Rakshasudu Trailer Review: A Nail-Biting Thriller (Photo:SocialNews.XYZ)

The makers of Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas film “Rakshasudu” have locked their release date in the first week of August. After the first look poster and teaser, today the trailer of the movie is launched through the social media platform. The trailer of Rakshasudu has successfully raised the expectations on the suspense crime thriller and it achieved the attention of the moviegoers.

The main plus points of Rakshasudu trailer are its haunting music by music director Ghibran, some quick dialogues that raise the curiosity about the villain, the ongoing happenings in the serial violent murders, kidnappings and especially the suspense that is created with the doll head, gift pack and the back to back fast flash cuts hinting the storyline of the film.

For the first time hero, Bellamkonda Sreenivas has selected an author backdrop role and he is looking apt as a police officer. Anupama Parameswaran is looking beautiful in the sarees and the traditional wear. Most of the key characters artists are repeated from the Tamil original film “Ratsasan” and it might be the intentional decision to bring perfect reaction for the remake. Rakshasudu hints of a proper psychological thriller film and with the perfect cast, the crew being as strong pillars to this movie. Watch the trailer of Rakshasudu and post your thoughts in the comment box folks.

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By Nivedita Singh

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) A total of Rs 11.48 crore remained unspent with the Delhi MPs, as the 16th Lok Sabha came close to an end, with highest amount with Manoj Tiwari, MP from North East Delhi, according to an official data from the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD).

While Tiwari had an unspent balance of Rs 3.16 crore, the second in the list is New Delhi MP Meenakashi Lekhi with Rs 3.05 crore.

Union Minister and MP from Chandini Chowk Harsh Vardhan had only Rs 0.01 crore in his unspent balance.

In terms of fund released, MP from North West Delhi Udit Raj got maximum of Rs 22.50 crore, while least amount of Rs 7.50 crore was sanctioned to South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri.

Raj also topped the expenditure incurred list by expending Rs 26.41 crore. With an expenditure of Rs 24.27, Lekhi came second.

West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh expended least at Rs 11.53 crore.

The unspent balance of Rs 0.19 crore is with Raj, while East Delhi' MP Maheish Girri have 0.73 crore. Bidhuri has Rs 1.69 crore as unspent balance and Singh left with Rs 2.65 crore.

An equal amount Rs 17.50 crore was released to Tiwari, Lekhi and Girri. Singh got Rs 12.50 crore from the government, while Vardhan got Rs 10 crore.

In terms of expenditure incurred, Girri used Rs 17.55 crore, Tiwari used Rs 15. 27 crore while Vardhan used Rs 14.08 crore. Bidhuri, on the other hand, only used Rs 13.87 crore.

Delhi has seven parliamentary seats, with all bagged by BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

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By Rohit Vaid

Mumbai, Dec 31 (IANS) Despite heavy volatility, coupled with foreign fund outflows and a weak rupee, the Indian equities market emerged as one of the best performers globally in 2018, mainly on account of a rise in the pace of economic expansion, lower inflation and a normal monsoon.

The two key indices -- the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 -- closed higher by just 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. The gains were capped as crude oil prices rose and fears over a tariff war-induced global slowdown grew.

Besides global factors, state elections, budgetary announcements on equities and natural calamities roiled investor sentiments.

"The year 2018 was very volatile with a return of only 6 per cent. Bunch of reforms had a disruptive effect in the domestic economy while international market was negative due increase in yield, reduction in liquidity, Brexit and trade war impacting world economy," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Index-wise, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P BSE augmented by 2,019.89 points or 5.93 per cent to close at 36,068.33 points from last year's close at 34,056.83 points.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader Nifty50 surged by 329.2 points or 3.2 per cent to 10,862.55 points from its 2017's close of 10,530.70 points.

Last year, the barometer index had risen by a massive 7,430 points or 27.90 per cent to close at 34,056.83 points, while the broader Nifty50 surged by 2,344.90 points or 28.64 per cent to close at 10,530.70 points.

"Indian indices performance in 2018 was weaker than 2017 owing to host of issues, including but not limited to liquidity squeeze by global central bankers, volatility in commodity prices such as crude, and trade war concerns," SMC Investments & Advisors CMD D.K. Aggarwal told IANS.

Even though the 2018 gains were marginal, both the Sensex and Nifty50 emerged as amongst the best in attaining the highest growth rates globally.

They were the amongst best performing benchmark indices among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of countries.

"The performance of the world equity market was dull, in which India outperformed with positive return in INR terms and a negative return in dollar term to the emerging markets," Nair said.

Globally, Brazil's bellwether IBOVESPA index was the best performing with a growth of over 12 per cent, whereas China's Shanghai Composite plunged more than 25 per cent.

However, the domestic mid- and small-cap indices plunged during 2018, the S&P BSE mid-cap index fell by over 13 per cent and the small-cap index by 23 per cent.

"Small and mid-caps went out of favour in 2018 due to regulatory changes adopted by the exchanges and SEBI or RBI whereby traders got disincentivised to buy or hold on to these shares for long," HDFC Securities' Retail Research Head Deepak Jasani told IANS.

"Skeletons came out of some promoters' cupboards due to the relentless price fall. Disruption due to technology, e-commerce etc also impacted the business models of quite a few companies. Lastly in some cases the valuations which has risen abnormally high earlier reverted to their mean."

On the currency front, the Indian rupee was heavily dented in 2018 due to a sharp and sudden uptick in the prices of Brent crude and other commodities. The currency fell by 9.23 per cent against the USD at 69.77 from its previous close of 63.87, making it the worst performing Asian currency of the year.

In terms of investments, NSDL data showed that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold Rs 33,014 crore worth of equities in 2018.

Similarly, provisional data from the stock exchanges showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold over Rs 73,000 crore worth of equities.

"The year 2017 saw the US Fed raising rates to 1.25 per cent from 0.75 per cent, while in 2018 this was further raised to 2.5 per cent. This accelerated outflows from emerging markets across the world," Jasani said.

The Fed's hikes prompted foreign investors to pull out of emerging markets, including India.

"It (outflow of foreign funds) is one of the factors which one can correlate with the performance of domestic markets, but it is to be seen that huge participation by domestic investors either directly or through Mutual Funds have shouldered the selling by FII's," Aggarwal said.

On sector-specific basis, the S&P BSE IT index gained the most with a rise of 26.1 per cent, whereas the S&P BSE telecom index lost 39.58 per cent.

The top five gainers on the NSE were Bajaj Finance (up 50.12 per cent), TCS (44.35), Tech Mahindra (43.65), HUL (34.52) and Infosys (27.16).

The top five losers were HPCL (down 39.45 per cent), Vedanta (40.07), Bharti Airtel (40.43), Yes Bank (42.12) and Tata Motors (59.19)

(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in)

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By Rohit Vaid

Mumbai, Dec 31 (IANS) A rise in global protectionist measures, along with high crude oil prices, knocked out the Indian rupee in 2018, relegating it as the worst performing Asian currency of the year.

Additionally, fears over widening of the current account deficit, uncertainty due to state elections, banking sector woes and the currency contagion among emerging markets greatly weakened the Indian rupee.

However, some improvement in global risk sentiments and a sharp plunge in oil prices helped the rupee recover from its recent low levels.

On a yearly basis, the currency fell by 9.23 per cent against the USD at 69.77 from its previous close of 63.87 on December 31, 2017.

In contrast, the rupee had appreciated by 5.99 per cent to close at 63.87 to a dollar in 2017.

The Indian currency was under pressure since February 2018, due to a sharp and sudden uptick in the prices of Brent crude and other commodities.

Especially, the Brent crude price guided the rupee's trajectory for the better part of the year.

Crude oil, which accounts for a large import bill for India, had weakened the rupee to 70 per dollar-mark and eventually led it to climb to 74.47 in October.

The Brent crude had soared to $86-a-barrel mark in early October, only to register an over over 40 per cent fall to below $50 per barrel following the US decision to exempt 8 countries, including India, from the sanctions on importing oil from Iran and fears over a slowdown in global growth.

India imports about 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements and a spike in global prices fans the risk of inflation, pressuring the rupee.

"INR has had a difficult year, and was the worst EM (emerging market) Asian currency in 2018 followed by IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)," said Madhavi Arora, Economist, Edelweiss Securities' FX and Rates desk.

"Within the overall EM basket, Argentina and Turkey were the worst owing to domestic and external debt woes and political instability. This was followed by commodity currencies like Brazillian Real and South African Rand. India followed next and was the worst in EM Asia basket."

The Indian rupee was further dented as the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates four times this year which prompted foreign investors to pull out of emerging markets, including India, hurting the rupee.

The NSDL data showed that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold Rs 80,919 crore worth of equities, debt and hybrid instruments. The equity segment alone accounted for Rs 33,014 crore worth of outflows which was the highest in a decade.

The record outflow was second just to year 2008, when the financial markets across the globe plunged into deep recession.

Similarly, provisional data from the stock exchanges showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold over Rs 73,000 crore worth of equities.

According to Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for Currency and Interest Rates with Kotak Securities, the rupee might face some intense bouts of volatility in the initial period of 2019 on account of the interim budget and the general elections.

"The first half can see immense volatility due to general elections. A range of 68-74 can be seen," Banerjee told IANS.

(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in)

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By Radhika Bhirani

New Delhi, Dec 31 (IANS) It took a year since the #MeToo wave hit Hollywood for its tides to be felt in India across the showbiz, media, art, literature and political worlds. But it has led to, hopefully, a social awakening about gender dynanics and prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace.

In September, former beauty queen and actress Tanushree Dutta sparked the fire when she renewed an old allegation against acting veteran Nana Patekar of harassment on the sets of a 2008 film, "Horn OK Pleasss".

Nana, has denied the allegations -- as have several other popular celebrities who have been named and shamed.

But amidst the accusing-and-denying game, efforts have been stepped up to ensure sexual harassment and abuse are either kept at bay, or dealt with sternly.

Former journalist-turned politician M.J. Akbar had to put in his papers following a slew of accusations against him. Filmmaker Sajid Khan has been suspended from the Indian Film and Television Directors Association (IFTDA) and actor Alok Nath has been expelled from the Cine And TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA).

Vinta Nanda, a writer-director who has accused Alok of sexually violating her years ago, is hopeful of positive change.

"The MeToo movement has brought about a tectonic shift in a deep-rooted patriarchal mindset. It's impact is so deep that it won't be long before we witness our politics, our economy and justice system being readjusted to accomodate 50 per cent of the population of the woprld, which has since forever been isolated from the mainstream for no rhyme or reason," Nanda told IANS.

IFTDA President Ashoke Pandit feels the #MeToo movement has set the tone for posterity, establishing that voice of a victim -- whether a man or a woman -- will go unheard.

"However big you may be, but if you are a sexual abuser, you will not go scot-free. This movement was a much-needed cleansing act for all industries to make the work environment safe, especially for the womenfolk," Pandit told IANS.

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act has been reinforced by organisations across the board, warning predators against inappopriate behaviour.

That demand for sexual favours is rampant in the fashion world has been depicted in films freely for the past few years. But it was model Kawaljit Singh Anand's open accusation aimed at designer Vijay Arora which opened the MeToo discussions about the harassment that models face.

The MeToo wave hit the political realm with journalist Priya Ramani's tweet on Akbar.

Ramani had written an article on Akbar in 'Vogue India' last year without naming him. In her article titled "To the Harvey Weinsteins of the world", she recounted how Akbar called her to a hotel room in Mumbai and made her uncomfortable with his behaviour.

As if a simmering geyser of helpless resentment suppressed underneath the layers of societal disapproval, job insecurity and social stigma found a vent, a slew of women journalists came out with their horror stories involving Akbar.

Journalist Ghazala Wahab wrote the most hard hitting piece with others, including Pallavi Gogoi and Suparna Sharma, revisiting their insults at the hands of then editor and now a resourceful Union Minister.

Before a sceptic could cast aspersions on the veracity of the women's claims on grounds of their long silence, the "predator" himself gave the answer by hiring a powerful law firm with a battery of 97 lawyers to represent him in a court against Ramani who, by her own admission, could afford just one lawyer to battle the defamation suit filed by Akbar.

Probably Akbar could silence Ramani, or a few others who dared to speak up, but he had no control over the political churning that was taking place all this while.

Akbar had to resign from the Union Council of Ministers on October 17 in face of pressure from the opposition and the civil society.

Reputed names from the art world such as Jatin Das and Riyas Komu were also accused of sexual harassment, prompting the organisers of art festivals, galleries and auction houses to pay heed to the rising tide of MeToo movement in India.

Sotheby's India Managing Director Gaurav Bhatia was sent on leave soon after stories of sexual misconduct surfaced, followed by Subodh Gupta, who, just recently, "stepped back" from his curatorial role at Serendipity Arts Festival.

An Instagram page "Scene and Herd", despite being anonymous, has shun light on several prominent figures by posting alleged accounts of sexual harassment.

In the literary space that is fast turning into a glamorous affair with the rise of lit fests and many writers emerging as celebrities, the MeToo movement brought down some prominent names. These included bestselling author Chetan Bhagat, veteran Kiran Nagarkar, poet-journalist C.P. Surendran and lit-fest regular Suhel Seth.

It was interesting to note that women from the writing fraternity led the movement, both on social media and in talks organised at book stores and other literary forums, urging publishers and organisers of literary events, Jaipur Literature Festival in particular, to create a safe space for women.

While there was no response whatsoever from the publishers' end who went ahead with their book deals with some of the authors "named and shamed" on social media, literary festivals stayed away from featuring them at their events.

Industry insiders, however, seem to suggest that the movement has turned into witch hunting, pointing out that those who have been accused had just the same right to put forth their side of stories as those accusing them; that they should be given the benefit of doubt until actually proven guilty of what they have been accused of.

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at rbhirani@gmail.com)

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By Brajendra Nath Singh

New Delhi, Dec 31 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP face a tough challenge in the Lok Sabha elections in the coming summer in the wake of its defeat in the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and mounting worries on the economic front.

Even at the end of 2017, no one would have given the opposition a chance in the next general elections after BJP's sweeping success in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in the wake of demonetisation and surgical strikes on terror hideouts across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and its ability to come to power in other states where it was not the largest party.

However, the BJP was contained in Modi's home state of Gujarat in the year-end Assembly elections where it was stopped short of the 100 mark, signalling the green shoots of recovery for the Congress.

The change in the last one year became evident after a united Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party defeated the BJP in the Lok Sabha by-elections in its strong holds like Gorakhpur and Phulpur and along with the RLD, in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress worsted the BJP in parliamentary by-elections in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and in Karnataka.

Also, the Congress was quick to learn from BJP's game elsewhere and surrendered the Chief Minister's post to the JD-S in a post-poll tie up to keep the BJP out of power in Karnataka, despite the saffron party emerging the single largest in the summer of this year.

The results of the recent Assembly polls in five states, where the Congress snatched power from the BJP in the Hindi heartland, has given a major boost to the opposition parties and could be a factor in the battle for control of the next Lok Sabha.

During the year, the BJP had lost seven out of the 13 by-elections in parliamentary constituencies. Of these, it held nine since 2014. It could retain only Palghar in Maharashtra and Shimoga in Karnataka.

Since 2014, the BJP managed to retain just six Lok Sabha seats in by-polls. Besides Palghar and Shimoga, it had won Lakhimpur in Assam, Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, Beed in Maharashtra and Vadodara in Gujarat.

In the last four-and-half-years, the party has lost Lok Sabha by polls in Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, Gurdaspur in Punjab, Alwar and Ajmer in Rajasthan, Kairana, Phulpur and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and Bellary and Mandya constituencies in Karnataka. The BJP's tally in the Lok Sabha has come down to 268 from 282 in 2014.

The results of the recent Assembly polls and the by-elections may have signalled the weakening of the "Modi wave" of 2014 the road ahead may not be easy for the saffron party, given the fact that major parties like SP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh are planning an anti-BJP alliance and formation of the RJD-led alliance in Bihar, the two states which send 120 of the 543 elected MPs to the 545-member Lok Sabha, where two members are nominated.

Although the BJP-led government has been counting various of its schemes including Mudra, Ujwala, Saubhagya, opening of 'jan dhan' bank accounts, One Rank One Pension, and decisions on demonetisation, GST and the surgical strikes across the border in Pakistan as its major achievements in last four-and-a-half-years, the issues related to farmers and impacts of demonetisation and GST, NPAs crisis have come as a major dampener for the ruling party.

