The BJP has deployed three myths about the law to drum up support for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). These myths collectively and mendaciously project the view that the UCC is an obligatory constitutional mandate supported by a long line of judicial decisions, that Directive Principles are unconditionally sacrosanct and Muslim personal law presently cannot be questioned on the touchstone of constitutional morality. The reality, however, is quite far away from this. Not only are Directive Principles, including the UCC, not binding or paramount, they are distinctly subordinate in the hierarchy of constitutional obligations and it is only uncodified customary Muslim personal law that currently escapes constitutional scrutiny.

[C]rude straitjackets like the UCC risk pushing us deeper into the ditch of inequality.

However, apart from its deliberate misreading of law, BJP also brings a bundle of contradictions, old prejudices and a deepening crisis of credibility to the scene. The fact that all debate on UCC takes Muslim personal law as its focal point and is charioteered by a Hindu nationalist party in months leading up to UP elections casts a long shadow on the feminist credentials of the BJP. The gender-justice claims made by the party would be considerably easier to appreciate if the party had engaged and aligned itself with feminist causes and organisations in the past, acknowledged patriarchy as the principal issue across all religions and been slightly more meditative on questions of justice. It cannot just be a coincidence that not a single major feminist organisation has supported the idea of UCC over the last two decades. Anyone serious about gender justice in a highly ossified patriarchal mould like India would be keen on cultivating the image that they are doing the right thing for the right reasons and are open to genuine discussion that is not foreclosed by electoral math. They would also be careful about not letting any other issue distract from the core question of gender discrimination and inequality. Instead what the BJP has managed is a high level of communal wrangling that threatens to colonise the debate on gender justice—the UCC will soon begun to be seen as a bigger problem than the discriminatory laws and practices themselves.

The fact that these social divisions have been effected without so much as even a preliminary draft of the UCC says all that needs to be said about the sincerity of the government in pushing the cart of gender justice. If the BJP is sincere, it should work overtime to put out a draft and not let the debate be seized by the spectre of violence. A draft has now become a litmus test, an agnipariksha of sorts, for the BJP to signal its scrupulousness on gender justice.

Equal laws vs. uniform laws

The BJP also needs to convince the nation that it understands the relationship between two pairs of ideas that are central to this debate—diversity and discrimination on one hand and equality and uniformity on the other. It cannot lazily assume that a uniform code is inherently consistent with the constitutional vision of equality or that it exhausts all ways of thinking about it.

The BJP has inherited an ancient disquietude with religious diversity and has always seen it as a countervailing force to nationalism, especially in the case of non-Indic religions...

The BJP has inherited an ancient disquietude with religious diversity and has always seen it as a countervailing force to nationalism, especially in the case of non-Indic religions whose constituencies do not overlap neatly with the territorial boundaries of the Indian nation-state. The argument that legal and cultural pluralism weakens the idea of nationhood is however not creditworthy in the Indian context. National identity, a post-colonial preoccupation of practical value, has to be forged through and respond to the charged cleavages of communal identities, not imagined a priori without them. At the heart of the project is a fundamental question: What common identity is available to everyone despite segregating ties of caste, ethnicity, language and religion? Any answer to this question cannot be found without grasping the nature of our social life, the psychological estrangement that its partitions harvest and preparing for its likely consequences.

Ethno-nationalisms or linguistic nationalisms can serve as the template of national sentiment in countries with homogenous populations where these identities unite and not divide. In India, where all communal identities produce their "other", the challenge is to find an enveloping identity that conceals all social trenches without alienating any of them. Constitutional citizenship is that cloak which envelopes, without antagonism and judgment, the deep divisions crisscrossing the country. If equal citizenship becomes the fulcrum of nationhood, it is possible to see national identity getting comfortable with and shaped richly by pluralism. The challenge is not to tighten the screw on difference but on narrow and nervous conceptions of nationhood.

Diversity is not discrimination by default

Legal pluralism, or the co-existence of multiple legal orders, is a consequence of social pluralism and not the other way round. If we do not understand pluralism itself as the challenge but the incompatibility of values and practices generated by it, we can think of ways to get around it without closing the lid on diversity.

The challenge is not to tighten the screw on difference but on narrow and nervous conceptions of nationhood.

Discrimination is not an inevitable consequence of different legal orders, provided there are effective coordination mechanisms between these legal systems. Codification of Sharia law is one such mechanism that extends constitutional supervision over Islamic law without compromising on its unique provenance. What we need is a consensus on fundamental principles that bind different legal systems within a constitutional framework rather than an unflinching uniformity of laws. Equality is one such point of consensus and if the constitutional pursuit of equality has taught us one thing, it is that equality demands differential treatment of differently situated individuals and communities. This allows for a debate on what counts as difference, who all are different and why—but once the fact of difference is established, no legal barrier prevents the application of different laws as long as all these laws measure up against the same constitutional standards. The social and political contract stitched in 1950 requires the sameness of Constitution, not of laws and policies.

This is understood better in the context of taxation where a uniform tax regime without different slabs or progressive burdening would lead to grossly inequitable and unfair outcomes for the poor. Similarly, a uniform increase in public transport fare disproportionately burdens the poor compared to the middle class. Imposing proficiency in Bengali language as a minimum criterion for jobs or admissions is bound to affect Tamils, Marathas and Bengalis differently, even though one uniform benchmark is used.

Equality requires us to demonstrate equal commitment in speaking to unequal conditions, not the same means and methods. This assumes the ability to make careful distinctions and thoughtful judgments about the social cost and long-term consequences of State action. Unless what is being uniformly imposed happens to be a minimum core obligation, crude straitjackets like the UCC risk pushing us deeper into the ditch of inequality. Repeated analogies are drawn to the uniform application of criminal laws in India to make a case for UCC. There can be some confusion here but one way of thinking about the criminal law example is this—just as it is uniformly a crime to murder someone, it is also always a crime to have an unconstitutional personal law. Claims of constitutionality will be examined by the court just like claims of innocence in a murder trial but unconstitutionality is the crime, not lack of uniformity. If we understand how offence is defined in constitutional terms, we will grasp the similarity between two examples.

Uniform Civil Code is not a core constitutional commitment whereas equality, non-discrimination and religious freedom are indisputable obligations of the constitutional state.

The Uniform Civil Code is not a core constitutional commitment whereas equality, non-discrimination and religious freedom are indisputable obligations of the constitutional state. It would be monumental travesty to subject different communities, each with its own vocabulary and grammar of existence, to one unyielding code. The fear is that such uniformity will exact the high price of religious freedom besides empowering constituencies of communal conflict.

Of silences and stereotypes: The homogenising thrust of UCC

How do you forge a consensus between two individuals who speak different languages, say Sanskrit and Persian? Do you measure one language against the other? Will it be acceptable to both? The Uniform Civil Code will force us to scale up and ask the same question in the context of India's overwhelming religious and ethnic diversity. It will hopefully also help us realise that an external critique of diverse cultural practices requires a mutually accepted arbiter. We will need a new language, acceptable to both Sanskritists and Persians, to unlock two different linguistic systems and make value judgments about them. In the context of legal and social pluralism, constitutionalism is the common language comprehensible to all camps. There are significant differences not only between different religious systems but even within the same religion owing to differences in history, topography, political contestations etc. To project a monolithic image of any religion—hoping certain common stereotypes or practices can capture its essence—was a colonial blunder and still showcases the failure of social imagination.

