In Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath made sure that the "gods" literally descended from the heavens in his attempt to celebrate a grand Diwali in his first year as the chief minister.

The lead actors of Ramlila, Ram, Sita and Lakshman, in full costume, arrived in a government chopper and landed on the banks of the river Saryu. Another chopper followed, that showered flowers. This was to replicate the victorious journey of the trio by the Pushpak Vimana, a mythical flying chariot, as detailed in the Ramayana.

Once on land, the chief minister welcomed them and carried out a symbolic coronation of Ram, dressed in traditional attire with a glittering headgear. Adityanath was accompanied by tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi and state Governor Ram Naik.

Ayodhya: Artists dressed as Ram,Sita &Laxman arrived by helicopter for UP Govt's #Diwali celebrations,as another helicopter showered flowers pic.twitter.com/t1vkDf8q1e

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 18, 2017

The chief minister later led the actors in a small procession to a nearby stage set up not far from the site where the Babri mosque was razed in December 1992.

In his speech, Yogi Adityanath brought Ayodhya to the forefront with a grand, eyeball-grabbing spectacle without mentioning the controversial issue of Ram temple construction. "For 70 years, many have been deprived of food, power connections and (are) without a roof above their heads. The Centre and state governments' efforts at providing them all this is Ram Rajya for them," said the chief minister.

He said that in his "Ram Rajya", there is no discrimination on the basis of "caste and religion".

"Ayodhya gave India and the world, the concept of Ram Rajya...where there is no pain or grief... The real meaning of Ram Rajya is a home for all...electricity and cooking gas for every home. Ayodhya's glory should be restored," he said.

Meanwhile, 1.75 lakh diyas (earthen lamps) dazzled during the evening aarti on the river banks. This was an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

At least 380 artistes had come from different corners of India and abroad (Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia) to perform in the 3-km-long Shobha Yatra.

Even as the chief minister steered clear of the Ram Mandir issue, opposition party members felt that the political sub-text was not to be missed. Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agarwal said that every time BJP finds itself in a corner on the issue of governance, the party takes refuge in the name of Lord Ram. "Jab inko kuchh nahin milta ... yeh Bhagwan Ram ki god mein baith jaate hain" (Whenever they don't have anything to rest upon, they start talking about Lord Ram)," he said.

Meanwhile, Twitter was left quite amused with Ram-Sita arriving on a chopper and questioned if the state government was justified in spending so much money on the festivity while ignoring the lack of civic facilities.

Ok Can someone please confirm that Ram Sita and Laxman took Adanis chopper to Ayodhya for Diwali ?!! Quite Fancy I Say !! #DiwaliInAyodhyapic.twitter.com/bVjGkHpdY3

— Rohit (@jadhavroohit) October 18, 2017

Wont your RAM want you to feed the poor? or protect children in your hospitals? @PrannoyRoyNDTV
https://t.co/u4bXkV9yAh via @ndtv

— Ravikumar MD., MPH (@Chockalingam_Ra) October 18, 2017

Bizarre to see @myogiadityanath garlanding and bowing before actors playing Ram & Sita (who flew in on a chopper) in Ayodhya just now.

— Priya Sahgal (@Priyascorner) October 18, 2017

A major cluster of our cherished childhood memories hover lovingly around festivals. And it was our parents, their extra efforts that made these celebrations so special for us. Add to it the innocence that didn't count calories, fret about the logistics and then complain about the stress, these occasions were the most looked-forward-to. Festivals for most of us were not just limited to the day of celebration. Like any well scripted story, it built up over time, kept us on tenterhooks, made us impatient with excitement before reaching its crescendo.

It would start with anticipation of goodies which would give an extra spring to the steps we took. Unlike the hedonism of the present that eats out twice a week and shops till it drops, our past had few excesses. Our parents belonged to an era that believed in rationing material pleasures. So eating-out, a new dress and shoes would wait for special occasions. If we had just watched a movie, stopping for ice-cream on our way back was a sure shot way of corrupting our souls beyond repair.

It was during festive occasions that our parents loosened up a bit. We were allowed second and third helpings of sweet treats, and a few more when mom was not looking. Almost all of them were homemade by her. She'd spend long hours in the kitchen while we danced around her like excited puppies. Is there anything in this world that tastes better than fresh off the griddle malpua dunked in a degchi of sticky sugar syrup?

We were allowed second and third helpings of sweet treats, and a few more when mom was not looking.

When not busy in the kitchen, she was engrossed in making alpona on the floor with ground rice paste, while I'd squat beside her and watch her in mesmerised silence. Each festival we celebrated had her distinctive stamp, from the 14 diyas she lit on chhoti Diwali, to the bhog she made during Lakshmi Puja, to the paste of turmeric and mustard oil she'd keep for us in the bathroom to slather ourselves with in honour of the beauteous and talented Saraswati. Durga Puja meant weeks of preparation for the many competitions that were held at the pandal during the Pujas.

When you are ten, all you want to do is make your maa happy. So you recite poetry with emotions you don't comprehend, participate in dance-dramas with your face caked with ghastly make-up, play musical chairs even though you hate it, all in an attempt dazzle her friends and relatives with your unimaginable talent. My dad's role was mostly restricted outside the house: purchasing crackers, teaching us how to fly kites, take us shopping for new clothes, and be the supportive husband to his turbocharged wife.

Despite her long hours at work, I don't think she resented the extra hours she had to put in at home to make these days special for us. I certainly didn't hear her denouncing rituals and fasting meant to be observed only by women as some patriarchal conspiracy against womankind.

Each tradition we follow has history, an interesting background story and a smattering of scientific backing. It makes us value our heritage.

Now when I think back I realise it was she who made festivals festive. Without her enthusiasm they would have been just another soulless day with us as passive observers. So excuse me while I choke on my coffee while I try to comprehend the outrage on social media surrounding the ban on crackers in Delhi and NCR during Diwali. It was baffling to see social media crusaders lament on behalf of kids who'll be deprived of the joy of bursting crackers.

They should know, SC was delivering a verdict in a petition filed to reinstate the ban ordered in November last year. The symbolism of three infants (Arjun, Aarav and Zoya) filing the petition should not be lost on us. I felt like an ignorant fool for not realising that coughing all night on Diwali and waking up to smoke laden air in the morning was a much cherished Hindu tradition. And foolish me was under the impression that it was women and not crackers that make Diwali so special.

Agree that unlike our moms, most of us may not be a stickler for rituals and have shortened them to suit our I-have-better-things-to-do lifestyle. But as a self-assigned teacher of spiritual values to our offspring, we do make the extra effort to be a gold medal worthy Mom. Festivals are a good way to familiarise children with our cultural traditions. Each tradition we follow has history, an interesting background story and a smattering of scientific backing. It makes us value our heritage.

Bursting noisy crackers and fouling up the air, disregarding the discomfort we cause to those with medical conditions, is certainly not part of our heritage.

Bursting noisy crackers and fouling up the air, disregarding the discomfort we cause to those with medical conditions, is certainly not part of our heritage. And landing up on Diwali night in the emergency section of the hospital because the fancy bomb you bought for 3k burst on your face is certainly not a much cherished custom.

Diwali, like any other festival, is an occasion to bond with family, make joyful memories and feel thankful for what we have. Soon these instants will become memories and proceed to pin themselves on the roll of honour in the hallowed corridors of nostalgia. Take out the woman of the house from festivities and it becomes like a cold, empty house waiting to be filled with happy laughter, warm moments and frenzied conversations around the dining table. But take out crackers from Diwali and by god it'll be like ghar-wapsi of a glorious Diwali!

