reaching for the stars

1 JUNE 2012
` 30
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RNI REGD NO. ORIENG/2004/13647
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7 | FORTNIGHTLY
INDIA
FIRST
S
P
E
A
K
S
Y
O
U
R
M
I
N
THE DARK
SIDE OF IPL
Endless controversies
open up a can of worms
for the Indian Premier
League
D
REACHING FOR
THE STARS
IF20120601
IN FOCUS
The Lalchand Entertainment Awards
make a sterling debut
HACKERS PUT
INDIA ON THE
LINE
THE GOVERNMENT
SEEKS AN ANSWER TO
THE INCREASING
BARRAGE OF CYBER
ATTACKS
INDIA
FIRST
S P E A K S
Y O U R
M I N D
Editor-in-Chief Sunjoy Hans
Consulting Editor Pankaj Kumar
Associate Editor Siddhartha Tripathy
Senior Special Correspondent Kabita Dash
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Orissa Correspondent H.K. Rath
Delhi Correspondent Ashok Vermani
Special Correspondents Tarun Khanduja,
Ashok Mehta
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Volume 8, Issue 7, 1 June 2012, Fortnightly
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Content, Design & Production
1 JUNE 2012
London Calling
O
disha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s first foreign trip in the past 12
years has been variously interpreted. While for some it is the coming of
age of Mr. Patnaik as a politician and a state head, others think this
marks the end of his dependence on a set of party leaders who were trying to
evolve a parallel power centre within Biju Janata Dal.
But Mr. Patnaik’s maiden visit to the United Kingdom as state chief minister
needs to be seen in a different perspective altogether. This, in fact, is a business
trip during which Mr. Patnaik would attempt to prise out as much financial assistance as possible from the Department For International Development
(DFID), which has been supporting welfare initiatives in Odisha.
The focus of Mr. Patnaik’s meeting with the British International Development
Secretary, Andrew Mitchel, would be on welfare schemes for the disadvantaged
sections, such as school-going SC and ST girls, in Odisha. The DFID is likely to
offer funding support with a cash incentive of £25 million for underprivileged
girls between Class VIII and X. This
programme will cover all the 30 districts of the state during 2013-16.
At a later stage the state is supposed to take up the responsibility of
supporting these students, with an
annual expenditure of around Rs.70
crore. Each girl will receive more
than Rs.2,000 annually, with the
money being transferred to her bank
or post office account.
The scheme, which aims at reducing the dropout rate of girls in
schools, is currently being implemented in Rayagada district on a
pilot basis, but the chief minister
wants it to be extended to other parts of the state as well. He has also made it
clear that the monitoring of the scheme would be in the hands of school and
mass education and SC and ST welfare departments, warning that any laxity in
the matter would be severely dealt with.
Odisha’s exclusive handloom textiles would also be in focus during Mr. Patnaik’s trip to the U.K., with an exclusive exhibition scheduled in London. Weavers
from all over Odisha will have the opportunity to display their ware at the expo
which is being sponsored by Boyanika. Tassar and pure silk are all set to shine in
London.
Mr. Patnaik, interestingly, has chosen to undertake the visit at a time when so
much is happening on the political front wherein he himself has a lot at stake.
The race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan is still wide open as he and his Tamil Nadu
counterpart, Jaylalitha, are pushing hard for a consensus on P.A. Sangma (whom
he met in Delhi before embarking on the trip to London). The chief minister also
continues to spew fire at the Centre on the NCTC issue, which has become a rallying point for the leaders of all non-Congress states.
What is most important is that Mr. Patnaik is now keenly aware of his growing
political clout at the national level and has begun to hone his ambitions as well.
The fact that he has chosen to back Sangma openly and decided to take on the
Centre on NCTC indicates a significant rise in his level of confidence. This confidence also underlies his maiden chief ministerial trip abroad. n
INDIA FIRST 3
CONTENTS
18
NATION
24
STATE
26
STATE
11
COVER
STORY
STAR-STUDDED SUCCESS
No stone was left unturned to ensure a golden start for
the Lalchand Entertainment Awards, as stars shined at
the evening extravaganza
07
NATION
4 INDIA FIRST
34
CINEMA
RECALLING AN
ORDEAL
Alex Paul Menon
recalls how he was
kidnapped by the
Maoists and how he
spent his days in
captivity
SPLIT WIDE
OPEN?
Speculation is rife
that BJD might be
headed for a split
MILLS AND
BOON
Ghatgaon's Tarini
temple proves to be
a blessing for the
town's cottage
industry
STARS OR
LOUTS?
Rude celeberities
with a brittle temper
shock fans
THE UGLY
SIDE OF IPL
The IPL is riddled
with unanswered
questions and
controversies
1 JUNE 2012
Nation
Hackers
Play Havoc
With Indian
Websites
A
s many as 9,01,19,369 Indian
websites including 544 government sites were hacked during
the last three years. The government
sites included those of defence wings,
ministries and diplomatic missions.
In the first quarter of this year, 133
government web sites were hacked. Officials still do not have exact idea of what
was stolen but they confirm that power,
aviation, banking and defence communication sectors are the prime targets of
hackers.
A survey by McAfee, the internet security giant, names India as one of the
most vulnerable countries against cyber
attacks. Others on the list include Brazil,
Romania and Mexico.
Among others web sites of the Prime
Minister's Office, the National Security
Adviser's office, the defence ministry, air
cargo customs (Mumbai), ministry of
railways, National Institute of Social Defence, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and
the Central Bureau of Investigation were
hacked. Significantly, most of these attacks originated from China and Pakistan.
Even Microsoft India's retail web site,
www.microsoftstore.co.in, was hacked
on February 13 by an allegedly Chinabased group called the Evil Shadow
Team. The same group is suspected of
hacking into over 600 computers at the
ministry of external affairs earlier.
They are also suspects in the 2011
hacker attack on the Indian diplomatic
mission in Paris. Hackers accessed the
servers of the embassy and copied classified documents, including a file on the
high power committee on national civil
aircraft development, led by G. Madhavan Nair.
That’s not all. Sometime ago unknown hackers breached the web sites
1 JUNE 2012
of the Supreme Court of India and the
Congress party. In another attack, hackers sent a fake email to many journalists,
in the name of the Army Headquarters.
The mail had an attachment titled,
'China's Tibet strategy'.
"Surprisingly, they managed to penetrate even those computer systems
which were not connected to the internet," said an official. "The sensitive and
classified information was stolen and is
out there in public domain. It was frustrating," he added.
Top security officials agree that the security establishment is worried about
the attacks on power, banking, railways
and air traffic control segments. "It’s a
different situation.Traditional deterrence hardly works in a battle-space like
the cyber world, where operations and
attacks occur almost at the speed of
light," said an official.
Hackers are, indeed, becoming more
audacious and dangerous. Stuxnet, the
malware once known to target only
Siemens systems, is suspected to have
infected the India's nuclear programme
network. Officials are investigating
whether India's lone uranium enrichment facility, the Rare Materials Plant at
Rattehalli, Karnataka, was infected with
Stuxnet in November 2011.
The Indian security establishment is
now confused because the recent attacks have come from all over the world.
Over the last three years, attacks were
made from the US, Mexico, Spain,
Brazil, Lebanon, Peru, Morocco, Japan,
Korea, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Nigeria,
Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and China.
Officials familiar with several such investigations say the actual attacker is
rarely identified or traced because hackers use third-party protocols as fronts to
launch an attack. They direct the information stored on the victim's computer
towards a secret web site that serves as
a drop box, from where the information
can be recovered.
Hackers scour the web studying public documents, chatrooms and blogs to
build digital dossiers about the jobs, responsibilities and personal networks of
targets. Once a target has been chosen,
the hackers will then start the process of
breaking in and gaining the control. The
email address is made to look like it
comes from a logical sender.
For example, a few days after North
Korean leader Kim Jong-Il died, hackers
sent out mails with a malicious attachment
named
'briefintroduction_of_kim_jong_III_pdf. pdf'.
Had the host computers opened the attachment or clicked on the link, the malware would have stolen passwords and
sent the data to a foreign server. The
most common cyber attack in India is
made through bots, short for robots,
which are autonomous programmes
that can interact with computer systems
or users. Bots let the hacker take control
of computers and steal information.
Bots also route unnecessary traffic to the
victim computer, overloading it and
causing it to crash, in what is known as
a "denial of service" attack.
The Computer Emergency Response
Team-India (CERT-IN), an apex government agency handling cyber security
concerns, traced over 68 lakh bot-affected affected computers in the country in 2010. "The nightmarish scenario
for us is that hackers could disrupt or
shut down critical infrastructure like
aviation," said an official at CERT-IN. "A
cyber attack on essential sectors could
easily push the country to the brink."
Home Minister P. Chidambaram has
also admitted that no one was immune
to cyber crimes and attacks. "I think all
that we have done to protect the infraINDIA FIRST 5
Hitlist
Nuclear power plants: No
confirmed attacks, but highly
prone to hacking. Suspected
attack on Rare Materials Plant
at Rattehalli, Karnataka, in
November 2011
Air-traffic control systems: Air
cargo customs (Mumbai) web
site was hacked and data
stolen
Banking: More than money,
hackers are looking for
sensitive financial information
Telecom: Communication
networks faced a couple of
cyber threats in 2011, though
these were limited to defacing
of BSNL and TRAI web sites.
Smartphones and wifi networks
are most vulnerable
Power: Malware can tweak the
network to cause blackouts,
and can overload lines,
eventually frying them
Diplomacy: There have been a
series of attacks on the
external affairs ministry
network. In 2009, more than
600 computers at the ministry
were hacked into. Last year the
Paris embassy was attacked
Military: Armed forces are not
immune, since their command,
control, supplies, and, even
some weapons systems, rely on
digital systems. Periodic cybersecurity audits are conducted
by the Army cyber security
establishment
6 INDIA FIRST
structure in the physical space seems to
be a lighter task than when we face
threats that have been outlined in the
cyber space," he said. To combat cyber
attacks, the government is working on a
comprehensive plan.
At the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), which is headed by the
NSA, security and intelligence officials
and cyber experts are reviewing- India's
strategy for dealing with cyber threats.
A senior official said that the plan was
to prepare a cyber security architecture
wholly controlled by the government.
He said, "The government is in the
process of putting" in place the capabilities and the systems in India that will
enable us to deal with this anarchic new
world of constant and undeclared cyber
threat, attack, counter-attack and defence."
The aim of the new plan is to establish a National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC), a single window to deal
with cyber attacks. Under it, a National
Threat Intelligence Centre with multistakeholder, realtime, command-andcontrol centres countrywide will
monitor critical infrastructure. "It
[NCCC] would scan cyber traffic within
the country, flowing at the point of
entry and exit, including international
gateways," said a top official of the
NSCS. "This will mark India's first major
effort to arm itself in the war against
cyber attacks."
On top of the NCCC, there is a clear
delineation of responsibilities of CERTIN, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), Intelligence Bureau,
Military Intelligence and other agencies
that have a role in fighting cyber intrusions. Officials say that even where
there are overlaps, protocol will be laid
out to effectively deal with the cyber
threat.
The proposed cyber security plan will
also bring in expertise from the departments of telecom and information technology and National Informatics Centre
(NIC). The NIC, which provides cyber
security related services to ministries,
and CERT-IN are strengthening their capability, too. "We are building a system
to identify threats and vulnerable targets. This is a massive task," said a
CERT-IN official. "Our responsibility lies
between proactive and reactive roles."
The establishment of proposed
NCCC and a greater role for NIC and
CERT-IN will fill a wide gap in the cyber
security system. At present, there is no
centralised protocol to deal with cyber
threats and attacks. Though the government has formulated a Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber attacks
and cyber terrorism, it is in a mess.
Under the CMP, each state is responsible for its own cyber security. But
states like Haryana, Bihar, Jammu &
Kashmir, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura do not have a
protocol to register cyber attacks, leave
alone countering them.
At the Centre, too, there is no data
available about the number of hacking
attempts made on the government web
sites in the last decade. Officials in the
cyber security establishment also point
out that despite India being an IT hub,
more than 50 per cent of hardware is
imported.
Another expert, who is from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said, " India is
vulnerable today because in the case of
all our electronic infrastructure,
whether it is the internet, local net, military communication systems or radars,
90 per cent of it is imported components."
The DRDO has appointed a team of
scientists and cyber experts to identify
the critical infrastructure sites and networks prone to cyber attacks. It is also
planning to develop indigenous servers,
routers and operating systems. The expert said that DRDO's challenge was
first to secure its own operating system
and communication functions. "We
built our own network [Drona]. There
has not been a single attack on Drona,
[but] if people do not exercise discipline
and, for example, use pen drives [between the systems], then they are making the whole system vulnerable."
Under the present protocol, exclusive
national servers like military networks
must be physically, electrically, and
electromagnetically isolated from insecure networks like those connected to
the internet. The challenge is not limited to safe technology. The lack of
trained manpower is a big constraint,
too.
In India, while more and more people
use internet and the government machinery adopts the concept of e-governance, there are very few people to
protect the networks. For example, at
the NIC, which maintains the backbone
of the government's IT platform, there
are only two persons per district and 15
to 20 persons per state, to fight cyber attacks.
The manpower was sanctioned during the 1980s as per the IT requirement
at that time. Since then, there has been
no increase in manpower, despite the IT
boom. Little wonder then that at times
the NIC is even unable to prevent its
own system from hackers. n
1 JUNE 2012
nation
IPL
The Dark Underbelly
1 JUNE 2012
INDIA FIRST 7
I
ndian Premier League is turning
into an embarrassing controversy.
First a late night bust-up involving
charges of molestation and assault at a
hotel in Delhi booked in the name of IPL
franchise Deccan Chargers.
