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Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project To Affect 54,000 Mangroves

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Representative image. 

MUMBAI — As many as 54,000 mangroves spread over 13.36 hectares will be affected because of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor, commonly called the bullet train project, state transport minister Diwakar Raote said Monday.

He was replying to a question raised by Shiv Sena legislator Maneesha Kayande in the state Legislative Council.

“There will be no chopping of trees and there will be no threat of flooding to some parts of Navi Mumbai. The pillars (of the project) will be high and hence will not damage the environment much,” he added.

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Raote said the state government has proposed to plant five plants for each one that will be cut for the multi- billion dollar project.

“As per my information, farmers are keen on handing over their land for appropriate remuneration,” Raote informed in his written reply.

The project, expected to cost over Rs 1 lakh crore, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Replying to another question raised by Congress MLC Sharad Ranpise, Raote said, “The proposed land acquisition for the bullet train project is 1,379 hectares of which 724.13 hectares is private land in Gujarat while 270.65 hectares is in Maharashtra.”

“As many as 188 hectares of private land in Palghar district is going to be acquired of which 2.95 hectares has been purchased as per the ‘private negotiation’ policy of the state government. As many as 3,498 people from Palghar will be affected due to the bullet train project,” Raote added.

“In Thane district, 84.81 hectares belonging to 6,589 farmers has been acquired of which 2.95 hectares has been purchased as per the private negotiation policy,” he said.

Private negotiation is a policy introduced by the state government some years back where it buys out land directly from the owner instead of following the land acquisition procedure which normally takes more time.


K-Pop Sensation BTS Now Has A Mobile Game: What Is It About?

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LOS ANGELES — K-Pop stars BTS have conquered the charts with their music and the box office with documentary Burn the Stage: The Movie, and now they’re aiming for mobile phones with the game BTS World.

The seven-member boy band spent two years recording exclusive photos, videos and music for the game.

BTS World, out on Wednesday, allows players to go back in time, take the role of the band’s manager and make choices that lead BTS to global stardom. 

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Fans can also find out what would have happened if the band members failed to find success and went back to their other dreams, like being a strawberry farmer or Taekwondo champion. The game comes with 10,000 new images and 100 video clips of BTS.

“Those alternate realities are based on some of the members’ interviews, and they said, ‘If I wasn’t in BTS band, my vision was this’,” Simon Sim, president of the U.S. arm of South Korean mobile gaming company Netmarble Corp [251270.KS], which developed the game, told Reuters Television.

The game allows fans to be involved in video calls and texts with BTS members, including cheering them up if they are feeling down.

BTS first formed in Seoul in 2013 and broke through in the US pop market in 2017, becoming the first Korean group to win a Billboard music award.

Three new songs from the game - “All Night”, “Dream Glow” and “A Brand New Day” — were released earlier in June.

Tom Holland Saves Fan From Being Crushed By Autograph Seekers

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Tom Holland only plays Spider-Man in the movies, but he’s a real-life superhero to one woman who feared being crushed by autograph-seekers.

The actor was in New York on Monday promoting “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” when a crowd gathered around him asking him to sign posters and other memorabilia, according to the New York Post.

One fan, who goes by @namelesscass on Twitter, said the massive horde around her made her nervous and caused a panic attack.

Luckily, the actor came to her aid when the crowds around her came a little too close for comfort.

She said on Twitter that Holland threatened to throw down the posters he was being asked to sign unless people stopped pushing her.

And he was a man of his word, she said.

The actor didn’t just stop there. Like a true hero, Holland made sure the woman was safe. He told her, “It’s OK. I got you. I got you.”

Although the woman is grateful for Holland’s kindness, she does have one regret: “My dumbass didn’t even get a pic...”

HuffPost reached out to the woman, who did not immediately respond. 

“Spider-Man: Far From Home” opens in theaters July 2.

India's Candidature For Non-Permanent UNSC Seat Backed By 55 Countries, Including Pak

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UNITED NATIONS — In a highly significant diplomatic win for India and testament to its global stature, India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat at the powerful UN Security Council for a two-year term has been unanimously endorsed by the Asia-Pacific group at the world body.

Elections for five non-permanent members of the 15-nation Council for the 2021-22 term will be held around June next year.

“A unanimous step. Asia-Pacific Group @UN unanimously endorses India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the Security Council for 2 year term in 2021/22. Thanks to all 55 members for their support,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted Tuesday.

A video message accompanying Akbaruddi’s tweet said “Asia-Pacific Group endorses India for Non-Permanent Seat of United Nations Security Council. 55 countries, 1 nominee - India for non-permanent seat of UN Security Council Term 2021-2022.” 

The video message thanked all the countries in the Asia Pacific group for endorsing India’s candidature. Among the 55 countries supporting India’s candidature are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Vietnam.

Each year the 193-member General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term at the UN high-table. The five permanent members of the Council are China, France, Russia, UK and the US.

The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis : five for African and Asian States; one for Eastern European States; two for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and two for Western European and other States.

Previously, India has been elected as a non-permanent member of the Council for the years 1950 1951, 1967 1968, 1972 1973, 1977 1978, 1984 1985, 1991 1992 and most recently in 2011 2012 under the leadership of former Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri.

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Early this month, Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam were elected to the Council for a two-year term beginning January 2020. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the smallest nation ever to secure a seat.

Currently the 10 non-permanent members are Belgium, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and South Africa.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Security Council saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st Century.

India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Kumar Mukerji had previously told PTI that the country will contest the elections for a non-permanent member seat of the Security Council for the 2021-2022 term.

'Article 15': Dalits Don’t Need 'Upper Caste' Saviours

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We did not go on to the stage, 

Neither were we called.  

We were shown our places, told to sit.  

But they, sitting on the stage, went on telling us of our sorrows,  

Our sorrows remained ours, they never became theirs.  

- Waharu Sonawane, a poet from Maharashtra, from the poem Stage.

There is a long history of discussion amongst Dalits on whether organisations owned by so-called upper castes, or so-called upper castes themselves, really do any work for Dalits. And, if Dalits should align with such organisations and people. On 30 May, 2019  Zee Studios released the trailer of Ayushmann Khurrana’sArticle 15. The movie borrows its title from Article 15 of the Indian constitution which bans discrimination on the basis of “religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”, and features a Brahmin policeman, played by Khurrana, on a mission to win justice for Dalit victims. 

The trailer (which has been watched by over 16 million times on YouTube since it was released), has prompted many Dalits to rejoice, claiming the movie gave voice to Dalit suffering. Many more have said the movie appropriates Dalit struggles and makes a Brahmin the center of a Dalit story.   

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This is not new: Dalits do not have any representation in Bollywood, and Bollywood is fascinated with, and loves, Brahmins saviours. 

By making a Brahmin police officer a lead character, the movie humanises casteist behavior and puts a Brahmin character in charge of telling a Dalit story. 

How many articles and movies are made where so-called upper are taught not to practice untouchability? Why doesn’t Bollywood or society see the need for such movies?

Dalits are already aware of the ills of the caste system. It is the so-called upper-caste people who must understand that casteism, Brahmanical supremacy, and upper castes privileges are real and that Dalits continue to suffer because of the same. Article 15, the movie, is not here to teach anyone any lesson, it is not here to end casteism nor will it increase upper caste guilt. It might be useful for those who do not know the ABC of caste discrimination and might act as a primer on the caste system.  

Criticising a “Brahmin” hero in Article 15 or so-called upper castes saviours is not meant to discourage or stop so-called upper castes from doing good for others, but to stop them making themselves the heroes of each story or every effort. They must continue to do good but by focusing among their own caste groups. 

In Indian society, it is hard to find a programme or event focused on telling so-called upper castes not to discriminate, not to practice untouchability, or to go away from caste practices. Almost all the events related to caste discrimination are for teaching Dalits how to survive caste practices, or how to accept your position in society and live with that.  

Almost a century ago, Dr BR Ambedkar noted that, “It is usual to hear all those who feel moved by the deplorable condition of the Untouchables unburden themselves by uttering the cry ‘We must do something for the Untouchables’. One seldom hears any of the persons interested in the problem saying ‘Let us do something to change the Touchable Hindu’.”

Recently, a journalist said “I am a Brahmin but I don’t support such caste discrimination” in response to a tweet of mine on a particularly disturbing instance of discrimination.

My reply was, “Okay, but do you speak against caste discrimination, do you write against that or do you teach your fellow family members the same?” and I didn’t get any reply. It is not just about whether you discriminate or not, what matters is if you are able to make a difference and strengthen the fight against caste system or if you choose to stay silent. 