Go out, admire how beautiful your building, neighbourhood and city is looking all decked up in lights. Make intricate rangolis, tuck in an extra kaju barfi and feel thankful that you can breathe a little more freely and hear each other talk.Let's not forget that Deepavali is a festival of lights and not noise. And if you're still craving noisy crackers, here's a smoke-free and yummy version for you.

Enjoy Diwali and let others enjoy it in peace as well.

First published here

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

In my home, Diwali is a festival that is celebrated with gusto. I am not a very 'festival person', and generally I like to witness the festivities and associated toil from a distance, but not for Diwali. From cleaning, cooking, decorating, diyas, buying new ethnic wear, to a proper Lakshmi pooja, Diwali signifies lights, happiness, community and family to me, as I am sure it does to many people. Diwali is also the time when it is important to be with loved ones. As the world celebrates, this is no time to be on your own.

Many of my childhood Diwalis were spent in my maternal grandmother's home. With cousins and extended family, this was truly a time to cherish. Later when we move to Bombay, it was not possible to make our trips back to Uttar Pradesh every year. Dad was a high-ranking bureaucrat and we threw parties and invited a lot of people around Diwali. Family was slowly replaced with friends, and the dimension of the festival shifted from close family to friends.

Then mum fell sick. She had a couple of fractures, a long drawn out recuperation period, depression and was bedridden for a few years. Those were some of the most painful times for my family, along with her illness came a sort of social exclusion, rather ostracisation. Bombay is a wonderful city, but it is also a city where one does not know who lives next door, very unlike the gated community I live in Bangalore now. Hence, visitors and friends greatly dwindled over the months. Then there was this one Diwali when just the five of us were at home with nothing much to do.

A festival is much more than eating or making merry, it is about spreading joy.

Festivals are the times when the women in the family do a lot of planning, organising and shopping. Since mum was the center of all festivity, running around cooking up a storm, arranging for things for the pooja, getting the house in order, her illness took a toll on the house. Where is the gaiety when our lifeline was on the bed, ailing and depressed? Our moods were grim, and we did a very half-hearted pooja.

That year, we did not go around to any homes to wish and greet people for Diwali, and no one came home to wish us. When someone in the house is sick, all happiness is sucked out from any happy occasion, and you are very acutely aware of this on a festive day. All the happy advertisements on TV seem to mock you. People were enjoying and celebrating all around us, I felt a little sorry for myself, and was upset.

Then the doorbell rang, and in walked an old friend of dad's, he and his wife had known us for years. They were there to meet us and also enquire after mum's health. Things looked up. Mum who was propped up on bed also smiled and engaged in some chatter. As they stayed for some time that evening, we all felt our Diwali brightening up. A festival is much more than eating or making merry, it is about spreading joy. Most of us don't pause a moment to think about those around us who may be down, and need a little support. We are caught up in our circles, in our families, in our little cocoons.

When things are not going well for you, it is the time when you need the support of your friends, and family the most.

When things are not going well for you, it is the time when you need the support of your friends, and family the most. This Diwali, as I prepare with joy, planning a lot of details, thinking about what gifts to buy, I remembered them with gratitude. They would never know how much their visit on that Diwali night meant to our family, and to mum.

This Diwali, let us seek out those who have not been able to go home. Those missing their families, those sick and unwell and call them home or visit them. They don't need much, just an acknowledgment that they matter and that you thought of them. You don't know how far your little gesture will go in brightening up someone's unhappy festival.

A version of this post was originally published on Rachna says.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

A new day, a new literary controversy in India.

Another writer being hounded for causing "offence" to a group of people, the police stepping in to arbitrate in a matter that should ideally be settled by scholars and literary critics, a witch-hunt conducted on social media, courts being asked to ban a book. The script may be well-worn by now, and yet, its potential seems inexhaustible.

Earlier this month, a collection of poems by Vishnu Surya Wagh, written in the colloquial version of the Konkani language and published nearly four years ago, ignited the embers of a cultural war in Goa — a conflict that has escalated to interventions by the police and the government now.

It all started in August, when Sudirsukta (Hymns of a Shudra) was selected by the Goa Konkani Academy Award in the poetry category. The volume, which had sold out its print run of 500 copies on publication, found a new lease of life soon after — though for reasons that have little to do with its literary merit.

Passages from the poems in it were lifted, allegedly out of context, and posted on social media. The lines quoted were meant to decry Wagh's "abusive and and explicit language" and to also insinuate that his aim was to pit the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin community in the state against the Bahujan Goans, thus leading to a battle between the castes, nothing else.

Within days, the police registered an FIR against the 52-year-old poet, who is presently incapacitated by a stroke, under sections 293 and 292 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986, based on a complaint filed by a women's rights activist.

"We have read the poems that were brought to us and we think they are not in good taste," the police official in charge of the case told The Indian Express. "The complaint was only registered after we were convinced it did, and can, offend someone."

The government of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar seems to have no quarrel with this Orwellian situation in which the police are acting as the influencer of public taste. For, as the Express added, the government soon after "cancelled all the 32 undeclared literature and culture awards, including one for Wagh".

But the problem, in this case, is hard to wish away with a blanket ban. As it happens, Parrikar was present on the occasion of the official launch of the disputed book at the Kala Academy in Goa all those years ago.

Apart from being a writer, Wagh is also a former member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that currently is in power in Goa. In an essay in Vantage, Kaustubh Naik, Wagh's nephew, writes about his uncle's lifelong anti-caste and anti-rightwing politics — which didn't square with his foray into politics by joining the BJP in 2011, a party drunk on Hindutva. Most interestingly, though, Naik paints a portrait of a socially committed and intrepid artist, who didn't shirk from taking risks with language, idiom and ideologies.

Poets like Wagh, or the late Namdeo Dhasal, who founded the famous Dalit Panthers, may not be the most palatable to many readers for their problematic politics, but their personal ideologies cannot diminish the gift of their literary prowess.

Elected as an MLA in 2012, Wagh continued to criticise his party's politics in the state, for which, Naik says, he was berated by Parrikar. Stripped of his role as the chief of the Kala Academy in 2014 by the CM, Wagh was reportedly reinstated in 2015. But, as is now evident, his reputation among his erstwhile colleagues is far from restored.

Readers and scholars of Konkani may rightly debate the merit of Wagh's writing, but to penalise him simply for "obscenity" is to invoke standards that were last applied to literature of the so-called Victorian England. If the BJP and Goa police wants to purge sexually-charged language because it offends sensibilities, both of them have have their work cut out: look no further than cleaning up abusive trolls from social media where offensive speech amplifies far faster than it ever would from a book of poems, especially one that is out of print at the moment.

But sexualised imagery is only a part of the discomfort that Wagh's poetry has provoked. A strident voice against the persistence of caste, he also pours outrage against a system that keeps the sudirs — or low-caste shudras, according to the hierarchy of Hinduism — away from the Brahminical control over 'god'.

Smita Nair quotes in her article in the Express a handful of lines from one of the strongest poems in Wagh's anthology.

We have no swamis
And we have no mathas
The sanctum of the temple is closed to us
God lies in your fist
With all your differences you are all one
Whether horizontal or vertical
The caste marks on your foreheads
That indicate your Mahajanship suit you well
You lean against the temple pillars
While the rath is carried on our shoulders...

The message is clear as daylight, the sentiment cuts with the sharpness of a razor. No wonder the Saraswat Brahmins are piqued to the core by such modes of speech. Just as the Aryan Baniyas are furious with Dalit scholar Kancha Illaiah Shepherd calling out their historical regressiveness. Or Hindus are furious with Tamil writer Perumal Murugan for writing about an ancient casteist festival.

