Prime Minister Narendra Modi Breaks Protocol, Receives Jordan King At Airport

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday broke protocol and received Jordan s King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein who arrived here on a three-day state visit to India at the airport.PM Modi welcomed King Abdullah with a warm hug as he alighted from the aircraft.In a tweet External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that PM Modi deviating from protocol welcomes His Majesty at the airport . India attaches great importance to its ties with Jordan Mr Kumar said.This is King Abdullah s second visit to India after his visit along with Queen Rania in 2006.King Abdullah will hold talks with PM Modi on Thursday during the course of which the two sides will discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.President Ram Nath Kovind will host a banquet in honour of King Abdullah while Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will call on the visiting dignitary.The King will visit IIT Delhi today to explore collaboration with Jordan technical institutes.During the day the King will also participate in a CEO Round-table followed by India-Jordan Business Forum jointly https://vue-forums.uit.tufts.edu/user/editDone/540261.page organised by Industry bodies Ficci CII and Assocham.India-Jordan trade stood at 1.35 billion in 2016-17 according to figures provided by the External Affairs Ministry. CommentsClose X On Thursday the King will deliver a special address on Promoting Understanding and Moderation organised by the India Islamic Centre at Vigyan Bhawan.Earlier this month King Abdullah hosted PM Modi at his residence in Amman. Jordan had facilitated PM Modi s transit to Palestine in what was the first ever prime ministerial visit from India to that West Asian nation.

At the Economic Times Global Business Summit last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a detailed report card on India s economic performance and declared India is open for business . He reeled off a horde of impressive economic statistics. However the list was so long and detailed that it became a bit boring a surprising outcome for a normally lively speaker. Possibly this statistical avalanche helped gloss over some key weaknesses in his New India . He recalled that when he came to power in 2014 global markets listed India among the Fragile Five . Today he declared the same markets saw India as a potential 5-trillion economy. India s macros have certainly improved greatly and global confidence in India is much higher than in 2014. Moody s has upgraded India s credit rating. Yet actual nominal GDP right now is only 2.5 trillion barely half of Modi s new benchmark. He noted that after coming to power he had cut the fiscal and current account deficits and slashed inflation. Very true. But consumer inflation once down to 2% is rising again and has crossed 5%. Interest rates are rising globally and in the Indian bond market putting upward pressure on prices. Worse the Budget has promised farmers that the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops will henceforth be at least 50% above the cost of purchased inputs and imputed family labour. Former chairman of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Ashok Gulati has shown that last kharif season MSPs represented a profit margin of only 39% for paddy 9% for hybrid jowar 37% for maize 32% for cotton and 41% for groundnuts. Since then input prices have risen a lot especially for diesel and fertilisers. If in addition the profit is raised to 50% kharif crop prices will rise sharply. Indian inflation is sensitive to food prices. So the inflation outlook is worrying in the politically sensitive run-up to the 2019 general election. Recounting Achievements Modi said as many as 400 welfare programmes now reached beneficiaries through direct benefit transfers to their bank accounts. This impressive achievement cuts delivery costs and corruption and eliminates ghost card holders. He praised the trinity of JAM (Jan Dhan accounts Aadhaar and mobile phones) for revolutionising GoI s ability to reach beneficiaries quickly without corruption or diversion. Today India had 330 million Jan Dhan accounts holding Rs 75 000 crore of deposits. The Mudra scheme for loans without guarantees to small and micro industries had Modi claimed reached 40 million beneficiaries. Farmers had 110 million soil health cards to guide them on what fertilisers would best suit their holdings. Caveat: Aadhaar has technical flaws and can affect the privacy of individuals and the Supreme Court is hearing pleas to scrap the use of Aadhaar for breaching the fundamental right to privacy. Probably the court will approve Aadhaar subject to safeguards. Modi said the new National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) will cover 500 million people without admitting that the proposed cost of Rs 12 000 crore was just 0.075% of GDP. He boasted of bringing 800 medicines under price control and reducing the price of heart stents by 80%. He claimed welfare schemes would soon ensure housing clean cooking gas healthcare electricity and life insurance for all. He highlighted India s improved ranking in the World Bank s Ease of Doing Business index the boom of stock markets and startups and India s becoming the fastest growing major economy in the world. Today virtually no global company could afford not to be in India. He said in the last four years 209 billion of FDI had flowed into India far higher than under Congress rule. Modi declared his Make in India programme was a success even as job creation is nowhere near the promised 100 million. He said the number of mobile phone manufacturers had risen from three to 120 without explaining why in that case he had raised import duties on phones and components. He was silent on weakness in banks exposed cruelly by Nirav Modi. Nor did he mention the RBI tightening of norms for recognising and providing for doubtful loans something that plunged SBI and Bank of Baroda into record losses last quarter. Bank recapitalisaton now looks grossly inadequate and the twin balance sheet problem is far from over. Domestic bond interest rates have shot up. Not even the flood of foreign money has sufficed to finance both the fiscal deficit and growth needs of business. Free Trade? Modi failed to repeat his much praised talk of free trade and globalisation at Davos. This to the dismay of analysts had been followed by a protectionist Budget raising duties on 40 manufactures. Modi insisted India is open for business . This clearly means India is open for foreign investment rather than imports. The populist job pressures squeezing Donald Trump in the US are squeezing Modi too. The prime minister s report card giving high marks to India was mainly correct. But it failed to list several problems and unremedied flaws. This qualified but did not quite invalidate his report card. Views expressed above are the author s own.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said bilateral trade between India and South Korea in 2017 reached 20 billion the first time in six years. PM Modi also said that he wondered how South Korea a country of the size of Gujarat could make such economic progress. It is heartening to note that the bilateral trade crossed 20 billion for the first time last year in six years the Prime Minister said while addressing the India-Korea Business Summit in New Delhi.He also said that he admires the spirit of entrepreneurship of the Korean people . I admire the way in which they have created and sustained their global brands from information technology and electronics to automobile and steel Korea has given exemplary products to the world. He also said that South Korean companies are appreciated for their innovation and strong manufacturing capability.The Prime Minister also said that India has all three factors of the economy. If you see around the globe there are very few countries where you have three important factors of economy together. They are - Democracy Demography and Demand. In India we have all the three together he said.PM Modi added that the relations between India and South Korea dates back centuries. CommentsClose X We are also bound by our Buddhist traditions. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore composed poem Lamp of the East in 1929 about Korea s glorious past and its bright future. It is also coincidence that India and Korea both celebrate their independence day on August 15. From Princess to Poetry and from Buddha to Bollywood; India and Korea have so much in common the Prime Minister added.
BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday dubbed the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka a seedha ruppaiyya (pay cash upfront) one while launching mushti dhanya a BJP programme expressing support for the families of farmers who have committed suicide. Addressing a farmers rally to mark the 75th birthday of BS Yeddyurappa the BJP s chief ministerial face for the upcoming state assembly elections the PM said in Davanagere the heartland of his party s support base the Lingayat community in central Karnataka The Siddaramaiah government is there only on the surface. It is a seedha rupaiya sarkaar where everything is done with seedha rupaiya. The central govt has given so much money to the state but nothing is visible on the ground. Rs 21 400 crore worth of central projects are in the works. The people of Karnataka want to do something for this country which is why we have been helping the state government in every possible way. But till 10% (commission) is paid (to the state government) nothing happens. Modi wearing a green shawl hailed Yeddyurappa as a farmers leader. I m fortunate to get the blessings of Karnataka s farmers. I m also happy that on Yeddyurappa s birthday I could wish him in person he told the crowd and exhorted them to support a government under Yeddyurappa making it clear that despite the BJP s cut-off age of 75 for positions of power the Karnataka leader would still be the party s CM-face. I want to congratulate the BJP workers because the raitha bandhu (farmer s friend) Yeddyurappa has launched this fistful of grains (mushti dhanya) programme Modi said comparing the new programme by his party to the construction of the Sardar Vallabhai Patel statue in Gujarat for which 600 000 villages donated iron. Putting a fistful of grain into a bag held out by Yeddyurappa the PM said The fistful of grain programme will mark a new epoch in Karnataka s history. I want my farmer brothers to take this programme ahead. A press release from the BJP said 6 068 party workers would go to the gram panchayats explain Yeddyurappa s pro-farmer programmes and collect grains from them symbolically. The grains will be cooked and served at a district-level convention where the families of the 3 700 farmers who committed suicide over the last few years will also be invited. Farmer leader Kurubur Shantakumar told ET This is nothing but another election gimmick. Does either government (state or Centre) know what the farmer needs? If Rahul Gandhi plays one game Modi plays another. Let them call a meeting of 25 farmers representatives the media and ask their CM-faces to discuss real issues rather than peddle illusions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the farmers of Karnataka at a rally in DavanagereNew Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the farmers of Karnataka at a rally in Davanagere today. Yesterday Congress President Rahul Gandhi and BJP Chief Amit Shah addressed various rallies in Karnataka. PM Modi s visit to the state marks the 75th birthday of state BJP president and Chief Minister candidate B S Yeddyurappa. The prime minister s speech was centered around farmer issues and PM Modi has also tweeted taking a jibe at the Congress anti-farmer policies .The prime minister wished BS Yeddyurappa on his birthday and expressed his gratitude to have met the farmers of Karnataka. He also said that it is certain Congress will be defeated in Karnataka.Karnataka goes to polls in May.Here are the live updates of PM Modi s rally in Davanagere:Feb 27 201818:04 (IST) Watch the prime minister speaking in Davanagere here.Feb 27 201817:46 (IST) Congress government in Karnataka is insensitive towards healthcare facilities for people in the state. Centre sends funds but why does it not spend on improving health infrastructure of the state: PMCongress government in Karnataka is insensitive towards healthcare facilities for people in the state. Centre sends funds but why does it not spend on improving health infrastructure of the state: PM https://t.co/rEqjOYgDJP- narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) February 27 2018Feb 27 201817:35 (IST) Centre allocates funds by why is it that Congress government in Karnataka not spending it for welfare of people.Congress is a 10 per cent government in Karnataka. No work is done here without any commission: PM Modi in DavanagereCongress government in Karnataka is insensitive towards healthcare facilities for people in the state. Centre sends funds but why does it not spend on improving health infrastructure of the state: PM https://t.co/rEqjOYgDJP- narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) February 27 2018Feb 27 201817:32 (IST) The crop insurance scheme brought by the NDA government is a comprehensive one. By focusing on farmers and rural India the NDA government is taking several steps for the transformation of the agriculture sector: PM ModiFeb 27 201817:31 (IST) Value addition always helps farmers and brings more prosperity: PM Feb 27 201817:31 (IST) Operation Greens will have a very positive impact on the agriculture sector: PMFeb 27 201817:31 (IST) PM took a shot at Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and said Karnataka needs freedom from corruption.More than Mr. Siddaramaiah it is Seedha Rupaiyya that drives the working of the Government in Karnataka. Everything seems to be happening at a price here. Karnataka needs freedom from such corruption: PM @narendramodihttps://t.co/rEqjOYgDJP- narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) February 27 2018Feb 27 201817:28 (IST) PM Modi says he will make the farmers income double by 2022.By 2022 we want to double the income of farmers: PM @narendramodihttps://t.co/rEqjOYgDJP- narendramodi_in (@narendramodi_in) February 27 2018Feb 27 201817:04 (IST) One family ruled the country for 48 years & one tea seller ruled for 48 months. Born in rich houses they could not care for farmers in 48 years. But in 48 months we multiplied Minimum Support Price (MSP) by 1 & half for the farmers: PM Modi One family ruled the country for 48 years & one tea seller ruled for 48 months. Born in rich houses they could not care for farmers in 48 years. But in 48 months we multiplied Minimum Support Price (MSP) by 1 & half for the farmers: PM Modi pic.twitter.com/i77xT1PapX- ANI (@ANI) February 27 2018Feb 27 201816:55 (IST) As Gujarat CM I took oath that I ll create tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. If someone goes to America they see statue of liberty . The statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Ji is statue of unity & it is twice taller than statue of liberty: PM Modi in Davanagere As Gujarat CM I took oath that I ll create tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. If someone goes to America they see statue of liberty . The statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Ji is statue of unity & it is twice taller than statue of liberty: PM Modi in Davanagere #Karnatakapic.twitter.com/BCtV5stGdM- ANI (@ANI) February 27 2018Feb 27 201816:52 (IST) Karnataka Government is certain to be defeated. Their misdeeds have made the Government unpopular. Election after election what are the people doing? They are removing Congress. When Congress goes the harmful Congress culture also goes: PM Narendra Modi in Davanagere Karnataka Government is certain to be defeated. Their misdeeds have made the Government unpopular. Election after election what are the people doing? They are removing Congress. When Congress goes the harmful Congress culture also goes: PM Narendra Modi in Davanagere #Karnatakapic.twitter.com/bW5YjtLipl- ANI (@ANI) February 27 2018No more content CommentsClose X
