MUMBAI, June 11: Actor-producer Uday Chopra, who is looking forward to the release of his maiden international co-production ‘Grace of Monaco’ in India, hopes it does well though he feels such films do not create a buzz here.

The Nicole Kidman-starrer film is set to release in India on June 13.

Directed by French director Olivier Dahan, the film is a biopic of Hollywood star Grace Kelly, her crisis of marriage and identity during a dispute between Monaco’s Prince Rainier III and France’s Charles de Gaulle in 1962.

“I feel films like ‘Grace of Monaco’ do not really create a buzz in India. Our audience prefer superhero films or Oscar nominated films. Since we have the resources, we are trying to release the film in more than 70 screens (in India),” Uday told.

He feels that the film will do well in India provided it garners good reviews.

“I am not looking at making money with the film in India. We are releasing the film here as a prestige issue. We hope it recovers the money spent on marketing it in India. I am still testing the waters with this film and hopefully with my forthcoming films we will do better,” he said.

Uday is the CEO of YRF Entertainment, the international film production wing of Yash Raj Films.

‘Grace of Monaco’ was the opening film at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, for which Uday was present.

“I am happy that we could present the film at such a prestigious film festival. When the film was premiered, it got a standing ovation which was an added bonus as that shows people also liked the film,” he said.

But at the same time, a lot of critics panned the film and Uday thinks it was because they were expecting something else from the movie.

“‘Grace of Monaco’ is a commercial fairy tale, a feel good film and the critics (at Cannes) were looking for art house cinema. Also, the director of the film is known for character driven films and a lot of people expected this movie in that space,” Uday said.

“At the same time some reviews were good. So there is definitely a disparity in the way the critics have seen the film,” said the 41-year-old actor-producer.

However, he admitted that negative reviews affected the film’s business in some way.

“Business in France has been affected. But at the same time, the film is doing pretty well in Italy and some other parts of the world. We have already seen decent business and we haven’t yet released the film in all markets. The film is yet to release in USA, which is the biggest market,” Uday said.

It was a surreal moment for Uday to have walked the red carpet with Hollywood actress Kidman.

“I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I couldn’t believe that I was standing next to Nicole Kidman whose movies I grew up watching. I felt really proud,” he said.

Uday reveals that he had planned to bring Kidman for promoting the film in India, but as she is currently attending the Shanghai Film Festival, it was not possible. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Reflecting growing congruence in bilateral ties, China today pitched for promoting a new security concept featuring mutual trust and cooperation to take the Sino-India relationship further.

Chinese Ambassador Wei Wei also said that China and India should work closely to push for a mutually beneficial global economic regime and oppose protectionism of any form.

“We should promote new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation,” he said while delivering a lecture at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Affairs.

The comments by Wei Wei came three days after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Special Envoy and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held extensive talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which both sides agreed to further boost ties in diverse fields.

With improving relations, the two countries are exploring the possibility of having joint exercises between the air forces and the navy, besides the armies which have held three exercises so far and agreed to hold the fourth one in India this year.

Seeking better economic and trade ties, Wei said both the countries should actively seek “common development” while following the principle of mutual benefit, cooperation and win-win situation.

He said both countries should make efforts to achieve “peaceful co-existence, equal participation and competition on an equal footing”.

“We should respect each other’s rights to make independent economic decisions, advocate a mutually beneficial global trade and economic regime and oppose protectionism in any forms,” he said.

China is India’s biggest trading partner with two-way trade reaching close to USD 65 billion in 2013, according to official figures. However, the trade deficit in favour of China continued to mount to around USD 40 billion which is a matter of concern for India.

India has consistently been raising the issue of increasing trade deficit and seeking greater market access in China to bridge the gap.

Noting that there was a need to make international governance “more just” and reasonable, Wei said the UN and groupings such as G20, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) should get “full scope” to play their role.

“We should push the world towards the direction of multi-polarisation. Developing countries should have more representation in international affairs and international rules should be made through equal and collective consultations,” he said.

Talking about security, Wei observed that it was necessary to advocate common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security in Asia and that differences and disputes among countries should be resolved through dialogue instead of use of force.

