Actor Liam Hemsworth has revealed that he is ”loving” the married life with pop star-actor Miley Cyrus. The 29-year-old actor and Cyrus, 26, tied the knot at their home in Franklin, Tennessee, in December last year.
‘It’s wonderful! I’m loving it. It doesn’t feel like a lot’s changed, but on the other hand it has!” Hemsworth said while attending the G’Day USA Gala in California.
According to the Independent, the event honours prominent Australian individuals from the worlds of entertainment, sports and culture. Hemsworth was honoured with the Excellence in Film award.
The event also marked Hemsworth and Cyrus’ first joint public appearance since tying the knot. The couple invited only close relatives and friends to their nuptials and Hemsworth said that it was great to have their loved ones with them on their special day. It was just a really nice, beautiful day with our immediate family and a couple of close friends.
Hemsworth and Cyrus first met on the set of the 2010 Nicholas Sparks film “The Last Song”, in which they play each other’s love interests.
Senior leader Shashi Tharoor said that the Congress will not hold back its big guns and will pull out all the stops before the general elections. The Congress party wants defenestration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Tharoor, who recently wrote a book on Modi titled The Paradoxical Prime Minister, further added that the prime minister makes all the liberal statements in public such as “sab ka saath sab ka vikas” (together with all, development for all) or the “Constitution is my only holy book”, but relies on the most illiberal elements in the Indian society for his electoral support and political viability. While speaking on Priyanka Gandhi’s introduction as the Congress’s general secretary, the 62-year-old MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that she had the charisma to galvanise voters and will be an asset to the party.
“The Congress will pull out all the stops before the general elections. Priyanka Gandhi is seen as a figure with great appeal and great credibility. So far, she has been very restrained, doing behind the scenes work and confining herself to Amethi and Rae Bareli. However, the fact is that she is now going to take a new role is a sign that we are not holding back our big guns, Tharoor told reporter in an interview. The Congress party intends to aim for Modi’s defenestration. We want Modi and his government’s defenestration (action or process of dismissing someone from a position of power or authority)”, he said on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival.
Tharoor also said that Gandhi may have yet to prove her mettle publicly, but privately the party has seen her involved in a number of issues. Those who have seen her even on television know how quickly she makes a connection, how fluently and idiomatically she speaks and how easily she connects with the people. She doesn’t behave like a political novice. However, Tharoor questioned the prime minister’s complete silence on issues like cow vigilantism, ghar wapsi and love jihad, saying paradox remains central to Modi’s leadership. Modi is the best orator in Hindi that I have seen. Yet he has remained silent when his moral leadership was called on. He modulates his voice, chooses his words to the maximum impact, and uses theatrical gestures. That is part of his major political appeal. Why can’t he speak when the country is crying out for a voice to share the pain of the families of Mohammad Akhlaq, Juniad Khan, Pehlu Khan, Rohith Vemula or for the Dalit boys who were flogged in Rajasthan for skinning the carcass of a cow which was their job? Nothing on any of these cases from him, just complete and total silence.
Tharoor further touched upon the controversial remark he made at the Bangalore Literature Festival, where he claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”. The Congress leader said that he cited the news article to prove there was evidence that the RSS was not fully comfortable with the conversion of Hindutva to Moditva. It was blown out of proportion. Anyone who watches the context of my speech will see that I was specifically addressing the issue of whether the RSS was fully comfortable with the conversion of Hindutva to Moditva which is Hindutva plus the outsized personality cult for an individual leader, and I said there is evidence that they are not totally comfortable with it. Ironically, I even found a video clip of Gordhan Zadafia saying exactly this and he may not be the only one to have said it. Zadafia was a Gujarat Minister who is now one of the UP in-charges for the BJP. So if someone who is very much RSS-BJP has said this openly and on record, then I don’t think I was wrong in quoting it.
Tharoor has courted a few controversies in the recent past. In August last year, he had spoken about Modi donning “outlandish” Naga and other headgear on his trips but refusing to sport a Muslim skull cap, drawing condemnation from the BJP which had dubbed it as insulting to the people of the North-East. However, the outspoken MP also kicked up a row with his remarks that no “good” Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else’s place of worship.