PUDUCHERRY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hit out at the one family dynastic rule of Congress for 48 years and said it should be compared with the achievements of the development-oriented NDA in the last four years. One family either directly or indirectly ruled the country for 48 years... for about 17 years our first Prime Minister ruled and after that his daughter held the reigns for 14 years and following that her son was at the helm for five years he said. Modi who was addressing a BJP organised public meeting here referred to the regimes of Jawaharlal Nehru his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi without naming them. His comments come weeks after Congress President Rahul Gandhi had dared Modi to spell out achievements of the NDA government instead of criticising his party. You will have to tell the country during the elections what you did in the last five years. It is going to be five years and you have not even opened your account Gandhi had said making Modi the focal point of his attack in a series of roadside and public meetings in poll-bound Karnataka. In his address here Modi also said between 2004 and 2014 the same family ran the government with remote control in an apparent reference to the Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime. From Puducherry I would like to give a message for the intellectuals of this country he said. Intellectuals can debate the difference between what was gained and lost during the Congress regimes and what the BJP-led NDA has achieved in 48 months he said. We are talking about people s development ease of living for the common man he said. Though nations that got independence in 1947 like India have grown the country still lagged behind and it warranted a serious thought on the lacunae vis-a-vis the functioning of the government and political culture that were holding back the nation Modi said. In an obvious reference to his oft-repeated slogan Congress mukt Bharat Modi asserted the Congress would be left with only the V Narayanasamy government in Puducherry in the country saying the BJP would win the coming assembly elections in Karnataka and north east. He did not refer to the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab. I want to congratulate the Chief Minister of Puducherry in advance because the Congress is going to exhibit him as a specimen after June he quipped predicting the defeat of the Congress in other states. Elections are going to be held in North East where the Congress has a government and it will go. After that polls are to be held in Karnataka and there too the Congress will go so the Narayanasamy government will be the only one to be left the Prime Minister said. The jibe drew laughter from the large crowd that had gathered to listen to Modi who became the first prime minister to address a public meeting in this former French colony in 33 years. Rajiv Gandhi was the last Prime Minister to address a rally here in 1984. Targeting the Congress government in Puducherry Modi said the union territory had poor infrastructure and was a victim of Congress culture . He claimed Puducherry had poor infrastructure and sectors such as transport and cooperation were in a shambles and charged the successive regimes with doing injustice for the people. The Congress has failed on all fronts in Puducherry he said recalling the glorious history of the former French colony which was closely associated with the freedom movement sheltering the likes of Sri Aurobindo and national poet Subramania Bharathi. He also came down on the Puducherry government for not holding civic polls for years together while the party had been making tall claims from Delhi that it is the champion of democracy and rights of the people. By delaying the civic polls the Congress government is only gagging the voice of the people he said. Outlining the initiatives of his government like the Mudhra Yojana and Jan Dhan Yojana he said such schemes empowered the people across the country. Modi said the Prime Minister s Mudra Scheme had been implemented expeditiously with around 3.25 lakh youth having been benefitted during the last three years. Mudra scheme is of help to the youth who could get loans without any collateral security he said urging the youths to make use of it and launch projects in Puducherry. Udan Scheme providing regional air connectivity would be of help for Puducherry to promote tourism and generate employment he said. Citing the Ayushman Bharath Scheme he said it will benefit the poor http://zinc.mondediplo.net/people/robert families to get free medical treatment upto Rs 5 lakh rupees per year. The government was strengthening the ports and ushering in an era of port-led development through the Sagarmala project. Financial assistance were being given for long-liner trawlers for fishermen under the Blue Revolution Scheme he said. Modi also listed financial assistance given to various schemes such as smart city for the union territory.
Puducherry: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram here and paid homage to its founder Sri Aurobindo.After arriving in Puducherry from Chennai PM Modi reached the ashram where he was received by the officials.He paid floral tributes at the memorial of Aurobindo a spiritual leader and meditated for a few minutes. Later he interacted with the children of the International School of Education run by the ashram.He then left for Auroville (City of Dawn) International Township situated in neighbouring Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu where he will participate in its golden jubilee celebrations. CommentsClose X The international or universal project envisioned by the mother of Aurobindo Ashram Mirra Alfassa is dedicated to the ideal of human unity.Earlier on his arrival at the airport here PM Modi was received by Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy among others.

Arjun Kapoor flies to Dubai to be with dad Boney Kapoor, amidst growing uncertainty over Sridevi's death

DUBAI: Bollywood diva Sridevi s stepson Arjun Kapoor flew to Dubai today to be with his father Boney Kapoor as he wraps up formalities and takes the body home to Mumbai the family said. The uncertainty over Sridevi s sudden death has intensified with no clarity on when her body would be released and officials saying there was no change in the situation on the ground as far as the investigation was concerned. The matter is with the Dubai Public Prosecution and would proceed only after a go-ahead from it said officials. Arjun has gone to Dubai this morning to be with his father at the hotel while the formalities are being wrapped up and to oversee the return journey said an official statement from the family in Mumbai. The Dubai Police said on its Twitter handle yesterday that Sridevi drowned in her bathtub after she loss consciousness. However a forensic report circulated on various media outlets used the term accidental drowning as the cause of her death. The 54-year-old actor known as Indian cinema s first woman superstar passed away in https://musescore.com/user/27878595 her hotel room in the Jumeirah Emirates Towers late on Saturday leaving fans family and friends stunned. The Dubai Police said in a tweet yesterday that it had transferred the case to the Dubai Public Prosecution which will carry out regular legal procedures followed in such cases. Following the completion of post-mortem analysis Dubai police headquarters today stated that the death of the Indian actress Sridevi occurred due to drowning in her hotel apartment s bathtub following loss of consciousness it said. The police had yesterday recorded the statement of her filmmaker husband Boney Kapoor who reportedly discovered Sridevi unconscious in the bathtub filled with water. She was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. Dubai-based Gulf News said in a report the actor was under the influence of alcohol. She fell into the bathtub and drowned it added. However this could not be independently confirmed. Gulf News also attached a copy of the UAE government s forensic report on its Twitter handle. The report citing accidental drowning as the cause of death has a stamp of the Ministry of Health UAE and the director of preventive medicine Dubai Dr Sami Wadie. The report mentioned the actor s full name Sreedevi Boney Kapoor Ayyappan her passport number date of the incident (February 24 2018) and the cause of death. Indian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Navdeep Singh Puri has asked the public not to speculate over the cause of her death. We are in regular contact with the family of #Sridevi and other well- wishers. We share their pain Puri tweeted. Our experience in similar cases tells us that it does take 2-3 days to complete processes. We leave it to the experts to determine cause of demise. Let s be responsible he said. The Dubai police informed the Indian Embassy yesterday that another clearance was awaited before the body could be released. Sridevi was in Dubai for a family wedding and had stayed back after the ceremonies. Her husband had flown back to Mumbai with their younger daughter Khushi but returned to Dubai to surprise her. The news of her death first reported at around 3 a.m. IST on Sunday sent shock waves across India with those who knew her at a loss to explain how the star who was present at several wedding functions in Dubai last week could suddenly breathe her last.
New Delhi: Bollywood thespian Sridevi passed away in Dubai today at the age of 54. She was in Dubai to attend her nephew and actor Sonam Kapoor s cousin Mohit Marwah s wedding when she suffered from a cardiac arrest. From personalities in Bollywood to political leaders Sridevi s death has come as a shock for many. President Ram Nath Kovind Prime Minister Narendra Modi Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and many others tweeted their condolence messages over the actor s death. She is survived by husband and film producer Boney Kapoor and daughters Jahnvi and Khushi.In a tweet condoling her death President Kovind praised her as an inspiration for other actors and said that she left millions of fans heartbroken . President Kovind also said his thoughts were with her family and admirers. Shocked to hear of passing of movie star Sridevi. She has left millions of fans heartbroken. Her performances in films such as Moondram Pirai Lamhe and English Vinglish remain an inspiration for other actors. My condolences to her family and close associates #PresidentKovind President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) February 25 2018Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to express his grief at Sridevi s passing saying that he was saddened by her untimely demise praising her long career and adding that she was a veteran of the film industry. Saddened by the untimely demise of noted actor Sridevi. She was a veteran of the film industry whose long career included diverse roles and memorable performances. My thoughts are with her family and admirers in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 25 2018Home minister Rajnath Singh also tweeted his own condolences over the actor s death saying her death was a big loss to the film industry . Anguished to learn of the sudden demise of veteran film actor Sridevi. She had a long and successful career in the film industry with several remarkable performances. Her demise is a big loss to the film industry. My thoughts are with her family and fans. May her soul rest in peace Rajnath Singh said in the tweet.Former actor and current Union Minister for Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani commended her as a powerhouse of acting and said her success came to a sudden end . Sridevi - a powerhouse of acting a long journey embellished with success comes to a sudden end. My condolences to her loved ones and fans. Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) February 25 2018Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu condoled her death on Twitter by saying she was an extremely versatile and talented film star who acted in Telegu Hindi and other South Indian languages . CommentsClose X In his condolence message veteran actor turned politician Kamal Haasan recollected the film Sadma said to be one of Sridevi s most challenging roles as an actor. In the movie she plays the character of an amnesiac who was https://nxtforum.org/index.php?action=profile;area=summary;u=40686 sold to a brothel and rescued by her co-star Kamal Haasan.In his tweet referencing an iconic scene from the movie said that after her death he was now haunted by Sadma s lullaby . Have witnessed Sridevi s life from an adolescent teenager to the magnificeint lady she became. Her stardom was well deserved. Many happy moments with her flash through my mind including the last time I met her. Sadma s lullaby haunts me now. We ll miss her Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) February 25 2018In a career that started at the age of four spanned four decades she acted in almost 300 films as diverse as Chaalbaaz Chandni Mr India English Vinglish and Mom . She was also felicitated with India s fourth highest civilian honour the Padma Shri in 2013.

