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Happy birthday Deepika Padukone: 5 powerful quotes from the actor about mental health

By
Shivani Negi
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Deepika Padukone is one of the most talented actresses of Bollywood. From her choice of films to her self-representation, everything about her is praise worthy. With no godfather in the industry, Deepika began her Bollywood career with a music video and is now the queen of box office. While she keeps winning accolades for her acting performances time and again, there’s one more thing for which Deepika deserves the absolute credit and that is addressing Mental Health issues.

While talks about mental health have now become relevant in the film industry after a number of people opening up about their personal experiences, it was Deepika who first came out and broke stigma around the issue and admitted that she saw the darkest time of her life, owing to depression.

Not only she mentioned how important it is to take care of mental health, but also shared her in detail experience of suffering from depression. It was in 2015 when the actress first opened up about depression and anxiety.  “If I can impact one life in this entire process of speaking up and letting people know that it’s something I have been through and something that I could deal with because I had a fantastic support system,” she told NDTV. Ever since then, the actress has taken the issue to global forums and has demanded support from experts in this regard. And in doing so, she became the voice of a million people who later admitted suffering from the same and opened up about their struggles.

As we celebrate Deepika’s birthday today, here’re five quotes from the actress about mental health which will inspire you to share your story, too.

  1. “Being sad and being depressed are two different things. Also, people going through depression don’t look so sad, while someone sad will look sad.” 

2. “It takes a lot of strength to mend a broken mind. Channelling energies into your work can help, but also to be able to accept situations for what they are instead of questioning them helps immensely.” 

3. “This really is not about me right now, it’s really about the lives that hopefully we will impact. For everyone who’s watching this interview and for people who have been through or are going through right now. Even if we can impact one life or save that one person from taking their life because they’re just so down and out, I think I have achieved what I have wanted to.“

4. “I have fought my own battle with depression, and it was important for me to bring a little awareness about it to others.” 

5. “Not everyone ends up taking their life but there’s a lot of people who are fighting with themselves every morning.”

Amid fear of new strains, UK PM Boris Johnson announces lockdown in England

By
Shivani Negi
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To control the spread of new variants, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday ordered a nationwide lockdown for nearly 56 million people of England until mid-February. The measures will come into effect from Wednesday.

In his live address to England on Monday, the Prime Minister said that the measures are being taken to cut spiraling infection rates which are spreading at an alarming rate. Earlier, Scotland had announced same measures.

“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than any time since the start of the pandemic,” Johnson said in a televised address.

The measures announced are similar to the lockdown imposed last March when the virus first spread across the world and require people to shelter at places and leave only for essential works including grocery shopping, covid-19 testing, medical help, and escaping domestic abuse.

Primary, secondary schools and colleges will also switch to online learning from Wednesday.

“With most of the country already under extreme measures, it’s clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control,” Johnson said. “We must therefore go into a national lockdown, which is tough enough to contain this variant. That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home.”

The United Kingdom has detected two new variants of the coronavirus – one was found in the region and the other was found in the South Africa. According to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, the South African variant could be “even more of a problem” than the strain that has been detected in UK as it is aggressively spreading.

Meanwhile, Johnson has expressed hope that this would be the last phase of country’s struggle and said, “I know how tough this is and I know how frustrated you are, but now more than ever, we must pull together.”

The PM’s announcement comes after the four Chief Medical Officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the country had moved to the highest coronavirus level five.

The measures announced will be valid for England only while Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales — the other three countries in the U.K. — will announce/have announced their own set of rules.

Assam government gives scooters and financial incentives to girl students: Himanta Sarma

By
Neha Kumari
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Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government would give scooters and financial incentives to the girl students to ensure that they attend classes regularly.

Sarma said in Sivasagar on Sunday that the state government is currently distributing 22,000 two-wheelers under the Pragyan Bharti Yojana to the girl students who have passed the class 12th first class from the state board. The state government will spend Rs 144.30 crore for this purpose.