Recently, Shepherd faced a right tirade, which extended to physical assault, ranging from footwear being thrown at him to death threats, for writing about the economic dominance of the Arya Vysyas over lower castes. His article, which was part of his book called Post-Hindu India,published almost a decade ago, had been reprinted in Telugu recently, sparking the ire of his detractors, who have even taken their case to the Supreme Court, only to be told by the honourable court that banning a book is none of its business.

Apart from highlighting the injustices perpetrated by the Banias, Shepherd called the community "social smugglers", a term that had led to the explosion of hate towards him. Over the last two weeks, not only has he been at the receiving end of casteist bile but also, as he wrote eloquently in The Indian Express, radio silence from the government and, more shockingly, from the left liberals.

It's the last that should worry us the most, as it probably brings out the way class undercuts even the best textbook theories of liberalism. The BJP, as already known, is desperate to capitalise on the caste card for the 2019 general elections through means such as the sub-categorisation of the other backward classes. To call out that sham, the left liberals have to speak out, especially for any regional voices that are at the risk of being muzzled.

Also on HuffPost

October is everyone's favourite month, there are back-to-back festivals being celebrated all over the country. With those come long weekends, and holidays away from work. This is the time we plan to go home and visit the family, fly our parents down to visit us, or head out on a vacation. This is also the time when every brand worth its salt comes out with shopping festivals and 'limited time festival offers', that make us jump with glee and whip out our wallets because, hey, the deals seem too good to be missed.

What all of this means is that the festival season is also a season of plenty, plenty of expenses! Which is why, if you are not in the pink of financial health, you might dread October. Whether it is to travel home, buy gifts for everyone, take a vacation, or indulge in a little retail therapy yourself, everything costs money. Here are some easy tips, to help you celebrate the festival season without breaking the bank.

Cut costs, not corners

Not all the good stuff in life has to come at a big price. Think D-I-Y gifts for your family: handcraft a lamp (a string of fairy lights dropped into a clean, dry, label-free beer bottle makes for a beautiful present), you can grow herbs in pretty pots/mugs, or try your hand at paper crafts. There's plenty of inspiration and tons of tutorials online. Your family will be delighted because you got them something that has more meaning than a mass-produce something bought off a sale.

There's no festivity without partying, is there? But partying and dining out can be really expensive, especially when you're going in a large group. The real fun, though, is not in where you go, but in what you do and who you do it with, so why not move the party home? Host a potluck or BYOB (bring your own booze) party, where everyone brings something. All you'll spend is on snacks and nibbles, and it will be just as much fun as always.

Be smart with your money

Now, we did ask you to steer clear of consumerist temptations such as sales and discounts that can result in indiscriminate, impulsive shopping. However, if there is something you actually need to buy, there's no better time to do so than the festival season. A lot of brands offer exchange programs that let you get rid of your old appliances and furniture, and get new ones at a heavy discount.

This is also true for other essential services like house cleaning and medical checkups. If there's a good offer on something you will have to do anyway, better grab the opportunity and do it now. Also keep an eye out for offers on entertainment: movies released during festivals, music shows, plays... many online ticketing sites offer discounts at this time.

This is also a good time to get rid of all the old stuff lying around at home: the treadmill you got in 2012 when fitness was a life goal, the DSLR with four lenses from when you thought photography was your true calling, the cycle you bought to ride to work until they started the flyover construction. Sell it all off in return for cold, hard cash that you can put to better use.

Festivals are traditionally a time for new beginnings, unfortunately we treat them as a time to buy new stuff. But this festival season, begin afresh and take the first step towards a financially healthy future, so that next year, you are not in the same boat. Here are some things you can do:

• Learn the basics of investing: different investment options, how mutual funds work, risk versus return, etc.

• Set investment goals: be it buying the new iPhone X next year, or a home of your own in 10 years from now. As they say, if you don't know where you are going, how will you get there?

• Explore the best investment options: compare, and decide where, when and how much to invest.

Or just find a good Financial Advisor to help you through your financial planning for the year ahead! May this festive season be a time of new beginnings for you!

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

When two women in isolated yet similar incidents of sexual harassment in two Bundelkhand districts came forward to lodge complaints with the police, we knew what it meant for them, we knew what it took. But does the system play a role of coercion, or cooperation?

If you happenstance take a taxi ride across the badlands of Bundelkhand, you will no doubt be listening to a choice selection of Bhojpuri hits, from 'Engine kare puk puk', to 'Mood kare garam, ab chhodo saram' or the much-preferred 'Palang kare choy choy' – a feast of bed-creaking, breast-thrusting, brain-turning hits that will bring you up-close with the real issue of consent, full frontal. Buxom women ask skinny men to shed their propriety and just get down to business. Let the furniture join in the chorus of this mad, licentious item number in which all sexual norms are seemingly let loose. It's the stuff that fantasies are made of.

So when we reported not once, but twice, over the past few weeks, on instances of lewd songs being forcibly played to women by men in various situations of coercion, we couldn't help but think of how the flagrant disregard of women's consent or sense of self shifts the terrain – from fantasy right back to the real world, where women are trying to manage businesses and get to school. Make something of their lives, their ambitions.

Like Anjana Singh, a grown woman brought to tears, narrating the harrowing experience of months of harassment from a group of men who work in an iron mongering shack in the plot of land next to where her husband's general store is. She wo-mans the shop, often for upto seven or eight hours at a time, when her husband is away or busy. The men, she says, have an eye on her real estate and so routinely walk by and torment her publicly. And how do they do this? 'Come and stand under my umbrella', they sing. 'Drink some tea, get a little warmed up'. 'I can warm you up'. Harmless songs, she's told.

Anjana went to the local administration and tried to file numerous complaints. Her case is now being followed up by social worker Pushpa Goswami of the Belan Army. The Banda SP, the sturdy Shalini Singh, says the case is more complex than it seems. Anjana's husband is accused by women who run the beauty parlour next door, of harassing them, similarly with lewd songs and abuses. They in turn have complained to the police, and so the two complaints are being investigated in parallel. Caught in the hot and heavy crossfire, is Anjana, who feels the eyes and pity of even the young girls who overhear her being harassed as layer upon layer of insult and humiliation.

More recently, constable Shivsharan of Mahobkant police station has been slapped with a FIR he never ever imagined, we'll warrant, he would be confronted with. In the third week of September, a young girl, on the way back from college, caught a tempo home. She said she didn't catch it from the stand, but from about a kilometer away, and she recognized the driver. Soon enough, he started blaring 'dirty songs' on his 'deck'. When the girl asked him to turn it off, he gave her the 'my tempo, my deck, my prerogative' argument. "When I continued to argue with him, he told me to get out of the tempo. So I walked the rest of the five kilometers home," the girl said, unwavering.

The story gets better, and more uniquely Bundelkhandi. The girl filed a complaint, and when the police came home for the verification, they assaulted her father – 'he has lost some of his hearing after that day'. She was called to the police station, where the constable on duty, Shivsharan, began to play his own deck, and asked her to identify which song was played in the tempo and what the problem was with these harmless songs. "What kind of law and order or corruption is the Modi government talking about rectifying when this is the kind of treatment you get from the police? This reign of bullies isn't going anywhere," said he girl.

We're in a world where women are a part of the public sphere, as a result of righteous anger and protest, legislative reform, and overfunded international development campaigns. We recently celebrated the International Day of the Girl Child. Something in all of it rings hollow (if not entirely ludicrous), when women cannot expect to access respect and an understanding of bodily autonomy and the necessity of consent. For men to cross boundaries, whether in public transport, or in the space of the police station, or in a posh Delhi drawing room, is entirely legitimate, safeguarded by an impunity that no amount of iron-fisted sexual assault laws can damage, seemingly.