Bollywood Superstar Sridevi's Death Ruled Accidental Drowning, Police Close Investigation

A senior politician has claimed Bollywood superstar Sridevi Kapoor who drowned in her bathtub in a Dubai hotel last week was murdered.Subramanian Swamy leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party - one of the two major political parties in India - questioned how Mrs Kapoor who he claims never drank had ended up with alcohol in her system.The 54-year-old s funeral is set to be held in Mumbai tomorrow as her body is being flown back to India accompanied by her husband and step-son Sridevi Kapoor pictured with her husband Boney and their daughters Jhanvi and Khushi was found dead in a bath in her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel in DubaiThe Dubai police closed the investigation on Tuesday but Mr Swamy claims there are unanswered questions. She never drank https://audioboom.com/users/5134740 hard liquor so how did it enter her system? Was she forcibly fed? What happened to the CCTV we have not heard a word about that he said according to Times of India. If you ask my opinion I ll tell you that I think it s murder. Mr Swamy claimed there may have been links to an underworld criminal who he said has links to cinema actresses . RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 2 Next Trudeau continues his charm offensive in India finally... Who is Sridevi? The late Bollywood actress revealed Bollywood s Sridevi drowned in bathtub after losing... Share this article Share Yesterday police interviewed her husband Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor and also quizzed hotel staff at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers after deciding to re-investigate the case in the wake of the coroner s report.Mr Kapoor was called in to Bur Dubai police station on Monday where officers took a statement before allowing him to return to his hotel room Gulf News reports. It had initially been reported that Sridevi had died of a heart attack but the death certificate made no mention of cardiac arrest instead putting cause of death to accidental drowning after losing consciousness. However following the interview the case was closed and Mrs Kapoor s body released to the family. Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor was reportedly the last person to see Sridevi 54 alive Police are interviewing staff at the hotel pictured after deciding to re-investigate the case in the wake of the coroner s report Sridevi was filmed dancing with and embracing husband Boney Kapoor during her nephew s wedding at the weekend days before she was found dead in her hotel bathtub Mr Kapoor was inconsolable and crying like a baby when a friend of the couple reached the hotel shortly after Sridevi s death.Actor Adnan Siddiqui - who had attended the same wedding and also co-starred with Sridevi in her final film - was among the first few people to see Mr Kapoor after she was fond. I got a call from a journalist at around 11 pm asking if the news about Sridevi s death was true. I immediately called up Boney and rushed to him Siddiqui told NDTV. Boney was crying like a baby; he was inconsolable. I was with him until 5 am. I can t believe that I met her four days ago and now she is no more . The family put out a statement later on Tuesday saying: Khushi Janhvi Boney Kapoor and the entire Kapoor and Ayyappan families are deeply bereaved and shocked with the untimely loss of Sridevi Kapoor. Late Sridevi Kapoor passed away in Dubai UAE on Saturday February 24th. There have been conflicting reports as to how she was found with some Indian newspapers reporting that Sridevi s body was found by her husband. and others that she was discovered in the bath by hotel staff. Kapoor was the last person to see her alive after he reportedly invited her out for dinner before she went to the bathroom to freshen up.He had initially flown back to India after the wedding but returned to the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel where she was staying on Saturday. He arrived at the hotel around 5.30pm according to sources close to the family who spoke with local news outlet Khaleej Times. Sridevi (far right with husband Boney) had been in Dubai for her nephew Mohit Marwaha s (third from left) wedding. Daughter Khushi pictured far left The 54-year-old attended the wedding with her husband and their youngest daughter Khushi (pictured left with her mother and Sridevi alone right) Fans erected a makeshift shrine to the actress outside her Mumbai home and gathered at the gates hoping to catch sight of her body being brought for cremationWhen he arrived he found his wife asleep so woke her up and spoke with her for around 15 minutes.She then went to the bathroom to prepare for dinner with another 15 minutes elapsing before Boney went to check on her.The source claims that he knocked on the door but when he got no response he broke it down only to discover her unconscious at the bottom of the bath.He tried to revive her before calling for paramedics who arrived around 9pm when she was pronounced dead the Times says. Sridevi had attended the wedding alongside Boney and their youngest daughter Khushi who posed for pictures with her mother shortly before she died.Their eldest daughter Jhanvi was in Mumbai shooting for a film at the time as she prepared to make her own Bollywood debut. Officers are still trying to piece together the events that led up to her death and establish who was with her when she died Gulf News reported. Her death was previously reported to be from cardiac arrest.The case has now been passed to prosecutors for standard legal checks before an order to hand the body over to her relatives can be made. The remains were due to be flown back to Mumbai on Monday though they remained in Dubai overnight as the checks were carried out.Hundreds of fans had gathered outside her Mumbai home hoping to catch a final glimpse of her casket as it is expected to arrive back in the country. Sridevi lost consciousness before drowning and had traces of alcohol in her system at the time she died the report says Bollywood stars filed into the home of her brother-in-law Anil Kapoor to pay their respects on Monday. Among them were director Farha Khan (left) and choreographer Saroj Khan (right) Amar Singh (left) the minister for Uttar Pradesh was among those seen arriving at the home alongside actor Farhan Akhtar (right) We want to see her one last time said 48-year-old Laxmi Subbaramaiah outside Sridevi s house in the Andheri area of Mumbai - the heartland of Bollywood film. All of my family members are big fans and we cried when we heard the news. We will wait here until her body comes back he said.Vishal More 23 said he had travelled seven hours from Jalgaon district around 400 kilometres away from Mumbai to bid farewell to his favourite actress. I ve been waiting all morning to catch a last glimpse of Sridevi. I have watched all of her movies. She is such an inspiration he said.Sridevi s death has prompted an outpouring of grief in India from fans and fellow actors as well as condolences from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have always been a huge fan of her work. Equally I have been an admirer of the grace and dignity with which she conducted herself actor Aamir Khan wrote on Twitter. I join all the millions of her fans in mourning her demise. Ma am we will always remember you with love and respect he added.Fellow actor Ranveer Singh tweeted that he was shocked and saddened to hear about the untimely demise of one of Hindi cinema s greatest superstars . Chandrashekhar Narvekar a Bollywood director more commonly known as N. Chandra (left) was joined by actress Sarika Hassan and her daughters Shruti and Akshara (together right) Saiyami Kher was seen going into Anil Kapoor s Mumbai mansion alongside actress Madhuri Dixit and her husband (right) who also bid her a final farewell Actress and politician Jayaprada (left) and actress Ameesha Patel (right) also arrived at the property on Monday Actress Tabbu (left) and director Karan Johar (right) paid their respects in Mumbai on MondayActress Alia Bhatt posted on Twitter: Nothing makes sense. I have no words.. just completely shocked. RIP Sri Devi. My icon forever. Love you. Sridevi s fellow Bollywood stars were joined by celebrities from around the world in paying tribute to her after her death was announced. Priyanka Chopra was among the first to pay tribute to the icon writing on Twitter: I have no words. Condolences to everyone who loved #Sridevi. A dark day . RIP . India s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tribute to the star saying he was saddened by the untimely demise Following the news of her death Prime Minister Modi said in a statement: Saddened by the untimely demise of noted actor Sridevi. She was a veteran of the film industry whose long career included diverse roles and memorable performances. My thoughts are with her family and admirers in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace. Actor Aamir Khan also tweeted: I am deeply disturbed and saddened by the untimely and tragic passing away of Sridevi. She has starred in dozens of hit Bollywood films over the years including Chandni in 1989 I have always been a huge fan of her work. Equally I have always been an admirer of the grace and dignity with which she conducted herself. My heartfelt condolences to everyone in the family. I join all the millions of her fans in mourning her demise. Ma am we will always remember you with love and respect. TIMELINE OF SRIDEVI S CAREER 1969 - Sridevi starred in her first film Thunaivan at the age of just four1976 - She starred in her first adult role aged 13 in south Indian film Moondru Mudichu1979 - The actress starred in her first Hindi film Solva Sawan1983 - She shot to stardom with her role in comedy drama Himmatwala1984 to 1997 - Sridevi continued starring in a number of commercially successful films including Chandni2004 - She starred on TV sitcom Malini Iyer2012 - Sridevi launched her comeback with hit film English Vinglish2017 - Her last film to be released was thriller Mom Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapa in the state of Tamil Nadu Sridevi began acting in south Indian cinema at the age of four. She then moved into Bollywood where she rocketed to stardom by way of the 1983 film Himmatwala.The belle époque of her career was the 1980s and 1990s during which her releases included the superhero movie Mr India the separated-at-birth comedy ChaalBaaz the revenge fantasy Nagina and the romantic triangle drama Tohfa.Her incredible film career saw her work in Hindi Tamil Telugu Kannada and Malayalam and in 2013 she was fêted with the Padma Shri the fourth highest of the civilian honours granted by the Government Of India.Sridevi was in her heyday a massive box office draw in addition to which she won five Filmfare Awards the Hindi movie industry s answer to the Oscars.She allegedly began her affair with producer Boney Kapoor while he was still with his first wife Mona as Mona recounted to DNA India more than a decade later.Mona the late mother of Boney s Bollywood star son Arjun Kapoor claimed that by the end of her marriage there was nothing left in the relationship to give it a chance because Sridevi was already with a child. After marrying Boney herself in 1996 Sridevi got another Filmfare nod for her performance in 1997 s Judaai before withdrawing from the movies.A 15-year big screen hiatus followed during which she and Boney brought up two daughters - Jhanvi 20 and Khushi 17.The time eventually came when Sridevi itched to return to films and she launched her comeback with the 2012 hit English Vinglish which India submitted unsuccessfully to the Oscars.Her last film release was the 2017 thriller Mom which was reported to be her 300th motion picture and of which the Times Of India rhapsodized that Sri demonstrates why she is the high-priestess of desi cinema. Who was Sridevi? Bollywood star who landed her debut role aged four and starred in 300 films Sridevi Kapoor was born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in present-day Tamil Nadu state southern India in 1963.She landed her first acting role aged just four in M. A. Thirumugam s film Thunaivan playing a young Lord Muruga the Hindu war god.Her first Bollywood role came at the age of 12 in Julie in which she played Irene the younger sister of the titular character. Sridevi landed her first acting role aged four M. A. Thirumugam s film Thunaivan playing a young Lord Muruga the Hindu war god Her big break came in 1983 with a leading role in comedy film Himmatwala (pictured)By 1979 she was ready to take on her first leading Bollywood role in Hindi film Solva Sawan where she plays a 16-year-old aspiring teacher named Mehna.But it was in 1983 that she broke the big time with comedy Himmatwala in which she played the female lead as Rekha Bandookwala.From there Sridevi went on to star in the most popular Bollywood films of the Eighties and Nineties establishing herself as the industry s first female superstar in the process.Her films were also among the most commercially successful and at the peak of her fame she earned more than 2million per year according to the Free Press Journal. After a big-screen hiatus in order to start a family with husband and producer Boney Kapoor Sridevi returned to cinema with 2011 film English VinglishIn 1996 she married producer Boney Kapoor after he divorced his first wife Mona Shourie the same year.After 1997 film Judaai hit cinemas Sridevi announced she would be taking a break in order to start a family with her new husband.The pair had two daughters in the following years with Jhanvi the first to arrive in March 1997 followed by Khushi who was born in November 2000.After a six-year hiatus she returned to the small screen starring in a series of sitcoms and appearing as a judge on TV talent shows.2011 marked her return to cinema in English Vinglish which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Despite her public profile Sridevi was known as an intensely private person who fiercely denied rumours she had undergone plastic surgeryHer most recent film role was in 2017 thriller Mom which was produced by her husband and sees her play a vigilante who sets out to avenge her daughter.She will also appear in Shahrukh Khan s upcoming film Zero where she makes a small cameo as herself but was not shooting any other films at the time of her death.In total she starred in more than 300 films over a career which spanned five decades. Despite her high public profile Sridevi was known as an intensely private person who felt huge pressure to appear perfect Gulf News reports. She fiercely denied undergoing cosmetic procedures to appear youthful the paper writes though her looks changed significantly over the years.She spent much of her later life at her bungalow in Andheri in the west of Mumbai with her husband one of four properties she owned.The pair also had a flee of luxury cars including a Porshe Cayenne Bentleys and Audis. The couple were worth an estimated 35million when she died.
