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South Asia Times Vol.13 I No. 12 I JULY 2016 I FREE s o u t hasiatim es.com .au Editor: Neeraj Nanda
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EDITORIAL IFFM-2016 INDIA FEST LETTER FROM SYDNEY SOUTH ASIA hindi pushp SPORTS
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My picks from the IFFM-2016
By Neeraj Nanda
preoccupied with age and beauty. Striving for recognition, Roya is axed from her reoccurring role for being he Indian Film Festival of Melbourne – 2016 (IFFM-2016) is scheduled next too old, and is urged by her husband month and excitement is running high to retire to a position of motherhood. Afforded an opportunity to leave the all over. I have been attending this confines of her old life, Roya embarks on festival now for many years and the urge to see and write about it, the movies shown and a journey of identity and freedom. With a the events never dies. This year also there is strong female cast and powerful feminist a big assortment of Indian and subcontinent message, the film reflects a wave of exciting female content emerging from movies in the festival. Though cinema is basically a subjective choice but still a few of the subcontinent. Director Rubaiyat them stand out in the crowd. Mitu Bhowmick Hossain is one of Bangladesh’s preeminent female filmmakers. Lange, Festival Director and her team are giving us many movie sections with endless choices. Here are a few which, I feel, are TAANDRO (Nepalese with English worth seeing and not to be missed: Subtitles) Based on a novel by Ganga Bahadur Lama, Taandro depicts the PARCHED (Hindi with English subtitles) 2003 Maoist insurgency of Nepal. An exciting contemporary melodrama, Dayahang Rai stars as Koshish, a rebel Parched is set in an isolated North-Indian ambushed and wounded by the Royal village where long-uphold customs are Nepal Army. Injured and alone, Koshish slowly changing. The widowed Rani seeks must fight to survive in a remote village; battling villager hostilities and a bride for her young son, adhering to societal norms and expectations surrounding inner turmoil. Dramatic and absorbing, Taandro sheds light on a significant traditional arranged marriage. Rani and time in Nepali history. her friends, the spirited Lajjo, and exotic dancer Bijli, begin to yearn for more than THE COLOUR OF DARKNESS (Hindi what life has given them; setting in motion and English) The Colour of Darkness a series of events with the potential to is an astute contemporary drama change each women’s circumstances. that considers the effects of rigid Vibrant, colourful and sensual, and shot by racial prejudice. A young Australian Titanic cinematographer, Russell Carpenter, journalist is sent to investigate the Parched presents a sharp portrait of attack of an Indian student: setting gender inequality, and a stirring portrait of in motion a chain of events with liberation.Director of Parched, Leena Yadav significant personal and societal is a strong and bold filmmaker with exciting consequences. Inspired by the frenzied creative vision. media coverage that followed the 2010 Indian student attacks in Melbourne, A GIRL IN THE RIVER (English, Punjabi) Winner of the Academy Award for the Best Short Documentary, A Girl in the River is an urgent and powerful documentary that examines honour killings in Pakistan. Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy explores the simmering tensions between modernity and tradition in modern day Pakistan. The film follows Saba, a young Pakistani woman, and survivor of an attempted-honour kill perpetrated by her family. Saba fights for her life, her personal dignity and for justice, for an entire generation of women.
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ALIGARH (Hindi with English subtitles) A sensitive and timely drama, Aligarh depicts the true story of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, a university professor dismissed from his position for homosexual behaviour. Demonised by the media and shunned by his community, the professor fights to defend his most basic human rights. A nuanced and layered film that explores the victimization and rejection of the LGBT community in India, Aligarh serves as a reminder of the importance of civil rights and privacy in a society that is often too quick to vilify. Director Hansal Mehta is an offbeat Indian film director, writer and producer. ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES (Hindi with English subtitles) An exciting film that celebrates the powerful, independent woman, Angry Indian Goddesses heralds a significant chapter of feminist Indian filmmaking. Brideto-be Freida and her gang of gal pals descend upon Goa for a weekend of celebration and merrymaking, with spectacularly chaotic results. Secrets are revealed, bonds are tested, and a wild celebration of girl power ensues! Angry Indian Goddesses is the Closing Night film of IFFM 2016. Director Pan Nalin is an Indian film director and screenwriter. UNDER CONSTRUCTION(Bengali with English subtitles) Struggling to find herself in the chaotic sprawl of Bangladesh, Roya is an actress struggling to thrive in an industry www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082
Director Girish Makwana has crafted a detailed and immersive narrative that explores the real ramifications of deeprooted discrimination. Director Girish Makwana is an Indian-born director and musician. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia. The Colour of Darkness is his debut feature film. THE HIDDEN TRUTH (Hindi with English Subtitles) The Hidden Truth is an important drama that highlights the prevalence of domestic violence in migrant communities. First time director, Gurmeet Sran, helms a timely film that reflects upon the pressures elicited by long-standing family traditions, and cultural expectation. Centred on a Sikh family recently settled in Australia; this indie film provides critical recognition of a silent killer. Director Gurmeet Sran is a Melbourne-based director, best known for his short film, Umeed (2014). My choice of films is not complete. There are many more films in the IFFM-2016 that are exceptionally well made and need to be seen. There are a few mainstream movies also and Includes my favourite the 1973 film ‘Bobby’ starring Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia. Many top Bollywood and other film biggies will attend the festival. Please check –www.iffm.com. aufor all details and information about the festival, all films and the many events associated with it. I am sure this year’s festival will once again celebrate Indian and subcontinent cinema.
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Rishi Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap& Richa Chadda among top film biggies to grace IFFM-2016
Melbourne, 20 June: The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne – 2016 (IFFM-2016) is all set to rock the most livable city in the world. A line-up of top Bollywood, subcontinent and local film biggies including Chief Guest Rishi Kapoor are expected to spice up Melbourne with their presence. Udta Punjab fame Anurag Kashyap and Fawad Khan will also be attending the festival. The August 11 – 21, 2016 festival’s theme this year is – Woman’s Empowerment.
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he Opening Night movie will be Director Leena Yadav’s ‘Parched’, a contemporary melodrama, presents a portrait of gender inequality, and a stirring portrait of liberation in an isolated North-Indian village. The Closing Night film ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ directed by Pan Nalin is a celebration of girl power at a weekend of merrymaking involving bride-to-be Freida and her gang in Goa. Addressing the media at the festival launch, Festival CEO, MituBhowmick said, one highlight of the festival
will be a retrospective of Rishi Kapoor movies with his hits Bobby, RafuChakkar and Karz hitting the silver screen.” “Under Masterstrokes there will be three films from Pakistan – Journey of Thousand Miles: Peacemakers, Saving Face and the Oscar winning A Girl in The River, she said. “Further program highlights include the world premiere of AshutoshGowariker’s epic adventure-romance MohenjoDaro starring Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hedge in the lead roles, www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082
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Rishi Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap& Richa Chadda among top film biggies to grace IFFM-2016...
set in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation; and the Australian premiere of Anu Menon’s comedy drama Waiting, about the relationship between two people from very different walks of life who befriend one another in hospital,” says the festival media release. The ‘Hurrah Bollywood’ program features the best mainstream Hindi cinema from the last twelve months including IFFMAward Best Film nominees, Neerja by Ram Madhvani, and Kapoor and Sons starring Rishi Kapoor; ‘Beyond Bollywood’presents art house and cinema in regional Indian languages, with programme highlights including the Pakistani biographical drama Manto, about the life of IndoPakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto; and the box office and critical hit Aligarh, directed by Hansel Mehta and described by the BFI as “Probably the best film yet on the Indian gay male experience,”inspired by the life of Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras. ‘The Subcontinent’ features films from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistanand Nepal, including the banned Bangladeshi feature
Under Construction, which revolves around a woman’s struggle toreclaim her identity and sexuality; Pakistani drama Moor written and directed by Jami, about a troubled station master, andAmong the Believers, a documentary that examines the increasing political and religious turmoil in Pakistan since the War on Terror. ‘Film India World” will present Amrita Dasgupta’s award-winning The New Girl in Class, which looks at thepossibility of mainstream education for Indian children with autism; while the IFFM Documentary stream features For TheLove of A Man, exploring the madness of South Indian fandom as a former bus driver becomes a living legend. ‘Master Stroke’ showcases some of the greatest classics from India’s rich cinematic history.
Pakistani biographical drama Manto, about the life of Indo-Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto; and the box office and critical hit Aligarh, directed by Hansel Mehta and described by the BFI as “Probably the best film yet on the Indian gay male experience,” inspired by the life of Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras.
Celebrity guests in attendance will also includeVidyaBalan, RiruparnaSengupta, Leena Yadav, Radhika Apte, Rajeev Masand, Sarah Haider, Shalmali Kholgade, Srjit Mukherjee, Malika Arora Khan, Rich Chadda and Amrinder Gill among others. Over 50 films in 17 www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082
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Rishi Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap& Richa Chadda among top film biggies to grace IFFM-2016... different languages from India and the subcontinent will be there for Melbourne audiences. Two locally made movies The Hidden Truth and The Colour of Darkness will rub shoulders with box office hits and festival favourites.
table, RichaChadda on Bollywood & Body Positivity, Panel discussion on cinema for social change, In conversation with Rishi Kapoor, Charity Initiave Launch, Q&A with VidyaBalan and Closing Night.
