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Police in India have registered three new cases against Twitter for allegedly hurting sentiments and promoting child pornography, marking an escalation in the row between the US firm and Indian authorities. Police in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have named Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari in complaints after the politically sensitive regions were depicted outside a map of India on its careers website. Late yesterday, police in the capital New Delhi said in a statement they have registered a case against Twitter for “availability of child sexual abuse and child pornographic material” on its platform. Twitter did not comment on cases related to India’s map. On the New Delhi case, Twitter said it has a zero tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation. The police cases come as Twitter faces a public relations nightmare and a backlash from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government that has in recent weeks repeatedly criticised it for not complying with a new set of IT rules. The tussle, coupled with discontent over the regulatory scrutiny of other US tech firms like WhatsApp and Amazon, has upset the business environment in a key growth markets, so much so that some companies are rethinking expansion plans. The latest complaints against Twitter were triggered following an uproar on social media after a map on Twitter’s careers page showed Jammu and Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan, as well as the Buddhist enclave of Ladakh, outside India. As of yesterday, the map was no longer visible on its site. “This has hurt my sentiments and those of the people of India,” Praveen Bhati, a leader of a hardline Hindu group Bajrang Dal in Uttar Pradesh, said in the complaint which was reviewed by Reuters. He also called it an act of treason. The child pornography case in New Delhi was registered after India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights wrote to police saying it had received a complaint about online threats against a minor girl, and found pornographic material on Twitter, according to a letter written by the rights group to police. “Investigation has been taken up,” the Delhi police statement said. The cases are set to amplify Twitter’s troubles in India. Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has criticised Twitter for its failure to abide by the IT rules in recent weeks, which came into effect in May. Companies such as Twitter must now appoint a chief compliance officer, a grievance officer and another executive to liaise with law enforcement and the government on legal requests. LinkedIn job postings show the three positions are open at Twitter. Non-compliance with those rules means Twitter may no longer enjoy the legal privilege in India that allowed it to not be held liable for user-generated content, lawyers and government sources say. Activists however defend Twitter, saying only courts can arrive at that decision. Twitter India chief Maheshwari is battling another police case where he has been summoned to answer allegations that include inciting “hate and enmity” between Hindu and Muslim communities in relation to a video that went viral on its platform.

A hardline group has filed a complaint with police against Twitter's country head after politically sensitive regions were depicted outside a map of India on its website, kickstarting an investigation in a fresh headache for the US tech firm. A map on Twitter's careers page showed Jammu and Kashmir region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, as well as the Buddhist enclave of Ladakh outside India. That provoked an outcry on social media this week that comes amid strained relations between Twitter and New Delhi over the firm's compliance with India's new IT rules. The complaint accuses Twitter's India boss Manish Maheshwari and another company executive of breaching the country's IT rules as well as laws designed to prevent enmity and hatred between classes. ‘This has hurt my sentiments and those of the people of India,’ Praveen Bhati, a leader of the group Bajrang Dal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said in the complaint which was reviewed by Reuters. He also called it an act of treason. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. As of Tuesday, the map was no long visible on its site. Maheshwari was only this month summoned by police in Uttar Pradesh for failing to stop the spread of a video that allegedly incited religious discord. Maheshwari has won relief from a court in that case. India's technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has criticised Twitter for its failure to abide by new Indian rules and for denying him access to his Twitter account. To comply with rules that came into effect in May, companies such as Twitter must appoint a chief compliance officer, a grievance officer and another executive who will liaise with law enforcement and the government on legal requests. LinkedIn job postings show the three positions are open at Twitter. A senior government official has previously told Reuters that Twitter may no longer be eligible to seek liability exemptions as an intermediary or the host of user content in India due to its failure to comply with the new IT rules. Activists say, however, it is a matter for the courts to decide. Last year, the head of an Indian parliamentary panel accused Twitter of disrespecting New Delhi's sovereignty, after mapping data showed Indian-ruled territory as part of China in what the social media firm said was a quickly resolved mistake. Growing tension with New Delhi has discouraged US big tech firms about prospects for their largest growth market, so much so that some are rethinking expansion plans.  

