New Delhi : The much-awaited dates of the Gujarat Assembly Elections has been declared by the Election Commission today. The polls will be conducted in two phases on 9th and 14th December, and the results will be declared on 18th December along with the Himachal Pradesh polls results.

Out of 182 seats in Gujarat, first phase will see voting on 89 seats and second phase on 93 seats on 9th December and 14th December respectively. 

Answering the allegations on delaying the dates in the favour of a particular political party, Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti said that there is a certain set of procedures which are followed by the Election Commission. “Many factors are considered in declaring the dates of an assembly election. In Gujarat, we had to consider the factor of rain the state.” In an interview to a TV news channel, also said, “the Gujarat announcement was delayed to allow the state government time to wrap up relief and rehabilitation works to help flood victims. We realised that nearly 26,000 staff would be deployed for elections and flood relief work would get delayed.”

VVPAT To Be Used In Gujarat Elections

Gujarat Polls will be equipped with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT). In the wake all the allegations, comes the concept of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trial (VVPAT). VVPAT works like a printer. Inside the polling booth, there is a Balloting Unit. With this unit is attached the VVPAT. When a voter casts his vote in the favour of a candidate ‘X’, the VVPAT will generate a ballot slip with the candidate’s name X, party symbol of X and serial number X in a sequence. It will be displayed on a screened window for seven seconds. The slip will automatically cut and drop in a sealed drop box. The voters would not receive that receipt as it will harm the secrecy of votes which might be a threat. 

VVPAT was first used in ‘Noksen Assembly Constituency’ in Nagaland in 2013. In the Subramanian Swamy vs Election Commission of India in 2013, Swami failed to prove the machines could be tampered with. In the response to his petition, the Apex Court directed the EC to equip these machines to VVPAT systems. 

One important thing which must be discussed is the use of ‘Totalizers’. The ‘Totalizers’ are interface which are connected to multiple VVPAT systems to count results without disclosing the booth-wise counting results. As it dangerous to announce votes booth-wise, why not to use ‘Totalizers’? The former Election Commissioner of India Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi said, “we asked for the opinions of political parties on using ‘Totalizers’ in counting but they denied as they wanted to know booth-wise results for booth management for the next elections. So don’t blame EC.”

New Delhi: The stage is set for The World Congress on Adolescent Health billed as the biggest event on adolescent health which is coming to India for the first time. Held once every 4 years, the International Association for Adolescent Health’s 11^th World Congress on Adolescent Health, ‘Investing in Adolescent Health – the Future is Now’ will be held here from 27-29 October 2017.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of the conference, Prof Susan Sawyer, president of International Association for Adolescent Health (IAAH) said India had been chosen to host the conference as it has thelargest number of adolescents in the world. “ When we started the IAAH in Australia 30 years ago as a resource to help build capacities in the field of adolescent health, we had people only from high income countries but now there is participation from across the world since 90 per cent of the adolescents are in middle and low income countries,’’ she said.

The world is home to 1.2 billion adolescents, and India has the largest population of adolescents in the world – 253 million with every fifth adolescent in the world being an Indian and every second adolescent being an Asian.

Over 1,000 delegates from 65 countries across the world will share their experiences and learnings during the conference.

The World Congress seeks to cover topical themes through discussions in sessions such as ‘Global adolescent health: Opportunities and challenges’, ‘Programming for adolescent health in India: RKSK and beyond’, ‘Toward a gendered approach to adolescent health’, ‘Mental health and adolescents’, ‘Early Adolescent Health and Development in Low and Middle-Income Countries’, ‘Social Media, Sexting, Addiction, Oh My! Adolescent Health in the Digital Age’, and more. There will also be debates on topics including the need for parents’ consent in their child’s clinical care or participation in health research; the role of brain imaging in adolescent care and health promotion; and on whether to promote condoms or contraceptives among adolescents.

 According to Dr Sunil Mehra, Executive Director, MAMTA Health institute for Mother and Child the country is faced with challenges such as early marriage, early pregnancies, malnutrition and obesity and violence.’’