Holding that “diversity” in the world should be respected by all, he said no country should “impose” its ideology of development model on other countries and interfere in internal affairs on the “pretext” of human rights.

“The right of all nations to choose their own social system and path of development should be respected and protected. No country should interfere in other’s internal affairs on the pretext of human rights or humanitarian protection,” he said.

While emphasising on having a peaceful environment for development, he quoted from recent public address of the Chinese President.

“He said, ‘the history has already shown us that war is like demon or nightmare, inflicting endless sufferings and pains to people. We must stay highly alert about it’,” the Chinese Ambassador said.

Referring to the 60th anniversary of Panchsheel, the five principles enunciated jointly by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1954, Wei said the principles laid the foundation for a more fair and reasonable international order.

On the trade front, he said China was working hard for a BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar) economic corridor as it will promote trade, investment, market integration and people-to-people exchanges among the four countries.

He said China would work jointly with other three countries to build the corridor soon.

In his speech, read out at the event, Joint Secretary in-charge of China in the External Affairs Ministry Gautam Bambawale said both the countries should focus on “mutual complementaries” in taking forward the ties. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has sought an explanation from the Defence Secretary on the ministry’s affidavit in the Supreme Court which said former Army Chief Gen V K Singh’s decision to impose a promotion ban on Army Chief-designate Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag was “illegal and premeditated”.

Jaitley called for the explanation from Defence Secretary R K Mathur and Ministry officials may also meet the Minister to give their side of the story, official sources said here.

The Defence ministry has told the Supreme Court in a recent affidavit in a promotion case related to Lt Gen Ravi Dastane that the alleged lapses which were made as grounds to impose disciplinary ban on Suhag were “premeditated”, “vague” and “illegal”.

Soon after the matter came to light, Gen V K Singh alleged that the “Defence Ministry affidavit is same as it gave to Armed Forces Tribunal under protective and conniving UPA”.

He also justified his decision to impose a Discipline and Vigilance (DV) ban on Lt Gen Suhag saying that “If unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organization tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should go free!!.”

The former Army Chief’s comments came against the backdrop of reports that a unit under Lt Gen Suhag had allegedly carried out killings and daocities in the North East region.

The Ministry, meanwhile, said it has adhered to its stand taken earlier on the issue related to imposition of DV ban on Lt.Gen Suhag by Gen V K Singh.

The sources said Government’s stand in legal proceedings were based on considered facts and decisions and cannot be changed in different courts.

The ban was imposed on Lt Gen Suhag for alleged “failure of command and control” in an operation carried out by an intelligence unit working directly under him when he was working as the then Dimapur-based 3 Corps commander.

In its last days in office, the UPA-II government had named Lt Gen Suhag as the Army Chief to succeed incumbent Gen Bikram Singh when he retires on July 31.

In its affidavit filed in the apex court registry, the Defence ministry said, “The alleged lapses observed by the then COAS, as reflected in the show cause notice, were premeditated and issued in utter disregard to the legal provisions governing the court of inquiry, principles of natural justice… The lapses were vague, based on presumptions and legally and factually not maintainable”.

“Evidently, the entire exercise to issue show cause notice was premeditated and as per records, the directions issued in this regard, including imposition of the DV ban and issue of show cause notice were found to be illegal,” it said.

The affidavit has been filed in response to a plea of Lt Gen Ravi Dastane alleging favouritism in the selection of Lt Gen Suhag as the Army commander who will succeed the Army Chief.

Lt Gen Suhag’s promotion as Army commander was cleared by Gen Bikram Singh soon after V K Singh retired. The ban was also lifted.

Congress sought the resignation of V K Singh as Union Minister, saying the affidavit was an expression of “no confidence” in him.

“This minister cannot remain in the Council of Ministers. It’s a matter of detail whether he is removed or he resigns,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters on Tuesday. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Opposition today lambasted the government in the Lok Sabha for making “tall promises” which were “difficult to achieve” to garner votes and asked the BJP-led ruling dispensation to explain how they would fulfill the aspirations of the people.