Written by Shaikh Ayaz | Mumbai | Updated: February 25 2018 6:15 pm It was both a chief contradiction and highlight of Sridevi s long and illustrious career that despite her language dilemma (charmingly captured in her 2012 comeback vehicle English Vinglish) the actress ended up working in several regional cinemas. Related News Delhi confidential: Mobile ShowcaseDistorted ImagesSridevi s body reaches home from Dubai funeral todayIn Balu Mahendra s Sadma (1983) a remake of the Tamil original Moondram Pirai Kamal Haasan (Somu) rescues Reshmi (Sridevi) from a brothel. She has lost her memory due to a near-fatal car accident. With no clues about her family and other whereabouts he puts her on a train to take her to a hill station where he is working as a teacher. Her child-like behaviour caused by retrograde amnesia has made him fond of her but in a protective fatherly sort of way. As they enter the hills Reshmi stops Somu midway to ask him about the tall imposing trees. Eucalyptus he replies. Then seeing her stunned reaction he spells it out for her enunciating the noun this time for her to catch it. Sridevi tries hard to pronounce it correctly but those watching that scene and the film know she will not. For Sridevi eucalyptus is more than a tongue twister. Forget for a moment that she played a child trapped in an adult body in Sadma and before that Moondram Pirai. The scene reflected her struggle with language especially Hindi and English. In Hindi cinema particularly Sridevi turned her language handicap into a weapon. Throughout her Hindi film career she spoke Hindi with a thick Tamil accent and audiences lapped it up as cute. But watch Moondram Pirai and you realise how comfortable the Sivakasi-born actress was in her mother tongue. It was both a chief contradiction and highlight of Sridevi s long and illustrious career that despite her language dilemma (charmingly captured in her 2012 comeback vehicle English Vinglish) the actress ended up working in several regional cinemas. Hindi Tamil Telugu Kannada Malayalam you name it. She didn t complete her school education and never once regretted it. Once again the theme of language rears its head in Sridevi s life and cinema. Way before Bollywood happened Sridevi was already making waves in Tamil cinema. The legendary K Balachander is credited with offering Sridevi who started out as a child artiste in Tamil cinema her first major break. Only 13 she was cast in the acclaimed director s Moondru Mudichu (1976) alongside his other two favourite protégés Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. Like most Rajini-Sri-Haasan romantic triangle of the time Rajinikanth played the louche element Haasan the good and virtuous boy and Sridevi the damsel who marries Rajnikanth s widower father to put an end to latter-day Thalaivar s relentless overtures. Sridevi and Rajinikanth acted in a number of hits together but it was with Kamal Haasan that Sridevi shared the most prolific on-screen collaboration. Together they appeared in nearly 30 films. So when Kamal Haasan announced I used to bully Sridevi during a TV interview you immediately got an idea of the close bond they shared (and still do). Talking to Zoom TV in 2013 Haasan recollected She s a blotting paper. I knew her when she was 15 or 16. Even then she was ready to learn and pick up. Balachander had observed in a 2011 chat with The Hindu She was a child when she first worked with me. But I found her to be very intelligent. Though she was 13-14 she had the understanding of a 20-year-old. She was a very quick learner and understood the nuances of her character. She learnt on the spot. It was in Tamil cinema that the Sridevi genius was nurtured and matured. 16 Vayathinile is another powerful film from the 1970s starring the Rajini-Sri-Haasan troika. Directed by P. Bharathiraja 16 Vayathinile is billed as a cult classic of Tamil cinema responsible for introducing realism and rural imagery in the Madras talkies. Long before Anurag Kashyap brought the grim and violent life of serial killer Raman Raghav on Hindi film screens Sridevi was part of a similar subject in Kollywood. P. Bharathiraja s Sigappu Rojakkal (1978) is about a twisted businessman who lures women and kills them. Haasan s Dileep falls in love with the salesgirl Sarada (Sridevi) and marries her. Soon she discovers his dark side and tries to escape. Interestingly 1977 s Gayathri too features a perverted husband this time played by Rajinikanth who clandestinely films his wife Gayathri (Sridevi) in bed. Rajinikanth is a porn filmmaker out to exploit his beautiful wife. In her Tamil output of the 70s the young Sridevi was often faced with insurmountable odds and dire predicament from which she has to find an escape route. Sridevi s Telugu years were also equally successful. She was just as much of a tour de force. Among others she has the amusing honour of working both with the superstar A. Nageswara Rao and his son Nagarjuna in hits like Premabhishekam and Govinda. In 1991 she teamed up with Ram Gopal Varma for Kshana Kshanam. The maverick RGV has admitted his fanboy love for the actress. Reportedly the infatuated filmmaker was so jealous of Boney Kapoor for marrying her that he wanted to kill him. Of course you have to take whatever Varma says especially on Twitter with a pinch of salt. But in his star worship of Sridevi he briefly touched upon an aspect of the Goddess of Beauty (his words) that forge Sridevi s image as a rare star who inspires films and filmmakers even at her age. Both English Vinglish and the more recent Mom (incidentally it released in four languages familiar to the actor including Tamil and Telugu) were written especially for Sridevi. The actress has also appeared in Malayalam cinema debuting in Mollywood as an eight-year-old in Poompatta (1971). Interestingly she worked with the late J. Jayalalithaa in such Tamil multi-starrers as Nam Naadu and Kandhan Karunai. She also acted alongside Dr Rajkumar during her Kannada stint in the 70s. Sridevi was already a top star before Bollywood came along to appropriate her giving her a pan-India branding. Though she was working in Bollywood since the late 1970s it was only in mid-80s that her Hindi cinema career truly picked pace with Himmatwala itself a Southern remake. It didn t take much time for Bollywood to turn the Thunder Thighs into Miss Hawa Hawai. Before long she was wowing the Hindi audiences with her comic act chiffon saris in Chopra-scape and wounded puppy eyes to borrow a phrase from film critic Baradwaj Rangan. (Shaikh Ayaz is a writer and journalist based in Mumbai.) Read the news in Malayalam For all the latest Entertainment News download Indian Express App Get assembly election result LIVE updates from each constituency in Tripura Nagaland and Meghalaya IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd More Related News Watching Sridevi s films affected every Indian Girl in more ways than we know Rani Mukerji: Sridevi was literally like an elder sister Tags: Sridevi Jyothi MohanFeb 28 2018 at 2:39 amHer mother tongue was Telugu. Not tamil(1)(0) Reply Grace HardimonFeb 25 2018 at 9:42 amUnbelievable !My life entirely changed since I met DOCTOR ALEKO SPELL CASTER by chance on internet! All my dreams has been turning to real it s unbelievable! My husband came back to me two months after and... she changed! She loves me again like the first day! Thanx again for all my friend and I am glad to hear news from you soon! suggest you contact him. Alekospellcaster009 call orWhatsApp 1 (442) 234-3652(1)(2) Reply George VargheseFeb 25 2018 at 7:14 amUnforgettable Sridevi. Moondram Pirai was her best act for me although in the last scene Kamal overshadowed her consistently remarkable performance throughout the movie. Can any Indian actor replace Sridevi in Moondram Pirai? Oh the song KANNAI KALAIMANE!(27)(4) Reply
New Delhi: Pakistani film stars Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Mahira Khan and Ali Zafar today condoled the death of Bollywood icon Sridevi saying she will live in their hearts and memories forever. So grateful to have grown up and lived in the times of Sridevi. Thank you for the movies thank you for the magic. You shall live on forever... Great artistes... we cry for them without ever really knowing them we mourn them because they helped us know ourselves Mahira Khan tweeted.People from across the globe started their Sunday on a sad note with the news of the sudden death of Sridevi 54 due to a cardiac arrest in Dubai. She died on Saturday.Sridevi was in Dubai to attend the marriage function of actress Sonam Kapoor s cousin Mohit Marwah; her husband Boney Kapoor and younger daughter Khushi were also there.Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan who is facing a backlash for singing the song titled Ishtehar -- a soulful rendition -- for Indian film production Welcome To New York also condoled her death. My condolences to Boney Kapoorji and the Kapoor family. Deeply saddened to lose an icon like Srideviji Mr Khan tweeted.The actress is remembered for her performance in some of the iconic Bollywood films like Mr India Nagina Sadma ChalBaaz Chandni and Khuda Gawah among many others in different languages.The Padma Shri recipient who made a comeback to Bollywood in 2012 with English Vinglish after a long break of 15 years was last seen in Mom in 2017.Her Mom co-star Sajal Aly also wrote: Lost my mom again . Sajal Aly was seen as her daughter in Mom .Pakistani actor Adnan Siddiqui who played her onscreen husband in Mom wrote: Life is so unpredictable. A lady with not just extreme talent but also a beautiful soul Sri Devi Kapoor leaves us heavy hearted. So many memories attached while shooting Mom with her just a couple days back I met her at Boney Kapoor s nephew s wedding and who would have thought that it is the last time I am seeing her. I am still in a state of shock and out of words to describe my feeling! May her soul rest in eternal peace hereafter he said.Actor-singer Ali Zafar said she has left people with great memories of joy and tears. Sharing an image with the actress on Instagram Saba Qamar wrote: R.I.P legend. We ll miss you. Actor Imran Abbas was in shock. The Sadma of losing this ultimate superstar is heart wrenching. Her smile beauty acting aura and those Nigahen will be missed forever wrote the actor who has featured in Bollywood projects like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Creature . CommentsClose X Mawra Hocane also said that Sridevi will always have our hearts grateful to have met the legend that you ll always be .Her mortal remains are expected to be flown to Mumbai on a chartered flight for the last rites but the timing has not been confirmed yet.
I ve always feared that my daughters growing up in Bristol won t feel any connection to my entire family back in the capital. I often find myself feeling homesick for my London family. There s a song from the Bollywood film Queen that I play on repeat when I m feeling homesick. It s called London Thumakda and takes place in the opening scenes of the film at protagonist Rani s mehndi night. Her family crowds into a room and dances and performs for her while she has her wedding mehndi done. The rest of the film results in her being jilted going on her honeymoon by herself and going on a voyage of self-discovery across Europe. That opening scene reminds me of every family wedding I ve been to. It s warm chaotic and suffocating all at once. And the song is a joyous slice of film that brings tears to my eyes. I live in Bristol away from my family and so the majority of times I get to see everyone it is literally everyone crammed into a room performing joking laughing singing and sometimes dancing. The video to the song reminds me of my own family gatherings the times when I was present and we were together my mother and my grandfather and my aunt were in attendance too we were all crammed on to two sofas being a family bellies full of samosas and dhal bhatt shaak rotli Hindi songs throbbing from the television that is always on and everyone laughing. The bit that always breaks me in the film is when the sedentary ba is finally convinced to get up and dance with all the aunties and sisters. The look of utter abandon on her face it could be my mum. It could be my family. My three-year-old daughter also loves the video. Occasionally she ll request it. And when she does it s usually just after a FaceTime with my sister or dad back in London. And my daughter will get that same pang of missing a significant part of her family the same way I do. Also because she associates London with the brown part of her family it s become an anchor for her. It feels significant because my biggest fear in raising my children in Bristol was that they would only ever see my family at these large and intense events the ones with everyone jammed into a room. My children would never have the mundane pop-in the spontaneous visit the quiet Sunday. It would only ever be FaceTime and mass family gatherings. Lying there next to my daughter watching the video I get the sense that she feels the same way about the film that I do. It conjures up exactly the chaotic family atmosphere that we both http://www.runboard.com/Ukkflipkart#misc miss when it s not there and that is almost too intense to cope with when you are there. I tried so many things to ensure my children felt a connection to my family in London. I spoke to them only in Gujarati in their early days but increasingly found myself limited by my lack of vocabulary a failure that has come about through non-usage. I bought Gujarati alphabet books. After bath time I sang them my favourite song from the classic film Sholay the one about friendship. I even had my daughter giving me the brown high five where we smack together the backs of our hands instead of our palms. None of them gave her that connection as much as a YouTube video of a song from a film I saw years ago. It gives me hope that much as we try to force connections or enforce memories or patterns or language or behaviours it ll be the small things where my kids will find their connections to that side of my family. And it ll be through self-discovery rather than my policing because at the next family wedding we will all be crammed into a room and we ll be performing joking laughing singing and sometimes dancing and my daughter will have that feeling of recognition and she ll know she s exactly where she needs to be and that London s not that far away. Topics Family The Nikesh Shukla column Parents and parenting comment Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Google Share on WhatsApp Share on Messenger Reuse this content

Sridevi obituary

Throughout the 1980s the Bollywood film star Sridevi who has died aged 54 after drowning in a bath in a Dubai hotel was the undisputed queen of Indian cinema often eclipsing the male actors she starred with. In breaking through this glass ceiling she became one of the highest paid actors of her time demonstrating great versatility in roles that ranged from clown to femme fatale no one else could have played her half-woman half-snake character in Nagina (1986) with such seductive aplomb. A blagger s guide to Bollywood for Zac Goldsmith Read more Her 300 films made in the course of half a century of acting began when she was a toddler with roles in devotional films such as Kandhan Karunai (1967) and Thunaivan (1969) in both of which she played the childhood incarnation of Lord Murugan a south Indian deity. In her most recent release the thriller Mom (2017) she played an avenging stepmother who destroys the lives of the four men who raped her stepdaughter. Her career bore witness to the changing currents of Indian cinema from conservative family-oriented mid-century movies to the socially engaged woman-power cinema of contemporary times while always remaining the nation s http://serebryaniy-bereg.ru/user/kfreecharge/ primary spectacle. Play Video 1:23 India mourns as Bollywood superstar Sridevi dies video obituary Born in Sivakasi a small town in Tamil Nadu famous for its firecracker factories she was the daughter of K Ayyappan a lawyer and his wife Rajeshwari. The family ran a small plastic manufacturing unit. Sridevi s mother and her sister Srilata often accompanied her on film shoots. While Bollywood remains the biggest film industry in India the country also has rich cinema cultures in its regional languages. Adept in several South Indian languages in her early career Sridevi was involved in the Tamil Telugu Kannada and Malayalam cinema industries. But she also managed what was for her time a rare crossover from the southern film industry thereby gaining nationwide recognition and appeal. In fact many of the early roles that set her on the path to becoming Bollywood s first female superstar were remakes in Hindi of regional-language hits including the films Himmatwala and Sadma (both 1983). Sridevi retained her striking good looks and in her most popular roles portrayed strong funny women: the investigative journalist in Mr India (1987) who is not above going under cover as a cabaret dancer; the street-smart dancer in ChaalBaaz (1989) whose stunt scenes are also comic ones; and the Afghan warrior in Khuda Gawah (1992) who rides a horse into battle. She was not just funny; she was also willing to look funny. Her mercurially comic facial expressions her over-the-top outfits the dance moves that earned her the sobriquet Thunder Thighs were all of a piece with the gusto and spontaneity of her acting. Facebook Twitter Pinterest At the showing of English Vinglish during the Toronto international film festival 2012. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters Sridevi was extremely discreet about her personal life. In the 1980s she was reported to have married her fellow actor Mithun Chakraborty but the relationship did not last. In 1996 she married the director Boney Kapoor. Kapoor who had directed Sridevi in several movies that also starred his actor brother Anil was one of the kingmakers of Bollywood. Together the Kapoors and Sridevi demonstrated an outstanding grasp of the popular imagination. After her marriage to Boney Sridevi put her acting career on hold for more than a decade apart from a brief foray into television. In the loud colourful movies that she made in her heyday Sridevi was neither studied nor much concerned with nuance. When she was on the screen it was clear that she was having a good time. But when she returned to the cinema in 2012 as the shy housewife in English Vinglish who sets out to teach herself English for a trip to see her sister in New York it was clear that her craft was much more sophisticated. She had reached a point in her career where she was able to balance her comic playfulness with subtlety and good judgment. In addition to numerous awards for acting in 2013 Sridevi was awarded the highest civilian honour in India the Padma Shri. Female Bollywood stars especially those with adult children who follow them into acting careers typically make do with smaller and smaller parts while fading into oblivion. Sridevi was poised to change that trajectory. Her charisma and her family s producing power could have combined to create a new path for her as a senior figure in Bollywood. She is survived by Boney and two daughters Janhvi and Khushi. Sridevi (Shree Amma Yanger Kapoor) actor born 13 August 1963; died 24 February 2018 Topics Sridevi Kapoor Bollywood obituaries Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Google Share on WhatsApp Share on Messenger Reuse this content
Mumbai: As the ambulance carrying the mortal remains of Bollywood icon Sridevi entered her residence in suburban Andheri a large number of fans jostled for a glimpse of their favourite actor.Both sides of the road leading to Sridevi s Green Acres residence in Lokhandwala were crowded with her fans with some even climbing the trees to have a clear view.The ambulance escorted by three police vehicles brought the body home from the airport at around 10:30 PM soon after it arrived from Dubai where she died three days ago at the age of 54. The Dubai Public Prosecutor s Office put an end to speculation about the cause of her death saying she accidentally drowned in the bathtub following loss of consciousness and that the case was now closed .Family members including her filmmaker husband Boney Kapoor and stepson Arjun Kapoor brought her body in a private plane from Dubai.Boney s brother Anil Kapoor along with his son Harshvardhan had gone to the airport to bring home the actor s mortal remains.Police personnel and private security guards deployed at the residence had a tough time in controlling the crowds when the ambulance carrying Sridevi s body drove into the house.Designer Manish Malhotra Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar were among those who visited the residence soon after the arrival of the body.Before the body arrived a few Hindu priests and doctors entered the residence of the Kapoors.The last rites will be performed today at Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium at 3.30 PM.The scene outside the building was chaotic with some fans also trying to click pictures using their mobile phones. We are big fans of hers and she means the world to us. We won t go until we see her and pay our last respects. We have waited for two days. We can wait for another two days said 20-year-old Aditya Iyer.He said he along with his family had come all the way from Chennai to see Sridevi who originally hailed from Tamil Nadu.Rahul Dixit a resident of Lokhandwala said I just live across the street and I did see her a couple of times earlier. To see her coming in an ambulance is just unbelievable and heartbreaking. To think that Sridevi is dead is something we can t believe he said.The area outside Sridevi s building was barricaded from both sides with heavy police presence around it. Police should cooperate with us. We are here to see her for the last time. We won t come tomorrow said a fan who despite repeated efforts by policemen refused to leave.Two police vans were stationed outside her house to control the fans who came in large numbers to get a glimpse of their favourite star.A police official said they will be providing security the entire night and are expecting a large crowd tomorrow. We have provided additional security at the residence in order to avoid law and order situation said Mumbai police spokesperson Deepak Devraj.Around 100 policemen were deployed near the building tonight and around 250 cops will be deployed tomorrow at the house where her body will be kept for paying final tribute to the departed soul said a police official. The same number of policemen will be part of the funeral procession he said. CommentsClose X The fans however were not deterred by the heavy security presence and were seen jostling near the building premises.Actor Sridevi passed away late Saturday night at a hotel room in Dubai where she along with the entire Kapoor clan and a host of Bollywood celebrities had gone for the wedding of her nephew Mohit Marwah.
