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Archives for June 2018

Prez Kovind to visit Uttar Pradesh today

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The President Ram Nath Kovind will visit Uttar Pradesh on June 28 and 29.

On June 28, the President will grace the 51st annual convocation of IIT Kanpur. On the same day, he will also meet the students of ‘CSRL Super 30 (GAIL Utkarsh)’ who have qualified IIT, NIT etc. at IIT Kanpur.

On June 29, the President will lay the foundation stone of an auditorium of the Kanpur Bar Association in Kanpur.

On the same day, he will also grace the centenary celebrations of the Allahabad Medical Association in Allahabad, before returning to Delhi.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Champions Trophy: India to take on Belgium in 4th match today

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In Men’s Hockey, India will take on Belgium in their fourth round-robin match of the Champions Trophy at Breda in the Netherlands today (Thursday, June 28).

The match will begin at 8:30 PM. With 2 wins and a defeat from 3 games, India are currently third in the 6-team points table behind.

They had won their first two fixtures against Pakistan and Argentina, before losing to world champions Australia, 2-3 last evening. With the win, Australia have climbed to the top of the table, with hosts Netherlands at the second spot.

India will face the Netherlands in their final round-robin match on Saturday. India will have to win today as well as on Saturday to make it to the Final, as the top two sides at the end of the round-robin stage will meet in the title clash on Sunday.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Brazil beat Serbia to enter World Cup pre-quarters

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Brazil eliminated Serbia with a 2-0 victory as the five-time world champions entered the FIFA World Cup pre-quarterfinals by topping the Group E here on Wednesday.

Paulinho (36th minute), Thiago Silva (68th minute) gave the South American powerhouse an easy victory which took their points tally to seven after all the three of their games in the group stage.

Switzerland finished the Group E in the second spot with five points to book a spot in the second round. Serbia finished third with three points and are eliminated alongside Costa Rica.

For Brazil, who had played a 1-1 draw with the Swiss before defeating Costa Rica, the victory over Serbia was soured by a leg injury to Real Madrid left-back Marcelo, who hobbled off the pitch in the opening minutes, reports Xinhua news agency.

Although the scoreline might not have shown it, Brazil dominated the match, save for a 10-minute period in the second half when Serbia laid siege to the South American side’s goal.

The five-time world champions began the game full of energy and nearly went ahead in the fourth minute. Philippe Coutinho laid the ball off to Neymar who split Serbia’s defence with a one-touch through pass to Gabriel Jesus. The Manchester City forward’s shot was saved but the rebound fell to Coutinho and the midfielder crossed to the onrushing Neymar, who sent his first-time effort wide.

Coutinho, Jesus and Neymar caused problems for Serbia’s defence, particularly on the left side. The latter two combined superbly just before the half hour mark, but Neymar’s curled shot from a tight angle on the left from six yards out was tipped away by Stojkovic.

The pair again showed great understanding when the No. 9 ran onto a perfectly weighted through-ball and cut onto his favoured right foot before having his shot blocked.

Serbia rarely troubled Brazil’s defence. Their best chance came just after the half-hour mark when striker Aleksandar Mitrovic sent a bicycle kick over the bar after Dusan Tadic’s cross from the left.

Brazil, however, deservingly got ahead when Coutinho spotted a tremendous run from deep by Paulinho and clipped a 25-metre perfect pass through to him. goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic came off his line but Paulinho got a touch on the ball before poking the bouncing ball over him and into the net in the 36th minute.

The European side emerged from the interval with renewed vigour.A Adem Llajic forced a finger-tip save from Alisson and he parried awkwardly to Mitrovic whose diving header was blocked by Silva.

Tadic’s delicate chip then sailed narrowly wide of the far post. Serbia had Brazil on the back foot and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic probably should have done better when he fired over with passing options available. Mitrovic then sent a powerful header directly at the goalkeeper.

But Brazil stood firm and scored their second goal against the run of play when Silva rose highest after a Neymar corner from the left to head in at the near post.

Brazil had chances to make it 3-0 with Luis seeing his long-range shot punched clear by Stojkovic and Neymar sending a bouncing shot over the bar.

Third national meet of private school and child welfare association

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Third national conference of private schools and child Welfare association held at Novtel Hotel kolkata, Governor of Meghalaya Ganga Prasad awarded Dr Syeda Nusrath for the outstanding contribution in the field of education,Special thanks to Minister of state rural development West Bengal Mr Rabbani, IAS Divesh Sehra , National President of (PSACWA) Shameal Ahamed, Dr Nusrath also felicitated the dignitaries.

We’re truth tellers: Indian comedians on political comedy

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As the new age audience is polarised on the reception of observational and political comedy in India, which often results in backlash, trolls and complaints, some of India’s popular comedians say the negative response doesn’t scare them to adulterate their voice.