Just as the roar of the BHU protests makes way for the rage over the firecrackers ban, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data tells us that there has been a a 33% rise rise in sexual harassment across U.P.. No amount of naming and shaming seems to be making any dents in all the incessant stalking, playing of lewd songs, flashing and gesturing women are subjected to – all of which is still clubbed under the (bloodcurdling) 'boys will be boys' refrain.

What will it take to make crystal clear, at a conscious and subconscious level, that the woman who urges you to turn her on, exists in the same world as the one who says, turn the damn radio off, I do not like this?

Because until that is clear as can be, the Beti Bachaos and Anti-Romeo Squads of the world are pure bunkum.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

By Basudev Mahapatra

As news of rampant female feticide in the Nayagarh district of Odisha broke in July 2017, it shocked Usha Patnaik, a social activist and president of Gania Unnayan Committee, a non-profit organization, as it did the rest of India.

Working for more than two decades on issues such as trafficking of girls and women, child marriage and gender-based discrimination, the news made her wonder about the very existence of females in society. "Being a female, I was scared," she told VillageSquare.in. "How can a society imagine its future by eliminating a sex selectively at the fetal stage?"

However, 10 community radio stations are working in Odisha on changing the mindset of the people, to enable a better environment for the safety of girl children and women.

Endangered sex

Indicating decline in the sex ratio, female population in Nayagarh district has come down from 938 per 1,000 males in 2001 to 915 in 2011, as per the 2011 census report. More worrying is the sex ratio at birth during the last five years — the population of girl babies is 725 for every 1,000 male babies born, as per the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS4). As per the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the sex ratio of children below six years in Nayagarh dropped from 904 to 855.

Apart from declining sex ratio, Nayagarh district has remained the epicenter of trafficking of girls under the guise of marriage since the 1990s. According to NFHS4, it is the sixth district of Odisha with high prevalence of child marriage. In the district, 31.3 % of women between 20 and 24 years of age got married before the age of 18.

"Nayagarh has a conservative patriarchal society where girls are still the ignored population. The indications of it are that many are killed selectively at the fetal stage, many are given in marriage at an early age and many are being trafficked to other states in the name of marriage," Patnaik told VillageSquare.in.

Change through official machinery

With statistics indicative of the status of the female population, Nayagarh is included in the list of 100 districts covered nationwide under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save a Girl Child, Educate a Girl Child) program. The Government of Odisha in association with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other agencies has taken steps to strengthen implementation of the PCPNDT (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Act, 1994 to check pre-natal sex determination and female feticide in the state.

In accordance with the state policy for girls and women and the state policy for youth, several other programs have been implemented to address gender-based issues and to create an enabling environment for girls.

As a result of the programs, administrative dynamism has improved. Sex ratio at birth in Nayagarh has increased to 883 by September 2016, as per the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) reports. Through various campaigns, girls are encouraged to enroll in schools.

"The situation is changing. But to address the issues related to gender inequality, what still remains a challenge is, changing the behavior of people, despite the proactiveness of the administration and government machinery," Pritikant Panda, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) at Nayagarh, told VillageSquare.in.

Communicating achievements and awareness

Making its contribution to address the issues facing the female population of the district, the Daspalla-based Radio Surabhi, the only community radio station in Nayagarh, has started a program named Suna Jhia — the golden girl.

"The objective of the program is to tell positive stories highlighting small as well as big achievements of girls in the district through radio so that the parents feel proud of their daughter," Sisir Kumar Das of Indian Institute of Education and Care, a non-profit organization that promotes Radio Surabhi, informed VillageSquare.in.

Prompted by the poor status of the girl child in the district, Suna Jhia program aims to bring awareness and build scientific temper in the communities while sensitizing the local administration on the ground realities, Das added.

"Now I realize that the two abortions I suffered and the several illnesses I suffer from are the results of my marriage at an early age. Now that I have learnt from the Suna Jhia program, I will advise girls not to marry early and have an ill fate like mine," 55-year-old Kainta Gadatia of Adakata village in Daspalla administrative block told VillageSquare.in

Appreciating its objective and reach, though within a radius of about 15 km, "The DCPU is supporting the program from the beginning," said Panda, the Nayagarh DCPO, adding that Suna Jhia has tremendous impact at the community level.

"In many cases, young boys are consulting officials and deferring their marriage when they find their bride-to-be younger than 18 years," Sanjukta Dasgupta, a Daspalla-based social activist, informed VillageSquare.in.

Change through community radio

With 10 Community Radio Stations (CRS) operating in Odisha at present, issues related to social justice, gender equality and community development have got a stronger voice in their respective areas of coverage.

The Balianta-based Radio Kishan has successfully changed the mindset of betel leaf farmers who restricted women from working in the betel vine farms because of the women's natural monthly menstruation. Women are now allowed to work in the betel leaf farms.

"Initially we faced resistance from the community. But things changed in favor of the women as our campaign was based on scientific facts and evidences," Pradeepta Dutta of Radio Kishan told VillageSquare.in.

In Nuapada district, the Khariar-based Radio Swayamshakti has its focus on issues reflecting gender inequality and health problems in the community. Talking to VillageSquare.in, Biswajit Padhi, chief functionary of the CRS said, "We strive to make the radio an open forum, facilitating free convergence between communities and the Nuapada district administration."

Way ahead

CRSs in Odisha have done tremendously well in keeping people as well as the administration informed during natural disasters, besides highlighting issues encountered by the grassroots communities. But there are several challenges to be overcome to keep the CRSs running and acting as an effective medium for community level convergence and development.

According to CRS managers, the primary issues include sustainability of the non-commercial radio serving the communities and its limited reach within a 10 km radius. Limited reach makes it difficult to achieve desired goals because geographically, communities do not live as a concentrated population. As the habitations are scattered even beyond the coverage area, community-focused radio programs do not reach all the intended audience.

Highlighting that government support is limited, Padhi in a note of dissent said, "UNICEF, which could support CRSs offers to broadcast content produced by it in association with BBC Media Actionfree of cost. If reputed global institutions start such practice, how can the CRSs sustain?" However, no comment on this could be obtained from UNICEF, despite attempts.

"Some international NGOs (iNGO) have started networking with local CRSs with their own agenda. If they push issues of their interest into the radio content, some of the issues concerning communities would be ignored by the local CRSs," Sisir Das told VillageSquare.in, referring to a recently held national level consultation on community radios, organized by an Odisha-based CRS in partnership with an iNGO in Bhubaneswar.

"Such networking with iNGOs can help develop new models of sustainable community radio stations. This would be possible if the iNGOs support capacity building in the sector to identify and present issues that concern the community instead of interfering with the content," according to him.

Padhi highlighted that minimum support for sustainability and capacity building would encourage more CRSs to be established in the state and energize them to be catalysts of change at the community level.

Basudev Mahapatra is a journalist based in Bhubaneshwar. This article was first published on VillageSquare.in, a public-interest communications platform focused on rural India.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

No political event, big or small, exists in isolation. Every speech and gesture by a leader of consequence has a context, a subtext, a message(s) and portents that linger long after the dust raised by his chopper or motor cavalcade has settled. These elements often acquire a life of their own and augment the basic purpose of an event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Kedarnath shrine and his address to a gathering there on October 20 and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's presence at the Ayodhya "Deeputsav" celebration on Diwali on October 19 have resonances that transcend the boundaries of the small towns and the states in which they are located. Both the occasions have to be contextualised in the backdrop of the elections in Gujarat and the BJP's resurrection of its tried, tested and trusted Hindutva card that may not carry its original potency this time.

Gujarat is beset with woes arising from the arrival of a Goods and Services Tax regime. It has compounded the problems faced by textile and diamond traders who are up against an overall economic downturn that slackened business, caused job losses and shutdowns. The state's caste fault lines, camouflaged by a sense of "Hindu identity" in the years that the BJP has ruled, have surfaced as the dominant Patels or Patidars and the Thakores (divided into upper castes and backward castes) vie for a larger share of the power pie.

