Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has announced amnesty to first-time stone pelters, officials said on Thursday.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday night, Mufti said: "It gives me immense satisfaction to restart the process of withdrawing FIRs against first-time offenders of stone pelting.

"My government had initiated the process in May 2016 but it was unfortunately stalled due to the unrest later that year.

"It is a ray of hope for these young boys and their families. This initiative will provide them an opp ortunity to rebuild their lives."

The Centre's special representative on Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma had recommended the move to instil confidence among the stakeholders for a sustained dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Union minister KJ Alphons was confronted by an enraged woman passenger at the Imphal airport over the delay in her Kolkata-bound flight she was taking to rush to Patna to attend a funeral of her relative.

Alphons today said he was not responsible for the delay of the flight due to VVIP security protocol after a video footage of the passenger identified as a lady doctor arguing and directing her ire at him on seeing the minister at the Imphal airport went viral.

The video of the incident that happened yesterday showed the woman complaining to Alphons about the flight being delayed due to VIP movement.

Alphons, who is Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, had come to Imphal to attend the Northeast Development summit which was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind yesterday. President Kovind's aircraft was due to land in Imphal around the time of departure of the Kolkata-bound aircraft.

"The body is waiting, otherwise the body will decay. I am a doctor, I know that. The body is still at home."

"I have to reach Patna. The body is waiting, otherwise the body will decay. I am a doctor, I know that. The body is still at home," the woman can be heard pleading with Alphons, who tries to soothe her anger. She was also heard asking Alphons to give in writing what time her flight would take off.

The woman was booked on an IndiGo flight from Imphal to Kolkata from where she had to take a connecting flight to Patna.

On her repeated insistence to give her in writing as to what time the flight would depart, the minister is heard saying he does not have the authority to do so.

When contacted, Imphal Airport Director S K Panigrahi told PTI over phone at Kolkata that three flights were delayed due to the visit of President Kovind to the state yesterday.

"The commercial flights were delayed since the President's flight was scheduled to arrive," he said, adding none of the flights were cancelled.

The airport director said the three commercial flights were delayed between 90 minutes and two hours.

WATCH:Angry passenger shouts at Union Minister KJ Alphons at Imphal Airport after flights were delayed due to VVIP arrival schedule #Manipurpic.twitter.com/0EWHjIA30n

— ANI (@ANI) November 22, 2017

According to Alphons, he approached a woman crying at the airport and who could be seen in the video losing her cool.

"She was crying and I wanted to know what happened. She started saying that she had to go to Patna to attend a relative's funeral which was scheduled in the afternoon. She was distraught because her flight was delayed and she feared the body will decay. As a representative of the government of India, she wanted me to intervene," Alphons told PTI, amid allegations that he was the cause for the delay of the flight.

He was accompanied by some of his ministerial colleagues.

"She was crying and I wanted to know what happened. She started saying that she had to go to Patna to attend a relative's funeral which was scheduled in the afternoon. She was distraught because her flight was delayed and she feared the body will decay."

"I can understand her anguish but as I told her, the President's flight was landing and as per protocol no other flight can land or take off at that time.

"This protocol is in place for the past 70 years and not made by this government. I tried to tell her that her flight will leave as soon as the President's flight lands, but she was really in distress," Alphons said.

The minister also said that he "was not in favour" of protocols that encourage VIP culture and that he has also informed officials that a pilot jeep should not be assigned for him.

A few members of the cast and crew of Kundan Shah's classic satire, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, were present at an event to commemorate the memory of the late filmmaker.

Among those who were present included writer-actor Satish Kaushik, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra (who was an Assistant Director on the film), Neena Gupta, and the film's dialogue writer, Ranjit Kapoor.

What started as an event where the crew shared anecdotes from the making of the film turned into a conversation about the timelessness and relevance of the dark satire in the current environment where artistic freedom faces imminent threat.

Kapoor addressed the elephant in the room and said, "We live in pretty difficult times. I don't think it's possible for us to make a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaraon in the current climate. We took on the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who hated the press. There was a famous quote of his which said, 'All the press should be thrown in the Bay of Bengal.' The film is as relevant today as it was back then. Maybe even more. But I don't think we can make something like that now, the current times are scary."

