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‘Village Rockstars’ gets top prize at IFFLA

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Rima Das’ Assamese drama “Village Rockstars, which was adjudged Best Feature Film at the 65th National Film Awards in India, was also feted with the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature at the 2018 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) here.
The Grand Jury Prize for the Best Short went to “The Caregiver”, directed by Ruthy Pribar.
The Audience Choice Awards went to Mahesh Narayanan’s Malayalam film “Take Off”, in the Best Feature (Narrative) category, to “Lovesick”, directed by Priya Giri Desai and Ann S. Kim, for Best Documentary, and to Nagraj Manjule’s “An Essay of the Rain” for Best Short.

The 16th edition of IFFLA concluded on April 15 with a red carpet and gala that featured the Los Angeles premiere and official Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) screening of “Village Rockstars”, read a statement.

While presenting the award, the narrative jury stated: “This film explores gender expectations in a gentle manner. It blends beautiful cinematography with naturalistic performances in a fun and uplifting coming-of-age story. Working as a one-woman army, this director created an unforgettable portrait of childhood.”

A special jury mention was made for Sushama Deshpande’s performance in “Ajji”.

“Taking on difficult characters is always a challenge for an actor. It takes courage to humanise and portray a role that breaks the stereotypes. This actress demonstrated undeniable talent and commitment to deliver an authentic and grounded performance,” the jury stated.

As for Ruthy Pribar’s short film “The Caregiver”, the jury found it endearing for “its elegant representation of the nuances between compassion and survival, and for its understated yet decisive storytelling”.

The narrative jury comprised film critic Carlos Aguilar, director Haifaa Al-mansour and actor Sujata Day, while the shorts jury included producer Giulia Caruso, director Aneesh Chaganty and screenwriter Guinevere Turner.

Ready to roar for my next fight: P.V. Sindhu

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On the back of her gruelling final match at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG), ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu says no loss is ever enough to stop her from believing in herself, and she is once again ready to roar.

Sindhu, who led the Indian contingent at the glittering opening ceremony which launched the CWG in Gold Coast, Australia, was defeated by Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal in the much-anticipated women’s singles summit clash. Nehwal won the gold medal while Sindhu bagged the silver.

Gold Coast: India’s P V Sindhu returns to Australia’s Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen during the Badminton women’s singles round of 16 match at the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast, on Thursday. PTI Photo by Manvender Vashist (PTI4_12_2018_000046B)


Now that Sindhu, brand ambassador of sports drink brand Gatorade, is back in the country, she has penned an open letter on her never-say-die attitude.

“One more down but many more to go! As much as I had given my all to this game, I am once again ready to roar for my next fight, to finish and win. This is my journey, the journey of a sportsperson, every feat accomplished is followed by zeroing on the next target.

“No loss is ever enough, neither one nor many to stop me from believing in myself. Every time I miss a return, every time my shot fails to clear the net and every time I hit it long — I remind myself, it is not done until I am done,” Sindhu wrote.

Sindhu, who had earlier made India proud at the Rio Olympics, where she thrashed Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the women’s singles badminton semi-final, becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the quadrennial event, said it was a proud feeling to stand on the CWG podium and receive a medal for the country.

“Standing at the podium, head bowed to receive my Silver Commonwealth medal at the women’s singles event, the heart swells with pride, moments of struggle, strife and sweat flash before my eyes. For me victory only begins to sink when the first beat of national anthem falls on my ears and then it gets louder, so do the cheers from the crowd, that is when I finally breathe out — mission accomplished.

“Marching down the tracks as the flagbearer of the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games this year, I felt rest upon my shoulders the hope and faith of a million. With every step that I took, I knew it was time to bring together my skill, stamina and most of all my spirit, the spirit to rise higher after every fall, come back harder after every drop.

“From the moment of get, set and go until my last smash, I sweat from every pore, using every iota of strength left in me because giving up is not an option,” she wrote.

Sindhu believes one should “let nothing stand in the way of your dreams, let nothing pull you down, let nothing beat you”.

“Winning becomes a habit when sweating for it becomes an attitude! So, to all my countrymen and women, fans, well-wishers and badminton lovers who now tune out after having savoured a nail-biting finish, know that I am not done. My journey with Gatorade to Sweat More, Sweat for Gold continues unabashed,” she posted.

Kerala agency to facilitate police clearance for UAE-bound persons

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The Roots Norka, a Kerala government agency that handles the affairs pertaining to the state’s diaspora, was on Monday approved by the UAE Embassy here to attest police clearance certificates of those wishing to go to the Emirates, an official said.

