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Archives for April 2018

Asaram convicted in rape case

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(IANS) Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was on Wednesday convicted by the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court for raping a minor girl in his ashram here in Rajasthan in 2013.

The judgement in the case was pronounced by SC/ST cases special judge Madhu Sudan Sharma inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram Bapu is lodged.

He has been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act.

The court is likely to pronounce the quantum of punishment later. The 77-year-old godman could face upto 10 years of jail.

The charge-sheet against Asaram Bapu and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the Posco Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC.

Informed sources said the court also convicted Shilpi (warden of the Ashram) and Sharad while Shiva and Prakas have been acquitted in the case.

Asaram Bapu is facing trial in two sexual assault cases: one here in Rajasthan and the other in Gujarat.

The final arguments in the case were completed in the Jodhpur court by Special Judge Sharma on April 7.

Asaram Bapu was arrested in 2013 on the complaint filed by a teenage girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahajahanpur. She had accused him of raping her at his Jodhpur ashram in August that year.

Asaram was brought from Indore and jailed in the Jodhpur Central jail.

The victim, was a Class 12 student at his Chhindwara Ashram in Madhya Pradesh. She was raped by Asaram in his ashram during her stay in Manai village on the outskirts here.

He was earlier denied bail by the Supreme Court.

Amjad Ali Khan, Anupam Kher get Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Award

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(IANS) Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle and veteran actor Anupam Kher were among the prominent personalities who were conferred the ‘Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan Awards’ on the occasion of his 76th death anniversary here.

Bhosle was conferred the award for life achievements, while Anupam was acknowledged by a Special Award honouring his contributions to cinema and theatre, at a glittering function presided over by Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari in the Shanmukhananda Hall late on Tuesday.

Besides, Dhananjay Datar was awarded for social entrepreneurship, the Vagvilasini Award went to poet Yogesh Gaur for literature, Shriram Gogate Award to Rajiv Khandekar for journalism, Mohan Wagh Award to ‘Ananya’ as the Best Drama of the Year, the Asha Bhosle Award for social work to Mery Behlihimji of the Central Society of Education for the Deaf.

“I feel blessed and humbled receiving this award. For musicians of India, especially for me, this is the greatest and most prestigious honour of my life. The legendary Master Deenanath Mangeshkar gave the revered Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle (Mangeshkar), Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Khadilkar (Mangeshkar) and Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar to the music world,” Khan said on the occasion.

Bhosle said: “This award is really special for me as it is in my father’s name. But more than that, I feel honoured as it has been conferred upon many stalwarts over the years. I feel blessed.”

The pre-eminent Mangeshkar family has been celebrating Master Deenanath Mangeshkar’s death anniversary since the past 75 years, and it became public in 1988 with the awards ceremonies.

“In memory of our father, whose monumental contributions as a singer, musician and stage artiste have inspired people of Maharashtra and India, the Mangeshkar family organises the annual awards ceremony to honour legends from different fields,” said Hridayanath Mangeshkar.

The awards night, organised jointly with Hridayesh Arts, included a classical programme with a kathak performance by exponent Birju Maharaj and Saswati Sen, thumris rendered by Ajoy Chakraborty and Anindo Chatterjee on the tabla, in the presence of a large number of celebrities from the entertainment world and the extended members of the Mangeshkar family.

Youth falls to death from closed Delhi pub

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An unidentified youth died after falling from a pub, closed in the sealing drive, on the fourth floor of a building here on Tuesday, police said.

The incident in Hauz Khas village in south Delhi occurred at 12 noon and came to notice when a loud thud was heard by some passers-by, police said.

“Within few seconds, a crowd assembled at the place and found a youth lying on the road and pools of blood spread all over the place,” said an eyewitness.

The incident created a tizzy in the area which had 20 odd pubs.

The youth, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, fell from a pub called ‘Village Deck’, which, according to sources, was shut after the MCD sealing in October last year.

Some passers-by captured the incident on their mobile phones and a girl was seen approaching people to inform the Police Control Room.

