Top Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra says she works 16 hours a day to get recognition and money and has no time to enjoy life.
The national-award winning actress has become a household name not only in India but globally too with her American TV show “Quantico”.
“Success is not a destination…. Success is a journey. You are successful if you are consistently successful,” Priyanka said in an interview.
Asked whether money matters, Priyanka said, “I do make money as I work very hard for what I do. I don’t sleep at night, I work 16 hours a day, and I don’t have weekends or Birthdays or Diwali.”
On whether Hollywood would be the next step, the 34-year-old actress said, “I have an agent in America since five years but I do work on my own terms. I am a star here in Hindi cinema so I don’t want to do anything for the heck of it. I have no desperation to prove a point to someone. I would do films there if it excites me.”
Priyanka will be seen as Kashi Bai and Mastani in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus “Bajirao Mastani”.
Verghese Kurien started India’s white revolution and made it big and laid foundation of Co-operative dairy model which is providing milk now all over the country. Cut to 1949, a young man fresh out of a university in the US, came to the government creamery in Anand, in Gujarat. Little did he know that he would change the place forever, and put it on the world map. The times were not much different. Per capita milk consumption was nothing to talk about and exploitation was the fate of the milkman. However, much water (read milk) has flown down the Narmada since then. Kurien started off with his experience to work with the manager of the local Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union to build an in-house processing plant and organise the cooperative to handle its own marketing directly to consumers.
After years of initial struggle, the cooperative began to produce dramatic results, involving over two million farmers. This led to the birth of Amul, the largest food product business in India whose turnover has already crossed the $2 billion mark. Based on the cooperative’s successes, the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, a friend of farmers, created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1965 to replicate the model nationally. The Prime Minister cited Kurien’s “extraordinary and dynamic leadership” upon naming him chairman of the Board. Kurien came saw and conquered the Milky way and he is the father of Amul products.
Dr Kurien’s work has received tremendous national and international recognition. The Indian government conferred on him the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest honour. He is also the recipient of the World Food Price, the Ramon Magsaysay award for Community Leadership, the Carnegie – Wateler World Peace Prize and the International Person of the Year award from the US. He dedicated his life to the welfare of Gujarat’s cattle owners and turned the state’s dairy co-operative sector into one of the most successful cooperative models in the world. Veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal directed the movie ‘Manthan’, a story set in the cooperative milk movement in India. Not able to finance it, Benegal was helped by Dr Kurien who gave an idea of getting each of his half a million member farmers to contribute a token two rupees for the making of the movie. Upon its release, truckloads of farmers came to see their film, making it a success at the box office. Dr. Kurien brought white revolution in India and that helped people to stand in long ques for getting a packet of milk. An achievement to behold. We in India enjoy the benefit of white revolution and getting sufficient milk for our routine activities. We are really self-sufficient and look at Dr. Kurien with a folded hands for his great deed.
There was delay in carrying out the firefighting work as fire engines could not enter the mishap spot due to the presence of a wall alleges local residents.
A major fire broke out from a slum on Akurli Road, Damunagar area of Kandivali in which two persons were dead and 11 injured. Injured persons have been admitted to a nearby hospital. Sixteen fire tenders were rushed to the spot by the Mumbai firefighting department for dousing the fire. According to fire department officials’ fire erupted due to multiple cylinder blasts. The place is said to house a godown of various items. There was delay in carrying out the firefighting work as fire engines could not enter the mishap spot due to the presence of a wall.
“Our department received a call at about 12.33 pm and another message at about 12.51 pm about the fire. Immediately 16 fire engines, 12 water tankers, five fire brigade officials along with other jawans were rushed to the spot to douse the flames,” Deputy Chief Fire Official P S Rahangdale said.
“Our primary job was to douse the fire with minimal impact and it will take sometime to ascertain the details and the cause of the blaze,” he said.
Anwar Shaikh, a local resident said, “The fire engine was unable to enter the area where the fire incident occurred due to the presence of a wall restricting entry of vehicles. Vehicles could enter only after a portion of the wall was demolished. Fire brigade could have prevented major mishap if the area was easily accessible. There is an alleged nexus between the builders and local politicians as they had encircled the entire area by constructing walls.”
Gautam Korde, a social worker said, “Most of the people staying in the area belong to labour class. Since Monday was a working day most of them had gone out for work. Even children had attended schools and only elderly persons were present in the house. If residents were present in the house then many more causalities would have occurred.”
Ravi Hirve, Bahujan Ladau Sanghatan President said, “The residents have lost all the documents proving their residential and identity status. So the Collector should form a committee which should include some people staying in the area where the incident occurred. These members can accurately establish the credibility of victims so that genuine persons can receive compensation.”
Shiv Sena, MLA Prakash Surve said, “I had spoken to Collector, ministers and rehabilitation officials, BMC, fire brigade and have called 18 to 20 fire engines to douse the fire. We had also called ambulance for taking the injured to hospital. Five huts have been gutted in fire. The people living in slums at Damu Nagar are yet to be rehabilitated. When people are eligible to get houses under the slum development scheme then why are these people denied homes.”