Globally, adolescence is demographically dense – a period which encapsulates tremendous change in relation to critical life events such as transitions from education to employment, and formation of families and parenting. Adolescence is also the period in which individuals experience the greatest change in health and health-related behaviours across their lifetime. Well recognized as a time of risk for health, increasingly adolescence is now recognized as a period of opportunity for health, in which individuals gain the assets and resources to sustain health across the life-course.

The mortality of adolescents globally stands at a staggering 1.5 million deaths per year

Unintended injuries such as road traffic accidents and drowning are the leading causes of death among adolescents, together with self-harm, interpersonal violence, communicable diseases and teenage pregnancy.Tobacco, alcohol and other substance use contribute to health concerns among adolescents (e.g. injuries) and are associated with unemployment, accidents, depression and suicide during adolescence. Yet, rather than being a passing phase, these behaviours and states risk reverberating across the life-course, contributing to the future burden of disease in adults and to that of the next generation.

 Â“The world is looking up to India’s National Adolescent Health Programme (Rashtriya Kishore SwasthyaKaryakram) after its win over polio, said Dr V. Chandra-Mouli from WHO.

The World Congress is being organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child (MAMTA) along with a consortium of partners.  

New Delhi : Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out major landing operations on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, about 60 km west of Lucknow, today. The series of landings took place close to Bangarmau in Unnao District of Uttar Pradesh, where a 3 km stretch was specially prepared for such operations. A total of sixteen aircraft participated in the operation which comprised IAF’s frontline Air Superiority Fighters including the Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000 and Jaguar fighter aircraft. These aircraft took off from Bareilly, Gwalior and Gorakhpur respectively. In addition, the IAF carried out drills in which Garud Commandos were inserted and extricated for ground operations, by the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft which took off from Hindon airbase.

The exercise commenced with an impressive short landing by the C-130 which on its landing roll itself started off loading the Garud Commandos and their vehicle in manoeuvre called Combat ERO (Engine Running Offload). Immediately on disembarking from the  C-130, the Commandos took up position on either side of the airstrip to cordon it off for the fighter operations. This was followed by two sets of 3-3 Mirages, five SU30s and three Jaguars. All 14 fighter aircraft carried out a roller/touch and go manoeuvre on the expressway. The C-130 then returned for another short landing to extricate the Garud Commandos.

IAF had already carried out landings by fighter aircraft for the first time on the Yamuna expressway on 21 May 2015. The stretch of Agra – Lucknow expressway was earlier activated for the first time for IAF operations in November 2016 in which six fighter aircraft of the IAF landed on the expressway. However, in this exercise, IAF included the Jaguar fighter aircraft for the first time. Also for the first time, IAF’s C-130J transport aircraft participated in highway landing operations for insertion and extrication of Garud Special Forces. While the operations on 24 October 2017 required the closure of the portion of the expressway for road traffic, through the excellent support of the UP State Government and UPEIDA, once the planned works are completed, such road traffic closure will not be required henceforth. 

Several countries like Germany, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Singapore, Czechoslovakia, Pakistan, etc. have dedicated stretches on their highways and expressways for aircraft to land and take off in emergencies or war like events.

NEW DELHI: Last week on Tuesday, a nine-year old girl, Roshan, from the outskirts of Lakhisarai in Bihar died in Patna due to high fever. A shocking photograph of her father carrying his dead child on his shoulders appeared in media, sending a wave of outrage across all sections of the people. 

This shocker recalled the heart-wrenching incident of Dana Manjhi from Kalahandi in Odisha, which made national headlines in September last year, as he travelled 10 kms carrying the body of his wife on his shoulders.

The media reports claimed that the adolescent girl in Patna died after the Outpatient Department (OPD) at the government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna allegedly denied the registration of the patient, compelling the father to run from one counter to another in search of immediate treatment, but his efforts failed. 

ANI news agency reported, the victim’s family was also denied ambulance services by the AIIMS authorities. As Rambalak couldn’t afford a private vehicle to take her child home, he was forced to carry her body on his shoulders. However, AIIMS has refuted the allegations.