Then an early morning Income Tax
raid at the offices of Pune Warriors and
Royal Challengers Bangalore following a
TV sting operation in which five fringe
players were caught striking deals on
spot-fixing and switching teams for
more money. As if that was not enough,
a brawl broke out at Wankhede Stadium
leading to a five-year ban by the Mumbai Cricket Association on Shah Rukh
Khan.
Zohal Hamid, 27, the woman at the
centre of the molestation controversy,
later went incommunicado apparently
because a deal had been struck. On May
22, Zohal agreed to withdraw her case
against Pomersbach and drop the
defamation threat against Siddhartha
Mallya, who has not even deigned to remove the offending tweets from his account-another said "what this girl is
doing is idiotic".
However, several questions have remained unanswered.
• Why did Deccan Chargers book a Rs
20,000-a-day suite for Sahil, the alleged
fiance of Zohal at 1TC Maurya?
• What is Sahil's connection, if any,
with cricket and IPL?
• What is Zohal's real link with Sahil?
She claims he is her "fiance". Sahil is a
trifle hesitant about the honour.
• Why was Zohal sleeping in Sahil's
suite if she was not booked there?
• Why were two men, Miraj and
Moin, sleeping in Sahil's room?
• Why was RCB hosting an after-party
despite an IPL ban on them in 2010?
The mystery became more mysterious with arms dealer, an arms dealer,
Abhishek Verma's involvement. His former New York-based business partner
and lawyer C. Edmonds Allen claims
that Zohal was an employee of Ganton
Indian Private Limited, and that he recommended her for a visa to visit India
on Verma's request last year. Allen is the
president of Ganton, which he claimed
he set up to handle $205 million (Rs
1,1.27 crore) made by Verma through
arms deals and lobbying for defence
firms. Verma denies any link with Ganton and claims that Zohal too has nothing to do with Ganton. He says "my wife
Anca Neacsu is best friends with Zohal"
and recommended her for an Indian
visa through Allen.
Born in Afghanistan but now an
American citizen Zohal works for a cosmetics company in New York as a sales
8 INDIA FIRST
manager. She did part of her schooling
in India.According to her, after watching
her first IPL match on May 17 she
landed at the RCB party and in the room
booked by Deccan Chargers at ITC Maurya.
Every answer begs a further question.
But Rajiv Shukla, who took over as the
IPL commissioner in September 2011
and is also a Union minister, has no answers, except an evasive one. "I am the
IPL commissioner, not police commissioner. I have nothing to do with what is
happening in the hotel room." The fact
that he mentioned "police commissioner" involuntarily speaks for itself. He
believes media is exaggerating the problems of the league by highlighting stray
off-field incidents.
He does not deny knowing Sahil
Peerzada. "He is the son of a Congressman," he says. Sahil's father, Peerzada
Ghulam Mohammed, who died in 1994
at the age of 52, was a ticketing agent at
the Sopore (J&K) bus stand in the 1970s,
and went on to become a junior-level
Congress leader. The family migrated to
Mumbai in 1992.
Sahil's brother, Feroze, says he has a
real estate business in Mumbai, as well
as two Kashmir handicrafts showrooms
at the Leela in Bangalore and near Pavilion Mall in Kuala Lumpur. But Sahil's
reputation has been made in bedrooms
rather than boardrooms. He is a serial
dater of semi-famous women such as TV
actors Shama Sikander and Gauhar
Khan. Deccan Chargers is silent about
why they rented such an expensive suite
for him.
Investigating agencies are silent but
taking a keen interest in the events.
There has long been a suspicion that IPL
is a breeding ground for bookies. Days
before the start of the tournament, cm
officers of Mumbai Police traced a con-
ference of bookies from all over India
huddled inside a five-star hotel room in
Mumbai to plan their strategy: Essentially, to cooperate in the milking of
those who like a flutter.
On May 17, when Chennai Super
Kings was taking on Kings XI Punjab,
Arun Chavan, head of Mumbai Police's
Property Cell, arrested two well-known
bookies from a Lokhandwala flat. Devendra Kothari, 42, and Sonu Jalan, 30,
were taking bets on the crucial match.
Both were arrested immediately and 20
mobile handsets, a dozen sim cards, two
laptops, two voice recorders and an lcd
tv recovered. They led the police to another bookie, Mohammad Feroze
Ansari, 38, from Nagpada in Mumbai.
On May 19, the police arrested him too.
The probe has now moved to Delhi. A
team from Mumbai Police left for Delhi
on May 21. Their goal: Check the truth
in Kothari's claim that he paid Rs 10
crore to a Sri Lankan cricketer to fix a
one-day international match in 2006.
It has been confirmed that Kothari
and Jalan were part of a global betting
racket and among 170 suspects scheduled to visit Sri Lanka to fix matches.
"There was to be a meeting in Colombo
in anticipation of the fourth T20 World
Cup which will take place in Sri Lanka.
But it was cancelled," says Brijesh
Kumar Gupta, Delhi's police commissioner. The police's suspicions about a
Colombo meeting were confirmed
when a woman they picked up on May
19 from Delhi for possessing cocaine
confessed to her involvement in the betting racket and said she was to travel to
Colombo. On May 24, Delhi Police
busted a betting racket in west Delhi,
unearthing a mini-telephone exchange
comprising 113 lines used for transmitting information about rates to over 300
betting syndicates across India.
Loss for Real?
Each of the then eight ipi franchises reported losses in its second edi!on
Team Name
Returned Income/Loss
2008-09
2009-10
Rajasthan Royals
Loss Rs 6 lakh
Loss Rs 35.50 crore
Kings XI Punjab
Loss Rs 14 lakh
Loss Rs 65.68 crore
Kolkata Knight Riders
Loss Rs 50 lakh
Loss Rs 11.85 crore
Mumbai Indians
Nil
Loss Rs 42.89 crore
Chennai Super Kings
Nil
Loss Rs 19.30 crore
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Loss Rs 79 lakh
Loss Rs 5.58 crore
Deccan Chargers
Nil
Loss Rs 87.09 crore
Delhi Daredevils
Loss Rs 2.92 crore
Loss Rs 47.11 crore
Pune Warriors India
Not available
Team formed in March, 2010
1 JUNE 2012
Zohal Hamid 27
US national who claimed she
was molested
She filed an FIR against Pomersbach
and threatened to sue Sidhartha
Mallya but later opted for an out-ofcourt settlement. She says she is a
sales manager in a leading cosmetic
company in New York
Luke Pomersbach 27
Rajiv Shukla 52
IPL cricketer who molested
Zohal Hamid
IPL commissioner
Royal Challengers
Bangalore didn't
play the Australian the whole
ipl season. He has
drunk
driving
and assault cases back home.
Sidhartha Mallya 25
Royal Challengers Bangalore
director
He threw in his
lot with Pomersbach and went on
a Twitter rampage
against Zohal. His
c o m m e n t s
earned him monikers ranging from
sexist to twit. He got away without
an apology as his lawyers reached a
compromise with Zohal and Sahil.
He says the league is
not responsible for
untoward incidents
off the field. He says
it’s up to the polic to
first take action. The
league will suspend
anyone found guilty of flouting the
law.
Abhishek Verma 44
Delhi businessman,
Zohal’s
‘rakhi’
brother He spent
two years in Tihar
for alleged involvement in the naval
war room leak and
is being probed for
his role in defence deals. His mother
Veena was a Congress Rajya Sabha MP.
Sahil Peerzada 33
K. P. Appanna 23
Zohal’s ‘fiance’,
Pomersbachs RCB
teammate
Mumbai-based
businessman Took
punches
from
Pomersbach. A former
wannabe
model with many
unsavoury associations. His elder brother Feroze, 44, is
politically well connected.
He accompanied
Pomersbach to
Zohal's
room
after the alleged
molestation to
calm
things
down. A left-arm spinner, the label
he now goes by is the "skinny Indian
guy" who warned Zohal to drop her
case.
Cricket is big business. Presiding over
this is the Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI), which has ensured lack of
transparency, BCCI is a registered society completely autonomous from the
Government. It only started paying income tax in 2007 after authorities decided that it wasn't simply a charitable
organisation "promoting the sport of
cricket". In the effort to become suc1 JUNE 2012
cessful, IPL has cut corners. Interpol
wanted to investigate the bookie phenomenon and and asked for Rs 90 crore
as expenses, just as it had asked FIFA
when it set out to investigate football
sleaze. FIFA paid. International Cricket
Council (ICE) President Sharad Pawar
refused. Very conveniently, ice's Anti
Corruption Unit was hired. "If ICE had
hired Interpol, cricket's cleansing
process would have begun. But that did
not happen," says Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken.
In 2011, IPL had hit a ratings low. A
new model was sought to be created, as
highlighted in broadcaster Set Max's ads
which encouraged viewers to watch the
game on the ground. Rajiv Shukla says
that the average gate receipts for the
2012 season will be Rs 30 crore for each
franchise. He also argues that the decline in tam trp ratings, from an average
of 4.81 in IPL-1 to 3.33 in IPL-5 so far, is
misleading because the goalposts have
changed. "The ratings of even the most
popular entertainment programmes
have fallen as a result, IPL is still doing
very well on television," he says. Shukla
is also buoyant about overseas revenues.
All the ipl franchises have been under
the scanner of the Income Tax Department after a report of the Parliamentary
Standing Committee of Finance in July
2011 instructed tax officials to scrutinise
the accounts of all IPL teams. What
aroused the suspicion of the Standing
Committee was a wide discrepancy between the annual financial returns
statements tor the assessment year
2008-09 and the assessment year 200910. For the year 2008-09, also the first
year of IPL, three of the eight franchises,
Mumbai, Chennai and Deccan Chargers, showed nil loss. The remaining five
showed minor losses—Rajasthan Rs 6
lakh, Punjab Rs 14 lakh, Kolkata Rs 50
lakh, Bangalore Rs 79 lakh and Delhi Rs
2.92 crore. In 2009-10, each franchise reported huge losses—Rajasthan Rs 35.5
crore, Punjab Rs 65.68 crore, Kolkata Rs
11.85 crore, Mumbai Rs 42.89 crore,
Chennai Rs 19.3 crore, Bangalore Rs 5.58
crore, Deccan Rs 87.09 crore and Delhi
Rs 47.11 crore.
There was no particular reason why
losses should have mounted so steeply.
The player auctions had been conducted before IPL-1. The cost of players
would be the same for IPL-2. The revenue streams would have been
greater—the success of IPL drew more
advertisers and spectators to the second
edition. The only reason for higher costs
was the move to South Africa, but that
alone could not explain the wide discrepancies. According to sources at the
Income Tax Department, while the assessment is complete, investigation is
ongoing and franchises have been asked
to furnish details.
There are several other issues of apparent financial irregularities redflagged in the report of the Standing
Committee. At least four teams—Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders,
Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians—
INDIA FIRST 9
Controversies Galore
The cash-rich T20 league has seen as
much action off the field as onfield since
inception
Shah Rukh Khan abused and manhandled officials and security at
Wankhede Stadium on May 16. prompting Mumbai Cricket Association to ban
him for 5 years. He next faces summons
from a Rajasthan court for smoking in
the stadium.
Preity Zinta was left seething on April
18 after onfield umpires upheld the dismissal of Kings XI Punjab's Shaun
Marsh by Kolkata Knight Riders' Brett
Lee in Mohali and went onto the field to
contest the decision. Kings XI captain
Adam Gilchrist had to step In to broker
peace.
Shane Warne hit out at Sanjay Dixit,
president of Rajasthan Cricket Association, over a poor pitch in Jaipur after Rajasthan Royals lost to Royal Challengers
Bangalore on
/ | May 9. Warne was
fined $50,000 (Rs 25 lakh).
Gabriella Pasqualotto, a South African
cheerleader for Mumbai Indians in IPL4. was sent home in May after she revealed too much about the flirtatious
ways of cricketers on her blog The Secret
Diary of an IPL Cheerleader. She described cheerleaders as "walking porn"
and certain cricketers as “naughty”.
Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell
from Pune Warriors were detained on
May 20 along with a hundred) others
from a Mumbai hotel in what the police
said was a rave party. Drugs were recovered from the venue.
Ashwin, 40. son of BCCI chief N. Srinivasan, got angry on April 30 when staff
at a Sandra pub refused to serve him
drinks post the 1.30 a.m. deadline.
Things got worse when he was asked to
pay the Rs.28,000 bill. He was put be-
hind bars but was released on bail later.
Kochi Tuskers Kerala team had a tumultuous start and a tormented end in
IPL. After a controversial entry into the
league, that also saw Union minister
Shashi Tharoor vacate his post, the
Kochi team failed to sustain itself. Its
contract was terminated in September.
Lalit Modi was sacked as IPL commissioner for alleged misappropriation of
funds just before the presentation ceremony of the 2010 IPL final on April 25. A
legal case was filed against him. The former IPL boss is currently in self-imposed exile in London.
Ravindra Jadeja was the biggest buy of
the season with $2 million (Rs 10 crore).
But he was banned from playing in the
2010 IPL for trying to negotiate a contract with another franchise and delaying signing of his contract with Rajasthan Royals.
received investments from abroad from
tax havens such as Mauritius, Bahamas
and British Virgin Islands. BCCI, in its
reply to the committee, put all the blame
on former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
Iyen if true, and that is not proven, how
does this exonerate the franchise owners who got the money from questionable
unnamed
sources?
The
Enforcement Directorate , charged with
investigating these violations, said its investigations have not been completed.
Even BCCI and IPL are under investigation by ED and Reserve Bank of India
for operating bank accounts along with
Cricket South Africa during IPL-2 without permission, IPL Commissioner
Shukla shrugs aside the allegations of financial irregularities, just as he dismisses anything in convention with his
usual bluster.
