The upcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has found itself in the middle of a controversy after the Smriti Irani-led Information and Broadcasting Ministry pulled the plugs on two films that were selected by the IFFI jury to play in the Indian Panorama section -- Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's Sexy Durga and Ravi Jadhav's Nude.

The Ministry's arbitrary decision has earned the government-funded festival widespread criticism, with 3 of the 13 jury members -- Sujoy Ghosh, Apurva Asrani, Gyan Correa --of the Indian Panorama resigning to protest its draconian ways.

Both Ravi Jadhav and Sasidharan have moved court to seek explanation from the Ministry for their decision in excluding their films from the festival. According to a post on FB by the Sexy Durga director, Marathi filmmakers are planning to boycott IFFI altogether.

However, the trailer of Jadhav's Nude, which looks like a hauntingly beautiful drama about a woman who works as a nude model, found its way online. Moody and atmospheric, it features a poetic, melancholic background score and some stunning imagery.

Jadhav has previously made critically-acclaimed films such as Natarang, Balak Palak and Bioscope.

Watch the trailer of Nude here.

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NEW DELHI -- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday blamed the Centre for blocking projects as an RTI query revealed that the Kejriwal government did not spend even a paisa out of the Rs 787 crore it collected as environment cess since January 1 this year.

As the capital city grappled with dangerously high pollution levels, the Right to Information (RTI) query on Wednesday found the Delhi government was unable to specify its utilisation of the Rs 787 crore green cess collected during 2017.

The government said it spent Rs 93 lakh of the cess in 2016, but there was "no mention of any expenditure" in 2017.

The AAP government came under attack from the opposition parties following the revelation.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken slammed the city government and said they could have bought new buses with this money and also augmented total parking capacity of the bus depots.

Lashing out at Kejriwal, Maken said: "Instead of using the money which is lying idle, he is busy aiming at other state governments and the Centre instead of doing his bit."

Maken said Kejriwal could have purchased road vacuum cleaners, as the dust "is the single-biggest contributory factor for air pollution" in Delhi.

"When we were in power, the strength of the DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) was 5,445 buses, which has now gone down to 3,951 buses. There has been a shortfall of 1,500 buses in three years," he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) instead blamed the central government for its failure to spend Rs 787 crore of environmental cess and accused it of blocking the projects to control pollution.

AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said they never said that the Delhi government had shortage of funds.

"Though government wanted to purchase buses, but the central government did not allot land for bus depots," he said.

He also said that the government had approached the central government for permission for aerial sprinkling of water to control pollution and was even ready to spend the money.

Bharadwaj told IANS that the government had been taking other measures like spraying of water on roads to control dust, but environment cess was not being utilised for it and was being done using other funds.

When asked about other pollution control measures like installation of air purifiers and vacuum cleaning of roads, the leader said that both options were looked into, but they were not found feasible.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government said it had prepared a one-year short-term plan to tackle air pollution.

A Delhi government official said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting with senior officials on Tuesday evening and directed that the environmental cess and environmental ambient air fund be used for procurement of buses.

On the government's plans, he said: "The Delhi government has prepared a one-year short-term plan, under which it proposes to procure 500 electric buses within one year."

He said the government was planning to procure buses of two different sizes -- Standard and Medium. According to him, a standard size bus costs Rs 2.6 crore while the medium size bus comes for Rs 1.6 crore.

Later, Saurabh Bhardwaj tweeted that the Lt Governor was not allotting land for depots for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) fleet.

"Government has plan to buy 500 electrical buses, but no depots to park them. LG (Lt Governor) controls land," he tweeted.

On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar in Chandigarh here and the two agreed to take steps to prevent a repeat of smog in the National Capital Region (NCR) next year.

"We ... are happy to have had a very fruitful meeting at Chandigarh. We recognise our deep and shared concern over the recent episode of heavy smog in NCR. We agreed upon the need for action on many measures aimed at preventing its re-occurrence in the winter of 2018," a joint statement said.

Meanwhile, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of the national capital fell under "very poor" category on Wednesday, though it is said to have improved as compared to past week.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the average AQI of Delhi-NCR at 6 p.m was 353 on Wednesday while the major pollutant PM 2.5 (particles with diameter less than 2.5 mm) was recorded 353 units -- technically considered "very poor".