Key events of the festival will be Opening Night, Westpac IFFM Awards Night, Indian flag hoisting (by Rishi Kapoor at Fed Sq. on Aug 13 at 11 am), Bollywood Dance Competition, Rajeev Masand round
The IFFM was established in 2012 as an initiative of the Victorian Government and has been an iconic status here and the world over. For all info: www.iffm. com.au —SAT News Service.
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India Festival in Australia will be a public-private collaborative effort By Neeraj Nanda
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elbourne, 23 June: The proposed Festival of India in Australia (Sept, Oct, Nov 2016) to be held across six cities will be a publicprivate collaborative effort, says Mr. Navdeep Suri, Indian High Commissioner in Canberra. Mr. Suri was addressing a select group of media persons at the Indian Consulate here. Mr. Suri said funding for the festival will come from the Indian Government, Australia India Council (Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade) State governments in Australia and big corporate sponsors. He did not name any sponsors or disclose the budget of the festival.
The festival kicking off with a launch on 20 July in Sydney, will have
events under the classical, contemporary and local content. Apart from Sydney
the other cities holding the festival are Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth
and Brisbane. On a question by SAT, Mr. Suri said, India’s scientific and technological achievements are not part of the festival. Then festival line-up includes performances by top dance schools, classical music recitals, exhibition on architecture, cartoon exhibition, lecture on Yoga, literary theatre, puppet theatre, Bollywood workshop, local artists and much more. The festival website will soon be up with all the details. Mr. Suri hoped the festival becomes an annual feature. The media was also addressed by Hon. Manika Jain, Indian Counsel in Melbourne, who assured the community that local artists will also be featured in the festival. —SAT News Service.
Adani’s Abbot Point Coal Terminal faces residents legal challenge By SAT News Desk
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elbourne, 24 June: The Queensland community group, Whitsunday Residents Against Dumping, which aims to protect the Great Barrier Reef from damage, is asking the QLD Supreme Court to scrutinise whether the QLD Department of Environment properly considered legislative tests when granting authority for Adani’s controversial Abbot Point Terminal 0 expansion to go ahead. The first directions hearing is taking place in the Queensland Supreme Court. Local grandmother, former tourism worker and spokesperson for Whitsunday Residents Against Dumping, Sandra Williams said, “Australia’s precious Great Barrier Reef is already in poor health, and Indian coal company Adani’s controversial port project, which will cause irreparable damage, has raised significant concern in our community. “We believe the approval of Adani’s port proposal was unlawful and, long with many thousands of
Australians, we feel that it is wrong to damage the glorious Great Barrier Reef to build a port for an unviable foreign owned coal mine that nobody wants or needs. “Residents in our group have never taken legal action before, but we were forced to because of our worry that the approval of the port expansion, which will require damaging dredging and see hundreds of extra ships through the Reef each year, was not lawful. “There is a question mark over whether the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection properly assessed the project, as required by law, before it gave this billion dollar
proposal the green light. “It is critically important that the decision, which has such grave implications for the Great Barrier Reef, is properly scrutinised. “Both state and federal governments in Australia are allowing fossil fuel companies to expand the port, for a coal project that will decimate the Reef and its glorious corals, and threaten marine life, including endangered snubfin dolphins, turtles and giant manta rays. “We should not have to take this project to court, but an independent review will help ensure proper scrutiny of the decisionmaking process. “Our community group believes the law should be followed to the letter
when permitting a project that will ship through our vulnerable Reef millions of tonnes of coal which, once burnt, will fuel climate change and cause continued coral bleaching events,,” Ms Williams said. The Port of Abbot Point is located in north east Australia, and its boundaries extend into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. In 2011 Indian company Adani Australia paid the Queensland government $1.8 billion for a 99-year lease of the Terminal 1 coal export facility at Abbot Point, and now the company is planning to develop a new T0 terminal beside the existing facility, to increase the Port’s coal export capacity by up to 70
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Mt per annum. Adani plans to use the new terminal to export coal from its proposed Carmichael mega-mine and other new mines in Australia’s Galilee Basin, 400kms inland. The expansion of T0 will involve the onshore construction of rail inloading facilities, coal handling and a doubling of the stockpile area. The coal stockpiles will be located less than 50m from important Aboriginal heritage sites, and coal dust will drift onto the wetlands and marine waters. The expansion will involve dredging 1.1 million cubic metres of seabed at Abbot Point, and dumping it on port land right next to the delicate Caley Valley wetlands. Federal government approval of the port expansion was granted in December 2013, and Queensland state government approval in April 2016. Adani’s operations in Australia are currently subject to three court challenges by environment groups, two by Indigenous groups and Adani itself it involved in at least nine commercial litigation cases.
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IFFM-2016 in Dandenong
Film screenings, Bollywood dancing, food stalls and live crosses to Federation Square By SAT News Desk
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elbourne, 12 July: Dandenong is all set to be a part of this year’s Indian Film Festival which runs from 11 August to 21 August encompassing more than 50 filmscreenings, a Bollywood Dance Competition and special appearances by some of the most celebrated actors and actresses of Indian cinema. In a media statement the Greater Dandenong Council has welcomed the IFFM-2016 to Dandenong next month. The festival established in 2012 – an initiative of theVictorian Government – and is a dynamic celebration of cinema from India and the subcontinent, the media release says. Harmony Square in Dandenong will host a special celebration on Saturday, 13 August which
ill include two film screenings, Bollywood Dancing, Food Stalls and live crosses toFederation Square. Indian film star Rishi Kapoor’s unfurling of the Indian flag and the Bollywood Dance Competition at the Federation Square, city will be live on big screen through live crosses to the
Federation Square. Additional film screenings will also be held at Dandenong’s Drum Theatre on Monday, 15 August – to celebrate Indian Independence Day – and on Saturday, 20 August. Greater Dandenong Mayor HeangTak said the city was excited to welcome such a high-calibre event to
Dandenong. “Dandenong is home to Victoria’s first Indian Cultural Precinct and we are thrilled to welcomethe Indian Film Festival of Melbourne to our city,” Cr Tak said. “More than 85,000 people of Indian origin live within 20km of Dandenong’s Little India Precinct and more
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than 17,000 people from the Indian subcontinent choose to call the City ofGreaterDandenong home.” IFFM Festival Director MituBhowmick Lange said she was excited to bring the renowned festival to Dandenong. “We are delighted to partner with the City of Greater Dandenong and bring this wonderful celebration of cinema to the local community,” MsBhowmick Lange said. “What better bond than music and cinema to bring people of various cultures together. We are very much looking forward to holding a range of events and film screenings in Dandenong – home to Victoria’s first Indian Cultural Precinct.” For more information about the festival go to www.iffm.com.au orwww. greaterdandenong.com —SAT News Service
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Melbourne Durbar Apology to homophobic convicts
By Desi Oz
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n 24 May 2016 a State Apology was made in Parliament to Victorians convicted under homophobic laws. Before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1980, men could be sentenced for up to 15 years in prison for having
consensual sex with other men. These laws included buggery, gross indecency and indecent assault on a male and loitering or soliciting for homosexual purposes. Those convicted were publicly shamed in newspapers. As a result, they lost jobs, were forced to withdraw from study, and
Caring dads program
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n an Australian first, the Caring Dads program which helps dads realise the impact of family violence is set to beginin Melbourne. Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos announced $575,000 for the Children’s Protection Society to beginthe prevention and early intervention trial. Around 60 fathers from across Melbourne who are at risk of engaging in violent behaviour, or may have alcohol orother drug issues, will be invited to
were ostracised by family and friends. The burden of a criminal conviction affected their full participation in the workforce and community, and inhibited their freedom to travel. While there is no accurate data about the number of arrests and prosecutions, police reports suggest there were several
hundred reported offences per year in the decades leading to the repeal of the laws in 1981. The apology was live streamed from the Victorian Parliament. It follows the introduction of significant reforms in September 2015 of an expungement scheme, administered
by the Department of Justice and Regulation. The expungement scheme enables those who were convicted under the past laws to apply to have those convictions expunged from their criminal records. Source: Seniors Online Victoria
Breath testing saves lives
participate. The men will attend voluntary group sessions over 17 weeks, learning to understand the impact of trauma on theirchildren and how to be more respectful towards their children’s mothers.The Caring Dads program was first developed in Canada and will combine the expertise of the Children’s ProtectionSociety, UnitingCare ReGen, the University of Toronto and Melbourne University. Source: Victoria Govt.
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he Andrews Labor Government recently marked the 40 years of random breath testing – with thousands of lives havingbeen saved since Victoria Police conducted their first test in July 1976.Minister for Roads Donnellan joined Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Doug Fryer at a randombreath testing site in Melbourne’s inner north to mark the anniversary.Victoria was the first state in Australia to introduce random breath tests for drivers and has a proud history ofroad safety innovation.
Since its introduction, random breath testing has helped to save thousands of lives, prevented road trauma andhas been critical in changing Victoria’s drink driving culture.The proportion of motorists killed with a blood alcohol level of more than .05 has dropped dramatically over thistime – from 49 per cent in 1977 to 15 per cent in 2014. Victoria Police’s roadside breath testing has expanded from 40,000 in 1978 to around 4 million tests annually.In 1989, the year that the Transport Accident Commission commenced its
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drink drive campaigns, 114 drivers andriders died in road accidents with an illegal blood alcohol concentration. This figure had dropped to 22 in 2014.The Government is cracking down harder on drink drivers by ensuring that everyone convicted of drink-drivingwill be required to have an alcohol interlock device fitted to their car.Under these reforms, anyone found to be driving with a BAC over 0.05 will be required to drive vehicles fittedwith an alcohol interlock device for a specified period, depending on the severity of the offence.
