If there is one thing that the world seems to be obsessing on right now it is about the food we eat. We have stopped looking for the exotic (not altogether, but to a large extent) and are seeking the local. Seasonality has become a catch word and farmers' markets are seeing more footfalls. In the midst of it all, we are also trying to get back to being organic in the way we produce our food. And that means encouraging our farmers to make this change. And an easy task it is not!

At the recently concluded Tasting India Symposium in New Delhi, there were several animated discussions over working towards a sustainable food culture. The question of Indian farming going organic was highly debated.

Meera Mishra, Country Coordinator, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), India Office said that there are 3 fundamental reasons why organic food is being promoted around the world.

1. We want good quality food to be provided to people; food that is free of toxic and chemical residue.

2. We want to improve the health of the soil which is also good for the environment. This comes from a long history of having promoted chemicals for enhancement and suffering the consequences.

3. We want farmers to get better remuneration for their work. And this is the most important factor. Unless they produce, we cannot have anything.

With this in mind, she went on to say that there are therefore three pillars of organic food, the producers, the organic trading companies and the consumers.

Explaining what it means for a farmer to go organic and from a producer's perspective, Aparna Rajagopal, of Beejom, a natural farm in NCR along with a cattle preservation center explains, "When you expect farmers to grow food without chemicals or go organic – for the first 3 years they have tough time with weeds. There is a loss of balance in the soil eco-system, pests increase and there is lots of labour involved to manage this. In such a scenario, the current certification system can be a burden. There needs to be some hand holding involved. In trying to make a farmer organic, you are rather punishing him in the bargain".

The certifications referred to here are the likes of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which is run by the Agricultural & Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA) of the Ministry of Commerce and the PGS-India programme is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare.

"As consumers, we are always wondering how one can tell whether the produce we are getting is actually organic or not," says Gaurav Bedi, Manager (Sourcing), I Say Organic. Speaking from an organic retailer perspective, he adds, "We have not had a standard domestically till now for organic food. This void has been taken into consideration by the government now".

What Gaurav is referring to is that as of a year ago, the Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) has taken up the lead in organic certification in the country. It has brought under its umbrella, the NPOP and the PGS-India programs. By doing this is has given organic certification the legal tooth it did not possess to penalize non-compliance.

FSSAI CEO, Pawan Kumar Agarwal adds that they have also come up with an organic food integrated database. "The idea is that all organic food sold in the country has to find a place in this database. This is based on data collected by APEDA now serves as a common one for the country.

Now while this works really well in putting things in perspective at the retail and even the consumer level, there still remains the question of feasibility for farmers.

"Considering current situations, the cost of being certified organic is not really conducive to the average farmer," asserts Meera. "The second aspect she pointed out was being able to reach a niche market. "With the current retailing scene, the cost to the farmer to create organic produce is at a mark-up of 5% to 15%," Meera points out. "How to make it feasible for farmers is the main question to deal with".

Gaurav has a suggestion of an independent third organization that can take responsibility for a set of farmers in a region and ensure their produce is organic and then collected and delivered. "This can then help moderate the pricing of organic produce, making it feasible for farmers to go down that path," Gaurav believes. He points out however that for an independent farmer this may not be possible – getting certified, transporting produce to the market etc., all hikes the price of the produce and that is where the problem can lie for marginal farmers".

Aparna strongly feels that the onus on the organic farmer is way too high. "If you want them to turn organic, you will have to give them a long rope. Today we only label produce organic or non-organic. We need to consider grading it for farmers who are going organic. They don't use topical chemicals, but these will exist in the water, soil and air around. We are surrounded by farmers using chemicals. So while a farmer may be trying to go organic, there are limitations. We need to grade produce according to levels of food testing. We need to give farmers a better platform, free of immense paperwork and one that is decentralized leaving no scope for bribery".

Pawan Kumar Agarwal says, "We understand that the path to maintaining the integrity of organic food in the country is going to be a difficult one. We are training food safety officers to take samples, how to conduct tests; we are coming out with manuals for retailers on how to sell organic food. All food businesses require FSSAI certification. Organic certification is a horizontal regulation which would mean that different kinds of food available in the market will have an organic variant. Accommodating this difference is what we are working towards and we have our work cut out of us".

He also adds here that there is now a special clause in the draft FSSAI (Organic Foods) Regulations, 2017 which will come into effect on July 1, 2018 stating that small farmers need not get their crops certified. "This is a specific provision that can be inserted into the certification processes," he explains. "They can even sell directly to the consumer".

Considering the number of farmers we have in the country, the role of organic certification definitely needs evaluation of the right sort. More importantly, the credibility of the entire value chain system needs to be looked into as well. An overall system of caring – for neighbouring farms, growers, pollinators and all those who make up the entire farming system also needs to come into play. Transparency, progress and easily-understandable processes are important. We are making moves in the right direction and hope that the organic sector grows and flourishes.

In a quiet by-lane of Rajasthan's Chittorgarh, home to India's largest fort, is a nondescript three-storey house. Nothing sets the house apart from its clones dotting the town except for its inhabitant, a Rajput woman who has waged a battle of morals against one of India's best-known actors who plays the role of a historical queen the former has grown up adoring.

Manjushree Bambori had exhausted almost every argument she could come up with to defend her rather irrational hostility towards actor Deepika Padukone. She had told me about the time a local vernacular daily published a picture of Padukone and actor Ranveer Singh walking out of an event, holding hands.

"The picture said, 'Padmavati leaves with Alauddin Khilji'. How can we be okay with that?" Bambori exclaimed.

We'd be locked in a similar argument, she and I, over and over again during our long conversation in Bambori's spacious home in Chittorgarh. It was two days since Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat had released in most other states of the country. However, following sporadic bouts of violence, multiplex and cinema hall owners chose not to screen the film anywhere in Rajasthan. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who routinely inaugurated the Jaipur Literature Festival, decided to skip it this year. And at Chittorgarh, about 300 kilometres from the capital city of Jaipur, Bambori and her friends were congratulating themselves over their "small victory".

In the days leading up to the weekend of Padmaavat's release, 48-year-old Bambori and dozens of Rajput women from Chittor stepped out of their homes for a very dramatic protest campaign - the first for most of them. Though the quote-happy men of Karni Sena, a caste group that shot to the limelight with their violent campaign against the film, grabbed most of the headlines with one absurd demand after another, a week before the film's release, these women managed to turn some attention their way by making a very lofty declaration - that they be allowed to commit 'jauhar', or mass self-immolation, if the centralgovernment decided to let Padmaavat be screened in theatres.

FROM WHATSAPP GROUPS TO NATIONAL HEADLINES

Clad in a ruby red ghagra, kurti and odhni, Bambori spoke about the legend of Padmini with frenzied passion. She headed a group of women who identify themselves as members of an organisation called the 'Jauhar Kshatrani Manch'. Bambori is the president, 38-year-old Nirmala Rathod it's vice-president and Bambori's sister, Teena Sakhtawat, who is in her 30s, it's treasurer. All three are homemakers.

Rathod seemed slightly aloof and perhaps wary of interviews. Roughly a week before we met, Rathod was one of the women who threatened they'd kill themselves if the film was released. There are a couple of police personnel stationed outside her house since then and they keep a close watch on her movements, she said. The Kshatrani Manch was officially christened in 2014. However, the idea for it existed as long as the women have had access to WhatsApp – for nearly six or seven years. The women say they have not done an official count of the members of the WhatsApp group, but all Rajput women are welcome to be a part of it. Typically 256 members are allowed on WhatsApp groups in India.

There are a couple of police personnel stationed outside her house since then and they keep a close watch on her movements, she said.

"We started it to preserve our culture. We exchange notes about our traditional attires, jewellery. What to wear on what occasion, what to cook when and their recipes. We also talk about religious customs, ceremonies etc on that group. Essentially, we started this group to keep reminding ourselves of our past and our heritage," Bambori says. Then, in 2014, they found a name for it and turned it into an 'official' organisation of sorts.

The 'heritage' Bambori spoke about is closely tied to her caste – the practices typical of Rajput Kshatriyas. They aren't unaware of the discriminatory nature of caste hierarchies, but their matter-of-fact acceptance of it has become their natural way of living. During the conversation, occasionally, they resorted to comparisons of 'respect' and 'honour' as experienced by various castes in India.

They pointed out, without the slightest irony, that women from her caste received far more deference from people around them than those from any other castes. The decorum with which the Rajput Kshatriyas addressed other members is something they feel is not a mainstay in other communities.

"For example, people will call you by your name. They will never do that with a Kshatrani in Rajasthan, they'll call us 'baisa' and the men 'banna'," Rathod declared. 'Baisa', roughly translated to ma'am, is a Rajasthani word used to address women respectfully. There is no evidence that only Rajput Kshatriyas use the term but these women believe their stature is different from that of other women.

Sakhtawat attempted to illustrate it further by commenting that they don't even address newborns or children as 'tu' - an informal Hindi equivalent of 'you', usually used to address younger people and peers. "We call them 'aap'," she said. It is not clear if these women have properly reflected upon their caste pride — often discriminatory to others — but it's evident that their caste formed the backbone of their social identities.

In fact, this hubris is such an integral part of their life that one of the several issues they had with Bhansali's film was its depiction of one Rajput woman in a slightly negative light. In one sequence, the film shows Nagmati, Raja Ratan Singh's first wife asking Padmavati to go meet Khilji in order to bring peace to the country. A following sequence showed the Muslim wife of Khilji aiding her to flee the clutches of her husband.

"How can they show a Rajput woman in a negative light and Muslim woman as a good woman," all of them ask in a confused chorus. It doesn't matter to them that the entire film is a unbridled paean to Rajputs and is deeply Islamophobic itself.

"How can they show a Rajput woman in a negative light and Muslim woman as a good woman," all of them ask in a confused chorus.

