Lead realtor executing the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), the Gautam Adani group will extend its footprint in Mumbai city with several more slum clusters actively taken up for redevelopment. Well-placed sources say projects in line include Goregaon located Motilal Nagar in the western suburbs, to be followed by the Bharat Nagar slum cluster in the BKC business district. Thereafter, the Kurar slums will be taken up followed by the ghettos in Malwani region in the western suburb of the Mumbai metropolis. “The DRP special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up for the Dharavi recast entails a contractual clause allowing lead developer (Adani) first right of refusal for any slum cluster redevelopment in Mumbai, going ahead. Naturally, even CMs of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh evinced interest in replicating the model for slum redevelopment for their respective political domains, the roadmap to make Mumbai slum-free is on accelerated mode with CM Devendra Fadnavis mandating an eight-year timeline for make the city totally free of slums,” according to a source. Notwithstanding the eight-year deadline to transform 45% of Mumbai’s land mass housing 50% of its population in slum clusters may probably need a couple of years of extension for the target human rehabilitation within a decade. Considering the fact that the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) was able to provide only 2.5 lakh free homes to slum dwellers over 28 years, the emphasis on real time redevelopment of all slums in the next decade is certainly an ambitious plan but, not undoable.

There is a new player in the eternal Indian cycle in which the cricketers want to be actors on screen and actors want to play cricketers on screen. He is Suresh Raina who will be making his debut as the hero in a Tamil film that has just been announced. Considering the former Test, ODI and IPL batsman has had offers from Bollywood that he turned down in life after cricket, his choice of medium is piquant. But then Raina may have found an easy choice in his favourite city Chennai to take a serious offer to don the greasepaint, that too as the protagonist. And he will be playing a role that may come naturally to him as he is a cricketer in the film. No, it is not a biopic, just a story woven around cricket and politics.  A close lieutenant of Dhoni who was ‘Thala’ (boss or chief), Raina was known as ‘Chinna Thala’ in his CSK playing days when he was as much a batting super star as his boss. Raina may feel at home in Kollywood where he will take on this new role. The film is being directed by Logan for the Dream Knight Stories banner and will be a medium budget release with big ambitions. There have been movies in which cricketers like Bravo, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh have also starred. Where Raina and his film may end up is anybody’s guess. But this won’t be the last story you will read on cricketers chasing films and film stars chasing cricketers to play them on screen. This cycle began early with Salim Durrani one of the first to try a hand at becoming a matinee star while others like Sandeep Patil also fell for it.

The Calcutta High Court directed the Union government to resume implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in West Bengal from August 1. The scheme, which provides 100 days of wage employment to rural households, had remained suspended in the State since March 2022. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee noted that the Ministry of Rural Development had invoked Clause 27 of the MGNREGA Act to withhold funds to the State, a provision that permits stoppage of fund flow for a reasonable period of time. Though the court pointed out that the Union government was within its rights to impose special conditions for implementation to avoid irregularities, Justice Sivagnanam stated that the Act “does not envisage a situation where the scheme would be put to cold storage for eternity.” The Bench also took note of irregularities in wage disbursement flagged by Central teams. Responding to the HC order the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an interview to The Business Line, pointed out that there should be some rationale with which money is to be distributed. “It’s also a question of how based on the BE (Budget Estimates), within the first half year itself, everything gets exhausted. If it is a demand-driven scheme, a certain BE is announced so that money can be apportioned. How does the BE get exhausted every year in every state much before the first half of the year? This is a scheme which has got to be in force when it is the non-agricultural season. So, come the rains, you shouldn’t have demand coming. But the demand is still in place even during the rain.”  Pointing out how there are states where senior citizens taking money out of MGNREGA–it is a C&AG’s observation–she wanted to know if they are productive enough to be employed and given payment? 

