NEW DELHI: In the throes of an internal political crisis Maldives has refused an Indian invitation to participate in a biennial multilateral naval exercise in the Indian Ocean beginning on March 6. We have invited Maldives but they declined it. They did not give any reasons but I think it is due to the current situation there Indian Navy Chief Adm Sunil Lanba told journalists on the sidelines of an Indo-Pacific Maritime Dialogue jointly organized by the Indian Navy and National Maritime Foundation. Questioned on the issue Maldives ambassador Ahmed Mohamed said: I would like to clarify that Maldives is unable to participate in the naval exercise during this time due to current circumstances of a state of emergency being in effect for those under investigation for serious crimes. During such a time security personnel are expected to be at a heightened stance of readiness. When situations warrant that officers be at their post back at home we have held back on deploying them to participate in exercises and training programmes held overseas and as such not being able to participate in the naval exercise at this time is not extraordinary he added. However he asserted that Maldives and India enjoy a long history of excellent defence and military cooperation and it is a tradition that we are confident that will endure and continue indefinitely . Ties between India and Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered release of opposition leaders from prison. The exercise-MILAN - is taking place in the backdrop of China s growing military posturing in the Indo-Pacific region and officials indicated that the issue is likely to figure during deliberations at the event. The exercise is a congregation of littoral navies conducted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The aim of the initiative is to have an effective forum to discuss common concerns in the Indian Ocean Region and forge deeper cooperation among friendly navies. Asked about the presence of Chinese ships in the Indo-Pacific region an official said The deployment of ships by China s Navy has been since 2008. At any point of time there are 6-8 ships in the region. We monitor them and know what is happening. Admiral Lanba added There is no cause for concern it is standard deployment in the Indian Ocean. As per what we have monitored there is no change in it in the past few years. We are well aware of what is happening.
NEW DELHI: Maldives has declined India s invitation to participate in the eight-day-long mega naval exercise Milan beginning March 6. Maldives was invited to join the Milan exercise but they have declined Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba told reporters and indicated that the country may have taken the decision possibly due to the current situation there. They have not given any reason he said. Admiral Lanba was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event. The Maldivian Ambassador in Delhi on Tuesday said Maldives declined India s invitation to participate in a naval exercise due to the emergency situation in his country but asserted that the two nations enjoy a history of excellent defence and military cooperation a tradition which they are confident will endure and continue indefinitely. I would like to clarify that the Maldives is unable to participate in the naval exercise during this time due to the current circumstances of a State of Emergency being in effect for those under investigation for serious crimes. During such a time especially security personnel are expected to be at a heightened stance of readiness the envoy told PTI while noting that the participation of Maldives naval officers would have been as observers only. When situations warrant that officers be at their post back at home we have held back on deploying them to participate in exercises and training programs held overseas and as such not being able to participate in the naval exercise at this time is not extraordinary he added. Ties between India and Maldives nosedived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared emergency on February 5 following an order by the country s Supreme Court to release a group of Opposition leaders who had been convicted in widely criticised trials. On February 21 India had reacted strongly over the extension of emergency by a month. India will host navies from at least 16 countries for the mega naval exercise at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The exercise is taking place in the backdrop of China s growing military posturing in the Indo-Pacific region and officials indicated that the issue is likely to figure during deliberations at the event. Officials said China s military manoeuvres in the South China Sea may figure during discussions among navy chiefs of the participating countries at the event. Milan was first held in 1995 with the participation of just five navies. The aim of the initiative was to have an effective forum to discuss common concerns in the Indian Ocean Region and forge deeper cooperation among friendly navies. Milan exercise will be held at Port Blair from March 6 to 13. Asked about the presence of Chinese ships in the Indo-Pacific region an official said The deployment of ships by China s Navy has been since 2008. At any point of time there are 6-8 ships in the region. We monitor them and know what is happening.