“I am just warning you (government). You should not be so arrogant. We have earlier seen such electoral victory and have fought those governments too — whether of Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi. We fought all of them. I am just reminding you,” Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address, Yadav said, “We fought the imposition of Emergency. After 1971, we saw 1977 (when Indira Gandhi was defeated by Janata Party). We also saw 1984 when Rajiv Gandhi stormed to power after Indira Gandhi’s assassination and then saw 1989 (when Congress was ousted).”

Amid interruptions from the treasury benches as he took the BJP to task on its poll promises, the SP chief said, “You have made tall promises on several issues. You have even promised to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the territory taken over by China. Tell us by when will you do this. We will support you.”

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, Yadav said, “Did you ask him to return the land (PoK)? What were the issues you discussed? Will you keep it a secret or inform Parliament?”

He and senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh also took the government to task for making “tall” promises to contain price rise and unemployment, with Yadav claiming that “since your government has come to power, prices have gone up again and we thought you will fulfill the promise of ending inflation.”

BJP has also promised pucca houses for all in ten years “but how will you implement it, we want to know. You have raised the people’s expectations very high, but how will you meet them?”, the SP supremo said, as he was repeatedly interrupted by BJP members.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had to ask members from the treasury benches several times not to disrupt Yadav’s speech.

“If all the promises you have made are fulfilled, then India will be the top-most nation,” Yadav said, adding BJP had used the “socialist slogan of ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’ (food, clothing and shelter) to garner votes”.

The SP chief, however, praised the government for giving emphasis on Hindi and other regional languages and said “we will congratulate you, if you accomplish this.”

Terming the BJP government’s agenda as “old wine in new bottle”, Amarinder Singh (Cong) said almost all the issues raised were “the same programmes started by the Congress earlier which have been brought in now with new names.”

While similarities have been drawn to the Congress strength of 44 and BJP’s 280 in the 16th Lok Sabha with “Pandavas (five) and Kauravas (100), there are so many other such examples like the single legion of Julius Caesar’s triumph over the Gauls,” he said.

The Congress leader wanted to know when the government would get the Women’s Reservation Bill adopted and how the promises of developing 100 cities in five years, 24X7 power supply and toilets to every village would be implemented or how poverty eliminated as promised.

Some BJP members rose in protest when Singh said “while the recent monsoon failure is due to ‘El Nino’ effect, some others say it is ‘El Modi’ effect because when someone does something wrong, as it happened in Gujarat, such things happen.”

“What happened in Gujarat,” shouted BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, with others from his party rising on their feet and shouting. Undeterred, Singh said “why, haven’t you heard of Ishrat Jahan”, provoking more BJP members to shout back.

He also made a fervent plea for concrete steps to check “large-scale drug abuse” in Punjab and demanded arrest of drug dealers and smugglers instead of the youth who had fallen victims to narcotics.

Singh pointed out that ‘one rank, one pension’ was implemented by the Congress-led government while so many “good laws” like Right to Information, Right to Education, Food Security Act and NREGA did not find a place in the President’s address.

Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) said states should be empowered by the new government headed by Narendra Modi.

He said financial assistance should be provided to the states and there should not be any situation in which the state governments beg before the Centre for aid.

He said political blackmailing made states beggars and the Centre a bully.

Sugata Bose (TMC) said India is the largest democracy of the world and should not consider China as a model as dictatorship prevails in China.

Referring to the issue of ousting illegal Bangladeshi migrants, Bose said West Bengal would not allow the use of language that hurts the sentiments of minority community.

He condemned the rape and killings of girls in Uttar Pradesh and murder of a techie in Pune.

Dharamvira Gandhi (AAP) raised the issue of power crisis in Delhi and asked the Centre to apply pressure on discoms to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to Delhiites.

He also asked the Centre not to increase gas prices as it will lead to price rise.

Kiran Rijiju (BJP), Badaruddin Ajmal (AIUDF), P Venugopal (AIADMK), Jayadev Galla (TDP), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) and Arjun Meghwal (BJP) also spoke. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Congress’ student outfit NSUI today staged a protest outside the residence of HRD Minister Smriti Irani demanding scrapping of the controversial Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) of Delhi University.

