The News Editorial Analysis 29th Dec 2021
‘Audit irregularities’ led to FCRA denial, says official
Missionaries of Charity has not requested a review
The Foreigners Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration of Missionaries of Charity (MoC), a Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa in 1950, was not renewed because of “audit irregularities”, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
The comment comes a day after the Union Home Ministry said it refused to renew the registration as “some adverse inputs were noticed”. In a statement on Monday, the Ministry said the decision was taken on December 25 as the congregation did not meet the eligibility conditions. It has not requested a review of the refusal.
FCRA registration is mandatory for any NGO or association to receive foreign funds or donations. The Home Ministry is the controlling authority of the FCRA and it conducts inspections and audits of NGOs to establish if their books are in order.
SEBI tightens rules on use of IPO proceeds
Stock markets regulator SEBI on Tuesday approved a ceiling on the Initial Public Offering (IPO) proceeds to be used to make unspecified acquisitions. In its Board meeting, the Securities and Exchange Board of India approved rules capping at 35% the amount for future inorganic growth — but where no acquisition target had been identified — combined with that meant for general corporate purpose.
Tagging a major portion of a fresh issue for unidentified acquisitions caused uncertainty for investors, the SEBI had noted earlier.
The SEBI also tweaked rules for shareholders selling shares in an IPO.
‘NEET exemption Bill under consideration’
TN Raj Bhavan responds to RTI plea
The Bill to admit students to undergraduate medical courses in Tamil Nadu on the basis of the Class XII marks is “under consideration” of Governor R.N. Ravi, the Raj Bhavan has said in response to a question under the RTI Act.
P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System-Tamil Nadu, had filed an application for information on the status of the Bill and the action taken by the Governor. “The file is under consideration,” the Raj Bhavan said in a response given, on December 17, by S. Venkateshwaran, under-secretary to the Governor and Public Information Officer.
Mr. Babu had also asked the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and the office of the Chief Secretary whether any letter or question was received from the Governor and whether the State had sent any reply or reminder.
Clarifying that the Chief Secretary is not an official designated to share information (or an appellate authority) under the Act, his office forwarded the application to the Health Department, which in turn sent it to the Law Department. On September 13, the Assembly passed the Bill seeking to “dispense” with the requirement for candidates to qualify in NEET for admission to undergraduate medical courses. The Bill was sent to the Raj Bhavan, when Banwarilal Purohit was the Governor.
Incidentally, on November 27, the State government released a photograph of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin meeting the Governor.
Falling short
Perpetrators of violence in the name of religion must be brought to justice
To overlook the orgy of communal hatred at a recent event in Haridwar that was labelled a Hindu religious congregation as an inconsequential derangement of a fringe group may be a convenient pretext for the inaction by the police and the silence of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the reality is scary. The passivity of the BJP is a signifier and eloquent admission of the pernicious mainstreaming of bigotry. The Uttarakhand police have betrayed a cavalier attitude in their investigation by not naming any of the ringleaders, initially, and not showing the urgency the case requires, subsequently. Speakers at the event openly called for genocide and violence. Such bigotry is not the monopoly of adherents of any particular religion, and law enforcement authorities should be eternally vigilant. The murder of two people at Sikh places of worship in Punjab in separate incidents in recent days showed how matters of religion can inflame irrational passion. In one case in Punjab, a person has been arrested and charged with murder. The shameful lynchings were followed by responses from organisations ranging from the Congress to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, but none unequivocally condemned the violence. Most reactions appeared to justify the violence, privileging abstract religious sentiments over the fundamental right to life. The Congress chief in Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu, spoke for many politicians seeking to exploit religion for electoral purposes when he said those who offended the faith must be hanged publicly.
