See? It's no eggsageration. It's no yolk. It's enough to make you go into shell shock. (OK we'll stop.)
But seriously. How the flip (sorry) did Humpty end up as an egg?
Well, apparently it's all thanks to Lewis Carroll (yes, he of 'Alice in Wonderland' fame) and his 1872 novel 'Through the Looking-Glass'.
Chapter six of the book is entitled 'Humpty Dumpty' and apparently, it's here that Humpty first appeared as an egg.
"However, the egg only got larger and larger, and more and more human: when she had come within a few yards of it, she saw that it had eyes and a nose and mouth; and when she had come close to it, she saw clearly that it was Humpty Dumpty himself. 'It can't be anybody else!' she said to herself. 'I'm as certain of it, as if his name were written all over his face.'"
Much like an omelette in a stainless steel pan, this portrayal of Humpty apparently stuck (sorry again) and he's been an egg ever since.
But while Carroll may have introduced Humpty as an egg, he can't be credited with the original nursery rhyme. So what was Humpty before he was an egg? (Hopefully a chicken, because that would settle a really long debate.)
Yep. A large cannon which is believed to have been used in English Civil War (1642-1649), specifically, in the 1648 Siege of Colchester.
The rhyme came about because as Colchester was under siege, one of the cannons from the attacking side managed to destroy the wall 'Humpty Dumpty' was positioned on. Hence, Humpty Dumpty came tumbling down.
Due to its massive size, none of the king's horses and none of the king's men were able to put it back together again... and so Humpty's legacy was born.
So there you have it. Once a cannon, now an egg, forever a popular nursery rhyme.
How could they not be? Across the world, the film and TV industry – Weinstein's domain – continues to foist outdated gender roles upon viewers.
Women's work
Television commercials are particularly guilty, frequently casting women in subservient domestic roles.
Take this 2015 ad for the Argentine cleaning product Cif, which is still running today. It explains how its concentrated cleaning capsules "made Sleeping Beauty shine."
The prince could help clean up, but why bother when women can do it all?
In it, a princess eager to receive her prince remembers that – gasp – the floors in her castle tower are a total mess. Thanks to Cif's magic scouring fluid, she has time not only to clean but also to get dolled up for the prince – who, in case you were wondering, has no physical challenges preventing him from helping her tidy up.
But why should he, when it's a woman's job to be both housekeeper and pretty princess?
Somewhat paradoxically, advertisements may also cast men as domestic superheroes. Often, characters like Mr. Muscle will mansplain to women about the best product and how to use it – though they don't actually do any cleaning themselves.
Mansplaining domestic chores.
More recently, there's been a shift – perhaps an awkward attempt at political correctness – in which women are still the masters of the home, but their partners are shown "helping out" with the chores. In exchange, the men earn sex object status.
This year, U.N. Women teamed up with Unilever and other industry leaders like Facebook, Google, Mars and Microsoft to launch the Unstereotype Alliance. The aim of this global campaign is to end stereotypical and sexist portrayals of gender in advertising.
As part of the #Unstereotype campaign, Unilever also undertook research on gender in advertising. It found that only 3 percent of advertising shows women as leaders and just 2 percent conveys them as intelligent. In ads, women come off as interesting people just 1 percent of the time.
The #Unstereotype Alliance will tackle gender stereotypes in advertising, which are often perpetuated negatively across the industry. pic.twitter.com/SYIOuyJjO0
Even before it was forced to reckon with allegations that Harvey Weinstein had also harassed women in London, the United Kingdom was making political progress on the issue of women's portrayal in the media.
In July, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority announced that the U.K. will soon prohibit commercials that promote gender stereotypes.
"While advertising is only one of many factors that contribute to unequal gender outcomes," its press release stated, "tougher advertising standards can play an important role in tackling inequalities and improving outcomes for individuals, the economy and society as a whole."
As of 2018, the agency says, advertisements in which women are shown as solely responsible for household cleaning or men appear useless around kitchen appliances and unable to handle taking care of their children and dependents will not pass muster in the U.K. Commercials that differentiate between girls' and boys' toys based on gender stereotypes will be banned as well.
Sticky floors
The U.K.'s move is a heartening public recognition that gender stereotypes in the media both reflect and further the very real inequalities women face at home and at work.
Worldwide, the International Labor Organization reports, women still bear the burden of household chores and caretaking responsibilities, which often either excludes them from pay work or leaves them relegated to ill-paid part-time jobs.
In Argentina, my home country, fully 40 percent of men report doing no household work at all, even if they're unemployed. Among those who do pitch in, it's 24 hours a week on caretaking and domestic chores for men. Argentinean women put in 45 hours.
You can do the math: On average, Argentinean women use up two days of their week and some 100 days annually – nearly one-third of their year – on unpaid household labor.
Real-world consequences
These inequalities, combined with advertising that reinforces them, generate what's called the "sticky floors" problem. Women – whether would-be investment bankers or, I dare say, aspiring Hollywood stars – don't just face glass ceilings to advancement, they also are also "stuck" to domestic life by endless chores.
The cultural powers that be produce content that represents private spaces as "naturally" imbued with female qualities, gluing women to traditional caregiving roles.
This hampers their professional development and helps keep them at the bottom of the economy pyramid because women must pull off a balancing act between their jobs inside and outside of the domestic sphere. And they must excel at both, all while competing against male colleagues who likely confront no such challenges.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama once pointed out this double standard in homage to his then-competitor Hillary Clinton. She, he reminded an audience in 2008, "was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels."
The sticky floor problem puts women in a position to be exploited by men like Weinstein, who tout their ability to help female aspirants to get unstuck. Until society – and, with it, the media we create – comprehend that neither professional success nor domesticity has a gender, these pernicious powerful dynamics will endure.
It was Diwali's eve, and my day started with a dismaying piece of news talking about a proposal issued by the Maharashtra state government which goes a step further to coerce MBBS doctors into rural service. I've written extensively on the pros and cons of compulsory rural service for fresh doctors. However, this write-up is to target a much more disconcerting aspect: that of putting the entire onus of the sad state of our rural healthcare system on doctors who are reluctant to join rural service. This also seems to be the sinister undertone of the government's campaign to solve the rural health crisis and is catching on with the commonality of this nation rapidly.
To understand the prime factors responsible for the shambles our rural healthcare is currently in, we need to examine the long-standing proclivities of our governing class. It's hard to argue that our policies related to healthcare have ever truly been 'pro-poor' and directed to address the perennial rural-urban dichotomy. The main focus, however, has arguably been the flashy, advanced tertiary care model taking care of the affluent urban class and sidelining the needs of the rural folk like nutrition, sanitation, and primary care, which also happen to be our major public health challenges. The saddest part is that the layman has been deceived into believing that advancement is all about sophisticated, high-end interventions, state of the art facilities and that nutrition and sanitation are secondary, while the reverse is true. India's measly investment into social security is also a testament to this general tendency.
The public health system of India in its present form is not even an apology of what it was envisaged to be several decades ago.
