India denounced Pakistan on Tuesday over the treatment of the family of an Indian man sentenced to death for spying, saying they had been harassed during a visit, a charge Pakistan called "baseless".

Among other things, the Indian government accused the Pakistani authorities of refusing to return the shoes of the visiting wife of Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav after she turned them over to security for the visit.

Jadhav, a former officer in the Indian navy, was arrested in March 2016 in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, where there has been a long-running conflict between security forces and separatists, and he was convicted of planning espionage and sabotage.

His wife and mother were allowed to see him behind a glass window on Monday, eight months after he was sentenced to death, but that gesture of goodwill appeared to have quickly descended into acrimony.

Ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours are in a deep chill and Jadhav's case has added to long-running tensions, with each accusing the other of supporting cross-border violence.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said Jadhav's family had been subjected to harassment when they arrived to see him.

"The Pakistani press was allowed on multiple occasions to approach family members closely, harass and hector them and hurl false and loaded accusations about (Shri) Jadhav," Kumar said in a statement.

Pakistan's foreign ministry rejected the accusations.

"The Indian baseless allegations and twists ... about the visit of the wife and mother of Commander Jadhav, a convicted terrorist and spy, who has confessed to his crimes, are categorically rejected," it said.

The Pakistani statement added that it had kept both Pakistani, Indian and international media "at a safe distance, as requested by India".

Pakistan authorities say Jadhav confessed to being assigned by India's intelligence service to plan, coordinate and organise espionage and sabotage activities in Baluchistan "aiming to destabilise and wage war against Pakistan".

India says Jadhav is innocent, and it won an injunction from the World Court to delay his execution, arguing he was denied diplomatic assistance during his trial by a military court.

On Monday, Pakistan released a picture of Jadhav's mother, Avanti, and wife, Chetankul, seated at a desk and speaking to him from behind the glass partition. Islamabad said it had honoured its commitment to give access to the family.

But India said Jadhav's mother was not allowed to speak in her native Marathi language and was frequently interrupted during the meeting.

Kumar said the two women had been asked to remove the red dot that Hindus wear as well as their jewellery and shoes during security screenings, adding that Pakistani authorities had refused to return the shoes that Jadhav's wife had worn.

The Pakistani foreign ministry rebuttal did not address the report of the missing shoes.

India and Pakistan often accuse each other of spying, and several people have been held in prisons for years in both countries, some on death row, to be used as bargaining chips in their troubled relationship.

The World Inequality Report 2018, a first of its kind, was published last week by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and their associates. Indeed, as Piketty demonstrated in his 2015 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, we are witnessing a resurgence of the rentier class – the class which owns (financial and non-financial) assets and they obtain a rent/return on their ownership – and not the 'euthanasia of the rentier class' as John Maynard Keynes had expected.

In this short essay, I argue that our staggering inequality of income and wealth severely undermines progressive politics, and therefore renders our collective vision of a good life for all impossible.

One of the key insights from Piketty's book is that the rate of return on 'capital' (which includes financial assets such as equity shares, mutual funds, and bonds and non-financial assets such as land and housing) has grown faster than the rate of growth of output (or GDP). Remember that the rate of per capita GDP is a proxy for the rate of annual growth of income per person. Hence, on an average, as a worker, I can reasonably expect my income to grow at the per capita GDP growth rate. However, if, for instance, I own financial assets, I do not need to work and yet my average annual returns will be greater than those who work.

India, or more accurately, Indians, are extremely poor as well as highly unequal. More precisely, 93% of Indian households earn less than ₹ 2,50,000 a year (or ₹ 21,000 a month) and therefore are exempt from paying personal income tax. That is, most Indians do not possess an income that can be taxed. At the same time, the richest 1% own 53% of India's wealth according to a Credit Suisse report. Owing to the high return on financial assets, the wealthy get wealthier. Moreover, they are able to use their socioeconomic standing to ensure that their children also have access to a clean environment, good schooling, quality health care, and eventually a job that 'pays' well.

What is scary is that we have uncritically bought the idea that to improve our socioeconomic standing, we have to individually strive to become better.

Our current socioeconomic order gives us time only for work and work-related activities such as traveling to and from work, and increasingly, looking for work too. As Francis Wheen writes in his biography of Karl Marx's Capital, "The average British employee now puts in 80,224 hours over his or her working life, as against 69,000 hours in 1981. ... many people have no time for anything beyond labour and sleep." Many workers in Bengaluru spend around 2 hours a day on an average commuting to and from work. Contrary to our expectations from this socioeconomic order, technological progress has neither resulted in shorter working days nor in higher wages.

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Every time, I am out on the roads of Bengaluru, I am struck by our neglectful attitudes towards our common property – lakes, trees, parks, buses, and roads. This is accompanied by a growth in: lake-facing apartments, big SUV vehicles plying on the roads, international schools which guarantee our children seats in MIT and Harvard, trees being felled to make away for the increased cars and school buses, and lakes frothing due to household (and industrial) waste from all the toxic ingredients in the substances we use daily for cleaning clothes, dishes, and our dwellings. I will not be surprised if, in the future, some large gated housing communities partner with schools and hospitals to provide services exclusively for their residents.