Talking exclusively to theindiasaga.com on this issue, Dr. Prabhat Kumar Singh, Director, AIIMS Patna said that no such incident was reported at AIIMS. 

“The man didn’t report it to the anybody. He was spotted 3 kms away from the AIIMS, as reported by the ETV. For an instance even if I believe that Roshan died in the OPD of AIIMS, how is it possible that no one standing nearby raised voice against it or complained? We have four counters of OPD, where security officials are deputed. Since the OPD is always crowded, I don’t buy this fact that no one saw the victim inside the campus. Rambalak also reportedly agreed in media that he didn’t talk to anybody at AIIMS OPD. In any such critical cases, we always ensure primary treatment without any formalities. I have inquired into the matter personally. We got to know at 7 pm that such an incident is being reported near Fulwarisharif. I refuse to believe that due to AIIMS ignorance a child has died,” he added.

Since its inception, AIIIMS has no emergency services in Patna.  Â“AIIMS Patna doesn’t have the license of blood bank so the emergency services are not full-fledged in operation. But we always provide the first aid to the patients who come to this hospital in critical conditions.” 

Recently, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini  Kumar Choubey made a controversial statement about the natives of Bihar coming for treatment in AIIMS, Delhi and also called them a ‘burden’ on the premier hospital. He had said that the residents of Bihar come to Delhi for the treatment of even ‘small ailments’. 

Ashwini Choubey is elected from Buxar, about 130 kms from Patna. This reporter tried to contact him but he was said to be unavailable. The India Saga contacted the office of the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, for a statement but her Officer on Special Duty (OSD) did not respond. 

The latest incident only underlines the lack of primary healthcare services in Bihar. So far the victim’s family has not received any assurance of compensation from either the State government. 

NEW DELHI: While asserting that macro-economic fundamentals remain strong and the GDP is poised to clock an impressive growth rate, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday announced an “unprecedented” infusion of Rs. 2.11 lakh crore in public sector banks to give a boost to lending. 

Another major announcement made by Mr. Jaitley was that 83,677 km of highways would be built over the next five years to “create more jobs, more growth.”

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Jaitley said the Modi government has decided upon a series of steps to sustain growth momentum in the country as India’s economy was the fastest growing in the world in the past three years. 

Mr Jaitley, backed by a team of top Finance Ministry officials, said that a comprehensive review of the economy was undertaken by the government in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present. It was decided to chart out the road ahead, fill the gaps to boost the economy and keep building up on rapid growth and job creation. 

Top officials said in their presentation that inflation has been under five per cent and current account deficit less than 2 per cent over the past three years. Forex Reserve built up is also topping $400 billion. 

The GDP growth is also poised for take off and has been around 7.5 per cent in the last three years. The IMF forecast is also said to be favourable.   “The real GDP growth average is 7.5% in the last three years,” said Subhash C Garg, Economic Affairs Secretary. He said that that a number of indicators show “the worst is over and we are now back on the path to a high rate of growth in the next many quarters to come.

NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked all State governments and Union Territories to strictly enforce the law to ensure that a peaceful environment prevails for journalists and media persons to carry out their professional duties. 

Taking a serious view of the concerns expressed by journalists and their various organisations over growing attacks on journalists in different parts of the country, Union Home Ministry has issued an advisory to all State governments and administrators of Union Territories to ensure a peaceful environment to allow scribes to “exercise freedom of speech and expression in their professional pursuit.”

Referring to the cases of attacks on journalists, the Home Ministry asked the States and UTs to ensure that investigations are conducted in a time bound manner and public trust in criminal justice system is maintained. 

The latest advisory came within a fortnight of a delegation of journalists, led by  the Press Club of India, meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and submitting a memorandum to him, urging the government to speed up probe in cases of attacks on journalists and take necessary action to ensure their safety and security. 