The undue pro-capitalist skew in our policies favouring the rich, culminating in the rise of neoliberalism in the 1990s has proved to be a significant damaging factor for our public health system. Not only has unregulated commercialisation and privatisation made quality healthcare a prerogative of the rich, it has also severely curtailed the inflow of resources (including doctors) into the public sector. A predilection for for-profit, market forces in healthcare coupled with a perennially low health spending never allowed a meaningful national health service to take off, which is meant to absorb all doctors and provide healthcare 'irrespective of one's ability to pay'. The public health system of India in its present form is not even an apology of what it was envisaged to be several decades ago. It lacks not only human resources but also essential infrastructure, a credible referral system, and an effective healthcare manpower policy.
It is hypocritical to expect a doctor to stay satisfied on moral grounds... putting up with the worst conditions while many of his peers continue to be lured into the affluent private sector...
It's hard to justify calling into question the moral integrity of doctors reluctant for rural service, while the real reason for the sad state of rural healthcare lies entrenched in our policies and the inclinations of our governments. Having recently worked in a rural area myself, I can attest to how abject the state of affairs could be for such doctors, who often have to settle for everything from a pest-infested accommodation, lack of basic amenities like electricity and potable water, to an overt insecurity about their own lives, apart from their patient's. Despite this, our authorities remain steady in propagandising that the doctor is the diabolical figure responsible for the rural health crisis.
It's high time the truth be propagated that increasing the number of public sector doctors would be in vain, unless backed by a renovation of the public health infrastructure and a reorientation of policies. The national health system of India is not in a position sound enough to effectively utilise the expertise of the country's doctors, even if it somehow they can accommodate the majority of them. It is absurd to think that a doctor working in a PHC could deliver a satisfactory service in the absence of basic, life saving infrastructure, essential medicines, and ambulatory services. It would be hypocritical to expect a doctor to stay satisfied on moral grounds after distancing himself from his family, and putting up with the worst conditions, while many of his peers continue to be lured into the affluent private sector so favoured by the powers that be.
Compulsory rural service after MBBS can be a welcome move only if an adequate national health system is in place to take care of both patients and doctors. There is an urgent need for the authorities to stop portraying doctors in bad light, assume responsibility, and acknowledge the holistic solution to the problem. If the current trend of blame and coercion continues, the country shall only be destined to an even more deficient and disgruntled medical workforce.
The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.
But there’s one thing you won’t see Kate Middleton wearing while she’s out and about attending royal engagements: bright nail polishon her fingernails.
“The royal ladies always wear natural nail polish because very bright, especially red, is seen as rather vulgar,” Diana Mather, director and senior tutor at The English Manner, an international protocol, etiquette and hospitality consultancy firm in the U.K., told HuffPost.
“In the old days prostitutes and courtesans wore red nail varnish (as it was called then) and ladies didn’t want to be associated with anything like that, so they wore understated colors,” Mather said. “Royal ladies always keep their nails beautifully manicured, but if by some unfortunate mishap a nail gets chipped when out in public, it is much less visible if it is a natural shade.”
William Hanson, a British etiquette coach and expert, agreed and said that brightly colored nails are seen as “tarty” by the British.
“Nothing about any outfit any member of royalty wears should distract from the duty at hand,” he said.
Grant Harrold, an etiquette expert and former royal butler who now runs a Twitter, YouTube and website called “The Royal Butler,” echoed Hanson’s thoughts.
“The family would certainly not wear any form of product or makeup that will draw the wrong attention,” he said.
“Her Majesty the Queen wears a neutral polish, showing that royals do indeed wear nail polish, but opt for subtle and neutral colors keeping with tradition and not the latest fashion item.”
Middleton went with a similar, understated manicure for her engagement announcement photos with Prince William:
Throughout her time in the public eye, the Duchess of Cambridge has also kept her nails unvarnished or worn a lighter shade of polish at events:
Now, this news doesn’t mean that Middleton hasn’t ever worn bright nail polish before (she hasn’t been a royal her entire life). And we’ve seen her wear red nail polish on her toes at a dinner at Claridge’s in 2012.
And more recently she wore a similar red nail polish color on her toes earlier this year to a reception at Clärchens Ballhaus in Berlin, Germany.
Though it seems that royals wouldn’t necessarily wear bright nail polish on their toes, Mather offered an explained for Middleton’s choice.
“The correct dress code states that toes should not be on display, but that rule is more relaxed in the 21st century, so perhaps the Duchess of Cambridge likes to be a bit more adventurous where her toes are concerned,” Mather said.
Just don’t count on Kate wearing bright blue or a sparkly pink polish on her fingernails any time soon (unless Princess Charlotte is able to convince her!)
The study’s authors observed 50 native German speakers who were attending a university in the Netherlands, where classes were taught in Dutch. Each person in the study indicated that they drank alcohol on occasion. The participants had also recently passed a Dutch proficiency test.
Each volunteer was asked to engage in a two-minute recorded conversation with an interviewer in Dutch. Half of the volunteers were given alcohol before the chat, and the other half were given water. The amount of alcohol varied depending on the person’s body type. (For example, a 150-pound man was given slightly under a pint’s worth of beer.)
The conversations were then reviewed by two native Dutch speakers, who weren’t told which participants had drunk alcohol and which hadn’t. The participants were also asked to rate their own performances.
Those who’d had alcohol didn’t rate their performance any better than those who’d had water, indicating that they didn’t necessarily feel more confident in their fluency than the water-drinkers.
However, the native Dutch speakers saw it differently. They ranked the alcohol drinkers as being more fluent in Dutch than those who drank water ― specifically, when it came to pronunciation. On metrics like vocabulary and grammar, the native Dutch speakers said, the two groups were comparable.
There are some caveats here. The amount of alcohol is key, for starters. Researchers theorize that drinking too much can have the opposite effect, making proficiency in another language worse due to slurred words. It’s also not clear what the participants’ stress levels or emotional states were at the time ― factors that can help or impede a person’s performance. The study’s authors note that this experiment should be conducted with other foreign languages to see if the same effect occurs.
Still, the researchers concluded that a little liquid courage can help when it comes to fluency.
Don’t drink? There are other options
If a little chardonnay isn’t your thing, there are certainly other ways to get better at speaking a new language. Give one of these a try:
Prioritize rest.
There’s some evidence to suggest that your brain can learn new information while you slumber. This doesn’t necessarily mean you can learn Spanish as you drift off, but research has shown that a person’s brain can learn and understand new noise patterns even while they’re asleep. The results suggest that hitting the hay is vital for brain power, also. It’s a start, right?
Writing during the learning process can help the brain retain new information. Studies show that when students take notes using pen and paper, they’re better able to recall the information from memory than when they take notes on a laptop.
You should never need a reason to indulge your love for dogs and all things dog-related, but as the world skids further into a fiery hellscape, dogs can be a great source of self-care.
But what do you do if there's no dog in sight? Sure, you could just look at some photos, I mean, that could work. But wouldn't it be even better to hear jokes and anecdotes tinged with Twitter's trademark mix of bleakness and humour? No need to answer that question, fellow dog-adorer, because we got you.
