Month: April 2021

Bollywood actor Parineeti Chopra starrer biographical sports film based on the life of badminton champion Saina Nehwal ‘Saina’ is set to premiere on April 23 on Amazon Prime Video.

Amazon Prime Video took to Instagram on Friday and announced the digital premiere of the recently released Bollywood sports biopic, ‘Saina’.

With Parineeti Chopra as the lead, the film follows the career highs and lows of Saina Nehwal, one of India’s ace shuttlers and one of the most celebrated badminton players in the country. The biopic highlights the people who have been an integral part of Sania’s professional journey and contributed to building her resilience and unbreakable spirit.

The ‘Ishqzaade’ star shared how she feels about the film’s digital release. She said, “I am extremely thrilled with the film having a global digital premiere on Amazon Prime Video, bringing such an inspirational story to audiences across the world. With this film, I have learnt that a biographical film comes with many challenges; my biggest challenge as an actor was to get into Saina Nehwal’s shoes, literally and figuratively, to stay true to the story and recreate her accomplishments and hardships”

“As an actor, I embraced each challenge, and I do think that I learnt a lot as a professional in the process. I worked on the physical appearance and the right body language, and I am glad it worked out in my favour. I had a great time working on this film,” added Parineeti.

Producer Bhushan Kumar said, “Saina is a story of a young girl who dared to dream and dared to achieve. Her story needs to be heard and seen and we are glad through the platform of Amazon Prime Video everyone can witness this journey of success.”

Written and directed by Amol Gupte, ‘Saina’ is being produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Sujay Jayraj, and Rajesh Shah. It brings on the big screen the journey of one of India’s greatest athletes, Saina Nehwal. The movie was released in theatres on March 26. (ANI)

The Pakistani passport has been ranked as the fourth weakest passport in the world behind only war-torn Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Henley Passport Index.

The Henley Passport Index periodically measures the world’s most travel-friendly passports.
The index assesses the travel documents based on how many countries citizens can access without a visa, as well as, using information from the International Air Transport Association, Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported.

Last year too, the Pakistani passport had been ranked as the fourth-worst passport.

However, this year the index does not factor in any temporary COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions.

The Japanese passport comes out on top with access to 193 countries with Singapore at the second spot with access to 192 countries.

Both Germany and South Korea share third place with each giving access to 191 destinations.

European Union (EU) countries make the majority of countries ranked on the top 10 list of the Henley Passport Index. The report reveals that the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have dropped down to seventh place, together with Switzerland, Belgium and New Zealand. (ANI)

From misty mountains to exotic woodlands and the tempting aroma of tea gardens to dazzling hilly towns, North Bengal has endless charms. The region is all set to witness the ‘khela’ of power in the fifth phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls on Saturday.

In the fifth phase, 13 constituencies from North Bengal including five in Darjeeling, one in Kalimpong and seven in Jalpaiguri districts will go to polls on Saturday.
From the Gorkhaland movement to Naxalbari, the region witnessed a lot of socio-political turbulence. A separate state of ‘Gorkhaland’ has been a long-standing demand of Nepali-speaking Gorkhas since 1907 on the grounds that they are culturally and ethnically different from West Bengal. The demand took a violent turn, which led to the death of over 1,200 people.

In the current scenario, GTA is the local autonomous body in the Darjeeling hills, which is headed by the Binoy Tamang-led faction of the GJM that supports the TMC.

Naxalbari, bordering Nepal had been the hotbed of the rebellion movement in the spring of 1967. The Naxalbari uprising was triggered when the police opened fire on a group of villagers who were demanding their right for the crops at a particular piece of land. The firing killed 11 villagers including two children eventually leading to the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency.

Apart from the political disturbance, the adversities of tea garden workers and lack of employment opportunities are the key issues in the region. The closed tea estates articulate the melancholy of tea garden workers. Further, the region has not witnessed the infrastructural development that many believe it should have.

