NEW DELHI — The Congress party’s promise to give sizable cash handouts to India’s poorest families if voted to power could re-energise its campaign to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the general election starting in two weeks.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has held the advantage in the run-up to the election, boosted by a wave of nationalism after military clashes with Pakistan last month. Pollsters say Congress may have pegged back some of that advantage with its announcement, but it was not clear to what extent.

Bhawesh Jha, founder of CNX, one of India’s largest polling companies, estimated that many voters in relatively poor and populous states including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh — where Congress won power in local elections late last year — could be swayed by the handouts.

“Even if 4-5 percent of voters go in favour of the Congress, it will be a big disaster for the BJP,” Jha told Reuters, adding that it would particularly help Congress where it is in a direct contest with the ruling party. “I think this could be a game changer.”

Early this month, an opinion poll by CNX and India TV estimated that the BJP alone could win 238 of 543 seats in India’s lower house, the Lok Sabha. Together with its allies, the party would have enough seats to form the next government, the poll said.

CNX has not published any poll since the Congress’ announcement earlier this week that it would give Rs 72,000 each to 20 percent of India’s poorest families, potentially benefiting 250 million of a population of 1.3 billion.

“This will definitely increase Congress’ vote share but at this stage it’s difficult to know how many parliamentary seats it would get,” Jha said.

Weak job growth and falling farm incomes have hurt the BJP, which romped to power at the last election in 2014 with 282 seats in Parliament. This year, it has tried to keep the focus on its national security achievements and its promise of a muscular approach to Pakistan and home-grown militancy.

On Wednesday, Modi announced India had successfully tested an anti-satellite missile, hailing it as a major breakthrough in its space programme.

DISRUPTOR OR BLUFF?

Yashwant Deshmukh, the founder of polling agency CVoter, described the Congress announcement as a “perfect disruptor.”

“These are the things that can reboot a campaign,” he told Reuters. But he warned that Congress needed to convince voters that the plan would be implemented if it came to power.

A CVoter opinion poll released this week, also before the announcement, estimated that the BJP and its current allies could get 261 seats, while the Congress alliance could win 143 seats.

The BJP has dismissed the plan as a “bluff.”

“No political party has betrayed India for more than seven decades other than the Congress Party,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a Facebook post. “It gave to the people of India many slogans and very little resources to implement them.” 

Several farmers welcomed the Congress proposal, announced by its president Rahul Gandhi, which entails a monthly payment of Rs 6,000 every month to families earning less than Rs 12,000.

“Farmers in poorer parts of the country tend to grow crops for their own consumption as they can’t afford to buy food stuff from the open market,” said Ram Kishan Yadav from Ramgarh in Jharkhand.

“For them a stipend of Rs 6,000 a month is like a big boon and it will eventually boost the flow of cash in the rural economy.”

About 70 percent of India’s people live in towns and villages in the countryside.

Some farmers, however, expressed reservations.

“Rahul Gandhi’s promise looks good but it will work only if they convince people that they will keep their promise,” said Bharat Pujari, from Subarnapur in Odisha.

Pujari, who owns six acres of land, said Congress’ organisation in his region was weak, which may hinder the announcement from reaching some voters.

“Many people do not know about this announcement. Even if they know, they don’t trust him (Gandhi),” he said.

“These live interviews are a pain. These anchors go on and on with their propaganda and I’m left...” complained Urmila Matondkar to her publicist after an interview with TV anchor Deepak Chaurasia of India News. 

Matondkar, who was meeting journalists on Thursday after joining the Congress, had just had an argument with Chaurasia over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that India had shot down a low-earth orbit satellite in space.

The actor-turned-politician said she was proud of the scientists behind the mission but that this “wasn’t the way” it should’ve been handled, suggesting that the scientists should’ve been in the limelight, not Modi.

Chaurasia’s response was an all-too-familiar one: “How can you talk like that about the PM?”

“We’ve a new vocabulary,” Matondkar told this writer, appearing slightly unsettled by the encounter. “A vocabulary of hate. Still getting used to this.”

Matondkar may not have much time to get used to unfiltered reactions coming her way—there is strong buzz that she will be the Congress’s candidate from the Mumbai North constituency in the Lok Sabha election.

After years of speaking lines that were scripted by someone else, she will also have to adjust to the controversies and headlines that one off-the-cuff remark may produce.

Matondkar, who made her debut as a child actor in 1980, is best known for films such as Ram Gopal Varma’s Rangeela, Satya, Kaun and Bhoot, and Sriram Raghavan’s neo-noir thriller Ek Haseena Thi. But the assured performer, who was an outsider in the industry, never quite got her due in clique-driven Bollywood.

Her performance in the 2001 thriller Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, where she played an obsessed lover (like a gender-reversed Darr), was wildly unpredictable and impressive, with Rediff praising “the maniacal gleam” in Matondkar’s eyes as she descends into madness. The Hindu called her “the creation of the era of globalisation”. A review by Ziya Us Salam said, “Helter tops. Hot pants. Short hair. Curvaceous figure. Trembling lips. Sizzling beauty. She is the embodiment of feminity packed afresh in the new millennium.”

However, by the mid-2000s, roles had thinned down for the actor who had a striking screen presence and often delivered electric performances. 

A promising star was reduced to making cameo appearances in films such as Life Mein Hungama Hai and Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.  

Matondkar’s team also seems to be adjusting to their new roles of campaign managers. She is still managed by a celebrity PR team and not a politically-savvy one, as revealed by the curious choice of location for her first round of media interviews.

“It’s my film team that’s extending their courtesy, this isn’t even their job. We are all quite ill-experienced here,” Matondkar said candidly.

The venue is a hip watering hole in Bandra, the kind of shabby-chic bar elder millennials go to when everything else in the city is shut. Its high-ceilings and dark-hued decor, with muted golds and reds, are Gatsbyesque but without the finesse of the Fitzgerald universe.

