Salman Khan’s marriage is a topic that has kept many a Bollywood lover occupied for several years now. Every single time Salman is spotted with some lady or the other, be it a Bollywood actor or someone else, the grapevine works itself into a tizzy over Salman Khan’s ‘mystery woman’.
As recently as a few months ago too, yet another tsunami of rumours drowned the internet. This time around, it was said that Salman Khan might have gotten engaged to the woman he is supposedly in a relationship with – Romanian TV personality Iulia Vantur.
However, back then, Salman’s sister Arpita Khan Sharma had trashed all rumours of her brother having exchanged rings with Iulia Vantur. Salman too, said how he loved the rumour about his engagement.
That Salman Khan has stayed a bachelor all these years hasn’t escaped the prying eyes of anybody who is even remotely clued in into the happenings of Bollywood. In interviews over the years, both Salman and people close to him have pointed out how Salman’s court cases were the reason the actor hadn’t tied the knot all these years.
In what comes as a huge sigh of relief for Salman, the Bombay High Court recently acquitted him of all charges in the 2002 hit-and-run case. This, some people close to the Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor have zeroed in on as the reason Salman will finally say ‘I do’ in 2016.
Filmmaker Subhash Ghai had been quoted in several reports as saying how Salman could have married at 34, but could not, because the judgment in the cases was pending.
A report in DNA quoted a source as saying, “Every time his parents raised the question of his marriage, Salman would turn around to say, ‘What would I tell my wife if the court cases go against me? What would she tell our child? That the father is in jail?’ Salman wanted to be out of the legal tangles before marrying. Now that the verdict is out in his favour, the coast is clear for his marriage.”
Earlier, in an interview on TV, Salman had said that he would ‘think about marrying only after the courts give their verdicts’. And if the verdicts from the courts went against him, the actor said, then he would marry only after being released from jail.
Now, given the fact that Salman has been cleared of all charges in the 2002 hit-and-run case, the actor might finally be able to walk down the altar. The rest, as they say, time will tell!
New Delhi: With no respite from rising food prices, notably pulses, India’s annual wholesale inflation rate moved up further to (-)1.99 percent for November, against (-)3.81 percent for the month before, official data showed on Monday. As per the official wholesale price index numbers released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the food articles rose sharply by 2.3 percent in just a month in November, as prices of fish, meat, eggs, lentils, condiments and spices, and fruits and vegetables all registered a rise. The overall annual wholesale inflation rate, though still in the negative, has risen to (-)1.99 percent from (-)3.81 in October, and (-)4.59 percent and (-)5.06 percent in the preceding two months. Food inflation moved up above the zero percent level to 3.12 percent from (-)1.2 percent during the month under review. The annual index numbers for petrol, diesel and cooking fuels also rose, while still in the negative.
For a Decade Now, Mumbai’s Sitting on its Reduce Cars Plan
Mumbai | Written by Ankita Sinha | Updated: December 08, 2015 01:46 IST
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For a Decade Now, Mumbai’s Sitting on its Reduce Cars Plan
Mumbai is yet to act on the expert panel recommendation that it cut down cars on the road by 20 per cent.
MUMBAI: As Delhi plans to limit vehicles with either even or odd number plates to alternate days of the week, Mumbai is worried about what it should to control air pollution.
‘I think twice before going out for a run in the morning now as the air isn’t healthy anymore’ said a resident.
Mumbai was warned over a decade ago by a committee set up by the Bombay High Court to cut one in every five vehicles on the road. But, despite this warning, the State Government is yet to implement any policy to give the committee’s recommendation effect.
“One of the recommendations of the committee was that there was a need to reduce the number of private cars on the roads. We had suggested a 20 per cent reduction in vehicles on trial basis. Which meant that on a Monday, vehicles ending with number plates 1 and 2 would be prohibited, Tuesday 3 and 4 would be banned and so on,” said environmentalist Debi Goenka.
Air quality data collected by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board shows that annual Nitrogen Oxide concentration in Mumbai has doubled over the past decade. Experts believe vehicular traffic is the main reason behind this.
“When you have to drive during peak traffic hours, stopping again and again and driving only in 4-5 km per hour speed, we have conducted an emission count for that time and it jumps seven to eight times. Here the pollution level is equal to that in Delhi,” said Ashok Datar, a Transport Analyst.