[T]he uniform code campaign is propelled less by considerations of gender justice and more by the majoritarian thrust evident in the Hindu Code.

The Hindu Code, apparently an example in favour of uniformity, makes some distinctions and exceptions in matters of marriage and inheritance. Despite these detours, the Hindu Code is accused of being hegemonic as it has legally sanctioned the engulfing of smaller religions and sects by the haze of high-caste Hinduism. Patriarchal practices like kanyadan and saptapadi are introduced in the matrimonial lexicon for Buddhists, Jains, Brahmos and Prarthna Samajis. Nivedita Menon and others have argued that the uniform code campaign is propelled less by considerations of gender justice and more by the majoritarian thrust evident in the Hindu Code. There is some merit in this accusation. Collective confabulations of polygamous, berating, beef-eating man need not dominate a dialogue with the Muslim community. Significant differences on questions of marriage and divorce, as well as examples of progressive practices, abound within the Muslim community too that need some space in our conversations. The other egregious and deafening silence persists on the status of customary practices of 110 million tribals in India. Little thought has gone to the question of heterogeneity prevalent across 250 indigenous tribes in India. Which customs, in the BJP's understanding, would feature in a common code for the personal laws of these tribes?

Does the BJP's conception of the code allow a radical reimagining of the family consistent with constitutional commandment of equality?

Even once we manage to build some consensus on unjust practices, how will the UCC translate and accommodate non-discriminatory and just practices that are difficult to understand outside their specific theological or cultural ecosystem? The provision of mahr, progressive as it may be, is sourced from Quranic injunctions and will be difficult to pitch to Non-Muslims. The contractual nature of nikaah makes it easier to define and protect the rights of married or divorced partners yet it is anyone's guess if that would convince the Hindus to let go of the sacramental associations of "indissoluble" marriage. Would RSS ideologues like MJ Vaidya be forced to relinquish voting rights for their reluctance to follow gender-just Islamic practices? Amidst a declining population, the need to preserve a distinct cultural identity can legitimately push the Parsis to adopt practices different from other communities. Could such claims made by Parsis or Buddhists or Jains be accommodated within the framework of a Uniform Civil Code? Could patriarchal notions give way to matrilineal families under the Code? Does the BJP's conception of the code allow a radical reimagining of the family consistent with constitutional commandment of equality? The chances of obtaining a social-political consensus without engaging with these questions are bleak at best.

Legislating for an imagined community

However these reservations should be considered on their merits, not summarily dismissed as entailments of political antagonism and malice towards the BJP. Nor should this be seen as an alibi for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and their characteristic but staggering failure to capture the mood of the Muslim community.

If the BJP [produces] a draft that leads to consensus... and addresses all anxieties about constitutional chicanery and rights violation, it would be a supreme legislative and political achievement.

Our hope is not that the BJP fails in its honest pursuit of gender justice but that it remains sincere to the task and carefully considers the cost of a uniform code. If the BJP manages to produce a draft that leads to consensus without conflict and addresses all anxieties about constitutional chicanery and rights violation, it would unquestionably be a supreme legislative and political achievement. It also bears retelling that the BJP is being addressed here not because other political parties have historically been more gender-just or less communal but only due to its professed commitment to Hindutva and its unprecedented control of the legislative process. The BJP has not only revived this old simmering debate, it is also in a position to lay the legislative groundwork for codification and (de)stabilise a conversation on gender justice. The fact that BJP and the Sangh Parivar nurture and govern the constituencies of majoritarianism cannot be overlooked by anyone interested in mapping the trajectories of this debate. What also cannot be overlooked is the reason why India is considered such an extraordinary experiment in constitutional history around the world and how that special place risks being undermined through a uniform code.

The Indian Constitution is a pacesetter across the world precisely because of its astute management of diversity, its delinking of citizenship from compulsory communal identities and its success in resisting the urge to define national identity narrowly. A uniform code is an ordinary gut response to a complex social circumstance. It not only tragically misdiagnoses diversity as the disease, it also invents a monoculture called India and administers an asphyxiating pill. Trepidations around the code will significantly subside if the BJP ceases to legislate for this imagined community and commits itself to thoughtful dialogue around the peaceful codification of Sharia and customary law. As Pratap Mehta has presciently argued, the struggle to shape social practices in the mirror of law will be the more difficult and decisive battle for constitutional justice in years to come.

India's consumer eco-system will go through a unique transformation over the next 36 months, led by a telecommunications revolution toward fourth generation or 4G mobile services. The consequences are revolutionary. The 4G mobile revolution will transform India the same way that cars changed America 100 years ago but at ten times the speed. Companies need a mobile-first strategy to create value in India in the coming decade.

Telecom= Mobile, Internet= Mobile

Starting from a very low base in 2000, by July 2016, virtually every Indian had a telephone and access to text messaging. This change was driven by the lowest calling rates in the world. Specifically, India had 1.03 billion telephone connections for its 1.25 billion population; 97.7% of these connections were mobile. About 150 million Indians had "broadband" internet connections and over 93% of these used mobile phones and some dongles. In other words, landline phones, personal computers and laptops are a rounding error in India's consumer ecosystem.

If the 4G penetration rate reaches even half that of mobile telephony, it implies a customer base that is almost twice that of the US population.

About 80% of the telecom market was divided among just four companies, led by Bharti Airtel at 25% and followed by Vodafone of the UK. Reliance Communications plus Aircel (the two companies merged in 2016) and Idea Cellular, each with about 18%.

For telecom operators, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in India is well under $4, among the lowest in the world. Unlike China, India has generally abided by global telecom standards and also encouraged competition among state-owned operators (MTNL and BSNL), Indian players and global entrants, including mobile operators, handset makers and backend providers such as Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson and Qualcomm. But quality of service of the largely 2G network has plummeted under the volume of traffic. India has about ten times the subscribers compared to the United Kingdom with just one fifth of the mobile spectrum available to operators, according to Saurabh Goel, a former vice president at Airtel. Many Indians carry handsets that support "dual SIMs" so that they can have simultaneous access to services from two or more competing mobile carriers. Until recently, the 4G service in India has been targeted largely at upscale or business subscribers in the major cities.

The Disruptor: Reliance Jio

In this environment, a new 4G-only player entered with an initial investment of $20 billion in network and market infrastructure. Jio is a unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, whose leader, Mukesh Ambani, is India's richest man. Sending a 5 megabyte file in 2G takes eight minutes but the same file can be transferred 100 times faster in 20 seconds using 4G.

In an attempt to disrupt the relatively mature telecom ecosystem, Jio offered free voice calls for life and began with an offer of free accounts, 4G handsets under $50, and free roaming until 31 December, 2016 (now extended to 31 March, 2017) as well as aggressively priced data service bundles. Jio hopes to grow to 100 million customers in less than a year. As of today, Ambani already claims 53 million customers with Jio.