He said that the state government will provide scooters to all those students who have passed the first class from the state board even if the number crosses one lakh. He said that scooters will also be provided to all girl students who have passed the Class 12 examination in the first class in 2018 and 2019.

He said that financial incentives would also be provided to all girl students from school to postgraduate level and this scheme would be started by the end of this month.

He said that schoolgirls will be given Rs 100 per day for every day so that they can go to school, while the amount of Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 will be given to undergraduate and postgraduate students respectively. The minister further said that this scheme was to be started only last year but it was delayed due to the spread of Kovid-19.

The minister further said that he had plans to launch the scheme last year but was delayed due to the proliferation of COVID-19.

The minister is on a journey to distribute scooters, he attended a bicycle rally on Monday.

Meanwhile, attendance at schools, which reopened on January 1 after being closed for nearly 10 months due to COVID-19, was much higher on Monday than the first two days.

Shakib named in the preliminary squad against the Windies

By
Harshit
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After a two-year ban Bangladesh ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been named in the preliminary squad against the Windies for the Test series.

Meanwhile, former captain Mashrafe Mortaza has been left out of the 24-men ODI squad.

Shakib was banned from all forms of cricket for two years after he breached the Anti-Corruption Code of the ICC. The ace all-rounder was in the United States for most of his two-year ban with his family.

The series against West Indies is set to begin on January 20 and the first two matches will be played in the capital Dhaka. The Test series will begin from Febuary 3.

Preliminary squad for ODI series: Tamim Iqbal Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Md Mithun, Litton Das, Md Mahmud Ullah, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Soumya Sarkar, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Naim Sheikh, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Al Amin Hossain, Md. Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Saif Uddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Parvez Hossain Emon, Mahadi Hasan, Rubel Hossain.

Preliminary squad for Test series: Momimul Haque Showrab, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Md Mithun, Litton Kumer Das, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mohammed Saif Hasan, Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi, Taskin Ahmed, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shadman Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury.

Bird Flu : 50,000 birds will be culled Kerala

By
Jyoti B
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Two districts in Kerala, Alappuzha and Kottayam, have been put on high alert after bird flu cases have been confirmed in ducks, said state animal husbandry minister K Raju. He said at least 50,000 ducks will be culled to check the spread of the virus and the government will compensate farmers.

Local farmers observed mass dying in duck swarms from December 19, reports said. The peak Christmas season passed without much trouble but later saw distress cases wherein a farmer lost as many as 7,000 birds. Samples were initially sent to the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Thrissur.

Bird flu virus has been detected in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, Rajasthan, and now Himachal Pradesh too.

Five of eight samples airlifted to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, tested positive for the bird flu virus, the Minister said, adding that the infection has not been reported in human beings so far.

Culling of ducks in the infected regions will be undertaken as per Central government guidelines. Disease surveillance and disinfection will be carried out in a time-bound manner, Mr. Raju said.

The Kerala minister has called a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) to coordinate steps to contain the outbreak, official sources said.

Meanwhile, the migratory birds found dead at Pong Dam Lake in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district have tested positive for bird flu, according to officials — the fourth state to report cases of the dreaded avian influenza in recent days.

Around 1,800 migratory birds, most of them bar-headed geese, have been found dead in the lake sanctuary so far.

Read Bharat Biotech chief reply on questions about Covid-19 efficacy

By
Neha Kumari
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DCGI on Sunday approved the use of two Covid vaccines in the country amid Corona pandemic. Two vaccines that DCGI has approved limited emergency use include Covishield, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca in collaboration with Serum Institute of India and a fully indigenous Covaxin developed by domestic pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech. Bharat Biotech chairman Krishna Ella said, “Do not accuse us of being inexperienced, we are manufacturers of many vaccines.”

He said that it is wrong to say that we are not transparent about the data. He said that all the data is in the public domain and there is no secret in it.

“We don’t deserve this backlash,” an indignant Dr Krishna Ella declared.