Vivek Oberoi may have been crucified by Bollywood because of his fallout with Salman Khan but the same actor today is a successful entrepreneur and real estate baron in Dubai.  The actor’s company has a turnover of Rs 1200cr and many Bollywood stars have bought apartments in Dubai through him. Oberoi’s second act or changing career track has impressed one and all. The 49-year old Vivek, son of actor Suresh Oberoi, made his debut as a gangster in Ram Gopal Varma’s Company which was a runaway hit. More success followed. But his relationship with Aishwaraya Rai seemed to have upset Salman Khan. This rivalry saw him losing out as most producers decided to back Salman and sidelined him. With not many offers coming his way, it is learnt that for a fleeting moment he contemplated what Sushant Singh Rajput did. Then he picked up the gauntlet, moved to Dubai and plunged headlong into the real estate business. He was successful. There is a lesson here for lakhs of people; Vivek did not allow lobbies in Bollywood to decide his future and is now doing films on his terms. He was recently seen in Kesari Veer and will be seen playing vidyutjeeva in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayan. The actor now lives in Dubai and shuttles between Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai. Not many are aware of his philanthropic activities in the areas of education (he does not like to talk about it) and healthcare. He helps the underprivileged children of Vrindavan and also cancer patients. Vivek had a reason to change his track and fortunately he was successful. Others have tried but in vain. Rajesh Khanna plunged into politics full time while people like Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini, Ravi Kishan managed both the world. Amitabh Bachchan’s eternal regret is his political odyssey. 

BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL), which was losing importance following the setting up of a new unit at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, is getting a fresh lease of life. The unit, which is owned by BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL), a joint venture between India and Russia, is expected to be taken over by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). BAPL, headquartered in New Delhi has an integration complex in Hyderabad and production unit in Thiruvananthapuram. According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, former IT Minister and BJP Kerala president, he has been assured that DRDO will take over BATL. This will bring BATL employees directly under the Central government structure and align the unit with the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, which would not have been possible if it was functioning as a JV with a foreign entity. BATL was set up in 2007, with the Kerala government transferring Kerala Hi-Tech Industries (KELTEC), sitting on 15.8 acres of land near Thiruvananthapuram airport to the JV. The land had recently become a contentious issue following the expansion of the International airport. The Kerala government has now offered BATL 186 acres of land at Nettukalters near Neyyar Dam in Thiruvananthapuram, to relocate the unit.  The defence ministry is believed to be evaluating the proposal. BATL, is a jewel in Kerala’s industrialisation plan and the first defence unit in the state. BAPL took over KELTEC and converted it into a world class missile making unit in India. BAPL was set up in 1998 as a JV between DRDO (50.5%) and Mashinostroyenia (49.4%) Russia.

The number of IPOs on SME Platforms of Exchanges have been declining for some time now. Investors are not showing much of the interest especially in QIB categories. Ditto: HNIs and Retail category investors. Merchant Bankers even after getting the approval want to be fully sure about the success of the public issue and therefore there is delay in opening the issue. It has been also observed that on the day of listing there is huge selling happening which is creating downward pressure on the price of the stocks. Recently few companies got listed at discount to the IPO price and this is further keeping the investors away from the primary market. According to Ajay Thakur, the brain behind BSE SME Exchange, who has now set up his own outfit TGI SME Capital Advisors, “In the first six months of the current calendar year SME Platforms have observed lacklustre performance as response from all categories of investors were lukewarm. However, from last week of June things have started looking up. Most of the SME companies are getting listed at a premium and naturally there is heavy selling on the day of listing. But, the good development is that one is not seeing the euphoria like we saw in 2024. This indicates that Investors are maturing and the expectations are reasonable. Greed is the biggest killer for everyone whether investors or intermediaries or anyone. Intermediaries also need to do proper due diligence before SME companies can tap the capital market.  