In the manner described above, the responsibility to ensure a good life for all has been passed on, rather sold to, all of us, individually.

The death knell of our extant socioeconomic order is and has been ringing, and it keeps getting louder. What is scary is that we have uncritically bought the idea that to improve our socioeconomic standing, we have to individually strive to become better – work harder, save more, and become more efficient and smart. [The burgeoning self-help books industry is testament to this need created by the current socioeconomic order. A 2012 study by Marketdata Enterprises valued the US self-help industry at around $10 billion per year.] And the reasoning continues: after all, our children's educational attainment (aka merit) chiefly depends on their individual hard work; overall ecological improvement depends on individual decisions and actions – of what to and what not to consume; our access to good health care depends on our individual savings, or financial planning, as they call it; our ability to subsist well after our retirement also depends on our individual retirement planning.

In the manner described above, the responsibility to ensure a good life for all has been passed on, rather sold to, all of us, individually. And this idea is deeply flawed in an unequal society like ours because the poor cannot afford to make demands for better public infrastructure and services, and the rich meet their growing needs through purely private means.

(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.)

A freelance journalist who writes often for The Hindu newspaper in India and some international publications, was whisked away on Tuesday from a demolition site in Mumbai's Vakola, charged by the Bandra-Kurla police with instigating protestors, allegedly denied access to her phone, roughed up, and held in police custody for about four hours.

Journalist Priyanka Borpujari recalled her ordeal over the phone with HuffPost India:

"The police said I was apparently instigating protestors. I've been a journalist for many years now. I have covered human rights. There is no way I would incite violence. I am shocked that this allegation has been levelled against me. I remember clearly, I kept saying over and over again 'mujhe apna kaam karne do' (let me do my work). Because that's what journalists are supposed to do under such circumstances." Borpujari was not commissioned by The Hindu to cover the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolition about 300 metres from her home, in Santa Cruz East. She got to know that houses were being demolished and rushed to the spot.

The ruckus at the demolition site started at around 12:30 in the noon. She was escorted to the police station at about 1:30 PM. Borpujari's phone was taken away from her and despite her repeated request to be allowed to make a call, she was kept waiting at the police station till about 4 in the evening. She had no idea at that time that she and four other women who were picked up from the site were going to be charged with obstruction of duty.

I just spoke to @Pri_Borpujari and she told me that she's safe. However, she added, her cellphone has visuals of cops assaulting slumdweller children, and hence they're not returning it to her. @zigzackly@MumbaiPolice@CPMumbaiPolice@DevenBhartiIPShttps://t.co/BYjpbBpyFI

— Gautam S. Mengle (@NotMengele) December 26, 2017

"They were trying to intimidate me, they kept snatching my phone away, and when I bent down to pick it up, they pulled my shirt. I came home with two-three bruises and contusions." Borpujari said the police went through the mobile phone she used to take videos and photos of the demolition.

"It was very shocking. It's my personal phone and had my personal data on it," she said.

Later in the evening, a policeman, who was documenting the events at the Hans Bhugra Marg, and whom she refused to name, allegedly told Borpujari that if only she had a press card, she would have been let off.

However, Borpujari said that the focus should not shift from the 250 houses that were demolished and their now-homeless occupants. "At least I came back to my house and slept in my bed. Imagine the plight of those people. There's a bigger story here to report."

When Borpujari asked the policeman how could her action — of documenting the razing of houses — be construed as instigation, she was allegedly told that simply the fact that she was present there with a camera in hand encouraged the protestors.

She gave The Hindu a detailed account of what went on at the site, describing police brutality. Journalists from the paper raised the alarm when they could not reach her over her phone. "As is the case now (with contacts saved on smartphones), I could not remember anyone's number, except for an old friend's whom I called when they (the police) finally allowed me a call."

Borpujari did not know at that time that in a WhatsApp group of Network Of Women In Media (NWMI), of which this writer is a member, there were frantic exchanges of messages, not just of solidarity, but also pooling of resources to reach help to her on time. Numbers of lawyers were exchanged, calls to police stations made, tweets posted, and media reports written. The pressure created by senior journalists helped expedite her release, mediapersons on the group conceded.

DCP Anil Kumbhare, Divisional Commissioner for Zone VIII told The Hindu that they detained the freelance journalist "for encouraging slum dwellers and instigating them to protest against the action taken by the BMC." An FIR has been lodged against the five women under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 114 (abettor being present when offence is committed), 141 (show of criminal force), 143 (unlawful assembly) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, according to the paper.

