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The Hindu
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
BBMP begins work under ₹100 crore-worth project to upgrade 75 junctions in Bengaluru
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has finally issued work orders for improving 75 prominent junctions in the city, at an estimated cost of ₹100 crore. The project has been divided into 15 packages, and contractors are expected to finish work within the next six months. The project Suraksha Mission - 75 was announced in the 2023-24 State Budget by then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, along with several other schemes to mark 75 years of Indian Independence. However, the project did not take off for two and a half years to be revived recently. Work has finally begun on the selected junctions. M. Lokesh, Chief Engineer, Road Works, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said the project will mainly focus on making these junctions safe for both motorists and pedestrians. 'We will undertake geometry corrections to streamline traffic, avoid accidents, and make it safe for pedestrians. We are also looking at beautification of these junctions,' he said. Apart from putting bollards for pedestrian pathways, lane markers, zebra crossings, and other road markers, civic officials will also clear adjacent shoulder drains to prevent flooding, build ramps, provide some seating arrangement, and wherever there is space, put up fountains, ornamental plants, and lighting to beautify these junctions. Water fountains will help keep the air fresh and reduce pollution, officials said. Some of the prominent junctions selected for intervention under the Suraksha Mission - 75 include K.R. Market, Nayandahalli junction, BEL Circle, Tin Factory, Jalahalli Cross, Sumanahalli junction, and Basaveshwara Circle among others. Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow, World Resources Institute (WRI), India, which collaborated with BBMP on Surkasha Mission - 75, said that the junctions were selected after careful study of accidents and fatalities, especially of pedestrians. 'These interventions will not only make design corrections, but will add several features that will provide both safety and comfort for pedestrians,' he said. Apart from these, BBMP has also taken up road geometry corrections atop underpasses at Mehkri and C.N.R. Rao Circles, where the civic body will take up beautification works, sources said. BBMP will take up work to improve 20 more junctions using funds from the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). Work is on to identify junctions to be taken up for interventions under this programme, sources said.
The Hindu
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
MDMK leader Vaiko visits Ajith Kumar's family
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko visited the family of custodial death victim B. Ajith Kumar at their home in Madapuram, Sivaganga on Tuesday. He handed over ₹1 lakh to the family. Speaking to media later, he said: 'Police's inhumane treatment of a youth which has cost him his life is highly condemnable.' Unless the police were given severe punishment, such incidents cannot be prevented in future, he added that he was hopeful that the judiciary would bring the accused under law. As the State police could play down the murder, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's order for transfer of the case to CBI was appropriate, he stated. Earlier, Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram visited the family and expressed his condolences for the family's loss. Addressing the media, he said the murder of the youth was a result of the colonial mindset of the police department. Claiming that custodial torture was a continuation of the colonial practice to subdue the citizens through any means, Mr. Chidambaram said it was unfortunate that it is continuing even after 75 years of Indian Independence. 'Through an overhaul of the police system, the police personnel should be retrained to educate them about new scientific operating procedures, new techniques, among others,' he added. The training should cover the entire police system, starting from Director General of Police to a constable, he noted. It was no wonder that people fear seeking help from the police, given the circumstances.
Indian Express
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Raj Narain: The unlikely hero who couldn't stop fighting, including his own side
Of all the words used to describe Raj Narain, few would use 'hero'. Most would say 'maverick'. Characteristically, even at the zenith of his political career, the man who brought down Indira Gandhi could not help but be both. Fifty years later, Narain remains among the few people who can claim to have been instrumental in toppling two Indian Prime Ministers – Mrs Gandhi, and then Morarji Desai. It was the then 57-year-old's petition that led to the Allahabad High Court setting aside Mrs Gandhi's 1971 election, leading to her declaring the Emergency. In the 1977 Lok Sabha polls, Narain rounded off this defeat by trouncing Mrs Gandhi personally at the hustings. Come 1979, he conspired with the Congress to install Charan Singh as the Janata Party PM. A former wrestler from Uttar Pradesh and a heavyset man, who sported thick spectacles and a green cloth tied casually around his head, Narain relished a son-of-the-soil image – as far removed from Gandhi's Lutyens upbringing as it could get. However, Narain was nobility too, belonging to the Narayan dynasty, the royal family of the erstwhile Banaras State. According to the Union Ministry of Culture website, which features him among the honorees of the 75 years of Indian Independence project, Narain was a direct descendant of Maharajas Chet Singh and Balwant Singh. By the time Narain's paths crossed with Mrs Gandhi's though, he had left that far behind, becoming a follower of Ram Manohar Lohia, committing himself to socialism, virtually disowning his assets and even distancing himself from family, and dedicating himself to 'empowerment of the backward and downtrodden'. Back in 1934, when the Congress Socialist Party carved itself out as a bloc within the Congress, Narain was among those affiliated with it. After Independence, he contested and won in the first two UP Assembly elections, with his mercurial politics already on display. If, in 1952, he won from Banaras City South as a Socialist Party candidate, in 1957, it was from the Kaswar Sarkari seat in Varanasi (Banaras was named Varanasi in 1956) as an Independent. But the one constant was his adherence to Lohia's principles of 'protest' and 'agitate', no matter if they landed him in jail. Apart from the period he spent