Several TV cameras and journalists form a huddle across the room while six men in grey suits encircle Matondkar. More than protection, the security blanket appears to be a statement, a visual cue to her politician status.

She’s now a neta. When she talks to news anchors sitting in Delhi studios, her Hindi is heavy, with lots of jan tantra and samvidhan thrown in. 

“Earlier, we had planned to meet at Khar Gymkhana but then we decided to do it here,” said one of her team members.

“Why is she even doing this, she’s only a bali ka bakra (a scapegoat),” ruminated a veteran journalist who’s covered Maharashtra politics for nearly three decades. “Cut the misogyny,” a newspaper reporter interrupts. “A fading star turning politician... they can’t do without the attention, can they?” quips another senior journalist.

Matondkar’s husband, Mohsin Akhtar Mir, a Kashmiri Muslim from a prosperous business family, disagrees with the scapegoat label.

“She’s always had a strong political voice. Why not raise it?”

When I asked him why Congress, he said, “Look at what this government has done, it’s turned us against each other. It’s divided us based on religion and caste. That’s not what governments are elected to do.”

Matondkar echoed Mir’s sentiment, making it clear that she’s taking aim at the Modi-led BJP for mainstreaming hate and enforcing toxic Hindutva politics.

“Unemployment is at a 40-year high and what is our Prime Minister doing? How is it that the PM of a democratic government hasn’t held a single press conference in 5 years?” Matondkar said.

“His megalomaniacal approach is quite objectionable. People are afraid to call him out because the media is pretty much under them,” she said.

If Matondkar gets the Congress ticket from Mumbai North, she will be taking on Gopal Shetty, the current MP from the BJP, who enjoys sizeable popularity despite some serious land-grabbing accusations.

“For us, it isn’t about winning or losing. She’s here to stay because her voice matters and at times like these, you need to raise your voice,” said Mir. 

Matondkar, who didn’t answer questions on what her policies would be (“I honestly don’t have a game plan”), said that the bigoted politicians from the ruling party have “brought us down” to fighting over trivial issues.

“Anything you say is met with a ‘go to Pakistan, go to Pakistan’. What is going on? People are entering houses and bashing others up,” she said, in an apparent reference to the Muslim family in Gurgaon who were attacked by sword-wielding Hindu goons.

Then, lowering her voice, she said, “Soooo many farmers are killing themselves, you tell me, is that even normal? Question that. Who are you to question my patriotism? Who are you to tell me what meat I should be eating? Who are you to tell me what my religion stands for?”

Matondkar is prepared for the prejudice she will have to deal with for being a woman, and more so, an actor.

“People are going to say ‘oh she’s such a bimbette, oh she’s so this, so that’. But it’s fine. Time and my talks will tell how far I go.”

While it’s a new innings for Matondkar, her partner isn’t hopeful of any support from Bollywood. “They are too scared.” 

Mir is right. Very few people dare to speak truth to power in the industry and often actively court favours from politicians through their movies or public appearances. A battery of Bollywood stars recently visited Modi for a meet-and-greet. Stars such as Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt have even called themselves ‘apolitical,’ or ‘politically apathetic.’

But Matondkar refused to criticise her peers for their silence on key issues, calling the industry a “fragile target”.

″When you’ve crores at stake, of course you will do what is required, of course you will bend and bow... If you get a call from the Prime Minister, of course you will show up. Not just out of courtesy but also out of fear,” she said.

Matondkar pauses for a second.

Several people huddle around her and out of nowhere, a news camera is plonked close to her face, the flashlight eerily illuminating the relatively dim corner of the bar. 

“Madam ke bytes chahiye,” said the reporter. “Studio se live.”

After being in the shadows for years, Matondkar is once again in front of the arclights.

For a split second, she basks in the glow. Then, turning towards me, she says with a smile, “Isn’t it like just like another role?” 

Nayanthara’s much-awaited Airaa begins on a rainy night in a remote town, striking the right note for a horror movie. Two cops are called in to assist in an SOS situation in an abandoned bungalow. After the prologue that often seems mandatory for movies these days, the film abandons the cops and goes on its way. Then comes the Nayanthara we’ve all gathered to see — she has a dramatic intro scene, a punch dialogue, an unsaid cussword, and a slow-motion walk. At this rather odd juncture, the film cuts to opening credits against the background of a Rube Goldberg machine. If we still don’t get the idea, there are enough references to the butterfly effect throughout the film.

The first half of Airaa is haphazard. There are two parallel tracks. One is in Pollachi, where Yamuna, played by Nayanthara, has escaped to. And the other in Chennai, where Amudhan (Kalaiarasan) is finding himself repeatedly at murder scenes. The two worlds take too long to connect — what with a fake ghost storyline within the real ghost storyline and all. For much of the first 90 minutes or so, the film can’t decide if it wants to scare us or tickle us.

Not all is bad with Airaa yet. The few scenes before the interval are so intricate, it almost seems as if they belong to a different film. The escalation of unexplained incidents and the expectation of bad things to come are incredibly held together by the crescendoing music. When the two worlds finally collide— Amudhan on a flight of stairs in Chennai segueing into the upside down view of Yamuna being led into the escalator in Pollachi — there is a sparkle of the filmmaker we don’t see enough of in this film.

Kulapulli Leela as Yamuna’s blind grandmother is real and adorable. Even as Yogi Babu’s role as the man-who-wants-to-but-can-never-have-Nayanthara is getting repetitive, he carves a place for himself in the film. Kalaiyarasan does a detached, yet acceptable job of what’s written for him.

The second half, though, is straight-up baffling. The film goes on to dump every misfortune a woman could possibly have on Bhavani—played by a Nayanthara wearing foundation that’s about 25 shades too dark for her. It is here that we see more of the Sarjun KM that we saw in Lakshmi, his recent short film about a woman’s desire that put him on the Internet generation’s radar.

