The redevelopment of Mumbai’s mostly derelict docklands will, if a government appointed panel has its way, create a waterfront where people living in the world’s second most densely-populated city can go to lift their spirits, and the rich can go to play.

“This is a real opportunity to give Mumbai what it doesn’t have, to give it open space,” said Narinder Nayar, a businessman who sits on the panel, whose recommendations will be unveiled this week.

Owned by Mumbai Port Trust, the largest landowner in India’s financial hub, much of the 7 square kilometres (2.7 square miles) up for redevelopment is occupied today by crumbling warehouses, informal housing and workers who eke out a living breaking down disused ships or sorting through scrap metal.

The government, which has valued the land at $12 billion, is pitching the project as a shining example of what urban regeneration in India should look like: transport minister Nitin Gadkari wants a giant ferris wheel similar to the London Eye.

“We should be looking towards the examples of New York, London, Sydney…Barcelona as well, to see what can be done with our former industrial areas on the waterfront,” Nayar said.

Whereas Mumbai’s western shoreline looks out to the Arabian Sea, this land is located on the protected eastern side of the city’s southern tip, affording a view across the harbour to the mainland, where a new deep-sea container port is based.

Nair says the panel will recommend that about 30 percent of the land be opened as public space, and the construction of a hospital and affordable housing, linked by new train lines.

There are plans for a floating hotel and convention centre too, and a tender is already out to build a luxury marina to cater for the city’s super-rich.

With its natural harbour, Bombay, as it was called back then, was rapidly developed during British colonial times, and much of today’s city sits on reclaimed land that joined up a string of tiny islands off India’s western coast.

Mumbai hasn’t got a great track record for urban planning, however. Mounting demographic pressures and long delays for infrastructure projects have often meant that whatever progress takes place has already been overtaken by the population’s growing needs.

“NOT A SINGLE SQUARE INCH”

“You can really feel the pressure this land must be under from developers,” said Aneerudha Paul, a Mumbai-based architect, staring up at new blocks of flats towering over the empty warehouses lining the docks.

There are some 12.5 million people crammed on the ‘island city’, a narrow wedge of land jutting into the sea, and around 21 million in the greater metropolitan area.

Half of them live in slums, and according to a 2012 study, there is just 1.1 square metres of open space for each resident. This is less than the 15 square metres available in capital city Delhi and the 31 square metres in London.

Residents and urban experts worry that the Mumbai port project will either fail to get off the ground, or succumb to the same unregulated building sprees seen across the country.

There was a plan in the 1990s to reserve a third of 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 square mile) of defunct mill land in central Mumbai for public space, and a third for affordable housing. It ended with most of the area sold privately and turned into luxury skyscrapers set amid landscaped gated gardens.

1. M. Parmar, Mumbai Port Trust Chairman, told Reuters that “not a single square inch” would be sold to developers, although plots might be leased to property firms to raise cash for redevelopment elsewhere.

“So far the intentions from the government have been good,” said Nayar. “But only time will tell.”

Binyamin Netanyahu vows harsh retaliation over ‘despicable murderers’, after four rabbis and policeman killed

Five Israelis were killed in a frenzied assault by two Palestinians who targeted worshippers at a Jerusalem synagogue, the latest in a series of deadly attacks that many fear is pushing the city to the edge of a dangerous escalation in violence.

Four of the people killed were rabbis, three holding joint US citizenship, one with dual British citizenship. The fifth victim was an Israeli policeman, who succumbed to his injuries late on Tuesday night.

The attack was greeted by international condemnation, and Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, vowed to “respond harshly”, describing the attack as a “cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers”.

The two assailants, cousins Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal, attacked the worshippers with meat cleavers and a gun during early-morning prayers before they were killed by police officers. The circumstances of the incident have added to the sense of crisis in Jerusalem.

Witnesses described a chaotic and bloody scene inside the synagogue as police and the attackers engaged in a shootout at the building’s entrance. Photographs distributed by Israeli authorities showed a man in a prayer shawl lying dead, a bloodied butcher’s cleaver on the floor and prayer books covered in blood.

Many in Israel have been alarmed by the religious dimension to the killings. Violence in Jerusalem, areas of Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, has surged in recent months, exacerbated by tensions over a key holy site revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and Jews as the Temple Mount

Prominent among those who condemned the killings were the US president, Barack Obama and the British prime minister, David Cameron. Denouncing it as a “horrific attack” Obama told reporters at the White House: “Tragically, this is not the first loss of lives that we have seen in recent months. Too many Israelis have died, too many Palestinians have died.”

Netanyahu called the attack a “cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers”. In an evening press conference he once again accused the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, of stirring tension in Jerusalem, and called on the international community to express its outrage.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack Netanyahu ordered the demolition of the homes of the two attackers. Other measures reported to be under consideration by the public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, were the loosening of firearms regulations to allow security personnel to carry guns off duty and the reported establishment of security checks on those leaving Palestinian neighbourhoods of the city.

The US consulate in Jerusalem identified the dead Americans as Aryeh Kupinsky, Kalman Ze’ev Levine, and Moshe Twersky. Israeli authorities said the British man killed was Avraham Goldberg, 68, who had emigrated to Israel in the 1990s. The policeman who was killed was Zidan Saif.