Roots Norka Centre Manager Hari Kumar told IANS that it will immensely help Kerala residents desirous of working in the United Arab Emirates.

“Hitherto, the process was that the applicants had to present all certificates to the UAE Embassy here. But now, we will do this job for the applicants,” said Kumar.

He said the centre gets around 100 certificates on an average for attestation daily. The applicants need not waste their time waiting in queues at the embassy now, Kumar said.

The police clearance certificate attestation was first done by a notary, before it was submitted to the Home Department. The certificate was then forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs, and later handed back to the applicants for submission to the UAE Embassy.

“Now onwards, once the applicants get the Home Department’s clearance, we will handle the remaining process. This will cut the delay by almost a week,” he said.

The UAE is the most preferred destination for Keralites among all Middle East countries.

US, UK warn against Russia-sponsored cyber-attacks

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Cyber security representatives from the US and Britain have warned of Russian state-sponsored cyber-attacks that are targeting network infrastructure devices such as routers and firewalls, to compromise government and private sectors globally.

According to a US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), the Technical Alert (TA) provided information on the worldwide cyber exploitation of network infrastructure devices (routers, switches, firewalls, Network-based Intrusion Detection Systems) by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors.

The joint TA is the result of analytic efforts between the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, according to information on the official website of the DHS.

“Victims were identified through a coordinated series of actions between US and international partners. The report builds on previous DHS reporting and advisories from the UK, Australia and the European Union,” the website said.

“The FBI has high confidence that Russian state-sponsored cyber actors are using compromised routers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks, and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations,” the website added.

Since 2015, the US government has been receiving information from multiple sources — including private and public sector cyber security research organisations and allies — that cyber actors were exploiting large numbers of enterprise-class and residential routers and switches worldwide.

The US government assessed that cyber actors supported by the Russian government carried out this worldwide campaign.

These operations enable espionage and intellectual property that supports the Russian Federation’s national security and economic goals, the website said.

Russian cyber actors leverage a number of legacy or weak protocols and service ports associated with network administration activities.

Cyber actors use these weaknesses to identify vulnerable devices, extract device configurations, harvest login credentials, modify device firmware, and copy or redirect victim traffic through Russian cyber-actor-controlled infrastructure.

Organisations can use publicly available cyber security guidance and best practices from DHS, allied governments, vendors and the private-sector cyber security community on mitigation strategies for the exploitation vectors to safeguard their networks.

Sushma in China from Saturday, to hold talks with Wang Yi

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India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during her two-day China visit beginning on Saturday.
Sushma Swaraj will meet Wang on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO).

She will meet a more powerful Wang, who in March was elevated to China’s top diplomatic post of State Councillor. They are likely to discuss a host of thorny issues.

India-China ties were severely hit by the 73-day military stand-off in Doklam last year. Both sides are now trying to restore normalcy to their ties by stepping up bilateral exchanges.

China’s opposition to India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its move to block bids at the UN to list Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, as a global terrorist, has irked New Delhi.

In addition, New Delhi has reservations about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which cuts through Pakistan-held Kashmir that is claimed by India.

Sushma Swaraj, whose last visit to China was in 2015, is also likely to meet other top Chinese leaders.

India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also visit China next week and hold a dialogue with her counterpart.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in June on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit.

India and Pakistan were admitted to the China-led block in 2017.

Disabled Dalit woman gang raped in Andhra

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In a shocking incident, a physically challenged Dalit woman was gang raped in Vijayanagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, police said on Monday.

An auto-rickshaw driver and his two accomplices allegedly raped the 21-year-old, in Phool Bagh area of Vijayanagaram town late on Sunday night.

According to police, the woman was on her way to her sister’s house in the three-wheeler. The auto driver, who was accompanied by two other men, diverted the vehicle and took the victim to an isolated place, where the accused violated her.

A passerby rushed to rescue her after hearing her cries. He dropped the victim at her relatives’ house. She was later admitted to government-run hospital.

Police registered a case of rape and also under the SC/ST Act against the auto driver and the two others. A police officer said they were on the lookout for the accused.

People condemned the inhuman act of the accused and demanded stringent punishment.

Congress sets up cell to quell revolt in poll-bound Karnataka

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Karnataka’s ruling Congress on Monday set up a special cell to quell the revolt brewing in the party from a dozen sitting legislators and scores of aspirants whose names did not figure in the 218 candidates declared to contest the May 12 assembly elections.

“We have set up cell headed by state unit President G. Parameshwara to pacify the members and aspirants who could not be selected to contest in the assembly poll for multiple reasons,” party’s state Vice President K.E. Radhakrishna told IANS here.