That mainstream parties are unable to take an unambiguous and universal position that violence and the call for violence, in the name of faith, are unacceptable is unsettling and bodes ill for Indian democracy. Despite sporadic bursts of communal violence, India, unlike its neighbours in South Asia, has survived and thrived as a multicultural and multi-religious nation till date. Keeping it that way requires vigilance and vision. Violence originates in thought, transmits itself through speech and manifests itself in action. Targets in the recent past have ranged from interfaith couples to carol singers to cattle traders to teachers setting question papers. New laws appear to reinforce and institutionalise prejudice and intolerance. The heavy hand of the state that falls too frequently on the critics of the Government has left the mobs that threaten national unity untouched. Those who committed murder in Punjab, those who called for mass murder from Haridwar and those who vandalised Christian institutions in different places must all be brought to justice as per the law. Political parties must rise above their narrow interests during the current election cycle and unite against hate. Later may be too late.
Trade defence
A reflexive resort to the anti-dumping duty risks skewing market dynamics
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) recently notified the imposition of anti-dumping duty on five products manufactured in China in order to safeguard domestic producers from lower-priced imports that the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) had found as being ‘dumped’ in the Indian market. The items range from specific flat-rolled aluminium products for solar modules, and silicone sealants used in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic modules to some chemicals, including a component of the refrigerant hydrofluorocarbon. In almost all the five products, the Commerce Ministry agency initiated its anti-dumping investigations in September 2020 and reached its final findings about 12 months later. CBIC’s imposition of the anti-dumping levy for five years on these Chinese products is based on the DGTR’s findings that their import constituted ‘dumping’, which was causing injury to local producers, and an ensuing recommendation that a protective duty was warranted. A remedy sanctioned by the WTO to protect a member country’s domestic industry from imports that have been priced at levels below those prevailing in the exporting nation’s home market, the anti-dumping duty has become one of India’s most widely used trade weapons, especially against a flood of cheaper Chinese imports. As of February 2020, India had imposed anti-dumping measures on 90 Chinese products, with another 24 China-specific anti-dumping investigations in progress at the time, according to a reply made in Parliament by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
The use of the specific trade remedy, howsoever warranted, does, however, raise questions. A reflexive resort to the anti-dumping duty, especially if the domestic applicant is a significantly large and relatively resilient manufacturer of the product, risks skewing the market dynamics in the Indian company’s favour, with both downstream industries, in the case of intermediate goods, and consumers likely to face the consequences of reduced competition on final prices. Also, efforts to narrow the sizeable trade deficit with China by targeted recourse to the levy have made little headway in addressing the widening gap as imports have continued to largely outpace India’s exports. The effectiveness of the measure in providing timely relief to smaller domestic manufacturers facing an existential crisis on account of suspected dumping has also been undermined in the past by a less than ‘swift’ process with the DGTR hamstrung by a personnel crunch. With companies worldwide now seeking to de-risk their businesses from an excessive reliance on China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prospect of more capacity in that country turning surplus and being used to produce goods for dumping overseas increases. Indian policymakers have their task cut out to bolster trade defences in time.
Put out the data, boost the dose of transparency
The Government must make COVID-19 data including that for vaccine regulatory approvals and policy available
On December 25, the Prime Minister of India announced two key decisions. First, all children in the 15-17 age bracket will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines from January 3, 2022. Second, all health-care workers, frontline workers and the people aged 60 years and above (with co-morbidities and on the advice of a medical doctor) can get a third shot, or ‘precaution dose’. The policy decision was followed by a note that was released on December 27, outlining operational details. The eligibility for the precaution dose will be on the completion of nine months or 39 weeks after the second dose. The note did not mention which vaccine would be administered as the precaution dose. Teenage children whose birth year is 2007 or before will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. Children will receive Covaxin, the reason being (according to the note) it is the only emergency use listed (EUL) World Health Organization vaccine available for use in this age group in India.
Opinion or evidence
The decision is said to be based on ‘advice of the scientific community’. However, it was not clear whether that advice was based on opinion or ‘the scientific evidence’. If media reports are to be believed, in the fourth week of December, the COVID-19 vaccine sub-group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) in India, which was supposed to review the data on the scientific evidence on the booster shot and vaccination of children, had postponed the meeting for a later date. A few members of NTAGI have written or spoken publicly about not having enough scientific evidence to administer booster doses and vaccinate children in India. The term ‘precaution dose’ is being considered as tacit acknowledgement of insufficient evidence. What else explains not calling it a ‘booster dose’?