He further added, "Such is the situation now that if Kundan was alive and we had decided that we will make another Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, then our legs would have been broken. I feel more fear even now. The fear is more underlined that in the time when our film was made. At that time we used feel that there is freedom of expression. I do not see it now. There are lot of incidents which I am witnessing today, which convinces me that the world we live in is more dangerous, than the one which existed at the time of Jaane Bhi..."

A biting social commentary, every frame of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron is a critique of the establishment, with references to the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, A R Antulay, who was convicted of corruption by the Bombay High Court and had to resign from his post.

When this writer asked about the current times where freedom of expression is increasingly under threat to Sudhir Mishra, he said he isn't 'scared' to make the films he wants to, while Kapoor said if not through cinema, he'll use theatre and other outlets of expression to register dissent.

The International Film Festival of India, which concludes on November 28, has been under serious criticism after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting arbitrarily dropped two films, S Durga and Nude, from the selection. The Kerala High Court later passed an order overruling the Ministry's decision, asking IFFI to screen the film.

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The word secularism is the "biggest lie" told post-Independence, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, prompting a strong retort from the Congress today.

"I feel the word secularism is the biggest lie (told) in India post-Independence...those who have given birth to and used the word repeatedly should apologise to the people of India...there is no word like secularism," Adityanath said.

He made the remarks while responding to a query about communalism and secularism at an event organised by the Dainik Jagran group in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur yesterday.

Adityanath said a political system "cannot be secular".

However, it can be "sect-neutral", he added.

Adityanath said it was not possible to run a government following a particular way of 'upasana' (worship).

"I have to look after 22 crore people (of Uttar Pradesh).

"I am answerable for their security and for respecting their sentiments. But I am not here to appease any particular community or caste," he said.

According to a media report, the chief minister also said there was "Ram Rajya" under the Narendra Modi government. The term 'Ram Rajya' is often used for describing an ideal state of affairs.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal hit out at Adityanath for his remarks, which he termed as the "biggest lie".

"Yogi Adityanath says 'secularism is a lie' and compares Modi's government to 'Ram Rajya'. This 'Truth' is perhaps the biggest lie," Sibal said on Twitter.

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A few weeks back, a forum on clean cooking was arranged in New Delhi. The forum was funded by International Organizations like UN, World Bank and USAID among others. There were about 600 delegates from 50 countries. In the three-day forum (where, unfortunately, quite a few of the presentations and panel discussions were mediocre) talks centred around how to mitigate the misery of poor households in rural areas by implementing clean cooking technology solutions.

There are reports (the veracity of this data is questionable) that 9 million deaths take place every year world over due to indoor air pollution in rural households. This pollution is caused by cooking on smoky and inefficient wood-powered chulhas and the use of very inefficient kerosene based lighting devices like lanterns.

Thus various governments world over are dedicated to eradicating this pollution by producing clean cooking fuels and technologies. Thus there were panel discussions on improved biomass cook stoves, supply chain of pelleted fuel, solar PV cooking, ethanol stoves and many panels on funding and investments in this sector.

In India this program is bring spearheaded by various ministries but the lead has been taken by Pradhan Mantri Ujawala Yojana (MPUY) where the aim is to provide 50 million LPG connections to rural poor by 2020. Government of India (GOI) claims that already 30 million connections have been given to rural poor! LPG is one of the cleanest fuels presently being used in urban areas of India and around the world. India today imports 90% of its LPG (50% is directly imported and 40% is made from imported oil) with total outlay of Rs. 32,000 crores/year. With ambitious Government of India (GOI) program of providing 50 million connections to the rural households by 2020 this import bill will substantially increase.

With ambitious Government of India (GOI) program of providing 50 million connections to the rural households by 2020 this import bill will substantially increase.

Besides the high import bill, the ground reality of problems in implementing such a scheme is still questionable. There are many instances in rural areas where the households do not get the cylinders either because of lack of delivery infrastructure or because they are diverted by gas agencies to other customers. Also it is still costly for rural poor to purchase them. Even with subsidized price of about Rs. 490/cylinder, purchasing a cylinder puts a major dent in poor people's monthly budget.

