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Row in Nepal after R&AW chief meets KP Oli, party seeks details

Nepal’s embattled Prime Minister, K P Sharma Oli, came under fresh attack Thursday, including from three former Prime Ministers and his own party leaders, for meeting Indian R&AW chief Samant Kumar Goel without keeping them in the loop.

Calling it “improper” and “objectionable”, former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who is also executive chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, Jhalanath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, former Deputy Prime Ministers Bhim Bahadur Rawal and Narayan Kaji Shrestha held separate group meetings, and some took to social media to criticise Oli. They asked him to provide details of the meeting with the R&AW chief that lasted more than two hours, almost till midnight Wednesday.

Goel and team had flown to Kathmandu on a special flight. They were said to have also met Leader of Opposition Sher Bahadur Deuba, former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and Madhes-based leader Mahantha Thakur separately during their nearly 24-hour stay in Nepal where there is fresh political turmoil.

The R&AW chief’s visit, ahead of Indian Army chief General M M Naravane’s scheduled visit next month, comes at a time when India and Nepal are attempting to repair ties, severely strained following escalation of the boundary dispute and Nepal’s publication of a map this summer to include areas of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Prachanda, it is learnt, told his followers that though he has the responsibility to keep the party unity intact, Oli’s “misdeeds” may compel him to take the government to task.

“Such a meeting, keeping the party and the ministry concerned in absolute dark, calls for an explanation from the Prime Minister,” Prachanda told a gathering that included two ministers.

Khanal and Madhav Nepal, it is learnt, also said such a meeting between the Prime Minister and the R&AW chief “in a clandestine manner was detrimental to national interest”.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s press advisor, Surya Thapa, said Goel had a “courtesy meeting” with Oli. He said Goel had underlined smooth Nepal-India relations, resolving pending problems through dialogue, and continuation of mutual cooperation. He did not elaborate further.

Former Foreign Affairs Minister and NCP central secretariat member Narayan Kaji Shrestha wanted to know the nature of Goel’s visit – if it was in personal or official capacity – and the agenda of the discussion with the Prime Minister.

Bhim Bahadur Rawal, former Defence Minister and member of the party’s standing committee, said the timing and manner of the meeting was “not appropriate”.

Dr Reddy’s isolates data centre services after cyber attack

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories on Thursday said it had “isolated” its data centre services after a cyber attack. The Hyderabad-headquartered drug maker reported the data breach days after it received regulatory approvals to conduct human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by a Russian research institute.

“In the wake of a detected cyber-attack, we have isolated all data centre services to take required preventive actions,” Dr Reddy’s told the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday.

“We are anticipating all services to be up within 24 hours and we do not foresee any major impact on our operations due to this incident,” Mukesh Rathi, Chief Information Officer of the company, said.

The attack, the exact nature of which is not yet public, has reportedly also forced the firm to temporarily shut down operations at its major manufacturing facilities across the world. Pharma experts said this is necessary to minimise the impact of a breach of cyber security.

Besides India, Dr Reddy’s has manufacturing facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and China. It has research and development facilities in the US, the UK, the Netherlands and India. The company has 29 global offices in various continents.

In response to an email sent by Dr Reddy’s, company that will conduct Russian vaccine trials, isolates its data after cyber attack to confirm whether it had shut down production operations, a spokesperson said the company had “no further comments” to add to its statement to the BSE.

Pharmaceutical industry experts said data breaches at pharma companies often turned out to be “serious and critical” events that called for measures such as halting production while the breach was analysed and security issues were plugged.

Pharma firms rely on the integrity of data to ensure the quality of their medicines, the experts said. In the event of a breach, operations are stopped until the companies can be certain that their data remain secure and reliable.

“At the end of the day, whatever drugs you consume are dependent on the quality of data based on the regulatory norm or GMP (good manufacturing practices) requirement – whether it is a batch release, pharmacokinetics data, or data related to the material used in the drug,” said A Vaidheesh, former managing director and vice president-South Asia at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals.

“There is a lot of information that goes into the manufacturing of a drug, and if that data is compromised, it becomes difficult to release any drug… Critical process parameters (CPP) in pharmaceutical manufacturing are key variables affecting the production process. Hence protection of data is critical,” Vaidheesh said.

An executive at an Indian pharma company said on condition of anonymity: “Over the last 10-15 years, pharmaceutical companies have shifted most of their documentation and manufacturing process data to the digital space, which leaves their manufacturing operations vulnerable to cyber security issues.”

Dr Reddy’s had told BSE on Saturday that it had received approval from the Drug Controller General of India, the country’s top drug regulator, to conduct mid- to late-stage clinical trials for the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow.

The firm is expected to conduct phase 2/3 trials on around 1,500 participants across 10 sites, a senior government official told The Indian Express.