| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Farmers reject Centre's amendment proposals, plan to intensify agitation Protesting farmer leaders have rejected the Centre's proposal to amend the three contentious agricultural marketing laws, and vowed to intensify their agitation until the laws were repealed. They plan to block the capital's highways toward Agra and Jaipur by December 12, and hold a nationwide dharna two days later. The Centre delivered its written proposal to the farmer leadership at the Singhu border point on Tuesday afternoon, two weeks after tens of thousands of farmers began their protest, camping on Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The Centre's proposal offered a written assurance that government procurement at minimum support prices will remain, along with proposals to amend the laws to deal with the concerns raised by farmers regarding parity between state-run and private mandis, registration of traders, and dispute resolution mechanisms. "There is nothing different in this from what has been said during the discussions, which we have repeatedly rejected. The government wants to dress up its old proposals in new clothes. It's an insult to the farmers of this country," said Darshan Pal, president of the Krantikari Kisan Union. He outlined plans to step up the pressure. "By December 12, we will jam the Delhi-Jaipur highway. On that day, we will make toll plazas across the country free for a day," he said, adding that farmers are calling for a boycott of the Jio mobile connections and other products and services of the Reliance and Adani conglomerates. The farmers allege that the three laws will benefit large corporates at the expense of the small farmer. Other leaders said that BJP offices will be gheraoed in every district, and that the Taj Expressway from Delhi to Agra would also be blocked. On December 14, they plan a dharna, or sit-in protest, with farmers from north Indian states urged to come to Delhi while others begin indefinite protests in their own home States. Discussions between Home Minister Amit Shah and a select group of farmer leaders on Tuesday night, at the end of a day-long Bharat Bandh, had failed to break the impasse. "The core concerns about removing regulation on traders and companies outside the [state-run] mandis, which means removing all protections offered to farmers by the regulation system, remain completely un-addressed by these proposals," said Kiran Kumar Vissa, a leader of Telengana farmer group Rythu Swarajya Vedika. He noted that the proposed amendments to the contract farming law do not protect farmers from companies which do not register contracts, provide faulty inputs, or sue farmers. Farmers' issues regarding the Essential Commodities Act have not been addressed at all, he added. "Despite the attempt by the government to portray itself as reasonable, it is being very rigid in not addressing the key demands of the farmers, and simply playing a public relations game of trying to change perceptions," said Vissa. Opposition leaders urge President to "persuade" Centre to accept farmer demands The government should not have any misunderstanding that the farmers will give up and the agitation will be called off before these farm bills are withdrawn, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said, after a delegation of opposition leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind and urged him to persuade the government to accept the demands raised by farmers' groups. The delegation that met President Kovind consisted of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D Raja and DMK leader TKS Elangovan.  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D. Raja and others speak to the media after meeting President Ram Nath Kovind over the new farm laws in New Delhi on December 9, 2020. "We urge upon you, as the custodian of the Indian Constitution, to persuade 'your government' not to be obdurate and accept the demands raised by India's annadata," the joint memorandum signed by the five leaders read. "Our point to the President was that this was passed in an anti undemocratic manner, a proper consultation and discussion would have prevented this kind of situation. The farmers are carrying out a very heroic and courageous strike and keeping this in mind the government should immediately repeal the act," Yechury said, briefing the reporters at the end of the meeting. Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech Covid-19 vaccine applications put on hold An expert committee of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has kept on hold, pending more evidence, proposals by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech requesting emergency use authorisation of their vaccine candidates in India, a person closely connected with the approval process confirmed to The Hindu. When evaluating their applications on Wednesday, the committee members opined that they needed more data to gauge the vaccines' efficacy. "Neither company presented data from their ongoing phase-3 trials. We also wanted more information on the reported case of a volunteer in Chennai who allegedly had a severe adverse reaction," the person cited above told The Hindu on condition of anonymity. The committee consists of members from multiple disciplines and meets periodically to recommend approval, or rejection, of new drugs and vaccines. The SII is testing a vaccine candidate developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, on 1,600 volunteers in India. This vaccine is yet to be approved by regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom for public use. "Were any of these countries' regulators to approve, we would consider it favourably for approving in India. But now we have neither this nor convincing India-specific data," the person added.  