These two decisions make nearly 7.5 crore children eligible for the primary vaccination and three crore health-care and frontline workers and 10 crore of the elderly suitable for the precaution shot. The individuals will become eligible for the precaution dose on the rolling basis, and on day one of the roll-out (January 10, 2022) approximately one crore health-care and frontline workers and 14 lakh of the 60-plus population will be eligible. Thereafter, every subsequent day, approximately 3,00,000 to 4,00,000 individuals will be added for the precaution dose.
Vaccinating children
Successive national and State-level sero-surveys have reported that a majority of children in India had got natural infection, while staying at home and thus developed antibodies. The studies have shown that children rarely develop moderate to severe COVID-19 disease. The emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has not altered the risk in children. It is in this backdrop that the benefits of vaccinating children are limited, and they are considered lower in the order of priority for COVID-19 vaccination.
Most public health and vaccine experts favour a ‘targeted vaccination approach’ by prioritising high-risk children for COVID-19 vaccination. However, such an approach is likely to face an operational challenge in the identification of the eligible children. The alternative is ‘vaccinating all children in a small age-subgroup’ with the advantage of administrative simplicity. The Government has opted for the second approach.
As per a note released on December 27, persons aged 60 years and above with comorbidities, on doctor’s advice, will be provided with the precaution dose. This makes vaccination a two-step process: first seeking consultation and then getting vaccinated. This additional step could prove an access barrier and people may defer the vaccination decision. For COVID-19, all the elderly are at higher risk. Therefore, it does not make practical sense in picking specific health conditions for precaution dose.
There is another key concern. A majority of the elderly have one or other comorbidities. Of the 14 crore elderly population in India, an estimated 7 to 10 crore people could have co-morbidities. If they have to seek advice from a physician, in order to get vaccinated, this essentially means that there would be up to 10 crore of medical consultations, which would come at a cost — indirect (travel time and opportunity cost for individuals and an avoidable burden on the health-care system) and direct cost (if attended in the private sector), all of which is avoidable.
Making it work
Now that a policy decision has been made, there need to be a few considerations taken into account in order to make its implementation effective. First, the conditionality of comorbidities and the need for advice/prescription by a doctor for ‘the precaution shot’ in the elderly should be done away with. If the conditionality of comorbidity needs to be retained due to any scientific evidence — which the Government has used in decision making — then it should be a self-declaration only, without the need for a doctor’s advice.
Second, there is scientific evidence and consensus on administering the third dose for immunocompromised adults. The Indian government should urgently consider administering a third dose for all immunocompromised adults, irrespective of age.
Third, studies have found that a heterologous prime-boost approach — third shot on a different vaccine platform — is a better approach. Among all the options, while mRNA-based vaccines have the best boosting effect, the drawback is that they are not available in India. However, Covovax (as Novovax’s recombinant protein nanoparticle-based vaccine is called in India) has received EUL from the World Health Organization and is being produced in India. Another protein-based vaccine, Corbevax, is being developed by Biological E Ltd. in India. The manufacturer of Corbevax has submitted trial data on a rolling basis to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in India. The Indian government has already made an ‘advance purchase agreement’ with the manufacturer for Corbevax. On December 28, Covovax and Corbevax were approved in India for restricted use in an emergency situation (https://bit.ly/3Hhb055). A recent study in The Lancet has reported that the use of a protein-based vaccine as third dose, would have a better boosting effect than the third shot of the same vaccine on viral-vectored or inactivated vaccine platforms. With approval for emergency use of two additional vaccines, India should consider administering an approved protein-based vaccine as the precaution dose.
Fourth, various pending policy questions on COVID-19 vaccine need to be identified urgently. The technical expert should be given complete access to COVID-19 data for analysis and to find answers to those scientific and policy questions. Additional studies with primary data collection should be urgently commissioned for those policy issues which can not be answered by existing data. This is the only way to ensure that future COVID-19 vaccination decisions are based upon scientific evidence and not just the ‘assumptions’, ‘opinion’ or ‘advice’.