The Kshatrani Manch is closely associated with the Johar Smriti Sansthan, a 70-year-old charitable organisation in Chittorgarh. Ninety-year-old Umed Singh is the president of the organisation, which he said, was set up to honour the memory of the three jauhars that took place in Chittor. The organisation runs a girl's hostel in the same premises that has a 'jauhar temple'. The temple is a small, new structure, perched atop a short fight of stairs. Three almost identical deities are placed on replica of a pyre, against a painting of dozens of women sitting amid flames.

Randhir Singh, a former vice-president of the organisation said that among other things, the organisation has been involved in 'correcting' the erroneous and false accounts of the legend of Rani Padmini doing the rounds of popular narratives. Twice the organisation had found the government of Rajasthan at 'fault' and complained about the erroneous information it had been spreading about Rani Padmini. The heroine of a 16th century tragic ballad written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, Padmavati, is loosely based on the story of Padmini. Historians remain divided over Padmini's existence.

"One big mistake is there in the light-and-sound show that's screened at the Chittor fort. It says that Khilji saw Padmini in a mirror - that's wrong, mirrors didn't even exist at that time. They were only invented in 1835 and all this was taking place in the centuries before that. We have complained several times and the government has assured they will change the narrative. However, that may cost the government up to Rs 5 crore, so it will take time," he said.

On 8 November in 2017, Bambori led her first protest march and congregated at the Chittorgarh fort. Later, she and her friends had frequent gatherings in the premises of the Jauhar Smriti Sansthan. And finally, days after Supreme Court rejected Rajasthan's appeal to ban Padmavaat in the state, Bambori said, they were seized by a fit of 'passion' and declared they'd rather die than fail in their bid to 'save the honour' of their 'mother'.

Given their new-found fire for protests, what challenges did they think women in India face the most?

Sakhtawat told me dowry topped her list, followed by female foeticide. However, so far they've never held a public protest, they admitted, over these issues. Rajasthan had reported the highest numbers of child marriages in the country, ranked third in the number of rapes recorded, and had the lowest literacy rates for women.

"I mean, if we get to hear about any Rajput woman facing such problems, we will try to intervene and counsel all parties involved...," Rathod said. A somewhat confused silence followed her comment. Bambori quickly added that her daughter had once participated in protests in her college following the 16 December, 2012, gang-rape and murder of a woman on a moving bus in Delhi.

DEEPIKA PADUKONE AND PADMINI

Bambori has a masters degree in sociology and is a mother to three daughters and one son. She's fairly active on social media, but WhatsApp and Facebook are her favourite platforms for chronicling her daily life. And it is through the latter that she came of know of Bhansali's plans of making a film on Padmini.

"It'd be fine if he had made a proper religious film... but then we read he has roped in Deepika to play Padmini, we didn't like that at all."

"When Bhansali had come to Rajasthan to prepare for the shoot, we've been protesting since then... must be early 2016. He should have asked people from Padmini's lineage first, he didn't. Then we appealed to him that he shouldn't make a film on this subject, this involves our religious faith. It'd be fine if he had made a proper religious film... but then we read he has roped in Deepika to play Padmini, we didn't like that at all," Bambori railed.

On pointing out that Padukone is one of the finest actors of her generation, Bambori insisted that her acting mettle was irrelevant to them.

"Woh kya kar legi (What will she do?) She is all about glamour, and the film will not be religious at all, it will only be about glamour," Bambori said she thought to herself when the actor's name was announced to play the titular role. She and her friends, repeated at least half a dozen times within a span of few minutes that they didn't want the film to be made. Though Padmini doesn't figure in the legion of Hindu deities, it has not stopped the women of the Kshatrani Manch from deifying her.

"We have grown up listening to tales of Rani Padmini. We worship her, sing songs about her at weddings and other celebrations at home. She is our mother."

"We have grown up listening to tales of Rani Padmini. We worship her, sing songs about her at weddings and other celebrations at home. She is our mother," Bambori said.

So don't they want more people to know about a legend which they worship? "Yes, of course. But the show the true history, don't twist it to suit your commercial interests at least," Rathod argued.

Bambori brought up the name of cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar as an analogy. "Suppose you are making a film on Sachin Tendulkar. Won't you meet his family, his friends and colleagues to get a sense of his true history? Same here. They had to ask us, how she was like, what she wore, how she conducted herself..." she said.

Chittorgarh is rife with conflicting versions of the legend of Padmini. Everyone I spoke to — shopkeepers, auto drivers, tour guides, locals and members of political organisations — like to believe their version of the story as the most authentic. Singh and Bambori insisted that Jayasi's poem 'Padmavat', penned by the Sufi poet in 1540 is a fictionalised, dramatised version of what they claimed is the 'true story'.

The poem has been a distinctive presence in the oral literary traditions of Rajasthan and some parts of India for decades, and is more frequently referred to in Chittorgarh itself. For example, when you walk into the Chittor fort which towers over the modest town with is 690-acre expanse, guides flocking around tourists will recount the version of the legend as presented in Jayasi's poem. By Singh's own admission, it's the same version that got made into the Rajasthan government-sponsored light-and-sound show at the fort. That's also the one Bhansali's film seems to have taken from. While the queen's 'real' name was Padmini, Jayasi's protagonist was called 'Padmavati', like Deepika is in Bhansali's film.

So how come Bambori and her ilk never objected to this version of Rani Padmini's legend taking a life of its own? Singh argued that it is clear that it's a work of fiction and people would know better. He added that it isn't 'that popular', though I found evidence to the contrary. Singh, however, noted that following the controversy, maybe Jayasi's poem will find new audience. Didn't the same logic — that it's a work of fiction — apply to Bhansali's 'Padmaavat'?

Rathod wanted me to believe it didn't. And strangely enough, that has got to do with Padukone and how her personal life unfurled in the media. When I pointed out that it wasn't Padukone's fault that a newspaper called her Padmini in a caption, Rathod betrayed impatience at arguments such as these.

Singh argued that it is clear that it's a work of fiction and people would know better. He added that it isn't 'that popular', though I found evidence to the contrary.

Teena Sakhtawat, a cheery, young woman who landed in Bambori's house with her two junior school-going boys, tried to explain Rathod's angst. "Say for example, young kids like my boys, when you have a film as huge as this and Deepika is playing Padmini, what if they start to associate Padmini only and only with her? The future generation will think she is Padmini, with all the pictures in papers and videos on the internet," Sakhtawat said.

Padukone is a great model to have, I countered. A smart, talented, hardworking woman, who's made a life for herself, what's wrong with aspiring to be her? Plus, we'd be underestimating children's intelligence in assuming they'd not be able to tell Padukone from a character from legends. If not now, they'd know in a few years.

But that'd be 'too late', the women felt. "Back in our time, we didn't have internet. We relished stories, listened to religious legends, lores and fables. However, kids these days log on to the internet unsupervised and consume whatever they can," Sakhtawat said. The women's problem seem to be the idea that if the kid's primary point of reference for Rani Padmini becomes Padukone and the film, they'd never be won over — like the women claim they were as children — by the 'real' Padmini.

Again, we are back to square one. Even if say the children put Padukone's face to the idea of Padmini, how would that compromise the queen's supposed greatness, I asked?

Slightly riled, Rathod hastily told me how the clothes Padukone wore off-screen and in other films were "unbecoming" of an honourable Rajput woman, and she played a very 'holy' one in 'Padmaavat'. "Kitne chhote chhote (how tiny)," she railed.

She pointed at herself and the women around her — in lehengas grazing the floor, odhnis (head scarves) trailing on the sofa and covered heads — to explain why she could not tolerate the idea of a woman who dressed as Padukone did to portray her 'mother' Padmini.

"Now how many films has she done? Has she done films with the same man? Each film is with a different man..." Rathod burst out. That'd be absurd if she didn't, considering she is an actor, I told her.

Which is when Bambori and Sakhtawat rush in to cut Rathod short, saying Padukone is free to do anything she wanted to with her life, only her ways are vastly different from the ways of Rajput women like them. And the idea that someone whose personal life doesn't reflect conservative Rajput values is playing a religious icon held in great respect by them, made them greatly uncomfortable.

"You know when my boys get married and have wives, those women may not follow our traditions if this Bollywood version of Padmini becomes the most compelling version of her," Sakhtawat tried to 'reason'.

Doesn't the nature of this attack on Padukone undermine their battle to uphold the honour of their 'mother'? After all, insulting one woman in order to protest the supposed insult of another, doesn't seem very right. Bambori enthusiastically told me how they had hanged the effigies of people associated with the film — Bhansali, Ranveer Singh, and of course Padukone — at the Chittor fort a few days back. The women would like to believe, theirs is not an attack on Padukone, it's a 'battle' to save their cultural icon's honour. "She should have thought about it as well, don't you think? That she may be hurting someone's sentiments?" Bambori said.

'HONOUR' AND WOMEN

Bambori and Sakhtawat tried to explain how 'maryada' — a loose translation of which in English would be 'honour' — isn't essentially a limiting experience for women. We've been talking for over an hour where Bambori and Sakhtawat listened with patience and occasionally argued with some passion. 'Maryada' for them is deeply associated with aspects like clothes, deference towards elders and husbands, religiousness and the body, in the case of a woman. They also seemed to have imbibed these ideas from a majority of women and men they grew up surrounded by – at home, in extended social circles mostly built around their caste.

At the heart of the glorification of Padmini, also, lies this exclusive association of 'honour' with the female body. A contemporary feminist reading of the tale may also make it seem deeply problematic - like several other fables and lores of all religions. Padmini's greatness, the legend emphasizes, lay in her act of leading a mass self-immolation so that Islamic invaders wouldn't even be able to set eyes on them, forget trying to control their bodies. Padmini also lives on for her beauty. According to local lore such was the fairness of her skin that one could see water course down her throat.

