Best of BS Opinion: Covid-19 vaccine, promise of techno-nationalism & more

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

A day after the Indian drug regulator’s announcement that it has approved Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, serious questions have been raised regarding the transparency and credibility of the approval process. The top edit sets out some of the anomalies experts have raised suggesting that greater transparency is vital to forestall widespread mistrust in the vaccine, defeating the very purpose of this fast-tracked approval for a rapid return to normalcy. Read it here
 

Other views examine the assumptions in Budget-making this year, India’s rising techno-nationalism and the implications of economic coalitions with China.
 

As state and central governments finalise their FY22 budgets, how much higher should they assume FY22 will be over FY20, the last “normal” year before the pandemic? Neelkanth Mishra sets out the challenges in making those assessments. Read it here
 

The rising tide of techno-nationalism in India underlines the truth that successive governments have failed to articulate a coherent long-term vision and a clearly articulated R&D action plan with timelines and targets, writes Prosenjit Datta. Read it here
 

The EU-China investment agreement reveals the folly of expectations by coalitions of the willing that dealing with Chinese misadventures will be straightforward even if the US resumes leadership of the effort, says the second edit, explaining the implications for India. Read it here

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I thought I knew something about the process of licensure of vaccines, but clearly I do not.”

Dr Gagandeep Kang, Professor, CMC, Vellore on the approval of two Covid-19 vaccines