The four rabbis were buried on Tuesday afternoon in funerals attended by several thousand people and by senior political figures. Relatives in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber later said the attackers were the cousins Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal, who burst into the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue in Har Nof. Israeli media reported that one of the two assailants had worked in a supermarket in the area.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, quickly condemned the killings. “We condemn the killing of civilians from any side,” he said in a statement. “We condemn the killings of worshippers at the synagogue in Jerusalem and condemn acts of violence no matter their source.”

But Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, praised the attack. In Gaza, dozens of people took to the streets to celebrate, with some offering trays full of sweets.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small militant group, said the cousins were among their members, though it did not say whether it had instructed them to carry out the attack.

Speaking to journalists at the scene, Jerusalem’s mayor, Nir Barkat, expressed shock at the brutality of the attack. “To slaughter innocent people while they pray … it’s insane,” he said.

In a bleak assessment of the wave of violence, the Israeli justice minister, Tzipi Livni, told Army Radio that she had long feared that a religious war was developing. “And a religious war cannot be solved.”

In Jabal Mukaber relatives of the two attackers offered theories about the motives for the attack, with some linking it to the death of a Palestinian bus driver found hanged behind his bus, described by Israeli authorities as a suicide but widely believed by many Palestinians to have been a lynching.

Other family members, however, blamed recent friction at the Temple Mount which has been blamed for a rash of deadly violence and clashes.

A cousin of the men, Sufian Abu Jamal, a construction worker aged 40, described the attack as a “heroic act and the normal reaction of what has been happening to Palestinians in Jerusalem and at the al-Aqsa mosque”.

At the house of Uday, “Abu Salah”, an uncle of one of the men, said his relatives had been made angry by what they had seen on Facebook and television news reports. “It was a situation ripe for an explosion and that is what happened.”

The attack was the latest in a series of deadly assaults. Five Israelis and a foreign visitor have been deliberately run over and killed or stabbed to death by Palestinians. About a dozen Palestinians have also been killed, including those accused of carrying out those attacks.

Residents trace the recent violence in Jerusalem to July when a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by Jewish assailants, an alleged revenge attack for the abduction and killing of three Jewish teens by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said the attack was “a pure result of incitement”. In an emotional statement in London, Kerry added: “Innocent people who had come to worship died in the sanctuary of a synagogue. They were hatcheted, hacked and murdered in that holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality and murder.”

Four body builders from U.P, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Punjab are participating in the 4^th Asian Beach Games to be held in Phuket Thailand. This was announced amid a press conference held at Maratha Club, Mumbai on 17^th November.  The Asian Beach games are organized by Olympic Council of Asia from 14^th to 223^d November. Phuket is Thailand’s best know beach destinations.. The event is co-hosted by Ministry of Tourism and Sports and The Tourism Authority of Thailand. The event will see a host of 45 countries participating with the estimated athletes along with officers would be about 3500.

The four wrestlers Amit Chaudhary, Ravi Kumar, Kohtan Taman and Hiral Punjab are optimistic about winning some medals in the body building competition. These four body builders are participating in the game under the aegis of Indian Body Building and Fitness Federation. The Federation is an independent body with no support from the Government. With the help of some enthusiastic body builders these body builders have been sponsored to participate in Thailand.  The federation also organizes Mr India competition annually along with a number of competitions at the state and national level.

Drawing a parallel between the Narendra Modi government and its predecessor UPA, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today slammed the Centre for refusing to disclose all information on black money, saying it had buckled to the pressure of powerful people who have stashed illegal money in foreign banks.

“The Narendra Modi government’s attempt to block the disclosure of names of individuals who have stashed black money abroad is a betrayal with the people of India and first major breach of trust by this regime,” AAP alleged in a statement.

“The BJP-led government’s stand is identical to its predecessor, the UPA government, and it is now clear that the Narendra Modi government has also buckled to the pressure of powerful people who have kept their illegal money in foreign banks,” it said.

Earlier, the Centre submitted before the Supreme Court that all the information on black money received from foreign countries, with which India has double taxation avoidance agreement, cannot be disclosed.

AAP also demanded that the NDA government must reveal the real reasons for its sudden “u-turn”, which has made it stand in the same line as that of the UPA government.

The party recalled that before Lok Sabha elections, the then BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is now the Home Minister, had promised to bring back all the black money stashed in foreign banks if BJP came to power.

“What is shocking is that the BJP, which had brought an adjournment motion in Parliament in 2011 demanding the disclosure of names of those who have black money stashed in foreign bank accounts, is now giving the same defeated and rejected excuses to deny this information from being made public,” AAP added.

It also added that the AAP will raise the issue in the forthcoming Winter Session in Parliament and will keep asking the government the reason for its unjustified move, which is a direct compromise with the biggest source of corruption.