The average PM2.5 of Delhi at 6 p.m. was 351 units -- 14 times the safe limit.

Actress Deepika Padukone, who marks a decade in films in November, told news agency IANS in an interview that nothing can stop the release of her film Padmavati, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali – a statement that triggered anger amongst a section opposed to the film's portrayal of Indian royal mythology.

"As a woman, I feel proud to be a part of this film, and to tell this story, which needs to be told. And it needs to be told now," Padukone, who plays Padmavati — a Rajput queen — told IANS.

Doubts on the extent to which the National Award winning filmmaker has fictionalised the story, has led to a spiralling controversy with politicians, organisations and individuals raising a finger at Bhansali for "distorting history" and demanding that the release of Padmavati be stalled. Deepika is convinced the movie will be released, as scheduled, on 1 December.

"It's appalling, it's absolutely appalling. What have we gotten ourselves into? And where have we reached as a nation? We have regressed."

"It's appalling, it's absolutely appalling. What have we gotten ourselves into? And where have we reached as a nation? We have regressed," she said, commenting on the hullabaloo the movie is causing pre-release.

"The only people we are answerable to is the censor board, and I know and I believe that nothing can stop the release of this film," said Padukone, adding that the film industry's support symbolises how "this is not about 'Padmavati'... We're fighting a much bigger battle".

Meanwhile, Rajasthan minister Kiran Maheshwari joined the chorus of protests against Padmavati even as the Shri Rajput Karni Sena called for a country-wide bandh on 1 December.

Rajasthan BJP chief Ashok Parnami, member of erstwhile Udaipur royal family Laksyaraj Singh Mewar and Congress's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were among others who said that no effort to distort historic facts would be tolerated.

The Congress said that if there are any scenes in Padmavati that hurt sentiments, they need to be reviewed.

Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi sought to dismiss reports that he watched the film. Some reports suggested that Joshi had found nothing objectionable in the film.

The Rajasthan State Commission for Women (RSCW) also wrote to the censor board asking it to clear the "ambiguity" over the film "in the interest of law and order".

Protests Move South

The protests, meanwhile, reached south with Karni Sena members staging a demonstration in Bengaluru.

In Jaipur, Karni Sena leader Lokendra Singh Kalvi said the reported comments by Padukone were provocative.

"Deepika Padukone's statement is provocative and I take it as a challenge, therefore, I have called for a nationwide bandh," Kalvi said.

"Ye jauhar ki jwala hai bahut kuch jalega. Rokna hai to Padmini ko rok lo (This is the flame of the Jauhar and a lot will burn. Stop it if you want to)," he threatened. He also made some disparaging remarks against the actor.

Kalvi recalled that he and Padukone's father ace shuttler Prakash Padukone were together at a sports camp in Patiala years ago. The Karni Sena leader said that he has not spoken to her father on this issue.

The Karni Sena seemed to have found some support in Maheshwari, a minister in the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan. Maheshwari said she strongly opposed the film claiming it was made purely for money making and entertainment.

In a social media post, the minister said that Rani Padmini had performed 'Jauhar' with 16,000 women. "Deceit in any case with the history of immortal valour of such women cannot be accepted," she wrote.

State BJP chief Parnami also said that no one would be allowed to play with history.

In New Delhi, Congress spokesperson R P N Singh said though he had not seen the film, it was up to the censor board to clear the movie. He said that if there are scenes that hurt sentiments, they should be reviewed.

Members of the Shri Rajput Karni Sena claimed that even Muslim leaders had come out against the film.

"We are calling for a country-wide bandh on December 1 if the film is released. We have the support of all castes and communities. We will hold public meetings and rallies in Gurgaon, Patna and Bhopal before that," Kalvi told reporters.

He claimed that film hall owners' association and distributors had refused to release the film in the state.

He said that the film maker had promised to organise a pre-screening before the censor board's approval but he released the promo and song without taking the Rajput community into confidence.

The protests spread to the south as Rajput community members today staged a demonstration in Bengaluru.

A large number of people from the Karni Rajput Sena turned up at the Town Hall in the heart of the city and marched up to the Freedom Park.