Unlike in 2014, when they were the challenger at the Centre and in many states, when an untested Modi made various promises, he and his party would now face a lot of questions to answer on the "achhe din" they had offered to the electorate.

During the last election campaign, Modi had promised one crore jobs a year and depositing of Rs 15 lakh in each persons account from the black money to be repatriated from abroad. The opposition is likely to rake up the issues and demand answers over the crisis of unemployment and agrarian distress among others.

Besides, the party is also facing the heat from the VHP and RSS, which have been mounting pressure on the government for constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya by bringing a law or ordinance. Opposition parties allege that the sangh parivar, headed by RSS, may like to raise the political temperature on their pet issues to polarise the political situation.

Although the Supreme Court has given a clean chit to the government on the Rafale fighter jet deal, the issue remains live as the Congress has been pushing for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.

In the Hindi hearltland of Bihar, where the BJP had won 22 of the 40 seats in 2014, Chhattisgarh (10 out of 11), Haryana (10-10), Himachal Pradesh (04-04), Jharkhand (12-14), Madhya Pradesh (16-29), Rajasthan (25-25), Uttarakhand (05-05), Uttar Pradesh (71-80) and Delhi (07-07), 182 out of 225 seats came into the party's kitty in 2014.

In the present political scenario, political analysts feel the BJP is unlikely to repeat its performance of 2014, especially in key states like Uttar Pradesh as the coming together of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, social equations are likely to change.

In Bihar, the 'mahagathbandhan' of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Samata Dal has already been formed. Though the Janata Dal-United has now allied with the BJP and the LJP, the grand alliance remains focussed on social engineering of Maha Dalits, extremely backward communities, along with RJD's traditional Muslim-Yadav votebank.

In Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh the BJP has already lost power to Congress and the BJP's numbers are likley to drop in 2019.

In Maharashtra, the BJP ally, the Shiv Sena, may cause anxiety as both the parties don't sharing good vibes. Maharashtra is the largest state after Uttar Pradesh as it sends 48 MPs to Lok Sabha. In the last election, the BJP won 23 seats and the Shiv Sena won 18.

In Gujarat, which is considered the BJP's bastion and the Hindutva laboratory, the state to which Modi and BJP President Amit Shah belong, it may not be easy to repeat the 2014 performance given the Congress' fightback in last year's Assembly polls.

Andhra Pradesh has 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. Earlier, the BJP and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) fought together, with the BJP winning two seats and the TDP 15. Now, the TDP is out of its fold, the BJP is trying to woo a new ally in the form of YRS Congress - at least post poll.

In Tamil Nadu, where it is facing heavy headwinds, the party is trying to woo the ruling AIADMK, which is itself split, to take on a formidable DMK-Congress combine in which a number of other regional parties will also find a place. The state has a tradition of voting one way and the results in 40 seats including one in Puducherry will be crucial to the national outcome.

(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)

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By Tridib Baparnash

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) The gentleman's game hit a new low in 2018 when two of the world's finest batsmen -- Steve Smith and David Warner -- copped year-long bans from Cricket Australia for their involvement in the infamous 'sandpaper gate' scandal while in India, it was marred by "MeToo" allegations against the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri before he was re-instated after the charges found very few takers, even as the administrative mess continues.

On the field, while the start was inauspicious in South Africa, India capped off the year on a resounding note, thus stamping their authority as the top ranked Test side when they took an unprecedented 2-1 lead in the four-Test series over Australia, after beating the Kangaroos by 137 runs in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

India, however, started off the year on a disappointing note, losing 1-2 to South Africa in Tests but in the six-match ODI series that followed, the men-in-blue banked on the brilliance of skipper Virat Kohli (558 runs) and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets) to finally break the jinx and beat the Proteas 5-1 for the first time in their own den.

Following his batting exploits in South Africa, where he was the lone century-maker in the Tests, Kohli went on to tame the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the five-Test rubber against England, where he amassed 593 runs.

Later in the year, Kohli toured Australia for a four-Test rubber, where he smashed his 25th Test ton in the second Test at Perth which, however India lost by 141 runs as the Aussies squared things up after going down by 32 runs in the opener.

In the process, Kohli broke a 16-year-old record by batting legend Rahul Dravid to become the highest run getter for India in away Test matches in a calendar year. Dravid had set the record in 2002 when he amassed 1,137 runs.

Kohli achieved the milestone during the first innings of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Walking in to bat 82 runs shy of Dravid's mark, the fiery Delhi lad needed 204 deliveries to complete the feat. Unfortunately for him, he was dismissed for a duck in the second innings and was thus unable to increase his tally.

In ODIs, the 30-year-old broke Sachin Tendulkar's record and became the fastest to get 10,000 runs. Off the field, Kohli too enjoyed a change in his relationship status after marrying Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma.

Sans Kohli, India also enjoyed success in the limited overs formats under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, who led the side to fantastic wins in the Nidahas Trophy triangular T20 series in Sri Lanka before guiding the side to their 7th Asia Cup triumph in Dubai.

Veteran stumper Dinesh Karthik did a Javed Miandad to help India clinch a last-ball thriller against Bangladesh in the final of the Nidahas trophy. Needing a six off the last ball, Karthik smashed the ball out of the park to script a memorable win.

India met Bangladesh once again in the Asia Cup final, where Kedar Jadhav turned into an overnight hero when he returned to bat with a hamstring injury and got the men-in-blue the winning run.

Considered as one of the giants in white-ball cricket, India's main focus in the upcoming year will be firmly on the 2019 ICC World Cup that will be hosted by England and Wales.

Coming to the domestic cricket carnival the -- Indian Premier League (IPL) -- also witnessed the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings roaring back from a two-year ban, to clinch their third title.

India's domestic circuit also went through a lot of changes. In the Ranji Trophy, teams from the Northeast like Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya participated as different teams for the first time. Puducherry, a union territory, also fielded a side for the first time.

The Ranji Trophy witnessed Madhya Pradesh's Ajay Rohera break a 25-year-old record by registering the highest score by a debutant in First Class cricket, with his 267 against Hyderabad beating Amol Muzumdar's 260 which he made in 1993.

The image of the gentleman's game took a beating when rookie Australia opener Cameron Bancroft was caught on television cameras while apparently trying to alter the condition of the ball with a piece of sandpaper on the third day of the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

The incident led to year-long bans on then captain Smith and then vice-captain Warner while Bancroft was banned for 9 months.

While cricket fans await the return of the banned Warner and Smith, it was heartening to see the return of the 26-year-old Bancroft in the Big Bash League (BBL) on Sunday.

Elsewhere in world cricket, the year witnessed the birth of two new Test-playing nations in Ireland and Afghanistan, who showed a lot of promise in their maiden Tests despite going down against Pakistan and India, respectively.

Across another continent, South African great Dale Steyn bending his back once again in Tests to claim the magical 422nd wicket and go past Shaun Pollock as the Proteas highest Test wicket-taker.

The year also witnessed a number of greats fading into the sunset with Gautam Gambhir, the architect of India's 2011 World Cup triumph leading the list. Among the other prominent names to bid goodbye to the game are former England Test captain Alastair Cook, ex-Protea skipper AB de Villiers, India's Mohammed Kaif, Sri Lankan spin-bowling great Rangana Herath, West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.

In women's cricket, the focus was mainly on the World T20 which Australia won by beating arch-rivals England.

But for Indian fans it was the off-field feud between the veteran Mithali Raj and former interim coach Ramesh Powar, after an in-form Mithali was deliberately benched from the crucial semi-final, that the women-in-blue lost to England.

Mithali came back disappointed and her letter slamming Powar and Diana Edulji, one of the members of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), made it easy for the BCCI to appoint a new coach in former India opener W.V.Raman as the new head coach of the women's team.

Diana, however, slammed the appointment of Raman but failed to find any takers as the CoA chief Vinod Rai has hardly been found on the same page with Diana on a number of issues, which has led to the continuous administrative mismanagement in the BCCI.

(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)

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This year, the spotlight was on the dominant residential segment. With key reforms of RERA and GST settling in and the disruptive impact of demonetisation fizzling out, residential real estate staged a recovery, propelled by substantial interest subsidy (up to Rs 2.67 lakh) and lower GST (8 per cent) on affordable and mid-segment housing.

The availability of a sizable chunk of ready-to-move housing stock with zero GST contributed significantly to the recovery by pushing sales. This was made possible by debt-ridden developers focusing on completing and delivering projects due to stringent RERA rules and compulsion to generate cash flows. By H1, over 3.5 lakh homes, according to market research, were delivered in seven top cities.

Flagship reforms like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) proved to be a panacea to
bridge the housing deficit, especially in urban India, where, according to Magicbricks.com, 9 lakh houses, mostly affordable and mid-segment, were completed over three years.

This year was marked by reforms like the liberalisation of FDI in retail, an IBC amendment treating home buyers at par with banks and institutional creditors and the government extending the interest subsidy benefits under PMAY to mid-segment housing. In fact, it was a year consumers as investors stayed away due to stagnant prices and concerns over the completion of projects.

The stressed developers offered attractive discounts and deals to cut unsold inventory and generate revenue. By the end of the third quarter this year, there was double digit growth in sales. Despite this, the confidence of home buyers was still low as the
benefits of reforms, especially RERA, did not benefit them much. In fact, they hardly got any relief in terms of refunds or completions/deliveries of projects. The liquidity crisis precipitated by NBFCs adversely impacted the completion of projects. Similarly, under GST, home buyers were deprived of the benefits of Input Tax Credit.

Commercial real estate, including offices, retail and industrial real estate made steady progress. In fact commercial office leasing, propelled by the increasing trend of co-working spaces and foreign investors' interest in pre-committed high-grade office properties offering good rental yields, turned out to be saviour like
affordable housing in the residential segment. The office space leasing is
expected to touch the 39 msf mark in the top seven cities.

Further, liberalisation of FDI norms in retail saw growing interest of foreign
investors in this segment, with tier 2 & 3 cities significantly contributing to the growth of retail real estate, along with metros.

Going forward, real estate will continue to face rough weather in the first half of 2019. Stalled housing projects continue to be stumbling blocks in the growth of the sector, especially with buyers staying away from risky under-construction projects, depriving them of realising the full benefits of the government's interest subsidy scheme under PMAY.

(The writer is Founder & Editor of Ground Real(i)ty Media, a real estate content service. He can be contacted at vbehl2008@gmail.com)

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By Biswajit Choudhury

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) For the Indian oil and gas sector, the year was defined by what occured outside with crude oil prices rising steadily to cross $86 a barrel owing to oil producers starting output cuts from January, before a sharp correction in the third quarter brought it down to below $50 earlier this month.

Consequently, 2018 saw petrol and diesel prices scaling record highs daily under the dynamic pricing regime for transport fuel prices introduced last year, even as the rupee plunged to new lows against the US dollar in the second half of the year, leading to a soaring oil import bill and widening of the current account deficit. High fuel prices spurred the government to make excise cuts and increase its efforts to take India towards a gas-based economy.

In mid-May, the price of petrol in Mumbai breached the Rs 86-a-litre mark as fuel prices across the country increased for the 15th day in a row, surpassing fresh records daily.

Thereafter, following the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers deciding in Vienna to raise oil production by some 1 million barrels a day, fuel prices in the country suddenly started declining in June.

Then in September, fuel prices resumed their daily record-breaking upward movement with petrol selling at over Rs 91 a litre in the country's financial capital and at around Rs 84 in Delhi.

Amid calls for bringing petroleum products under GST, the situation forced the government to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 a litre each in early October. Additionally, the state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) were mandated to reduce prices by Re 1 a litre each.

Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan travelled to Vienna in June to convey India's view that the 13-nation OPEC should end the Asian Premium on oil being charged by the cartel and that prices have risen beyond the threshold that can be sustained by the world.

"There is the need for OPEC governments to move towards responsible pricing," Pradhan said.

In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in New Delhi with the heads of global oil companies and made a strong case for partnership between producers and consumers, following which Saudi Arabia said it expects its output to rise from November to counter the impact of US sanctions on Iran.

Highlighting the significant positioning of India in the oil and gas market, Modi said the oil market was producer-driven and both the quantity and prices were determined by the oil producing countries.

Following the meeting, Saudi Petroleum Minister Khalid Al Falih told reporters that he expects Riyadh's oil production to rise in November from 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd) and that it has the required capacity in place to do so.

"Saudi Arabia has the capacity to produce 12 million bpd and is currently producing 10.7 million bpd and production will rise further," Al Falih said.

The decline in crude prices resumed sharply and UK Brent, for instance, fell from $86 a barrel to under $50 earlier this month, forcing oil producers to decide to reduce its supply by 1.2 million bpd for the first half of 2019.

Petrol and diesel in India have declined by nearly 15 per cent each from the record high levels they had reached in October.

Meanwhile, India received a US waiver to purchase oil from under-sanctions Iran and Pradhan announced that the Finance Ministry is working out the modalities of payment for imports from the Gulf nation.

Continuing its efforts to boost domestic production, the government this year launched the second round bidding for Discovered Small Fields (DSF) with 190 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent of gas worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore. It is likely to fetch the government Rs 45,000 crore. Of the 25 contract areas on offer, 15 are onland fields and 10 are in shallow offshore areas.

The first round of bidding for DSF in 2016 had generated 134 bids for 34 contract areas of which 30 contracts were awarded. It saw entry of 13 companies that were new to the country's exploration and production industry.

An impressive Rs 5,900 crore of investment was committed for the exploration of 55 oil and gas blocks awarded through the first round of auctions under the new Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP). The OALP, under the new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), allows the investor to carve out blocks of their choice and submit an Expression of Interest throughout the year.

In August, the cabinet approved a policy framework for the exploration of hydrocarbons, permitting private companies to exploit unconventional hydrocarbons, including shale gas and coal bed methane (CBM), from their existing acreages.

In a major step towards ushering in a clean gas-based economy, India launched its biggest auction of city gas distribution (CGD) networks, offering permits for selling compressed and piped natural gas (CNG and PNG) in 86 geographical areas (GAs) to bring gas to around half of the country's population in 26 states and union territories. The tenth CGD bidding round was also launched subsequently in 50 GAs spread over 124 districts in 14 states.

In a major move on sustainable development, the government brought out the National Biofuels Policy for a sector poised to become an economy worth Rs 1 lakh crore, aimed at providing a cost-effective, pollution-free import substitute to polluting fossil fuels.

The policy details the architecture for India to make the move towards adopting second generation, or advanced, biofuels in the future, from the current first
generation ones being used, which are essentially sugar-based.

In the notable foreign investment in the sector during the year, the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) was created as a 50:50 joint venture between Indian state-run OMCs with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi's national oil company ADNOC. The mega refinery will be capable of processing 1.2 million bpd of crude oil by 2022, or 60 MT per annum.

(Biswajit Choudhury can be reached at biswajit.c@ians.in)

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New York, Dec 30 (IANS) The rumbling controversies and divisive trends of 2018 erupted in a perfect storm of chaos at the year's end with parts of the US government paralysed by a showdown between President Donald Trump and the Democrats, while senior officials quit, foreign and strategic policies fell into disarray, and the stock markets tumbled.

Chief of Staff John Kelly and his Defence Secretary, Jim Mattis havr quit, and so has Nikki Haley, his United Nations ambassador and the first Indian American to serve on the US cabinet, along with several other officials.

Adding to his sense of isolation, Trump lost control of the House of Representatives, the lower house, to the Democrats in the November mid-term elections (even though his Republican Party strengthened its hold on the Senate).

"I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security," Trump tweeted on Christmas Eve, a picture of isolation.

He lacked the votes that are required beyond a simple majority to pass budget legislation in the Senate to include funding his $5.6 billion demand for building a wall along the Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration, which was one of his election pledges.

He stood firm on not accepting a budget without the funding for the wall and the Democrats were equally defiant about not providing for it, leading to the government running out of funds and causing the shutdown.

Illegal immigration was one of the flashpoints this year as Trump moved to curb the inflow of migrants - many of them economic migrants or those upset by gang-violence and seeking to claim refugee status.

To discourage parents and others who bring children with them to claim sympathy and lenient treatment, he ordered the separation of children from parents citing a President Barack Obama-era court order against keeping children in custody for more than 20 days.

It became a public relations nightmare for Trump and under a new court order, he had to reunite them.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 Central Americans came in a convoy in November to the Mexican border hoping to enter the US by the sheer force of their numbers.