• The marriage license was granted by Kings County in California
• Issued on November 7 for Manson and Afton Elaine Burton
• Burton left her Midwestern home nine years ago and moved to Corcoran, California — the site of the prison — to be near Manson
• Burton maintains multiple websites claiming Manson’s innocence 

• Mass murderer Charles Manson has been issued a license to marry a 26-year-old woman who visits him in prison.
• The Kings County marriage license, viewed Monday by The Associated Press, was granted on November 7 for 80-year-old Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, who left her Midwestern home nine years ago and moved to Corcoran, California — the site of the prison — to be near Manson.
• She maintains several websites advocating Manson’s innocence.

Ranbir Kapoor-starrer “Bombay Velvet” will hit the screens May 15 next year. Directed by Anurag Kashyap, the romantic thriller also stars Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar in key roles. “We are all gearing up for the release of ‘Bombay Velvet’ May 15 next year. The film needed time to complete given the work that was pending and now we have locked a release date.

“An exciting marketing plan is being crafted as we speak to promote the movie in a way films have not been presented before,’ Kashyap said in a statement. The film is produced by Phantom Films and presented by Fox Star Studios. “‘Bombay Velvet’ is a very special film, a beautiful love story set against the rise of Bombay. It’s authentic, good cinema with amazing performances by Ranbir, Anushka and Karan,” Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, said in a statement.

We are excited to watch this hatke looking venture, what about you folks? Do you think Ranbir will live up to the expectations?

Mumbai airport handled over 3 million passengers in October due to growth in domestic traffic and addition of new flights to Abu Dhabi and Paris in the last few months.

Monthly passenger traffic crossed 3 million mark for the first time ever in May and second time in October. Domestic traffic accounts for 68% of the total and rest is international traffic.

In 2013-14 Mumbai airport handled about 32 million passengers and is second busies airport after but Delhi which handled 36.9 million passengers in the same period.

According to Mumbai International Airport Limited spokesperson the airport handled 3.04 million passengers in October and 3.15 million passengers in May. Previously the highest traffic movement was witnessed last December when it handled 2.9 million passengers.

Delhi, Bangalore and Goa are the busiest domestic routes while Dubai, London and Singapore are the busiest international routes form Mumbai.

Paris, Abu Dhabi and Kathmandu showed the fastest traffic growth amongst the international routes in April-September period. Passenger volume grew over 90 percent. Locally Amritsar, Kozhikode and Patna/Ranchi showed the fastest growth during this period and traffic to Amritsar was up 90 percent.

” The year 2014 is been an eventful year at Mumbai airport as it witnessed the inauguration of the iconic Terminal 2. Passenger numbers have seen record high during May and October this year. Growth has resulted due to Airbus A380 operations, additional frequencies to UAE, Paris, Colombo, Kathmandu Bangkok and new services by airlines like Malindo, Druk and flydubai,” MIAL spokesperson added.

Mumbai lost its number one rank to Delhi in 2009-10 due to capacity constraints and delays in modernisation of airport.

While Delhi airport with three runways handles 950 flights a day, Mumbai airport handles around 760 flights.

Mumbai airport has two intersecting runways which limits runway movements. The main runway has a capacity of 45 movements and can handle upto 48 movements a hour. The secondary runway has a capacity to handle 30-32 flights a hour. Simulatenous operations are not carried out. Sources said there are further limitations to increase air traffic movement. According to an official it will be difficult to increase aircraft movements beyond 50 per hour.

New Delhi: Deep-rooted gender inequalities continue to undermine India’s potential to translate economic growth into inclusive development, according to a government report which highlighted the inequality found in the education system.

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It says gender is the most pervasive form of inequality that operates in India across all classes, castes and communities, posing a big challenge despite the progressive education policy.

The ‘Report on the Implementation of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action’ says that issues of gender have been one of the most challenging in the progress made towards the goals of universalisation, inclusion, equity and quality in education.

The report will be submitted by Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi at the ‘Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Beijing+20 Review’ which is underway in Bangkok since yesterday till November 20.

“Gender being the most pervasive form of inequality operates across all classes, castes and communities in India and is a big challenge despite having a progressive education policy with regard to gender,” it says.

“The education system still reflects the inequality found in the society outside the classroom. Continuous and sustained efforts are still required to bring the status of the girls at par with boys,” the report says.

It mentioned the setbacks or reversals in progress towards gender equality and empowerment of women that have been experienced since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration.

Between15th and 17^th November representatives of International unions from around the world assembled in Mumbai, India under the auspices of the International Transport federation ITF and UNI Global Union.

According to their meetings with workers of DHL a lot of disturbing reports were found. To discuss the conditions of workers of DHL a Press Meet was held by the DHL employees union at Mumbai Press Club on 17^th November.

The courier staff in India was found to be working for 12 hours a day apart from the travelling time spent to come to work. This is way above the norms set by the government of 8 working hours.

The DHL managing committee in India refused the pickup and delivery workers to join the union. This is also against the norms set by International labour Unions where an employee has the right to join such unions. The union also found hundreds of Indian pick and delivery workers labeled as fake managers and thus deprived of their rights to collectively bargain through their unions of choice.

However ITF and UNI who negotiate between the management and workers, bring about a understanding between the two parties for the smooth functioning a such companies. Therefore they are optimistic to bring about a solutions the problems come forth with their Indian counterparts.