They have become working soulmates having collaborated in four films and director Hansal Mehta says Rajkummar Rao is very special to him as the actor expresses his creative vision on-screen.

Their films – Shahid, CityLights and Aligarh – are testimony to the fact that Mehta and Rao inspire, trust and understand each other.

Mehta, who has also directed Rao in yet-to-be released Omerta, feels when an actor and a director embrace their relationship, it shows in their films.

“Rajkummar is very special for me. I think he is the best actor in his generation. Beyond that, Rajkummar is my expression on celluloid. If I am an artiste, then I express because I express through him. Rajkummar has changed my life,” Mehta told.

“He came into my office when I was not able to make Shahid. He continues to do that. We keep transforming each other through stories we try to tell.”

Besides their film collaboration, the duo will also work together on a web-series based on the life of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which will air on Ekta Kapoor's digital app ALTBalaji.

Mehta also recognises his other collaborators like Manoj Bajpayee with whom he worked in “Aligarh” and the lead of his upcoming “Simran”, Kangan Ranaut for helping him express through them.

“Actors are my form of expression. I am blessed to have had worked with actors like Rajkummar, Manoj and Kangana.”

His films – be it “Shahid”, which was a biopic on human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was murdered in 2010 or “Aligarh” about an AMU professor sacked on charges of homosexuality – have given him the title of a path-breaking director.

However, Mehta, who won the National Award for best direction for Shahid, says he does not take such titles seriously and his sole aim is to seek stories and showcase it through films.

“I don't think of it that way. The moment you start thinking that you are path breaking, you will break your own path. You will destroy your own path. The idea is to constantly seek stories and tell them. One has to constantly evolve, constantly create. There is nothing to do other than that.”

Mehta says he does not want to become creatively dead just like filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and so he does not take himself seriously.

“If I take myself too seriously as creative person then I will be finished. I will become Mahesh Bhatt and I am saying it with respect. That is what he says. He got creatively dead after one point. That's what will happen if I take everything seriously. When I got the National award, Mahesh Bhatt told me, 'It is a golden leash, don't become a prisoner of it.”

The Kashmir conundrum is not an easy issue to resolve and only a long term policy can tackle it, Goa Chief Minister and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Friday.

Parrikar also said that there was a lot of pressure on him when he was serving as the Defence Minister in the national capital.

"It is not easy to resolve the Kashmir issue. There is a need for a long-term policy to resolve the Kashmir issue," Parrikar said at the 126th birth anniversary celebration of Babasaheb Ambedkar here.

He also said that New Delhi wasn't a place he got habituated to. 

"Delhi is not my place. It is not the place I am habituated to. There was a lot of pressure on me," Parrikar said.

Playing almost all of India's Test matches at home has helped pacer Umesh Yadav improve his line and length also letting him know his strong points and areas to improve.

The Vidarbha pacer who picked up 17 wickets at an average of 23.41 in eight innings in the recently concluded India-Australia series has been the mainstay of India's bowling.

Yadav impressed with control and consistent pace throughout, but particularly in the final Test against Australia at Dharamsala.

On the liveliest of pitches used in the four-Test series, Yadav tormented the tourists to claim five wickets, also hinting that India now have the necessary fast bowling resources to clinch the deal on the hard decks of Australia and South Africa.

For many, including former captain Sourav Ganguly, Yadav was the find of India's long home season.

"This is all due to my hardwork. In the last 8-10 months I am playing continuously (for the Indian team). The more you bowl the better you become," Yadav told reporters on being asked if he was carrying his Dharamsala form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well, where he returned to duty for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with a four-for against Kings XI Punjab to help the purple brigade cruise to a eight-wicket win.

"It's like a bowler's line and length is sorted with regular bowling. I think, the number of matches I have played has helped me better my line and length. Now I have come to know my strong points and the areas I need to bowl to," the 29-year old, who used to be wayward before, said.

Narrating an incident of how Team India coaches, especially batting coach Sanjay Bangar has helped him understand the finer nuances of his game, like the run-up, Umesh said: "In the last 10 months, our coaches Sanjay Bangar, Anil (Kumble, chief coach)sir who have a fair amount of idea about bowling have helped me a lot.