Fifth, vaccination for teenage children, exclusively with Covaxin (which means 15 crore doses for this sub-group) has other implications. Covaxin will also be needed for people coming for their first shot, returning for their second shot, and then for their ‘precaution dose’ if a third shot of the same vaccine is allowed. This should be an urgent reminder for a review of vaccine supply and better vaccine stock management.
Finally, the precaution dose and vaccination for children should not divert attention from the task of primary vaccination, which continues to be an unfinished task in India; 46 crore doses are still needed for the first and second shots.
Data for decision making
It was not that the booster dose or vaccination of children might have never been required. The discourse before the policy announcement on December 25 was more nuanced, was about the right time (when to start), the right interval (between second dose and the booster) and selecting the right vaccine (with proven benefit as booster). This was getting delayed partly due to the unavailability of COVID-19 related data to synthesise evidence and arrive at an informed decision.
It is time the Union and State governments in India make COVID-19 data — this includes clinical outcomes, testing, genomic sequencing as well as vaccination — available in the public domain. This would help in formulating and updating COVID-19 policy and strategies and also assess the impact of ‘precaution dose’ as well as vaccination of children.
It is also time that once technical and regulatory decisions are made, the relevant scientific evidence should be made available in the public domain. The Indian government urgently needs to make COVID-19 data available, including the one used for regulatory approvals of vaccines and for vaccine policy decisions. This will bring transparency in decision making and increase the trust of the citizen in the process.
Thousands of NGOs in limbo over FCRA renewal
Unless the government extends the date of scrutiny of renewal applications by some months, even those whose applications are pending could be stopped from accessing foreign funds until they are cleared. “Unlike the simpler renewal process five years ago, this time the government has made it necessary for renewals to follow the same rigorous validation process as that for a fresh registration [under Section 12(4)] and that is going to complicate the process further. This will include many more compliance requirements, including certification that the NGO is not a ‘threat to public interest’ or ‘national security’,” Sanjay Agarwal, FCRA accounting expert and author of a handbook on the FCRA 2010 law that was amended in 2020, told The Hindu.
In particular, the government has used the ambiguous terms on public interest and national security against NGOs that work on human rights, child labour and slavery issues, as well as groups working on climate change issues.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extended the deadline till December 31, from the earlier September 30, for NGOs to apply for renewal. FCRA registration is mandatory for associations and non government organisations to receive foreign funds.
The certificates of around 80% of NGOs expired on October 31, and as per norms, they had to apply at least six months before the expiry of registration. There are 22,762 FCRA-registered NGOs. Mr. Agarwal said, “I would say there are two issues an NGO faces — one is non-compliance, and given the number of complex rules, it is quite easy to show that an NGO has broken one rule or another. The second issue comes if there is media glare or the NGO focuses on some kind of activity that the government is unhappy about”.
‘Indianising’ the legal system and SC’s views
Judgments show conscious effort at getting rid of the ‘crutches’ of colonial influence
At least two Supreme Court judges have in the past few months openly expressed the need to “Indianise” the legal system.
In September, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana called for the “Indianisation” of the legal system to provide greater access to justice to the poor as the “need of the hour”. “When I say ‘Indianisation’, I mean the need to adapt to the practical realities of our society and localise our justice delivery systems… For example, parties from a rural place fighting a family dispute are usually made to feel out of place in the court,” the CJI clarified.
On December 26, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer went a step further to underscore the need to embrace the “great legal traditions as per Manu, Kautilya, Katyayana, Brihaspati, Narada, Parashara, Yajnavalkya and other legal giants of ancient India”.
Justice Nazeer, speaking on the “Decolonisation of the Indian legal system” at the National Council meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad in Hyderabad, wondered what the “future model of our legal system ought to be”. He concluded that “there can be no doubt that this colonial legal system is not suitable for the Indian population. The need of the hour is the Indianisation of the legal system… to decolonise the Indian legal system”.
“Great lawyers and judges are not born but are made by proper education and great legal traditions as were Manu, Kautilya, Katyayana, Brihaspati, Narada, Parashara, Yajnavalkya and other legal giants of ancient India… continued neglect of their great knowledge and adherence to alien colonial legal system is detrimental to the goals of our Constitution and against our national interests,” Justice Nazeer said.
