COVID-19: Nitin Gadkari says 'Scientists in India working to develop Coronavirus vaccine'

In view of the Coronavirus pandemic, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that several Indian scientists and institutions are working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Addressing the 'MSME and Infrastructure-Paving the growth path in Post-COVID World' event, he said, "I have heard that a lot of experiments in the US have been successfully implemented. In India also a lot of institutions and scientists are working on it. We are waiting for the vaccine," he said while addressing MSME and Infrastructure-Paving the growth path in Post-COVID World event.

He further added, "At the same time, we are facing an economic war. Not only India but the whole world is facing this problem. I feel that the way in which the whole world now has a lot of reactions about China, the whole world is now interested to find out some new options for them. I feel that India is definitely going to be a very good, viable option for all the investors in the world." 

Read: Nitin Gadkari reaffirms Modi govt's decision to hike MSP for crops

Gadkari clarifies on MSP statement 

Earlier, several reports were out quoting the Union Minister that the government's Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agriculture crops are way higher than domestic market prices and international rates which can create an "economic crisis" in the country. To this, Dakari refuted the claims and said, "Union Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership had decided to hike MSP. I have not made any statements about decreasing MSP. This has been falsely attributed to me and I feel bad about it. Farmers should stay away from the wrong news. The Central government has always protected farmers and will continue doing so."

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Earlier this month, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had announced that the Union Cabinet has approved the increase in MSP  for 14 Kharif crops by 50 percent to 83 percent. Maintaining that the farmers were a priority for the Centre even during the nationwide lockdown, he had revealed that they gave a bumper crop due to the thoughtful decisions taken by the government. Tomar had also mentioned that the Cabinet had decided to extend the time for the farmers to repay their loans till August 31. If a farmer managed to repay the loan till August 31, only a 4 percent interest shall be applicable.

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(With ANI inputs)