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Why a journalist shouldn’t be an office bearer of a community association? By Ashok Kumar
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ydney, 26 June :Only a few days ago, there was a fiery debate in Facebook about who is journalist who is not. Rajwant Singh wanted a debate with DrYadu Singh’s view as to why Rajwant is not a journalist. Many points were mentioned which will make a media person a “nonjournalist”. They included a media person promoting political leaders by putting political leaders’ pictures as his/her social media profile pictures or joining a partisan multicultural advisory committee membership. This was directly pointing towards Indian ethnic community newspaper, Punjab Express’ editor Rajwant Singh, who had posted Julia Gillard’s Picture
as his Facebook profile picture a few years ago and had joined Greenway MP, Michelle Rowland’s partisan multicultural advisory committee a few years ago. There were many more comments in the post in Facebook, but one particular comment was very jarring. It was mentioned that a journalist worth his salt should not join a community association and become an office bearer of a community association. Being very curious about what this comment was about and what are the details of this comment, I did some research and contacted several responsible and informed members of Indian Australian community in Sydney. To my surprise and amazement, and disappointment, this
comment turned out to be correct. It appears that Rajwant Singh, Punjab Express editor, has taken up the position of Joint Secretary of UIA, a community association in Sydney recently. This is very odd and inappropriate. Rajwant is attends many governmental and community meetings as editor of Punjab Express newspaper. His becoming joint secretary of UIA creates a sense of a serious conflict of interest among other community associations, and conflicts with journalistic ethics. An editor basically means journalist and journalists do not have any business to join, forget becoming office bearers, of a community association. Community associations are fiercely competitive and have intense politics
among them. This is often non-productive and should be dealt with smartly. Media can play a great and effective role in dealing with non-productive politics among community associations. This, they can do by being honest, neutral and unbiased observers and catalysts, and by supporting the performing associations, and not propping up nonproductive and ineffective associations. They need to be above community associations. http://www.sbs.com.au/ yourlanguage/punjabi/en/ content/meet-uias-jointsecretary-rajwant-singh SBS Punjabi Radio, above link, says “It is a matter of pride that a well know Punjabi community member Rajwant Singh (editor Punjab Express and exec member of Punjabi Council of Australia) is elected for the position of Joint Secretary. MP Singh spoke to Rajwantji….” I disagree wholeheartedly with SBS Punjabi Radio’s view on this matter. No, it is not a matter of pride for editor of Punjab Express to join any community association. This is a wrong trend. I ask SBS Punjabi Radio and Rajwant Singh whether they know any true journalist in Australia (SBS, ABC, SMH etc) who works as a journalist and joins any political party, or a community association for that matter, in this blatant way or manner. SBS Punjabi, in my view, is guilty of promoting a wrong trend, and Rajwant Singh is guilty of acting on a wrong phenomenon. Community journalists and newspapers should keep the interests of the community above their own interests. They profess to serve the community. All this is negated the moment they join the competitive community associations and become office bearers of these associations. Journalism is a noble profession, which unfortunately, has been
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An editor basically means journalist and journalists do not have any business to join, forget becoming office bearers, of a community association. Community associations are fiercely competitive and have intense politics among them. damaged by entry of some totally undesirable people in Indian community media in Sydney, simply because these undesirable people have no understanding or clues about journalistic ethics, conduct or behavior. We have been ineffective to deal with such undesirable people amongst us so far. As a journalist, who had formally trained in journalism and worked in some most prominent newspapers in India, I do think that Indian journalists should not join any community associations and definitely not become office bearers of any of the community associations. I do believe, quite strongly, that Rajwant Singh, should reflect and review his position in UIA, and consider getting out of such undesirable connection with UIA as well as the Punjabi association of which he is an executive member. Let us keep journalism as professional and objective, and not create a new low. Source: The Indian Subcontinent Times, Sydney
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Samantha Gash to traverse from Jaisalmer to Shillong for World Vision By Ashok Kumar
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ollowing the footsteps of Pat Farmer, it is now the turn of Samantha Gash, another Australian ultra-marathon runner from Melbourne to undertake an arduous challenge of running through difficult terrains of Rajasthan through to Shillong but with a cause. She will be raising funds for the World Vision engaged in helping the deprived children the world over. Indian Sub-continent Times Editor Ashok Kumar had the opportunity to interview Samantha over phone before she leaves for India on 16 July, 2016. Pat had traversed from South to North but Samantha has chosen from West to East i.e. Jaisalmer to Shillong . Significance of the run is the celebration of World Vision‘s 50th anniversary and raise money for its charity projects. Starting from one of the driest deserts in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and finishing at the picturesque Shillong, she will run for close to 4,000 Kms spread over 77 days.
Significance of the run is the celebration of World Vision‘s 50th anniversary and raise money for its charity projects. Starting from one of the driest deserts in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. and also officials from the Wold Vision, India, who will help me in communicating with people. Q: How long will be your run and for how many days? Samantha: My run will be about 4,000 Kms and spread over 77 days, running about 50 Kms every day. And, out of this I will keep 7 days for meeting people and visiting different communities along the way that are engaged with World Vision.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: How did you plan your training/run?
Q: So, why India? Samantha: I have been to India in 2011 and ran for over 200 Kms then. India has got most diverse cultures and different languages that we don’t see in Australia and I love talking to people and mixing with different communities. I will be starting from Jaisalmer and going through Jaipur, Delhi, Puri and then Shillong.
Samantha: Although training is taking up most of my time and headspace, the reason that drives me is the ‘why’. Every time I train I visualise myself in India and I know that any discomfort I could possibly experience will pale in comparison to many of the situations I will see.
Q: Why did you choose West to East? Samantha: I was told that South to North has been covered several times but West to East was still unexplored. It is the longest run that I have ever undertaken and preparation from training
to logistic to fundraising has taken over two years with undertaking several trips to India. However, I know from experience that you can never plan for everything, especially with
India’s formidable weather and landscapes. Q: Language/dialect changes every 50 Kms in India. Will communicating with
local people be a problem, and will you be taking help of interpreters? Samantha: I have interpreters in my team
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Q: Wish you good luck for the run and hope to listen to your stories on your return. Thank you very much for your time. Samantha: Thanks and it’s been lovely talking to you. Source : The Indian Subcontinent Times, Sydney
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Bangladesh : The power of knowledge is the key to success B
HOLA, Bangladesh, Jul 9 2016 (IPS) Four years ago, Farzana Aktar Ruma, now 18, was almost married off without her consent. Her parents had settled on someone they considered a reasonably wealthy young man with a good family background, and did not want to miss the opportunity to wed their eldest daughter. Farzana’s father, Mohammad Yusuf Ali, told IPS, “I thought it was a blessing when the proposal came to me from a family friend who said that the talented groom-to-be has his own business and ready home in the heart of a busy district town in Barisal, not far from where we live.” No one defies Yusuf, an influential man in Char Nurul Amin village in Bhola, an island district in coastal Bangladesh, where most people depend on agriculture and fishing to make a living. So, without consulting his daughter, Yusuf promised her as a bride and asked the family to prepare for the wedding. Farzana was only 14 years old and did not want to get married, but she didn’t know where to turn. Then Selina Aktar, who lives nearby, offered to help. Aktar told IPS, “It was not surprising, but I was [still] shocked at how parents readily accept such marriage proposals without considering the age of their daughters.” On the eve of the wedding, Aktar arranged a meeting with Farzana’s parents and asked them to call it off and let her stay in high school until she graduated. Aktar is the facilitator of a seven-member Community Legal Services (CLS) organisation that advises students, parents and others on legal rights, including rights of adolescents. “After several hours of
A group of girls attend a Shonglap session in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The peer leader (left) is discussing adolescent legal rights. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPS discussions, we were able to convince Farzana’s parents that an educated girl was more precious than a girl thought to be a burden for her family at her early age,” Aktar said. Abul Kaiser, a legal aid adviser with COAST, a leading NGO operating in the coastal regions of Bangladesh for more than three decades now, and whose work focuses mostly on social inequalities, told IPS, “The society is cursed with myths and most parents still biased on such medieval beliefs favour early marriage. A girl soon after her puberty is considered a burden to the family and parents look for opportunities to get rid her as soon as possible for socalled ‘protection’ of their daughters.” To challenge the traditional beliefs that still haunt many communities in this modern age, COAST promotes informal learning through various programmes which they believe make a positive
impact. Executive Director Rezaul Karim Chowdhury told IPS, “The society needs to be empowered with information on the rights of such adolescent girls, and that is what we are facilitating. Most parents who may not have had opportunities of going to schools are expected to behave this way but our approach is to change this mindset so that a sense of acceptance exists.” At Radio Meghna in south Bhola, Bangladesh, teenaged girls broadcast a programme aimed at preventing early marriage and staying in school. Credit: NaimulHaq/ IPS Radio Meghna, a community radio with limited broadcast frequency operating since February 2015 in south Bhola’s Char Fassion, has been at the forefront of such advocacy programmes. The station broadcasts targeted programmes focused on dispelling myths through informal learning
programmes. Fatema Aktar Champa, a producer at the radio station, told IPS, “We have a large audience and so we take the opportunity to educate adolescents and also their parents on merits and demerits of early marriage. On various occasions we invite experts almost every day to talk about reproductive health, adolescents’ legal rights, need for education and the values, social injustices and many more allied issues linked to challenges of adolescents.” Unlike other community radio stations, Radio Meghna is completely run by a team of about 20 adolescent girls. KhadizaBanu, one of the producers, told IPS, “There is a general feeling that the radio team at Meghna has a wide range of acceptance in the society. On many occasions we broadcast programmes just to build trust on parents’ decisions to prevent early marriage and allow continuing
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education.” Education is key to development, and girl’s education is especially important since it is undermined by patriarchal cultural norms. In Cox’s Bazar district, COAST has taken a different approach to empowering adolescent girls to demand their rights and offering livelihood opportunities. Despite traditional beliefs that devalue girls’ education, especially in poor, rural areas, adolescent girls in many regions of Bangladesh are getting help from a programme called Shonglap – dialogue that calls for capacity building and developing occupational skills for marginalised groups in society. Priyanka Rani Das, who quit school in 2012 due to extreme poverty, has joined Shonglap in South Delpara of Khurushkul in coastal Cox’s Bazar district. Part of a group of 35 adolescent girls, Das, who lost her father in 2009, has been playing a leading
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Bangladesh : The power... role among the girls who meet six days a week in the Shonglap session held at a rented thatched home in a suburb of Delpara. Shy and soft-spoken, Das told IPS, “I had to drop out of school because I was required to work as a domestic worker and support my family of six.” A neighbour, Jahanara Begum, who had been attending informal classes at a Shonglap session nearby, convinced Das that completing her education would help her earn a much better living in the long run. Das told IPS, “I realized that girls are behind and neglected in the mandominated society because of our lack of knowledge. So I left the job and joined Shonglap where they have demonstrated that the power of knowledge is the key to success.” Das is one of about 3,000 teenagers in Cox’s Bazaar who returned to school after taking basic refresher classes and life skills training like sewing, repairing electronic goods, rearing domestic animals, running small tea shops, pottery, wood works and other activities that generate income.