Gujarat is beset with woes arising from the arrival of a Goods and Services Tax regime.

After Modi's relocation to the Centre, the BJP does not have a credible or charismatic face, capable of leading the party to another victory, independent of Modi's persona and legacy. Modi's immediate successor Anandiben Patel announced she will not contest the election. The incumbent chief minister Vijay Rupani, though not a hot-button, was regarded as "uninspiring" by the Gujarat BJP. Therefore, this circumstance increases the BJP's dependency on Modi to deliver another victory with the party president Amit Shah as the back-up.

Modi was Gujarat's "Hindu hriday ka samrat" (monarch of the Hindu heart), an appellation he earned in 2002 on the back of the Godhra train carnage and the ensuing communal violence. He tried to balance the Hindutva tag with "vikas" (development), accounting for every little "accomplishment" of his government in his campaign trails.

Modi was Gujarat's "Hindu hriday ka samrat" (monarch of the Hindu heart), an appellation he earned in 2002 on the back of the Godhra train carnage and the ensuing communal violence.

Modi has reasons to play the Hindu card with greater intensity this time. The Patels are upset with the BJP but the community's also susceptible to faith-based political rhetoric and may not root with alacrity for the Congress. The traders must be retained, the upper caste Thakores have to be weaned from the Congress while the OBCs, a constituency the BJP has assiduously tapped into since 2012, may not vote for it as a solid block because the Congress is also making a play for their votes by co-opting non-state actors like Alpesh Thakore. The Dalits and the tribals vote differently in the different regions.

Second, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), that have a vast network, have to be assured that Modi's heart is with the Hindus. In the past, as the chief minister, he had run-ins with the VHP and made no secret of his dislike for its state leader, the outspoken Praveen Togadia. Because Modi's pro-Hindu credentials were above board, the VHP could do nothing to damage him and the BJP.

Kedarnath, high up on Uttarakhand's hills, was where Modi played to the Hindu gallery. His forehead covered with sandalwood paste and "rudraksha" beads strung around his neck, he invoked Shiva, enshrined in the temple's sanctum sanctorum, seeking "Baba Kedar's" blessings. He sent his greetings to Gujarat on its new year in Hindi and Gujarati several times.

I am happy to be in Kedarnath, a day after Diwali. Today, Gujaratis are celebrating the start of a New Year. I convey my greetings to everyone around the world who mark the start of Nutan Varsh: PM @narendramodi in Kedarnath

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 20, 2017

Modi claimed his political career was the outcome of a call from "Baba Kedar" to dedicate his life to the country's 125 crore "Babas". But the political underpinnings were unmistakeable. He wanted to remind people that in his youth, he had turned a monk and was wandering in the hills of Uttarakhand until he chanced upon an unnamed "ascetic" who counselled him to return to worldly life and "serve" people. This is mentioned in an early biography on Modi called "Narendra Modi: The Architect of a Modern State" by MV Kamath and Kalindi Randeri. It is a story that many Gujaratis swear by.

Modi harked back to the flash floods of June 2013 that had flattened out the hills, alleging that as the Gujarat CM, he had wanted to help out the state but the Uttarakhand government (then helmed by Vijay Bahuguna who has since joined the BJP) had rebuffed his offer.

Kedarnath, part of the "char dham" or four abodes of god, is a must on a devout Hindu's pilgrimage. More so for Gujaratis who account for the bulk of the tourists with those from Tamil Nadu, Andhra and West Bengal. In 2013, several pilgrims from Gujarat were trapped in the deluge. The Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board website, specifically mentions Gujarati among the three languages spoken in Kedarnath with Hindi and English.

The Congress's attempts to punch holes in Modi's rhetoric with the contention that while he landed at Kedarnath in a chopper, Rahul Gandhi had trekked 18 kms like any faithful, cut no ice because Modi's videos have reportedly been snapped up like hot cakes in Gujarat.

To do a balancing act, he promised to use a holistic approach to develop Kedarnath into a "model" pilgrim centre.

Through the work we are doing in Kedarnath, we want to show how an ideal 'Tirth Kshetra' should be, how it should be pilgrim friendly and the wellbeing of the priests should be given importance: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 20, 2017

Concealed in the folds of messaging was an important one meant for another state, Karnataka, that polls in early 2018. The head priest (Raval) of Kedarnath temple belongs to the Veerashaiva Lingayat community of Karnataka and chants the "mantras" in Kannada and not Sanskrit. The Veerashaiva Lingayats have demanded a religious status, independent of the Hindus, causing a problem for the Congress and the BJP. Modi may be telling the community that by heading one of the most important Hindu shrines, it is an integral part of Hinduism.

Modi may not have been physically present when a lakh lamps were lit on the banks of Ayodhya's Saryu river. But Yogi Adityanath, another "avatar" of Hindutva, presided over the jamboree laden as much with symbolism as substance for Gujarat.

Think of February 2002 and the VHP-BJP's aborted efforts to lay claim on the "disputed" land in Ayodhya to start the construction of a "grand" Ram temple. Most of the agitators were from Gujarat. Some of those who went back in a train were gutted down at the Godhra station. The unfortunate occurrence triggered a chain of violence against the Muslims who were held culpable for the train-burning and established a sense of strong religious identity among Gujarat's Hindus. Modi never looked back since then because he owes his political supremacy to Ayodhya.

"How old are you? What is your age?" I asked Babita (name changed), a young girl breastfeeding her two-month-old daughter.

"What do you mean by age?", her sunken eyes looked puzzled.

Realising we don't share the same references to time, I reword my question, "How many years ago did you start menstruating?"

"Two-three years ago," she tells us.

She is approximately 15-16 years old, I surmise.

During the interview, Babita told me that she was married off a year after she started menstruating. At the time of interview, she was staying with her mother as her husband had gone to Punjab for six months to work as an agricultural labourer. There are no functional schools in her village since the headmaster seldom shows up, so she stopped going to school early on. Added to this was the fact that she had to help her parents by cutting dhaan (paddy) in the field all day. To escape that drudgery, she agreed to get married. Why did she conceive a child so soon after marriage, I ask? "Baanj bulayenge warna sab" (otherwise they will call me infertile)," she exclaims!

This is a typical example of my conversations with young girls I had met in Araria, Bihar during field work for a formative study on adolescent reproductive and sexual health (ARSH). For this population, child marriage and early pregnancy are a stark reality; according to NFHS-4 survey (2015-16), 26.8 percent of women in India between the ages of 20 and 24 years are married before they turn 18 years old.

For rural Bihar, this number is more alarming – 2 out of 5 women aged 20-24 years were married before 18 years of age (NFHS-4). Similarly, 42.6 percent of men aged 25-29 years in rural Bihar were married before they turned 21 years.

Adolescent pregnancy remains underreported in India

It is important to point out here that these numbers do not reflect ground realities. Even though NFHS survey questionnaires undergo extensive pre-testing, they do not account for two things: the cognitive and conceptual gaps in understanding and reporting age in rural areas, and the impact of messaging and government's Information Education and Communication (IEC) material on mis-reporting or over-reporting one's age. Young boy and girls, especially when under-age, and their parents, either fear adverse consequences if they have been exposed to messaging on child marriage or fester false hopes of receiving benefits during survey exercises.

Babita's mother for example vehemently insisted that her daughter got married when she turned 18 years old, which our probing and triangulation of information revealed was not true. Adolescents as well as their parents frequently misreported their age either because they did not know their actual age and miscalculated years, or because they knew they cannot report being married if they are less than 18 or 21 years old. For similar reasons, the data on adolescent pregnancy also remains underreported in India, indicating a need to re-look standardised data collection practices.

