FDA allows emergency use of drug remdesivir for COVID 19

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized Remdesivir (a nucleoside ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase inhibitor) an experimental antiviral drug, for emergency use to treat Covid-19.

The authorization allows the intravenous drug to be distributed to doctors to administer to patients with severe disease.

Many health experts have had high hopes for the drug, which was initially developed by Gilead Sciences to treat Ebola. In past,it was also  used in experiments to treat the coronaviruses SARS and MERS. That early testing gave remdesivir a head start in the race for a treatment to Covid-19.

The NIH trial, called the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial, included 1,063 patients. The results showed that the median time to recover for patients who randomly received the placebo was 15 days while patients who received remdesivir had a median recovery time of 11 days. Remdesivir also lowered the mortality rate compared to the placebo group, from 11.6 percent to 8 percent.

These results, however, are preliminary. There are at least 19 studies on remdesivir around the world underway or in planning stages, some recruiting thousands of patients. It will be several months before they yield definitive answers, but they will, hopefully, bring the world closer to a working treatment.

Earlier  a randomized trial of the drug in China recently published in the Lancet  found that there was no statistical benefit to taking the drug. The study  was based on a true randomized controlled trial from Wuhan, China, with 237 patients. The study was also peer-reviewed by other scientists. Initially, the authors wanted to include up to 450 patients, but the lockdown imposed in the city meant that patients stopped arriving.

The FDA on 28^th March, 2020  had approved  emergency use authorization to a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, after President Donald Trump repeatedly promoted it as a possible treatment for COVID-19. 

Here is the link to the announcement.

US FDA announcement  

India's Namaste Greeting Go Global Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

India prides itself on popularizing yoga and meditation in many parts of the world. Its looks like another practice   the traditional greeting, the "namaste", described as “virus-proof,” goes global as some world leaders adopt it amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hand hygiene has emerged as the foremost preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus and this has sidelined the handshake, the 'namaste' is increasingly becoming popular.

"Namaste,” a combination of two Sanskrit words Namas & Te, translates into “bowing to you” and does not involve skin contact and allows people to maintain a distance.  

Here is embed video   from BBC

Mumbai Police sets up Punishing Signal to stop unnecessary honking. (watch the video)

There is a truth universally acknowledged by drivers in India: Honk your horn loud enough and the traffic lights will surely change to green. 

How many times has it happened that you are standing at a traffic signal and people waiting behind you kept honking repeatedly, even when the light was red? 

Fed up of impatient drivers, police in Mumbai have come up with a new system to punish those who cannot wait at traffic lights in silence.

The new system, said the police, was quite simple: “Honk more, wait more.”

Known as “the punishing signal”, Mumbai police installed a rigged traffic light system to tackle the problem of “reckless honkers”, which resets  the red traffic signal to a longer duration,  every time the sound of horns goes above 85 decibels and  one need  to wait more.

Great Idea!!!!! This will surely  bring discipline  and responsibility among the drivers in Mumbai.

Please  see the video  which was released by Mumbai Police.

Number of crorepati taxpayers up 20% to 97,689 in AY 2018-19: CBDT data

The Central Board of Direct Taxes  of India (CBDT) has now come out with a detailed break-up of data collected from income tax returns (ITR). 

According to the report, the number of crorepati taxpayers in India shot up 20% to 97,689 during assessment year I,e AY  2018-19 or FY 2017-18. 

The number of such individuals having taxable income of over ₹1 crore stood at 81,344 during AY 2017-18.

Here are few   important  statistics:

  India's super-rich club of those earning taxable income of above ₹500 crore has only 3 individuals.  

over 1.7 lakh people filed income tax returns with zero income.

There were at least 89,793 people in India who earned in between ₹1 crore and 5 crore. In the ₹5-10 crore income bracket, India had 5,132 taxpayers while the ₹10-25 crore range had a little more than 2,000 individuals

If the salary break-up is considered, most of the taxpayers (over 81 lakh) seem to be earning a salary in between ₹5.5 lakh and ₹9.5 lakh. The average salary income in this category is ₹7.12 lakh.

If taxpayers across categories like individuals, HUFs, companies, firms, etc are included, the number of those with taxable income of more than ₹1 crore per annum rises to about 1.67 lakh, a 19% jump from the previous year.





Over all, more than 5.87 crore income tax returns were filled, as per the statistics generated from e-filed returns (digitally signed, e-verified or where ITRV has been received) submitted up to August 15, 2019.

The data revealed that over 5.52 crore individuals, 11.3 lakh HUFs, 12.69 lakh firms and 8.41 lakh companies were among those who filed returns. 

Here is the link to the report.

India slashes corporate tax to fire up economy, Dalal street responds with a massive surge.

Diwali came early for India Inc and the bourses after the Centre slashed effective corporate tax to 25.17 per cent. Indian  Finance Minister says the new rates would be "comparable with the lowest tax rates in South Asian region and in South East Asia". The announcement sent shares soaring more than five percent in Mumbai -- the biggest jump in 10 years .

Here's what India FM announced on Friday,  20^th Sept :

• Domestic company to pay income tax at the rate of 22% subject to condition they will not avail any incentive or exemptions. 

• Manufacturing companies set up after October 1 to get option to pay 15% tax. Effective tax rate for new manufacturing firms to be 17.01% inclusive of surcharge & tax.

• Listed companies that have announced buyback before July 5, 2019, tax on buyback of shares will not be charged.

• Higher surcharge will also not apply on capital gains on sale of security including derivatives held by FPIs.

• Enhanced surcharge will not apply to capital gains arising on equity sale or equity-oriented funds liable to STT stabilise flow of funds into capital markets.

• To provide relief to companies availing of concessions and benefits, a MAT relief by reducing it from 18% to 15%.

• CSR 2% spending to include government, PSU incubators and public funded universities, IITs, National  Labs & autonomous  bodies engaged in  research in science, technology, engineering & medicines. 

The following graphics from Eco times of India  sums it all.