Of course there has been a strong competitive reaction from the incumbent players. Telecom Lead reported that Bharti Airtel may be the primary player that can withstand the competitive pressures of the Jio offerings. Airtel commercials dominated the airwaves across India since the launch of Jio.

A country as vast as India is also quite heterogeneous and 4G creates leapfrog opportunities in large and previously underserved pockets. For example, the northeastern part of the country connected to the mainland by a "chicken neck" did not benefit from data carried on optical fibre laid across India. Goel, the former Airtel executive points out that the "proliferation of 4th generation technologies is to benefit this region the most. When 4G services were first launched in Shillong, the per site data consumption jumped up dramatically, and became second only to Delhi at that time on a per tower usage basis."

A country as vast as India is also quite heterogeneous and 4G creates leapfrog opportunities in large and previously underserved pockets.

In November 2016, the Indian government announced the sudden demonetisation of ₹1000 and ₹500 currency bills, which accounted for 86% of the cash circulating in the country. This move, intended as a shakedown on black money, corruption and counterfeiting, has had the unintended consequence of millions of Indians turning to mobile payment services (such as Paytm and MobiKwik), which do not require exchange of physical currency bills. Paytm claimed that 45 million Indians used its service by 21 November, 2016 and MobiKwik reported a 40% jump to 35 million Indian customers. Many of these new customers are likely to upgrade to 4G services, having tasted the benefits of data usage on their phones.

While it will take many months for the dust to settle and the winners to emerge, one thing is clear: India will soon have one of the largest pools of 4G users in the world. If the penetration rate reaches even half that of mobile telephony, it implies a customer base that is almost twice that of the US population. Nimble companies and organisations will stand to gain by this unique opportunity.

Which industries will benefit from 4G?

India's unique economic, demographic and distribution ecosystem will lead to many winners as a result of this 4G revolution. Companies should abandon PC- or laptop-based business models and instead focus on digital businesses using the mobile platform. Here are just a few possible opportunity sets.

Entertainment industry

India's entertainment industry produces the highest number of movies compared to any other country in the world—several times more than those produced in Hollywood—but rampant piracy has limited revenues to genuine producers. Digital rights and viewing habits are much easier to manage on mobile networks, and revenues are likely to start expanding as more and more people view their entertainment on mobile devices. Much of this entertainment content in India targets millennials who are likely to consume entertainment content at hours when business loads are light. Thus, 4G has the potential to transform the entertainment industry.

Financial services industry

India is a cash-based economy and most Indians don't have active bank accounts. Setting up brick and mortar banks in India's hinterland is a challenge. Mobile banking has been touted as a solution but results so far have been limited.

The short-term crisis caused by demonetisation further opens the door for new players to provide niche financial services.

Over the last six years, India has managed to issue over 1 billion biometric Aadhaar cards to provide secure identity verification; earlier this year India's retail banks collaborated with the Reserve Bank of India to release the Universal Payment Interface which provides a basis for secure mobile transactions linked to the Aadhaar identity and has security features based on iris and fingerprint images. 4G will accelerate the proliferation of active mobile banking in India with a better way to deal with such encrypted and image-based data. This move creates myriad opportunities in India's financial services industry. The short-term crisis caused by demonetisation further opens the door for new players to provide niche financial services.

Education, skill development and training

The country's youth has a huge appetite for education, skill development and training. With affordable mobile video, it is likely that non-classroom-based courses will find a platform to expand dramatically in India. These benefits could flow to legacy players such as public and private universities, corporations such as India's NIIT and California-based Coursera, nonprofits such as the Khan Academy, or perhaps new startups that will rise to close the education gap using 4G enabled smartphones.

Medical industry

Physicians and hospitals in India are already using telemedicine to diagnose and triage patients. Two-way video on a 4G platform will enable urban patients to avoid traffic, and rural patients to consult remote specialists while making providers more productive with their time. Telemedicine has the potential to explode in India.

E-commerce

E-commerce is already growing at exponential rates in India. Amazon, Alibaba and venture capitalists have invested billions into Indian e-commerce. Over 90% of India's brick and mortar stores are tiny, single location shops (not part of chains or franchises). It is very likely that future top retailers in many categories will be e-commerce companies, not big-box chains. This will have a huge impact on foreign consumer product companies such as Colgate and PepsiCo eyeing the market in India as e-commerce reaches scale in India.

App-based consumer services

There are significant opportunities in the emerging app-based consumer services. Already, India has eServices for kitchen cleaning, sprucing up the house, cleaning clothes, hiring a driver for your car for some hours (in Indian city traffic, it makes sense to sense to hire someone to drive the car). With 4G, the eServices space is poised for explosive growth.

Bottom line: the 4G revolution is a fast train which companies must get on or be left behind.

Since liberalisation in 1991, media of all kinds has grown rapidly in India, including newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and billboards. It is likely that this growth will be muted in the next decade as Indians turn to mobile media as the largest form of consumption. Social media in India, including Facebook, has been largely a mobile-led phenomenon. Computers, laptops and tablets will be marginalised as India leapfrogs to mobile 4G media by 2020. B2C companies like PepsiCo and Colgate, B2B companies such as Rolls Royce and Deere, and technology companies such as Corning and GE will shift advertising budgets from TV and newspaper channels toward mobile 4G

These are just a few examples of industries where new business opportunities will be created in the next decade. Startups, and fast moving incumbents from anywhere in the world can take advantage of this unique "perfect storm" happening in India today. Bottom line: the 4G revolution is a fast train which companies must get on or be left behind.

I remember having a conversation with my mother a few months ago about women's safety when I had quite proudly made the statement that this is probably the best time for women to be working. If technology has empowered any section or class of people the most, it definitely has to be us, the working women of the cities. We no longer have to depend on our brothers to get our phones recharged, or hail a cab or travel to our workplaces thanks to safe metro rides.

I feel a sudden loss which has shaken the very foundation of my understanding of good people and bad people. I don't know whom I should trust.

And then 31/12 happened in Bangalore. And for me, it is comparable to 9/11 and 26/11 because I am in a state of shock and panic. Honestly, I am not shocked by the responses of the administration or the political class. But I feel a sudden loss which has shaken the very foundation of my understanding of good people and bad people. I don't know whom I should trust. Till now, like many others, I had thought that it is a certain set of people who have a certain kind of criminal mindset who take pleasure in assaulting, molesting or raping women. Now, I am not so sure whether I can clearly delineate this group of people. I had wrongly assumed that people who went to schools or colleges and studied moral science, history and civics like me are not disposed to behave in such perverted ways.

It is also shocking because it happened in the year which gave us powerful women-centric movies such as Pink and Parched. Quite interestingly, Pink was also a commercial success. It was groundbreaking and worthy of all the accolades that it received. But the movie's resolution was nowhere close to what we are used to in our everyday life. Aanchal Arora's experience of watching a film like Pink in a theatre in Allahabad where, "if the men who molested the girls in the movie said, 'We need to teach these girls a lesson,' the audience in the theatre would go, "Haan bey, behen***d kuch zyaada udti hai ladkiyan aajkal (Oh yeah sister---r, girls these days are losing sight of their limits)'" is very close to reality as we know it.