Dr Ella added his company had carried out “200 per cent honest clinical trials”, had an established track record in producing 16 safe and efficacious vaccines, and was transparent with all data.

“We have published in a lot of journals. We were the first to identify the Zika virus and the first to file a global patent for the Zika vaccine and the Chikungunya vaccine. It is not correct to say that we are not transparent with data… we don’t deserve the backlash,” Dr Ella added.

He described Covaxin as one of the safest corona vaccines in the world. Dr. Krishna Illa said, we have done more than 18 clinical trials globally. We are the largest company in the developing country with such a large number of clinical trials.

At the same time, on the statement from the director of AIIMS that Bharat Biotech vaccine was used as backup, the MD of Bharat Biotech said that it is a vaccine, it is not a backup. People should be responsible before making such statements. We have a good experience of vaccines. We are in contact with 123 countries. MD said many people say that our data is not transparent. I think people should have patience to read on the internet and how many articles we have published. More than 70 articles have been published in various international journals.

Indian team asked to abide by hotel-practice-hotel rota in Sydney

By
Harshit
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Indian players who travelled to Sydney on Monday are asked to stay in the hotel and not to leave apart for the training session.

The Board for Control of Cricket in India has confirmed this and said the players are set to abide by the bi-security protocol and maintain the hotel-practise-hotel roster till they are in Sydney.

These developments came after five Indian players flouted the stringent protocol after the Melbourne Test which included Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, and Navdeep Saini. The video of these five players surfaced on social media where a fan claimed that to have paid their bill in a resturant in Melbourne last week.\

“Playing members of the Indian cricket team and support staff underwent an RT-PCR Test for Covid-19 on January 3, 2021. All tests have returned negative results,” said a statement from the Indian cricket board on Monday morning.

“CA players, staff and match officials also underwent Covid-19 tests yesterday and have returned negative results,” said the BCCI spokesperson.

Gayle lauds Rahane captaincy against Australia

By
Harshit
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Caribbean star batsman Chris Gayle has praised captain Ajinkya Rahane for his performance in the Melbourne Test against Australia. In the absence of star players, Team India landed in Melbourne Test.

New captain Ajinkya Rahane led by Team India’s front scored a magnificent century in Melbourne. Rahane gave Team India a convincing 8-wicket win over the Kangaroos.

After this victory of Team India, the veterans have described this return as one of the best comebacks in cricket history. When no star player was present in the Indian team. Team India had neither Virat Kohli nor Rohit Sharma nor Mohammed Shami.

Gayle said in an interview to a newspaper that when Team India was all out for 36 in the second innings against Australia in the first Test, a lot was said.

Gayle said, “To be honest, I did not watch the entire match. In the second innings of the Adelaide Test, Team India could score only 36 runs. After this, a lot was said about the players of Team India.”

Former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta’s bail plea rejected

By
Shivani Negi
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The bail application of former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta was rejected by the Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Esplanade on Monday. He has been arrested in in the TRP scam case on December 25.

While arresting him, the Mumbai Police had alleged that the former CEO was involved in conspiring in manipulating the TV ratings of channels. Reportedly, he hiked the ratings of a channels and reduced the ratings of its rival channels.

Kamlesh Ghumre, Dasgupta’s lawyer, during submission of his bail plea on December 30 said hat Dasgupta was CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council but there was a board of directors and a disciplinary committee above him.

Alleging that he was not the only person responsible, Ghumre said that he could not have manipulated the rating system. Mumbai Police had earlier arrested Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani in the alleged TRP manipulation case. However, he was later granted bail.

A total number of 14 people have been arrested in the TRP manipulation case.

I-T records Robert Vadra’s statement in Benami properties case

By
Jyoti B
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Income Tax officials investigating alleged tax evasion by businessman Robert Vadra — the son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi — recorded his statement today.

“We had sought his presence for recording his statement under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act. However, owing to the pandemic, a team has gone to his residence to facilitate the process,” said the official.

