Politics
Jaya Bachchan Demands Apology After Spat With Jagdeep Dhankhar: ‘We Are Not School Children’
Veteran actress and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan had a spat with Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar regarding his tone and his comments about using Amitabh Bachchan’s name in Parliament on Friday (August 9).
Addressing the media, Jaya reflected on the issue, noting that the tone affected her the most because, as senior citizens, they should not be so disrespectful when speaking to women. She demands an apology from Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Congress stalwart Sonia Gandhi, and other women of the parliament in support of Jaya, and she also mentioned it was a collective decision that he should apologise.
Speaking on her exchange of words with Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said, “I objected to the tone used by the Chair. We are not school children. Some of us are senior citizens. I was upset with the tone and especially when the Leader of Opposition stood up to speak, he switched off the mike. How can you do this? You have to allow the Leader of Opposition to speak.”
She added, “I mean using unparliamentary words every time which I do not want to say in front of you all. You are a nuisance, ‘Buddhiheen’. He said you may be a celebrity, I do not care. I am not asking him to care. I am saying I am a member of Parliament. This is my fifth term. I know what I am saying. The way things are being spoken in Parliament these days, nobody has ever spoken before. I want an apology.”
Here’s What Happened Between Jaya Amitabh Bachchan And Jagdeep Dhankhar
The series of events began when Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked Smt Jaya Amitabh Bachchan to present her opinion on the point of discussion. To which she expressed her thought on his tone and said, “Main Jaya Amitabh Bachchan ye bolna chahti hoon…I am an artist, I understand body language and expressions. And sir, I am sorry, but your tone is not acceptable. We are colleagues, sir, you may be sitting on the chair, but we are colleagues.”
To which Jagdeep responded and asked her to calm down and stated, “I can deal with this. Jaya ji, you’ve earned a great reputation. But you know, an actor is subject to the director. You have not seen what I see from here. “Every day, I don’t want to repeat. I don’t want schooling. I am a person who has gone out of the way and you say, my tone? Enough of it! You may be anybody, you may be a celebrity, but you have to understand the decorum.”
However on X, many netizens praised Dhankhar for his response and had slammed Jaya for her behaviour and talk about the tone at the Parliament.
Maharashtra
Mumbai: Municipal Commissioner praises engineers of Project Department for work on shifting high voltage power towers in Bhandup

A project to purify 2000 million litres of water per day is being set up by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation in the Bhandup Complex, Mumbai. Under this project, the engineers of the Water Supply Project Department have saved the Municipal Corporation about Rs 20,000. Rs 7.48 crore in the work of shifting high voltage power towers. Taking note of this remarkable achievement, Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide presented certificates of appreciation to the concerned engineers at the Municipal Corporation Headquarters today (June 19, 2026).
Executive Engineer Rajesh Kapdanis, Assistant Engineer Rishikesh Vartak, Second Engineer Gururaj Iwale, Second Engineer Subodh Nakhrekar are included in this. Deputy Commissioner (Municipal Commissioner Office) Prashant Gaikwad, Deputy Commissioner (Special Engineering) Parshottam Malwade, Chief Engineer (Water Supply Project) Chandrakant Choudhary were present on the occasion.
The 2000 million litres per day Water Treatment Project (WTP) at Bhandup Complex is going to be one of the largest water treatment projects in Asia. Based on modern technology, the project is being developed in a minimum footprint and as per the concept of zero waste water discharge. Since the Extra High Voltage (EHV) power transmission lines of M/s Tata Power Company Limited pass through the proposed project site, it was necessary to relocate these towers. Accordingly, the Municipal Corporation has initiated the process of shifting these power transmission lines from Tata Power Company.
Tata Power Company has submitted an estimated cost of Rs. 14.70 crore including goods and services tax for this work. As per the provisions of the agreement, the necessary advance has been paid to the project contractor M/s Welspun Enterprises Limited. As per the relocation plan, 5 new towers were erected in an area of about 500 metres in length to relocate the existing 3 high voltage towers. The work of shifting of power transmission lines was successfully completed in February 2026. 2 out of the 3 old towers have been completely removed. Under the guidance of Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijeet Bangar, the engineers of the Water Supply Project Department during the execution of the work noticed that the estimated cost submitted by Tata Power Company was relatively high. Accordingly, the engineers of the Water Supply Project Department re-evaluated the cost based on the actual work done for shifting of high voltage towers. The applicable rebates and payment of the salvage value of the removed towers were continuously followed up. Thereafter, Tata Power Company has approved the refund of an amount of Rs. 5 crore 76 lakhs. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has completed the submission of the financial statement of the actual cost. In addition, the Municipal Corporation will also get the amount of the salvage value of the removed towers. In total, the actual cost of the work of shifting of high voltage towers is Rs. 6 crore 69 lakhs. Direct savings of Rs. 12 crore 46 lakhs as against Rs. 5 crore 76 lakhs initially paid. In addition, as per the provisions of the agreement, the Municipal Corporation has achieved financial savings of about Rs. 100000. Rs. 7 crore 48 lakhs on account of 10% overheads and profit of the contractor as well as GST amount. In addition, further financial savings are expected in the form of salvage value of the removed towers.
Business
Govt removes domicile certificate requirement for SC, OBC scholarships to ease access