EVMs are part and parcel of our election process and we need to depend on this system keeping in view of increasing population in India. It is an easy and foolproof system followed in an effort to provide a quick and most dependable verdict for both the ruling and opposition parties. The recent rubbishing of the claim made by a former employee is just for a publicity stunt in the wake of the election coming up in India and served no purpose. The Election Commission is not interested in a motivated slugfest and it firmly stands up by the empirical facts about the foolproof nature of EVMs deployed in earlier elections in India.
When BJP wins there is EVM fraud and hacking when Congress swiped all three states the same EVM worked. The conspirator to such charges should be declared as anti-national and anti-Indian challenging the election system. Winning three states this party thinks that they have won entire India’s voters heart. The negative impact will be much as voters are not fooled. EVM is the best system of conducting the election. This is a demon of the democratic system and should be taken to task. It is all fabricated and conducted by him sitting at the UK. The news of the death of Munde as planned killing is another serious allegation without basing on any fact.
Those who propagate false claim without any prima facie evidence are acting against basic democracy and hence should be arrested under NSA, unless they can demonstrate hacking of EVM publicly. If EVM were defective then we should cancel the election result of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and MP and let there be an election by paper ballot. There is no end to the endless allegations in the name of dirty politics.
It is necessary to take cognizance of the allegation by an Indian in International Media about EVM hacking and alleged crime committed during previous LS election. ECI should file an FIR to bring the complainant to India for investigation as he was aware of the alleged crime and he concealed it. If it is true then he is in some way associated with the hatching of the alleged crime against a big politician. He also claims that he turned the Delhi elections in favour of AAP. It is also a big crime. If he is wrong then he is working in tandem with certain political groups for their advantage during the ensuing elections. He should then be punished for his misdeeds.
No system is hundred per cent foolproof. We all know what used to happen during ballot box days. The election commission has already given enough opportunity to political parties to show their claim of hacking EVM, but they all failed. Nowadays any Tom, Dick, and Harry stand up and start claiming hacking EVM. Our media should not give them space before verifying such stupid claims and the print media should have rational thinking on this sensitive subject.
The Election Commission is the only body to have authority to use and handle the EVM and there is no chance of hacking if it is not even being given to another person and for hacking u need to put an external device and to do so u have break open the seal of EVM which is not possible within the time duration of clicking button of EVM.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
The Western Railway has provided segways, the two-wheeled, self-balancing and battery-powered electric vehicles, to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel deployed at major railway stations in Mumbai.
The vehicle, introduced on the Republic Day, will help the RPF in keeping an eye on every nook and corner of the railway stations, specially on long platforms, Western Railway’s Chief PRO Ravinder Bhakar said on Monday.
“This is the first-of-its-kind initiative by the Indian Railways. We have got six segways and five more are expected in the next few weeks,” he said.
These segways will be used by RPF personnel at Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Bandra Terminus, Andheri and Borivali stations, he added.
Currently, segways are used by Marine Drive police in South Mumbai to patrol on the promenade and the officials need sufficient training to operate these self-balancing vehicles.
Amid tight security, former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was on Monday produced before a Delhi court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case.
The court had on January 22 issued production warrant against the former Congress leader after Tihar Jail authorities, where he is lodged after conviction in another case related to the riots, could not produce him.
In the case before the trial court, three persons — Kumar, Brahmanand Gupta and Ved Prakash — are facing trial on charges of murder and rioting pertaining to the killing of Surjit Singh in Sultanpuri.
The riots broke out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
The modus operandi of forcing a woman to commit frauds is on the increase. In two separate incidents such a move was taken but in both the cases, the women were arrested. Women decently dressed and have a beautiful look are forced to act as a buyer of gold make good with the yellow metal with a fraudulent motive is not common as the price of gold is on the increase and it is a safe investment. Numbers of credit cards are stolen in busy places to commit such fraudulent transactions and make good the payment by selling them at an attractive price. Again, a woman acting as a ticket checker made some easy money before being got red handed. It is high time to catch hold of the culprits before committing offense so as to provide the much-needed confidence among the people of the metro.
