Amid Covid Second Wave, Sonia Gandhi's Wishlist To PM Modi

Sonia Gandhi sought speedy approval of new vaccines, a decision on eligibility of people based on exposure instead of age, removal on the Goods and Services Tax on life saving drugs, and direct benefit transfer to the poor

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting several issues in view of the ongoing second wave of Covid. Her wishlist includes speedy approval of new vaccines and a decision on eligibility of people based on exposure instead of age. She has also sought the removal on the Goods and Services Tax on life saving drugs, and immediate transfer of Rs 6,000 under direct benefit transfer to the eligible families. In her letter, Mrs Gandhi wrote that she has discussed the Covid situation with Chief Ministers of states ruled by the Congress -- singly or in alliance. Most states, she wrote, are left with a vaccine stock of just three to five days. "While it will be necessary on one hand to substantially ramp up our domestic production capacity, it will also be prudent to allow emergency use authorization of all the vaccine candidates that have the required clearances, without any further delay," she wrote. She also highlighted an issue Maharashtra has already flagged -- that the allocation of vaccines cannot be the same for all states and should be based on population.