We have scoured Twitter and found our favourite dog-related tweets for those times you need them which, we guess is, like, always?
1.
Cop: Know why I stopped you?
Me: Cuz my dog is driving?
Cop: No, I wanted to pet him and call him a good boy.
After facing scathing criticism for promoting a “women’s empowerment” panel consisting only of men, SJ Magazine announced it was pulling the plug on the event.
The South Jersey-based publication promoted the panel, unironically dubbed “Women in Business: A man’s point of view,” on Twitter on Monday. In response, HuffPost reporter Yashar Ali expressed incredulity in a tweet that promptly went viral.
Reaction to the all-male panel, which would’ve included New Jersey state Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (D) and ESPN correspondent Sal Paolantonio, was blistering:
The discussion should be had by women and men should be the ones listening. That's how you support women in business.
SJ Magazine initially defended its decision to host the all-male panel, saying it had organized three other panels in its “women’s empowerment” series that included female speakers.
“Men have a responsibility to step up & support women & we want to start the discussion,” the publication said in a follow-up tweet.
A few hours later, however, the magazine announced it was canceling the event.
Sahar Dofdaa lived a tragically short and painful life. With sunken eyes and frail, protruding bones, the famished infant hardly stood a chance. Trapped in a Syrian conflict zone, her mother was too malnourished to breastfeed, and her father too impoverished to afford milk supplements.
Freelance journalist Amer Almohibany photographed Sahar for the last time at a medical facility in the war-torn country on Saturday. She died hours later, barely a month old and weighing just 4 pounds.
Almohibany’s heart-wrenching images of the emaciated newborn have onceagainturnedWesternattention to the Syrian regime’s siege of eastern Ghouta, where as many as 400,000 people reside, including Sahar’s parents.
Hundreds of civilians in the dilapidated Damascus suburb ― more than half of them children ― have died from food and medication shortages since the siege began in 2012, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said in a report released Tuesday.
Experts warn President Bashar Assad’s government is tightening its noose in the region, causing the already dire situation to deteriorate further.
“They’re really pushing the enclave to the brink of catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people,” Valerie Szybala, executive director of the Washington-based Syria Institute, told HuffPost. “There’s nothing hopeful to grab onto here.”
Ghouta Under Siege
Eastern Ghoutahas been under complete siege since 2013, shortly after a sarin gas attack by regime forces killed an estimated 1,429 people there.
For Assad, encircling Syrian territory and populations is a way to exert dominance and control while defying international human rights actors who oppose his leadership. He has kept the rebel-held area under an increasingly tight blockade, preventing his own desperate citizens from fleeing and keeping them from urgently needed aid supplies, with few exceptions.
The Russian military and Syrian rebels reached a de-escalation agreement on July 22, but Syrian-Russian alliance groups have continued to launch dozens of attacks against civilian facilities in recent months, the report notes.
“At this point, a lot of people have adjusted to this kind of caveman lifestyle that they’ve been living: no electricity and no running water,” Szybala said. “But the Syrian government and its allies are still launching attacks on [civilians], and has recently taken steps to intensify the siege,” limiting access to arable land and profiting off of basic supplies that have drastically escalated in price.
For Abu Azzam and his family in the town of Hamouriya, east Ghouta, this means eating one small meal per day, if they’re lucky. An airstrike on his home two years ago left him and his son permanently disabled, and killed one of his other children. He and his wife, Manal, struggle to care for their surviving sons and daughters.
“Over the past three days, we have only eaten bread,” Manal told the Syrian American Medical Society in a tearful interview. “And that’s thanks to our neighbor, who gave us a small amount of wheat.”
There's nothing hopeful to grab onto here.
Valerie Szybala, executive director of the Syria Institute
There are approximately 1,100 cases of malnutrition in eastern Ghouta, including hundreds of people suffering from severe to acute malnourishment, said Dr. Mohamad Katoub, a doctor with SAMS.
“It’s not only malnutrition. Other medical services just aren’t available,” Katoub, who is originally from eastern Ghouta, told HuffPost from Turkey. “We continue to lose people because of this lack of medical treatment ― people who could have been treated very easily.”
The medical sector “has been incredibly depleted,” said Szybala, who worries the humanitarian situation will only worsen as autumn gives way to winter.
Starvation By Siege: Assad’s Weapon Of War
The tactic of sieges, among the most brutal in the Assad regime’s playbook, “has turned into a matter of starving and restricting civilians” with no end in sight, according to Fadel Abdul Ghany, the founder and director of SNHR. “Its cost is higher than any anticipated military objective, and has become a form of collective punishment that denied civilians basic services and food.”
Szybala says she fears “something akin to East Aleppo,” referring to another siege imposed by the Syrian government that also resulted in a hunger crisis and widespread suffering. “I expect we’re going to see a lot of deaths due to siege this winter.”
The plight of eastern Ghouta’s residents also bears gruesome similarities to a prolonged siege in Madaya, Syria. The government blocked aid supplies and basic goods there for over a year, leading to mass casualties.
The international community’s response to the crisis has been utterly inadequate, according to Szybala. “People feel isolated, they feel alone, they feel abandoned ― and they are absolutely right,” she said. “There is no help coming for them.”
WASHINGTON D.C. -- The roads in Madhya Pradesh (MP) are better than the United States, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday.
Addressing the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum meeting, Chouhan said, "When I got down at the Washington Airport and travelled on roads, I felt the roads in Madhya Pradesh are better than the United States."
When I got down at Washington Airport & travelled on roads, I felt roads in MP are better than US: Madhya Pradesh CM in Washington DC pic.twitter.com/saMTLqKDqT
"A few years back, MP was termed as a diseased state, but when I became the Chief Minister 12 years back then it was in my mind that without basic infrastructure no state can develop. Our first focus was on building the roads. Today, we have constructed around 1.75 lakh kilometre roads in the state and all the villages have been well-connected with roads," Chouhan said.
He said that India is on the cusp of great economic progress today under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Projects like Start up India, Digital India, Stand Up India, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojna, Aam Aadmi Beema Yojna, Housing for All have been started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India's economic development rate is more than 7 %," the Chief Minister said.
Chouhan termed the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the biggest opportunity for investors.
"The GST has been launched in India for one nation-one tax-one market. This is the best opportunity for the investors as earlier they had to pay different taxes in different states," Chouhan said.
The GST, launched on July 1, is an indirect tax and is applicable throughout India. It replaced multiple cascading taxes levied by both - the central and state governments.
Chouhan also termed last year's demonetisation as the biggest step for the economy of the country.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took a very big decision of demonetisation. The black economy in India has been completely eradicated. Under the Digital India, people are getting all the facilities online through mobile even in the villages. India is marching ahead rapidly," he said.
On 8 November, 2016, Prime Minister Modi announced the demonetisation of all Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 banknotes. The government claimed that the action would curtail the shadow economy and crack down on the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism.
Talking about electricity production in Madhya Pradesh, Chauhan said, "When I became the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, we had only 2900 MW power. Today, the state has 20,000 MW power. We generated electricity from not only thermal, but also from water, wind, and solar resources."