At the heart of the glorification of Padmini, also, lies this exclusive association of 'honour' with the female body.

"You may have burnt yourself while cooking or something, right? And how much it hurt... Imagine knowing how much it would hurt to be engulfed by fire, but still have the resolve to jump in it? Some women jumped into it with children, some were even pregnant," Bambori said, her voice lilting with fascination.

The women choose to believe jumping into the fire was horrific and the ability to have done that is what sets deities like Padmini apart from ordinary mortals. While it may be erroneous to look at 'jauhar' from the prism of progressive choices available to women in the 21st century, how does one remember it's legacy?

Perhaps through these women's unbridled devotion or with the awareness that it was, at the end of the day, an act spurred by desperation and put in motion by a grave threat of physical violence. Since it is said that women committed 'jauhar' only when a majority of their male kin had died in the battlefield or had been killed by plunderers, it may have been a case of them exercising their agency. However, it is indeed problematic to conflate suicide entirely with saving a clan's 'honour' than a more real threat of violence.

Bambori, who had mentioned that religion topped her list of priorities in her culture, would like to believe it's an act of courage. "Yes, they were threatened with violation and ended their lives. But many women didn't as well. It needs a special kind of courage to walk into a fire like that," she said. Then does that make Bambori and her organisation's threat of 'jauhar', over a film, a mockery of a 'grave and courageous' act of sacrifice?

The women take a moment to answer this. Singh had informed me prior to this that the women were merely caught in a moment of passion and made such a declaration. Singh, a former armed forces personnel, said, "Killing yourself isn't easy, you know. Suicide is not easy..."

Then does that make Bambori and her organisation's threat of 'jauhar', over a film, a mockery of a 'grave and courageous' act of sacrifice?

Sakhtawat said if they had not been stopped, she isn't sure what they would have done in the heat of the moment. She said they were so dejected and angry and the Supreme Court's decision to let the film run that they may have gotten carried away with their self-immolation threat. Incidentally the Karni Sena later demanded that Bhansali commit jauhar for making the film.

Rathod, who had been quiet for a while, chimed in now. "Yes, we declared it in a moment of passion, but we were serious. If they ask us to commit jauhar in order to get the film banned, we'd be happy to do it even now." Later, they wanted to write to the President, requesting the right to 'icchyamrityu' -- voluntary ending of life, which isn't suicide according to them.

Again, wouldn't that be just a mockery of thousands of women who felt compelled to kill themselves under very violent circumstances? Rathod, a mother of two, said they'd be actually honouring the legacy of Rani Padmini. "She died to save our honour. Now her honour is at stake. We'd be happy to give up our lives for that."

BODIES OR WAR ZONES?

One precise moment when all three women seemed to echo each other's anger and mirrored the disapproval of the men I spoke to prior to meeting them, was while referring to the song 'Ghoomar' in Bhansali's film. "Woh kaise thumka laga rahi hai (Did you see how is she shaking her body to the song)?" they said, referring to Padukone's performance in Ghoomar.

Sakhtawat offered to introduce me to Bambori's daughter – a young woman who held multiple educational degrees. A math teacher in a local school, Sakhtawat said Bambori's daughter travelled to work with her head and most of her body covered. "And here, Padukone's entire waist was on display," Bambori grumbled. "A Rajput queen would never do that, as she wouldn't dance in front of random people. Only servants danced for her," she added.

They fished out several videos of Bambori dancing to Rajasthani music. "Look, can you see my face, any part of my body except my lower arms?" She is clad in a gauzy yellow ghagra-choli in the video, her odhni pulled down to her neck.

This idea of 'honour' in their world also extended to forging a deferential relationship with men.

Bambori and Sakhtawat, both with degrees that'd easily find them employment, said they're homemakers by choice. "When we go shopping, we mostly go with our husband, and they pay for everything," Sakhtawat beams, with more than a hint of pride. Isn't it also a matter of pride if women work and pay for themselves? "Yes, they could, if her husband or father is in financial trouble...," Bambori said. She is married for nearly three decades to an employee of a mining giant.

Curiously enough, Bambori's own daughter is employed. She was in the living room for a fleeting moment.

Clad in a night suit with a dupatta draped over her upper body, she apologetically said she is dressed that way because she was at her mother's house. "You won't see her like this at her in-laws' or at her school," Sakhtawat said, as her pregnant niece nodded in agreement. Sakhtawat's husband is a compounder.

However, Sakhtawat, the youngest of the lot, and who had proudly declared moments ago that money was a man's territory, added that it was important that girls be educated. "If girls are educated and find jobs, no one can demand dowry of them," she said. I began to point out that demanding dowry in any case is a crime, but she repeated enthusiastically, "right now, this is more important than anything else. Girls should be educated." Bambori muttered in agreement.

"If girls are educated and find jobs, no one can demand dowry of them."

I took the moment to remind her that Padukone, who they've taken up cudgels against, is perhaps an example of exactly what they espoused. An educated woman earning her own living. "We actually don't have anything against her. It's not okay that the film distorted Padmini's life so much - Khilji was here to plunder the mineral wealth of Mewar and not chase Padmini, Padmini never went to Delhi to rescue her husband and she wasn't a commoner dancing to music. We were very hurt by this dismissive attitude towards something so close to us. We may have said certain things...," Rathod offered.

Bambori added that Padukone could have just kept quiet instead of joining the chorus of support for the film.

But why can't she voice her opinion, when Bambori and her peers can, I asked.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

Deepika Padukone has responded to Swara Bhasker's criticism of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat.

While the film managed to secure a January 25 release after months of struggle, it wasn't spared by critics, most of who called it out for the glorification of Jauhar, or mass self-immolation.

Bhasker's letter, published by The Wire, went viral, largely because it's extremely rare for an actor to publicly criticise another movie.

Responding to her criticism that Bhansali reduced women to 'a vagina,' Padukone told India Today, "She (Swara) probably missed the disclaimer at the beginning of the film. You probably went out to buy some popcorn and missed the initial disclaimers that come out. I think, secondly, the fact that it is important to view a film in totality and to see in which period it was set in. Third of all, I think for me this film is not just about the act (Jauhar) that they all committed, but it stood for so much more. For me, it's a celebration of women and their strength, power, and dignity."

Shahid Kapoor, in an interview, said, "What happened right before the 'Jauhar' scene? The king died. How can it be a celebration when the king has died? Every practice happens for various reasons. Within this film, Padmavati believed she would want to go into the fire as opposed to handing herself over to a man who is so evil, that he is ready to kill the entire kingdom to achieve one woman. Now you decide whether that's a good thing or a bad."

In her letter, Bhasker wrote, "I understand that Jauhar and Sati are a part of our social history. These happened. I understand that they are sensational, shocking dramatic occurrences that lend themselves to splendid, stark and stunning visual representation; especially in the hands of a consummate maker like yourself — but then so were the lynchings of blacks by murderous white mobs in the 19th century in the US – sensational, shocking dramatic social occurrences. Does that mean one should make a film about it with no perspective on racism? Or, without a comment on racial hatred? Worse, should one make a film glorifying lynchings as a sign of some warped notion of hot-bloodedness, purity, bravery – I don't know, I have no idea how possibly one could glorify such a heinous hate crime."

The letter, for which Bhasker was viciously trolled, can be read in full here. Here's what we wrote in our review of Padmaavat.

Also see on HuffPost:

Insha Mushtaq was one of the youngest victims to have been blinded by the pellet guns used against protesters in Kashmir Valley, has passed her board exams on Tuesday, reports said.

Insha lost her eyesight after she was hit by hundreds of pellets, mostly on her face, after she opened a window in her home to look outside.

Insha's father, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, was extremely happy with his daughter's achievements.

He told Greater Kashmir, "This (result) is beyond our expectations. The results will inspire Insha to study more."

Insha was a student of Class 9 in 2016 when the incident took place. While she is still trying to learn braille, she was helped by her friend to write the exam.

Greater Kashmir reports that Insha had suffered skull fractures and brain hemorrhages apart from total blindness in both her eyes.

And her journey to success was not easy.

"Three tutors came to my home every day. They read text books to me. I would repeat them the next day," Insha told The Indian Express.

But before that she had to undergo months of treatment.

The Wire had reported earlier that she had undergone six surgeries in Srinagar, New Delhi and Mumbai.

After the news of her success, social media was abuzz with accolades for the teenager.

Here's how people congratulated her:

Insha Mushtaq who Lost her Vision 2 Pellet Guns,clears her 10th class Examination with A grade.KashmirA Truly Remarkable Achievement@Austinpic.twitter.com/JDMEUdCP31

— AB#WithRG (@mdaleembasha) January 10, 2018

Congratulations #Insha#Kashmir pellet victim Insha Mushtaq qualifies 10th class exam,
Insha was blinded bilaterally after a barrage of pellets hit her, while she was watching protests from a window of her home at Sedow village.

— Umar Bashir (@IamBhatUmar) January 9, 2018

A special shout out to young Insha who was blinded by pellets during the 2016 protests & has cleared her 10th exams today. May Allah keep rewarding your hard work & efforts.

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) January 9, 2018

Well done Insha Mushtaq 😎 congratulations

— Naveen (@naveeniium) January 10, 2018

Congratulations to 2016 pellet victim Insha Mushtaq on clearing 10th class examinations. Truly a remarkable achievement! Here's wishing you all the very best for the future endeavours. More power to you!

— Sarah Hayat Shah (@SaraHayatShah) January 9, 2018

Well, this is forking embarrassing.

At an official, high-profile event in London, attended by Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, a few Indian journalists were allegedly caught pilfering silver cutlery from their table and one was made to pay a fine of £50, according to a report in the Outlook.