Dalits need upper caste allies who work among their own castes and teach them how caste is affecting everyone, not saviours to explain the caste system to Dalits.

So-called upper caste people who see themselves as progressive should work among themselves. Dalits are not casteist. When ‘progressive upper caste people’ profess a desire to work with Dalits, they are just taking the escapist path to prove that they are with Dalits. 

But by taking this escapist path, they are not solving the problem of caste discrimination. As said above, Dalits are not casteist, so ‘progressive upper caste people’ need not prove to Dalits that they are not casteist; what ‘progressive upper caste people’ need to do is to work among their own community as your voice carries more value among your own community. 

What ‘progressive upper caste people’ need to do is teach their own fellows about the realities of caste discrimination and that Dalits suffer, Dalit women are raped and Dalits are murdered every single day because of the caste system. 

Nothing about Dalits without the participation of Dalits should be the mantra, and Dalit lives and stories should be shown through Dalit eyes and minds.

Recently, I was part of a voice4voiceless event organised by media4change at the Lithuanian Parliament where organisers were white, but the speakers were migrants, Roma, Dalit, Muslim, homeless and other discriminated communities in Europe.  

In India, discussions about discriminated communities and policies for their betterment are invariably conducted without their participation. Nothing about Dalits without the participation of Dalits should be the mantra, and Dalit lives and stories should be shown through Dalit eyes and minds. It is high time that so-called upper caste saviours stand behind the cameras and let Dalits have their turn in the light. 

In another event “Non-Roma for Roma”, organised in Budapest, non-Roma participants were taught by the Roma. The Roma community in Europe suffers similar kind of discrimination in Europe as Dalits in India. Views expressed by Roma participants about their lives, struggle and experiences in a racist society were accepted without judgement and speakers were not interrupted even when their views were uncomfortable for the white saviours.

I have participated in various Roma-led events and protests such as ‘Roma Pride Day’, where non-Roma bring their posters openly saying “non-Roma for Roma” and act as backstage supporters, not leaders. Such events and displays of respect towards those who are suffering discrimination are important, and I wonder if accepting Dalits as leaders and experts in their own stories would ever be acknowledged by India’s casteist society. When will a much-needed “non-Dalits for Dalits” movement start in India?    

Dalits do not need, or want, daily shows of sympathy, in which so-called progressive upper caste preachers show sympathy at some Dalit ghetto by day, only to sit in their Mercedes by night and vanish into the dust, while Dalits return to their ghettos and live the same life. 

One might say that I am biased against ‘progressive upper caste people’ who are working sincerely. I am not.

Let ‘progressive upper caste people’ form their own organisations and work among their own communities, and let Dalits form their own organisations working among Dalits. Dalit organisations will give full admiration, credit and recognition to such so-called upper castes organisations. If our goals are the same, we’ll meet the result: end of caste.  

Article 15 might do well as people love to listen and read upper caste accounts of Dalit suffering, and assume upper caste saviours are needed as Dalits cannot act or speak for themselves. It is not true so in the end, a piece of friendly advice to would-be allies:  

Dear so-called “Upper Castes”,  

For once, be quiet, sit down and listen. 

Not every space belongs to you, 

Not every stage is yours. 

Let oppressed speak, 

Oppressed know their pain, 

Oppressed know their story better. 

Pardeep Attri runs the Ambedkar Caravan, an online portal that runs anti-caste campaigns. 

Watch: BJP MLA Akash, Son Of Kailash Vijayvargiya, Thrashes Civic Official

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Indore MLA and BJP leader Akash Vijayvargiya was caught on camera thrashing a municipal corporation officer with a cricket bat on Wednesday. He is the son of party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

The incident happened when a team of municipal corporation officers were on an anti-encroachment drive in the Ganji Compound area of Indore, according to NDTV.

“You should leave within five minutes or else whatever happens after that will be your responsibility,” Vijayvargiya told the officers, the NDTV report added.

Vijayvargiya told India Today that the officers were “illegally demolishing a building”. “The owner of the building paid the corporation to demolish it and some people were staying in the building.

“I tried to reach out to the corporation, they didn’t take my calls. I have a responsibility towards the people who voted for me,” Vijayvargiya told India Today.

The zonal officer of the Indore Municipal Corporation, Dheeraj Bais, told The Times of India that he tried to make them understand the risk that the building poses.  

“The building is in a dilapidated state and poses a high risk to the lives of those living in it. But they did not listen to us and thrashed and beat me up with a cricket bat,” Bais told The Times of India.

A case has been registered against Vijayvargiya and 10 others, reported ANI.

From Floods To Drought, Chennai’s Water Crisis Was A Long Time Coming

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Nearly four years ago, as Chennai was hit by horrific flooding that drowned many parts of the city. My family was among those who suffered heavy losses. The toll suffered by the city and its people led me to begin researching the reasons for the disaster. Three-and-a-half years later, as my book, Rivers Remember, readies for launch, Chennai is going through a water shortage that has left people paying exorbitant amounts for tankers and forcing institutions to temporarily shut down. 

The irony is particularly cruel.

There are similarities, of course. Just like in 2015, there wasn’t enough media attention or awareness of the scale of the crisis (barring some local news outlets, which doggedly reported on the issue). We knew Chennai was staring at a drought after the low rainfall of 2017 and the failed monsoons last year. But there was no spotlight on the problem, no attempt by authorities to guide citizens on how to deal with this crisis that was creeping up on us. 

By the time the world woke up to this crisis, here in Chennai, we were already paying a heavy price. Literally. 

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No option but tankers

There were murmurs as the summer began that our reservoirs would run out of water. In my own apartment building, for instance, the borewell yielded no water for weeks and the ‘corporation’ water that the city supplies, which we depend on for all our needs, was arriving only once in 15 days, and that too for five minutes. 

For the first time since we moved into our house in the commercial hub of T Nagar six years ago, we have had to regularly buy water. The Metro Water (Chennai’s official water supplier) tankers, which supply 9,000 litres of water for Rs 700, have a long waiting period. More than two weeks after we booked one, the status on the official website shows ‘pending’. Like hundreds of people across class lines, we are depending on private water suppliers. The first time we turned to them, last month, we bought 9,000 litres of water for Rs 2,600; the second time, the amount went up to Rs 3,200; and most recently, to Rs 4,600. In poorer neighbourhoods, water is being sold at sky-high rates per kodam (pot), and there is much jostling and fighting for water. Those who are physically fit have a better chance of getting water, because they can fight others to get ahead of the queue. 

Water wars are also gendered. It is mostly women who are in charge of bringing home water. The sight of women and young girls standing next to hand pumps or with plastic pots waiting for water tankers is a common sight in many parts of Chennai across the year. They are the ones bearing the brunt of long queues for water in the harsh Chennai summer.

Political vacuum

In December 2015, the Chembarambakkam reservoir was so full from that year’s monsoons that there was a threat of it giving way. The entire city would have drowned, authorities said, opening the sluice gates. More than 1,00,000 cusecs of water ran through the Adyar river, which then sank significant parts of the city. Since then, nearly nothing has been done in terms of reservoir management. All four reservoirs on which Chennai depends for its water supply are now bone dry because it hadn’t rained for 200 days. It is now safe to assume that we are neither flood, nor drought safe.

Water problems in Chennai aren’t new. Many of us grew up aware of the issue. Some parts of the city have not had underground water for over a decade. My parents’ home, which was submerged in the 2015 floods, has relied on private water tankers for ten years—the borewell yields nothing despite the much-touted rainwater harvesting that began in the city in earnest over 15 years ago. 

However, what seems to be different, and more frightening, this time is the power vacuum of sorts in the state. After the death of J Jayalalithaa in 2016, Tamil Nadu has seen a policy and developmental paralysis as the ruling AIADMK grapples with a leadership crisis. Even though there is no denying that previous regimes, headed both the AIADMK and DMK, did little to protect our wetlands and floodplains in the last few decades. Now, the Opposition has accused the current government of pledging the state’s interests to the Central government for its own political survival. The current political dispensation lacks the heft to negotiate the Centre, as well as neighbouring states with whom Tamil Nadu is embroiled in several fights over water sharing. 

