Not such a major injury: Aamir Khan

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November 16, 2015

Superstar Aamir Khan has assured fans that he is doing fine after he pulled his back muscle during the shoot of “Dangal” in Ludhiana, Punjab.

The 50-year-old actor, who is playing a wrestler in the sports drama, said he will resume shooting for the film after a week’s bed rest.

“Hey guys it’s not such a major injury. My back muscle has gone into a spasm. A week of rest and I will be back on shoot,” Aamir posted on Twitter.

Earlier, the actor’s spokesperson said, “When Aamir was shooting a wrestling scene in Ludhiana and he injured his shoulder badly. He was taken to a hospital there and was asked not to travel.”

“He is traveling to Mumbai today and will be on complete bed rest at least for a week following which a call will be taken as to when to begin the shoot,” the spokesperson added.

“Dangal”, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, is based on the real life story of wrestler Mahavir Singh and his famous daughters Geeta and Babita Phogat and the relationship between them.

Veteran actor Saeed Jaffrey passes away at 86

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Afternoon Voice

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November 16, 2015

Veteran actor Saeed Jaffrey passed away at the age of 86. Saeed gave many memorable performances in films that will inspire generations to come.

His eloquence in dialogues and passion for acting made him a favourite of many.

Saeed’s niece Shaheen Aggarwal took to Facebook to share the news with fans.

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi paid his condolences on social media platform Twitter.

He will always be remembered for his roles in ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, ‘Dil’, ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’ and ‘Ajooba’.

Born in Malerkotla, Punjab, Saeed married actress Mehrunima (Madhur Jaffrey), but parted ways in 1966. Together they have three daughters Meera, Zia and Sakina – who is also an actress.

He married Jennifer Jaffrey in 1980.

Among many honours and awards, Saeed was conferred with the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to theatre, the first Indian to be so honoured.

13/11 brings back haunting memories to 26/11 victims

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

The modus operandi of the Paris attack is similar to the one which occurred in the Mumbai terror incident.

The gruesome attacks in Paris have brought back the memories of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The modus operandi of the attack is similar to the one which occurred in the Mumbai terror incident. Victims of the Mumbai terror attack recollected about the hardships which they had to undergo seven years ago. The 26/11 Mumbai attack by the LeT has now become the blueprint for terrorist attacks globally, as the latest Paris tragedy shows. Thus deadly Paris attacks have already claimed 129 lives and more than 350 injured. Security experts believe that the incident will be a game changer for how the West looks at the threat terrorism presents to all.

Former chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) K P Raghuvanshi said, “Though details about the modus operandi of the Paris terror attacks are yet to be divulged, on the basis of whatever preliminary information or reports we have received, we can say that the modus operandi mostly matches with Mumbai attacks.”

“Timing of the attack, style of combating by coming in a group, selecting multiple locations, targeting the civilians at places of gathering or iconic spots, targeting of international tourists to intimidate global communities, opening indiscriminate firing with guns and grenades were some of similarities between the attacks in the two capitals,” he added.

Raghuvanshi, who was the chief of ATS which handled the investigation of 26/11 attacks, however, said that the one of the differences was that in France, the attackers came as suicide bombers.

Ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based militant organisation, had carried out a series of 12 coordinated attacks lasting four days across Mumbai in November 2008, killing 164 people and injuring over 300.

Vinita Kamte, the wife of Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte who lost his life fighting the terrorists in Mumbai in 2008, said the members of ISIS, that has claimed responsibility for the attacks, should understand that instead of spreading their religion they are bringing a bad name to the followers of Islam who believe in non-violence.

“I am shocked at the magnitude of the Paris attacks. It is all the more concerning that such kind of attacks are happening in a western country that has some of the best security measures in place. Incidents like these, where innocent, unarmed people are killed, only make one wonder when will all this end,” she said.

“You cannot spread your religion like this. On the contrary, these people are only causing harm because people who follow the religion but believe in non-violence also get labelled then,” she said.

Terming both the attacks as the results of failure of “generic intelligence” or “actionable intelligence”, Brigadier (Rtd) Hemant Mahajan, a member of Forum for Integrated National Security, an NGO presenting blueprint of country’s security, said, “If we talk about the disparities then we find that in Mumbai terrorists had entered the city via coastal route, while in Paris they entered by intermingling with locals.”

39-year-old Shamim Shaikh, who lost six of his kin on the night of November 26, 2008, says the Paris attack has only brought back memories of fear and the pain that his other family members had to go through.

“There was a strange atmosphere that night. We were to go to our native place then, but, as soon as we entered the station, we saw that people were running helter-skelter. Till the time we understood what was happening, six persons from my family were already dead,” he said.