So in many cases after the gas in their cylinder is finished the rural poor go back to wood or biomass residues which are nearly free though there is drudgery involved in collecting them.

Another hair brained scheme of GOI discussed in the forum is to promote electric cooking in rural areas for pollution abatement! Even today there are more than 50 million rural households which do not have any electricity and even those villages where GOI claims that electricity has reached; it comes on for few hours late at night when the cooking requirement is nearly zero. Electric cooking via induction cook stoves consumes nearly 1000 W of power. In this power a rural household can get excellent lighting; sufficient energy to operate a fan for cooling and for other household uses like mixers, etc.

Another hair brained scheme of GOI discussed in the forum is to promote electric cooking in rural areas for pollution abatement!

The primary aim of electricity should be to provide light and power a fan for comfort cooling and not for induction cooking. If in future the electricity to rural areas becomes abundant, then electric cooking could be thought of as a possible solution.

It is not entirely misplaced to believe that both LPG and electric cooking are being pushed by international agencies with their own agenda of selling goods in India. Government of India is also talking of using solar energy PV power for running the electric induction stoves. Since there is no sun in the evening and early morning (when most of the cooking in rural households takes place) there will be a great requirement of electricity storage which at present is very inefficient and costly. Besides all PV modules used presently in India are imported.

Cooking is a heat-based process. To first convert the heat of fossil fuels into electricity (with only 30% conversion efficiency) then transmit it long distances and again convert it into heat is a very inefficient process. The western societies which have surplus electricity have become electric societies and thus for convenience they use electric cooking. For decentralized rural based country like India we should opt for systems that convert locally available energy resources directly into heat for cooking.

Liquid fuels have the highest energy density among all the fuels (kW/kg) and are easy to transport. Thus they should be promoted for use in efficient liquid fuel stoves for cooking. Both fossil fuels like diesel and kerosene and renewable fuels like ethanol belong to this category.

An excellent technology for liquid fuel cooking is a lanstove developed by a rural-based organization Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Phaltan, Maharashtra.

All fuels are dirty – it is their combustion which makes them clean. Thus the focus should be on developing excellent combustion technologies for liquid fuels and NARI lanstove fits the bill.

Lanstove runs on diesel which is available all over the country-even in the smallest of villages. The lanstove produces excellent light (equivalent to that from a 100-200 W incandescent bulb) via a thermoluminscent mantle and the heat from the mantle cooks a complete meal for a family of 5 including chapattis and bhakaris. It does not produce any smoke, smell, or particulates and since both heat and light are produced simultaneously it is 5 times more efficient than electric cooking and lighting. Through the use of UID card the diesel can be subsidized for rural poor. Such technologies should be propagated and encouraged by GOI.

Generally whenever we talk of using kerosene or diesel for cooking, the first immediate reaction in a person's mind is that they are dirty fuels. All fuels are dirty – it is their combustion which makes them clean. Thus the focus should be on developing excellent combustion technologies for liquid fuels and NARI lanstove fits the bill.

Similarly there is a need for infusion of funds in R&D so that agricultural residues can be converted into liquid fuels like diesel and kerosene. India produces close to 600-800 million tons of agricultural residues/year. Most of them are burned in the fields after harvesting of crops resulting in tremendous outdoor air pollution for both cities and towns. Use of these residues for producing liquid fuels like diesel and kerosene can reduce our petroleum import bill drastically. Besides this will also make these fuels renewable and home grown.

However, very little international funding is available for pushing such technologies for rural cooking.

However, very little international funding is available for pushing such technologies for rural cooking. A ray of hope was given in the Cooking forum by Tata Trusts who are in the process of rolling out a platform where funding will be available for technology development which will be coupled with that for early stage startups. Such funding will help to increase innovations in cooking technologies.

Though there are worldwide efforts underway on improving cook stoves but the biggest problem of removing the drudgery of cooking by rural women is still not solved. After toiling the whole day in the field in blazing sun they come home and are required to cook a complete meal for the family. This is very wearisome and most of the times women are too tired and in no mood to cook. This together with the meager rations from the Public Distribution System (PDS) shops results in tremendous malnourishment in rural households.