Press backing, poor pay

As a freelance journalist, Borpujari did not have a press card, a common enough plight for India's contractual media workers and stringers. The harrowing trial faced by her exposed the plight of freelance journalists in India. The Press Information Bureau (PIB), that issues accreditation cards for access to high security areas such as the Indian Parliament require five years of experience as a full time working journalist. A freelancer must have fifteen years of experience to apply for a PIB card.Foreign journalists (correspondents and camerapersons) require five years of experience as a full time working journalist and a valid J-Visa.

"Most newspapers don't pay us anymore. Earlier, there was a monthly fixed amount but that was till around a decade ago but that too stopped over the years," a journalist who has worked as a stringer with many papers for over three decades, told HuffPost India, requesting anonymity.

"Many of the journalists fell on bad times, they were in middle-age, and couldn't change jobs overnight."

"Later, some papers used to pay per news ranging from Rs 75-Rs 100 (for each 'cutting' news that was printed). This includes a national English paper. Barely 5-6 stories were carried a month, it was nominal amount that couldn't even cover petrol cost. Then, it was also stopped. They carry our news but don't pay, expecting that we would have some other means or side business to run household," the journalist added.

"Many of the journalists fell on bad times, they were in middle-age, and couldn't change jobs overnight," the journalist said. "I too worked with a national daily as stringer for years and was promised that I would be given an identity card but it remained a promise which was never fulfilled, forget money, even card was never issued," the journalist added.

"Even a renowned national news agency pays less than Rs 500 per month though we cover entire district with a population of 20-25 lakh."

Sexism, a daunting challenge

Gita Aravamudan, an award-winning journalist from Bangalore, has been a freelance writer for 50 years of her life, starting her career as an intern with the Hindustan Times in 1967. She told HuffPost India that threat to personal safety is the commonest peril of working off the grid.

"When I joined journalism there were very few women in newsrooms, and the atmosphere was generally anti-women. The perception was - 'women can't go to war, they can't cover strikes'. When I joined the Indian Express in 1968 in Bangalore (now, Bengaluru), I was the only woman reporter on a beat. You could be a woman on the desk, that was acceptable, but reporting was another matter," Aravamudan said.

The senior journalist and author recalled being paid Rs 15 per piece back in the 70s. Sometimes she was paid on time, sometime, they payments got delayed. "When you landed an interview with a political leader, you were told by your colleagues, "women have it easy, all they have to do is smile."

The perception was - 'women can't go to war, they can't cover strikes'.

After her marriage to R. Aravamudan, an ISRO scientist, she was even asked if her husband wrote her articles for her. For the patriarchal media cabal of that time, it was clearly implausible that a woman investigative journalist who wrote in English could have done it without a man's help.

"Years later, when my husband wrote his first book — ISRO, A Personal History — chronicling his years in space research, I must confess I helped him with his language," she said, chuckling over the phone.

Rampant sexism aside, Borpujari's experience is a perfect example of the violence woman journalists face. Senior journalist Gauri Lankesh, a vocal critic of right wing politics, was shot dead right outside her home in Bengaluru on 5 September this year.

From public toilet walls to Facebook walls

India ranked 136 among 180 countries in the latest world press freedom rankings, just marginally better off than its South Asia neighbours with an established track record of assault on press freedom. Journalists in this part of the world work under some of the most stressful conditions, often battling bureaucratic red-tape, threats to life, political and police intimidation, and invasion of their privacy. Freelancers can add limited access, pitiable wages, non-payment of dues on time to the list of pet peeves while covering the world's largest functioning democracy.

"See, we didn't have press accreditation at all. In those times, India Today gave me a card that would enable me to go to a telegraph office and send them a telegram. But that card would not guarantee access, or protection from police action."

"See, we didn't have press accreditation at all. In those times, India Today gave me a card that would enable me to go to a telegraph office and send them a telegram. But that card would not guarantee access, or protection from police action. Whatever access freelancers get, is based on years of building credibility," she said.

Sometimes the newspapers and magazines freelancers wrote for, had their back, such as The Hindu in Borpujari's case and Aravamudan's many years ago when she needed it to gain access for an investigative story on female infanticide.

"When I was covering dowry deaths for an investigative report, people came and told me I'd better be careful because I don't know where I'll end up. Same happened once when I was looking into a story about a group of pornographic filmmakers. Every day at 2:30 PM in the afternoon and 11 PM at night I would get threats over the phone. They clearly knew who I was, because once they found out that I didn't speak Malayalam, the threats were issued in Tamil," Aravamudan said.

The freelancer is mostly on her own in these circumstances, she said. However, Aravamudan said the trolling young girls face on social media today, somewhat compare.

"The messages that were scribbled on public toilet walls in our time, now come up on social media walls. It affects you psychologically."

