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Vidya Balan to make Tamil debut with ‘Pink’ remake

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Nasheman News : Actress Vidya Balan, last seen on screen in Telugu film “NTR Kathanayakudu”, will be making her Tamil debut via upcoming yet-untitled Tamil remake of Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu starrer “Pink”.

The film’s producer Boney Kapoor, who is foraying into southern filmdom with this project, said in a statement.

Vidya has been paired opposite Ajith Kumar in the remake being directed by H. Vinoth. The shoot is underway in Hyderabad.

“Happy to introduce Vidya Balan to Tamil audiences. She is paired with Ajith and her role is very special. Shraddha Srinath has also been roped in for a pivotal role. Rangaraj Pandey plays a very important character,” Kapoor said in the statement.

The film also stars Adhik Ravichandran, Arjun Chidambaram, Abhirami Venkatachalam, Andrea Tariang, Aswin Rao and Sujith Shankar among others. 

Apparently, it was late Sridevi’s wish that Ajith does a film in her husband’s production.

“While working with Ajith in ‘English Vinglish’, Sridevi had expressed her desire that Ajith does a Tamil film for our home production. Nothing exciting came up till one day last year. 

“Ajith suggested remaking ‘Pink’ in Tamil. She immediately agreed as she thought it was most appropriate and timely film to make and Ajith would bring all the elements required to make it into a great Tamil film,” Kapoor had previously said.

The film, slated to release on May 1, will feature music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Popular lensman Nirav Shah has been roped in to crank the camera.

Kapoor also confirmed that he has another project with Ajith in the offing.

“We hope to bring the remake of ‘Pink’ to theatres on May 1. We are subsequently doing another film together and that will be scheduled to go on the floors in July 2019 and will be released on the April 10, 2020,” he added.

Police report on hate speech case against Asaduddin Owaisi rejected

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Nasheman News : A court here has rejected the Delhi Police’s closure report and ordered an investigation into an alleged hate speech case against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi, sources said on Tuesday.

In an order on Monday, Metropolitan Magistrate Prayank Nayak asked an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) to supervise the investigation so as to avoid any further delay in the matter.

The court observed that no efforts had been made by the police with respect to the venue of the alleged speech or to inquire about any person who was present in the audience or otherwise at the time of Owaisi’s address.

“It is also expected for the police to take all the available provisions in order to find out about the video on the basis of which the present case was filed,” the court said in its order.

In its closure report, the Delhi Police said that a news channel could not provide any particulars or the copy of the video.

It is also stated that an inquiry was sent to the video sharing website, YouTube to find out the details of the IP address and the source of the video. But no information was provided.

In the protest petition, complainant Ajay Gautam said that the Delhi Police has not investigated the case properly.

An FIR was lodged in February 2015 based on a complaint by Gautam, a social activist, who alleged that in June 2014 Owaisi had used “derogatory” and “inflammatory” words to describe the Central government.


No relaxation of order limiting import of pet coke: SC

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Nasheman News : The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a batch of applications from different industries seeking relaxation of its earlier order limiting the import of pet coke for the use of certain industries, including cement and aluminium, as feed stock.

“We will die one day but these industries will prosper,” said a bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Deepak Gupta refusing to dilute their last year’s order limiting the import of pet coke to 1.4 million metric tonnes.

“We are not going to dilute our order in any way, it (hearing) is over,” said Justice Mishra as a battery of senior lawyers including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Ranjit Kumar, Shyam Divan, Jayant Bhushan appearing for different industries tried to impress upon the court the need to relax the order and permit more imports.

The bench, in another matter relating to sealing of unauthorised constructions, barred the Delhi High Court from entertaining any plea challenging the order of the top court appointed monitoring committee on sealing of unauthorised structures in the national capital.

Staying an order of the High Court in a matter and restraining it from entertaining any issue arising from the decision of the monitoring committee, the bench said: “This (top) court had made it clear that any decision of the monitoring committee can be challenged before it only.”

The court on Monday cited its December 15, 2017 judgment and the orders of September 7 and November 27, 2018, clearing saying that any decision of the monitoring committee could only be challenged before it.

Congress downplays Kumaraswamy’s threat, says all is well

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Nasheman News : Amid the growing strains in its ties with the JD-S, the Congress on Monday sought to play down Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamys threat to quit, saying issues are being resolved.

