OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 MOHAMED A EL ERIAN The G7 must bat for equitable access to vaccines INTERNATIONAL, P8 SUNIL JAIN FUEL TAXES CEMENTING INFLUENCE For meaningful privatisation, amend the 'PSUs as instrumentalities of the state' clause in the Constitution Centre and states need to act jointly, says Sitharaman Small sacrifice Down Under helps Facebook keep empire intact KOLKATA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2021 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. 30 NO. 100, 18 PAGES, `6.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `10.00) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 51,039.31 ▲ 257.62 NIFTY: 15,097.35 ▲ 115.35 NIKKEI 225: 30,168.27 ▲ 496.57 HANG SENG: 30074.17 ▲ 355.93 `/$: 72.42 ▼ 0.10 `/€: 88.50 ▼ 0.52 BRENT: $67.30 ▲ $0.26 GOLD: `46,344 ▼ `277 CONTENT CONTROL Stricter rules for social media, OTTs, digital news For social media (intermediaries): WhatsApp must name originator of mischievous messages, online news media can be asked to remove objectionable content FE BUREAU New Delhi, February 25 INTERMEDIARIESLIKEWHATSAPP must identify the first originatorof messages deemed mischievousbythegovernment and all intermediarieswill need to pull down unlawful content within 36 hours of it being flagged, following fresh draft guidelines notified by the government on Thursday.Streaming services like Netflix and Google’s YouTube must selfregulate and classify content in categories according to age. Also, digital news media organisations can be directed by the government to remove anycontentunderSection69A of the IT Act which it finds objectionablefromthepointof view of law and order, country’s sovereignty, integrity, or friendly relations with neighbouring countries. Thesenewregulationshave been framed under the Information TechnologyAct,2000. The new rules say that OTT playersmusttakeintoconsideration,“India’s multi-racial and multi-religious context”when featuring content relating to anyracial orreligious group. Stand-alone digital media organisations need to follow the code of journalistic ethics laid down by Press Council of India,currently observed by print media and the Cable and TV Regulation Act, which applies to television news. Need to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users orvictims Removewithin 24 hours ofreceipt of complaints ofcontents relating to nudity, sexual act, morphed images Need to remove any content upon intimation by court or govt which is seen to be inimical to sovereignty and integrity ofIndia, public order, friendly relationswith foreign countries etcwithin 36 hours Platforms likeWhatsApp need to disclose first originator ofmischievous messages which may lead to law and order problem Continued on Page 2 ■ UK's secretary of state to now authorise extradition order, has two months to make the decision ■ Nirav Modi has up to 14 days withinwhich to approach the HC ■ Home secretary's order rarely goes against the court's conclusions cluded that there are no human rights concerns that his medical needs would not be addressed as per several Indian government assurances. The 49-year-old appeared via videolink from Wandsworth Prison in southwest London. ■ He may seek leave to appeal after the home secretary's decision ■ Any appeal, if granted, will be heard at the Administrative Division ofthe HC in London FE BUREAU New Delhi, February 25 “I am satisfied that there is evidence upon which NDM (Nirav Deepak Modi) could be convicted in relation the conspiracy to defraud the PNB. A prima face case is established,” the judge said. GLOBAL RATING AGENCY Moody's on Thursday sharply raised its India growth forecast for the next fiscal to 13.7% from 10.8% estimated earlier, citing growing confidence of the normalisation of economic activity with the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines. For the current fiscal, the global rating agency revised up its prediction of a contraction in real GDP to 7% from 10.6%. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 DAS-SPEAK Oil prices remained close to 13-month highs on Thursday, with profit-taking limited by an assurance that US interest rates will stay low and a sharp drop in US crude output last week due to the Texas storm. US West Texas Intermediate was down at $62.73, after hitting a 13-month high of $63.79 Brent ($/bbl) Intra-day, Feb 25 67.20 67.21 67.2 67.0 66.6 IN A COMPREHENSIVE win forthe Indian authorities,a UK judge ruled on Thursday that fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi not only has a case to answer in the Indian courts but that there is no evidence to suggest he would not receive a fair trial in India. Nirav Modi, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, lost his legal battle against extradition on all grounds as District Judge Samuel Goozee also con- WHATLIESAHEAD... —RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD, IT MINISTER Oil prices nudge $64 66.8 ADITI KHANNA London, February 25 Moody’s raises India growth