behind bars before Independence, he served at least 14 years in prison after 1947. UP was accustomed to images of policemen struggling to remove a protesting Narain as he lay prostrate on the road. It became so common for Marshals to drag him out of the UP Assembly over some protest or another that it came to be called 'the Raj Narain style of protest'. In March 1954, addressing the UP Assembly, Narain said that given caste-based discriminations, 'It is a historical necessity that the backwards and the weak will organise themselves based on caste. No one can stop this.' In 1966, Narain decided to move to national politics, and became a Rajya Sabha MP. This, incidentally, didn't go down well with Lohia. Before Narain's first term in Parliament ended though, he joined the race against Indira Gandhi from the Rae Bareli seat in the 1971 Lok Sabha polls, taking up the challenge at a time that nobody would. This was Mrs Gandhi's 'Garibi Hatao' slogan election. On April 24, 1971, days after the results, in which he was soundly defeated by the Congress leader, who repeatedly described him in the campaign as 'a hater and baiter of mine', Narain filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court accusing the newly re-elected Prime Minister of electoral malpractices. Known advocate Shanti Bhushan represented him. Narain also had the backing of his old mentor and former UP chief minister C B Gupta, who had gone with the anti-Indira Gandhi faction in the Congress split of 1969. However, few took the case seriously at the time. In 1973, Narain fought a bypoll from the Banka Lok Sabha seat, but again lost. By 1974, Narain was back in the Rajya Sabha from UP. He also plunged himself into the Jayaprakash Narayan Movement against Mrs Gandhi. On February 17, 1975, with the protests beginning to rattle the Congress government, Narain was among those arrested. He was taken regularly from jail to Bhushan to get an update on his case against Mrs Gandhi. On June 12, 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court delivered his order, setting aside Mrs Gandhi's election, while granting her time to move the Supreme Court. She could continue functioning as PM but not participate in proceedings in Parliament. Twelve days later, on the midnight of June 25-26, Mrs Gandhi declared the Emergency. Narain spent 19 months behind bars. When Mrs Gandhi declared surprise elections on January 18, 1977, Narain again contested against her from Rae Bareli, and defeated her this time by over 55,000 votes. In her book Indira Gandhi: An Intimate Biography, Pupul Jayakar, who was a close associate of the former PM, wrote: 'Raj Narain was a freak on the political canvas. A huge, heavy-shouldered man, a wrestler in his early years, he had emerged from the akharas of Varanasi to political notoriety. He was regarded by some as a buffoon or court jester; by others as a shrewd man of the soil.' Katherine Frank, the author of Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, described Narain as 'the original source of all Indira's woes'. Both this shrewdness and this ability to be a troublemaker was again evident when Narain went about helping put together the Janata Party government to replace the Congress after the 1977 results. He was among those who backed Morarji Desai as PM. In the Desai cabinet, he got the Ministry of Health and Family Planning, which he renamed as Health and Family Welfare to distance it from the taint of forced sterilisation drives during the Emergency. However, Narain soon turned against Desai, accusing the Janata Party government, particularly Desai's son Kanti, of corruption. He also put the government on the edge by constantly raising the issue of the Jana Sangh members in the Janata Party continuing their ties with the RSS. On July 1, 1978, Narain was removed from the Janata Party Executive and as Union Minister. Narain then threw in his lot with Desai rival and PM aspirant Charan Singh. Due to differences with Desai, Charan Singh had earlier resigned from the government but had been wooed back with the posts of Deputy PM and Finance Minister in January 1979. Till then, Narain was seen as opposed to Charan Singh, due to the frosty ties between the latter and his mentor C B Gupta. Narain had even coined the term 'Chair Singh' for Charan Singh, considering his frequent political somersaults. But there were more tricks in Narain's bag, and he now met Sanjay Gandhi to engineer the fall of Desai. In her book on the Emergency, The Indian Express Contributing Editor Coomi Kapoor writes that Sanjay organised meetings between Chandraswami and Narain, in which Narain was persuaded to convince Charan Singh to take Congress support and topple Desai – turning the whole raison d'etre of the Janata Party on its head. Mrs Gandhi was only too happy to join in the humiliating blow to her rivals. Finally, Narain, along with Janata Party leaders like George Fernandes and Madhu Limaye, withdrew support to Desai and he resigned. But the Charan Singh government that took over, with Congress support, lasted 23 days, with the new PM resigning without even facing a floor test. Fresh elections were called, and Mrs Gandhi returned to power. In his book All The Janata Men, published during this topsy-turvy time, journalist Janardan Thakur wrote: 'Raj Narain never believes in going anywhere unless he can create a storm around himself. Legislature and Parliament are just other akharas for him to wrestle in.' Sure enough, Narain was not done. In the 1979 Lok Sabha polls, he delivered another surprise, contesting not from Rae Bareli but Varanasi, against the Congress's Kamalapati Tripathi – who was a fellow follower of socialist stalwart Acharya Narendra Dev. Before he filed his nomination, Narain even met Tripathi to seek token money to file his nomination and to get his blessings, given their common 'guru'. Narain lost. Later, Charan Singh too would feel the sharp edge of Narain's U-turns. After ties between them worsened to the extent that Singh sacked him from his Lok Dal in April 1980, Narain travelled the breadth of UP to take on Charan Singh in the 1984 Lok Sabha polls from his turf of Baghpat. An Independent, Narain secured 7.14% of the votes and came third. Two years later, on December 31, 1986, Raj Narain – by then referred to by his followers fondly as 'Lok Bandhu' – passed away. In their book Lok Bandhu Raj Narain, authors Dheerendra Sriwastava and Lalji Rai quoted Lohia as saying: 'As long as a person like Raj Narain is in this country, dictatorship can't grow here.' Charan Singh himself would acknowledge the impact of his sometime comrade in Dr Yugeshwar's book Apatkal Ka Dhumketu (Emergency's Comet). 'The political world,' he said, 'can never forget Raj Narain.'