One is forced to acknowledge that the first three waves of feminism have failed and so will the fourth one...

This is the state of affairs in tier-2 and -3 cities according to her, where men or boys "do not have the mental acumen to engage with such movies" but how do you explain 31/12 that happened in Bangalore which was still a tier-1 city the last time I checked. I know people, men and women, for whom the men who molested the girls in the movie were bad but the girls were not "sharif" either. We, as a society, failed the movie when we judged Taapsee Pannu's character, an independent woman who indulged in premarital sex, led an independent life, stayed away from her parents, befriended strangers and drank with them in an unfamiliar place despite the movie arguing otherwise.

I don't know who is to be blamed. Are we even right in blaming the lack of security arrangements or should we lay the blame on the tattered moral fabric of society? When did things reach such a deplorable state? I had happily assumed that the fourth wave of feminism had already begun on social media where everyone felt obliged to like, comment and react on posts calling for women's equality. But obviously, I couldn't be more deluded! When Anushka was being blamed for Virat Kohli's bad batting performance or when vocal women are threatened with rape and assault every day on the same social media platforms and WhatsApp groups, one is forced to acknowledge that the first three waves of feminism have failed and so will the fourth one.

There is no word or expression that can ever capture the humiliation of being groped and grabbed, or console the victims. And so I have often wondered whether the power of a story, a hard-hitting verse and a thought-provoking article or slogan can really change people's minds and hearts. 31/12 has put all my doubts to rest. No amount of sloganeering or writing feminist tweets or changing your display picture on Facebook will change anything. Simply showing solidarity will not help this time. But the irony is that this is the most we are ready to do: write an article, publish our opinion, tweet and post something and wait for likes and retweets. But then, what else could we do when it seems that anyone who has the chance or knows that he can get away with it, is probably a potential rapist?

The foodies of India are being urged to lay down their spoons and forks and raise their glasses and voices in a toast to Jiggs Kalra, that doyen of food impresarios in the country. A Delhi-based columnist is hoping the Government of India will hear this clamour. And when Republic Day comes along, in its wisdom, the Home Ministry will consider Jiggs for a Padma Shri. Last year, for the first time in the history of the Indian honours system, a chef (Dum Pukht genius Imtiaz Qureshi) and a food historian (Pushpesh Pant) were among the recipients. These are quiet, unknown men Jiggs brought out of the kitchen and library and made famous in the 1980s. Now honoured with national awards. But for some inexplicable reason, Jiggs got left out of the 2016 honours list himself. The Delhi columnist is hoping that he gets his due this year.

Jiggs ordered the food from the menu he had created and watched me eating. He never drank himself... Jiggs didn't eat, either.

I am hoping this happens, too. Jiggs is my friend. But I knew him even before that as the father of all Indian foodies and arguably India's first restaurant critic. He began doing reviews of affordable restaurants in the 1970s for The Evening News of India when it wasn't fashionable to go eating out. And he made the chef of the restaurant the star of his writing. This at a time when chefs were only summoned out of the kitchen if the food was bad. Jiggs was then a journalist with The Illustrated Weekly under Khushwant Singh's editorship. He gave this up to become a full-time food consultant and writer and moved to Delhi. When he returned to Mumbai, which was several times a year, he always brought a small town cook he had discovered in some hole in the wall who was hell at making Lucknowi, Hyderabadi, Amritsari, Marwari or Kashmiri food. And this undistinguished bawarchi, maharaj, bhatiyar or khansama Jiggs would install with great pride in the kitchens of the Oberoi and then present him before the gourmets of Mumbai in a food festival like some great showman of the culinary world.

He was always a flamboyant personality, a blustery and boisterous Sardarji, impeccably dressed in starched Ritu Beri kurta-pajamas and turbans he designed himself, somewhat larger than life. You always heard him before you saw Jiggs. And he walked with a spring in his step and mischief dancing in his bespectacled eyes. I would meet him at the Oberoi's Kandahar restaurant, the scene of such heartrending violence on 26/11, and we would wine and dine late into the night. I did all the wining and dining. Jiggs ordered the food from the menu he had created and watched me eating. He never drank himself. "Two sips of beer at the most and then I don't care to pursue the drink further," he told me. His drink was coffee. But to even think of coffee in a fine dining restaurant specialising in North-West Frontier Province cuisine was a sacrilege. Jiggs didn't eat, either. After a man has had everything from octopus to Japanese poison fish, also esoteric elephant in France, inedible horse in Uzbekistan, and zebra in Nairobi, the dals, rotis, kebabs and biryanis of Awadh fail to inspire the palate. So Jiggs did the talking. I discovered a gifted and delightful raconteur in him. And long after the Kandahar's last guest had withdrawn, he would engage me with the most wicked stories about society's swish set of bon vivants, roaring with laughter himself.

I wept when I went to see him in Delhi. He was confined to a wheelchair, one hand useless, his legs incapable of walking, his speech slurred.

Then in the winter of 2000, Jiggs suffered a stroke that paralyzed his left side and deprived him of the gift of the gab and the jaunty step in his walk. I wept when I went to see him in Delhi. He was confined to a wheelchair, one hand useless and drooping, his legs incapable of walking, and his speech slurred. Gone was the designer kurta-pajama. In its place, Jiggs wore a shapeless tracksuit. And, the greatest tragedy of this proud and renowned Sardarji's life, his colourful turban was replaced by a baseball cap. When I knelt by his wheelchair and hugged him, Jiggs whispered hoarsely into my shoulder, "I cried when I found I would never be able to tie my turban again." My heart broke. We were meeting at the Delhi Gymkhana one Sunday morning. "What the Lord taketh away, he giveth back with the other hand," Jiggs mumbled. Then he was back to being his irascible self. He ordered breakfast for me. Ticked off the waiters when they bungled his order. Cancelled the food they had brought with asperity. And then ordered again. "I believe this engine of mine is shunting," he told me buoyantly, "and when it takes off, it will go like the Silver Streak."

"I believe this engine of mine is shunting," he told me buoyantly, "and when it takes off, it will go like the Silver Streak."

That was 17 years ago. He's not yet the Silver Streak, he suffered further reversals of fortune down the years, a heart attack last week, but Jiggs is still chugging along merrily. In the interim, he's been to Mumbai more times than I care to remember, organising regional food festivals for the Oberoi, Leela, Renaissance, steering his wheelchair into the kitchens and chivvying the chefs to do his biding, opening new restaurants from Delhi to Kolkata, making friends with master chefs he rubbed up the wrong way years ago, busy writing books, advertising for Basmati rice, promoting pork from Shimla, traveling with the Prime Minister and organising his meals abroad, planning banquets in Delhi and Agra for Pakistan's visiting Presidents and Prime Ministers, catering to the weddings of politician friends' children, advising Jet Airways on its inflight dining, accepting awards and honours at food shows in Singapore and Dubai, and helping set up a chain of restaurants for his son Zorawar. "All this for a man who is only half a man," Jiggs told me wryly when I met him last in Mumbai.