There are other problems, inbuilt into
IPL, which have created irregular incentives for players. In 2010. all-rounder
Ravindra Jadeja was banned from season 3 of IPL for trying to negotiate a contract in violation of league rules. Jadeja,
who at the time had not played for the
Indian national team, was entitled to a
salary of Rs 25 lakh, not more, set by the
IPL Governing Council. Already a rising
star in his franchise, Rajasthan Royals,
Jadeja believed he deserved more
money. This perverse rule on pay caps
for Indian players who have never represented the country has made them
vulnerable to the lure of illegal negotia-
tions with franchises and offers from
bookies. Curiously, no such cap is applicable to foreign players who have not
represented their countries.
A recent TV sting operation on five Indian players who have never represented India revealed the dangerous
consequences. The players—T.P. Sudhindra (Deccan Chargers), Shalabh Srivastava (Kings XI Punjab), Mohnish
Mishra (Pune Warriors), Amit Yadav
(Kings XI Punjab) and Abhinav Bali—
were caught on camera either offering to
indulge in spot-fixing or ready to negotiate with other franchises or admitting
that their franchises paid them significantly more than the official figure, in
cash. An underground economy is
clearly thriving in IPL. Modi, the creator
of IPL and commissioner in its first three
editions, admits that not auctioning uncapped players was a mistake.
The IPL would not have survived its
serious flaws were it not for a strong
cross-party political alliance lending its
weight. Shukla is a prominent minister.
Arun Jaitley, leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha, is on IPL's Governing
Council and heads its legal and disciplinary committee. The cricket establishment of BCCI and its regional
components are packed with powerful
politicians. Four are members of the
Union Cabinet—Nationalist Congress
Party chief Sharad Pawar (ICE president), Congressmen C.P. Joshi (president, Rajasthan Cricket Association)
and Vilasrao Deshmukh (president,
Mumbai Cricket Association), and Farooq Abdullah (president of the J&K
Cricket Association) of the National
Conference. The quartet has successfully stalled Maken's attempts to legislate a sports bill that will force bcci to be
more accountable. "What can I do if no
one wants to clean the dirt from
cricket?" says Maken.
Shukla says there is no need for BCCI
to be under the Government. "We don't
take a penny from the Government. And
we have made a global name for ourselves," he says. The cricket establishment can count on some support from
outside the Government. Apart from
Jaitley, Anurag Thakur, a BJP MP and son
of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister
Prem Kumar Dhumal, is president of his
state's cricket association which hosts
IPL games at its stadium in
Dharamshala. His party colleague, Kirti
Azad, is however a staunch opponent of
IPL and went on dharna demanding the
abolishing of the league after its string of
recent scandals. Azad said that India's
image was being spoilt at an international level because of IPL debauchery
and that he has written a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to
take action against IPL.
Politics is a power game, and for now
Maken and Azad are weak before a muscular establishment. But there is no
denying that IPL slowly but certainly is
turning into a rotten apple.n
10 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
Cover
Story
Lalchand Entertainment Awards 2012
STARRY
STARRY
NIGHT
Sameet Pattnaik
T
he Odia film and television fraternity was overwhelmed with
joy to witness one of the biggest
extravaganzas in the world of entertainment: the Lalchand Entertainment
Awards.
The LEA 2012 may be exclusive to Ol1 JUNE 2012
lywood, but had a subtle hint of Bollywood as well. Glitter and glamour filled
the evening as the Page Three stage was
laid out and the who’s who of the industry walked the red carpet. The award
categories were as interesting and
unique as the dream trophy. The cate-
gories were themed “Odisha’s Favourite”.
However, there were special honours
conferred on eminent celebrities who
have made the Odia film fraternity
proud.
Gloria Mohanty was honoured with
the Lifetime Achievement Award. She
INDIA FIRST 11
was overwhelmed with joy and said it
came to her as a surprise, but she was
glad to know that the industry has acknowledged her contribution to cinema.
Meanwhile, LEA recognized Prashanta
Nanda as Odisha’s Favourite Showman.
Nilamadhab Panda, the filmmaker
who made the internationally acclaimed
I am Kalam was honoured with Odisha’s
Pride Award. Pitobas Tripathy, who became popular with movies such as Shor
in the City, I am Kalam, was also the recipient of the Odisha’s Pride Award. He
said, “I am extremely happy to receive
an award in my home state.”
Actors and actresses gave a footthumping performance to the top chartbusters. Among the graceful performers
were Sabyasachi Mishra, Buddhaditya
12 INDIA FIRST
Mohanty, Harihar Dash, Archita,
Prakruti, Anubha, Gargi, and Jaya. Aamir
Ali and Sanjeeda Sheikh, the top television duo from Star Plus also performed
on the occasion.
MTV Rock On winner Abhinanda
Sarkar made Ollywood celebrities dance
to her rocking numbers. For the first
time, the ceremony witnessed all the
celebrities dancing together, celebrating
cinema.
Kuna Tripathy bagged the Odisha’s
Favourite TV Personality and Rohit
Gandhi was awarded with Odisha
Favourite Fiction Producer in the television categories.
Mahasweta Ray, Hara Pattnaik, and
Debu Bose were recognized as Odisha’s
Favourite Icons. Buddhaditya bagged
the Lalchand Jeweller’s Customer
Favourite Award. Jairam Samal was recognized as Odisha’s Favourite Comedy
Icon.
Harihar Dash and Prakruti won
Odisha’s Favourite Debutant awards.
Music director Abhijeet Mazumdar was
presented with an award for composing
Odisha’s Favourite Song Balunga Toka
while Gudly Rath received Odisha’s
Favourite Hatke Music Director Award.
Samaresh won Odisha’s Favourite
Actor in a Negative Role and Balunga
Toka won Odisha’s Favourite Film
Award. Filmmaker Susant Mani was recognized as the Odisha’s Favourite Hatke
Director for his movie Chocolate.
Barsha bagged Odisha’s Most Graceful
Actress Award, while Papu Pom Pom ran
1 JUNE 2012
away with Odisha’s
Favourite
Comic
Award.
The coveted Odisha’s
Favourite Actor and Actress awards were won
by Anubhav and Archita.
The man behind LEA
2012, Sunjoy Hans, the
chairman of Lalchand
Jewellers, was delighted
to witness the success
of his dream project.
Superstar
Anubhav,
who is the brand ambassador of Lalchand
Jewellers, was also declared as the brand ambassador for Lalchand
Entertainment Awards.
Candid as always,
Superstar Anubhav said
it’s a bigger responsibility. “We can and we will
make endeavours to
popularize Odia cinema globally. We will
also honour novel initiatives by Odias in the
field of cinema from
different parts of the
globe,” he said.
Mr. Hans shared the
success of LEA with
Satyabrat Rath, the
managing director of
Prelude Novel Ventures
(Odisha’s biggest media
and entertainment production house). n
1 JUNE 2012
Lalchand Entertainment
Awards 2012 Launch Party
Venue: The New Marrion, Date: May 12, Theme: Hawaiian
Objective of the Launch Party: To unveil the exclusive Lalchand
Entertainment Awards Trophy
T
he time was apt and the setting perfect
to launch the first edition of Lalchand
Entertainment Awards. The glittering
stars of the Odia film fraternity descended at
the majestic New Marrion hotel. The stars received an exclusive Hawaiian-theme welcome,
garlanded by flowers and bead necklaces as
they arrived. The ladies were pinned up with
furry hairclips, whereas the men sported wristbands. The who’s who of the industry were present: Budhaditiya Mohanty, Anu Choudhury,
Samaresh, Akash Dasnayak, Anubhav Mohanty,
Archita, Barsha, Prakruti, Uttam Mohanty, Gungun, Ajit Das, Susant Mani, Snigdha Mohanty,
Sritam Das, Pinky Pradhan, Ushashri Mishra,
Sunita Gadabadu, Debu Bose, and many more.
The atmosphere was stunning and everybody
thoroughly enjoyed the moment. The hosts of
the event, Sulagna and Nitin, welcomed the
guests. The first act was an exclusive fashion
show by Anuradha Paul, showcasing the best of
diamonds and other key brands from the house
of Lalchand. The hosts had a gala time interacting with the guests, played some funny rib-tickling games to keep the esteemed guests
entertained. India’s Got Talent superstar Harihar Dash – the king of locking and popping –
performed to enthrall the jam-packed audience. The funniest part was probably Nitin’s
bantering with the guests about the Odia ver-
sion of The Dirty Picture. Funny responses
came from all corners. Farah from “The Rockstar” group gave a stunning performance,
weaving magic. Budhaaditya was again called
on stage to belt out his famous track “Toro Lal
taha Taha…”.
Finally, it was time to launch the Exclusive
Lalchand Entertainment Awards Trophy. Sunjoy
Hans, the Chairman of Lalchand Jewellers, invited the reigning Ollywood superstar Anubhav
Mohanty, who is also the brand ambassador of
Lalchand Jewellers, to the stage to inaugurate
the award. Odisha Television CEO Jagi Mangat
Panda unvield the trophy. Key officials from
OTV were also present at the party.
The guests were pleasantly surprised when a
stunning fashion show, with a Hawaiian theme,
followed. Thereafter, ace actor Kuna Tripathy
tickled the funny bones of the stars with his
gimmicks and soon they were all in splits. Surprises were coming over and above what anybody might have expected at the grand event.
Ushashri Mishra made something of a cameo
with the “Dhisoom Award”. The award was a big
red boxing glove which would be given to the
person who could utter the biggest lie. Singerperformer Ambili Menon rocked the audience
with her stellar performance. The entire film
fraternity was on stage to literally dance to her
tune. n
INDIA FIRST 13
14 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
1 JUNE 2012
INDIA FIRST 15
16 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
LIFESTYLE
India's best spas rated,
recognised
Suvendu Banerjee
Cajetan Araujo, hotel manager at the spa at Claridges Surajkund, which received an award for providing the most luxurious spa treatment.
T
he spa culture has arrived in
India. Hundreds of spas across
the country are providing highquality treatments with lots of innovative packages. Modern science and
traditional Indian practices combine at
these temples of well-being to offer a
wide variety of experiences at different
price points.
The recent GeoSpa AsiaSpa India
Awards at The Claridges Surajkund was
to honour the stalwarts of this growing
industry – 25 of the best spas from all
over India were awarded at a well-attended evening function.
Bollywood's latest sensation Sonakshi
Sinha was crowned "Spa Diva" even as
loads of awards given away during the
evening were interspersed with dynamic performances.
"2011 has been a fantastic year for
the spa industry, particularly here in
India. This year's awards are our most
competitive yet," said Parineeta Sethi,
chief editor and publisher of AsiaSpa
1 JUNE 2012
India magazine.
The Imperial Spa and Salon, considered the largest spa in the capital and
housed inside The Imperial hotel at Janpath, was judged "The Best New Spa
(Hotel)" along with the Jiva Spa at Taj
Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad.
The Imperial Spa, which opened
about a year ago with its sublime opulence, is designed to purely de-stress
and rejuvenate the body and mind. A
must-try there is a signature line called
SUFI.
Also providing the ultimate spa treatments in the country are The ITC
Mughal Agra and The Claridges at Surajkund. Both were adjudged the "Most
Luxurious Spa Treatment 2011” for their
spectacular offerings.
The Surajkund Ritual at The Claridges
Spa is designed to balance the primary
life forces of fire from the sun or “suraj”
and water from the “kund” or lake. The
ritual also includes a cleansing body
scrub followed by a synchronised mas-
sage and healing by hot stones.
Kaya Kalp at ITC Mughal in Agra is the
largest spa in the country spread over
nearly 100,000 square feet.
The whole spa is themed on the
pomegranate fruit due to its exfoliating
and antioxidant properties. Its "Mumtaz's Journey" won the most luxurious
spa treatment award. The Kaya Kalp is
no stranger to highly coveted awards. In
2008, it won the "Tatler Award" for best
city spa in the world.
Some of the other acclaimed spas
which did not feature in the list of
awardees include The NeoVeda Spa at
The Metropolitan Hotel and Spazzo at
the Crowne Plaza Today at Okhla.
The NeoVeda Spa at The Metropolitan Hotel and Spa in New Delhi is an
ayurveda-style spa for the 21st century.
It provides an exceptional experience
with the power of ayurveda to heal, restore, relax and invigorate. NeoVeda has
a plethora of signature experiences to
choose from. n
INDIA FIRST 17
Nation
Passionate About Bikes
and Che Guevara
A
s a small-town boy, Alex Paul Menon was passionate about bikes. When his
father bought him a lOOcc Hero Honda Splendor, it was for him as
good as owning a Harley-Davidson.
Menon, the collector of Sukma in Chhatisgarh who was recently abducted by the Maoists, still fondly remembers his
school and college days.
Saturdays in his youth were 'chill-out' days for him
and his gang. "My dad would give me 100 bucks as
pocket money and with that I would reach heaven,"
he said. "There are some nice waterfalls in and
around Tirunelveli, my native place. I would go to
the river there with my friends. I would spend ?60
on petrol and the rest on food. It was fun."
His passion for biking never flagged. After he
joined the civil service in 2006, he had opportunities for mountain biking. Riding through the
cold deserts of Leh, surrounded by the silence
of the mountains, was for him a "mind-blowing" experience. In Chhattisgarh, he has
been saving up to buy a Thunderbird.
"That's all I can afford," he said. "It might
even be a second-hand Thunderbird."
Menon is also passionate about trekking.
In the civil service academy, you can go for
a soft trek or a hard trek. "Being asthmatic, I
was advised to go on soft treks," he said.