"What we have learnt is that there is lots of distortion of historical facts. Till our objections are addressed, we will not let the movie to be screened anywhere," said Sukhdev Singh, president of the Karni Sena.

In Uttar Pradesh, Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh said the force had been asked to remain extra vigilant.

In Kota, six of the eight persons detained on Tuesday night in connection for allegedly vandalising a cinema hall were arrested and produced before a court that sent them to judicial custody till November 19.

By Sayanti Sengupta*, Nirmalya Choudhury*, Sundarbans, West Bengal

"My land is gone. My house is gone. My husband is crippled. My sons are away. We have no crops, no firewood," says Manuara Bibi of Baliara village in Mousuni Island in the Sundarbans. "Our lives are meaningless. We have become beggars in our own land."

Like many others on the island, Manuara Bibi has seen the river taking acres of land. After the floods took the last piece of her house, she waits for the water to subside, in a 6ft x 6ft stilt house, barely accommodating the six remaining members of her family. Her situation is not unique and applies to hundreds like her living on the 54 inhabited islands of the Indian Sundarbans.

The geographical location of islands such as Mousuni make the inhabitants more vulnerable due to floods and embankment erosion, compounded by institutional negligence and human interference. Even as the floods and erosions impact the impoverished inhabitants of the island, it is the women who bear consequences of the hazards the most.

Flooding and salinity ingress

River bank erosion in Mousuni Island is occurring at a rate of 1.02 km per year, wreaking havoc and claiming several houses and farmlands. "Those three huts will be gone next year. We thought the river will take them this time itself, but by God's grace, they got saved," Kusum of Baliara tells VillageSquare.in, pointing at the three small dwellings on the edge of the bank.

In Mousuni Island, salinity ingress has rendered agricultural land uncultivable for years. Tidal flooding that occurs twice a month makes it difficult for the salinity level to come down. Embankments, some of which have existed since colonial times, have weakened over the years. It is due to a combination of natural events like floods and erosion and anthropogenic factors such as lack of maintenance and deforestation. These weak, and in some cases, partially built embankments, prevent swift back-flow of the flood waters in some parts of the island, resulting in inundation for an extended period of time.

Men migrate, women remain

In such a hostile environment, the men often migrate to seek employment. Our study of 60 households in three habitations of Mousuni Island found at least one male member in each of the households having migrated for work. The women are left behind to look after the children and the elderly.

Cyclone Aila, which hit the island in 2009, resulted in loss of croplands and fishing boats, causing agriculture and culture fisheries take a severe blow. This compelled the men from this area to migrate to the gulf countries.

This out-migration has resulted in rising security concerns for the women, leaving them physically and emotionally vulnerable. "Even his father had to go away. Last monsoon, I was alone when the water rushed in. I had nobody. I just stood in the water clutching my child," Mamani Maiti of Kusumtala tells VillageSquare.in. "In my island we never saw this. This scares me." She lives alone with her two-year-old son, after her husband left for Dubai last June.

In order to support the family, the women in the islands look for work, including manual labor. "There's not much work for us. I carried cement sacks last month, for a house construction in Poila Gheri. They were heavy and I got tired easily. But I didn't have a choice," Shikha Guin of Baliara, a widow and mother of two, tells VillageSquare.in.

For a pot of water

Salinity ingress has rendered the homestead ponds saline. For all domestic purposes, including water for their cattle, women in the island are now dependent on tube wells. During our study, we found that on an average, 300 people depend daily on a single tube well.

While some families live in close proximity to a tube well, many women have to travel two to three km to get water, especially when the nearest tube well gets defunct. The women sometimes have to depend on tube wells in schools, off limits during school hours. They often have to queue in the wee hours of the morning to fill up enough vessels for the day, making about six trips on an average.

The situation worsens during monsoons when they have to tread in ankle-deep floodwater to reach a tube well. Often the women wait for low tide, so as to move easily. Speaking to VillageSquare.in, Uma Soren from Baliara remarks, "In the monsoons, we queue for half-an-hour, fill heavy vessels and walk back in the dirty water! Our skin itches. It's a task to keep from falling down. Sometimes the stored water gets over by early evening. With no lights, you can't be sure if you'll come back home alive."