“Taking the sensitivity of the place, a police team, along with Crime Branch officials, dog squad and forensic experts reached there within 15 minutes after the incident,” a police officer said.

A police team has taken CCTV footage of nearby buildings to ascertain whether the youth fell accidentally or committed suicide.

“We have found a wallet from his pocket containing cash. There was no identity card found from the deceased,” the official said.

He also added that police team recovered some injections on the top of the building as well as from the deceased’s pocket.

Police officials believe that the youth might have gone on the building to take injections of some drugs.

Kerala woman confesses to poisoning parents, daughter

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A woman was arrested here on Tuesday night after she confessed of killing her parents and her nine-year-old daughter by poisoning them in a gap of four months this year, police said.

Police cracked the crime after a 13-hour-long questioning of Soumya, 28.

Soumya was taken for questioning when she was convalescing at a state run hospital near here after being admitted for nausea and indigestion – incidentally the same symptoms that her parents and her elder daughter suffered before they died.

While her mother died on March 7, her father passed away on April 13, her daughter died on January 31. However, following a complaint from a relative, the body of the child was exhumed after rat poison was found in the viscera of her parents.

According to police, Soumya however denied of any role in the death of her one year old daughter in 2012.

Incidentally this incident happened in the home village of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and it was only after his intervention did the police speeden their investigation.

The woman was separated from her husband and according to police, her motive was that her parents and child were “impediments to her wayward life”.

Filmmakers in India at mercy of moral police: Indian American filmmaker

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He wove a film, “Unfreedom”, with lovemaking scenes, depicting lesbian relationships, Islamophobia and religious fundamentalism, and it was banned by the Indian censor board in 2015. Indian-American filmmaker Raj Amit Kumar is appalled by the lack of freedom filmmakers have in India and wonders how much self-censorship they have to do in the face of the industry’s “moral police”.

The censor board’s reason for keeping “Unfreedom” away from the big screen was the fear that the film would “ignite unnatural passions and incite rapes and communal violence in India”. However, now the movie has an avenue to reach audiences on online streaming giant Netflix.

When the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), then led by Pahlaj Nihalani, banned the film, the first thought that came to Kumar’s mind was: “How will I make my cinema in India?”

“It hit me hard: How much of self-censorship Indian filmmakers must be involved in so they do not have to face this. We do not even have a basic human right to freedom of speech and expression in India when it comes to cinema!

“Is that how we should keep making films in India — that we should first think what the censor board will approve and our films should be limited to those boundaries? It became very clear how subservient Indian filmmakers have been to the moral police of Indian cinema for seven decades,” he added.

Last year, the film was under review by CBFC, which wanted Kumar to cut crucial elements from the movie in order to be shown to the Indian public.

Later, Kumar appealed to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which too banned the film.

A campaign was also run by the makers for a year during which they did around 100 screenings of the film in India and in the US, among other countries. Following this, the film was released internationally by Netflix.

After Nihalani was replaced by Prasoon Joshi as CBFC Chairman, did Kumar try to get a censor certificate again?

“No, I did not,” said Kumar.

He believes that the idea that a new jury or a new chair will bring any change to censorship in India is “only laughable”.

“It is ridiculous to frame censorship in India like that and hope for ‘improvements’ (when people in the board change)… It is all ridiculous and a sham that is against our basic human right of freedom of expression,” he said.

Kumar believes that, at this point, the very existence of the censor board needs to be addressed.

“Not that the people in it should be changed, but the censor board (as an) institution needs to be abolished and thrown in the garbage. How can you expect someone to be put in the job of censoring, and them not doing that job? The existence of that job itself is wrong, no matter who does it and at what levels of leniency,” he added.

Can platforms like Netflix, which are devoid of censorship, be called a boon for the cinema lover?

“By boon, if you simply mean helpful, then yes. Something is better than nothing. But by boon, if you mean a Godsend, a blessing, an alternative, then no,” said Kumar.