"But I would always go hard trekking. I
would travel with a Rotahaler and climb
above 16,000ft, fighting the wheezing. That
was a beautiful episode in my life."
Menon jokes that he trekked while in captivity, too. "He was made to walk for miles
and run with his hands tied," said his wife,
Pushpa Bhagyam Asha. Captured by the
Maoists, Menon remained calm and composed
initially. But, after a few days, he was exhausted.
"I told them I would be a burden, if they don't get
me medicines," said Menon. Since he knew their
Gondi language, he had no problem communicating with them.
And he kept on thinking of ways to communicate
with the outside world. "One day, I wrote a prescription for cough myself, with my name and age, hoping that
the pharmacist would identify me. It looked like a real prescription with the Rx and all. I gave it to the Maoists. But nothing happened.
A few days later, I was given a cough syrup named Alex. I never
knew that there was a cough syrup in my name," he said.
The food he got from the Maoists was bland. So, after a few
days, he cooked roti and sabji himself—and asked the
Maoists to taste it and told them how to make good roti.
But being completely out of touch with the world was an
unnerving experience. "On the tenth day, I refused to eat
anything," he said. "I told them I should at least be allowed
to listen to the radio. Then they gave me a radio and I lis18 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
tened to BBC and AIR."
Menon said there were no multiple layers of security, as reported by the media. The forests were devoid of wildlife, too.
The Maoists gave him clothes and a towel and allowed him to
take bath a couple of times. They let him wash his linen shirt
to wear it on May 3, the day he was released.
When he returned home, Menon remained reticent, shattered as he was by the death of his two security guards. The
Maoists had shot them while abducting him. He started sharing his experiences with his family after a few days. He had
lost 4kg while in captivity, but was healthy. "I was a little concerned about my health because of the water I drank there.
So I got some tests done last week," he said.
Having spent 12 days in captivity, what could freedom
mean to him now? "Nobody is free in this world," he said,
philosophically. "We are all bound by so many strings. To be
free you have to be an ascetic roaming around in a jungle.
Though I'm agnostic, I've a spiritual side which makes me
ponder over such things." As an afterthought, Menon said he
was happy living this life.
Apparently, villagers in Majhipara, from where he was abducted, were aware of the Maoist plan. But Menon does not
hold any grudges, and it has not dampened his enthusiasm
to work for the villagers. For him, trust is not a glass pane that
breaks easily. "I believe in people, more than anything else,"
he said. "People pass on information to you. Sometimes they
would say, 'Sir, please don't come this side.' They used to ask
me to move away whenever they sensed danger. I was working in Bijapur for a year and I used to travel to many interior
pockets. The public trusts you and you trust the public."
What went wrong in Majhipara? "I was really taken by surprise by what happened," he said. "Majhipara was a village I
had adopted. I wanted to make it a model village. I had a good
rapport with the villagers there. But I don't blame them or call
them betrayers. They live under pressure from both sides [the
police and the Maoists]. I'm not going to take revenge on
them by not doing what I had planned. Rather, I would start
from Majhipara all over again."
In every villager in Sukma, he sees his own kith and kin.
Hailing from a modest background himself, he understands
their struggles better. For Menon, joining civil service was a
childhood dream. He had to fight the odds to fulfil it.
Menon lost his mother to cancer when he was 16. "It was a
very traumatic period. For four years, all of us in our family
were struggling. But it made us very strong," he said. As student reporter for Ananda Vikatan, he figured out how the bureaucracy functions and how one can help the public. That is
why he decided, after graduating in engineering, to prepare
for the civil service exams. His father, a pensioner earning just
Rs. 11,000, was more keen that he started working immediately, but Menon had his way.
He remembers the small room in Anna Nagar where he
stayed with 10 others preparing for the civil service exams. His
only possessions were a small chair, clothes and books. "I was
the last one to join the room and the first to come out of it,"
he said with pride.
Menon said Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries has had
a profound impact on him. "I identified myself with Che. Like
him, I'm also an asthmatic. We share many passions, like
travel and biking. Despite being an asthmatic, Che could
cover 22,000km across South America on a motorcycle. He
even swam across the Amazon and celebrated his birthday
with lepers."
He was also influenced by Kagitha Paappa, a Tamil book on
evolution he read at age nine. "After reading that I started
questioning religion and the Christian belief that God made
1 JUNE 2012
the world in seven days," he said. "I refused to go to church."
Menon became the first collector of Sukma when the district was formed last December. He had to start from scratch.
"When I started, I did not even have four walls to function. I
used to sit in my verandah and work," he said.
Within a time, he streamlined the public distribution system and extended it to the remotest villages. He issued about
4,500 van adhikar pattas (forest rights deeds) under the Forest
Rights Act, 2006. With a meagre staff of 16, he ensures that the
district collectorate is fully functional, and has implemented
an e-gover-nance programme by equipping his staff with
computers and an open-source, Hindi-language operating
system called Brahmi. In the mountainous parts of the district, access to health care used to be a problem. But now, dial
108, and ambulances will reach even the remotest areas.
Even these lifeline services are not spared by the Maoists.
Once, they attacked an ambulance carrying six Malaria-affected children to hospital, mistaking it for a police vehicle.
"There were eight bullet holes on both sides of the vehicle,"
said Menon. "But, luckily, the children were safe, because they
lay on the floor."
Apparently the Maoists collect toll from people, blocking
the roads, pluck tendu leaves and harvest mangoes even before they are ripe. The Maoist presence, Menon said, "is a
complicated issue. Maybe the intellectuals are the best persons to comment on it." Menon is active on social networking
sites. In his blog, Kuraigudam, he voices his concern over the
lack of flexibility in some government schemes.
Asha and Menon married six months ago. When the proposal came, Asha found the name Alex Paul Menon intriguing. She later found out that he was neither a Malayali nor a
Hindu, and that the last name Menon was chosen simply because his father admired V.P. Menon and V.K. Krishna Menon.
Though Asha was not ready for marriage at first, she changed
her mind after meeting Menon.
Being in Chhattisgarh has given her opportunities for social
work. "Recently we conducted a cultural programme called
Tulika for the women and children affected by Naxal violence
in Sukma. Initially, they were a bit hesitant. We had to coax
them out of their houses. But it was a huge success," said
Asha, who is director of Youth Bliss, a Chennai-based NGO.
Now four months pregnant, she had her first medical checkup
in Chennai. "There are a few hospitals in Sukma, but no lady
doctors," she said.
Like many people in Sukma, Asha is a fan of Menon. "He is
an all-rounder," she said. "He sings, dances and swims. He is
also a great cook." "And a foodie," added Menon.
"I'm a non-vegetarian," he said. "I've even eaten yak meat
from Arunachal Pradesh. It is a strong smelling red meat
which only a pure non-vegetarian can eat."
The couple has many pets in Sukma. "We have a cow called
Mehbooba," she said. "Alex gave the name, saying she looks
like a sweetheart. We have two parrots, one with a die-hard
attitude and the other a bit laid back. So we have named them
Daliya and Ladiya." There is also Nandu, a dog of Rajapalayam breed.
At home, Menon always keeps himself occupied. In the
mornings, he does yoga and exercises on his treadmill. Then
he reads newspapers and watches TV, before going to office.
If he is not travelling, he would come home for lunch and take
rest for an hour before going back. He would return by 8 p.m.
and spend time with his wife and pets.
Despite his hectic schedule, he finds time to read or watch
James Bond movies till 3 or 4 a.m. "He can't sleep without
those movies," Asha said. "However, for the past one month,
he has been sleeping by 2 a.m. That's a great improvement."n
INDIA FIRST 19
NATION
Seven Worrying Trends in Our
Poll Process
Be it notes for votes or paid
news, the issues that hamper
free and fair elections
cannot be tackled unless the
government and the
populace join hands
N Bhasakara Rao
T
he just-concluded round of assembly polls in 2012 signals a
new wave of democracy. The
third round of Assembly polls since 2009
Lok Sabha elections did not just witness
the much-needed spurt in voter
turnout, uniformly across the country;
the poll process was also free and fair as
never before. What is more, the voting
pattern reflected a diminished effect of
caste and communal politics.
And it was a sign of relief that the verdict was not fractured but overwhelming, except in Uttarakhand. The Election
Commission demonstrated, with determination, it could ensure a peaceful, fair
and free election. And in the process the
Commission also reminded the nation
that the checks-and-balances approach
could come in handy for better implementation and outcomes. The question
is whether we can consolidate these
gains and get rid of threats in order to
streamline Assembly polls in 2013 and
also be ready for a new generational Lok
Sabha poll in 2014?
A few years ago, muscle, money and
media power were viewed as coming in
the way of holding free and fair polls.
20 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
1 JUNE 2012
INDIA FIRST 21
While the muscle power in polls has become history, money and media power
were curbed to a considerable extent in
this round. Thanks to the initiatives of
the Election Commission which it was
hesitant to take not long ago.
It was for the first time that news
media followed the rules, not only by
keeping off from exit polls, but also by
showing restraint in their coverage of
the campaign. The Election Commission could achieve all that because of
transparency in its proactive initiatives,
focus on its communication efforts and
adherence to legal considerations.
In fact, the Supreme Court too should
be thanked for enabling the Election
Commission to empower itself. But the
trends in the by-polls since the Assembly polls in March 2012, however, remind that perhaps we need to
consolidate all those gains. I see seven
threats that now need to be tackled.
availing basic services.
Despite EC’s initiatives to curb money
power, the menace continues. In the
year 2011, EC declared that 85% of illegal money seized during the assembly
elections in the five states of Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and
Pondicherry was from Tamil Nadu. In
The Supreme Court should be
thanked for empowering the
Election Commission
Democracy within Party
The first one involves political parties.
Unless political parties themselves adhere to democratic norms with transparency, free and fair polls cannot be
ensured. More specifically, political parties themselves should hold their internal polls regularly and transparently.
How could we expect them otherwise to
come up with right kind of candidates in
the elections to the Assemblies and Parliament?
Note-for-Vote Phenomenon
Second, is the note-for-vote phenomenon. Despite the Election Commission’s measures, luring voters with cash
and other objects of immediate gratification in a quid pro quo manner continues as was evident in the by-polls in
Andhra Pradesh in March 2012. In the
just-concluded Assembly polls, Rs.50
crore was actually confiscated before
being pumped into the electorate and
Rs.9 crore was confiscated during the
by-polls in seven Assemblies of Andhra
Pradesh.
The CMS studies had earlier in 2007,
2008 and 2009 polls indicated how widespread this note-for-vote phenomenon
was across the country. The Assembly
by-poll in Kovvur surpasses all the earlier estimates, reminding that the problem cannot be solved without changing
the very process through which parties
nominate candidates.
Unless voter sensitivity comes into
play, this issue cannot be resolved. The
voters should know that by taking notes
for votes, they would be paying several
times more in the next five years for
22 INDIA FIRST
the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the total
amount of black money seized across
the country was over 100 crore. Majority
of the cases were from Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
There is a limit to what the Election
Commission could do in this regard. In
the Assembly poll in Kovvur in Andhra
Pradesh in March 2012, 20 percent of
voters were paid Rs.1500 each by three
party candidates – about 20 percent of
voters were paid Rs.1,000 and another
20 percent were paid around Rs.500 per
vote. That is, in all, not less than 60 percent of voters were paid money in the
last one week of poll.
Earlier also a post-poll survey, conducted by the CMS on the money spent
by candidates to woo voters in Kadapa
Lok Sabha by-election in 2011, estimated that the average payment was
well up to 500 for each vote, the highest
so far anywhere in the country in Parliament polls.
Three of the candidates in the fray
reached out to nearly 5 lakh voters with
moneybags and half of them accepted
the money from more than one candidate. A significant feature of the study
two days after the counting of votes
brought out that the three Lok Sabha
candidates between themselves paid
200 crore to voters and opinion makers.
But in Kovvur Assembly poll in 2012,
Rs.200 crore was distributed among voters in all.
A CMS survey earlier indicated that
cash was being distributed not on the
basis of any demand from voters, but by
candidates because of local compulsions and lack of direct relationship with
the voters. Ultimately, it is the people,
parties, media and civil society leaders
who have to be proactive in safeguarding the electoral process. The plague of
“cash for vote” has a direct bearing on
governance and on the level-playingfield aspect of our polls.
Freebies as never before
Poll-time freebies are nothing but for
luring voters formally as against bribing
them informally with cash, kind and
other offers. Tamil Nadu had sent
(wrong) signals — DMK won in 2000
with color TV offer and AIADMK had
won in 2011 with grinders.
And, earlier TDP came to power with
a promise of providing rice for Rs.2 per
kg. In the 2011 Assembly polls in Tamil
Nadu, grinders, blenders, laptops, fans,
etc., were offered by the two main parties, DMK and the AIDMK. Now, SP has
swept to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2012
with laptop-slates and promises of dole
to unemployed youth.
How can parties provide good governance on coming to power, if their focus
is on luring voters with tempting offers
of consumables and household
durables. Voters obviously do not realise
indirect implications of such enticements and the Election Commission on
its part cannot intervene as these are
viewed as part of poll promises and
manifestos of the parties.
Incumbency advantage
In a recent book, A handbook of Poll
Surveys in Media (2009), I have written
with specific examples on how and to
what extent the party in power goes all
out to reap benefits of its hold on the administration. The 2009 Assembly polls in
Andhra Pradesh stand out as an example for this inclination.
In Tamil Nadu (TN), despite Election
Commission’s new initiatives and all-out
vigilance, the incumbent tried to find
ways of appealing with special inducements. In Punjab and Goa in 2012, the
incumbents were tactful in making use
of the control on the local administration to lure voters. Of course, in one
State the effort was successful and in the
other it was futile.