The government’s ham-handed approach at home hasn’t helped matters either. As late as 17 June, SP Velumani, the state minister for municipal administration, claimed that the drought was a rumour and that there was no water crisis in the city. The state government also inexplicably turned down Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s offer of 20 lakh litres of water, ostensibly holding out for more. Whispers among political observers see a BJP hand in this denial. CM Edappadi K Palaniswami even told the media to ‘stop exaggerating’ while reporting the water crisis. 

While our politicians endlessly politicise water issues, be it Cauvery or Mullaperiyar, for their own gains, people haven’t pressed for drinking and irrigation water to be kept out of political games. Nor have voting patterns shown that there is a price to pay for not addressing these basic issues.  

Chennai is losing water bodies

Chennai’s four main sources of water are the Puzhal, Chembarambakkam, Sholavaram and Poondi in the outskirts of the city. The city has lost many lakes, over which construction has been allowed in the last 100 years, from Mambalam to Nungambakkam. Lack of proper desilting and sewage flowing through water bodies including canals and lakes is a major concern..

In the short term, the government needs to negotiate with neighbouring states on more practical ways of sharing water—how does it even make political sense to turn down water from a friendly neighbouring state at this point? In the long term, the government has no choice but to focus on better reservoir management, rehaul infrastructure, work to conserve lakes and flood plains instead of treating them as prime real estate locations and strictly implement rain-water harvesting. The Pallikaranai marsh, for instance, has shrunk vastly in the last decade thanks to increasing demand for housing and commercial space and the government’s nod to several large scale developments. Thriving IT and automobile industries in Chennai has also put strain on the city’s resources. While it’s great that Chennai is home to people from different parts of the world and that we can make world-class products right here, our urban planning is hardly world class. It is at best ad-hoc, and at worst detrimental to its own inhabitants. The story is the same on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (the IT corridor) and Grand Southern Trunk Road (auto corridor) and surrounding areas. Less said about the Ennore backwaters the better, because the state is actively involved in destroying acres of precious backwaters and a delicate ecosystem.

Once again, Chennai has become a warning tale as climate change experts and environmentalists warn other cities across the world to learn from us. For those of us in Chennai, this is taking a toll emotionally as well as financially. Will our beloved home be unlivable very soon?

Krupa Ge is a writer and editor from Chennai. Her book ’Rivers Remember: #ChennaiRains and the Shocking Truth of a Manmade Flood’ is published by Context.

Kylie Jenner Talked About Something Super Rude At The Met Gala, Alex Rodriguez Says

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Polite dinner table conversation is supposed to stay away from the subjects of sex, politics and money, etiquette experts agree.

It appears nobody told Kylie Jenner, who couldn’t stop herself from talking about her riches at this year’s Met Gala in May (after all, she was crowned the “youngest self-made billionaire” ever by Forbes in March). 

Alex Rodriguez spilled the details of his conversation with Jenner at the Met Gala in an article published Tuesday in Sports Illustrated. The retired Yankees slugger also likely offended many with his insensitive way of identifying celebrities at his table by their race. 

“We had a great table,” Rodriguez said of his and fiancée Jennifer Lopez’s dinner mates at the gala. “The black guy from ‘The Wire’— Idris Elba, yeah, and his new wife.

“Some famous singer next to me, I don’t know what her name is,” he continued. “Versace — Donatella. We had Kylie and Kendall. And we had an Asian gentleman from ’Crazy] Rich Asians,′ the lead. Kylie was talking about Instagram and her lipstick, and how rich she is.” 

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez arrive for the 2019 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6 in New York City. 

Rodriguez and Lopez, are good friends with members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan ― so much so that the ex-Yankees star even appeared on an episode of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” to give baseball pointers before a charity game.

But his comment about Kylie bragging about her wealth might not go down well with Kris Jenner, considering it doesn’t paint Kylie in the best light. A rep for Kylie didn’t immediately answer HuffPost’s request for comment.

And, for the record, Henry Golding is the lead actor in “Crazy Rich Asians,” and Idris Elba is a prolific actor, producer, DJ and OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), in addition to being “the black guy from ‘The Wire,’” as Rodriguez so impolitely put it.

Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at the Met Gala.

Rodriguez managed to avoid other misfires in the SI interview, though the magazine recounted a conversation with Lopez that reveals he didn’t know the meaning of the word “balmy.” 

“It’s balmy tonight,” she says, dreamily.

“Balmy?” Rodriguez asks. “How do you spell that?”

“B-A-L-M-Y. Balmy.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means when there’s a little bit of a humidity in the air. It’s hot but not scorching. When it feels like there’s a blanket around your skin. Balmy.”

“Use it in a sentence?”

“The air was balmy and thick as we rode to the graduation ceremony.”

“See? She’s a wordsmith,” Rodriguez says admiringly. “I told you.”

 A wordsmith, indeed. 

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post misstated the name of main character in “Crazy Rich Asians.” 


Mammootty-Starrer 'Unda' Could Have Been The Anti-'Kabir Singh'

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Social media has been raging with arguments on Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh.

I didn’t watch it.

The trailer of the film gave away enough of the plot...

...and the reviews did the rest of the job.

Instead, over the weekend, I watched Mammootty-starrer Unda. The film has been running in theatres in Kerala for nearly 2 weeks and has been declared a commercial and critical hit, a rare enough occurrence now for the megastar, who has been criticised in recent years for letting his stardom take over the story. 

Unda, meaning ‘bullet’, is the story of how a group of Kerala policemen — led by Mammootty’s Manikandan CP — find themselves on election duty in the Maoist-affected Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

Now, after his infamously sexist turn as a cop in 2016′s Kasaba, any reasonable person would hesitate to watch Mammootty play a man in khaki. In fact, they would hesitate to watch him in any role. 

That’s because some of his most famous characters — police officer, IAS officer, gangster― tend to spout dialogues that make a misogynist’s heart sing.

As Balram in Aavanazhihe slaps a prostitute — a woman he is seeing — after she politely, but firmly, indicates she could wield more influence than he does as a policeman. (He also calls her several names.)

Then there is his infamous “sense, sensibility, sensitivity” monologue in The King, after which he calls his junior colleague an expletive. When she tries to hit him, he grabs her wrist and says, “You will never raise your hand to hit a man again. It’s not that I don’t know this, but you’re a woman, just a woman. Now get lost.”

So, it’s safe to say, he has a history of playing violent, abusive men.

But here I was, sans my kummattikka juice, giving Mammootty the benefit of doubt, based on some positive reviews and a prayer.

My fledgling faith was rewarded with an exploration of masculinity that is rare in mainstream Malayalam films.

If your ideas of the Kerala police were formed only through Malayalam movies, you would end up picturing a set of trigger-happy, domineering men who teach life lessons with their fists.

The group of policemen Unda introduces immediately overturn these expectations. These men aren’t particularly smart. They have bluster but aren’t necessarily brave. They don’t know what Maoists look like, much less what the conflict is about. Many of them have never fired a gun, some don’t even know how to hold one properly. They have so many worries in their personal lives that they have no time to play heroes in their professional ones. And here they are, in a state they know nothing about, including its language, being forced to confront their prejudices and ignorance.

The group is led by the softest Mammootty you’ve seen in recent times. This man, the commanding officer of his team, is willing to defuse situations and calmly make his point instead of shoving his authority down people’s throats. He does not lose his calm when his team members are insubordinate. He panics when faced with a real crisis. His ignorance is often writ large across his face. And he readily admits he has no clue what to do and apologises for letting his team down. Through all this, he is polite, considerate and level-headed.

He is the antithesis of a superstar cop. Not the kind of man his fans would applaud in theatres.

In short, Mammootty’s Manikandan is the nicest, most forthright man he has played in a long, long time.

He remains unfazed as his authority and competence are repeatedly questioned by the ITBP officials he must work with.

His gentle demeanour and humility keeps this team of men together as they stumble through their election duty. 

It made me wonder: ‘Can we park our hopes for a less violent world on the shoulders of a “nice man”? What does it take for a “good man” to break? And when he does break, how will he respond?’

The film answers these questions for me soon enough. After spending 90 minutes subverting our expectations of the police and the image of superstar Mammootty, it slaps us in the face with all that and more in the remaining 20 minutes.

Unda’s climax is a series of scenes paying homage to the ego of the superstar. Mammooty has shed his faux nice-man-skin and is cheering on his comrades as they viciously beat up a politician’s gundas in the name of doing their duty. He steps into action himself when one of his colleagues is cornered. And, just like that, this unassuming man has turned into a superhuman fighting machine. Complete lack of experience be damned.

If there was a lesson to be learnt in choosing dialogue over violence, it is lost in the raucous end.

