Latest news with #Annapoorna
Indian Express
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Fire breaks out on the set of Hindi series ‘Annapoorna' at Mumbai's Film City, no one injured
A minor fire broke out on the set of the popular Hindi series Annapoorna, located at Dadasaheb Phalke Chitrangari or Film City in Mumbai's Goregaon, Monday morning. According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), no one was injured in the fire, but the set was entirely gutted. MFB officials said the fire broke out at around 9.30 am at the studio set when the shooting was yet to start. While the actual cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, officials said the fire might have erupted following a short circuit in the electrical box present in the set. 'The fire likely originated from one of the electrical ducts, and it spread fast since combustible items like decorative set pieces, wires, and lighting systems were present at the set. The shooting for the serial didn't begin when the blaze broke out; therefore, there were no casualties reported at the site,' an MFB official told The Indian Express. The officials said the set where the fire broke out was adjacent to the set of Big Boss (Marathi) and the Whistling Woods campus. MFB deployed four fire engines and four jumbo tankers to douse the fire. 'The fire was brought under control within 30 minutes, and it was extinguished at around 10.30 am before the flames could spread to the adjoining sets, which otherwise could have resulted in an increased number of casualties,' the official added. The fire brigade said the blaze has caused damage worth hundreds of crores of rupees as equipment like cameras and speakers, and costumes were completely charred. The fire officials said an investigation will be initiated to check whether the set owners had all the permissions in place. This is the second incident of fire reported from a film set in the past two years. In March 2023, the set of another popular Hindi serial was gutted after a blaze broke out.
Indian Express
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
June 21, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Nepal Bomb Blast
At least seven people, including a member of Parliament, were killed and over 20 injured in five bomb explosions which rocked the Nepalese capital. The bombs went off at the west and south gates of King Birendra's palace, in the lobby of the Parliament building and the central secretariat and a five star hotel, Annapoorna, partly owned by the royal family. The first batch of Mirage-2000, the multi role French fighter aircraft that has been acquired by the Indian Air Force, will be flown to India by IAF pilots who have completed flying training in France. India has purchased 40 of these versatile fighter jets under a contract signed in 1983 but the exact number of planes that will constitute the first batch is not known. Some reports have indicated that the batch would consist of five to 10 planes. Shiite Muslim leader Nabih Bern said that he accepted an offer from Switzerland to use its territory to hold any exchange of US hostages seized aboard a hijacked plane for Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. Bern's remarks came after his office said Pope John Paul II had joined diplomatic efforts to resolve the ordeal of 40 American hostages seized aboard the plane. The UN Security Council has issued a 'strong warning' to South Africa that failure to co-operate in speeding up the independence of Namibia could force the world body to adopt punitive measures under the UN charter, including mandatory sanctions. Only Britain and the United States abstained as the council voted 13 to nil for a non-aligned resolution which, among other things, condemned the racist regime in Pretoria for its installation of a so-called interim government in Namibia.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Villain roles offer better scope for performance, says Annapoorna
Tayavva, produced by Amara Films, is all set to hit the big screen on May 30. Ahead of its release, we spoke with , who plays the villain in this film about female infanticide. 'I play the role of a woman who poisons her daughter-in-law because she knows — through an old wives' tale — that she will be giving birth to a baby girl, thereby, killing the mother and unborn child,' says Annapoorna. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Annapoorna's character is someone who doesn't want a girl child to be born, despite being a woman, herself Geetha Priya, actress About the role, she says, 'I love taking on villain roles, because they offer a better scope to perform. Also, when people hate the character you play, you know you've done justice to it as an actor.' Highlighting the film's crucial message, Annapoorna adds, 'The movie sheds light on the issue of female infanticide, which is still prevalent today. It's a must-see.'