However, Supreme Court judgments themselves show that the Indian legal system had made an early start at consciously getting rid of the “crutches” of colonial influence. The evolution of laws in India has been through legislation and the binding precedents of the Supreme Court under Article 141 of the Constitution. The public interest litigation mechanism is truly Indian.
“We cannot allow our judicial thinking to be constricted by reference to the law as it prevails in England or for the matter of that in any other foreign country. We no longer need the crutches of a foreign legal order. We are certainly prepared to receive light from whatever source it comes from, but we have to build up our own jurisprudence,” the Supreme Court, speaking through then Chief Justice of India P.N. Bhagwati, had said with confidence in the M.C. Mehta case way back in 1986.
Manu, Kautilya
Again, the highest judiciary has far from indulged in a “continued neglect” of the legal greats of ancient India. Several judgments since the 1980s refer to the works of Manu and Kautilya.
In the privacy judgment, Justice S.A. Bobde (retired), referred to how “even in the ancient and religious texts of India, a well-developed sense of privacy is evident”. He mentions that Kautilya’s “Arthashastra prohibits entry into another’s house, without the owner’s consent”. But the court has also differed from the views of these ancient texts.
In its Joseph Shine judgment decriminalising adultery, the court refers to how “the Manusmriti, Chapters 4.1346 and 8.3527 prescribes punishment for those who are addicted to intercourse with wives of other men by punishments which cause terror, followed by banishment”.
In the Sabarimala case, the court points to the Manusmriti to observe that in these “ancient religious texts and customs, menstruating women have been considered as polluting the surroundings”. It went on to hold that “practices which legitimise menstrual taboos, due to notions of ‘purity and pollution’, limit the ability of menstruating women to attain the freedom of movement, the right to education and the right of entry to places of worship and, eventually, their access to the public sphere”.
GI tag sought for Apatani textile product
An application seeking Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the Arunachal Pradesh Apatani textile product has been filed by a firm, Zeet Zeero Producer Company Ltd. The Apatani weave comes from the Apatani tribe living at Ziro, the headquarters of Lower Subansiri district. The woven fabric of this tribe is known for its geometric and zigzag patterns and for its angular designs.
According to the application filed with the Geographical Indications registry in Chennai, the Apatani community weaves its own textiles for various occasions, including rituals and cultural festivals. The tribe predominantly weaves shawls known as jig-jiro, and jilan or jackets called supuntarii. The people use leaves and plant resources for organic dyeing of the cotton yarns in their traditional ways. And only women folk are engaged in weaving.
‘Omicron can disrupt health systems’
As WHO issues warning, Europe and China impose measures to check spread of COVID-19 variant
The WHO warned on Tuesday that the Omicron coronavirus variant could lead to overwhelmed healthcare systems even though early studies suggest it leads to milder disease, as China and Germany brought back tough restrictions to stamp out new infection surges.
China put hundreds of thousands more people under lockdown, while infections hit new highs in multiple U.S. states and European countries.
COVID-19 surges have wreaked havoc around the world, with many nations trying to strike a balance between economically punishing restrictions and controlling the spread of the virus.
The United States has halved the isolation period for asymptomatic cases to try and blunt the disruption, while France has ordered firms to have employees work from home at least three days a week.
Contact restrictions were in place in Germany for the second year in a row heading into the New Year, as Europe’s biggest economy shuttered nightclubs and forced sports competitions behind closed doors due to COVID.
Despite facing a much smaller outbreak compared with global virus hotspots, China has not relaxed its “zero COVID” strategy, imposing stay-at-home orders in many parts of the city of Yan’an.
The hundreds of thousands of affected residents there joined the 13 million people in the city of Xi’an, who entered a sixth day of home confinement as China battled its highest daily case numbers in 21 months.
Highly transmissible
The surges in many countries have been propelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The WHO warned against complacency even though preliminary findings suggest that Omicron could lead to milder disease.
“A rapid growth of Omicron… even if combined with a slightly milder disease, will still result in large numbers of hospitalisations, and cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services,” warned WHO Europe’s Covid Incident Manager Catherine Smallwood.
