Month: August 2022

Deepika Padukone has never shied away from sharing how she was diagnosed with depression, her remedial course of action, and how she basically dealt with it. She is one of the very few actors in the industry who went public with her battle with depression and has spoken about it on various occasions.

On Thursday, Deepika once again shed light on how she battled months-long depression and overcame many bumps that came her way, including suicidal thoughts.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Deepika shared anecdotes from the time she was dealing with depression and how her mother came to her rescue. Deepika said, “I give all the credit to my mother for recognizing the signs and symptoms…because it just happened out of the blue…”

“I was on a career-high, and everything was going well, so there was no reason or no apparent reason why I should’ve felt the way I was feeling, but I would break down for no reason. There were days when I just didn’t want to wake up, I would sleep because sleep for me was an escape, I was suicidal at times,” she added.

Explaining further about how loved ones came to her rescue during her tough times, she said “My parents live in Bengaluru and every time they visited me, even now when they visit me, I always put on a brave front, like everything’s okay, you know you always want to show your parents that you’re fine…so I was doing one of those things like I’m fine…until they were leaving one day, they were going back to Bengaluru and I broke down and my mother asked me the usual hygiene questions like…is it a boyfriend? Is it someone at work? Has something happened? And I just didn’t have answers…it was none of these things. And it just came from a really empty, hollow place. And she knew instantly, and I think that for me was God sent.”

Deepika runs an NGO that aims to give hope to every person experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression.

Speaking further about the idea behind the foundation ‘Live Love Laugh’, Deepika added, “This (her depression diagnosis) was one of the reasons why I set up this foundation, for us to be able to create that awareness, to be sensitive to the people around us, to look around us.”

Talking about how she overcame this rough patch, Deepika said, “Coming back to me… I needed professional help. And then the journey went on…I was put on to a psychiatrist, medication which went back and forth for many months. I was resistant to that at first because there was so much stigma attached to mental illness, so that went on for a couple of months until I finally started taking medication and started feeling better.”

Deepika concluded by saying that the journey of mental illness can be lonely and her mission is to make sure that not even one life is lost due to mental illness. (ANI)

Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu opened up about being body shamed by many for gaining weight.

Speaking to People, Harnaaz said, “Physically I have kind of grown, got more pounds and increased my weight, which I am totally comfortable about right now. I was bullied for gaining weight. It was kind of uncomfortable and really surprising for me to see how people started having their opinions, which should not really matter.”
She added, “It’s not about how you look, it’s about who you are from inside and how you treat people and what you believe in.”

Harnaaz also said that she broke down several times after seeing people’s negative comments.

“I definitely broke down so many times. Sometimes in the most unexpected times. I’m just about to go on stage or something and this whole thing comes in my mind. It’s really sad,” she admitted.

The Chandigarh-based model is suffering from celiac disease, an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

“I have a gluten allergy. I can’t have wheat or anything which contains wheat. Apart from that, I also have some soy allergy and coconut allergies. I’m allergic to eggs and I kind of realised that when I came to New York. Because (eggs are considered) vegetarian and it’s known as non-vegetarian in India. It took me time to realize that the things which I was allergic to, I was still having. I didn’t know,” she shared.

Now that the 22-year-old has gotten a grasp on her health, her mindset has shifted.

“”I’ve gone through that phase of my life where I used to feel bad about everything,” Sandhu says. “Now, I started loving everything. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel sad.”

Sandhu hopes sharing her story will help others who struggle with body image and self-love.

“We all are imperfect. We need to realize that there’s a point where we understand that we need to embrace our flaws and when you do that, you can conquer anything in this world,” she concluded.

Harnaaz is the first Indian woman to secure the Miss Universe win in 21 years after Lara Dutta won the pageant in 2000. (ANI)

Mom-to-be Sonam Kapoor talked about how the journey towards becoming a mother is not always “pretty”.