MUMBAI/DUBAI: The body of Bollywood icon Sridevi whose sudden death triggered a frenzy of grief disbelief and searching questions was flown back to Mumbai on Tuesday after Dubai authorities determined that she had accidentally drowned in her hotel bathtub. Family members including filmmaker husband Boney Kapoor and stepson Arjun Kapoor brought Sridevi s mortal remains to her Lokhandwala residence after three days of uncertainty over her unexpected death in Dubai on Saturday. Also Read: Dubai cops close Sridevi case body finally reaches Mumbai Earlier today Dubai Public Prosecutor s Office put an end to speculation about the cause of her death saying she accidentally drowned in the bathtub following loss of consciousness and that the case was now closed . It did not say what caused the 54-year-old superstar to lose consciousness. The Embraer jet owned by industrialist Anil Ambani landed in Mumbai around 9.30pm and the cremation is scheduled tomorrow around 3.30pm. Anil Ambani wife Tina Ambani and Anil Kapoor were among those at the airport when the plane landed. The mortal remains were then taken to the Lokhandwala residence of the Kapoors where about a dozen police personnel and as many private security men were deployed for crowd management. Sridevi known as Indian cinema s first woman superstar leaves behind her husband and their two daughters Jahnvi and Khushi. On behalf of Khushi Janhvi Boney Kapoor the entire Kapoor and Ayyappan families a sincere thanks to the media for your continued sensitivity and support during this emotional moment a statement by the family said. The 54-year-old Bollywood icon was in Dubai to attend a family wedding. Her death sent shock waves across India with those who knew her at a loss to explain how the star could die so suddenly. Also Read: Last rites of Sridevi to be conducted tomorrow At first it was reported that she died of cardiac arrest triggering questions and disbelief. However it later emerged that she had drowned in the bathtub in her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel. As more speculation swirled the Dubai government s media office said in a series of tweets that the case is now closed. Dubai Public Prosecution has approved the release of the body of the Indian actress Sridevi to her family following the completion of a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances of her death it said. Dubai Public Prosecution stressed that all regular procedures followed in such cases have been completed. As per the forensic report the death of the Indian actress occurred due to accidental drowning following loss of consciousness. The case has now been closed. In its statement the family said her body will be kept at Celebration Sports Club in Lokhandwala near her home for people to pay their last respects from 9.30am to 12.30pm tomorrow before it is taken for cremation. The family said media can also pay their respects provided camera recording devices etc are left outside the venue . The last journey will commence at 2pm from Celebration Sports Club to Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium and Hindu Cemetery it said. While Sridevi had stayed back in Dubai after the ceremonies her husband Boney Kapoor had flown back to Mumbai with their younger daughter Khushi. But he returned to Dubai to surprise her according to Khaleej Times newspaper. Arjun Kapoor reached Dubai this morning to be with his father. In Mumbai industry insiders and friends visited the family at the home of actor Anil Kapoor Boney Kapoor s younger brother. With their father away Khushi and Jahnvi were at their uncle s Juhu home. For me it s the most painful thing I have dealt with after my dad s passing away. And her face is coming in front of me again and again actor Rani Mukherji told PTI. The love she had for me was so tremendous and intense that I feel somewhere that I have lost a guiding light in my life. She has been my inspiration personally and professionally. She was very close to me. She was like my maasi I would say. She was someone I looked up to. I just feel there is one more person I have lost in my life I loved and who loved me back Rani said. Director Anees Bazmi who has worked with Boney Kapoor on No Entry was among the many mourners trying to come to grips with the tragedy that has touched scores of Bollywood personalities. It is a big shock for everyone. I have worked with the entire Kapoor family. I can t imagine what Boneyji would be going through at this point. He loved her very much. Their two daughters are so young. It is a sad situation. I have not told the family about what the media is reporting. It is sad unfortunate. A person like her does not deserve this Bazmi told PTI while referring to the sensational TV coverage of the death. The others who have called on the family in their hour of grief include Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Rajinikanth Kamal Haasan Ranveer Singh Deepika Padukone Tabu Rekha and Farah Khan Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi. While celebrities went to condole her death at Anil Kapoor s residence there were staggered crowds outside Sridevi s home in Lokhandwala s Green Acres building. With the uncertainty and speculation finally ending the family issued a statement thanking the film fraternity media fans of late Sridevi Kapoor and all the well-wishers for their prayers support and sensitivity during our moment of immense grief. Sridevi s last rites to be conducted tomorrow at 3:30 pm in Mumbai01:35
MUMBAI: Bathtub deaths may seem like an alien concept in India but such tragedies are a well-documented medical fact in countries such as Japan and US. Random bathroom accidents-slips or falls-are about the only domestic accidents that a couple of Indian studies have documented; a study from Anand Gujarat stated that more women than men meet with domestic accidents. Also Read: Dubai cops close Sridevi case body finally reaches Mumbai In Japan sudden bath-related deaths have assumed proportions of a national tragedy with 19 000 deaths occurring annually according to a study published the Journal of General and Family Medicine in March 2017. A year earlier Japan s Consumer Affairs Agency released a report stating that drowning in bathtubs rose 70% over the past 10 years with nine out of 10 victims over 65 years of age. Studies say the Japanese bathing style of using hot water water at temperatures above 41 C could be a contributory factor. Japanese bathtubs are also deeper. Also Read: Mortal remains of Sridevi to reach Mumbai today In the US federal mortality data in 2006 stated at least one American dies in a bathtub hot tub or spa a day with most of them high on alcohol or drugs. The Center for Diseases Control in Atlanta US released an exhaustive data in 2015 about how bathrooms- the smallest room in the house -could be dangerous. It said over two lakh people aged over 15 visit hospital emergency rooms every year because of bathroom injuries. Of these 14% need hospitalization. While most accidents occur while bathing or showering the report said the victims are more often women perhaps because of their lower-body strength and bone mass. Also Read: Arjun Kapoor flies to Dubai as uncertainty over Sridevi s death intensifies In India only a handful of studies have such bathroom-as-an-accident-site data. Moreover these are clubbed with other household accidents such as fall burns scalds and electrocution. A study from Thane Municipal Corporation-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa published in International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences in May 2017 said the incidence of domestic accidents was 1.7% of all accidental trauma; no death from domestic accident were reported in the study. Also Read: Legendary Bollywood actor Sridevi passes away in Dubai she was 54 Sridevi s death mystery: Autopsy report fails to convince02:03 Recent Searches: Sridevi Sridevi Death Sridevi Funeral Sridevi News
What was Sridevi s life like? Director Ram Gopal Varma who worked with her in two films and knew her well said she was always in problems and all that her husband Boney Kapoor could provide her was a shoulder to cry on. In a Love letter to Sridevi s fans on Tuesday the filmmaker from Hyderabad explained how difficult life had been her right from her childhood. Also Read: Sridevi s funeral tomorrow afternoon Except for the short glimmer of English Vinglish Sridevi was pretty much an extremely unhappy woman. The uncertainty of the future the ugly turns and twists in her private life left deep scars in the superstar s sensitive mind and thereafter she was never at peace he said recounting all that Sridevi went through in her life. From my personal experience with her the only time I ever saw her in peace was in front of the camera that too only between Action and Cut ..That s because she could cut off the harsh reality and escape into her own fantasy world RGV explained on a blog post on his Facebook. Ram Gopal Varma pointed out that he had worked with her in her films Kshana kshanam and Govinda Govinda and that Sridevi s life was a classic case of how a celebrity s persons actual life is completely different from how the rest of the outside world perceives it. Also Read: Dubai police hand over letters for release of Sridevi s body: India Consulate For many Sridevi s life was perfect. Beautiful face great talent a seemingly stable family with two beautiful daughters. From outside everything looked so enviable and desirable... But was Sridevi a very happy person and did she lead a very happy life? I know her life from the time I met her. I saw with my own eyes how her life was like a bird in the sky till her father s death and then became like a bird in a cage due to her overprotective mother he explained. The director explained that back in time when actors used to be only paid in mostly black money due to fear of tax raids her father used to trust friends and relatives but everyone of them betrayed her the moment her father died. He said then her ignorant mother made many wrong investments in litigated properties. All those mistakes combined made her almost penny less by the time Boney came into her life. He himself was in huge debts and all he could afford was to give her a shoulder to cry on he said. Also Read: Sridevi death due to accidental drowning case closed: Dubai Public Prosecution Ram Gopal Varma recalled she has got into issues with younger sister Srilatha over property matters. So in effect the woman desired by millions in the world was all alone and almost penny less in the world he said. The director said Sridevi knew she was a beautiful woman and for years got comestic surgeries done the effects of which could be seen. He said the nightmare of every actress was age and Sridevi was no exception. She always came across as a little uptight but that s because she built a psychological wall around her as she was scared of anybody to really see what s going on within her. She was panicky about anybody knowing what her insecurities were he said. Also Read: Mortal remains of Sridevi to reach Mumbai today She had to put on the makeup and be somebody else not just in front of the camera but also put a psychological makeup to hide her real self behind the camera. She was being constantly directed by the motives of her parents her relatives her husband and to an extent even her own children he said. Ram Gopal Varma described Sridevi as a child trapped in a woman s body. She was naive as a person but suspicious because of her bitter experiences which is not a very good combination he said. Also Read: Dubai cops close Sridevi case body finally reaches Mumbai
NAGPUR: Though the news of actor Sridevi s death has shocked the entire country for a 54 year-old city schoolteacher it hit home hard. Sai Mudliar was a Bollywood junior artiste in the mid-80s and he recalled his association with Sridevi on the sets of Mr India . The most vivid memories I have is from when we were filming the song Hawaa Hawaai at Natraj Studios. It took 10 days for the song to be complete and we would shoot for minimum nine hours daily said Mudliar. He also played a cameo in another Sridevi starrer Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja . In the Hawaa Hawaai song Mudliar plays the role of one of villain s men. He can be seen standing near Ajit Vachani (Teja seth) Sharat Saxena (Daga seth) and Bob Christo (Mr Wolcott) as Sridevi effortlessly glides by in the dance sequence right in front him. Though I was a junior artiste I managed to strike a rapport with Sridevi because of our Tamil connect and I was very close to her two male cousins who accompanied her to the sets said Mudliar. He would run small errands for her directly or sometimes at the behest of the producer Boney Kapoor (whom she married in the 90s). I was pretty thick with Boney and you can call me his chamcha laughed Mudliar speaking straight from the heart. Sridevi was staying at Hotel Sea Rock at that time but did not like it too much. Boney would ask me to run over there and inquire from the cousins what issues they were facing. Soon she was shifted to Hotel Centaur and ultimately to a private bungalow all courtesy Boney who cared for Sridevi a lot said Mudliar. Though she was a superstar at that time there were no tantrums. She ate the same food as other artistes but was conscious about eating healthy. I remember clearly that she avoided samosa and tea. Later when she shifted to a bungalow she started getting home-cooked food said Mudliar. Her professionalism stood out despite her star status. At sharp 9am Sridevi would be at the sets ready for the shoot. She neither gossiped on the sets nor threw tantrums setting a great example for all junior artistes said Mudliar. Big B s intuitive tweet before Sridevi s sudden demise00:28