Comedian Kanan Gill told IANS here: “We are definitely a soft target. So yes, backlash makes us conscious. We are ready to take criticism on our jokes, but not FIRs and life threats. But that does not stop us to say what we want to say.”

Agreeing with him, standup comedian Kaneez Surka said: “We comedians are the truth tellers, showing life the way it is, is a part of our job. Whether it is sarcasm, finding a lighter note on a serious issue, everything is coming from reality.

“Unfortunately, the (political) climate is so tense and polarised that any truth teller is in trouble — whether it is a comedian, celebrity, journalist… Whichever side you take, the opposite party will put your life in danger.”

She says she tried it on social media.

“People called me all kinds of things. It is not only with me, but most of my fellow comedians. We get trolled, humiliated and at times complaints are lodged against us. But you know what? No one can stop us to say what we want to say,” she added.

So what are the riskier topics that comedians find the audience might respond to differently?

Sumukhi Suresh said: “I think predicting the response of an audience is riskier than writing a joke! So instead of finding the risk factor in a joke, just put it out there. It will find its like-minded audience.”

Surka explained: “There is a difference between punching up and punching down. One is punching up when making fun of privileged people and punching down is when making a joke about a minor community who cannot defend themselves. We have learnt not to make fun of them, and so we stay away from punching down.”

Gill rather suggests finding a creative solution to a joke that is potentially risky.

“If you know that it is a political satire that involves potential risk, make it subtle and layer it in a way that the core of the message doesn’t get lost in the layer, but get away with the risk factor. That is how you find a creative solution to it,” he said.

Comedian Naveen Richard stressed on the need to have confidence to do a political satire.

“Take that genre if only you find your voice there. Otherwise, it would be pretentious. There are various topic to make fun of.”

These comedians are coming together along with Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Sapan Verma and Biswa Kalyan Rath to mentor and judge Amazon Prime Original comedy reality show “Comicstaan”, which begins on July 13.

Many budding comedians are participating across the country on the digital show.

Asked about the potential of the new talents of the show, Richard said: “They are finding their voice much faster than us and we did not have much competition among us. Newcomers are pretty cut-throat.”

Surka added: “When we started, there was a process of trial and error because whether it is us, and the audience, we were trying to figure out what works and does not work for us. In the beginning, we were trying to imitate the West a lot, and it took us time to Indianise content and find our voice as comics.

“Newcomers are faster to find their voice, and they have a reference point.”

Gill pointed out how when they started, it was not about making money and establishing themselves as “the best comedians”.

“We were not as ambitious as these kids are. For us, going on stage and performing was important. Now that things are more structured commercially, newcomers are more focused to make it professionally.”

What is their suggestion for upcoming talent from keeping away from facing backlash in the world of comedy?

“I think when you are not so popular yet, not in the public eye, just say what you want to say. Do not hold it back fearing the backlash. If you establish your voice that way, you are doing it right. At the end of the day, I repeat, comedians are the truth tellers, nothing should fear you,” affirmed Kaneez.

Writings in Indian languages more authentic than in English’

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Writings in Indian languages are more authentic than in English because they present a truer picture of Indian life, says multi-faceted Malayalam author Chandrika Balan, whose oeuvre includes 20 books in her mother tongue and four critical books and 36 research papers in English — and two of whose books have been converted into movie screenplays.

“Literature written in Indian languages can be said to be more Indian than Indian writing in English, for it writes more local colour realism and presents a cross-section of Indian life,” Balan, who has also translated widely from English to Malayalam and from Malayalam to English and has received the Katha National Award for English translation,” told IANS in an email interview.

The Sahitya Akademi, eminent publishers and reputed journals in India “give enough importance to translated works now. Translation has become part of academic syllabus too. So the situation is hopeful,” noted Balan, whose latest offering “Invisible Walls” (Niyogi/128 pages/Rs 250), the English translation of Malayalam title “Aparnayude Thadavarakal”, has just been released.

How did the present work come about?

“I began writing it as a short story as I am mainly a short fiction writer. The story started as Kamala’s; Aparna was not there in the picture at all. But then Aparna entered the story half way as Kamala’s friend and soon claimed the story as her own. When I developed the characters, the work became longer and turned out to be a novel, portraying two women who fight invisible walls,” she explained.

To elaborate, “Invisible Walls” is about two women, Aparna and Kamala, whose lives run in parallel, though they do not know each other. They dream of a world without walls, but invisible barriers surround and crush them. Kamala reads a book titled “Invisible Walls” about Aparna’s life on a train journey and thus the reader discovers a story within a story.