Taking to Instagram, Sonam, who is currently in her third trimester of pregnancy, shared a picture of her swollen feet.
Alongside the image, the ‘Neerja’ star wrote, “Pregnancy is not pretty sometimes.”

Sonam and her husband Anand Ahuja tied the knot on May 8, 2018, in a traditional Anand Karaj ceremony. In March 2022, the couple announced that they are expecting their first child together.

Sonam recently celebrated her baby shower with her husband Anand Ahuja, along with her sister Rhea Kapoor. She shared glimpses of the ceremony on social media, including the venue, the food, and the decor.

Earlier, Sonam ok to her Instagram and dropped a few stunning pictures in ethnic attire, where she spoke about her pregnancy, sharing the pics, she wrote, “On the cusp of motherhood and at the brink of my birthday, I’m choosing to dress how I feel -Pregnant & Powerful, Bold & Beautiful…Thanks @abujanisandeepkhosla for draping women in outfits that bring out the most fierce and the most sensual parts of their femininity.”

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sonam will be next seen in her upcoming film ‘Blind’ directed by Shome Makhija, starring Purab Kohli, Vinay Pathak and Lillete Dubey in prominent roles. The film is expected to release later this year. (ANI)

Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Friday withdrew his petition seeking bail in a Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) case after the Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea.

A bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath observed that the charges if proven are very serious.
Thereafter Bhatt’s counsel sought to withdraw the bail plea.

Bhatt challenged the Gujarat High Court order dated January 31, 2020 whereby the HC bench refused to grant Bhatt regular bail in the matter.

The state of Gujarat was represented by Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Maninder Singh with lawyer Deepanwita Priyanka.

Bhatt has sought regular bail in a case registered with Palanpur City Police Station, under various changes dealing with criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, (NDPS).

Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was recently arrested by the Ahmedabad Police’s Crime Branch in another case connected with the Gujarat riots case, accusing him of embezzling funds and forging documents.

The recent arrest was based on a case filed on June 24 after the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.

A Gujarat court in June 2019 sentenced former Sanjiv Bhatt to life imprisonment in another matter of a custodial death case dating back to 1990. (ANI)

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a one-year extension for Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba.

Gauba terms was set to get completed at the end of this month. However, he will continue in the same position till August 30, 2023. Last year in 2021 also, Gauba was given a one-year extension till August 2022 by the government.
On August 30, 2019, Gauba had taken over as the new Cabinet Secretary in the Government of India after the superannuation of PK Sinha.

Gauba is an IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre (1982 batch) and has held important assignments like Union Home Secretary, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development and Chief Secretary, Jharkhand. He has also represented India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He was one of the key implementers of the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir and is widely credited for the flawless and smooth implementation of the decision. With an eye for details, he spearheaded the formulation and execution of these initiatives in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Along with a small core team, he gave final shape to constitutional and legal aspects while working out administrative and security arrangements.

Earlier, during his stint in MHA as Additional Secretary, he prepared a multi-pronged action plan in 2015 to tackle LWE and steered its implementation which has resulted in significantly shrinking the spread of Maoists’ area of influence.

Besides MHA, Gauba has served in the Central Government in wide-ranging areas such as Urban Development, Defence, Environment and Forests, and Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

As Chief Secretary of Jharkhand, Gauba had introduced major governance and economic reforms including lateral entry of professionals, restructuring, downsizing of Ministries, and labour reforms. (ANI)

Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, were detained while marching to Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark their protest against inflation, price rise, GST and unemployment on Friday.

The Delhi Police has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in the New Delhi district except for Jantar Mantar ahead of the Congress party’s call for nationwide protests against inflation and unemployment.
The party has decided to stage a pan-India protest on Friday and hold a demonstration outside the residences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu, however, it was denied by the Delhi Police.

Despite no permission from the Delhi Police, the party leaders said that they will go ahead with their proposed protest march.

Visuals showed Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra jumping over a police barricade placed near the AICC office here during a party protest against price rise and unemployment in Delhi. She was later detained by police during the Congress protest.

