News Analysis India

Tag: Chennai

  • ‘Loki’ actor Tom Hiddleston expresses love for Shah Rukh Khan, Chennai in new video

    By PTI
    MUMBAI:  Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan has another fan in “Loki” star Tom Hiddleston, who gushed about the actor in a special video for his fans in India.

    The video, posted on the official Twitter handle of Disney+ Hotstar, shows Hiddleston playing the game of Word Association.

    When asked about his first thought on India, the British star said, “Shah Rukh Khan”.

    He referred to the Bollywood superstar again when the word “Bollywood” came up.

    The 40-year-old actor also revealed that he has a special connection with the city of Chennai.

    “Chennai. My akka (elder sister) lives there. She used to live there. And I have been there a few times. Chennai is great,” Hiddleston said.

    Tom Hiddleston’s cheekbones and wit cut sharper than glass and we are here for it! Watch #Loki streaming June 9 pic.twitter.com/FodbnUS61j
    — Disney+HotstarPremium (@DisneyplusHSP) June 8, 2021

    The actor currently stars in Disney Plus series “Loki”, in which he reprises his eponymous role of the God of Mischief from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

    Hiddleston previously played Loki in six MCU movies — “Thor” (2011), “The Avengers” (2012), “Thor: The Dark World” (2013), “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017), “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), and “Endgame” (2019).

    ALSO READ | ‘His vulnerabilities make him relatable’: Tom Hiddleston on Loki’s successful MCU journey

    Though Loki died in the “Infinity War”, the series begins by showing the character being stuck at Time Variance Authority (TVA), a fictional organisation that monitors timeline in the Marvel comics.

    Created by Michael Waldron, the show is directed by “Sex Education” fame Kate Herron and executive produced by Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige.

    Also starring Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, “Loki” started streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from Wednesday.

  • Navy flags off sailing expedition from Chennai

    By Express News Service
    CHENNAI: Indian Navy flagged off a sailing expedition from Chennai to mark the 50th anniversary of INS ‘Virbahu’, the Indian Navy’s submarine base located at Visakhapatnam, headquarters of Navy’s Eastern Naval Command. Sailing Vessel ‘Neelkanth’ was flagged off by Rear Admiral Puneet Chaddha, Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Naval  Area (FOTNA).

    The vessel has five officers from INS Virbahu as crew, and skippered by Commander Deepak Raj. The expedition  from Chennai to Visakhapatnam forms the first leg of this commemorative sailing. The first leg will cover a distance of 366 nautical miles. 

    The wind powered sailing is expected to take three days. It will consolidate the sail training of the young crew. It will help to showcase the courage, discipline, commitment and expertise of the crew in handling any adverse conditions and also their hold on the nuances of sailing, a release stated.

  • Chennai engineer sets record for collecting currency notes from maximum number of countries

    By ANI
    CHENNAI: A software engineer from Chennai has been mentioned in the Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records for collecting bank notes from the maximum number of nations.

    Annamalai Rajendran, the 34-year-old software engineer who achieved this feat, told ANI, “A hobby which started 10 years ago to maintain work-life balance soon turned out to be a passion as I get to know more about other countries and their traditions. I collected most of my banknotes through friends and numismatic auctions.”

    His collection includes currency notes from 410 nations which comprise 189 existing UN Member nations, 27 Island and Overseas Territories.

    He has broken the record earlier held by Jayesh Kumar from Coimbatore.

    Some of these currencies belong to a range period-17th Century to 21st Century. They are made of different materials like paper, polymer, cardboard, gold and cloth.

    The collection also includes the world’s first gold legal tender from Antigua & Barbuda, the world’s first glow-in-the-dark coin, ancient coins ranging from India’s Chola Empire to the Roman Empire of the West.

    Annamalai Rajendran’s currency collection was exhibited as a record attempt for the Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records as “Collection of Banknotes from Maximum Nations”.