May we unite for a terror free world?

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Vaidehi Taman

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November 15, 2015

Terror assaults in France are an “attack on humanity” and UN has to define terrorism before it is too late so that the world knows who are backing terrorists and who are against it. Paris attack is a manifestation of growing hatred amongst various communities. The attack is a very horrible and pathetic incidence, however now we are used to it. Unfortunately, common citizens were killed and their families are deserted. If there are any issues or differences, they should be settled with the government. Perception of West against ‘Terrorism’ changed after they became victims of it. Before that, their perception on terror was ‘local law and order’ problem. The terror across the globe should be completely neutralized by creating a new charter like United Nations Comprehensive Convention for Anti-Terror (UNCCAT).

The UN should initiate to curb terrorism across the globe. The governments of all the countries should extend their total support to UN to handle this issue seriously. Let every citizen on the earth fight against terrorism. Terrorist attack in Paris has to be condemned by each and every one in the world. Now, USA and other countries must plan how to contain IS operations from Syria and Iraq and how to wipe out IS terror groups through both Air and ground strike. Russia’s effort to wipe out the IS operatives through Air strike in Syria must be supported. In case, USA still persists in denouncing Russian efforts, it is not far away that USA may be next target shortly. It is the time that the educated Muslim communities throughout the world must condemn the attack in France and assist the security forces to identify the probable targets to crash the IS operatives from its roots. It seems cold war between Russia and USA has been fuelling the IS operatives.

Only then the victims of terror would rest in peace! My condolences to the people affected and died. If people blame the refugees then this is what they have been running away from. If you blame Muslim countries then realize that Lebanon also was attacked yesterday and Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan are attacked more than anyone else and so called “Muslims”/”Islamists” are doing this. Not sure why these “Islamic” groups would only attack all mosques and Muslims countries etc. If you blame Islam, not sure how World War I and World War II took place without dominance of “Islamic” groups. If only Muslims are anti-social elements then there wouldn’t have been something called “police” except in Muslim countries. If Islam was indeed a religion of terror then it would have been banned in every country by law like how these “Islamist” groups are banned. Islam children being orphaned, women widowed and people disabled are all inhuman acts which have to be condemned be it any religion, caste, race etc…

The attack of ISIS on France is an attack on all humanity. The only effective way to curb and stop such increasingly frequent depredations all over the world, all countries opposed to such wanton violence must come together and through the auspices of the UN have a world-wide alliance to help each other in preventing violence by fundamentalists and bring culprits to justice. Islamic countries which are opposed to such needless violence against innocent people must join a world-wide alliance against such violent fundamentalism to show the Islamic fundamentalists that they are pitted alone against the peace loving people of the world. If the world unites for this cause, then it is a matter of days before the entire fundamentalist groups everywhere are routed out. Nations of billions that have strong democratic values and work tirelessly for peaceful living of their people seem to be utterly helpless in the face of such repeated and well organized barbaric acts committed by a few terrorists with their vast networks. These attacks pose a serious challenge to global peace and order. Economic development should be secondary aspect and the global priority should now be to eliminate these terrorists. There should be a global effort to trace all channels of supplies and communication and block them, before their complete physical elimination.

In these tragic moments in France, our heartfelt condolences and prayers are with all the bereaved families. The world community and the UNSC should not allow the sacrifice of the Paris martyrs to go in waste. It’s important that the large majority of innocent Muslims should not be targeted in Western Europe. The need of the hour is tolerance and respect for individual choice, freedom to practice ones religion.

Maha proposes revocation of no-detention policy in schools

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

Maharashtra government in its report on the draft of National New Education Policy has recommended that exams should be held in all schools, otherwise, students tend to ignore studies.

The report stated that ‘No Exams’ is nothing but a misconception spread among parents.

The no-detention policy, a key component of the RTE Act, was enforced on April 1, 2010 with an aim to ensure that every child between the age of 6 and 14 studies in school.

The idea behind the policy was to minimise the number of students who drop out of the schooling system because of failure and are too embarrassed or de-motivated to repeat a year.

The state government in its suggestion advocates Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) for students so that the marks of these regular tests can be summed up for evaluation at the end of the year.

Among the various concerns discussed in the report the state government has advocated the need to engage parents as partners in education.

“Parent Teacher Associations are to be strengthened.’Class-wise parents’ meeting should be held, house visits by the teachers should be made necessary, using Social Media like WhatsApp, MSS, SMS, by parents for students performance, reports cards of the students are to be discussed with the parents, ‘Open House’ concepts is to be implemented, schools must get involved in the social Festivals actively and ‘Public Reading’ (Chawadi Wachan) is to be done to uplift the image of the school and the Students,” it states.