Arati Vatsala
Senior citizen in international chess tournament
Ramesh Mohite, Sanpada’s senior citizen participated in the C Category of the Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament by Delhi Chess Association at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from Jan 13-16, 2019. The champion chess player from the satellite city won 6 points with 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats out of possible 10 points. He was awarded a scholarship of Rs 2000 for his fine effort. This was his second International Chess Tournament and in the process, he defeated some of the highly rated players and proved that he is second to none in his chess moves. The tournament was a record of the sort as 1500 players participated from all over India and abroad in the four-day tournament during Sankaranti time in the capital. Kudos to Mohite for his stupendous show!
C.K. Subramaniam
Sewage suffocation sufferings
The tragic death of sewage unit workers due to suffocation opened up the Pandora’s Box about the safety of such labourers doing a thankless job. The deaths of three have yet again exposed the utter disregard shown by civic administration and private agencies towards the safety of its conservancy workforce. Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation will have to provide the proper operating system in opening the manhole and suck out the poisonous gas well in time before allowing the workers to get into the manhole for cleaning and other work. The increasing population in the suburbs and in the city is the root cause for all the troubles leading to suffocation. It is a case of negligence and happens time again, despite all the precaution taken. Time tested methods will have to be followed to avoid such suffocation deaths and make sure that the conservancy workforce is given full protection in taking up such risky jobs. Sewage sufferings through suffocation should be put a full stop in all the Municipal Corporation in and around Mumbai in general and Maharashtra in particular.
Jayanthy Anandambal Mani
Priyanka brings glamour and hype to Indian politics!
Bold and beautiful Priyanka Gandhi brings glamour and hype to Indian politics on the eve of general elections but doesn’t think she has the ability to convert this into ‘seats’ for the Congress. She has a striking resemblance to her grandmother former PM Indira Gandhi but comparison along with the ‘Vadra’ tag is a liability which may prove her downfall. Thrown into UP politics in an area where PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath have a strong base, Priyanka would find the going tough where she would draw crowds but would not be able to convert them into votes and seats.
However, politics runs into Priyanka’s blood and she has literally grown amidst the power circles of Indian politics. She is clever enough to mould herself into the new job at hand and time would determine her success in politics. Wishing Priyanka Gandhi good look and hope her entry into active politics inspire more women to enter politics which today is dominated by men!
S.N.Kabra
Right candidate
Priyanka (Gandhi) Vadra is the right candidate to revive the Congress from fading. She’ll even make a good Prime Minister if given a chance. She has got the courage and will-power just like her grandmother. Nobody else but only she can revive it.
Jubel D’Cruz
Much needed reprieve
The recent move by Hon’ble Ministry of Civil Aviation to invite and thrown open 13 airports in the third round of bids under UDAN is welcome. The visibility of unused airports like that of Car Nicobar, the much needed at airline connectivity to the airports like at Amaravati, Nashik, Kalaburagi and Kalaikunda (Kharagpur) is a positive and welcome step. The new routes awarded now also include connectivity to popular places like Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and the historic Thanjavur city. The operation of Belagavi-Pune and Kalauragi-Bengaluru flights brings in much-needed reprieve after a much longer wait.
UDAN scheme no doubt helps to connect to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities aided by VGF support rendered by the Ministry. Further, the Ministry should now envisage the scheme so as to encourage medium-haul and long-haul flights either through a direct or onward connection. A return short-haul flight to a Tier 2 city may bring in much-expected demand, but as there is a high necessity for passengers to now use popular international airports as a transit point. Hence direct connectivity to nearby major airports through a medium haul or a long haul flight should be arranged. With the successful launch of UDAN III, the popular scheme may now fulfill further requirements upon considering feasibility factors as necessary.
Further, the ministry should also give a robust push to UDAN for international sectors, post successful launch of Vijayawada-Singapore and Guwahati-Bangkok/Dhaka routes. Efforts should be made to identify suitable airports under Tier 2 cities which carry excessive commercial and tourism potential. Key connectivity thereafter to a suitable international route across the Middle East and South East nations like Colombo, Male, Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok from these Tier 2 airports may be planned in the upcoming UDAN schemes.
Varun S D
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to specify by January 30 the date on which it wanted to interrogate Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, in the INX Media and the Aircel Maxis cases.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, to seek instructions and give the date on which the probe agency wanted to quiz Karti.