“Regardless of people being able to see it online, the key question is still that we should not see anything as an alternative to freedom of expression. It’s the most basic human right that we need to have, and we should not divert our attention from that,” he added.

“You can’t come and say, hey look, you have freedom of expression on Netflix but not in cinema theatres”.

Besides the critically lauded actor Adil Hussain, the film also features veteran actor Victor Bannerjee, Bhavani Lee, Preeti Gupta and Bhanu Uday.

Asaram Bapu found guilty in rape case

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Five years after charges of rape were levelled against Asaram Bapu, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday convicted the self-styled godman along with others accused in the case.

The judgement in the case for raping a minor was pronounced by Judge Madhusudan inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram is lodged.

He has been convicted under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) act.

He is facing trial in two sexual assault cases: one here in Rajasthan and the other in Gujarat.

(Ians)

India investing: Art of connecting the macro to the micro

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Author H. Jackson Brown Jr once remarked: “Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.” For global investors and businesses, India in the 21st century is that very dance floor — but we must hasten to add that the investment opportunities here come with a unique set of challenges.

Creating a business out of an opportunity that appears attractive at the macro level may be beset with challenges at a micro-level. Essentially, the country’s large market size in any sector presents a compelling investment opportunity, and yet the average return available per user may challenge the viability of the business model.

With rising incomes, immense growth opportunities will emerge in the coming decades across telecom, aviation and other such infrastructure sectors. The consumption of goods and services is expected to rise to levels approximating those of more developed markets such as China and the US.

Take, as examples, the case of optical fibre cable and airline seats per capita. The optical fibre cable (much needed for 5G technology deployment) kilometres per capita in India is currently at 0.09 vis-a-vis China’s 0.87 (as per CRU). In 2014, the annual airline domestic seats per capita in India stood at 0.08 vis-a-vis 2.59 in the US (as per the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, or CAPA).

Bridging of the gaps in these infrastructure sectors is the opportunity investors must set their eyes on. Despite the low airline domestic seats per capita, CAPA maintains that, in terms of tickets sold, India is the third-largest and fastest-growing domestic aviation market in the world. This gives one an idea of the business opportunity. With the expected increases in incomes in the foreseeable future, these opportunities will only become more attractive.

Despite a large aggregate market size, the lower per capita income in India leads to a low revenue per user. This phenomenon poses a challenge for prospective businesses. Vodafone presents an interesting case in this regard. In fiscal 2016-17, of its total global subscriber base of 341.7 million, 209 million were in India (about 61 per cent). Yet, revenue earned here was 6.16 billion euros, or just 12.9 percent of its total global revenue of 47.6 billion euros.

In a business such as telecom that requires significant capital expenditure, a low average revenue per user is a real challenge. The fact that the large subscriber base can deliver value in the future as the average revenue per user grows cannot compensate for the fact that sustaining businesses in the short to medium term can be confounding.

This apparent paradox of an attractive business from a macro perspective beset with challenges at the micro level, is not unique to just the telecom sector in India. This is a challenge that businesses in general face in a country that has a large aggregate economy, but low per capita income.

The key to success for business in India is determined by the ability of an investor to circumvent the divide between an opportunity at a macro level and the ground-level challenges. Strategies to succeed should revolve around both sides of the balance sheet. From an asset perspective, businesses need to potentially bundle services and products so that customers are willing to give the company a larger share of their wallet.

For example, for a telecom business this could mean offering connectivity and entertainment as a package, a trend that is currently emerging. A second strategy could be to acquire the assets of or merge one’s assets with another similar company to create economies of scale, a strategy Vodafone has adopted.

On the liability side of the balance sheet, businesses can innovate through prudent capital structure management to generate access to relatively inexpensive debt. Global interest rates are still at historic lows despite the recent rate hikes in the US. The global financial investor base is awash with liquidity and hence willing to provide high quality businesses attractive borrowing terms. A high-quality company in India can create a moat around its business by borrowing for the long term at relatively low interest rates and reap long-run benefits.