Also shot in black-and-white, these sequences in Airaa touch upon issues of female foeticide, sexual violence, workplace harassment and discrimination based on skin colour — potentially a noble feat. But it does so with such hurry and melodrama, and that too so late into the story, that it hardly has an impact. We are restless to get to the point.

When it does get to the point, it’s pretty bland. At the singular moment that Bhavani’s life is about to change for the better, she gets killed. And now she is out to get revenge on those she believes are responsible.

If you were Bhavani and decided to get revenge, you’d have killed at least 50 people, all of whom have legitimately given you grief in the past. But Bhavani decides that she just wants to kill seven people, which includes Yamuna, who did something nasty because she was cranky, because patriarchy.

So, in essence, Airaa becomes Nayanthara versus Nayanthara. For much of its run-time, Airaa is focused on her as she goes from fear to horror, shock, sadness and resignation, looking straight and confidently at the camera. The film is so focused on Nayanthara that there is even a negotiation scene between Bhavani’s ghost and Yamuna, where both of them talk to each other like they’re discussing a business proposition. The ghost-busters silently sit around and watch.

But even twice as much Nayanthara is not enough to help this film. It has too many loose ends and giant leaps in logic. It spends too much time showing us fake ghosts for us to invest in the real ghost. The flashback is an over-cooked mash of melodrama. The transformation of a despondent victim into a merciless ghost is unconvincing. And the less said about the ending the better.

PATHANAMTHITTA — In a blow to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, a party candidate was sent to jail by a court Thursday in a case related to the alleged attack on a woman devotee in Sabarimala temple last November.

Prakash Babu, the party’s candidate in Kozhikode constituency, was remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a court in Ranni here.

Babu was accused of attacking the woman who had come to offer prayers at the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple in November amid protests against implementing the September 28 apex court verdict permitting women of all age groups into the shrine.

A case had been registered against him in this regard at the local police station.

The court refused to grant him bail and the leader was now shifted to the Kottarakkara sub-jail, party sources said, adding that he would soon move the higher court for bail.

Babu had already launched the campaign in the constituency, they added.

Kerala had witnessed widespread protests from frenzied devotees and rightwing groups over the CPI(M)-led LDF government’s decision to implement the apex court verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the hill shrine.

Traditionally, women of menstruating age or in the age group of 10 to 50 years were not allowed to enter the temple as the deity, Lord Ayyappa, was in the form of “Naishtika brahmachari” (perennial celibate).

The Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19.

Kerala will go to the polls on April 23.

The producers of the biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday responded to an Election Commission notice on the film. 

The EC had sought comments from the makers on the Opposition’s demand to postpone the film’s release till the Lok Sabha elections get over.

The film has been produced by Sandeep Singh, Manish Acharya, Anand K Pandit and Suresh Oberoi, who on Thursday denied links to the BJP and said that the film had been made with their “personal money”, the Indian Express reported.

“The allegations made linking our client’s movie with a political party merely on a few public events, Facebook posts and tweets are not only false but have no basis in either fact and/or law,” said Hitesh Jain, a lawyer for the producers.

The producers said one could not call the film political propaganda just because actor Vivek Oberoi, who plays Modi in the biopic, may have political views that aligned with the BJP, Express reported.

The producers justified the involvement of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and BJP president Amit Shah in promoting the film saying they wanted the film to be a “resounding commercial success”, and that a character in the film was based on Shah.

In their reply to the EC, the makers said a ban or delay on the film’s release would “adversely affect the democracy and rule of law” on several counts. 

The film is slated for release on April 5,  a week before the first phase of the general elections.

The makers said their film did not violate the Model Code of Conduct because it was “a biography in a visual medium”. Since biographies could be sold, a biopic should be allowed to release, they said, according to the Express report.

Vivek Oberoi, who plays the role of Modi, was at the Nirvachan Sadan, the EC headquarters, on Wednesday.

Since the film has reference to the BJP, the party was also marked a copy of the EC notice. But it is yet to respond.

On March 20, the East Delhi Returning Officer K Mahesh had issued suo motu notices to the production house and music company behind the film PM Narendra Modi and two leading newspapers for publishing advertisements of the film.

Opposition parties have alleged that the film violates the model code and would act like an advertisement for the BJP.

(With PTI inputs)

TAMPA, Florida—Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Thursday he expected debris from an Indian anti-satellite weapons test to eventually burn up in the atmosphere instead of creating a lasting debris field that could threaten other satellites.

Asked about comments by India’s top defense scientist that the debris would burn up in 45 days, Shanahan said he could not confirm any particular timeframe.

“But in terms of threats to other objects, that’s consistent with what I’ve heard,” that it will burn up in the atmosphere, Shanahan told reporters traveling with him in Florida.

The comments came a day after India said it used an indigenously developed ballistic missile interceptor to destroy one of its own satellites at a height of 300 km (186 miles), in a test aimed at boosting its defenses in space.

In 2007, China destroyed a satellite in a polar orbit, creating the largest orbital debris cloud in history, with more than 3,000 objects, according to the Secure World Foundation.

Since the impact altitude exceeded 800 km (500 miles), many of the resulting scraps stayed in orbit.

Asked whether he believed India, with a test at a lower altitude, had avoided a China-type scenario, Shanahan said: “That’s my understanding.”

The Pentagon said on Wednesday the US military’s Strategic Command was tracking more than 250 pieces of debris from India’s missile test and would issue close-approach notifications as required until the debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

Lieutenant General David Thompson, vice commander of US Air Force Space Command, said on Wednesday that the Indian test had hit the target vehicle.

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that no new threats had arisen from debris yet.

The official added that there was no information so far to cast doubt on the claims made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Critics say such technology, known to be possessed only by the United States, Russia and China, raises the prospect of an arms race in outer space, besides posing a hazard by creating a cloud of fragments that could persist for years.

Shanahan said the Indian test was a reminder about how space was becoming increasingly contested, and underscored the necessity of creating a Space Command - a stepping stone toward President Donald Trump goal of creating a Space Force.