The bench was hearing Karti’s plea seeking permission to travel to France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom for the next few months for international tennis tournaments organised by a company called ‘Totus Tennis Ltd’ having its registered office in the UK.
“We will ensure both. We will ensure that he appears before you (ED) and he goes for his tennis assignment,” the bench said adding, “No tennis for him if he evades”.
The ED will have to apprise the court by January 30 about the date on which it wants Karti to appear before it for interrogation.
Karti is facing criminal cases being investigated by the ED one of which relates to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds of Rs 305 crore when his father was the finance minister.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear in April the Centre’s plea seeking Rs 7,844 crore as additional fund from the successor firms of Union Carbide for giving compensation to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said that it would hear the central government’s curative petition for enhanced compensation for the victims in April.
However, the Centre is seeking a direction to Union Carbide and other firms for Rs 7,844 crore additional amounts over and above the earlier settlement amount of USD 470 million for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.
Over 3,000 people had died in the tragedy due to release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.
Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has since long been demanding the highest civilian award for Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who spent the prime of his life at the Cellular Jail in Andaman after being sentenced to life. However, on Monday, Sena slammed the ruling government stating it as an “unfortunate” thing that the icon of the country’s freedom struggle Veer Savarkar has been neglected even in the “Modi era” and not honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
Sena’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut had a few years back written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying it was high time that the NDA government honoured Savarkar with the Bharat Ratna so as to rectify the “mistakes” of earlier governments which had “deliberately neglected” him due to his staunch Hindutva views.
It also said that the highest civilian award has been conferred on veteran artiste late Bhupen Hazarika only with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, which is a “wrong” thing.
“The Congress insulted Savarkar during its regime. But what did the Modi government do after coming to power? The BJP was pitching hard for the Bharat Ratna for Savarkar when it was in opposition. But neither the Ram temple got constructed nor Savarkar got the Bharat Ratna,” the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
“It is unfortunate that even in the ‘Modi era’, Savarkar has not been given the Bharat Ratna,” it rued.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to Andaman last month and visited the cell where Savarkar was once jailed.
“He (Modi) did some mediation but it got washed away in the waves of ocean,” it said in sarcastic remarks.
Patting itself over Pranab Mukherjee being conferred the Bharat Ratna, the Sena said it had backed his candidature for the president’s post despite opposition from the BJP.
“If Mukherjee was ‘Bharat Ratna’, then why was he not given second term as president. His election would have been unopposed,” it opined.
Charisma or Personality of a leader has been a defining factor in Indian Politics but looking at the recent competition of Indian political parties to woo the cine world celebrities, it seems that the politics of today is thriving for publicity from these star faces more than the governance.
With the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away, the PM Narendra Modi-led BJP is looking to mark its footprints into as many varied constituencies as it can and the Hindi film industry turns out to be a key feature of PM’s modus operandi.
In the recent past, there have been three frequent events where Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part and interacted with the faces from the cinema world and his pictures with the big-shot Bollywood celebrities got enough social media traction. Taking a dig at these meetings of the PM with the big screen names, Netizens wondered ‘if Modi is looking out for his career further’.
Last week, at the inauguration of India’s first cinema museum in Mumbai, crème-de-la-crème of the film industry gathered along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who brought up the curtain on. Bollywood stars including Manoj Kumar, Jeetendra, Aamir Khan, Kangana Ranaut, Karan Johar, Rohit Shetty, Aanand L Rai attended with the rest. While many got the opportunity to capture a selfie with the PM, Imtiaz Ali, Karan Johar, Dinesh Vijan, and Kartik Aaryan decided to take a “backfie” which shows the PM in the background with his back turned to them. Aaryan tweeted the same captioning “Losers’ backfie with the honorable PM!” and to that, Modi with added humour replied, “Not losers but Rockstars! No selfie Jab We Met but there will always be another occasion.”
Director of recently released movie Thackeray, Abhijeet Panse spoke to AV and asserted, “People will definitely have a craze for the celebrities; on the other hand, more than having a starry face, celebrities must stand for the ideologies of that particular political party. We have seen an instance of Congress candidate actor Govinda winning the Mumbai North seat with a great margin; however, today’s young voters are more politically matured and they don’t get carried away by popular faces. BJP-wave is fading and it was evident in the recent five-state poll results. Thus, the party is wooing celebrities for election support and Congress too has similar strategies. I believe only a celebrity who has a contribution in social welfare should become a face of the elections.”