Solutions like carpools and improving frequency of public transport could avert further damage, experts say.
Mumbai being a coastal city has an edge over Delhi when it comes to keeping a check on the pollution levels because breeze from the sea disperses air pollution. But, experts But experts are now asking, how much more can the sea take in before it reaches its saturation level?
NAGPUR: Slum-dwellers occupying land around Mumbai’s international airport will be rehabilitated in the same region, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Assembly in Nagpur today.
Replying to a calling attention moved by Parag Alwani of BJP, Mr Fadnavis said the government has framed certain rules and regulations for “in situ rehabilitation”, and slum-dwellers will be resettled in the same area.
He said the Civil Aviation Minister A Gajpathi Raju had given “in principle” nod for rehabilitation.
The Chief Minister said the government was constructing houses to accommodate slum-dwellers.
“Until the houses are ready, they will be accommodated on a temporary basis. Those residing in Sahara and Vile-Parle localities (nearby the airport) have been served with notices which caused panic, and therefore they (slum-dwellers) should be accommodated in Chakala area,” Mr Fadnavis said.
The Chief Minister informed that Defence and Railway ministries have agreed to provide additional surplus land to state government for rehabilitation.
In a written statement, Mr Fadnavis said the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has signed an agreement to appoint Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) as developer for the rehabilitation project.
“Accordingly, 27,814 housing units are being constructed in seven places including Kurla, Mulund, Andheri-East and Mahul.
“About 18,000 housing units were ready and a meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister was held on March 30 this year. These housing units will be handed over to MMRDA,” the statement said.
It stated that a provision existed for rehabilitating slums for the vital public project as per the provisions of the Greater Mumbai Development Control rules.
“The MIAL and the MMRDA have agreed to rehabilitate the slums from the land of Mumbai international airport,” the statement said.
The Additional District Collector of Mumbai (Encroachment) was authorised to identify the eligible slum-dwellers for allotment from the restricted aeronautical area of the international airport, as per the statement.
boycott Shah Rukh
Khan-starrer “Dilwale”, releasing this week, alleging that the actor “ignored the plight of farmers reeling under severe drought”.
“Farmers in Maharashtra, specially in Marathwada, are reeling under drought. Khan, who has been residing in the state and has made a lot of money, has not helped farmers in distress,” MNS Chitrapat Karmachari Sena Chief Amey Khopkar told PTI.
“When his help is needed, he isn’t forthcoming,” Mr Khopkar said.
Asked if MNS will seek a ban on the film, he said, “We are not seeking a ban. We are only appealing people to boycott the film.”
“SRK is taking Maharashtra for granted,” he added.
One of Bollywood’s most popular on screen pairs – Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol — are reuniting on the big screen in Rohit Shetty’s “Dilwale”, which is slated to release on December 18.
Buenos Aires: At least 43 policemen were killed after the bus they were travelling in rammed through a bridge into a dried-up riverbed in Argentina on Monday, authorities said. The bus belonged to Argentina’s military police force, and was travelling between the towns of Santiago del Estero and San Salvador de Jujuy, according to Xinhua news agency. Early reports from emergency response teams in the Salta province said the bus was carrying 51 people and eight have been hospitalised, Gustavo Solis, mayor of Rosario de la Frontera, told the press that the stretch of road where the accident happened was notoriously bad. “The road is completely deteriorated. We try not to travel through the area at night,” he was quoted as saying. Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri sent his condolences to the families of the victims, and added that the thoughts of all Argentinean people were with them.
Dismissing rumours on social media, the Reserve Bank said all notes including those with scribbling will continue to be legal.
“As I understand, one of the topics trending on WhatsApp is the statement that at the end of the year notes with writing will not be accepted. This is absolutely false. Those notes continue to be a legal tender,”RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said in an audio message.
“RBI has had the policy in the past of disfigured note being withdrawn from circulation to be replaced by clean notes. That does not mean that they are not legal tender, they can be used everywhere, they can be accepted everywhere. There is no terminal date for acceptance, so please disregard those rumours, they are not correct,” he said.
RBI denied having issued a communication circulating on the social media alerting members of public that banks will not accept currency notes with scribbling on them from January 1, 2016.
All currency notes issued by it are legal tender and banks and members can freely and without fear accept them in exchange for good and services, RBI said in a statement.