Forensic doctors in Dubai concluded that Sridevi died of a heart attack and added there is nothing suspicious about the way the superstar passed away official sources in Dubai said. Also Read: Sridevi died of accidental drowning: Report According to an independent journalist working in the Gulf if a person there dies in hospital the cause of death is known and the procedure to release the body is quick. However if a death occurs outside a hospital even a natural death police have to be informed and they will investigate the death after they first register a case. In case a body has to be sent overseas for cremation there are naturally even more official steps to be taken said the journalist Vasudeva Rao. As per procedure the body is first kept in the morgue at Al Qusais. After forensic examination at the General Department of Forensic Evidence the body is handed over to the police. After the autopsy report a death certificate is given and after that the police give their clearance. Also Read: Wait for Sridevi s final homecoming gets prolonged Then the police visa of the person who has passed away is verified after which the Indian consulate in Dubai cancels their passport issues a death certificate as well as a no-objection certificate to facilitate transporting of the mortal remains to India. Amid these arrangements the police will issue several letters - for the body to be collected from the hospital/morgue for embalming to the place where the last rites will be performed to the airport and to the airlines. The death certificate will be issued in Arabic. The translated copy in English will be provided to the Indian consulate in Dubai after which it will issue a no-objection certificate to the family/relative to transport the body back to India. Also Read: Sridevi death: Cops check call logs question hotel staff and family Sridevi s demise: Rekha Rani Mukerji Karan Johar visit Anil Kapoor s residence to offer condolences02:29
The sudden demise of Sridevi has left the nation in mourning. The very talented and beautiful actress who gave Bollywood many of its blockbusters died at a relatively young age of 54. The news came out today morning and the country s seeing a restless and tragic day today. It is being reported that the actress died of a sudden cardiac arrest and the report has been confirmed by her brother-in-law. That s the thing with sudden deaths: they are least expected and the most tragic. Sudden cardiac arrests are deadly because of this very reason. So what exactly is a cardiac arrest? What are its signs and symptoms? Are there any early signs you can watch out for? We tell you. What is a sudden cardiac arrest? A sudden cardiac arrest is an unexpected and a very sudden and abrupt loss of the function of the heart breathing as well as consciousness. It happens due to a sudden disturbance to the functioning of the heart which leads to disruption in pumping of the blood. As a result blood supply to the body is cut off. Sudden cardiac arrest needs immediate and prompt medical attention. If not given proper care it can lead to sudden cardiac death. Sudden Cardiac Arrest vs Heart Attack There is a difference between sudden cardiac arrest and heart attack. In heart attack blood flow is blocked in a portion of the heart and this injures the muscles. Sometimes a heart attack can trigger a sudden cardiac arrest. The symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest None of the diseases comes unannounced. Every problem in the body gives us signs however subtle they may be. However when it comes to a sudden cardiac arrest doctors often say that the attack may come completely out of the blue and not give any warning signs at all. But much to our relief a recent study established that even a sudden cardiac arrest has its warning indicators. Some common early symptoms include the following: - A dizziness that doesn t go away easily - A general sense of fatigue - Shortness of breath - Heart palpitations - Chest pain that may happen as early as four weeks before the cardiac arrest Heart attack and cardiac arrest symptoms in women Heart attack and cardiac arrest symptoms are different in women and men say studies. Though there are many symptoms that run common there are various differences also that doctors have pointed out. They include: - Symptoms may be more subtle and more ambiguous - Chest pain may not be the primary pain and may be accompanied by nausea fatigue pain in back neck and https://www.interspire.com/forum/member.php?u=530446&tab=aboutme&simple=1 shoulders as well. - Tight artery blockages are not very common in women but they are in men - The reason behind these differences could be that women may develop preeclampsia a problem of high blood pressure during pregnancy in their lives. Also menopause puts women at a higher risk of suffering from heart disease during that phase of their lives. Risk factors There are many lifestyle risk factors that up your chances of a cardiac arrest. These include the following : - A problem of high blood pressure or hypertension - Diabetes - Smoking - High cholesterol levels - No or very less physical activity - Overweight or obesity First aid for sudden cardiac arrest In case of a sudden cardiac arrest the patient must be immediately administered medical help. You should call a doctor as soon as possible. The administering of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can help or a doctor can also treat with a defibrillator. You may just give compressions to the chest if you have to wait for help to arrive. If proper steps are taken survival is possible. Actresses who died of a sudden cardiac arrest It is not just our legendary Sridevi who has died of a sudden cardiac arrest. There have been many other famous celebrities who died similarly. In fact Mother Teresa also died of a cardiac arrest. Reema Lagoo Aarthi Agarwal and Suchitra Sen are some other Indian actresses who died of cardiac arrest or heart attack.

Virat Kohli is batting at another level: Sourav Ganguly to India Today

It s all over! India beat South Africa by eight wickets win series 5-1 After an impressive bowling display skipper Virat Kohli (129 ) led from the front with the bat to help India beat South Africa by eight wickets in the sixth one-day international at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday. Dominant India wrapped up the six-match series 5-1. OVERS 32.1: Virat Kohli 129 helps India (206/2) beat South Africa (204) by eight wickets OVERS 30: Hundred-run partnership between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. India 180/2 OVERS 28.2: DROPPED! Virat Kohli dropped on 103. India 172/2 OVERS 27: HUNDRED No. 35 for Virat Kohli off 82 balls. India 165/2 in chase of 205 Kohli played a sublime innings as he hit 17 fours to reach the landmark 150 up for India in 24.2 overs OVERS 24: India 149/2 in chase of 205. Virat Kohli (88 ) and Ajinkya Rahane (19 ) OVERS 19.2: 500! With back-to-back fours Virat Kohli became the first batsman to score 500 or more runs in a bilateral ODI series. India 128/2 in chase of 205 OVERS 15.3: FIFTY No. 47 for Virat Kohli off 36 balls. India 106/2 need 99 more to win Kohli hit nine fours to reach the landmark. 100 up for India 14.3 overs OVERS 12.4: OUT! Lungi Ngidi dismissed Shikhar Dhawan for 18. India 80/2 in chase of 205 Dhawan scored 18 off 34 balls hitting two fours and added 61 runs with Virat Kohli for the second wicket OVERS 10.3: Fifty runs partnership between Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan. India 69/1 50 up for India in 7.5 overs OVERS 6.2: http://www.great-quotes.com/user/kkabhibus Virat Kohli hit Morne Morkel for back-to-back fours as India reached 41/1 in chase of 205 OVERS 3.4: OUT! Lungi Ngidi struck early Rohit Sharma gone for 15. India 19/1 in chase of 205 Rohit hit three fours for his 15 off 13 balls OVER 1: Rohit Sharma hit back-to-back fours one of them was an outside edge to start the chase on a positive note. India 9/0 Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started the India run chase with Morne Morkel bowling the first over for South Africa Innings Report: Shardul Thakur shines as India bowl out South Africa for 204 South Africa all out for 204 in 46.5 overs OVERS 46.5: OUT! Shardul Thakur dismissed Andile Phehlukwayo (34) for his fourth wicket. South Africa 204 all out 200 up for South Africa in 46.3 overs OVERS 45.4: OUT! Second wicket for Jasprit Bumrah Imran Tahir gone. South Africa 192/9 OVERS 43.4: OUT! Hardik Pandya dismissed Morne Morkel for 20. South Africa 187/8 Morkel hit two sixes in his 19-ball cameo and added a crucial 36 with Andile Phehlukwayo. OVERS 39: NOT OUT! Another successful review for South Africa. Morne Morkel survived as the ball was missing the stumps OVERS 37: OUT! Second wicket for Yuzvendra Chahal Khaya Zondo gone for 54. South Africa 151/7 150 up for South Africa in 36.4 overs Maiden ODI fifty for Khaya Zondo in 67 balls OVERS 33.3: OUT! Now Kuldeep Yadav joined the party dismissed Chris Morris for 4. South Africa 142/6 OVERS 31.2: OUT! Third wicket for Shardul Thakur Farhaan Behardien gone for 1. South Africa 136/5 OVERS 30.3: OUT! Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Heinrich Klaasen (22). South Africa 135/4 Virat Kohli took a low catch at short cover to send Klaasen back to the pavilion. South Africa 135/3 after 30 overs OVERS 27: Khaya Zondo (45 ) and Heinrich Klaasen (8 ) guide South Africa to 119/3 OVERS 20.5: OUT! Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned up AB de Villiers for 30. South Africa 105/3 De Villiers hit four boundaries in his 34-ball innings and added 62 runs for the third wicket with Khaya Zondo as they revived South Africa after losing Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla in quick succession. 100 up for South Africa in 19 overs. OVERS 18.2: NOT OUT! Successful review. Ball kissed the gloves and Khaya Zondo survived. South Africa 88/2 To rub salt on the wound Zondo then smacked two sixes off Yuzvendra Chahal in the over. OVERS 18: 16 RUNS! AB de Villiers hit three consecutive fours as Kuldeep Yadav conceded 16 in the over. South Africa 88/2 OVERS 16: Khaya Zondo hit back-to-back fours off Kuldeep Yadav to take South Africa to 67/2 50 up for South Africa in 12.1 overs OVERS 9.5: OUT! Shreyas Iyer took a blinder at extra cover to dismiss SA skipper Aiden Markram for 24. Second wicket for Shardul Thakur. South Africa 43/2 Thakur was hit for a six early in the over but he did not give away any room to Markram after that. Markram was forced to take the aerial root but couldn t hit it over the jumping Iyer at the extra cover. South Africa lost two wickets in quick succession after a cautious start. OVERS 9.1: SIX! Markram smacked Thakur s short delivery over deep square leg for the first maximum of the match. South Africa 43/1 OVERS 6.3: OUT! Shardul Thakur provided India an early breakthrough dismissed Hashim Amla for 10. South Africa 23/1 After a slow start to the innings Amla gloved the rising delivery to MS Dhoni in the back. Amla hit two boundaries in his 19-ball innings OVERS 4: Jasprit Bumrah gave away just one run in two overs. South Africa 13/0 OVERS 1: Aiden Markram started the South Africa innings with back-to-back fours off Shardul Thakur. South Africa 8/0 TOSS - India win toss and opt to field against South Africa India made one change in the playing XI bringing in Shardul Thakur for Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was given rest from the game. South Africa made four changes as they included Chris Morris Farhaan Behardien Imran Tahir and Khaya Zondo. Playing XIs India: Shikhar Dhawan Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli (c) Ajinkya Rahane Shreyas Iyer Hardik Pandya MS Dhoni (w) Shardul Thakur Kuldeep Yadav Jasprit Bumrah Yuzvendra Chahal South Africa: Hashim Amla Aiden Markram (c) AB de Villiers Khaya Zondo Farhaan Behardien Heinrich Klaasen (w) Chris Morris Andile Phehlukwayo Imran Tahir Morne Morkel Lungisani Ngidi
Investors may have been shocked when one of India s biggest banks disclosed a 1.77 billion fraud by a billionaire jeweller but the central bank has recorded data that shows the problem runs far deeper and wider. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data which a Reuters reporter obtained through a right-to-information request shows state-run banks have reported 8 670 loan fraud cases totalling Rs 61260 crore ( 9.58 billion) over the last five financial years up to March 31 2017. In India loan frauds typically refer to cases where the borrower intentionally tries to deceive the lending bank and does not repay the loan. The figures expose the magnitude of the problem in a banking sector already under pressure after years of poor lending practices. Bad loans surged to a record peak of nearly 149 billion last year. Bank loan frauds have steadily increased as well reaching Rs 17 634 crore in the latest financial year from Rs 6 357 crore in 2012-13 according to the data which doesn t include the PNB case. Punjab National Bank India s second-largest state lender said on Wednesday two junior officers at a single branch had illegally steered 1.77 billion in fraudulent loans to companies most of them controlled by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi. It was India s biggest fraud ever. This might be the tip of the iceberg or the middle and that is the worry said Pratibha Jain partner at law firm Nishith Desai Associates who advises on bankruptcy cases. The fact is we don t know what else is out there. The RBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in June 2017 the central bank in its Financial Stability Report called frauds in banks and financial institutions one of the emerging risks to the financial sector . In a number of large value frauds serious gaps in credit underwriting standards were evident the RBI said adding that some of the gaps include lack of continuous monitoring of cash flows and cash profits diversion of funds double financing and general credit governance issues in banks. The RBI has been commended for forcing Indian banks to fully disclose its bad loans speed up their recovery and stop hiding fraud cases as non-performing assets. Yet to some critics the RBI has at the same time been too guarded about publicly sharing data on loan defaults or fraudulent loans. This is partly due to legal constraints on disclosing individual cases and worries investors would pummel the affected banks making loan recovery even harder. In fact the numbers of loan fraud cases across India could be even higher since they only include cases reported to the RBI which involve only loans of Rs 100 000 or more. In its right-to-information request Reuters sought data from 20 of India s 21 state-run lenders and obtained 15 replies. PNB topped the list with 389 cases totalling Rs 6 562 crore ( 1.03 billion) over the last five financial years in terms of the total amounts involved. Reuters was unable to obtain a detailed breakdown on the exact nature and method of the loan frauds the banks reported to RBI over the last five financial years. After PNB Bank of Baroda had the highest amount of loan fraud reported with Rs 4 473 crore from 389 cases and Bank of India ranked third with loan frauds totalling Rs 4 050 crore from 231 cases over the same period the data shows. India s biggest lender State Bank of India reported 1 069 loan fraud cases in the last five financial years but did not disclose the amount. It was also unclear how much has been recovered by the banks over the years. The magnitude of the bad debt in India forced the government last year to bail out the sector by pledging to inject 32 billion over this financial year and next. Yet analysts and credit rating agencies have long warned that solving the bad debt at India s banking sector needs to also involve wholesale reforms of the lending practices that led to the surge in bad loans. Bankers have been blamed for steering funds to politically connected business tycoons such as Vijay Mallya without due diligence or after being pressed by government officials to steer funds to sectors it wanted to promote such as infrastructure. Mallya stands accused in India of fraudulently palming off losses from his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines onto banks by taking out loans he had no intention of repaying an allegation he denies. Nirav Modi the jeweller accused in the PNB fraud case posed for pictures with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland where he was part of India s delegation of corporate leaders.