ARSH Status Quo and Unmet Needs

Around 12.8 percent of women aged 15-19 years in rural Bihar were already mothers or were pregnant at the time of the NFHS-4 survey, which in real terms is a significant number. India in fact ranks as one of the highest in the number of reported adolescent pregnancies – the actual numbers are probably higher.

Yet, awareness and use of contraceptive methods as well as sexual rights remain limited in rural India. Babita, who upon some probing acknowledged that while she has heard about some contraceptive methods, argued that she will not use Copper-T or oral pills for delaying her next pregnancy as, it will "make her infertile". Such myths and misconceptions associated with IUD, pills and condoms are a commonplace in rural areas and are a significant reason behind lack of uptake of contraceptive methods in spite of rudimentary awareness. This is compounded by limited use of male-dependent methods, high discontinuation rates, and lack of support from family as well as service providers.

Studies show that the unmet need for contraceptives, especially for spacing pregnancies, in rural Bihar is as high as 21% (NFHS-4). The use of short-term contraceptives among adolescent women to delay pregnancy is even lower as they are expected to establish their fertility right after marriage to avoid stigmatization by the society.

Consequently, female sterilisation after bearing a few children has become the most widely accepted contraceptive method. "do ladka hone ke baad operation karvaungi" (I will undergo an operation after delivering two sons)," Babita told us when we asked her how will she prevent pregnancy after she has had the number of children she wants. The success of female sterilisation is explained by the penetration of Accredited Social Health Workers (ASHAs) in rural areas under the National Rural Health Mission, an increase in number of institutional deliveries, and the compensation offered in public health facilities for sterilisation.

Unmarried adolescents are simply discouraged from seeking reproductive and sexual healthcare and their problems are dismissed as trivial.

However, our field experience suggests that the problem with sterilisation is that it is viewed as a permanent contraception method which is adopted only after the couple has had multiple children, preferably sons. The onus of this adversely falls on women and their health who are in turn pushed towards early pregnancy and consecutive child births.

This social pressure on adolescent and young women is coupled by lack of alternative life choices, limited mobility and lack of control over their own sexual and reproductive rights. Further, while married adolescents still enjoy certain social legitimacy while accessing reproductive health services, unmarried adolescents are simply discouraged from seeking reproductive and sexual healthcare and their problems are dismissed as trivial.

This is bolstered by the population control and family centric approach in our policy environment which primarily focuses on improving access to contraceptives for married couples, and an overall development of the 'family'. Such a discourse fails to take into account the overall quality of life that young women in rural areas are leading, the social costs associated with delaying or limiting pregnancies and the lack of decision making power in the hands of women.

The movie Parched (2015), set in the landscape of rural Rajasthan about four women navigating the patriarchal society, drives home this point really well. When Lajjo, a young woman in an abusive marriage fails to conceive due to her husband's impotency, she is mocked for infertility, and when Janki, a child bride, chops off her hair to stop her marriage, she is forced into it nonetheless. The movie ends on a positive note: the three characters escape their village in search for a better life. But it leaves a crucial question unanswered, what is the life that awaits them?

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

The issue of reproductive health and sexual rights of adolescent boys and girls, under-age marriage, and adolescent pregnancy within and outside marriage remains a policy blind-spot in India. This is in spite of the fact that multiple surveys have highlighted the prevalence of child marriage and early pregnancy in India (Hyperlink Part 1 of the article here). Ironically, women's issues have been consistently reduced to the lens of health, family and violence in the development discourse since independence. Yet, attention to adolescent girls in particular, and their sexual and reproductive rights has been almost absent until recently.

The unmet need for reproductive and sexual health services and counselling is propounded by studies that suggest that adolescents and youth have not received relevant information on sexual matters from frontline workers and healthcare providers and are largely uncomfortable in obtaining contraceptive supplies from them, even when it is available (International Institute for Population Sciences and Population Council, 2010). In fact, reports suggest that adolescent girls rank the lowest in terms of awareness about sexual health, family planning methods, risky sexual behavior and their rights (RKSK Strategy Handbook, Government of India, 2014).

The unmet need for reproductive and sexual health services and counselling is propounded by studies that suggest that adolescents and youth have not received relevant information on sexual matters from frontline workers and healthcare providers.

During our field work for example, while adolescent boys, who seasonally migrated to Punjab and Delhi in search of work, were familiar with contraceptive methods such as condom and emergency pills, and STDs such as HIV/AIDS, adolescent girls would often plead ignorance during the interviews.

Until the National Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) strategy released in 2006, there was no policy that directly addressed adolescent SRH. The National ARSH strategy mandated setting up of Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHC) to provide preventive, curative and referral health services to adolescents in a safe and respectful environment. However, a number of evaluations of AFHCs over the past decade has revealed its policy failure: uneven implementation, limited awareness, inadequate training and sensitisation of health care providers, lack of utilisation by adolescents, insufferably poor quality, and unavailability of supporting infrastructure. These clinics have failed to operate regularly and provide services with respect and privacy to adolescents (Santhya et al 2014).

Our recent field work on ARSH suggests that often AFHCs exists only on paper,with no dedicated staff, training or infrastructure to meet the needs of adolescents in rural Bihar. None of the adolescent boys and girls we spoke to had ever heard of an AFHC, or a clinic with corresponding description, but only about the block level Primary Health Centre (PHC), which they hardly ever visited. Unmarried boys and girls in fact told us that they prefer availing private health care facilities for common ailments instead of consulting ASHAs or visiting Anganwadi Centres and PHCs, the latter is meant for married women or severe ailments, they added.

ASHAs themselves acknowledged that they hardly ever interact with unmarried girls.

The National ARSH strategy also mandated training of ASHAs to interact with unmarried adolescent females in order to capitalise on the success of their access to the community. This goal, however, remains unfulfilled. In cases where ASHAs have been trained to address adolescent SRH needs, their focus in practice has remained on facilitating the incentive system based institutional delivery scheme for married women or facilitating female sterilization (Planning Commission 2011; Santhya et al 2011). During our field work, ASHAs themselves acknowledged that they hardly ever interact with unmarried girls, except when the latter themselves approach them during VHSND (Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition days), most often with issues related to irregular menstruation.

Policy efforts have not been accompanied with infrastructural support, adequate trainings of frontline workers and awareness generation among the community. ASHAs, ANMs and Staff nurses have in most cases received very rudimentary training and sensitisation on adolescent SRH, their needs and unique challenges with regard to imparting information to adolescents and mitigating their own inhibitions (Santhya et al 2014).

Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakarm (RKSK), one of the recent government programs aimed at improving ARSH seeks to address some of these challenges, and builds upon the National Adolescent Health Strategy released by Government of India in 2013. RKSK seeks to further strengthen ASHAs and mobilise community leaders such as peer educators to raise awareness and access to contraceptives and reproductive health supplies such as sanitary napkins within the community. It seeks to strengthen and extend AFHCs, by setting up daily AFHC at Community Health Centre level and weekly AFHC at PHC level and complementing it with referral services. While these two components are a continuation of the earlier policy, and need improvement in terms of implementation, the operational framework of RKSK focuses on overall health and well-being of adolescents including nutrition, SRH, menstrual hygiene management, mental health, violence and substance abuse by converging various stakeholders.

Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakarm (RKSK), one of the recent government programs aimed at improving ARSH seeks to address some of these challenges, and builds upon the National Adolescent Health Strategy released by Government of India in 2013.

