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Focusing on equity in access to diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, India has proposed a medical countermeasure coordination platform to effectively transfer technologies and products to other countries during health emergencies.
The government also proposes to develop research and development and manufacturing networks across the world.
As part of its G20 presidency, India is pushing for a $200 million corpus for digital health technologies, providing digital platforms as public goods, and converging international efforts for health emergencies in terms of prevention, preparedness and response.
In a briefing ahead of the third meeting of the G20 health working group to be held in Hyderabad beginning Sunday, Union Health Ministry additional secretary, Lav Agarwal said: “Due to India’s advocacy, there is in-principle agreement for all three priority areas.”
Technical papers on the governance framework of the coordination platform have been circulated among participating countries.
Agarwal said there was a need to map and integrate global initiatives for quick decision making and planning in times of crisis.
He added that the focus was also on climate change and health to better understand the challenges of zoonotic spillover of diseases transferring from animals to humans
Express Network
Telangana turns 10: BRS unveils schedule to mark achievements (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday kicked off events planned to mark the 10th year of the state’s formation.
The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has lined up several programmes over 21 days to highlight its schemes in the last nine years and has allotted Rs 105 crore to each of the state’s 33 districts.
After paying tributes to the martyrs of the Telangana struggle at a memorial in Hyderabad’s Gun Park, the CM, popularly known as KCR, said Telangana was a young state that had made rapid progress in all fields, becoming a “benchmark” for the country.
We have emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Telangana model of development and growth is the most sought-after model. All the states are demanding that it be implemented in their respective states. It is also winning appreciation abroad also.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, with whom the Telangana government has had a longstanding feud, was not invited to the event.
As per the government, formation day opening ceremonies were scheduled to be held at various district collectorates on Friday. Saturday would be observed as Telangana farmers’ day, with elected representatives and officials meeting farmers.
Workers of the BRS have already put up posters and started a campaign to highlight the party’s schemes in the agricultural sector. Leaders of the Rythu Bandhu samitis (a farmer’s investment support scheme), village sarpanches, and other local leaders will participate in the meeting.
The state agriculture department will also undertake programmes to discuss insurance schemes with farmers and this will be followed by a communal meal.
Opinion
In Manipur, shadow of an earlier ethnic clash (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
Moreh town is strategically situated on the international border of India and Myanmar. Over 100 kilometres from Imphal, this nondescript dimly lit town of just over 20,000 inhabitants recently witnessed violent clashes, mirroring the violence that was taking place in Imphal city and the foothills of Imphal valley, where the districts of Churachandpur, dominated by the Kuki-Zomi communities, and the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district meet, prompting a visit by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Moreh is no stranger to such clashes. For decades, the town has been the epicentre of Manipur’s infamous smuggling activity — drugs, arms, Chinese and Thai goods, timber — all stream through its highly porous border, making it the most lucrative point in the region, and simultaneously, the hub of Manipur’s dreaded insurgent groups.
The struggle to control Moreh has run parallel to the concentration of power and wealth in this town, contributing to one of the deadliest and bloodiest episodes of ethnic clashes witnessed in the state’s history.
The 1992-93 Naga-Kuki violence first broke out in this small town, and then spread across Manipur state, with reprisals and counter-reprisals holding it in its grip for the next five years.
A paper by author-activist Urvashi Butalia published in 2008 points out that in the early 1990s, as much as Rs 50-60 crore worth of business passed through this route every day.
At the time, Moreh and its surrounding areas were occupied by the Kuki-Zomi community, Naga tribes, and a smaller concentration of both Manipur’s dominant Meitei community, and a Tamil population that had been pushed out of Myanmar in the 1960s as the military junta took over.
When the 1993 clashes first began, it was the NSCN-IM that held sway over this important trading town, but various fledgling insurgent groups of the Kukis were already making their mark — including the Kuki National Army (KNA), the Kuki National Front, and numerous others.
World
US state dept official to visit Beijing next week amid tense ties (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
A senior US state Department official will travel to China next week, the department said, as Washington seeks to boost communication with Beijing at a time of tense relations between the two countries.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will discuss "key issues in the bilateral relationship" during his visit to China, the State Department said in a statement.
He will be joined by White House National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran.
Ties between the world's two largest economies are strained over issues ranging from Taiwan and China's human rights record to military activity in the South China Sea.
During his travels from Sunday to June 10, Kritenbrink will also visit New Zealand to participate in the U.S.-New Zealand Strategic Dialogue.
The visit could see Kritenbrink in Beijing on or near June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown by Chinese troops on demonstrators in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square that rights groups say killed hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters.
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment further on the exact dates of the U.S. diplomat's travel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement marking the anniversary of the crackdown, saying that "The victims’ bravery will not be forgotten and continues to inspire advocates for these principles around the world."
Kritenbrink’s trip follows a visit last month to China by CIA Director William Burns. A US official said Burns "emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of communication in intelligence channels" in meetings with his Chinese counterparts.
Iranian Navy plans to form alliance with Gulf states for region stability (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Iran's navy commander said his country and Saudi Arabia, as well as three other Gulf states, plan to form a naval alliance that will also include India and Pakistan.
"The countries of the region have today realized that only cooperation with each other brings security to the area," Iran's navy commander Shahram Irani was quoted as saying.
He did not elaborate on the shape of the alliance that he said would be formed soon. Iran has recently been trying to mend its strained ties with several Gulf Arab states.
In March, Saudi Arabia and Iran ended seven years of hostility under a China-mediated deal, stressing the need for regional stability and economic cooperation.
Naval commander Irani said the states that will take part in the alliance also include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Pakistan, and India.
Saudi Arabia's rapprochement with Iran has frustrated Israel's efforts to isolate Iran diplomatically. The UAE, which was the first Gulf Arab country to sign a normalization agreement with Israel in 2020, resumed formal relations with Iran last year. Bahrain and Morocco later joined the UAE in establishing ties with Israel.