"Sanjay sir had told me that when you run in to bowl, sometimes you run faster than required in order to bowl faster.

"Then you risk the chance of disturbing your line and length. You should enjoy you run up which will help you bring control to your bowling."

KKR have six more matches at the Eden Gardens, where Umesh looked to be in sublime form with the ball. The relaid 22-yar strip, the pacer said, was to his liking with a lot of carry and bounce.

"The wicket is very good," Umesh, who missed the franchise's first two matches due to right hip and lower back soreness, said.

"There was a lot of carry and bounce so it helps the fast bowlers. The conditions were good too. You don't get such wickets in Test cricket very easily."

KKR take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at home on Saturday high on confidence after the marauding win playing for the first time in front of their supporters.

Click here for more stories related to IPL 2017

A video of a youth tied to the front of a moving army jeep as a shield to avoid stone pelting has evoked anger and shock among Kashmiris, including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

"This young man was TIED to the front of an army jeep to make sure no stones were thrown at the jeep? This is just so shocking!," Omar tweeted.

With internet services restored in Kashmir Valley on Thursday night after Sunday's deadly violence that led to the death of eight civilians in firing by security forces, many videos have emerged on social media sites on Friday.

Commenting on the video, Wasim Dar, a Kashmiri youth, posted on Twitter: "A boy killed from point blank range and another boy tied to the army jeep. What to do after seeing these videos." 

Another Twitter handle said the army's actions were "dehumanising a whole population to cultivate total submission".

"The strategy, that has recoiled back, spectacularly," ProjectKashmir tweeted.

However, some twitter users defended the army's act and said it helped to avoid the stone pelting.

"Find a pelter, tie him up, let his pelter brothers scratch their heads. What's not to love? Should've thought of this since beginning," said a tweet from "FrustratedIndian".

In a breakthrough, scientists have developed a new system that can harvest litres of water from the air everyday using just ambient sunlight, even in dry or desert climates.

The solar-powered harvester, which can work in conditions as low as 20 per cent humidity, was constructed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

“This is a major breakthrough in the long-standing challenge of harvesting water from the air at low humidity,” said Omar Yaghi, from the University of California, Berkeley.

“There is no other way to do that right now, except by using extra energy. Your electric dehumidifier at home 'produces' very expensive water,” said Yaghi, also a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US.

The prototype, under conditions of 20-30 per cent humidity, was able to pull 2.8 litres of water from the air over a 12-hour period, using one kilogramme of a metal-organic framework (MOF) – a special material produced at UC Berkeley.

Rooftop tests at MIT confirmed that the device works in real-world conditions, researchers said.

“One vision for the future is to have water off-grid, where you have a device at home running on ambient solar for delivering water that satisfies the needs of a household,” said Yaghi.

“To me, that will be made possible because of this experiment. I call it personalised water,” he said.

The new system consisted of dust-sized MOF crystals compressed between a solar absorber and a condenser plate, placed inside a chamber open to the air.

As ambient air diffuses through the porous MOF, water molecules preferentially attach to the interior surfaces.

Sunlight entering through a window heats up the MOF and drives the bound water toward the condenser, which is at the temperature of the outside air. The vapour condenses as liquid water and drips into a collector.

“This work offers a new way to harvest water from air that does not require high relative humidity conditions and is much more energy efficient than other existing technologies,” Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at MIT.

This proof of concept harvester leaves much room for improvement, Yaghi said. The current MOF can absorb only 20 per cent of its weight in water, but other MOF materials could possibly absorb 40 per cent or more.

The material can also be tweaked to be more effective at higher or lower humidity levels.

“To have water running all the time, you could design a system that absorbs the humidity during the night and evolves it during the day,” Yaghi said.

“We wanted to demonstrate that if you are cut off somewhere in the desert, you could survive because of this device. he said.

The study was published in the journal Science.

Singer Shania Twain is all set to become a part of The Voice as a top 12 key advisor.