Life after loss

The island has three flood shelters. Payel Samanta, whose family has been residing in one of them for three years after losing everything to the river, laments how she is ostracized by the others in the neighborhood. "They say we have encroached on property that belongs to everyone. But where can we go? We have nothing left." Her husband is one of the few remaining in the island, with no means to migrate.

Apart from the physical hardships, the angst that the women go through is aptly described by Rebati Doloi from Kusumtala, "We lost our boat last year. So now my husband tries to fish floating across the river on a big jar. When the water becomes turbulent, I lose sight of him. I feel scared for him," she tells VillageSquare.in. The fact that he has to catch fish risking his life describes the plight of those who have not been able to migrate for different reasons.

Access to sanitation, health

Lack of access to safe sanitation adds another element of risk for the women on the island. With the land not in their name, the women, particularly in women-headed households, it is difficult to get a toilet sanctioned. The ones who do have toilets, still prefer the outdoors. Because toilets without water for flushing is an added drudgery as the women have to make additional trips to fetch water.

During monsoons, the toilets often get submerged for nearly four months, leaving the women with no option but to defecate in the open. All these dampen the construction and use of toilets. As Shiuli Pramanik from Baliara tells VillageSquare.in, "What is the point of having a toilet? It goes under water when we need it the most, during the monsoons!"

Health facilities on the island, for flood-affected families in general and women in particular, remain deplorable. The primary health center (PHC) in the village is highly inadequate, with no electricity. In fact, Mousuni Island is yet to be electrified, one of the last such islands in the Sundarbans.

The women are often unaware of hygienic menstrual practices. "Cases of urinary tract infection are common," comments the head ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker of the village PHC, "thus leading to increased chances of cervical cancers."

A pregnant woman has to cross two rivers to reach the district hospital in Namkhana for delivery, often by herself, since her husband would be away making a living. "I am due end of this year. I am praying that my husband comes back before that. How will I manage on my own?" asks 21-year-old Kajol, who is expecting her first child, with her husband in Dubai.

With no access to LPG, the women depend on firewood and are exposed to greater threats from indoor carbon monoxide pollution. Privacy is indeed a luxury for the women in the island. During floods, nearly 10 persons are huddled together in a 6ft x 6ft floor space.

Need for interventions

The discourse on the effect of floods tends to look at the affected population as a homogenous entity. The entire population is seen as flood-affected. But the everyday struggles faced by the women in Mousuni show that women are more vulnerable.

It is of utmost importance that one undertakes a granular understanding of how floods and erosion affect the lives and livelihoods of women in flood-prone areas. Accordingly, interventions that would ameliorate the wretched conditions of the women in flood-affected areas need to be promoted.

In Mousuni, interventions towards easy access to safe sanitation and drinking water source would go a long way in ameliorating the miseries faced by the women. Provision of sanitary pads coupled with behavior change communication activities would make a significant dent in the gynecological morbidity faced by the women on the island. An increased number of flood houses with separate sanitation and bathing space for women would reduce the vulnerability that they currently face.

Skill training for women in new activities like prawn culture and rural tourism could offer them an alternate livelihood.

Sayanti Sengupta works with SWACHHAGRAHA Aquakraft Projects Pvt. Ltd. Nirmalya Choudhury is a Consultant with Tata Education and Development Trust. Views are personal.

This article was first published on VillageSquare.in, a public-interest communications platform focused on rural India.

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.

If bindi, sindoor and kajal are kept out of the ambit of the GST, why cannot the sanitary napkins be exempted, the Delhi High Court has asked the Centre.

The High Court bench said sanitary napkins were also a necessity and there cannot be any explanation for taxing them and exempting other items by bringing them in the category of necessity.

"You exempt bindi, kajal and sindoor. But you tax sanitary napkins. It's such a necessity. Is there any explanation for it," the bench said.

The court also expressed unhappiness over absence of any women in 31-member Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council.

"Have you discussed it with the Ministry of Women and Child Development before doing it or have you just looked at the import and export duty. This has to be done while keeping in view the larger concern," the bench said and listed the matter for December 14.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Zarmina Israr Khan, who is a PhD scholar in African studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, challenging the levying of 12 per cent GST on sanitary napkins. The plea has termed the levy illegal and unconstitutional.