The year 2017 has been a disappointing year for Bollywood with many big budget films such as Tubelight, Jab Harry Met Sejal, Jagga Jasoos, Rangoon, Raabta, etc. failing to create the ripples that they were expected to at the box-office. At a time when the heavyweights stumbled at the box-office, we had a bunch of small budget films that showed everyone else the way forward with their humanistic themes, innovative mise en scènes, and refreshing approach to cinematic storytelling. In addition to the cinematic flair, a majority of these films were also socially relevant and thought-provoking. It is primarily because of all these factors that they are good enough to be described as the best films of the year. So, here goes my pick of the 10 best Hindi movies of the year

10. Babumoshai Bandookbaaz

A sanguinary crime thriller set in the backdrop of the rustic landscape of Uttar Pradesh, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is bound to remind some of Gangs of Wasseypur. But, in terms of style and themes, the Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Bidita Bag starrer comes across as a successor to Ishqiya, Omkara, and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster. The film's subtle use of dark humor prevents it from becoming too serious. However, as engaging as the film is, it is alarmingly high on violence. Also, the characters use cuss words rather casually. But few films this year can claim to match its raw intensity. So, as long as violence and expletives don't turn you off, you can certainly check it out.

9. Qarib Qarib Singlle

There is a certain charm about off-beat romances. Qarib Qarib Singlle is the story of a woman and a man in their late 30s who meet each other through a website called Ab Tak Single. What follows is a series of fun-filled encounters between these two characters who appear to be poles apart. This Tanuja Chandra rom-com is made special by the performances of Irrfan Khan and Parvathy, known for her work in Malayalam cinema. The movie takes us to exotic locations across the states of Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan and may remind some of Wes Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited (2007).

8. Shab

Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Onir, Shab can best be described as a dark brooding treatise on the complexities of human relationships, something that Bollywood has seldom attempted. One of the few only openly gay filmmaker in Hindi film industry, Onir has always managed to present relationships in a different light and he succeeds in doing the same in Shab as well—only this time he goes further than he has ever done. Shot in Delhi across four different seasons, Shab is essentially a story of love and betrayal but one that's elevated by multilayered characters, ambiguous subtexts and complicated subplots.

7. Poorna

Poorna, directed by Rahul Bose, tells the story of a tribal girl from Telangana named Poorna Malavath who shook everybody by scaling Mount Everest at the age 13 years and 11 months, becoming the youngest girl ever to do so. Poorna is far from being a run-of-the-mill biopic. In fact, it is nothing short of a meditation of sorts on the indomitable spirit that can make a human being achieve the unthinkable. Beautifully shot, Poorna takes us on an exotic adventure from Telangana to Darjeeling to Sikkim to Nepal, all the way to the top of Mount Everest. But the journey works well on an intellectual level as well. The journey of Poorna is a story of hope, self-belief and survival, with lessons for one and all.

6. Secret Superstar

Starring Zahira Wasim in the eponymous role, Secret Superstar is the story of a school girl who wants to become a singer but her cruel father strongly disapproves of it. The film, directed by Advait Chandan, addresses issues of patriarchy and domestic violence with as much care and thought that sensitive subjects like these deserve. And, without trying to be preachy, the film takes a strong stand against gender discrimination, female foeticide, and violence against women. It also talks about the importance of dreams in life. Secret Superstar is a reminder that people can abuse and dominate us for only as long as we allow them to do so. The moment we decide to break free of the shackles, no force in this world can stop us from following our dreams.

5. CRD

Co-written and directed by the National Award-winning filmmaker Kranti Kanade, CRD presents the story of a young playwright who rebels against his abusive mentor in a bid to win a prestigious theatre competition. Kanade, who is known to make socially relevant films, explores fascism and cut-throat competition in CRD. An interesting way to look at the film would be as a treatise on narcissism, fear, obsession, insecurity and hubris. The film also serves a testament to the duplicitous nature of art. Walking a tightrope between melodrama and heightened realism, CRD endeavors to develop a hybrid language that comes across as a cross between theatre and cinema. Such bold experiments in terms of narrative have been unheard of in Hindi cinema since the days of Mani Kaul and Kumar Shahani.

4. Ribbon

Directed by debutante filmmaker Rakhee Sandilya, Ribbon is a story of a modern middle-class couple and how they come to terms with challenges of raising a child in a cutthroat and volatile world. Shot in a documentary-like style using a handheld camera, Ribbon offers a refreshing take on the complexities of modern relationships. The film also does a good job of drawing our attention to certain important issues that often go unnoticed such as child molestation and the prejudice that female employees have to deal with at work. Remember, the first step to solving any problem is to acknowledge it. Kalki Koechlin and Sumeet Vyas have delivered strong performances that add conviction to the film. The dialogue is mostly conversational and enhances the performances. It's quite refreshing to see a relevant and realistic film like Ribbon being made today that's far away from the commercial escapism of run-of-the-mill Bollywood films.