The tenure of the incumbents has
often been marred by widespread misuse of government machinery. The byelections in Kadapa Lok Sabha and
Pulivendula Assembly in 2011 and now
in 2012 by-polls can be considered the
most blatant instances of such abuse of
1 JUNE 2012
authority. Fourteen Cabinet Ministers of
the State legislature and four Union
Ministers were assigned the responsibility of wooing voters in specific clusters
by locating them in the district.
The Chief Minister visited the constituency as if the State Government’s
Headquarters had shifted to the district
before the elections. The same is being
repeated in March 2012 for the seven assembly by-polls to the Assembly. One
can imagine the extent of this tendency
from the fact that in Tamil Nadu there
were impromptu blackouts to facilitate
cash distribution overnight!
The EC should take some tough
measures to limit the extent of the incumbent party’s clout on the eve of the
elections for wooing voters. The Election
Commission did demonstrate such a
determination by issuing notice to the
Central Ministries and not sparing them
until regrets were offered.
There is also a feeling that the Election
Commission’s measures are impractical
because the State Government will be
unable to function normally for two
months – the duration of the elections.
Paid News
Although the Election Commission
barred Umlesh Yadav, the wife of gangster-turned-politician D P Yadav in 2011
from contesting elections for three years
after, it was found that she did not disclose the money spent on “advertisements masquerading as news” in two
newspapers. This malpractice of fooling
voters has not died down. Some sensitivity of course has come both in the
media and among candidates.
For instance, at the very outset of the
campaign for the by-election in Andhra
Pradesh (in 2011 and 2012) more than a
couple of complaints were lodged
against a Telugu news channel and a
daily owned by the candidate for its extensive coverage (mostly one-sided and
completely in support of the candidate/owner).
However, with the EC’s formation of
Media Monitoring and Media Certification Committees to monitor media conduct, in all the districts going to polls, it
is being envisaged that the phenomenon of paid news would take a beating.
These committees would measure the
amount of coverage of electoral subjects, identify the presence or absence of
news bias, assess the appropriateness of
media access for political competitors,
evaluate the adequacy of information
conveyed to voters through news, direct
political messages, public information
programming and voter education announcements, identify the shortcom1 JUNE 2012
ings in media’s conduct and document
the abuse of the mass media’s power to
affect voter choices including paid news.
Yet, CMS Media Lab’s monitoring of
poll coverage in the news bulletins indicates that it is not possible to altogether
control poll propaganda. Especially in
the case of news channels. It is not always a case of deliberate favor to a party
or a candidate.
However, based on the ground realities of journalism, such coverage is not
possible to avoid in totality. Perhaps,
this can be done by avoiding special-focused programmes (interviews, etc.)
and repetition in news bulletins. Vigil by
civil society and media watch groups
would also help minimise this phenomena.
Poll Surveys
The Election Commission has announced that exit polls will not be allowed from the day when election
campaigning begins (first phase) to the
end of polling (final phase). Despite poll
surveys losing their credibility, more
than six surveys were conducted, mostly
commissioned by some news media,
during 2011 and 2012 assembly elections and prominently telecast, with the
surveys projecting (intended or unintended) advantage of one or the other
political party.
Despite the Election Commission’s ef-
How can parties provide good
governance on coming to
power, if their focus is on luring
voters?
forts to minimise the possibility of poll
surveys influencing voters, it has hardly
made any difference. Further, the news
media (newspapers, columnists and
news channels) often refer to the findings of pre-poll surveys as part of their
analysis or expert views even during the
48 hours before polling day. However,
the Election Commission directive
against exit polls was strictly observed in
2012 for which the news media should
be complimented for exercising restraint.
War of Words
The tenor of campaign speeches of
leaders in election campaigns calls for a
critical look, practically in every State.
Firstly, poll speeches were full of personal accusations and rather than on issues or propositions. Second, the
language used reflects the kind of intolerance that leaders have towards each
other.
Belittling each other using inflammatory language has become common, despite the Election Commission’s notice
in a few isolated cases. This has become
an easy way to provoke and get public
attention, and also occupy increased
media space.
During the assembly elections in 2011
and 2012, even some important leaders
used abusive words such as “dogs” for
their opponents, while others were declared “murderers”, with some parties
being called “a gang of thieves”. Those
who get elected using such language
and personal accusations cannot be expected to behave better on the floor of
the Assemblies?
The Election Commission generally
issues notices to leaders on matters of
such personalised attacks but the impact is almost negligible. However, it
may be more effective for Civil Society
leaders to come up with an appeal and
an action plan for the same.
The news media have an active role in
this regard and, in fact, can do much
more than the Election Commission –
they could discourage such a trend by
not covering such speeches and by not
taking those bytes.
Without addressing these seven
trends in our electoral process, can we
curb corruption in the country? Some
years ago, I called the cash-for-vote phenomenon “the mother of all forms of
corruption” (because it is the beginning
of the vicious cycle of corruption).
Without vigilance of news media and
civil society groups, these leanings are
difficult to curb.
Therefore, the responsibility lies not
just with the Election Commission but
with every citizen. Political parties in
turn need to be more cadre-based and
issue-based. They should focus on the
grass roots and be more democratic and
transparent in their functioning. Without that we cannot expect to rejuvenate
our electoral process and consolidate
the foundations of our democracy and
ensure good governance. n
INDIA FIRST 23
state
THE WRITING ON
THE WALL
Despite Pyarimohan Mohapatra’s
claims to the contrary, recent
developments confirm a divided BJD
G
rievances in Odisha's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have increased but there are no plans for a split, senior
leader Pyarimohan Mohapatra said Wednesday
amid speculation that the Naveen Patnaik government could
be facing dissent for the first time in 12 years.
Venting his ire, the Rajya Sabha MP, who Tuesday night held
a meeting with a large number of legislators at his residence,
said people were unhappy within the party.
He said party members who had met him said they were
unhappy because bureaucrats were not listening to them. He
also said some ministers had told him that their secretaries
were ignoring them.
Mr. Mohapatra, 72, did not name Mr. Patnaik but said people with vested interests were trying to create indiscipline in
the party and were not being checked despite repeated reminders.
"For one-and-a-half years I have been pointing out indiscipline in the party but no action was taken," he said.
He denied speculation that he planned to dethrone Mr.
Patnaik.
Despite the denial, Mr. Mohapatra has been accused by
some in the party of attempting to destabilise Patnaik. Tuesday night's meeting is being seen by many as a sign of revolt
in the ruling party.
A large number of legislators of the same party, including
some ministers, also held similar meetings in different places
in support of Mohapatra. These meetings ran till late after
midnight.
Murder attempt
P
yarimohan Mohapatra has also alleged that a gangster has been hired by
one of his party MLAs to kill him. "A Kolkata-based gangster Sunil Dutta
has been engaged by an MLA of our party. I will not disclose the name of
the MLA. I will tell everything to the chief minister," Mr. Mohapatra told reporters
here. Stating that he had already informed the matter to the police, Mr. Mohapatra said the group of six people had already said in public that they would "eliminate me". "I feel threat to my life as six people are roaming in the state carrying
my photograph," he said. Mr. Mohapatra further alleged that "about 50 musclemen were roaming near my residence at Saheed Nagar last night. We could go to
sleep at about 3 am until the police drove them away". On the reason behind his
being the target of the "conspirator", Mr. Mohapatra said the group wanted to
eliminate him in order to target the chief minister. "There is a group of conspirators wanting to fulfil their interest by creating differences between me and chief
minister," Mr. Mohapatra said, adding he had been working hard to safeguard
the interest of both the chief minister and the regional party.
24 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik speaks at a reception organized in his honour by the Indo-European Business Forum in London
Mr. Mohapatra has been chief adviser
to Patnaik for the past decade and appears to be unhappy after he was sidelined in recent months.
As a bureaucrat, the Left-leaning Mr.
Mohapatra had served Biju Patnaik –
Naveen Patnaik's legendary father –
when he was chief minister.
The 1963 batch IAS officer's involvement in politics began when Snr. Patnaik appointed him principal secretary
during his tenure as chief minister in
1990-95.
Mohapatra had been a guide to Patnaik junior after the demise of Biju Patnaik in 1997.
When the cat’s away …
N
early 25 BJD legislators and
four ministers met at the residence of Mr. Mohapatra on
Tuesday, setting off strong rumours of a
plot to dethrone the CM. Mr. Patnaik is
currently in London.
Rajya Sabha member Mr Mohapatra,
once hailed as Mr. Patnaik's
“chanakaya” till they fell apart, also held
1 JUNE 2012
"For one-and-a-half years I
have been pointing out
indiscipline in the party but no
action was taken"
Pyarimohan Mohapatra
Senior BJD Leader
talks with Congress and NCP leaders.
The ruling party has 104 members in the
147-member state assembly.
Sources said the meeting, held at Mr.
Mohapatra's Saheed Nagar residence in
Bhubaneswar, was preceded by two
similar closed-door meetings in the capital.
While four ministers – Sarada Nayak,
Anjali Behera, Badri Naryan Patra and
Sanjeeb Sahu – were present at Mr. Mohapatra's residence, apart from deputy
speaker Sanand Marandi, 24 BJD MLAs
also participated in the secret parleys.
The legislators included Adikanda
Sethi, Khageswar Behera, Rajendra
Sahu, Debendra Kanha, Bibhuti Balabantray, Sushanta Singh, Pravat Biswal,
Kamalakanta Nayak, Jiban Pradeep Das
and Sarojini Hembram. They maintained they had gathered to discuss the
party's preparations for a bandh called
by the opposition against the petrol
price hike.
The CM has been keeping Mohapatra
at arm's length for some time. The bureaucrat-turned-politician was not invited to several important meetings of
the BJD, including the one called to observe the death anniversary of Biju Patnaik, Naveen's father and former CM of
Orissa.
The differences between the two leaders took a serious turn following allegations that Mr. Mohapatra was trying to
emerge as a parallel power centre in the
party.
The CM, who once used to consult
Mr. Mohapatra on all important matters, did not take him into confidence
while deciding the party's candidate for
the Athgarh bypoll and declaring his
support for NCP leader P.A. Sangma in
the presidential race. Former agriculture
minister and Mr. Mohapatra's bête
noire, Damodar Rout said: "Any such
meeting organised in the absence of the
CM is a serious matter." n
INDIA FIRST 25
State
A
s the Rairangpur-bound bus
approaches the Acharya Vihar
crossing in Bhubaneswar, a
man standing by the roadside waves a
coconut wrapped in a red cloth. The vehicle screeches to a halt, the busy-looking conductor gets down and takes the
hard-shelled fruit from the man.
Barely one kilometre away, the bus
stops again at Rasulgarh square to collect a bunch of red cloth-wrapped coconuts from a woman. By the time the
coach reaches the famous Badambadi
bus stand in Cuttack, the space in front
of the driver is full of coconuts.
These coconuts have been sent by
devotees to the famous Tarini temple at
Ghatgaon, a tiny roadside habitation in
Orissa’s mineral-rich Keonjhar district.
No bus driver ever refuses to carry coconuts meant for Tarini. It’s a unique
courier service that’s entirely free of cost.
“No matter how much time it takes,
we always stop to pick up these coconuts. Sometimes there are sackfuls
left on the roadside by the devotees.
Many people also send money for the
deity along with the coconuts. All this
reaches the temple safely,” says Vijay
Kumar, the driver of the Rairangpurbound bus which goes via Ghatgaon.
There are at least three morning buses
from Bhubaneswar to Ghatgaon, a distance of about 200 kms.
Buses that don’t go to Ghatgaon directly also carry the votive coconuts.
Somewhere on the way, they pass it on
to the vehicles heading towards the
Tarini temple, just like the baton change
in a relay race. “It’s a simple system that
runs like a well-oiled machine,” explains
Kumar, as he receives a bagful of coconuts from the helper of another bus at
Ghasipura, a stop about 50 kms from the
Blessed
Business
Fortune smiles on a cottage industry in Ghatgaon as
thousands offer coconuts at the altar of Ma Tarini
Saroj Mishra
26 INDIA FIRST
shrine. Bus drivers and conductors invariably oblige the devotees as they believe the act would fetch them the
blessings of the deity and ensure a
smooth and trouble-free journey.
According to the temple’s accountant,
around 30,000 coconuts reach the
shrine daily, while the number exceeds
50,000 on festive occasions. “We have
over 100 informal coconut collection
centres in different parts of the state. Almost all Tarini temples, big or small,
serve as collection centres. Very often
people pile up the fruits near bus stands
so that they easily attract the attention
of drivers,” said the accountant, adding
that the service runs entirely on faith.
Apart from the coconuts reaching
Ghatgaon through this free courier service, the temple that attracts thousands
of devotees from Orissa and neighbouring states, has its own daily supply of
2,000 coconuts per day. “We get this
through a local contractor to meet the
needs of devotees coming from far and
wide. Two counters inside the temple
premises sell coconuts, still many buy it
from shops outside,” he said. Ghatgaon
has six coconut godowns with a daily
supply of 24,000 fruits, the bulk coming
from Sakshigopal area of Puri which accounts for nearly 30 percent of the state’s
total coconut production of 29.30 crore.
Orissa has a coconut production area of
52,219 hectares, the yield per hectare
being 6,809 fruits.
The tiny settlement of Ghatgaon has
over 100 shops selling coconuts and coconut products including coconut oil
and sweets, locally known as Kora. “This
place survives on coconuts. Kora or
sweet coconut balls are a delicacy every
visitor wants to take home. It is made by
grinding coconuts and adding sugar to
it,” explained Umakant Nayak, a vendor
outside the temple in the town.
