Election officials collect documents from Amartya Sen's ancestral home for SIR
Kolkata (PTI): Election officials on Friday visited Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen's residence at Bolpur in Birbhum district and collected the requisite documents in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, a family member said.
The officials visited 'Pratichi', Sen's ancestral home, and collected the economist's Aadhaar card, voter identity card number, the death certificate of his mother, Amita Sen, and a letter in which Sen authorised his cousin, Shantabhanu Sen, to appear for the SIR-related hearing in his absence.
Sen is currently in the USA, where he is a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University.
"The officials from the Election Commission collected Prof Sen's Aadhaar card, voter identity card number, and the death certificate of his mother, Amita Sen. They also took the letter in which Prof Sen authorised his cousin Shantabhanu to appear for the hearing," one of Sen's family members told PTI.
Election officials did not respond when asked whether a photocopy of the 'Bharat Ratna' award conferred on Sen was also submitted for the electoral roll revision process, he said.
The Election Commission last week issued a notice to Sen, seeking a hearing on January 16 at his Santiniketan residence as part of the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
An official at the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said the notice was prompted by a discrepancy in Sen's enumeration form, which listed him as linked to his mother, Amita Sen, despite an age difference of less than 15 years.
The office of the CEO has said that the form, submitted by Sen's family member, was flagged by the ERO Net Portal.
"A notice was generated for Sen in line with other similar cases. Given that the elector is over 85 years old, ERO and AERO officials, along with the BLO, visited his residence and completed the formalities," a statement of the CEO's office said.
Sen became a voter years ago and cast his vote in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections at the Visva Bharati Staff Club polling station.
On the 2026 SIR draft electoral list, his name appears as Part 274, Serial 169, under the Prabasi Bharatiya (non-resident) category.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