The 51-year-old country singer took to Twitter to announce her arrival on the TV reality singing show.

“Excited to announce that I'll appear on @nbcthevoice this month, as a mentor to the finalists. Tune in on Monday 24th April at 8pm ET/PT,” Shania tweeted.

The Voice also announced that “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” will make a one-time appearance to mentor the remaining contestants.

Maoists have torched 12 vehicles involved in road construction work in Jharkhand's Palamau district, the state police said on Friday.

According to the police, the Maoist guerrillas torched one JCB machine, 11 tractors and one motorbike at Saraiya village under the Pipira police station jurisdiction on Thursday evening.

Refusal by the construction company to pay them a "levy" is said to have caused the Maoists to torch the vehicles.

More than 25 vehicles have been burnt to ashes by the Maoists in 2017.

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) subscribers and pensioners can now seed in their Aadhaar numbers in their accounts at any EPF field office or Government-run Common Service Centres (CSCs).

This has been made possible after the launch of the Aadhaar Seeding Application by Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

The Aadhaar seeding has been provided to ensure efficient service delivery through optimum use of information technology.

The EPF Central Board of Trustees under the chairmanship of the Labour Minister decided to recommend a minimum assured benefit of Rs 2.50 lakh on death of Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) members.

A loyalty-cum-life benefit has also been proposed for the EDLI subscribers on superannuation on completion of 58 to 60 years of age, and total and permanent disablement with minimum 20 years of contributory service, as a pilot project, for two years.

Thereafter the scheme will be reviewed. The Board meet took note that the recent employees’ enrolment campaign
from January 1 to March 31, 2017 had added about 50 lakh more subscribers to the EPF Scheme.

The headquarter of South Korean tech giant Samsung here was evacuated on Friday after police received a report that an explosive was placed inside the building.

According to local broadcaster YTN, some 3,000 employees of Samsung, the country's biggest family-controlled conglomerate, were urgently evacuated after the police received the report around 11.20 a.m., Xinhua news agency reported.

However, no explosive was found after two hours of search. 

One text message written in English was sent to a person living in South Korea's port city of Busan that Samsung Life Insurance's building would be exploded.

The Samsung headquarters located in Seoul's upscale Gangnam district is composed of three high rises, including the one of Samsung Life Insurance.

The person who sent the message is yet to be identified. 

With its crystal blue waters, powdery beaches and a tropical climate, Mauritius is a magnet for honeymooners and affluent jet setters, seeking the holy trinity of sun, sand and surf. But there's so much more to this idyllic paradise, situated off the south-east coast of Africa, than coconuts and days upon days of snorkelling!

Venture beyond the luxury of your resort and Mauritius will enchant you with its mix of culture, wildlife, golfing greens, delicious food, great shopping and a pulsating nightlife. There's alluring history too. The island's roots go back to include descendants of African slaves and Indian labourers, and a legacy of Dutch, French and British colonisation resulting in a charming mosaic of cultures, cuisine and warm people.

A comfortable seven-hour Air Mauritius flight delivers me blinking into bright Mauritian sunshine. After driving for an hour along the island's palm-fringed coast, I reach the western tip of the island ~ a scenic peninsula that is home to the Dinarobin Hotel. Flanked by a staggering volcanic mountain range, the property nestles at the foot of a towering, purple-hued lava peak called Le Morne.

The hotel's ocean-facing suite, glassy water bodies straddling boardwalks, as well as a raft of restaurants, encourage me to lead a convalescent life. A scenic stretch of white coral sand fringing a sporting playground includes an 18- hole international-standard golf course here.

Golf buggies purr around the grounds while cardinal birds chatter, exuding exotic serenity. My double-storey suite contains everything I could wish for from a wellappointed five-star resort , including an insect-repellent body lotion although I never saw any insects.