An ambitious and well-intentioned scheme, RKSK's biggest challenge remains implementation in terms of awareness generation, community mobilisation and uptake, successful convergence, sensitised and tailored trainings of frontline workers and peer educators, and timely and appropriate infrastructural and resource availability and support. While RKSK focuses on overall well-being of adolescents, in the absence of a supporting environment with alternative life-choices, decision making autonomy and capacity building to enable adolescent women to lead a fruitful life if they delay marriage and pregnancy, its aims will remain severely curtailed.

The aim to achieve overall development of adolescents should not mask more specific and severe challenges existing in the countryside: underage brides, adolescent pregnancies, social pressures to conceive which conflict with ARSH messaging, and absence of awareness and sensitisation among married and unmarried young men to name a few. It is important to converge policies on ARSH with life skill training, awareness generation, and behavior change campaigns in the absence of which young women will have little option.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

Sex was an audacious thesis statement, calculated enough to piss people off but seemly enough to maintain artistic integrity.

That the BJP has been running the AIADMK show from behind the curtains is probably Tamil Nadu's worst-kept secret at the moment. A day ago, Tamil Nadu's dairy development minister Rajender Balaji admitted, unabashedly, that AIADMK has to fear nothing and no one because the party has the support of Prime Minister Modi. Anyone familiar with Tamil Nadu's politics will agree that this 'mere paas Modi hai' sentiment defines AIADMK, post Jayalalithaa.

On the face of it, it may seem that having control over the AIADMK would make BJP a force to reckon with in Tamil Nadu. However, what the party did not factor in, in its quest to gain power over Tamil Nadu's politics, is the resistance it faced from the film industry. It may have been prepared for a battle with the Congress-DMK alliance, but Kollywood? Not something they had a defence plan for.

The past week hasn't been the best of the party in Tamil Nadu. First, Kamal Haasan, who isn't anyway a great fan of the saffron brigade, retracted his statement supporting demonetisation. In a column, he not only apologised for supporting demonetisation but also demanded that Prime Minister Modi admit that the decision to demonetize was not an erroneous one, or at least, the way it was implemented was a mistake.

This Diwali, the release of Mersal, starring Tamil superstar Vijay left the BJP stunned. The film pulls no punches in its criticism of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), one of NDA government's trophy projects. It did not help that the BJP leaders didn't let the film take it's natural course and disappear from public memory -- the early reviews of the film were not encouraging with critics pointing out that that it was a rehash of several old Tamil films. Instead, they went at the film hammer and tongs, giving it a new lease of life at the box office.

Sources say that the BJP sees the two developments as potentially threatening to all the work they had done to gain mileage in the state. Considering that both Vijay and Kamal Hasaan have considerable influence of thousands of Tamilians, open criticism against the Centre could make an impression on the electorate.

It didn't also help that Vijay's supporters made #MersalvsModi trend on Twitter, throwing a challenge at the Prime Minister himself. As a result, BJP's attempts to point out what they called was an inaccurate portrayal of the GST, sank.

Kamal was the first to tweet in Mersal's support articulating that once it has passed the scrutiny of the Censor Board, no one can ask a filmmaker to cut his movie again. The South Indian Artistes Association too has spoken in support of the film now.

But the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP sees a political motive behind Vijay's character criticising the GST in Mersal. Most of them argued that Vijay has done this to further his own political ambitions. In what was a crude, below the belt remark, H Raja, the national secretary of the BJP sought to emphasize Vijay's full name -- Joseph Vijay -- in what seemed like a bid to suggest that his Christian roots has something to do with him critiquing the BJP. One was reminded how Prime Minister Modi, back in 2002, used a similar strategy to question his critics. Irked by chief election commissioner JM Lyngdoh's directives, Modi had sought to spell out his full name -- James Michael Lyngdoh -- not in a matter-of-fact manner, but as a suggestion that he may be close to Congress since he is a Christian.

The narrative around BJP's move to re-censor Mersal has been cast in a way that suggests that the party has hurt Tamil pride. That can't be good news for the party.

The feeling on the street already is how despite the BJP's best attempts to push O Panneerselvam tp capture the AIADMK's top leadership, he could not muster enough support and therefore Plan B of effecting a merger with the Edappadi Palaniswami group had to be kicked in. BJP secured less than 3 per cent vote share and zero seats in the 2016 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. No wonder several people feel that the party is punching way above its weight in trying to dictate what the state can watch in movie theatres and what they cannot.

While Mersal's GST scene has gone viral, the next movie that is likely to cause a similar or bigger storm would be Kamal Haasan's 'Indian 2'. Given the actor's political inclinations, it's fair to assume that his role as an anti-corruption vigilante, will be a loaded one.

Demonetisation is likely to go down as one of landmark decisions in history of Independent India. It will serve as a useful guide to countries across the globe in their monetary experiments to counter black money. It also poses few questions pertinent to the policy discourse of the country. The Indian government apparently had not taken everyone into confidence while announcing the demonetization policy.

The decision was kept under wraps until 8 PM on 8th November, 2016 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement public. The intent was to catch the corrupt off-guard. Let us discuss two lessons from this epic experiment: one pertaining to policy formulation and the other pertaining to policy evaluation.

Stakeholder Consultation

The process followed to arrive at the demonetisation policy is intriguing. Unlike Goods and Services Tax (GST), demonetisation hardly solicited inputs of stakeholders to assess its likely impact. Most legislators were not privy to this decision until moments before the announcement.

At the same time, one of the biggest problems pointed out by critics of demonetisation was the lack of preparedness and foresight of the government. This can be attributed partly to lack of stakeholder involvement in decision making process. The reason for not involving the elected representatives need to be examined further.

A friend of mine pointed out that when legislators take oath to office and secrecy and are yet kept out of loop, the Prime Minister is openly acknowledging their corruption. Even when the Cabinet was informed about the decision moments before making the announcement public, an additional precaution was taken. Members of the Cabinet were specifically instructed not to carry their mobile phones.

The very fact that the inputs of elected representatives cannot be solicited due to concerns of 'trust', should perturb us, yet, strangely it does not. We have grown accustomed to it and we are understanding that the Prime Minister has very few he can trust and involve while making such a momentous decision. It is even more disturbing that there was hardly any dissent from those kept out of loop, that they should have been consulted in the decision making process. Is it an acknowledgement from their end that they are not trustworthy?

How can the trustworthiness of elected representatives be ensured? This calls for examining how they stand to benefit if they help those holding black money.

Arguably, such a huge decision would have benefitted from perspectives of diverse stakeholders so that its repercussions could be foreseen to a greater extent and adequate preparation could be taken. It may have also helped the government identify and prevent ways in which black money could be converted to white money. How can the trustworthiness of elected representatives be ensured? This calls for examining how they stand to benefit if they help those holding black money.

Some elected representatives might have black money or could have close ties with those possessing it which could prompt them to protect their vested interests if they are involved in decision making process. Measures to ensure transparency in election financing and stringent monitoring of wealth accumulated by those in power are few steps that can be taken to address this issue.

Policy Evaluation

The evaluation of the demonetisation policy is another interesting area, given that its intended objectives are modified to stay in sync with any intended or unintended positive consequences reported to arise from it. If the initial intent as per the announcement of the honourable Prime Minister was to curb black money and financing of terrorism, it has metamorphosed into increasing digitisation, formalisation and widening of tax base. Given its continuously evolving objectives, how would one evaluate such a policy?

The reason why the government is able to play this game is because of a deeper underlying issue in policy formulation: the lack of a systematic and structured approach to policymaking.

It should be made mandatory that government initiates mechanisms for evaluating a policy or a law as part of its design. This would compel policymakers to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound) objectives, as management theorists would call it.

Would the public have voted the Bharatiya janata Party to power had they known that the move did not yield its initial intended objectives?