“It really speaks to: Why we need to stand up Space Command. Think about the importance now of rules of engagement, the authorities, the tactics, techniques and procedures,” Shanahan said.

NOIDA/LUCKNOW — Eight people were killed on Friday morning when a privately operated bus rammed into a stationary truck on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida, officials said.

Another 20 people on board the bus were injured and rushed to a private hospital for treatment, police said.

Officials in Lucknow said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed Gautam Buddh Nagar police and administration chiefs to expedite assistance to the victims.

“The bus was on its way to Noida from Agra. The incident took place under Rabupura police station limits around 5 am. The bus belongs to Auraiya depot. Eight people were killed and 20 injured in the incident,” police said in a statement.

Police personnel were present at the site of the accident and the victims were rushed to the nearby Kailash Hospital in Jewar, it said.

An official spokesperson in Lucknow said, “The chief minister has taken cognisance of the bus accident in Greater Noida where eight passengers have died.”

“He has directed the district administration and the police to provide all assistance. The district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police are reaching the accident site,” the official said.

Talk about a pregnant pause: A woman in Bangladesh who gave birth in February to a baby boy, just gave birth to twins, according to multiple outlets.

Amazingly, Arifa Sultana didn’t even know she was pregnant with the second set of babies.

The 20-year-old mother from the Jessore district gave birth to a premature son in late February.

That child is doing well, but last week Sultana had to be rushed back to the hospital after she complained about serious pain in her stomach, the BBC reported.

Doctors discovered Sultana was pregnant with twins who were incubating in a previously undiscovered second uterus.

It turns out Sultana had a condition known as uterus didelphys, a rare congenital condition.

The condition happens during development. Typically, the uterus starts out as two small tubes that normally join to form one larger hollow cavity, according to The Guardian.

On rare occasions, those tubes don’t join completely and instead develop into separate structures.

Doctors performed an emergency cesarean section on Sultana and delivered a baby boy and girl.

Dr. Sheila Poddar, a gynecologist at Ad-Din hospital in Dhaka, told CNN that “all three children are safe and healthy,” and that “the mother is also fine.”

The children have been named Ifad Islam Noor, Mohammad Huzaifa and Jannatul Mawa Khadija, according to The Guardian.

Cara Delevingne has a new favorite pastime. 

The model and former fan of clubbing recently opened up about her new activity of choice during a conversation on RuPaul’s podcast, “RuPaul: What’s the Tee With Michelle Visage.” 

“I used to go to clubs, but I’d rather have sex than go out now,” the 26-year-old Delevingne revealed. “I’d rather sit at home and play, like, charades with my friends.” 

She also divulged some information about her sex life, admitting that she prefers to give rather than get. 

“That whole courting process of power is very interesting, and it’s different with men and women,” the actress said on the podcast. “I’m always very submissive with men ― always. But with women, I’m the opposite. So it’s weird.” 

Lately, Delevingne has been linked to “Pretty Little Liars” star Ashley Benson, though the two have not publicly confirmed they are together. 

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Madras High Court’s order of conviction and life term for Saravana Bhavan owner, P Rajagopal, in a 2001 murder case, the Bar & Bench reported.

Rajagopal has been given time till 7 July to surrender, The Hindu reported.

He was among six accused of murdering one of his employees in 2001 to marry the man’s wife, the report said.

The Madras High Court had in 2009 sentenced the accused to life imprisonment.

The convicts had appealed the sentence in the Supreme Court which had granted them bail the same year, the report said.

According to The NewsMinute, P Rajagopal hired eight men to abduct and murder Prince Santhakumar, who was married to Jeevajyothi, the daughter of his employee.

Rajagopal had wanted to marry 20-year-old Jeevajyothi, who had refused. He already had two wives at the time, according to the Indian Express.

Santhakumar joined Saravana Bhavan in 1999. In October 2001, the couple had filed a police complaint against Rajagopal and his gang, saying they had been abducted and intimidated, the report said.

Santhakumar was abducted from Chennai the same month.

His body was found by forest officials at Perumalmalai in Kodaikanal, according to The Hindu’s report.

Rajagopal surrendered on November 23, Express reported, but got bail in 2003.

Jeevajyothi’s family later accused him of intimidation and attempting to bribe them.

We all have our pet peeves ― like people who talk with their mouths full, line cutters, interrupters and, of course, slow-walking tourists in New York City who take up the entire sidewalk and insist on stopping every five steps to take a photo (No? Just me?).

But have you ever wondered why these little annoyances are called “pet peeves”? We did some investigating to find out the origin of the phrase. 

The phrase “pet peeve” can be traced to the early 20th century, but its components have a longer history. The word “pet” can refer not just to a domesticated animal but also to something particularly cherished or preferred, as in a “pet project.”

“Pet” dates back to the 16th century, when it was primarily used as a noun in the animal sense. Examples of the “most cherished” usage appear in the 19th century, and there are multiple instances of “pet” paired ironically with negative concepts like “hatred” and “aversion” (much like the phrase “pet peeve”).

An 1833 issue of the British women’s magazine La Belle Assemblée reads, “The good general’s prime aversion, his pet hatred, had of course fallen upon his nearest opponent, his next neighbour, who ... had committed the unpardonable crime of making his own large fortune as a Russia merchant.” Other 19th century writings mention “pet dislikes” and “pet aversions.”

As for the second half of the phrase, a peeve is a particular annoyance. The word appeared more recently in the English language, with apparently no published examples before the 1900s. 

“Peeve” is derived from the much older word “peevish,” which means “querulous” or “easily irritated.” “Peevish” comes from late Middle English, with examples appearing as early as the 15th century. 

Around the turn of the 20th century, the back-formation “peeve” came onto the scene as a verb and then a noun, and not too long after, people started talking about their “pet peeves.”

A 1916 volume of American Garage and Auto Dealer describes certain Ford owners finding “their ‘pet peeve’ to be that of cranking a cold motor.” In 1918 another journal published reader mail that included the line “In Praise of Stevenson is so good I have entirely forgotten that rough-cut leaves are my little pet peeve.”

