In her new memoir, ‘Brutally Honest’, TV personality Mel B opened up about her life struggles including drug use, suicide attempt, and divorce.
In the book, the 43-year-old star wrote about everything from her suicide attempt at the age of 39 to drug use. She also shared details of her divorce from producer Stephen Belafonte.
Following the release of the book on Tuesday (local time), Mel took to Instagram to share her thoughts, writing, “I’m sooooo excited and sooooo emotional and sooooo sooooo happy that my book is finally here wow!!! This has taken 2 years of blood sweat and a lot of tears to write AND 10 years of pain I am still trying to process.”
On the work front, the ‘Scary Spice’ star will be returning for her first tour in a decade with all the Spice Girls members, including- Melanie C (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), and Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice).
The tour – featuring special guest singer Jess Glynne – will commence on June 1, 2019, in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium. It will run through Coventry, Sunderland, Edinburgh, and Bristol before capping off the tour at Wembley Stadium in London.
Dengue deaths are increasing day by day and it is causing concern. Both Kolhapur and Mumbai head the list of most dengue deaths and that is not encouraging news. Dengue is dangerous and if people show the symptoms then adequate care must be taken. As the number of patients soars high, BMC should act immediately. Dengue has turned into an epidemic and it is high time we treat the patients in the best way possible. The crux of the problem is contamination of water and it is high time the Municipal Authorities take up the responsibility and see that both hospitals and Government machinery act in the best way and to tackle the situation. Need based action is the need of the hour rather than precipitating the matter still further.
– C.K. Ramani
2) The attack on CM Kejriwal should not be politicised
The statement of BJP Chief Manoj Tiwari alleging that the attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was scripted by the party itself, does not sound good. It is extremely possible that there might have been a BJP leader instead of CM Kejriwal who would have been attacked, so he should not politicise the matter. Rather his responsibility is to condemn the attack irrespective of all political differences and disputes. It was the matter of great concern that a CM was attacked with chilli powder in his Secretariat, but the BJP is politicising the matter rather than to condemn it. It is also interesting to note that the accused was clearly a BJP worker and openly threatened to attack CM Arvind Kejriwal. However, I condemn Manoj Tiwari’s statement in this regard.
– F.R.Murad
3) Why there is so much fuss about bullet trains
When a new project is taking shape there would be number of hiccups to face in the initial stages but once the project is complete and starts yielding good service then people forget all the discomfiture. Bullet trains introduction is also like that for that matter. To complete the bullet train project land is required as in the case of an airport project. When all the other developing countries are having fast trains, India is lagging behind by at least 20 years and it is high time we give importance to bullet trains. For the acquiring of land, compensation is going to paid then why make so much fuss? Anyway environmental clearance will be obtained before completing the project. I do not know why there is so much fuss about the introduction of bullet trains in India.
– Nickhil Krishnan
4) Unmanned level crossing accident
The incident of the local train ramming into a bus at Juhi level crossing resulting in three injured again raised the question of providing a guarded gate in future. Four years back a 502 Best Bus suffered the same fate and this time it was a 18 number NMMT bus which got hit by empty train. People are really looking for safety in public carriers in general and railways in particular. Despite commencing Railway services in the year 1853 we are still lagging behind. There are number of unmanned level crossing in cities and there are number of accidents involving vehicles and trains in this corridor. The Indian Railway has been in the recent past plagued by accidents and the priority of the Railway Minister should be safety first rather than increasing the speed of the trains. More thrust should be given for safety on the road- approaching unmanned level crossing by appointing more staff to cope up with the requirements. Railway Minster should make it a point to cover all unmanned level crossings with a proper gate and security staff. The fracture caused to the school children must be a matter of concern. Railways should be vigilant in this pocket and see to it that such accidents do not occur in future.
– Anandambal Subbu
5) Politics at its lowest in poll-campaigns
Politics in India has reached its lowest with the opposition leaders dragging the parents of the Prime Minister in their political speeches, and now the Prime Minister in turn is overstepping by dragging the Supreme Court judges into his political speech by accusing the opposition of frightening the judges with threats of impeachment. As a ruling party having comfortable majority in Lok Sabha even at its own, such threats as pointed out by Prime Minister to Supreme Court judges are in no way practical.