3. Newton

Directed by Amit V Masurkar, Newton is a satire on the power dynamics that govern the lives of the tribal people inhabiting Naxal areas across India. It was selected as the India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it failed to make the Academy's shortlist. The film had premiered at the 67th Berlin International Festival in the Forum Section wherein it won the CICAE Award for best film. While Rajkummar Rao is brilliant in the role of a duty-bound clerk, it is Pankaj Tripathi who steals the show, essaying the part of the officer in charge of security in the area. Newton features some very engaging dialogues about the class divide and offers an interesting take on the contrasting ideas of idealism and pragmatism. It is easily one of the best films revolving around the issue of Naxalism.

2. Kadvi Hawa

Nila Madhab Panda, the acclaimed director of I Am Kalam, touches upon two critical issues in Kadvi Hawa: climate change and farmer suicides. The film got a special mention at the 64th National Awards. To call Kadvi Hawa a warning would be an understatement, for we are well past the days of warning. Climate change today is as real as any threat can get. The onus is on us all and it's high time we started acting on it. Similarly, the plight of Indian farmers is well documented and yet it's a subject that seldom gets the attention it deserves. Kadvi Hawa touches upon these issues quite effectively and it does so without ever appearing to be preachy. Here is a realistic, poignant, evocative, and thought-provoking film that needs to be watched.

1. Anaarkali of Aarah

Anaarkali of Aarah, directed by former journalist Avinash Das, can best be described as a story of a female artist who takes the fight to a male-dominated society which objectifies women. It is a rarity these days for a mainstream Bollywood film to focus on important issues like women empowerment and gender equality. And so it is heartening to see a film stand tall in its commitment towards spreading awareness about these critical issues. Not only does Swara Bhaskar essay her part with grace and elegance but she also succeeds in adding considerable credibility to the complex character of Anaarkali. It is also perhaps the first film since Basu Bhattacharaya's Teesri Kasam (1966) to focus on the world of orchestra party. Anaarkali of Aarahis essential viewing.

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• 10"History Is All You Left Me" by Adam Silvera
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  From Goodreads: "From the New York Times bestselling author of More Happy Than Not comes an explosive examination of grief, mental illness, and the devastating consequences of refusing to let go of the past." Get it here. 
• 11"Difficult Women" by Roxane Gay
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  From Goodreads: "The women in these stories live lives of privilege and of poverty, are in marriages both loving and haunted by past crimes or emotional blackmail....From a girls’ fight club to a wealthy subdivision in Florida where neighbors conform, compete, and spy on each other, Gay delivers a wry, beautiful, haunting vision of modern America reminiscent of Merritt Tierce, Jamie Quatro, and Miranda July." Get it here. 
• 12"Large Animals" by Jess Arndt
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  From Kirkus Reviews: "Teetering between the everyday and the surreal, Arndt’s debut collection investigates narratives of the queer body." Get it here. 
• 13"The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit Of Happiness" by Jill Filipovic
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  From Goodreads: "What do women want? The same thing men were promised in the Declaration of Independence: happiness, or at least the freedom to pursue it." Get it here. 
• 14"Too Much And Not The Mood" by Durga Chew-Bose
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  From Goodreads: "On April 11, 1931, Virginia Woolf ended her entry in A Writer’s Diary with the words “too much and not the mood.” She was describing how tired she was of correcting her own writing, of the 'cramming in and the cutting out' to please other readers, wondering if she had anything at all that was truly worth saying. The character of that sentiment, the attitude of it, inspired Durga Chew-Bose to write and collect her own work." Get it here.
• 15"Somebody With A Little Hammer" by Mary Gaitskill
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  From Goodreads: "From one of the most singular presences in American fiction comes a searingly intelligent book of essays on matters literary, social, cultural, and personal." Get it here. 
• 16"The Rules Do Not Apply" by Ariel Levy
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  From Goodreads: "When thirty-eight-year-old New Yorker writer Ariel Levy left for a reporting trip to Mongolia in 2012, she was pregnant, married, financially secure, and successful on her own terms. A month later, none of that was true. Her own story of resilience becomes an unforgettable portrait of the shifting forces in our culture, of what has changed--and of what is eternal." Get it here. 
• 17"Hunger" by Roxane Gay
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  From Goodreads: "From the bestselling author of Bad Feminist: a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself." Get it here. 
• 18"Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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  From Goodreads: "A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie's letter of response." Get it here. 
• 19"All Grown Up" by Jami Attenberg
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  From Goodreads: "From the New York Times best-selling author of The Middlesteins comes a wickedly funny novel about a thirty-nine-year-old single, childfree woman who defies convention as she seeks connection." Get it here.
• 20"There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé" by Morgan Parker
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  From Goodreads: "There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé uses political and pop-cultural references as a framework to explore 21st century black American womanhood and its complexities: performance, depression, isolation, exoticism, racism, femininity, and politics." Get it here. 
• 21"All The Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen To Be Famous Strangers" by Alana Massey
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  From Goodreads: "From columnist and critic Alana Massey, a collection of essays examining the intersection of the personal with pop culture through the lives of pivotal female figures--from Sylvia Plath to Britney Spears--in the spirit of Chuck Klosterman, with the heart of a true fan." Get it here. 