BMC Commissioner, Ajoy Mehta said, “I had went to the accident spot for overseeing the relief work. I had asked the local corporators to take necessary steps for carrying out the firefighting work. I had also asked them to provide the basic amenties to the victims at the earliest.”
Local residents have also reported of multiple explosions, probably triggered by LPG cylinders, in the area. The cylinders were stored illegally in a godown which is situated near to the Western Express Highway.
“The deceased person was charred beyond recognition and has not been identified yet but the injured have been admitted to nearby Shatabdi hospital,” DCP Dhananjay Kulkarni said.
Residents living in the neighbourhood stated that they heard sounds of several explosions. “There was loud noises of blasts every 2-3 minutes. Shortly after the blasts people were evacuating the area,” said Rasika Parab who is a resident of Damu Nagar.
Meanwhile, police cordoned off the area and were trying to verify the claims of the locals.
The extent of damage could be huge as the area is densely populated. A fire department official described the incident as category 2 fire. According to fire safety code, category 2 fire is when more 15 firefighting teams are pressed into service. Television images showed huge black smoke billowing out from the slum area. Several hutments were destroyed in the fire. The fire started at one hutment and later it spread to others.
The deceased have been identified as Prahlad Kharat (45). The injured persons have been identified as Sumitra Bhanudas (30), Rama Sunil Kamble (54), Sonu Gupta (24), Nazir Shaikh (35), Asha Ugde (26), Jayki Kagda (25), Vaishali Maske (28), Suresh Tendikeri (31), Suresh Kishen (22) and Sonia Rajesh Singh (8).
Ahead of the Maharashtra cabinet expansion due after the Winter session of state Legislature, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Monday directed his legislators and Members of Parliament to launch a political onslaught on the government.
In an apparent bid to exert pressure on its ally, Thackeray during the course of a meet with party MPs in Delhi today said they should be more aggressive in the Parliament, while Sena MLAs should corner the BJP-led state government on a host of issues.
“Uddhav ji has directed that Sena MLAs should be aggressive on the issue of drought relief funds and has asked them to grill the BJP ministers over the issue,” a Sena leader said.
“He also asked party MPs to be seen as more aggressive on the floor of the Parliament,” he said.
The leader said that Maharashtra should get its due respect.
“Uddhav ji also said that if the compensation received from the Centre in lieu of GST Bill (Goods and Services Tax) is not adequate then Sena should oppose the Bill in the Parliament,” he added.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a public interest petition seeking direction to parliament to enact a uniform civil code to put an end to alleged discrimination being faced by Muslim women.
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur said that it is for parliament to take a call on the issue and it was not in the realm of the apex court to issue a direction on this.
Chief Justice Thakur, in a disapproving note, told senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam that if such petitions were filed without regard to the law, the court will come down very heavily.
The court asked why none of those who are being allegedly discriminated against have come forward for redressal.
Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay had filed the PIL.
The NCP will contest the forthcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council polls in alliance with the Congress, a senior party leader said.
The Congress and the NCP held a meeting in Nagpur earlier in the day to finalise the seat-sharing deal for the biennial elections slated for December 27.
Out of eight seats up for grab, the Sharad Pawar-led party will contest three seats while the Congress four.
“The NCP will contest Solapur and Ahmednagar local bodies seats. It will also field a candidate in Akola-Washim-Buldhana local bodies,” state unit NCP chief Sunil Tatkare said.
He announced the candidature of Deepak Salunke and Arun Jagtap–both sitting MLCs–for Solapur and Ahmednagar seats, respectively, while the nominee for Akola-Washim-Buldhana would be announced on Tuesday.
Tatkare said the Congress will contest Mumbai, Kolhapur, Dhule-Nandurbar and Nagpur local self government bodies.
In previous round of talks last month, the negotiations between the Congress and the NCP over forging a tie-up had remained deadlocked with both parties remaining keen to contest the Solapur local self-government body constituency.
The eight MLCs in the biennial elections (held once in six years) are to be elected from local self-government bodies constituency. The seats are: Nagpur, Akola-Washim-Buldhana (both in Vidarbha), Solapur, Kolhapur (western Maharashtra), Ahmednagar, Dhule-Nandurbar in North Maharashtra and two seats in Mumbai.
The outgoing members are Rajendra Mulak, Gopikisan Bajoriya, Deepak Salunke, Mahadeo Mahadik, Arin Jagtap, Amrish Patel, Ramdas Kadam and Bhai Jagtap respectively.
Congress currently represents Kolhapur, Dhule-Nandurbar, Nagpur and a seat in Mumbai while the NCP has Solapur and Ahmednagar (NCP-backed Independent).
A 49-year-old police head constable was arrested for allegedly killing his paramour, police said.
Pramod Shinde, a head constable attached with the Crime Branch of district police, was acquainted with Sultana Sheikh (32) for the last two years, Thane Police PRO Gajanan Kabdule said.