Trump mobilised the military to back up the border patrol to stop them. After some unsuccessfully tried to attack border patrol personnel and rush through the border, they are now camped out in Mexico awaiting their turn to appeal for asylum and posing a problem for both countries.

While his campaign promise to build the wall has failed so far, he partially made good on another pledge to bring US troops home from the Middle East. He ordered a complete pullout from Syria and halving the troop-level in Afghanistan to about 7,000.

Coupled with the pressure from within the US and the West against Saudi Arabia because of the killing of Washington Post coloumnist Jamal Khashoggi, the troop withdrawals threw Washington's Middle East strategy into disarray.

This opens the way for Israel's and the Saudi's nemeses Turkey, Iran and Syria (and, by extension, Russia) to increase their influence in different areas of the region - upending the core of US policy that relies on Riyadh and Jerusalem.

The withdrawals from Afghanistan will likely have an impact on South Asia and affect India.

The troops pullback led to the resignation of Mattis, who opposed the pullout from Syria, and to criticism from many Republicans and conservatives.

A positive development in 2018 - though still clouded by uncertainties - is Trump's North Korean diplomacy that led to a summit between him and Kim Jong-un, the Pyongyang strongman, after Trump's characteristic blasts of insults and threats.

They agreed in principle to denulearisation of the Korean Peninsula and North Korea has begun dismantling its missile production and test facilities while there has been no progress on nuclear disarmament.

On the economic front, Trump, who had promised to tackle the trade deficits and bring back manufacturing jobs, took on Mexico and Canada and reworked the trade agreements to reflect what he considered a fair deal for the US.

While India and other countries were in his sights as tried to lower trade deficits, he launched an almost full-fledged trade war of tariffs against China, which retaliated. It has added to the uncertainty from the budget battle and the US central bank policies and wiped out all the gains the stock markets made this year. Wall Street indices ended in the red for 2018, even though by most measures, especially the low unemployment, the economy was strong.

With their control of the House, Democrats, who are smarting from the 2016 election defeat that they blame on Russian interference, will be pushing harder for investigations into Moscow's role and into whether Trump collaborated with the Russians, as well as into various allegations against him and his family.

So far the 18-month investigation by a special counsel has only trapped people connected with Trump campaign, including his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, on charges like lying to investigators and bank fraud.

A significant reflection of the nation's political divide is gun control, which the Democrats overwhelmingly support and Republicans oppose, and that will be a key issue as the nation gears up for the 2020 elections.

This year saw at least four incidents of mass shootings, including one at a Florida school that killed 17 and at a Jewish temple that took 11 lives in Pennsylvania.

Trump is crossing the half-way mark of his four-year term and will be in full campaign mode in 2019 as all parties start preparing for another polarising election in 2020.

Short of an impeachment or evidence of direct collusion with Russians or a major criminal case, Trump will be his party's candidate.

For the Democrats, the test will be to come up with a charismatic and unifying leader and a coherent policy alternative, which they did not manage in 2018.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

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By Rituraj Baruah

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) Amid continued financial distress, the Indian telecom sector witnessed major developments in 2018, including the introduction of the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) and significant market consolidation.

Talks of the country moving towards 5G network by 2020, efforts of companies trying to monetise their assets to strengthen their balance sheets and fulfilling their debt obligations also made headlines during the year.

The Union Cabinet, in September, cleared the National Digital Communications Policy, which replaced the National Telecom Policy 2012 and aimed to provide broadband to all, ensure India's digital sovereignty and attract $100 billion worth of investments into the telecom sector.

"The proposed investment of $100 billion will not only make access to communication services easy, but will also provide much relief to the financially distressed telecom sector reeling under debilitating debts, falling revenue and squeezed margins," said Cellular Operators Association of India Director General Rajan Mathews.

"Overall, NDCP 2018 is pivoted around guaranteeing the sector's long-term sustainability and its readiness to invest in futuristic technologies," he added.

The policy also takes into account the concerns of telecom operators. According to COAI, the fact that Indian service providers pay more than 30 per cent of their revenue as taxes and levies compared to the 10 per cent in other countries, was also considered and rationalised in the new policy document.

Among the ambitious targets of the policy in its bid to provide broadband to all is the aim to provide 1 giga-bits per second (Gbps) connectivity to all gram panchayats by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022.

Consolidation in the sector was, by-and-large, complete in 2018 with the merger of two majors - Vodafone India and Idea Cellular - to create Vodafone Idea, India's largest telecom service provider in terms of revenue and subscriber base.

The merged entity became operational by the end of August with Kumar Mangalam Birla named the Chairman and Balesh Sharma the CEO of the new entity.

Sector experts observed that as a result of the consolidation the market structure is now healthier and more stable with three major private players -- Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio -- and the public sector BSNL.

As a majority of the telecom operators languished under debt and financial stress, the companies took to monetisation and transferred assets or businesses to subsidiaries.

Bharti Airtel, at its Board meeting on December 20, decided to sell 32 per cent stake in Bharti Infratel to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nettle Infrastructure Investments, for potential monetisation of the stake in future.

With this, Bharti Airtel's share in Infratel would be 18.33 per cent, Nettle would have 35.18 per cent and the remaining 46.49 per cent stake would be held by the public and other shareholders.

In November, Vodafone Idea too decided to demerge its fibre infrastructure business by transferring the assets to Vodafone Towers Ltd.

Reliance Jio in December announced that it would hive off its fibre and tower businesses and form two separate companies.

"The year 2018 was one of continued financial stress with a collective debt of Rs 8 lakh crore. This has accelerated further consolidation where companies were trying to monetise their assets to service debt obligations," Hemant Joshi, Partner for technology, media and telecommunications at Deloitte India, said.

Despite the gloomy financial condition, the word which came up in every conversation on telecom and data connectivity in 2018 was "5G" or the Fifth Generation network with some telecom and technology players already coming up with instances of use and demos.

Although, the Centre and some market players expect to commercially roll out the 5G network in 2020, sections in the industry feel the environment is not conducive for huge investments for moving on to next generation connectivity given the weak financial condition of majority of the market participants.

"It looks rather difficult considering the financial stress and multiple technologies which are at play. Secondly, we should take own time to roll out 5G, till used cases for addressing the challenges of the country are established," Joshi pointed out.

A panel set-up by the Centre has recommended that the 5G programmes would require funding by the government and a "high-level budget committee" should be formed to ensure adequate availability of funds for the sector.

On December 17, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that procedures for the auction of 5G spectrum are likely to be completed by August 2019. She also said that the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is working on the recommendations of both the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the 5G task force set up by the government.

"Everybody has already said that since the ecosystem is not ready, it will be (ready) somewhere only after July-August next year...We expect that we would have completed all the due procedures by then, so that you have the spectrum auction," she said.

A major development, which impacted operations in the sector, was the Supreme Court's Aadhaar verdict in September as it struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act that allowed private companies to seek Aadhaar authentication. This in turn barred the mandatory linkage of mobile phone numbers to the Aadhaar number.

As a result, the industry had to work on an alternative e-KYC (Know Your Customer) process to verify and enroll subscribers.

"The industry worked with the government on an OTP-based digital verification solution. This was done to keep customer convenience in mind for an entirely paperless process," the COAI's Mathews said.

Progress on BharatNet has so far reached halfway with 301,154 km of optical fibre cable (OFC) laid connecting 121,652 Gram Panchayats of the targeted 250,000 to be covered by March 31, 2019, according to data provided by the government this month.

The OFC under BharatNet are service-ready in 116,411 gram panchayats so far.

Besides, service providers have installed WiFi hotspots in 39,359 gram panchayats under the WiFi Choupal initiative, as per government data.

Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha in October announced that the Indian telecom industry will roll out one million WiFi hotspots in the country by December next year.

In a significant move for the broadband segment, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani in July announced that the company would come out with fibre-to-the-home broadband services, Jio GigaFiber. The roll out of its services is still awaited.

Experts and market players feel the entry of Jio into the broadband segment might destabilise the segment as it happened in the telecom sector.

On the outlook for the upcoming year, Mathews said the industry would advocate a stable and sustainable policy environment to promote innovation for a digitally empowered India through a "financially strong and viable industry".

Deloitte's Joshi noted that 2019 may continue to be a year of financial stress and to deal with thism, the sector needs to think out-of-the-box and reduce its debt burden.

"A model which the government uses for recapitalising the banks could be considered by the government for the telecom sector as well, especially with reference to spectrum pricing," he added.

(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)

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Bappaditya Chatterjee

Kolkata, Dec 30 (IANS) India's solar sector, one of the top three markets globally, witnessed a slowdown in growth of installations during the current year as it struggled, on the back of policy and execution challenges, to sustain the spectacular rise it had experienced in the last four years, experts said.

"We expect 2018 to end with total solar installation of about 8.2 gigawatt (GW). This capacity includes 1.5 GW of rooftop solar. Compared to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's (MNRE) annual target of 16 GW for the current fiscal, we are really far below the expected rate," Vinay Rustagi, Managing Director of consulting firm Bridge To India, told IANS.

As per the firm's latest report, total solar capacity reached 27.4 GW by the end of September, including 23.2 GW utility scale solar, 3.4 GW rooftop solar and 0.8 GW off-grid solar.

"The Indian solar market has grown spectacularly over last four years but was struggling to sustain because of policy and execution challenges," he said.

India has so far installed only 26 per cent of 100 GW solar installation target set for 2022 and of this, large-scale projects accounted for approximately 89 per cent and rooftop installation made up about 11 percent, said Raj Prabhu, CEO of consulting firm Mercom Capital Group.

Amid increasing volatility in the issue of tendes, auctions and issues related to GST and safeguard duty, India's solar installations had slowed down in the July to September period of the current year.

"After a year-and-a-half, the solar industry is still not clear as to what the actual GST rates are. Worse still, states began to interpret GST rates differently adding to the confusion. Uncertainty around GST is one of the major causes for the slowdown in solar installations in 2018," Prabhu told IANS.

Expanding on this, Rustagi said: "Despite the announcement of a 5 per cent rate by the central government, administering authorities have levied different rates and as a result, the capital costs have gone up by 7-9 per cent. The main impact has been delay in implementation and deterioration in project profitability."

The small contractors and installers have been the "worst hit".

The sector has faced multiple challenges related to a mix of policy level issues and macro-economic factors. Safeguard duty was finally imposed in July after a lot of uncertainty in the first half of the year.

Together with GST, it has resulted in capital costs going-up by about 25 per cent, Rustagi said, adding that the government's tariff expectations have also been unrealistic, resulting in many tenders being undersubscribed and/or cancelled.

"Auctions have been cancelled and/or postponed on a consistent basis. Approximately 4 GW of solar auctions have been cancelled by multiple agencies in 2018. Investors have become extremely concerned after the retroactive cancellation of auctions as the government agencies did not accept the tariff levels," Prabhu said.

"Arbitrary ceiling tariffs and poor tender design have resulted in tenders routinely getting cancelled and/or undersubscribed. As a result, the gap between the tenders issued and auctions completed has been widening in the last year. Our revised best-case estimate for solar capacity by March 2022 is 67 gigawatt, well short of the 100 GW yarget unless decisive remedial steps are taken immediately," Rustagi warned.

At the same time, the rupee depreciated significantly during the year and interest rates also crept up, hitting the viability of projects, the experts said.

According to them, the industry needs stability in policy and tender design.

"Constant tinkering and change of rules is undesirable and leads to confusion. There is too much focus on reducing costs, which is going to prove counterproductive and expensive in the long run because quality is being compromised under financial pressure and investors are being discouraged," Rustagi said.

Prabhu also said the government needs to be in tune with ground realities of the industry and address it in consultation with the stakeholders on an ongoing basis.

"Retroactive changes to policies are a killer and needs to stop immediately. Lack of clarity when it comes policies is something that can be easily fixed instead of taking months to do so," he said.

The experts, however, said any major policy announcements are not expected due to general elections in mid-2019.

The MNRE's plans to speed up issuing tenders for something like 30,000 MW in the year but experts "do not believe that such a plan is tenable keeping in view power demand and operational constraints."

( can be contacted at bappaditya.c@ians.in)

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By Mamta Aggarwal

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) The year proved to be a remarkable one for women from the legal point of view, that is. Apart from allowing women of all ages to enter Kerala's Sabrimala shrine, Justice Indu Malhotra became the first woman to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court from the bar.

Also breaking a decades-long barrier, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court got its first woman judge in Justice Sindhu Sharma, daughter of retired High Court judge O.P. Sharma and history was again made when Justice Geeta Mittal was appointed the Chief Justice.

In all these years, none of the 107 judges of the High Court have been women.

Then, Supreme Court advocate Madhvi Diwan was appointed an Additional solicitor General (ASG) of Supreme Court, becoming only the third woman to get to wear the coveted senior gown.

And, championing the cause of gender equality and delivering a remarkable judgement, the apex court said that "devotion cannot be subjected to gender discrimination" as, by a 4:1 verdict quashed the ban that prevented women in the age group of 10-50 to enter the Sabrimala temple in the name of customs and traditions.

It also came as a surprise when the lone women on the bench, Justice Indu Malhotra however, held that courts shouldn't determine which religious practices should be struck down or not.

The decision did create a furore amongst the traditional devotees of Lord Ayappa, who have been up in arms ever since the verdict, determined not to allow any breach in the temple's traditions.

Again reflecting upon gender equality and underlining that the "husband is not the master of women" a five-judge Supreme Court bench decriminalised adultery, striking down the colonial era section 497 of the Indian Penal code. However, the offence still remains a valid ground for divorce and if it leads to someone committing suicide, the act will be treated as a crime -- abetment of suicide.

The Supreme Court, in another landmark decision, also decriminalised gay sex, holding that consensual sex between two adults was covered under the right to privacy. The court held that section 377 of the IPC was a weapon to harass members of the LGBTQ community, resulting in discrimination against them.

The judgment brought cheer to India's sexual minorities, who have been discriminated against and threatened with the spectre of section 377 for decades.

(Mamata Aggarwal can becontacted at mamata.a@ians.in)

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By Pramod Kumar

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) The Supreme Court entered 2018 on a tumultuous note with four senior-most judges, on January 12, going public over its functioning and the allocation of cases, including certain cases being selectively allocated to select benches.

What was not said then was recently revealed by Justice Kurian Joseph -- one of the four "rebel judges" -- that they felt the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra was being "controlled from outside".

The press conference by the four judges, including Ranjan Gogoi, who was elevated to Chief Justice later in the year, created ripples in judicial and political circles which Justice Amitava Roy said left the top court with a "fractured face" and dented its credibility and the paramountcy of the judicial process.

Though the four judges addressing the media on the issues that were internal to the court did not find favour with the legal fraternity, including former judges, it did jolt the institution's majesty, image and credibility.

The memory of the "sensational press conference", senior counsel K.V. Vishwanathan said, has fortunately receded to the background because of the import of a series of judicial pronouncement through the year pushing to forefront the doctrine of "constitutional morality", "gender justice" and the limits of state intrusion in the private domain of citizens, to mention just a few issues.

However, activists lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that "nothing much has changed" except that the allocation of cases to different benches is better and things are "not as bad as in the past."

Buttressing the point, Bhushan said the Chief Justice continues to be the Master of Rolls and PILs are not being listed before the benches headed by five senior-most judges of the top court and were largely confined to the court of the Chief Justice.

The last assault, as it were, in this chain of events was the failed attempt by the Congress to initiate impeachment of the then Chief Justice Misra -- a move that had few takers in judicial circles as some former judges felt that there was no merit in the move.

However, senior advocate Kapil Sibal asserted that the grounds for the impeachment were "justified" and not "frivolous" as he sought to dispel the impression that he was the inspiration behind the move.

It was moved by the "Congress party and 50 MPs had signed it", Sibal maintained.

Assessing as "average" the top court's performance in 2018, senior counsel Dushyant Dave took a dim view of its failure to even order an enquiry into the sad demise of Judge B.H. Loya -- who was conducting the trial on the alleged staged shootout of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, killing of his wife Kausarbi and encounter of his associate Tulsiram Prajapati in 2002.

(All the 22 accused in the case were acquitted earlier this year. Amit Shah, then the Gujurat Home Minister and now the BJP President, was at one time named in the case but was later discharged.)

"The year 2018 has been one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Supreme Court. The abject failure of the Court in even ordering an enquiry into the sad demise of Judge Loya reflects the lack of independence on its part. The court missed a golden opportunity to send a powerful message to subordinate judiciary, the backbone of the administration of justice, that it stands by them, come what may," Dave told IANS.