Like all Hindu deities, Ghatgaon Tarini
too is surrounded by legends which
trace her origin back to the 15th century
when king Trilochan Bhanja ruled Keonjhar. The Tarini was originally worshipped by the rulers of Kanchi who
were defeated by Puri king Purushottam
Dev’s army led by Gobinda Bhanja, the
son of Trilochan Bhanja. After the war,
Gobinda Bhanja brought the deity back
with him to Puri and when his father
died he wanted to take her to Keonjhar
before ascending the throne. The deity
agreed but said she would follow him on
a horse, her presence to him being indi1 JUNE 2012
cated by the sound of her ankle bells.
But if Bhanja looked back she would
turn into stone. As Bhanja reached
Ghatgaon, the sound of ankle bells suddenly ceased and the would-be king of
Keonjhar looked back. The deity instantly turned into stone and told him
that she would like to stay there forever.
“Since then she has been worshipped
here. The place was then a forest and it
was perhaps her green surrounding
which made coconut her favourite fruit.
She is also fond of banana but coconut
takes precedence over anything else
when it comes to making offerings to
Tarini,” explained a temple official,
adding that the temple has a daily earning of around Rs 50,000, the bulk coming from coconut sale. Of the nearly
30,000 coconuts offered to the deity
daily, about one-third is taken by a local
contractor who was the highest bidder
when the temple trust invited tenders
for coconut sale last year. “He is a regular
supplier to a coconut oil mill in Balasore. But most of our coconuts are
bought by the locals who make a living
by selling sweets and oil,” informed the
official. The husk is given free to the locals who burn it to make fire.
Manufacturing coconut-based products, mainly oil and sweets, has turned
into a cottage industry that sustains a
few thousand people in and around
1 JUNE 2012
"Most of our coconuts are
bought by the locals who make
a living by selling sweets and
oil"
Ghatgaon. Women self-help groups in
the area have taken to manufacturing
and selling coconut oil and Kora with
great enthusiasm. There are 25 SHGs
functioning in villages like Ghatgaon,
Upardiha, Binajhari and Mukundpurpatna, with women confessing to making a decent living out of this trade. “A
one litre bottle of coconut oil sells for Rs
120 while a packet of Kora goes for Rs 10.
We manage to make good savings,” said
Pratima Nayak of Biraja SHG as she sat
with colleagues on the road outside the
Tarini temple selling oil under the blazing sun.
While oil can be made at home in
small quantities by heating the ground
coconut in pans and then straining it,
the women SHGs, whose scale of operation has been steadily increasing, prefer to use the services of a private oil
extraction unit at Dhenkikut village,
about 15 kms from Ghatgaon. “Though
they have to pay for this, it makes their
job easier. Back home, they only need to
purify the oil by straining it a few times.
Then it’s ready for sale,” said Purna
Chandra Mahanta, who has been associated with NGOs making use of temple
coconuts.
Even small girls in villages make Kora.
The balls are then allowed to dry up a little before being packaged for sale in the
local market. Some women SHG members also make sweet pan masala by cutting up dried coconuts into tiny bits
which are then sold to the local shopkeepers. Mahanta hopes the local administration will soon allot land for
opening a sale centre for women SHG
members so that they don’t have to sit in
the open. The women too remain optimistic given their immense faith in Ma
Tarini, the deity who rules Ghatgaon. n
INDIA FIRST 27
CULTURE
No humour
please,
we are
Indians!
Madhusree Chatterjee
I
n 1923, iconic Bengali humorist
Sukumar Ray described a curious
race of beings “who were scared to
laugh”. With the government forced to
apologise for a 1949 cartoon on Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar after
parliamentarians of all hues raised a
massive ruckus, are Indians becoming
that humourless race?
The 63-year-old cartoon by the eminent Shankar – considered the father of
Indian political cartoonists who ran the
highly regarded Shankar's Weekly till it
closed down during Indira Gandhi's
Emergency regime of 1975-77 – shows
the country’s first prime minister,
Nehru, with a whip in his hand chasing
Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian
constitution, who is on a snail. The uproar in parliament, that began with
protests by pro-Dalit parties, led to
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal removing the sketch from
NCERT textbooks, followed by an attack
on the offices of NCERT adviser Suhas
Palshikar, even though he had quit.
The controversy, posing the bigger
question of removing political cartoons
from textbooks entirely points to a tiptoeing autocracy, growing stupidity and
joylessness in the Indian polity, say a
cross section of scholars, intellectuals
and society watchers.
Former politician and schoolteacher
M.L. Chattopadhyay says the controversy is reminiscent of Ray's limerick
28 INDIA FIRST
Media
professionals
holding
placards during
a protest over
the recent
cartoon
controversy in
New Delhi.
"Ram Garurer Chana" – children of the
bird Ram Garuda who are not allowed to
laugh ... and were always scared that
someone was laughing.
Indians are probably losing the ability
to laugh because of a competitive and
combative society, adds historian and
writer Mushirul Hasan.
“We have lost the inclination to laugh
at the self. Unless you can laugh at yourself, you cannot appreciate humour and
wit,” Hasan, the author of the Awadh
Punch and Wit & Wisdom: Pickings from
the Parsee Punch.
Laughter gives one confidence during
“road rages when someone is either
angry with you or excluding you because of your gender or for the fact that
you are a Dalit in a combative society ...”,
Hasan said.
Raking up a controversy over cartoons that were drawn over six decades
ago is stupidity, says Jatin Varma,
founder and host of Comic.Con, the
country's largest annual comic assembly.
“It is most stupid to condemn them
now when they (Shankar, Ambedkar,
Nehru) did not rake up the issue when
they were alive. The sad part is that the
whole process of putting together an
NCERT text goes through various layers
of bureaucratic screening,” Varma said.
Progressive intellectual and artist
Ram Rahman said he did not buy the argument that these cartoons were not ap1 JUNE 2012
propriate for students.
“In this day and age, when more
youngsters have access to the digital
media, to try and censor material like
cartoons which have appeared in the
mass media is ridiculous,” Rahman
said.
He added that proscribing cartoons
which were a part of history and had
been seen by millions was no different
from destroying the Babri Masjid.
“The motivations are exactly the
same. It is an attempt to rewrite history
and also culture and is tantamount to
an attack on the freedom of the press.
This is like bringing in the censorship
of the emergency through the back
door … It is reminiscent of the contro1 JUNE 2012
versy surrounding M.F. Husain's art,"
Rahman said. "After cartoons, what
next?” he added.
In a joint statement from the Safdar
Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat), intellectuals such as Romila Thapar,
Zoya Hasan, Prabhat Patnaik, Sudhanva Deshpande and M.K Raina said
“appropriate procedures have to be
followed such as the setting up of a
committee of academics to look into
each case”.
“Summary judgments of the ministers concerned under political pressures of various kinds do not
determine the content of our academic syllabi,” they stated.
The aggressive stand over the con-
troversy was antithetical to the democratic values cherished by Ambedkar.
The Foundation of Media Professionals, which condemned the move
as a “retrograde step for democracy
and does not augur well for what may
come”, believes irreverence should not
be equated with disrespect.
“Irreverence is not disrespect and
cartoons are an important part of
socio-political commentary. They are
not threats to democracy,” the foundation said in a statement.
For the common person, protest is
the only tool against the government
whip on political cartoons.
The road ahead is still uncharted on
this one. n
INDIA FIRST 29
HEALTH
Drink Coffee
to Live Longer
A
ccording to a 14-year study,
men who consumed six or
more cups daily were 10 percent less likely to die compared with
those who did not drink coffee. For
women, there were 15 percent fewer
deaths for those drinking six cups or
more.
The findings showed
there was a marginal
difference for men
drinking one cup
per day, but those
drinking two to
three cups a day
were 10 percent
less likely to die.
Those drinking
four or five cups
per day were 12
percent less likely
to die than noncoffee drinkers,
the New England
Journal of Medicine reported.
For women
there was no
effect seen for
one cup or less
per day. Those
drinking two
or three cups
were five per
cent less likely to
die compared with
those who drank none
at all and those drinking four or five cups
were 16 percent less
likely to die, according to
The Telegraph.
Researchers said the effect was seen
across almost all causes of death including heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents,
diabetes, and infections.
However, critics said it was “biologically implausible” that coffee drinkers
would be less likely to die in accidents.
The researchers said it could not be
proven that drinking coffee was the
cause of the lower death rate and it
30 INDIA FIRST
Coffee drinkers may enjoy a
longer life, as new research
has found they are less likely
to die than non-coffee drinkers
might be that other factors about coffee drinkers influenced the findings.
Neal Freedman, from the National
Cancer Institute, Maryland, US, wrote:
"Given the observational
nature of our
study, it is
not possible to conclude that the
inverse relationship between coffee
consumption and mortality reflects
cause and effect."
"However, we can speculate about
plausible mechanisms by which coffee
consumption might have health bene-
fits. Coffee contains more than 1,000
compounds that might affect the risk
of death," he said.
"The most well-studied compound is
caffeine, although similar associations for caffeinated and
decaf-
feinated
coffee in
the current study and
a previous study suggest
that, if the relationship between coffee
consumption and mortality were
causal, other compounds in coffee (e.g
antioxidants, including polyphenols)
might be important," Mr. Freedman
concluded. n
1 JUNE 2012
Young
Words
Never Say Never
nainika
N
ever say never/Go-getter/Follow your dreams/Sky
is the limit/Never say never/The more you succeed
the bigger the downfall
Well, you must be thinking what are these random lines for!
These are a few lines that cross my mind frequently. Now
when I say frequently I mean every second of every day, when
I am drinking, eating, or even sleeping. It's cemented in my
head. This is what keeps me awake at night, as someone said:
"Dreams are not what you dream at night but what keeps you
awake at night". I lie in bed lost in my dreams, bright-eyed,
with not a single yawn on its way, just the restless feeling that
keeps telling me to open that door, get out and make the most
of this huge world. Then reality hits me. I am still in school.
Letting out a sigh, I remember my schoolwork or the upcoming test, and in no time I fall asleep.
Well this is not how I want to put myself to bed. I want to be
content when I lie in bed. I want to feel good that I am doing
something that I love. I am making it happen, seeing everything through a magnifying glass, capturing every detail and
just enjoying life. This is what every established adult would
say when they realise that they are not following their
dreams. Then they start afresh and perhaps live happily
for the rest of their life.
But, this is for anyone out there who has a restless
soul like mine, whose heart is just aching for excitement and who has the thirst to fulfil some desires. If
you are just waiting for things to happen, waiting for
things to take their course, it's not going to happen.
Unless you go out there and make it happen, nothing’s going to change if you don't work towards it.
This is a short story about a young eight-year-old
boy who achieved everything after he started listening to his heart. He became famous by posting videos
on YouTube. He was gifted and had a charm that
would later on impress every girl in the world. At only
16 years of age, he sold out Madison Square Garden in
just 22 minutes. Yes! If you have not guessed it by now, it
is the very famous Justin Bieber.
His father left him when he was very young and he was
raised by his mother alone in a low-income house. But then
he went on to be one of the most popular pop stars in the
world. It was luck that talent manager Scooter Braun saw a
budding star in the charming and talented little Bieber. Braun
had actually clicked on Bieber’s videos by accident and when
he saw what he saw, he wanted to make the boy famous.
Brawn went to Canada in search of Bieber. It was a tireless
search. There he found Bieber’s great aunt, then the Avon theatre where Bieber used to perform, and then his school, before
finally meeting Bieber's family. After being flown to Atlanta, Bieber faced rejection after rejection, because
in Hollywood you need to have a famous person
or a big banner such as Disney or Nickelodian
backing you so you can have a chance to be successful. Finally, when Brawn introduced Bieber
to Usher, but it was the young lad’s confidence,
1 JUNE 2012
charm and talent that made Usher decide to be his mentor.
Usher then introduced him to L.A. Reid. Bieber sang for Reid
in one of the latter’s concerts. Reid was beyond convinced.
And the rest was history. However, at the end of the day, it was
Bieber’s hard work and perseverance that ultimately paid off.
He was determined to a follow his dream, just at the age of
14. There is a movie about his life, Never Say Never and even
a book called, First Step 2 Forever. This is the person I look up
to!
While I am breathing, I don't want to feel claustrophobic ,
stuck within four walls, running in circles. I want to bring
about a change and I want to do it now! There’s a burning
flame inside of me – it’s my heart and I am listening to it.
Am I doing the right thing? I want you to send your views to
[email protected]. n
The 14-year-old author is a 10th standard student of
Sri Kumarans Public school, Bangalore
INDIA FIRST 31
TELEVISION
TRPS BLACK OUT
Producers and
writers of TV
serials walk a
tightrope as they
try to juggle
social issues with
TRPs
Aastha
Khurana
J
ust a few years ago, television
producers found a new recipe
to make successful shows –
social messages garnished with
melodrama and entertainment. The
result was hit shows such as "Balika
Vadhu" and "Pratigya", but the
menu soon changed after the initial
episodes. Experts blame TRP pressure for this.
"Balika Vadhu", which deals with
the subject of child marriage, recently completed 1,000 episodes,
but its protagonist Anandi's fate is
still undecided. The same is the case
with "Pratigya", in which the lead
actress ends up marrying the man
who used to harass her.
Gajra Kottary, writer of "Balika
Vadhu", says life in a rural environment is not easy.
"There are no jumps in life. Everything is very gradual and that is
what we are trying to show. We have
so far shown the pain of her
32 INDIA FIRST
[Anandi's] journey …," Kottary, who
has set the story in a Rajasthani village, said.
"Anandi has achieved a lot. She
has won over her in-laws who are by
her side and support her. I don't
think this should be considered
something of a small achievement,"
she added.