Admitting that the party was facing rebellion in at least six constituencies from sitting legislators and ticket aspirants, he said the cell would soon meet them and explain why they could not be selected to contest this time.

“Once we finalise names for the remaining 5-6 constituencies in the next 2-3 days, we will call all those who could not make it to the list as there have been many aspirants for every assembly segment,” Radhakrishna said.

According to reports from districts, hundreds of party’s workers staged angry protests at the party offices for denying ticket to their respective leaders at Chikkamagluru, Badami, Bagalkot, Ballari, Mandya, Kolar and Chikkaballapur.

The disappointed party cadres also vowed to campaign against the selected candidates if their leaders were ignored and denied opportunity to contest in the polls.

Polling will be held in a single phase for the 224 assembly segments across the state on May 12 and votes will be counted on May 15.

“Of the 122 sitting legislators, 12 could not be re-nominated for health reasons, old age and due to prospects of winning being not so bright as per our surveys,” said Radhakrishna.

The party has decided not to field its candidate in the Melukote in Mandya district in support of Swaraj India candidate Darshan Puttannaiah, son of the state’s farmer leader, late K.S. Puttananaiah, who was a member of the outgoing state assembly, representing the Karnataka Sarvodaya Paksha, which merged with Swaraj India in March 2017.

“The selection has been made solely on the winning criteria after carefully considering other social factors, including their caste and community for fair representation of all sections of society,” said Radhakrishna.

The party has fielded 42 Lingayats, 39 Vokkaligas, 52 Other Backward Classes, 35 Scheduled Castes, 17 Scheduled Tribes for the reserved constituencies, 15 Muslims, 7 Brahmins, 6 Reddy Lingayts and two each from Jain and Christian communities.

Among the selected candidates, 24 are in the age group of 25-40, 49 between 41-50 years, 72 in the 51-60 years, 66 in the 61-70 years and 7 in the above 70 age group.

Besides Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yatheendra to contest from Varuna in Mysuru district, the party has given ticket to Law Minister T. B. Jayachandra’s son Santosh in Chikkanayakanahalli and Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya from Jayanagar in south Bengaluru.

In Karnataka, a former policewoman enters politics to police politicians

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By Bhavana Akella
Anupama Shenoy, a former woman police officer in Karnataka, has entered politics to become a lawmaker and police politicians who make promises but don’t fulfill them.

“I have entered politics, floated a party to contest in the May 12 state assembly elections and become a lawmaker to police politicians so that they fulfill their promises and fear any wrongdoing,” Shenoy told IANS in an interview here.

Shenoy, 37, a 2010 batch officer of the Karnataka State Police Cadre, resigned as Kudligi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) in Ballari district in June 2016 after a spat with a state cabinet minister and a local liquor baron.

As Shenoy could not get justice within the administrative system or serve the people to her satisfaction, she decided to empower herself by plunging into politics.

Though Shenoy floated the Bharatiya Janashakti Congress (BJC) on November 1, 2017, she registered it on February 18 with the Election Commission (EC), which allotted it the “lady’s finger” (bhindi) symbol on March 15 to contest in the assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

“I am in politics to create a new leadership in the state, as the youth in the three main parties have no space to become leaders unless they are wealthy to contest elections,” asserted Shenoy. The ruling Congress in the state is being challenged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

As a greenhorn in politics, Shenoy knows she cannot come to power, but wants to get into the political system anyway so as to ensure better governance, clean administration and efficient delivery of services to the people across the state.

“Our party will contest in about 30 constituencies, with seven-eight in Bengaluru, three in Vijayapura, two each in Bagalkot, Kalaburgi, Mysuru and Udupi, and the remaining in other districts of the state. I plan to contest from Kaup segment in the coastal Udupi district,” said an upbeat Shenoy.

For the 225-member assembly, including one nominated, a single-phase polling will be held in 224 constituencies on May 12, with the counting on May 15.

“I want to make my party a platform for the youth and anyone committed to changing the political system and serving the people better. Their economic and social backgrounds do not matter,” she affirmed.

Candidates contesting on the BJC ticket, however, should have no criminal background or police cases against them and should know to read and write Kannada, the state’s native language.

“As I was in the police department for four years after joining government service in 2012, I am teaching my party members how to police politicians for the good of the people and the state,” Shenoy averred.

For Shenoy, winning in the assembly elections is not as much a priority as establishing her party through the democratic process. She noted that even the BJP had won only two seats when it was formed in 1980 and the grand old Congress took decades to come to power in the past.

“We have not formed the party only to contest in the assembly elections, but to sow the seeds for its growth in the years to come. We will support any party that secures majority to form the next government in the state,” hinted Shenoy.