India will borrow an additional 500 billion rupees ($7.79 billion) this fiscal year, a higher-than-expected figure that could lead to it breaching its fiscal deficit target for the first time in four years and hit the bond and equities markets.

The announcement by the finance ministry on Wednesday comes weeks after Moody's Investors Service upgraded India's sovereign credit rating for the first time in nearly 14 years, in a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. It had vowed to maintain fiscal discipline without compromising growth.

But analysts said the additional borrowing was a "negative" that could raise the fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's stated target of 3.2 percent.

India is having to raise the extra funds as the federal government has already spent over $200 billion in eight months to October, about 60 percent of the budgeted spending, while revenue collections were just 48 percent of the target.

The government's tax collection plunged after the launch of the national Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July that complicated tax filings for business and hit the economy.

Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA, the Indian arm of rating agency Moody's, said the additional borrowing could lead to "modest fiscal slippage" as the government was likely to miss its revenue receipts target.

"Given the clouded outlook for revenues, sticking to the fiscal consolidation roadmap would entail compression of expenditure, which would dampen the expected economic growth recovery in March quarter," Nayar said.

Rajiv Kumar, vice chairman of the government's policy panel NITI Aayog, said the borrowing was required to "nurture the green shoots of economic recovery".

"The health of the economy is more important than meeting any fiscal deficit target," he told ET Now news channel.

A few analysts, however, said some additional borrowing was expected and was priced into bond yields, meaning there are unlikely to be big swings in them on Thursday. The announcement on borrowing came after markets closed on Wednesday.

Reuters reported earlier that the government was considering cutting capital expenditure by at least 300 billion rupees in the March quarter.

New Delhi has also sought higher dividends from state companies. N.R. Bhanumurthy, an economist at New Delhi think-tank National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said the government was entering "uncharted territory" after the fall in revenue collections.

"In any case, a 3.2 percent target was not a realistic number after the launch of GST."

(UPDATE: Copy updated with Anant Kumar Hegde's apology in Parliament over his comments on Constitution and secularism.)

Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde's suggestion that the word secular, included in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, can be removed to consolidate the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) vision of a Hindu nation, has stoked the flames of discontent among his political colleagues who have accused the five-time Lok Sabha MP of threatening India's secular nature.

While Opposition leaders in Parliament are determined to stall proceedings till Hegde is taken to task, Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, said he wouldn't put it past the BJP to try and change the Constitution, the document that lays down the fundamental principles of governance.

"You can expect anything from the BJP," Yadav told HuffPost India over the phone. "They can go to any extent. They have the power to distract people's minds from the main issues. They'll not talk of poverty and unemployment. Their poll plank is caste and community. They won by a hair's margin in Gujarat. Par janta naaraaz hai (the public is angry)," Yadav said.

Hegde on Thursday apologised in Lok Sabha for his comments.

"My words have been twisted and presented, I never said all this... But if someone was hurt, I apologise to those members," Hegde responded when Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked him to apologise.

Incidentally, the BJP has also, time and again, accused the SP of indulging in caste politics and minority appeasement.

BJP National President Amit Shah, during a public address in Mudera, accused Yadav's party of dividing UP on the grounds of caste and religion and said "rivers of blood of animals are flowing in the state" — alluding to SP's Muslim support base of voters, many of whom made their living running slaughter houses or working in one.

Yadav is determined that the people "will show BJP its place" in the all-important 2019 general elections. The BJP now rules 19 out of 29 states and Hegde's comments ahead of Karnataka assembly elections in May, 2018, are an indication of the direction the campaign will take despite his party's proclamation that they'll uphold unity and secularism.

During the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, SP pitched its campaign around Yadav's developmental work in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, campaigning for BJP, too made development his main rhetoric in a state that has always been divided by caste politics. "If they (BJP) raises caste, so will we, but we want development, not marginalisation," Yadav said.

At a public event in Kukanur of Koppal district of Karnataka, the Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister said those who call themselves secular are unsure of their parentage, a comment that has infuriated the Opposition. "Claim with pride that they are Muslim, Christian, Lingayat, Brahmin, or a Hindu," the minister had said.

"Some people say the Constitution says secular and you must accept it. We will respect the Constitution, but the Constitution has changed several times and it will change in the future too. We are here to change the Constitution and we'll change it."

"Some people say the Constitution says secular and you must accept it. We will respect the Constitution, but the Constitution has changed several times and it will change in the future too. We are here to change the Constitution and we'll change it," Hegde was quoted as saying by several media outlets.

Hegde isn't new to controversy. In March, 2016, he had linked Islam to terrorism and said: "As long as there is Islam in the world, there will be terrorism. Until we uproot Islam, we can't remove terrorism," a comment that sparked outrage among Muslims. He had allegedly also assaulted doctors at a private hospital in Karnataka, accusing them of neglecting his mother's treatment.