From February 2019 onwards, the Enforcement Directorate had recorded Mr. Vadra’s statement multiple times.

He is being investigated by the Income Tax department in connection with the case involving properties worth around 12 million pounds in London that allegedly belong to him.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed a case against Vadra in 2018. Vadra claimed that he was grilled due to the Congress’ support to ongoing farmers’ agitation.

Robert Vadra has denied any wrongdoing even as the Congress had called the investigation a political vendetta. 

A police case was also lodged against him and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in 2018 for alleged irregularities in land deals in Gurgaon. 

In September 2015, the ED had registered a money laundering case against Robert Vadra’s company Skylight Hospitality alleging that the firm had acquired land meant for rehabilitation of poor villagers in Rajasthan’s Bikaner. 

Sonu Sood to play titular role in ‘Kisaan’

By
Shivani Negi
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Sonu Sood has announced his new project titled, Kisaan. The film’s title has been garnering much limelight as it comes amid the farmers’ protest who have been demanding the Central government to repeal recently passed farm laws. However, it is not clear if the movie will hold any reference to the ongoing protests.

The film will be directed by E. Niwas and backed by Dream Girl fame screenwriter-director Raaj Shaandilyaa. 

The project was also announced by trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh on Twitter on Monday – “IT’S OFFICIAL… SONU SOOD IN #KISAAN… #SonuSood will head the cast of #Kisaan… Directed by E Niwas… Raaj Shaandilyaa – who made his directorial debut with #DreamGirl – will produce the film… Balance cast will be announced shortly.”

On the professional front, Sonu Sood, who earlier portrayed the character of an antagonist in most of the films, is now being offered inspiring roles. In an interview, the actor had earlier admitted that the filmmakers are now offering him larger than life roles, owing to his philanthropic work.

Meanwhile, Sonu recently launched a book titled “I am No Messiah” wherein he recalled his experience of helping migrant workers during the coronavirus pandemic induced lockdown.

In an interaction with Indian Express, the actor had earlier said that 2020 has been a very fortunate year for him as he came across many people and got to know their struggles which have definitely affected his personality.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to pay three-day visit to Sri Lanka

By
Jyoti B
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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will pay a three-day visit to Sri Lanka beginning Tuesday during which he will hold discussions with the Sri Lankan leadership on the entire gamut of bilateral relations.

Jaishankar becomes the first foreign dignitary to visit the island in 2021 and his visit will be the first since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed full presidential powers through the twentieth amendment to the Constitution adopted last year.

His visit takes place amidst concerns raised by the Colombo Port trade unions on a proposed joint venture with India on the Colombo Port’s Eastern Container Terminal. The unions and leftist opposition groups have been mounting public opposition to the port deal.

Jaishankar’s visit also adds significance as the Colombo government’s allies have in the recent weeks mounted pressure to abolish the provincial council system established in 1987. Both government and opposition politicians in the recent weeks have been making comments that the system cannot be done away without the necessary consultations with India.

Ali Abbas Zafar gets married to a mystery girl; Katrina Kaif congratulates him

By
Shivani Negi
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Director Ali Abbas Zafar took some time out from his busy schedule and announced his wedding with the mystery girl, as the filmmaker didn’t reveal the identity of his and left the fans questionable.


On social media, he shared the picture from his wedding and wrote a simple and meaningful caption. He shared a close-up of holding hands with his wife and wrote, “Bismillah,” the caption, along with a heart emoji.


In the comment section, many of his friends and colleagues from the film industry dropped their wishes, One of his close friends actor Katrina Kaif wrote, “Congratulations to u both,” Her sister, Isabelle Kaif, also wished the newlyweds on the comment section, “Congratulations you guys,” she wrote, actor Angad Bedi also wrote, “Wowwww!! @aliabbaszafar.”