Pink Villa
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Coolie First Single: Time to get Chikitufied as Anirudh Ravichander gives massy glimpse of new music video
Coolie starring Rajinikanth in the lead is slated to release on August 14, 2025. Ahead of the Lokesh Kanagaraj directorial making its way to the big screens, the makers have announced the first single for the film. The upcoming Rajinikanth starrer will unveil its first single, titled Chikitu, on June 25, 2025. With a recent promo video, Anirudh Ravichander is expected to headline the music video with a special dance number by the composer. Sharing the update, the makers penned, 'Time to #GetChikitufied. #Chikitu Music Video drops on June 25th at 6 PM. #Coolie releasing worldwide August 14th.' Anirudh Ravichander to get Chikitutified with Coolie first single The Coolie first single, titled Chikitu, is composed by Anirudh Ravichander himself who crooned it along with TR Rajendran. The Tamil-language street style song will be choreographed by actor-choreographer Sandy Master. With the music video being unveiled on June 25, in an early post, Rajinikanth's PRO head, Riaz K Ahmed, underlined that Coolie updates will be taking place on both June 24 and 25. The upcoming movie Coolie, featuring Rajinikanth in the lead role is touted to be an action entertainer by director Lokesh Kanagaraj. The flick is expected to present the superstar in a negative role with actor Nagarjuna Akkineni and Upendra Rao playing pivotal characters. Apart from them, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan will be making a cameo appearance with performers like Soubin Shahir, Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj and more being part of the ensemble cast. Interestingly, Pooja Hegde will be making an appearance in the movie for a special dance number. Unlike most films of director Lokesh Kanagaraj, the upcoming Rajinikanth starrer is said to be outside of his cinematic universe, LCU. As the flick is hitting big screens for Indian Independence week, it will be clashing with Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR starrer War 2. Coming to Rajinikanth 's work front, the superstar is currently involved in the filming for Jailer 2, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. The film is set to serve as the sequel to 2023's Jailer, with stars like Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar expected to reprise their old roles. Additionally, reports indicate that veteran Telugu star Nandamuri Balakrishna will be appearing in an extended cameo as well.
Pink Villa
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Coolie: First single from Rajinikanth starrer to drop on June 25? Here's the update
Coolie, starring Rajinikanth in the lead role is slated to release on August 14, 2025. As the Lokesh Kanagaraj directorial is inching closer to release, the makers are gearing up to drop multiple updates. In a recent social media post, Sun Pictures announced an update that will arrive on June 23, 2025, at 6 pm. Sharing the note, the makers penned, 'Sound ah Yethu,' implying the update would be on the film's first single. Following the update by the production house, Rajinikanth's PR manager, Riaz K. Ahmed, unveiled the rollout schedule for updates on June 24 and June 25, 2025. With major details still waiting to be made clear, we could expect a poster or promo for the single on June 23. Talking about the first single, the makers of Coolie had earlier dropped a teaser titled Chikitu Vibe. The short song promo featured the superstar dancing his heart out to Anirudh Ravichander 's music, with the song being crooned by TR Rajendran. Recent reports indicate that a promo video with TR Rajendran was recently shot and is likely to drop the entire track soon. Watch Rajinikanth's stylish moves from Chikitu Vibe Talking about the movie, Coolie is an upcoming actioner directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The film, which is said to feature the superstar in a negative-shaded role, features Nagarjuna Akkineni and Upendra Rao as pivotal characters. As Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan makes a cameo appearance, the movie features an ensemble cast of actors, including Shruti Haasan, Soubin Shahir, Satyaraj, Pooja Hegde (in a dance number), and many more. The movie will hit the big screens on the Indian Independence weekend, making it a clash release with Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR starrer War 2. Coming to Rajinikanth 's work front, the actor is currently shooting for Jailer 2. The Nelson Dilipkumar directorial is a follow-up to the 2023 release Jailer, with the superstar reprising his role as 'Tiger' Muthuvel Pandian. As the shoot is still underway for the much-awaited sequel movie, Nandamuri Balakrishna is expected to make an appearance with an extended cameo role. Moreover, stars like Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar are also likely to reprise their roles from the first instalment.