RBI also stated that in pursuance of its clean note policy, it keeps requesting banks and members of public not to write on the currency notes it defaces them and reduces their life.
As a mark of tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on his 91st birthday, Indian Railways is all set to launch a train connecting his ancestral village Bateshwar to Agra district on December 25.
This will be a passenger train. However, any more details about the train, dates or frequency aren’t known yet.
The Additional Division Railway Manager, Sheelendra Pratap Singh, said that the new train is a gift from Indian Railways to the former prime minister.
According to the report, locals say, after Vajpayee was arrested in August 1942 for 23 days during the Quit India Moment, he never quite forgot the difficulty he had to face to reach his village. Since then, he always wanted to connect the city with the village by the way of a train.
(14 Dec) New Delhi: Rejecting any “flip flop”, India today asserted that the decision to re-start talks with Pakistan was based on “trust” and said the intent would be to have an “uninterrupted” dialogue process despite provocations by the “saboteurs”, an apparent reference to terror groups. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, while briefing Parliament on her recent visit to Pakistan, justified the decision to have ‘Comprehensive Dialogue’, saying there is a “need for bridging the gulf” with the neighbouring country for peace and stability in the region. Answering critics, she said in the latest arrangement, the level of talks on terror has been raised as this issue will now be dealt with by the National Security Advisers (NSAs) instead of Foreign Secretaries as earlier.
The fact that NSAs of India and Pakistan met in Bangkok without any publicity does not mean any third country’s involvement but it was only to take forward the Ufa process as such a meeting could not take place in Delhi as “you all know”, she told the Lok Sabha. Swaraj, who sought the support of Parliament to the latest initiative with Pakistan, made suo motu statements in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and answered questions posed by members in the Lower House like whether Pakistan could be trusted particularly since the history shows that dialogue has been accompanied by attacks from Pakistan. She appreciated the fact that the House had welcomed the initiative after 13 members from various parties spoke. “Nothing has changed on the ground. Because we had said that terror and talks cannot go together. So at Ufa, we said that NSAs will talk on terrorism,” she said to a question about what had changed since September when NSA talks could not take place after Pakistan insisted that Kashmir should be discussed at the meet.
“Whenever talks happen, that is based on trust..There is a need to bridge the gulf (with Pakistan),” Swaraj said, adding progress in dialogue is necessary for peace. Underlining that “The only way forward is through dialogue”, she said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initiated the efforts to reach out to Pakistan not in Ufa but even before he took oath on May 26 last year when he invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony. To demands by some members for assurance that thedialogue process will be “uninterruptable”, she said, “It never works like that. We would like not to get provoked by the saboteurs, who want to stall the dialogue somehow, and will try find a way forward through the dialogue. This will be our intent.” When some members alleged ‘flip flop’, she said it was not the “correct definition” as stopping and re-starting a dialogue process is a “part of diplomacy”
(15 Dec) Two more alleged killers and a tempo driver were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the double murder of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani. One of the accused Shivkumar Rajbhar was arrested on Monday after he confessed to the crime and told the police that he and four others eliminated the duo in Mumbai after Hema defaulted on a payment for an idol made by his employer, Vidyadhar alias Vidya, a metal fabrication artist who is missing and is prime suspect. Primary forensic findings from investigations indicate that both suffered contusions on the body that could have led to their death. The autopsy findings are contrary to the previous assumption by investigating authorities that strangulation could be the cause of death. However, a final opinion on the precise cause of death “has been reserved” until results of the chemical analysis arrive. “There were injuries on their bodies. A blunt object was used to hit them,” said a source close to the investigation.
A contusion is a visible bruise on the body that may cause rupture of blood vessels. According to the findings, while Upadhyay (43) had a contusion on her face, Bhambhani (65) had contusions on his shoulder and chest. There were no strangulation marks, though Bhambhani’s body had duct tapes over his gagged mouth, as well as around his hands and legs. According to sources, Upadhyay’s face was found in a more “bloated condition” than Bhambhani’s. The bodies were retrieved from two cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic sheets and dumped in an open drain in Kandivali on Saturday. On Sunday, the bodies were sent for post-mortem at Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali. Viscera samples from the abdomen, intestine, liver and stomach and blood of both victims have been sent for further forensic examination, along with hair samples extracted from Bhambhani’s body.
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