J&K loses one who knew its pulse

InkPage 2 Opinion: Jallikattu ban

January 16, 2016WeeklySymbiosis International UniversityPune

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North Korea, on January 6, con-ducted a successful test of its sup-posed hydrogen bomb, which was hailed by the government as the “H-Bomb of justice.”

Coming as the country’s fourth such nuclear test, its aftermath saw the deployment of a B-52 bomber by the US, on a low level flight over South Korea. According to the US military officials, the flight was a response to the recent provocative action by North Korea, and US’s commitment to the security of its allies.

“The B-52 mission reinforces US commitment to the security of partners and allies for demon-strating the defense capabilities of Republic of Korea,” said the US military.

According to the Associated Press report, North Korea marked a big step towards Pyongyang’s goal of building a small warhead that could be mounted on a mis-sile, capable of reaching the shores of American mainland. The test would worsen the ties between Pyongyang and the United Nations, and push the country towards international isolation through

tough sanctions. Following the announcement,

the South Korean officials detected an artificial earthquake near North Korea’s main nuclear testing site. United States Geological Survey re-ported a 5.1 magnitude quake 49 km from the Punggye-ri site.

Though North Korea has caught the world’s attention by stepping up its nuclear game to a hydrogen bomb instead of a basic atomic bomb, experts have questioned such labeling, as they point out that it does not possess the real destruc-tive capabilities of an H-Bomb.

Strong reactions started pouring in, as South Korea saw it as a seri-ous violation of UN Security Coun-cil resolutions and a challenge to global peace. China firmly opposed the test as it was carried out despite opposition from the international community. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe saw it as a threat to Japan’s safety. US asked North Korea to abide by its international commit-ments, as provocations would bear consequences.

This nuclear test compels the in-ternational community to go be-yond resolutions on paper, and impose real costs for adopting this course of action.

Talks put off; Pak under scrutiny The road to recovery for India, post the Pathankot attack has raised questions over the messy India-Pa-kistan diplomacy. Statements made by Indian officials show that they have now drawn a line and expect Pakistan to take charge. With rela-tions both bilateral and otherwise at stake, Pakistan is now under scrutiny to prove itself. The ques-tion of whether Nawaz Sharif’s Joint Investigation Team will address the Pathankot situation is moot.Pakistan shows progress Though Pakistani media report-ed the detention of Maulana Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Moham-mad chief, his brother and several others belonging to JeM, in con-nection with the Pathankot attack, there has been no official confirma-tion from Pakistan on this deten-tion. India also called off Foreign Secretary level talks, rescheduling it to ‘the near future’. India has agreed to Pakistan’s request for al-lowing a Special Investigation Team

to probe into the case further. “We look forward to the visit of Pakistan SIT and our investigative agencies will extend all necessary coopera-tion,” said Vikas Swarup, Spokes-person, Ministry of External Affairs. Pakistan PM Sharif initially set up a Joint Investigation Team along with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelli-gence (ISI) and Military Intelligence which carried out raids across cer-tain areas and made a number of

arrests pertaining to terror links. Pa-kistani reports also suggest that the phone numbers used by Pakistani handlers were unregistered. There is “no reason to distrust them so early, we should all wait (for Pakistani action),” Home Min-ister Rajnath Singh told media per-sons in Delhi regarding the accusa-tions against Pakistan. Further, Pakistan is to request India for fingerprints of the terror-

Revathi Hariharan

Rishika Chatterjee

H-bomb test evokes mixed reactions

Dialogue of diplomacy? Photo:One India

Shilpa Nair

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (1936-2016) Photo: Indian Express

Editor: Kabir Upmanyu | Sub-editors: Malavika Balasubramanian, Sadaf Vasgare, Sruthi Ravindranath, Thushara Ann| Layout: Revathi Hariharan Design: Mythreyee Ramesh, Shilpa Nair

ists and audio tapes of the inter-cepted phone calls so as to expand investigation.The Pathankot follow up Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot to assess the aftermath of the treacherous attack. He in-spected the site and was briefed about the attack and the counter-offensive measures launched by the forces followed by an aerial survey of the forward positions along the border. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who also visited the site, accepted that there were ‘some gaps’ that made the attack possible. Parrikar also took to express that any “individual organisation” harm-ing the country “should also receive the pain of such activities.” The National Investigation Agen-cy (NIA) has requested Interpol to send Black Corner Notices to help identify the bodies of the four ter-rorists who were killed during the attack. The on-going search opera-tion team also recovered an AK-47 rifle, a mobile phone and a pair of

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in-cumbent CM of J&K, passed away on January 7, at the age of 79, thereby leaving a huge void in the mainstream politics of the state. He was being treated for pneumonia at the All India Institute of Medical Sci-ences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and died of multiple organ failure. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) founder, who took charge as Chief Minister of J&K for the second time in March 2015, took everyone by surprise by forming a PDP-BJP coalition government in the state. He headed what seemed to be an impossible alliance of two parties with extremely distinct ideologies. Sayeed, however, had been prepar-ing for his political exit from Novem-ber and announced that his daugh-ter and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti would take over as CM and carry forward his political legacy. Condolences poured in from leaders across the political spec-trum who remembered the leader for his ‘exemplary leadership’, his love for the underprivileged, his ‘strong administrative qualities’ and ‘nationalistic commitment’. On the fourth day of the seven day mourning period, the state was placed, and is still under the Gover-nor’s rule. N N Vohra, the Governor