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla yesterday said he was trying to resolve EU travel problems facing Indians who have been inoculated with SII’s licensed version of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. A European Union vaccine passport programme will allow people to travel freely within the bloc from July 1, as long as they have had one of four Western-made vaccines. While this includes the AstraZeneca shot, it does not extend to Covishield, the Indian version produced by SII. “I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries,” Poonawalla said on Twitter. India’s ministry of external affairs has raised the issue of Covishield’s lack of recognition by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Economic Times reported yesterday. Some countries, including Germany, Greece and Spain, have already put it in place the “EU Digital COVID Certificate” before it comes into effect. In addition to the AstraZeneca shot, known as Vaxzevria in the region, the other EU-recognised vaccines are those made by Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson. The EU and the Indian ministry of external affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The EMA said the only Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca for which a marketing authorisation application had been submitted and evaluated, leading to its authorisation, was Vaxzevria. Covishield does not currently have marketing authorisation in the EU, even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria, the agency said. “Should we receive a marketing authorisation application for Covishield or should any change to the approved manufacturing sites for Vaxzevria be approved, we would communicate about it,” the EMA said in a statement. The European Commission website states that vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorisation have to be accepted for the certificate, while member states can choose to also accept vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO). India is the world’s largest maker of vaccines, thanks mainly to SII, and has supplied doses to nearly 100 countries. Reuters reported in April that the EU was seeking 10mn Covishield doses from SII to meet a shortfall, before India halted all exports amid a domestic infection surge. Last year, AstraZeneca partnered with SII to supply the vaccine to the Indian government, as well as to a large number of low and middle-income countries. Covishield accounts for about 88% of the 322mn doses so far administered in India, the country’s CoWIN vaccination registration platform shows. Many vaccinated with India’s Covaxin shot also face travel difficulties, as it has yet to be approved by the WHO. Apart from the four EU-approved vaccines, the WHO has put Covishield and vaccines from Sinopharm and Sinovac on the list for emergency use.

India’s Kerala state has launched a crackdown on the payment of dowry after the deaths of four young married women highlighted domestic abuse linked to the custom, which remains common despite being banned 60 years ago. Traditionally gold jewellery that parents hand over when their daughters wed, nowadays dowries can include a range of costly “gifts” for the groom’s family — straining the finances of families with daughters and often causing rows and abuse. “In light of the recent horrifying incidents of domestic abuse, Kerala has decided to take more stringent measures to create a fair society,” the state’s Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said as he announced the crackdown. “Marriage must not be a pompous show of the family’s social status and wealth. Parents have to realise the barbaric dowry system degrades our daughters as commodities,” he tweeted. A round-the-clock helpline had been set up for women facing abuse from their husbands or in-laws linked to dowry, and school textbooks are being revised to weed out language that disparages women, Vijayan added. The recent deaths of the four women triggered widespread anger in Kerala, which has high rates of female literacy and is known as one of the country’s most progressive states. Before she was found dead at home last week, Ayurveda medicine student Vismaya Nair, who was in her early 20s, had sent messages and photographs to her cousin about her husband’s beatings – apparently motivated by a car given as part of her dowry, local media reported. Police, who said they had yet to establish whether Nair died by suicide or was murdered, are investigating a dowry harassment complaint filed by her family against her in-laws. In the days following Vismaya’s death, a young married woman’s burnt body was found and two other new brides died by hanging at their homes in the state. Their families have also presented complaints about harassment linked to dowry payments. Despite the 1961 Prohibition of Dowry Act, the practice is still widely accepted and expected in Indian society, fuelling high rates of violence against women, rights campaigners say. “These deaths are mass cries for help,” said J Devika, a feminist scholar at the Centre for Development Studies in Kerala’s capital. “Women are given their ‘inheritance’ during their wedding, but in fact all the gold and goods are handed over to the husband and his family,” she added. More than 13,000 complaints were registered under the anti-dowry law across India in 2019, according to the latest government crime data. Kerala recorded 66 dowry-related deaths, including suicides, between 2016 and 2020 and more than 15,000 cases of “cruelty by husband and relatives” during the same period. In the last four months, Kerala’s domestic conflict resolution centres have received more than 6,000 calls for help from women, said inspector general of police P Vijayan.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged people to overcome their hesitancy and get Covid-19 vaccinations as soon as possible, as concerns grow about the highly infectious Delta variant being detected in some states. After a fall in infections from May’s daily peak of 400,000, India has redoubled efforts to inoculate the country’s 940mn adults amid supply constraints and fears of a third wave of pandemic. “Get vaccinated,” Modi said in his monthly radio address, urging the public to adhere to social distancing and wear masks. “That is a good safety shield. Think about that.” India must administer 10mn doses a day to achieve its aim of inoculating all adults by December, experts say. But the country has fully vaccinated fewer than 6% with two doses. Interacting with some villagers in a virtual meeting, Modi asked community leaders to foster awareness among villagers about the benefits of vaccination and curb rumours about ill effects. He said this month the government would buy 75% of all vaccines from drugmakers and distribute them for free to states, which along with private hospitals had been buying shots for people aged 18 to 45. India’s daily Covid-19 infections rose by 50,040, while the death toll rose by 1,258, including 511 deaths in the state of Maharashtra, health ministry data showed. The country has scaled back its estimate of vaccine supplies to 1.35bn doses between August and December from an earlier estimate of nearly 2bn doses, according to an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court on Saturday. However, the government told the court it was committed to its vaccination target and was in talks with global suppliers like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna for additional supplies. New variants are a particular concern in India, where more than half the population has not had even a single vaccine dose. At least 20 cases have been found linked to the Delta variant, which India last week designated a variant of concern, according to the health ministry. India’s official death count is now 395,751, but experts and global health agencies such as the World Health Organisation believe the toll may be much higher. Of the 35.51mn people infected, 29.25mn have recovered. State governments eased lockdown restrictions this month after a fall in cases, but scientists fear that the presence of the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, and the slow pace of vaccination could trigger another wave of infections.