“The Fourth Estate is an important institution of our democracy. It ensures that citizens are able to express their opinions freely without any fear and coercion as provided under the Constitution of India. It is the duty of State to ensure safety and security of journalists who ensure that the fourth estate discharges this key role. 

From time to time incidents of attack on journalists/media persons are reported in the media. All such cases need to be investigated promptly to ensure that criminals get prosecuted in a time bound manner. States should also take all preventive and deterrent action as deemed required. States are already empowered to provide security to individuals based on threat perceptions,” the Home Ministry’s advisory noted. 

While Police and public order are state subjects, in view of its importance, the advisory said that Union Government has been drawing the attention of the State governments from time to tome towards the need for a robust criminal justice system with emphasis on prevention and control of crime. 

While directing strict compliance of the advisory, the Home Ministry asked the States and UTs to widely circulate it among all concerned departments and organisations under their jurisdiction. The advisory was sent to Home Secretaries and Police chiefs of all States and UTs. 

The recent acquisition of the Hypercity brand by Kishore Biyani’s Future Group is one of the many instances highlighting a key ongoing trend in the retail industry – cross-category consolidation.Retailers are increasingly exiting businesses that drag down their profits and focusing on strengthening their core businesses to increase their market share and create value for their shareholders.

• Earlier this year, online retail giant Alibaba picked up stakes in Chinese supermarket chains Hema and Bailan
• Amazon bought out grocery chain Whole Foods for a whopping $13.7 billion
• Last year, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar supermarket chain Walmart bought out US-based e-commerce company Jet.com for $3.3 billion
• In India, Future Group acquired Hypercity for $107 million and effectively added around 1.4 million square feet of retail space to their existing 13.8 million square feet.

There is a visible change in the appetite of retailers, especially in the food and grocery business. So, why are supermarkets out shopping?

To Gain Scale

Future Group already has presence in 221 cities after a series of acquisitions over the past couple of years. Last year, it acquired 124 retail stores of Heritage Fresh in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. It also acquired retail group chain Sangam Direct, Easy Day and Nilgiris, significantly ramping up its presence in South India. The merger with Bharti Retail and acquisition of Big Apple effectively added 250 stores to its portfolio in the North.

 

This approach has not only boosted Future Group’s organic growth in terms of geography but also in terms of formats. The group now operates across all formats – from 1000 sq. ft. feet micro-stores to 50,000 sq.ft. hypermarkets.

 

To Transition from Retail to Consumer Goods

Future Group’s strategy has slowly evolved from a pure play retail model to a fast-moving consumer goods model. Consolidation in the grocery space will further help them push their own products over private label consumer products. The recent acquisition of Hypercity is Biyani’s attempt at consolidation in the fashion and food category.

 

While most peers tried to go the FMCG way by outsourcing food processing and manufacturing to smaller firms, Future Group in fact outsmarted them all with the creation of Food Parks. These INR 1000 crore-worth large food processing factories, wholly owned by Future Group, have ensured that their margins are a few percentage points higher than their competitors’.

To get Online and Offline

The ongoing consolidations in the food and grocery business gives out strong signals of convergence in online and offline retail, as retail margins shrink for companies following both business models. India’s offline retailers such as Tata Group’s Trent Ltd and Godrej Group’s Nature’s Basket have acquired small online app-based retailers to set up their online sales operations. Though Future Group has steered clear of the online market for a while now, most of its competitors have gone ahead to bite the bullet of omni-channel retailing.

India is the Rising Food and Grocery Retail Star

India is the world’s second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables and sixth-largest food and grocery market globally, with the retail sector contributing 70% of the sales. Food has also been one of the largest segments in India’s retail sector and is, according to the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, expected to reach $895 billion by 2020.

 

In 2016, the market size of the food and grocery sector was 30,25,218 crores (or $472.7 billion), with the organized share accounting for 2.4%. (Source: India Retail Report 2017-18; Images Group). The Indian food and grocery segment is attracting investments from leading global players keen on opportunities in global-standard food services and retail technology.

