'Renowned historian Ramchandra Guha on Saturday said he believes that the government at the Centre led by Narendra Modi is the most "anti-intellectual" the country ever had and is manifested in the appointments it had made in various educational and cultural institutions.
'The chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, has quit the post just 16 months into his term. Although the reason for his resignation is not clear, government sources attributed the move to the chairman’s unhappiness over being denied an honorarium of Rs 1.5 lakh per month. When contacted, Rao confirmed that he put in his papers on November 24, but denied that the move was linked to the honorarium. “I am waiting for the communication from the government. I have nothing to say at the moment.
A group of filmmakers and scholars have written a letter written to Arun Jaitley, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for I & B and C. Senthil Rajan, Director of Film Festivals condemning the manner in which students of the Film and Television Institute of India have been treated at the International Film Festival of India currently going on in Goa. They have pointed out that ex-students have been arrested for protesting and one student was even put in preventive detention. The letter reads:
'Liberal, rebellious and progressive to the core, Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991), enfant terrible of Urdu literature, fought parochialism all her life. She led from the front and lived by her own principles. One of her daughters was married to a Hindu while the other was married to a Parsi. She didn't consume beef, not because of the Hindutva diktat, but to respect the sentiments of her Hindu grandson. And when she died she was cremated at Chandanwadi because she had willed so.
'Delhi University’s Sanskrit department and the RSS-backed Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) will be holding a seminar on November 24 to discuss the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry’s ‘New Education Policy-2015’. The seminar, whose final report will be sent to HRD minister Smriti Irani, will also have educationist Dinanath Batra delivering the keynote lecture on changes required in education.
'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.
'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.
'Please meet the cleaned up, chaste, well behaved James Bond - trending in India as #SanskariJamesBond - an ironic hashtag prompted by a censor board decision to "cut short" Daniel Craig's kissing scenes in the movie Spectre, which releases in India on Thursday. That's right. James Bond in his current avatar, simply kisses too much for the tastes of the Indian censor board, and so they have been reduced in length.
'Among the 24 artistes who returned their National Awards on Thursday , two are rom Kolkata. They are director Amitabh Chakraborty and cinematographer Ranjan Palit. Speaking to TOI, Chakraborty said: "The trigger for me was the government's silence n resolving the FTTI issue. I passed out from FTII in 1985.The strike happened for four and a half months and yet lots of issues remain unresolved." A few weeks ago, many including Chakraborty had sent a letter to the President. "But nothing happened. As a last resort, I decided to return three of my national awards."
' ’Award Wapsi’ movement is gaining steam as celebrated personalities from various walks of life have joined the unique form of protest to mark their dissent against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government who are allegedly hand in gloves with fringe elements in the society. The latest to join the bandwagon of dissidents include 3 veteran journalists of Malegaon, the Muslim dominated semi-urban city in North Maharashtra. The three scribes – Abdul Haleem Siddiqui, Hasan Farooqui and Haroon BA returned their Maharashtra Urdu Sahitya Academy Awards conferred upon them in 2008.