Unda could have easily been satire. Bullets in the hands of frightened men who don’t know how to shoot is a striking commentary on the behavioural expectations we place on men.

Instead, the film is like a woke boy who says all the right things but practices the opposite in life.

If you want to watch a film that shows men play against type, watch Unda. Just pretend it abruptly ends at the 2-hour mark.

Book Review: Poomani's 'Heat' Delves Into Caste Resistance, Masculinity And Familial Love

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The death of his cousin and the murder of his brother are events that cast a pall on  fourteen-year-old Chidambaram's life.

The killing of a dominant caste landowner sends fourteen-year-old Chidambaram and his Ayya (father), a marginal farmer, on the run. Hacked by Chidambaram outside a sweet stall, the dead man referred to as Vadakkuraan (Northerner), was responsible for the murder of Annan, his older brother, over a land dispute. In the span of a week, Chidambaram and Ayya move across the karisal bhoomi (arid lands) figuring out where to eat, sleep, covertly meet with members of their family, and most importantly how to evade the police.

Vekkai (Heat) is the first novel of Sahitya Award winning Tamil writer Poomani to be available in English. Translated from Tamil by N Kalyan Raman, Heat is deceptively sparse, like the landscape its protagonists traverse. The title refers to the sun-scorched soil as much as the trait of red-hot anger. “A man can’t survive on rage alone, son,” Ayya cautions Chidambaram.

Published in 1982, Vekkai is one of the indelible novels of the Tamil modernist canon. Modernist Tamil literature assimilated some of the rhythms of folk tales but also transgressed some its cruder attributes. Bolstered by Dravidian and Marxist ideological frameworks, it began delving into caste and class alienation and proletarian power. Vekkai’s Dalit literary vocabulary was at odds with Tamil diglossia at the time. Poomani, a maverick, emphasised regional dialects over formal, classical Tamil and articulation of caste resistance over aesthetics in his work. Novels as varied as P Sivakami’s Pazhayani Kazhidalum, Bama’s Karukku and Perumal Murugan’s Koolamadari owe a debt to his mode of social realism where Dalit protagonists take the spotlight amidst fissures of caste and earth.

Land ownership is pivotal to the caste tensions that arise in the novel. Vadakkuraan who takes over swathes of land around Ayya’s small land holding makes repeated attempts to try and acquire it. “Greed for property never leaves a man. It won’t fade away even if he is cut to pieces,” notes Ayya for whom farming even a small piece of land is imperative to hold their head high. Their caste is never spelt out but it’s discernible. After all, there are traces of the chequered history of Dalit struggles over land control including the horrific Keezhvenmani massacre in 1968.  

The most moving quality of this fugitive tale that speaks to its enduring legacy is familial love. Poomani deftly emphasises the characters’ affinity with each other as opposed to the melodramatic thriller elements one might naturally expect from a story like this. Chidambaram is affectionately referred to as Chelambaram (darling) by his family, including his doting aunt and his uncle who, unlike Ayya, treat him like an adult. Rather than being ostracised, Chidambaram and his father have a network of family support that reminds them at every turn that his act of killing was not a cold-blooded murder but rightful retaliation. 

Heat deftly navigates the father-son relationship at its centre. Ayya is a hard father; at one point remarking while pounding Chidambaram’s head with oil, “Even if a rock falls on his head, he should brush it off and carry on.” A common trope in Tamil folk tales is the inversion of the father-son dynamic. Chidambaram frequently cooks the meals they eat and offers his father money to buy food, which he refuses. Ayya constantly reminds Chidambaram that he doesn’t want to face the people of their village, not because his son is a murderer but because he will be viewed as a coward for not having killed him in the first place.

The book is also in some ways about masculinity. Stoic and armed with his sickle and homemade bombs, Chidambaram is an archetypical protagonist for a coming-of-age tale. As his uncle remarks about him, “Your father was right. You do have a heart of stone, boy.” Chidambaram is constantly trying to mould himself as the young man his late brother was. “I’m not afraid of anything,” he portentously declares. Yet, his father doesn’t buy into his displays of bravado and only sees a son who’s forced to grow up too early. “My feet have wandered all over, son. You are a kid born yesterday.”  

Yet, Heat is more than a social document about frayed caste dynamics. It unfolds leisurely, lingering as much over Chidambaram and Ayya’s daily rituals, such as procuring food and finding shelter, as it does on their unhurried conversations. It’s not surprising that Kollywood star Dhanush and the acclaimed director Vetrimaaran are collaborating to adapt this 35-year-old novel on the silver screen. Readers aching for an Indian novel in the Western mould will be delighted. Heat’s pleasures include the austere manner in which it vividly conjures up its landscapes. “The surrounding villages and fields were as clear as in a landscape drawing. The tiny pathways seemed like lines. The ponds were like differently coloured circle, the water’s colour always changing with the type of soil. On the south side, however, a big hillock of similar height blocked the view.” Raman manages to retain the striking poetry of some lines. “Like pearls of sorghum, tears would spill and flow from her eyes.” 

In a seminal essay, Tamil writer Bama noted that “[Dalit literature] should avoid supplying any kind of moral compensation for the real struggle.” In Vekkai, Poomani does exactly that by not judging his character’s choices. What feels revelatory about the novel even today is that the murder isn’t positioned as a loss of innocence for Chidambaram. Instead, the death of his cousin and the murder of his brother are the events that cast a pall on his life. It’s an incendiary choice in a novel that could easily have devolved into banal reflections about the cycle of violence. There are tantalising discussions between father and son about what bravery entails. “When the enemy is strong, it takes courage even to sneak up on him.” The murder of Vadakkaran is an equaliser, the only manner in which Chidambaram’s family can fight back. As Ayya tells him, “A man doesn’t plant a palm tree to eat the fruit himself, does he?” 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar Or Mohammed Shami? This Is Sachin Tendulkar's Pick

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Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

MUMBAI — Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday picked pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar over fellow speedster Mohammed Shami, who took a sensational last over hat-trick against Afghanistan, when an unbeaten India take on West Indies in their World Cup game at Manchester on Thursday.

The Master Blaster picked ‘Bhuvi’, as pacer is commonly known, for his sheer ability to trouble swashbuckling West Indies batsman Chris Gayle.

“It’s a great news for India that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is fit. I have seen his body language which showed that he is really confident,” Tendulkar told Star Sports.

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Kumar (29) had sustained an injury against Pakistan and missed the game against Afghanistan, which India won by 11 runs on 22 June.

Shami (29), who was drafted in the team in place of Kumar, took a hat-trick in the 50th over of Afghanistan’s innings, becoming just the second Indian, after pacer Chetan Sharma, to achieve the feat in a World Cup match.

“For the upcoming match between India and West Indies, if I had to choose between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, I would definitely pick Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

“The only reason being, Bhuvneshwar Kumar can bowl to Chris Gayle at the outer angle and that is what makes Chris Gayle uncomfortable. 

“I still remember how uncomfortable Chris Gayle was when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was bowling at him in the last Test I played,” added Tendulkar, who holds numerous records to his name.

The 46-year-old batting legend played his last of 200th Test, a world record, at Mumbai in 2013.

“I know it will be a little unfortunate for Mohammed Shami but I believe for this game, Bhuvneshwar Kumar should be picked,” Tendulkar signed off.

India, unbeaten in the World Cup till now, will take on an ousted-yet-dangerous West Indies in the sixth league phase encounter of the showpiece event.

Jharkhand Lynching Pained Me, But Unfair To Insult A State, Says Modi

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NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday broke his silence on lynching of a Muslim youth in Jharkhand, saying it has pained him and the guilty must be severely punished, but stressed that all incidents of violence in the country, whether in Jharkhand, West Bengal or Kerala, should be treated the same and law should take its course.

Addressing Rajya Sabha, he also spoke on the death of over 130 children this month from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) or ‘brain fever’ in Bihar, describing it as a matter of “shame” and the “biggest failure” of seven decades that outbreak of such disease continues to kill even after so many years of independence.

In his over an hour long reply to the debate on Motion of Thanks to President’s address, Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress saying it was sheer arrogance of the grand old party which is unable to accept its defeat and continues to question the mandate of the people by doubting EVMs. 

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Modi, who received flak from the opposition over his ‘silence’ on the lynching incident in BJP-ruled Jharkhand, said “security of every citizen is our constitutional duty”.

“The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too. Guilty should get severest punishment but for this the entire state has been pronounced guilty and everyone put in dock, which is not right,” he said.