It further states that to encourage parents participation in sending children to schools, the school authorities should felicitate them who send their child to school regularly.

State Education minister Vinod Tawde said that the policy has not yet been finalised.

“The state government had organised a debate in 32,000 villages and invited suggestions from education experts, principals, teachers associations and parents associations. This has happened for the first time, I have not seen this happening in the earlier government,” Tawde said.

Fliers from airport may shell out more for a Metro Link

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

Flying from the Mumbai Airport might become costlier from next year if a proposal floated by regulator AERA to levy an additional fee from passengers to fund a metro rail project there, is accepted.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) would take a final decision after receiving suggestions from the stakeholders.

The tariff regulator has made the proposal following a submission by airport operator Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) seeking permission to charge additional development fee that would be used towards putting in place metro rail connectivity.

AERA has suggested levying “an additional Development Fee (DF) of Rs. 15 for each embarking domestic passenger and Rs. 75 for each embarking international passenger towards metro connectivity project.”
The DF levy would be exclusive of any other applicable service taxes. MIAL currently levies a DF of Rs. 600 from an international passenger and Rs. 100 from a domestic passenger flying out of Mumbai airport.

The fresh proposal is part of a consultation paper titled ‘Determination of Development Fee in respect of the Metro Connectivity Project for Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai’, on which all stakeholders’ comments have been sought till November 26.

According to the consultation paper, the additional DF is proposed to be levied from as early as January 1, 2016.

Though MIAL had proposed to levy the additional DF from November 1, 2015 till March 31, 2020, “in view of the practicality of time schedule with respect to the consultation process and the requirement to reassess various issues based on stakeholder comments, the Authority proposes to consider January 1, 2016 as the start date of levy,” the paper said.

Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), the project implementation company for all the metro rail corridors across the western metropolis, is to construct a 32.5 kilometre long underground metro rail line, connecting Colaba in South Mumbai to SEEPZ in western Andheri suburb.

The Colaba-SEEPZ line, to be built at a projected cost of Rs. 23,136 crore, will have 27 stations, of which three stations fall under the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport area.

MMRC, on its part, has sought contribution from MIAL towards funding of these three metro stations.

In the September quarter, MIAL saw its net loss narrow to Rs. 11.53 crore from Rs. 68.87 crore recorded in the year-ago period. Its revenues in the three months ending September rose to Rs. 636.17 crore from Rs. 580.67 crore in the same period a year ago.

MIAL is majority owned by GVK Power & Infrastructure.

Petrol price hiked by 36 paise; diesel up 87 paise

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

Petrol price was hiked today by 36 paisa a litre, while that of diesel by 87 paisa per litre in line with firming global rates. This is the first hike in petrol price in five months and the third in diesel rates since October.

Petrol will cost Rs 61.06 per litre from midnight tonight as against Rs 60.70 a litre currently, said Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer. A litre of diesel will from tomorrow cost Rs 46.80 as compared to Rs 45.93 per litre currently.

“The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and Indian Rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant an increase in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” IOC said in a statement.

Last time the price of petrol was on July 16 when rates were increased by 32 paisa. Since then prices have been cut on four occasions – by Rs 2.43 on August 1.27 on August 1, by Rs 2 on September 1 and by 50 paisa on last price change on November 1.

Diesel rates were not changed on November 1 but had been hiked by 95 paise on October 16 and by 50 paise on October 1. Rates of diesel were on September 1 reduced by 50 paise a litre.

State-owned fuel retailers — IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) — revise petrol and diesel prices on 1st and 16th of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rate in the previous fortnight.

“The movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes,” the IOC statement added.

Congress workers burn Godse’s effigy in Thane

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

Congress workers burnt effigy of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse on his death anniversary which is being observed by Hindu outfit as ‘Balidan Diwas’.

Party workers led by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) secretary Manoj Shinde protested against Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) and those supporting Godse by burning his effigy at Gandhi Park.

They also carried black placards condemning the move of the city-based outfit to build a temple for Godse.

The outfit had last year announced to build a temple in memory of Godse.

Prior to the protest, Shinde criticised the BJP-Shiv Sena government in the state for failing to arrest inflation during the ongoing festive season.

Godse was hanged to death on November 15, 1949 and to commemorate the day, members of ABHM today launched a website in his memory this morning in Meerut.

Mahanagar Gas joins IPO party; files draft papers with Sebi

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

Joining the IPO bandwagon, gas distribution company Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) has filed draft papers with the capital markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through a public offer.

The Initial Public Offer (IPO) would be of up to 24,694,500 shares of Mahanagar Gas Limited, as per the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed with Sebi.

