A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Over 1.91 lakh vaccinated on day 1; ‘tremendous relief’, says health minister: PM Narendra Modi urged citizens not to ignore the second dose of the vaccine and told them to ignore rumours about the efficacy of the vaccine.
  2. Three days before Balakot strike, Arnab Goswami said ‘something big will happen’ on WhatsApp chat: The transcript of the purported chat between Goswami and the former BARC chief is part of the Mumbai Police chargesheet in the TRP scam case.
  3. NIA summons farmers’ union leader for questioning on January 17: Baldev Singh Sirsa contended that the government was only trying to disrupt the farmers’ stir.
  4. Former civil servants raise questions on transparency of PM-CARES, ask Modi to make details public: They asked why ministers were trustees in their official capacity and not as private citizens if the fund was a public trust.
  5. India does not protect human rights defenders properly, says UN representative: United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor was speaking at an event to mark 100 days since activist Stan Swamy was imprisoned.
  6. Thane court grants bail to 89 accused in Palghar lynching: The advocates representing the accused told the court that the applicants had no role in the attack and they were arrested on mere suspicion.
  7. ‘Don’t hide behind vaccine nationalism’, says Congress leader as he trades barbs with Health Minister Harsh Vardhan: After Manish Tewari raised questions on the efficacy of Covaxin, the Union minister said that he and his party were only focused on spreading distrust & rumours.
  8. We prefer Covishield vaccine over Covaxin, say doctors at Delhi’s RML Hospital: Activist Saket Gokhale has filed a writ petition against DCGI asking for Covaxin’s safety and efficacy data.
  9. Comedian Munawar Faruqui’s bail plea deferred till January 22 as police fail to produce case diary: Despite the lack of concrete evidence, the bail pleas of Faruqui and others have been rejected twice, stating that their release would disrupt law and order.
  10. WhatsApp delays new privacy policy launch, says accounts will not be deleted on February 8: The new policy announced earlier this month had faced backlash from users and several of them left the messaging platform.