So a very novel scheme of creating rural restaurants has been proposed by NARI. These restaurants will provide clean wholesome food to rural poor at a subsidized price via the use of UID cards. For regular clients the restaurants will charge the full price. This will not only give good food to the rural poor, but the indoor air pollution in rural households also will be drastically reduced besides giving them relief from drudgery of cooking. This concept of rural restaurants may have been the catalyst for the famous "Amma canteens" in Tamil Nadu.

International forums like the one held in Delhi may not help the rural poor directly but they have been successful in bringing into focus the problems faced by them. This will facilitate an influx of funding and hopefully bright brains to the neglected areas of development.

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.

WASHINGTON -- Smartphone addiction has become an actual problem in an increasingly digital world. Prolonged use of smartphones and computers may even increase the risk of depression and suicide- related behaviours in teenagers, especially girls, a major study warns.

"These increases in mental health issues among teens are very alarming," said Jean Twenge, from the San Diego State University in the US. "Teens are telling us they are struggling, and we need to take that very seriously," Twenge said.

Researchers studied questionnaire data from more than 500,000 teens. The study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science looked at data suicide statistics kept by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They found that the suicide rate for girls aged between 13 and 18 years increased by 65% between 2010 and 2015. The number of girls experiencing so called suicide- related outcomes - feeling hopeless, thinking about suicide, planning for suicide or attempting suicide - rose by 12%. The number of teen girls reporting symptoms of severe depression increased by 58%.

"When I first saw these sudden increases in mental health issues, I wasn't sure what was causing them," Twenge said. "But these same surveys ask teens how they spend their leisure time, and between 2010 and 2015, teens increasingly spent more time with screens and less time on other activities," he said. "That was by far the largest change in their lives during this five-year period, and it's not a good formula for mental health," he added.

The researchers returned to the data and looked to see if there was a statistical correlation between screen-time and depressive symptoms and suicide-related outcomes. They found that 48% of teens who spent five or more hours per day on electronic devices reported at least one suicide-related outcome, compared to only 28%of those who spent less than an hour a day on devices.

Depressive symptoms were more common in teens who spent a lot of time on their devices, as well. On the positive side, the researchers found that spending time away from screen and engaging in social interaction, sports and exercise, doing homework, attending religious services, etc was linked to having fewer depressive symptoms and suicide-related outcomes.

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As buzzwords go, currently millets seem to be topping the list. We are talking about it, trying to cook it at home, and seeing them pop up on restaurant menus. We seem to be finally waking up to a load of goodness that's been growing in your backyards.

Millets have always had a lot going for them, they are indigenous, score high on nutrition, and are classified as smart foods. "Yet, with the Green Revolution, processing of rice and wheat became easier, resulting in them being readily available," says Agriculture Minister, Government of Karnataka (GoK), Krishna Byre Gowda, who has been a strong proponent of millets. The recent National Trade Fair organised in Bangalore by the GoK, with a focus on millets, saw large numbers of farmers, consumers, exhibitors and more participating.

"Rice became a symbol of aspiration as it signified socio-economic improvement. Added to that, the longer cooking times that millets have and the perception that it is a poor man's food, relegated it to the back burner," he added.

In Uttarakhand, mandua (finger millet) is eaten as rotis, jhangora (barnyard millet) as paleu or chencha, a savoury porridge cooked in buttermilk; in Gujarat and Maharashtra, sama is eaten during fasts and daliya (lapsi) is a staple

But, Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal -- food writer, menu consultant and owner of APB Cook Studio Mumbai--strongly feels that millets never really lost their significance. "They still feature strongly in traditional food habits and home cuisines. In Uttarakhand, mandua (finger millet) is eaten as rotis, jhangora (barnyard millet) as paleu or chencha, a savoury porridge cooked in buttermilk; in Gujarat and Maharashtra, sama is eaten during fasts and daliya (lapsi) is a staple. Bajra and jowar are common, as are chaulai (Amaranth), kauni and other millets.

Are we really going back to our roots?