The protesters, led by National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) general secretary Mohit Sharma, reached Irani’s residence in Lodhi Estate around 9.30 AM and raised slogans against the BJP-led government during the demonstration which lasted for around an hour.

They alleged that lack of any action by the government despite the continued protests by various students and teachers organisations showed that BJP and the Vice Chancellor of DU were “hand in glove”.

“We have come here to protest against the FYUP in Delhi University. NSUI will not sit silent till it is immediately rolled back,” Amrish Ranjan Pandey, national spokesperson of NSUI, told reporters here.

He also alleged that the HRD Minister was not taking any interest in scrapping the programme.

“Unfortunately it is the students who are at the receiving end of this lacklustre attitude of the University owing to the atmosphere of uncertainty about their future with regard to the FYUP course,” he added.

In a statement, NSUI also claimed that its seven activists, who were sitting on hunger strike in Arts Faculty in North Campus of Delhi University for the last six days, were forcibly evicted by police.

“NSUI will, however, continue its fight for justice to students and will continue taking up this cause till our demand for rollback is accepted,” the statement said.

Students bodies and teachers organisations like DUTA have stepped up pressure on the BJP-led government to scrap the programme ever since it came to power, reminding it of the promise made in this regard in its manifesto.

Irani is understood to have told a delegation of BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which met her earlier, that any decision to scrap the programme will be taken keeping in mind the interest of students.

Earlier, members of the National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF) had made a representation to the HRD Minister in which they argued that the programme was in violation of laws and UGC norms. (PTI)

MUMBAI, June 11: The domestic aviation space is all set to witness severe competition with the entry of AirAsia India, which starts operation from tomorrow.

AirAsia India, the Indian arm of the Malaysian no-frills airline headed by Tony Fernandes, will become the fourth budget carrier in the country — after IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir — once its maiden flight takes off from Bangalore to Goa at 1510 hours on Thursday.

Besides these, the Naresh-Goyal promoted full service airline Jet Airways also operates a low-cost service JetLite.

As of now among the domestic carriers, including full service ones, Rahul Bhatia-promoted IndiGo dominates the local market with 31.6 per cent share, followed by Jet Airways-JetLite combine with 21.8 per cent and Air India with 18.3 per cent, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation data for April traffic.

While SpiceJet had a 17.9 per cent market share in April this year, GoAir had 9.5 per cent.

AirAsia India, whose top officials have promised to offer low and competitive airfares, will focus on connecting tier-II cities to begin with.

“Our airlines’ fares will be about 35 per cent lower than the current market rates,” AirAsia India Chief Executive Mittu Chandilya had earlier said.

The new entrant has already triggered the fare war by announcing fares as low as Rs 990 for its Bangalore-Goa and Bangalore-Chennai routes, forcing the rival carriers, including IndiGo to come out with matching fares.

IndiGo also announced promotional fares for just Re 1 on the Bangalore, Chennai and Goa routes, taking on the competition from AirAsia India’s Rs 5 fare (excluding airport tax and other applicable fees) offer and putting on sale over 25,000 promotional seats with travel period validity up to October 25.

Leaping up the AirAsia India offer, the flyers rushed to book a seat at dream prices and the airline sold out the entire flight within 10 minutes of opening for sales.

Not only this, 25,000 seats were also booked within 48 hours of the announcement.

Other budget carriers have also been on a low-fare spree with SpiceJet coming out with as many as 13 such offers since January this year till date with the most recent being Rs 1,999 offer on eight cities from South India.

Interestingly, AirAsia India has made Chennai its hub, which also happens to be the base of SpiceJet, promoted by media baron Kalanithi Maran.

The Indian subsidiary of the Malaysian carrier plans to have a fleet of 10 aircrafts, drawn from A-320 family, within a year of starting operations.

On March 22, AirAsia India received its first A-320 aircraft, configured in an all-economy layout, with 180 seats.

AirAsia India, a 49:30:21 joint venture between Malaysian carrier AirAsia, Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace, was granted flying licence by aviation regulator DGCA last month, after 9-month-long wait and various legal hurdles.