To hold back the tide, European nations brought back curbs with painful economic and social consequences.
Sweden and Finland required negative tests for incoming non-resident travellers from Tuesday.
In Germany, private gatherings are now limited to 10 vaccinated people and nightclubs have been closed.
But not all accepted the measures.
Thousands of protesters went on the march across Germany late on Monday against the curbs, with some hurling fireworks or bottles at police and leaving at least 12 officers injured.
President Joe Biden said on Monday that some U.S. hospitals could be “overrun” but that the country was generally well prepared. He stressed that Omicron would not have the same impact as the initial COVID outbreak or the Delta variant surge this year.
Insurer can’t deny claim citing existing illness: SC on health policies
No insurance company can refuse a mediclaim citing a medical condition that the policyholder disclosed while signing up for the policy, the Supreme Court has ruled.
A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna has also said that the policyholder has to disclose to the insurer all material facts within his or her knowledge, adding that the buyer is presumed to know all the facts and circumstances concerning the insurance.
While policyholders can only disclose what is known to them, their duty is not confined to their actual knowledge but extends to those material facts which, in the ordinary course of business, they ought to know, the apex court said.
“Once the policy has been issued after assessing the medical condition of the insured, the insurer cannot repudiate the claim by citing an existing medical condition, which was disclosed by the insured in the proposal form and which condition has led to a particular risk in respect of which the claim has been made by the insured,” said the bench in a recent judgment.
The verdict came during an appeal filed by one Manmohan Nanda against an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) rejecting his plea seeking a claim for medical expenses incurred in the US.
Nanda had bought an overseas mediclaim business and holiday policy from the United India Insurance Company as he intended to travel to the US.
Upon reaching the San Francisco airport, he suffered a heart attack and was admitted to a hospital.
Subsequently, an angioplasty was performed on him and three stents were inserted to remove the blockage from heart vessels.
In his petition, he said his claims for treatment expenses were repudiated by the insurer stating that the appellant had a history of hyperlipidaemia (high cholesterol) and diabetes, which was not disclosed while buying the insurance policy.
The NCDRC had ruled that since the complainant had been under statin medication, which was not disclosed while buying the mediclaim policy, he failed to comply with his duty to fully disclose his health conditions.
The SC, however, said the repudiation of the claim by United India Insurance Company was not in accordance with law.
It said the object of buying a mediclaim policy is to seek indemnification in respect of a sudden illness or sickness that is not expected or imminent and that may occur overseas.
Scientists in Egypt ‘digitally unwrap’ 3,500-year-old mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I
This ancient mummy’s secrets had remained hidden for 3,500 years, but modern technology recently let researchers peek inside without disturbing it at all.
How researchers in Egypt used computerized tomography (CT) scans to “digitally unwrap” the mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I is especially significant because the mummy was one of the few found in the last few centuries not yet opened.
The mummy of Amenhotep I, who ruled from about 1525 to 1504 BCE, had been X-rayed in 1932 but had not been unwrapped due to its “perfect wrapping” and decorations of flower garlands and “exquisite face mask,” topped with a painted cobra, researchers write in the peer-reviewed research journal Frontiers in Medicine.
They sought to use computerized tomography because it is more accurate than X-rays and can create 3-D images of bones and organs.
“This fact that Amenhotep I’s mummy had never been unwrapped in modern times gave us a unique opportunity: not just to study how he had originally been mummified and buried, but also how he had been treated and reburied twice, centuries after his death, by High Priests of Amun,” said Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University and the radiologist of the Egyptian Mummy Project, the study’s first author, in a news release.
Three thousand years ago, priests restored and reburied Amenhotep’s mummy and other mummies to repair damage done by grave robbers, researchers said. The mummy of Amenhotep I was discovered in 1881 in the ancient city of Thebes (modern Luxor) along the Nile River in southern Egypt. Amenhotep I’s original tomb has not been found.