A Muslim youth, accused of stealing a motorcycle, was beaten up by a mob and a video showed that he was purportedly made to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’ in the Saraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand. He later died.

The Prime Minister said some people in Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. “Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state.”

“None of us have the right to insult the state of Jharkhand,” he said and referred to violence in states ruled by opposition parties.

“All kinds of violence whether in Jharkhand or West Bengal or Kerala should be treated as same and law should take its course,” he said.

The BJP has been alleging that its workers are being targeted in political violence in TMC-ruled West Bengal and in Kerala, where the Left Democratic Front is in power.

On the death of children in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar where BJP and its ally JDU are in power, he said the Centre is extending all help to the state to fight the problem.

“In modern times, such a situation is a matter of pain as well as shame for all of us,” he said. “This is the biggest failure in last seven decades and we should take it seriously.”

Modi, who had targeted the Congress during his reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accused the opposition party of heaping “insults” on the people of the country by calling their decision to give a thumping majority to the BJP as “a defeat of the country, democracy and farmers”.

Congress leaders, he said, are saying farmers were sold out to Rs 2,000 cash dole and the elections were won with the help of media.

“This is an insult to farmers. A farmer is not available for sale. Farmers cannot be insulted. The use of language that they were sold for Rs 2,000 is an insult to 15 crore farmers,” he said.

Countering the opposition charge of media bias during elections, he said, “Is media on sale. Was it on sale in Tamil Nadu and Kerala (where Congress and its allies won).”

The Prime Minister also took the Congress to task for its “clamour for credit” saying why it was not doing so in case of National Register for Citizens as it was first agreed to by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Assam Accord.

NRC is not a vote bank issue for this government. It is an issue of national security, he said, adding the move to list citizens and identify outsiders was done on the orders of the Supreme Court.

With 22 bills lapsing as Rajya Sabha did not pass them before the term of the 16th Lok Sabha ended, Modi said the Upper House is part of the federal structure of the country and the members must introspect and cooperate in framing of crucial legislations.

While the BJP has an absolute majority in Lok Sabha, it along with its allies lack the numbers in Rajya Sabha, which has led to stalling of some legislations including on Triple Talaq and making Aadhaar an optional ID proof for obtaining mobile sim cards and opening bank accounts.

Parties which obstructed constructive government work in Rajya Sabha have been punished by the voters in the recent general elections, the Prime Minister said.

Modi quoted former president Pranab Mukherjee that opposition has a right to question but not obstruct as he sought protection from the Chair to help government get through important legislations.

“We don’t have majority in Rajya Sabha but verdict of the people should not be throttled in the House,” he said adding opposition parties in the Upper House got special pleasure in “demeaning” the government.

Taking a jibe at Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, he said during the debate some people demanded a return to ‘Old India’ instead of the ‘New India’ where technology is being used to ease lives and end corruption.

“Do they want an Old India where Cabinet decision is torn in a press conference, where Navy assets are used for picnic, where scams are order of the day, where ‘tukde-tukde’ (separatist) gang gets support of leaders, where middlemen are required for railway tickets, MP’s letter is needed for gas connection, where interviews are held for low-level jobs such as peon in a government department and there is rampant inspector raj,” he said.

The citizen of the country are not willing to go back to the old India, he said adding the ‘new India’ is destined to come.

Modi said while Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a Congress leader, it is his party’s belief that had he been the first prime minister of the country, there would not have been any J-K problem.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, he said Patel was their party leader and they should at least once go to the Statue of Unity in Gujarat to pay homage.

The party should infact hold their Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting there, he said. “Azad saheb kuch din guzarei Gujarat mein (Mr Azad please spend some days in Gujarat),” Modi quipped, using a tagline of Gujarat Tourism.

On the Congress’ claim of Indian economy expanding by only $0.8 trillion to $2.8 billion in five years, he said under his rule the economy has expanded by nearly half when compared to $2 trillion added in 60 years of Congress rule.

Stating that water shortage was a growing crisis, he said 226 districts have been identified where there is a shortage and MPs should use their area development fund to help tide over the problem.

The Motion of Thanks to President’s address was passed by Parliament following the Prime Minister’s reply. The Motion was passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Prince William Says He Would Fully Support His Children If They Came Out As LGBT

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Prince William has said he will fully support his children if they come out as LGBT. 

The prince was making his first visit to an LGBTQ charity, The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), which was set up to support teens facing homelessness because of their sexual or gender identity.

BBC reporter Ben Hunte tweeted the prince’s comment regarding his children, George, Charlotte and Louis. 

Although people pointed out William’s support of his children should be a given, many praised his sentiment, pointing out that having LGBTQ allies in positions of power is only ever a good thing. 

The Duke Of Cambridge officially opened AKT’s new YouthSpace in Hoxton, and visited to learn more about LGBTQ youth homelessness, meeting with staff, volunteers and young people, the charity said. 

Tim Sigsworth, chief executive at AKT, said they were “honoured” to welcome the duke to their new London service “which is the first visit by a member of the Royal Family to a LGBTQ youth charity”.

 “The impact of homelessness is very damaging to LGBTQ young people, with high rates and incidences of mental health issues, sexual exploitation, substance misuse, HIV and sexual health issues,” Sigsworth said.

“In this 30th anniversary year of AKT, and as the first charity in the world to respond to the crisis of LGBTQ youth homelessness, today’s visit from HRH The Duke Of Cambridge is a hugely significant step forward in raising awareness of this important issue.”

In this Pride Month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are also highlighting the work of LGBTQ charities on their Instagram account –  which is now followed by more than 8.8 million people.

The Sussexes recently parted ways with the Royal Foundation that Harry established with William and Kate to set up their own charitable foundation.

Mindy Kaling Gets The Look Of Love From Ex B.J. Novak That We All Want

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Mindy Kaling got the look of love on her birthday from ex-boyfriend and co-star B.J. Novak.

A photo Novak posted Tuesday of him gazing ― Adoringly? Admiringly? Amorously? ― at Kaling during her 40th birthday bash had fans wishing they could be at the receiving end of that kind of look.

The two dated on and off during their early days on “The Office” and have remained friends. Some followers expressed hope that Novak, who’s the godfather to Kaling’s 1 1/2-year-old daughter Katherine, and his dear pal could rekindle their romance.

Here’s a sampling of the Instagram comments.

“Get u a man that looks at u the same way bj looks at mindy.”

“I wish someone looked at me like BJ looks at Mindy.”

“The way you look at her melts my heart.”

“I want someone to look at me the way he looks at mindy.”

“Can you guys get married already.”

“I hate and love how secretive they are.”

“Why do they do this to us whhhhyyyyyy.”

And, of course there was strong conjecture about the paternity of Kaling’s daughter (which the comedian has not publicly disclosed).

“There is absolutely no way that @picturesoftext (Novak’s Instagram handle) iisn’t the father of @mindykaling ’s child!!!!!!”

Maisie Williams' Next Role Sounds As Badass As Arya Stark In 'Game Of Thrones'

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British actress Maisie Williams has scored a starring role in a brand new TV comedy series.

And some traits of her character in the Sky-produced “Two Weeks to Live” sound not too unlike Arya Stark, who she portrayed to acclaim in HBO’s epic fantasy drama “Game of Thrones.”

Williams will play Kim Noakes in the “comic tale of love and revenge born from a seemingly harmless prank that goes terribly wrong,” according to a press release that Sky shared online Wednesday.

Filming starts later this year, and the six-parter is slated for release on Sky One and the Now TV streaming service in the United Kingdom in 2020.

As a young girl, Noakes was whisked away by her mother “to a remote rural life of seclusion and bizarre survival techniques” following the death of her father “in murky circumstances,” according to the plot summary. She later finds herself on the run (with her brother, a friend and a big bag of stolen cash) from a murderous gangster and the police.

“But Kim is no ordinary fish out of water,” the summary notes. “She’s more like a great white shark who knows how to strip a Smith & Weston SDVE pistol in 6 seconds flat, skin a deer to make a sleeping bag, and perform all the routines from Dirty Dancing. With her in their team, they might all just survive….”

Do those badass survival skills sound familiar?

After all, the list-keeping, sword-wielding warrior Arya sure did handle herself in Westeros.

Williams, 22, garnered global fame as one of the Stark siblings in “Thrones.” Her slaying of the Night King was a pivotal moment of its eighth and final season.