A dozen of the world's smallest pigs have been released into the wild in northeastern India as part of a conservation programme to boost the population of a species once thought to have become extinct. The pygmy hog, which has the scientific name porcula salvania, lives in tall, wet grasslands and was once found along plains on the Himalayan foothills in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Its population declined in the 1960s, leading to fears it had become extinct until it was rediscovered in India's northeastern state of Assam in 1971, conservationists say. By 1993, it was only found in a few pockets of Assam's Manas National Park, which borders Bhutan. The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme, involving several organisations including from state and national governments, established a captive breeding scheme with six hogs in 1996 to try and revive their population. "This time we are releasing 12 pygmy hogs including seven male and five female," the programme's field scientist Dhritiman Das told AFP at the release site in Manas National Park on Saturday. Eight of the hogs were released in Manas on Tuesday and four more on Saturday. Some 14 were released last year. The programme looks after around 70 captive hogs and is breeding more to be released. The past week's releases take the number of pigs reintroduced into the wild by the programme to 142. The wild population is estimated to be less than 250, conservationists say. "In next four years, we target to release 60 hogs... so that they can build their own population in the wild," Das added. The programme has also sought to rehabilitate the grasslands home to the tiny creatures, which measure about 25cm in height and 65cm in length and weigh around 8-9kgm. The species' survival has been threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitats due to human activity such as settlement and agriculture, and the improper management of such areas, experts say.

India’s richest state yesterday ordered malls and cinema halls to close as it scrambles to control a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus that has scuppered plans to ease lockdown measures. At least 20 cases in Maharashtra state have been found linked to the new Delta Plus variant that India designated a variant of concern on Tuesday, according to the health ministry. While it is not known where the variant originated, Public Health England first reported on Delta Plus in a June 11 bulletin, calling it a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first detected in India last year. The Delta variant was partly responsible for a ferocious second wave in India that triggered a flood of cases and overwhelmed the health system. Scientists fear Delta Plus could trigger another wave of infections as India recovers from the second wave. Many states, including Maharashtra, have been easing lockdown rules imposed in April. “Positivity rate and daily infections were going down consistently until a week ago, but in some regions again cases have started to rise,” a senior government official in Maharashtra said. “We don’t know whether this is due to easing restrictions or the new variant, but this is a concern,” the official added. At least 11 other countries have reported cases of Delta Plus. New variants are a concern in India, where more than half the population is still not vaccinated. Only about 5.6% of India’s adult population of 950mn has received two doses. The country has reported 48 cases of Delta Plus, and studies are ongoing to test the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the variant. “We should have the results in about seven to 10 days on whether the vaccine is working against the Delta Plus,” said Balram Bhargava, head of the Indian Council of Medical Research. In Maharashtra, a state of around 126mn people, only around 30mn have received a first dose. “If citizens start doing business and crowding places without following guidelines, then infections may increase... local authorities should not open businesses in a hurry,” the state’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said.

Indian police yesterday said that around 2,000 people were injected with fake Covid-19 vaccines in Mumbai, and another 500 — some of them disabled — may have suffered the same fate in a second major city. Vaccination rates rose sharply this week after the Indian government made shots free following a devastating pandemic surge in April and May. Police in Mumbai said that around 2,000 people who thought they were being vaccinated were in fact injected with a saline solution. Ten people have been arrested including two doctors at a private hospital in the financial hub, police told a news conference, with the scammers targeting residents of an upscale housing complex in one case. “We (then) discovered that eight more camps were organised by this syndicate,” said Vishwas Patil, joint commissioner for the law and order division. Police have recovered Rs1.24mn ($16,700) in cash which was “fraudulently obtained” by the accused. Police in Kolkata meanwhile have arrested a man posing as a civil servant with a master’s degree in genetics who reportedly ran as many as eight spurious vaccination camps. Police said at least 250 disabled people were injected at one site, and that in total nearly 500 people may have been given counterfeit jabs across the city. Kolkata official Atin Ghosh said that the seized vials were falsely labelled as containing the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, branded in India as Covishield. “It was found that the Covishield label was stuck over another label, that of Amikacin Sulphate 500mg, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections of the urinary tract, bones, brain, lungs and blood among others,” Ghosh said. The scam came to light after an actress and politician, Mimi Chakraborty, who received a shot at one of the camps to raise awareness, became suspicious and alerted police. Police seized fake ID cards from the suspect, one of an information ministry official and another as a municipal commissioner. His car sported Kolkata government stickers. Debashis Barui, a Kolkata health official, said that many of those who had been injected were now “panicking” about the possible side effects. One of them, Ruma Sikdar, 35, said that she had been feeling drowsy and had discomfort in her arm. “What I am worried about is how to get the real dose before the third wave hits,” the home-maker said.