Presently, there seems to be a blind-faith in policy making due to which there is a lack of emphasis on validating the underlying assumptions or its intended impact through data.

It is important to gather data to evaluate whether policies created with good intent such as rail travel subsidy, caste-based reservation are effective as envisioned. Evaluation of success of policies or programs should not be left to one's beliefs. The outcome matters as much as the intent.

Lack of a timely policy evaluation mechanism leads to policy makers exploiting the policy intent. While data might have been available with Reserve Bank of India at least till April 2017 that 98.8% of the notes had returned to the system by 13 January 2017, it did not make this information public until August 2017. It seems reasonable that the government would have kept track of the currency that returns to the system, given the intent and magnitude of the decision.

Perhaps, if they admitted that much of the withdrawn currency had returned to the system sooner, it may not have been able to capitalise on the perceived gains of the demonetisation policy in elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and get elected to power. Would the public have voted the Bharatiya janata Party to power had they known that the move did not yield its initial intended objectives? The general public might have considered demonetisation policy to be successful when they went to vote.

'DeMon' will go down as a reminder of how effective a policy could have been, had relevant stakeholders been engaged. It would also serve as a guide on how policymakers can afford to carry out any experiment, but still claim and exploit its perceived success due to lack of a systematic and structured approach to policymaking. Absence of a sound evaluation mechanism rewards the intent over outcome of a policy.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.

Jonathan, a 186-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise, met the love of his life way back in 1991.

His carers decided he needed a special someone after the active 150-ish-year-old became irritable and difficult to deal with.

The tortoise partner they introduced him to worked wonders. Jonathan and his partner enjoyed doing almost everything together -- sleeping, eating, and their frequent mating sessions.

For years though, Jonathan's owners had been confused as to why the two -- her name was Frederica -- weren't producing any offspring.

But one day when Frederica required medical care for a lesion on her shell, they realised the reason why. Frederica was male.

That's how it was recently discovered that Jonathan, probably the oldest known living creature, was a little bit gay.

What's even sweeter -- in a St Helena Government press release it was noted that "Jonathan came over and would not leave our side the whole way through" the treatment of his companion.

Jonathan was given as a gift to the remote island of St Helena back in the 1882, along with three other tortoises. While he has since lost his sense of smell and capacity to see, Jonathan retains good hearing.

The exact date of his birth is unknown, but a photograph of Jonathan taken around 1886 suggests that he is around 185 years old.

The news comes as St Helena, a tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, faces a debate on legalising same-sex marriage. The tiny British territory which is one of the most remote islands in the world has a population of just 4,534. The Legislative Council is currently taking submissions on the matter, and a full Supreme Court hearing will most likely occur in January of next year.

Around a year ago one of the richest business conglomerates in the world, Sweetie Pie*, called me for a discussion about Sexual Harassment at the workplace. Although the text of the discussions was great and all the right words, "women must feel safe", "It's our primary duty to ensure their safety", were being officiously articulated, yet I left the office knowing that nothing concrete would materialise out of the discussion. About two months after the meeting, Sweetie Pie was in the news because they were murmurs of a sexual harassment case that one of the employees had filed against the company. After this incident, they called me frantically to be a part of their Internal Complaint Committee at the workplace, as mandated by law.

According to The Sexual Harassment Of Women At Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, Chapter II Constitution of Internal complaints committee:

4. Constitution of Internal Complaints Committee. — (1) Every employer of a workplace shall, by an order in writing, constitute a Committee to be known as the "Internal Complaints Committee":

Provided that where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places or divisional or sub-divisional level, the Internal Committee shall be constituted at all administrative units or offices.

(2) The Internal Committees shall consist of the following members to be nominated by the employer, namely:

(a) a Presiding Officer who shall be a woman employed at a senior level at workplace from amongst the employees: Provided that in case a senior level woman employee is not available, the Presiding Officer shall be nominated from other offices or administrative units of the workplace referred to in sub-section(1):

Provided further that in case the other offices or administrative units of the workplace do not have a senior level woman employee, the Presiding Officer shall be nominated from any other workplace of the same employer or other department or organisation;

(b) not less than two Members from amongst employees preferably committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge;

(c) one member from amongst non-governmental organisations or associations committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment: Provided that at least one-half of the total Members so nominated shall be women.

(3) The Presiding Officer and every Member of the Internal Committee shall hold office for such period, not exceeding three years, from the date of their nomination as may be specified by the employer.

(4) The Member appointed from amongst the non-governmental organisations or associations shall be paid such fees or allowances for holding the proceedings of the Internal Committee, by the employer, as may be prescribed.

(5) Where the Presiding Officer or any Member of the Internal Committee, —

(a) contravenes the provisions of section 16; or

(b) has been convicted for an offence or an inquiry into an offence under any law for the time being in force is pending against him; or

(c) he has been found guilty in any disciplinary proceedings or a disciplinary proceeding is pending against him; or

(d) has so abused his position as to render his continuance in office prejudicial to the public interest, such Presiding Officer or Member, as the case may be, shall be removed from the Committee and the vacancy so created or any casual vacancy shall be filled by fresh nomination in accordance with the provisions of this section.

If we read the section carefully, we will understand that the law has left no loopholes in protecting women at their workplace, including laying down the composition of the ICC to review complaints about sexual harassment. I was excited to be a part of the committee and to share my expertise on a subject that I am passionate about. But yet again, nothing materialised out of these discussions because of a huge disparity in their words and their actions. Either the timing wasn't right, or the salary offered was a pittance, or their bosses who were the decision makers were unavailable. Basically, all the reasons proffered had a 'dog ate my homework quality' to them, but the underlying subtext was clear: Prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace just isn't a priority.

That's the real issue with Sexual Harassment at workplace-everyone believes that it doesn't exist, except the woman who is at the receiving end. So not only does she have to battle through the scepticism each time she even dares to bring it up, she also has to go through the entire journey of recounting the horrific experience only to face the aftermath of the negative repercussions in most cases. Dealing with sexual harassment is tough.

Even when extremely powerful women like Angelina Jolie who, besides being an A List Hollywood actress is also a UNHCR special envoy, found it hard to speak up against sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, think of the challenges faced by an average career woman to speak out. We tend to forget that it takes a lot of guts for a woman to come forward and even take the first tiny step towards even speaking about being sexually harassed and how do we react? Usually by punishing her with either loss of face or ridicule. Or as in Rosanna Arquette's case who got passed over by Harvey Weinstein for roles in his movies because she didn't succumb to his advances.

We tend to forget that it takes a lot of guts for a woman to come forward and even take the first tiny step towards even speaking about being sexually harassed.

Although we don't need a definition of sexual harassment because we all know what exactly it is, yet when it happen we turn a blind eye to it and pretend all is hunky dory and men take it for granted that it's part of the women's job to service them and the company. If her skill sets are better than yours and she has succeeded in life it doesn't mean that she has slept her way to the top and if sleeping around was the way to the top then the poor helpless sex workers would perhaps have been the President of the United States (maybe they would have done a better job than Trump).

It's not the laws that are insufficient but our mindset that makes the laws against sexual harassment at the workplace fail miserably. When companies like Sweetie Pie, amongst many others, take responsibility and don't shove the issues related to sexual harassment on the back burner only then there will be a socio-legal implementation of laws related to prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace. Otherwise, some brave women will continue to speak up, but they have a tough job ahead of them, initially, after which the companies will pay a heavy price like the Harvey Weinstein Company.

P.S. At the time of going to press, the Oscar Board, has expelled Harvey Weinstein from its committee, a first for the Board since its inception over 80 years ago.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of HuffPost India. Any omissions or errors are the author's and HuffPost India does not assume any liability or responsibility for them.