Portrait News

Didn’t Know We Were Going to Make History With Mahabharat, Says Sumeet Raghvan Actor Sumeet Raghvan, who essayed the character of adolescent Sudama in B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat decades ago, says that he had no inkling that the show would create history. “I was very young when I bagged the role, and I was as excited as any new kid on the block. I was quite skinny at the time, probably that’s why I got the role,” he quipped. “We had barely shot for 3 to 4 days and I remember shooting the Sandipani Ashram portions in Film City and the...

Permanent work from home can be damaging for mental health of employees, says Satya Nadella Coronavirus caused most employees across the world to work from home through the first quarter. As lockdowns across the world are getting relaxed gradually, employees are being asked to resume to their offices. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella said that permanently working from home can be damaging for social interaction and mental health for workers. Nadella in an interview with NYT said the all-remote setup would be “replacing one dogma with another dogma.” Nadella emphasised that virtual video calls cannot replace in-person meetings. “What I miss...

UK’s richest man spent $940 mn of own cash to build EV to rival Tesla James Dyson, UK’s richest man with an estimated wealth of 16.2 billion pounds (around ₹1.5 lakh crore), decided to spend 500 million pounds (around ₹7,125 crore) of his own money to produce an electric car that he claims can rival even Tesla. The news comes seven months after the billionaire had decided to can the project to come up with this electric car. Dyson’s company decided to reveal the electric car, codenames N526, during an interview of James Dyson for topping the Sunday Times list of richest...

Broadband to become a fundamental human right: TRAI chairman MUMBAI: Broadband will become a fundamental human right and it will be difcult to imagine life without broadband connectivity, said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (tRAI) chairman R S Sharma. He was speaking at a virtual conference organised by Broadband India Forum. He said that it is time to make investment to boost xed-line broadband so as to support areas such as education, work from home, etc. While it is a fact that the country has achieved a lot in mobile, we still have a long way to go in the...

Uddhav Thackeray wants to get rid of Covid-19 by the start of monsoon Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday set an ambitious target of overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic by the time the monsoon starts. “We want to get rid of this calamity by the beginning of monsoon,” he said in a video address Maharashtra with a tally of over 35,000 Covid-19 cases is the state with the highest numbers in India. But Thackeray claimed that the government has managed to slow down the spread of the disease. “We have slowed down the spread of Covid-19. Now we can lift...

Bihar Govt to Bring Back All Migrant Labourers Stranded Outside: CM Nitish Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday asserted that all migrant labourers who are stranded outside will be brought back to the state. Kumar assured the migrant labourers not to get panicky, have patience and remain safe as the state government is taking every possible measures at its disposal to bring them to the state, an official release said. The chief minister directed chief secretary Deepak Kumar to write a letter to the central government that the railways should prepare a protocol for ticket booking so that migrant...

Covid-19 vaccine may ‘not come to fruition’, says PM Boris Johnson The UK is ramping up facilities to produce Covid-19 vaccine on a mass scale, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday cautioned that a successful vaccine is a “very long way” off, as projects in Oxford and elsewhere continue human trials. Johnson is facing criticism for issuing confusing guidance on easing lockdown restrictions, which have led to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland retaining the widely effective earlier ‘stay home’ message, while England has moved to ‘stay alert’, which implies some easing. Source: Hindustan Times

Govt to open all sectors to private players: FM Sitharaman The government will frame a policy where private entities are allowed to participate in all sectors, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on May 17. The government will also notify a list of strategic sectors where the presence of public sector enterprises (PSEs) is required. In strategic sectors, at least one enterprise will remain in the public sector but private sector will also be allowed, Sitharaman said.  In other sectors,PSEs will be privatised, the Finance Minister added. Companies in areas such as arms and ammunition, atomic energy and CPSEs are categorised...

Bharti Singh says she talks to Kapil Sharma everyday: ‘Bond between us is like brother and sister’ Comedian Bharti Singh has said she is already making holiday plans with TV star Kapil Sharma even as they struggle to get through the ongoing lockdown amid Covid-19 pandemic. She added that they share a bond similar to that of a brother and sister. She told Hindustan Times in an interview, “I share a great bond with Kapil bhai. I may not talk to anyone else but I definitely talk to Kapil and his wife daily. As he is fond of travelling, we keep making...

‘Never again’: Yuvraj Singh regrets his support for Shahid Afridi Yuvraj Singh has lashed out at Shahid Afridi for his recent comments on Kashmir and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yuvraj, who had recently come under fire for lending his support to Afridi’s charity foundation in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan, said he now regrets supporting Afridi. “As a responsible Indian who has played for the country, I will never accept such words. I made an appeal on your behest for the sake of humanity. Never again,” Yuvraj tweeted on Sunday. Source: The Indian Express