Central government standing counsel Sanjeev Narula said if they would exempt sanitary napkins from tax, the cost of the product would go up.

"Reducing the GST rate on sanitary napkins to nil, will result in complete denial of input tax credit to domestic manufacturers of sanitary napkins, while zero rating imports.

This will make domestically manufactured sanitary nakpins at a huge disadvantage vis-a-vis imports, which will be zero rated," the counter affidavit, filed by the Centre, said.

To this, the bench said these are technical and statistical reasons and the government was playing with figures.The Centre's affidavit said as raw materials for manufacture of sanitary napkins attract GST of 18 or 12 per cent, even 12 per cent GST on sanitary napkins there in an inversion in the GST rate structure.

It said that the tax rate was neither arbitrary, nor violative of any of the constitutional guarantees espoused in the Constitution; as the procedure followed meet the constitutional tests laid down by the apex court through various pronouncements.

The court had earlier sought responses of the finance ministry and the Goods and Services Tax Council on the petition.

The petitioner has claimed that the petition has been filed for the benefit of women in general, particularly those belonging to the lower economic strata of the society.

The plea filed through advocate Amit George said it was a real issue on the ground level and sought quashing of the imposition of 12 per cent GST on sanitary napkins, and declaring them to be liable to a 'nil' rate or a reduced rate.

The plea alleged that 12 per cent slab on sanitary napkins, a shade lower than 13.7 per cent in the previous indirect tax regime, is ex-facie unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary which has witnessed strong dissent and calls for corrective action from individuals and organisations across the country.

The petition said that the government had exempt goods like kajal, kumkum, bindis, sindoor, alta, plastic and glass bangles, hearing aids, passenger baggage, puja samagri of all kinds, and all types of contraceptives, including condoms, from the purview of taxation but not extended the exemption to sanitary napkins which are essential for the health of women.

"The government has grouped sanitary napkins with toys, leather goods, roasted coffee, mobile phones and processed foods amongst others for the imposition of a GST rate of 12 per cent under the present tax regime. Such an action/omission is palpably arbitrary and unreasonable," it said.

NEW DELHI -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains "by far" the most popular figure in Indian politics, the Pew Research Centre, an American think tank, said on Wednesday, releasing the main findings of its latest survey conducted among 2,464 respondents in India.

Modi at 88% is 30 points ahead of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (58%), 31 points ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi (57%) and 49 points ahead of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (39%), said the survey conducted between February 21 and March 10 this year.

Pew said the public's "positive assessment" of Modi is buoyed by "growing contentment" with the Indian economy: more than eight-in-ten say economic conditions are "good", up 19 percentage points since immediately before the 2014 election.

The share of adults who say the economy is "very good" (30%) has tripled in the past three years, it added.

Overall, seven-in-ten Indians are now "satisfied" with the way things are going in the country. This positive assessment of India's direction has nearly doubled since 2014, Pew said.

According to Pew, at least nine-in-ten Indians in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and in the western states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh hold a favorable view of the prime minister.

The same is true for more than eight-in-ten in the eastern states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and the northern states of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

"Since 2015, Modi's popularity is relatively unchanged in the north, has risen in the west and the south, and is down slightly in the east," it said.

Notably, the survey reflects a 21 percentage points drop in favorable view of America among Indians from 70% in 2015 to just 49% in 2017.

Only 40% express confidence in President Donald Trump to do the right thing regarding world affairs, down 34 points from their faith in his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015.

Same is the case with China, whose favourability rating among Indians have dropped from 41% in 2015 to 26% in 2017. The survey was conducted before the Doklam crisis.

According to Pew Survey, despite periodic outbreaks of religious violence, relatively few Indians see communal relations as a very big problem.

"Similarly, despite Prime Minister Modi's decision last November to abolish high-value bank notes, less than half of the Indian population sees the lack of availability of cash to be a major problem," it said.

