Aatma Nirbhar Bharat: Delhi govt to disallow global tenders up to Rs 200 crore

The Delhi government's move comes days after the Centre announced the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' or 'Self-reliant India Mission' under which global tenders up to Rs 200 crore were recently disallowed.

PTI

May 24, 2020 / 21:01 IST

In a bid to promote domestic business, the Delhi government has asked all its departments to desist from issuing global tenders of contract value up to Rs 200 crore, an official said on Sunday.

The Delhi government's move comes days after the Centre announced the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' or 'Self-reliant India Mission' under which global tenders up to Rs 200 crore were recently disallowed.

According to an official, the finance department of the Delhi government has asked all heads of departments, commissioners of municipal corporations and autonomous bodies to adopt the Centre's amended General Financial Rules (GFR).

The move will benefit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

"The Delhi government has endorsed the amendment in GFR made by the Department of Expenditure under Union Ministry of Finance, and forwarded it to HODs for necessary action," the official said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show