Anandi's achievement notwithstanding, the show has not delivered
a concrete message yet.
The same is the case with "Pratigya" where the lead actress is initially shown fighting against eve
teasing but later marries the very
guy who used to tease her and ends
up indulging in kitchen politics.
Some shows on TV, such as in
"Naa Aana Iss Des Laado" and "Agle
Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo", also
tried to touch upon the issues of female foeticide and sexual harassment, but after delivering some
successful episodes, the social
themes fizzled out.
Why does kitchen politics overshadow social themes?
According to industry experts, the
TRP factor takes a toll and makes
the story suffer.
Media analyst Kinjal Shah explains the makers come with innovative show ideas but when they are
hit by low TRPs, they take the path
of kitchen politics.
"Producers make an effort to
come with interesting storylines to
break the monopoly of saas-babu
dramas. These generally do well in
the beginning but are not able to
keep the viewers interested for a
long time," she said.
"Another reason for low TRPs
could be the lack of research by the
team to keep up with the [original]
track. When they fail to keep the
story interesting while focussing on
the social issue, they rely on the
mean kitchen politics," Shah added.
1 JUNE 2012
SOCIAL MESSAGES
Writer-director Mrinal Jha says
more than the TRPs, the producers' lack of confidence mars such
shows.
"If you believe that people
would want to watch a different
story, then you should stick to it. If
the makers change the original
concept and move on to the same
saas-bahu storyline that means
they themselves are not convinced about the script. This indicates their lack of confidence," he
stated.
Jha has written scripts for
shows such as "Chhoona Hai Aasmaan", "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi
Bahu Thi", "Kasturi", and is currently scripting "Phir Subah Hogi"
on Zee TV.
Kottary says the challenge is to
work around TRPs.
"We cannot dismiss the TRP
factor. One has to accept it and we
have to work around it. The chal1 JUNE 2012
lenge is to sustain the TRP and not
to forget the social message behind," she noted.
She feels her "Balika Vadhu"
show has managed to achieve
that.
"We have said that in a very
emotional manner, mixed with
some entertainment and colourful culture of Rajasthan. We have
played on that but never gone
wrong on the central message that
child marriage is a curse," said
Kottary who has shows such as
"Jyoti", "Godh Bharaai" and
"Astitva" to her credit.
She feels high-voltage emotions
are vital to keep the viewers
hooked.
"Television is mainly watched
by women; so the shows have to
be very emotional. But the problem is with the makers who can't
show the story in an emotional yet
real way," Kottary concluded. n
INDIA FIRST 33
Bollywood
Star Tantrums
A
series of spats and fights including the one Shah Rukh
Khan had with a security guard
at Wankhede Stadium has reinforced the
perception that our stars are louts. Or
may be they are now being real. Boorishness, in certain cases, helps their
publicity.
Dolly Bindra's violent and rude onscreen behaviour {Bigg Boss) turned her
into a household name and got her
more assignments.Actor Rakhi Sawant
and singer Mika shot to fame after their
smooch-slap gate.
"When we hear and read about stars
trampling rules and misbehaving with
commoners, one feels that power and
money have got into their head. Inflated
egos and the deification of stars through
mass media are definitely taking away
humility from stars," says a homemaker.
The Mumbai Cricket Association
(MCA) has imposed a five-year ban on
SRK and his personal security who got
into the brawl with the security guard on
May 16. The incident happened after the
IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.
Incidentally, a couple of months ago,
SRK slapped Bollywood director Shirish
Kunder at a party. Kunder's comments
on the dud that Ra.One turned out to be
left the actor fuming.
Even as the MCA refuses to rethink
the ban, SRK maintains he will not apologise. "The security abused me and I
abused back.... They should apologise to
me for extreme highhandedness. It is
fashionable to say anything about a
celebrity. When a celebrity gets into an
argument, it is fashionable to say 'he is
drunk'," SRK told reporters.
King Khan, however, is not the only
badshah of boorishness. Saif Ali Khan,
Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, John
Abraham, Genelia D'Souza, Ameesha
Patel, Salman Khan and Anushka
Sharma, too, have grabbed the headlines for their rude behaviour in public
domain.
34 INDIA FIRST
Saif allegedly punched an NRI businessman, Iqbal Sharma, who asked the
star and his friends to cut the ruckus
they were raising in a luxury hotel.
Sharma ended up with a broken nose.
Akshay roughed up a guard for allegedly
pinching his son Aarav. Hrithik had a
skirmish with security personnel at a
promotional event. While Ameesha was
in the news for abusing and slapping her
driver, Salman, John, and Genelia
slapped their fans at various events.
Anushka's snooty behaviour with the
media and fans got her enough air space
on TV channels.
And not to forget the classic ones relating to Salman. The actor was in the
dock for running his vehicle over some
pavement dwellers, leaving one person
dead, under the influence of alcohol. He
was later released on bail
He also faced imprisonment and fine
for hunting blackbucks in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Salman's abusive and violent
behaviour with his girlfriends has also
earned him much flak. He also had a
spat with SRK at his ex-girlfriend Katrina
Kaif's birthday bash after King Khan
made a comment about Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan, another ex-flame of the
Dabaang Khan.
Pin-up boy John Abraham's love for
speed turned sour when the actor injured two people, courtesy rash driving.
He was arrested and later released on
bail. Another incident that made news
was John thrashing a person in a nightclub for commenting on his ex-girlfriend Bipasha Basu.
Sanjay Dutt had almost come to blows
with a fan, who was trying to take his
picture at a Mumbai hotel. Thankfully,
Sanju bhai quickly left the place.
Zayed Khan reportedly bashed up two
NRIs for trying to gatecrash his friend
Esha Deol's birthday party. He had also
got into a brawl with DJ Ryan Beck at DJ
Aqeel's nightclub.
Actor-turned-director Pooja Bhatt
slapped newcomer Muzammil Ibrahim
on the sets of Dhoka, after he failed to
perform as per her expectations. Pooja's
fight with her former live-in partner
Ranvir Shorey had also hit headlines
after her brother Rahul intervened, only
to end up in a scuffle with Ranvir.
Otherwise known to tickle the funny
bones of fans, Govinda allegedly
slapped director Neeraj Vora on the sets
of his upcoming film Run Bhola Run. He
had also slapped an onlooker, who the
actor claimed "misbehaved" with him,
on the sets of Money Hai To Honey Hai.
Priyanka Chopra, too, gave a tight one to
a fan, when he tried to get close to her,
near her vanity van.
It is not just Bollywood stars who run
into such troubles. India's other obsession, cricket, too, witnesses its own
share of ugly scenes. How can one forget
Harbhajan Singh slapping S. Sreesanth,
who taunted the spinner after an IPL
1 JUNE 2012
match in 2008 and ended up weeping.
Indian players allegedly got into pub
brawl with disgruntled fans, after getting
booted out of the 2010 T20 World Cup in
the Caribbean. Fast bowler Praveen
Kumar was involved in a drunken brawl
with a doctor in his hometown, Meerut,
following which he had to apologise.
More recently, former Indian pacer
and current bowling coach of Royal
Challengers Bangalore, Venkatesh
Prasad, got into a heated argument with
police officers, as he tried to defend his
wife, who breached security at Chin-
naswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
"Most people are indifferent to such
incidents. When you come back from office after a long day, these episodes of
tussles are just an hour of added entertainment," says the communication
manager of a leading company that has
close links with IPL. "The depreciating
value of Indian rupee affects me more
than, say, SRK fighting with a guard.
Also, sometimes, a star fight is more of a
publicity stunt."
Those on the receiving end, especially
fans, however, have a lot of com-
plaints— humiliation, disillusionment
and a broken heart.
Model and budding actor Nikhil
Mishra is one such 'victim'. "In August,
2010, Kader Khan's son's (Sarfaraz
Khan) film was being shot in Film City,
Mumbai. I had gone to see the shooting
and was standing inside the studio
when Kader Khan shouted at me, 'Arre
hatt, tumhare baap ki film hai kya? (Get
aside, is it your father's film?)'. I was
shocked," recalls the 2007 Grasim Mr
India finalist, who has acted in a couple
of TV serials.
However, what confirmed Nikhil's belief that most Bollywood celebrities are
essentially rude was an encounter with
Akshaye Khanna on the location of an
ad film in Jaipur. "I was also in the city
on a modelling assignment. As I was a
big fan, I went to see him. When I asked
for his autograph, he curtly said, 'Mein
autograph nahi deta, photograph deta
hoon. Japehle camera le ke aa (I don't
give autographs, I give only photographs. Go and get a camera first)," says
Nikhil, who stopped watching Akshaye's
films since then.
Richa Sharma, who works for a home
shoppingchannel, too, hasbeen witness
to such arrogance. "During the Celebrity
Cricket League in Sri Lanka in 2010, Anil
Kapoor made a brief appearance. As he
was returning, a fan sought his autograph, but got just a rude reply. It was offending," she says.
Celebrities don't hesitate being impolite to their industry colleagues as well.
Says Mumbai-based actor-turned script
writer Aashish Vyaas: "During the shooting of film Taj Mahal, Zulfi Syed had to
do a shot where he had to emote after
seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time.
But even after repeated attempts, he
could not get the right expression. Director Akbar Khan lost his cool and
started abusing Zulfi. I stood shocked
right behind Khan." Vyaas worked as a
junior artist in the film.
Writer and actor Raj Singh Chaudhary
attributes such behaviour to the extremely competitive nature of the industry which leaves them "full of
insecurities". "After soaring to success,
people change. Friends for years stop
taking calls or even look through you,"
says Chaudhary, referring to two of his
successful director and actor friends.
Item girl Sambhavna Seth agrees:
"Even if some big stars know you, they
would behave as if you are a stranger.
They ignore you and treat you like a nobody. It hurts."
Dr Samir Parikh, director, mental
health department, Fortis Healthcare,
has another interesting take. He feels the
increasing number celebrity squabbles
indicates the rising aggression in society.
Parikh says that it is possible that after
attaining a certain stature in society,
some celebrities expect to be treated in
a certain way. "When that doesn't happen, emotional outbursts occur," he
says. However, the vulnerability of a star
in such situations varies from person to
person.
"Yes! You do expect people to treat you
in a certain way, but that's not because
you are a star or actor, because you are
a human being," argues actor Rajeev
Khandelwal, who once lost a shirt to a
mob of fans. "At times, people who seek
cheap thrills also provoke actors by
passing nasty comments and getting
physical."
Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit was
once caught in such a situation during
the shooting of the film Hifazat. Fashion
designer Aruna Singhrecalls, "A portion
of the film had to be shot in the jungles
of Udaipur.
As my father was the forest ranger, I
went to see the shooting and became
friends with Madhuri. One of my friends
insisted that I take her along once. Madhuri called us into her dressing room,
where she was sitting casually without
make-up. My friend took the actor for
granted and passed unsolicited comments."
While fans feel humiliated and stars
claim that it is but natural for them to
react adversely at times, experts say
celebrities, who make a career out of
public image and admiration, cannot be
serial offenders, as it can mar their
brand equity.
There have been instances of erring
stars being dropped from ads, so as to
maintain the brand's image. For example, Salman was reportedly dropped
from a Thums-Up ad after an incident in
2007.
"If an actor continues to behave badly
in public domain, his brand value drops.
If it is a one-off incident then his image
is not dented," says image consultant
and veteran ad-man Alyque Padamsee.
"But the same equation changes if a
man roughs up a woman or kicks a dog.
People are very sensitive about such instances." n
1 JUNE 2012
INDIA FIRST 35
Interview
Sunny Leone shy
shooting love scene:
Mahesh Bhatt
Bhaskar Pant
“A
ll that glitters is not gold and all porn
stars are not bold,” says the inimitable Mahesh Bhatt while revealing that Sunny Leone was shy and
uncomfortable while filming the lovemaking scenes with Randeep Hooda in her
Bollywood debut Jism 2.
"I always knew that she is a very shy
person. Just because she is a porn star
doesn't mean that she has lost her feminine quality of being shy. During the
lovemaking scene with Randeep, she
was finding it very difficult to do it
comfortably," Bhatt, who is producing
the film, said over phone from Sri
Lanka, where Jism 2 is being shot.
"Jo nazar aata hai wo hota
nahin hai. All that glitters is
not gold, all soldiers are not
brave, all holy men are not
holy and all porn stars are
not bold. At times reality is
different," the filmmaker
added.
The Indo-Canadian
adult star of Punjabi origin was finalised for the
role by Bhatt during her
stint in the reality show
"Bigg Boss 5".
Jism 2 is a sequel to
2003 film Jism, in
which Bipasha Basu's
steamy scenes became
the talk of the town.
Pooja Bhatt, who had produced the original, is directing
part two.
Sunny surprised the entire
crew with her shy behaviour.
"Everyone was surprised
with her shyness, but I understood that it will be difficult for her. It's not easy to
shoot a lovemaking scene;
36 INDIA FIRST
it is a very demanding thing. Those who believed
that it would be a cakewalk for her will be
shocked by this revelation," said Bhatt, who
has also written the script of the film.
Jism 2 will see Sunny as seductress Izna.
The love triangle also features Arunoday
Singh.
Randeep, who shot lovemaking scenes
with Mahie Gill in Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster, was equally uncomfortable while
shooting the scenes.
"Even for Randeep it became very
challenging although he has shot
similar scenes before. One has
to understand that it's not a
fighting scene," Bhatt said.
Named by Maxim as
one of the 12 top porn
stars in 2010, Sunny,
whose real name is Karen
Malhotra, recently celebrated her 31st birthday
in Sri Lanka.
Bhatt said Sunny
wanted to move on from
being just a porn star
and was looking forward to establishing
herself as a part of tinsel
town.