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump lit into India again on Monday in a rambling critique on trade issues picking on a minor dispute with New Delhi over motorcycle tariffs to highlight his grievance that other nations have taken advantage of previous US administration s negligence on trade. For the second time this month Trump latched on to an issue that does not even account for 0.05 per cent of the 140 billion US-India bilateral trade itself ranked tenth in the US commercial sweepstakes. After lamenting how China Canada and Mexico - the top three American trade partners - were ripping off US Trump settled on the Harley Davidson dispute with India to build a case for his version of fair trade. So we want fair trade deals. We want reciprocal trade deals. Scott Walker has a wonderful company called Harley Davidson in Wisconsin. Right? Great. So when they send a motorcycle to India as an example they have to pay 100 percent tax - 100 percent Trump began even though he acknowledged Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally intervened to reduce it to 50 per cent. It isn t enough for Trump. Now the Prime Minister who I think is a fantastic man called me the other day. He said We are lowering it to 50 percent. I said Okay but so far we re getting nothing. So we get nothing he gets 50 percent and they think we re doing - like they re doing us a favor. That s not a favour. And you know what I m talking about he rambled on. Trump then revealed that Harley itself had not asked for concessions and he was the one who was spending time on an issue that is laughably insignificant in terms of US world trade. It s a great company. When I spoke with your chairman or the president of Harley they weren t even asking for it because they ve been ripped off with trade so long that they were surprised that I brought it up. I m the one that s pushing it more than they are but it s unfair he said. And India sells us a lot of motorbike So when they have a motorbike - a big number by the way - they have a company that does a lot of business. So they have a motorcycle that comes into our country - We get zero. They get 100 percent brought down to 75; brought down now to 50. Okay he rambled on. Then he returned to Modi. And I wasn t sure - he said it so beautifully. He s a beautiful man. And he said I just want to inform you that we have reduced it to 75 but we have further reduced it to 50. And I said Huh. What do I say? Am I supposed to be thrilled? And that s not good for you people especially as governors. It s just not right. And we have many deals like that he told a meeting of the nation s governors who were further gobsmacked when he later told them he would have confronted the Florida shooter unarmed. India exports less than 1 000 motorcycles to US; African and Latin-American countries buy many times more. Besides Harley manufactures its bikes in India now and the tariff would largely be on the few imported bikes and semi- and completely knocked down components. The US President s obsession with Harley and its effort to get greater traction in India is attributed to the motorbike users demographic profile - mostly white middle-aged men in middle America who typically voted for Trump as attested by Bikers for Trump rallies during the election. Trump also narrowly won narrowly won Wisconsin (47.2 per cent to Hillary s 46.5 per cent) where the Harley headquarters is located (in Milwaukee) and ostensibly wants to show his gratitude to the state s working class voters who ditched Democrats making him the first Republican candidate to carry the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. So despite the insignificance of the dispute and the negligible numbers he wants to make it a signature issue on manufacturing ignoring the fact that Harley manufactures from India. It is an easy illustrative example for his voters because Harley is an iconic brand one trade expert told ToI on background. US and India actually have much bigger trade disputes on medical devices for example. What Trump also doesn t know or prefers to ignore is Harley s entry to India was premised on a mangoes for motorbikes deal in 2007 between then President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh an agreement that took a long time to fructify for India because mango exporters had to jump through all kinds of hoops (including irradiating mangoes to get rid of pests) making the mangoes almost unaffordable in the US (up to 36 for a box of 12).
