Month: December 2024

Mumbai, Dec 23 (IANS) Shyam Sunder S. Benegal, a multiple National Award winner and among the pioneers of ‘parallel cinema’ – with silver screen classics like “Junoor”, “Ankur”, “Manthan”, “Zubeida” and “The Making of the Mahatma” – passed away after a long battle with a kidney disease, his family said here on Monday.

A second-cousin brother of the late legend, actor-film-maker Guru Dutt, Benegal was 90 and breathed his last at a private hospital in Mumbai. He is survived by his wife Nira and their daughter Pia.

Conferred the Padma Shri (1976), the Padma Bhushan (1991), the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2005) and many other national-international honours, Benegal had celebrated his 90th birthday (December 14) with many colleagues from the film industry present to meet and greet him.

The details of the last rites of his mortal remains are not yet known.

Born in Hyderabad on December 14, 1934, Benegal belonged to a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahman lineage, with his photographer-father Sridhar B. Benegal having roots in Karnataka.

At the tender age of 12, the little Shyam had shot a film using a camera presented by his dad, who inspired and nurtured his interest in film-making that became his career for over six decades.

Later, Benegal went onto study MA (Economics), founded the Hyderabad Film Society, and later started his career in 1959 as a copy-writer with Lintas Advertising Agency in Mumbai, where he rose to be the Creative Head, with over 900 ad films and sponsored documentaries under his belt.

In 1962, Benegal made his first Gujarati documentary film, “Gher Betha Ganga” (Ganga At Doorsteps), taught at the prestigious Film & Television Institute of India from 1966-1973, and later served as its Chairman twice (1980-1983 & 1989-1992).

With over 70 documentaries and short films to his credit, and a stint in the USA, Benegal made his first full-length Hindi feature film, “Ankur” (1974), that shot him to fame, bagging 3 National Awards, another 43 national-international awards/honours.

Over a film career spanning more than 60 years, Benegal made many classics like “Manthan” (1976), “Bhumika” (1977), “Junoon” and “Kalyug” (1979), “Aarohan” (1982), “Mandi” (1983), “Trikaal” (1985, “Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda” (1993), “The Making of the Mahatma” (1996), “Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero” (2005), “Welcome to Sajjanpur” (2008), “Mujib: The Making of a Nation” (2023), to name a few prominent ones.

He also made noteworthy and award-winning documentaries, including on India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, “Jawaharlal Nehru” (1982) and “Nehru” (1985), on the legendary film-maker Satyajit Ray, Tata Steel’s Platinum Jubilee, A Festival of India, Lost Childhood, and many more.

Benegal created memorable television serials like: “Yatra” (1986), “Bharat Ek Khoj” (1988), “Sankranti” (1997), “Samvidhaan” (2014), among several others.

Tributes poured in for Benegal on social media from actors, actresses, producers, directors, his colleagues in the Indian and international film fraternity, media groups and his legion of fans and admirers.

–IANS

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Amaravati, Dec 23 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday announced that the government has decided to provide 34 per cent reservation to backward classes in local bodies.

He said the TDP-led NDA Government is committed to implementing 34 per cent reservation for BCs in nominated posts as promised. A law will also be enacted in this regard.

Naidu said a decision would soon be taken on making legislation. He promised that all the necessary measures would be taken to ensure that the 34 per cent quota for BCs would not face any legal issues. He asked officials to go ahead after a detailed study of the court judgments.

He alleged that the previous government reduced the quota for BCs from 34 per cent to 24 per cent in local bodies and as a result, they lost 16,500 posts.

Chairing a review meeting on the progress of the promises being implemented to the BCs that have been made during the electioneering, the Chief Minister on Monday directed the officials to do some more exercise to see to it that there will be no legal tangles or technical snarls will arise to the special law proposed for the safety and security of the BCs.

As promised during the recent Assembly elections, he said a special legislation will be brought for the safety of the community.

A ministerial committee, formed to study the feasibility of the move, recently submitted its preliminary report on this. During Monday’s review meeting, the officials briefed the Chief Minister on this preliminary report after which he directed them to do some more exercise on this so that there will not be any legal tangles after the law is enacted.

Naidu alleged that because of the negligence adopted by the previous ruling dispensation, the BCs suffered heavily.

The Chief Minister gave clear instructions to the officers to undertake necessary repairs on a war footing basis to the girls’ hostels. He also directed the officials to clear the dues of diet bills which have been pending for a long time.

A total of Rs 110.52 crore of diet bills were pending during the previous government and after the TDP-led NDA came to power, bills worth Rs 76.38 crore were cleared. On Monday, the Chief Minister told the officers to clear the remaining bills too.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has cleared the appointment of Presiding Officers in 11 Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRTs).