The show’s ending was not without controversy as a viral Change.org petition demanding a do-over from “competent writers” attracted more than 1.6 million signatures. Still, many fans continue to mourn the end of the show, and a slew of spinoffs are reportedly in the works.

Williams, meanwhile, expressed her eagerness at leaving “Thrones” in an interview in 2017. “I can show the world what sort of actress I want to be and shape my career a little bit,” she told the BBC’s Newsbeat, adding it would free her up to develop ideas via her own production company.

She has previously starred in the BBC’s long running sci-fi series “Doctor Who,” Netflix’s tech-thriller “iBoy” and has a role in the upcoming “X-Men: The New Mutants” film, also due out next year.


New York City Declares A Climate Emergency

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New York City just became the largest municipality in the Americas to declare a climate emergency

The City Council overwhelmingly voted Wednesday afternoon to approve a resolution pushed by activists, adding bulk to a growing list of legislation aimed at cutting emissions in an economy that ranks among the top 20 in the world. 

It’s largely symbolic, and does not even require the mayor’s signature. But it codifies recognition of a threat that became real for many New Yorkers in 2012, when Superstorm Sandy shut down subways and power across large swaths of the city and flooded waterfront neighborhoods.

It also marks a victory for the nascent Extinction Rebellion, a grassroots activist movement pushing legislators across the developed world to come to grips with the crisis posed by surging emissions.

Four countries ― the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and France ― have declared climate emergencies, though the nations still give a combined $11 billion in fossil fuel subsidies each year, according to the U.K. outlet Climate Home News

More than 650 municipalities in 15 countries have declared climate emergencies, including Sydney in Australia and London in the U.K. 

At least 17 U.S. cities are already on board. Hoboken, New Jersey, a commuter city in New York’s metropolitan area, declared a climate emergency in 2017. Oakland followed suit last October. San Francisco joined them in February.

In perhaps the most poignant example, Chico, the small Northern California city devastated by last year’s deadly Camp fire, declared an emergency in April. 

“I was disappointed to see California was leading and Hoboken beat New York City, which is really embarrassing,” Councilman Ben Kallos, a Democrat from the Upper East Side, told HuffPost.

New York’s declaration comes two months after the City Council passed a landmark bill to cut emissions from large buildings, the Big Apple’s biggest energy users and largest source of climate pollution. The measure, coupled with a handful of other bills to bolster renewable energy in the city, was dubbed New York’s version of a Green New Deal.  

At the state level, New York lawmakers earlier this month passed one of the country’s most aggressive bills to cut economywide emissions down to net zero by 2050.

“Resolutions don’t have much power other than consensus building,” Kallos said. “The more of these that pass, the harder it is for people like [President Donald] Trump to deny what’s happened.”

Unused Electoral Bonds Raise Fresh Concerns About Controversial Scheme

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The Prime Minister's Relief Fund likely received more than Rs 20 crores during election years 2018 and 2019 after political parties failed to encash electoral bonds which are meant to finance them. 

NEW DELHI—Electoral bonds worth over Rs 20 crore found their way to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund instead of the bank accounts of political parties, show official data sourced from the Finance Ministry and State Bank of India, raising fresh questions about the workings of the controversial scheme.  

The use of electoral bonds—often preferred by large corporates as the buyers’ identity remains anonymous—had shot up in the past few months due to the general election. Multiple Right to Information (RTI) applications revealed that donors purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5,800 crore until May 2019. 

While transparency activists have criticised the scheme’s functioning on multiple levels, not much attention has been paid to why the high value bonds lapse and when they do, thus rendering them unusable by political parties, how they are eventually utilised by the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund where, according to rules, they are deposited by the banks. 

Though Rs20 crore is a relatively small amount in the world of political funding, especially for the national parties, the fact that in an election year, when political parties are eager to raise maximum campaign funds, the bonds were not encashed by them is inexplicable. 

“I found it strange and intriguing because why should one buy an instrument of donating money to a political party and allow it to lapse? If I want to donate to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, I can do it directly,” said Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar, founder director of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Electoral Bonds scheme. 

The veteran transparency campaigner and former Director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is concerned about the scheme’s continued impact on political funding in India. Some of these concerns were raised by his organisation in a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court

Many other campaigners and opposition parties have expressed concerns as well. One of the reasons why concerns were expressed was reflected in an analysis of the BJP’s accounts last year. It revealed that the saffron party had received the lion’s share of the bonds in the scheme’s first tranche. 

As per the rules of the scheme, both the buyers and the recipients of the bonds—which range from Rs1,000 to Rs1 crore—remain anonymous, and political parties don’t need to disclose the source of the money received through bonds in their accounts to the Election Commission.

It was RTI activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.) who tabulated the Rs20 crore figure from two sources: a) official data provided by the Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in the ADR case in April, and b) from RTI replies by the State Bank of India to Pune-based activist Vihar Dhurve, for the period from April 2018 to May 2019. The exact sum till May that Batra tabulated is: Rs 20,25,32,000.

It was RTI activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.) who tabulated the Rs20 crore figure from two sources: a) official data provided by the Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in the ADR case in April, and b) from RTI replies by the State Bank of India to Pune-based activist Vihar Dhurve, for the period from April 2018 to May 2019. The exact sum till May that Batra tabulated is: Rs 20,25,32,000.  In the Finance ministry affidavit and the RTI replies to Dhurve by the SBI Bank, there are no details about the donors who purchased the bonds nor the political parties that were their intended beneficiaries. 

Speaking with HuffPost India, Batra indicated that it seems unlikely that the funds were sent to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund only because political parties failed to encash the amount on time, especially during high-stakes elections.

“Are political parties so rich that they do not even care to encash electoral bonds worth more than Rs 20 crore or is there more to that?” he asked. Batra would not elaborate or speculate on what other factors may be at play. 

The RTI campaigner added, “I feel since amount is coming from anonymous sources, it should go to the Consolidated Fund of India. The PMRF is not a good option.” 

Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, Director in the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry, who authored the government affidavit from which Batra used data for his calculations told HuffPost India that he would comment only after the budget was presented.

Why the Electoral Bonds Scheme is Controversial

The Electoral Bonds scheme was notified by the Modi government on January 2, 2018, though it had been introduced along with several mutually related and controversial legal changes made to the norms about donations received by political parties through the Finance Act 2017. The other changes included: removal of the limit of 7.5% on a given company’s average three-year net profit for donations to a political party, and companies not being mandated to disclose the names of the political parties to which they have donated their money, among others. 

The electoral bonds scheme itself involves purchase of promissory notes called bonds of various denominations from Rs 1,000 to Rs1 crore through any of the authorised branches of the State Bank of India. It promises complete anonymity to both the donor and the political party about the funding and the latter do not need to disclose the names of their donors while reporting funding details to the Election Commission. So the presumption is that the government of the day and the ruling party would not be aware about who has donated how much to other parties. However, there has been criticism that this is not foolproof and the government may have access to information about donors to opposition parties.  

Crucially, section 12 of the notification also states that if an electoral bond is not encashed by political parties within 15 days of purchase, it lapses and the bank must deposit the sum in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. But, as stated earlier in this report, the fact that the political parties did not encash electoral bonds in an election year is unusual.

Crucially, section 12 of the notification also states that if an electoral bond is not encashed by political parties within 15 days of purchase, it lapses and the bank must deposit the sum in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. But, as stated earlier in this report, the fact that the political parties did not encash electoral bonds in an election year is unusual.

Concerned by the obviously problematic provisions of the scheme, ADR filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court, seeking to scrap all the changes made to the existing norms for political funding through the Finance Act 2017.  The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also filed a petition in the SC for similar reasons.  

In its petition, the ADR criticised the electoral bonds scheme, saying that “allowing electoral bonds on the donor’s side and removing the name of the recipient brings in complete opacity in political funding.” Further, it also stated that removal of the 7.5% limit on a given company’s net profit for the past three financial years “will not only heighten the odds of conflict of interest but will also drastically increase black money and corruption”. 

The Election Commission also criticised various provisions of the scheme, particularly the one by which political parties would no longer need to declare the identity of their donors in ‘contribution reports’ which are essentially about funding details. The EC termed the relaxation as a “retrograde step”which needs to be withdrawn. 

The Modi government justified the scheme, saying it has, contrary to assertions, brought in transparency by eliminating non-transparent cash donations to political parties. 

In an interim order on April 12, the SC asked all political parties to file details of donors donating money through bonds in a sealed envelope to the EC though it did not scrap the electoral bonds scheme. 