of J&K, took control of the state as PDP and BJP has been delaying the process of government formation. Despite the backing of the two par-ties, Mehbooba Mufti is taking her time to take over as the first woman CM of the state, thus triggering a lot of speculations. The conjectures over a political re-alignment in the state have kept the BJP on tenter-hooks, and Mehbooba’s silence over government formation has ex-asperated the party. The speculations were further stimulated by Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s visit to Srinagar to offer condolences to Sayeed’s fam-ily. The PDP earlier shared power with the Congress from 2002 to 2008. But the party leaders stressed that the visit did not involve any po-litical agenda. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had also visited the family

and told that the BJP would try to fulfil the dreams of Mufti Moham-mad Sayeed. The veteran politician, who was a Congressman till 1987, held the portfolio of tourism in the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1986. After parting ways with the Congress, he joined V P Singh’s National Front government as the home minister. However, he paid the price. Days after taking over as the union minis-ter, he found himself in the thick of a crisis: his daughter Rubbaiya Say-eed was kidnapped by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. She was later released in exchange for five militants. Accepting his mistake of reacting as a father rather than as home minister and for allowing parental emotions to overpower his rational thinking, he said, “That is a guilt I will carry to my grave.”

Page 3Shyam Benegal heads CBFC

binoculars from the site. NIA took Gurdaspur SP, Salwinder Singh into questioning at the New Delhi head-quarters along with his cook Madan Gopal. “One cannot say whether Salwinder is a witness or a sus-pect. At this moment, the question of arresting him does not arise,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.US seeks the truth The United States of America also urged Pakistan to give India the answers it demands. “It’s certainly our expectation that Pakistan will treat this exactly the way they’ve said they would,” US secretary of state John Kerry said. Indo-Pak coexistence Days after the attack, there re-main two larger questions that need attention. One, is India vigilant and ready to secure itself from any form of terror and two, can Pakistan regain and retain diplomacy and peaceful coexistence with India. An-swering these may allow Modi and his counterpart to look beyond ter-ror and talk about trust and truce.

a festival (Jallikattu) . . .” On May 7, 2014, the apex court validated this notification. Further, Misra remarked, “The 2011 notification was in conso-nance with the fundamental duties of the State and concept of com-passion enshrined in the Constitu-tion. The 2014 judgment covers the rights of animals under Constitu-tion, tradition, religion and ethol-ogy.” The Bench ordered an interim stay, issuing a notice to the Centre and TN government, to respond to petitions by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) against the 2016 apprising. Overshooting the dates of Pon-gal, the court has allowed them four weeks’ time to file their responses.Speaking for AWBI, senior advo-cate Aryama Sundaram contended, “How can a notification override a

January 16, 2016

For weeks, there has been an ongoing tussle between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the Supreme Court; and after Tuesday’s fresh verdict when the top court slammed Centre’s green signal to Jallikattu - the popular bull ‘taming’ sport conducted during the Pongal season - the only question to be asked is, why should Jallikattu remain banned?

Jallikattu demands the taming of a raging bull at the risk of fatal injury. It might be a popular tradition, having evolved from the past, but the fact that ‘Amma’ believes ‘Jallikattu’ upholds traditional cultural values of TN raises many eyebrows. Also the fact that she blamed the Congress-led UPA for its 2011 notification, bringing bulls in the list of animals that cannot be exhibited or treated for performaces, is a sure hint of her vested political interest in the matter, strategically ahead of the polls.

Frightening and harming bulls is abuse, not sport, and this puts a bloody stain on India’s reputation in the eyes of the world. Comparing it with Spain, doesn’t justify. Does the festive gusto of Pongal come at such a gory cost? Unhappy with the Supreme Court’s judgement, Jayalalithaa urged Modi to immediately promulgate an ordinance to ensure the smooth conduction of the festival. It is unfortunate to witness the ideo-logical decay, and fervour in promoting a game, where according to PETA India, terrified bulls are often consciously bewildered by being given sub-stances like alcohol, “having their tails twisted and bitten, being stabbed and jabbed by sickles, spears, knives or sticks and being punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground.”

The question that arises out this clash of interest is, why should this cruel treatment of animal in the name of sports not remain banned? This is a tradition versus animal rights debate.

Ananya Barua

Apparently, the chord struck too hard in the case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, that his depiction as Lord Vishnu on the cover of Business Today successfully bagged him a non-bailable warrant. After all, in India one should never try to strum the chord of religion and hope to get away. But, if that’s the case then what happened when the Mumbai Mirror, just after the elections, had Narendra Modi depicted as modern-day Brahma holding a mobile phone and a laptop. No objection surfaced.Now, as the “God of Big deals”(Dhoni) is pitted against the “God of all he surveys” (Modi), in the battle of offences, it seems like the former is set to lose.

However, this isn’t a fresh tale. Ever since Business Today’s April 2013 edition came out portraying Dhoni as the Vishu-esque “God of Big Deals”, holding miscellaneous products he endorses, he seems to have held trouble pretty close to his heart. Since May 2013, with the RTI case by Jayakumar Hiremath in Bangalore for “hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community”, followed by the May 2014 Delhi case filed by national general secretary of Shivsena Hindustan, Rajinder Singh Raja, on grounds of insulting the Hindu religion as well as the Lord Vishnu- the offence dice against Dhoni rolls on.

Now arrives the case by Y Shyam Sudar of VHP which led the court in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh to issue a non-bailable warrant against him for allegedly ‘denigrating’ a Hindu god.Amidst the debate of offences, what gets ignored is the fact that the depicted image is indeed a carica-ture, which is possibly morphed and not ‘posed’ for, by Dhoni. The likes of Hiremath, however, holding him responsible, call this Dhoni’s publicity stunt. They equate his ‘no objection’ with his ‘support’.

While Dhoni and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos are busy skirting offences ‘kindled’ by their Vishnu-esque portrayals in magazines, it’s strange how others escape. This business of selective offence - bestowed upon a cho-sen few, is problematic.

Why does India, in terms of its divine mutations of politicians seldom attract offence? Nevertheless, pure materialistic agenda-driven illustra-tions of Gods are caught in this net of ‘Religious offence’.

Arundati Sarkar

Why Jallikattu should remain banned? SC tames TN bull race

Indira Basu

With the Assembly Polls in Tamil Nadu (TN), and the harvest festival Pongal, both approaching, the bull is the main topic of debate in the southern state. On January 11, the Supreme Court passed an interim stay on the Centre’s January 7 notification, which permitted ‘Jallikattu’ (bull-taming), despite a 2014 apex court ban on the sport calling it “inher-ently cruel.” Preceding the festival, the message rang loud and clear that animals could not be tortured simply to uphold custom and tradi-tion. The drama continued unabated on Wednesday, as the Court’s stand was undermined by significant op-position, attributing it to the influ-ence of a heavy city-bias. The “un-impressed” Court, however, refused to budge from its position. Justices Dipak Misra and N.V. Ra-mana refuted the Centre and TN government’s arguments in favour of Jallikattu, which stated that a festival intrinsically linked to the culture of a state, could not be banned, especially after the 2016 notification had included several safeguards to control Jallikattu and prevent animal cruelty. Referring to a former notifica-tion issued by the Centre on July 11, 2011, which forbade Jallikattu, ex-cluding the bull from being a ‘per-forming animal’, Justice Misra ar-gued, “What is the necessity of such

Dhoni’s Tryst With Vishnu

Sundays exempted from Odd Even Formula

Did the odds draw even?

Photo: Newsworld India

Ink2Opinion National

judgment which says that Jallikattu is a clear violation of Section 3 and 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.” Responding to this, Attorney-General of India Mukul Rohatgi stated, “ . . . Now look at our new notification... It pro-tects the animals from cruelty, has prescribed safeguards...” TN counsel L. Nageshwar Rao, supporting Jallikattu, propounded that prohibiting the sport would hamper Tamil culture. However, what prevailed in the end were the words of senior advocate K.K. Venugopal for Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisation, who said, “You see, Your Lordships, the bull is a very placid domestic animal. Left alone in the Jallikattu arena, they will walk from one end to the other looking for someone to give it a banana.”

Aakriti Handa

After the WHO declared Delhi to have the worst air quality amongst the major cities of the world, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal commis-sioned the Odd-Even Policy to com-bat the hazardous health effects of ‘very poor’ air quality prevailing over the city. According to the pol-icy, the road space of the city was rationed with odd and even num-bered cars plying on odd and even dates respectively, for the first two weeks of January. The move saw mixed responses from the experts and the chatterati.

Instead of making odd-even a diktat, Kejriwal appealed to Delhi-ites on social media, outdoor media and the radio. The civil defense vol-unteers, including school-children, zealously worked for the cause, supervising the execution, giving flowers to errant commuters and educating them with messages. The Delhi Police, previously uncon-vinced, managed to keep a hawk’s eye at the number plates, penaliz-ing defaulters. The government in-cluded several provisions for reduc-ing inconvenience to the citizens. For instance, two wheelers, single female drivers and VVIP’s were ex-

empted and the policy wasn’t liable on Sundays. While the AAP government is positive about the efficacy of the policy, skeptics still find major loop-holes that may render it ineffective. Data obtained from the National Air Quality Index (NAQI) portal shows that air has been toxic throughout this winter and that on an average, AQI values for Delhi for the first week of January were 20 to 25 per cent worse than during the preced-ing week. The move has also proved the need to scale up public trans-port should an extension be grant-ed, after the findings of the scheme are analyzed. Whether or not the policy was able to mitigate air pollution in the city, it has effectively brought down traffic congestion. It has made the ambitious intervention a hot topic of discussion by the citizens. Ac-knowledging the fact that 40 per cent of Delhiites show poor lung function and that the current spike in cardiopulmonary emergencies leads to an average of 80 deaths daily in Delhi hospitals, the policy seemed to be the only solution and deemed a fit trial. The policy has opened the door to the next round of difficult, unpopular, yet neces-sary initiatives.

Jallikattu, a sport of TN Photo: Indian ExpressCartoon:Samir Rathod

January 16, 2016

No longer will we see visuals of a gallant Aamir Khan striding down the lanes, playing a courteous host to foreign and Indian tourists alike. After serving for ten long years as the mascot of the Incredible In-dia campaign, Aamir Khan was re-moved from the post as his contract with the Tourism Ministry drew to a close.

Khan’s supporters immediately stirred a furore, claiming that his exit was linked to the ‘intolerance’ controversy he had skirted around, two months earlier. However, the Tourism Ministry issued a state-ment subsequently, clearing all such claims.

According to Manish Sharma, the Minister of Tourism, the con-tract with the McCann Worldwide agency which employed Aamir Khan for ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ had expired, thereby resulting in the removal of the latter from the campaign.

The actor himself stepped out of the campaign very gracefully, re-fusing to fall into the clutches of yet another controversy. “It is the prerogative of the government to decide whether they need a brand ambassador for any campaign, and if so, who that ambassador should

Chauhan takes charge amid din Suman Singh & Tabu Agarwal

Benegal to be Censor board’s new face

Priyanka Gawande

Incredible or Intolerant India?

Gajendra Chauhan takes charge at FTII

Malavika Balasubramanian

Photo: ANIShyam Benegal, new head of CBFC

Ink3National

Photo: Twitter India

Aamir out, Amitabh is a strong contender Photo: India Today

be. I respect the decision of the government to discontinue with my services. I am sure they will take all appropriate steps to do what is best for the country,” he said, when asked about his reaction to the ter-mination of his contract.

However, speculations continue to arise over Aamir Khan’s removal from the campaign, linking it to his involvement in the ‘intolerance’ de-

Airports; Netas can’t call the shots

Putting an end to the contro-versy over the naming of a new ter-minal at the recently-inaugurated airport in Chandigarh, the Gov-ernment has come up with a new scheme under which no airport ter-minals would be named after any politicians. Rather, these airports would be named after nearby fa-mous cities. However, it also con-firmed that the terminals within the airports can be named after freedom fighters. Currently, a large number of Indian airports are named after national and political leaders, in-cluding Delhi's Indira Gandhi In-ternational Airport, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal and Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Recent-ly, the Oommen Chandy govern-ment in Kerala too speculated on naming the Nedumbassery Airport in Kochi after the late Congress leader K Karunakaran. Sources say that the Civil Avia-tion Ministry was also getting re-quests from various politicians to register names of airport terminals according to their suggested icons.

It is only after the new govern-ment took over that the policy to not name any upcoming terminals after the name of any politicians or icons, has been formulated. In addition, the government has also confirmed that this is not go-ing to be regarded as a temporary policy. Soon, the government will make it a ‘long-term’ policy which will last for years from now. In a recent meeting, the Trans-port Minister Nitin Gadhkari stated that if this policy gets implement-ed, it will end the practice of politi-cal parties asking the Civil Aviation Ministry to name airports after their icons.

Deepti Jain & Satata Karmakar

Airport terminals will be now named after cities.

Amidst protests by students, Gajendra Chauhan finally took charge as the Chairman of the prestigious Film and Television In-stitute of India (FTII) on January 7. Chauhan, who was named as the Chairman of FTII’s governing body in June 2015, could not take charge due to a series of protests by the students. Soon after Chauhan arrived at the campus, a meeting was held by the newly constituted FTII Society to devise the governing council and the academic council. The meeting was attended by Rajkumar Hirani, ABVP leader Narendra Pathak, actor Satish Shah, documentary maker Anagha Ghaisas, Rahul Solapurkar, National Film Archive Director Prakash Magdum and FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe amongst others. The meeting resulted in the appointment of Brijendra Pal Singh as the Chairman of FTII’s academic council and Vice-Chairman of the governing council. Brijendra Pal Singh, an alumnus of the institute, is the maker of popular television series CID. While Singh will be in charge of the top policy-making body on aca-demic affairs, Gajendra Chauhan will decide on administrative mat-ters. Amid heavy deployment of se-

curity personnel, the Deccan Police issued notices to 17 students who were charged on account of forcible confining of FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe on August 16. Ahead of the meeting, the insti-tute administration also removed the graffiti and installations that emerged on the campus during the 139 days of strike. In 2014, FTII froze the process on fresh admissions, with an aim to bring the academic

session of the institute in sync with that of other universities. However, with the infamous controversy, 2015 also proved to be a null academic year, with FTII wit-nessing two zero years in a row. With the government still trying to coerce the students into accept-ing Chauhan as their administrative head, the need of the hour is for them to seek a compromise in the interest of everyone.

bate when he publically said that his wife feared for their children’s safety in the ‘current climate of in-security’.

Currently, the Ministry is mull-ing over options for the new faces for the campaign. Amitabh Bach-chan is a strong contender for the post, while Priyanka Chopra leads the ranks among the female faces, says reports.

Ace director Shyam Benegal is all set to head the committee which will oversee the functioning of the CBFC. This came right after the government’s decision to re-vamp the censor board panel this month.With the background and accom-plishments that the filmmaker holds, it is presumed that the crea-tive freedom of filmmakers will not be smothered. In a statement by the I&B Min-istry, it was cited that the commit-tee is expected to inculcate best practices in various parts of the world. It is expected to give the industry appropriate and ample space for displaying their creative and aesthetic side. The committee will also have personalities likea filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, ad-man Piyush Pandey, film critic Bhawana Somaaya, National Film Development Council MD Nina Lath Gupta and Joint Secretary (Films) Sanjay Murthy. They are expected to submit a report after two months. Bollywood has welcomed the move as they feel Benegal would do justice to their films in regards to the editing of scenes in the process of certifying a film. The filmmakers have for a long time complained

about the unreasonable objections posed by the censor board. This added to the criticism of the cuts in the latest James Bond movie ‘Spec-tre’, while it was screened in India. Pahlaj Nihalani, the Censor Board chief, had also banned a list of ‘cuss’ words which again resulted in a lot of controversy. Director Kabir Khan, along with Shabana Azmi and Farhan Akhtar, expressed his happiness regarding the decision. Farhan Akhtar went ahead and stated that he hoped that the decision would benefit the artists. He also stressed on the fact that the rating system of U/A, U and A is inefficient and did not allow for much sensibility.

Photo: Reddif

January 16,2016

Cologne attacks: Repercussions of shameAlakananda Chatterjee

Yuan devaluation to hit IndiaMythreyee Ramesh

Protests against Merkel and refugees. Photo: EPA

Marans face fresh charges in Aircel-Maxis Case

Iran, Saudi ties threatenedSakina Valsadwala

Shi’ite Muslims protest outside Saudi embassy Photo: AP

The Marans face a fresh trouble in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case, as the Enforcement Direc-torate filed a chargesheet in the Special 2G Court last Friday. The chargesheet included the former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Ma-ran, , his brother Kalanithi Maran, his wife Kavery Kalanithi and three more people, accusing them of money laundering to the tune of Rs.742 crore.

In April 2015, the ED had at-tached assets worth over Rs.700 crore that belonged to the Ma-rans, which was further stayed by the Supreme Court in August. The chargesheet was filed before spe-

cial judge OP Saini nine months af-ter the assets were attached.

The Aircel-Maxis cases revolves around how the sale of 74 percent stake in Aircel was given to Maxis. Former Aircel owner C Sivasankaran has claimed that the Marans had put pressure on him pertaining to the sale.

The complaint allegedly speaks of all the illegalities the Marans were involved in, and says that Rs.742.58 crore was paid for Dayanidhi Maran by two Mauritius-based companies through Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd (SDT-PL) and South Asia FM Ltd. (SAFL). The fact that the two companies are controlled and owned by Dayandhi Maran’s brother Kalanithi Maran put him under radar. The complaint also accuses K. Shanmugam, man-

Photo: The HinduMarans accused of money laundering worth Rs.700 cr.

aging director of SAFL, SDTPL and SAFL.

There are speculations that this complaint is a spin-off of the cor-ruption case CBI had lodged against the Marans. Investigations against the accused under the Preven-tion of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) started soon after CBI filed a chargesheet back in August 2014. According to the ED chargesheet, Dayanidhi Maran “committed the offence of money laundering under Section 3 of PMLA...in receiving the said proceeds of crime in the com-panies owned and controlled by his brother, Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Kalanithi.”

Matters pertaining to FIPB viola-tion are still under investigation. Till then, the Special 2G Court is set

Sadaf Vasgare

Ink4International

Business

Cologne in West Germany, un-doubtedly, had an infelicitous start to 2016. The city on New Year’s eve faced a series of “unprecedented” attacks on women around the Co-logne Cathedral and in the adjacent railway station. Over 500 cases had been report-ed by women, and nearly 45% of them were cases of sexual assault. Regrettably, the Cologne police were unaware of the attacks for al-most four hours, which was report-edly executed by a group of mostly drunk men. The victims were al-

legedly sexually molested and then robbed by the attackers. Victim descriptions and a govern-ment report claim the perpetrators were “exclusively migrants”. This, and a statement by the Cologne po-lice labelling the night as a “peace-ful” one fuelled protests from different quarters. Widespread op-position rose instantaneously to-wards Germany’s welcoming refu-gee policy. In 2015, over a million individu-als have been taken in as refugees by Germany. The country recently announced that measures will be taken to expel foreign criminals and strip sexual attackers off their

refugee status. Far- right protesters blamed the attacks on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s support for the in-flux of refugees. In connection with the tragedy, Merkel said that “ clear signals” had to be sent to potential offenders. A government statement men-tioned that harsher penalties for sexual offences would be appropri-ate “regardless of current events”. These acts of reinforcement did not stop nearly 2000 supporters of Legida stage citywide protests on January 12, as they vented their an-ger over Merkel’s open door policy. Counter protests were also held by opposing parties, and invited van-

dalism, lead-ing to nearly 211 arrests. At the other end of the s p e c t r u m , m i g r a n t s held out ban-ners, apolo-gizing to women for the violence caused. Polar opin-ions exist amongst the citizenry of Germany. Far-right groups believe that Merkel is compromising upon women’s safety by allowing a gener-

ous refugee intake. On the contrary, leftist groups believe that sexual at-tacks have been executed by white German men too.

Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 terrorists including the notable Shi’ite cleric Sheik Nimr-al Nimr on January 2 has ignited sectarian ten-sions in a region already brimming with conflict. The Shi’ite Muslims retaliated instantly to the cleric’s death by attacking the Arabian em-bassy in Tehran, which resulted in Saudi Arabia severing ties with Iran. This rift is likely to extend far beyond the immediate rivalry and worsen conditions in parts of Mid-dle East, which is already ravaged by war. The cutting of diplomatic ties has come at a time when United States and other countries hoped that even minimal cooperation be-tween the two nations could help eradicate the Islamic State, and end the civil war in Syria and Yemen. The latest incident, however, is likely to thwart the peace process in both the countries. Saudi Arabia is leading an alliance of Sunnis against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who re-ceive support from Iran. In addition, while the Shi’ite powerhouse (Iran)

is the most important ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Saudi Arabia is dedicated to his removal. The animosity has also led to several gulf countries like Bahrain, Sudan and United Arab Emirates downgrading ties with Iran in a bid to appease the Kingdom. However, many others have taken a stand of neutrality due to age-old trade links, shared oil access and the presence of enormous Shi’ite communities. Iran, which is considered an emerging power especially after

the landmark nuclear pact which took place last year, is likely to gain large benefits from lessening inter-national sanctions, and alienating it during such a crucial time would also be a gross mistake for many na-tions. Despite the bilateral feud, Saudi Prince Mohammed’s significant an-nouncement could prove momen-tous for the crippling nation, as he has deliberated a proposal to open the closed Saudi economy and gov-ernment.

China, one of the world’s largest economies, devalued the renminbi or Yuan by 0.5 per cent against the U.S. dollar, thus creating a flutter across world economies last week. This was the country’s third major devaluation and the biggest since the unexpected four per cent de-preciation last August. The depreciation is predicted to have significant repercussions on other economies as well with the International Monetary Fund’s de-cision to grant Yuan the status of reserve currency in the near future. The Indo-China trade deficit ac-counted to $47 billion in the last financial year. Around 60 per cent of India’s export to China consti-tutes iron ore and over one-tenth of India’s total merchandise trade is with China. The Yuan devaluation, along with tumbling prices of commodi-ties in the world market is likely to burn a hole in India’s foreign re-serves, thus adversely affecting the Indian economy. Cheaper Yuan is likely to result in more exports to India and will lead to greater deficit

in trade with China. “There is the issue of excess ca-pacity in China leading to dumping and the apprehension that prod-ucts will become even cheaper due to the currency devaluation be-cause what has happened now is the third major devaluation. There is also the fear that subsidised im-ports are coming in. These are wor-rying developments,” said Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, while voic-ing her concern. India's trade relationship with its Asian counterpart has seen a sharp change with the strong increase in the import of Chinese goods at 18.4 per cent at the end of the last fis-cal year, from $51 billion in 2013-14 to $60 billion in the year 2014-15. India’s exports, however have de-clined by 19.5 per cent, to $11.9 bil-lion in 2014-15 from $14.8 the year before.

to hear more on the Aircel-Maxis case on January 18. Will this case see a verdict or will there be more

chargesheets filed with the matter getting pushed for future, is the question of the hour.

China devalued Renminibi or Yuan by 0.5 % against the US dollar creating a

flutter

which I feel is important. We’ll also have to see in the coming games when there is pressure on him right from the start, so I’m not making any judgments,” the skipper re-marked. It is indeed safe to say that that George Bailey and Steven Smith’s batting display gave the hosts the edge, but that would have looked defensive on the Dhoni’s part. In-dia’s batting line- up however, seems to be steady. Given the flat conditions at WACA, the match was more of a batting competition be-tween the teams. The Australians had two bowling newcomers in their team- Joel Paris of Big Bash League fame and Victo-rian right- arm pacer Scott Boland, who were punished by the Rohit-Virat duo. The former managed to grab three wickets while the latter is yet to open his international ac-count. Smith’s immaculate form and temperament has been death-star-ing right into the Indian bowlers’ eyes, and he seems to be impecca-ble as a captain and a batsman. The two teams might consider a few switches in their respective bowling line-up for the upcoming ODIs.

Karthik Talwar

A bowling reshuffle might be considered now

Sruthi Ravindranath

Photo: Getty Images

India’s One Day International captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said India could have put more pressure on the Australian batsmen with better bowling. His statement came after the team’s loss in the first ODI against the hosts on Tuesday, Janu-ary 12. “Australian batsmen batted really well since there was less assistance from the pitch. There was a lot of pressure on us since our spinners went for a few boundaries,” he said in the post- match press confer-ence. “310 is a very good score and they got it only in the last over. If we had bowled slightly better, we could have put more pressure on them but that was not the case,” he added. After winning the two practice matches against Western Australia XI and setting a target of 310 runs in this match, the men in blue looked quite confident, only to be let down by their bowlers yet again. While debutant Barinder Sran impressed with his pace attack by taking three important wickets, the spinners lacked lustre. “I think he (Sran) bowled really well. He was hitting the right areas,

Crushing defeat Messi wins fifth FIFA Ballon d’Or

There is only one player in our generation who can humble his op-ponent on the football field so ef-fortlessly. He seizes the game with his unparalleled class and supreme skill. The magic of Lionel Messi es-calates with each passing minute of the 90 and magnifies to his team. A phenomenal career brimming with records was further elevated, when the Argentine won the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the world’s best player for a record-fifth time. Messi had won the prestigious award four times in a row from 2008 to 2012, until Cristiano Ron-aldo dethroned him in 2013, win-ning it twice in a row. Last year proved to be an outstanding year for Messi’s club FC Barcelona as it won five trophies including the tre-ble - La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Messi played 61 games and scored 52 goals and assisted 26, with a scoring rate of every 101 minutes. He garnered

Tushar Swarup

41.33% of the votes while Ronaldo and Neymar got 27.76% and 7.86% respectively. “It’s a very special moment for me to be back here on this stage, winning another Ballon d’Or after seeing Cristiano win it,” Messi told BBCSport. He further added, ”It’s incredible that it’s my fifth, much more than anything I would have dreamed of as a kid.” Riding on the immense success of Barcelona, the Spanish club man-

Lionel Messi with his fifth FIFA Ballon d’Or Photo: Getty Images

Chennai, Wawrinka’s dear fortress Deevya Mulani

The Chennai Open concluded on the 10th of January with Stan Waw-rinka winning the championships for a record fourth time, making him the most successful player ever at the tournament. He faced his fourth different opponent in four years in the form of Croatian Borna Coric. 19- year old Coric gave Wawrinka a better fight than their last encoun-ter in 2015 but was ultimately no match for the Swiss. The Chennai Open has developed a reputation for being a breakout event. Being India’s only ATP tournament, it has been a launchpad for champions. Most of the winners and finalists at the Chennai Open have gone on to have fairly successful careers in the international arena. In the past few years players like Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Al-jaz Bendene have elevated their careers by notching up impressive

performances at the Chennai Open. This year, Coric and Ramkumar Ra-manathan gave noticeable perfor-mances, and they could go on and make impressive careers for them-selves. Local lad Ramanathan played an aggressive brand of tennis, which pumped up the crowd. He seemed to have an indefatigable spirit which seemed to bring him back every time he looked like he had given up. Ramkumar’s rise coincides with

InkJanuary 16, 2016

5Sports

Wawrinka at Chennai Open

Netflix launches service in Indiaers can select from three unlimited plans- Rs 500, Rs 650 and Rs 800 per month. The Indian edition of the website is different from its American coun-terpart in terms of content. All Net-flix original content, including some shows will be available to Indian subscribers, but the number of Bol-lywood titles is limited to 100 cur-rently. Speaking to reporters, Chita-van Pandya Patel, Director Content Acquisition for Netflix said, “We are working with content creators in India to add more Bollywood titles and Indie local films.’’ Chris Jaffe, Product Lead for Netflix stated that currently nothing is censored

Netflix, the popular TV and mov-ie streaming online service an-nounced its launch in India and 190 other countries at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on 6th of January. The service, now live in India, can be accessed through several plat-forms such as PCs, laptops, smart-phones, tablets, game consoles and so on. Allowing to test the water before taking the leap, the compa-ny is offering a complimentary one month of free usage to all new sub-scribers. Based on video resolution and number of display outputs, us-

on their Indian website, but users would be presented with a rating system and subsequently warned of graphic content. He further added that payment options are limited to credit cards and PayPal for now, but the company would consider adding more options in the coming months. Keeping the users glued, Netflix has moved away from recy-cling old TV shows and movies, and has been producing more original content such as “House of Cards”, and “Narcos”. While Amazon and Hulu services have also begun re-leasing original content, Netflix, at the moment, positions itself as the leader in online streaming.

Catalogue of shows and movies offered by Netflix Photo: arstechnica

Technology

The first India-Aus ODI series at Perth saw India lose by 5 wkts

ager, Luis Enrique won the World Coach of the Year award beating Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola and Jorge Sampaoli, who led Chile to Copa America last year. Lionel Messi has reached a ped-estal where it is almost impossible for any player to reach. The 28-year old has set a benchmark for the generations to come, who will look back at the magician Messi as the greatest footballer to have ever graced the football pitch.

the gradual fading of the star of Somdev Devvar-man. The highest ranked Indian tennis player has been on a downward spiral of late, and this continued in this tourna-ment too with his third first round exit in three seasons. He remains a solid Davis Cup player but has showed signs of waning when it comes

to singles. Though there was an issue with the lack of crowd in the initial phases of the tourna-ment, the locals turned up in droves for the latter stages. Chennai’s love affair with tennis is to continue as the Tamil Nadu Tennis Federation chief stated that the Chennai Open will stay in the city with assistance from the State government,and other sponsors. A three year deal has been signed for the same till 2019, much to the hap-piness of the tennis aficionados.

Photo: Getty Images

January in Hollywood simply means that the awards season has officially begun. Laughter, tears, and stunning red carpet looks - the 73rd Golden Globe awards saw it all.

Alejandro Iñárritu’s The Rev-enant swept away all the awards this year. It won in the categories of best dramatic film, best director, and the best actor in drama was also given to its lead actor Leon-ardo Di Caprio.

Ridley Scott’s The Martian won the best picture in the musical/comedy category, with Matt Da-mon also winning Best actor in a comedy for the same. Brie Larson was named best actress in a drama for Room, while Jennifer Lawrence won best actress in a comedy for her role in Joy.

Veteran Italian composer Ennio Morricone won the best original score award for Quentin Taran-tino’s, The Hateful Eight. Without

a doubt, the best animated picture was Pixar’s Inside Out. Moreover, Son of Saul, won the award for the best foreign film.

Apart from the nominations, speeches, and legendary wins; the red carpet offered an incredible night. Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Win-slet, Brie Larson, Lady Gaga were amongst the best dressed celebri-ties.

Social media has been buzzing with the discussions about the most memorable moments from the award night. Leonardo’s Poker

Golden Globe surprisesSamreen Khoja

Photo: AP

InkJanuary 16, 2016

6Leisure

Re-looking security: Of glamour and threats

Struggle after glory

Winners at the Golden Globe awards

Tanvi Bhat

Bollywood provides a platform wherein movies are put on cloud-nine and stars acquire a demi-god status. Dazzling in their glitzy cos-tumes these celebrities can easily be identified from among the rest of the crowd. However there are many celebs who have sacrificed a lot, in order to rise to fame. Their stardom often leaves them with many ‘negative pursuers’, and hence for this very reason, their se-curity becomes a primary concern. But this also doesn’t mean that they could drag along with them a whole bunch of security personnel.

Appointing officers from the Police Department and diverting their at-tention to look after the security concerns of these celebrities has come under increased scrutiny. Recent reports showed that the Mumbai Police will look into cutting down the security levels of various Bollywood celebrities, in-cluding Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. The report also stated that security for celebs like Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani, secu-rity would be completely removed as they feel it’s “unwanted”. The police force has to ensure that their presence doesn’t go in vain. Taking into consideration the

number of crimes that take place in our country, we just cannot afford to let loose our security personnel. Sometimes, it so happens that the security of a particular celeb-rity is also groped into the con-troversy these celebs fall into. Lately, Shahrukh and Aamir were provided additional security for the comments they made on perceived intolerance in the country. When Mumbai Police decided to cut down the level of security, Aamir, in one of his tweets, wel-comingly said that the police per-sonnel can be put to better use in securing the city. Hence the police force needs to

Photo: boxoffice.thenewstrackThe three Khans

Chinmay Rautmare

Natsamrat provides a visual treat to any theatre lover, regardless of the language. Nana Patekar takes the audience by surprise with ter-rific acting skills, capturing their at-tention till the end of the movie. An adaptation of a four and a half dec-ade old play by V V Shirwadkar (Ku-sumagraj’s), Mahesh Manjrekar’s masterpiece takes on a completely new form on celluloid. Ganpatrao Belwalkar, played by Nana Patekar, is a veteran Shake-spearean theatre artist. His com-panion, Rambhau’s role is played by Vikram Gokhale, as both characters rule the stage before they age and retire gracefully. It is only after his retirement that Ganpatrao faces the harsh realities of life, as reel life turns into real life, and his fame be-gins to fade away. Ganpat Belwalker is a theatre actor par excellence, who foolishly believes that his chil-dren will look after him post retire-ment. Medha Manjrekar has been roped in to play the role of Nana Patekar’s wife and quite undoubtedly, she too

has given a brilliant performance. Mrinmayee Deshpande and Ajit Parab (who play their children), or Sunil Barve and Neha Pendse (who play the kids’ spouses respectively), or even the absolutely charming granddaughter Pranjal Parab, are definitely not to be missed out. The film also looks into the ruthless so-ciety we reside in. Several intense scenes that show interactions be-tween Nana Patekar and Vikram Gokhale, prove yet again that there exists no dearth of talented actors in our country. In short, the year 2016, for the Marathi movie industry, has kicked off on a brilliant note with the re-lease of Natsamrat.

From retrospectives into cine-matic history and tracing realism in world cinema to showcasing previ-ous year’s best International and Indian titles, the 14th edition of the Pune International Film Festival de-buts between January 14 & 21, in venues across the city. Featuring an ideal mix of new and old films across the globe, here are some highlights of the festival you cannot miss:Indian cinema picks: Marathi films have always been the star child of PIFF, with the fes-tival giving away awards in the re-gional films section. Competing for the awards are Aadish Keluskar’s Kaul, Shivaji Patil’s Halal, Umesh Kulkarni’s Highway, Namjoshi’s

PIFF 2016: Where the new meets the oldSruthi Ganpathy

clearly have knowledge of their duty and its purpose , and reassess the security of celebrities, as they are

not just employed for safeguarding such high-profile individuals, but in-stead the society as a collective.

Face fail with Lady Gaga, as she made her victory march, went viral. Sylvester Stallone also won his first ever Globe as Best Supporting Ac-tor for Creed, and thanked his im-aginary character Rocky Balboa for being the best friend ever.

The ‘Aww’ moment was wit-nessed Titanic co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunited, and the internet swooned.

Legendary actor Tom Hanks also gave an exceptional tribute to Den-zel Washington of the Malcolm X fame.

Rangaa Patangaa, Makarand Mane’s Ringan, Mahesh Manjrekar’s Nat-samrat and the critically acclaimed Nagaraj’s Sairat. Under the festival’s ‘Sports & Cinema’ theme, the festival features films like Kukunoor’s highly praised Iqbal, Ashutosh Gowariker’s epic sports drama Lagaan and the Shah-rukh starrer Chak de! India. Further, films like Cinemawala, which pays tribute to the single-screen film cul-ture, Hari Vishwanath’s Tamil flick Radiopetti and Jayraj’s Ottaal, an adaptation of Russian writer Che-kov’s short story, would also surface during the festival. The festival would also feature exclusive screenings of seven Indian classics from the coffers of the Na-tional Film Archives of India (NFAI)

World cinema: The ‘World competition’ has films like Serbia’s Enklava, Iran’s Mamiroo, Italy’s La buca and India’s Kannada feature Thithi pit against the other. With the themes under this section ranging from ‘Human Mind & Cinema’ to ‘Literature & Cinema’ the festival details an inter-esting blast from the history of cin-ema- be it the Vijay Anand’s classic Guide or Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic slasher flick Psycho. Retrospectives: The festival’s massive high-point remains the ‘Retrospective’ section where the festival is hosting film reflections, from historic Bengali director Ritwik Ghatak, to Brazil-lian filmmaker Hector Babenco and Danish director Nilks Malmro.

Photo: moifightclubA still from Kannada feature, ‘Thithi’

Review

Photo: movie.vidmateFilm poster