Saleem and famed Egyptologist and study co-author Zahi Hawass, who have studied more than 40 mummies in the Egyptian Antiquity Ministry Project, launched in 2005, did the CT scans in 2019 at the Gallery of Royal Mummies in the Cairo Egyptian Museum. The CT scans were done in 2019 at the Gallery of Royal Mummies in the Cairo Egyptian Museum. “By digitally unwrapping of the mummy and ‘peeling off’ its virtual layers – the facemask, the bandages, and the mummy itself – we could study this well-preserved pharaoh in unprecedented detail,” Saleem said.
Their findings show that Amenhotep I was about 35 years old at death. He was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, had good teeth and was circumcised, and had good teeth. “Within his wrappings, he wore 30 amulets and a unique golden girdle with gold beads,” she said. “Amenhotep I seems to have physically resembled his father: he had a narrow chin, a small narrow nose, curly hair, and mildly protruding upper teeth.”
Amenhotep I was the second pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th dynasty, following his father Ahmose I. After Amenhotep’s death, he and his mother Ahmose-Nefertari were worshipped as gods, the researchers said.
What they did not discover was any cause of death for Amenhotep. “We couldn’t find any wounds or disfigurement due to disease to justify the cause of death, except numerous mutilations post mortem, presumably by grave robbers after his first burial,” Saleem said. “His entrails had been removed by the first mummifiers, but not his brain or heart.”
Perhaps Amenhotep died of a heart attack “because there is no evidence of any diseases that Amenhotep the First had,” Hawass.
It was unusual that the brain of Amenhotep I was not removed, he said. And the mummy is the oldest found to have the body’s forearms crossed in what is known as the Osiris position. The research showed how “technology can make discoveries without disturbing the mummy,” Hawass said.
Saleem and Hawass had thought those who restored the mummy 3,000 years ago had reused royal burial equipment for later pharaohs. Instead, they found the priests had “lovingly repaired the injuries inflicted by the tomb robbers, restored his mummy to its former glory, and preserved the magnificent jewelry and amulets in place,” Saleem said.
Two more vaccines and a pill added to India’s inventory to combat Covid
As India prepares to deal with the surge in Covid-19 infections with booster vaccine doses amid anxiety over the highly infectious Omicron variant, it has added three more tools — two vaccines and a drug — to its armour.
The Drug Controller General of India on Tuesday gave emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Covid vaccines Covovax and Corbevax, apart from Covid drug molnupiravir, which will be manufactured by 13 companies locally.
The approvals came within hours of the subject expert committee on Covid-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation recommending EUA for them.
Parallelly, the Centre ended a hassle of furnishing a medical certificate for the 60-plus with comorbidities for taking the booster shot, by dropping the clause.
It means all senior citizens with comorbidities are eligible for what the Centre calls is a precautionary jab.
Of the vaccines approved on Tuesday, Corbevax has been made by Hyderabad-based Biological E. Covovax is the Indian version of Novavax. (see box)
Molnupiravir is meant for restricted use for treating adult patients with blood oxygen levels at 93% and having a high-risk of progression of the infection, including hospitalisation or death. It should be taken twice a day for not more than five days.
Biological E conducted phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials of Corbevax in the country, apart from a phase 3 active comparator clinical trial to evaluate superiority against Covishield, the Centre informed. However, data from none of these clinical trials have yet been released in the public domain.
The Union health ministry said Covovax had shown efficacy of 90.4% and 86.9% respectively in the US and UK during phase 3 trials. It added that SII conducted phase 2/3 immuno-bridging clinical trails in the country for comparing safety and immunogenicity of this vaccine.
On molnupiravir, the regulator received applications from 22 manufacturers but approved only 13. Clearing the air on comorbidities, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhsuhan wrote to states saying anyone over 60, on their doctor’s advice, can now take the shot and will not be required to show the co-morbidity certificate at the vaccination centre.
The letter comes after a section of people, including doctors, had protested the requirement of doctors’ certificate.
“When there is no provision of such a certificate in India’s healthcare system to avail of any service, why create this hurdle?” said a senior medical professional at AIIMS, Delhi, who is a member of the ICMR advisory group on Covid-19 clinical management.
The News Editorial Analysis 28th Dec 2021