Hailing the emergence of the "doctrine of constitutional morality and the triumph of gender justice", as its "crowning glory", Vishwanathan said the court has in "no uncertain terms asserted that there is no place in our country, for what I may say, the 'hecklers of morality'".

"Vested interests, under the guise of social morality" had been "attempting to undermine valuable constitutional rights of the individuals," Vishwanathan said, adding that women and the marginalised "will no longer be subjected to moral policing of the others' notions of morality".

"Victorian Morality was buried nine fathoms deep," he asserted.

Some recent appointments, transfers and elevations in higher judiciatry by the top court's collegium did raise eye-brows.

Its functioning was "far from satisfactory" and "hugely disappointing", Dave said.

Pointing to the flaws in the selection of judges for appointment to higher judiciary, Dave faulted the collegium's seniority-centric approach and not picking "the best from amongst those available" as mandated by the court's own judgements.

The year also saw court telling the government that Aadhaar was not panacea of all that ails governance and restricted it from demanding the Unique ID (UID) number for each and every scheme.

Another area of serious concern where top court left its indelible stamp was environment. It was unsparing in hauling the administration for not doing enough for curbing an alarmingly high level of air pollution and the handling of the piling mound of solid waste.

Describing the ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil in the NCR as a "huge, huge step", Supreme Court lawyer and amicus curiae in environmental matters Aparajita Singh said the court's order had blocked American pet coke from reaching India's shores after China banned it.

Referring to the several order of the court relating to environment which were not being acted upon by the authorities on the ground level, Aparajita Singh said: "The consistent monitoring of the implementation of its orders infused fear amongst the authorities and they fell in line and started acting on them."

Other landmark judgements durinng the year were advancing the deadline for the introduction of BS VI fuel from 2024 to April 1, 2020 across the country, issuing long-awaited guidelines on witness protection, guarding the identity of the victim of sexual assault and rape including the rehabilitation of the victim and payment of compensation.

(Pramod Kumar can be contacted at saneel2010@gmail.com)

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By Gaurav Sharma

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) Indian badminton continued to move northwards in 2018, especially the women's singles players -- P.V. Sindhu and veteran Saina Nehwal -- as they dished out one stunning performance after another.

While Sindhu extended her status as India's leading shuttler and shrugged off the 'choker' tag by winning the BWF World Tour Finals title, Saina bounced back in style from injuries to pocket a few titles.

Sindhu was critcised despite a string of brilliant performances throughout the year. She was something of a juggernaut on the global stage, reaching the summit clash in tournament after tournament, only to fall at the final hurdle. She had to settle for five silver medals in 2018, but the lack of a title haunted her every single day -- until she came good at the last tournament of the year.

The wait for gold ended when the 23-year-old went on to clinch the BWF World Finals title and answered her critics.

On the other hand, the 28-year-old Saina, who struggled with consistency and fitness in 2017, grappled gallantly with a cramped schedule and went on to clinch few titles along with the runner-up finishes.

Saina won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games followed by a bronze at the Asiad. She also reached the finals at the Indonesia Masters, Denmark Open and Syed Modi International.

A couple of male shuttlers also earned respect at the global stage. Sameer Verma won the Swiss Open Super 300, Syed Modi International Super 300 and the Hyderabad Open Super 100. He also entered the semi-finals of the World Tour Finals, his maiden appearance at the prestigious event.

Sourabh Verma also returned from injury and partitcipated in the Asiad. He also claimed the Dutch Open Super 100 event in October.

Promising junior player Lakshya Sen also made headlines, clinching the Asian Junior Championships title along with silver and bronze at the Youth Olympic Games and World Junior Championships respectively.

A major disappointment in the men's singles category was the experienced Kidambi Srikanth, who impressed in 2017. Srikanth failed to clinch any title in 2018, despite managing to enter the quater-finals and semi-finals a few times.

There were good outings in the doubles section for India. Several pairs finished on the podium at the Commonwealth Games.

Experienced player Ashwini Ponnappa along with N. Sikki Reddy settled for a bronze in mixed doubles while the men's duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy became the first Indian men's doubles pair to bag a CWG silver.

Apart from this, the duo also won the Hyderabad Open Super 100 followed by a runners-up finish at the Syed Modi Super 300 tournament.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a glorious era for Indian badminton, especially for Sindhu as she is in her early 20s is highly likely to improve and further flourish in the future.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@ians.in)

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By Radhika Bhirani

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) Content is king, not the Khans -- the year 2018 proved this with the success of fresh and high concept films like "Stree", "Badhaai Ho" and "AndhaDhun", embraced by the audience over the Khans-led "Race 3", "Thugs of Hindostan" and "Zero", which had set high expectations but fell flat at the box office.

"Sanju", "Padmaavat", "2.0" (Hindi version), "Baaghi", "Raazi", "Gold", "Raid" and "Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety" are some of the other titles that did good business, and high hopes are pinned on the just-released "Simmba", which is likely to draw the mass audience.

"The landscape is changing," Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, told IANS of how the star-led industry is transforming.

"Content is evolving at a huge rate. Filmmakers are investing more and more time in developing scripts. This year truly belonged to great concepts and scripts and audiences have showered their love wholeheartedly.

"It is all about a narrating a powerful story in an engaging way. Star power remains important but can only help open a film - finally it's all about a great script and a brilliant film," Singh said.

That explains the reception to a "Badhaai Ho" -- about a 50-plus pregnant woman's emotional struggle, to "AndhaDhun" -- a quirky thriller, to "Stree" -- a horror comedy, or a "Raazi" -- about a woman spy.

Overall, it has been a good year for the industry after a couple of disappointing years.

Film and trade business expert Girish Johar pointed out that 2018 has witnessed the maximum entertainers -- around 15 -- to surpass the Rs. 100 crore benchmark, which has given a fillip to the year-round business by 10 per cent as compared to last year. He estimates a business of around Rs. 3500 crore this year.

"The Khan starrers drew a fantastic response on Day 1, but Day 3 onwards, they fell flat. People are outrightly rejecting mediocre, half-baked movies, and we have to make something extraordinary to draw them into theatres," Johar told IANS.

There were also movies like "Mukkabaaz", "October", "Hichki" and "Pad Man" that were appreciated.

According to Shibashish Sarkar, Chief Operating Officer, Reliance Entertainment, it is important to cater stories to the right audience.

"There is an audience for every kind of film, so long as your story is correct. Where will one classify a 'Padmaavat', or 'Sanju' or 'Raazi' -- are they star driven films or content driven films ? When you have correct content, and you have a star, the film implodes and explodes," Sarkar told IANS.

Singh said the year established that the viewers like content which has relatability, likeability and virality.

But high ticket prices, in Johar's view, are turning out to be deterrents for the audience to visit theatres.

A movie viewing experience for a family of four at a multiplex can cost anything between Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 including food and beverages.

Also, With stiff competition from regional films, Hollywood and especially the vast variety of digital content, Bollywood needs to step up its game with scripts being the focal point, and by allotting the right budget.

"It's a norm nowadays to say 'movies don't fail, budgets do'," Singh said, adding that film and OTT will co-exist and will result in a larger pool of writers, directors, actors and technical talent.

However, Sarkar said OTT platforms, which are bringing international content closer to Indians, will continue to consume more and more audience time.

"I will not be surprised if in a medium to long term, films are made straight for digital. Who would have thought 'Mowgli' launching on Netflix a few years back?"

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

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By Prashant Sood

New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) It was a year Congress President Rahul Gandhi came into his own as a campaigner and strategist, emerging as a powerful voice in the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also earned his electoral spurs in tough Hindi heartland battles, helping his party win three states that will have ramifications in the Lok Sabha elections a few months away.

Rahul Gandhi began the year as Congress President, having taken over the post from his mother Sonia Gandhi last December at the culmination of party's organisational elections.

The path was full of challenges as barring Punjab and Puducherry, where it had stormed back to power as also Karnataka -- where it is the junior partner in the ruling colaition -- the Congress was virtually starved of electoral victories since its Lok Sabha debacle in 2014. It had also not beaten the BJP in a straight contest anywhere in four years.

Gandhi went about the task methodically by identifying weaknesses and bridging gaps. He sought to beat Modi at his own game by expanding social media outreach and connecting with the audiences through witty, hard-hitting tweets and posts.

Gandhi consistently attacked Modi on issues linked to the common man -- corruption, unemployment, farmers distress, demonetisation, price rise -- and stepped up his efforts to portray the BJP leader as a "friend of the rich".

He attacked the BJP on national security -- a key plank of the ruling party -- highlighting how the government had been "silent" on the Chinese build up near the Doklam site and its "failure" over the continued infiltration from Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Gandhi sought to demolish the perception that Modi was "personally incorruptible" by taking repeated jibes at him over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. He single-handedly made Rafale deal a national issue through press conferences, tweets and speeches and attacked Modi with "chowkidar is chor" (the guard is the thief) barb.

He travelled abroad to counter Modi's outreach among the diaspora. Gandhi's consistent articulation of issues, including job losses caused by demonetisation and the slowing down of economy due to "flawed implementation" of the Goods and Services Tax, seemingly put the government on the defensive.

The GST, which was simplified in the run-up to the Gujarat assembly polls last year, has been further eased after the BJP lost power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Gandhi aggressively clamoured for farm loan waivers and several state governments are likely to opt for the measure before the 2019 general elections.

Gandhi had been attacking Modi earlier too but his elevation as party chief sharpnened his attacks. Simultaneously, he addressed organisational issues, effecting changes in his team at the All India Congress Committee to create a combination of experience and youth.

Thus, the Old Guard, including Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel and Motilal Vora are part of the AICC team that also has several young leaders such as Jitendra Singh and R.P.N. Singh as in-charge of states. Gandhi strove to give the party general secretaries one state each to bring more focus on their work and ensured that party secretaries, mostly young leaders, were given specific responsibilities.

Realising that the Congress would need as much support as possible to oust the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance from power, Gandhi changed the Congress stance of projecting him as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 elections and said the decision will be taken after the polls.

He has been interacting with opposition leaders to build a common platform against the Modi government, a role which was initially perceived to be that of his mother and UPA chairpeson Sonia Gandhi.

To improve the party's outreach among the vast informal sector, he created All India Unorganised Workers Congress. He also strengthened party's efforts to get the support of youth, women, professionals, fishermen, tribaIs and scheduled castes.

A Data Analytics Department was created to study voters, workers and ground-level issues in a better way.

The thought to detail in working of the party is evident from the way All India Unorganised Workers Congress has been shaped with separate coordinators for NGOs and government projects, legal matters, auto rickshaw, rickshaw pullers, construction workers, the self-employed and domestic workers.

Gandhi also reached out to people directly through the social media.

"You cannot control social media. Gandhi has been gaining followers and his messages and posts are widely followed. Earlier BJP was setting the agenda and Congress was responding but now it is the reverse," a Congress leader who did not want to be identified said.

As party chief, Gandhi has run far more elaborate and sustained assembly election campaigns than did Sonia Gandhi, who helmed the Congress for 19 years.

He sprang a surprise in his efforts to project the BJP as divisive and made its leaders angry when he walked to Modi during the debate on no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha and hugged him.

He also openly said that BJP leaders may call him "pappu" but he does not hate the party.

Realising how the Congress could not form governments in Goa and Manipur despite being the single-largest party, Gandhi moved swiftly in Karnataka earlier this year and entered into alliance with Janata Dal-Secular to keep the BJP out of power.

But the challenges that remain for him are herculean.

The Congress lost six assembly elections this year - Telangana, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland - despite the three wins in Hindi heartland and managing to be a partner of the ruling coalition in Karnataka. It is not in power in any state in the northeast, a party stronghold only four years ago. It is weak in the crucial states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and needs allies to win seats.

Next year is likely to be a make or break year for Congress, as the country goes to general polls.

(Prashant Sood can be contacted at prashant.s@ians.in)

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New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) Mowing down 61 people on the tracks on Dussehra, among a spate of accidents; rolling out the first indigenously-built Trainset and inauguration of the long-awaited Bogibeel railroad bridge over the mighty Brahmaputra river will permanently etch 2018 in the annals of the Indian Railways.

However, as the year draws to a close, the national transporter stares at a dismal financial scenario, with its operating ratio (OR) touching 112.91 per cent till Novemeber-end -- meaning it is spending almost Rs 113 to earn every Rs 100.

The Railways total earnings are way behind the target -- Rs 1,14,595.43 crore against the target of Rs 1,22,436.64 crore at the end of November, a shortfall of Rs 7,841.21 crore.

Despite the gloom over its financial health, the year will also be remembered for the railways going full steam ahead on electrification, track renewal and elimination of unmanned level crossings -- the three mantras of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.

Barring just 28, the Railways claims to have eliminated all unmanned level crossing on broad-gauge tracks during the year. Besides, it set a target of 5,509 km of track renewal to prevent derailments.

Notwithstanding this fact, till November, the Railways has witnessed a total of 44 consequential train accidents including 35 derailments, with the derailment on October 10 being particularly gruesome. Seven people were killed and nine others seriously injured as the engine and eight coaches of the New Farakka Express derailed near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.

At least 13 schoolchildren lost their lives and eight others sustained injuries when a speeding passenger train crashed into a van at an unmanned railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district in April 26. The van, carrying 20 students of the Divine Mission School, Kushinagar, was badly crushed and many children died on the spot.

However, the year's worst train tragedy occurred on October 19 when a speeding train crushed 61 people to death on the tracks on Dussehra in Amritsar. The festive crowd, including women and children, had spilled over on to the track while watching the burning of Ravana's effigy.

The year has also witnessed Railways focusing more on technology to improve its functioning such as installing CCTV cameras at stations, adopting onboard condition monitoring system in coaches to strengthen maintenance and opting for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various systems, including signalling.

In fact, the Railways went a step ahead of Artificial Intelligence to opt for Emotional Intelligence, a first in the government sector, to address its customers' problems.

The year also witnessed the opening of a limited section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), one of its flagship projects -- though only for trials.

Moving at a snail's pace since its inception, the ambitious DFC project finally carried out its first trial in August on the 192-km-long Ateli-Phulera section of the Western Corridor followed by another trial on a 194-km section between Bhadan and Khurja in the Eastern Corridor in November.

These trials were carried out by diesel locomotives, though both DFCs are expected to be fully electrified.

Opening India's longest Bogibeel railroad bridge in Assam Bridge, to traffic and the launching of Train-18, the country's first Trainset, were significant developments.

The 4.94 km bridge, being built since 2002 at a cost of Rs 5,900 crore by the Railways, will reduce travel time from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to four hours and will also cut down train travel between Delhi and Dibrugarh by three hours.

Billed as the next-generation train, the Rs 100 crore Train-18, the costliest so far, can run at 160 kmph and is equipped with world-class amenities to improve passenger comfort to a great extent.

(Arun Kumar Das can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)

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New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) Even as strong headwinds -- soaring jet fuel prices and low yields -- induced financial turbulence, the country's civil aviation sector maintained robust traffic growth rate during 2018.

The double-whammy of high fuel cost and low fares necessitated by extreme competition magnified as the rupee depreciated and interest-rates remained high.

On an average, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices witnessed a year-on-year increase of 27 per cent during January-December 2018, while the rupee depreciated at an average of 5 per cent against the dollar during the same period.

According to industry observers, the rise in fuel costs was particularly acute for the Indian carriers as it makes up to 34 per cent of their operating expenses which is well above the global average of 24 per cent.

Consequently, the country's airline sector bled heavily. The second quarter earning results of listed airlines presented a gloomy picture.

Ratings agency ICRA gave a negative outlook for the industry, stating the strong passenger demand was offset by capacity additions leading to intense competition and continued pressure on yields.

"Severely mauled by the twin blows of significant increase in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices and the depreciation of the INR against the USD, the Indian aviation industry continues to grapple tough times in the current fiscal," Kinjal Shah, Vice President - Corporate Sector Ratings, ICRA told IANS.

"As if this was not enough, low pricing power of the industry and inability to raise fares has resulted in mounting losses for the airlines."

Nevertheless, passengers were delighted as major airlines flew-out to un-served domestic destinations and budget carriers planned international expansions.

Besides, attractive fares and economic expansion allowed a substantial increase in first-time flyers, which lifted the country's passenger traffic.