Hegde's party has understandably distanced itself from his comment. Amidst repeated adjournments, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Vijay Goel, said the government did "not agree with the Minister's (Hegde's) remarks".

Naresh Agarwal from Yadav's party also slammed Hegde for disrespecting BR Ambedkar, Dalit icon and the architect of the Indian Constitution.

In Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said Hegde "has no right to be a Minister ... he has no right to be a Member of Parliament." CPI leader D. Raja said, "Dr. Ambedkar said, Sir, if at all India becomes a Hindu Rashtra, it would be a calamity for this country."

It all started in the most unlikely place. A barren warehouse echoing with memories of fishwife voices, sharp as shards of ice from the ice factory next door. Outside, a wall full of smiling portraits of fishermen and women looked at their real selves labouring on the boats and the jetty. The Koli community are the original residents of Mumbai and they are the central point around which the Sassoon Dock Art Project evolved. As it should be.

The docks are 142 years old but this year winds of change have brought a fresh twist to the place. In Sassoon Dock. In a warehouse. In a cutting-edge art project. In sync with the art community across the world that celebrates the hyper local with sensibilities that are increasingly global. Breath-taking murals, thought-provoking installations and a quirky sense of humour lacing the entire space almost as pervasively as the ripe Parfum de Sassoon hung heavy around us. The giant fishbone with hints of Art Deco accents above our heads only served to orient us even deeper to where we were. In Bombay.

It was not just the outpouring of art that was exciting, I was also thrilled with the fact that I was invited to attend one of those legendary secret suppers that have made a landmark of Jude Bakery in Bandra, in yet another surprising space.

THE MISSION

After that and the murals in and around Bandra's Waroda Road, this is the second such project in Mumbai, spearheaded by the St+art India Foundation, a not-for-profit urban art festival that brings together Indian and international street artists. Founded in 2014, by bright sparks Arjun Bahl, Hanif Kureshi, Giulia Ambrogi, Akshat Nauriyal and Thanish Thomas, the foundation has successfully completed six other highly acclaimed festivals across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru over the last three years. The latest one in Mumbai has the work of 27 Indian and international artists, as well as urban designers and close to 10 emerging artists showcasing their stellar work.

Besides Sassoon Dock, other areas of Mumbai are also part of the Urban Art Festival 2017. The mural featuring Mahatma Gandhi by legendary Brazilian street artist Eduardo already adorns the facade of Churchgate Station; Mahim East is being rejigged as an art district with more colourful common spaces; designer Manish Arora's creative installation festooning Jindal Mansion on Peddar Road; and French artist JR's large‐format paste-up Inside Out Project, which greeted us with the koli portraits lining the warehouse facades at the Sassoon Dock.

From under these evocative faces, thirty of us did a walk through with Guilia Ambrogi, curator of the St+art Urban Art Festival. After that immersive experience, we followed her en masse like a school of migrating fish to where a team from Impresario (the people behind Social) waited to make the big reveal – the secret venue for our sensational supper!

THE DRAMA

I was stunned when I realised that the dinner venue was going to be inside the Sassoon Dock Gate House, a place I had last visited more than 15 years ago to interview the family that lived in the dingy but quirky house. Now, the restored rooms decked in white paint and dark polished wood literally glowed with a new lease of life. The red theme, replete with matching carnations, scattered rose petals, barware and banners added drama to an already rich canvas.

Drinks and delightful conversations ensued. Until it was time to be ushered into yet another room where the tables were set to welcome us to a meal that promised to be unusual, at the very least. That's because Chef Gresham Fernandes, Impresario's Culinary Director, had joined forces with the unpredictable Chef Bjorn Shen from Singapore to create a special menu for the night!

THE COLLABORATIONS

That night the Singapore Tourism Board and their associates were out in full force. Right from CEO Lionel Yeo to GB Srithar, the Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East and Africa, and Ajit Singh, Consul General of Singapore in India, to a variety of their top artists, DJs, dancers. Everyone was enthusiastic about expressing how Singapore and Mumbai could be considered sister cities in their relationship with the sea, their colonial past, their cultural diversity and their sheer vibrancy. St+art India collaborated with them as well as a host of others (Bonjour India, Institut Français, the JSW Group, cultural institutions and embassies as well as support from Asian Paints and an association with the Mumbai Port Trust, Western Railway, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, etc) on this project. Open to anyone until December 30, it's emphatic about its 'Art for All' premise and encourages everyone to experience the installations.

THE SUPPER

Served as sharing portions, which we all dug into with gusto, were an assortment of rather radical pairings. Shen's Uncle William's crab curry dip with fried kale and crisp wanton chips was spectacular in the way it balanced umami with zing. And while you wouldn't normally touch charred cabbage with a ten-foot pole, I was quite enamoured by the way they had teamed it with tahini and a very creamy caramelised yoghurt. The varied textures of the grilled halloumi, with the accompanying burnt honeyed carrots and walnuts were pleasing, while the strong flavours of za'atar and basil brought the dish close enough to the Indian palate. Those of you who wished you'd been there, can still get a taste of this terrific fare from the Singapore X menu at a Social closest to you.