Congress MPs, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Ranjeet Ranjan were also detained at Police Lines Kingsway Camp in Delhi.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was detained by police during a protest against the Central government on price rise and unemployment in Delhi.

“Our job is to raise the issues of the people…Some Congress MPs detained, also beaten by police,” said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to reporters during a protest against price rise and unemployment at Vijay Chowk.

“All Congress MPs were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhawan to raise the issue of inflation and price rise but they are not allowing us to go ahead from here. Our job is to raise the issues of the people…Some MPs detained, also beaten,” he said prior to being detained.

Congress is holding a massive protest even when the Delhi police have denied permission for it. The Paramilitary forces and the Delhi police have blocked the Vijai Chowk road and the route from Parliament to President’s House by barricades.

“This protest is about price rise and Agnipath. Price rise affects everybody. As a political party and as elected representatives we are bound to voice the grievances the burdens and the fears of the people. This is what we are doing,” Congress MP and senior leader P Chidambaram said to reporters.

Women paramilitary personnel are queued right on the other side of the barricades to stop the Congress MPs from protesting. They have also planned to gherao the PM House.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, addressing a press conference, said that there is no democracy in India now and that our country is under the dictatorship of four people.

Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and MP Mallikarjun Kharge among others chose to sport black outfits to mark their support for the protests called by Congress on price rise and inflation.

While Rahul Gandhi chose to wear a black-coloured shirt, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra chose to wear a black suit.

Comparing PM Modi with Hitler, Rahul Gandhi said, “Hitler had also won elections, he too used to win elections. How did he use to do it? He had control of all of Germany’s institutions…Give me the entire system, then I will show you how elections are won.”

Rahul Gandhi further said, “We’re witnessing the death of democracy. What India has built brick by brick, starting almost a century ago, is being destroyed in front of your eyes. Anybody who stands against this idea of the onset of dictatorship is viciously attacked, jailed, arrested and beaten up.”

Soon after Rahul Gandhi’s press conference, BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia said, “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had got bail in 2015 in the National Herald case. This case was filed long back and they were not even raising such issues (that ED is being controlled) then. It’s just a tactic to divert attention from the fact that they have been caught red-handed. Bhatia’s comments came after Rahul Gandhi alleged that ED and other independent institutions were being controlled by the BJP and the RSS and used to intimidate the Opposition.”

The Congress today is protesting against rising prices, unemployment and GST rate hike. In Delhi, the party leaders are marching to the Rashtrapati Bhawan from the Parliament. The party’s state units will hold similar protests across the country.

Citing the restrictions, the Delhi police has denied permission to the Congress for holding a protest in the national capital. (ANI)

Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairperson, M Venkaiah Naidu, on Friday, said that Members of the Parliament (MPs) cannot avoid summons of law enforcement agencies in criminal cases when the session is on or otherwise.

This statement by Vice-President comes as Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi; Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee are under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate in money-laundering cases.
“MPs cannot avoid summons of law enforcement agencies in criminal cases when the session is on or otherwise. As law-abiding citizens, it’s our duty to respect the law and legal procedure,” said M Venkaiah Naidu in Rajya Sabha today during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

The Monsoon Session was convened on July 18 and will conclude on August 12.

Congress has been continuously raising questions against the price rise and the hike in the Goods and Service Tax (GST). Congress MPs have been staging protests both inside and outside Parliament on these issues. The protests come at a time when the Enforcement Directorate is questioning Congress president Sonia Gandhi and MP Rahul Gandhi over a case linked to the National Herald newspaper.

The Enforcement Directorate also arrested Sanjay Raut just after midnight of August 1 in a case linked to alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of a chawl. Also, last month, the Enforcement Directorate recovered over 50 crores in cash and unaccounted assets from premises linked to now-suspended TMC leader and West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee.