A medic fills a syringe with Covaxin, a COVID-19 vaccine, in Ahmedabad. File The Union Health Ministry termed as "fake news" a media report on Wednesday which said that SII and Bharat Biotech's applications were "rejected." However, a ministry spokesperson didn't offer additional clarification. Meanwhile, a delegation of foreign envoys visited manufacturing facilities of vaccine makers Bharat Biotech and Biological E in Hyderabad's Genome Valley on Wednesday. Bharat Biotech said a team comprising Ambassadors, High Commissioners and government representatives of 70 countries, from across the world, visited the facility and had interacted with company officials. They "extensively discussed about Covaxin," the company said. Both SII and Bharat Biotech are relatively ahead of other vaccine companies in India that are developing potential vaccines for Covid-19, having initiated large human trials, or phase-3 trials. Quad is a 'devious policy' to involve India in anti-China games, says Russia Russia hit out at the 4-nation quadrilateral strategic dialogue or Quad, calling it a "devious policy" by western powers to engage India in "anti-China games". While Moscow has expressed concerns about the United States' Indo-Pacific policy and criticised the Quad (a formation that includes the U.S., Australia, Japan and India) as a "divisive" and "exclusivist" concept, this is the first time it has suggested that India-Russia ties could be affected by it. "India is currently an object of the western countries' persistent, aggressive, and devious policy as they are trying to engage it in anti-China games by promoting Indo-Pacific strategies, the so-called "Quad", while at the same time the West is attempting to undermine our close partnership and privileged relations with India," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at Moscow-based think tank Russian International Affairs Council. "This is the goal of the U.S.'s very tough pressure on New Delhi in the MTC [military and technical cooperation] area," Lavrov stated, which diplomats said indicated growing MTC between India and the U.S. In the past month, India hosted military exercises with all the members of the Quad, and signed the final pending 'foundational agreement' BECA, which facilitates intelligence-sharing between Indian and U.S. militaries. The incoming Biden administration is also expected to press harder on India against its purchase of the S-400 anti-missile system from Russia, which could attract U.S. sanctions. In his comments, Lavrov said the U.S. and European countries were trying to "restore" the unipolar model with U.S. leadership, but that other powers or poles like Russia and China would not be "subordinate to it". The "US-led West" had launched what he called a "game" that seeks to "isolate" Russia, as well as China, he said. Cabinet approves setting up of public Wi-Fi networks The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for setting up of public Wi-Fi networks across the country to accelerate the proliferation of broadband internet services. These networks, which will be called PM-WANI (Wi-Fi Access Network Interface), will be set up at Public Data Offices (PDOs). During a press conference announcing the decision, Communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said these PDOs can be opened up by anyone, including tea shops or a public office, and there will be no license fee for providing broadband internet through these public Wi-Fi networks.  "Providers will get themselves registered with DoT through an online registration portal without paying any fee. The registration will be granted within seven days of the application," an official release said. Chinese vaccine 86% effective, says UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Wednesday that it has approved a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that is being tested in the country after preliminary data showed that it was 86% effective. The U.A.E.'s Ministry of Health and Prevention said it reviewed an interim analysis by Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned vaccine maker, of data from late-stage clinical trials, which showed that its vaccine was 86% effective in preventing infection from Covid-19. The development represents a political and scientific win for China, which has three other vaccine candidates in late-stage trials. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 97,59,369 at the time of writing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,41,735. In Brief: The Income Tax (IT) department is conducting searches at the companies, offices and residential properties belonging to the Chettinad Group headed by M.A.M.R.Muthiah. According to the taxmen, over 50 locations in Chennai and the rest of India are under the scanner now. "We suspect a huge tax evasion. This is a huge group, so the searches will take 2-3 days to get over," said an investigating officer from the IT department. Headquartered out of Chennai, the over 100-year-old Chettinad Group has businesses in several sectors, including construction, cement, power, steel fabrication, healthcare, coal terminal, and transportation, among others. Three militants were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Wednesday. A police spokesman said that while two unidentified militants were killed and a civilian received injuries during the encounter which started on Wednesday morning, one more unidentified militant was killed later. "A search is going on," the spokesman said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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