At Radio Meghna in south Bhola, Bangladesh, teenaged girls broadcast a programme aimed at preventing early marriage and staying in school. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPS Jahangir Alam, programme manager of the Shonglap Programme of COAST that runs the programme in Cox’s Bazar told IPS, “Those who graduate are also supported with interest-free loans to start a business – and so far over 1,600 such girls are regular earning members supporting their families.” RuksanaAktar, peer leader of the group in
Delpara, said, “Shonglap is basically a platform for less privileged adolescent girls to unite and gather strength through common dialogues. Such chemistry for 12 months gives them the moral strength to regain lost hopes.” Mosammet Deena Islam, 17, comes from a family of cobblers and had never been to school. Islam always dreamt
of pursuing an education but poverty prevented her from going to school, even though schooling is free in Bangladesh. She joined Shonglap in Delpara and after a few months in the group, she enrolled in a state-run school where she now attends grade 9 classes. Rashed K Chowdhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular
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Education (CAMPE), Bangladesh’s leading think-tank advocating for children’s education told IPS, “Educational exclusion for girls is a major problem, especially in socio-cultural context in Bangladesh. Girls are still married early despite stringent laws against such punishable acts. “Adolescent girls are encouraged to stay home after puberty to ensure ‘security’ and the most common reason is girls are used as earning members to supplement family income.” Chowdhury said, “I believe such an approach of building opportunities for youth entrepreneurship to poor girls (for income generating activities) who wish to continue education, can considerably change their lives.” Shonglap, spread over 33 districts in Bangladesh through a network of over 4,600 such groups, aims to give voices to these neglected girls and enable them to negotiate their own rights for life. The Shonglap programme is being implemented by COAST and other NGOs with funding from Stromme Foundation of Norway. (Heading changed)
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PM Modi with Newly expanded cabinet. Photo: PM N. Modi’s Twitter account.
India: Cabinet expansion -
“Politics trumps reform” I n a sharply-worded commentary, the influential British weekly, “The Economist” (June 9) has said that the latest Cabinet expansion by the Prime Minister is likely to affect his reforms agenda. The heading of the commentary, published under the Indian politics section, is significant: “Modi-fication: A swelling cabinet suggests that politics trumps reform”. Particularly singling out the transfer of minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, whom the weekly calls “an outspoken former investment banker”, “The Economist” regrets, he “will now be a junior minister for civil aviation”, with “two BJP stalwarts with little background in finance will share his old post.” Sinha, a graduate with distinction from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) and the Harvard Business School graduate, is known for his strong views on economic reforms. A member of parliament from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, he served top consultants McKinsey for 12 years. One who helped Modi frame national economic policy, including
organizing and hosting an international business leaders' forum with Modi in February 2014, investors had cheered when Sinha, a former venture capitalist, when he was appointed in the finance ministry. Articles written by Sinha, such as 'Strategies That Fit Emerging Markets' in the “Harvard Business Review” and 'It is time for India to rein in its robber barons' in the “Financial Times” are said to have been widely quoted in scholarly works and are used as reference material in business schools. Among reasons being cited for his removal from the post is his father, Yashwant Sinha's strong and repeated criticism of the Modi government. Recently, Yashwant Sinha, a former finance minister attacked the government on key policies and strategy, like its dealing with the Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG. “Controversial ministers were moved to less visible posts, and technocrats replaced by figures with more populist appeal”, the weekly notes, adding, "With three years to go before a general election, Modi’s choice raises questions about how much he will get
done.” It quotes an editorial in the daily “Mint” to say: “Jumbo cabinets are not exactly the optimal solution to governance challenges.” The commentary says, “India’s can-do prime minister, swept to victory two years ago promising minimum government with maximum governance”, and after he came to power, his incoming team only boasted “45 ministers and ministers of state, compared with the unwieldy 77-person crew fielded by the previous government.” However, the commentary observes, “On July 5, following his second reshuffle since taking office, Modi’s council of ministers ballooned to an even wobblier 78”, insisting, “Running such a sprawling, untidy republic does require a lot of people.” The commentary says, “Only 27 of Mr Modi’s ministers will actually sit with him in cabinet meetings. The other 50 are junior ministers, tied to specific portfolios.” Quoting unnamed “Government loyalists”, “The Economist” says, they believe “the extra hands will make it easier to carry out the prime minister’s ambitious reform
agenda.” However, it adds, “Many among India’s noisy chattering classes fear the opposite is true.” “The Economist” wonders whether the Cabinet reshuffle has anything to do with the elections, which loom next year in several crucial states, including the biggest state Uttar Pradesh with some 200m people, the prosperous Punjab and Modi’s home state of Gujarat.” The weekly points to how last year Modi's “Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)” was defeated in the polls in Bihar, “a state famed for convoluted politics based on group affiliations such as caste and religion.” This, it suggests, may have made Amit Shah, “the party’s grizzled president and Modi’s closest henchman, determined to widen the BJP’s appeal well beyond its base among higher-caste Hindus.” “The party has made special efforts to woo Dalits, or “untouchables”, who make up a crucial bloc of voters in Uttar Pradesh. Small wonder that among 19 newly minted ministers, ten are from what India officially classifies as 'backward' castes, and
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The party has made special efforts to woo Dalits, or “untouchables”, who make up a crucial bloc of voters in Uttar Pradesh. Small wonder that among 19 newly minted ministers, ten are from what India officially classifies as 'backward' castes, and three are from Uttar Pradesh.