 

While India’s retail story has unfolded slowly over the decades, the pace of change has now accelerated to such an extent that retail houses need to constantly innovate to remain relevant to consumers. By 2020, the market is expected to reach the size 52,91,125 crores (or $826.7 billion) and is growing at 15% per annum (Source: India Retail Report 2017-18, Images Group)

Future Readiness

There have been talks of Amazon launching a private grocery label in India, and its intention of making its nationwide debut in online food retailing soon. Future Group is readying itself for battle by building an extensive network of offline retail, covering the entire spectrum from small formats to hypermarkets.

As a result of the retail sector’s globalization, Indian retailers are facing escalating challenges from foreign retailers in providing a complete retail experience. To cater to evolving customer expectation, retailers are adopting multi-channel retailing and are re-strategizing their store networks to stay competitive. Reconfiguration of real estate is an important part of the retail evolution that brands are adopting.

 

The key mantra for success in modern retailing is no longer just ‘the store in the right location’, but necessarily also involves the right strategy to attract and retain customers as a key to constantly improving margins.

(The writer is expert in retail services.)

New Delhi : Black tea may be gaining popularity among people for health reasons, but a new study in laboratory animals has shown that consumption of black tea may be harmful during pregnancy and lactation.  

The study has found that black tea extracts alter parameters of blood and liver in pregnant and lactating experimental albino rats. Bioactive components of black tea brew and their impact on human health is very important, especially during pregnancy and lactation.  

It says excessive drinking of black tea throughout pregnancy and lactation period decreases hemoglobin concentration and total count of red blood cells (RBCs) in rats. The study done by researchers from the Kolkata has been published recently in journal Proceedings of the Zoological Society.

The parameters were measured right from day one. Initially there was no significant change but after 20 days liver parameters started changing. Hepatocytes increased in size, there was loss of structural integrity, increased sinusoidal space, breakage of central vein etc. The effects were clear on blood as the RBCs became flattened and increased in numbers. The RBCs also lost their bi-concave architecture and no grooves or white patches were found in the membrane of RBCs.

“We have studied the prenatal and postnatal stages which show that black tea extract makes changes in blood and liver parameters,” lead researcher Dr Subir Chandra Dasgupta said while speaking to India Science Wire. He said tea was considered beneficial for human health but it may be harmful for pregnant women if consumed in excess. 

Bioactive components of black tea brew and their impact on human health is very important, especially during pregnancy and lactation. Little physiological changes during this period may alter mother and neonatal health. Thearubigins and theaflavin are major polyphenolic compounds found in black tea accounting for about 60-70% of its dry weight. Rest of black tea contains alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, amino acids. 

The study has been done by Department of Zoology, Maulana Azad College, Kolkata and Laboratory of Toxicology and Experimental Pharmacodynamics at University of Calcutta. The research team included Dr. Antony Gomes, Dr. Subir Chandra Dasgupta and Avijit Dey.

Sarat Chandra wrote Devdas at 25 years of age in 1901, three years before his death Sarat Chandra would drop in at the New Theatres studio in South Calcutta, where the erstwhile Prince of Gauripur and legendary filmmaker Pramatesh Chandra Barua was busy wrapping his film Devdas. The novelist allegedly told Barua after seeing Devdas that he was born to write Devdas because Barua was born to re-create it in cinema!

Barua was working on the second celluloid version of the perennial classic that has transfixed viewers and readers over the ages alike what with sudhir Mishra’s announcement to be working on the seventeenth version of the novella! Devdas has been produced even in Pakistan in Urdu off course in 1965 and 2010!  In 1935, Barua’s band of four cinematographers included names like Dilip Gupta and Nitin Bose. However there was a new young publicity photographer at New Theatres by the name of Bimal Roy, who was getting obsessed by the film and would patiently like the proverbial Job would wait for 20 years to present his version, the sixth stab and unarguably the most dazzling film of the master called Dilip Kumar! 