While Actor Kishori Shahane stated, “A celebrity must have a positive image among the voters and should have contribution towards the society if he/she wishes to get into active politics. Such starry faces if fielded in elections give a good message to both the youth voters and also the respective political party.”
Kartik Aaryan, the small time artist recently caught the eyeballs of everyone and came into the limelight after Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh’s daughter Sara Ali Khan openly on national television confessed that she had a crush on him. The actor, whose journey into the film industry is not so big, later became the focus of attention after being called a ‘Rockstar’ by the PM. Modi’s reply garnered over eight thousand re-tweets and has been liked over 51,000 times so far.
In the previous elections, we have also seen actor Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Raveena Tandon, Madhuri Dixit, Lata Mangeshkar, and a series of celebrities being saffronised with their hell-bent support for the party. All these big names are now huge BJP supporters and the party somehow sailed through their charisma. However, the irony strikes when we hardly or never see social workers, revolutionaries, rationalists, or even journalists get the chance to meet PM so often.
Actor Smita Tambe expressed, “If a celebrity is participating in the election campaigning, he/she must have interest in politics and their contribution should be voluntary and not because some political party is approaching them. In today’s time, Indian politics is hampered with debates on castes and regions and celebrities should talk in the national interest rather than getting into caste politics.”
Be it Hema Malini, Kirron Kher or television face Smriti Irani, BJP has always picked overhyped starry candidates for them. Other political parties, be it national or regional, are also not far behind in the swing. Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh had put forward a demand that actress Kareena Kapoor should be given a chance to contest Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal on party ticket arguing that Kapoor has a great fan-following among the youngsters and they will vote for her, though the 38-year-old actor clarified that she has neither been approached nor she has such plans to enter politics and wants to focus on acting. Moreover, reports of talks too exist around fielding Salman Khan from Indore among the party leaders.
Film Celebrities have been participating in Indian politics for a long time and Prithviraj Kapoor was the earliest film personality to enter into politics. In the following years, Indian politics has seen many celebrity footprints. In 1984, Amitabh Bachchan had taken a break from acting to contest Lok Sabha elections and was elected as Congress Lok Sabha MP from Allahabad; superstar Rajesh Khanna, Sunil Dutt, and Rekha are also added in the list. Similarly, Samajwadi Party chose Jaya Prada as a part of the party.
Bollywood has a lot of money, charm and fan following; the entertainment industry and Politics are going hand in gloves these days. However, it seems that the utility of these heroes and heroines are only for publicity as post-election, they have no social contribution. Movie stars into politics act as a commercial gain for both the sides. The politicians support the film industry by giving them subsidies or by knocking out stringent laws that go against cinema business. On the other hand, the entertainment world personas too align themselves with the political parties mostly for their benefit.
Talking about why the political parties choose to field popular personalities from the entertainment industry, Congress MP Sushmita Dev said, “Cine world personalities definitely have a huge fan following; it favours the political parties and also its youth leaders. We have seen Amitabh Bachchan fighting in the elections from Congress and the party got a good mandate. Our party always depends on the grass root workers’ opinion before fielding a celebrity in the elections. Popular entertainment industry faces are given those seats where the party strength is weaker than the rest.” On the other hand, BJP MP Jyoti Dhurve called BJP ‘a cadre-based party’ and said, “BJP always prioritises its workers more than the popular celebrity faces; party workers are our strength and the starry faces are never the key element for the party’s election campaigning.”
EVMs are part and parcel of our election process and we need to depend on this system keeping in view of increasing population in India. It is an easy and foolproof system followed in an effort to provide a quick and most dependable verdict for both the ruling and opposition parties. The recent rubbishing of the claim made by a former employee is just for a publicity stunt in the wake of the election coming up in India and served no purpose. The Election Commission is not interested in a motivated slugfest and it firmly stands up by the empirical facts about the foolproof nature of EVMs deployed in earlier elections in India.
Charisma or Personality of a leader has been a defining factor in Indian Politics but looking at the recent competition of Indian political parties to woo the cine world celebrities, it seems that the politics of today is thriving for publicity from these star faces more than the governance.