At present, AirAsia, through its operations based in Thailand and Malaysia, flies to Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Tiruchirappalli and Kolkata from several destinations in the ASEAN region.

AirAsia had announced its joint venture with Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace in February 2013, four months after the then UPA government allowed up to 49 per cent FDI in domestic airlines by foreign carriers. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: With onion and milk prices showing an upward cue, the government today said it is closely watching the trend and will take appropriate steps to ensure adequate availability of these commodities in the domestic market.

“Onion and milk are important. We are closely observing the price trend and an appropriate action will follow, whenever required,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told reporters here.

He was replying to a question whether the government is mulling any export restriction considering the possibility of deficit monsoon and rising prices.

Onions are costlier by Rs 5/kg in retail markets in most cities compared to last year prices. At present, onion prices are hovering in the range Rs 20-25/kg in Delhi. It was Rs 17/kg in the year-ago period.

“Our approach to agri exports is broadly nuanced by the fact that agri exports as far as possible should be open but clearly they are underlined by the attenuating factors of domestic demand and supply,” he said.

He said the government has reviewed the situation and there is no cause of worry for wheat and rice at present.

Consumer Affairs Secretary Keshav Desiraju had recently said that a call on re-imposing MEP would be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Prices soon. At present, there is no minimum export price (MEP) on onion.

Kher also said that the department dealing with future trading too is watching the situation.

In September last year, retail onion prices had shot to up Rs 100 per kg in many parts of the country. To rein in prices, the government had imposed MEP on onion and the minimum export price was raised several times to curb outbound shipments and boost domestic supplies. The government even imported onion.

With domestic supplies improving and wholesale prices crashing, the Centre had later done away with the MEP.

In the 2013-14, total onion exports fell by over 25 per cent to 1.35 million tonnes as against 1.82 million tonnes in the previous year.

According to the government research body National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), total onion production is estimated to be higher by 15 per cent at 19.29 million tonnes this year (July-June) from Rs 16.81 million tonnes a year ago.

In India, the world’s second largest onion producer after China, onion is grown in three seasons — kharif (summer), late kharif and rabi (winter).

Costlier vegetables, fruits and milk pushed up retail inflation to three-month high of 8.59 per cent in April.

Inflation in milk was 11.42 per cent in April as against 11.02 per cent in the previous month.

Amul and Mother Dairy, the two major milk suppliers in Delhi had increased prices by Rs 2 a litre recently. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Indian and Chinese armies will hold their fourth joint military exercise in India in November.

This was stated by Joint Secretary in-charge of China in the External Affairs Ministry Gautam Bambawale.

“The next round of joint training exercises between the two armies will be held in India in November,” Bhambawale said at a conference, where his speech was read out.

The third joint exercise between the two armies code named “hand in hand” had taken place in November last year in China’s Chengdu city after a gap of five years.

A 150-strong Indian army contingent had participated in the 10-day long exercise.

The first exercise was held in China’s Kunming city in 2007 followed by the second round at Belgaum in Karnataka in 2008. The next round was called off by India following denial of visa to a top General heading troops in Jammu and Kashmir.

In his address at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Bambawale said the intensity of defence exchanges between the two countries has grown this year.

In this context, he referred to visits here of Deputy Chief of General Staff of People’s Liberation Army Lt General Wang Guanzhong in February and Deputy Chief of General Staff (Operations) Lt General Qi Jianguo in April.

“We are also expecting a visit by the Chinese Defence Minister in the latter half of this year,” said Bambawale.

Talking about trade relations, he said they form an important part of “our strategic and cooperative partnership”.

He, however, identified trade deficit in favour of China as an issue for the government and said one of the measures to address it was to increase Chinese investment in India. The trade deficit has risen to around USD 40 billion in 2013.

The official described as “difficult” and “sensitive” boundary issue but said efforts by both the countries resulted in peace and tranquility on the border.

“Both sides have also recognised that peace and tranquility on the border is an important guarantor for development and continued growth of our bilateral relations.

“Both sides are also in agreement that for relations to grow more rapidly, they should accommodate and be sensitive to each other’s concerns and aspirations and see each other as equal partners for development,” he said. (PTI)