Given this theme, Balan, formerly a Professor of English in Thiruvananthapuram’s All Saints’ College, said Malayalam literature today, “especially the scenario of fiction, is full of variety in themes and forms of expression. Earlier, only literature written by Indians in English was considered Indian English literature. Now that Indian literature in translation is being given the importance and attention it deserves, our literature is also on the way of being promoted”.

How did the translating bug bit her?

Balan, the recipient of 15 awards, including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the Katha National Prize, the Padmarajan Puruskaram and the O.V. Vijayan Puraskaram, said that while she previously did her creative writing only in Malayalam, she took a break from her teaching career for three years to work with Dr K. Ayyappa Paniker, the renowned English professor, poet and critic, on a Sahitya Akademi project on Medieval Indian Literature in English translation.

“I was the Executive Editor of that project. Editing the translations of eminent professors and writers from all parts of India, I educated myself on the art of translation. Katha Foundation of Delhi asked me to translate some Malayalam writers of their choice to English. When they were published, more offers came; but somehow I did not want to be a professional translator. I wanted to be known as a creative writer. So I took to translating my own stories.

Her first collection, “Arya and Other Stories” was published by Orient Blackswan.

Would she describe herself as a systematic writer?

“I am not a systematic writer at all, devoting a number of hours a day for writing. My dream is to become one. When an idea comes to mind, I develop an outline first and carry it around like a child within the womb. And when the urge for writing it comes upon me I sit late in the night to write down the first draft. The reworking and revisions will be done later; usually it is the third draft that is final,” Balan explained.

How did the foray into the movie world come about?

It began with noted Malayalam film director and screen writer Lenin Rajendran making a movie out Balan’s story “The Website” as “Ratrimazha” (“Rain in the Night”) “which brought him accolades. He has taken a Director’s freedom with the story”, Balan quipped.

Her book, “Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela” (An Interval in the Land of Crabs) has recently been made into a similarly titled movie by the popular young actor Nivin Pauly, with the director being Althaf Salim.

“That book is actually my memoirs on my cancer days; they turned it into a family story of a mother’s fight with cancer and brought in a lot of humour. But they conveyed the message of hope as I insisted,” Balan said.

She has also written a screenplay for Kerala’s Social Welfare Department, which turned it into a movie directed by Sanjeev Sivan.
“It is titled ‘Arunimayude Katha’ (The Story of Arunima); the theme is a critique on the extravagant weddings and craze for gold in Kerala,” Balan said.

Her dream now is “to write two novels — one on a village being transformed into a city and the other on (Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s wife) Sonia Tolstoy. Both require a lot of time and work and I intend to devote 2019 to that”, Balan said.

Dileep row: Superstar Mohanlal’s stock falls with Kerala Women’s Commission

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Superstar Mohanlal, who leads the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, came under fire from the Kerala Women’s Commission on Thursday over the decision to reinstate accused actor Dileep into the artists’ body.

Dileep is an accused in the February 2017 actress kidnapping case which took place in Kochi, that landed him in a Kerala jail for 85 days.

Breathing fire on Mohanlal, Commission Chairperson M.C. Josephine reminded that AMMA’s Sunday decision led by the superstar was flawed. “No doubt, Mohanlal’s stocks have definitely fallen,” said Josephine to the media.

This was the first decision taken by the new committee under Mohanlal.

Her statement came a day after four leading actresses, including the kidnap victim, resigned from AMMA.

“After this decision, the name of the organisation AMMA (mother) does not suit it anymore. The ruling Left government and the CPI-M party should look into this,” added Josephine.

Dileep’s reinstatment has become the centre of a row following the newly formed Women in Cinema Collective’s (WCC) Facebook post on Monday and the subsequent resignation by four leading actresses from AMMA on Wednesday.

Even, Kerala Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty on Thursday expressed surprise in the manner in which AMMA had revoked Dileep’s suspension.

“It should not be forgotten that actors are icons and they should be perfect role models, but this decision that they took is baffling and not tenable.

“It’s surprising that the two legislators — Mukesh of the CPI-M and K.B. Ganesh Kumar, supporting the ruling Left government — were also party to the decision,” said Mercykutty .

PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran said that he never had a good opinion about Dileep. “He is an arrogant person. I fully support the four actress who quit AMMA, as none with any self respect can continue in the same organisation,” said Sudhakaran.

Everyone is now awaiting superstar Mammootty’s decision. It was Mammootty, who had announced the decision to remove Dileep from AMMA to the media, then.

However, Mammootty for the first time in several years, is not an office bearer anymore.

Modi arrives in UP, to pay homage to Sant Kabir

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here in the Uttar Pradesh capital in a special Indian Air Force (IAF) plane on Thursday to pay his respects to 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint Kabir Das.

Modi was received by Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, city mayor Sanyukta Bhatia and other state cabinet ministers and bureaucrats, an official said.