Lacerating in its piercing intensity, Rahul Jain's Machines is a gut-wrenchingly raw portrait of working conditions in a textile factory based in India's Gujarat state. Jain takes us through a Dickensian factory without voiceovers and text inserts, making his work more realistic. He introduces few workers who give us a firsthand account of the working conditions in the factory. Even though the workers hold different viewpoints, they are all part of an amoral system that has no regard for their long-term welfare.

From the onset, it is obvious that the filmmaker wants to show us the real situation of labours through imagery. He opens the film with a continuous tracking shot that takes us through the textile factory. Jain, with the help of ace cinematographer Rodrigo Trejo Villanueva, constructs an aura around the workers that is constantly brimming with sepulchral tones.

In one of the most devastating moments of Jain's debut feature, we see a teenage boy working on an assembly line. He looks physically drained and it becomes more evident as we see him falling asleep every few seconds. His body undulates as he closes his eyes, tiptoeing amid life and death. Even in those frail moments, he seems incredibly aware of his body movements. Each time he gets close to the conveyor belt, he balances himself by holding onto a piece of machinery.

Later, as the boy fixes his eyes at the camera, the constructed facade of this capitalist system looks a lot more superficial. The yearning in his eyes poses hundreds of questions from the people who are running the state machinery, but they all remain unanswered.

The film's notes tell us that India's textile and garment industry is largely informal and poorly regulated. This US$40 billion industry employs around 45 million workers, among which 12 million are children. It further adds:

Overtime practice reaches about 70 to 80 working hours a week and is mostly not paid – or underpaid. With an average daily wage from US$2 to US$5, the workers take home between US$90 and US$150 per month.

These figures are startlingly abysmal. As the documentary unspools, it gets heartbreakingly difficult to accept that the labours who go on to work for added shifts even struggle to survive or afford a five-rupee cigarette. This gives a social advocacy angle to Jain's documentary, which is part exploration of working conditions in a textile factory and part political commentary on the vicious circle of labour exploitation.

The film informs us that one shift runs for approximately 12 hours and a worker gets US$3 per shift. An official of the factory reasons, "If I pay these illiterate folk too much and their stomach is no longer empty, then they won't care about the company." His viewpoint about the workers is not only parochial, but also nauseatingly hideous to a great extent. As he continues to speak with a heightened degree of insensitivity, it gets easier to understand the horrors of working under such conditions and it also becomes clear that the official holds no regard for his workers or their wellbeing. On a side note, he also monitors the activities of workers through a CCTV installed in his office.

Jain's approach cuts deep and evokes a sense of sympathy for people being exploited by such factory officials. Jain mostly uses images to show utter desperation and constantly brewing emotions that the factory workers face day in day out.

He makes the workers speak for themselves for most of the time. One of the workers says, "God gave us hands, so we have to work." He believes that they are not being exploited, while the other interviewees hold starkly different viewpoints. A middle-aged man adds, "Poverty is harassment, sir." On the other hand, a teenage boy reveals that each morning when he reaches the factory gate, he wants to return to his home. However, he has to work in order to feed himself.

Jain artistically mounts these harrowing interviews to depict the crippling effects of globalisation. His feature film's title also refers to the clangouring textile contraptions used by labours to produce cotton sheets. In a constant struggle to wrestle with these machines on a daily basis, it almost gets difficult to discern the difference between labours and machines.

In his debut feature, Jain honestly portrays a wide disconnect amid makers and buyers of these textile products. His artistry is all the more glaring in one of the film's scenes, where he shows factory workers leaving for their homes in a rainstorm. Most of them were covered with thin plastic bags to shield themselves from the rainwater. Like this sequence, Machines is filled with moments that punch you in the gut and question your ethical concerns. Jain shows us the truth in a hall full of shattered people, with every gaze enough to draw blood.

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.

If you live in Mumbai like I do, you've probably become used to seeing the streets, walls, and the inside of buildings full of red paan stains. As everyone knows, those red stains are the least of the problems associated with gutka and paan masala.

Thankfully, a few years ago the state government banned the sale of gutkha, and later banned the sale of scented supari/paan masala. Doctors and activists welcomed this ban. Unfortunately, the government recently modified the ban to permit the sale of 'scented supari', at least until the report of a one-member committee constituted to look into the ban. Thankfully, it appears that better sense prevailed and the ban was reinstated for six months. Why is this a problem even though the ban was reinstated? Because scented supari has areca nut, a known carcinogen, and the government shouldn't even be considering lifting the ban in the first place.