I remembered Jiggs Kalra's words to me at the Delhi Gymkhana in 2000: truly what the Lord taketh away, he giveth back with the other hand.

It was at the launch party of Zorawar's modern Asian bistro at Mumbai's swankiest shopping plaza. The bijou eatery was spilling over with foodies, gourmets and gourmands; unfortunately, not many recognised the grand old man propped up in the wheelchair next to me as the former "Tastemaker to the Nation" and the "Czar of Indian Cuisine". I don't think Jiggs cared. He held court with old friends and those who knew him, whispering in our ears, because a crowded and noisy cocktail party is the last place to hold a meaningful conversation. Waiters with platters of food floated past. Occasionally, Jiggs would call for one and sniff at what was on display. Here was the man who had revived and restored Indian cuisines and showcased them to the world for over 40 years, proudly presiding at the opening of his son's newest restaurant in a successful chain of them across the country. The food was eclectic and high on theatrics. Citrusy yuzu and soy-hinted foam, dried vegetable dust and Sriracha splotches, Penang curry served like a gourmet French soup, a sushi matrix on a vertical wooden block chiselled into tiny squares, pork skewers on a porcelain pig, sushi burgers on black slates... that kind of fare. I thought the Indian palate, always adventurous, had come of age if people not only understood what was on their plate but were eating it with relish. Zorawar Kalra, his father's son, is a success story and the fastest rising star in the culinary world today. I remembered Jiggs Kalra's words to me at the Delhi Gymkhana in 2000: truly what the Lord taketh away, he giveth back with the other hand. But today, a Padma Shri would be nice too.

The first time I saw MS Dhoni play, he was run out without bothering the scorers. Post Nayan Mongia's decline and Saba Karim's tragic injury, most wicketkeepers in India were fancying their chances of making it to the national team. Sameer Dighe, Ajay Ratra, MSK Prasad, Deep Dasgupta, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik... would MS Dhoni join the musical chair competition? As it panned out, over the next 13 years, no other wicketkeeper would get a whiff.

MS Dhoni, the player and the captain, has been eulogised in every possible way. The small town boy from Jharkhand with the long locks who came from nowhere to lead a second string Indian team to win the first T20 World Cup. The extraordinary finisher who was able to win cricket matches that seemed as good as lost for even the most optimistic Indian cricket fan. The punter who promoted himself in a World Cup final ahead of a teammate who was on a purple patch, sealing it with a nonchalant six that left Wankhede, India and the whole cricket fraternity gasping for breath.

He was always the one to shun the limelight, but never the one to shun the responsibility.

Such is his legend that the stories can seem never-ending.

But despite all the hero worship, there continued to live a man who never grew too big for his boots. For me, that is the abiding legacy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Always the one to shun the limelight, but never the one to shun the responsibility. The belief that he could get the job done and making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What made this extraordinary was that he was never the most talented of cricketers. His technique would make the puritan cringe. He wasn't a game changer in the Richards/Sachin /AB de Villiers mould. But his reading of the game and his understanding of his strengths along with the determination to take things to closure trumped these shortcomings.

As a leader, through his own example, he was able to raise the self-confidence of his team. The team was no longer solely relying on its superstars to win a match. It could be Raina, Yuvraj, Jadeja, Zaheer, even Joginder Sharma who could be the person taking the team home on a given day. He also was able to create an inclusive environment where he got the best out of aging superstars (Sachin, Sourav, Rahul, Laxman) while still investing in the young Turks (Virat, Rohit, Raina, Jadeja). That he was able to do it without attracting jealousy or creating bad blood was again remarkable as the shenanigans that accompany decision-making in leadership positions (especially in our part of the world) is well documented.

His reading of the game and his understanding of his strengths along with the determination to take things to closure trumped these shortcomings [as a cricketer].

Finally, all that MS Dhoni achieved during his captaincy, he achieved with a smile. Ever since Australia started dominating international cricket, most fans started believing in the "Australian way" of playing and winning as a blueprint of success. The template consisted of intimidating opponents with a version of aggression that was unlikely to win friends but likely to win cricket matches.

Dhoni was a breath of fresh air. He let his bat do the "mental disintegration" of the foe. He did not need to speak to bowlers, who he was swatting across the park, but India still won.

I do not know what the future holds for him. Will the freedom from the pressures that come with captaincy give him a new lease of life as a player? Will he able to adjust to Virat's fire and brimstone brand of captaincy? Will he try to return as the swashbuckling batsman that he once was or be the glue that binds a fragile middle order? I suspect even Dhoni doesn't know. At least, in a definitive way. But what I do know is that the dignity that he brought to the role surpassed even the rich silverware that will adorn the cabinet. For this, fans like me will forever be thankful. MSD—I couldn't make a movie about you to express my gratitude. Words and words are all I have....

The possible "long term" benefits of demonetisation of large currency notes will be at the cost of the suffering of India's poor, said President of India Pranab Mukherjee in a new year message.

"Demonetisation, while immobilizing black money and fighting corruption, may lead to temporary slowdown of the economy," said President Mukherjee in a video address to Governors and Lieutenant Governors on Thursday. "We all will have to be extra careful to alleviate the suffering of the poor which might become unavoidable for the expected progress in the long term."

Mukherjee, who had earlier welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to demonetise ₹1,000 and ₹500 currency notes, appeared much more cautious on the issue in the new year. "While I appreciate the thrust on transition from entitlement approach to an entrepreneurial one for poverty alleviation, I am not too sure that the poor can wait that long," he said. "They need to get succour here and now, so that they can also participate actively in the national march towards a future devoid of hunger, unemployment and exploitation."

He also referred to the recent announcement by PM Modi on new year's eve for government packages for the poor. "The recent package announced by the Prime Minister will provide some relief," he said.

According to reports, 97 percent of the demonetised notes have been returned to banks, pointing to a much smaller percentage of it in black money than the government's estimate. While the Reserve Bank of India has claimed this estimate could be incorrect, interestingly, finance minister Arun Jaitley three-word response to this revelation has been, "I don't know".

Over 100 people have died standing in serpentine queues at banks and ATMs ever since the government, in a surprise move, announced that ₹1,000 and ₹500 currency notes would become "illegal tender" four hours after the announcement on 8 November 2016. The move, aimed to remove black money and corruption, hit the poor of India the hardest, who did not have access to bank accounts and digital money for making daily transactions.

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UJJAIN -- Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is making news again, though for the wrong reason this time: a photograph of one of his security personnel carrying his shoes has gone viral on social media.

Before joining a training camp of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the local Tapobhumi area on Wednesday, he went to seek the blessings of Jain Muni Pragya Sagar. He took off his shoes there.

Since there is not much distance between where the training camp was being conducted and Muni Pragya Sagar's place, he went to the camp bare foot. So, one of the security man chose to pick up his shoes.

As some of the bystanders saw the Chief Minister's security staff member walking behind him carrying his shoes, they clicked the scene with their mobile phones, and within no time it went viral in the social media.