• Social media companies and privacy activists fear the vagueness of the rules means they could be forced to identify the authors of posts critical of the government India’s IT minister yesterday accused Twitter of briefly blocking his account because of criticisms he made of the US firm in a standoff over new social media rules. Ravi Shankar Prasad (picture) said that in a “gross violation” of Indian regulations, he was without warning informed that his account was locked because of an infringement of US copyright law. The account remained out of action for almost an hour, he said. “It is apparent that my statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of my interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers,” Prasad tweeted after his account was restored. “Twitter’s actions indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform,” he added. Twitter was not immediately available for comment. The US firm has been locked for several months in a row with New Delhi over new rules for social media companies operating in India. The regulations require firms to remove and identify the “first originator” of posts deemed to undermine India’s sovereignty, state security or public order. Social media companies and privacy activists fear the vagueness of the rules means they could be forced to identify the authors of posts critical of the government. Prasad yesterday said Twitter had not been adhering to the new rules because “it would be unable to arbitrarily deny access to an individual’s account which does not suit their agenda”. Twitter insisted last week that it was making every effort to comply with the guidelines. WhatsApp is challenging the rules in court, fearing that it will have to break its system of encryption that prevents anyone other than the sender and receiver from reading messages. Last week, Twitter’s top executive in India was summoned by police after a video of a Muslim man being assaulted went viral on the platform. Police accused Twitter of stoking sectarian tensions. In May police visited Twitter’s offices to serve a notice to the US company over its failure to remove a “manipulated media” label that it had placed on a tweet by the ruling party’s spokesman. Twitter responded by accusing the authorities of “intimidation tactics”. The government says it recognises and respects the right to privacy and that the new rules are only to prevent “abuse and misuse of social media”.

The Indian Coast Guard said Friday a ship and an aircraft were being deployed after a container ship lost a crew member and suffered an engine room fire between Sri Lanka and Singapore. The Liberian-registered MV MSC Messina with 28 crew reported the fire on Friday morning 425 nautical miles from Port Blair in the Indian Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Coast Guard tweeted. It added that the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Port Blair was coordinating assistance through another container ship in the vicinity, the MSC Deila. As of 0415 GMT, the MV MSC Messina was disabled and adrift, the Maritime Bulletin reported. It was unclear if the fire was out or what the ship was transporting. The vessel was on its way from Colombo to Singapore and reported the fire halfway to the Malacca Strait. Sri Lankan navy spokesman Indika Silva told AFP that Sri Lanka was also helping with the coordination of rescue efforts. It is the second ship to burn in the Indian Ocean since the Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl caught fire and eventually sank off the Colombo port earlier this month. The ship was carrying large quantities of chemicals and plastics and the accident has caused extensive damage to Sri Lanka's marine ecosystem.

India's richest state Maharashtra tightened restrictions Friday, citing fears of a "more severe third wave" as the country recorded its third death caused by a new coronavirus variant. The announcement came days after India's health ministry called Delta Plus a "variant of concern", citing its increased transmissibility and ability to bind to lung cell receptors more easily. India has recorded 48 cases of the variant so far, with Maharashtra reporting 21 infections -- higher than any other state. Three people have died after contracting Delta Plus, including one in Maharashtra, the state's health department spokesman Ajay Jadhav told AFP. Under the new guidelines, malls and theatres in Maharashtra, home to financial hub Mumbai, will remain closed, while restaurants will be permitted to operate on weekdays at 50 percent capacity until 4:00 pm. Gyms, salons and shops will also have to shut their doors at 4:00 pm, while a limit of 50 guests will be imposed on weddings. The curbs come less than a month after the state eased restrictions in most districts as coronavirus cases declined following a devastating second wave in the country. Infections and deaths in India soared to record levels in April and May, overwhelming health services in some places and prompting lockdowns in most of the country. India has recorded more than 30 million infections since the pandemic began, with Maharashtra accounting for around a fifth of the total cases.