Election Commission should tighten rules for poll-campaigns to effectively check targeting of relations of rival politicians in speeches by politicians. Election Commission should also caution against bringing judges of higher courts in political controversy through speeches.
– Madhu Agrawal
6) Kudos to United States
It was heartening to learn that on the 10th anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attack, U.S President Donald Trump has said that the United States stands with the people of India in their quest for justice. None can forget the massive attack of 26/11 which caused to kill 166 innocents, including six Americans. It is an absolute affront to the victims of Mumbai and to their families who grieve them to this day, that after 10 years, those who planned these despicable acts have still not been convicted for their crimes as it also has been pointed out by Mike Pompeo, United States Secretary of State. Every individual must join the friends and families in remembering the 166 victims, including the six American citizens killed during the attack, and shall stand in solidarity with the people of India who have demonstrated their resilience in the face of such violence.
– MF Qasmi
7) Why wasn’t Modi arrested in 2002?
Why wasn’t Narendra Modi arrested when he caused the Gujarat riots in the year, 2002, in which hundreds of people were killed and houses burnt? Did he give some money to the judges to give him a clean chit? These questions remain unanswered. Now that he has become the Prime Minister, nobody will have the guts to arrest him.
– Jubel D’Cruz
8) 10 yrs but no lessons learnt from the 26/11 attacks!
26/11 is not just the Blackest Day in the history of Mumbai but the country too as hundreds of citizens were butchered by a handful of terrorists from across the border. However, it is 10 yrs since the event happened and we have not learnt any lessons as Mumbai remains a sitting duck for similar attacks taking place in future. Mumbai’s population has doubled since then but police force have not increased much. The city lacks intelligence inputs as citizens are at the mercy of Almighty to protect them.
The priorities of the country in general and Mumbai in particular are ill-defined. The country spends thousands of crores on Rafael deals-on aircrafts that would never be used & spends pennies on intelligence that if overhauled to the latest technologies can save thousands of lives that are killed each year. Political parties and leaders are more bothered about “Mandirs & Masjids” than fighting unemployment, corruption, illiteracy, hunger and inflation that affect people in their day to day lives. It’s high time the priorities of the country are set right and all things would follow in the right direction if the path undertaken to achieve the goals is correct!
– S.N.Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of around 88 people and awarded five-year jail term in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
The high court dismissed their appeals against the conviction by a trial court for burning houses and curfew violations during the riots.
Justice R K Gauba directed all the convicts to surrender within four weeks.
The convicts had challenged the August 27, 1996 judgement of a Sessions Court which had convicted 88 out of the 107 people arrested on November 2, 1984, for rioting, burning houses and curfew violation in Trilokpuri area of East Delhi.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said the opening of Kartarpur Corridor does not mean a dialogue between India and Pakistan will start as “terror and talks cannot go together”.
“For many years the Indian Government has been asking for this (Kartarpur) corridor, only now Pakistan responded positively. It doesn’t mean the bilateral dialogue will start because of this, terror and talks can’t go together,” the minister stated, while addressing media in Hyderabad.
The foundation stone of the Kartarpur Corridor will be laid on the other side of the border by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan today. It will connect Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur and Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district.While on the Indian side, the foundation stone was laid on November 26 by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.
Swaraj also took the occasion to give a strong response to Pakistan’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the 20th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit.
“We are not responding to the invitation unless Pakistan stops terrorism, we will not respond. We will not participate in SAARC,” Swaraj asserted.
Yesterday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited for the 20th SAARC summit which is to be held in Islamabad. The dates of the summit are yet to be finalised.
Pakistan FO spokesman Mohammad Faisal, while addressing the Kashmir Conference in Islamabad, recalled that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first address had said that if India took one step forward, Pakistan would take two, reported Dawn. “We fought a war with India. Relations cannot be fixed quickly,” Pakistan FO spokesman Mohammad Faisal asserted.
It is worth noting that India boycotted the 19th SAARC Summit which was scheduled to take place in November 2016 in Islamabad, following the September 18 terror attack on the military base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.