NEW DELHI: Canada has initiated a dialogue with India on investigating cases against Sikh extremists and combating Sikh radicalism an apparent attempt to dispel controversy over the Justin Trudeau government s alleged links with Sikh extremists. The national security advisors (NSAs) of the two countries held discussions this week to identify areas of cooperation to combat Sikh radicalism according to people aware of the development. This comes ahead of Canadian PM Trudeau s week-long visit to India from Saturday during which security and defence partnership is expected to figure high on the agenda. The two sides recently held a meeting of the joint working group on counter-terrorism to firm up specific areas of cooperation and this was preceded by a deputy NSA level dialogue. The issue of revival of Sikh radicalism in Canada and presence of supporters of Khalistan movement in Trudeau cabinet have cast a shadow on Indo-Canadian partnership the growing economic partnership including rising investments in India notwithstanding. Trade between Canada and India doubled in the 10 years to 2016 to about 8 billion. Last year Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had refused to meet Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan accusing him of supporting the Khalistan movement. Sajjan is accompanying Trudeau on this trip. Recently Sajjan and infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi two of the four Sikh members of Trudeau s cabinet countered Punjab CM s claim and said they did not support the Khalistan movement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised the issue with Trudeau during their meetings. Nonetheless several gurdwaras in Canada have barred Indian officials from entering the premises. Canada s official line which Trudeau is expected to deliver during the trip is that it supports a unified India and will not support any form of extremism. The controversy over Sikh radicalism notwithstanding India and Canada will try to firm up maritime defence partnership and Canada is willing to share expertise of its defence industry in maritime sphere the people cited earlier said. While Canada has growing ties with China it also supports India s position on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative Canadian officials said. During his visit Trudeau will address a number of business meets in several cities. Indo-Canadian Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)and Investment Protection Treaty will figure high on the agenda as Canadian investors are looking forward to the protection pact for enhancing quantum of investments.
NEW DELHI: The visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has applauded India s religious diversity and called for unity between the Shia and Sunni communities in a statement that is being seen as important for the Islamic world in the backdrop of lukewarm ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia often ascribed to sectarian differences. India is a living museum of different ethnicities and religions peacefully co-existing. This process is going on for centuries. Shia Sunnis Sufis Hindus Sikhs and others are living together. They together built their country and built their civilisation Rouhani said in Hyderabad on Thursday night in a speech delivered in Persian. Addressing Muslim leaders and scholars belonging to different Islamic schools of thought Rouhani called for unity among the Shias and Sunnis while blaming the West for sowing the seeds of discord among various sects of Muslims. That the Iranian president chose India to call for unity among the Shia and Sunni communities is significant given India s growing multi-faceted partnership with both Iran and Saudi Arabia experts said. India has been able to maintain a balanced foreign policy outreach to engage with both the countries at the same time they said. Pointing out that there can be no military solution to conflicts Rouhani said that Iran seeks brotherly relations with all Muslims nations and the countries of the region including India. Rouhani on Friday visited the historic Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad and offered prayers for Shia-Sunni unity and peace across the Muslim world. The visit to the Sunni mosque is significant as it is aimed at conveying the message of Shia-Sunni unity. Iran is a Shia majority country.
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani s visit to India is likely to get buried under the din of domestic cacophony especially as it comes amid the unearthing of a major banking scam. But the importance of this three-day engagement should not be underestimated. The trajectory of bilateral ties holds far-reaching diplomatic economic and geostrategic implications for India. The ancient civilisational relationship isn t fraught but it isn t flourishing either caught between twin stools of respective geopolitical compulsions and ambition. Narendra Modi and Rouhani must mitigate multiple challenges to bolster a relationship that goes much beyond fuel trade and at least for India holds the key to its strategic game in Afghanistan central Asia and beyond including two airbases in Tajikistan. To quote from Georgetown University associate professor C Christine Fair s paper India-Iran Security Ties: Thicker Than Oil in the journal Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA): India needs Iran to achieve its varied objectives in Central Asia. Iran for its part sees a tremendous complementarity (sic) of interest with India. Both states seek to undermine unipolarity and both states are uncomfortable with the role that the United States has played and will likely continue to play in West Asia despite the fact that both states have very different relations with the United States. File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iran president Hassan Rouhani. PTI The shared concerns also extend to Pakistan where Iran fears a consolidation of Sunni influence (exacerbated by Saudi Arabia s recent decision to appoint former Pakistan COAS general Raheel Sharif as the chief of Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance) and New Delhi is wary of Rawalpindi s sub-conventional war against India to destabilise the region and maintain international focus on Kashmir. Bilateral engagements are also subject to domestic pulls and pressures. In the case of Rouhani who is on his second visit to India and his first since becoming president it is more so. Iran s economy is sagging food inflation is high and jobs are hard to come by. The country has just emerged from a massive youth unrest that resulted in over 20 deaths overall and 450 arrests in Tehran alone. Rouhani a staunch backer of the 2015 multi-nation Nuclear Deal and a moderate voice within Iran s competing power structure knows that his time is running out. He had put all his eggs in the deal basket but with Donald Trump playing truant hopes of the agreement boosting the economy are receding and fears of renewed US sanctions are looming large. Trump wants Iran to suspend its ballistic missile program and restrict permanently Iran s uranium enrichment facilities conditions that Tehran will never accept and even EU signatories to the Nuclear Deal don t agree upon especially as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has certified no less than nine times that Tehran has not breached the terms of the 2015 Barrack Obama-era accord. The deal therefore hangs in limbo with Trump threatening that he has signed the latest sanctions relief for Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the last time . Under the JCPOA mechanism a part of the Nuclear Deal agreement the US president must certify at periodic intervals that Iran has obeyed the terms of the deal to keep waivers in place. This is the last chance Trump had thundered last January In the absence of such an agreement (immediate curb over uranium enrichment and ballistic missile program) the US will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran Nuclear Deal. And if at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach I will withdraw from the deal immediately. Rouhani has sounded defiant but he knows that the sanctions which had been imposed in 2007 and stayed in place till 2016 have crippled the Iranian economy. A recent BBC study finds that Iran s middle class have been hurt the most and average household budgets have fallen which were reflected in the nationwide protests. Iran is in need of allies. Rouhani hopes that he will be able to persuade India to invest billions in connectivity infrastructure industrial and energy projects. His focus on India betrays a shrewd strategic sense. Both countries share deep and enduring civilisational ties a motif that Rouhani s itinerary stressed upon as he touched down in Hyderabad a city that has a sizeable Shia population and shares long historic and cultural ties with Iran. More importantly India is right now in a sweep spot vis-a-vis the US. New Delhi is one of the rare nations that can do business with Tehran without worrying too much about incurring Trump s wrath. Not surprisingly the 21-member high-powered delegation accompanying Rouhani includes ministers and businessmen who are keen to seal a number of deals. There are a number of projects for expansion of ties in the pipeline that not only will be in the interests of both nations but also in the interest of the region Iran s ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari had said in a national day speech last week according to news agency Reuters. Before leaving for India Rouhani told reporters in Tehran that he hoped to ink several MoUs with India. He called it his key objective to speed up proceedings of Chabahar agreement the 500-million trilateral deal signed between Iran India and Afghanistan last May that is at the fulcrum of India s great power aspirations in Central Asia and provides New Delhi with a secure transit route bypassing Pakistan. Modi would be mindful of the tough strategic calculus that India must solve to engage simultaneously with the US and Iran. In areas of connectivity trade culture and shared strategic vision Iran could be India s most valuable partner in West Asia. Yet growing convergence with the US on a number of areas including but not limited to the rise of China makes it imperative for India not to court Iran at the falling foul of a volatile Trump whose administration has focused on Tehran as the source of all evil in West Asia. Being at the fulcrum of Trump s Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan policy however gives India the freedom to carry out its strategic and geo-economic objectives which in this case is a close engagement with Iran. The Trump administration encourages India to take leadership in Indo-Pacific emerge as a net security provider in South Asia and is also reliant on New Delhi as a stabilising influence in Afghanistan. These competing currents are working in favour of India at least for now. Last October for instance US secretary of state Rex Tillerson on his New Delhi visit had clarified that Washington would not block legitimate business activities with Iran by India and had also reiterated that he saw no contradiction with US-Iran sanctions and India s port project in Chabahar. Yet there are challenges. Diplomacy isn t a zero-sum game and frequent overlapping of interests needs to be managed. As WPS Sidhu a professor at New York University s Center for Global Affairs writes in Livemint While both countries will seek to manage their differences as evident from the absence of any reference to Iran in Tillerson s speech it may still dampen the otherwise sunny prospects. Moreover how India responds to Trump s virtual call to arms against Iran will also have an impact on New Delhi s relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia. So far Modi has shown his deft diplomatic touch in segregating India s bilateral interests with nations at odds with each other without any serious diplomatic spill. However India s biggest weakness lies not in striking of agreements and deals but in follow-up and execution of those deals and projects. Despite the huge hype in Indian media Chabahar port is only partly operational. India s ponderous bureaucracy and logistical difficulties (caused by international sanctions) have made progress very slow. To put it in perspective the current operational capacity of Chabahar deepwater harbour lies at 8.5 million tonnes that could be increased to 80 million tonnes of annual freight capacity when it becomes fully operational as per Abdol Sattar Dushouki from the Centre for Balochistan Studies in DW. It could take a year maybe more for India to complete the work. The Modi government has recently made a decision to allow Indian business entities to invest in rupees in Iran for the first time a facility that was extended till just now to only Nepal and Bhutan. The rupee-rial mechanism may ease doing of business with Tehran. The delay in completion of Chabahar project the roadblock over Farzad B oil block should not be allowed to act as spanners in the development of bilateral ties. For both nations it is a moment in history they cannot afford to let slip.