"Increasing use of technology has made it easier for travellers to plan, book and fly. This, coupled with an increase in disposable income and attractive air fares, has led people from tier III and IV cities to chose air over train travel," Aloke Bajpai, CEO and Co-founder, ixigo told IANS.

As per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, India's domestic air passenger traffic grew by 11.03 per cent to 1.164 crore in November, while it rose by 19.21 per cent during the January-November 2018 period.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-November 2018 were 1,262.83 lakh as against 1,059.34 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering a growth of 19.21 per cent," the DGCA said in its latest domestic traffic report released on December 21.

Similarly, International Air Transport Association (IATA) data showed that India's domestic air passenger traffic grew in double digits for the 50th consecutive month in October.

Another key industry trend of cost-cutting was witnessed across the board, even the government tried to get its hands-off Air India.

However, government's efforts to divest stake in Air India failed as "no response" was received even after the deadline for submitting the EOI bids was extended.

On December 20, 2018, the Centre sought Parliament's nod to infuse Rs 2,345 crore into the financially strained national carrier under its 'Turn Around Plan'.

Further, the government sought the Parliament's nod for providing Rs 1,300 crore 'Grants-in-Aid General' to Air India Asset Holding, a Special Purpose Vehicle to which AI's debt worth Rs 29,000 crore will be offloaded.

Additionally, an inter-ministerial panel has decided to divest the government's stake in Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL).

In terms of air safety, India retained its 'Category 1' rating under the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme, apart from Drone Regulations 1.0 that were implemented in December.

The year also saw 15 companies being awarded contracts to operate flights and chopper services to destinations like Kargil, Darbhanga, Pakyong (Gangtok), Cooch Behar, Jorhat and Almora, among others, under the second round of the "Udan" air regional connectivity scheme.

The Udan-II routes were awarded to SpiceJet, IndiGo, Jet Airways, Turbo Megha Airways and Pawan Hans, among others.

In addition, over Rs 5,000 crore was sanctioned for upgrading and expanding the Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati airports, even as the government estimated capital expenditure of around Rs 1 lakh crore to create capacity across various airports in the next five years.

On the Ministerial level, there was a change of guard at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, as Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu took additional charge of the ministry after P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju resigned from the cabinet in line with his TDP's decision to walk out of the NDA government.

(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in)

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New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) The year bore witness to a plethora of new material from various metal artistes. As they -- old and new, the famous and the underground -- decided on innovations and new ideas, it energised a whole genre.

At the same time, rock charts showed little or no creativity by most of the alternative and Indie bands that dominate, rehashing the sound of their past. That, however, does not mean that rock is dead. There were still bands putting out some really cool stuff.

Here's a look at top metal and rock offerings which made a difference during the year.

1. Metal:'Pal' by Kalmah. The Finnish melodic death metal legends returned with yet another brilliant album after five years. While no means groundbreaking, 'Pal' features amazing arrangements, melodies and death metal aggression and technical dexterous precision.
   Rock:.'Eat The Elephant' by A Perfect Circle. American rock band's fourth studio album was worth its 14-year wait. This record is more of an atmospheric art rock record and lacks the band's previous heavier alternative metal sound. But nonetheless, it's a great piece.

2. Metal:'Cobra Speed Venom' by The Crown. The Swedish melodic death and thrash metallers have come back with added energy. There is a lot of violent fervour, growls, heavy thrashy riffs, melodic leads and powerful drumming. It is a combination of thrash or death metal LP.
   Rock: 'Prequelle' by Ghost. While definitely not a straight-up pop rock album as it does contain plenty of heavy elements, this is far removed from metal, though it does have a lot going on: Hard rock, pop rock, some prog and for the first time arena rock. Most songs have the element of catchiness due to the openly pop influences here such as ABBA.

3. Metal:'The Wake' by Voivod. One of the most underrated and creative bands, the Canadian progressive thrash metal veterans have released one of the greatest albums of their career. 'The Wake' manages to rival their original classics like 'Killing Technology' and 'Dimension Hatross' while combining modern production.
   Rock:'Stone Temple Pilots' by Stone Temple Pilots. The self-titled album of the San Diego legends brings their trademark sound of distortion-filled heavy hard rock riffs, marked by a psychedelic but also grooving melodic atmosphere. New lead singer Jeff Gutt does a splendid job.

4. Metal:'Electric Messiah' by High on Fire. You can always count of Matt Pike if you want something barbaric. This is definitely one of High On Fire's best. This album descends upon you with a plethora of monstrously heavy riffs and is just straightforward metal.
   Rock: 'Still Cyco Punk After All These Years' by Suicidal Tendencies. While essentially a near complete re-recording of frontman Mike Muir's '96 solo album 'Lost My Brain', it is still fully energetic, raw, fast, hard and fun.

5. Metal:'Rainier Fog' by Alice in Chains. The band is renowned for their dark and heavy sound and bleak subject matter. 'Rainier' sounds a bit closer to their older stuff while nonetheless having the sensibilities of their newer sound. Another truly brilliant record by AIC.
   Rock: 'Living the Dream' by Slash Ft. Myles Kennedy and Conspirators. When making a rock'n roll record with heaviness and attitude one can never truly go wrong with the guitar legend Slash and vocalist Myles Kennedy. Bluesy hard rock riffs and passionate soaring vocals, grooving drums and strong bass make this record yet another strong hard rock piece.

6. Metal: 'Devouring Radiant Light' By Skeletonwitch. Rather underrated, Skeletonwitch is an American band which plays blackened melodic thrash metal. In 'Devouring', there is a change in vocalists and the style is different. The black metal tendencies are less and the music packs progressive tendencies and a powerful atmospheric element.
   Rock: 'Time and Space' by Turnstile. American punk band's second album is an instant classic for the hardcore scene. It has pretty much everything you want: raw, loud, aggressive, heavy, short and does not mess around with any experimental tendencies.

7. Metal:'Automata Part I & II' by Between the Buried and Me. A double-part concept album, about a man whose dreams are broadcasted worldwide as a form of entertainment. While the second part of this record is superior, the first is no slouch either. The band beautifully balances their progressive elements with a refined melodic technical death metal sound.
   Rock: 'Ember' by Breaking Benjamin. Rarely has a band sounded so consistent and yet not managed to grow dull. It has hard heavy metallic riffs, melodic choruses with clean singing and raw screams packed with a dark emotional atmosphere. Nothing different and yet everything sounds fresh and original.

8. Metal:'Thunderbolt' by Saxon. One of the most legendary bands in heavy metal history, Saxon were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Anyone who thought that Saxon's quality may have dropped as a result of their age is in for a severe shock. This album has everything. Just listen and be transported to Valhalla.
   Rock: 'Book of Bad Decisions' by Clutch. Full of hard, raw gritty engaging songs, with southern rock and blues influences. And it packs a punch.

9. Metal:'Firepower' by Judas Priest. One of the first metal bands in history and instrumental 'Firepower' by Judas is just full-on energy packed, no messing around, straight-up melodic metal. Another masterpiece by 'The Metal God'.
   Rock: 'Vaxis Act 1: The Unheavenly Creatures' by Coheed And Cambria. Having influences in hard rock, alternative rock, progressive rock, metal and punk, 'Vaxis' is a continuation of the concept based on frontman Claudio Sanchez's comic book series 'The Armory Wars'. Engaging to say the least.

10. Metal:'Queen of Time' by Amorphis. It is one of the greatest Finnish metal bands. While their style has changed, Amorphis have come out as an evolved animal, their sound being a unique mix of melodic death metal, heavy metal, folk metal and progressive metal. Everything about it speaks perfection.
    Rock:'Lost on the Road to Eternity' by Magnum. What is astounding about the British progressive rock veterans is how inspired Bob Catlin and Tom Clarkin, the creative core of Magnum, manage to sound in their 70s. 'Lost' is all you can want -- melodic, catchy, progressive and full of pomp.

    Honourable mentions: Metal:'Love In Shadow' by Sumac;'A New Kind Of Horror' by Anaal Nathrakh;'The Science' by Sleep;'Our Raw Heart' by YOB;'Diluviu' by Obscura; and'Sunshine Dust' by Skyharbor.
    Rock:'Vicious' by Halestorm; 'Resistance Is Futile' by Manic Street Preachers and 'Joy As An Act Of Resistance' by Idles.

    (Anand Venkitachalam is a Delhi-based metal fan. He can be reached at jordanmetalhead@gmail.com)

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New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which turned two this month, remains a work in progress despite creditors getting record recoveries and a rise of never-before opportunities to exit and buy businesses in India.

To explain IBC's birth, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) Chairperson M.S. Sahoo last week recalled a dialogue in a novel by Ernest Hemingway -- 'How did you go bankrupt?' and the response is 'Gradually and then suddenly'.

This was to illustrate the fact that the insolvency reform was in the works since 1992 but was suddenly made operational from December 1, 2016 with no prior experience of a regime that should be proactive, incentive-compliant, market-led and time-bound.

While the insolvency reform was 'gradual and then sudden', IBC, which in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's words was hurriedly put in place due to necessity because every other solution had effectively failed, will achieve its objective gradually.

"The road to success is always under-construction," Sahoo said. IBBI is responsible for implementing the Code and regulates both the profession and the processes. IBC has been undergoing changes including two major amendments in 2018.

While IBC Amendment Act 2018 replaced an earlier ordinance on Section 29A that debars loan defaulters from bidding for stressed assets, the second change through an ordinance gave rights to homebuyers to be the financial creditors.

Even as major changes and fine-tuning continue in the regulatory framework and the ecosystem, Jaitley said, "the first two years have been more than satisfactory. It has worked on at a reasonable pace... The early harvest has been reasonably good."

Till date, IBC has resolved cases involving debt of Rs 3 lakh crore comprising Rs 1.2 lakh crore at the pre-admission stage, another Rs 1.2 lakh crore through 60 resolved cases and about Rs 60,000 crore NPAs that turned standard accounts.

The average recovery in the 60 resolved cases is around 47 per cent as against 26 per cent under the earlier Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). Of the total 9,000 cases, 4,800 are resolved or under active resolution.

Jaitley, in his recent address to fund houses and law firms in New York, said India's bankrupt companies offer a never-before opportunity to the global investors to ride the country's exceptional growth trajectory - thanks to the IBC.

"Given the future potential of the Indian economy and the fair process followed under the Code, it is a great opportunity for investors who are seriously thinking about investing in India," he said via video conferencing at the event.

Tata Steel acquired Bhushan Steel through its subsidiary for about Rs 37,000 crore in May 2018 under the IBC. Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran recently said IBC window gives an opportunity as putting greenfield projects is not easy.

Another major resolution nearing completion is that of Essar Steel, for which the world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, has proposed an upfront payment of Rs 42,000 crore to its lenders and an additional Rs 8,000 crore towards capital expenditure.

However, the resolution process for Essar Steel has extended beyond 270-day deadline of April 29, 2018. Several cases are getting delayed mainly due to recalcitrant promoters who are using legal shields to drag on the resolution process.

It was the fear of losing control of one's company under IBC that forced promoters pay off their dues at the pre-admission stage, recovering Rs 1.2 lakh crore. But IBC's success will be in danger if cases remain entangled in litigation and the fear evaporates.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court's recent pronouncement on the frivolity of certain appeals is likely to expedite the resolution process and, therefore, the money which is otherwise lying blocked can be efficiently ploughed back into the system.

Other hurdles delaying the resolution processes are lack of infrastructure and absence of specific provisions under the Code. Besides, some rules under the Code have been questioned in court and these may have wide ramifications.

Bankruptcy courts NCLT and NCLAT require more benches and staff, and the number of Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) has to be increased. The number of NCLT members are being raised to 60 from the present 32 with additional hands in Delhi and Mumbai.

Considering delays and concern for assets that lose value rapidly, the IBBI is weighing a proposal to introduce pre-packaged insolvency resolution, as prevalent in countries like the UK, where a stressed company will submit a pre-agreed resolution plan.

Some rules that have been questioned are Section 29A for its definition of 'connected person', excessive legislative powers to banks as compared to operational creditors and the allegation that homebuyers as financial creditors will make resolution difficult.

The IBC, which triggered RBI's February 12 circular bringing in the one-day default norm and abolishing the other debt resolution mechanisms, strikes at the root of the Rs 10 lakh crore NPA crisis even as it improved the creditor-debtor relationship.

The IBC's success as a game-changer in the Modi era may be gradually recognised as it grows to become a complete code offering resolutions finalised mostly outside court.

(Manish Gupta can be contacted at munish.g@ians.in)

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Bengaluru, Dec 27 (IANS) Embracing disruptive technologies to stay ahead of the curve, the buoyant Indian IT industry made digital business its growth driver in 2018, despite facing a shortage of skills and double-digit attrition.

"The Indian IT industry is reinventing for digital. India is seen as a country with huge digital transformation potential globally. Digital business is the next growth engine," K.S. Viswanathan, Vice President of Nasscom, the industry's apex body, told IANS here.

With digital business contributing over one-third of the revenue of global software majors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies, even mid-size and smaller firms have adopted digital platforms to meet the demand from customers worldwide.

"While larger firms have adopted digital and are mentioning revenue from it in their annual reports, mid-tier and smaller firms are also adopting it (disruptive technology), which augurs well for the services-led industry," Viswanathan noted.

Recovering from sluggish sequential growth in fiscal 2016-17 and 2017-18, the industry revved up this fiscal (2018-19) to meet the increasing demand for new services in the digital domain, spanning Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, blockchain, Cloud, data analytics or mining, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning (ML) and robotics.

"As per global trends, businesses have to be data-driven for efficient and competitive advantage. Digital technologies like AI and ML are key for enterprises to leverage data in smart ways," Srikanth Soundarajan, partner of city-based Venture East, told IANS.

Accounting for 37 per cent share of the global outsourcing of software services, the Indian IT-BPM (business process management) industry is set to post $167 billion revenue for fiscal 2018-19 from $154 billion in fiscal 2017-18, including exports, registering around eight per cent annual growth.

The resilient industry has been harnessing newer technologies and re-skilling to sustain growth and be competitive. It has been focusing on intelligent operations like process and domain expertise, while marquee firms made strategic acquisitions to arm with digital technology and skilled talent across platforms for diverse verticals.

"As digital technologies reshape businesses, the industry has been upskilling, acquiring competencies through mergers and acquisitions or partnerships and building platforms and software products," said Nasscom Vice Chairman Keshav R. Murugesh,

In the engineering and design ecosystem, too, many things are moving from services to products and products to platforms, thanks to digital innovation, talent pool and skill sets.

"Nasscom and the Indian government have signed an agreement with Japan this year to power its hardware with our software to make a difference to products," Vishwanathan recalled.

As the Indian IT industry dominates over 50 per cent of global IT outsourcing, vendors have been forced to invest in digital platforms and reskilling of their techies for the paradigm shift in their service offerings with digital interfaces.

With global tech firms like Accenture, IBM and Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) taking the lead in global digital services, Indian behemoths have been investing and hiring to retain their legacy clients and enter new geographies to increase market share.

With 17,000 firms across the country, the industry offers a range of services, having built skills and capabilities to address new and developing customer demands.

Over the years, IT firms have invested in building capabilities around new technologies, and have set up labs to deliver digital services to customers worldwide.

"Businesses are taking advantage of emerging technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), AI, digital communications, IoT and cognitive computing to improve profitability, collaboration and competitiveness," Murugesh noted.

Digital innovation has also been drawing global firms to India owing to the wealth of talent to hone the new skills than cost arbitrage.

Around 45 per cent of global data centres are located in India, making the country a major destination for hosting them.

Admitting that there is a relevant skill shortage in the country to capitalise on the huge opportunities from digital platforms, Viswanathan said the industry would need around 300,000 engineers for analytics and data sciences over the next five years.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled our programme called FutureSkills in February to reskill 50 per cent of the workforce for future technologies and get the remaining 50 per cent of them skilled for digital jobs," Vishwanathan recalled.

As hiring, skilling and re-skilling takes time and resources, top industry leaders made strategic acquisitions to meet the increasing demand for the new-age services.

Bellwether Tata Consulting Services (TCS) acquired the London-based W12 Studios on November 1 for an unspecified amount to enhance its digital and design offerings.

Similarly, Infosys bought the US-based WongDoody studio for $75 million (Rs 525 crore) in May to provide digital services, while HCL Technologies took over the US-based Actian Corporation for $330 million (Rs 2,310 crore) in July. Wipro bought US-based design consultancy firm Cooper for $8.5 million (Rs 56 crore) in October 2017.