In August last year, during a visit to flood-hit Panna district, the security staff had lifted him in their arms, as he was about to wade through the flood water. That photograph had also gone viral on social media and drew much flak.

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"Record heat forecast on Christmas Day." "New record Halloween temperature." "Record-breaking fall heat wave." "Earth's hot streak continues." A cursory scan of some of last year's headlines reveals a trend: 2016 was scorching.

In November, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization reported that 2016, fueled by climate change and the effects of a strong El Niño, would almost certainly be the warmest year on record ― making it the third straight year of record-breaking heat.

The ignominious title should come as no surprise. From January to December, 2016 was marked by record-breaking high temperatures worldwide. Countries like Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Botswana, India, Niger and Iraq experienced their hottest temperatures ever recorded. And heat waves, many of them deadly, charred parts of Britain, France, South Africa, the U.S. and regions like Southeast Asia.

The poles were not spared from the heat. In November, for instance, sea ice extent in the Arctic and Antarctic reached record lows. Scientists called it an "almost unprecedented" event at the time.

In the U.S., high temperatures were a feature throughout the year. Every month in 2016 had significantly more record high temperatures than record lows, according to a Climate Central report this week.

"The blistering pace of record-high temperatures across the country is the clearest sign of 2016's extreme heat. Record-daily highs outpaced record-daily lows by 5.7-to-1 in 2016," the nonprofit news organization wrote, citing preliminary data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. "That's the largest ratio in 95 years of record keeping. Put another way, 85 percent of extreme temperature records set in 2016 were of the hot variety."

Last year was likely the second-hottest year on record for the U.S. (2012 is the hottest). A staggering 98 percent of weather stations across the country recorded a warmer-than-normal year, Climate Central said in December.

2016 will likely rank as a top 10 warmest year in every state.

The World Meteorological Organization warned in its report last year that climate change is not just spurring global temperature spikes but also fueling extreme weather events and climate disasters.

"Because of climate change, the occurrence and impact of extreme events has risen," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. "'Once in a generation' heatwaves and flooding are becoming more regular."

The WMO said human-induced global warming had contributed to more than half of all extreme weather events studied in recent years, while the probability of extreme heat had increased 10 times or more in some cases.

India is resisting tech giant Apple Inc's demand for tax incentives to make iPhones in the country, with the trade minister saying on Thursday that the government may not make exceptions for the U.S. company.

Apple wants to open its own stores in India, but has been asked by the government to locally source at least some of the components, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to boost manufacturing in the country.

Apple has sought tax concessions, including lower import and manufacturing duties, to make iPhones locally, according to a government official familiar with the situation.

Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said if India were to agree to any concessions, they would likely apply to all smartphone manufacturers, and not just Apple.

Apple declined to comment.

Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook met Modi last May to talk about its plans to enter the Indian manufacturing and retail space. Cupertino, California-based Apple wants to boost iPhone sales in India, where it has only a roughly 2 percent market share, as sales in the United States and China slow.

Smartphone component maker Wistron Corp, which counts Apple among its customers, has applied for permission to expand its plant in Bengaluru, a regional government official told Reuters on Monday.

The tech giant had earlier asked for a permanent relaxation of rules requiring 30 percent local sourcing for foreign retailers setting up single-brand outlets, which was rejected by the finance ministry. India has relaxed these rules for just three years for single-brand foreign investors.

India had also refused to allow Apple's proposal to import and sell refurbished mobile phones in India.

The company has again sought a permanent waiver from local sourcing condition as it imports most of the handsets to sell in India and other countries, another official said.

India offers capital subsidies for companies manufacturing electronics goods in India, coupled with tax incentives for investments in special economic zones and allows tax-free imports of some components used to make mobile handsets.

"We have sent Apple's file to the revenue department," a top industry department official told Reuters. He said an inter-ministerial panel of the trade, electronics and finance ministry could take a final decision.

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Robert Marchand has spun himself into the record books.

The 105-year-old Frenchman set a new world record on Wednesday when he cycled 22.547 kilometers (about 14 miles) in an hour, according to the Associated Press.

The centenarian completed 92 laps while a crowd chanted "Robert! Robert!" at Velodrome National, a state-of-the-art indoor track outside Paris that hosts elite cycling events.

Marchand said he didn't even see the 10-minute warning sign during the event.

"Otherwise I would have gone faster," he told the AP. "I would have posted a better time. I'm now waiting for a rival."

Speaking to Eurosport, he elaborated on his feelings about the win.

"I am not here to be champion. I am here to prove that at 105 years old you can still ride a bike," he said.

As if his record-breaking race weren't magnificent in its own right, Marchand hasn't even been cycling constantly his whole life. Having worked as a firefighter, a truck driver and a lumberjack, he only took up cycling again when he was 68 years old. Since then, he's managed feats like riding from Moscow to Paris (about 1,800 miles by car).

Marchand's coach and friend Gerard Mistler told the AP that the cyclist can attribute his athleticism to eating fruits and vegetables, not smoking, drinking wine in moderation, exercising daily and going to bed at 9 p.m.

Oh, and reading.

"Reading a lot keeps his mind alert," Mistler said. "He does not watch much TV, apart from the Tour de France stages."

Well, excuse us. We'll just be readjusting our 2017 resolutions while we still can.

MUMBAI -- India is resisting tech giant Apple Inc's demand for tax incentives to make iPhones in the country, with the trade minister saying on Thursday that the government may not make exceptions for the U.S. company.

Apple wants to open its own stores in India, but has been asked by the government to locally source at least some of the components, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to boost manufacturing in the country.

Apple has sought tax concessions, including lower import and manufacturing duties, to make iPhones locally, according to a government official familiar with the situation.

Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said if India were to agree to any concessions, they would likely apply to all smartphone manufacturers, and not just Apple.

Apple declined to comment.

Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook met Modi last May to talk about its plans to enter the Indian manufacturing and retail space. Cupertino, California-based Apple wants to boost iPhone sales in India, where it has only a roughly 2 percent market share, as sales in the United States and China slow.

Smartphone component maker Wistron Corp, which counts Apple among its customers, has applied for permission to expand its plant in Bengaluru, a regional government official told Reuters on Monday.

The tech giant had earlier asked for a permanent relaxation of rules requiring 30 percent local sourcing for foreign retailers setting up single-brand outlets, which was rejected by the finance ministry. India has relaxed these rules for just three years for single-brand foreign investors.

India had also refused to allow Apple's proposal to import and sell refurbished mobile phones in India.

The company has again sought a permanent waiver from local sourcing condition as it imports most of the handsets to sell in India and other countries, another official said.

India offers capital subsidies for companies manufacturing electronics goods in India, coupled with tax incentives for investments in special economic zones and allows tax-free imports of some components used to make mobile handsets.

"We have sent Apple's file to the revenue department," a top industry department official told Reuters. He said an inter-ministerial panel of the trade, electronics and finance ministry could take a final decision.

The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Essential HuffPost

Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, has clean bowled Puducherry chief minister V Narayansamy in what seems to be the first match in the New Year. On January 2, Narayansamy issued a ban on the use of social media by government employees for official work. His argument was that the server of the social media companies were located abroad, thereby making official communication and documents shared on them accessible to anyone. Bedi saw in it an attempt to sideline her given how active she is on social media. She hit back 48 hours later, cancelling the CM's notification.

