a database of 119 crore residents. NPR is the first step to the creation of National Register of Citizens (NRC), as per the Citizenship Act. It will be compulsory for States to register births and deaths on the Centre’s Civil Registration System (CRS) portal and share data with the RGI which functions under the Union Home Ministry. The Act authorises the government to “collect Aadhaar numbers of parents and informant, if available, in case of birth registration.” Presently, either parent voluntarily provides Aadhaar number for a newborn’s birth certificate generated through the CRS. As on March 31, Aadhaar has a saturation of 93% for a projected population of 138.72 crore. Centre agrees in Supreme Court to place on record its mechanism to control prices of life-saving, essential drugs The [Centre has agreed to place on record in the Supreme Court its mechanism for controlling the price of life-saving and essential drugs](. Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said on September 13 that the government would file an updated affidavit. The court listed the petition filed by All India Drug Action Network, represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, on October 4. In November 2022, the government had revised the list and prices of essential medicines. Under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order of 2013, the work of revising the applicable ceiling price of notified drugs was initiated by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, the government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India. The Health Ministry, in April, had said that it has been able to cap the ceiling prices of 651 out of 870 essential medicines listed under the National List of Essential Medicines, due to which the approved ceiling price of medicines had decreased by an average of 16.62%. The court has been hearing the case for years. The petition had raised objections on the formula for drug pricing. It had said the formula institutionalised “super-profits in the guise of price control, excluded from price control life-saving medicines for diseases such as malaria and TB, excluded all fixed dose combinations which amount to 50% of the market.” The NGO had said the government’s pricing policy further excluded essential medicines belonging to the same chemical class, besides drugs provided in the national health programmes such as for HIV, diabetes, hypertension and anaemia, medicines with appropriate dosages for children and patented medicines. The government had at the time countered that the pricing policy was formulated after due and deliberate consultations with the objective to make essential drugs affordable for the common man. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast Decoding the new RBI guidelines on floating rate EMIs The [RBI has issued a new circular on how banks should go about resetting interest rates on floating rate loans](. Interest rates have been rising throughout this year, and customers haven’t been too happy with the way banks impose changes on their loans. But the new RBI guidelines promise to increase transparency and clarity. For one, borrowers will now be given the option to shift from a floating to a fixed rate of interest. Secondly, banks have to offer them the choice of whether they want to raise the EMI or extend the loan tenure, or do a combination of both. What prompted the RBI to come up with these new rules? How will they benefit borrowers? And will it enable more equitable information-sharing between lenders and borrowers? Naresh Goyal sent to 14-day judicial custody in bank fraud case A [court in Mumbai on September 14 remanded Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal to 14-day judicial custody]( in a money laundering case linked to an alleged fraud of ₹538 crore at the Canara Bank. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Goyal on September 1 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency’s office here. The 74-year-old businessman was produced before the court at the end of his ED remand on Thursday. Goyal was sent to judicial custody by the court as no further remand was sought by the probe agency. The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives of the now grounded private airline in connection with an alleged ₹538-crore fraud case at the Canara Bank. The FIR was registered on the bank’s complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd to the tune of ₹848.86 crore of which ₹538.62 crore was outstanding. Parliament special session | BJP, Congress issue whip for all MPs to be present The [BJP and the Congress have issued a whip to all their MPs]( asking them to be present during the upcoming five-day Parliament special session from September 18. BJP leaders said the whip has been issued to the MPs from the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha, a day after the government listed a special discussion on Parliament’s journey of 75 years, starting from the Constituent Assembly, on the first day of the session. The Congress also issued a three-line whip to all its MPs, in view of some key agenda that may be brought in during the session. “Very important issues will be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha during this special session i.e. from September 18 to 22, 2023. All members of Congress party in the Rajya Sabha are requested to kindly remain present in the House from 11 a.m. onwards till the adjournment of the House from September 18 to September 22 without fail and support the party’s stand,” the three-line whip states. “This may be treated as most important,” it added. A similar whip was issued for all Congress MPs in Lok Sabha. The government has also listed the bill on the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners to be taken up for consideration and passage during the session. The bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the last Monsoon session. The special session, which is unusual for its timing, is likely to see the proceedings of Parliament moving from the old building to the new building. The other listed business for Lok Sabha includes ‘The Advocates (Amendment) Bill-2023’ and ‘The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill-2023’, already passed by Rajya Sabha on August 3. Besides, ‘The Post Office Bill-2023’ has also been listed in the Lok Sabha business, according to an official bulletin. The bill was earlier introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 10, 2023. The list of businesses is tentative and more items can be added. The government has also convened a meeting of the floor leaders of all political parties on September 17, a day before the start of the five-day session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said. In Brief: Supreme Court joins National Judicial Data Grid, its data now a click away [Real-time data on the filing and disposal of cases in the Supreme Court will now be available at the fingertips of the common man, just a click of a mouse away](. Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud announced the onboarding of the Supreme Court on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) in open court on Thursday. The NJDG portal is a national repository of data relating to cases instituted, pending and disposed of by the courts across the length and breadth of the country. Anantnag operation resumes, two LeT militants encircled: police [Security forces resumed the anti-militancy operation in Anantnag’s Gadool hamlet]( on September 14, a day after three officers were killed in a gunfight. According to the police, two militants were hiding in the area and a contact was established in the morning. “Our forces persist with unwavering resolve as they encircle two LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] terrorists including Uzair Khan,” a police spokesman said, in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). The area of operation is dotted with thick jungles and slopes, providing the hiding militants a cover, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today’s Top Picks [[Jana Sena, TDP to contest together in 2024 State Assembly elections: K. Pawan Kalyan] Jana Sena, TDP to contest together in 2024 State Assembly elections: K. 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