Indian police said Friday that around 2,000 people were injected with fake Covid-19 vaccines in Mumbai, and another 500 -- some of them disabled -- may have suffered the same fate in a second major city. Vaccination rates rose sharply this week after the Indian government made shots free following a devastating pandemic surge in April and May. Police in Mumbai said that around 2,000 people who thought they were being vaccinated were in fact injected with a saline solution. Ten people had been arrested including two doctors at a private hospital in the financial hub, police told a news conference. Media reports said that the shots were given at nine different locations. Police in Kolkata meanwhile have arrested a man posing as a civil servant with a master's degree in genetics who reportedly ran as many as eight spurious vaccination camps. Police said at least 250 disabled and transgender people were injected at one site, and that in total nearly 500 people may have been given counterfeit jabs across the city. Kolkata official Atin Ghosh said that the seized vials were falsely labelled as containing the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, branded in India as Covishield. ‘It was found that the Covishield label was stuck over another label, that of Amikacin Sulphate 500 mg, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections of the urinary tract, bones, brain, lungs and blood among others,’ Ghosh told AFP. The scam came to light after an actress and politician, Mimi Chakraborty, who received a shot at one of the camps to raise awareness, became suspicious and alerted police. Police seized fake ID cards from the suspect, one of an information ministry official and another as a municipal commissioner. His car sported Kolkata government stickers. Debashis Barui, a Kolkata health official, said that many of those who had been injected were now ‘panicking’ about the possible side effects. ‘If any emergency arises, civic authorities will organise medical camps in the area to take care of those who have had fake shots,’ Barui told AFP. One of them, Ruma Sikdar, 35, said that she had been feeling drowsy and had discomfort in her arm. ‘What I am worried about is how to get the real dose before the third wave hits,’ the home-maker said. ‘We didn't think that this could happen when the world is battling the pandemic,’ said student Debjit Majumdar, who also received the fake jab.  

Indian Premier Narendra Modi told leaders from Jammu and Kashmir that elections would be held there after the region’s constituencies were reconfigured following the revocation of its semi-autonomous statehood, meeting participants said. The talks yesterday were the first between Modi and Kashmiri leaders since the government scrapped the region’s special status in 2019, detaining thousands of people and imposing a months-long lockdown. Kashmiri leaders have long demanded a restoration of their semi-autonomy and for elections to be held, but India has been working to re-adjust some assembly and parliamentary constituencies there under a process known as “delimitation”. Modi later took to Twitter to reiterate the line he had taken in the roughly three-hour talks in New Delhi. “Delimitation has to happen at a quick pace so that polls can happen and Jammu and Kashmir gets an elected government that gives strength to J&K’s development trajectory,” he said. Regional leaders said they pressed their demand for restoration of statehood and limited autonomy at the talks. “We told the prime minister that we don’t stand with what was done on August 5, 2019,” said Omar Abdullah, leader of the regional party National Conference. “We’re not ready to accept it, but we won’t take law into hands, we will fight this in court.” As well as revoking the region’s statehood and semi-autonomy in August 2019, India split its only Muslim majority state into two federally administered territories. It said the changes were needed to spur development in a region where an armed insurgency has raged for decades against New Delhi’s rule. The shock decision to revoke the region’s statehood and semi-autonomy triggered protests by thousands of people and was criticised by local leaders who said they were never consulted. Ahead of that move, India had also locked down the heavily militarised Kashmir valley and placed strict curbs on movement and telecoms, snapping most mobile telephone and Internet links for weeks. Even 18 months later high-speed mobile Internet had been only partially restored, and local leaders complain about an erosion of civil rights. “I spoke about the pain and anger and frustration among the people of Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019, about how they feel humiliated,” said Mehbooba Mufti, leader of the regional People’s Democratic Party. “I said people of J&K are facing a lot of problems.” Many people in Kashmir have voiced criticism of “delimitation”, fearing it is aimed at tilting the balance of power in the region toward Hindu leaders. Nisar Ahmad, a university student in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, said he didn’t have high hopes from Wednesday’s meeting. “They are not going to reverse what they did,” Ahmad said.