In one of the sharpest attacks on Rahul Gandhi by the ruling BJP at the Centre, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi on Friday called the Congress leader a “fake Gandhi” whose ideology was “fake” as well.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament premises, Joshi said, “He (Rahul Gandhi) is not a descendant of Mahatma Gandhi. He is a ‘nakli’ (fake) Gandhi. And it is a fake ideology.”

The BJP leader’s comments came after Rahul Gandhi hurled a litany of charges at the Modi government. The BJP has also claimed that Congress has become aggressive to divert attention from the probe against its top leaders by investigative agencies.

Earlier, at a press conference in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi said, “Why do they attack the Gandhi family? They do it because we fight for an ideology and there are crores of people like us. We fight for democracy, for communal harmony and we have been doing this for years. It’s not just me who did that, it has been happening for years.”

“My family sacrificed their lives. It’s our responsibility because we fight for this ideology. It hurts us when Hindus-Muslims are pitted against each other, when Dalits are killed, when a woman is thrashed. So, we fight. This isn’t just one family, this is an ideology,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and MP Mallikarjun Kharge among others chose to sport black outfits to mark their support for the protests called by Congress on price rise and inflation.

While Rahul Gandhi chose to wear a black-coloured shirt while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra a black suit.

Comparing PM Modi with Hitler, Rahul Gandhi said, “Hitler had also won elections, he too used to win elections. How did he use to do it? He had control of all of Germany’s institutions…Give me the entire system, then I will show you how elections are won.”

Rahul Gandhi further said, “We’re witnessing the death of democracy. What India has built brick by brick, starting almost a century ago, is being destroyed in front of your eyes. Anybody who stands against this idea of the onset of dictatorship is viciously attacked, jailed, arrested and beaten up.”

Soon after Rahul Gandhi’s press conference, BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia said, “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had got bail in 2015 in the National Herald case. This case was filed long back and they were not even raising such issues (that ED is being controlled) then. It’s just a tactic to divert attention from the fact that they have been caught red-handed. Bhatia’s comments came after Rahul Gandhi alleged that ED and other independent institutions were being controlled by the BJP and the RSS and used to intimidate the Opposition.”

The Congress today is protesting against rising prices, unemployment and GST rate hike. In Delhi, the party leaders are marching to the Rashtrapati Bhawan from the Parliament. The party’s state units will hold similar protests across the country. (ANI)

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) will review the data of genomic surveillance of variants today, sources informed ANI.
“We review the data every week but no need to panic at all because hospitalisation hasn’t increased and no new variant has been found so far.”, said sources to ANI.

According to the bulletin issued on 11 July by INSACOG, Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the dominant variant in India, “BA.2.75 subvariant has acquired more mutations in spike protein and other genes of the SARS-CoV-2,” and it also mentioned that the variant is being closely monitored.

INSACOG is jointly initiated by the Union Health Ministry of Health and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

The national capital Delhi has now become an active Covid hotspot. The Thursday data said that the national capital recorded a positivity rate of 11.84% and over 2,000 new Covid-19 cases.

India on Friday witnessed a surge in the number of new COVID-19 infections as it recorded 20,551 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the data shared by the Ministry of health and family welfare. The country also reported 70 deaths during the same period. (ANI)

Digital payment platform Paytm, on Friday, assured to fix the issues hours after several users reported glitches while making the transactions through the app on social media.

“Due to a network error across Paytm, a few of you might be facing an issue in logging into the Paytm Money App/website. We are already working on fixing the issue at the earliest. We will update you as soon as it is resolved,” a tweet read on Paytm Money’s handle.

Many of the traders are even seeking compensation for the loss they suffered in the F&O (Futures and Options) due to the crash of Paytm Money during the market time.

Acknowledging the issues, the firm said in another tweet, “We understand that few of our Trading & F&O users would have faced real issues with their trades & positions. In our continued efforts to always have your back & to be fair & transparent, we request you write to us over email at exg.support@paytmmoney.com with your concerns.”

“We did have an issue and we would sincerely like to help. We are working hard to ensure such external issues do not reoccur. Thank you again for your support,” Paytm added.