The summit was finally cancelled as several countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan, also walked out following India’s decision to exit the summit to step up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan.
The bullet train project will teach Indians new technology. Sometimes collateral benefits far outweigh the benefits of the primary project. Unless we are willing to take a leap forward, we will remain in the shallow waters of primitive technology. India needs all modern technologies to modernise India.
All over the world, 200mph trains have taken the place of short haul flights. If you can shorten any city-city rail journey to 3 hours or under, that is faster, cheaper and more reliable than short-haul air travel when you include travel time to each airport, security checks etc. In Europe, short-haul airlines are going bust and so many people have switched to faster trains. Billions of rail journeys are now made across the world each year by 200 mph trains. For India it is new but in due course, it will become the toast of train travellers in India.
The line of argument used in “India does not need bullet train” is the same used questioning India on Nuclear Weapons, Space Program etc. We see the bullet train as Technology Implementation. High-speed transportation brings with it numerous technologies – from IT, Logistics, Propulsion, Signalling and Material science and design and manufacturing. India needs to be in the forefront in converting technology into working design and all its derivatives in the service and defence of India and its distributed prosperity.
We all strongly believe it will add value to the nation, development and its economy. Initially, there were criticism against computerisation, space technologies and other major developments. Criticism from the environmentalist need to be evaluated and try to consider their concerns and points during the implementation. Non-financial benefits from such huge projects shall be higher than financial viability for short and long-term perspective.
One of the main reasons was those who criticise were either directly or indirectly not part of the political parties or its ideologies of the ruling party. Other than environmentalist concern, those cries against development should not be heard. Governance needs a paradigm shift to take this country forward into the 21st century and beyond.
India needs bullet trains and a full network of it. it is extremely slow to travel a long distance in India in current trains. And if you talk about flight then you will never get a ticket in festival season and if you get it is only for ultra rich who can pay about 20k for one ticket. Also, flights cannot carry such a large population as we are in India. A faster mode of mass transportation for long distance should be available by now and we are lagging way behind so far. Construction of bullet train network will also provide jobs. And do not compare with aeroplanes. Bangalore airport to BTM layout or any other place in Bangalore takes another 3 hours to reach. So the purpose of travelling through air is defeated.
Bullet train should be introduced if it is financially viable and in the private sector. All efforts should be made to improve the India Railways. There is a dire need to improve technology and productivity. The matter of fact is in any government some sycophantic political leaders will be there to always oppose the good moves. To become a developed economy, parallel growth of several sectors needed by implementing forward achieved thinking. Just think in the festive season, people are so eager to reach their home and they pay extra Rs 1000 for normal sleeper ticket, they will have surely benefited and the just because of the huge population of India, any new business plans in any form will never fail. Bullet trains will be a boost if we have a broader outlook. We need to shed our narrow outlook for the time being.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
A sixth world title added to her cabinet, ace Indian boxer M C Mary Kom Wednesday said she is now aiming for a gold in the Olympics.
The 36-year-old claimed her sixth gold at the world event, making her the most successful boxer in the tournament’s history with an overall tally of seven medals.
“I have a medal in Olympics (a bronze in 2012), but gold is something I dream for. I am very happy about my championship win, as it boosted my confidence to face life head-on,” she told reporters on the sidelines of an athletic event here.
“I am eyeing a gold at Tokyo Olympics. I will train doubly-triply hard to get a gold for my country,” she said.
Mary Kom won her world title in the 48kg category but for the Olympics, she will have to bulk up to the 51kg division.
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, who was also present at the function held at the JLN Stadium, called Mary Kom a “national treasure”.
“She has won six world titles and we are happy that she administered a pledge to the children present here on keeping the fairness and sportsmen’s spirit in any game,” Gandhi said.
Mary Kom, during her interaction with the media, said a disciplined training regimen is what keeps her bout-ready at all times.
“I have been very sincere during my training. If I have 2-3 sessions, I will make it a point to not miss them, I attend as many as possible. If I don’t train, I won’t succeed,” she said.
Asked if her training schedule will undergo any change keeping the Olympics in mind, the Manipuri said she will talk to her coach and the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) to work out her plan.