History & culture

Cradling in a natural basin, the Capital city of Port Louis is well worth negotiating through dense crowds. It is an interesting mix of colonial architecture, atmospheric bazaars, the historic Champ de Mars racecourse, Le Caudan Waterfront, a shopping plaza and Chinatown. Port Louis is also the wealthiest city in Africa peppered with spiffy boutiques, stylish eateries, handsome hotels and a lively marina. I amble around the marina bustling with cruise ships, shoppers, honeymooners strolling around hand-in-hand and selfieclicking tourists.

I next drive down to Pamplemousses Botanic Garden, one of the most visited attractions in Mauritius. Located near Port Louis in the district of Pamplemousse, the garden was initially the private garden of the French governor of Mauritius nearly 300 years ago. Later, it morphed into the national botanical garden of Mauritius.

The gardens are oases of peace and tranquillity with a soundtrack of chirping birds playing in a loop. Stretching over endless acres, they showcase over 650 varieties of rare plants, including the famed Baobabs, the Palmier Bouteille, Giant Water Lilies, medicinal plants and herbs and a substantial spice garden. Over 85 different varieties of palm trees ~ brought from different corners of the world ~ add to its allure along with a trove of indigenous species of plants.

Next on my list was a trip to Chamarel, one of the most amazing natural wonders in Mauritius, where sevencoloured earth exists in a lunar-like landscape. Due to the tropical weather conditions, all water-soluble elements such as silicon dioxide have been washed out on the ground here. The result is the sedimentation of reddishblack iron- and aluminium oxides which create shades in blue, cyan and purple. Apparently, over millennia, the rocks here were pulverized into sands which settled into distinct layers. Rains have carved beautiful patterns into the Chamarel hillside, creating an effect of earthen meringue. At first one notices shadows on the hills, creating a chiaroscuro of different hues. But on closer inspection, you realise that the colours are real and the shadows were the illusion! Indeed the wonders of Mauritius are too many!

Fabulous food

Being a foodie, Mauritian cuisine interested me enormously due to its multiple influences. From Creole stews to Indian curries, sushi to noodles as well as continental fare, the island satiates one's every craving. The exquisite Hotel Heritage Le Telfair in Le Ombre even offers an innovative barefoot dining where one can eat overlooking the ocean and a pool! At the hotel's Gin'ja restaurant, which specialises in flavoursome Asian cuisine, a delectable lobsterthemed dinner had me tucking into dishes revolving around the crustacean. There was a feast for the eyes too ~ nubile sega dancers serenading us to the strains of mellifluous music! The next day, Chef Deepak tantalized my taste buds with Indian cuisine at Zafaran. Bharwan Alloo, Mahi Tikka Achari, Tikka Masala, Rogan Josh and a trio of desserts ~ rasmalai, kheer and halwa transported me to culinary heaven.

Neeta Lal is a Delhi-based Editor and Journalist

The GRPF and state police have seized demonetised banknotes with the face value of Rs.1.10 crore, nine gold bars and 1.5 kg brown sugar in separate incidents here.

The demonetised notes of Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 denominations were seized from a vehicle in Paltan Bazar here on Thursday. However, the driver managed to escape, police said.

In another incident, nine gold bars, weighing 15 kg, were seized from three persons at Guwahati railway station , a GRPF official said.

The gold bars were seized during a routine checking in Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express and the persons, all residents of Mizoram, were arrested, the official said.

Another man, travelling by Awadh NE express, was arrested after 1.5 kg brown sugar was seized from his possession, police said.

Maoists have torched 12 vehicles involved in road construction work in Jharkhand's Palamau district, the state police said on Friday.

According to the police, the Maoist guerrillas torched one JCB machine, 11 tractors and one motorbike at Saraiya village under the Pipira police station jurisdiction on Thursday evening. 

Refusal by the construction company to pay them a "levy" is said to have caused the Maoists to torch the vehicles.

More than 25 vehicles have been burnt to ashes by the Maoists in 2017. 

Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said there was no real victory for the BJP in the recent by-polls as it could win just five out of 10 seats and lost one to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

A day after the results to the by-polls were announced, the former finance minister wrote on Twitter, "10 by elections, BJP wins 5, non-BJP parties win 5. Are not the honours even? (sic)"

"The real headline of the day is 'BJP loses ATER seat in MP to Congress'," he wrote.