So it would seem the phrase “pet peeve” doesn’t have much to do with actual pets. But if you suspect your dog has its own pet peeves, you could be onto something. 

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has “successfully” carried out an anti-satellite missile test, China reacted guardedly, expressing hope that all countries will uphold peace and tranquillity in the outer space.

However, China’s state-run Global Times was much more direct in its warning to New Delhi and said that the anti-satellite test “shouldn’t stir India’s nationalism”.

Global Times is published by China’s ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily.

Saying that the US and other Western countries criticised Beijing when it carried out the same test in 2007, the editorial added that the West viewed India’s move from the “China-India competition” perspective.

It goes on to say that India’s development is “uneven” and at least in the next few decades, New Delhi’s dream is to catch up with Beijing. In what seems like a warning, the editorial said that India “should understand that it will trail China in military and comprehensive strength for a long time”. 

Indians, it said, believe that China and Pakistan will be afraid as India achieves military progress. The editorial dismissed such an opinion as “naïve and dangerous”.

It also hoped that Indians understand New Delhi’s “limited strength can’t deter China, nor is its deterrent to Pakistan as strong as some Indian people think”.

Modi, while announcing the success of Mission Shakti, said that the action was not directed against any country and the satellite was a pre-determined target orbiting at an altitude of 300 km.

He said India did not breach any international laws or treaties by testing the anti-satellite missile.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also said in a statement that India has no intention of entering into an arms race in outer space. 

Other reactions from China

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in a written response to a question from PTI, said: “We have noticed reports and hope that each country will uphold peace and tranquillity in outer space”.

The Chinese military also said it hopes all countries can take “real actions” to maintain lasting peace and stability in the outer space. 

(With PTI inputs)

In a rather bizarre incident, an Uttar Pradesh gangster, Badan Singh alias Baddo, escaped from police custody while being taken to court.

He took the policemen, who were escorting him, to a hotel on Dehli road in Meerut where his accomplices had thrown a liquor party, Nitin Tiwari, Senior Superintendent of Police, Meerut told The Indian Express.

He added that the police had detained seven cops. 

Singh was convicted last year for the murder of a lawyer in 1996, according to NDTV, and has 10 cases of murder, extortion and robbery against him.

YouTube star Superwoman aka Lilly Singh just dropped a video of remade Bollywood songs and it is all kinds of amazing. 

In a mash-up of three popular songs—Choli Ke Peeche, All is Well and Aankh Maarey—Singh changes the lyrics to powerful rap. 

Singh turns early 90s hit Choli Ke Peeche into a feminist anthem, rapping “call me smart before you call me hottie” and “Ain’t no need to save me, keep your horse in the stable. What position I like? Huh? Head of the table.”

In All Is Well, Singh tackles mental health head-on, rapping about ignoring snide comments from “massiji” on your clothes and “shaadi”: “Listen, you good, all is well. And if it ain’t, tell someone, ask for some help. Man, eff taboos, take care of yourself. Everything means nothing without mental health.”

Singh, who came out as bisexual in February, celebrates her sexuality with aplomb in Aankh Maarey where she is attracted to both a man and a woman. Neha Kakkar, who sang the latest remix of the song in Simmba, also makes a cameo appearance.

Singh is set to perform in Mumbai next week and said on Twitter that she was nervous before putting out the video. 

She has no reason to worry—within a couple of hours, Twitter was raving about it, calling her a ‘desi queen’ and begging for another part to the video. 

In September, I started spiraling with anxiety at work. I was having a tough home life, two projects at work were going wrong, and my confidence in my skills, my abilities and my self-worth entirely were taking a hit.

Thoughts I couldn’t control started taking over my concentration. Bad thoughts. Thoughts that my manager was going to be disappointed. Was going to be angry. Would think I was a fuckup. Thoughts that I was a fraud. How had I been doing this job successfully for a year when I was so clearly incapable and an idiot?

It wasn’t just a bad day. I was a bad person.

I sat there staring at my computer screen, and from the outside everything looked fine. I read emails, actioned requests, answered questions, but inside I was melting down.

So I told my manager I was sick, and I went home for the day.

And I was sick, but not in the way I told her. I told her I had an upset stomach, that I’d been feeling queasy all day, and I thought a cold was coming on. I went home, removing myself from the situation that was making me spiral with anxiety and giving myself a chance to regroup, to curl up in bed for an afternoon and overcome the panic and negative self-talk.

I wanted to feel better and go back to work the next day fresh and ready to tackle the problems with a clear mind. I wanted to feel well again. In exactly the same way I do when I need to recover from a cold.

I lied to my boss because there is an unjustified stigma around mental illness in the workplace and in general. When someone takes a sick day because of a virus or the common cold, their absence isn’t considered evidence that they can’t handle their work. No, they’re temporarily ill and return to work when they are feeling better ― no better or worse at their job than before.

Here’s the thing, though: The same should be said for those living with mental illnesses, but that’s not the case.

I don’t want management thinking I’m incapable of doing my job. On the contrary, I’m actually very good at it. But mental illnesses can have invisible symptoms with no outward signs that you’re not coping until, suddenly, you’re really not coping.

Managers can’t see it coming, and hiring or promoting someone they see as having a “ticking time bomb” inside them probably seems like a risky move compared to picking someone who doesn’t have a bomb inside them at all ― that they know of, anyway. That mental illness bomb inside me isn’t constantly ticking, though, and when it starts, I can ― and do ― take steps to deactivate it.

But still, the stigma exists. Those of us with mental illnesses are seen as weak. And why am I so adamant about this that I feel the need to lie to my employer about it?

Because I’ve experienced the stigma firsthand.

A while back, when working a several-month contract at a previous workplace, all the managers of the different departments spent half a day at a training session on how to support their employees’ mental health. At the time, I was going through a pretty rough, stressful and distracting home situation, so because of the special training my manager had completed, I thought it would be reasonable to inform her of the temporary problems I was having, as I feared it was affecting my concentration and my work.