Bimal Roy had approached Dilip Kumar sometime in 1954 with the idea of playing the eponymous role in the film Devdas, Dilip Kumar neither had seen the  K. L. Saigal starrer nor had  read Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s famous novel. In fact, Bimal Roy never displayed his entire deck, when he visited Dilip Kumar that his intention was to discuss the film he was keen to make from last two decades. Bimal Roy let producer Hiten Choudhury who accompanied him, bring up the subject. Dilip Kumar was stumped and asked for a few days to mull it over. Bimal Roy smiled as he was leaving, and promised Dilip Kumar a fine translation.

Dilip Kumar received the translation the very next day and boy was he in agony over rendering a character whose pain and depression over losing in love translated to dark alcohol dependency being the panacea. Dilip Kumar also felt that it could become a memorable film and he was going to play the lead in one of the iconic films of all time if he played the part with appropriate discretion. It was this dilemma that he brought on the sets and lived in angst till the film was wrapped. This was one of the films that led him attempt comedy on suggestion of famous Harley Street psychiatrist Dr. W. D. Nichols introduced to him by Dame Sybil Thorndike and Dame Margaret Rutherford

The screenwriter Nabendu Ghosh recalled that tea breaks always found Dilip Kumar wandering alone and often in an agitated state or in deep reverie avoiding the rest of the cast.  Nabendu Ghosh went up to himont afternoon and asked him what was troubling the thespian? Dilip Kumar replied that three men Sarat Chandra, Pramtesh Barua and Kundan Lal Saigal were sitting on his shoulders and were weighing him down! Dilip Kumar had got so much in to the skin of Devdas that he  is said to have taken a while to come out of the role, but it also went on to fetch him the second of his 8 Filmfare Awards for best actor. The film won the Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film in Hindi in the 3rd National Film Awards.

Bimal Roy knew that Dilip Kumar was a stickler for making the writing base of a film strong, therefore writing work was done with Dilip Kumar, screenwriter Nabendu Ghosh and dialogue writer Rajinder Singh Bedi. The lines from Devdas, are some of the most oak strong and yet sensitive and laced with poignancy that have been ever written for a Hindi film hero from the pen of Rajinder Singh Bedi.

It was Suchitra Sen’s debut in a Hindi movie and also features the great Pran in his tiniest role – a ten-second appearance at Chandramukhi’s kotha. Dilip Kumar, Bimal Roy’s first choice for Devdas, wanted Meena Kumari as Paro, and Nargis as Chandramukhi. But, Meena Kumari was under embargo because of an irate Kamal Amrohi drawing certain terms and conditions that were not acceptable to Bimal Roy. Nargis had set her heart on the lead role of Paro, if that was not enough diva trouble! Bina Rai and Suraiya too threw their hats and pestered Roy for Paro’s role! Nabendu Ghosh did not approve of the rising superstar Vyjayanthimala as Chandramukhi, but the distributors were sold to the idea to the point of being admant in having the southern belle and Bimal Roy straddled with a big unit and an uncompromising attitude towards making of his film needed money! In came Vyjayanthimala.

According to Vyjayanthimala, she was taken seriously as an actress only when Devdas happened in her career. But she was to play Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar for the first time and the apprehension whether she would be able to measure up to his expectations as Chandramukhi in the critical sequences with an actor of repute like Dilip Kumar under the demanding baton of Bimal Roy kept gnawing her? But her work in this film led B.R. Chopra to replace Madhubala with her in Naya Daur (1957) and Vyjayanthimala went on to co-star with Dilip Kumar in seven successful and noted films. 

Suchitra Sen had thoroughly read her script before coming to shoot and would always be in animated discussions with Dilip Kumar, Motilal, Vyjayantimala, Bimalda and scriptwriter Nabendu Ghosh regarding the film. Though her Hindi was tinged with a Bengali accent but it sounded sweet according to Dilip Kumar. It was her acting that had Dilip Kumar mesmerised as she could give five modulations to a single dialogue. And her expressive eyes conveyed volumes with a single look. During an intense scene in Devdas, Dilip Kumar had to look straight into her eyes and Sen had to convey romance filled with pathos. She reacted doing a slight lip movement drew compliments from both Bimal Roy and Dilip Kumar.According to Dilip Kumar,Suchitra Sen maintained a distance with the crew and preferred to work in silence. But she never disrespected anyone. As an artiste, she gave full respect to even a spot boy. Musafir (1957) was the only other film that Dilip Kumar and Suchitra Sen worked as part of the cast, but were never paired together again!