India yesterday declared a new coronavirus variant to be of concern, and said nearly two dozen cases had been detected in three states. The variant, identified locally as “Delta plus”, was found in 16 cases in the state of Maharashtra, Federal Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a news conference. The ministry said Delta plus showed increased transmissibility and advised states to increase testing. On Monday, India vaccinated a record 8.6mn people as it began offering free shots to all adults, but experts doubted it could maintain that pace. “This is clearly not sustainable,” Chandrakant Lahariya, an expert in public policy and health systems, said. “With such one-day drives, many states have consumed most of their current vaccine stocks, which will affect the vaccination in days to follow.” With the currently projected vaccine supply for the next few months, the maximum daily achievable rate is 4mn to 5mn doses, Lahariya added. The effort has so far covered about 5.5% of the 950mn people eligible, even though India is the world’s largest vaccine producer. A devastating second wave during April and May overwhelmed health services, killing hundreds of thousands. Images of funeral pyres blazing in car parks raised questions over the chaotic vaccine rollout. Since May, vaccinations have averaged fewer than 3mn doses a day, far less than the 10mn health officials say are crucial to protect the millions vulnerable to new surges. Particularly in the countryside, where two-thirds of a population of 1.4bn lives and the healthcare system is often overstretched, the drive has faltered, experts say. Maintaining the pace will prove challenging when it comes to injecting younger people in such areas, Delhi-based epidemiologist Rajib Dasgupta said. The capital is also facing difficulties. Authorities in New Delhi said more than 8mn residents had yet to receive a first dose and inoculating all adults there would take more than a year at the current pace. India has been administering AstraZeneca’s vaccine, made locally by the Serum Institute of India, and a homegrown shot named Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech. Last week, Serum Institute had said it planned to increase monthly production to around 100mn doses from July. Bharat now estimates it will make 23mn doses a month. Yesterday, television channel CNBC-TV18 reported that phase-3 data for Covaxin showed an efficacy of 77.8%. Volunteers spread word on vaccines to poor Volunteer groups are spreading the word about getting Covid shots to India’s poor and elderly, and ferrying some to vaccination centres in rickshaws and cabs following a surge in infections that killed hundreds of thousands. SEEDS, an organisation that does relief work during natural disasters, has focused its efforts on poorer communities, where it says many lack even basic information about the vaccines. “We found out that a whole lot of people above 60 weren’t even aware that they could vaccinated and protect themselves,” co-founder Dr Manu Gupta said. SEEDS members are going door-to-door in the poorer parts of Delhi and the villages of north and west India, helping citizens register their details on the government’s vaccination portal and transporting some of them for free to inoculation centres. A second NGO, Robin Hood Army, has partnered with Uber to provide free rides to vaccination centres in Delhi and Mumbai. Its co-founder, Neel Ghose, urged the government to speed up the process by taking its vaccination drive to people’s homes. “For this to be really effective, it needs to be like the way we thought about polio 20 years back, where we reached the doorsteps of people with vaccines and not the other way around.”

India gave out a record 8.3mn vaccine doses yesterday under a federal campaign to inoculate all adults for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government would buy 75% of all vaccines from drug makers and distribute them for free to states, which along with private hospitals had earlier been buying shots for people aged 18-45. India’s previous record of 4.5mn doses was on April 5, followed by a sharp decline with average daily inoculation falling below 3mn. “Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight Covid-19,” Modi wrote in a tweet, and thanked the front-line workers who enabled citizens to get vaccinated. Experts have said India needs to administer 10mn doses a day to achieve its aim of inoculating 950mn adults by December. So far, India has fully vaccinated fewer than 5% with two doses. “If supply remains consistent, we will be on course to inoculate most of our population by the end of the year, D N Patil, a senior health official in the country’s richest state of Maharashtra, said. Maharashtra has a population of more than 125mn. Earlier this month, the government said India could have as many as 10mn doses of Covid-19 vaccines available per day in July and August. Government adviser Vinod Kumar Paul yesterday said administering 10mn shots per day was not a “set goal”. “As the ramping up takes place, speed of implementation should also ramp up and that would lead to a certain number,” Paul said in an interview with CNBC-TV18 channel. “There is a demonstration by the system of how much can be done on a given day, at least this is something that should become obvious by the end of the day.” The country is using domestically made doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and Indian company Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The government is attempting to secure foreign vaccines such as Pfizer’s and has waived strict rules to allow quicker imports. Over the last 24 hours, India reported 53,256 new cases, the lowest since March 24. Infections hit a peak of about 400,000 a day in May and deaths soared to around 170,000 in April-May. With an overall case load of 29.9mn, India ranks second-highest globally behind the US. Since May, widespread vaccine shortages have worsened the divide between urban and rural areas, as many younger city-dwellers turned to private hospitals, paying between $9 and $24 a dose. “It marks the beginning of the end of adversities related to Covid-19 in the country,” Giridhara Babu, a member of the Indian Council of Medical Research, the country’s main health research agency, said. Experts warn that millions remain vulnerable to infection, particularly in the countryside where two-thirds of the population lives. And a swift reopening of cities could complicate mass immunisation efforts. “Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight Covid-19”