three are from Uttar Pradesh”, “The Economist” notes. Source: Counterview.net
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Pakistan: Rural poverty must be addressed By S. S.Kazim
J
ul 8 2016 (Dawn, Pakistan) - One of the greatest outcomes for development economic policy is, or should be, the reduction in poverty and unemployment, both in the rural and urban areas. Recent reports show that poverty in Pakistan, based on cost of basic needs, has come down from around 64.2pc in 2001-02 to 29.5pc in 2014. Based on food energy intake, poverty during this period has declined from 34.6pc to 9.31pc. Similarly, unemployment has also dropped from 6.2pc in 2012-13 to 5.9pc in 2014-15. This year the government will allocate Rs22.4 billion for vertical health programmes and continue to implement the Prime Minister’s National Health Insurance Programme. Meanwhile, the provinces have announced their own development budgets. Nevertheless, that is only one side of the story. With a Human Development Index value of 0.538, Pakistan ranks 147th out of 188 countries and territories. In terms of the Gender Inequality Index it ranks 121st out of 155 countries: only 19.3pc women complete secondary education compared to 46.1pc men, while female participation in the labour market is 24.6pc compared
to 82.9pc for men. Rural poverty must be addressed. Another dimension of the socioeconomic situation is that rural poverty has declined less than urban poverty while more than two-thirds of Pakistanis live in rural areas. Of these, more than two-thirds are employed in agriculture, accounting for about half of the employed labour force. Agriculture thus constitutes the largest sector of our economy with the majority of the population — directly or indirectly — dependent on this sector, which contributes about 24pc to the GDP and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings. Recent trends in agricultural incomes have been less than encouraging due to a resurgence in rural poverty. While droughts, floods, changing rain patterns and the vagaries of nature have played a role in hobbling rural economies and bringing down agricultural incomes, vulnerability to disaster is an¬other dimension of poverty. The issues that face Pakistan’s rural population are varied. They include poorly functioning factor markets and constrained access to assets, inequality of land and resource ownership, diminishing water resources and poor management of existing water supply, and constraints to agricultural
productivity — which include knowledge or information gaps, amongst other factors. Equitable development, provision of adequate and appropriate social services to the rural sector and the structural shift from raw material agricultural production to value addition requires cohesive economic, social and human development. Considering the sheer size of the population — roughly 140 million of which is in the rural areas, no top-down approach will yield results. Other than infrastructural gains, a benevolent government cannot bring development to poor households in the rural sector. Invest¬ments in infrastructure are integral to the process of development but the infrastruc¬ture — roads, electrification, tele¬com¬munication and irrigation — is only the most basic hardware. The problems that the rural poor face are those of illiteracy, lack of awareness of options and opportunities, health and sanitation — in short, the problems of the software. The development of human resources is vital to the uplift of rural society. This means enabling the rural populace to decide on the course of development they want to adopt for their households and communities, building their capacities and abilities, and developing linkages
that allow them to access the funds, re¬sources and support they need, when they need it. Unions of the poor — institutions of the poor through social mobilisation — much like trade unions, create cohesive participatory and representative social groups in communities that are able to speak for, work with and belong to the rural poor. Instead of an alien development agenda brought from an ‘authority’, the changes that such a union brings are organic and sustainable. It also ensures that the socalled improvements do not sever the social and cultural bonds of the rural communities, which differ widely across provinces and linguistic belts. What is required is the redirection of priorities by mobilising institutional and human resources towards political, economic and civic dimensions. While the government should provide social, legal and economic safety nets, the real focus should be on empowering the people who should organise, plan and execute the programmes at the household and community level. According to the Rural Support Programme Network outreach data, rural support programmes have a presence in 3,710 union councils in Pakistan, and the methodology they use is to economically
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Recent trends in agricultural incomes have been less than encouraging due to a resurgence in rural poverty. empower households through social mobilisation and by organising the poor. This approach is an effective way to reach rural poor households without which poverty cannot be eliminated. Luckily, pockets of Pakistan have experience of social mobilisation, with over six million households organised into 379,285 community organisations. This experience needs to be scaled up nationally to create unions of the poor that are able to chart their own course to development. The writer is a development consultant. Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2016. (Heading changed)
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Prachanda pulls out yet another Rabbit from the Nepal hat M By Vishnu Sharma
KATHMANDU, July 4: Nepal's Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal DahalPrachanda’s hunger for experimenting with Maoist ideology is unending. In his long career as the Maoist supreme leader he often took decisions unheard of before by Marxist practitioners. He once wanted to align with King Birendra against the parliamentarians; next he forged an alliance with seven parties against King Gyanendra. During the initial days of insurgency he called India an expansionist power but later revised his stand and worked under its mediation. His experiments didn’t always go well with his party comrades as well as other Marxist leaders and parties of the world, but that didn’t deter him. Recently Prachanda successfully repeated what he had achieved before initiating the people’s war in Nepal on February 13, 1996 or Fagun 2, 2052 B.S. He united 10 splintered Maoist groups or parties to form the Maoist Centre. Previously, these groups were part of his party but had broken away blaming him of betraying the revolution. The leaders thus united now include Matrika Yadav, Mani Thapa and Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’. Not so long ago Badal used to call Prachanda an Indian R&AW agent and he did his best during the second Constituent Assembly election to defeat Prachanda’s party. He travelled miles of Nepal’s difficult terrain on foot and on horse’s back to persuade people to rise against Prachanda.
This jumble of contradictory and opposite thoughts doesn’t give sign of long-lasting unity. It looks more like a pre-poll alliance, survival of which will depend on the party’s election result.
Similarly, Mani Thapa too didn’t have a good relationship with Prachanda until this unity. Just before the Maoists joined open politics, the party had issued a ‘death’ warrant against him forcing him to take shelter in Darjeeling. Twelve of Mani Thapa’s supporters were abducted and kept in Kabre near Kathmandu under ‘arrest’, and allegedly tortured to disclose Mani Thapa’s whereabouts. Mani used to secretly cross from Jalpaiguri and plead with ‘soft’ comrades like Krishna Bahadur Mahara and BaburamBhattarai for his comrades’ release. Matrika Yadav, a former Forest Minister was until recently trying to forge an alliance of ‘like minded’ comrades to counter ‘Prachanda’s arrogance’. A few days before he united
with Prachanda I had a long conversation with him in Delhi where he showed me a document he said he had given to Prachanda listing his party’s conditions for unity. As far as I could read from the document, unity looked impossible on those terms. Matrika wanted assurances that would in effect declare the new constitution reactionary, agreeing on principle for violent revolution and the right to national self determination of Madhesi and other nationalities. Matrika called the whole exercise a washover necessitated by pressure from the people of Nepal and his own party comrades. Apart from these three leaders there are now people from different schools of thought in the party. There are people
like Bishwo Bhakta Dulal 'Aahuti' in the party’s politburo who see Nepal’s unification by Gurkha King Prithvi Narayan Shah as hinduization of tribal people and unnatural imposition of a Brahmanist Varna System on a subjugated people. Also there are leaders like LaxmanPanta, until recently a member of Kiran’s party, who are critical of tribal or janjati, madheshi and minority leaders’ for viewing Nepal from English eyes. This jumble of contradictory and opposite thoughts doesn’t give sign of long-lasting unity. It looks more like a prepoll alliance, survival of which will depend on the party’s election result. Even if the party does well in the election there is no guarantee that this
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unification will last. More so as shifting loyalties are acceptable values in Nepali politics. By uniting these groups Prachanda has taken a very serious, if not miscalculated, risk. In Matrika Yadav he now has a face to project in the plains of Nepal, and in Badal and Dev Gurung he can reach out to janjati or tribal people. However it will not be easy for him to have complete and and undemanding loyalty from these leaders before and after the elections. Navigating through these difficult waters will be a difficult challenge for Prachanda. However, Prachanda must be given credit for achieving what was looking impossible until recently. His ingredients are delicately balanced in what can be a good cocktail, but a wrong measure could spill it even before the people have had a chance to vote on the taste. —Source: The Citizen
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LITERATURE
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Perumal Murugan’s Resurrected as HC Judgement comforts a wilted heart
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Perumal Murugan's poetic comeback: The renowned author says he will start writing again with gusto. "Judgement comforts a wilted heart", says Perumal
M
expression was also important.
uch to the joy of friends and followers, Murugan has announced that he will return to writing, strengthened by the verdict of the Madras HC. After the Madras HC quashed a criminal case against Tamil writer Perumal Murugan for his controversial writings on caste, Perumal Murugan delivered a short, succinct statement expressing his joy at the verdict.
At this stage, here is what happened, records the judgement of the Madras HC, “The incidents when the so called ‘peace meeting’ was held as discussed in extenso aforesaid would show that the group of people who were outside the Collectorate were actually permitted to have their way by compelling the author to use certain words of apology, which he was not willing to do, but left with a little choice owing to the hostility, decide to budge.”
“Hello. The judgment gives me much happiness. It comforts a heart that had shrunk itself and had wilted. I am trying to prop myself up holding on to the light of the last lines of the judgment: "Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write." “I will get up. It is just that my mind wishes to spend a little time in the joy of this moment; my thanks to friends who stood by me.”
Serious issues were raised here: Should such a ‘peace meeting’ have been allowed to happen? Is this kind of definition of ‘maintenance of law and order’ more important than one’s freedom of expression? What should be the yardsticks? Can one person, group, or organization get any book withdrawn by threatening to disrupt the peace and incite/create law and order problems?
The Flower A flower blooms after the big bang Sharp fragrance Sweet countenance Shining Splendor The flower would take up and establish everything.”
The court, conceding that law and order is also important, a concern, set out the following guidelines which the state will now have to follow in cases involving freedom of expression. (You can read the full judgment ordered on July 5 here)
Kannan Sundaram, the publisher of Madhorubangan also told the media, "It was an excellent judgement and we could not have had anything more than this. It was a beautiful judgement. It was Perumal Murugan who informed me. He was very happy." Kannan Sundaram has also said that he hopes that Perumal Murugan will now also republish all his earlier works. "The judgement is an encouragement for artists and writers, but more than that the judges have helped framed guidelines for the government and police on how they should act in such times. This was one of our submissions and the court accepted a few," he added. Murugan’s publisher had completely stood by the popular and radical author. A video interview with the publisher can be seen here. Murugan’s counsel for the case which was hearing the case,
V Suresh, asked that the court frame guidelines for such ‘peace meetings’. Close to eighteen months ago, in January 12, 2015, days after Tamil author Perumal Murugan faced the initial backlash from the Kongu Vellalar community in Tiruchengode for his book Madorubagan, a ‘peace meeting’ was arranged at the Collectorate. Present at the meeting were officials of the district administration, police officers, members of the community
agitating against the Perumal Murugan, and the author himself along with his lawyer-friend GR Swaminathan. At the meeting, Perumal Murugan agreed to apologise to the agitated community, but his counsel advised him against it. Following this, there was a heated argument between officials and the lawyer, with officials pressing Murugan to apologise so there won’t be any law and order problems. The lawyer was of the opinion that Murugan’s freedom of
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1. Presumption in favour of free speech: There is bound to be a presumption in favour of free speech and expression as envisaged under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India unless a court of law finds it otherwise as falling within the domain of a reasonable restriction under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. This presumption must be kept in mind if there are complaints against publications, art, drama, film, song, poem, cartoons or any other creative expressions. 2. Law and order compulsions no binding on artists: The State's responsibility to maintain law and order would not permit any compulsion on the artistes concerned to withdraw
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Perumal Murugan’s Resurrected... from his/her stand and non-State players cannot be allowed to determine what is permissible and what is not. 3. Expert panel to be constituted: It is high time the Government constitutes an expert body to deal with situations arising from such conflicts of views, such expert body to consist of qualified persons in the branch of creative literature and art so that an independent opinion is forthcoming, keeping in mind the law evolved by the judiciary. Such an expert body or panel of experts would obviate the kind of situations we have seen in the present case. In such matters of art and culture, the issue cannot be left to the police authorities or the local administration alone, especially when there is a spurt in such conflicts. 4. Police protection for authors: The State has to ensure proper police protection where such authors and artistes come under attack from a section of the society.