"Sunny is concerned
how she will be perceived by the world as an
actress because everybody
knows her just as an adult star.
She wants to be known for
something more than that," he
added.
Sunny's career seems to
have taken off here. Apart from
Jism 2, she has also bagged a
role in a sequel to Ragini MMS.
She has also endorsed a phone
and a condom brand. n
1 JUNE 2012
Bollywood
‘Dirty Picture’ in Kannada excites Veena Mallik
P
akistani actress Veena Mallik
has started work on the Kannada version of The Dirty Picture, saying the film is packed with
glamour and sentiments that will allow
her to show her talent.
The Kannada version is also titled
The Dirty Picture. It is produced by
Venkatappa and directed by Trishul.
“I am quite excited to be part of
the film. I have heard the story
and it looks quite interesting,” Veena said Thursday.
“As the heroine, I will
get a lot of opportunity
to perform. The director has packaged the film
very well with
glamour,
sentiments and all other ingredients.”
Veena was here to attend the promo
and photo shoot of the movie.
Producer Venkatappa’s son Akshay
will play the male lead in the movie
and the shooting will start soon.
Venkatappa said that he would not
face any date issues with Veena as all
the problems relating to her visa have
now been cleared.
Starring Vidya Balan, the Hindi version was an unofficial biopic on southern sex symbol Silk Smitha. It was a
runaway success at the box office and
won Vidya her first National Award.
Ekta Kapoor, who produced The
Dirty Picture in Hindi under her banner Balaji Telefilms, is against the same
title being used by Venkatappa. n
Konkona original
choice for ‘Gangs
of Wasseypur’?
A
ctress Reema Sen is kicked about her character of Manoj Bajpayee’s wife in Gangs Of
Wasseypur. But if sources are to be believed,
the role was initially offered to Konkona Sen Sharma.
Kashyap originally wanted to cast Konkona, but due
to her pregnancy in 2010 and early 2011, she wasn’t
available for the shooting. The filmmaker’s second option was Nandita Sen, but she too couldn’t commit
time for the movie, says the source. Finally, Reema was
approached and she signed the film soon enough.
Gangs Of Wasseypur is a two-part film, dealing with
the coal mafia. It will release June 22. n
1 JUNE 2012
INDIA FIRST 37
Hollywood
Freida Pinto
doesn’t fear
fashion police
A
ctress Freida Pinto, currently basking in the limelight
at the ongoing 65th Cannes International Film Festival, says she feels no pressure to live up to her style
icon reputation.
“I really don’t worry about things like being on the red carpet. To me it’s a treat. It’s kind of fun when you’re the best
dressed and I don’t care when I’m seen as the worst dressed,”
showbizspy.com quoted Pinto as saying.
“Ultimately for me, I just have to be happy with what I’m
wearing. That’s all the matters. I just go, I love this dress and I’m
going to wear it no matter what people say. I think that’s the
only way to be,” added the 27-year-old, who has so far impressed fashion critics at the movie extravaganza.
Megan Fox pregnant with
daughter?
A
Kunis loves her teddy
A
ctress Mila Kunis, who was recently rumoured to
be dating her Friends With Benefits co-star Ashton
Kutcher, says the love of her life is a teddy bear.
“I still have my teddy. I’ve had it since I was nine. Maybe
one day I’ll share this bear with the world but for now he’s
just for me. I take him everywhere,” showbizspy.com quoted
Kunis as saying.
38 INDIA FIRST
ctress Megan Fox is reportedly pregnant with a baby
girl. The 25-year-old is expecting her first child with
husband Brian Austin Green.
“She’s been helping to
raise Brian’s 10-year-old
son Kassius for years, and
now she’ll have the experience of being mommy to a
little girl,” showbizspy.com
quoted a source as saying.
“Obviously, Megan and
Brian would be happy with
a healthy baby of either
gender, but they’re beyond
thrilled that Kassius is
going to have a little sister.
“She’ll be due at the very
end of September or the
first week in October.
Megan is attached to a
movie called Swindle, but
it’s in rewrites and probably won’t even begin filming until next year. So right
now her plate is totally
clean, and she can devote
herself to her baby,” she
added.
1 JUNE 2012
Radcliffe wants to
play superhero
A
fter playing boy wizard Harry Potter in
movies based on J.K. Rowling’s bestsellers,
actor Daniel Radcliffe is keen to play his
favourite comic book character from “The Flash”.
The actor says he would love to don the red and
yellow lycra suit sported by the superhero in “The
Flash”. He feels a movie like that could rival “The
Avengers”. “There’s not many superheroes left, who
haven’t been done but I don’t think anyone’s done
‘The Flash’ yet,” showbizspy.com quoted the 22year-old as saying.
“That’s one I’d probably have a go at, but I don’t
have any immediate plans. There are lots of offers
around, but I want to do something that I’m really
passionate about,” he added.
Heidi Klum pole dances
in new video
S
Cole’s new song
aimed at ex-husband
S
inger Cheryl Cole has reportedly hit
out at ex-husband Ashley Cole in a
new song “Love killer”.
The lyrics of the song have left her fans
wondering if they were directed towards Ashley, and a friend of the singer confirms they
surely are.
“It’s clearly about Ashley. And it’s the first
time we’ve really seen Cheryl’s full fury over
what happened. He and the rest of the world
now know exactly how she feels,”
dailystar.co.uk quoted a source as saying.
Cheryl had split from her soccer player
husband in 2010 after he cheated on her with
several women.
The lyrics of the song are — “Why do I love
you so much when you’re a love killer. Baby,
baby, you’re like the worst drug but you’re a
buzz killer .I’m in love with the love killer.”
“Assassinate my dreams, you’re nothing but
cold. But baby I just know that no-one in the
world can love you if I don’t,” she has further
crooned in the number.
1 JUNE 2012
upermodel Heidi Klum showcases her rock star side by
smoking and pole dancing in an edgy
new video.
The German beauty unleashes her
wild side for Hunger magazine’s new
spread with famed fashion photographer Rankin.
She appears to move around with
a guitar and puffs on a cigarette as
she sings new tune “Turn up the
night”, which was written for the
project, reports dailystar.co.uk.
Some other clips in the video include her being at a tattoo parlour,
partying with her friends and grinding against a pole in a skimpy leather
outfit.
The 38-year-old split from singer
husband Seal earlier this year.
Faris wants
eight kids!
Actress Anna Faris is expecting her first
child this fall, but she already wants to have
more kids. “I would love to have eight kids,”
showbizspy.com quoted Faris as saying.
The 35-year-old married actor Chris Pratt
in 2009. “There is the possibility I may not
be able to handle that many but I do want a
lot of kids. We want to populate the world,”
she added.
INDIA FIRST 39
state
Wake Up Call
P
olitical temperature in Odisha has shot up with chief
minister, Naveen Patnaik’s one time confidant and
Rajya Sabha member, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra setting
in motion hectic developments with what now appears to be
an act of extreme political indiscretion.
The meeting of MLAs at Mohapatra’s residence on Tuesday
evening sparked off coup rumours because of the sheer timing
of it. With chief minister away on a foreign trip, the gathering
of legislators and a few ministers in the house of the Rajya
Sabha member, once known as Patrnaik’s Chanakaya, was certain to raise eyebrows.
In this case it did more than that. Suddenly, Mohapatra, who
for over a decade has been acting as the principal advisor to the
chief minister, had turned into a “traitor” in the eyes of Naveenloyalists. Despite his attempts at damage control now, his image
has taken a major blow.
That the meeting was no innocent affair is obvious from the
fact that while those who reached the venue trying to dodge the
media claimed they were there to discuss preparations for the
Bharat Bandh, Mohapatra himself later admitted that the main
issue was the growing resentment and indiscipline within the
party.
It is no secret that Rajya Sabha member’s relations with the
chief minister have been strained for past sometime. Of late
Patnaik has been consistently ignoring him and he has not been
consulted on several important issues. The rift between them
became clear when the chief minister unilaterally announced
the candidate for Athgarh by-election and then Mohapatra did
not go to the constituency for campaigning.
The decision of the chief minister galled Mohapatra because
Athgarh candidate, Ranendra Pratap Swain had not been
friendly with him. But despite the bureaucrat-turned- politician’s objections, Swain managed to get the party ticket. More
recently, Mohapatra was not consulted on the issue of BJD extending support to NCP leader, PA Sangma in the race to the
Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was again a unilateral decision of the
chief minister.
Having got used to not only being consulted but also followed
for a long time, Mohapatra must have found his sudden marginalization in party affairs hard to accept. He was even more
upset about chief minister letting his detractors like former
agriculture minister, Damodar Rout have their way. This
brought him down in the eyes of party leaders who for so long
had treated him as their virtual boss. The pent up anger seems
to have found an expression now but the chain of events that it
has triggered may not be good for the health of the regional
party which takes its name after legendary Biju Patnaik, father
of the incumbent chief minister. The party, which has won three
back to back elections, needs to consolidate its position further
rather than frittering away its gains by indulging in this kind of
factionalism.
The chief minister must take this opportunity to assess how
deep is the rot within the party and what corrective measures
can be initiated to prevent any more damage. n
40 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
Books
Kashmir, Pakistan and
history on book shelf
The book case this fortnight is serious and fires reality shots on issues such
as terror, Kashmir, Pakistan and history
Book: The Meadow; Written by Adrian
Levy & Cathy Scott Clark; Published by
Penguin-India; Priced at Rs.499
In the summer of 1995, six tourists were kidnapped in the mountains of Kashmir. The ransom
note said the kidnappers were from an unheard of
Islamic outfit and they wanted the release of Pakistani militant leader Maulana Masood Azhar (later
responsible for the attack on the Indian parliament). The kidnapping electrified the world and
put the global spotlight on Kashmir.
Within four days, one of the prisoners had made
a hair-raising escape. A month on, he was found,
beheaded by his captors who had carved their
name into his flesh. In the background, camped out
in Delhi, the families of those missing struggled to
keep their hopes alive, while international governments negotiated frantically and the Indian army,
police and intelligence services tried to follow the
trail.
But the remaining four hostages were never
found, their case forgotten. The book tries to probe
the fate of the missing hostages and puts the story
together.
Book: Pakistan on the Brink; Written by
Ahmed Rashid; Published by Penguin
Books India; Priced at Rs.1,431
Now that Osama Bin laden is dead, Pakistan is
threatened by internal power struggles. The relationship between US and Pakistan is at an all-time
low and as the US and Britain begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan, what are the possibilities and hazards facing the world's most unstable
region? Where is the Taliban now, and how do they
figure in the future of Pakistan as well as
Afghanistan? What does the immediate future
hold, and what are the choices that Pakistan,
Afghanistan and the West can make?
These are some of the crucial questions that
Ahmed Rashid takes on in this follow-up to his acclaimed "Descent into Chaos". Rashid had predicted that the Iraq war would need to be
re-focused into Afghanistan, and that Pakistan
would emerge as the leading player through
which American interests and actions would have
to be directed.
1 JUNE 2012
INDIA FIRST 41
Book: Highway 39: Journeys Through a
Fractured land; Written by Sudeep
Chakrabarti; Published by Harper Collins
India; Priced at Rs.450
In "Highway 39: Journeys through a Fractured
land", the writer attempts to unravel the brutal history
of Nagaland and Manipur, their violent and restive
present, and their uncertain and yet desperately hopeful future as he travels along Dimapur, Kohima, Senapati, Imphal, Thoubal and their hinterlands - all touch
points of brutalized aspiration, identity, conflict and
tragedy.
These are the lands where militants not only battle
the Indian government but also each other in a frenzy
of ego, politics and survival, and enforce 'parallel' administrations. The writer's journey introduces the
reader to stories that chill, anger and offer uneasy reflection like a 14-year-old Naga girl who dies resisting
a soldier's attempt to rape her - and is now an icon. An
eleven-year-old girl abducted by police in Manipur
because they want to trap her parents and a staged
shootout in Imphal that kills a former rebel, and also
an innocent lady and her unborn child.
Book: The Innocent; Written by David
Baldacci; Published by Pan Macmillan;
Priced at Rs.350
Book: The Legend of Amrapali; Written by
Anurag Anand; Published by Shrishti;
Priced Rs.150
Aryavart (around 500 B.C.), was a land of many
prosperous kingdoms and among the most prominent of them was the Vajji Confederacy - one of the
first democratic republics known to mankind.
Vaishali, the capital of the Confederacy and that of
the illustrious Lichchavis was not only a centre of
commerce and political activity but also the blessed
motherland of Amrapali.
The book is the story of mayhem and turmoil
brought about by the obstinate desires of one man a man blinded by the intoxication of power. It is a
story of sinister plots and political wizardry, of unbridled passion, of naked ambitions and dogged loyalties that lead to the transformation of an innocent
young girl into one of the most revered, even worshipped, and occasionally feared personalities of her
times, the courtesan Amrapali.
Back in DC after successful missions in Edinburgh
and Tangier, assassin Will Robie sees his latest assignment, to eliminate a US government employee go
badly wrong. Robie is now a wanted man. But it seems
that he's not the only one on the run. Young teenager
Julie Getty is devastated by the inexplicable murder of
her parents in their home. Who wanted them dead,
and why, is a mystery. But Julie is smart enough to believe that their killer will come after her. Robie and
Julie meet when he saves her from an attempt on her
life as they were trying to leave town. The police investigating the hit start to take an interest in Robie. He's
particularly attracting the interest of Special Agent
Nicole Vance, who believes that the two cases are connected. Robie finds himself in a dangerous position as
he is tasked to investigate a crime at which he was
present. Does he need to change sides to save lives including his own?
42 INDIA FIRST
1 JUNE 2012
Only at Lalchand Jewellers