"Going back to old ways is only a matter of acceptance," says chef Kasiviswanathan, Executive Chef, One Atria Café, Radisson Blu Atria Bengaluru. "But for me, as a professional chef, there is always the desire to do something different and unique, and millets give us that opportunity. We have made ragi hoppers and converted that to a biryani with sprouted ragi added in. We also have ragi hoppers served with coconut milk infused with jaggery and scented with cardamom for the sweet tooth."

It's thanks to this innovative drive by restaurants and home chefs that millets seem to be gathering momentum. That is how we are getting to see a millet risotto, porridge, desserts, and even energy bars created at Eywa by Saby in Delhi and Mineority by Saby in Pune. "20 years ago when everything from the West glittered, we were taken up by it," says Sabyasachi Gorai, chef and mentor, fondly known as Chef Saby. "Today, millets have found their place as a superfood in the world. The idea is to look at what is easily available in the local biodiversity. The art lies in creating amazing dishes from what is locally found around you, rather than with exotic ingredients". Think about how delicious Chef Saby's black olive and millet risotto can be!

"We also have ragi hoppers served with coconut milk infused with jaggery and scented with cardamom for the sweet tooth."

Considering that the eating out crowd today primarily comprises millennials who are keenly watching food trends, the focus on them as key audience is natural. When considering how to propagate the use of millets, Manu Chandra, Chef Partner, Toast & Tonic (Olive Group), says that experts he worked with felt there were two ways to go about it: bottom up or top down. "Top down, we found to be ideal, because of the proclivity of the younger generation to look at cool things and be open to them," says Manu. "By highlighting that it is not only versatile but tasty, we have managed in a small span of time, to take it from obscurity to something that is a hero".

Chef Manu has found so many uses for millets across the board. He says, "We use them in desserts, cakes, pancakes, summer roll-ups, salads, tikkis, croquettes, kibbehs and as fillers. The success of a millet risotto bar at a recent commercial catering gig that we did shows that it is going to be a bona fide eating option soon".

With an increased awareness on millets and the vast possibilities with it, chef Ramasamy Selvaraju, Executive Chef, Taj Vivanta, MG Road, Bangalore, serves up a host of dishes that are seen across his restaurants and cuisines. "For our breakfast buffet, we have dishes like sorghum upma, ragi pongal and multi-grain dosas on offer. We have also created an array of modern European food across courses which include the roasted pearl millet tossed with baby pineapple, smoked chicken, crispy lettuce with coriander vinaigrette and, a combination of foxtail, and pearl millet ravioli filled with goat cheese and vegetables tossed with sundried tomato pesto with olive oil."

Krishnamoorthi always felt that it would be the older generation of folks to frequent their outlets, but he was pleasantly surprised to see that 75% of his guests were young adults!

With chefs in standalone as well as star establishments presenting millets in so many ways, experts like Rushina too have tempting creations of their own out there. "I love millets and use them regularly in traditional dishes and world cuisines. I make a jowar bajra porridge, green-mango-jowar salad as well as savoury and sweet millet Buddha bowls. Millets can be used as substitutes for rice, in everything from fried rice to risotto and khichdi".

Eating millets the traditional Way

The good thing about millets and its use is that it does not have to be rendered in international and innovative forms to be acceptable by all. Standing testimony to this are restaurants such as Prems Graama Bhojanam (PGB) in Chennai and Bangalore. When N S Krishnamoorthi first began PGB in Chennai with a completely millet-based menu, he did it with the idea of providing people with food that they were familiar with.

"It is our afternoon lunch thalis that are the biggest hit," he says. "It has three kinds of muddes – ragi, bajra, white millet, and four kinds of Kodo-based preparations in keeping with favourites like tomato rice, tamarind rice, curd and lemon rice. This is followed up with sambar made of Foxtail Millet and then a lemon ginger pepper rasam fortified with herbs such as Brahmi. There are also seasonal, local vegetables served. A black rice halwa with organic jaggery is a speciality. Another very popular dish is our Tumkur style inspired thatte idli made using a kodo millet".

Krishnamoorthi always felt that it would be the older generation of folks to frequent their outlets, but he was pleasantly surprised to see that 75% of his guests were young adults! While one may have gone the traditional way, an approach that Vaathsalya Millet Café in Bangalore took is that of mixing and matching old recipes with new.

