Left, Right & Centre

Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo speaks to NDTV about the vaccination drive, the state government's preparedness ahead of rollout and the importance of Centre-state co-ordination throughout the vaccination process. Speaking about the cost of the vaccine, the minister says, "Centre must pay for the Covid-19 vaccines because states have been overburdened because of the pandemic."

"The government will ensure that the vaccines are fairly priced and the access and equity is not compromised," says Professor K Vijayraghavan, principal scientific advisor to the centre.

Dr VK Paul, a senior NITI Aayog member, spoke to NDTV on the vaccination drive starting January 16 and answered several questions related to the first phase of the exercise. "In the first 15 days of the rollout, we are hoping to have 3,000 vaccination sites," he said.

The three new laws at the heart of massive farmer protests near Delhi will not come into force for now. The Supreme Court today hit pause on the laws enacted in September. Should farmers call off their agitation?

The Supreme Court comes down heavily on the government for its inability to resolve the farmers' protests. "Either hold back the farmer laws or we will hold them back," the court said. The protests have now been on for more than 40 days. Several people have lost their lives. The court wants to know if it is someone's ego that is not allowing implementation of the laws to be stopped.

The bird flu has now been detected in ten states across the country including the national capital, Delhi. How serious is this threat? Should one be eating poultry items?

Why pandemics happen in the first place and how an integrated system of technologies will help us respond more rapidly the next time something like this happens? MIT Professor Arup Chakraborty speaks on his new book Viruses, Pandemics and Immunity.

On this episode of Left, Right and Centre: Indian players are racially abused once again in Sydney. Will the abusers face any serious action?

India gets set for the big rollout of the vaccine. It should start rolling out next week, but ahead of that there are huge all-India rollout dry runs which are being carried out even as there has been a rise in the number of UK mutant strain cases in India.

The construction of the new parliament complex near Delhi's India Gate can go ahead, the Supreme Court said today in response to petitions that challenged the Central Vista project in terms of permissions and clearances. On Left, Right and Centre, we ask: Does the Central Vista project reflect the aspirations of a new India or does it destroy a part of the heritage character of central Delhi?