forecast to 13.7% We welcome criticism and dissent but it is important that users of social media are given a proper forum for the resolution of their grievances in a time-bound manner Crude fact 67.4 Nirav Modi to be extradited to India Digital media outlets need to follow code ofethics laid down under Press Council of India and Cable andTVRegulationAct Disclose information related to themselves to the govt as is currently applicable to print and TVnews media OTTs need to categorise content into five age-based categories as is done by films andTV currently Athree-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established to handle complaintswith regard to violation ofethics by OTTs & digital media outletswith 3 different levels ofself-regulation —PRAKASH JAVADEKAR, I&B MINISTER 67.6 ● FY22 OUTLOOK For OTTs & Digital News Media: Digital media portals have no right to spread rumour. The media's freedom is absolute but with reasonable restrictions. 67.8 PNB SCAM Previous close: 67.04 Open @ IST: 17:23 hrs QuickPicks Tyagi highlights concerns over markets-economy disconnect SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Ajay Tyagi highlighted risks that emanated from a growing disconnect between markets and the economy, reports fe Bureau in Mumbai. Tyagi said the disconnect witnessed in the financial markets and the Indian economy had possibly never been witnessed before. PAGE 10 New ARC eyes specific set of PSB bad assets FE BUREAU Mumbai, February 25 THE NEW ASSET reconstruction company (ARC) proposed intheUnionBudgetisaimedat resolving a specific set of bad assets with some public sector banks (PSBs) and there is room for one such company,Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor ShaktikantaDassaidonThursday.The central bank is closely looking at an updated regulatory architecture for the ARC sector, just as it has done for non-bankingfinancialcompanies (NBFCs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs), Das said, speaking at an online event hosted by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce. In response to a query on the need for another ARC, the ‘Tie-up with Serum key to mass production of Covid vaccines’ BRITISH-SWEDISH PHARMA giant AstraZeneca and US pharmaceutical major Novavax have told lawmakers that they are ready to scale up their production of Covid-19 vaccines in partnership with the Serum Institute of India, reports PTI. SII is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume. It is manufacturing the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University — known locally as Covishield. PAGE 17 There is scope to have one more strong ARC formed by banks themselves Will upgrade regulatory architecture for ARCs so that they have skin in the game and are in business RBI doing deep dive into areas of banking which were not done earlier governor said that the Budget proposalisthe resultofa bankled initiative. Continued on Page 2 Indian Newspaper Society tells Google to pay newspapers for content THE INDIAN NEWSPAPER Society wrote to Google on Thursday asking it to compensate Indian newspaper for the use of their content, and to share its advertising revenues properly, reports Express News Service in New Delhi. In a letter to Google India country manager Sanjay Gupta,INS pres- identLAdmiloolamsaidthat Google should increase publisher share of advertising revenue to 85%. The letter saidnewspapersemploythousands of journalists at considerable cost for gathering information, and that this content was proprietary and gaveGoogleits“authenticity in India”. PAGE 17 ● COVID-19 Nearly 90% of new cases from seven states PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, February 25 INDIA'S COVID-19 ACTIVE cases were recorded at 1,51,708, the Union health ministry said on Thursday, highlighting that the surge was due to rise in daily new cases in some states like Maharashtra,Kerala,Punjab,Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. A total of 16,738 new daily cases have been recorded in a span of 24 hours. The ministry said 89.57% of the new cases are from seven states. Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,807. It is followed by Kerala with 4,106 cases whilePunjabreported558newcases. ■ Active cases recorded at 1,51,708 ■ Surge due to rise in daily new cases in some states ■ A total of 16,738 new daily cases recorded in a span of 24 hours ■ Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,807, followed by Kerala with 4,106 cases The Centre has written to states and Union Territories to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission. Continued on Page 2 Pandemic could impact 375 million children in long term FE BUREAU New Delhi, February 25 COVID WILL LEAVE a long-lasting impact — from malnutrition to increased mortality to education loss—on nearly 375 million children in the countryin the age range of 0-14 years, warns the State of the Environment report 2021, brought out by the Centre forScience andEnvironment. Continued on Page 2 Kolkata