“I am ready to quit if my style of functioning is not acceptable to anyone. The Congress must control its MLAs and resolve the issues,” an exasperated Kumaraswamy told the media in Bengaluru following criticism of his work by the Congress.

The Chief Minister’s remarks came after two Congress ministers and a legislator on Sunday alleged here that no development works took place in the last seven-eight months under Kumaraswamy’s administration and claimed that former Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was their leader and was a better administrator.

While Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and in-charge of party affairs in the state asserted that the party high command has “full faith in Kumaraswamy”, a party leader in Delhi claimed “all was well” within the coalition. 

“In a coalition, there are and there will be issues. But our coalition is strong and whatever issues there are will be resolved. The leadership of both the parties are discussing and soon things will be amicably resolved,” a Congress leader told IANS here. 

A hung verdict in the May 2018 Assembly elections led the Congress with about 80 lawmakers support the JD-S with 37 legislators to form a coalition government after the BJP with 104 MLAs failed to prove a simple majority in the 225-member House.

Paswan calls for tougher provisions to punish food adultrators

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Nasheman News :  Batting for consumers’ right to get good quality, adulteration-free products, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday called for tougher provisions to punish food adultrators.

His directions came during an Inter-Session Consultative Committee Meeting of the Ministry to review the functioning of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). 

Reviewing the functioning of the BIS, the committee suggested that consumers should be given good quality, adulteration-free products and tougher provisions should be made for punishing food adultrators as it had adverse effect on the health of the consumers.

Paswan said it was a matter of public concern and that regular inspection of all stock should be done to ensure quality product is delivered to the final consumer.

The BIS officials told the committee about several new initiatives such as digitisation of various activities, online approval of licenses besides future plans to utilise surplus funds towards construction of more field offices, new lab.

Paswan said the main objective of the FCI was to ensure that farmers get their due share and all possible efforts were made to ensure that. 

In context of the creation of 4,000 new vacancies at the FCI soon, Paswan asked for a special provision to provide reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the backdrop of 10 per cent quota to the general category.

Minor raped in Gurugram, 24-year-old man arrested

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Nasheman News : Gurugram police arrested a 24-year-old man on charges of raping a minor girl.

The incident came to light after the girl, studying in Class 10, refused to go school on Monday as she was terrified. 

“When the victim’s mother asked the reason, she revealed her ordeal. As per her statement, the victim went to school on January 24 and the accused forcibly abducted her in a car outside the school gate around 7.50 a.m. She was taken to an isolated place and raped thrice,” said Kanta Devi, the SHO of Maneser police station.

“The accused was involved in liquor business. He threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed what happened to her. The victim was very scared,” she said.

“Since the matter is very sensitive, we raided the home of the accused and arrested him. We have conducted medical examination of the victim which confirms rape,” the SHO said.


Rahul seeks removal of Hegde as Union Minister

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Nasheman News : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday sought the removal of Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde over his controversial remarks concerning religion and women, saying he was an embarrassment to every Indian.

“This man is an embarrassment to every Indian. He’s unfit to be a Union Minister and deserves to be sacked,” Gandhi tweeted. 

Hegde, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, during a public event in Kodagu district of Karnataka on Sunday said that “any hand that touches a Hindu girl should not exist”. 

“We should be aware of what is happening around us. Regardless of caste and religion, any hand that touches a Hindu girl should not exist,” the Minister had said.

On Monday, Hegde was also locked in a Twitter war with Karnataka Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao over their achievements and contributions.

Responding to Hegde’s tweet that he knew Rao as “a guy who ran behind a Muslim lady”, the latter retorted that it was sad to see the Central minister stoop to such “low levels as to bring in personal issues”.

Gundu Rao, a Congress lawmaker, is married to Tabu Rao.

Priyanka’s entry will strengthen Congress: Yashwant Sinha

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Nasheman News : Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said here on Monday the entry of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into active politics will strengthen the Congress and that she has already made an impact.

“From all the reports that I am getting, it appears that she (Priyanka) has already had an impact on the electorate. She is not yet active but when she becomes active, the impact of her personality would be even greater,” Sinha said in response to a query at a media interaction here.