The BJP turns out to be the dominant force in North Bengal, especially after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The party has also promised a political solution to the Gorkha issue. The BJP also promised an increase in daily wages for tea workers to Rs 350. However, the voters are quite sceptical about this claim as the situation of tea garden workers has not improved much in the BJP-ruled Assam.

Caste card is also in the fray as BJP is trying to woo the ethnic and tribal population of the region with the promise of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is trying its best to regain the lost ground and reckoned upon the development and welfare works made by her government.

The most dynamic political development in North Bengal this election is switching the camp of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung from BJP to TMC. Gurung, the man who has been spearheading the Gorkha movement helped the BJP to make its footholds in this region is now with state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The most talked-about contests will be in three seats such as Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Here the two factions of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) one led by Bimal Gurung and the other by his former deputy Binay Tamang are at a direct contest.

In the Darjeeling constituency, Pemba Tshering is the candidate for GJM (Gurung) and Keshav Raj Sharma for GJM (Tamang). BJP has fielded Neeraj Zimba Tamang from the seat. Gautam Raj Rai is the CPI(M) candidate from Darjeeling.

In these three constituencies, TMC has not fielded its candidate as GJM is backing the TMC. The GJM had won these seats in the last two Assembly elections.

In the Siliguri constituency, CPI(M)’s Ashok Bhattacharya is the key contestant against BJP candidate Shankar Ghosh and TMC’s Omprakash Mishra. Bhattacharya, the former Mayor of Siliguri is a prominent communist leader in North Bengal.

Further, Naxalbari, the cradle of an over 50-year-old Maoist movement has been witnessing a transition from a red belt into a saffron fabric.

BJP has fielded Anandamoy Barman against Congress’ sitting MLA Sankar Malakar and TMC’s Rajan Sundas. Malakar has been representing the Matigara-Naxalbari Assembly constituency since 2011.

The fifth phase of polling will be held on Saturday, with 319 candidates contesting for 45 constituencies across six districts – Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman. (ANI)

By Ajit K Dubey

Srinagar: In an effort to make the Indian Army cantonments and military convoys more population friendly, the Indian Army has now changed the red flags on its convoys to blue colour.

Speaking to ANI, Lieutenant Colonel Q Khan said, “the flags on the military convoys moving with troops from different locations in and out of the Kashmir valley have been changed to blue from red while the walls on the cantonments are proposed to have the pictures of young achievers from Kashmir.”

The officer further said that the troops carrying lathis have also been asked to only use whistles in order to ask vehicles to stop. “The messages and pictures on vehicles are of the scenic places of Kashmir,” he added.

The Indian Army troops travelling in the convoys have also been asked to behave more politely with the people during stopovers, ascertained the officer. (ANI)

After banning the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), under the country’s anti-terrorism law, the federal government of Pakistan is now set to move to Supreme Court for dissolution of the radical Islamist party that caused violent protests this week following the arrest of their leader, The Express Tribune reports.

After banning the party, the federal government circulated a summary for the dissolution of TLP on April 16, saying the matter would then be taken to the country’s apex court.
“We tried our best to solve the issues (with TLP) through negotiations but they had extremely dangerous intentions and weren’t agreeing to go back on their agenda for April 20 (march),” Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

A notification was issued on Thursday after the federal cabinet approved a summary to ban the party, saying that “Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan is engaged in terrorism, acted in a manner prejudicial to the peace and security of the country.”

“Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 11B(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, the Federal Government is pleased to list Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan in the First Schedule to the said Act as a proscribed organisation for the purposes of the said Act,” the notification said, as quoted by Dawn.

On Wednesday, Rashid Ahmed had announced that the religiopolitical outfit would be banned under Rule 11(b) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997. Rashid had said the Punjab province government had recommended a ban on the organisation, for which a summary was sent to the federal cabinet.

He said TLP leaders used to come to all rounds of talks with the government after issuing instructions to their workers regarding road closures.

“They were more prepared than us but today we have decided that [a] ban on TLP [will be placed] and this file is going to the cabinet for the approval from today,” the minister had said.

The TLP is protesting against the arrest of their leader Saad Hussain Rizvi, who was taken into custody earlier this week, and blasphemous caricatures published in France. The protests have turned violent and several casualties have also been reported.