I received the support I needed: If I needed to take a day off at some point to look after myself, she said, then I should let her know. 

At least she said she would be supportive. But when it came to actually being supportive, she didn’t show up.

The stressful and distracting home situation came to a head, and I thought I was about to snap. I felt like I might go insane from the stress of it all and my anxiety over the impact it was having on my job. I needed a day to pull myself together, sort some stuff out and regroup. I arranged for a colleague to handle some work that might need doing, and she was understanding, more than happy to help keep my project on track.

My manager, however, was not so understanding. After her earlier offer, when it actually came to taking taking a sick day, she said she found it inappropriate and unacceptable. And so into work I went ― feeling fragile, feeling a little bit less than capable, and feeling ashamed and anxious for having requested the time off that I thought would have been accepted in the first place.

Of four contract employees, I was the only one who had admitted to some personal struggles (though I was not the only one struggling) and was the only one of us whose contract was not renewed. It’s a very real outcome of admitting to poor mental health.

So I’ve learned to lie. The lying increases anxiety in the short term, but is sadly absolutely worth it for the stability and continuation of my career. A person with chronic pain has a chronic illness, just the same as I do with chronic depression. But chronic pain isn’t viewed as a weakness of character like mental illness is. I honestly don’t get it.

To me, my mental illness is a strength. Living with depression clouding my every thought, blanketing emotions so I don’t get to feel anything all, it takes a lot of strength to carry on with that burden. It takes a toll on me, but when I’m able to take care of myself and my mental health, my depression makes me stronger.

My depression makes me more empathetic and compassionate to others because I know the heartache and emptiness and don’t want others to go through it as well. My anxiety makes me prepared; I often think of the worst-case scenario, so if that worst case arises, I know how I’m going to deal with it.

These parts of me actually make me good at my work. Not bad. But these strengths still aren’t often recognized.

An inability to do your job because you have a cough and a sore throat are viewed as an inability to work effectively in the short term. No one will even remember in a month. But excusing yourself from work for a day because you’re spiraling with anxiety and need to step back and get on top of it can affect an employer’s more long-term view of your abilities, even if taking that day means that you can get healthy again and be better than before.

The stigma is real and undeserved. Mental illness doesn’t define me, and I’m stronger than people give me credit for. But until managers and employers start to treat mental illness as just as manageable in their employees as physiological illness, and not a weakness, I’ll lie, and so will so many others.

Have a compelling first-person story you want to share? Send your story description to pitch@huffpost.com.

Your words matter, especially when it comes to mental health. One phrase that you may not be aware is particularly egregious? “Committed suicide.”

It’s an expression that many people still lean on, both in the news (take one look at headlines after the recent deaths by suicide of Parkland, Florida, students and the father of a Sandy Hook shooting victim) and in outside conversations.

While the term may seem innocuous, it’s actually laden with blame and stigma. So much so that reporting guidelines outlined by mental health and media organizations strictly advise against using it.

“The term ‘committed suicide’ is damaging because for many, if not most, people it evokes associations with ‘committed a crime’ or ‘committed a sin’ and makes us think about something morally reprehensible or illegal,” said Jacek Debiec, an assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s department of psychiatry who specializes in post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorders.

The phrase “committed suicide” also ignores the fact that suicide is often the consequence of an unaddressed illness (like depression, trauma or another mental health issue). It should be regarded in the same way as any physical health condition, said Dan Reidenberg, the executive director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education.

“You don’t ‘commit a heart attack.’ Instead, you might hear someone say they ‘died from a heart attack.’ Dying by suicide is the same. ... When attaching the word ‘committed,’ it further discriminates against those who lost their battle against a disease,” he explained.

Reidenberg added that the best phrase to use is “died by suicide,” since it sends the message that the death was caused by the mental health condition. It’s the preferred language in media stories, and it’s worth using in everyday discussions as well.

Why This Matters In The Long Term

It might sound like nitpicking to focus on just two words. However, word choices ― whether intentional or unintentional ― have much broader implications.

Using sensitive mental health vernacular is crucial to eliminating negative stereotypes attached to mental illness (and the consequences of those stereotypes) now and in the future. Research shows that when stigma is present, people avoid seeking help ― help that could be life-saving.

“The fact that we are having problems with choosing words when speaking about suicide reflects our deeper problems with understanding mental health in general,” Debiec said.

“The language [we use] reflects our system of values, both conscious and unconscious,” he continued. “Using a judgmental or degrading language prevents us from recognizing mental health problems, seeking help and providing help.”

Simply put, “committed suicide” conveys shame and wrongdoing; it doesn’t capture the pathology of the condition that ultimately led to a death. It implies that the person who died was a perpetrator rather than a victim. And you don’t have to live with a mental health condition to understand how that could be damaging.

“Words have consequences,” Debiec said. “I would encourage people who think that language around mental health is not important to think about their own experiences when they felt that somebody’s judgment or words unfairly and deeply hurt them.”

It’s time that we start looking at suicide as a dangerous byproduct of a health condition that can ― and should ― be prevented. That, of course, requires treatment. But it also includes paying attention to our words so that those living with a mental health issue feel they won’t be alienated for speaking up and seeking support, Reidenberg said.

He noted that suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. “Suicide is a serious public health crisis. More people die by suicide than by homicides and car accidents and breast cancer,” he added. “Suicide is a real issue that must be taken seriously all of the time.”

Reidenberg said he hopes that more people will be more compassionate about suicide, and not just after a high-profile suicide but every single day.

“Let’s keep working to prevent tragedies from happening, celebrate those who are still alive ... and do all that we can to break down the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide,” he said. “It is only by talking about these that we will get people to open up before a tragedy happens.”

Dropping the phrase “committed suicide” as part of this effort may be a tiny step ― but at least it’s one that’s forward.

