First African-American woman Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dies at 88
New York: Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and one of America's best loved writers, has died following a brief illness, her family said in a statement Tuesday. She was 88.
"It is with profound sadness we share that, following a short illness, our adored mother and grandmother, Toni Morrison, passed away peacefully last night surrounded by family and friends," they said.
"Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well lived life," the statement added, describing her as "the consummate writer who treasured the written word."
Morrison wrote 11 novels, many of them touching on life as a black American, in a glittering literary and award-laden career that lasted over six decades.
She also penned numerous essays, poems and speeches and was often referred to as America's "conscience" for her poignant takes on race and human rights, never afraid of commenting on the day's weightiest political issues.
She won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1988 for her 1987 novel "Beloved." Set after the American Civil War in the 1860s, the story centered on a slave who escaped Kentucky to the free state of Ohio.
The book was later turned into a film starring Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey. Morrison received numerous other accolades including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
In 1996, she was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
In 2012, Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2016 she received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
"She was a great woman and a great writer, and I don't know which I will miss more," Robert Gottlieb, Morrison's longtime editor at Knopf publishers, said in a statement sent to AFP.
Sonny Mehta, chairman of Knopf, said he could "think of few writers in American letters who wrote with more humanity or with more love for language than Toni."
"Her narratives and mesmerizing prose have made an indelible mark on our culture. Her novels command and demand our attention. They are canonical works, and more importantly, they are books that remain beloved by readers," he said.
Morrison was born in Ohio on February 18, 1931. "The Bluest Eye," her first novel, was published in 1970 when she was almost 40 years old.
She followed up with "Sula" in 1973, going on to publish another nine novels, including the acclaimed "Song of Solomon" in 1977 which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Her writings touched many, including Obama who recalled reading "Song of Solomon" as a child "and not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think." Morrison's life was also touched by tragedy. In 2010 her son Slade died of pancreatic cancer aged just 45.
She spent time as an editor at Random House and taught at Princeton University. Morrison died at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York on Monday.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
B'luru Police register FIR against developer, bank official in ₹130 crore housing fraud case
Bengaluru: According to police officials the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru police has registered a case against Shore Dwellings Pvt Ltd, senior officials of ICICI Bank, Kappa Developers LLP and others over an alleged housing fraud involving more than ₹130 crore on Friday.
The case relates to the stalled ‘Mantri Vantage’ residential project in Pune which is developed by Shore Dwellings Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Mantri Developers Pvt Ltd., as reported by The Indian Express. Citing alleged financial irregularities and cheating of homebuyers, the FIR was registered after a complaint was submitted to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner.
According to the complaint, Shore Dwellings entered into joint development agreements with landowners and developers for constructing residential apartments in Kharadi and Ghorpadi villages of Haveli taluk in Pune district. The company allegedly assured delivery of 123 flats and collected around ₹70 crore from homebuyers through advance bookings and installments.
The complainants have alleged that the developer mortgaged the project land to Yes Bank and availed loans of about ₹40 crore. The loans were later taken over by ICICI Bank. It is alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned loans amounting to nearly ₹130 crore, of which over ₹60 crore was disbursed, despite limited construction progress on the ground.
The complaint further alleges that bank officials released funds in violation of project finance norms. It also mentions that portions of the loan amount were diverted for purposes unrelated to construction. In December 2021, an agreement was allegedly entered into with Kappa Developers LLP to develop the project without adequately protecting the interests of existing flat purchasers.
Other accused named in the FIR include Plaza Agencies Pvt Ltd and Nidhi Jain. Sources cited by TIE said that while the loans were sanctioned and monitored by banks and financiers based in the city, the promoters of the project operated from an office on Vittal Mallya Road in Bengaluru, giving the Bengaluru police jurisdiction in the matter.
The FIR was lodged under provisions of the IPC, related to criminal conspiracy, cheating, dishonest misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and forgery.
Sources quoted by TIE informed that the project was originally scheduled for completion in December 2019. But due to Covid-19 pandemic it was halted. By 2021, the promoters allegedly became unresponsive. Many of the 123 buyers, most of them senior citizens, later learnt that the project had been mortgaged and that the loan account had been classified as a non-performing asset in 2019.
Attempts were reportedly made in 2021 to revive the project through a one-time settlement involving lenders and a third-party developer, but the plan did not fructify. In December last year, buyers said they discovered a possession notice at the site and became aware of financial and legal arrangements that had not been disclosed to them earlier.