Write.“ Chief Justice Kaul stated, “There is no doubt that the language used in the novel, especially the Tamil version, can be said to be rustic and a little crass. Is that by itself fatal? To our mind, the answer to this would be in the negative. There has to be something more to classify the novel as obscene per se or for requirement to delete certain parts of the novel.“
5. Officers need to be sensitized: Regular programmes need to be conducted for sensitizing officials over matters dealing with such conflicts of artistic and literary appreciation. The first bench of Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana dismissed a plea moved by the `people of Tiruchengode', seeking to initiate criminal proceedings against Murugan for allegedly defaming the local
community. The bench primarily struck down the decision of the Namakkal district administration, which apparently arm-twisted the writer at a peace committee meeting in January 2015, among other things, to tender an unconditional apology after some caste-based as well as Hindu supremacist outfits took exception to the novel. The court further directed the state government to circulate
a series of guidelines framed by it to take care of similar situations in future, sources said. The judgment states, “Times have changed. What was not acceptable earlier became acceptable later. Lady Chatterley's Lover is a classic example of it. The choice to read is always with the reader. If you do not like a book, throw it away. Yet, the right to write is unhindered. Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at.
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Kaul also relied on the Bombay High Court judgment in the recent Udta Punjabcase to buttress his view. He further held, " Although the above (the Bombay HC's) observations relate to a cinematographic work, they apply on all fours to the present case, as all literary works, whether films, books, or paintings, most certainly fall within the realm of artistic creativity. The novel, Madhorubagan, also attempts to depict the current mores and the stigmas attached to childlessness, with specific reference to the Indian context. —Source: July 6, 2016, Sabrang.
south asia 26 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW South Asia Timestimes
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Yog is a sadhna,
not a business: Yogi Ashwani
By Neeraj Nanda
Y
ogi Ashwini, is a spiritual guru who runs the Dhayan Foundation, New Delhi, with the aim of spreading Yog(Yoga) and want’s people to experience its original power and glory in accordance with the ‘gurushishyaparampara’. His concept of ‘SanatanKriya’ is for the modern human. He has a honours degree in Economics, a Master’s in Management and speaks many languages. I caught up with Yogi Ashwani during his recent visit to Melbourne and posed a few questions which he answered candidly.
In India, everything is politics. It is the favorite past time of people. You see what you want individually.
Excerpts from the interview: Q: What form of yog you preach? A: First of all, yog has no forms. Yog means complete. It is a perfect science which involves being in sync and harmony with nature and creation. When you are in yog, you are in a state of balance and you exude glow, magnetism and good health. Yog is only possible under the guidance of a guru who himself is not tied to the bondages of maya and makes you experience the energies which run this creation. Yog is about untying and experiencing divinity. At Dhyan Ashram, we stick to the original form of yog. Q: Some people say that yog is just another form of exercise, what do you say about that? A: Exercise is only to do with the body, yog deals with your complete body... annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vigyanmaya and anandmaya koshas. What you see on television today, that so-called gurus doing fast breathing, jumping around here and there is not yog. Yog is not exercise as an exercise will only lead to faster ageing and increase the rate of metabolism whereas in yog you are in a state of balance and can give your body whatever shape and form you want with your elevated consciousness. Q: Yog is quiet expensive in western countries, what’s your view about
nature and its resources. You help all those who come to you and in the process you evolve out of the body to higher dimensions. All the above mentioned problems are only a product of present level of creation where yog is taken as an exercise and not the way it is. In earlier times, the times of Ramayana, people were in yog. All these problems never existed.
commercializationof different forms of yog, eg Hot Yoga, Vikram Yoga and so on and there are many more? A: See you need to understand that yog is a sadhna, not a business. In business, profit maximisation is the aim and to maximise profits you always need to cut costs. Before you cut costs, you need to understand your product perfectly. Nowadays without understanding what the product is, people cut corners. With limited 7-8 per cent functioning of the brain you understand that unless you jump around or run or skip, you cannot lose weight. So they devise various forms of running and skipping. And since the name of yog is in vogue so they give it different names like hot yoga, power yoga. What they are selling is a form of exercise and not yog. Yog can never be
commercialized as its about untying and not tying. Q: We now have an international day of Yoga. Will it help in spreading the message of Yoga? A: With the efforts of Honorable Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi, this phenomenal science has been marked on the world calendar. But what is important is to practice it in totality under a guru as given by the vedic seer. The PM is trying and he has made some important points in his speech like it’s not about what you can get, it’s about what you can give to the creation; yog is not about dancing or running or skipping, it’s about stillness; yog is not bound by religion, it is the science of the entire creation, it is neither breathing like an animal nor a form of exercise.
Q: There is a feeling that Yogahas become a political tool in India. Your view? A: In India, everything is politics. It is the favorite past time of people. You see what you want individually. Q: The world has so many problems like poverty, violence, intolerance, homophobia etc. What can Yoga do to remedy them? A: Yog is about being in balance – prakriti, i.e., nature. When you are with nature, you never fall prey to sickness - mental or physical. Neither any misfortune can strike you. You are one with divinity. Everything and anything is at your beck and call. You never hurt anybody nor have any ill feeling towards anything. You are charitable, you help others because you believe in the law of karma, to conserve
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Q: Explain a bit about Dhyan Foundation? A: Dhyan Foundation is a thought, a thought to aid creation - anyone who has this thought, is a part of Dhyan Foundation. It is a unique organization, comprising of volunteers, who have come together to put forth the right message of yog, to feed the hungry, nurse the sick, to protect animals and the environment - without any remuneration or fee, as a part of their sadhna and seva. These volunteers hail from all walks of life, different parts of world and belong to different faiths, yet they work together because they want to share and spread their experience of the phenomenal power of yog, charity and service being an inherent part of yog. Q: What is your message to the people in Australia? Physical life and physical body is moving towards death every second. Your body will age, you will fall prey to diseases. Solution is- find a guru and get seriously into yog. Experience divinity. Save the planet and go beyond.
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Quality of journalism By Kuldip Nayar*
J
ul 1 2016 (The Daily Star, Bangladesh) When l was studying in a journalism school abroad, l was told by my professor that a news story should be like a skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be attractive. Over the years, the story has assumed the shape of pontification and inevitably padded. When senior journalists are kicking the bucket, the question that stares at us is what kind of journalism will be there in future. Of course, this is not confined only to India. All countries, whether in the West or the East – barring the totalitarian regimes – are asking the same question: which is the lakshmanrekha (boundary) that journalists should not cross? Or should there be any lakshmanrekha at all? Individuals are increasingly posing the question about why journalists pry into their private affairs. Journalists in turn defend themselves on the grounds that if they didn’t probe, the skeletons would not come out of the closet. The government has a standard reply: some things cannot be disclosed in public interest. In this way, even big scandals are covered up. I recall that when l wrote against the supersession of three Supreme Court judges, K.S. Hegde, A.N. Grover and J.M. Shelat, l was criticised by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who argued that journalism did not mean preaching about the “commitment” of judges. She did not elaborate what that “commitment” was. I can understand the judges’ commitment to the Constitution, but not to a person, however high their position might be. What Mrs. Indira Gandhi was demanding from the judges was a commitment to follow her way of thinking. That is the reason she appointed Justice Ray, a junior judge in the Supreme Court, as the Chief Justice, ignoring the seniority of three others. She did not even inform them regarding this development beforehand.