On September 13, Sheikh’s body was recovered from Manpada creek, following which a case of accidental death was registered and the body was buried, he said.
However, the victim’s mother filed a missing complaint with the MFC police station, which prompted the police to re-investigate the incident.
The police exhumed the body and conducted a post-mortem, which revealed that the woman was strangulated to death. The body was thrown into the creek to give an impression that the death was caused by drowning, he said.
The police also found that the accused had on September 10 made more than 100 calls to the victim, before going for a dinner with her, he said.
After probing thoroughly, the police yesterday arrested the accused, and said that he committed the crime as he was spurned by the victim, who was a widow and had a child.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the IPC at the MFC police station, he said, adding further investigation is on.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner met a delegation of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) and sought suggestions for Development Plan (DP) 2034.
The meeting chaired by BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta was attended by retired IAS officer Ramanath Jha, who is heading the revision process of the Development Plan.
The meeting was a part of BMC’s effort to invite suggestions from various stakeholders for city’s development.
“The meeting lasted over an hour and the MCHI delegation put forth their valuable suggestions. They have been requested to give a detailed presentation of the same in writing,” a senior BMC official said.
President of MCHI, Vimal Shah, noted architect Hafeez Contractor and others, including housing experts, were also a part of the delegation.
The government had to scrap the first DP presented by the BMC in April this year after it received flak from all corners for being ridden with flaws and that it showed little concern for the heritage structures of the city.
The state government had then directed the civic body to submit the revised final draft of the DP by February, 2016.
Working afresh, BMC invited suggestions from citizen groups, urban planning experts to prepare the blueprint of the plan.
“Series of meetings are going to take place in the coming days with all stakeholders as we have to prepare the blueprint of the DP before February 2016, as per state government’s order,” the official said.
An alert local motorman saved a 15-year-old girl who tried committing suicide by jumping before a train at suburban Malad by timely applying brakes, police said.
The video of the incident, which took place on December 4, went viral on Sunday on a social networking app, where a few-second CCTV grab of the railway station, shows the teenager standing on the tracks next to platform 1, Government Railway Police DCP (Western Railway) Deepak Devraj said.
The motorman of the Churchgate-bound local around 2 pm noticed the teenage girl on the slow down track while entering Malad station and immediately applied brakes to save her, he said.
The GRP later handed over the girl to her parents at suburban Dahisar.
During investigations, GRP officials learnt from the girl’s parents that she was undergoing treatment for mental stress.
A special court will start the trial of the journalist J Dey murder case on a daily basis from December 17.
Underworld don Chhota Rajan was shown as an absconding accused in the case.
“The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court will start recording the statements of witnesses from December 17 on a day-to-day basis,” said public prosecutor Dileep Shah.
Shah said he had sought time of two weeks to prepare himself as Raja Thakre had resigned as public prosecutor of the case earlier last month.
He told PTI that special judge A L Pansare had observed that though the state government has handed over all the cases against the underworld don to CBI, the government notification was silent on conducting the trials.
Rajan, who is shown as an absconding accused in the murder case, was arrested on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner notice at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 and deported to India on November 6.
On the eve of his deportation, Maharashtra government handed over all the cases against Rajan to CBI citing the agency’s “expertise in handling transnational crimes”.
Dey, working with a Mumbai tabloid, was shot dead in suburban Powai on June 11, 2011 by assailants.
A scribe, identified as Jigna Vora, is accused of passing on key information like the registration number plate of Dey’s motorcycle and his address to the don. She had been arrested in November 2011 and granted bail in July 2012.
Police had filed a charge sheet in December 2011 against the arrested accused, namely Satiah Kaliya , Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane, Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia.
Later, a separate charge sheet was filed against Vora.
According to police, Rajan, upset with two articles written by Dey, which purportedly portrayed him in bad light, had ordered his killing.
As per the charge sheet, Vora allegedly instigated the underworld don to execute Dey owing to professional rivalry.
The court had framed charges against 11 accused including Vora on June 8.
The court had charged the accused with being members of Rajan’s gang and hatching a conspiracy to murder Dey.
Top Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra says she works 16 hours a day to get recognition and money and has no time to enjoy life.
A major fire broke out from a slum on Akurli Road, Damunagar area of Kandivali in which two persons were dead and 11 injured. Injured persons have been admitted to a nearby hospital. Sixteen fire tenders were rushed to the spot by the Mumbai firefighting department for dousing the fire. According to fire department officials’ fire erupted due to multiple cylinder blasts. The place is said to house a godown of various items. There was delay in carrying out the firefighting work as fire engines could not enter the mishap spot due to the presence of a wall.
Ahead of the Maharashtra cabinet expansion due after the Winter session of state Legislature, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Monday directed his legislators and Members of Parliament to launch a political onslaught on the government.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a public interest petition seeking direction to parliament to enact a uniform civil code to put an end to alleged discrimination being faced by Muslim women.
The NCP will contest the forthcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council polls in alliance with the Congress, a senior party leader said.