“I will speak to my coach, the BFI, the SAI (Sports Authority of India). We have already got some good facilities and hope to get better results this time,” Mary Kom said.
The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has informed the Bombay High Court that its probe into the alleged multi-crore irrigation scam has revealed major lapses on part of the state’s former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and other government officials.
The scam, pegged at around Rs 70,000 crore, relates to alleged corruption and irregularities in approval and execution of various irrigation projects in Maharashtra during the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rule.
Pawar was among the NCP ministers who were in charge of the irrigation department at different times between 1999 and 2014 during the Congress-NCP coalition rule in Maharashtra.
ACB’s Director General Sanjay Barve filed an affidavit before the Nagpur bench of the high court on Tuesday in response to a petition filed by an NGO, Janmanch.
The NGO, in its petition, raised concerns over irregularities in irrigation projects undertaken by the Vidharba and Konkan Irrigation Development Corporations.
The affidavit described the scam as a “weird case of conspiracy” in the water resources department which has “defrauded the government itself”.
“The dramatis personae, who put up this performance that cost the government dearly, are simply trying to hide behind the framework of rules and pass the buck,” it said.
It said several projects of the Vidarbha and Konkan irrigation development corporations suffered delays, cost escalations and non-realisation of projected goals of irrigation during Pawar’s stewardship as minister for water resources department.
“The ACB has observed that various irregularities have been committed in several of these tenders/works with uncanny similarity,” Barve said in his affidavit.
During inquiries, Pawar claimed he took decisions based on recommendations of secretary-level officers and that most of the decisions were taken at the field level, the affidavit said.
“It is observed that the minister in charge of the water resources department shoves the responsibility on to the officers,” it said.
The ACB further said it had sought the opinion of the water resources department’s principal secretary about Pawar’s role as the minister.
The principal secretary, in his reply to the ACB, said Rule 10 of the Maharashtra Government Rules of Business and Instructions was self-explanatory and that nothing more needed to be added.
“Rule 10 of the Maharashtra Government Rules of Business and Instructions makes the minister in charge of the department responsible for all the business and disposal thereof pertaining to the said department,” the affidavit mentioned.
The anti-graft agency also said that officials of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) obtained several major pecuniary advantages for contractors, contrary to public interest.
“The ACB has now filed 24 FIRs against officers and contractors in relation to projects of the VIDC and has closely examined the role of Respondent 7 (Pawar),” it said.
The affidavit alleged that VIDC’s officials bypassed procedures, acted against the government’s interest, favoured a select group of contractors and ensured that they got pecuniary benefits.
“The officials allowed and accepted sub-standard work and thereby caused a drain upon the public exchequer. These officials acted in an orchestrated manner,” it charged.
“It is like an orchestra where players have done their bit to create a symphony and no one is ready to own up to the jarring notes,” it added.
The ACB has sought time to further probe the irregularities and initiate criminal action in accordance with the law.
Earlier this month, senior NCP leader Dhananjay Munde had denied Pawar’s involvement in the alleged scam and accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to vitiate the political atmosphere ahead of elections.
“Most wanted” Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Naveed Jhutt, who was allegedly involved in the assassination of journalist Shujaat Bukhari, was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district on Wednesday, officials said.
The gun battle broke out after security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Budgam in the morning following information about the presence of militants there, a police official said.
The militants opened fire at the security personnel carrying out searches and the forces retaliated, he said.
Internet services in Budgam have been snapped as a precautionary measure.
Bukhari, a veteran journalist and editor of Rising Kashmir, was shot dead by terrorists outside his office in the heart of Srinagar in June this year.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar has criticised the three-Judge bench of the Supreme Court which had on October 29 adjourned the Ayodhya title suit till January 2019 to fix the date of hearing in the matter. He said that the bench has “delayed” justice and “disrespected” the Constitution.
Referring to the Chief Justice of India-led bench’s decision to defer hearing on the Ayodhya matter, Indresh at an event here said: “I haven’t taken names because 125 crore Indians know their names. The three-judge bench. they delayed, they denied, they disrespected. They have disrespected the Constitution and fundamental rights.”