New Delhi: India s most ambitious space mission yet Chandrayaan-2 that hopes to place a robotic rover on the moon could be launched as early as April this year says Dr Jitendra Singh Minister of State in the Prime Minister s Office that is in charge of space affairs. Chandrayaan-2 is one of the most remarkable ISRO missions of 2018 and it will be a world event Dr Singh told NDTV.Only USA Russia and China have been able to soft-land spacecraft on the lunar surface. If India succeeds it will be a huge achievement for space agency ISRO that has a budget almost 20 times less than US space agency NASA.Dr Singh says Chandrayaan-2 with its many scientific capabilities will throw up data that may open up possibilities of future habitation of the moon . There are tantalising possibilities of a human outpost on the moon in the future and India is already investing in its human space flight programme.ISRO seeks to land Chandrayaan-2 very close to the South Pole of the moon.Chandrayaan-2 is India s second foray to the moon and the Rs 800 crore mission aims at putting an orbiter around the moon from which a lander and a rover would detach and reach the lunar surface. Landings in thin atmosphere and low gravity of the moon are very tricky. Even though Neil Armstrong had walked or one can say taken a stroll on the lunar surface in 1969 but it was left to India s small Chandrayaan-1 space craft launched in 2008 that discovered the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface in 2009 said Dr Singh. The work does acknowledge that India helped discover water on the moon which was considered a parched environment till then. Chandrayaan-1 mission was an orbiter and it was launched in 2008The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft which weighs three tonnes is being finalised at ISRO s satellite centre in Bengaluru and will be hoisted into space from Sriharikota using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MK II or GSLV MK II. The unique spacecraft will carry 13 scientific instruments that will study the moon like never before. Chandrayaan-2 will be a breakthrough mission not only for India but for the entire world said Dr Singh asserting that the mission will make every Indian proud .ISRO that hopes to place India s flag on the rover says the launch window opens in April and goes on till October 2018. The rover has to be placed on the lunar dawn and is expected to last at least for 14 Earth days on the lunar surface. It will analyse the soil and look for moon quakes while mapping lunar resources.This unmanned mission Dr Singh says packs in more power than the Apollo missions by NASA . Chandrayaan-2 will also reinforce India s capabilities and supremacy in the comity of world nations he said.India s Chandrayaan-1 mission was an orbiter where India was the captain and there were several global players like USA Britain Bulgaria and the European Space Agency. It cost Rs 450 crore and was launched using India s workhorse rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in 2008. CommentsClose X ISRO seeks to land Chandrayaan-2 very close to the South Pole of the moon a very tricky place to land says Dr Singh. All 12 other moon landings have always been on the lunar equatorial region this region with its unique geology will give new insights on the origin of the universe he adds.More than 100 scientists and engineers are working overtime to try and finish the mission on time.
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the country s largest container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai on Sunday an official said today.The JNPT s Fourth Container Terminal (FCT) s Phase I has been completed in a record time at a cost of Rs 4 719 crore and is expected to boost container trade and logistics in a big way.In October 2015 PM Modi had laid the foundation stone for this terminal which will double JNPT s current container handling capacity.The FCT will add capacity of 2.4 million (24 lakh) containers per annum in the first phase and after completion of the second phase in 2022 the capacity will be quadrupled to a whopping 100 lakh containers per year.The FCT was developed on design build fund operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis for a concession period of 30 years with an estimated investment of Rs 7 915 crore for both the phases.The terminal will be able to dock mother vessels handle the biggest containers ships from a quay length of one km handle three container ships simultaneously with sufficient yard space and cranes which can reach 22 rows wide or more.The FCT will be linked to the dedicated road access and a rail freight corridor and will receive around 350 containers per rake besides provision for storing 1 600 refrigerated (reefer) containers for perishables agriculture and horticulture produce.Accordingly the official said the commencement of operations at FCT will offer immense opportunities for the EXIM community so that trade flourishes.The rail facilities will be the largest in India with the only on-dock Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) compliant facility in the country capable of handling 1.5-km long 360 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) container trains on completion of the DFC. CommentsClose X Under the Sagarmala project 101 projects worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore have been planned in Maharashtra of which five are already completed and another 58 are under various stages of development.
After months of anticipation WhatsApp rolled out its payments feature to select users across the country to much enthusiasm this week providing a strong boost to India s digital payments ecosystem. But that didn t almost happen because of the company s foreign origin. Turns out this was WhatsApp s second endeavour to enter India s payments market. Last year the messaging app the largest in India tried to partner with a private bank in the country to develop a digital wallet app to facilitate payments on its platform. That was when it ran into a reluctant Reserve Bank of India. The regulator was not ready to allow a foreign entity to enter India s digital payments space according to multiple stakeholders ET spoke with to piece together the story behind WhatsApp payments. Non-bank entities applying for authorisation shall be a company incorporated in India and registered under the Companies Act 1956 / Companies Act 2013 read RBI s master guidelines for prepaid payments instruments or digital wallets. WhatsApp being a Facebook owned company based in the United States therefore could not directly enter the Indian payments market. Meanwhile an important transformation was happening in India last year with the government actively promoting the Unified Payments Interface as part of its push to digitise India s economy. UPI which allows for real-time bank-to-bank transactions put up fewer entry barriers and foreign entities including Google began to rush in. WhatsApp took its time jumping on to the bandwagon. People familiar with the company s thinking said it was not confident of the UPI story since the payments protocol had not yet picked up steam in the early half of 2017. Since Facebook had a decent experience of bringing in payments through its Messenger platform in the US it wanted to bring in a similar digital wallet platform in India as well. But with UPI gaining traction as the year progressed and with other tech companies innovating on the platform WhatsApp decided to take the plunge. In its second coming WhatsApp payments with its large numbers and intuitive user interface promises to disrupt India s digital payments ecosystem all over again. WhatsApp payments its first globally throws up new challenges for existing payments companies mobile wallets and banks to hold on to their market shares. The Numbers Advantage Consumer payment is a low-margin game and the business is completely defined by the scale of operations. On this front WhatsApp has the potential to emerge as the dominant player because of its user base of more than 250 million in India according to industry estimates. Moreover the ease of use of WhatsApp s payments feature can only attract more people to adopt digital payments. WhatsApp s user interface has received rave reviews on social media including from payments companies. Just tried WhatsApp Payments got reminded what great user experience is all about tweeted Amrish Rau chief executive of payments company PayU India. Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl tweeted: Quite fascinating to see how many people have already started using WhatsApp for payments in a matter of few days Even in its beta stage with only a small percentage of its users getting access to the payments feature WhatsApp seems to have caught the imagination of Indians. A Peek Back In Time To understand the importance of user experience and brand recall in payments it is important to bring in some context to the Unified Payments Interface which was launched in August 2016 by then Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. Initially there were only 21 banks on the UPI protocol. This January that number was at 71. UPI transactions have vaulted from about 2 million in December 2016 to a staggering 151.8 million in January. The sharpest jump was in October last year when transactions more than doubled to 76.7 million from around 30.7 million in September following the launch of Google Tez and its various cashbacks that has attracted thousands of users. Subsequently India s largest payments company Paytm too went live on UPI providing a huge boost to the number of UPI transactions in December and January. We had the application but we did not have the correct marketing strategies to take the product to the public and promote it in a major way said a senior executive with a private bank that has been a part of UPI right from the beginning. The tech-based payments players have always driven UPI payments. The fact that global giants like Google and Facebook are opening up payments applications in India for the first time in the world is testimony to the global standard settlements infrastructure created by National Payments Corp of India say bankers. NPCI manages the UPI protocol. While the launch of UPI was expected to give banks a fillip in their fight against new payment services most of them are now focusing on getting big partners like Google and WhatsApp on board. But All Is Not Well Soon after WhatsApp s payments feature became live the waters became murky with Paytm raising a hue and cry about the safety of the WhatsApp payments platform. Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma also alleged that WhatsApp was given too much leeway to ensure a better payments experience for customers. Facebook is openly colonising our payment system and is customising UPI to their benefit. UPI was built as an India Stack; now some American monopoly arm-twists UPI for customer implementation Sharma told ET adding that he plans to take the issue to NPCI and higher authorities if required. India Stack is the backend software infrastructure that allows technologies to be built around Aadhaar authentication and eKYC eSign DigiLocker and UPI. Several entrepreneurs across the spectrum have said that WhatsApp s entry in the Indian payments space has spooked incumbents. While several players in the industry agreed that WhatsApp was given concessions because of the user base it brings others said its entry in the Indian payments space has spooked incumbents. All companies threatened by WhatsApp payments are going to tag it as anti-national and try to pull it down as it s hard to win on merit against the network effects of WhatsApp tweeted Kunal Shah founder of payments company Freecharge. This strategy worked for Patanjali (Ayurveda-based consumer goods company) and wonder if it will work for payment companies. The ICICI Angle One bank that could seem to be getting a headstart in the process of WhatsApp s payments entry is ICICI Bank. The country s largest private lender is the sole banking partner for WhatsApp in the beta stage of its payments roll out. It is through ICICI Bank that UPI handles are being created for all users of WhatsApp s payments feature to transact via the chat application. However NPCI guidelines mandate that payment platforms have to balance out the handles across every participating bank eventually which should bring the others on to an equal footing with time. Further that doesn t mean they get access to customer data such as savings balance or security details which are masked by the platform. But what they get is an understanding of customer behavior. There are very strict security protocols to be followed for integration with the UPI backend but what the platform or the sponsor bank get to understand is the payment behavior of the customer which can throw up future business opportunities for the bank said a senior banker involved in the process. If banks or the payments platform manage to figure how to use transaction data of customers for cross-selling they will have a huge treasure trove to dig into he said. Though (WhatsApp) has started with ICICI Bank in the beta phase there are three other banks with whom the integration work is going on including State Bank of India HDFC Bank and Axis Bank said the banker. The Challenges While WhatsApp on UPI is a big step challenges are aplenty. Unlike Google which developed Tez from scratch for payments in India WhatsApp was incorporating payments in its chat application itself. Therefore it was always a challenge to bring in such large modifications in one of the busiest apps of the world said one of the bankers quoted above. It is because of WhatsApp s large user base that NPCI has not allowed a full-scale launch of the company s payments feature according to sources. It instead preferred a phased rollout to allow time for both the app and bank platforms to adjust to a sudden spike in volumes. Industry insiders say the beta rollout can help with gradual strengthening of processes to ensure near-zero transaction declines by banks. The Road Ahead WhatsApp will have to follow every specification laid down by NPCI in its UPI requirements once its payment feature goes fully live and the platform opens up to https://www.discogs.com/user/kfckk more banking partners said the people familiar with the developments. UPI has been built on the promise of an open architecture that is completely interoperable and it is this feature that has attracted so many tech companies to build solutions around it one of them said. Our enemy is cash and to eliminate that India will need multiple strong payment applications to drive volume. The industry is awaiting another round of boom in UPI transaction numbers in the coming months. With WhatsApp even those not using any of the other multiple payment applications for digital transactions might be willing to use its payment feature. My 70-year-old mother uses WhatsApp and now with payments made so simple even she can send or receive money directly into her bank account through WhatsApp payments said a senior banker with a private bank that s working with WhatsApp. That will change India s digital payments landscape forever. Multiple debates have cropped up accusations are being thrown around and competition is bound to increase. But what can be said is that the country s digital payments ecosystem has a bright future. The technology has been built and the products have been delivered. Now it is all about user adoption and that is where payments platforms will need to push more. With global companies like PayPal Google WhatsApp and Truecaller on one side and Indian giants such as Flipkart-promoted PhonePe and the Alibaba and Softbank-backed Paytm on the other Indian consumers cannot complain. All they need to do now is pick up their smartphones and start transacting.