The film’s characters are ordinary people caught within a rigid and crumbling social system and that holds true for the hero Devdas torn by driving passion and inner turmoil!

Dilip Kumar at the peak of his prowess as Hindi film greatest tragic hero invested himself in to the literary character with his integrity and chemistry of an actor par excellence. Dilip Kumar as the self-destructive doomed lover looks and appears remarkable in the drunken scenes which are understated and accentuated by inimitable style of dialogue delivery. In his autobiography, The Substance and the Shadow (2014), Dilip Kumar gives the credit to the dialogue writer, Rajinder Singh Bedi  as ‘…one of those rare writers whose syntax was so perfect that the simple lines he wrote inspired actors to build up deep emotions in their rendering.’

Ashok Kumar and Motilal were the two reference points in the craft of acting that Dilip Kumar constantly drew upon when he was making his mark as an actor. He and Motilal appeared in three films together- Devdas (1955), Paigham (1959) and Leader (1964).Motilal was the best Chunilal and foil to Dilip Kumar among the many versions of Devdas that have been made. His portrayal of the glib dandy whose empathy and understanding the tragedy of his friend is near perfect. Motilal’s fluent Chunni babu, who introduces Devdas to alcohol, dancing girl and doom in a lesser actor would have transmuted in to a negative character. Motilal’s innate charm, made him an arresting bon vivant and earned him his first Filmfare award for the best supporting actor. 

Devdas was the first film within mainstream Hindi cinema to gamble on celluloid a weak hero of high birth whose narcissism, passion and inner-conflict is pitted against the two women in his life, Parvati and Chandramukhi, who are stronger than he is, as independent women with minds of their own.In a rare interview in 1982, Dilip Kumar when asked  for an appraisal of his work  admitted that Roy’s Devdas was an exercise in restrained work and though Shikast, Gunga Jumna, Mughal-e-Azam and Kohinoor were all close to his heart. He personally liked doing serious work and still had a fondness for Devdas!

(The writer is filmy buff)

Jaipur: Jaipur’s historic Rambagh Palace has been ranked amongst “50 Best Hotels & Resorts in the world in the prestigious Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards 2017”.

The hotel has ranked 25^th in the global rating and 2^nd best in India with a total score of 98.38 out of 100 marks.

More than 3,00,000 travellers took part in the 30th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey.  Millions of ratings and more than 100,000 comments were used. The data was then analyzed to create a list of winning favourites that are shaping travel across different categories that include castles, safari camps, hotels, river cruises, and islands, among others. The list features the top-rated newcomers and stalwarts known for providing authentic, personalized and unexpected experiences for their travellers.

Among the hotels, the Palace has been rated highly for its commitment to quality across facilities, location, service, food, and overall value for money.

The General Manager, Rambagh Palace, Mr. Manish Gupta said that Rambagh Palace has always been a consistent testimony of trust among its guests. “We thank all of them who voted for us. This award will further inspire the iconic hotel to reach new milestones,’’ he added.

It is to be noted that this year Rambagh Palace had also rated amongst top 100 hotels in the world by ‘Travel + Leisure Readers Travel Awards 2017’. The Palace also ranked 16 in India in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards and was rated amongst top 10 Heritage Hotels in the world by Travel Weekly, UK for the year 2017.

Rambagh Palace is a living legend in Jaipur. Originally built in 1835, Rambagh Palace has stepped gracefully through many royal transitions. In the finest tradition of Rajput hospitality, the Rambagh Palace offers its guests a taste of royal living – a luxury and extravagance that was once the sole preserve of kings. It’s elegantly done rooms, marbled corridors and majestic gardens echo with history.