A 2014 study published in the Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology, found that there is "substantial evidence for carcinogenicity of areca nut in cancers of the mouth and esophagus" The study also noted that areca nut affects almost all the organs in the human body, including the brain, heart lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and reproductive organs. The study also notes that, apart from being a carcinogen, areca nut can cause a number of other health issues as well, including suppressing the immune system and type II diabetes. The study concludes by stating that there is an urgent need for strict legislation to regulate the production and commercial preparation of areca nut products.

Several packaged betel nut products have tobacco in them and this could act as a gateway to a chewing tobacco habit in children

The biggest reason why lifting the ban on scented supari is a problem is that its primary consumers are kids who think it is a harmless mouth freshener. According to a 2012 study on the consumption of scented supari by school going children in Indore, 27 percent of kids' chewed areca nut and, out of those who did 81% of them used sweetened and flavoured areca nut products. The study also noted that the majority of kids who chewed areca nut were not aware of the harmful side effects.

Several packaged betel nut products have tobacco in them and this could act as a gateway to a chewing tobacco habit in children. A 2016 survey on the perceptions of smokeless tobacco among school children in municipal schools in Mumbai found that 17.9% of them used betel nut products.

The study concluded that the kids were more likely to identify cigarettes and beedis as tobacco products than gutkha, mishri and khaini. The study concluded that the high use of smokeless tobacco products coupled with low levels of knowledge among the kids is indicative of the need for educational programs to increase awareness about the side effects of these products.

It is abundantly clear that there doesn't appear to be any need to constitute a committee to further examine whether or not scented supari is harmful. Considering the fact that kids are the primary consumers of scented supari, the Government shouldn't even be considering lifting the ban.

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.

The Hindu Mahasabha office in Gwalior's Daulatgunj, where Nathuram Godse is said to have stayed for a week prior to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was yesterday earmarked by the far right Hindu party as the site for a temple to Gandhi's killer.

The Hindu Mahasabha laid the foundation of the temple in the office after the Madhya Pradesh government reportedly turned down their request for land to build the temple, a structure expected to offend millions of people who regard Gandhi as the 'Father of the Nation' and revere him for his lifelong teachings of non-violence and firm stand against social oppression.

"We had sought land from the Gwalior administration for a grand temple in memory of Nathuram Godse. Our plea was denied, so we have decided to build a temple inside our Daulatgunj office in Gwalior, " Jaiveer Bhardwaj, a Hindu Mahasabha leader, told the Telegraph newspaper.

It is believed that the gun used to kill Gandhi also came from an unidentified owner in Gwalior.

The paper quoted state Congress leader Manak Aggarwal as saying that it was "an insult to glorify a killer."

"The BJP has over 25-26 affiliate-wings which remain engaged in bizarre acts and later the BJP disowns their deeds," Leader of Opposition, Ajay Singh, told News18.

Moody's Investor Services lifted the Government of India's local and foreign currency debt ratings to Baa2 from Baa3, saying continued progress on economic and institutional reforms will enhance India's high growth potential.

The rating agency said that the reforms will improve the business climate in the country and raise productivity.

Moody's also changed its rating outlook to stable from positive, saying that at the Baa2 level the risks to India's credit profile were broadly balanced.

Moody's said the recently-introduced goods and services tax (GST), a landmark reform that turned India's 29 states into a single customs union for the first time, will promote productivity by removing barriers to interstate trade.

"In the meantime, while India's high debt burden remains a constraint on the country's credit profile, Moody's believes that the reforms put in place have reduced the risk of a sharp increase in debt, even in potential downside scenarios," the ratings agency said in a statement.

Moody's expects India's real GDP growth to moderate to 6.7 percent in the fiscal year ending in March 2018 from 7.1 percent a year earlier.

Moody's also raised India's local currency senior unsecured debt rating to Baa2 from Baa3 and its short-term local currency rating to P-2 from P-3.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi eased tax requirements last month for small- and medium-sized companies in response to growing criticism of its economic stewardship.