Not too long ago it looked like Suresh Raina s India career was done.In Uttar Pradesh s five matches in the Ranji Trophy late last year Raina - the captain - made 105 runs at an average of 11.66. His highest across the season was 33. He was eighth in the list of top run-getters among his teammates. He had not played for India since the T20I against Engalind in February that year. He was not picked again in 2017 amid reports that he had failed the yo-yo test.And you could see why. He didn t look his fittest self even during the IPL campaign. It was by his own account a tough phase for Raina - with reports of his family members being unwell and his focus not entirely on playing cricket. But at the start of 2018 he turned things around. His form surged in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy - an unbeaten 56-ball 126 was a stunning innings that caught everyone s attention. And then came the confirmation that Chennai Super Kings were retaining him alongside MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja - another vote of confidence. The call-up to the India squad for South Africa duly followed.Three T20Is in South Africa is not definitive enough to call his comeback to India s colours as a success but Raina showed he is not done yet. Comebacks more difficultBefore departing for South Africa Raina was combative about his chances of making the opportunity that has been presented to him count. I was hurt on getting dropped even after performing well in his final T20I before this SA. But now I have cleared the Yo-Yo test and feeling so strong. During all these months of hard training the desire to play for India again grew only so much stronger. I won t leave it here. I have to play for India for as long as possible. I have to play the 2019 World Cup because I know I have done well in England. There is still a lot left in me and I am extremely confident of doing well in these three games in South Africa. And he lived up to his word. Scores of 15 (7 balls) 31 (24 balls) and 43 (27 balls) are not earth-shattering at first glance. But the manner in which those runs were scored is what will fill Raina with confidence.Being promoted to No 3 ahead of Virat Kohli was an invitation to go big from the first ball. One of India s problem areas in T20Is was a sedate batting powerplay (by T20 standards) and this team clearly wanted to address that without having to sacrifice Kohli. And that s where Raina came in handy. In the first match he hit the third ball he faced for a six and the fourth for a four. In the second match the third ball he faced was sent to the boundary. In the third match all it took was one ball for Raina to score his first six - a stylish whip over square leg. Raina was batting with the confidence of a man who has played many a crucial innings for the Chennai franchise at this very position. There was a hint of fearlessness to his presence in the middle during all three outings. He did not seem to get bogged down by the pressure of having to attack without getting his eye in - a task especially harder on comeback as failures might mean end of the road.Instead Raina showed the one ability that made him a constant feature in all of MS Dhoni s teams - the ability to adapt to the situation and shift gears with alarming ease. Before his international slump began Raina was earmarked as the man to take over the finisher s role in ODIs with Dhoni wanting to move up the order because of the same reason Kohli promoted him to No 3 in these T20Is.A successful outingHis man-of-the-match trophy in the third T20I for his 27-ball 43 and a useful wicket that of David Miller when he came to roll his arm over was a just reward. And just as he mentioned before the series began he reiterated that his ultimate aim is to win back the spot in the ODI squad to play for India at a World Cup again confidently proclaiming that it was only a matter of time. What the 5-1 scoreline in the ODI series against South Africa doesn t convey is that the middle order problem continues to persist for Kohli. The top three did all the heavy-lifting finishing on top of the run-scoring charts both sides combined. And No 4 onwards confusion persists. Ajinkya Rahane looked good in patches but threw his wicket away on a couple of occasions. Kedar Jadhav Shreyas Iyer Manish Pandey Dinesh Karthik - none of these names have grabbed their opportunities by the scruff of the neck. And that has left a door open for the likes of Raina who - let s not forget - is still only 31 years old and boasts a http://kkmyntra.qowap.com/11114195/shopozo-deals-in-myntra good record in ODIs at Nos 4 and 5.ODI career: 192 innings 5568 runs Average 35.46 SR 93.76 Five 100s At No 4 and 5: 99 innings 3077 runs Average 37.07 SR 95.73 Four 100s The importance of this comeback was not lost on Raina. Speaking after the T20I series he said: I worked really hard for two years. Each and every session I was doing in the gym on the field I was just (thinking) when I am going to play for India again. I think God helped. Thanks to my wife my kid to make me believe I can go there and wear the jersey again. That s what I think the Indian team does. When you make a lot of sacrifices in your life and at the same time you enjoy your game (it works out). I worked really hard on my game and my mental toughness. Raina knows this is his ticket to England for the World Cup. With the big guns being rested for the upcoming T20I tri-series in Sri Lanka Raina has a few more opportunities to solidify his claims before the IPL comes along and he is reunited with Dhoni and CSK.Should he have a good couple of months with the bat don t be surprised if Raina makes the flight to England one year ahead of the World Cup.