They heard the news on All India Radio. This kind of political manipulation runs contrary to the transparency that a democratic system cherishes. Indeed the structure of democracy stands on the pillars of both the division and limitation of power. For example, the army does not interfere in the affairs of the government because it is a force under the civil administration. Some countries like Pakistan have gone under because the military, although it has recently gone back to the barracks, is still very active in the political proceedings. Democracy expects all its wings to function independently, but in a way that allows sovereignty to stay with the people. It is another matter that rulers themselves become authoritarian and behave like the worst of the Mughal emperors. Those who ensure that democracy functions in the interest of the people are the judges who have the power to go into the pronouncements of the legislature. The debate about whether the judiciary or the executive is supreme is an ongoing discussion. If there is criticism of what judges do, or even
the manner in which the legislature functions, that comes from journalists. It is the duty of journalists to do so. If they are afraid of carrying out what is expected from them, it is unfortunate for the system. I have experienced how during the Emergency – June 26 this year will be its 41st anniversary – the entire press industry caved in. Initially, there were protests and a large number of journalists – including editors – assembled at the Press Club in Delhi to pass a resolution that Press censorship, an integral part of the Emergency, was not acceptable to them. Yet, as days went by, fear gripped them and they became part of the system, even accepting the orders of Mrs. Gandhis’s son, Sanjay Gandhi, an extra constitutional authority. I recall that as a member of the Press Council of India, I went to its then chairman, Justice Iyer, to urge him to summon a meeting of the Press Council, an apex body. I did not know by then that fear had also made him subservient. He told me there was no use of summoning a meeting of the Press Council because there would be no publicity about its proceedings. My argument was that if there
HATE HURTS, HARMONY WORKS
were no protests then many years later, when the archives would be opened of this shameful chapter, there wouldn’t be any record about any protest by the Press Council, the journalists. He then reluctantly convened a meeting of the local Press Council members. To my horror, I saw in the white paper issued after the lifting of the Emergency that he had written to then Information Minister, V.C. Shukla, explaining how he (Justice Iyer) was able to stall the efforts by KuldipNayar to convene a meeting of the Press Council! The same question about the independence of journalists comes before us again and again in different situations. And I find that increasingly, we, the journalists, are failing in the standards required from us. None of this has been helped by the new digital technology that promotes very short stories or sound bites. In fact, things have deteriorated to such an extent today that news columns can be bought. It is an open secret that several stories are nothing more than paid news. Some leading newspapers feel no shame in selling the space to whoever wants to buy it. For them, it is purely a question of revenue. How low have we sunk from the heights that we once enjoyed? There was a time when we were able to bring before the public scandals, such as the Mundhra insurance scam during the time of Finance Minister T.T. Krishnachari. Jawaharlal Nehru, then the prime minister, forced him to resign from the cabinet. But even when I subsequently met TTK, he did not seem to
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Democracy expects all its wings to function independently, but in a way that allows sovereignty to stay with the people. realise the harm he had done to the polity. India is oblivious to the privations of individuals. In contrast, the UK media has in the past been prepared to take up the cudgels on behalf of innocent victims from different walks of life. For example, the Sunday Times, for which I was a stringer, is still remembered with affection and gratitude for the work it did on behalf of those parents whose children were born handicapped because of the Thalidomide drug prescribed to the patient. Public pressure eventually forced the drug manufacturing company to pay out the needed compensation. Can we emulate those examples today when our very integrity as journalists is being questioned, not to speak of the high standards we once followed? *The writer is an eminent Indian columnist. Source: IPS This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh
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Murder in the name of faith By Zahid Hussain
J
ul 7 2016 (Dawn, Pakistan) - A wave of terrorist attacks — from Istanbul to Bangladesh and Iraq to Saudi Arabia — has shaken the Muslim world. The deadly week has left hundreds of people dead and wounded. The militant Islamic State group (IS) has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks and others clearly seem to be inspired by the group that has now established itself as the most lethal terrorist network with global reach. It promised to make the holy month of Ramazan a pain for those who it considers ‘infidels’. Most of the victims of the terror attacks carried out in the name of Islam were Muslims. These terrorist attacks came even as the militant group was being driven out of much of the territory under its control in Syria and Iraq, and marked a dramatic shift in its strategy to extend its terror war to other regions. While the suicide bombing in Baghdad appears to be in retaliation to the series of military setbacks received by IS over the past months, the attacks in Istanbul and Saudi Arabia signal a widening of the theatre of terror wars in the Middle East. The profiles of the Dhaka restaurant killers and those involved in Karachi’s Safoora bus carnage are similar. Although IS has not claimed responsibility for those two attacks, suspicion leads to its role in them. Ironically, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia have in the past been blamed for providing indirect support to the Sunni militant group fighting the Shia-dominated governments in Iraq and Syria. Most of the oil from IS-
controlled territory in Iraq was reportedly smuggled to Turkey. Turkey’s border areas with Syria had become the main transit point for fighters from across the world joining IS. Some analysts likened the Turkish border region with Peshawar of the 1980s during the Afghan jihad against Soviet occupation, when the Pakistani city became the main base of holy warriors from across the Muslim world. The tightening of the border under international pressure seems to have turned the foreign militants against the Turkish state. Turkish security officials have named a Chechen militant for masterminding the deadly attack on Istanbul that left more than 40 people dead. Chechens form one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters in the IS ranks in Syria and Iraq. The group has also been blamed for other terrorist attacks that have rocked Turkey over the past few months. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the series of coordinated suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia this week. But IS has been responsible for some recent terrorist attacks targeting Shia mosques and security personnel with devastating effect. This indicates the growing presence of the
militant group in the country that the kingdom has been accused of patronizing in its battle for influence in the region. With its growing internal and external problems, Saudi Arabia is much more vulnerable to the threat emanating from the same extremist elements. But it is Bangladesh that has become the latest hotspot of rising Islamist militancy. The bloody siege in a restaurant in the nation’s capital underlines the evolution of IS activities beyond the Middle East. What is most disturbing is the growing influence of the militant group among the country’s youthful population. The profiles of the six militants who hacked to death 20 people, mostly foreigners, inside a restaurant in an upscale neighborhood in Dhaka last week fit into a new generation of militants influenced by IS. They were all young and products of elite schools — children of opportunity rather than deprivation. They came there to kill and die in the name of faith. The gruesome carnage marked the scaling up in religion-based violence that has plagued Bangladesh for the past three years. Several liberal bloggers
and intellectuals have been hacked to death in targeted individual attacks. Those convicted in the killing of bloggers also belonged to secular educational institutions. IS was quick to claim responsibility, posting pictures of the attackers online. Not surprisingly the profiles of the Dhaka restaurant killers and those involved in Karachi’s Safoora bus carnage are quite similar — young, educated and from upper-middle class backgrounds. Both groups were home-grown militants influenced by IS ideology. They seem to have been radicalised by some local contact and powerful IS propaganda posted online. Religion is the most effective tool used by the terrorist group to manipulate the minds of young Muslims across the world. As in Pakistan, IS may not have any organized structure in Bangladesh, but its footprint has been visible in the country for long. Some radical Islamist groups in Bangladesh are suspected to have established links with Al Qaeda and IS. Many Bangladeshi militants are reported to have joined the IS war in Iraq and Syria. The Dhaka attackers had reportedly disappeared from their homes months ago and their parents seemed to have no clue about the radicalization of their children except for their becoming more religious. There is still no information about what they were doing during their disappearance. Bangladesh is a new centre of militancy. The country has figured more frequently in the propaganda literature of Al Qaeda and IS. The IS central leadership may not have been directly involved in the Dhaka terrorist attack. The carnage, however, was part of the
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It promised to make the holy month of Ramazan a pain for those who it considers ‘infidels’. plan to escalate militant violence around the world. After France and Belgium, it is now the Muslim countries that are being targeted. After losing much of the territory under its control, thereby endangering its dream of establishing a ‘caliphate’ that had attracted Islamist militants from across the globe, IS has now stepped up terrorist attacks in the Middle East and beyond. The latest bloodbath is yet another indicator of the grave threat the militant group poses to the world, particularly to the Muslim countries. IS justifies its terrorist actions in the name of faith, declaring everyone who does not subscribe to its retrogressive ideology an ‘infidel’. There is a need for united action against the scourge before it is too late. The writer is an author and journalist. zhussain100@ yahoo.com Twitter: @hidhussain This story was originally published by Dawn, Pakistan
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Cricket Australia pacts in USA and Canada to boost KFC Big Bash league
By SAT News Desk
M
elbourne, 11 July: Cricket Australia (CA) has announced details of its broadcast partnerships in the USA and Canada, with a particular boost for the KFC Big Bash League. In the USA, CA has renewed all rights with its longstanding partner Willow for the next five years starting this season, including men’s and women’s international matches and domestic competitions - BBL and the WBBL. Cricket fans in the USA who are subscribers of Willow will also be able to live stream content at cricket.com.au. In addition to the renewal of Willow, CA is excited to welcome NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), which will showcase 10 BBL|06 matches – a weekly match of the round will air live and on replay and all the BBL|06 finals will be aired on delay. NBCSN is available in nearly 85 million US households as part of basic cable packages. In addition, all 10 BBL matches will also simultaneously be made available on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, which is free to download for authenticated pay-TV subscribers of NBCSN. In Canada, CA welcomes new partner Asian Television Network (ATN) for the next five years, as exclusive rights holder of all men’s and women’s international matches, plus domestic competitions – the BBL and the WBBL. Cricket fans in Canada who are subscribers of ATN will also be able to live stream content at cricket.com.au. Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of Media, Communications & Marketing Ben Amarfio said the deals continue to grow CA’s domestic and international cricket content on a global platform. “We’re really thrilled to renew our long standing partnership with Willow and also welcome ATN and NBC Sports Network into the Australian Cricket family. “The US and Canada markets are crucial to the growth of the game globally and the appetite and competition to acquire Cricket Australia’s media rights we saw in the US is testament to the growing appeal and outstanding quality of
Cricket Australia Executive General Manager of Media, Communications & Marketing Ben Amarfio said the deals continue to grow CA’s domestic and international cricket content on a global platform.
cricket that these markets have experienced. We are fortunate to be partnering with such prominent companies who clearly value the quality of Australian cricket content. “The addition of NBCSN is a watershed moment for Australian cricket in the US. It is the first time Australian cricket will be available to such a broad mainstream audience and we think that not only will the 10 million plus subcontinent, Caribbean, UK, South Africa and Australasia diaspora throughout the US be excited about cricket being so easily accessible, but Americans in general will also embrace the Big Bash League. “The growth of cricket, including the Big Bash League in recent years, has been phenomenal. We’re very excited to extend the reach of the Big Bash League into the US and Canada markets and look forward to connecting with fans whether it be via broadcast,
online or on via mobile devices. "Our current and new broadcast partners are renowned for delivering world class sports broadcasting and we look forward to them taking the game to more people in innovative ways. This is very important for us in our efforts to grow the game and was a major consideration in these latest rights deals. “We’re particularly pleased that all of our women's international and WBBL content will also receive exposure on a global scale through all of the recent renewals we have done in the UK, South Africa, SubSaharan Africa (excluding Northern Africa and RSA), Caribbean, USA and Canada.” Vijay Srinivasan, Chief Executive of Willow, said "We are delighted to extend our long-standing relationship with Cricket Australia. Australian cricket is consistently among the finest in the world and has been a mainstay of Willow over
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the years. We believe there is still enormous headroom for the U.S. cricket audience to grow both on television and digital and we are excited that Australian cricket will be part of our programming through our next five years of growth." “We’re thrilled to partner with Cricket Australia to bring world-class cricket to fans in the U.S.,” said Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports and NBCSN. “The Big Bash League enhances our expansive collection of best-in-class international sports properties.” "We are delighted to acquire the long term rights for Cricket Australia for Canada until 2021 and our viewers will now enjoy all the games played in Australia featuring some of the top teams like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, England & New Zealand ” said Dr. Shan Chandrasekar President and CEO of ATN. "The game of Cricket is very well organized and managed in Australia. Cricket Grounds in Australia always bring in huge crowds and the Cricket Fans are among the best in the World and watching all the games live over the next five years, will be a real treat for our Canadian subscribers “he added. —SAT News Service.