The top court adjourned the matter which challenged the Allahabad High Court ruling of 2010. The 2010 verdict had divided the disputed land in Ayodhya into three parts for each of the parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad and Shiv Sena had on Sunday organised events at various places in Ayodhya, Nagpur, and Bengaluru highlighting the growing demand for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Madhya Pradesh goes for its Assembly polls on November 28 for a total of 231 seats and fresh corruption charges against MP Congress leader and former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia by former Ranji Player Sanjay Sharma came as a big blow to the party that is confident to get back to power in the midst of strong anti-incumbency sentiments against BJP’s 15 years of rule in the state. Sharma, who was also the former Vice-President of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), held a press conference in Mumbai on November 26 and accused Scindia and other office bearers of MPCA of deceiving and criminally breaching the trust of BCCI and a few farmers for personal wrongful gain at the cost of Cricket in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Headquartered in Indore, MPCA is the BCCI affiliated and funded governing body of cricket team and activities in the State whose present Chairman is Jyotiraditya Scindia and the President is former BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale.
In the period of 2010-2011, the MPCA under the chairmanship of Scindia has made a proposal for building a Cricket Stadium in Gwalior and secured the approval of BCCI for construction and funding for development, including from the purchase of land in Gwalior, establishing all facilities, amenities, and rest of entire expenditure.
According to Sharma, Scindia with the help of his ‘special consultant’ Retd IAS Prashant Mehta and a few other assistors from MPCA proceeded to purchase land admeasuring 64 Bigha (25.633 Acre) in Gwalior and identified block of land at Gram-Shankarpur where the actual prevailing price for purchase of land is Rs 20 lakh per Acre (2.5 Bigha). Additionally, Sharma arraigned the MPCA Chairman for conspiring an illegal strategy in the deal to usurp a large chunk of money from BCCI i.e. purchasing the land from the farmers through an intermediary. What this means in detail is taking the right to sell the land by way of Power of Attorney (POA) from the farmers by paying them the prevailing price of land and thereafter, the POA holder will sell the land to MPCA at a higher price. “Since by all these, the registry cost will display the higher price, on the basis of that, Scindia will score himself money from BCCI, said Sharma.
In an exclusive conversation with AV, Sanjay Sharma expressed, “In February, I had gone to meet Jyotiraditya Scindia and I registered my complaint at Gwalior Collector, Gwalior Registrar Office, and the BCCI Board after 2-3 months and asked for help but no one cooperated with me. I have filed a case in the Madhya Pradesh court on November 13. I had also informed the MPCA about this scam but no one responded as they are also hand in gloves with Scindia.”
He further elaborated that the MPCA authorised its member Dilip Chudgar to purchase land as the next part of the conspiracy. Chudgar bought land from the same locality with two different rates — firstly, registry executed directly from the farmers was at Rs 20 lakh per Acre and secondly, registry executed through Power of Attorney holder at Rs 1 crore per Acre. Demanding immediate actions against the offenders, he has held everyone involved liable for a criminal offence punishable under section 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, and other sections of the IPC.
Calling the allegations against Scindia “politically motivated”, Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “I think people are enough matured to understand that whatever charges or allegations are made just a day before the assembly polls are just for the sake of political gains by BJP. I don’t think it will divert the minds of the voters. This attempt is to divert the attention from the allegations that Congress made against the BJP Ministers and the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh.”
After winning the Karnataka Assembly polls and increasing seat share in the Gujarat Assembly polls, Madhya Pradesh is considered crucial for Congress before the 2019 general elections. On the other hand, BJP has dominated the state’s polity over the past several years. The party had secured 45 per cent of all votes in the last MP elections in 2013 which is the highest in the state for nearly 30 years and 72 per cent of seats. While Scindia is not contesting the 2018 Assembly polls, in case the Congress wins the elections and chooses him as the Chief Minister, he would have to get himself elected to the state legislature within six months. Given the corruption charges targeting him, time will show how the MPCA Chairman plays with the allegations while keeping the pro-Congress voters’ sentiment safe in hand.
When AV tried to contact Jyotiraditya Scindia and Prashant Mehta, they remained unavailable for any comment on this story.