The opposition parties have demanded a postponement of the Union budget for 2017-18, scheduled for 1 February, since it comes just a few days before elections in five states begin. R Jagannathan, in this article, argues that the demand for a postponement is 'ludicrous'. "Once this becomes a precedent, no government--at centre or state--will be able to present budgets on time, assuming there is some election or the other round the corner somewhere in India," he writes.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who is currently visiting India, addressed 3,000 students at his alma mater IIT Kharagpur today. In between discussing India's startup ecosystem and digital economy, Pichai also spoke about himself. "I had learnt Hindi in school but I never spoke it much. Listening to others speak in my first two weeks in college, I thought you address people as abbey saale. One day, I called someone in the mess, abbey saale. The next I thing know, the folks in the mess were quite upset and temporarily shut it down," he said.

Main News

Veteran actor Om Puri passed away in Mumbai on Thursday evening. He was 66. Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, who was a close friend of the actor, first confirmed the sad news of his demise on Twitter. Puri returned home last evening after a shoot. Reportedly his door bell went unanswered on Friday morning, following which his driver raised an alarm.

The alleged mass molestation of women on Bengaluru's iconic MG Road stretch on New Year's Eve "did not happen", the new chief of city police, Pravin Sood has told TV channels. Later, he clarified that while such a thing "could have happened" in a city of 10 million, there was "no evidence" of it.

Beijing has blocked thousands of Tibetans from attending a Buddhist event in Bodh Gaya which is being attended by Dalai Lama, according to reports from Nepal and China.

A 28-year-old woman was attacked with a sharp object by an unidentified person near Mumbai's Mahalaxmi Race Course on Thursday night. She has been admitted in a hospital. The woman was waiting for a friend when the attacker stabbed her from behind.

Off The Front Page

After addressing a huge rally in Patna on Thursday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was having a lavish lunch with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav, and his two sons, he decided to joke around with Tej Pratap Yadav, Bihar's 28-year-old Health Minister and older son of Lalu Yadav, whose party is a member of the ruling coalition in Bihar. "Aap toh Kishan Kanhaiya ho gaye hain (you are becoming a likeness of Krishna)," teased the PM, referring to Tej Pratap Yadav's visit to Mathura last month, the birthplace of Lord Krishna and a recent photograph of him playing the flute, the instrument that the deity is usually depicted with.

6-year-old Fayaz can't understand why schools in Srinagar would not admit him. He had lost both his legs in a mortar shell explosion outside his home in Kashmir's Budgam district, near an army firing range three years ago. His parents have been struggling to get their differently abled son into school.

Opinion

Sandhya Menon writes why TV channels should called it 'Bengaluru's Shame'. Menon calls it a stupid, thoughtless and typically Indian response to a women's safety story. "It isn't concern for women and their safety that spurs us into action, but the belief that we as a nation/city/state will be shamed and humiliated in the eyes of others. If cases of molestation and rape weren't reported, we'd just shrug our shoulders, move on and say, "unfortunate girl." Throw a little spotlight on the brutal way men around the country - even the world - treat women and suddenly it is about the way you are perceived."

A Hindustan Times editorial notes how MS Dhoni's journey has encouraged boys from the heartland to dream big. "The man who started as a football goalkeeper and became India's first cricketing mega star from the hinterland, put power over proper shots in batting and confounded the purists while making the keeper's role his own for a decade."

SRINAGAR -- A top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Kashmir's Badgam district.

According to police, the security forces launched an operation on Friday morning following an information about the presence of a wanted LeT commander hiding in Gulzarpora village.

"The security forces were fired upon after they closed on the house where Muzaffar Ahmad Naiku ali alias Muza Molvi was hiding," the police said.

"The militant was killed in the encounter which has ended now. Searches are still going on in the area."

The police said the slain commander was one of the longest surviving militants and the most wanted guerrilla in Jammu and Kashmir.

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WASHINGTON ― The intelligence community plans to release an unclassified report early next week, detailing its findings on Russian cyberattacks aimed at disrupting the 2016 presidential election.

Last month, President Barack Obama ordered a full review of foreign hacking efforts aimed at interfering with U.S. elections dating back to 2008, asking that it be completed before he leaves office. Intelligence officials plan to brief lawmakers on the full classified version of its findings next week, in addition to testifying at public hearings, outgoing Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Thursday.

The report will build on an Oct. 7 joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security, which concluded that the Russian government had directed a widely publicized hack of the Democratic National Committee's emails.

"We stand more resolutely on the strength of that statement" than ever before, Clapper testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

Clapper declined to preview the contents of the forthcoming report, which was prepared by the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency. However, he told lawmakers that intelligence agencies had identified "multiple motives" for Moscow's interference in the election.

The DNI chief, who is generally tight-lipped in public hearings, said he plans to "push the envelope as much as I can on the unclassified version" of the report, because "the public should know as much of this as possible."

Leaks from CIA and FBI officials show that both agencies believe Russia's interference in the election was aimed, in part, at helping President-elect Donald Trump win.

Russian meddling in the election, Clapper said, was a multifaceted effort involving propaganda and disinformation in addition to cyberattacks. The intelligence community does not believe that Moscow changed vote tallies. It is outside the intelligence community's purview to assess the overall effect Russia's efforts had on the outcome of the election, Clapper said.

The hearing, which is likely Clapper's last before the committee, comes amid growing tensions between the intelligence community and Trump. The president-elect, who favors closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has dismissed intelligence assessments on the hack and accused intelligence officials of building a false case against Moscow. Trump is scheduled to receive a classified briefing on Russian hacking efforts on Friday.

Committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) urged his colleagues to "set partisanship aside" and work together to prevent and respond to future cyberattacks.

"Every American should be alarmed by Russia's attacks on our nation," McCain said Thursday. "There is no national security interest more vital to the United States of America than the ability to hold free and fair elections without foreign interference."

Senate Democrats, still bruised from what they perceive as an attack on their presidential nominee, used the hearing as a chance to batter their Republican counterparts. "Who benefits from a president-elect trashing the intelligence community?" asked Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

"There's a difference between skepticism and disparagement," Clapper responded, acknowledging past instances of intelligence failure ― most notably, the intelligence that paved the way for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "I've received many expressions of concern from foreign counterparts about... what has been interpreted as disparagement of the U.S. intelligence community."

While a handful of GOP lawmakers, including McCain, have pushed for an aggressive investigation into the hack, several members have instead sided with Trump in brushing off the intelligence community's findings.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) suggested it wouldn't make sense for Putin to favor Trump, since Trump expressed more interest than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in building up U.S. nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. Cotton added that ascribing motives to the actions of foreign adversaries is "among the hardest tasks" of the intelligence community.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) downplayed the significance of foreign interference in the U.S. election, noting that the U.S. has "been involved in one way or another in 81 different elections since World War II."

McCain told reporters on Wednesday that he is working with ranking Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on new sanctions legislation targeting Russia.