He also told the gathering that Madhya Pradesh was constructing world's biggest 750 MW sola
r power plant in Rewa and "probably the consumers will get world's cheapest electricity at Rs. 2.93 per unit".
The Chief Minister also highlighted Madhya Pradesh's other achievements.
"When I became the Chief Minister, only 7.5 hectare land was irrigated, but now 40 lakh hectare land is irrigated. Madhya Pradesh's growth rate has been in double digits - around 12 per cent for the last eight years. The state's agriculture growth rate has been plus 20 per cent for the last five years," he said.
Talking about the river-linking project, Chouhan said it was the dream project of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to tackle with flood and drought.
"We have successfully implemented this project in Madhya Pradesh when we linked River Narmada with River Chipra. Now, we are linking River Narmada and with other rivers."
Chouhan also said that Madhya Pradesh's thrust is on the food processing sector.
"Madhya Pradesh is number one in India in agriculture, urban development. State's 22 cities found place in top 100 cities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Mission," the Chief Minister said, adding, "we are also investing heavily in providing drinking water in 53000 villages of the state."
Chouhan is in the United States to attract investments for Madhya Pradesh.
On Thursday, Chouhan will be holding a series of meetings with Amazon representatives until lunch.
In the evening, he will be attending a 'Friends of MP' interactive session at the Indian Consulate in New York, followed by dinner.
On Friday, Chouhan will again be attending a series of one-to-one meetings, and will depart for Mumbai from the Newark Airport on Saturday.
The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.
Essential HuffPost
The Supreme Court has weighed in on the national anthem, again, this time to say people shouldn't be forced to stand up in cinemas. But really that misses the larger point, argues Sandip Roy.
Wesley Mathew, from Kerala who is based in Texas, admitted to moving the body of his 3-year-old daughter Sherin Mathew from the family's home after she choked on milk and died, according to an arrest affidavit, changing his original story that she had disappeared after he had put her outside a few hours before dawn as punishment.
We're entering the sixth-wave of mass-extinction. We stand to lose up to 75% of the world's species, some report as soon as mid-century. This is because of human activity like waste and pollution, climate change, habitat destruction and wildlife poaching.
Main News
The government's ₹2.11 lakh crore stimulus for public sector undertaking bank recapitalisation sent the equity markets zooming on Wednesday morning, with both Sensex and Nifty, touching an all-time high in early trade.
Over the last four months, The Indian Express has tracked three key routes to find a trail of health hazards, including environmental damage, caused by the transportation of 25 million tonnes of coal. Official records attest that by 2030, this is slated to double to go up to 51.6 million tonnes each year.
NR Narayana Murthy, one of the founders of Infosys, said he was "disappointed" by the board clearing former CEO Vishal Sikka and his management members on issues of corporate governance and irregularities on a $200 million acquisition.
Off The Record
Within 24 hours of tabling a bill in the Rajasthan assembly that sought to shield public servants and judges from investigation, the Vasundhara Raje government has put the controversial draft into "cold storage" by sending it to a select committee of the House.
Large personal electronic devices like laptops may soon be disallowed from check-in bags because of fears that their battery fire would go undetected, leading to possible catastrophes.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said that by appointing a representative to hold talks in Kashmir, the central government has finally taken an important step towards reconciliation.
Opinion
The question facing the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat is whether the powerful Patel community in the state will vote as a caste bloc or if their support will be divided by class inflections. Christophe Jaffrelot weighs in in The Indian Express.
The horrifying incident of a brutal rape in a public place in Visakhapatnam, and of a bystander recording a video of the incident instead of alerting the police highlights not just how unsafe our cities are for women, but also how callous our society has become, an editorial in the Hindustan Times says.
Bitcoin has proved many of its critics wrong over the years, but its long-term prospects may not be too bright, writes Prashanth Perumal in The Hindu.
The Indian Medical Association had demanded that the practice of having a doctor participate in the process of execution be scrapped. The Telegraph reports that the IMA has asked medical regulators in the country to amend the code of conduct of doctors, so that they are not made to be present at hangings.
Krishnan Kumar Agarwal, national president of the IMA, said in a statement: "No doctor should be present during the process of execution. This would be a violation of medical ethics and should be deemed professional misconduct."
The report adds that the doctors want to implement a 2012 resolution by the World Medical Association. While they do not want to have any part in capital punishment, they've said that they can be asked to check the deceased after the process in order to issue a death certificate.
In 2012, the World Medical Association announced that it was against a physician's morals to abet and participate in the killing of a human being.
The general assembly of the World Medical Association therefore undertook a resolution in Bangkok in 2012 to not participate in processes of capital punishment undertaken by governments.
Explaining their decision, the resolution said: "There is universal agreement that physicians must not participate in executions because such participation is incompatible with the physician's role as healer. The use of a physician's knowledge and clinical skill for purposes other than promoting health, wellbeing and welfare undermines a basic ethical foundation of medicine—first, do no harm."
They also declared the following:
Therefore, be it RESOLVED that:
Physicians will not facilitate the importation or prescription of drugs for execution.
The WMA reaffirms: "that it is unethical for physicians to participate in capital punishment, in any way, or during any step of the execution process, including its planning and the instruction and/or training of persons to perform executions", and
The WMA reaffirms: that physicians "will maintain the utmost respect for human life and will not use [my] medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties, even under threat."
India Today reports Dr Agarwal saying: "All the policies and resolutions of the WMA are accepted by all member national medical associations, this makes India a signatory to all policies and resolutions adopted by the WMA, so we have requested the MCI to implement the 'WMA Resolution on Physician Participation in Capital Punishment', as a guideline for doctors in the country."
The BCCI today suspended the curator of Pune's cricket stadium after he was seen on a TV sting operation claiming that he could tamper with the pitch ahead of the second India-New Zealand ODI.
In the sting operation by India Today TV, curator Pandurang Salgaoncar is seen and heard speaking to an undercover reporter, who poses as a bookie, while standing on the pitch of the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
The 68-year-old Salgaoncar is seen agreeing to tamper with the pitch to suit the requirements put forth by the reporter. India Today TV said the video was shot last evening.
It is not clear how Salgaoncar, a former pacer and one-time India prospect, could have tweaked the pitch with just a few hours to go before the match later today.
"Pandurang Salgaoncar has been suspended from the Maharashtra Cricket Association's curator's post with immediate effect," BCCI acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary told PTI.
"The MCA has also suspended Salgaoncar from all other positions in the association. An inquiry Commission will also be constituted by MCA. At BCCI, we reiterate that we have zero tolerance towards any corrupt activity," he added.
The expose revealed a serious lapse in the functioning of the BCCI's anti-corruption mechanism but Chaudhary said today's match must go ahead.
"That is a decision that only the ICC match referee can take. You need evidence that the pitch has been doctored in order to call off a match. It's match referee's call. But in my opinion, match will go on," he asserted.
What has left senior BCCI officials baffled is that Salgaoncar allowed a self-confessed bookie to accompany him to the main match pitch. Under BCCI rules no unaccredited persons, including journalists, are allowed near the pitch.