The journalists in question were apparently all senior editors "handpicked by their organizations" to accompany Banerjee on the tour, the report said. Their handiwork was caught on CCTV cameras as a senior reporter with a respected Bengali paper put a set of dessert spoons into his pocket, while several others followed suit. The security staff discreetly let the journalists know that their misadventure was caught on camera, and the journalists returned the stolen silverware.

All except one, it seems. One man, the report said, refused to admit any wrongdoing, and it later turned out, based on CCTV recording, that he had stuffed his loot into the bag of a fellow journalist. He was let off after paying a fine of 50 pounds.

The report has come as an embarrassment to the entire journalistic community. And folks on Twitter immediately let them know.

FFS INDIAN PEOPLE Y U LYK DIS

Senior Journalists Accompanying Mamata To London Steal Silver Cutlery During Official Dinner Meet, Fined £50 https://t.co/s49liBbVba

— ｐａｔｈｉｋｒｉｔ (@BucketheadCase) January 9, 2018

Sr Journalists of Bharat who caught red handed stealing Silver spoons in London were not born with a silver spoon in his mouth in the world of journalism But had a knack for knowing how to get it.

— Prashant P. Umrao (@ippatel) January 9, 2018

What shame & disgrace to the Nation & the forth pillar of democracy that Senior Journalists Accompanying Mamata To London Steal Silver Cutlery During Official Dinner Meet, Fined £50 https://t.co/TlUPUnVfFK

— Salaam 🌐 سلام (@khaansalaam) January 10, 2018

SMH.

Ana Falú, Universidad de Còrdoba and Saskia Sassen, Columbia University

This post belongs to a series of contributions coming from the International Panel on Social Progress, a global academic initiative of more than 300 scholars from all social sciences and the humanities who prepare a report on the perspectives for social progress in the 21st Century. In partnership with The Conversation, the posts offer a glimpse of the contents of the report and of the authors' research.

In Argentina, "a woman is killed every 30 hours", reports Telam, the country's official news agency, based on a report of the Observatorio de Femicidios Marisel Zambrano from the NGO La Casa del Encuentro.

From July 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016, 275 women had been killed. The violence that takes place in cities goes beyond robbery and assault, the gang that controls the corner, the abuses, the drug ring that terrorises the neighbourhood or the illegitimate use of force by diverse actors.

Violence is also hunger, a lack of basic services, and an unjust legal system. And it is discrimination based on ethnicity, birthplace, sexual orientation and age.

Urban design is for white young productive men

Women are the omitted subjects in much urban design and planning. As Saskia Sassen expressed in a 2016 article:

"Urban planning is not gender neutral. While there has long been research on how urban systems fail to respond to women's needs, it was only a decade ago that the subject surged. Since then, countless cities have been host to initiatives addressing a version of the 'urban-planning gender gap'."

Much research and theory is now focusing on gender and cities, bringing light to these omissions and to the subordinate situations of women in cities.

Gender is here used as an analytical category useful for highlighting the asymmetries between men and women. Society is not binary therefore it is equally concerns LGTBI population, youth, ethnicities, others.

Even as change is happening, many women experience the city differently than men. Women combine productive work with family duties, fragmenting the use of time and space. During daylight hours, public spaces are more likely to be used by women, spending time in nearby parks, with children, disabled and/or senior citizens. And yet, those spaces are mainly designed for men's needs. Urban design and planning, particularly since Modernism, has answered to a universal citizen: white young productive men.

Millions of women and girls experience violence as a kind of pandemic, natural, invisible and justified. Only recently has it been seen as resulting from patriarchal conditions where ideology and culture hide symbolic dominance and economic exploitation.

A simple street light can reduce violence

This recognition has produced diverse initiatives. For instance, the Safe Cities for Women Campaign developed in Brazil by Action Aid for the municipality of Garanhuns, located in the state of Pernambuco, launched a plan of public policies for women's safety.

It includes strengthening the focus on women in special courts of justice, police stations, police training, improvement in public transport, investment in street lights, training on gender and violence against women in schools, and more. Renata, a transsexual woman, political leader in Garanhuns and an active member of the Women's Forum of Pernambuco, reports on the positive actions taken by the city, including how a simple investment in street lighting is reducing violence.

Denying women's work

If our understanding of cities and potential policy reforms are to enhance social progress, we must revisit urban planning from a gender-based perspective. The use of time and space should be central to gendered planning.

Mothers use time in fragments – domestic tasks, school and health care each gets its own slice of time.

Women's responsibilities as family careers are not recognized at the workplace and thereby their economic contribution to both reproductive and productive work is rendered invisible. Ana Falú takes this analysis further by underlining the significance of both kinds of omission: it is the central factor organizing urban space in ways that build obstacles for women.

As social sciences professor Silvia Federici points out:

"We must admit that capital has been very successful in hiding our work. It has created a true masterpiece at the expense of women. By denying housework a wage and transforming it into an act of love, capital has killed many birds with one stone."

Surveys and analyses of time use and time budgeting in diverse cities highlight on the invisible unremunerated contributions of women to society, estimated around the 20-30% of the GDP of cities.

This is not new. Jane Jacobs taught us in 1961 about the significance of the proximity of basic services and infrastructures for women in particular.

Gaps in knowledge about omitted subjects are part of a larger epistemological question central to systemic inequality and its reproduction. Debates surrounding compact versus diffused cities, or the impact of new, urban spatial fragmentation must address specific identity-based exclusions.

Growth trends tend to be associated with women's social progress. And yet even though women at all levels of education are better qualified than men, they earn less and much search longer for work. The majority of women work in the low-end service sector.

Assessing the informal sector

A paradox persists: The more women work, the poorer they are. For instance, in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, female participation in the work force increased by 21% between 2002 and 2012, totalling over 100 million women.

In this period, the region registered significant economic growth and a decrease in poverty, but not among women. In 2002, there were 109 poor women for every 100 poor men; in 2012 the ratio rose to 118.

These trends point to a disjuncture between economic growth and overall social progress, a pattern not unique to this region. Women constitute the majority of the low-paid service sector.

And in Latin America, 71% of domestic workers are women, most of whom are indigenous and/or black. Further, poor women have high fertility rates, having twice as many children than rich women. Accessing sexual, health and reproductive rights is severely limited due to low social and economic status.

The patterns in Latin America are evident throughout the world. Data on the informal sector in India shows that home-based workers, numbering 23.5 million, are mostly women. In the South Asian context, women's work place is often determined by social and cultural constraints on mobility. As a result, home-based work is the one or only possible option for women to secure an income. As in Latin America, this pattern is unlikely to change even in times of robust development, such as India saw over the past two decades.

Taking risks to build citizenship

In addition to space and income considerations for social progress, it is central to consider the intangible dimension of violence suffered by women in private and public spaces, just because they are women. The persistence of male violence on the bodies of women to discipline them, is one of the most universal human-rights violations in the world.

Diverse instruments have been adopted across the world: laws, protocols, participatory planning and gender budgeting. But progress is slow, as with all policy, political will and adequate resourcing are key to achieve impact.

Reports on violence in cities find reports that 60% of women feel unsafe in urban spaces. Criminality and threats limit women´s freedom of movement. Women are poor in rights: political participation, autonomy, equal access to work, infrastructure, transportation and security all are marked by limited recognition of women's rights.

Women can become invisible subjects in a context where the city is a political territory for making citizenship. That is why women often have to build their citizenship by taking risks. While this risk-taking builds confidence in terms of advocacy, it nonetheless requires significant economic, cultural and symbolic resources.

This post belongs to a series of contributions coming from the International Panel on Social Progress, a global academic initiative of more than 300 scholars from all social sciences and the humanities who prepare a report on the perspectives for social progress in the 21st Century. In partnership with The Conversation, the posts offer a glimpse of the contents of the report and of the authors' research.

Ana Falú, Professor of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Universidad de Còrdoba and Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

(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.)

NEW DELHI -- India cleared a proposal on Wednesday to allow foreign investors to own up to a 49 percent stake in state-run carrier Air India, paving the way for global airlines to bid for the loss-making flagship carrier.

It brings Air India, which previously had to be fully locally owned, in line with the country's other local airlines in which foreign investment is allowed.

India allows 100 percent foreign investment in its other local airlines, but caps foreign airlines' stake at 49 percent.

In Air India, it will now allow a maximum of 49 percent foreign ownership including that by airlines. But substantial ownership and effective control of Air India must remain with an Indian national, the government said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet gave the go-ahead last year to sell Air India, after successive governments spent billions of dollars in recent years to keep it going. However, it has yet to decide what to do with the carrier's debt burden of $8.5 billion.

Leslie Thng, chief executive of Vistara, a carrier owned by salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group and Singapore Airlines Ltd, last week said the companies were "open to evaluating" a potential bid for Air India.

And companies, including low-cost Indian carrier IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, Tata Group and Turkey's Celebi Aviation Holdings, have expressed an interest in buying some of Air India's various businesses.

The government also allowed 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail via automatic route and eased a rule on 30 percent mandatory local sourcing of products for five fiscal years after the opening of the first Indian store.

Also on HuffPost India:

MUMBAI -- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) late on Wednesday barred Price Waterhouse from auditing listed companies in the country for two years, after a probe into a nearly decade-old accounting fraud case in a software services company that became India's biggest corporate scandal.

Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of the erstwhile software services exporter Satyam Computer Services, stunned Indian markets and investors in January 2009, when he admitted that the firm had overstated earnings and assets for several years, in a fraud of more than $1 billion sometimes referred to as "India's Enron".

Price Waterhouse was Satyam's auditor during the period in which the fraud was perpetrated.

In its order, the SEBI, on Wednesday said any entities or firms practicing as chartered accountants in India under the brand and banner of PW, shall not directly or indirectly issue any certificate of audit of listed companies, or their intermediaries that are registered with the regulator for a period of two years.