THE BEGINNING...

Yashodhan Wanage, Deputy Chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust, divulged some rather exciting plans with restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani and his company Impresario. "Apart from this Gate House area, which will now be a venue for similar events, we've also given them four warehouses to transform into unique dining spaces," he shared, while talking about the sea changes proposed for the cruise terminal and other spots with potential. At the inauguration a week before the secret dinner, Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust had announced, "The art project at Sassoon Dock is the first phase of redeveloping the area into a modern fishing harbour by streamlining fishing activities replicating global practices. This initiative is part of the fourth pillar of the Sagarmala project to upgrade all fishing harbours across the country and modernise them. Sassoon Dock is the first step in this direction and will be developed over four phases that will lead to better sanitation and cleanliness along with promoting fish tourism and excursion. The master plan for redevelopment also includes air-conditioned fish market, creche and healthcare facility, open exhibition space and multi-cuisine restaurants."

It's a way to bring Sassoon Dock back into the mindspace of Mumbai and for Mumbaikars to reclaim a part of the city that had (largely) remained forgotten for a long time except by residents nearby.

(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.)

A day after South Delhi Municipal Corporate (SDMC) reportedly passed a resolution prohibiting shops and restaurants from displaying meat out in the open, Shikha Ray, the Leader of the House, insisted that it has more to do about hygiene, rather than hurting sentiments of vegetarians.

"It is basically from the health point of view. If raw or cooked non-veg food is displayed on the road they get contaminated and cause infections, hence this resolution," Ray told HuffPost India over the phone.

In a resolution moved by Raj Dutt and supported by Nandini Sharma, it was sought that non-vegetarian food should not be displayed out in the open because of "sentimental" and "hygienic" reasons.

Hindustan Times had quoted the resolution as saying, "If restaurant owners are found displaying non-vegetarian items in public, action against them should be taken as per the municipal law."

"It is known in India we tolerate a lot of things about each other. But this is more of a hygiene issue."

When asked about display of vegetarian items in the same manner outside stalls, Ray said, "There has always been a rule against displaying cooked food outside, challans are given to people who do. Now we are adding raw food to that rule."

She said, "World over, you can see, there is nowhere such display of food can be seen."

When asked about the resolution stating that it hurt the sentiments of people, Ray said, "It is known in India we tolerate a lot of things about each other. But this is more of a hygiene issue."

Sharma who supported the resolution passed by Dutt was of the same opinion.

"When non-vegetarian food is displayed it can get contaminated with bacteria like salmonella and e-coli. The major cause of typhoid is contaminated food," Sharma told Huffpost India.

She however said that there was no ban on displaying photographs of non-vegetarian food items or storing them inside the shop.

"It is one of the issues -- for vegetarians to see hanging meat, they don't like it."

Sharma said the issue of hurting sentiments came about while discussing the resolution.

"It is one of the issues -- for vegetarians to see hanging meat, they don't like it," she said.

When asked if it was complaints that prompted them to approve this resolution, she said, "We didn't receive complaints, but it is normal, common conversation. Everyone knows that vegetarians don't like the sight of non-vegetarian food. It is a day to day thing."

The resolution will come up for confirmation in the next session of the House on January 3.

It is not enough to be the sidekick character who makes the white star more interesting, or the Asian American boss who acts stern and mutters a few lines every few episodes. Daniel Mayeda, chair of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition

• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  The restaurant holds about 40 diners per seating, each of whom has to disrobe in what Fox News calls an “everything-check room” before sitting at their tables.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  To avoid lookie-loos, the restaurant is on a residential street away from tourist hot spots, according to LonelyPlanet.com.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  In addition, the curtains are kept closed and there’s an interior blackout curtain to ensure diners’ privacy when the door opens.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  So far, nudists are enjoying the naked dining, though Yves Leclerc, president of the French Naturist Federation, admitted that going buff in a bistro was “a little surreal,” according to TheWeek.co.uk.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  Still, Leclerc is excited to bare all in the City of Light. “It's like when we're on holiday, but it's even better,” he said.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  There are some rules: No phones or cameras in the dining area, and no exhibitionism or disrespectful sexual behavior. 
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  Oh, and the waiters and cooks must remained dressed at all times, according to ABC News.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  The menu features bistro classics, including foie gras, lobster, snails, lamb and scallops. A three-course dinner costs around $58.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  O’Naturel is the brainchild of twin brothers Mike and Stephane Saada, who were inspired by other naked restaurants around the world.
• GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT via Getty Images
  Although some might think being naked at a restaurant would be titillating, Mike Saada insists to Agence France-Presse, “Nudity doesn’t have to mean sexuality.”