Following proposals of the Department of Financial Services, these persons have been appointed for a period of four years, or till attaining the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.

As per the notification of the Department of Personnel & Training, Chandrashekhar U and SV Gowramma will preside over Chennai’s DRT-2 and DRT-3, respectively, N Somasundaar Coimbatore will preside over DRT Coimbatore and T Rajesh will preside over Bengaluru’s DRT-2.

Jhamman Ram Chauhan will preside over Aurangabad’s DRT, Sreekala Suresh and Harish Kumar Kaushik will preside over Mumbai’s DRT-1 and DRT-2, respectively, Pankaj Kumar Upadhyay will preside over Ahmedabad’s DRT-2, Pravas Kumar Singh will preside over Lucknow’s DRT, Vimal Gupta will preside over Jaipur’s DRT and Vinod Kumar Srivastava will preside over Ranchi’s DRT, the notification added.

Last month, a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar of the Supreme Court issued notice on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Centre to fill vacancies in the DRTs across the country.

Asking the Central Government to respond within five weeks, the CJI-led Bench took note of the submission that the selection process commenced in September 2023 and thereafter, interviews were held in May 2024 and at present, 11 DRTs remain unmanned.

“The respondent (Union government) will file a counter affidavit within a period of five weeks from the date of service of notice. Rejoinder, if any, will be filed within three weeks from the date of service of counter-affidavit,” ordered the apex court on November 18.

The PIL said that out of 39 Debts Recovery Tribunals in the country, nearly one-third, i.e., 11 DRTs have vacancies, as of September 30, 2024.

Though as early as September last year, a circular showing that the above vacancies in the DRTs, would be arising in 2023-2024, was floated, to date, no appointment has been made, the petition said.

It added that no timely steps to commence the selection process for the anticipated vacancies are being taken and this delay would entail a situation where more DRTs will turn non-functional in future.

“While the primary and principal object of the constitution of the DRTs, as provided for in the preamble to the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 (RDB Act) is ‘for expeditious adjudication and recovery of debts due to banks and financial institutions’, the said object gets defeated and frustrated in case the DRTs remain non-functional due to non-filling up of the post of Presiding Officers,” said the petition filed through advocate Sudarshan Rajan.

It further complained that instead of filling up the vacancies, the Centre resorted to giving additional charge of the vacant DRT to a DRT situated in a neighbouring state, causing practical difficulties to lawyers and decelerating the disposal of the other DRT as well.

The petition said that in view of the additional charge given to such DRT, only urgent matters are taken up and normal matters are not considered, thus increasing the case pendency. While the RDB Act provides a specific schedule ranging from 60 to 180 days, the petition added that many DRTs remain non-functional due to non-appointment of Presiding Officers beyond the specified time range.

The PIL sought direction to the Centre for taking necessary action on a war footing to fill up the vacancies in the DRTs across the country, saying that the failure to fill up the vacancies is a direct infringement upon constitutional as well as statutory provisions.

–IANS

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Bengaluru, Dec 23 (IANS) An incident of a software professional losing Rs 11 crore after falling victim to digital arrest has been reported from Bengaluru on Monday, the police said.

According to the police, the cyber fraudsters disguised themselves as police officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch and committed the crime through digital arrest.

The victim is identified as 39-year-old Vijaykumar, who working with a reputed IT company in Bengaluru.

The case has been registered in this regard with the North East Cybercrime, Economic Offences, Narcotics (CEN) police station in Bengaluru.

The victim was told that a case was registered under his name in Mumbai’s Colaba police station and they found that a cash transfer was made using his Aadhaar number.

The fraudsters claimed that it was a case involving cheating of Rs 6 crore and his Aadhaar card was misused to open bank accounts for money laundering.

The accused also claimed that the case is currently being looked into by the Supreme Court.

Police said that the cybercriminals had done their homework and collected information that the victim had invested in the share market for many years.

The accused had told him to sell his shares threatening arrest.

In a phased manner the accused had extorted Rs 11.83 crore to their accounts.

The accused, after succeeding in threatening the victim of dire consequences, kept him engaged over phone calls for more than a month by threatening in one or the other manner.

In this period of digital arrest, the accused had suggested to the techie that he should leave his residence and hide in a different place to avoid the arrest.

As per the accused’s instructions, the victim had stayed in a lodge in Yelahanka locality of Bengaluru, police said.

The accused who initially claimed as cops posted with the Mumbai crime branch later went on to threaten and blackmail the victim and also identified themselves as officers from the Income Tax and the Enforcement Directorate departments to extort the money.