The BJP had won half of the 10 Assembly seats in the by- polls in seven states and in Delhi. The Congress bagged three and the TMC and the JMM one each with all but two of the seats being retained.

Of the five seats won by the BJP, the party retained three while it wrested two– Delhi's Rajouri Garden from the AAP, and Rajasthan's Dholpur from the BSP.

It retained Bandhavgarh seat (Madhya Pradesh), Bhoranj(SC reserved in Himachal Pradesh), and Dhemaji (Assam).

Maintaining its hold, the ruling Congress in Karnataka retained the Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly seats in which the party and the BJP had played for high stakes.

It also retained the Ater seat in Bhind district of MP by a close margin of 857 votes.

The TMC kept the Kanthi Dakshin seat in West Bengal where the BJP finished second while the JMM retained Littipara (ST) Assembly seat in Jharkhand defeating ruling BJP.

Indian students will continue to be in demand in the United States as they have been gaining advanced knowledge and technical skills, experts feel.

They believe that that the Trump administration's proposed bar on H1B visas will have no impact on Indian students as reforms are driven by the industry's need for advanced knowledge and skills.

"As Indian students have been gaining advanced knowledge and technical skills beyond their bachelor's degree, through work experience and advanced degrees such as graduate coursework, they will continue to be in demand," Patrick Phelan, Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University (ASU), told IANS.

Holly Singh, Senior Director of International Students & Scholars Center at the ASU, didn't agree with the view in some sections that the US is no longer an attractive destination for Indian students and pointed out that the country is still the leader in innovation.

A team from the Fulton Schools of Engineering visited India this month to recruit a new batch of international students

ASU's International Students and Scholars Center provides support to transition from graduation to Optional Practical Training (OPT) and an H1B visa. "This unit has trained staff and counselors who support students in obtaining their OPT. The Fulton Schools of Engineering through its Career Services also holds two career fairs each year," said Singh.

"ASU is number one in innovation two years in a row now. This is because of our focus on providing all of its students with opportunities to succeed in becoming master learners," said Patrick, who is also a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

According to statistics, India had the highest number of enrolments at ASU in the engineering master's programme at 54.6 per cent. For the second year in a row, the largest growth was in the number of students from India, primarily at the graduate level and in OPT.

"Indian graduate students form not only the largest cohort of our master's students, but also play a vital role in ASU's engineering research programs at the master's and PhD levels," said Tirupalavanam G. Ganesh, Assistant Dean of Engineering Education and Associate Research Professor of Engineering Education in the Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The number of international students awarded with graduate degrees in engineering increased from just over 300 in academic year 2010-11 to over 1,000 in 2015-16. Over this same time, overall enrollment in Fulton Schools of Engineering grew from over 7,000 to about 20,000.

ASU is home to over 10,000 students from 135 countries and has recorded for its fall session, over 2,000 enrolments from India, alone, while the Fulton Schools have over 1,000 students from India.

ASU offers students the opportunity to be a part over 45 engineering student organisations and student professional societies giving them leadership opportunities and hands-on experience.

The engineering students at ASU have an opportunity to begin their entrepreneurship journey from the moment they start their course, with programmes like the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, which awards students with $20,000 in seed funding and office space, or the Innovation Challenge competition which provide places for students to learn more about start-ups, said Ganesh.

The number of foreign students in the US topped 1 million for the first time in 2016. According to the Institute of International Education, engineering as a field of study bought in 216,932 students — 20.8 percent of the international student population.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck have filed for divorce nearly two years after the couple originally announced their split.

Garner and Affleck filed the docs together and they are both seeking joint legal and physical custody of their three kids. The date of separation, as well as the division of property and any spousal support, is still to be determined, reported People magazine.

The former couple filed mirror-image paperwork and they each filed “in propria persona” which means without an on- the-record attorney.

Both Affleck and Garner noted that they will keep any earnings they made since they separated, so the separation date they determine could affect the settlement. They announced their split on June 30, 2015.