India gave out a record 5 million vaccine doses on Monday under a federal campaign to inoculate all adults for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government would buy 75% of all vaccines from drug makers and distribute those for free to states, which along with private hospitals, had earlier been buying shots for people aged 18-45. ‘It marks the beginning of the end of adversities related to Covid-19 in the country,’ Giridhara Babu, a member of the Indian Council of Medical Research, the country's main health research agency, told Reuters. Since May, widespread shortages worsened a divide between urban and rural areas, as many younger people in cities turned to private hospitals, paying between $9-$24 a dose. That drew criticism that millions were vulnerable to infections, particularly in the countryside where two-thirds of the population lives. Experts have warned of a potential third wave as only about 5% of all 950 million eligible people are fully inoculated with two doses even as daily infections have fallen this month. Over the last 24 hours, India reported 53,256 infections, the lowest since March 24. Infections hit a peak of about 400,000 a day in May and deaths soared to around 170,000 in April-May. India, with an overall case load of 29.9 million, is second-highest globally behind the United States. And as most cities have begun lifting lockdown curbs, experts have cautioned that a swift reopening could complicate a vaccination programme that needs to be at least four times faster. Over the last 30 days, India has administered an average 2.7 million doses a day. The country is using domestically made doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and Indian company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. The Indian government is attempting to secure foreign vaccines such as Pfizer and has waived strict rules to allow quicker imports. In the western state of Maharashtra, hardest hit by the second wave, authorities said shortages persist and older age groups between 30-45 would be a priority. ‘We have enough stock that will hopefully last us for the next three to four days, but have no visibility on stock supplies after that,’ Santosh Revankar, a senior health official in Mumbai's civic body, told Reuters. In New Delhi, city authorities criticised the federal government for inadequate supplies.  

India on Monday began a nationwide campaign of free Covid-19 shots for all adults after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had caused acute shortages and intensified a deadly second wave that killed hundreds of thousands in April and May. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reversed a policy under which states made their own purchases from drug makers and along with private hospitals were administering doses to people aged 18-45. And as most states shut down vaccination centres for the younger population citing shortages, a majority turned to private hospitals that charged between $9-$24 a dose and supply gaps widened between urban and rural areas. The country is using domestically made doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and Indian company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. The Indian government is attempting to secure foreign vaccines such as Pfizer and has waived strict rules to allow quicker imports. Experts have warned of a potential third wave as only about 5% of all 950 million eligible people are fully inoculated with two doses even as daily infections have fallen this month. Over the last 24 hours, India reported 53,256 infections, the lowest since March 24. Infections hit a peak of about 400,000 a day in May and deaths soared to around 170,000 in April-May. And as most cities have begun lifting lockdown curbs, experts have cautioned that a swift reopening could complicate a vaccination programme that needs to be at least four times faster. India's daily vaccinations hit a peak of 4.5 million shots on April 5 but have since fallen sharply. In the last 30 days, India has been administering an average 2.7 million doses a day. In the western state of Maharashtra, hardest hit by the second wave, authorities said older age groups between 30-45 would be a priority as supplies were scarce. "We have enough stock that will hopefully last us for the next three to four days, but have no visibility on stock supplies after that," Santosh Revankar, a senior health official in Mumbai's civic body, told Reuters. The state has allowed some businesses to resume and partially lifted curbs on public transport while retaining weekend curfews in some cities.

India’s central government yesterday urged states to be careful in reopening from Covid-19 lockdowns to prevent a resurgence of infections in the hard-hit country. Indian states are easing restrictions as a second wave of coronavirus infections appears to abate. The country is second only to the United States in confirmed infections at 29.82mn, with 385,137 deaths. States and territories “must ensure that the whole process is carefully calibrated,” Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote in a letter to top provincial bureaucrats. “A system should be in place at the micro level to ensure that whenever cases are rising in a smaller place it gets checked there itself through local containment measures,” he wrote. India yesterday reported 60,753 new Covid-19 cases and 1,647 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to a government statement. Since the easing of restrictions, crowds and traffic have filled the streets in cities across India, threatening another spike in infections in the world’s second-most populous country. Bhalla urged states to regularly monitor adherence to Covid-19 guidelines — masks, hand hygiene, social distancing and proper ventilation in closed spaces.He asked them to continue the country’s “test-track-treat” strategy and step up the pace of vaccinations. A third wave of infections is likely to hit India by October, and although it will be better controlled than the last outbreak, the pandemic will remain a public health threat for at least another year, a Reuters poll of medical experts showed.

