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With $1-Bn Grant, J&J Gets Ready To Make One Billion Covid-19 Jabs In India

An ambitious target of one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine and financial aid of $1 billion to make them in India seems to be the most heartening news of the day. The American multinational Johnson & Johnson (J&J), operating in 60 countries, seems to be routing that kind of investment as “grant” from two large countries where the pharma major operates. It is learnt that the Hyderabad-based company, Biological E, which has been appointed as J&J’s contract manufacturer earlier this year, will soon start bridging clinical trials for which they have sought official permission from Indian regulators. Biological E, set up in 1962, and partnering with global majors, supplies its vaccines to more than 100 countries. It has supplied more than two billion doses of vaccines in the last decade alone. Since J&J’s single-shot vaccine is already approved by the US regulator and is currently administered across the United States, they would only need a bridging trial in India, which means a small group of 1,000 participants would take the shot before it is officially approved. Bridging trial for J&J’s vaccine is expected to be on similar line of that done by Russian Covid19 vaccine Sputnik V by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and the trial conducted by Serum Institute for the Oxford University-AstraZeneca Coronavirus vaccine.
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Has Money And Fame Rocked A Cricketer’s Marriage?

It is a heady combination – money and fame. If you don’t know how to handle it smartly, then it could destroy your personal and professional life. The latest news wafting from the dressing room is that the marriage of a leading cricketer from north India is on the rocks.  According to insiders, this flamboyant cricketer, known for his brilliant batting and fielding skills, was having a torrid affair and his wife caught him red-handed. Incensed by his philandering behaviour, she has decided to walk out of the marriage with her kids in tow. The divorce threat seems to have brought the cricketer to his senses, and he has gone on all fours asking his wife to give him another chance. Apparently, she is in no mood to relent, say people close to the cricketer. Earlier, we saw paceman Mohammed Shammi facing bouncers after bouncers from his wife Hasin Jahan – and that furious spell could have hurt his career too. They are still not divorced reportedly, and for the moment Shammi must be secretly swooning over his wife’s Instagram pictures that are breaking the internet, especially the one in aquamarine blue saree where she is sporting a chutki bhar sindoor. Her rhapsody – “Sabar ki ungli pakad kar ham itna chale ke raste hairan reh gaye – has indeed left us all ‘hairan’ (pleasantly stunned actually). Well, we are keeping fingers crossed, leaving both the marriages in the hands of God.
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MoS Kishan Reddy Bats For Telangana Cricket Association

While the BCCI-IPL, that gets off the ground today in Chennai — with an anticipated revenue in excess of Rs 4,000 crore — has been the talking point leading to the ‘D’ day, because it’s going to be played amid the vortex of the COVID-19, the cricketing community in Telangana is anxious to know its fate at the BCCI’s seventh Apex Council meeting (April 16) that will consider the Telangana’s application for associate membership. The Telangana Cricket Association’s (TCA) case is being pursued by Telangana Lok Sabha MPs, including Kishan Reddy, Deputy Minister to Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister. The TCA has applied for membership following the Supreme Court order, and the order of the Bombay High Court directing the BCCI to hear the TCA application before April 30, 2021. The irony of it all is that Telangana appears as Full Member in the BCCI constitution on its website. And Puducherry doesn’t appear as one. Experts hold that the BCCI, steered by its  Secretary Jay Shah should  take steps to update its constitution on the BCCI website. It should and not go by the Ostrich like attitude of people inimical to the progress of associations which have a greater passion for the game and are doing a lot in their region.

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack

It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.