The demonstrators have demanded that the French ambassador be sent home and import of goods from that country should be banned, as reported by Dawn.

According to media reports, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government signed an agreement with the TLP in November last agreeing to expel the French Ambassador.

The TLP launched a massive protest in November last year against the cartoons but dispersed after the agreement with the government to expel the Ambassador by February. The deal was extended until April 20. (ANI)

Over 300 Delhi Police personnel who are at the forefront of efforts to ensure that people are adhering to the Covid-19 restrictions, have been tested positive for coronavirus in the last few days.

“Over 300 Delhi Police personnel test positive for COVID-19. While 15 of them are admitted to the hospital, the rest are home quarantined,” the Delhi police said.

Speaking on the situation, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava had earlier said some of our police personnel have tested positive in the last few days amid a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in the city, the Health Care workers and the front-line workers are exposed to the highly contagious disease.

“During conducting our duties, we have to take all precautions including wearing a 3-ply or N95 mask, maintaining social distancing and sanitising,” he said.

As many as 16,699 new COVID-19 cases and 112 related deaths were reported in the national capital in the last 24 hours, the Delhi health department informed on Thursday evening, taking the total number of active cases to 54,309.

This is the fifth consecutive day that the national capital has reported over 10,000 fresh cases.

As per the latest health bulletin, with this, the total COVID-19 cases in Delhi now stand at 7,84,137, including 54,309 active cases, 7,18,176 recoveries, and 11,652 deaths.

In an effort to curb the spread of the contagious virus, the Delhi government has also imposed a weekend curfew in a view of the grim coronavirus situation in the national capital from Friday.

Additionally, malls, auditoriums, restaurants, gyms, and spas have been shut down till further orders, while theatres will be allowed to screen movies with a third of their capacity on weekdays.

Curfew passes will be issued to those rendering essential services. People will not be allowed to dine-in restaurants and only home deliveries will be permitted.

At least 37 doctors of Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital have tested positive for coronavirus in the first week of this month, as per the hospital sources.

” 37 doctors of the hospital have tested positive for COVID-19 while treating COVID-19 patients at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. A majority of these Health Care Warriors have mild symptoms. 32 doctors are in home isolation and 5 are admitted in the hospital”, informed hospital sources.(ANI)

The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday imposed a 24-hour ban on West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh from election campaigning for making “highly provocative and inciteful remarks” in connection with Sitalkuchi violence.

In its order, the Commission sternly warned Ghosh and advised him to desist from using such statement while making public utterances during the period when the Model Code of Conduct is in force. The ban imposed on Ghosh will be valid till April 16.
The EC has issued a notice to Ghosh on Tuesday over his remark on the killings of four men at Sitalkuchi in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district and asked him to clarify his stance on the issue by 10 am on Wednesday.

Ghosh had remarked that there will be a “Sitalkuchi-like incident everywhere”.

After his reply, the Commission noted that it has “carefully considered the reply of Dilip Ghosh and is of the considered view that he has violated clauses (1) and (4) of Part I of ‘General Conduct of Model Code of Conduct for the guidance of political parties and candidates’ and made highly provocative and inciteful remarks which could adversely impact law and order thereby affecting the election process”.

In his reply, the BJP state president had submitted that “it was never his intention to make any statement which would be in contravention of the Model Code of Conduct and the Representation of People Act/Indian Penal Code”.

“Notwithstanding the above, if at all any of his expression is construed as a violation of any provision of MCC, he respectfully submits that he will be in careful in future. He regrets his remarks,” Ghosh said in his reply to the EC.

Earlier, BJP candidate Rahul Sinha was also banned from campaigning for 48 hours for his remarks on the violence in Sitalkuchi, while another party candidate Sayantan Basu was issued a notice today for the same.

A violent incident in Sitalkuchi, Cooch Behar district occurred during the fourth phase polls, where four people were killed after security personnel opened fire.

The high-decibel campaigning for the fifth phase polls concluded at 6 pm on Wednesday as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage on.