The Hindu
27-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Public Distribution System compromised by irregularities
A serious scrutiny of the Public Distribution System (PDS), which was introduced with the objective of providing essential commodities at a fair price and of good quality to the public, reveals irregularities allegedly occurring at ration shops, compromising its purpose and relevance to a large extent. As per official records, the Public Distribution System was implemented in the country during the inter-war period with focus on distribution of food grains in urban scarcity areas and emanated during the food shortage crisis in 1960s. In the subsequent years, reports and studies showed that the system had substantially contributed to containment of rise in prices of food grains and ensured access to food to urban consumers. 'As the national agricultural production grew in the aftermath of Green Revolution, the outreach of PDS was extended to tribal blocks and areas of high incidence of poverty in the 1970s and 1980s,' reads the official website of the Department of Food and Distribution System. Though lauded for its reach and service to people living in remote areas, the system appears to be compromised due to loopholes, raising questions about its authenticity and genuineness. For instance, an issue that does not directly affect the public but causes a huge loss to the government exchequer is bogus entry of products on a card holder's registry. When a customer with a sugar card, who is eligible for sugar, urad dal and commodities, wishes to buy only sugar and not the other two products, the bill received by the card holder in mobile phone mostly includes the other two unpurchased products. As per government records, all ration card holders have one of the cards – rice card, sugar card, no commodity card, Old Age Pension (OAP) cards, Annapoorna card and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) - based on income criteria. Take the case of A. Muniyandi, a resident of Vairavanpatti near Karungalakudi. He is an agricultural labourer and a rice card holder. Most of the time, he gets rice from the farm where he works and does not buy from the ration shop. 'While I buy only sugar and oil, for which I am eligible, rice too gets automatically registered in my account,' he says. When he questioned about the wrong entry, he was told that he would not be losing anything as he was not paying for the rice. Also, he was told by the shop staff that inclusion of the rice was for regularising the stock input of the particular store. In Madurai district, which has 1,389 PDS outlets, about 8,70,300 rice cards, 30,000 sugar cards, 5,000 commodity cards, 5,000 OAP cards, 10 Annapoorna cards and 57 AAP cards are registered. A resident of Kamarajar Salai, who is a rice card holder, says when he asked for free rice for which he was eligible, he was asked to pay ₹50 for 20 kg. 'Also, as I do buy rice regularly, the staff said I would be given only five kg. Only when I get it regularly, will I receive the full quota.' If similar bogus registration is made in each of these shops, where does the rice make its way, asks Gowtham Barathi of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) at Palanganatham. Mr. Barathi, who has raised similar issues with officials and has even staged protests on the issue of regularisation of the billing system, points out that though PDS shops, which are also known as fair price shops, are still relevant among the public, illegalities such as false billing, distribution of substandard products and high prices have reduced their popularity. At the initial stage, the rice or other products held back at the shops after billing is sold locally for a fixed price. As the practice has been expanded to include almost all shops in the State, there appears to be a syndicate that transports the unsold-yet-billed products to factories and rice processing units, Mr. Barathi claims. Gnanasekaran, a resident of Kathchaikatti in Vadipatti taluk, says they were blacklisted after questioning the shop staff about the wrong billing. 'In order to avoid such encounters with the staff and local politicians who oversee all the activities, the public stop questioning as it does not affect them,' he rues. In rural areas, particularly, the lack of awareness of the public is exploited and such irregularities are committed without any fear of repercussions, Mr. Gnanasekaran adds. Not just this, the products distributed in rural PDS shops are inferior in quality when compared to those sold in urban areas, he says. A civil supplies-CID official, seeking anonymity, says that while most of the rice seized by them are transported directly from Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation godowns (warehouses), some of the goods originate from the shops too. 'As the goods that are illegally transported are not directly linked to the shops due to involvement of middlemen, the actual culprits cannot be caught in most of the cases.' Also, to avoid legal pitfalls, PDS shop staff use locals to sell products such as oil and urad dal to nearby eateries and residential areas. 'Even in some cases, the goods that are sold illegally to outer markets are withheld from customers by telling them that the product is out of stock,' he says. A senior revenue official says the anomalies are mostly avoided through the digital billing system which is being used at all shops. 'As the goods are mostly procured based on monthly needs, there will be np pending goods in the shop.' Even when there is pending stock, it will be added to the following month's stock records, he adds.