"The BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) under Neeraj Kumar will have some answering to do. Here a random man comes, doesn't have an all-access area pass and is taken to the main pitch by the curator," a BCCI official said.
Asked if the ACU unit should be answerable as to how an outsider got access to the pitch, Chaudhary said, "...everyone associated with the ACU would be answerable. In any case a very select few have access to the centre of the pitch."
When contacted, BCCI acting President C K Khanna said he is writing a mail to Kumar so that his team gives an update on the incident.
"It's a pity that both former MCA President Ajay Shirke and current president Abhay Apte had helped Salgaoncar have a career after retirement. He gets Rs 65,000 salary per month from the MCA and also a BCCI pension. He is among BCCI's independent curators. We are feeling bad for both Abhay and Ajay. Salgaoncar let them down badly," Khanna said.
Salgaoncar, a former Maharashtra speedster, was considered a genuine India prospect in early and mid '70s.
He toured with the Indian team for an unofficial series against Sri Lanka back in 1974. Sunil Gavaskar's autobiography 'Sunny Days' mentions him as being a genuine prospect who was unlucky not to don national colours.
The former pacer took 214 wickets in 63 first-class games.
The Pune pitch had been under the spotlight earlier as well. It had been rated poor by the ICC after an India- Australia Test match in February.
The Australians had hammered India by 333 runs on a turner where the home team was bowled out for 105 and 107 in two innings. The game itself had ended inside three days.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly also expressed his shock.
"I don't know how he can tweak the pitch in one day and prepare it accordingly for a bookie. I don't know in what context he was saying this," Ganguly said.
The Maharashtra government's attempt of online registration for loan waiver implementation has sent the authorities into a tizzy as names over 100 farmers have been found linked to a single Aadhaar number.
The state government had earlier stressed on online registration by farmers with their Aadhaar, which is a unique identification.
The government has said that the Aadhaar-based linking will avoid any duplication as well as fake accounts getting the benefit of the loan waiver.
A senior official from the Maharashtra cooperation department showed a list of potential beneficiaries of farmers having a common Aadhaar number, which has become a cause of concern for the government.
"We always thought that the Aadhaar number will be our key to check fake beneficiaries. Now, we don't know how to address this challenge with so many farmers showing the same Aadhaar number."
"We always thought that the Aadhaar number will be our key to check fake beneficiaries. Now, we don't know how to address this challenge with so many farmers showing the same Aadhaar number. If we have to carry out a manual check, which will take weeks. The farming community is already agitated over the delay in implementation of the scheme," the official said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has called an urgent meeting with bankers today to address issues like this that crop up in the way of speedy implementation of the scheme.
Officials of some banks also admitted that the data they received from the online registration portal Aapale Sarkar - varies the data at their in their records.
Names Missing
The names of some farmers are missing and some do not match with the land size or type of loan.
"In many cases the principal amount and interest are not matching. It leads to suspicion. Unless the state officials have verified the account and its loan amount, we cannot consider that account for loan waiver," a senior official of a leading public sector bank.
The state government had last week released a sum of Rs 4,000 crore under the first phase of the over Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme.
Responding to the Opposition's criticism against the online system of filling forms for availing the scheme, Fadnavis last week earlier said had that not been done, the banks would have mismanaged funds.
The Centre had earlier this year made Aadhaar mandatory for availing crop insurance policies.
As per the agriculture ministry's directive, banks were asked to persuade farmers to furnish Aadhaar identification card at the time of sanction/renewal/ disbursement/inspection of the loan or on visit at bank branches.
Indian banking shares soared on Wednesday, sending indexes to record highs after the cabinet approved a $32.4 billion plan to recapitalise its state banks over the next two years, although uncertainty remains about how the injections will be structured.
The gains come after India's cabinet late on Tuesday cleared a plan to inject 2.11 trillion rupees ($32.4 billion) into state-run lenders over the next two years.
With the plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bidding to tackle a major drag on the economy that has frustrated his attempts to boost growth.
Investors welcomed the news, sending shares of State Bank of India, the biggest lender, up as much as 25 percent to its highest since January 2015. The benchmark NSE index rose as much as 1.3 percent, touching a record high.
But details of how New Delhi will fund the injections remain unclear. Also, questions remain about whether it would add to the country's fiscal deficit at a time markets are already doubtful India can meet its 3.2 percent target of gross domestic product for the year ending in March 2018.
The planned injection also still falls short of some estimates, including from credit rating agencies, of what's required. Fitch Ratings estimates Indian banks need $65 billion of additional capital by March 2019 to meet Basel III global banking rules.
For now, analysts said the long-awaited actions are positive, as India was widely seen as dragging its feet in resolving issues in a banking sector saddled with $145 billion in soured loans after years of almost indiscriminate lending.
Once the world's fastest-growing major economy, India has seen its growth rate plummet to the lowest in three years. A key factor has been the lack of private investment as state banks, which provide most of the credit in the economy, hold the largest amount of bad debt.
"At the end of the day, a good dose of the medicine that is required is being provided," said Jobin Jacob, associate director of financial institutions at Fitch Ratings.
"How the medicine is being sourced could have its own implications on the macro picture, but as far as the banking sector is concerned, it is helpful," he said.
Of the planned 2.11 trillion rupees sum, so-called recapitalisation bonds will account for 1.35 trillion rupees, while about 580 billion rupees is estimated to come from share sales by banks, the ministry said on Tuesday.
BIGGER STATE EQUITY STAKES?
The government will also use 180 billion rupees left from its previously budgeted recapitalisation fund.
Analysts predict recapitalisation bonds would likely involve selling debt to lenders, with the government then injecting the capital back into state-owned banks, potentially in exchange for increased equity stakes in the sector.
The government could also seek to avoid adding to its fiscal deficit by funding the injections through state-owned bodies rather than directly, an accounting sleight-of-hand that could allow New Delhi not to count the expenditure as part of its budget.
Details will matter. Concerns about how the recapitalisation bonds will be structured sent the benchmark 10-year bond yield up 3 basis points to 6.81 percent from its previous close.
The Indian rupee weakened slightly to 65.15 from its previous close of 65.0925
Investors warned that India also needed to announce reforms to the banking sector, to prevent moral hazard and impose more credit discipline on lenders.
Policymakers "should impose targets on these banks in terms of profitability, credit quality and efficiency. This has to be carefully managed," said David Marshall, Singapore-based analyst with CreditSights.
The festive season had many an enemy this year. From GST to ever-changing "internet ka fashion", we felt a distinct change this year, the kind of change that mirrors everyone's favourite Bangkok-tee slogan: Same Same But Different!