Even after transferring a huge sum, the accused still demanded more money and the victim realised and approached the police.

Digital arrest is a type of online fraud where scammers impersonate law enforcement or government officials to falsely claim the authority to arrest someone digitally.

The scammers may contact the victim over the phone or online, and force them to stay on a video call until their demands are met.

The scammers may extort money in exchange for agreeing not to expose the false legal cases they have constructed.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) The year 2024 has been a landmark period for Ayush, as it marked significant strides towards the global recognition and promotion of traditional medicine, said the Ayush Ministry on Monday.

In 2024, Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy were integrated into mainstream health systems worldwide and also made significant agreements with countries and international organisations.

“2024 has been a year of significant achievements, new collaborations, and global recognition for the Ministry of Ayush,” a statement said.

The major achievements are the inclusion of data and terminology relating to diseases based on Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani Medicine in the WHO Disease Classification Series ICD-11.

The government launched the Central Research Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy in Haryana’s Jhajjar to advance research and providing state-of-the-the Yoga and Naturopathy healthcare facilities.

The Centre also established Ayush Holistic Wellness Center in the premises of the Supreme Court of India.

The Ayush Ministry signed a MoU with Ministry of women and children for providing nutritional improvement in adolescent girls through Ayurveda interventions.

Other mega joint initiatives between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Ayush include six Ayush-ICMR Advanced Centres for Integrated Health Research in four AIIMS (Delhi, Jodhpur, Nagpur, Rishikesh).

In 2024, the Ministry of Ayush also worked to strengthen global relationships with the Republic of Zimbabwe, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

The partnerships aimed to discuss future collaborations in the field of traditional medicine, reinforcing Ayush as a global leader in wellness and healthcare.

On the occasion of Dhanvantari Jayanti and the 9th Ayurveda Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched, inaugurated, and laid the foundation stone of multiple health sector projects worth around Rs 12,850 crore at the All-India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi.

PM Modi also inaugurated Phase II of India’s First All-India Institute of Ayurveda in Delhi with a total cost of Rs 258.73 crore.

This includes key features such as a 150-bed Panchakarma hospital, an Ayurvedic pharmacy for drug manufacturing, a sports medicine unit, a central library, an IT and start-ups centre, a 500-seat auditorium, and guest houses for both general and international visitors.

A nationwide campaign promoting health awareness and highlighting the importance of holistic well-being in daily life has also been launched.

It aims to revolutionise health awareness efforts among citizens and will also attempt multiple Guinness World Records.

Further, four Centers of Excellence in Ayush, each targeting specific health research and innovation areas, have been launched.

The Centres are focused on prediabetes and diabetes research and Ayurvedic formulation validation; to developing advanced technological solutions, supporting start-ups, and creating net-zero sustainable solutions for Rasaushadhis; on advanced research in Ayurvedic botanicals like Ashwagandha; and aimed at researching the molecular mechanisms of Ayurvedic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis using systems medicine.

“With a forward-looking agenda, the Ministry remains committed to ensuring that traditional medicine and wellness practices continue to play a pivotal role in promoting health, sustainability, and global cooperation,” the Ministry said.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, Dec 23 (IANS) Hyderabad police have summoned Tollywood actor Allu Arjun on Tuesday for questioning in the Sandhya Theatre stampede case.

The police on Monday issued a notice to the actor, directing him to appear before them at Chikkadpally Police Station at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The legal team of the actor reached his residence to discuss the strategy in view of the latest development.

A woman died and her son was critically injured in the stampede at Sandhya Theatre on December 4 during the premier show of “Puspha 2: The Rule”.

The theatre management, Allu Arjun and his team were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The “Pushpa” star, who is listed by police as accused number 11, was arrested on December 13. He was produced before a city court, which sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

However, the same day the Telangana High Court granted him interim bail for four weeks. The actor was released from Chanchalguda Jail the next day.

The fresh notice to Allu Arjun came amid reports that the police are planning to approach the High Court to cancel his interim bail.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner C. V. Anand had said on Sunday that the police would take the next step in the case after taking legal opinion. The police chief on Sunday also released minute-to-minute CCTV footage of the incident at Sandhya Theatre to debunk Allu Arjun’s claims.

The police compiled a 10-minute video to provide a clear account of what had transpired on December 4. Anand said the video was compiled after analysing 1,000 video clippings.

While speaking in the Assembly on Saturday, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had come down heavily on Allu Arjun for visiting the theatre without police permission and conducting a ‘roadshow’ even after the stampede claimed the life of a woman and critically injured her son. The same day Allu Arjun had addressed a press conference, terming the allegations as false. He also stated he was hurt over “character assassination”.

–IANS

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