"The network structure of operations adopted by the international accounting firm should not be used as a shield to avoid legal implications arising out of the certifications issued under the brand name of the network," SEBI said in a 108-page order.

In India, all audit functions within the group are conducted under the Price Waterhouse (PW) brand, with a network of local firms operating under the banner. The broader PwC entity handles consulting, tax advisory and other businesses.

"The SEBI order relates to a fraud that took place nearly a decade ago in which we played no part and had no knowledge of," Price Waterhouse said in a release.

"There has been no intentional wrong doing by PW firms in the unprecedented management perpetrated fraud at Satyam, nor have we seen any material evidence to the contrary," said Price Waterhouse, adding it was confident of getting a court to stay the order before it becomes effective.

To avoid operational difficulties, SEBI said its order will not impact audit assignments relating to the ongoing 2017-18 financial year, already undertaken by firms forming part of the PW network.

SEBI also ordered Price Waterhouse, Bangalore and two of its erstwhile partners to jointly forfeit "wrongful gains" of about 131 million rupees ($2.06 million) plus interest within 45 days.

Indian IT firm Tech Mahindra, part of the Mahindra Group, bought control of Satyam in an auction in April 2010.

Satyam and PricewaterhouseCoopers agreed in 2011 to pay a combined $17.5 million to settle U.S. probes into the accounting fraud.

Also on HuffPost India:

It is that time of the year again: Christmas has come and gone, the long-awaited holidays have ended, New Year is already here; and the herculean list of resolutions on your wall is making you even more forlorn every passing day. And if any kind of a diet was on your list, you can forget about it with the coming winter festivals that India has been celebrating long before Christmas and New Year.

Pongal, Bihu, Lohri, Khichdi, Makar Sankranti, the names are many but the significance is one — to thank the universe for a bountiful harvest. Like all harvest festivals around the world, this one is centered around food too. Lets look at what the country is feasting on this January.

[Khichdi from UP]

Khichdi of the North

In Punjab, the festival is celebrated on the eve of Makar Sankranti as Lohri. Friends and families gather together, light bonfires and celebrate with music and dance while snacking on gajjak, chikki, peanuts, and popcorn — all local seasonal harvests. The meals, which are laboriously cooked through the day by the older women of the house, typically consist of sarson ka saag and makki ki roti, accompanied by white butter and gur, or jaggery, and are often finished with a generous helping of pudding made with sugarcane juice and rice called raskheer.

Unlike Punjab, the celebration of Sankranti in Uttar Pradesh is more sober and religious. It also marks the beginning of the auspicious month of Magh, and is celebrated with a dip in the holy Ganges early in the morning. The ritual is followed by donating generous portions of black lentils and rice, along with sesame and jaggery, to the poor and needy. If you happen to be in the heart of U.P., you cannot escape the strong scent of black lentil khichdi wafting through the lanes and bylanes of its dusty towns. Such is the importance of the dish in this part, that the festival is also called Khichdi among locals.

[Peethas from Assam. Pic courtesy Naju Medhi]

Revelry for rice in the East

Poush Parbon happens to be one of the most celebrated days in Bengal. It is that time of the year when the whole family gathers around the rannaghar, or the kitchen, in anticipation of pitha, a Bengali version of the crepe. The crepe, or pitha, made with rice flour, and filled with coconut, date palm jaggery, and sometimes, reduced milk, is a delicacy unparalleled in its texture and flavour. The main meal, here too, is often khichdi, although not the strong black lentil version of the North, but a softer, smoother mix of vegetables, lentils and rice served with various kinds of pan-fried vegetables like aloo bhaja, begun bhaja, and ucche bhaja. (potato, brinjal and bitter gourd fries). The crispness of these bhajas complements the softness of the khichdi perfectly.

Much like Bengal, Assam also celebrates the festival with rice. A typical Bihu eve is celebrated around a big bonfire called meji, with the whole community munching on various kinds of rice fritters, also called pitha — til pitha, narikel pitha, ghila pitha — made with sesame, coconut, jaggery, and rice flour. This is followed by a lavish feast of lentils, fish, duck, various other varieties of meat like pork, chicken and mutton, along with labra, a mishmash of mixed vegetables in local spices, a mash made of roasted sweet potato, and rice. The meal is washed down with some more pitha. The most interesting part of the food, however, remains the 108 varieties of saag (greens) that are essential for the Sankranti lunch. The greens, cooked in different ways, are eaten with boiled rice and ghee, and are supposed to cleanse and strengthen your system.

[Chikki, Gazzak, Rewari, Mongfali]

Savouries from the West

Unlike the North and East, the West neither lights a fire, nor bathes in the ice-cold waters of holy rivers, but celebrates the festival by flying kites in the lukewarm rays of the winter sun. Celebrated as Uttarayan, the festival is marked by colourful kites against the azure skies of Gujarat. Scientifically, this activity helps rid the body of infections and helps pile on Vitamin D for months to come; socially, it helps one connect with the community. No connect in Gujarat can be completed without food, and food remains an equally significant part of Uttarayan.

While things like jalebi, chikki, chavanu (various savoury mixtures), dhokla, and khichdi are popular, the day truly belongs to undhiyu puri. Made with green beans, new baby potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam and eggplant, with fried fenugreek dumplings added to the mushy mixture, undhiyu is prepared in a gorgeous mix of local spices and sesame oil, and cooked in a clay oven or an earthen pot. The cooking process is a treat to watch, and eating it is a celebration in itself.

We can, perhaps, hold undhiyu responsible for the failure of all New Year resolutions of dieting. If undhiyu rules the roost in Gujarat, puran poli is the flavour of the season in Maharashtra. Made with wheat flour, lentils, jaggery and cardamom, puran poli is Maharashtra's version of the pitha. Eaten with a generous dose of ghee, this delicate amalgamation of textures and flavours is supposed to nurture both body and mind. And then there is tilgul, another version of gajak or rewari. Made with sesame seeds and jaggery, the tiny yet fortifying laddoos prepare you for the season and provide your body with strength and vitality.

[Pongal]

Payasam and Pongal of the South

In Tamil, the word Pongal, which literally means 'boiling over', refers to rice cooked in milk and with jaggery. The main dish — Chakarai Pongal — is made with rice, jaggery and Bengal gram, all boiled in milk. Two varieties of Pongal — the salty one known as 'ven pongal' and the sweet one known as 'Sarkkarai pongal' — are prepared on the second day. Every household greets people with rangolis at their entrance. People wear new clothes and worship the rain, sun and farm animals.

Towns and villages inwear a festive look in Andhra with colourful kites, rangolis, decorated bulls and cock fights. The three—day festival begins with Bhogi where community bonfires are lit on the streets with household waste. During this festival, the most important item that is cooked is Pongali which is a rice pudding cooked in milk. Several other special dishes are also cooked like sweet rice cake or ariselu. Animals are decorated on this auspicious day and races are organized.

In Karnataka, a special dish is prepared. The ingredients of this sweet dish Ellu are coconut, sesame seeds and sugar. It is customary for the people to exchange this sweet dish with friends, relatives and neighbors. It is a token to show that hence forth the relationship will be as sweet as Ellu with no bitterness involved. In Kerala, it is marked by a ritual of boiling rice allowing it to boil over the pot. Later it is garnished with dry fruits. Keralites believe that it is good to see this act as it bring prosperity. This delicious dish is then offered to Mother Nature thanking lord Sun and nature for providing happiness. Several other sweet dishes are also made on this day.

This piece first appeared in That Girl In Muddy Boots

(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.)

MUMBAI -- The only openly gay prince in India is throwing open his palace doors to lesbians, gays, transgender and other Indians shunned for their sexuality.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, heir apparent to the throne of Rajpipla in western Gujarat state, said it was particularly hard to come out in small-town India, where traditional values hold sway and heterosexual relations are the norm.

"People still face a lot of pressure from their families when they come out, being forced to marry, or thrown out of their homes. They often have nowhere to go, no means to support themselves," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

So the prince, 52, is building a centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) on the grounds of his ancestral palace.

"I am not going to have children, so I thought, why not use this space for a good purpose?" Gohil said, adding that he will offer rooms, a medical facility and training in English and vocational skills to help people find jobs.

Gohil came out to his family more than a decade ago, prompting his mother to take out a newspaper advertisement disowning him. Erstwhile royalty in India are still in the spotlight, many holding positions in the government.

After coming out, Gohil set up the Lakshya Trust, a charity for LGBT people in his conservative home state, and became a champion for gay rights. He has made numerous international appearances, including on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

He is a vocal critic of India's colonial-era law that criminalises consensual sexual relations between same sex adults. Earlier this week, the country's top court said it would reconsider its 2013 decision to uphold the law.

"Lifting the law will encourage more people to come out and live their lives freely. But it may also mean more people in need of support," Gohil said.

Gohil said he is renovating and extending his palace, built in 1927, on the 15-acre site, installing solar panels for power, and reserving some land for organic farming.

An online crowdfunding campaign and donations are financing the centre, which will be managed by his charity, he said.

Gohil's high profile has helped the LGBT community in India enormously, said Harish Iyer, a gay rights activist who hosts a radio show dedicated to LGBT issues.

"For him to be one of us, the stakes are even higher, so providing this space is a great gesture," he said.

"We are lucky to have many LGBT-friendly spaces in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. But in smaller towns, there are not so many places, and that is where they are most needed."

Come February 8, Cosmopolitan magazine will crown the winner of its Sexiest SA Men 2018 campaign.

Every year, readers get to vote for their sexiest man from a list of 12 finalists.

This year's competition also shines the spotlight on #AdoptDontShop, encouraging people to adopt pets instead of buying -- which explains why the finalists are all posing with dogs.

All the dogs are rescues from the SPCA, and every single one of them needs a home. To adopt a pet, visit your nearest SPCA.