New Delhi, June 19: The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment has removed the requirement for a domicile certificate for students applying under Pre‑Matric and Post‑Matric scholarship schemes for Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes, an official statement said on Friday.
This step is expected to reduce the compliance burden on students and simplify the application process for scholarships, enabling easier access to benefits.
Thousands of eligible applicants across the country who study in institutions other than their domicile states will be benefitted, the statement from Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment said.
Under the Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes for SCs and OBCs, nearly 1.2 crore students receive scholarship benefits annually. The removal of domicile certificate requirements will make the application process more student-friendly by reducing documentation requirements and lowering compliance costs.
Further strengthening digital governance, the Department has launched SETU (Scholarship for Educational Transformation and Upliftment) on the UMANG platform as a comprehensive solution for scholarship-related services.
The platform provides a single interface to the eligible applicants, Institutional Nodal Officers, District Nodal Officers and State officials for application registration, tracking, and validation of other services, improving transparency and efficiency.
“These initiatives are aligned with the government’s broader objective of promoting inclusion, reducing procedural barriers, and ensuring effective delivery of welfare schemes,” the statement noted.
The Department remains committed to leveraging technology-driven reforms to enhance outreach and provide timely support to students, it added.
A total of Rs 7,981.47 crore has been disbursed to over 75 lakh scheduled caste (SC) beneficiaries in FY26, an official statement said in April.
The funds were disbursed as part of schemes run by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment focused on the educational empowerment of marginalised students belonging to Scheduled Castes.
Across key scholarship programs, expenditure rose year‑on‑year, with a 21 per cent increase under the Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs and Others, an 11.23 per cent increase under the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs, a rise of 13.5 per cent under Central Sector Scholarship of Top Class Education for SC students.
Business
Mukesh Ambani unveils 5-way roadmap to propel RIL’s growth ahead

Mumbai, June 19: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday outlined five major value creation pathways for the Group to create a diversified growth architecture spanning energy, materials, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, consumer businesses, and global exports.
Addressing Reliance shareholders, Ambani said: “First, the O2C business, the mainstay of Reliance so far, will increase earnings as soon as the geopolitical situation improves. Simultaneously, and more importantly, we are reinventing this business to create a new revenue stream less vulnerable to external volatility. We will convert all the crude oil we process into new materials ─ carbon fibre, speciality materials, green chemicals, and much more. This new vision will drive margin expansion and lay the foundation for our oil-to-chemicals-and-new materials business.”
He further stated that the second pathway comprises the new energy business, which has entered the phase of accelerated commissioning and early revenues. The integrated solar manufacturing and advanced battery platform will achieve one of the world’s lowest costs of RTC green power. It will also enable the world’s most competitive green hydrogen and green chemicals ecosystem.
Besides, the underground coal gasification business has immense growth potential, and the CBG business is ready to be scaled up as the world’s largest bioenergy business, he added.
Ambani identified the third path of growth as Reliance Intelligence, with AI becoming a multi-trillion-dollar business globally. “Reliance Intelligence will lead this business in India. The infrastructure for it is being built at breakneck speed, and it will fully operationalise over the next couple of years,” he remarked.
The Reliance Chairman listed the FMCG business as a new multi-billion-dollar growth engine with plans to grow it into India’s largest FMCG company, and among the biggest in the world.
“It is already among the top few players in various categories and is expanding globally. It recently entered Europe and Africa and will enter many more global markets going forward. Our FMCG growth path is neatly aligned to that of Reliance Retail. Both are anchored in our plan to create India’s most advanced manufacturing platform and a distribution and exports platform with tens of thousands of small, medium and large partners,” he maintained.
Ambani highlighted exports as the fifth path of the group’s growth. “Reliance has long been India’s largest merchandise exporter, with a proven globally competitive world-class platform for energy and materials exports. Leveraging this experience, Reliance aims to become an anchor institution for developing a globally competitive, multi-sector export hub, with a target to enable $125-150 billion in exports by 2032. In this way, we will enlarge global markets for Made in India brands,” he observed.
Hiring the best talent for this new venture has already begun. This scalable platform will strengthen India’s export ecosystem and external economic resilience. This ambition is not only about creating a larger Reliance. It is about creating a stronger India, Ambani added.
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