According to global research and advisory firm Gartner, discretionary spending by enterprises on digital platforms (Industry 4.0) have been more than in traditional and non-discretionary areas.

Though the attrition rate in the industry has reduced over the years, the trend has reversed in this fiscal for various reasons, including inability to adopt to newer technologies and not keeping pace with demand for reskilled techies.

(With inputs from Bhavana Akella. Fakir Balaji can be contacted at fakir.b@ians.in)

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By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) Technology was a game-changer in the arts landscape in 2018, pushing the limits of approach and aesthetics -- and even the creators -- while there was also a visible shift from just seeing art to experiencing it.

Creating multiple copies of an art object using technological "reproduction" was a question dealt in much detail in the writings of leading cultural theorists, but this eventful year showed us how technological "production" itself is making its presence felt in the arts ecosystem.

Delhi-based art gallery Nature Morte's "Gradient Descent" could have easily been just another exhibition, but the human-machine collaboration made it stand out.

Created using algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the artworks in India's first ever commercial AI contemporary art expo led the viewers to rethink human creativity and labour.

"While the visual side of the creative task is now shifted to an algorithm -- a machine -- the machine can only create works based on its own experience and its exposure to visual languages.

"It is here, in the art of teaching the machine and in designing the humanly interpretable concept of the artwork, that the locus of the human's creativity lies within this genre," the gallery had said in a note on the exhibition.

In another event, a dancing AI robot-artist performed in Gurugram and Delhi.

The AI-created artworks came into the limelight as leading global auction house Christie's sent a work under the hammer in one of its October sales.

The "Portrait of Edmond Belamy", created using an algorithm defined by an algebraic formula, sold for $432,500 (roughly Rs 3 crore), which Christie's saw as a signal of "the arrival of AI art on the world auction stage".

What also caught attention was major cultural hubs in the capital designating exclusive spaces for arts experimentation. The Art Heritage gallery and Kaleidoscope Digital Art (KDA) gallery emerged as experimental platforms for artists in the year's latter half.

Asked if we were shifting from just seeing art to experiencing art, the Art Heritage gallery associate director Tariq Allana had earlier, during the opening of artist Abhijit Pathak's show, told IANS: "There are a lot of art installations happening. I recently went to three biennales in Korea, and the Indian artists there are creating experiences even on an international level. Some of the installations in Jaipur's Indian Ceramics Triennale were imposing too".

Pathak, who works in traditional media and had never done installations, was commissioned to create a multimedia experience "Sensorium" in a small gallery space, where he ventured into the third dimension, using fabric, metal, light, sound and the moving image.

The KDA gallery, too, featured several digital artists who worked with digital photography, videos, films, sound and animation, on varied themes: Life around a sacred river, photographic archives, and more recently the cinematic form.

Earlier this year, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) also presented "Delirium/Equilibrium", an exhibition of video, virtual reality and kinetic artworks, featuring artists who push the boundaries of traditional, static forms to introduce visual experiences that engage the audience.

Dharti Arts Residency, an annual event of the non-profit Serendipity Arts Foundation, also saw four major works that went beyond the concept of artworks hung on walls, but entered the realm of experiential and experimental.

The Foundation's just-concluded Serendipity Arts Festival also saw many installations and digital works, including an interactive game and an augmented reality experience on Goan heritage.

On the global stage, 2018 saw artist Charlotte Prodger bagging the prestigious Turner Prize for her film shot entirely on an iPhone; and auctioneers at Sotheby's being left perplexed when phenomenal street artist Banksy's painting shredded itself after being sold.

The work was renamed "Love is in the Bin" and was bought by the original bidder as her "own piece of art history".

Chinese phone brand Honor too recently unveiled an art installation made from 2000 phone glass-backs, in Hong Kong.

It may thus seem a year of significant deliberation in the realm of art and technology but it is not the first. The writings of cultural theorists like Walter Benjamin and John Berger remind us that technological reproduction was seen as a threat to art, which thrived on individuality and uniqueness.

Tech interventions, nonetheless, seemed to have surfaced more than any previous year in the arts domain. What remains to be seen is how enduring this seeming "paradigm shift" would be.

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

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New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) The speed at which global technology giants changed the way people lead their lives -- the way they talk to each other or conduct businesses -- without being concerned about any roadblocks was remarkable. But all that changed in 2018.

Scandals surrounding Facebook started surfacing in such higher frequencies that industry observers began questioning if the social media giant with over two billion users would be able to survive in the long term.

Leading the charge of the attack on Internet "monopolies" was American billionaire investor George Soros, who warned that social media companies can have adverse consequences on the functioning of democracy and that the days of the US-based IT giants were numbered.

Scrutiny of Facebook increased manifold since it revealed earlier this year how a London-based political consultancy, that worked for US President Donald Trump's campaign, improperly got access to data of up to 87 millions users.

Appearing before a US Congress Committee in April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised for the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal. In May, he appeared before the European Parliament to respond to questions surrounding the company's business practices, its plans on fighting misinformation on the platform and protecting user privacy among others.

While Facebook was slammed for revealing the Cambridge Analytica scandal years after it got to know of it, similar allegations of inaction were also levelled at the social media site for its role in the spread of false and divisive messages by Russian-linked accounts during the 2016 US presidential election.

However, the year gave Facebook more opportunities to report fresh incidents of data breaches. In September, it said that a breach had exposed data of 50 million people and then, in December, it reported another security breach where nearly 6.8 million users risked their private photos being exposed to third-party apps.

In between, Facebook found itself refuting serious claims of wrongdoings in giving access to user information to certain device makers, including China-based Huawei, and certain large technology companies and popular apps like Netflix or Spotify.

Internet giant Google also reported voluminous data leakage this year. In October, it reported that accounts of up to 500,000 users of its social network Google Plus were exposed between 2015 and March 2018. But Google chose not to report the issue partly because it feared regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

For the second time this year, Google said that a bug exposed accounts of 52.5 million Google Plus accounts, prompting the company to shut down the service in April 2019, four months ahead of schedule.

Besides, Facebook and Google, a series of data breaches involving other large organisations including Marriott (affecting 500 million guests), Quora (100 million users), Cathay Pacific Airways (9.4 million passengers) gave common and not-so-common people the jitters.

But the implementation of the long-awaited General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), designed to give citizens in the European Union (EU) more rights to control their personal information, brought some cheer to users of technology services as non-compliance of GDPR rules can cost a company a fortune -- 20 million Euros or four per cent of its annual turnover.

The impact of GDPR implementation, however, did not stay limited to EU citizens alone as it added weight to demands of similar legislation in other countries around the world, including India, which faced criticism from some quarters for using Aadhaar data for delivery of certain services.

In an effort to define the legal boundaries of the use of personal data, India had earlier this year brought out the draft of a data protection bill.

The Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee submitted the Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 in July, suggesting amendments to the Aadhaar Act to provide for imposition of penalties on data fiduciaries and compensations to data principals for violations of the data protection law.

While upholding the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment in September stated that private entities or individuals cannot avail Aadhaar data to provide consumer services, while directing the Centre to bring a robust data protection law.

So even as breaches exposed data of millions of users around the world, 2018 gave more voice to demands for greater privacy protection.

(Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at gokul.b@ians.in)

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By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Dec 26 (IANS) From showing a pregnant woman in her early 50s at centrestage in a mainstream film to pretty faces of Hindi cinema being cast as characters celebrating their sexual desire unabashedly -- 2018 offered some milestones for women empowerment in Hindi cinema.

With the so-called "woman centric" films surpassing the Rs 100 crore mark to a male superstar narrating a story on menstruation hygiene or a woman director's making it as India's Oscar entry, this trend seems to have here to stay.

This, in the same industry that finally saw a collective consciousness on the darkest and dirtiest side of the business emerge as women came out with some heart-wrenching stories of sexual harassment, courtesy the #MeToo movement.

Following last year's trend of Hindi films like "Lipstick Under My Burkha", "Bareilly Ki Barfi" and "Tumhari Sulu", stories told through the female gaze in the narrative continued this year with films like Rima Das' "Village Rockstars", Meghna Gulzar's "Raazi", Nandita Das' "Manto" or Leena Yadav's "Rajma Chawal".

"I think the influx of women at the workplace is also changing the narratives in our cinema," Zoya Akhtar, whose "Gully Boys" will premiere at the Berlinale, told IANS.

It's also noteworthy how both "Badhaai Ho" and "Raazi" are centred on female characters, but none of them was marketed with the "woman-centric" flag. "Veere Di Wedding", featuring Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania, too clearly promoted the film with a #notachickflick tag.

Junglee Pictures' Priti Shahani, producer of "Raazi" and "Badhaai Ho", said: "Perhaps that is why 'female-oriented film' was not the interest area for the audience to watch out for. The story of 'Raazi' was strong enough to intrigue the audience. When they went to the theatre to watch it, they got a strong story where each character was equally important to complete the story. That is the magic of Meghna."

On digital entertainment platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, actress Kubra Sait played a transgender character in "Sacred Games" and performed a frontal nudity scene, Rajshri Deshpande went topless for a scene in the same series, while Swara, Kiara Advani and Shweta Tripathi performed masturbation scenes in various projects, breaking the rules surrounding portrayal of women on-screen.

Shweta said: "Whether it is a kissing scene or masturbation, these scenes don't define us or the character we are playing. Projecting sexuality on-screen is not to titillate but to portray a character in a realistic manner. If only we do not look at sex as a taboo, we will stop judging women characters on-screen and off screen.

"If we actors are performing a scene without inhibition, please do not set us aside with the tag 'bold'... It has more to it."

Attempts to project or portray women breaking the social norms also courted criticism.

Citing Swara's example from "Veere Di Wedding", Shweta said: "Of course her masturbation scene was criticised, but my blood boiled when on social media, people were tagging her father and asking, 'How do you look at this as a father?' This is ridiculous! I have seen how mainstream media constantly talking about bold scenes... as if that's what we are known for and not our skill as actors.

"Whether it is Richa (Chadha), Radhika (Apte), Rasika (Dugal), myself and others who are constantly pushing the envelope, it is unfortunate to see how not only men but women in the media try to put us Down," said the "Mirzapur" actress.

While Shweta pointed out how scary it is for a female actor to be judged in the society based on her on-screen image, former beauty queen and actress Tanushree Dutta, who sparked India's #MeToo movement by recounting how National Award-winning actor Nana Patekar sexually harassed her on the set of "Horn 'Ok' Pleasssss" in 2009, told IANS: "In our country, actresses are perceived by their on-screen image mostly."

"It was no different for me back then since I made my debut in Bollywood with a film like 'Aashiq Banaya Aapne' that required me to do bold scenes. Since he (Nana) was a veteran National Award-winning actor with so-called respect and popularity, repressing my voice was the easiest thing. So he did that.

"But winning a National award does not make him a good human being," Tanushree said, adding that her on-screen image gave people the perception that "I am available".

Year 2019 will be starting with a woman-led film like "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi", which will carry forward the hope of celebrating more stories about strong women on the silver screen.

As Shriya Pilgaonkar, the young actress of web series "Mirzapur", put it: "For me, showing women making love on-screen without hesitation is surely a positive and liberating sign, but that is only one aspect of the change. We only can consider this wave as a change if multi-dimensional characters are written on women consistently in upcoming years."

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

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New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) The year turned out to be an eventful one for the Indian real estate marked by the improvement in sales and its return to stability after the double blow of GST and demonetisation.

For the sector, the liquidity crunch, the rupee falling to its record low, changes in the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) and recognition of home buyers as lenders to developers under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) were other major events during the year.

Although real estate did not witness an increase in launches, developers say, the market registered higher sale of inventory in 2018 compared to last year.

"It was a year of stabilisation of reforms implemented in residential real estate over 2016-17. Sales numbers saw 25 per cent improvement over 2017," said Ankur Dhawan, Chief Investment Officer at PropTiger.com.

Data provided by PropTiger.com showed that units sold across the country's nine major cities in 2018 were around 3.1 lakh, around 25 per cent higher than 2.5 lakh units sold last year.

The number of new projects, however, declined this year, with around 1.9 lakh units being launched - 22 per cent lower on a year-on-year basis.

According to market players, growth and demand in the affordable housing segment outgrew the overall demand in Indian real estate in 2018.

Mumbai-based Spenta Corportation's MD Farshid Cooper said: "Affordable housing is doing fantastically well actually. As there is an impetus from the government in terms of taxes etc, that is an added benefit to the segment."

The Centre provides interest subsidy to home buyers belonging to the Low Income Group (LIG) and Middle Income Group (MIG) categories under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

In June this year, the government increased the carpet area of houses eligible for the interest subsidy by 33 per cent, broadening the ambit of the scheme. The change would be effective from January 1, 2019.

In the new guidelines, the carpet area of a house for Middle Income Group-I (MIG-I) was raised to 160 square metres (sq mt) from 120 sq mt, while it has been increased to 200 sq mt from 150 sq mt in the case of MIG -II.

Speaking of commercial real estate, Cooper said that sale in the segment has performed better than that in residential housing due to demand from investors and funds such as sovereign wealth funds.

Non-resident Indian (NRI) investments in the realty sector got a boost this year on the back of a weak rupee. Rupee was on a slide for months and in October touched its lowest-ever level of 74.47 per dollar.

Market participants say investments by NRIs in Indian real estate crossed $10 billion in the current financial year, up from $8.9 billion invested in fiscal 2017-18.

"The (NRI) investments earlier were about 8-10 per cent of the total inventory, but in the current scenario it may rise upto 15 per cent in the near future," Surendra Hiranandani, Director, House of Hiranandani said.

With Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) becoming a reality in the near future investments are only likely to go higher, he added.

A major headache for the sector this year proved to be the liquidity crunch, which came to light when the lending major Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) defaulted on its commercial papers in September.

Parth Mehta, MD of Paradigm Realty said: "The liquidity crunch that is going on currently has given a tough time to the real-estate sector as developer can't slow down their construction to meet the RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act) timeline and on the other side NBFCs have stopped disbursals even against approved sanctions."

"This liquidity crunch hit both developers and buyers and has led to a slowdown in home buying decisions creating mismatch in housing demand-supply," Mehta said.

The RERA implementation was lacklustre across the country during the year, with majority of the states yet to set up a permanent regulator, although most of them have notified the rules.

"Currently 28 states and union territories have notified rules under RERA and 15 of these have established a permanent regulator, the latest one being Delhi, which appointed a full-time regulator in November. As of November, more than 34,000 projects had been registered under RERA," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia region for CBRE, a global commercial real estate investment company.

In July, the Parliament amended the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code allowing home buyers to be treated as financial creditors.

"Modification in Insolvency and Bankruptcy code to make home buyer a secured creditor was one of the major policy move of government. This will ensure home buyers are not shortchanged in bankruptcy process," Dhawan from PropTiger.com said.

With the liquidity crisis likely to subside with the RBI and the government stepping in, the segment players feel 2019 would see better investment and demand. The period upto the general elections in 2019 could, however, see caution and subdued interest with the market waiting for a stable government and policies.

"2019 will start on a cautious note due to the upcoming elections, but will pick up significant momentum thereafter, in all real estate segments," Hiranandani said.

(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)

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By Nishant Arora

New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) As smartphones went through a couple of noticeable innovations in the hardware department in 2018 -- especially Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven cameras and improved battery -- the rise of 5G-ready and foldable devices stole the limelight.

While players like Huawei, LG, Motorola and Apple secured patents on foldable devices, South Korean giant Samsung took a definitive lead, showcasing a real one in November when Justin Dennison, Senior Vice President of Mobile Marketing, took out a foldable smartphone from his jacket at a New York event.

Reports surfaced that Samsung plans to launch its first foldable smartphone in March next year and the shipment volume would be at least one million.

The smartphone would fold inward and sport a 7.4-inch screen when unfolded and have a 4.6-inch display like a regular smartphone when folded.

When it came to 5G, Samsung again pushed the envelope and announced 5G-enabled smartphones with US telecom carriers Verizon and AT&T that would hit the market in the first half of 2019.

Chinese player OnePlus joined the bandwagon in December, announcing it will release a commercial 5G smartphone with carrier network EE in the UK in 2019.

According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, 5G devices will soon be a reality.

"Form factors like foldable phones along with 5G technology will act as a catalyst impacting the upgrade rate of premium smartphones," Pathak told IANS.