"My mom used to disguise our food a lot to feed us healthier. She was always innovating and experimenting with food, and so it wasn't difficult for her to come up with an all millets menu", says Vivek Madinur, Business Development Manager of Vaathsalya Cafe. "Our menu looks modern but has a North Karnataka rural cuisine touch to it. We have millet malts, buttermilk and snacks. We also have a unique creation of our own: ragi pop. This is popped ragi that is spiced, the ready-to-eat snack came about when we wanted to create something healthy for my grandmother!"

Proponents of millets believe that the increased awareness and demand will encourage more cultivation and proliferation of millets. Better choices being made available to consumers by innovative chefs will definitely help too. The bottom line remains that we do not have to look too far to help cultivate healthier food habits.

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.

For years, a seemingly-innocuous question about the origin of a popular sweet in India's east had the potential to turn any discussion bitter. On Tuesday, finally, it was settled that 'rosogolla' — a sweet, syrupy ball of cottage cheese — originated in West Bengal. The state won the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the iconic dessert.

Bengalis obviously celebrated the news (with rosogolla, no doubt) on all platforms of social media — it's a hard-fought victory after all. However, their neighbours in Odisha were understandably upset.

"If such a decision has been taken, certainly justice has not been done with Odisha. Rasagolla has got an age-old bond with Lord Jagannath culture and our other rituals. It has several mythological and other evidence," IANS quoted Odisha's Finance Minister Sahibhusan Behera as saying.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tweeted: "Odisha government is in process of obtaining GI tag for Odishara Rasagolla. It originated in Odisha and is offered at Jagannath Temple as part of religious rituals by people of Odisha since the 12th century."

The Odisha government has vowed to not let Bengal savor this victory. It would battle to get the GI tag for 'Odia Rasagolla' just as Bengal has the certificate for 'Banglar Rosogolla'.

Odisha Government is in process of obtaining GI tag for Odishara Rasagolla. It originated in #Odisha and is offered at Jagannath Temple as part of religious rituals by people of Odisha since centuries. pic.twitter.com/zk0tOAxj7c

— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) November 14, 2017

According to reports, the Odisha government has prepared a detailed document with the help of historians.

"If we apply for GI tag, we can get it for Odisha Rasagola. So, the origin of Rasagola is not settled in anyone's favour," a state government official told IANS.

Senior examiner, GI Chennai, Prasant Kumar said Odisha can always apply for its 'Rasagola' with proper documents to substantiate its claims on origin of 'Odia Rasagola'.

Ah ha! So the GI tag is ONLY for the spongy, usually canned, variety? We should arrange a head-to-head tasting against the succulent, brown, nuclear-attack-on-the-taste-buds varieties from Salipur, Pahalo, & dozens of other places in Odisha with centuries' longer tradition😎 https://t.co/lSBlTsFDLN

— Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) November 15, 2017

Ha ha looks like we Bengalis won this war. Banglar Rasogolla gets the GI tag that confirms it was originated in Bengal invented by confectioner Nabin Chandra Das. Half a dozen documentary evidence dating back to 1896.https://t.co/nmn2C8VgGV

— Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) November 15, 2017

Rosogolla, the one sweet that is a part of Odisha's history n life gets a GI tag for Bengal ! U lost rosogolla to Bengal ! @CMO_Odisha why did you fail to convince ?

— Rupashree Nanda (@rupashreenanda) November 14, 2017

May be the #Rasagolla battle not lost yet. But, #Odisha Govt fails to answer why it slept on this issue for two years and waited for West Bengal Govt to get the GI tag on their Rasagolla first.

— Bhrugu Baxipatra (@BhruguBJP) November 15, 2017

In this war over the king of sweets, the most confusion has been over how to spell its name.

In local pronunciation, Bengali's call it 'roshogolla', however 'rosogolla' and 'rasogolla' are perfectly acceptable as well. In the north it is pronounced as 'rasgulla'. Similarly Odisha, when it claims its own GI tag, can apply for 'rasagolla', 'rasgulla' or 'rasagola'.

"Geographical indication" is a tag which identifies agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory. However, as this article pointed out, it "would not enable the holder to prevent others from making a product using the same techniques as long as it does not claim the same geographical origin."

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.