Best of BS Opinion: Next step on vaccines, farmers' protest, and more

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day.

The expert committee nominated by the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation has recommended the use of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield, to be manufactured by Serum Institute, and Bharat Biotech-ICMR’s Covaxin for emergency use. Although dry runs have been conducted for the vaccine delivery, plans for a speedy rollout are nowhere in evidence. Yet, such meticulous planning is exactly what is needed if the vaccine is to be effective in building herd immunity and offering a return to normal economic life, says the top edit here. 
 

Other views today examine the stock-market surge, solutions to the huge backlog in court cases and the future of banking.
 

The last round of talks between farmers’ organisations and the government had raised some hope, but it now appears that the government conceded some ground for virtually nothing in return. Whichever way you look at it, the second edit argues, farmers have taken a maximalist position and are now blackmailing the government. Read it here
 

What explains the surge in the stock-markets when economic growth has collapsed worldwide? Hindsight offers many explanations but few of them apply to 2020’s mega-rally, writes Debashis Basu here
 

Those banks that remain complacent, bragging about their captive customer base, may turn dinosaurs in the coming decade. Tamal Bandyopadhyay explains why here
 

The higher judiciary is beginning to appreciate the benefits of e-courts in clearing the mounting backlog of court cases even as multiple other efforts are already under way to use information technology to ease the work of both lawyers and judges, says Ajit Balakrishnan. Read it here
 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“How can I trust the vaccine, which will be used for vaccination by the BJP? We cannot get vaccinated by the BJP's vaccine”

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav