Though old, I am happy as I live on

By

-

January 27, 2020

As I have aged, I have become kinder to and less critical of myself. I have become my own friend. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world, too soon before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing. Whose business is it if I choose to read, or play on the computer until 4 am. I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60s & 70s and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love, I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging tummy and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old. I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And eventually, we remember the important things. Sure, over the years, my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one or when a child suffers or even when somebody’s beloved pet is hit by a car?

I can say that I am a kind of sample who didn’t get love from my brother and sister in terms of love. Though I am the eldest, these younger lot of herd left me mid-way squandering all the money that my father left behind when he took off for his heavenly abode. My heart broke with a thud that I could hear for a long time. But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart that has never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived enough to have my hair turning grey and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into grooves on my face. So many have never laughed and too many have died before their hair could turn silver.As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don’t question myself anymore. I’ve even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being older. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day.

So, I still live on staring at the sky and hoping that God will one day bless me with bliss until I close my eyes.`

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 27 January, 2020

By

Web Team

-

January 27, 2020

1Uddhav Thackeray deserves sufficient time to prove himself

Uddhav Thackeray is heading a coalition government of three major parties and he became Chief Minister of Maharashtra after a long drawn battle to come to power. We need to give him sufficient time before scrutinizing his work minutely. He is a seasoned politician though he did not hold public office before becoming CM. He seems to be making the right noise as far as policy decisions are concerned and opposition too should support his decisions which they think are right and criticize if he strays the path.

His son Aaditya Thackeray who is a minister in his cabinet seems to be making the right moves and his decision to keep malls open 24×7 has truly given Mumbai an international status. Promoting tourism too is appreciable and I am sure the young crowd is impressed by his work. Coalition government works on common minimum programme and hope the State has a stable government as we can ill afford mid-term polls which costs a lot of money.

S.N.Kabra

2Church vandalized in Bengaluru

The church of St Francis of Assisi at Satellite Town in Kengeri, Bengaluru has been attacked last week by unknown miscreants. The alter has been vandalized and the tabernacle destroyed…Holy Communion has been strewn all around the place and trampled upon. We Christians condemn this dastardly and cowardly act of unscrupulous elements and urge upon the police and the authorities to arrest the culprits immediately.

Jubel D’Cruz

3Supreme Court desiring Parliament to rethink power of Speaker to disqualify MLAs

It refers to Supreme Court bench headed by Justice RF Nariman on January 21, 2000 desiring Parliament to rethink power of Speaker to disqualify MLAs, because of Speaker being a member of some political party. Evidently Speakers in state-assemblies at times have openly misused their power in favour of their political leanings.

Better is to reform system of electing Speaker (also Chief Minister and Deputy Speaker) and electing Chief Ministers. Speaker should be elected simultaneously with Chief Minister and Deputy Speaker by secret and compulsory vote through EVMs equipped with VVPAT on nominations signed by at least 34-percent members with abstaining members losing right to vote in the House though retaining membership. Such elected incumbents may be removed through same process but with compulsion to name alternate leader in the same motion. System will tend to bring comparatively unbiased person on post of Speaker, and will eliminate role of Speaker in biased proceedings in case of making and unmaking of Chief Ministers.

Madhu Agrawal

4Markandey Katju’s sharp comment against Supreme Court reinstating woman staffer

It refers to sharp comments of ex-judge of Supreme Court Markandey Katju on Supreme Court reinstating woman staffer having accused the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual misconduct. But the manner woman-staffer was reinstated soon after retirement of Ranjan Gogoi from the post of Chief Justice of India with even back wages paid to her after such serious allegations of sexual misconduct during her posting at residential office of the then Chief Justice of India require a renewed probe in whole affair but now by a non-judicial investigating agency like Intelligence Bureau to avoid conflict of interest, especially after suspicion created by sharp reaction of a former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju on complete episode. Other allegations by Katju can also be simultaneously probed.

This is necessary to save image of judiciary which has earlier been also in question on various occasions. A former Chief Justice of India was not considered fit for being chairperson of National Human Rights Commission by Union Home Ministry. A probe was initiated against another former Chief Justice of India in infamous NEET verdict which was put on website by an individual much before it was pronounced in the Court. Another former Chief Justice of India was forced to resign from post of a state Human Rights Commission when he was allegedly framed for some incident involving women after his retirement from Supreme Court.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

5Panic-stricken migrants

Kodagu Superintendent of Police (SP) Suman Pennekar has courted controversy by creating an online registry of migrant workers and directing them to prove their identity, at a time when there are protests across the country against the proposed nation-wide National Register of Citizens (NRC), from which the central government itself has backed off, at least for now. Over 6,000 panic-stricken migrants from Assam and other states working in the district’s coffee plantations, resorts and construction industry were called in and subjected to an ‘identity verification drive’ at local police stations. This comes in the wake of allegations by Hindutva groups that ‘illegal Bangladeshis’ had come into the district. One local Bajrang Dal leader has gone on record as having raised the bogey of illegal immigrants after a group of Assamese workers refused to work in his coffee estate at the low wage he was offering. Most migrants were found to be in possession of valid documents. In any case, the SP does not have powers to extern from the district those who could not produce identification papers, unless it is proved that they are illegal immigrants.

A Abuzar Bajpatti

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Like Shaheen Bagh protest, Mumbai women come on streets against CAA, NRC

By

Hema Singh

-

January 27, 2020

Hundreds of Mumbai women are protesting and raising slogans against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

It’s been reported that women sat down on the Morland Road outside Arabia Hotel since late night on Sunday. It seems that they have drawn inspiration from New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protest which started from December 15 and thousands of people, including women and children, have been protesting since against the CAA and the NRC.

Despite the best efforts of the Mumbai police to convince people to cooperate, the women holding placards and raising slogans like “We stand against CAA, NRC and NPR; they tried to divide us, Respect my existence or expect my resistance.” Slogans hailing Hindu-Muslim unity and brotherhood were also raised.

Fatima a law student, addressing the protestors said, “You should love your country but it is not necessary that you also love your government. Chandrashekhar Azad has been detained; he is fighting for all of us. He gets detained wherever he goes…we are sitting here for people like Azad and for the women of Shaheen Bagh. We won’t move from here.”

One of the police officer said from among the protesters most of them are residents of Muslim-dominated areas like Madanpura, Jhoola Maidan, Apripada and Mumbai Central.

Shalini Sharma senior inspector of the Nagpada police station said that she had requested the protesters to take prior permission from the police. However they refused to move and continued to occupy the road. All this shows that the protesting women aren’t interested to budge.

Haryana: Heading towards a mid-term poll?

By

Web Team

-

January 26, 2020

Just after the revolt of JJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam, another MLA supporting the BJP government Balraj Kundu also sounded a bugle within three months of formation of BJP-JJP alliance government. Will the chain of resentment continue to increase its length or will the Controller –Generals of the alliance succeed in curbing the voice of indignation? Before a final note, let us discuss the background.

Sometimes, bad luck of one turns to good luck for the other. BJPs not gaining the majority win in the Haryana Assembly elections in October 2019 bestowed a sunny glowing day upon Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in the murky political scenario. After winning all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in May, 2019 on the air wings of Modi, the over confident state BJP declared its target of 75 plus seats out of 90 in Haryana Vidhan Sabha. But it failed to read the ground report. When election results were announced, the BJP which was flying high in the sky on the gas filled balloons, dashed to the ground and got only 40 seats out of total 90 seats. The main opposition party Congress got 31 seats, the newly formed JJP secured 10 seats while the independents and others succeeded in getting 9 seats.

It has been noticed in different elections that in Haryana the voters don’t take on top priority the development through ‘Sabka Saath –Sabka Vikas’, rather they want “Mera Saath –Mera Vikas”. It is generally quoted that had they liked the general or public development works, the former Chief Minister late Chaudhary Bansi Lal would never have lost the elections.

Generally to get the elections and defections favourably the high side promises are made and if one sees the least chances to win then sometimes the political leaders bless everyone with a son. JJP did so and made 160 promises in its manifesto during elections, which require a huge fund to fulfill these. Some of these are high side promises which was not possible to implement due to the paucity of funds with the state and other restrictions. JJP knew this before-hand but it promised these just to bend the voters towards it. JJP had not even thought of it getting the power share so soon. Now their own promises have put BJP-JJP alliance government in a dilemma. Having made nearly 400 promises out of which 70 are common are being considered for their common minimum programme.

Some major promises of the JJP are-increase in the monthly old age pension from the existing Rs 2,000 to 5,100, lowering down of eligibility age for the old age pension from the present 60 years to 55 for women and 58 for males, to reserve 75 per cent of jobs for the local youth which constitute a sizeable chunk of nearly 1.83 crore voters of the state, to give a monthly assistance of Rs 11,000 per month to unemployed youth while student from rural areas to be given extra ten marks when they appear in competitive examinations in the state for the farmers, a bonus of 10 per cent or Rs 100 to be given over MSP, minimum wages to be fixed at Rs 16,000 and to waive loans taken by farmers from the cooperative banks.

Haryana Cooperation Minister, Dr. Banwari Lal , while announcing the last date of ‘One Time Settlement Scheme’ till January 31, 2020 for loanee members and farmers who have an account with cooperative banks to facilitate the members and farmers to take advantage of the scheme told that the total amount of short term loan of Harco Bank is about Rs 3,091 crore and there are about 6,99,804 beneficiaries out of which Rs 1136.36 crore has been recovered from 2,51,481 beneficiaries till 31 December 2019.

Ranjit Singh the Haryana Power and Jails minister while addressing media persons during the first bijli panchayat in Hisar on Sunday Jan 05,2020 divulged, “According to the data of rural domestic consumers, the total pending amount is Rs.2,900 crore, of which Rs. 95 crore is of farmers using tube wells. We are meeting the panchayat members of villages that are on the defaulters’ list and will ask them how they will pay the amount.”

During the assembly election campaign, Congress leader and former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda had alleged that due to wrong policies of the BJP government, Haryana had become a debt ridden state . In a tweet on October 15,2019, Hooda alleged , “BJP government had emptied the state treasury coffers and burdened the government

To start with, the alliance government declared the implementation of its first promise of enhancement of old age and widow pension from present Rs. 2,000 per month to Rs. 2,250 by affecting an increase of just Rs. 250/ per month.

Now Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced an increase in all monthly social security pensions including the old age pension from Rs. 2,000 to Rs.2,250.

Since 2015, the state government has extended an increase of Rs 200 in these pensions every year. The old age pension which was Rs.1,000 in 2014 was increased in the last five years at the rate of Rs.200 every year giving a last slab of Rs. 2, 000 per month.

However, BJP’s power partner JJP had promised an ambitious increase in the monthly old age pension from the existing Rs 2,000 to Rs.5,100 ,whereas the BJP had promised to increase the old age pension to Rs .3,000 per month during the assembly election campaign.

Reacting over the pension enhancement , the former Chief Minister, Bhupinder Hooda said on January 6,2020 at Rohtak , “It is no achievement by the government as it has hiked only Rs.50 additionally .”

If we consider this increase of Rs. 250 per month as a routine yearly increase on the lines of previous yearly increases of Rs. 200 per year by BJP led government , then question arises, what the JJP did? Did JJP succeed in getting an increase of Rs. 50 only as its share? What about its promise of Rs. 5100 per month?

Commenting on the increase, Congress leader and three times Member Lok Sabha, Deepender Singh Hooda reacted on January,03,2020, “The BJP-JJP alliance government has given a lollypop to the public by just enhancing old age pension from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 2250 against a promise of Rs. 5100. The public will never forgive the alliance government for this betrayal. Is this the common minimum programme?”

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala took a dig at the BJP-JJP coalition government in Haryana and said their common minimum programme had become “common mess of parties”.

Indian National Lok Dal supreme operator and former leader of opposition in Haryana Assembly, Abhay Singh Chautala tells the pension increase as ‘A drop in ocean’ and questions JJP leaders, without naming them, “Where are the persons, who were claiming to extend Rs. 5100 per month pension to the old age citizens ?”

But still the JJP appreciating the step. Speaking to the media in Bhiwani on January 4, 2020, JJP supremo and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala said, “We have increased the pension by Rs.250 just in a short span of 67 days, this will lay a burden of Rs. 1000 crore on the state exchequer .”

After the first meeting of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) Committee held in Chandigarh on November 28,2019, CMP Committee chairperson and senior cabinet minister Anil Vij said that many promises of both the parties –BJP and JJP are similar and implementation of many has already been started.

Will the alliance government run for the full five year term?

-By Jag Mohan Thaken

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

Big blow to duty-free companies; Commerce Ministry to reduce Duty-Free Liquor Allowance

By

Afternoon Voice

-

January 26, 2020

Commerce Ministry has decided to restrict the purchase of alcohol to one bottle from two bottle, Aviation authorities, especially the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has raised concern because liquor is one of the tourist attractions at airport and it also generates revenue. The reduction of alcohol allowance at duty free shops at Indian airports will directly impact the revenue. Association of Private Operators said that the government’s decision will lead to a loss of around Rs 650 crore revenues for airport operators. This is likely to lead to a steep hike in user charges for travelers. The proposal to restrict alcohol sale at duty free shops will further increase aeronautical charges at airport by at least Rs 200 crore annually. The Commerce Ministry had made the proposal to the Finance Ministry ahead of the union budget with an intention to reduce trade deficit.

With the implementation of this order, flyers can expect ticket rates on the rise. This is also because airports run primarily on non-aeronautical income such as duty-free shops, restaurants, cafes and so on. To object this limit private airport operators along with the AAI are going to approach the government to reconsider the proposal. This comes at a time when the Association of Private Airport Operators (APAO) recommended increasing the current alcohol allowance from two bottles to four.

The AAI mentioned that the reduced liquor allowance will mean an increase in landing and parking charges on airlines, which they will happily pass on to their customers. It’s clear that a loss of revenue doesn’t help anyone. Meanwhile, Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, “It’s not a question of large or small (quantities). As a nation, we are not encouraging the import of alcohol.” However, not everyone agrees with the Commerce Minister.

A CEO of a private airline said, “It will be a blow to duty-free companies and airports. Duty-free sales are an important component of non-aeronautical revenues for airports and 30 per cent of the non-aero revenue is used to cross subsidies aeronautical charges.” This move may also have a negative impact on upcoming investments, particularly from the likes of Adani Airports, which won contracts for six new airports recently. While several contractors have bid on airport projects across the country, they have also factored in revenue generated from duty free liquor sales. So this move by the Commerce Ministry may lead to the contractors changing their revenue model or reworking the plans altogether.

Is there absence of law regarding Indian prisons system? – Part I

By

Vaidehi Taman

-

January 26, 2020

Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani Mukerjea is battling with the violence in jail by its custodians, she narrated before a special CBI court. How can the male officials of the Byculla women’s prison cane women inmates and even threaten her against being a witness in the court, she said.

Life of a woman in a prison seems to be very hard and bad. A study on deaths behind bars reveals that on an average almost 1,000 prisoners die in custody every year and 90 per cent of them are under trials. Statistics also reveal that most under trial punishments are converted into death penalties. Also, the death of a prisoner is never considered a custodial death but rather shown as a case of natural death.

The overcrowded jails are the biggest threat where ‘high profile’ prisoners are given priority and different cells while commoners have to spend their term in overcrowded cells. Indrani, who has been booked for rioting in the women’s prison in Mumbai along with other inmates, was hit on the hand and legs after which she could barely walk. Her crime is yet to be proven. The judiciary has taken her in custody for trials. But the treatment these women are meted out in jail is not justified.

A 45-year-old woman prisoner Manju Govind Shette had died in jail at the hands of jail officials after which the inmates protested against jail authorities.

Indrani was produced in Court after she moved an application alleging that jail officials roughed her up. Recalling the events on the day of the protest, she alleged that the superintendent had ordered a lathi charge after turning the lights off in the jail. The special CBI court allowed Indrani Mukerjea to lodge a complaint against prison officials. Narrating the incident, Indrani told the Court that she was threatened and assaulted after she said that she would give a statement (in connection with the case) to a magistrate under the provisions of Section 164 CRPC which unlike a police statement is admissible in court.

Anyways this is not the plight of Mumbai or Maharashtra prisoners alone, almost everywhere in India they go through this hell. A few women who served prison terms have recorded torture and inhuman treatment within the prisons across other states too. In Tamil Nadu, prison female inmates were stripped naked and abused verbally and physically and not provided even basic facilities. The NHRC recorded 39 cases of rape from judicial and police custody from 2006 to 28 February 2010.

Citing the case of Maloti Kalandi, wife of Badal Kalandi who along with children was rescued from being trafficked was handed over to the Tamulpur police station, Baksa district of Assam for safe custody. Instead of providing safety, Sub-Inspector Sahidur Rahman summoned the victim to his official quarter and raped her. Similarly, two more prisoners, Munniammal who had been lodged in the Nilakottai sub-jail for robbery and M Muthulakshmi who had been arrested by the police for illicit brewing of liquor said they were never given anything but gruel in the prison. They also said that four to eight prisoners were crammed into a cell and they were forced to use a small corner as their toilet without even a curtain to provide them privacy.

A Tihar Jail’s woman prisoner facing trial in cases of cheating and forgery has accused the jail warden of torturing her with the help of HIV positive woman inmate for extorting money from her. She was beaten up for an hour in front of the deputy superintendent and the jail staff who remained mute spectators.

Ms. Saradha was brought to Special Prison for Women, Vellore, Tamil Nadu as a remand prisoner having been remanded by the Judicial Magistrate. She was undressed totally and dragged nude for quite some time till they reached the entrance of her cell and was put in solitary confinement and she was never given back her clothes and no official in the prison bothered about her. She was awarded 50,000/- as compensation by the Court. But no one ever bothered about her mental state or what happened to her after that. Her dignity was paid in rupees as recompense.

Soni Sori, a 38-year-old schedule tribe school teacher, warden and mother, was subjected to sexual violence while in custody in the Dantewada police station in Chhattisgarh under directions of the Superintendent of Police .She was repeatedly given electric shocks, her clothes were taken off. She was made to stand naked. The SP was watching her sitting on his chair. While looking at her body, he abused her in filthy language and humiliated her badly.

The horror doesn’t stop here. In a Nagpur prison, six napkins were given every month but this quantity was not sufficient. Earlier, the staff asked inmates to strip to show if they were menstruating. This practice was stopped after complaints. Sometimes the jailers used to put fingers in inmates private parts to make sure that they are menstruating. The criminal justice system has failed to protect the rights of women who are often victims of violence and discrimination.

Some 1,000 women were jailed in a space meant for 150, each making do with one bar of soap to bath and to wash clothes for a whole month. Their children grow up knowing little about the outside world, unable to recognise even cats and dogs.

According to the NCRB Crime Report, a total of 344 convicted women with their 382 children and 1,226 under-trial women with their 1,397 children were lodged in various prisons across India at the end of 2012.

There is high corruption inside the jails, and there are ways by which one can get the necessary things inside too (cigarette, alcohol, a girl for a night, good food etc) usually corporate criminals and politicians are the ones availing these facilities as prices are spiked like anything inside. The recent example is politician Sasikala. Whenever a high profile woman gets in prison, she is given all special privileges because she can afford to buy the authorities with common woman especially those who were caught in petty thefts for survival prison becomes one living hell. Any jail in India is a death trap.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Reduce weight of school bags

By

Jayanthy Subramaniam

-

January 26, 2020

In a landmark decision, the govt. has laid down a list of guidelines for schools to reduce the weight of school bags. The government’s policy mandates that school bags should not be more than 10 per cent of the child’s body weight.

In July 2015, the state education department had clearly laid down a list of guidelines for schools to reduce the weight of school bags. Even though there is a policy in place, the children carry most of the books thereby carrying heavy school bags. Three years after the Maharashtra government came up with a policy to reduce the weight of school bags, little seems to have been done to implement the same. .

It is indeed a step in the right direction to make school bags lighter for children. The Human Rights commission is there to look into the problems of the people including school-going children. Present day education system is taxing. School fees are very high and the school bags have become a burden. There is no doubt about it. The State Government’s policy in place, kids still carry heavy school bags. After the introduction of computers in schools, colleges and offices, there is need to reduce paper work and hence the school bags should weigh lightly. Instead of reducing the weight of school bags, school authorities add more weight to these bags by adding more books and in the process more note books as well.

Parents have to bear a major share of the cost of books/note books as well the weight of the bags as the parents feel pity on their children and carry the school bags to the school. The order of the Maharashtra State Human Rights is a right step in the right direction. It is up to the State Government to follow the order in the right spirit and provide the best solution to the school-going children. School authorities and the Parent-Teacher Associations are ready to monitor the weight of the bags and bring it down with an amicable solution. The end solution to the problem is that the policy in place should be implemented in total and proper monitoring is the need of the hour.

School children will go through motions with great difficulty till the time better council prevails and put a block on weight of these school bags. School children undergo more stress and strain because of the increasing weight of the school bags. The life of school children is for enjoyment and getting valuable education. By carrying bulky bags, the school children carry heavy burden on their shoulders and it is up to the State Government to reduce the load by introducing the order in letter and spirit. And that is my clarion call. Other schools must follow in reducing the sizes of school bags in the next academic year.

The familiar sight of spindly school students staggering under heavy, bulging school bags may soon be a thing of the past, at least in some states. The government has thrown the ball or rather the pen back in the students’ court by asking them for suggestions on how to ease the load. The students’ suggestions include introduction of locker systems, canteens for unaided schools so that students don’t have to lug their lunch boxes and ensuring that managements adhere to a timetable. Students have also asked to be allowed to keep all items that are not academically-related in lockers. By introducing CDs and DVDs, you can still reduce the burden and the children will be able to become computer savvy from their young age.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 26 January, 2020

By

Web Team

-

January 26, 2020

1Court-appointed arbitrators should be regulated to avoid tactics of
money-minting

It is a normal process that retired judges of higher courts are appointed as arbitrators by Courts giving them a chance to earn more income than they earn while being judges in higher courts.

There are reports that these arbitrators charge exorbitantly for each hearing. Even if all the concerned parties mutually agree for adjournment much before date of hearing, arbitrators insist on sending representation for adjournment on fixed date of hearing so that they may forcibly charge for a hearing held just for seeking adjournment.

An RTI response dated 24.12.2019 from the Department of Legal Affairs has revealed that central government is not considering any reforms to prevent such anti-public practice of arbitrators.

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 should be amended to prevent such money-minting tactics of arbitrators. Complete details of arbitration-fees earned by an arbitrator case-wise in a year mentioning also number of hearings conducted in each case should be made public by putting all details on websites of Courts that have appointed them as arbitrators. There must be some maximum reasonable amount fixed for an arbitrator for a particular case. Money earned by way of arbitration must not exceed what arbitrators earned before retirement.

However, maximum time limit for withholding arbitration-award after completion of hearing has recently been fixed as one year (except for international awards) by amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 where earlier there was no such limit. But even one-year period for arbitration-award is too much which should be maximum three months.

Madhu Agrawal

2Nirbhaya’s mother turns down Indira Jaisingh plea

The mother of Nirbhaya has turned down the plea of Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh to forgive the convicts of rape-cum-murder of her daughter. In a reply the mother of Nirbhaya said that she does not have a big heart like Sonia Gandhi who pleaded for the mercy of the killers of her husband Rajiv Gandhi.

Here, the big question arises how and why Congress leaders including leading lawyers in the party at that time did not utilise legal skill to save Nathuram Vinayak Godse who became the first-ever hanged victim in free India that too at a young age of just 39 years. Evidently, all such legal loopholes to defer hanging were available then too. Even former Delhi Congress Chief Sushil Sharma is now free after completing formality of a life sentence though he mercilessly burnt pieces of his murdered wife in a Tandoor of Ashoka Yatri Niwas in New Delhi.

It was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders who turned down mercy-pleas of two sons of MK Gandhi namely Manilal Gandhi and Ramdas Gandhi for Nathuram Godse whose patriotism and nationalism cannot be doubted even though killing of any person cannot be justified.

Justice GD Khosla hearing the appeal of Nathuram Godse revealed that the convict repented of his deed and desired to spend the rest of his life in promotion of peace and service of the country if he was given mercy.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

3Indian film makers distort history for controversy

No single nomination for Indian films at the Oscars comes as a surprise because our filmmakers concentrate on ‘masala entertainment’ than on real content that is appreciated on global platforms. Most films made in India are purposefully made controversial with distorted history for free publicity. This is the reason why they are ignored on the global platform. Good films with great content may not be box office hits and producers in India want to make films which earn over Rs.100 crores in a couple of weeks which means that we have become business-centric and in the process get farther from reality as well as art.

The govt. needs to encourage low budget films with history and art in their content which when produced at a low cost has no burden to resort to distortion to earn crores in a short time. Films should be close to reality and it is not necessary for them to be shot at exorbitant locations to be appreciated by the masses. Regional films hardly have any audience and tax cuts as well as other benefits should be offered to them for survival as they are the ones which can win you Oscars as well as international recognition which is so very important than the ‘masala films’ which though they do great business but are forgotten in a couple of weeks.

S.N.Kabra

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

BJP snoops phones of NCP-Sena leaders

By

Hema Singh

-

January 24, 2020

It is a given thing that in politics people of the ruling party alleges the opposition party and the same has happened in the case of Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. NCP leader and Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has claimed that the erstwhile BJP government had tapped into the phones of non-BJP leaders in Maharashtra including that of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar during the Maharashtra Assembly elections. And to go into the details, the government has ordered a probe into the misuse of government machinery by the earlier government.

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay said, “Earlier there was no phone tapping issue during elections because it is not in our culture to tap phones of opposition leaders. Neither did the government such orders. But even if someone wants to investigate about the same, he can do so and place the report in front of the people.”

On Thursday, Deshmukh had said, “We have received many complaints of phone-tapping and snooping by the previous government. Phones of senior politicians like Uddhav Thackeray and even Sharad Pawar were tapped to know whom they were talking to.”

According to Deshmukh, the state police’s cyber cell had been asked to look into various complaints about surveillance that came in during the previous government’s tenure.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said, “This is a very serious issue and there is a need for a strict action if the phones of all senior leaders are snooped. The Home minister has raised this issue and I am sure that he will do a proper investigation in the matter as to why was it done, whether it was done with the permission of any court so on and so forth. The report will come after the investigation is complete.”

After this Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut in a tweet on Friday said, “Aapke phone tap ho rahe hai… Yeh jankari mujhe bhajpa ka ek varisht mantri ne bhi de rakhi thi… maine kaha tha bhai sahab … meri baat agar koi sunna chahta hai toh swagat hai..main Balasaheb Thackeray ka chela hoon… koi baat yaa kaam chhup chhupkar nahi karta… Suno meri baat…”

आपके फोन टैप हो रहे है..
ये जानकारी मुझे भाजपा एक वरिष्ठ मंत्रीने भी दे रखी थी. मैने कहां था..भाई साहेब..मेरी बात अगर कोई सुनना चाहता है. तो स्वागत है..मै बाळासाहेब ठाकरेजी का चेला हूं. कोई बात या काम छुप छुपकर नही करता..सुनो मेरी बात.. pic.twitter.com/zLrWajLC6d

— Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) January 24, 2020

(Your phone is being tapped. This was told to me by a senior BJP minister earlier. I told him whoever wishes to listen to my conversation is free to do so. I am a disciple of Balasaheb Thackeray, I don’t do anything secretly.)

NCP MLA and spokesperson Vidya Chavan said, “When the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was formed talks held between Sharad Pawar, Sanjay Raut and Uddhav Thackeray was heard by the BJP government like thief. Through this act the government has breached right to privacy. The Maharashtra government will investigate this matter and truth will be unveiled.”

According to sources, the phone tapping exercise was also done after the elections were over and when the negotiations between the parties went on for months before Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress finally formed government in Mahrashtra.

“There is no doubt that the previous dispensation has misused the government machinery to tap of phones of leaders from opposition parties,” the Maharashtra minister further added.

As per report, the officer of cyber cell was sent to Israel to study different softwares used for snooping. And these people used spyware like Pegasus which was recently revealed by WhatsApp as having been used extensively for extracting users’ private data. The new government has shifted out the cyber cell chief amid other bureaucratic transfers.

A few days ago, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had also remarked on the same saying that phones of leaders were tapped by the government during elections and even during coalition of the three-party government. After that, Deshmukh raised the issue and said that the government has begun a probe. He also stated that the officers are looking into the matter and a report is expected to come out soon.

Commitment to quality has led to high processing standards

By

Afternoon Voice

-

January 24, 2020

Who doesn’t know Prasad Studios, the production house that has made over 150 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Its wing Prasad Film Labs are motion picture post production studios in Hyderabad, India that was founded by the Prasad Group in 1956.

This group is the largest chain of post production facilities in India with a total of 12 delivery units located in all the major film production centers of India such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhuvaneswar, Kolkata and has an overseas presence in Singapore, Dubai and United States. It has also won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Processing Lab for as many as nine times over the last three decades.

The Mumbai Unit of Prasad Labs is helmed by Executive – Director J. Naidu.

In a tete-a-tete, we sit across Mr Naidu and ask him some queries that he happily answers.

Tell us about Prasad Labs

The Lab here was launched in 2001 and the opening function was graced by industry stalwarts like Yash Chopra, Feroz Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker to name a few. Prasad Labs deals with film processing and printing that is a part of the post-production process. The quality matches international standards. In a way we do the entire pre and post-production of films. In short, you can surmise our activities as ‘From cameras to theatres and multiplexes’. We also have full-fledged labs in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhubhaneshwar. Prasad Labs, Chennai is a Kodak certified Imagecare Lab.

What is the speciality of your lab in Mumbai?

Hmm, the Lab in Mumbai is the first such lab in the country that processes negatives by kit chemistry, in which we use ultra pure readily mixed chemical kits that are directly imported from Rochester, Kodak USA. It comes in concentrated form and is diluted in our labs with ionized filtered water. This chemical is three times costlier than the bulk chemicals used in other Labs. There is absolutely no room for error as in manual mixing, as is done in other labs. We might be the only ones using mostly Eco friendly chemicals including the Dizzolvine imported from Holland. Using a combination of new equipment and technology, skilled technicians, stringent quality control and years of experience, Prasad Film Labs (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd are now able to process films with quality on par with other International Film Laboratories. Commitment to quality has led to high processing standards with ‘No scratches and Dust’. The results speak for themselves – Cleaner images, better black detail, no colour bias and more natural skin tones.

It is understood, that in this industry time is of immense importance. How do you tackle it?

As a part of our efforts to deliver quality products even faster, Prasad extends a great option to all the esteemed clients wherein the exposed negatives are processed the same day, do a one light Telecine of the processed negatives and the tapes delivered immediately to carry on with the work as quickly as possible. All this comes, at very competitive rates and no extra costs, but with the Prasad assurance of service and quality.

Tell us about the process?

The exposed negatives of 400 feet are processed in negative processors. These processors have a speed of 100 feet per minute which is the fastest such Negative processor available in the country. The entire processing hall is centrally air conditioned equipped with HEPA filters for a dust-proof atmosphere. The lab is equipped with two high-speed Positive processing machines each operating at 27,000 feet per hour. Third, operating at 9000 feet per hour. The lab has a capacity to process approximately 100 release prints per day.

What after processing?

The processed negatives are checked in our specially designed clean room negative handling section and later subjected to ultrasonic cleaning, where the negatives are ultra cleaned before telecine and printing operations. Here the processed negatives of 400 feet are joined to make them into lab rolls of 800 feet. The processing area is also fitted with electro-static filters installed in AHU (air handing units) for an ultra clean dust-proof environment. We have two ultrasonic cleaning machines in order to carry out the operations before printing as well as before telecine, simultaneously.

Please tell us about the next step.

The next step is the telecine transfer for which we have an in-house telecine facility. In this operation we digitally transfer visuals of the original negatives into video tapes in different formats and ratios as per the requirements. These tapes are used for the final editing job wherein the editors get their final cut-lists and pull-lists based on which the final negative cutting can be carried out.

How long does the colour correction process take?

Colour correction is a tedious procedure. Where there is no DI done in a film, the final edited film negative is subjected to shot-by-shot correction on the Color Analyzer, which is used for colour balancing, every shot of the film. The data of the colour balancing which is recorded on a floppy is fed to the printing machines.

What is the next procedure?

The final edited picture negatives are then matched with the final mixed sound negative (the mixed track). The first copy is taken out for the approval of the DOP. If no further color corrections are necessary the first married copy goes to the censors. The final release prints of the film are then made on the printing machines. The bulk copies are then delivered to the distributors of different territories, who release the film.

Could you name the films processed in your Lab?

We have done more than 150 films in the last two years which includes big banners like Krissh, Rang De Basanti, Lakshya, Don, Life In A… Metro, Gandhi My Father, Guru, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Drona, Rock On!! and Dark Knight (prints only).

Besides films from India do you also process foreign films?

Very much. A lot of foreign films from Far East, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia are processed at Prasad Labs, Mumbai facility. We are proud to state that the world-famous Éclair Labs, France happened to process the negatives of one of their clients at our Lab. After seeing the results of our processing, Guy Manas, Technical Director, commendably wrote to us as follows: – “At Prasad Labs, Mumbai they do a clean job, have good sensitometry and we get very good attention from people there.”

1Uddhav Thackeray deserves sufficient time to prove himself

2Church vandalized in Bengaluru

3Supreme Court desiring Parliament to rethink power of Speaker to disqualify MLAs

4Markandey Katju’s sharp comment against Supreme Court reinstating woman staffer

5Panic-stricken migrants

1Court-appointed arbitrators should be regulated to avoid tactics of money-minting

2Nirbhaya’s mother turns down Indira Jaisingh plea

3Indian film makers distort history for controversy

1Court-appointed arbitrators should be regulated to avoid tactics of
money-minting