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

Alia Bhat, who’s undeniably on a career high, has spoken out about the toll her career has taken on her mental health.

The actress, who has enjoyed consistent successes (Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Raazi, Gully Boy) told Filmfare magazine that all isn’t as hunky dory as it appears and she has bouts of anxiety attacks.

She said, “I haven’t been depressed but I’ve had bouts of anxiety. It comes and goes. It’s been happening quite a bit since the past five to six months. It’s not like an anxiety attack but I just feel low.”

She further added that thanks to her sister’s experience of battling depression, she was well-aware of the symptoms but it still left her confused.

“Thankfully, I’m aware of it because of Shaheen. She’s fought depression. I’ve read her book. No matter how bad it is, I just let myself feel it. Sometimes, I feel like crying for no reason. Then it passes.”

The actress also said that it’s alright to not feel fine all the time.

“Initially, I’d constantly give reasons that it’s because of work or maybe I’m tired or haven’t been able to meet anyone. I spoke to friends about it. Everyone told me that you’ve got to realise that it will go away. What’s important is to accept it and not say that you’re fine. If you’re not feeling fine, then you should just say you’re not feeling fine.”

In 2016, Bhatt appeared in Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi, a film that dealt with a woman enduring mental health issues. 

Read her entire interview on Filmfare.

“A spectacularly ugly, smelly, unfarmed, unharvested pest-plant native to India.”

This is how The Guardian’s recent article described jackfruit.

Lol, WHAT?

On Wednesday, the British daily published an article titled the ‘Jackfruit is a vegan sensation – could I make it taste delicious at home?’.

The article — which called the fruit “gross-looking lump of fibre” with “no taste to speak of” — had everyone suitably horrified, but particularly Malayalis.

Kerala produces, consumes and sells crores of jackfruit every year. It’s so widely used, Kerala declared it the state’s official fruit last year.

This is what people had to say:

But jackfruit isn’t just part of Malayali cuisine. People from other parts of the country chimed in.

People questioned the research that went into the article.

Others called out the very “white” lens through which the fruit was being written about.

The article suggested three ways to eat the fruit — stewed to make “pulled jackfruit”, as fried patty burger and as “base mulch” for tacos. 

Um, you do you, Guardian. We’ll just be here eating our sabzi, curries, biryani, ada, chips, and the actual fruit.

PATNA, Bihar — The rift between Tejashwi Yadav and Kanhaiya Kumar, a popular theory goes, started showing in October last year at a rally organised by the Communist Party of India. The event at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan was intended to showcase the two young Turks of the presumed grand alliance or Mahagathbandhan,  but Tejashwi gave it a miss, sending an emissary instead.

At the programme, in the presence of senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders, the largely partisan crowd chanted:

“Bihar Ka Mukhyamantri Kaisa Ho? Kanhaiya Kumar Jaisa Ho!”

For Tejashwi, who is still growing into his role as the leader of the RJD, the party synonymous with his father and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the slogans were enough to alert him to the future potential of Kanhaiya Kumar, the PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University who became a face of millennial disaffection with Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when he was briefly jailed in 2016 on trumped-up charges of sedition.

On Friday, Tejashwi laid all speculation to rest by announcing its seat-sharing agreement with Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha election—the party will field Tanveer Hasan from Begusarai, where Kumar is contesting on a CPI ticket.

“He might have thought that if Kanhaiya wins Lok Sabha, he might also take an interest in Bihar’s politics,” said Satya Narayan Singh, the CPI’s state secretary for Bihar. “What else could be a reason to deny us support when Lalu indicated that he was willing to support us in three meetings that I had with him in last one year?”

Tejashwi didn’t respond to interview requests for this story.

Begusarai is just one of many decisions that will either severely dent Tejashwi’s fledgling political career, or give the 29-year-old high school dropout a big say in who will become the next Prime Minister of India.

The other, bigger crisis is closer home—elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav, who had been griping for months now, called a press conference in Patna on Thursday and then didn’t turn up for it. He tweeted later that he was resigning as patron of the RJD’s student wing.

But at Friday’s press conference, Tejashwi denied any issue between him and his brother.

“Whatever Tej Pratap has said was only a suggestion (on candidates). There are many leaders in the party. Won’t they give their suggestions? Doesn’t he have that right? Even common workers give suggestions in our party,” Tejashwi said.

RJD sources told HuffPost India that Tej Pratap was unhappy that his supporters weren’t getting tickets and almost resigned from the party but was pacified by his mother Rabri Devi. This wasn’t the first such occurrence either, said journalists from Patna.

For Tejashwi, and the Yadav family as a whole, who declined to be interviewed for this article, the next few months will decide if the RJD can once more be a party of national relevance, or if it shall remain confined to Bihar.

Bihar sends 40 Members of Parliament to the Lok Sabha. In 2014, the BJP along with ally Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, won three-fourths of these seats. This time, however, some seats such as Begusarai may deliver a three-way contest.

“Tejashwi has encapsulated Lalu’s ideology of social justice,” said Shivanand Tiwari, RJD’s national vice-president. “But he has to prove himself and this election is going to test him.”

From cricket to politics

The house on 10 Circular Road, Patna, is a major landmark in Bihar’s political geography. With patriarch Lalu Yadav in jail in Ranchi for his role in the 1992 fodder scam, the home is occupied by his wife and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi, Tejashwi and six of his siblings. Tej Pratap and Misa Bharti, the eldest of the Yadav siblings, live in separate houses.

Where Lalu’s earthy charm and humble roots struck a chord with the RJD base, his children have struggled to shake off a reputation of having everything handed to them on a platter.

In Tejashwi’s case, one needs to look no further than his short career in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he was selected by the Delhi Daredevils – at a time when his father was Union Minister — despite barely playing competitive cricket. His entire cricket career spans just seven matches.

“Lalu came from a humble background but Tejashwi has grown up in the Chief Minister’s residence,” said an RJD leader. “He will have to work extra hard to fit into the shoes of Laluji.”