He said that the Congress party would be “strengthened” by Priyanka’s entry, but whether a stronger Congress would eat into the SP-BSP votes or into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s votes, is “still to be seen”.

Javadekar dares Rahul, Kumaraswamy to take action against Siddaramaiah

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Nasheman News :The BJP on Monday hit out at former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his indecent behaviour with a woman in the state and dared Congress president Rahul Gandhi and State Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to take action against him.

“Rahul Gandhi must first tell the people about what he will do with Siddaramaiah. He is a former Chief Minister, it is visible how he misbehaved with a woman,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters at the party headquarters here. 

“The way in which he has insulted a woman shows how the Congress looks at women,” he said. 

“They only know how to respect women in the family and not others. This is Congress mantra. They have learnt nothing from the Tandoor case,” he said. 

The BJP leader also said that the Karnataka Chief Minister now faces a test as to what action he will take against Siddaramaiah. 

“It will be interesting to see if he shows any courage to take action against Siddaramaiah,” he said. 

Javadekar was responding to a question about Rahul Gandhi demanding the resignation of Hegde over his controversial comments at a public event that any hand that touches a Hindu girl “should not exist”. 

Hitting out at the Congress chief, Javadekar said that instead of asking for the BJP Minister’s resignation, Gandhi should take action against his own former Chief Minister.

Malaysia unveils five-year plan to fight corruption

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Plan focuses on procurement, contracts and requires politicians to publicly declare their assets.

A new government under Mahathir Mohamad took power in Malaysia last year and is implementing a five year plan to tackle corruption. [Issei Kato/Reuters]

Malaysia has unveiled an ambitious five-year plan to clamp down on corruption in government, months after a multi-billion-dollar graft scandal brought down the previous administration.

The plan, launched by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday, would involve sweeping changes to the appointment process for key posts, require legislators and ministers to publicly declare their assets, and introduce new laws to regulate political funding and lobbying.

Voters rejected Mahathir’s predecessor Najib Razak in an election in May last year, amid widespread public disgust over allegations that about $4.5bn has been stolen from 1MDB, a state fund set up by the former prime minister.

Najib, his wife and several high-ranking officials of his former administration are now facing dozens of criminal charges related to 1MDB and other government entities. All of them have pleaded not guilty.

Mahathir said Malaysia requires “all kinds of strategies, laws and restrictions” to curb corruption.

“This plan is a strong statement from the current government that we will track down and prosecute past offenders, while current and future offenders will be facing harsher action,” the prime minister said in a speech to launch the new approach to fighting graft.

The plan’s measures would target the government’s procurement process, law enforcement, the judiciary, politics and business, he added.

1MDB case

Officials studied the 1MDB case closely to design the new anti-corruption plan, said Abu Kassim Mohamed, the director-general of the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre, which drafted the anti-graft measures.

“When you have a top leader of the country allegedly involved in misconduct on such a mega scale, that has an impact on the public,” Abu Kassim told Reuters news agency on Monday.

Authorities in Malaysia and the United States allege that Jho Low, a financier with ties to Najib’s family, diverted funds from 1MDB and that about $1bn of it was eventually deposited into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

In July last year, Malaysian police seized designer handbags, luxury watches, jewellery and cash estimated at $273m from high-end properties linked to the former prime minister. 

It took three days, six cash counting machines and 22 officials from the central bank to count the cash, the then head of Malaysia’s commercial crime division, Amar Singh, said at the time.

Both Najib and Low, who is being sought by police, have denied wrongdoing.

The Malaysian government has also filed criminal charges against the US investment bank Goldman Sachs over 1MDB.

Its anti-graft plan addresses high-risk practices such as the selling of government contracts to third parties, and the appointment of political operatives to the board of state-linked companies, Abu Kassim said.

It also aims to strengthen the independence of investigating bodies such as the audit department and the anti-corruption commission, he added.

Political financing

New rules on political funding could affect opposition parties, particularly the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party Mahathir led until 2003. Najib was head of the party for almost a decade before last year’s election defeat.

Having controlled every ruling coalition since independence six decades ago, UMNO had established a system of patronage to ensure support from the country’s majority ethnic Malays.

UMNO and PAS, a Malay Islamist party also in opposition, reportedly received funds from 1MDB when Najib was in power.

Malaysia was ranked 62 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International last year.

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