This phase of polling will be held on Saturday, with 319 candidates contesting for 45 constituencies across six districts – Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman. (ANI)

By Kumar Gaurav

Salon and spa owners in the national capital have expressed their unhappiness with the Delhi government’s decision to impose a weekend curfew to tackle the relentless surge of COVID-19 cases.

According to the new guidelines of the Delhi government, spas, saloons, restaurants, market places, ets will remain shut from 10 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday.

“These restrictions are for your sake, for you and your families. It will be inconvenient but these restrictions are necessary to break the chain of transmission,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a video address on Thursday afternoon.

“Don’t panic. All essential services will be available through the weekend,” he added.

Reacting to the decision, owners of spas and salons in Delhi said this is not fair as there could be other ways to curb the spread of the infection.

While pointing out that spas and salons do not see large gatherings, they asked why the government does not stop “super spreaders” like religious and political gatherings.

“The decision is not right as it will affect our livelihood. We have so many staff members working here. Nowadays, clients do not come to salons and those who used to visit us on weekly basis now come in a month or two. And now we have been asked to close down on the weekend too,” Remma, a saloon owner in Greater Kailash market, told ANI.

Another spa owner from the GK market, Dr Raj, said, “We are getting step motherly treatment from government from the last lockdown. We fought in the court, then we were allowed to open a few months back. Now it is another decision which will harm the owners and workers here. We have around 25 workers and there livelihood will be impacted. If the government cannot help us economically, then they must allow us to work.”

Vidya Sagar Sharma, another salon owner, said they also want Delhi to be COVID-19 free but there are other ways which the government should adopt in order to stem the spread of the virus.

“Increase vaccination and take other steps, closing down markets will not make any impact,” she suggested.

A restaurant owner, Abhay Kothari, said that there is lot of confusion among them regarding the decision.

“We have been asked to deliver at home but if we are not allowed to open then how can we prepare food and deliver? Still, we believe in the system regardless of losses. Everyone needs to be safe,” Kothari said.

Auditoriums, restaurants, malls, gyms and spas will be shut down and movie theatres will be allowed with a third of their capacity on weekdays, as per the new guidelines of the Delhi government. Eating out is banned and only home deliveries and takeaways will be allowed. Weekly markets will continue but with restrictions – one market will be allowed on any day at a given zone. (ANI)

Scores of police personnel in Pakistan’s Lahore on Thursday attacked the photojournalists who were covering the demonstrations by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) supporters at Karol Ghati.

The photojournalists, who were documenting the protests, said that the police thrashed them and snatched their cameras. The police attacked senior photographers Sadaqat Mughal and Amjad Hussain and abused them, Pakistan’s Dawn reported.
Journalists in Lahore have demanded actions against Civil Lines SP Safdar Raza Kazmi.

They said the charged policemen also maltreated some other journalists when they stepped up to rescue their colleagues.

The Lahore Press Club (LPC) and other journalists’ union strongly reacted and condemned the incident.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, LPC president Arshad Ansari, secretary Zahid Chaudhry and vice president Salman Qureshi and other senior office-bearers demanded that the Punjab government take strict action against the police officials responsible for the “inhumane” act.

They said the police officials should be suspended from service and departmental action must also be taken against them.

The LPC body said the journalist community was performing duties in an odd situation taking risk of their lives and the police’s uncalled for action against them was a blatant violation of their fundamental rights.

The LPC office-bearers have appealed to the chief minister and IGP for action against the police officials.

The TLP is protesting against the arrest of their leader Saad Hussain Rizvi, who was taken into custody earlier this week, and blasphemous caricatures published in France. The protests have turned violent and several casualties have also been reported.

The demonstrators have demanded that the French ambassador be sent home and import of goods from that country banned, as reported by Dawn.

According to media reports, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government signed an agreement with the TLP in November last agreeing to expel the French Ambassador.

The TLP launched a massive protest in November last year against the cartoons but dispersed after the agreement with the government to expel the Ambassador by February. The deal was extended until April 20. (ANI)