About 767 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra between January and May 2025. These include about 229 farmer suicides in the month of April,2025. Of these, the families of only 373 farmers were found eligible to receive compensation of Rs 1 lakh from the state. Out of these, 327 families have received compensation, the balance 46 families’ paperwork are being processed. Claims for compensation of about 200 families were rejected as ineligible. These figures were provided by minister for relief and rehabilitation Makarand Jadhav Patil, in a written reply in the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The state has witnessed crop losses across 36 million hectares worth Rs 7000 crore in damages over the last five years. Maharashtra being highly vulnerable to climate change with the state witnessing 142 extreme weather events in 2024, only adds to the conundrum. The Opposition have been contending that the farmer suicides have been on the rise due to failure of the State to protect farmers from crops loss impacted by climate change, failure to provide fair support price, ensure crop insurance and failure to provide loan waivers to farmers. The state has recently scrapped crop insurance for farmers with a premium of Re 1. Maharashtra has the highest number of farmers suicides in the country with the parched regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada registering the highest numbers. Over 250 farmers committed suicide in March alone this year in these regions. The Opposition has been demanding that a higher compensation be awarded to farmer suicides on the lines of compensation provided to those who die due to wild animal attacks.

Popular south star Priya Mani Raj, known as Priyamani has many comfort zones as a superb actor (she won the National Award for Paruthiveeran in which she played a rape victim), the OTT series The Family Man was as much about her as the Sri Lankan Terrorist  Samantha, ‘1234 get on the dance floor where she sizzled in a racy fun number with Shah Rukh Khan in Chennai Express and many a role as cop or CBI officer. She laughs as she says “I have done so many CBI /cop roles that I may be given a citation”. But even as she indirectly does not want typecast roles, she is grateful that she has gained this recognition…her pleasant looks, versatile performance in all language formats and impact filled roles make her an apt choice for all reasons. So, when Revathy directed Good Wife started filming, Priya was the obvious choice. She plays the role of a lawyer who has hung up her robe, but when her husband is charged in a scandal, she dons her lawyer robe once again. This 6-episode is based on the American OTT series. Forty-one year old Priyamani is also starring in Vijay’s last film (he claims) Jana Nayakan to be released in January, and in a third season of The Family Man on Amazon Prime. This unassuming lady from a middle class South Indian family has truly come a long way. 

As tensions escalate between a section of Tollywood’s directors and the Federation of Technicians, a pertinent question looms large over the Bengali film industry—can it afford to lose celebrated talents like Parambrata Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Aritra Sen, Subrata Sen, Sudeshna Roy or heavyweight producers like SVF if this deadlock continues? Anirban, one of the industry’s most respected actor-directors, who also worked opposite Rani Mukherjee in her Chatterjee Vs Norway has openly expressed his frustration over the prevailing impasse. Despite recently wrapping up the shoot of Raghu Dakat, the actor revealed that he hasn’t received any new work offers in weeks. He was unable to shoot for the second part of the song Hooliganism for his band. He pointed out that while there are rumours of a boycott, there has been no official written or verbal statement. He now wonders if continued silence over the next few months might signal the end of his screen career altogether. This unofficial ban is not unique to Anirban.  Thirteen directors who had moved court against the Federation are being blocked from work. So too their close collaborators. Director Aritra Sen, an associate of Parambrata Chatterjee, has seen his projects stalled, while Souvik Mondal’s TV serial was halted due to his association with one of the 13 filmmakers. Although the Calcutta High Court has clearly stated that the Federation cannot interfere with the directors’ work or autonomy, filmmakers claim the reality defies the ruling.

The Odisha government headed by Mohan Charan Majhi has chalked up big plans to transform Puri, which houses the famous Lord Jagannath Temple, into a world class tourism hub so that tourists spend more days at Puri. For starters, it is planning to upgrade Puri from municipality to a municipal corporation. A municipal corporation is a larger, more autonomous body than a municipality, typically governing big cities while municipality governs smaller towns. Puri’s envisaged municipal corporation status will now include around 10 adjacent Gram Panchayats, expanding the city’s size and providing enhanced facilities for residents and tourists. Other plans include: a world class museum and library complex showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Lord Jagannath and an auditorium for daily light and sound shows in multiple languages plus an open-air theatre. This decision by the Majhi government to enhance Puri’s appeal comes at the back of a large influx of devotees – both from India and overseas. With this upgrade proposal, Puri now joins Odisha government’s plan to establish a metropolitan development region of 7,000 sq km encompassing Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Jatni, Cuttack, Paradeep and Puri making an integrated economic corridor. For now, CM Majhi’s focus is clear, he wants to make Puri one of the liveable cities of the country.