Taking to Twitter, several users said they were not being able to log in to the Paytm app and website to make payments.

“@Paytm even after many first transactions, sometimes we are getting 5000 rs first transaction in upi error message,” a social media user wrote.

“Please humbly request @RBI@RBIsays please take strict against to Paytm, Paytm very worst services, please remove Paytm services, no customer care services, money theft data theft #Paytm,” another user tweeted.

One user also went on to seek customer support. “@PaytmMoney Please provide customer support for Paytm money without login. Today not able to login and not able to raise compliant and it is today dead end. Like Zarodha, Geojit you please open office in all cities. And provide offline email care support when network issuse.”

Paytm allows customers to make digital payments for several services including prepaid and postpaid mobile, direct-to-home recharge, money transfers etc. It is available on all platforms including Android, Apple’s iOS and Windows Phone. (ANI)

With Congress ramping up its attack against the central government over inflation and GST among other issues, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday made a sharp attack on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her handling of the Indian economy.

In a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Delhi, Gandhi said that he did not think that the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has “any understanding of what is happing in the country”.
Workers and leaders of the Congress today congregated at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here as part of a planned nationwide protest against inflation, hike in GST on essential items and unemployment.

Addressing a press conference before he joined MPs in a dharna outside Parliament, Gandhi said: “I think the macroeconomic fundamentals that she (Nirmala Sitharaman) is talking about is something else. I don’t think the Finance Minister has any understanding of what is going on in the economy of India, zero understanding. She is there as a mouthpiece.”

The Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad also lashed out at the Centre for keeping government machineries “under control”.

“Not every institution in India is free and fair today. We are not fighting just one political party, we are fighting against the entire infrastructure of India,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“When we had a government (at the Centre), the infrastructure was fair. We didn’t control infrastructure. Back then, there used to be a fight between political parties only,” he said.

He added, “At present, the entire financial infrastructure is with them. If anyone wants to support the other party, then ED, CBI is imposed against him.”

Gandhi also compared PM Modi with Hitler. “Hitler had also won elections, he too used to win elections. How did he use to do it? He had control of all of Germany’s institutions…Give me the entire system, then I will show you how elections are won,” Rahul Gandhi said.

He further said, “We’re witnessing the death of democracy. What India has built brick by brick, starting almost a century ago, is being destroyed in front of your eyes. Anybody who stands against this idea of the onset of dictatorship is viciously attacked, jailed, arrested and beaten up.”

Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and MP Mallikarjun Kharge among others on Friday chose to sport black-coloured outfits.

Lashing out at the Centre on its stand on issues like price rise and inflation, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that India is witnessing the death of democracy.

“How do you feel about the death of democracy? What this country built in 70 years was destroyed in 8 years. There is no democracy in India today!,” senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a press conference.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Malikarjun Kharge today convened a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party to finalise and streamline the party’s strategy “to counter the undemocratic and dictatorial actions” of the Modi government.

“The protests will continue until this fascist regime until it feels the consequences of its own wrongdoings,” Kharge tweeted. He was also seen donning a black kurta and turban.

Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and former West Bengal Minister are under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate in money-laundering cases.

Delhi Police officials earlier today have briefed security personnel at Vijay Chowk, ahead of the protests. Notably, Delhi Police has denied permission to Congress for holding protests. The police officials said that the prohibitory orders are in force in the national capital.

The Delhi Police has imposed Section 144 CrPC in the entire area of the New Delhi district except for Jantar Mantar. The police said that protest/dharna/ gherao in the area of New Delhi district on August 5 cannot be permitted in view of security, law and order and traffic reasons.

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken earlier this week said that they had received a letter from the DCP that they can’t protest on August 5 and the AICC (All India Congress) was turned into a Police cantonment. “The government may suppress us as much as they want but we’ll protest against inflation, unemployment, GST on edible items and go ahead with our schedule even if jailed,” he said. (ANI)