P Bharatiraaja s Solva Saawan released in 1979 a remake of his Tamil super hit 16 Vayad hinille hardly failed to make the mark the original it had done in Tamil but it brought to Bollywood a fresh female face - Sridevi. Its limited success meant that it would be four years before the north saw Sridevi again. She starred opposite Jeetendra in Himmatwala (1983) which became one of the biggest blockbusters of the year and made people take notice of the southern beauty with twinkle steps and dreams in her eyes. The same year saw the remake of another Tamil superhit Balu Mahendra s Sadma in which she played opposite Kamal Haasan the challenging role of a child-woman suffering from amnesia. Sridevi audiences found could not just dance she could act too. The mid-80s then saw a torrent of Sridevi films some of them with Jumping Jack Jeetendra which led to film magazines of the time concluding that she was unquestionably India s female star. Tohfa was released in 1985 Mawaali Maqsad and Justice Chaudhry followed. She broke the trend with the snake fantasy Nagina which not only stayed on as one of the top movies of the genre but the song main tera dushman set major gyration goals for other ichhadhaari naagins to follow. One of her most famous films Mr India was released in 1987. She played an eccentric crime reporter and stole screen-space from co-star Anil Kapoor so much that trade journals joked it should have been called Miss India. Her talented Charlie Chaplin sequence in the film was eclipsed by the dance number Hawa Hawaii and earned the actress one of her many sobriquets. With Chaalbaaz she became one of the rare Indian heroines to do a double role playing diverse characters and underlining that her claim to her rising fame was not just sprightly expressions and sensuous dance numbers. She showed she also had comic timing - which any actor would swear is the most difficult bit - and went on to prove it again in later films like Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja that sunk miserably at the box office. If Sridevi rode across the Vindhyas initially on southern productions she was lifted to the next level by mega houses of Mumbai. Yash Chopra s Chandni gave her iconic status and crowned her standing as the biggest female actor of the 80s. Apart from the songs the romantic saga was mostly about Sridevi in her ethereally-white salwar kurtas. Her next Yash Raj film Lamhe won critical acclaim by testing limits of boldness acceptable in popular cinema and made her a star in overseas markets. Khuda Gawah opposite Amitabh Bachchan a heroic romance set on the other side of the Khyber pass still remains one of the most famous films in Afghanistan. With Madhuri Dixit now taking central stage Sridevi still continued to spring a few big releases. There was Mahesh Bhatt s Gumrah opposite Sanjay Dutt and Laadla and then her big hurrah in Judaai where she played a woman who sold her family for money. While she was charting success in Hindi Sridevi s audiences in the south missed her. Long before she became Thunder Thighs and Hawa Hawaii and Chandni Sridevi was the baby-faced Mayil of 16 Vayadhinile - and Viji of Moondram Pirai . Remakes and dubbed versions of these and others hits like Premabishekham had already made her a big name in the industries of Tamil Telugu and Malayalam. Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan Sridevi started acting at the age of four as Tamil deity Lord Murugan in Thunaivan. She went on to do a clutch of films as a child artiste before her first major role in Moondru Mudichu . Sigappu Rojakkal and Varumayin Niram Sigappu established her as a hit pair with Kamal Haasan. She also starred in a few Malayalam films including Thulavarsham before her northern sojourn. Her popularity in Bollywood later brought her back to Telugu in 1988 where she went on to do Aakhari Poratam Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari and Kshana Kshanam opposite the leading Tollywood men of the day. After her 15- year break Sridevi was back in Gauri Shinde s English Vinglish (2012) as the homemaker who goes to learn English but instead discovers her identity. The film travelled to international festivals and spawned a clutch of lookalikes in other languages. She then acted with Vijay in the Tamil fantasy Puli before her final film the thriller Mom produced by her husband Boney Kapoor. Mom was her 300th film. It was the end of a remarkable journey which started at the age of four and ended at fifty-four when she was looking good for many more. An oeuvre that cast her in beautiful roles in the dryland of Tamil Nadu and the forests of Kerala and plains and hills of the North and even in the mountains across the Khyber. In which she was paired with Kamal and Rajinikanth in Tamil Akkineni Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi and Venkatesh in Telugu and then a host of Bollywood superstars from Jeetendra to Anil Kapoor to Rishi Kapoor to Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachchan. Sridevi was India s first female superstar. And the only actor in the country with a substantially pan-Indian list of work. Sridevi: The actress who made her male co-stars feel insecure of 9NextPrevPlay SlideshowGone Too Soon25 Feb 2018Veteran Bollywood actress and Padma Shri awardee Sridevi passed away at the age of 54 after suffering a cardiac arrest in Dubai. In the four decades spanning across the Tamil and Hindi film industry she has left an indelible mark.A Born Star25 Feb 2018Sridevi was born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayappan in Sivakasi of Tamil Nadu on August 13 1963. Her mother was from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. So Sridevi grew up speaking Telugu and Tamil. She has a sister named Srilatha and a stepbrother named Satish. Her dad passed away during the year 1991 while her mom died during 1997.Actor Par Excellence25 Feb 2018Sridevi started her career as a child artist in M.A. Thirumugham s devotional Thunaivan at the age of four. She continued to act as a child artist in Tamil Telugu Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her Bollywood debut as a child artist in the hit Julie (1975) and played her first adult role at the age of 13 in the Tamil film Moondru Mudichu .First Female Superstar25 Feb 2018Sridevi made her Bollywood debut in 1978 with Solva Sawan . But it was only after five years with Jeetendra-starrer Himmatwala that she gained commercial success. Her beguiling eyes scintillating screen presence and acting prowess soon made her one of the most sought-after artistes in the Hindi film industry. While films like Mawaali (1983) Tohfa (1984) Mr India (1987) and Chandni (1989) kept her at the top in the box-office game her outings like Sadma (1983) ChaalBaaz (1989) Lamhe (1991) and Gumrah (1993) earned her critical acclaim.The Queen Of Expressions25 Feb 2018Among other things Sridevi was known for her unique facial expressions beautiful eyes and of course her comic timing. She had the unique ability to make the audience laugh and cry at the same time while giving an emotional performance.Next
Exit polls on Tuesday predicted a massive expansion of BJP s footprint in the northeast with wins for its alliances in Tripura and Nagaland. In Meghalaya NPP founded by former Speaker P A Sangma is projected to lead in a hung House unseating ruling Congress. Wins in Tripura and Nagaland would be a big plus for BJP which has had a marginal presence in Tripura and Nagaland. Given that NPP is an NDA member BJP wouldn t be too unhappy with it replacing Congress in Meghalaya either even if its own projected tally is rather modest. Of the three exit polls two gave BJP and its ally IPFT a clear win in Tripura (see graph) while the third suggested a neck and neck fight with the ruling Left Front. Congress which was the main opposition party in the last elections in 2013 may fail to win a single seat in the state all the polls indicated. In Nagaland where BJP fought the election in alliance with NDPP led by former chief minister Neiphiu Rio the alliance is projected by the CVoter and NewsX polls to have a clear edge and perhaps to get a majority in the 60-member house. The ruling NPF also an NDA constituent is seen to be not too far behind while Congress could fail to register its presence in this state too. The poll by Axis MyIndia made no seat projections on Nagaland but said NPF seemed to have an edge. In Meghalaya CVoter and NewsX saw NPP as the front runner in a hung house while Axis suggested Congress would finish as the largest party. In either case though the dice seem to be loaded against incumbent chief minister Mukul Sangma since it would be far easier for NPP to find allies among the BJP and regional parties than it would be for Congress. If the results come true Congress may for the first time be reduced to having just one government in the entire northeast the one in Mizoram.
Mumbai: ASK Wealth Advisors is set to raise about Rs 750 crore from wealthy Indians to invest in US-listed new-age companies like Google Netflix Facebook Nike and Amazon through liberalised remittance scheme amid rising demand for overseas assets. US-based Polen Capital and Scout Investment which manage billions of dollars would manage the funds raised by ASK Wealth. The fund is expected to return 11-15% CAGR in dollar terms. The idea is to find business which are disruptive with strong brands ASK Wealth managing director Rajesh Saluja said. You don t find such companies in India. Those companies have much higher growth potential as the US and Europe macro economies are showing signs of improvement. These companies have unique business models with high ROE (return on equity) strong earnings growth momentum and are run by high quality managements said Saluja who is also its chief executive. The time horizon for the investments should be at least five year he said. ASK Wealth is primarily aiming to sell the idea to high net worth individuals who are looking to diversify their portfolios with not much upside in sight in local bourses he said. The US remains an attractive https://profiles.wordpress.org/arfsplayer/ investment destination as it is the largest consumer market. The fund will also target those who already have money abroad and wish to create a corpus for the future. Such people could include parents whose children wish to go for studies in the US and want to settle abroad. The fund will invest in both large-cap and midcap stocks. Subscription will be done through the liberalised remittance scheme. Under this route Indians including minors are allowed to freely remit up to 250 000 per financial year. But investors need to consider the tax implications. Dividend income or capital gains earned on redemption of units or shares of the fund is taxable in the same year of receipt. Short-term capital gains are taxable at 30%. The minimum application amount to the fund is 15 000 (Rs 9.73 lakh) and the minimum additional subscription amount is 25 000. The ASK Group manages assets of about Rs 40 000 crore. Its wealth adviser arm provides investment advice to affluent families in the country.