This would include an offer for sale of up to 12,347,250 shares by state-run GAIL and of up to 12,347,250 shares by UK-based British Gas Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd.

The offer would also include a reservation for eligible employees.

MGL distributes gas to 0.82 million households and over 2,600 small commercial and 55 industrial establishments. The company also supplies CNG to vehicles in Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayander, Navi Mumbai and beyond.

GAIL and British Gas Asia each hold 49.75 per cent in the company. The Maharashtra government also has a minor 0.49 stake in the firm.

“The objects of the offer are to achieve the benefits of listing the equity shares on the stock exchanges and to carry out the offer for sale.

“We believe that the listing of the equity shares will enhance our brand name and provide liquidity to the existing shareholders,” the firm said in the draft paper.

Kotak Mahindra Capital and Citigroup have been appointed the merchant bankers for the IPO.

For the 2014-15 fiscal, the company had reported a profit of Rs. 301 crore.

The IPO market has seen a firm revival in the recent months, which Sebi Chairman U K Sinha yesterday attributed to the reforms undertaken by the regulator and to the improved investors’ sentiments towards the general economy.

“Two years back, people were of the view that Sebi is being stringent in clearing DRHPs. Three years back from that time, two-third IPOs were trading below issue price. It was a matter of worry. Sebi has started asking tough questions. We tried to put some responsibility on merchant bankers,” Sinha told reporters here.

“So far as procedure is concerned corporate India is comfortable the way Sebi is clearing the documents,” he added.

Sinha was speaking at the inauguration of Sebi’s pavilion at the India International Trade Fair here.

Further, he said that IPOs in an electronic format and ASBA (Applications Supported by Blocked Amount) facility will come into effect from January 1, 2016.

ASBA is a facility that allows the money to remain blocked in the applicant’s bank account till the shares are allotted, thereby eliminating delays related to refunds of unallocated shares.

These moves will reduce the time taken between the share sale and the listing, enhance the reach of retail investors in the share sale, and reduce costs.

The measures will further help in developing the market, while safeguarding the investors’ interest.

So far this year, 18 companies have launched their IPOs and have collectively raised about nearly Rs. 11,000 crore, making it the best period in four years in terms of fund raising through initial share-sale programmes.

In comparison, six IPOs had hit the market in the entire 2014 and together garnered just Rs. 1,261 crore, while three firms had launched their public issues in 2013 to mobilise Rs. 1,284 crore.

Maha-IRB compensation row to be taken up on Nov 17

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Afternoon Voice

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November 15, 2015

The dispute between infrastructure firm IRB and Maharashtra government following the closure of toll booths in Kolhapur would be taken up at a pre-Cabinet meeting on November 17 with a view to arriving at a settlement of the compensation claim made by the former.

State Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Chandrakant Patil said that while Ideal Road Builders (IRB) Infrastructure Developers Ltd had claimed compensation of Rs 473 crore after the state government ordered closure of toll booths in Kolhapur city, an anti-toll action committee estimated that the compensation amount to be Rs 192 crore.

However, the minister, who had constituted the anti-toll action committee, said that a consensus could not be reached despite several parleys with IRB representatives.

Patil said that the state government has received the report of the valuation committee, which has not taken into consideration the interest amount and Rs 90 crore given by IRB to Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC).

“IRB made the claim for compensation citing these two factors,” he said.

The state government has closed 12 toll booths permanently and exempted light vehicles from toll tax at 53 other toll booths across the state with effect from May 31 midnight.

However, toll is still levied in the KMC area, where IRB has constructed internal roads within the city on a Build- Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

According to Professor ND Patil, leader of the anti-toll action committee, IRB has already collected a huge amount from Kolhapur citizens in the form of toll tax and it should be calculated while compensating the company.

KMC has offered a plot of land to IRB against the compensation sought by the firm.

“The land is worth Rs 107.57 crore, but IRB has quoted the price of the land at Rs 10-15 crore,” ND Patil said.

He said that the plot should not be sold to IRB at a cheap rate and should instead be auctioned so that the KMC gets the right amount.

A PWD official said the dispute would be settled at about Rs 390-400 crore and added that he feels the sum should be acceptable to IRB.

On Tuesday, the PWD Minister said, a meeting would be held with Radheshyam Mopalwar, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), before the Cabinet meeting, and the compensation amount would be decided.

Then the proposal would be discussed among ND Patil, Mopalwar and Anand Kulkarni, Additional Chief Secretary, state PWD department, he said.

“The sum would then be offered to the IRB and, if it does not accept it, the Chief Minister may intervene and issue a final notification,” the minister said.

The PWD Minister has assured the citizens of Kolhapur, his home district, that the government would provide relief from toll tax.