Mulholland Drive (2001) | Short Review

Some films need to watch more than one to understand them, Mulholland Drive is one of those. A experimental mystery-film by Director David Lynch Mulholland Drive have Naomi 
watts as main lead. Music is a plus point as director himself has a good taste of music and screenplay is a plus point, may be coz of interest of director in literature. 

Story starts with and accident at Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles with character (Harring) survived from accident but lost her memory...... rest of the story im not telling here coz anyone can read from Wikipedia.....

Last half an hour of film is crucial.... you need to watch carefully to understand the story. The scene in opera is little pakau still need to watch... its a main part of the story... first i skipped it and later realized its importance.

Few scenes are very good in the film... the innocence on Watts's face is watchable. She looked bful as usual.

The first film i watched starring Laura Harring. She is bful and justified her character. 

Watch if you want to watch a different film. for Naomi Watts.

Do not watch if you don't want to take  headache of understanding story or if you don't like a mystery film. 

My Rating 83%

Human Trafficking

One in three human trafficking victims is a child, most victims are female, and traffickers operate with wide impunity, the United Nations said Monday in a report on modern-day slavery.

The 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, also found that the proportion of children among victims appeared to be rising. Its first report, in 2012, said the proportion had been closer to one in four.

In some regions, like Africa and the Middle East, the new report said, two out of three victims are children.

The office, based in Vienna, was authorized by the General Assembly in 2010 to collect information and publish a global report on trafficking every two years.

Other indicators in the 2014 report pointed to growth in the buying and selling of humans despite laws passed in an increasing number of countries to toughen penalties.

The report was issued against the backdrop of resilient rage over child trafficking, fueled by the mass abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls seven months ago by Islamist militants, who brazenly declared they had sold the girls as slaves and brides in forced marriages.

The militant group, Boko Haram, showed further contempt for the international anger over the mass abduction by seizing more young women last month.

While sexual exploitation remains the predominant reason for trafficking, victims are also increasingly being used for forced labor, the United Nations report said.

Other statistics in the report showed that girls account for two out of every three child victims, and that together with adult women, account for 70 percent of all trafficking victims.

The report found that trafficking was a problem all over the world, with at least 152 countries of origin and 124 countries of destination. More than 6 in 10 victims have been transported across at least one national border, it said.

“Unfortunately, the report shows there is no place in the world where children, women and men are safe from human trafficking,” Yury Fedotov, the executive director of the Office on Drugs and Crime, said in a statement announcing the report’s release.

He also cautioned that the report was based only on known cases, while trafficking operates in the shadows. “It is very clear that the scale of modern-day slavery is far worse” than the statistics in the report, he said.

Even though traffickers do not conduct their business openly, the report said, they have little fear of prosecution because many countries do not enforce their laws. Forty percent of the world’s countries have recorded few or no convictions.

“The exploitation of one human being by another is the basest crime,” the report begins. “And yet, trafficking in persons remains all too common, with all too few consequences for the perpetrators.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/world/africa/un-report-shows-an-increase-in-child-trafficking.html?emc=edit_ae_20141124&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=49615428&_r=1

Jan Dhan: Inclusion scheme excludes most

The government has started applying exclusion principles to its inclusion scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana(PMJDY). The life cover of Rs 30,000 announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all those opening a bank account under the scheme will now exclude many.

The finance ministry has put several riders for defining one's eligibility for a life insurance policy under PMJDY. In the guidelines issued to banks last week, the ministry said the insurance would be provided only to one person in a family for accounts opened between August 15, 2014, and January 26, 2015.

Those filing income tax returns, serving and retired central and state government employees, employees of central and state public sector entities, and people already covered under the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojna have been excluded. The families of the individuals in all these categories will also be ineligible for it.

"The scheme aims to provide security to those families who cannot afford life insurance, namely the urban poor and the rural poor, who are not covered under any social security scheme," the finance ministry said, in the guidelines reviewed by Business Standard.

The life cover will initially be only for five years and provided to the head of the family or an earning member in the age group of 15-59 years. The person will be excluded from the life insurance scheme after turning 60. So, someone who opted for it at the age of 59 will be covered only for one year.

The account holder should also have an active RuPay debit card (used at least once in 45 days) and a biometric card linked to the account to get the benefit of the life cover.

"Those who already have a life cover from some other scheme will have to choose between the existing one and the one under PMJDY," said a finance ministry official, asking not to be named.

Since accident insurance of Rs 1 lakh, along with a RuPay debit card, was available even before the launch of the scheme and would be effective only up to March 31, 2015 (its extension will be reviewed later), life insurance and credit facility were the two main attractions of PMJDY. Absence of a life cover might make the scheme unattractive to many and hurt the financial inclusion drive.

Launching the scheme on August 28, the prime minister had set a target of taking banking to 75 million households by January 26, 2015. Although 78 million accounts have already been opened, 20 per cent of households are still unbanked. Many people who already had an account opened another one. Only 47 million of these account holders have a RuPay card and 59 million accounts have zero balance.

"Now, only the families which are truly eligible for the scheme will get the benefit," said a member of the State Level Bankers Committee, looking at the rollout of the scheme in a western state.

Restricting the scope of the scheme will reduce the burden on the exchequer. Life Insurance Corporation of India will create a fund for life coverage with an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore from the Social Security Fund of the Centre. It will be replenished by the government from time to time within the stipulated premium amount to meet the outgo and administrative expenses.

Earlier, the government had said the accidental insurance cover and life cover will be available to all account holders. Problems have started surfacing on the accidental insurance front, too. Although the insurance programme had come into effect from April 1, 2014, claims have shot up after the launch of PMJDY and the issue has been raised with the finance ministry as the insurers did not anticipate such high claims.

"People who got the RuPay card as part of PMJDY have started filing accident insurance claims. We are awaiting more clarity from the finance ministry," said the person mentioned above. The RuPay card is being given free of cost to the customer and the National Payments Corporation of India pays the premium of Rs 0.47 per card to HDFC Ergo. It can be given to any account holder and every member of a family. A person who is already having a bank account with any bank just needs to get issued a RuPay card in his existing account to get the benefit of insurance.

-- Vrishti Beniwal / Source : http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/jan-dhan-inclusion-scheme-excludes-most-114112500020_1.html