RTIs and Electoral Bonds

RTI activist Batra feels one of the fears that critics expressed in the past about the scheme may be “coming closer to certainty”. The fear: that the government and ruling party would know, through the SBI, the details about election funds received by other parties who received funds through the bonds. 

He cites his own experience to explain why he thinks so. In April, the Finance Ministry, in its detailed affidavit in the SC, revealed data about the number of bonds purchased, redeemed and forwarded to the relief fund. Two months later, in early June, Batra filed an RTI with the Finance Ministry, asking it to provide the same data by updating it till the most recent month for which it is available. However, he was told that the ministry did not have the information in its possession and his application was forwarded to the State Bank of India which is yet to respond. This, Batra told HuffPost India, indicates that the “SBI has been regularly and phase-wise sharing information with the Department of Economic Affairs”. 

Vihar Dhurve, the Pune-based RTI activist whose applications also helped disclose electoral bonds data from the SBI for the past two months, was unsparing in his criticism about the scheme. 

“Electoral Bonds scheme is totally flawed and a threat to the nation due to the possibility it creates for shell companies to fund political parties,” he said.  

Parents Of Indian Girl Who Died Crossing US Border Were Trying To Give Her A 'Better Life'

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The parents of a 6-year-old girl who died of heat stroke this month while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are speaking up about the “desperate” choice they made to seek asylum in America.

Gurupreet Kaur’s parents, natives of Punjab, India, said that they were hoping to give their daughter a better future by bringing her to the United States.

“We wanted a safer and better life for our daughter and we made the extremely difficult decision to seek asylum here in the United States,” the couple said in a statement released on their behalf by the Sikh Coalition. “We trust that every parent, regardless of origin, color or creed, will understand that no mother or father ever puts their child in harm’s way unless they are desperate.”

Gurupreet died while trying to cross the border with her mother in a remote area of desert in Arizona, CNN reports. Border Patrol agents found her body on June 12, about 17 miles outside of Lukeville.

This undated image from Tucson Sector Border Patrol shows the desert terrain close to Arizona's boundary with Mexico near Lukeville, Arizona.

The girl’s father, A. Singh, has been living in the United States since 2013. A resident of New York, Singh’s asylum application is pending before a New York immigration court, according to the Sikh Coalition.

Gurupreet’s mother, S. Kaur, left their home in India to reunite with Singh in New York City, where they hoped to raise their daughter. It’s unclear how and when the mother and child arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Sikh Coalition is declining to release the couple’s first names out of concerns for their privacy. The advocacy organization is not representing them in a legal capacity.

Gurupreet and her mother joined three other Indian migrants ― including an 8-year-old girl ―who were seeking to enter the United States. Smugglers dropped the group off in a remote area on the Mexican side of the border and told them to walk north, according to CNN.

As temperatures climbed to 108 degrees that day, Kaur and another woman in the group split off to look for water but were unable to find their way back to the others. They encountered Border Patrol agents, who searched for hours and eventually found Gurupreet’s body. The other two members of the group, including the 8-year-old, were located later and taken to a hospital.

Kaur was released from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility last Tuesday and allowed to travel by bus from Arizona to New York City, according to the Sikh Coalition. She arrived on June 21 and has been issued a notice to appear before a New York immigration court, but hasn’t received a date for her appointment. 

Her attorney, Deepak Ahluwalia, told CNN that she’ll be seeking asylum. He believes Kaur was being persecuted by someone in India.

A  swath of fabric and empty water jugs lay next to the border fence outside Lukeville, Arizona, on Feb. 16, 2017.

Gurupreet’s death demonstrates that the immigration crisis doesn’t just affect Latinx communities. As of 2017, there were 630,000 undocumented Indians living in the U.S., a 72% increase since 2010. Many became undocumented by overstaying their visas. 

About 2,550 Indians were active participants in DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, in 2018. 

South Asians have increasingly been seeking asylum in the United States because of religious and political repression in their native countries, said Lakshmi Sridaran, interim co-executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together, a civil rights organization.

“The increase in South Asian migrants attempting to cross the U.S. Mexico demonstrates that the range of communities impacted by our militarized border continues to grow,” she told HuffPost.

The Trump administration has imposed limits on how many people can claim asylum at official U.S. ports of entry every day. Frustrated by monthslong waits for asylum interviews, some families attempt risky crossings.

Border Patrol reports that 283 migrants died while attempting to cross the border in 2018, although immigration activists say the number could be much higher.

Texas authorities reported on Monday that seven people, including two babies and a toddler, had died while attempting to cross the border into that state, Reuters reports. In April, a Honduran man and three children died when their raft overturned in the Rio Grande.

Gurupreet’s funeral service will take place on Friday in New York City. Through the Sikh Coalition, her family has asked for privacy during a “deeply painful time.” 

“We will carry the burden of the loss of our beloved Gurupreet for a lifetime,” the parents said. “But we will also continue to hold onto the hope that America remains a compassionate nation grounded in the immigrant ideals that make diversity this nation’s greatest strength.”

New York Was On The Verge Of Automatic Voter Registration. Then A Typo Got In The Way.

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A bill that would have implemented automatic voter registration very nearly became law in New York last week. But the measure was held back from crossing the finish line ― by a typo.

The bill, which would allow New Yorkers to be automatically registered to vote when interacting with certain state agencies, passed on June 19 in the state Senate. Activists were anticipating passage in the Assembly soon after, but the bill was abruptly recalled, which Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins And Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement was due to a “significant technical issue.” The lawmakers promised they would pass automatic voter registration in their next session, which begins in January, and that it would be implemented in 2021, the same timeline as if it had passed this year. 

The “technical issue” was a typo that made its way into the bill via an amendment passed on the Sunday before the last day of the legislative session, according to Sean Morales-Doyle, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. 

And because there is a constitutional provision in New York mandating that a bill has to be in its final form for three days before its passage, lawmakers didn’t have time to fix the typo before their session ended, Morales-Doyle said. 

The bill included a warning to noncitizens that registering to vote was a crime, and it told them not to check the box opting out of voting. Thanks to that added word, the bill was effectively telling noncitizens interacting with state agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles the opposite of what it should have ― which could wrongly register them to vote and could have serious consequences.

The automatic voter registration bill would have allowed New Yorkers to be enrolled as voters simply by interacting with one of multiple state agencies, such as the DMV, the Department of Health, or the Office of Children and Family Services. The bill would have implemented an “opt out” rather than “opt in” system, meaning unless people decline to be registered when filling out the forms, they would be.

Experts anticipate automatic voter registration would significantly increase voter turnout in New York, which faced national scrutiny in 2018 for perceived failures in facilitating voting during the midterms. An opinion piece by Morales-Doyle and Chisun Lee, both counsel at the Brennan Center, recently calledNew York’s voting system the “worst-in-the-country,” citing long lines, a lack of early voting and an antiquated voter registration system. The state’s voter participation is also lagging ― while New York saw its highest voter turnout since 1994 in the 2018 midterms, at 49% of eligible voters, it ranks 42nd among states for participation. 

With automatic voter registration, “the default becomes participation,” according to Perry Grossman, Voting Rights Project attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“The big impact is you’re going to see higher registration rates,” he said. “And we are going to see the registration gap — between whites and minorities, high-income and low-income, native-born citizens and naturalized-citizens — close.”

There are up to 2 milllion people who are over age 18, are citizens and are eligible to vote, but for a variety of reasons are not registered, New York state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D), who sponsored the bill in his chamber, told HuffPost last week before the bill was recalled. (Estimates vary ― Let New York Vote, a statewide coalition of grassroots and civil rights and liberties organizations pushing for election and voting reform, placed the figure at 1.1 million.)  

“This will give many of them the opportunity to get on the rolls and increase our participation rate, which is among the worst in the country,” Gianaris said. 

The New York Legislature recalled its automatic voter registration bill due to a “significant technical issue.”

If the legislature had passed the measure, New York would have joined 16 other states and the District of Columbia with this bill. The New York automatic voter registration bill has been introduced in every legislative session since 2015. But it took until this session for lawmakers to promise they would make its passage happen. 

Before 2018, Republicans held the majority of seats in the state Senate.

“We had great hopes of passing AVR this session, especially with all of the traction and statewide support,” Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D), who introduced the companion bill in the Assembly, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, critical elements in the bill was missing and we felt it was not right to move forward with the bill currently written.” She expressed support of the commitment of Senate and Assembly majorities to passing the updated bill next session.