"These features will help smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to differentiate their offerings. One of the aggressive marketing campaign will surely be about to launch the 'first 5G' smartphone in a region/country or price segment," he added.

"Smartphones have not seen much disruptive innovations for a long time now -- in form factor and display. Samsung has now achieved a technical breakthrough in display manufacturing," noted Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR).

Rest of the year saw major innovations in the camera department, with almost every player in the market infusing AI into sensors to do the job of clicking that perfect moment for you.

An early innovator in smartphone camera technology, Huawei in April brought a Leica-designed, triple-camera system in P20 Pro smartphone which became its USP.

Samsung later announced two smartphones -- Galaxy A7 with three-rear camera and Galaxy A9 with the four-rear camera system -- with AI embedded into it.

The year also saw Chinese electronics major Xiaomi's meteoric rise in India, increasing its market share quarters after quarters on the back of its popular Redmi series.

In a bid to break the notion that it is just a smartphone brand, Xiaomi also amplified its products portfolio in categories like fitness and health, smart home, smart travel and more -- using AI and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

OnePlus 6T became the flagship killer of the year in the Rs 30,000-Rs 40,000 segment. Topped with a bigger battery and some hardware improvements, OnePlus 6T made for a highly desirable smartphone in the premium category.

As smartphones scouted for innovation, data went dirt cheap.

Smartphone users in India are now consuming an average 1GB data per day and spending more than 90 minutes on online activities daily across the entry-level, mid and premium segments, revealed a Nielsen India report in September.

"The advent of high-speed 4G Internet, less-expensive mobile handsets and a correction in call data charges have encouraged the speedy adoption of smartphones in India," said Abhijit Matkar, Director-Technology IPG - Nielsen India.

With a rise in smartphone ownership, India was expected to end the year with over 500 million smartphone users, said US-based media agency Zenith.

Beyond smartphones, mobile handset market also saw a mammoth rise and to meet the demand of the mass market, new Chinese and Indian vendors launched affordable handsets with latest features, some even under Rs 5,000.

Backed by robust growth in smartphone as well as smart-feature phone categories, an estimated 302 million mobile handsets will be sold in India in 2019 -- the highest ever in a year -- said technology research consulting firm techARC.

Of the 302 million mobile handsets, 149 million (49.3 per cent) will be smartphones, 55 million (18.2 per cent) will be smart-feature phones and the remaining 98 million (32.5 per cent) will be feature phones.

With data prices breaking all records -- thanks to cheaper plans from carriers like Reliance Jio and affordable yet powerful smartphones now available on shelves -- the smartphone and mobile growth in India would only swell further.

(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)

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By Mohit Dubey

Lucknow, Dec 25 (IANS) A year is a long time in politics. In Uttar Pradesh, the change of the calendar from 2017 to 2018 saw a tectonic shift in the political landscape, one that left the ruling BJP and its cadres shocked to the core. Mayawati, the Dalit powerhouse who was daggers drawn with arch rival, the Samajwadi Party (SP), since June 2, 1995, after a murderous attack on her at a guest house by its supporters, decided to bury the hatchet and join ranks with the party.

This was by far the biggest development in UP this year as Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the SP were sworn enemies for decades -- using their stints in power to make flyovers next to the residences of each other, downgrade the other's security cover, get political leaders bashed up by the police and what not. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been benefitting from the divide and would often gleefully boast that as the "twain shall never meet" it would give the saffron camp increased seats, election after election.

Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are now glued to each other in their hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and haunted by the spectre of his again returning to power in 2019. Political observers here say that this was the "only option before the regional satraps as they fought for survival and not success anymore". And, as the Modi juggernaut rolled on, the BSP scored a duck in 2014 and the SP managed to win only four of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats. The SP got under 50 seats and was booted out of power in the 2017 state assembly polls, while the BSP was reduced to 19.

The new understanding between the two seemed to have found favour with the voters who threw their lot behind the duo after which SP candidates romped home winners in the Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana parliamentary by-polls. Having tasted blood, the two parties now have more or less cemented a seat-sharing agreement for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Tackling a whimsical Behenji, Akhilesh Yadav knows, is not an easy task -- but he, unlike his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, is ready to bend backwards to see the alliance through.

Even BJP chief Amit Shah has conceded that the coming together of the SP and BSP would cost the party dearly in UP. The mandarins in the BJP camp, however, are now working the wires to ensure that this does not become a reality and a nightmare for them.

"From the ED (Enforcement Directorate) to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to other factors, all are at work -- but we are determined to decimate the BJP this time," said an informed source in the SP who is privy to the seat-sharing talks. And so, while the hostility between the Jatavs (the BSP vote bank) and Yadavs (SP's electoral backbone) continues to simmer, hopes of the alliance arithmetic percolating down to the grassroots is not lost on both the parties.

The other significant change in the opposition camp this year was the parting of ways of Shivpal Singh Yadav from his political alma mater, the SP. A man credited with grooming the SP from scratch to three times in power finally threw in the towel after being completely sidelined by his estranged nephew and party chief Akhilesh Yadav. As a first step to breaking ranks with his party of 26 years, he formed a front but finally took the plunge and floated his own political party named Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP).

While his elder brother, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has been swinging like a pendulum between both the factions, sometimes making a guest appearance at SP events and also turning up at a PSP rally, party veterans seem to be siding with Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is extremely popular with workers and middle-rung leaders. Deepak Mishra, the spokesman of the PSP, told IANS that, in a short span of time, it is "ready with its organisational structure and is upbeat about contesting all 80 LS seats in UP".

He also termed as opportunistic the SP-BSP alliance. "We have the old guard, the real socialists, with us who have been fighting the communal forces for years," he claimed, adding that any party or formation will not be able to take on the BJP without the PSP's support.

Another significant churn in politics this year was caused by the floating of his own party by independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, aka Raja Bhaiyya.

The Kunda legislator, for the last 25 years, has been the favourite pick and essential part of almost all governments, barring Mayawati's. This time has decided to form his own party and contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats. Having christened his party Jansatta, he said his aim was transfer power to the people. In his initial public outings after declaring his party, Raja Bhaiyya has been wooing the upper castes by drumming up the fear of the SC/ST Atrocities Act and has openly declared the legislation was potentially a big threat to the "savarns" (upper castes).

With all political parties in the state tilting towards the OBC and Dalits, Raja Bhaiyya hopes to corner the upper caste votes from the Congress and the BJP. Insiders said his electoral foray is backed by the BJP, which feels that certain upper castes -- Brahmins and Thakurs -- could go to the Congress because of the Act. In such a grim scenario, they would prefer to shift the vote to Jansatta rather than the Congress.

Raja Bhaiyya's ideological proximity to the saffron camp is well known. He has been thrice minister in BJP governments in UP.

As the year draws to a close, a lot of political activity has happened in the state, enough to make 2019 an interesting year as the race for the Delhi Durbar hots up.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

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Bengaluru, Dec 25 (IANS) India witnessed a dramatic rise of eight unicorns in 2018 from among the start-ups across verticals as against a mere nine in six years from 2011 till 2017, according to IT industry apex body Nasscom.

The start-ups joining the select club for their valuation over $1 billion (Rs 7,000 crore or more) are Oyo Rooms (hospitality), Zomato and Swiggy (food delivery), Udaan (retailer marketplace), Byju's, (edu-tech), Paytm Mall (e-tail), Freshworks (software programmer) and Policybazaar (digital insurance).

"As the start-ups that became unicorns this year are based on subscription and Software as a Service (SaaS) models, they took a few years to mature," Nasscom Vice President (Industry Initiatives) K.S. Viswanathan told IANS.

The focus of these start-ups to acquire customers globally made them unicorns from India, he asserted.

According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies' (Nasscom) October report on "Indian Start-up Ecosystem: Approaching Escape Velocity", about 1,200 start-ups were added till September.

"The Indian ecosystem is adding about 1,300 start-ups every year but also seeing the demise of at least 300 of them from previous years," Viswanathan admitted, assessing their survival rate at three to five years.

With the addition of the start-ups, about 40,000 jobs were created during the year, taking their total in the ecosystem of 7,200-7,500 firms to 1.6-1.7 lakh.

The world's largest retail giant, Walmart, in May bought 77 per cent equity stake in the country's earliest e-tailer unicorn, Flipkart, for a whopping $16 billion in one of the largest e-commerce deals globally.

"The Flipkart acquisition by Walmart was a shot in the arm for the country's start-up sector," Viswanathan said.

The investment in the native start-ups rose by a phenomenal 108 per cent annually to $4.2 billion in nine months (January-September) from $2 billion in the same period of 2017, the Nasscom report said.

By year-end, Swiggy and Byju's raised hefty venture funds of $1 billion and $540 million (Rs 3,866-crore), respectively, indicating that global institutional and angel investors are betting on Indian unicorns.

According to the New York-based market intelligence platform CB Insights, about 60 per cent of the funds raised by Indian start-ups were invested in unicorns.

Adoption of disruptive technologies across verticals spanning education, food, health, hospitality and transportation has been driving growth of Indian start-ups.

For instance, the four-year-old Swiggy, which has raised $1.26 billion so far, has been investing in its digital platform and delivery fleet.

"One of the reasons for our success is our industry-changing innovations and focus on delivering the best consumer experience. Our delivery-only kitchens have also enabled our entry into 42 cities across the country in last six months," a Swiggy spokesperson told IANS.

During the year, Oyo and Ola also began expanding aggressively in the international markets.

Gurugram-based Oyo said it invested on its technological prowess, sustaining demand generation across online and offline channels and identification and upgradation of properties within a short time to spur growth.

The company raised $1 billion from SoftBank and other investors to become a unicorn.

"We saw many firsts and celebrated key milestones this year. We entered three international markets -- the UAE, Britain and Indonesia," Oyo founder and chief executive Ritesh Agarwal told IANS.

Competing against the American ride-hailing firm Uber, city-based Ola forayed into international markets starting in Australia and entered Britain and New Zealand.

Food delivery and restaurant search platform Zomato, which raised over $600 million since its founding in 2008 in Gurugram in Haryana, entered the unicorn club this year, according to Nasscom data.

Zomato has been expanding overseas since 2012 and operates in 24 countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada and the US.

The start-up ecosystem and its enablers, including stakeholders and policy regulations, play a key role in the growth of any firm, said Zomato's global head of classifieds business Oytun Calapover.

"Zomato is a great example of a homegrown start-up, which has been able to build equity not just in the home country, but overseas as well. This has been made possible by factors like government regulations and stakeholders," Calapover told IANS.

The central government's policies like Start-up India, Digital India and 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce have helped the country become a "land of unicorns", Calapover added.

Though the start-ups had a satisfactory year, the number of women leading some of them remained low. Of the total start-up founders, 11 per cent were women in 2017-18, up a mere three percentage points from eight per cent in 2016-17, according to Nasscom.

There is a need to advocate more women in start-ups for the government support, particularly at the seed-funding stage (early investments until they can generate revenue) and improving the ease of doing business to propel their growth, the industry body added in its report.

(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)

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By Simran Sethi

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) Age and medium is no bar for talent -- and in 2018, Indian showbiz paved the way for senior actors to return to the limelight. Neena Gupta, 59, turned out to be the perfect example.

Neena, who became a household name after portraying an iconic role in the 1990s TV show "Saans", was away from the screen for a long time. Last year, she took to social media to ask for work.

"I live in Mumbai and am working. I'm a good actor looking for good parts to play," she wrote on Instagram, raising a pertinent question about the lack of screen space for older actors.

But who would have known that the actress, who was asking for work till last year, would shine bright with films like "Mulk" and "Badhaai Ho". And that's how the fortunes turned.

While Neena played a mother of two grown-up sons who accidentally gets pregnant, Surekha Sikri essayed a nagging but affable grandmother and Gajraj Rao was seen in the role of a caring husband and father.

In an interview to IANS, Neena urged people from society and industry not to give heed to an actress' age. She hopes for more roles for women of age on-screen.

"There are not many roles. I always say that, 'After a certain age, what is a woman's role? Taking care of the family and home. After that there is no role'. When the society will change, I think we would have more roles on-screen," she said.

As for Surekha and Gajraj, they won the audience's heart with their funny and quirky performances in the film, which showed that for viewers what matters the most is good acting irrespective of an actor's age.

Surekha made her debut in 1978 with political drama "Kissa Kursi Ka", and made a name for herself by working in films, theatre and television. After featuring in the "Balika Vadhu" TV show, she gained huge popularity as the stern Dadisa. Now, once again she has wooed her fans with her character of the nagging grandma in "Badhaai Ho".

At 73, she does not want to settle down. She says she has no plan to slow down or retire.

"Retirement? Hello, I don't even know that word. What does it mean? That's a very old-fashioned English concept... That you do something and then you retire - and mostly it applies to government servants. Fortunately, I am a freelancer and I don't have any wish or desire to retire. I can just go on and on," Surekha contended.

Gajraj, who managed to make the audience fall in love with him, has earlier featured in movies like "Bandit Queen", "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" and "Talvar". But it was "Badhaai Ho" which brought him more visibility than ever. He is glad character actors are finally getting their due.

"I think such change is coming in cinema because of the lead actors like Ayushmann, Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Rajkummar Rao... They are secure enough to be part of films where they allow writers and directors to give space to the character actors.

"There is no insecurity on things like the lead actor should have the best dialogues and all the footage in the film. Therefore, though these actors are crowd-pullers in the theatre, actors like us also finding our space," he said.

The web space further opened up doors for older actors as Farida Jalal, Ashish Vidyarthi and Raza Murad.

The year 2018 also saw another film titled "102 Not Out", which proved that "old is gold". It starred legendary actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor in pivotal roles.

In the film Big B plays a 102-year-old man, father to a 75-year-old character played by Rishi. The film revolves around the father's aim of breaking the record for being the world's oldest person, a title held by a Chinese man. The duo's performance won praise from the audience.

Not only in "102 Not out", both Rishi and Amitabh garnered love from their fans for their performances in movies like "Mulk" and "Thugs of Hindostan" respectively.

"Thugs..." turned out to be a box office dud, but the stunts pulled off by Amitabh at the age of 76, projected how many senior actors can tell the youngsters, "Bbuddah... hoga terra baap".

(Simran Sethi can be contacted at simran.s@ians.in)

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Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) Early Assembly elections and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) retaining power with a landslide majority earlier this month dominated the events in Telangana during 2018.

Eight months before the expiry of the Assembly's term, the TRS government recommended dissolution of the House on September 6. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan accepted the recommendation the same day.

Chief Minister and TRS President K. Chandrashekhar Rao's gamble of early polls paid rich dividends as the party bagged 88 seats in 119-member Assembly. The historic alliance between Congress and its arch rival for 36 years, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) -- and the formation of four-party People's Alliance led by Congress -- failed to stop the TRS juggernaut.

The Assembly elections were originally scheduled along with Lok Sabha polls in 2019 but by advancing them, KCR (as the Chief Minister is popularly known) ensured that the focus remained on his narrative of development and welfare. The welfare schemes implemented during the last four-and-a-half-years and the 'Telangana pride' factor due to campaigning by TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu helped the TRS sail through with flying colours.

Buoyed by the massive victory, KCR announced he will play a crucial role in national politics by bringing together all regional parties under proposed Federal Front to provide an alternative to both the Congress and the BJP. In another related key development, the TRS chief handed over the party affairs to his son K.T. Rama Rao, by appointing him the party's Working President.

The year began with the launch of free 24-hour electricity to the agriculture sector. This made Telangana the first state in the country to provide this facility to farmers.

The year also saw the launch of two major schemes for farmers. Under 'Rythu Bandhu', an investment support of Rs 8,000 is being provided to each farmer per acre per year for two crops. 'Rythu Beema' offers Rs 5 lakh life insurance cover to every farmer.

Earlier, this month the government announced that Telangana had achieved 29.97 per cent growth during the current financial year up to November. It claimed that no other state in the country recorded such a high growth rate.

After the formation of Telangana, during the first four financial years, the state recorded growth of 17.17 percent on an average every year.

Telangana registered information technology exports worth Rs 93,422 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal, a Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.6 per cent as against the national average of 10.30 per cent.

The Hyderabad Metro Rail commenced operations in September on the 16-km Ameerpet-LB Nagar line. With the 46-km now operational, the Hyderabad Metro has become India's second largest such network after Delhi.

Leading Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA opened its first India store in Hyderabad in August with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore on 13 acre of land in Hitec City, the IT hub.