Zafar has started his career as an assistant director and made his own directorial and screenwriting debut in 2011 with the romantic comedy Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. He has also directed many Bollywood blockbusters movies, including Sultan, Tiger Zinda Hai and Bharat along with Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. Last year also he turned himself as a producer with Khaali Peeli, starring Ananya Panday and Ishaan Khatter.


After many blockbusters in the cinema world, he decided to contribute something on the OTT platform by releasing his web series on the Amazon Prime videos, Tandav, starring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Sunil Grover, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kritika Kamra, Gauahar Khan, Sarah-Jane Dias and Dino Morea. The show is set to stream from 15th January.

Nobody is forcing anyone to take the vaccine: SII CEO Adar Poonawalla

By
Shivani Negi
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World’s biggest vaccine maker by volume, Serum Institute of India has around 40-50 million of vaccine doses of Covishield stocked which are ready to be rolled out in the market. Now that the vaccine has been granted regulatory approval by the DCGI, it is most likely that the vaccine will soon be administered among citizens.

Ahead of the vaccination drive, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla has said that India will not allow the export of the vaccine for the next few months. Notably, Serum Institute has signed a contract with AstraZeneca and Oxford University to develop their vaccine for 60 countries including India.

With rich nations securing the first doses of the vaccines, it is likely that the lower income countries will still have to wait longer for an effective vaccine against the virus which has killed over a million people worldwide.

In an interaction with Hindustan Times, the SII chief said that Indian government is yet to sign a purchase order with SII. Once the deal is signed, they can deliver the vaccine in 7 to 10 days.

Talking about the price of the vaccine, he said that the drug maker has offered a very reasonable price of Rs 200 per shot to the government and only for the government, for the first 100 million doses and then the price will be higher or different. “In the private market, we have said it’s going to be a ₹1,000 per dose as an MRP, and we will probably sell it for ₹600-700. In exports also, it will be between $3-5, depending on the different countries we are signing with, but that is going to come in probably March-April because the government has said no exports right now. We cannot give it to the private market,” he added.

Addressing the rumour mongering against the vaccine, he said that while it is only fair to ask questions, some people go overboard, while adding that nobody is ever going to force anyone to take the vaccine.

Agriculture law: Central government meeting with farmers inconclusive, next talks on 8 January

By
Neha Kumari
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Even the 7th round of talks between the Center and the farmers failed to yield any result. After meeting for about 4 hours in Vigyan Bhawan, the farmers said that we have put the matter of withdrawal of agricultural laws in front of the center. After the meeting, the farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said – if the law does not return, it is not homecoming.

There was no consensus between the farmers and the Center on the issue of legalizing MSP in Monday’s meeting. However, the government and farmers have agreed to hold talks again on 8 January. After the meeting, Rakesh Tikait said, “Even in the conversation on January 8, our issue will be the withdrawal of the MSP and the laws.”

The seventh round of negotiations between the farmers and the government, which have been protesting against the three agricultural laws of the central government on various borders of Delhi for more than a month, has ended. In today’s meeting, the farmers were adamant only to demand the withdrawal of the law.

The government says that with the introduction of these laws, the role of middleman will end and farmers will be able to sell their produce anywhere in the country. On the other hand, the protesting peasant organizations say that these laws will eliminate the security cover of the MSP and the mandis will also be dismantled and farming will go into the hands of big corporate groups.

During the meeting, it was said on behalf of the government that every provision of the bill should be discussed. The government once again told the farmer leaders that whatever problems are there in the agricultural law will be removed. But it needs discussion. During today’s meeting on behalf of the government, apart from the cancellation of the three agricultural laws, what could be the option, it was once again asked to tell. According to Farmers Organization sources, the government is still sticking to its earlier stand. Whereas the farmer leaders have made it clear that there is no option but to withdraw the three agricultural laws.

In the 7th round of talks between the farmers and the Center, the government can introduce a formula to find out the middle path. The government is considering the option of giving written support to the MSP. Apart from this, on the issue of repeal of the three laws, the government can propose to form a committee for review and more representation can be given to the farmers’ organizations in this committee.

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