As parties are permitted to spend Rs 28 lakh for the campaign in each assembly segment, BJC will raise funds from trusts which support new parties financially.

“In the long run, we want to support candidates who are poor by sponsoring their election expense. We are managing so far with whatever money we have from our sources,” said Shenoy.

Claiming that BJC was against corruption, Shenoy said her party would be transparent, pro-women and pro-environment with sustainable policies.

“We also want to check the rampant commercialization of the education and health sectors in the country so that better facilities can be provided to the needy. As people are our kingmakers, we have to protect them at any cost,” she said.

Shenoy left a promising career in protest against harassment by her seniors who transferred her for taking on a liquor baron in the northwest district.

“People around me think I should have continued in the high-profile job. But I had to quit as there was no other means to ventilate against my seniors,” she recalled.

Singling out former state labour minister P.T. Parameshwar Naik, who was Ballari district’s in-charge, for meddling in her work, Shenoy said she had opposed her transfer from Kudligi as the model code of conduct was in force for the local body elections by the state election commission, which supported the state government and left her in distress for 10 days.

“I have also complained to the Chief Electoral Office not to depute two IPS officers, S. Murugan and R. Chetan, on election duty as they were my seniors and harassed me on the transfer, which was not binding due to the poll code,” she reiterated.

Observing that it was very hard to be a public servant as politicians force officers to secure money through any means, Shenoy said a bad politician and a bad public servant “rot” the system when they were hand-in-glove.

For Shenoy, the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP and JD-S in the state are alike when it comes to the three Cs — corruption, communalism and casteism.

“I think corruption was high during the BJP rule (2008-2013), under the leadership of its chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, when his government looted the rich mining district (Ballari) with mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy as a cabinet minister. He made politicians believe they will not be questioned,” lamented Shenoy.

Blaming the Congress government for curbing the state ombudsman’s powers to investigate graft cases by setting up an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as its head, Shenoy said the executive wing of the Constitution become a mere political tool in the state.

“The state government uses ACB to threaten opposition leaders, while the central government uses the CBI and ED against the state government,” she added.

BJP second list has 82 candidates

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released the second list of candidates who will contest the May 12th state Assembly elections on Monday. This list contains the names of 82 candidates. On April 9th, BJP had released its first list made up of 72 candidates. BJP has not yet finalized the candidates for the remaining 70 Assembly constituencies.

Katta Subramaniam Naidu has been selected for Shivajinagar Assembly segment in Bengaluru district. R. Roshan Baig is the Congress candidate in this constituency against whom Naidu is competing.

Vasudeva Murthy will be contesting from Shantinagar in Bengaluru. Congress has not yet finalized the name of its incumbent legislator N.A. Harris for this constituency. N.A. Haris son is still in judicial custody for attacking Vidvat.

Congress defector N. Narendra Babu will be contesting from Mahalakshi Layout.N Nandish Reddy will contest from K R Puram Assembly constituency. The prominent candidates selected to contest in the Assembly elections include G Somasekhar Reddy (Bellary City), Sanna Fakirappa (Bellary – ST) and S Krishnaiah Shetty (Malur).

BJP candidates for undivided Dakshina Kannada are:

Belthangady- Harish Poonja
Moodbidri- Umanath Kotian
Bantwal- Rajesh Naik
Puttur- Sanjeeva Mattandoor
Byndoor- B Sukumar Shetty
Last week release of BJP’s first list of candidates includes S Angara (Sullia- SC), Sunil Kumar (Karkala) and Halady Shrinivas Shetty (Kundapur).

All India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) unveils first list of candidates

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A week after releasing its manifesto, All India Mahila Empowerment Party (MEP) today released its first list of candidates to contest for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections.

While announcing the candidates, Dr Nowhera Shaik, President, All India Mahila Empowerment Party, said, “We have chosen our candidates after a lot of careful deliberations. They all believe in our platform of social justice and equality for all. Their concern too is the welfare of the downtrodden and oppressed groups. Our candidates, too, are concerned with the welfare of women who are at the wrong end of the spectrum.”

She added, “Our candidates have worked at the grassroots, and so they know what needs to be done to uplift the conditions of the people, especially women. All of them are passionate about the issues concerning women in the country. They are all leaders in their own right, and they all want to uplift the economic conditions of women by giving them equal opportunities.”

Dr. Nowhera Shaikh said that her party is confident of winning over 150 seats, in its maiden elections.

“We are contesting on a platform of social justice and equality for all. The welfare of the downtrodden and oppressed groups is our main aim. We are especially concerned about the welfare of the voiceless women who face the maximum discrimination and economic suffering, she added”.

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