Not everyone's feeling the festive buzz in Banda this year, and there's a new three-letter word to blame, it seems. "GST, GST, GST. What is this GST? Aaj tak samajh hi nahi aaya. (Nobody's got the hang of it)." A frustrated Gopal Prasad Gupta, who runs a general store in Banda, spells it out for a chunk of the population who've been complaining of the "kamar-tod mehengaai (back-breaking price-rise)," the likes of which they haven't ever experienced. "Now the worker population has been unemployed for so long, what with demonetisation and then the 'baalu samasya' (the pause on the sand business, a huge income-source for local mule owners), how will they spend on Diwali?", asks Bhishm Yadav, shopkeeper, pointing to his own pockets, as if to illustrate the point. It's an echo we follow around that marks our reportage, we hear it again and again. "Raunak nahi hai na (There's no buzz)", says Ashok, fruit seller. Sannatta to dekh hi rahe ho aap bhi (you can see how quiet the market is)", whispers bangle seller Meena. Even as local advocate Kumar Yadav has the last word, "you know how on Dhanteras, people used to buy utensils for the house, or jewelry for their wives? Now, they're going to buy a spoon." He laughs at his own joke.
Kusum Kali, another Banda local, wouldn't agree though. For a Diwali trend-mapping story, she tells us, "we never had anything, what did we have? Nowadays women have naths, baalis, jhumkas, paayals, bichchuas, (nose rings, earrings, anklets, toe rings) and what is that they've started wearing here?", she circles her upper arm with her thumb and forefinger. "Baaju-band (armlet)", someone prompts her. She also explains to us how jhaalars (chandelier earrings) are no longer trending, and how the young girls prefer jhumkis. Shiv Devi, another Banda local, is nostalgic about the bichchua, "Ab toh mahatva nahi hai uska (It's no longer considered an important item)". The local sunhaar (goldsmith) Om Narayan is obsessed with "net ka fashion", only because that's what his clients are obsessed with. (Net, meaning, the internet.)
The more things change, the more they remain the same
There are rituals and cultural practices that mark the festive season for Bundelkhand, which continue to hold fort here. Chitrakoot's signature dance form, the traditional Dewari dance, hasn't paled over the years. We heard senior practitioners speak of the need to instil pride in the younger performers, so they know it is part of a heritage they'd be wise not to just give away. Of course nothing says Bundeli Diwali fervour quite like donkeys! The famed gadha mela (donkey fair) of Chitrakoot witnessed the hustle and bustle of brokered deals the same as every year. As digital head Kavita puts it, "All year-round, you crack jokes on donkeys and then this one time of the year, you dress them up in all their finery, paint them in attractive hues, and make a huge display of them!" Now, that's what we call a Bundelkhand Diwali!
The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them
Even his most ardent admirer would concede that Rahul Gandhi is no orator. He comes across as the master of the faux pas, the mangler of metaphors, a Muggle flailing against the political wizardry of a Modi-Shah combo. Some have even joked that he is the BJP's greatest asset. BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao once said Rahul Gandhi is a sure shot route for achieving his party's Congress-mukt (Congress-free) Bharat claim.
But these days the BJP might be the one helping Rahul, never a stellar performer on the campaign trail. The big guns of the ruling party are spending a lot of time training their ammunition on a man whom they have routinely dismissed as a political non-entity. In the process they are inadvertently granting Rahul what he has sorely needed — some political gravitas. They are making him someone to reckon with.
His recent speeches in the US at first spawned mocking memes because it was reported he was going to talk about Artificial Intelligence. The BJP could have just ignored him because in the end what did it matter how he performed in a lecture hall at a university in the US. Instead they sent in their heavyweights to attack him as a "failed dynast". Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Ravi Shankar Prasad all took turns to go after Rahul. Prasad complained that Rahul had broken a tradition of not talking about domestic politics overseas. Shah said nobody listens to Rahul in India anyways oddly proving that he was listening. Irani complained Rahul was belittling the Prime Minister abroad. In the process they managed to make more people pay attention to what had been in essence an interaction with university students, not even as much drama as Modi's Facebook townhall or Madison Square Garden speech.
Rahul's latest barb calling GST the Gabbar Singh Tax clearly got under the BJP's skin. As Vijay's Mersal has shown, the ruling party is quite thin-skinned about GST anyway. Arun Jaitley has retorted that the GST crack proves that the Congress is scared of a legitimate tax system, that the party of 2G and coal scams only wants a cash economy. Actually what it really proves is that two can play the acronym game.
Narendra Modi is the master of the acronym. There's nothing he cannot acronym-ize. Some have been his attempt to make government programmes and goals pithy — JAM (Jandhan Aadhar Mobile), SMART (Strict and Sensitive, Modern and Mobile, Alert and Accountable, Reliable and Responsive, Technosavvy and Trained police force) and PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation). But his acronyms have had their greatest sting when he targets them at his opponents. And the Congress has been often the butt of the acronym.
During the Uttar Pradesh election Modi warned against SCAM — Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati. In 2014 he defined the Congress party as ABCD — Adarsh, Bofors, Coal and Daamaad (son-in-law). He even had a little shorthand for the Gandhi parivaar — RSVP or Rahul, Sonia, Vadra and Priyanka.
Despite an occasional humdinger like the "suit-boot ki sarkar" after Modi was photographed in his monogrammed suit, Rahul is better known for the plodding metaphor talking about Dalit empowerment in terms of the escape velocities of earth and Jupiter. "In Hindustan we have the concept of caste. Dalits need Jupiter's escape velocity on earth." That Rahul (or his team) have come up with an acronym that draws blood shows that Rahul is learning a few tricks from his foes.
Rahul has a steep learning curve. He got on social media way too late, long after Narendra Modi had turned it into a powerful weapon for his party. Rahul can only play catch-up. That the BJP now complains about Congress bots online and fake accounts is quite funny. Rajyavardhan Rathore, tweeted: "In sports, this would come under 'Doping'... hey wait?? Does 'dope' remind you of someone?"
Now the BJP is calling Congress a 'Dramebaaz party Number 1'. Ravi Shankar Prasad said Rahul is "yet to understand the serious dynamics of economics and development" and was resorting to gimmickry in a desperate bid to stay relevant. He said Rahul needed to do his homework. But in reality, it's Rahul who has been far too serious and far too earnest for too long, the dutiful student reluctantly completing his homework assignments. But his earnest Harry Potter image was not working well against his opponent's sly and sarcastic jibes calling him "young leader" just learning to give speeches.
He told a meeting in Vadodara, "I am thankful to the BJP because the defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections was greatest thing that happened to me. BJP had beaten me and abused me so much. It opened up my eyes." Perhaps he has also learned a little humour goes a long way in the battle of social media. A little drama goes even further.
"In Hindustan we have the concept of caste. Dalits need Jupiter's escape velocity on earth."Rahul Gandhi
It's not that Rahul has not tried drama before. His famous intervention at the Press Club in Delhi tearing up an ordinance shielding tainted MPs was high drama indeed. Unfortunately for the Congress it was a bit of self-goal for the party since its own man Manmohan Singh was at the helm at that time. But Narendra Modi is the master of drama and can milk a pregnant pause in a speech like no other. He can even make drama about an appearance at a Teachers Day event turning it into must-watch TV.
He has turned tearful talking about demonetization which was unrolled with all the "surgical strike" drama of a Bollywood action thriller. "They may ruin me but I'm prepared," he said in best martyr-style. Left leader Brinda Karat called it naatakbaazi(drama). When Modi teared up at his Facebook townhall, All India Mahila Congress president Shobha Oza called him a big "drama king". Some would say that the BJP calling Rahul Gandhi a dramabaaz is actually a compliment. The "young leader" is at least learning about the theatrics of politics.