Here are the finalists:

Blake "The Champ" Williams. Aged 26. Hip-hop dancer and motivational speaker.

Brendan Peyper. Aged 21. Singer, songwriter.

Devin Paisley. Aged 32. Photographer, model and entrepreneur.

Jesse Suntele. Aged 25. Hip-hop artist, actor and BET presenter.

Josh Wantie. Aged 26. Singer, producer and model.

Katleho Sinivasan. Aged 26. TV presenter.

Luigi Vigliotti. Aged 30. Entrepreneur.

Mthokozisi "Dash" Mkhathini. Aged 27. Entertainer and entrepreneur.

Nicolas Van Graan. Aged 22. Model.

Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Oyeneye. Aged 24. Model and entrepreneur.

Rudi Witkowsky. Aged 27. Accountant, model and personal trainer.

Tshego Mosupye. Aged 26. MTV Base VJ.

The winner will be announced at the Sexiest Party of the Year, scheduled to take place in Bryanston at Rockets.

Ayanda Thabethe will host the evening, while Twins On Decks are the main entertainers.

You can vote for your fave here.

In the days since a newspaper's investigation exposed a possible breach in India's biometric database of millions, several questions have been raised about the security of the identity card the government of India wants every citizen to register for. In all the controversy surrounding the Aadhaar card and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the government agency that issues them, there's a humanitarian question that should have been asked, but wasn't — on access to night shelters by India's homeless as a cold wave grips North India. That's when the Supreme Court stepped in.

During a hearing on lack of night shelters for homeless people, the Social Justice Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur asked the Uttar Pradesh government if a permanent address was mandatory for Aadhaar enrollment to avail of welfare services.

The Uttar Pradesh government indicated that the homelesswere required to have documents, Aadhaar included, if they wanted to use night shelters. The court wasn't amused.

"So, how do homeless people get Aadhaar if they have no home or a permanent address," Justice Lokur reportedly said. "Does this mean that they do not exist for the Government of India," he added.

According to the 2011 Census, there are 1.77 million homeless people in India.

According to The Hindu, Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government, argued that the urban homeless were migrants from villages and therefore were likely to have permanent address proofs.

"We are talking about human beings who have no place to stay. Those who have no place to stay have to be given a place to live," Justice Lokur is reported to have observed. "As per records and statistics available, it seems that 90 crore Aadhaar cards had been issued by the government, but what about the people who are homeless and destitute. How will they make Aadhar if they don't have an address," he said.

READ: 'We're Not Shooting The Messenger': UIDAI On The Back Foot After Media Slams FIR Against Reporter Who Exposed Data Leak

In her investigative report, Tribune correspondent Rachna Khaira claimed that access to the Aadhaar database of more than 1 billion citizens was being sold for just Rs 500 ($8). The Tribune newspaper said it bought login details to the Aadhaar website from touts on WhatsApp and had access to personal information such as the names, numbers and addresses of millions.

To address concerns about data security, the UIDAI on Wednesday put in place a two-layer security system, according to reports. The virtual identification for ID holders will entail generating atemporary16-digit random number that can be shared instead of the actual 12-digit Aadhaar number.

According to independent estimates from civil society organizations, there are an estimated 150,000 – 200,000 homeless people in Delhi, 40,000 – 50,000 in Chennai, 200,000 in Mumbai (including Navi Mumbai), 100,000 in Ahmedabad and 150,000 in Kolkata.

The traditional fire pot of Kashmir helps people keep themselves warm in the harsh winter, retaining its utility despite the advent of modern appliances, and assuring thousands of men and women their livelihood

By Athar Parvaiz*, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

Besides woolens, one thing that Kashmiris think of when preparing for the chilling winter cold is the kangri, an earthen bowl encased in an exquisitely woven wicker basket. Kashmir experiences harsh winters, with temperatures as low as -8⁰ C, but Kashmiris have traditionally used kangri and pheran to keep them from the cold.

The kangri, or kanger as it is locally known, is filled with embers and held against the body under a pheran, an overgarment unique to Kashmir, for providing warmth. Kashmiris call the kangri a mobile heater as it can be carried along anywhere under the pheran. Some keep the fire-pot under the blanket until it makes the bedding warm enough to sleep comfortably and then remove it.

These local inventions, cherished by Kashmiris, keep serving the people of this beautiful land despite the onslaught of modern-day heating appliances in recent years. Kangris not only keep Kashmiris warm during the winter months, but also provide the makers with a livelihood.

Feeding families

Artisan families that make the kangris are spread across Kashmir. Potters make the earthen bowl. The kangri-maker weaves the wicker basket around the bowl, providing two handles so that it can be carried easily, besides a base for balancing the kangri on the floor.

Making the kangri needs skill and patience. Men and women collect the slender wicker twigs from the forest. They process the twigs by scraping, peeling, boiling and drying them before weaving them into kangris. As each process requires skilled hands, thousands earn their living in the production of kangris.

"Making kangris, besides other wicker items, has sustained our family for decades," Wazir Ahmad Ganie, a kangri-maker of Lalpora in Kupwara district, told VillageSqaure.in. "I enjoy doing it as long as I get buyers."

The numerous shops that sell kangris are proof that getting buyers is not difficult. "I sold around 1,000 kangris last year; and this year, I have sold around 600 so far," Khazir Wani, a shopkeeper in Pattan Market in Baramullah told VillageSquare.in.

November appearance

From the beginning of November, one can see the delectable presence of kangris stacked up for sale in every market across Kashmir. The sale lasts until early spring. Depending on design, each piece costs between Rs 150 and Rs 1,500. But the kangris, which are commonly used for warming, are mostly sold at an affordable price range of Rs 150 to Rs 250.

Besides their utilitarian value, Kashmiris cherish the kangri as a symbol of the culture and traditions of their land. Many Kashmiris use well-decorated kangris as thurible to burn aromatic seeds during weddings and other functions, especially when guests arrive.

Affluent families display kangris in their drawing rooms as a work of art and also present them to non-Kashmiri friends. These artistic kangris are expensive compared to the utilitarian ones used in winter. So, besides during winter, the kangri-makers earn a sizeable income by making artistic pieces.

Subsidiary business

Another small business associated with the use of kangri is making and sale of charcoal. Thousands of families across Kashmir sell charcoal, for use in kangris during the winter months, making a reasonable income.

According to charcoal seller Abdul Rashid, people, especially in rural areas, need charcoal to keep themselves warm. "I make at least Rs 15,000 every winter by selling charcoal," Rashid told VillageSquare.in. For many, selling charcoal during winter brings an additional income.

Recently, the government of Jammu & Kashmir banned burning of leaves and twigs in an effort to control pollution. But people could be seen making charcoal for kangris, thus flouting the ban openly. They were scornful of the ban imposed by the government.

According to Mohammad Sadiq, a Srinagar resident who spoke to VillageSquare.in, charcoal in kangris help them keep warm during power cuts, thus emphasizing the need for availability of charcoal in the market.

Embers glow on

Kashmiris have the option of choosing between kangris and modern day heating appliances such as electric and gas heaters that are available in the market. However, many shopkeepers said that people buy kangris in good numbers despite the availability of electric and gas heaters.

Footpath vendors in Srinagar said that they sell kangris in considerable numbers. "I buy 700 kangris a week and sell all of them," Mumtaz Mir, a footpath vendor in Fateh Kadal, told VillageSquare.in.

With the Kashmir Valley witnessing long power cuts in winter, many find it practical to use kangris to warm their homes. "I have two electric heaters at home. But they are hardly of any use as we get just two hours power supply in 24 hours," said Reyaz Ahmad, a resident of Kupwara.

Some said that even if there is a regular power supply, Kangri would still not lose its significance given its economic viability as compared to electric and gas heaters. "Using kangri for heating doesn't cost much," said Ahmad. "One can live without electricity and internet in Kashmir, but not without kangri," quipped Mohammad Mairaj, a student, referring to the long power outages in most of the areas in Kashmir, besides the Internet bans.

"Whoever invented it must have been a genius. In spite of modern day technology, we are finding kangri extremely useful," Rafiq Rather, a student in Kashmir University, told VillageSquare.in. It is obvious that the embers in Kashmir's kangris would glow on, keeping people warm in winter and offering livelihood to countless men and women.

Athar Parvaiz is a Srinagar-based journalist.

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

(UPDATE: Copy updated with statement from Anand Vasu, apologising for his reference to Anushka Sharma as a nagging wife)

In a match report for the Economic Times, titled 'Batting carnage as South Africa blast India aside', freelance cricket writer Anand Vasu spared no words to sum up India's play in an ongoing Test match series against South Africa in Cape Town.

"For months India had talked the talk, for passages of play they walked it, but when push came to shove the eleven men chosen to represent the country let themselves down," Vasu wrote.

However, one paragraph in his analysis, stuck out like a sore thumb — in which he compared bowling action by South Africa's Vernon Philander with a sexist stereotype routinely used to mock women.

"Virat Kohli was well set up by Philander, away swingers nagging away more than the newly married Anushka, followed by the one that came in to the right-hander, trapping him in front," Vasu wrote. He was immediately called out by a cricket writer working for Scroll's sports website The Field.

Zenia D'Cunha's tweet criticizing Vasu for using a "wife stereotype" was met with nothing less than wide-eyed incredulity by men failing to understand, once again, why Vasu's analogy was downright offensive.

There were pats on the back for the writer for being "ballsy" in dragging a woman to score cheap gender points in a story that did not require that comparison. Kohli and Sharma, an Indian movie star, got married on 11 December. Sharma's not new to blatant misogyny. She has been blamed for Kohli's performance on the pitch by upset male fans of the cricketing hero.

However, this garden variety sexism is expected from an industry that farms toxic WhatsApp jokes on women for bulk circulation. A mainstream cricket writer to use a "nagging" dig against a woman to make his point beggars belief.