After a brief stop-over the Prime Minister, along with Adityanath and state Tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi left for Maghar in Sant Kabir Nagar, the birthplace of the saint.

Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the Rs 25 crore proposed Sant Kabir Research Academy. He will also offer a ‘chadar’ at his tomb and later address a public rally.

This is the 500th year of the saint’s passing away.

Cryptojacking surge a whopping 629% in Q1 2018: McAfee

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There were on average five new threat samples every second that resulted in a massive 629 percent growth in crypto jacking and other cryptocurrency mining malware in the first quarter of 2018, a new report said on Thursday.

The coin miner malware grew a stunning 629 percent to 2.9 million in the first quarter of 2018, from around 400,000 total known samples in Q4 2017, said the report from global cybersecurity firm McAfee.

Cybercriminals extended their operations in crypto jacking and other cryptocurrency mining schemes, where perpetrators hijack victims’ browsers or infect their systems to secretly use them to mine for legitimate cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

“There were new revelations this quarter concerning complex nation-state cyber attack campaigns targeting users and enterprise systems worldwide,” said Raj Samani, Chief Scientist at McAfee.

“Bad actors demonstrated a remarkable level of technical agility and innovation in tools and tactics. Criminals continued to adopt cryptocurrency mining to easily monetize their criminal activity,” he added.

The Lazarus cybercrime group launched a highly sophisticated Bitcoin-stealing phishing campaign — HaoBao — which targeted global financial organizations and Bitcoin users.

When recipients open malicious email attachments, an implant would scan for Bitcoin activity and establishes an implant for persistent data gathering and crypto mining.

“In recent quarters, we have seen a shift to ransomware from data-theft, as ransomware is a more efficient crime. With the rise in the value of cryptocurrencies, the market forces are driving criminals to crypto-jacking and the theft of cryptocurrency,” said Steve Grobman, Chief Technology Officer at McAfee.

McAfee Labs counted 313 publicly disclosed security incidents in Q1 2018, a 41 percent increase over Q4.

“The incidents in healthcare sector rose 47 percent. Cybercriminals continued to target the sector with the ‘SAMSA’ ransomware, and there were numerous cases in which hospitals were compelled to pay the criminals,” the report revealed.

Incidents of attacks on the education sector rose 40 percent, with ransomware being a notable culprit in attacks on schools and related institutions.

Bollywood has a bit of a narrow door: Sukhmani Sadana

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Mumbai: Actress Sukhmani Sadana during the launch of web series “#Lovebytes” Season 2 in Mumbai on Oct 10, 2017.(Photo: IANS)


Actress Sukhmani Sadana, who will be seen in Netflix’s “Sacred Games” along with actors Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte, says the digital world has opened doors for those who are not getting an entry into showbiz through the “narrow door” of Bollywood.

“I have been associated with web series for a really long time. I think I am just so proud of what we are doing in the digital world in India. I am a very patriotic person and I’m proud that as a country, we are making use of the digital platform and doing really good stuff,” Sukhmani, who had earlier worked in “#LoveBytes” told IANS in a telephonic conversation.

“I really feel there is so much talent in India in terms of writers and actors… People are not getting a chance because the mainstream Bollywood films don’t give a chance to everyone and anyone. The doors are so not widely opened. It’s a bit of a narrow door. Hence, it is difficult for everyone to enter.

“On the other hand, we don’t really associate with what India is doing with the small screen and I am not trying to disapprove it in any way. Most of the current generation people (actors) don’t want to do ‘saas bahu’ shows. For those who itch to act and are looking for right platforms, web series come in the picture. It is opening doors for anyone and everyone,” she added.

In “Sacred Games”, Sukhmani is playing a character that is edgy and grey.

“I am not the normal girl in the show. I am very edgy, unpredictable, very abusive — both physically and verbally. In the show, I really don’t care about the world. This season was more about building up characters and introducing it. So, whatever work I did in the first season was very challenging and different,” she said.

For Sukhmani, working with Saif and Nawazuddin has been great.

“Nawazuddin sir has been a delight to work with. He is so real and raw in his performances. It is just another level of acting. I feel like a complete amateur in front of him. I just can’t wait to shoot the second season of ‘Sacred Games’ and learn more from him,” she said.

Sukhmani, who is also a writer and is currently writing a web show for filmmaker Vikram Bhatt and a feature film (a biopic), says the reach of the digital world is wide.

“The target audience is progressive and creative people. It reaches to the right people,” added the multi-faceted talent, who also worked in Bollywood films like “Creature”, “Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum” and “1920 London”.

What kind of roles does she want to be part of?

“As an actor or writer, I just wish to keep getting really great work. I always keep telling everyone that it hardly matters if you are doing small projects or big projects… You should not get out of practice,” she said.

What she likes is intelligent and creative stuff.

“Good stories matter much more than if it is glamorous.”

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