'A controversy erupted at the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) in Jaipur and two artists were detained by the police, on Saturday, over exhibiting a plastic cow which was tied to a balloon and was floating at a height of 50 feet from the ground. Half an hour after the plastic cow installation was displayed during the Third Jaipur Art Summit at JKK, some right-wing groups and NGOs reached the spot and asked the organisers to dismantle the art work made by artist Siddharth Kararwal.
'...Repeating the 2014 success seems to be the overarching aim of the elaborate planning behind meticulously orchestrated welcomes accorded Modi during his trips to the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Britain over the past 14 months. The activities do not violate Indian law. The Overseas Friends of BJP will continue to orchestrate the key part in this scheme. The vast majority of OFBJP ranks are members of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the foreign arm of the Hindu chauvinist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
'Ultimately the roaring voice of the FTII students reached the IFFI (International Film Festival of India) inaugural held at Panaji, Goa. Just when the inaugural had formally ended, chief guest had spoken and the administration was on the cusp of heaving a sigh of relief for a ‘trouble free beginning’ and was contemplating to ‘pat its own back’ for managing to save its ‘image’ the precints of the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium reverberated with slogans in favour of the historic FTII struggle.
'Human resource development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani on Friday found herself in a spot when her remarks that women in the country are not told what to wear, whom to meet and where to go, drew voices of dissent from an audience she was addressing. "In India I don't think any woman is dictated what to wear, how to wear, whom to meet, when to meet....I am of the opinion I don't think anybody is dictated here, you are not told," she said while interacting with New Yorkbased journalist Tina Brown at an event in New Delhi...'
Statement issued by filmmakers from India regarding the Nepal blockade. Issued at the Film South Asia, Kathmandu / 21 November 2015
As filmmakers from India who have gathered to share our work at the Film South Asia in Kathmandu this week, we would like to place on record our solidarity with the people of Nepal who are presently reeling from a grave humanitarian crisis, arising from what is tantamount to an economic blockade.
'Noted British sculptor Anish Kapoor, a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was removed from a panel in Rajasthan. Only two days ago he was nominated by the BJP government to the governing body of the culture-related panel. Mr. Kapoor, who was among the 12 members nominated to the Governing Body of the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) — a multi-arts centre — at Jaipur on November 16, had recently objected to Mr. Modi’s visit to the U.K. In an article published in The Guardian on the day Mr. Modi landed in London, Mr. Kapoor accused Mr.
'Pan Nalin’s internationally-acclaimed film Angry Indian Goddesses on female bonding and combating patriarchal tyranny, has encountered an expected snag. The Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) has objected strongly to what they see as profane references to Hindu goddesses. Says a source, “Major portions of the film have been hacked off by the Examining Committee.
'Terming those who slaughter cows as the country's biggest enemies, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Thursday said they had "no right to live in the country". "Anyone who kills cows, no matter which community he belongs to is India's biggest enemy and has no right to live in the country," Rawat said addressing a function on the occasion of Gopashtam in Haridwar on Thursday...'
'The fears are coming true. Earlier this year, activists had warned the Modi government that its decision to slash funds for India’s oldest supplementary nutrition scheme for vulnerable women and children would prove a disaster. But the government paid little heed. Now the ripples are being felt on the ground. Children aren’t getting their hot meals regularly, nor are grassroots workers receiving their wages on time.
'Yogi Adityanath, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, is no stranger to controversy and finds himself in yet another tangle. The firebrand leader was scheduled to inaugurate a new building in Allahabad University on November 20 but protests erupted on Thursday morning, led by a section of students who have vowed to not let the “controversial and communal” politician enter the campus.