Till recently, it appeared that his political career would go the same way as the cricketing one. He was elevated to the post of deputy Chief Minister when he was just 26, when the RJD propped up Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) government and became the leader of the opposition when the alliance ended in 2017.

But since then, his stature has grown.

“Since Nitish left the Mahagathbandhan, I would say Tejashwi has raised himself from 3 to 7 on a scale of 10,” said a senior BJP leader in Patna on condition of anonymity. “He has successfully managed to capture the opposition space vacated because of his father’s imprisonment and Nitish joining hands with BJP.”

The leader said that Tejashwi had cornered Nitish Kumar, even as he disarmed the senior politician by calling him “Chacha.”

“He has also struck a good rapport with Lutyens’ liberal media in Delhi,” the BJP leader added. “But he lacks an academic base.”

Within the party, he has moved quickly to neutralise his opponents, but still faces a challenge in pacifying his older siblings who have occasionally made clear their displeasure at having been superseded by Tejashwi.

“He has successfully sidelined all senior leaders in the party,” said the RJD leader cited above. “But he needs to get along with party workers.”

Earlier this week, a crowd of RJD workers gathered outside 10 Circle Road and raised slogans against the new leadership.

“It’s all a mess here. They are not giving tickets to winning candidates. The people who were never really with the party are getting tickets,” said Mahesh Prasad, a resident of Sitamarhi district in Bihar, who camped in front of Lalu’s residence for three days to demand a ticket to a favoured aspirant.

“The kids don’t seem to be handling the situation the way Laluji used to do,” rued Ram Narayan Yadav, who accompanied Prasad and others to Patna from Sitamarhi.

Disaffection invariably runs high just before elections as only one person can get a ticket from each constituency, but managing the party’s rank and file is no easy task.

“Lalu would just come out of the house, speak to the workers and pacify them and everyone would go back to their places in an orderly fashion,” said Alok, a local TV reporter who said he had seen much larger and rowdier crowds in the past.

Generational shift

Yet perhaps the point of Tejashwi is that he isn’t his father Lalu.

In the upside-down world of Indian politics, the children of politicians with reputations for corruption are described as having a “clean image” despite having benefited from the alleged corruption of their parents. Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party perhaps best exemplifies this paradox.

“He has banished people with criminal or corrupt background in the party and has successfully negotiated with national parties like Congress,” said an RJD leader close to Lalu, speaking of Tejashwi. “He will have to amend some things. The perception that RJD is anti-development and anti-upper caste will have to be corrected. By sending Manoj Jha (who is from a dominant caste) to Rajya Sabha, Tejashwi has indicated that he is willing to be accommodative.”

Parasnath Yadav, 69, who was Lalu’s junior in primary school in his native Phulwaria village in Gopalganj district, said Tejashwi has brought a much-needed generational change in the RJD.

“Earlier the electorate was illiterate and Lalu knew how to catch them. Now the voters are becoming educated and it was the right time for a generational shift which Lalu spotted and promoted Tejashwi,” Parasnath said. “Lalu is a sharp man. He must have had something in his mind when he promoted his younger son over elder daughter and one more son. Tejashwi is professional and knows the demands of time.”

But now even RJD workers are worried at the way Tejashwi became inaccessible for a couple of weeks and his handling of party affairs on the eve of an important election. They conceded that the emergence of Kanhaiya and his decision to contest Lok Sabha from Bihar has made Tejashwi anxious.

Two weeks ago, Tejashwi appealed to opposition leaders to boycott the media, which he claimed was biased in favor of PM Modi. He was also absent from a press conference of the Mahagathbandhan last week which generated anger from the local media.

“Since he shared the stage with Rahul Gandhi, he thinks he has also become a national leader. He thinks he can convey everything on Twitter,” snapped another reporter who has been working in Patna for the last 17 years.

Shivanand Tiwari denied that Kanhaiya was refused Mahagathbandhan support because of Tejashwi’s insecurity but journalist Ravi Kumar added that it was natural for Tejashwi to get anxious.

“Tejashwi is a 9th Class dropout. Kanhaiya is Ph.D. In terms of oratory, mass support and image, Tejashwi stands nowhere near Kanhaiya,” he added.

“I would be worried if I were Tejashwi,” said an academician from Delhi who had come to see Kanhaiya’s campaign in Begusarai.

“Apart from being Lalu Yadav’s son what other qualification does Tejashwi have? The RJD has always been a one person-one caste centric party and here is an emerging leader from Bihar who symbolized the societal disaffection against Modi’s fascist regime and who is already a prominent national personality. Kanhaiya also takes the inclusive social justice line which was used by Lalu Yadav to define his politics. Anyone would become insecure,” the academician added.

In a major setback, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who recently joined the Congress, won’t be able to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the Gujarat High Court refused to stay his conviction in the 2015 Mehsana riots case. 

Patel had announced earlier that he wanted to contest polls. He filed a plea at the Gujarat high court to stay his conviction in the case. The Gujarat government has opposed Hardik’s plea.

According to a Supreme Court’s judgement, a convict can not contest an election unless the conviction is stayed.

Hardik’s lawyer IH Syed requested Justice A G Uraizee to pass order at the earliest so that his client may have time to approach the Supreme Court if the order went against him.

The last date of filing of nominations for Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat is 4 April. 

The Visnagar court had sentenced Patel to two years in jail in the case in 2018.

The conviction was only based on the Supreme Court’s guidelines which hold leaders of organisations causing mob violence liable, though Hardik Patel was himself not present at the site of the incident, the lawyer said.

The state government opposed the plea, saying that Haridk Patel has criminal antecedents, with seventeen FIRs including two for sedition registered against him.

The high court, which in August suspended his sentence in the same case, did not stay the conviction, hence the new petition was not maintainable, the government said.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi said a stay should be granted only in the “rarest or rare cases” and the present case did not fall in that category.

(with PTI inputs)