None of this might make much difference to the Congress' prospects, whether in Gujarat or beyond. Any reinvention of Rahul Gandhi is a tough call after all these years. But it's amusing to see the BJP reacting with such indignation to Rahul Gandhi's newfound penchant for a little drama and acronyms.
He has learned from the best. This is a leaf taken right out of Narendra Modi's playbook.
NEW DELHI -- The Election Commission (EC) has announced the schedule of the upcoming crucial assembly elections in Gujarat.
The polls will be conducted in two phases. The polling for the first phase will be held on 9 December and for the second phase on 14 December.
The counting of the votes will be held on 18 December.
The last date for nominations is set to be 21 November.
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Achal Kumar Joti, announced that 50,128 polling booths would be set up and VVPAT machines will be used for the polls in the state.
The CEC also said the model code of conduct would come into force with immediate effect in the state, adding that a flash of light would be shown after voting showing details of the candidate who the voter has voted for.
CCTVs will also be installed along the border check-points, said the CEC, adding there would be 102 all-women polling stations for the polls in Gujarat.
Differently-abled voters will be given preference at the polling stations.
The state polls will witness a direct contest between the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Eyeing Patidar votes, the Congress has been trying to get support from their leaders to counter the saffron party in Gujarat, where they had been in power since 1995.
The contest is important for the BJP because Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
The election watchdog had earlier come under fire for not announcing the dates for Gujarat assembly polls, along with those of Himachal Pradesh.
The Opposition alleged that the poll body did not announce the date for Gujarat polls as it was pressurised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to delay it.
The Election Commission had, however, rejected the Opposition's charge and asserted that no special preference was given to any political party.
"We have given equal opportunities to all political parties. We have not directed any party to hold or to not hold their rallies in the state. We are not meddling in their campaigns. Yesterday, the Prime Minister went to Gujarat. Today, Rahul Gandhi will go. We are not giving any special preference to any political party," Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti had told ANI, in an exclusive interview.
The term of 13th state assembly ends on 22 January, 2018.
Being understood and accepted is a fundamental element of the human condition and one of the most meaningful ways to feel this is by being listened to.
While it might sound simple, properly listening to someone is a real art. What's even harder than giving someone your full attention, is not putting yourself into their situation through unwanted advice.
So, how do we provide support for the people in our lives and ensure they are feeling understood and accepted? Effective listening could be the answer, but mastering the art of effective listening isn't as straightforward as it seems.
"The greatest gift you can give anyone is actually being able to satisfy your own judgement, bias, agenda and fully, wholey listen to another person," Quirk told HuffPost Australia.
One of the reasons that we need someone who is in our lives that is an effective listener is that we don't pay much attention to what we say to ourselves.
With this in mind, effective listening is giving your full attention, not only to what another person is saying, but also to their body language. It's vital to engage not only your ears, but all of your other senses as well, so you are able to build a comprehensive picture of what the other person is saying.
"It's really mindful listening," Quirk said. "You are focusing fully on the other person, on what they are saying and you are not just engaging your hearing sense -- you are fully engaging all of your senses so you're looking at some of their behaviours because sometimes they are not congruent. So, they might say something sad but laugh or say something challenging but dismiss it.
"So, part of effectively listening is actually interpreting all the other things that they are communicating to you non-verbally as well as verbally."
Quirk says that we should aim to be a mirror for the person we are listening to, so they are able to see themselves and their situation more clearly.
"You are trying to get the person to the real meaning of what they are saying, to help them understand themselves better by being a bit of a mirror. So, you are giving back to them what they are giving to you and you know you have got it right when people start saying, 'Exactly, that's what I mean.'"
How Can You Be An Effective Listener?
Effective listening is all about making the other person feel comfortable and valued and a major part of this is being genuinely interested in what that person is trying to say.
"Being someone who can convey warmth and positive regard [is important] so that you are conveying to a person that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say and that is not coming from a perspective of personal gain or boosting your own ego," Quirk said.
All people really want is for someone to fully engage with them and be able to communicate back that they really have understood their perspective.
Warmth and genuinity should be combined with a non-judgemental ear, so the person can understand themselves better.
"You are non-judgemental -- you make no comments about what it is they are saying, you don't express any opinion one way or another. The only communication from you to the other person as an effective listener is to essentially repeat back what they are saying."
"It is actually to directly give their words directly back or to give your version of their words directly back as a way of checking what you have understood what they are actually saying -- it's a skill and it's hard to exercise in a mindful way."
What Are The Barriers To Effective Listening?
Being an effective listener is a difficult task to master. While there are a number of factors that feed into someone's ability to listen properly, one key element to remember is avoiding giving any form of advice unless the other person directly asks you.
"If you say anything beyond, 'I am trying to understand what it is you are telling me' and 'Is this what you are saying?', you have moved out of the scope of effective listening already," Quirk explained.
Essentially, if you find yourself saying things like, 'Have you tried ...', 'I did this and it worked' or 'I know someone who did this in the past and...' then you have moved well out of the effective listening space.
Why Do We Need To Be Listened To?
Being listened to is one way each of us feels accepted by those around us. Quirk says that having someone reflect exactly what we are feeling back to ourselves gives us the tools to grow in our own self-knowledge and understanding.
"It seems so feeble, if all you are doing is listening to someone and giving them back what they are saying -- 'how is that going to work?' But actually, it does because all people really want is for someone to fully engage with them and be able to communicate back that they really have understood their perspective and that's it," Quirk said.
"One of the reasons that we need someone who is in our lives that is an effective listener is that we don't pay much attention to what we say to ourselves. You have all these ideas but you don't listen to yourself. You provide your own answers you need someone to reflect back to us."
NEW DELHI -- In a bid to counter the opposition campaign, the BJP will celebrate November 8, the day high value currencies were demonetised last year, as "Anti-Black Money Day" across the country.
Announcing the party's decision to counter the opposition plans for observing the day as "Black Day", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said all prominent leaders, union ministers, state ministers and office bearers will participate in programmes across the country.
On November 8, the party will organise programmes highlighting all the steps the government has taken against black money. He said since the government was formed in 2014, from day one it had taken steps against black money.
"There was a parallel black money economy in the country. When the NDA government came to power (May 2014), Prime Minister Narendra Modi took steps to minimise and end it. On November 8, the BJP will celebrate 'Anti-Black Money Day' and mobilise people in favour of the steps taken against black money," Jaitley told reporters here.
The special investigation team (SIT) to go into black money, which was directed by the Supreme Court in 2011 and was not acted upon by the previous UPA government, was formed by the NDA, the Finance Minister said.
He said the government also brought in laws to check black money by giving a last opportunity to those who had stashed money abroad by offering them 60% for repatriating their assets.
"The account holders in Liechtenstein and HSBC have all been assessed and criminal action has been filed against them. The government has also worked internationally under the G20 framework and other fora, including an agreement with Switzerland, to get real time information on black money stashed abroad to evade tax.