The Obama administration imposed its own economic sanctions last week and expelled 35 Russian officials from the U.S. in response to the cyberattack.

Clapper said on Thursday that he supports sanctions and beefing up defensive cyber capabilities as an initial response.

Retaliatory attacks, he added, would carry the risk of counter-retaliation. And cyber deterrence would be difficult to accomplish because unlike nuclear weapons, you cannot "see, feel, touch [or] measure" cyber capabilities, he said.

NEW DELHI -- The deep, masculine and baritone voice of Om Puri will no more be heard in person as the veteran actor breathed his last, at the age of 66, on Friday.

Reportedly, he passed away after a massive heart attack, early on Friday morning.

Film maker Ashoke Pandit took to his Twitter handle to share the news, "Sad & shocked to know that versatile actor Om Puri jee has expired due to heart attack early morning today. #RIP."

Sad & shocked to know that versatile actor Om Puri jee has expired due to heart attack early morning today. #RIP.

— Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) January 6, 2017

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar too expressed his grief and tweeted, "RIP Om puri .. interactions with you were always full of life.. you were one of the finest artist we are proud of.."

RIP Om puri .. interactions with you were always full of life.. you were one of the finest artist we are proud of..

— Shoojit Sircar (@ShoojitSircar) January 6, 2017

Om Puri, born on 18 October, 1950, to a Punjabi family, was an actor, who appeared in mainstream commercial, Pakistani, Hollywood, independent and art films.

The actor, who had more than 100 films to his credits, was also honoured with Padma Shri and two National Film Awards, during his acting career that stretched for more than four decades.

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AGRA -- A labourer in Uttar Pradesh's Agra city has sought permission from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to euthanise his son who is suffering from aplastic anaemia, a rare blood disorder.

Raju, has also written separate letters to President Pranab Mukherjee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav seeking similar permission to end the life of his son Vipin.

"My only request to the Prime Minister is that my son should be treated and if they cannot get him treated then he should be granted mercy killing," said Raju on Thursday.

Raju has already spent a fortune on his son's treatment. He needs a bone marrow transplant. His family is under huge debt and feels that mercy killing may just be the last resort.

Aplastic (referring to the inability of stem cells to generate mature blood cells) Anaemia is a rare disease, caused by the failure of the development of bone marrow which results in the deficiency of all types of blood cells.

Most prevalent in teenagers and people in their twenties, it can be caused by heredity, immune disease, or exposure to chemicals, drugs, or radiation. However, the cause of the disease is unknown in half of the cases.

Vipin has been on the treatment table ever since he was diagnosed with it, moving from one hospital to another with no success so far as the bone marrow transplant needs a lot of finance.

"I have been troubled for the past one and a half years and I have had 70 bottles of blood transfusions. I have blood transfusions every 15 days and twice a month," said Vipin.

Indian laws do no permit euthanasia or mercy killing.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland have passed various laws allowing assisted euthanasia and though it is not legal in other countries, research shows it is not uncommon.

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WASHINGTON -- US First Lady Michelle Obama has selected 16-year-old Indian-American Swetha Prabakaran to serve in the inaugural Student Advisory Board of an education campaign which seeks to provide educational opportunities for teenagers in America.

Swetha, whose parents immigrated from Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli in 1998, was chosen for 'Better Make Room' campaign's Student Advisory Board in recognition of her efforts to educate youth in the field of computer sciences.

The board members will be traveling to the White House on Friday to attend Michelle's School Counselor of the Year Ceremony.

Born in Indianapolis, she is among seventeen students selected by the White House to serve on 'Better Make Room' Student Advisory Board. The inaugural Board has 12 high school students and five college students.

Swetha, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, is the founder and CEO of Everybody Code Now!, a non-profit body working to empower the next generation of youth to become engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs.

She is the only Indian-American in the list.

Two-thirds of the Board members are, or will be, the first in their families to attain a postsecondary degree.

"As proven leaders, organisers, changemakers, and innovators, these students will help the country achieve President (Barack) Obama's North Star goal, that our nation will once again lead the world in college completion rates," Better Make Room said in a statement.

Founded by Michelle, the board will work to create a college-going, college-persisting and college-graduating culture at their schools while connecting fellow students for any information and resources they need.

"I am deeply honoured to be able to serve on this board. Creating a college-going and college-graduating culture among youth is something we have worked to encourage through Everybody Code Now!, and I am extremely excited to share this passion with even more students. I look forward to working with The First Lady's Reach Higher Initiative and my fellow Better Make Room Student Advisory members to encourage more students to pursue higher education," Swetha said.

Also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, Swetha was honoured as a 2015 White House Champion of Change. She was also named to the International Literacy Association's 2016 '30 Under 30'.

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BAGHPAT (UTTAR PRADESH) -- In a shocking incident, as many as four persons in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat allegedly attempting to rape a girl chopped off her ears as she repeatedly resisted against it.

The incident took place on January 4, when four men reportedly barged into the girl's house and attempted to gang-rape her.

Reacting to the incident, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Baghpat MP Satyapal Singh told ANI that there was no rape attempt made and there is no truth in the complaint.

"I have personally talked to the SP regarding this matter. He told me that the incident took place on 31st December morning. The incident is between the two neighbours and if they are complaining after so many days than I think it is an afterthought and there is no truth in it," he added.

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NEW DELHI -- It seems like Abu Azmi still hasn't learnt from his past mistakes, as the Samajwadi Party leader on Friday stirred a fresh controversy with his derogatory remark stating that people allowing women to wear short clothes are the ones who actually disrespect them.

"I have never disrespected women, but those who allow women to wear short clothes, disrespect them," Azmi told ANI, adding that he would be called orthodox for asking women to wear proper clothes.

Azmi went on to say that women should be cautious about their security as long as crimes against them do not stop.

"Until and unless these people won't mend and such incidents keep on happening in the country, till then the girls should be cautious and take care of their own security," the Samajwadi Party leader said.

Azmi also ridiculed live-in relation terming it unacceptable in Islam and said that a woman should stay with a man only after marriage.

He further defended his earlier offensive statement on the Bengaluru molestation case, saying that his remark was misquoted for the sake of TRP.

"The media has quoted me out of context just for the sake of TRP. They have cut pasted the statement while neglecting as to what the person is trying to say," he said.

He also demanded strict action against the accused in Bengaluru molestation case.

Azmi also called for stringent laws to deal with cases related to rape and molestation.

"After Delhi's Nirbhaya gang-rape case, amendments in the law were made, but such cases are still increasing. Women do wear fashionable clothes in Dubai, Saudi Arab, Kuwait and Arab countries, but no one has the audacity to touch them because of the stringent law there. Such law should also be enforced in our country," he added.

Azmi said that he got support from various people for raising his voice for the Indian culture.

The Sanmajwadi Party leader had earlier this week said that nudity has become new fashion in India.

"In this modern era, more a girl exposes the more she will be called fashionable. I believe if my daughter or sister is celebrating 31st night after sunset and she doesn't have her father or husband with her and is with other men, then she can't be treated with respect," Azmi told ANI.

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