  • Kohli Terms Bangalore’s Win Over Chennai As One Of Their ‘complete Performances’

    Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli labelled his team’s performance against southern rivals Chennai as one of their most complete performances. Bangalore beat Chennai by 37 runs in the Dream11 IPL 2020 league match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

    Kohli’s unbeaten 90 powered the three-time finalists to a competitive total of 169/4 in their 20 overs. In reply, the three-time champions’ run chase was not up to the mark as they were playing a catch-up game after having lost early wickets as the asking rate kept on getting steeper. Ambati Rayudu top-scored with 42 as the former champions were restricted to 132/8. Kohli was also adjudged the Man of the Match for his stellar knock.

    He added, “It’s about understanding the conditions and respecting the game. Instead of trying to hit every ball into the second tier of the stadium. Having played so much cricket, especially T20 cricket, I have learned that if you are set at the death, you can capitalize. Before that, I was trying to do too much. If you think too much about responsibility, you get burdened. That Super Over where I had to strike, else we would have lost, freed me up. Training all these days also helped. Yes, he’s (Chris Morris, who played his first match of the season) been really good, gun on the field and three wickets on debut. With him and Gurkeerat, the batting also gets deep. When you get momentum in this format, it can be the difference between finishing at the top or at the bottom.”

    His opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed where his team is struggling this season.

  • Venkaiah Naidu decries shortage of doctors, medical colleges

    Despite health insurance programmes like Ayushman Bharat which offer financial protection to 10.74 crore deprived rural families, India is lagging far behind developed countries in health care, according to M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President.

    The Vice-President decried the shortage of trained doctors and dearth of medical colleges in the country. He made this observations while inaugurating modern facilities in a corporate hospital in Chennai on Monday. According to Naidu, the inadequate number of physicians available per 10,000 people in India was an area of concern  when compared to developed countries.

    “While the number of physicians available is 20 per 10,000 population in developed countries , it is only six in India. As against the World Health Organisation norm of one doctor per 1,000, there is one doctor per 1,700 population in India,” pointed out Naidu.

    He said that in order to reach the target set by the WHO, a high level committee of the erstwhile Planning Commission (known now as NITI Ayog) has recommended the setting up of 187 more medical colleges by 2022.

    The Vice-President also pointed out that 62.58 per cent of the population in the country meet medical and hospitalisation expenses on their own. He attributed this to the low penetration of medical insurance and shortage of doctors.

    “One of the biggest challenges in building a comprehensive healthcare system is the existence of huge disparity between urban and rural areas. No doubt, healthcare has been accorded utmost priority by successive governments since Independence. But many challenges on this front continue to be formidable. They include low public spend, low doctor-patient ratio, low patient-bed ratio, rising out-of-pocket expenditure, dearth of medical colleges and trained doctors, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas, lack of penetration of health insurance and inadequate disease surveillance and preventive mechanisms,” said Naidu.

    He had called for a law that makes rural practice mandatory for all doctors. “Doctors should set up practices in rural areas. The Centre and State governments must make a rule that whichever doctor, who graduates or completes post graduation , after working for sometime, they must also work in the rural areas before they get their first promotion,” Naidu said on Sunday while inaugurating another corporate hospital in the city. He also called for wider health insurance coverage in the country.

    The statistics disclosed by the Vice-President substantiates the scenario in India’s health sector explained by G Viswanathan, chancellor, VIT University in 2012. “We require 12 lakh doctors and 36 lakh nurses to satisfy WHO norms. To fulfill the WHO norms we may take decades if we expand in the snail speed,” Viswanathan had said during the convocation ceremony of VIT.

    Dr GR Raveendranath, general secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE), a frontal organisation of the CPI, has been suggesting that it is possible to increase the number of medical colleges in the country without any hassle. “All we have to do is to convert the General Hospitals in the district headquarters into medical colleges. It is a win-win situation for all stake holders because the infrastructure is already there. The up-gradation of the hospitals into medical colleges will increase the facilities without much costs,” said Dr Raveendranath.