Some lawmakers, primarily Republicans in the state, warned the bill would allow noncitizens to register to vote. (A bill passed on June 12 allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses so they could be automatically registered then.) Assemblyman Colin Schmitt (R) told the New York Post that the automatic registration bill was “an egregious assault on the integrity of elections in our state.” Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R) told the newspaper that the bill was “a blatant attempt to allow voter fraud to fester,” a concern that, according to the outlet, she raised during the vote.

Morales-Doyle and Grossman dismissed those rumors. Morales-Doyle noted that the bill’s language also included a warning for noncitizens that they could be subject to criminal penalties and possible deportation if they registered to vote. That language was put in place to protect noncitizens who would face “disastrous” consequences for registering, Morales-Doyle said. 

“Anyone suggesting that this was something intentional or devious or something, I think is just kidding themselves,” Morales-Doyle said.

Grossman suggested Republicans were bringing up the argument because they opposed the measure to get more voters on the rolls. Republicans “have a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “But their problem is they have absolutely no interest in seeing more people register to vote. And so they’re fighting tooth and nail with bad faith arguments, everything that would get more people on the rolls.”

Although the automatic voter registration bill was a disappointment, voting rights advocates made other gains in New York’s 2019 legislative session.

At the beginning of the legislative session in January, lawmakers passed numerous voting rights bills, including early voting, pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds and consolidating state and federal primaries into one day.

In June, lawmakers passed a bill that moved the party enrollment deadline for registered voters up and closer to the primary, cutting in half how many days before the primary voters had to change their party registration. 

“[The session] basically brought New York up to speed with the majority of the rest of the country and brought New York’s elections into the 21st century, with early voting and online voter registration,” Morales-Doyle said.

10 Great Netflix Originals From 2019 You've Already Forgotten About

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So many shows and movies debut on television and streaming services these days that it has become impossible to keep up. Long gone are the days when the whole country would watch “M*A*S*H*” together. Two of the last remaining super popular shows ― “Game of Thrones” and “The Big Bang Theory” ― just ended. You can now reliably fall in love with a show that nobody you know has ever even heard about.

With Netflix increasing the amount of Originals it debuts every year, now just keeping up with what’s on that one streaming service has become a fool’s errand. Almost every week Netflix adds at least one good-to-great show, movie and comedy special, let alone all the foreign projects and non-Original content the company adds.

And so great shows and movies that debuted only months in the past can feel like they came out years ago.

As such, I decided to circle back on a few shows and movies that I had practically forgotten about myself, despite covering them extensively when they debuted. When looking at a list of everything that’s come out this year so far (and it’s only the end of June), many of these titles elicited an “Oh yeah, I loved that” response from me as I realized I hadn’t thought about them for quite some time. And these aren’t foreign movies or super niche projects that never earned a large audience — almost all of these had a big debut for the few days surrounding their release, but now feel like they might as well have never happened in the culture.

So read on to see if you forgot about any of these or maybe didn’t even get a chance to check them out the first time. Regardless, consider giving all of the recommended projects below another shot before moving on to what Netflix has next.

And if you want to stay informed on the many things joining Netflix on a weekly basis, make sure to subscribe to the Streamline newsletter. 

What’s up: A satire of the contemporary art world starring Jake Gyllenhaal, John Malkovich and Rene Russo. “Velvet Buzzsaw” uses a B-movie horror vibe to pair with the highbrow subject matter (and a $21 million budget), which gives the story many opportunities to have comedic set-pieces that are both thematically rich, but also viscerally thrilling.

Look up: Director Dan Gilroy spoke to “The Big Picture” podcast about balancing the various genres of “Velvet Buzzsaw” and his previous movie with Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler.”

Trailer:

What’s up: A group of 40-something friends from college continue to hang out together in New York City despite the various relationship dramas and terrible things that have happened between them. The comedy relies heavily on inventive pratfalls and slapstick. The strong cast of funny people includes Billy Eichner, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Savage and Cobie Smulders.

Look up: The co-creators spoke to Indiewire about the critically panned first season and how they course-corrected for the second season. “People were saying [about the first season], ‘these characters are just so horrible, hanging out with them is like crawling over broken glass,’” co-creator Francesca Delbanco said.

Trailer:

 

“Dating Around” (Reality Show)

What’s up: A reality show in which one contestant per episode goes on a handful of blind dates in New York City and can only choose one person to have a second date with (at least on camera). This stands out for its innovative take on the genre, as excellent camerawork makes this look cinematic rather than having the typical reality aesthetic of cheapness.

Look up: Amanda Hess called this show a “pleasant surprise” in The New York Times and made an apt comparison to another Netflix show, writing, “The editing style recalls the ‘Master of None’ episode ‘First Date,’ in which Aziz Ansari’s Dev embarks on a series of app-mediated encounters that are spliced together into a single narrative.”

Trailer:

What’s up: During an NBA lockout, an agent tries to convince his young client to help him disrupt the entrenched power of the team owners over the players. This stars Zazie Beetz, Andre Holland, Kyle MacLachlan, Zachary Quinto and Sonja Sohn.

Look up: In an interview for “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” director Steven Soderbergh talked about his choice to film this movie with an iPhone and the unexpected filmmaking advantages that came with that.

Trailer:

What’s up: A survivor of the Rwandan genocide lives in the United Kingdom and works as a legal investigator much like her British adoptive mother. When taking on a case involving an African militia leader, she uncovers parts of her past that put her future in question. Michaela Coel and John Goodman star.

Look up: Coel spoke to Vulture about the role and how she found a similarity with the character, saying, “I’m very much like her in a lot of ways in that I sometimes am not aware of my own trauma, so [I focus on] a wider thing: race, politics, war, TV, subconscious bias, prejudice, colorism, and kind of, We’ve got to sort this out! We’ve got to! It’s a way of not looking at you, maybe because you’re not aware.”

Trailer:

“Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy” on Netflix.

What’s up: Comedian Larry Charles (“Seinfeld” and “Borat”) travels the world to interview comedians in unexpected places, where the conventional wisdom is that nobody could laugh among such horrors. Going to these actual extremes (at one point he interviews an alleged member of ISIS) makes this an inherently thrilling watch, but also one with much educational value to anyone interested in comedic philosophy.

Look up: Charles went on the “Chapo Trap House” podcast to talk about a few of the wilder moments in the show and his general approach to comedy. 

Trailer:

What’s up: The high schooler son of a sex therapist (played by Gillian Anderson) in the United Kingdom teams up with his fellow outcast friend and a debt-ridden cool girl to create a makeshift sex therapy business. This ingratiates the trio with the student body, but also leads to relationship complications that the high schoolers are barely mature enough to handle.

Look up: The Guardian had a piece about the beauty of the Wales town setting and how the actual locals felt about the show. “This really is the most beautiful valley and in every season it has its charm,” said one of the locals named Roger Brown. “I have lived in Llandogo all my life and it is great to see it from above now at the beginning of the show, something they filmed with a big drone.” 

Trailer:

What’s up: Grammy-winning rapper Killer Mike (Run the Jewels) tackles various issues within the black community with humorous interviews and ambitious comedic bits centered around activism. The show has a “Nathan For You” vibe, but jumps past the ridiculous premises to make philosophical points.

Look up: Killer Mike went on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to talk about the show and share a Crips-branded soda he created in one episode to parallel the merchandise sold by white gangs such as the Hells Angels.

Trailer:

 

“Paddleton” (Movie)

What’s up: Mark Duplass and Ray Romano star in a buddy comedy about two men finding out that the most meaningful relationship in their lives has been their friendship. The duo has to deal with one of them getting terminal cancer and what it means to know their friendship will come to a permanent end.

Look up: Romano spoke with the Los Angeles Times about how even though he has done more serious dramatic comedies lately (“The Big Sick” and “Vinyl”) he still gravitates toward projects that have similarities to “Everybody Loves Raymond,” specifically how it focused on minute details within relationships.

Trailer:

 

“The OA” (Series)

What’s up: An ambitious show starring Brit Marling as a character who can jump between realities while an independent investigator tries to solve a mystery about a corporation potentially exploiting a mysterious new science. This second season recalibrated from the first to have much more of a “Twin Peaks: The Return” vibe, mixing eerie yet beautiful establishment shots with fun but grounded dialogue about high-concept plot points.

Look up: Rachel Syme called this “the best, most inaccessible show on television” in The New Republic, an apt description for a show that had a polarizing first season and then returned to introduce even more mysteries into the show’s universe.

Trailer:

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