“They always planned to divorce despite what people said. If you look at their first statement it says divorce not separate. They just did it the way they wanted to and did what was best for their kids. There was no catalyst, it was just time. Nothing has changed, they are and still will be putting their kids first,” a source says.

Affleck and Garner broke off their 10-year marriage in June of 2015.

Over the following months, Garner and Affleck, both 44, sometimes sparked reconciliation rumors as they continued to live together, vacation together and co-parent their kids Violet, 11, Seraphina, 8, and Samuel, almost 5 while also stepping out for solo outings.

The friendly exes have been spotted out frequently during the last few months, including a sighting on Election Day in LA where they were both seen wearing “I Voted” stickers after casting their ballots.

The actors also spent the holidays together with their kids in Montana.

There has been nearly 23-fold increase in the number of digital payments since the November 8 demonetisation, the government said on April 13.

The transactions using various digital payment modes went up to 63.80 lakh with a total transaction value of Rs.2,425 crore till March this year, as against 2,80,000 transactions and Rs.101 crore till November 2016, a NITI Aayog statement said.

The number of Aadhaar-enabled payments also increased from 2.5 crore in November 2016 to over five crore in March 2017.

"BHIM App has already created a new world record by registering 1.9 crore downloads in just four months since its launch in December," it said.

Following the demonetisation of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes on November 8, 2016, the government had launched DigiDhan Melas led by the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog in 100 cities to promote digital payments.

"At least 15,000 institutions have gone cashless across these 100 cities in 27 states and seven Union Territories.

"With a turnout of over 15 lakh from cities, small towns and villages, the melas have enabled lakhs to open new bank accounts as well as create new Aadhaar cards," the statement said.

Modi had in December 2016 launched BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app, an Aadhaar-based mobile payment application to promote and make digital transactions easier.

The Congress on Friday launched "Quest for Equity" website on the occasion of Dr BR Ambedkar on his 126th birth anniversary.

The website contains pictures of his achievements and a copy of the original Constitution of India. 

Chairman of the Scheduled Castes Department of the All India Congress Committee K. Raju said the website www.questforequity.org contains over 300 archival pictures of Ambedkar, 97 scans of his correspondence and the full transcripts of the Constituent Assembly debates. 

In addition, he said the website hosts the most comprehensive and longitudinal data set, broadly categorised into access to public services, discrimination, economic data, education, employment in public and private sectors, health and household data on the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. 

"The website also contains over 200 papers and reports of diverse scholars and organisations working on issues of inequality, discrimination and poverty. It therefore aims to be the definitive platform for data, research and legislation on issues related to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and eventually minority communities," Raju said.

Quest for Equity hopes to take Babasaheb Ambedkar's spirit forward by encouraging critical analyses of contemporary socio-economic and political issues, so as to deepen India's social justice paradigm, he said. 

"In trying to understand how to make the promise of this nation further accessible to all, it is therefore imperative that we continuously study why and how marginalised groups are discriminated against or excluded," Raju said. 

"It is only then that scholars, activists and policy makers can re-order India's social justice paradigm to uplift and empower. It is hoped that Quest for Equity will prove to be a vital resource in furthering this objective," he added.

Furthermore, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi extended their greetings to the nation on the occasion.

"Babasaheb was indeed one of the greatest icons of modern India and his contribution to the making of India, as a nation shall always remain undisputed," Sonia said in an official statement.

She said that Ambedkar's life is a guiding light to all Indians who want to live together, united and under the shade of the constitutional laws and ethos.

"The Indian Constitution is a living affirmation of the inclusive cohesiveness and guarantee for equality that Babasaheb envisaged", she said.

She paid tributes to "one of the greatest sons of India and champion of social equality and democracy", and said that the path of social democracy shown by Babasaheb Ambedkar shall forever remain relevant.

Rahul Gandhi also extended his greetings on the occasion, and tweeted "Babasaheb's life and his work embody the struggle for the conscience of a nation."

"May we never cease to strive for the ideals Babasaheb dedicated his life to…," he said in another tweet.