Police in India have summoned Twitter’s top official in the country to answer allegations that the US firm failed to stop the spread of a video that allegedly incited “hate and enmity” between Hindu and Muslim communities. An official police notice showed a case had been registered in Ghaziabad in northern Uttar Pradesh state over a video of a few men, apparently Hindu, beating an elderly man believed to be a Muslim and cutting his beard. The police report names Twitter, its local unit and seven others for their alleged roles in disseminating a video that was deemed insulting to religious beliefs and causing public mischief in a state with a long, bloody history of communal violence. The controversy comes just as India’s federal government is locking horns with Twitter over non-compliance with new IT rules, which have raised doubts whether the platform would continue to enjoy protection against legal liability for user-generated content. The new rules became effective in late May. In a notice dated Thursday, Ghaziabad police wrote to Twitter India head Manish Maheshwari to appear before officials within seven days of the receipt of the summons. “Some people used their Twitter handles to spread hatred and enmity in the society and Twitter did not take cognisance,” said the notice. “Writings and works which promoted enmity and affected harmony between different communities in the country and the state were encouraged and such anti-society messages were allowed to go viral.” Twitter declined to comment, and Maheshwari did not respond to a request for comment. IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lashed out at Twitter this week for the Ghaziabad incident, saying its failure to act was “perplexing.” Prasad has said Twitter has not complied with a new set of government rules that required them to appoint new compliance officers by May 26. The rules state that in case of non-compliance, protection that companies enjoy related to any liability against user generated content “shall not be applicable” and companies “shall be liable for punishment under any law.” “The moment Twitter was non-complaint, the safe harbour protection was automatically not available,” said Shlok Chandra, a New Delhi-based lawyer who represents the federal government in various cases. “The position is very clear.” Some free speech activists and lawyers, however, disagree. “The central government neither has the power to bestow, nor the power to “withdraw” the exemption from liability...The determination of the question whether Twitter is entitled to seek exemption from liability is solely within the domain of the courts,” Delhi-based Ira Law firm said in a LinkedIn post this month. Three special rapporteurs appointed by a top United Nations human rights body last week urged India to review the new IT rules, saying their broadened scope did not conform with international human rights norms and could threaten digital rights. To comply with India’s new IT rules, companies such as Twitter needed to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal officer and a resident grievance officer. But LinkedIn job postings show all three positions were currently open at Twitter. The social media giant has however retained an interim chief compliance officer, it said this week, adding that it was making all efforts to adhere to the new IT rules.

A third wave of coronavirus infections is likely to hit India by October, and although it will be better controlled than the latest outbreak the pandemic will remain a public health threat for at least another year, according to a Reuters poll of medical experts. The June 3-17 snap survey of 40 healthcare specialists, doctors, scientists, virologists, epidemiologists and professors from around the world showed a significant pickup in vaccinations will likely provide some cover to a fresh outbreak. Of those who ventured a prediction, over 85% of respondents, or 21 of 24, said the next wave will hit by October, including three who forecast it as early as August and 12 in September. The remaining three said between November and February. But over 70% of experts, or 24 of 34, said any new outbreak would be better controlled compared with the current one, which has been far more devastating – with shortage of vaccines, medicines, oxygen and hospital beds – than the smaller first surge in infections last year. “It will be more controlled, as cases will be much less because more vaccinations would have been rolled out and there would be some degree of natural immunity from the second-wave,” said Dr Randeep Guleria, director at All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). So far, India has only fully vaccinated about 5% of its estimated 950mn eligible population, leaving many millions vulnerable to infections and deaths. While a majority of healthcare experts predicted the vaccination drive would pick up significantly this year, they cautioned against an early removal of restrictions, as some states have done. When asked if children and those under 18 years would be most at risk in a potential third wave, nearly two-thirds of experts, or 26 of 40, said yes. “The reason being they are a completely virgin population in terms of vaccination because currently there is no vaccine available for them,” said Dr Pradeep Banandur, head of epidemiology department at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). Experts warn the situation could become severe. “If children get infected in large numbers and we are not prepared, there is nothing you can do at the last minute,” said Dr Devi Shetty, a cardiologist at Narayana Health and an adviser to the Karnataka state government on pandemic response planning. “It will be a whole different problem as the country has very, very few paediatric intensive care unit beds, and that is going to be a disaster.” But 14 experts said children were not at risk. While 25 of 38 respondents said future coronavirus variants would not make existing vaccines ineffective, in response to a separate question, 30 of 41 experts said the coronavirus will remain a public health threat in India for at least a year. Eleven experts said the threat would remain for under a year, 15 said for under two years, while 13 said over two years and two said the risks will never go away. “Covid-19 is a solvable problem, as obviously it was easy to get a solvable vaccine. In two years, India likely will develop herd immunity through vaccine and exposure of the disease,” said Robert Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland and international scientific adviser, Global Virus Network. Meanwhile health officials in Maharashtra state have urged authorities to step up preparations against a possible third wave of coronavirus infections. Maharashtra lifted many curbs this week in its cities. “We should have a clear plan, and keep our preparations ready for the next few weeks, whenever the next wave comes,” Rahul Pandit, a member of the state’s Covid task force and a director of Fortis Hospitals Mumbai, said.