This from a senior journo in ET

A "wife" stereotype in a cricket analysis - a dig at @AnushkaSharma - is not funny or something that should have been published in a leading newspaper to describe an actually good cricketing moment. https://t.co/A6kVwcfvXspic.twitter.com/ygRkYZ6Nli

— ZENIA D'CUNHA (@ZENIADCUNHA) January 10, 2018

However, on Friday, Vasu issued a statement apologising for his lapse. "It was clumsy and wrong", he said.

#fb@imVkohli@AnushkaSharmapic.twitter.com/2rWcsJCjQW

— Anand Vasu (@anandvasu) January 12, 2018

Nagging is a popular stick men have always used to beat women. And jokes on nagging are firmly established in the Indian male psyche as something that even women take in their stride. They assume that it is something inoffensive that women can be labelled with without facing a pushback. In the never-ending list of the variety of sexual abuses women face daily, jokes on identity politics must seem almost benign to Indians.

That the cheap shot was directed at a "newly-married" Sharma — an actor of considerable talent — shows just how deep the misogyny runs. And it continues because men are rarely called out when they make these jokes, emboldening them to get away with more and more. Women who call men out on everyday sexism, especially jokes that seem innocuous, are labelled "humourless".

A perfect example of this is another tweet on the writer's timeline. The photos used in the tweet are self-explanatory. While the writer acknowledged that it's a sexist stereotype, he obviously found no harm in sharing it.

Men too found the analogy ridiculous.

Really @EconomicTimes ? Like you had to bring in Anushka Sharma into something totally unrelated to her? And "nagging"? Fucking crap. pic.twitter.com/pFOvknoqVR

— Ishan Seth (@ishanseth24) January 9, 2018

How on earth did the desk let this get published? https://t.co/2aFxK5AmBJ

— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 10, 2018

Come on @anandvasu , seriously ? Nagging wife ?

— Vamsi Sidda (@VamsiSidda) January 10, 2018

no

— Anand Katakam (@anandkatakam) January 10, 2018

At the time of writing this, the analogy remained in the story, despite flak from many Twitter users.

WASHINGTON — A surprise New Year's Day tweet by President Donald Trump in which he appeared to decree an end to U.S. aid for Pakistan, sent U.S. officials scrambling to suspend security assistance without even knowing how much aid they were freezing, four U.S. officials said.

The decision to freeze up to about $2 billion in security aid, according to a later estimate by U.S. officials, to a nuclear-armed ally is the latest example of how, nearly a year into Trump's presidency, U.S. officials sometimes have to scurry to turn his tweets into policy.

The Trump administration had been weighing an aid freeze for months, including in a meeting of top national security advisers before Christmas. Washington has for years demanded that Islamabad stop providing sanctuary and other support for the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network.

At the time of Trump's tweet, a U.S. assessment of Pakistani compliance with those demands was still under way. A cohesive U.S. policy - including preparations for possible Pakistani reaction - was not expected to be completed until March or April, three U.S. officials interviewed said.

"None of the elements of a coherent policy was in place, or even close at hand, when the president, in effect, made a policy announcement," said one U.S. official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity. "Despite a mad scramble to backfill a tweet, we still don't have ... an effective policy in place."

Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council, did not address whether the tweet had sped up the policy process, saying Trump had made clear his intent to take a new, tougher stance toward Pakistan as part of the Afghanistan war strategy he unveiled in August.

"This action is being taken after months of careful interagency review. Any suggestion to the contrary is false," he said.

The State Department declined to comment.

Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when he posted his tweet at 7:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, after hosting a lavish New Year's Eve party. Until then he had kept a relatively low public profile while he mostly golfed.

The United States, he tweeted, had "foolishly" given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid and "they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

It is not clear what prompted Trump to issue the tweet, which infuriated Pakistani officials. Pakistan's National Security Committee of senior civilian and military chiefs denounced it as "completely incomprehensible." U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the foreign ministry for an explanation.

Caught by surprise on their New Year's Day holiday, a small group of White House aides and other top officials scrambled to make good on the president's unexpected statement, said a senior U.S. official who was part of the consultations.

There was no time to issue a formal White House policy directive outlining the amount of frozen funds, four officials said.

When the administration confirmed that it was suspending security aid to Pakistan four days after Trump's tweet, the State Department was still not able to quantify how much aid was at stake, underscoring how far U.S. officials had been from implementing any policy before the president's statement.

U.S. officials later said the decision could affect about $1 billion in planned security assistance and $900 million to reimburse Pakistan for counter-terrorism operations.

Another sign of the haste was the failure to give Pakistan the usual diplomatic courtesy of a warning before the president's tweet, U.S. officials said.

Perhaps most seriously, they said, there was no time to prepare for possible retaliation.

TWEET IN SEARCH OF STRATEGY

The Pentagon and State Department were especially concerned that the Pakistani army, which effectively runs foreign policy, might close the air and land corridors on which U.S.-led troops and Afghan forces in landlocked Afghanistan depend for supplies, the officials said. So far, Pakistan has not done so.

At the time the decision was made, there was no agreement with neighboring countries for alternative routes, five U.S. officials said.

"It appeared to be a tweet in search of a strategy," said Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"There seemed to be a flurry of inter-agency activity after that tweet to arrive at some sort of policy to frame it ... to prove it wasn't just an impulsive tweet."

It was not the first time that U.S. officials have been caught off guard by Trump's fondness for formulating policy by tweet.

Last year, Trump tweeted that the U.S. government would not accept transgender people to serve in the military, catching the Pentagon leadership by surprise. His statement eventually had to be walked back.

India launched its 100th satellite on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to project the country as a global low-cost provider of services in space.

A total of 31 small satellites were launched into space on Friday. More than half of the micro and nano satellites were for the Unites States, and the remainder India, Canada, Finland, France, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

"The launch of the 100th satellite by @isro signifies both its glorious achievements and also the bright future of India's space programme," Modi said on Twitter.

India's space programme has a budget of around $4 billion and Modi's government hopes the latest launches will improve its prospects of winning a larger share of the more than $300 billion global space industry.

Modi's government has been promoting a domestic space programme as a demonstration of low-cost technology and last February launched 104 satellites in a single mission, most of them for foreign customers.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) used its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40), part of an advanced remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2 series or "eye in the sky", for the Friday launch from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 9.28 a.m. (3:58 GMT).

The rocket weighs about 1,323 kgs, said a senior official at state-run ISRO, who did not wish to be named.

India will use its latest satellites for better border surveillance and obtaining high resolution images of the earth.

"PSLV-C40 is a highly sophisticated surveillance tool to keep an eye on Indian borders and will help the government track progress of infrastructure projects," said Pallava Bagla, a science writer and co-author of "Reaching for the Stars: India's Journey to Mars."

Two scientists at ISRO said images collected by the satellites will be used by the Indian security agencies to track military activities in neighbouring Pakistan, China, Bangladesh Sri Lanka and Nepal.

NEW DELHI -- In an unprecedented event in the history of the Indian judiciary, four judges of the Supreme Court appeared to break rank with the sitting Chief Justice of India, while raising concerns about the "administration" of the apex court and its implication on democracy.

Following their meeting with Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Friday morning, the four top judges of the Supreme Court (Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and Madan Lokur) said that circumstances had compelled them to convene a press conference and speak directly to the public.

The main issue appeared to be the assignment of cases by the CJI in the Supreme Court.

"It is a discharge of our debt to the nation that has brought us here," they told reporters who were present at Justice Chelameswar's house. "We believe we have discharged our debt to the nation."

This is the first time that Supreme Court judges have made public the problems inside the highest court of the land.

Describing the event today as "extraordinary" in the history of the country, Justice Chelameswar said, "The administration of the Supreme Court is not in order."

"About a couple of months, four of us gave a signed letter to CJI and we wanted a particular thing to be done. The thing was done but it raised further questions about integrity of the institution," said the second most senior judge of the Supreme Court. "We owe a responsibility to the institution and the nation. Our efforts have failed in convincing CJI to take steps to protect the institution."

"The four of us are convinced that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country," he said.

Justice Chelameswar confirmed the difference of opinion is about the assignment of the case concerning Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, the judge who was hearing the matter of the allegedly staged killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

In 2014, Loya presided over the special court set up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Mumbai to decide whether Amit Shah, then Home Minister of Gujarat and now the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was involved in Sohrabuddin's death,

Loya, however, was transferred in June 2015, shortly after he had admonished Shah for failing to appear in court. Six months on, Loya died and his death was reported as a heart attack.

"We have seen a lot of wise men but we don't want wise men to tell us later after 20 years that the four of us have sold our souls. We construe this as a responsibility to the nation and we have done it," said Justice Chelameswar.

The four judges did not provide details of their grievances during the press conference, but they released the letter which they had sent to Chief Justice Misra.

"It is too well settled in the jurisprudence of this country that the Chief Justice is only the first amongst equals — nothing more or nothing less. In the matter of the determination of the roster there are well-settled and time-honoured conventions guiding the Chief Justice, be the conventions dealing with the strength of the bench which is required to deal with a particular case or the composition thereof," the judges wrote in the letter.

"There have been instances where case having far reaching consequences for the Nation and the institution had been assigned by the Chief Justices of the Court selectively to the benches 'of their preference' without any rationale basis for such assignment. This must be guarded against at all costs," they wrote.

In November 2017, Chief Justice Misra took over the Medical College Bribery case from Justice Chelameshwar.

Writing in The Wire at the time, Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, "I believe the order that has been passed really undermines the order of Justice Chelameswar, the number two judge, referring this matter to five senior most judges of the Supreme Court on Monday. The CJ has passed an order saying that this matter will be listed after two weeks before a bench to be nominated by the Chief Justice."