"Agreements with Mauritius and Cyprus that allowed round tripping of money have been reworked."
Jaitley also hit out at the Congress over its plans to observe the day because the demonetisation decision was "ill conceived".
"Various account holders in banks which were illegal, cases were filed against them. Demonetisation was a big step towards it. It was a huge step for squeezing cash economy, cash-based transactions and widened the tax base. All the three steps were the positive results of demonetisation and along with GST it would make cash generation difficult."
Apparently referring to the opposition criticism, Jaitley said it was normal for political parties which had a number of opportunities to be in power earlier not recognize that the squeeze on black money and the other steps cannot be achieved through baby steps.
The Finance Minister said the BJP would carry forward the debate by the opposition to polarize people against black money through its own campaign.
Asked whether the Prime Minister would participate in the campaign, Jaitley said the details were being worked out.
Asked about Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's remarks that demonetisation was the biggest blunder, the BJP leader said he could not recall a single significant step taken by the Congress against black money.
"They have reconciled to India living with black money. I can understand their discomfort. The Congress had adequate opportunities to be in power and I cannot recollect a single significant step that they ever took against black money. The steps taken by the NDA government are not small," the BJP leader said.
He said the statements by the Congress and its leaders showed that they had not understood the objective behind demonetisation.
"Cash is bearer money in the system and its ownership is not known. It has an anonymous odour and anyone can use it. When cash gets deposited in banks, it gets into a lawful system. So for an entry into lawful system you are liable to pay tax. The entry into the formal system requires payment of tax and is not money laundering."
Referring to questions about money deposited after demonetisation to convert black into white, Jaitley said mere depositing of money doesn't make it legal. "Eighteen lakh people have been found to have deposited money disproportionate to their source of income."
"Confiscation of money was never the objective of demonetisation. Squeezing of cash and that used by terrorists and negating counterfeit currency were the objectives of the note ban. I think once the fundamentals of the objective are understood, they (the Congress) will appreciate it better."
The Congress led 18 opposition parties on Tuesday said they will observe November 8 as Black Day to protest against the "ill-conceived and hasty" decision of the government to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes a year ago.
Replying to another question, he said: "The government and the party feel that people are cleverer than you (Congress) and they are supporting us. This is not a one-off campaign and will continue to persist as part of the larger programme of the party."
Replying to a question on the Congress criticism of the government's Tuesday announcement of re-capitalisation of banks, he said: "Those who have destroyed the country are now preaching, Between 2008-12, there was indiscriminate lending by which banks were made hollow.
Hundreds of thousands of desperate Rohingyas have fled their homes in Myanmar to escape what the United Nations describes as a “textbook example” of ethnic cleansing.
“When one-third of the Rohingya population had to flee the country, can you find a better word to describe it?” asked an incredulous Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the U.N.
That was in September. Today, two months after Burmese authorities unleashed a horrific crackdown against the persecuted Muslim minority group, the number of refugees has already swelled beyond 600,000 ― well over half of Myanmar’s ailing Rohingya population.
Thousands more remain stranded in the country’s Rakhine State, engulfed by a crisis that continues to cause suffering “on a catastrophic scale,” the U.N. warns. Humanitarian groups have gathered evidence of abhorrent state-sponsored atrocities including rape, torture, shootings and arson. According to Amnesty International, many of these targeted assaults amount to crimes against humanity.
The sheer magnitude of the Rohingyas’ harrowing plight may leave you feeling helpless, but there are ways you can make a difference.
Get informed
The first step is simple, but crucial: Take the time to learn about what is happening to Rohingyas every day in Rakhine State and beyond. The details are disturbing, but ignorance only adds to the problem.
Myanmar’s government continues to restrict humanitarian organizations and investigatory missions from accessing crisis-torn Rakhine, making it difficult to gather direct information. But a number of groups are using satellite data to document the destruction of Rohingya villages, and gathering witness testimonies in neighboring Bangladesh, which now hosts more Rohingyas than Myanmar. Take a look at some of the resources below:
👉🏻 For the most up-to-date information, including the growing number of refugees, access the latest ReliefWebsituation reports.
👉🏻 Learn how the crisis is disproportionately affecting children in UNICEF’s report, “Outcast and Desperate.”
👉🏻 Read about the international aid response and multimillion-dollar funding gap.
👉🏻 Follow HuffPost’s continued coverage of the crisis here.
Demand action and accountability
Call up your local representatives and demand justice for Rohingyas. You can ask them to exert their influence to seek change and accountability from Myanmar’s government, or to keep Bangladeshi borders open as refugees continue to arrive. If you’re in the United States, find a list of senators’ contact information here.
The International Campaign for the Rohingya is lobbying Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the U.S. government to “use its influence, including its key position on the United Nations Security Council, to end the attacks by the Burmese army against Rohingya communities.” Add your name to the petition here.
In the United Kingdom, Parliament will consider petitions with more than 100,000 signatures for debate. You can find, sign and create proposals related to the Rohingya crisishere.
Protesting can also be an effective way to draw attention to an issue. Check your local community calendars and social media pages to see if there are any upcoming demonstrations, or if you’re in the U.S., start your own here.
Support the Durbin-McCain resolution
A valuable way to make your voice heard is by urging Congress to support a bipartisan resolution put forward by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
The bill condemns forced displacement and violence against Rohingyas, demands an immediate end to hostilities by Burmese authorities and calls on the government to allow unrestricted access to humanitarian groups in Rakhine.
It also calls on Myanmar’s de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, to break her conspicuous silence and inaction on the unfolding tragedy.
Send a pre-written message advocating the bill’s passage directly to your member of Congress by filling out this form from Amnesty here.
Volunteer, fundraise & donate
No matter where you live, there are opportunities to get involved in some capacity or another ― whether it’s organizing a fundraiser, distributing fliers or collecting neighborhood donations while trick-or-treating this Halloween.
Organizations like Muslim Hands, a U.K.-based charity, will provide Rohingya volunteers with resources such as collection buckets, penny boxes, T-shirts and items for hosting charity dinners. Sign up here.
There are many humanitarian groups doing diligent work to help crisis-afflicted Rohingyas, and they need your support. Charity Navigator is a nonprofit website that evaluates charitable groups based on accountability, transparency and financial performance. Check it out its refugee-focused charity ratings here.
“Rohingya families are arriving to the camps with nothing except the clothes on their backs,” UNICEF spokesperson Joe English told HuffPost.“Even when they reach the relative safety of Bangladesh, their situation remains all too precarious.”
Small contributions can go a long way, English noted: “A donation of $30 can provide a malnourished child with therapeutic food for a month, or help support ‘child-friendly spaces’ providing children affected with a safe place to play, learn and begin to rebuild their lives.”
If possible, consider donating to any of the nonprofit organizations whose Rohingya campaigns are linked below:
The sticky floor problem puts women in a position to be exploited by men like Weinstein, who tout their ability to help female aspirants to get unstuck. Until society – and, with it, the media we create – comprehend that neither professional success nor domesticity has a gender, these pernicious powerful dynamics will endure.