India does present a unique set of opportunities and challenges for global investors and businesses. That said, it is a major economy and in the years to come is projected to have one of the highest growth rates globally. One estimate is that the India’s will be the third-largest economy globally by 2050. A global business searching for growth will need to have significant market presence in India. We would advise patience and a differentiated strategy for success.

(Ians)

You live only once, Nobody is Hopeless

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Speaking to Nasheman correspendance with Vanessa George,
Who runs his very own recovery home all by himself, we had a conversation with him which gave us an insight of what a recovery home is and what society calls “hopeless cases” really need.

Cecil George was an addict himself who had given up hope and in those days used to beg people for 25 paisa to buy toxic substances. In 1991 September 24th his sponsor encouraged him to get into recovery and keep his head on his shoulders, from then there was definitely no turning back. In 2013 a family helped him start a small recovery home as they were happy with his work and because their son was suffering from addiction too. He said he mainly opened a recovery home because he had a bad past and only people who have gone through the sickness would understand, identify and help another suffering addict. He said there are negative as well as positive effects, first thing is you cannot guarantee that anyone would get okay as it depends on the person but we do follow a 12 step program which if followed honestly and vigorously will lead to success and growth, the sky would be the limit. Cecil has given talks in colleges and in places like Bangalore, Hubli, Hassan and a lot of places overseas.
His motive to get through the day is that he remembers where he comes from and how his life changed in recovery, he begged people just to get a high but today he helps people who have no hope for a future at least to have big dreams and a bright future. He would like to tell today’s youth and families that nobody is a hopeless case and this is a killer disease just like cancer and diabetes, unfortunately in India people do not understand it and they think addicts are criminals or bad people, he urges parents to identify the sickness and deal with their children accordingly because nobody is a hopeless case.

Iran to Trump: Stay in nuclear deal or ‘face severe consequences’

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Hassan Rouhani had previously said he would uphold the nuclear deal even if the US pulled out [File: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on US President Donald Trump to uphold the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, or “face severe consequences”.

In a televised speech, Rouhani said the “Iranian government will react firmly” if the White House fails to “live up to their commitments” under the agreement.

The warning comes weeks in advance of a May 12 deadline for Trump to renew the deal.

The US president has previously said he would scrap the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which he has called the “worst deal in history”, unless “a better option” is presented to him.

International leaders have called on Trump to uphold the agreement. On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said there was no “Plan B” if Trump decided to pull out.

“Is this agreement perfect and this JCPOA a perfect thing for our relationship with Iran? No. But for nuclear – what do you have? As a better option? I don’t see it,” Macron said.

In an interview with US broadcaster CBS aired on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran could consider “resuming at much greater speed” their nuclear activities if the US were to pull out.

The landmark deal reached in Lausanne, Switzerland in April 2015 with China, Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany and the US offered Iran more than $110bn a year in sanctions relief and a return to the global economy in exchange for halting its drive for a nuclear weapon.

Iran said in the past that it will stay in the deal in case of US withdrawal.

India’s World Cup opener against South Africa on June 5, 2019

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In a bid to maintain the Lodha Committee recommendation, which says a mandatory 15-day gap is required between the Indian Premier League (IPL) final and any international match, India will have to open their 2019 ICC World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5, 2019.

At the ICC Chief Executives Meeting here on Tuesday, it was decided that Virat Kohli and Co. will take on the Proteas three days later than what was originally planned as the IPL now has a separate window and was included in the Future Tours Programme as a global event last year.

The 2019 World Cup will be held in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14.

Meanwhile, it was also decided that India will play a maximum of 309 days of international cricket in this cycle across formats which is a reduction of 92 days from the previous cycle.

The number of home tests will be increased from 15 to 19.

It was also decided that India won’t take part in any Day/Night Test match, which was expected against the West Indies later this year. The reason being, the ICC World Test Championship matches won’t be D/N tests.

(Ians)

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