Earlier this month, star shuttler P.V. Sindhu became first Indian to win the BWF Tour Finals. Her first gold medal of the year came after she finished runner-up in seven tournaments including World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

While Sindhu was battling in BWF Finals in China, her seniors and star shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap tied the knot in Hyderabad.

Another celebrity, tennis star Sania Mirza, was in news for becoming a mother. Sania, who married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik in 2010, gave birth to their first child, a baby boy, on October 30.

There was also a share of tragedies. Telugu actor and former Andhra Pradesh minister N. Harikrishna died in a road accident in Nalgonda district. He was the son of TDP founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao.

In the worst tragedy during the year, 57 people were killed when an over-crowded bus of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) plunged into a gorge near Kondagattu temple in Jagtial district on September 11.

The legal system hit the news when a special NIA court in September sentenced to death two operatives of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and jailed a third for life in the 2007 twin bomb blast case. The blasts at an eatery and a park in Hyderabad on August 25, 2007 had killed 44 people.

Earlier in April, another special court had acquitted right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand and four others in the Makkah Masjid bomb blast case. The blast, during Friday prayers on May 8, 2007, had claimed nine lives.

(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contated at m.shafeeq@ians.in)

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By Saket Suman

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) In a year of unabated vitriol against liberal writers, historians and public intellectuals, books emerged as the avenue of expressing dissent and chronicling the trials and tribulations of the time -- threats to free speech, religious polarisation and rewriting of history.

As subjugation of fundamental rights became increasingly evident, key personalities and intellectuals debunked the failure of the ruling regime's much-touted agendas in several "book bombshells" that were released during the year.

The attacks on the creative community amidst a climate of intolerance, that had led to the "awardwapsi" campaign in 2015, continued this year even as those behind the gruesome murder of firebrand journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in September 2017 were yet to be brought to justice.

Her former husband Chidanand Rajghatta penned a book in her memory: "Illiberal India: Gauri Lankesh and the Age of Unreason", highlighting the life of the veteran journalist. The running theme throughout its pages, however, remained about the void that had been created since she was slain.

Malayalam novelist S. Hareesh and Goa's award-winning writer, Damodar Mauzo were among those who faced the brunt of hindutva elements. Both of them were hounded and received multiple death threats in August, leading to a massive hue and cry by the writing fraternity.

Such threats were coupled with social media trolling, and discrediting of noted writers such as Romila Thapar, Keki Daruwalla, Ramachandra Guha, and Arundhati Roy, among several others. Criticising the ruling dispensation came with a cost -- branding of career writers and historians as anti-nationals and urban Naxals.

However, even in the face of severe vitriol that came their way, leading writers lived up to their ideals and practised what they preached by penning down valuable books that will be recorded in the pages of history as the chronicles of these times. They talked about the shrinking space for public debate, the undermining of vital institutions, the fall of moderates and the rise of radicals.

Also came books on socio-political scenario in contemporary India and the agrarian crisis that grips the hinterlands.

Young Gurmehar Kaur made a stunning debut with the appropriately titled "Small Acts of Freedom" in January. The 20-year-old daughter of a Kargil war martyr was never brought up to be silenced and her courageous, yet subtle, book marked the onset of a literary movement to speak out in the face of coercion.

At a time when demonisation of Mughal emperors has become fashionable with the renaming of roads, cities and railway stations, came several books that showed how much of the venom being spewed today relied on little historical evidence. Similarly, while the ruling dispensation relishes in criticising Jawaharlal Nehru, the writing community presented evidence and historical records to suggest otherwise.

While these soft titles aimed at enlightening readers, there was equal music from books that targeted the ruling dispensation, and in particular Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose silence on rampant attacks on the creative community has irked its practitioners.

"Devil's Advocate" by veteran journalist Karan Thapar, "The Sarkari Mussalman" by Lt. Gen Zameeruddin Shah (retd) and "Memory in the age of Amnesia" by filmmaker Saeed Mirza travelled down memory lane to underline episodes that tarnish Modi's reputation. Some other such books reflected on his psyche, his functioning and authoritative nature.

Gyan Prakash's "Emergency Chronicles" highlighted that in Modi's India, citizens were witness to an unprecedented combination of state power and populist mobilisation in the name of development and the nation.

At the same time, the Opposition too built up a literary edifice of sorts as several of its prominent leaders such as Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Salman Khurshid penned books highly critical of the Modi government, while former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was criticised for his silence during his two tenures, attended a record number of book launches, attacking Modi -- saying he may have been accused of keeping quiet, but he never shied away from talking to reporters, as Modi did since coming to power in 2014.

The Opposition leaders scrutinised Modi's actions and governance during the past four-and-a-half years, pointing out that the "Paradoxical Prime Minister" says something and but acts contrary to it. Numerous references were drawn from Modi's speeches to contend that there was a huge gap between the promise and the performance as well as the rhetoric and the reality.

And then came "Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy" in which former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian called the demonetisation a "massive draconian, monetary shock", removing all doubts of the failure on the much touted decision that had brought the nation to its knees two years ago.

Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha's soon-to-be-released "India Unmade: How Modi Government Broke The Economy", is a devastating essay on Modi and his government and is dedicated to "all those who are not afraid to pursue the truth".

Apart from political coercion by the regime, a new, insidious method of legal recourse was found, to go against authors and publishers. A slew of books were taken to courts this year for the silliest of reasons but the Supreme Court sent a ray of hope to the writing fraternity in August.

While hearing a plea seeking to omit certain parts of Malayalam novel "Meesha" by S. Hareesh, the top-court said that the culture of banning books impacts the free flow of ideas and should not be taken recourse to unless they are hit by Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code that prohibits obscenity.

In another positive sign, the Sahitya Akademi seemed on the cusp of revival under the able leadership of its President Chandrashekhar Kambar, who, unlike his predecessor, was not only forthcoming in his support to writers but was also vociferous in his condemnation of coercion.

(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)

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New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) While several medical advancements this year demonstrated potential treatment for life-threatening diseases, some were mired in controversies -- creating a raging debate among the medical and research fraternity over ethical issues.

One such controversy was around a claim by a Chinese researcher of having creating "designer babies".

He Jiankui, Associate Professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, dropped a bombshell on the medical and research world by claiming that he created twin baby girls purportedly using the genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, making them resistant to infections and cancers.

Many scientists and researchers claimed that the report of the genetically-edited babies was "unverified," but said that if true it would be "monstrous".

Altering DNA before or at the time of conception has always been highly controversial because the changes can be inherited and might harm other genes. Scientists would be grappling with this ethical question for long.

In yet another controversial experiment, a team of Chinese scientists successfully cloned a monkey -- an advance that promised to boost medical research into human brain disorders.

Using a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai, created two long-tailed female macaques.

However, this also led to fears that it would open the door to human cloning.

But the year also saw surgeons successfully completing benign and revolutionary surgeries.

Swiss research institute Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne used a new spinal implant technology to help a paralysed man walk again.

The technology, called epidural electrical stimulation, stimulates the spinal cord, as the brain would do naturally.

A baby girl born after the uterus transplant from a 45-year-old brain dead woman also brough cheers to the medical fraternity this year. This medical milestone was the result of efforts by doctors from the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The uterus was removed from the donor and transplanted into the recipient in a surgery that also involved connecting the donor uterus and recipient's veins and arteries, ligament and vaginal canals.

The womb transplant, which lasted over 10 hours, took place in September 2016. The baby was born in December 2017, said the report published in the Lancet this year.

The year also saw breakthroughs in reconstructive surgery. A French man became the first person to receive two face transplants. A war veteran from the US, who suffered genital deformity at Afghanistan, received a complete penis and scrotum transplant in a 14-hour-long operation.

In 2018, researchers created an injection that might prevent migraines and are looking into an effective and safe male birth control.

They also successfully reversed the formation of amyloid plaques -- crucially involved in Alzheimer's disease -- in the brains of mice with the neurodegenerative disorder, thus improving their cognitive function.

Moreover, scientists also discovered a human organ hitherto unknown. The organ named "interstitium" is a series of fluid-filled connective tissues. The purpose of the organ is to absorb shock, protecting internal organs from rupturing due to pressure.

Interstititum has been recognised as the 80th human organ.

In another breakthrough, doctors at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the US, reported the first ever case of a transgender woman successfully breastfeeding her baby.

According to the doctors, the 30-year-old transgender underwent three-and-a-half months of a regimen of domperidone, oestradiol, progesterone, and breast pumping.

As a result, she was able to achieve sufficient breast milk volume to be the sole source of nourishment for her child for six weeks.

The case, published in the journal Transgender Health, illustrates that in some circumstances, modest but functional lactation can be induced in transgender women.

However, the patient had not undergone any gender reassignment surgeries, breast augmentation or vaginoplasty.

As advancements in medical research could have profound impact in the way we live our life, the world will surely keep a close tab on the changes that the new year could usher in, including the increased integration of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the delivery of healthcare services.

(Rachel V. Thomas can be contacted at rachel.t@ians.in)

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By Vishal Gulati

New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS) Clearing the smoke of uncertainty over the issue of a cleaner environment, India this year succeeded in its multilateral diplomacy to evolve a roadmap for the international community to decisively address climate change.

Also, India's success in renewable energy auctions, in reducing emissions besides its largest commitment to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022, has enabled it to win accolades globally.

Even the Indian private sector is not lagging behind in joining the ranks of leading global companies that have committed to set a scientific target to be carbon negative.

Experts believe it's a win-win situation for India as its success in the just concluded diplomatic intrigues in the coalfields of Katowice in Poland lies in promoting a more fine-tuned form of responsibility -- not just among countries, but within them as well.

Eventually, the 24th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP24, produced a deal that paves the way for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement, which is supposed to replace the existing Kyoto Protocol in 2020.

Voicing its reservations at the COP24 talks, which saw a holdback due to certain objections of the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brazil and Turkey, India went vocal over the lack of equity in the rules relating to the global stocktaking in the rulebook that implements the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

In the same breath, India signaled that it is ready to update its nationally determined contributions or NDCs if other countries also do so.

Also playing a crucial role to mitigate climate change and other environmental challenges, India in June announced it would strengthen its support with a 25 per cent increase over its contribution to the $15 million Global Environment Facility's new investment cycle.

India has committed that by 2030, as much as 40 per cent of its installed energy capacity will be based on non-fossil fuels.

India has also won global accolades for opting for green technologies.

India is on track to meet a majority of its Paris goals and become a global climate leader by meeting its targets a decade earlier, US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said in a report on the margins of COP24.

The Paris agreement enjoins each country to outline, update and communicate its post-2020 NDCs reflecting its ambition for reducing emissions.

According to IEEFA, India's NDCs included three key targets: To achieve 40 per cent of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030, to reduce the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product by 33-35 per cent from the 2005 level by 2030 and to create an additional 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon sinks -- reservoirs that accumulate and store carbon dioxide -- through the planting of additional forest and tree cover.

R.R. Rashmi, India's former climate negotiator and now a Fellow at The Energy Resource Institute (TERI), told IANS at COP24: "In terms of India's efforts in reducing its emissions relative to its economic growth, it is a fairly positive story and it is more significant because the energy growth is tremendous."

Even the World Bank praised India's success in renewable energy auctions that delivered record-setting low prices for solar power.

"There is a great opportunity now for countries to learn from each other to accelerate the uptake of good policies," said Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director for Energy and Extractives at the World Bank, in a report this month.

"For example, how did India structure its renewable energy auctions to deliver record-setting low prices for solar?"

A Germanwatch report says carbon dioxide emissions are rising again globally but India's ranking has improved by three points.

But India moved to 11th rank from last year's 14th as a result of improved performance in renewable energy, comparatively low levels of per capita emissions and a relatively ambitious mitigation target for 2030, said Germanwatch's Climate Change Performance Index 2019.

Even India's private sector is not lagging in committing carbon neutral targets.

Taking the lead, Mahindra & Mahindra, the leading manufacturer of utility vehicles and part of the $20.7 billion Mahindra Group, announced its commitment to become a carbon neutral company by 2040.

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra announced this at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco in September.

Likewise, India's Dalmia Cement Group CEO Mahendra Singhi announced at the GCAS that the company too aims to be carbon negative by 2040.

On the political front, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was selected for this year's Champions of the Earth award -- the UN's highest environmental honour -- along with French President Emmanuel Macron.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

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Chennai, Dec 21 (IANS) The year 2018 could be termed as one of several new beginnings for the Indian space agency: the political sanction for a manned Gaganyaan mission, operationlisation of the heaviest rocket, steps to licence out lithium ion battery technology, introduction of new technologies in rockets and satellites and the decision to go ahead with the Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS), among others.

As the year ended, the IAF got its own eye in the sky to exponentially enhance its capabilities.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also carried out a sort of `Swachh Bharat' mission - clearing the backlog of satellite launches.

"The year involved hectic activities with several rocket and satellite launch missions. We completed the NAVIC satellite constellation (a regional satellite navigation system similar to GPS) and launched communication satellites like GSAT 29, GSAT 11, GSAT 6A and GSAT 7A. Further, our heaviest rocket, GSLV Mk III, became operational," ISRO Chairman K. Sivan told IANS.

Interestingly Sivan is one of the new beginnings for ISRO as he assumed office in 2018.

"The major boost was the Gaganyaan announcement by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was a major target announcement. Necessary infrastructure is being augmented," Sivan said.

"During 2018, almost all the technological issues relating to Chandrayaan-2 were sorted out. All the scientific instruments are ready," S. Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) told IANS.

"With the challenge of realising a human space mission in 2022 an energised ISRO is working hard towards various goals for realising the mission and others," Somanath added.

One of the critical projects was the IDRSS.

"There will be two IDRSS satellites of which one is targeted to be flown next year," Sivan said.

The IDRSS satellites will be placed in geostationary orbit, enabling satellite to satellite communication and reducing the dependence on the ground stations. This communication is crucial for a manned space mission as there cannot be a risk of being without a connection and data relay.

The year 2018 also saw sanctions for infrastructure augmentation -- connected and non-connected with the proposed manned mission.

"Approval for a fully electric-propelled satellite has been obtained. Similarly, sanction for additional satellites for the NAVIC system has been obtained. The next version of the reusable launch vehicle has also been sanctioned and augmentation of various infrastructural facilities are happening," Somanath said.

He said approvals for 30 more Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) have also been obtained to be flown over the years.

Over 100 industries have shown interest in ISRO's lithium ion cell technology and 14 companies had been shortlisted. "ISRO has transferred the technology to BHEL for production of space-grade lithium ion batteries for its needs during the year," Somanath added.

The year also saw ISRO crossing the milestone of lifting and putting into orbit over 250 foreign satellites bringing the total to 269 foreign satellites.

"There is increased demand for satellites from strategic sectors. About six/seven satellites are planned to be built," a senior official told IANS, preferring anonymity.

The GSAT-7 and GSAT-7A are the two dedicated military communication satellites while all other earth observation and communication satellites launched earlier were of dual use -- civilian and defence.

Looking forward into 2019, ISRO will also be busy with the Rs 800 crore Chandrayaan-2, India's second moon mission slated in January; flying its new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) rocket.

Somanath said ISRO's new rocket to launch small satellites is being built and will be flown next year. It will be 37-metres tall and weigh 120 tonne. The rocket will be able to to carry satellites weighing 500-700 kg.

Somanath said in 2019, about eight PSLV, two GSLV Mk II and two GSLV Mk III, two SSLV and one test GSLV Mk III for Gaganyaan project will be flown.

"A total of over 32 missions -- satellites and rockets -- have been planned for 2019," Sivan said.

The one jarring note in ISRO's success symphony in 2018 was the loss of the GSAT-6A satellite couple of days after it was launched in March. The satellite stopped communicating with the ground stations owing to the failure of its power systems.

The GSAT-6A was supposed to compliment GSAT-6 launched in 2015, to help provide technologies for point-to-point communication.

Highlights of 2018:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces manned mission in 2022

• Space crew escape module tested as part of manned space mission

• Tested technologies for manned space mission

• India's heaviest communication satellite, GSAT-11, orbited after being recalled from Kourou spaceport for checks

• Increasing production of solid fuel boosters for rockets

• Operationalised of heaviest rocket, GSLV Mk III

• Decision to licence out lithium ion battery technology

• Launched 100th satellite

• Kerala sanctions Rs 50 lakh compensation to former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan for his sufferings and ignominy after his wrongful arrest in the ISRO spy case.

  (Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

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