"So, it's really a very very sad day in the history of the Supreme Court – firstly, I have not seen this kind of extraordinary interest being taken by a Chief Justice in a matter which involves him directly, and secondly, because of the kind of unseemly proceedings which took place in the Supreme Court."

#JudgesPressConference - Here is the letter by Justice Chelameswar, Gogoi, Lokur and Kurian Joseph. 7 page letter. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/XY9tZQZHpL

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) January 12, 2018

READ: Investigate The Death Of CBI Judge Who Was Hearing The Sohrabuddin Sheikh Case, Says Justice AP Shah

Opinion has been divided on the "extraordinary" move by the four Supreme Court judges.

Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising said, "It was very well done. I think we, the people of India, have a right to know what is going on within the judiciary and I welcome this."

Former Attorney-General of India Soli Sorabjee expressed his disappointment at the development. "I'm very very upset about this. I wish they hadn't done it. It will really have repercussions on the public image of the independence of the judiciary," he told CNN-IBN.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha lawmaker Subramanian Swamy called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention. Swamy told ANI, "We can't criticize them, they are men of great integrity and have sacrificed a lot of their legal career, where they could've made money as senior counsels. We must respect them. PM must ensure that the four judges and the CJI, in fact, the whole Supreme Court come to one opinion and proceed further."

Also on HuffPost India:

As the world ushered in the new year, a seven-year-old girl went missing in Kasur district of Pakistan's Punjab. The girl's parents were away in Saudi Arabia at the time on a pilgrimage and she was living with her aunt. Conflicting reports say she had either stepped out for tuition classes or was headed to a nearby Koran reading class and never returned. Four days later, on 9 January, her body was found dumped near a trash yard in the neighbourhood. Post-mortem reports confirmed that she had been raped multiple times before she was strangulated. The report also suggested that she was dead days before her body was found.

The girl's father initially refused to bury her body. "We will not bury her until we get justice," he told reporters. "We are now afraid of letting our children leave the home. How was our child kidnapped from a busy market?" However, the girl's remains were laid to rest on 10 January and thousands joined her funeral procession.

Around the same time, CCTV footage showing the girl being led away by an unidentified man was beamed across television channels in Pakistan.

12th INCIDENT IN A YEAR IN SAME LOCATION

The rape and murder has fomented massive protests on social media and on the ground in parts of Pakistan. One of the several aspects of the case fuelling public outrage is the fact that this murder was the 12th such known incident in a year reported from 'within a two-kilometre radius in the past 12 months', according to The Express Tribune.

Brutality apart, Kasur has been known to be a hotbed for child rapists and sexual predators for years. Despite protests from locals and extensive media coverage of the dangers faced by children in the area, the police and authorities seem to be dragging their feet on taking resolute action against the problem. In fact, the father of the deceased 7-year-old told reporters that soon after she went missing, his family had complained to the police but the latter didn't launch search operations of the scale they should have.

"My relatives and neighbours told me that the police used to come, have food and leave. While they didn't do anything, my friends and family spent day and night looking for my daughter," Ameen Ansari told local media.

Kasur is not new to accusations of child sex abuse. In fact, for years, it has been a hotbed of crimes, especially of sexual nature, against children. According to a Washington Post report, "In 2015, police busted a gang running a child sex ring. The gang had allegedly abducted and assaulted at least 280 children since 2009. The families of the abducted children were often blackmailed, and video clips and images of the assaults were sold online."

The Express Tribune reported that in 2017, 129 cases of child sexual abuse were reported from Kasur alone. "Of them, 34 were abductions, 23 were rapes, 19 sodomy, 17 attempted rapes, six abduction and rapes, and four abduction and gang-rapes," the report quotes a child rights activist as saying. A fact-finding team of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission which met victims in the Kasur village where the child pornography racket was busted after 2015, observed that the villagers knew about the videos but kept mum on the same. The report said: "The villagers kept silent about the matter for many months because of the scandalous nature of the clippings and because of close relationship with many of the people concerned on both sides, the victims and the accused."

According to the report, when some of the parents of the victims mustered courage to report the crimes, not only did the police dismiss their claims, they ganged up with the accused to harass the complainants. "Despite FIRs being filed since early July 2015, the police took no action against many of the accused.While the police made no progress in investigation, they openly colluded with the accused party and aided the intimidation and harassment of the victim families and their supporters. This led to a protest demonstration by the complainant families and other villagers in August." The demonstrations took a violent turn leading to the villagers to clash with the police. It was only after these clashes that the crimes against children in Kasur was revealed to the media, the report adds.

The report carried the testimonies of various victims and families, whose children were not only abused, but they blackmailed with the clips of the assault. All of the families complained that the pornographers and rapists extorted huge sums of money from the families for years, threatening to make the clips public.

PROTESTS

While on social media, a hashtag demanding justice for the victim went viral, protests seized Kasur on the ground. As an angry mob tried to storm the deputy commissioner of police's office, police fired at them leading to the death of two protesters. Later, Dawn reported, 6 security personnel, including 4 policemen, were arrested for firing at the crowd.

HuffPost India couldn't confirm if the victims parents have given explicit consent on the sharing of her pictures, but her picture has been plastered all over social media and news reports. However, Saif Ullah Cheema, a reporter with a Pakistani newspaper told HuffPost India that no media house is allowed to publish the victim's picture without blurring according to a diktat by PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority). Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan posted a picture of the girl condemning the assault and the same was retweeted over 12,000 times.

However, activists pointed out that the road to justice will be long and tricky and the protests could just be a flash in the pan. Shumaila Hussain Shahani, founder of All Pakistan Feminists Association, pointed out that the protests particularly intensified after the victim's picture started doing the rounds of social media. Perhaps, putting a face to the victim fanned public anger more than just stating facts would -- after all, such incidents had been being reported from the area for months now and there weren't mass protests against the same across Pakistan and abroad over it.

Shahani told HuffPost India, "According to a news report over 700 cases of child sexual abuse have been reported since 2015 in Kasur including that year's child sexual abuse ring. Eleven children were kidnapped raped and murdered in the same manner last year but we chose to not say anything because well we are moody. Another rape and murder of a 15 year old from Faisalabad was reported hours after the girl's murder was reported but do we care? There have been 2 more cases since, one is in Sukkur rapist set the girl on fire after he was met with resistance. Another rape and murder of 16 years old have been reported in another city too." While politicians may be crying themselves hoarse now, promising justice, a lot of this outrage is hypocritical, she added.

"Protests are demanding State to include sex education in our curriculum, to provide us space for dialogue on sex education, sex abuse etc. Because last time a TV drama Udaari touched the issue of pedophilia our media regulatory authority PEMRA issued a notice to the channel for showing obscenity? So speaking about issues is obscene for the State, how are we supposed to spread awareness if not talk about issues. How else do we save kids if not give them sex education?" Shahani asked. However, she added that while the political class stuck to regressive 'we-have-to-protect-our-mothers-daughters' rhetoric, several sensible people also took over social media to emphasise the importance of apprising children and parents of these dangers.

'Unprecedented.'

We have been hearing this word regularly when it comes to matters of the Supreme Court of India over the past few months.

Be it two petitions before the Supreme Court seeking a monitored inquiry into allegations of corruption against the higher judiciary in matters related to recognition of medical colleges. Or be it the resulting brouhaha over the matter being bulldozed by different benches of the Supreme Court than the ones originally hearing the two petitions separately. This resulted in the Supreme Court declaring that the Chief Justice of India was the 'master of the roster' with unbridled authority under the Constitution to determine which bench will hear what case. The way the entire matter was handled was unprecedented.

On the heel of these events, two senior judges of the Supreme Court, who are also members of the collegium, wrote to the Chief Justice of India criticising his handling of the functions of the collegium. They specifically recorded their opposition to publication of collegium resolutions as they perceived it to be a breach of human rights of sitting judges against whom adverse remarks may be recorded in the resolutions. The publication of the resolutions and the subsequent public criticism by senior judges was unprecedented.

The storm clouds were gathering with the apparent rift in the collegium culminating in the events of today which resulted in the Supreme Court being caught in the eye of the storm. The second to fifth senior-most judges of the Supreme Court held an unprecedented press conference today and opened a Pandora's box in public. They apprised the people of the country of their unhappiness with the administration of the Supreme Court led by the current Chief Justice and informed everyone of their failed attempts to resolve all issues. They also made public a two-month old letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India which requested him to address their grievances. What broke the camel's back was the issue of an inquiry into the death of Judge Loya which the Supreme Court is currently seized of.

The letter specifically expresses displeasure in the manner the Chief Justice has been allocating important matters to certain benches to the exclusion of benches headed by more senior judges. It also expresses reservations on handling of the finalization of the memorandum of procedure to appoint judges of the higher judiciary by the collegium. The letter stopped short of listing various instances which the four senior judges are unhappy about. This left the letter at the mercy of public discourse with guesses being hazarded from all quarters.

An eminent senior advocate recently wrote an article severely criticizing the manner in which the Chief Justice of India is exercising his administrative functions. My guess is as good as yours if this was the cue for the press conference.

Contrary to rumours, after the press conference, the Chief Justice of India held court as if nothing had happened and proceeded to take care of the matters of the day.

However, the dynamics of the Supreme Court have forever changed. The chain of events culminating in the press conference has ensured that the institution of the Supreme Court, the guardian of the Constitution, has been severely damaged. The appropriateness of the press conference will be argued upon for days to come. The consequences of the press conference will be far and wide.

The rift may affect the constitution of the bench for the Aadhar matter, or for any other matter of constitutional or public importance, as the actions of the Chief Justice of India will be under public scrutiny. The government's reaction to today's events remains to be seen with reports emerging that the Prime Minister summoned the union law minister to discuss the developments.

At the end of the day, the credibility of the judiciary has suffered a blow with dirty linen being aired in public. Unprecedented.