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KUMAR SANU & SADHANA SARGAM – 90’s Melody Duo Prepares to Hit Melbourne By Rubal Sachdeva – Showkraft Entertainment (Organizer & Event Coordinator)
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f you've been a fan of the legendary Kumar Sanu or the melodious Sadhana Sargam, and still hum the string of songs they lent their voice to in the 90s, here's more reasons for you to rejoice. The duo is scheduled to perform at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on the 31st of July. To many, the 90’s were a golden era of Bollywood.The “Three Khans” dominated the screens, with their cheeky demeanours and floppy hairs, always seconds away from breaking into a fully choreographed song and dance routine at a foreign location. These songs, where every minute the actors would change outfits and switch between random scenic backgrounds, would occupy almost one-third of the movie running time. The songs encouraged the idea of magic and fantasy, even more than the dramatic movie plotlines, and integrated beautifully with the story where the main couple fought to overcome their romantic hurdles (Let’s face it, it was usually the girl’s family). The actors did their part, however the responsibilities of the back office were much more important. If the music failed to connect with the audience, the film would also struggle at the box office. “For a film to be a hit, the story and the music are most important. Ajay Devgn became popular after his hit numbers in Phool Aur Kaante, Rahul Roy became a hit with Aashiqui, Prithvi became a hit with Dil Ka Kya Kasoor and Shah Rukh Khan with Raju
Ban Gaya Gentleman in the ’90s. Sanjay Dutt’s popularity doubled after the musicals Sadak and Saajan. Gulshan Kumar gave a new darja (standard) to music.” Asserts Kumar Sanu. Kumar Sanu had humble beginnings,¬singing at shows and restaurants around Calcutta. Sanu's father Pashupati Bhattacharya was a singer, composer and music teacher. In a recent interview Sanu admitted that singing and playing the tabla came naturally from observing his father, and he never was formally trained as a youngster. He discovered his talent as a vocalist when he was pressured into
covering for an absentee at a local event. To the young musician’s surprise, the crowd responded with rousing applause and demanded an encore. His first break into films came in 1986 with the Bangaldeshi film ‘Tin Kanya’ and in 1990 in the Bollywood movie ‘Aandhiyan’. Soon enough, Kedarnath Bhattacharya became Kumar Sanu, because his voice and singing style was much influenced by Kishore Kumar. He came into limelight with the soundtrack of ‘Aashiqui’ for which he won the first of his record five consecutive Filmfare Awards as Best Male Playback Singer in Bollywood.
His subsequent Filmfare Awards came for songs in movies ‘Saajan’, ‘Deewana’, ‘Baazigar’ and ‘1942 A Love Story’. He went on to create a world record Guinness Book World Record by recording 28 playback songs in one day. Sanu delivered multiple hits in the 90’s, and alongside AlkaYagnik and Udit Narayan, became one of the most prominent figures of 90’s Bollywood music. He stresses his hiatus in the mid-late 2000’s was due to the absence of melody. “We celebrities have some social responsibility, which sadly we don’t fulfill. What are we giving to society? Vulgar lyrics? Fevicol, Sheila, Chikni, Jalebi bai?” declares Sanu. “Like instant food, new singers come, enjoy a hit and soon it’s over. Someone else replaces them. They cannot create their pehchan (identity),” he says. His fellow co-singer Sadhana Sargam has also made similar comments about the current trend in the music industry. For over two decades, Sargam has rendered her vocals not for only Bollywood, but also for other regional languages including Tamil, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati and Nepali. She is the voice behind mega hits such as “Saat Samundar Paar” and “Neele Neele Ambar”. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and Filmfare Awards South. She bagged five Maharashtra State Film awards and four Gujarat State Film Awards. “With the changing lifestyle of people, music has also changed drastically. The kind of songs we heard in 1950s and 60s no longer exist. When we started singing, one particular singer would sing all the songs
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from a film. Today you hear different sounds, which have opened up more avenues for upcoming singers." Sargam explained. She also feels that modern songs have a western influence. Lyrics and melody are the two key components by which she judges a song. “I just wish that the songs had something more than one hook line. You can never remember the whole song apart from that one line." In Bollywood there are many singers, who do not rely on music practice, instead they feel that riyaaz happens only in the studio. “The fact is that the types of songs that are composed today no longer require riyaaz. They can just enter the studio sing a few lines and vanish. But we belong to a gharana, where riyaaz is given utmost importance," she revealed. Sanu andSargam have joined together for several super-hit duets including “Jab koi Baat Bigad Jaye” in film ‘Jurm’ and “Teri Umeed Tera Intezar” in ‘Deewana’. Sanu returned to the bigscreen in 2012 with Rowdy Rathore, and in 2015 with Ayushman Khurrana’s “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” with a cameo and two feature tracks “Tu”, and the famous “Dard Karara” which he shared with Sargam. Sanu also released the album “Amor” featuring Hindi tracks with a Spanish infusion. He recently completed a concert tour of the United States with Alka Yagnik, receiving an overwhelming response from the crowd. Kumar Sanu & Sadhana Sargam Live in Concert Melbourne 2016 is organized by Showkraft Entertainment,promoted by DJ Baba. Tickets on sale at www. kumarsanu.eventbrite.com.au or www.showkraftentertainment. com.au. —Supplied
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Sultan This wrestler tugs at your heartstrings
By Amitabh Srivastava
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ew Delhi: A lovestory flowering in a film dealing with wrestling is the most unexpected factor you witness in this Eid release from the Aditya Chopra stable. But then it is a Yashraaj film and you are not allowed to forget this till the last frame. ‘Sultan' has many firsts that make it worth going all the way to the theatre to watch it with the entire family. One- it’s a loveable Jat connect. After KanganaRanaut's 'Tanu weds Manu Returns' this is another film that would swell the chest of the Haryanvi Jat with pride as its language, it’s culture and its ruggedness win the hearts of viewers all across the country. But the Haryana connect with sports is not news anymore.What is the special Aditya Chopra factor is this lethal combination of brawn with women's emancipation. Salman Khan as Sultan an ordinary man commuting on his scooter, fixing cable connections in Rewari in Haryana thinks he has won the battle when he
beats three wrestlers in the Akhada run by the father of Aarfa (Anushka Sharma) like everyone else in the theatre filled with Salman fans.Being a wrestler herself she is sufficiently impressed and goes on to marry him. But that is only half the story.This Haryanvi girl teaches him why his expectation of a son is unfair even though it is justified by the cause of blood donation later on,why women need their space for growth and their fierce independence. In the tough badlands of Jatldominated Haryana taking such a stand is not easy. Thankfully for Salman fans that does not mean it is a film about Khappanchayats,social issues or caste conflicts.It remains a film purely about personal relationships having gone sour. It has shades of 'Guide' where a man gets so carried away by the world of fame and adulation (there it is for his wife WaheedaRehman) that he forgets he also has some personal commitments after getting married. The breakdown in this relationship comes when she loses her newborn
child as Salman is fighting for a title in a bout on the day the child is scheduled to be born. It's not an ego clash like Abhimaan. It's a question of priorities for a man and woman. But that breakup kills the soul of 'Sultan' the fighter who looks tough from outside. Ultimately he returns to the ring once again not to win titles but to win over his estranged wife who has not forgiven him for deserting her at a time
when she needed him most.It is a daring film for Salman fans who watch him portraying a paunchy 40 plus hero trying to regain a title in a field where fitness and alacrity are the basic factors that make a winner. But Salman is at that stage of his life where he has to take the big risks to get over the various controversies surrounding him which keep mounting with every passing day. And for once here is a Salman film with a story, a
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film that does not depend on his star status for crossing the 100 crore mark. In fact,for the first time we see Salman the actor merge his personality in the role written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and scripted by Aditya Chopra. Salman Khan is a winner all the way once again, which is not a surprise.But he has to share the credits for this with Anushka Sharma playing the role of a fragile-looking wrestler with a mind of her own.This love story of a married couple tags at your heartstrings and some of the songs will haunt you. And not to forget, as the audience walks out tearyeyed from the theatre they will never be able to forget the cameo played by the newcomer Anand Sharma as the side-kick of Salman whose typical Haryanvi dialect gets the thumbs up from the audiences who have already given their verdict in the first days of the release of the film. —Source: The Citizen
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