Almost 17 million babies under the age of one live in areas where air pollution is at least six times higher than international limits, causing them to breathe toxic air and potentially putting their brain development at risk, according to a new UNICEF paper released today. More than three-quarters of these young children – 12 million – live in South Asia.

Danger in the Air: How air pollution can affect brain development in young children notes that breathing in particulate air pollution can damage brain tissue and undermine cognitive development – with lifelong implications and setbacks.

“Not only do pollutants harm babies’ developing lungs – they can permanently damage their developing brains – and, thus, their futures,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.  “Protecting children from air pollution not only benefits children. It is also benefits their societies – realized in reduced health care costs, increased productivity and a safer, cleaner environment for everyone.”

Satellite imagery reveals that South Asia has the largest proportion of babies living in the worst-affected areas, with 12.2 million babies residing where outdoor air pollution exceeds six times international limits set by the World Health Organization. The East Asia and Pacific region is home to some 4.3 million babies living in areas that exceed six times the limit.

The paper shows that air pollution, like inadequate nutrition and stimulation, and exposure to violence during the critical first 1,000 days of life, can impact children’s early childhood development by affecting their growing brains:

·         Ultrafine pollution particles are so small that they can enter the blood stream, travel to the brain, and damage the blood-brain barrier, which can cause neuro-inflammation.

·         Some pollution particles, such as ultrafine magnetite, can enter the body through the olfactory nerve and the gut, and, due to their magnetic charge, create oxidative stress – which is known to cause neurodegenerative diseases.

·         Other types of pollution particles, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can damage areas in the brain that are critical in helping neurons communicate, the foundation for children’s learning and development.

·         A young child’s brain is especially vulnerable because it can be damaged by a smaller dosage of toxic chemicals, compared to an adult’s brain. Children are also highly vulnerable to air pollution because they breathe more rapidly and also because their physical defences and immunities are not fully developed.

The paper outlines urgent steps to reduce the impact of air pollution on babies’ growing brains, including immediate steps parents can take to reduce children’s exposure in the home to harmful fumes produced by tobacco products, cook stoves and heating fires:

·         Reduce air pollution by investing in cleaner, renewable sources of energy to replace fossil fuel combustion; provide affordable access to public transport; increase green spaces in urban areas; and provide better waste management options to prevent open burning of harmful chemicals.

·         Reduce children’s exposure to pollutants by making it feasible for children to travel during times of the day when air pollution is lower; provide appropriately fitting air filtration masks in extreme cases; and create smart urban planning so that major sources of pollution are not located near schools, clinics or hospitals.

·         Improve children’s overall health to improve their resilience. This includes the prevention and treatment of pneumonia, as well as the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding and good nutrition.

·         Improve knowledge and monitoring of air pollution. Reducing children’s exposure to pollutants and the sources of air pollution begins with understanding the quality of air they are breathing in the first place. 

“No child should have to breathe dangerously polluted air – and no society can afford to ignore air pollution,” said Lake.

On Monday, December 4, the Chairman of Rajya Sabha disqualified two Members of Parliament (MPs) from the House under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (better known as the anti-defection law) for having defected from their party. These members were elected on a Janata Dal (United) ticket. The Madras High Court is also hearing petitions filed by 18 MLAs who were disqualified by the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in September 2017 under the anti-defection law.  Allegations of legislators defecting in violation of the law have been made in several other states including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Telangana and Uttarakhand in recent years. In this context, we explain the anti-defection law.

What is the anti-defection law?

Aaya Ram Gaya Ram was a phrase that became popular in Indian politics after a Haryana MLA Gaya Lal changed his party thrice within the same day in 1967.  The anti-defection law sought to prevent such political defections which may be due to reward of office or other similar considerations.

The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985. It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House. A legislator is deemed to have defected if he either voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or disobeys the directives of the party leadership on a vote. This implies that a legislator defying (abstaining or voting against) the party whip on any issue can lose his membership of the House.  The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.

Are there any exceptions under the law?

Yes, legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances. The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger. In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.

Various expert committees have recommended that rather than the Presiding Officer, the decision to disqualify a member should be made by the President (in case of MPs) or the Governor (in case of MLAs) on the advice of the Election Commission. This would be similar to the process followed for disqualification in case the person holds an office of profit (i.e. the person holds an office under the central or state government which carries a remuneration, and has not been excluded in a list made by the legislature).

How has the law been interpreted by the Courts while deciding on related matters?

The Supreme Court has interpreted different provisions of the law.  We discuss some of these below.

The phrase ‘Voluntarily gives up his membership’ has a wider connotation than resignation

The law provides for a member to be disqualified if he ‘voluntarily gives up his membership’. However, the Supreme Court has interpreted that in the absence of a formal resignation by the member, the giving up of membership can be inferred by his conduct. In other judgments, members who have publicly expressed opposition to their party or support for another party were deemed to have resigned.

In the case of the two JD(U) MPs who were disqualified from Rajya Sabha on Monday, they were deemed to have ‘voluntarily given up their membership’ by engaging in anti-party activities which included criticizing the party on public forums on multiple occasions, and attending rallies organised by opposition parties in Bihar.

Decision of the Presiding Officer is subject to judicial review 

The law initially stated that the decision of the Presiding Officer is not subject to judicial review. This condition was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992, thereby allowing appeals against the Presiding Officer’s decision in the High Court and Supreme Court. However, it held that there may not be any judicial intervention until the Presiding Officer gives his order.

In 2015, the Hyderabad High Court, refused to intervene after hearing a petition which alleged that there had been delay by the Telangana Assembly Speaker in acting against a member under the anti-defection law.

Is there a time limit within which the Presiding Officer has to decide?

The law does not specify a time-period for the Presiding Officer to decide on a disqualification plea. Given that courts can intervene only after the Presiding Officer has decided on the matter, the petitioner seeking disqualification has no option but to wait for this decision to be made.

There have been several cases where the Courts have expressed concern about the unnecessary delay in deciding such petitions. In some cases this delay in decision making has resulted in members, who have defected from their parties, continuing to be members of the House. There have also been instances where opposition members have been appointed ministers in the government while still retaining the membership of their original parties in the legislature.

In recent years, opposition MLAs in some states, such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have broken away in small groups gradually to join the ruling party. In some of these cases, more than 2/3^rd of the opposition has defected to the ruling party.

In these scenarios, the MLAs were subject to disqualification while defecting to the ruling party in smaller groups.  However, it is not clear if they will still face disqualification if the Presiding Officer makes a decision after more than 2/3^rd of the opposition has defected to the ruling party. The Telangana Speaker in March 2016 allowed the merger of the TDP Legislature Party in Telangana with the ruling TRS, citing that in total, 80% of the TDP MLAs (12 out of 15) had joined the TRS at the time of taking the decision.

In Andhra Pradesh, legislators of the main opposition party recently boycotted the entire 12-day assembly session.  This boycott was in protest against the delay of over 18 months in action being taken against legislators of their party who have allegedly defected to the ruling party. The Vice President, in his recent order disqualifying two JD(U) members stated that all such petitions should be decided by the Presiding Officers within a period of around three months.

Does the anti-defection law affect the ability of legislators to make decisions?

The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the legislators do not switch sides. However, this law also restricts a legislator from voting in line with his conscience, judgement and interests of his electorate. Such a situation impedes the oversight function of the legislature over the government, by ensuring that members vote based on the decisions taken by the party leadership, and not what their constituents would like them to vote for.

Political parties issue a direction to MPs on how to vote on most issues, irrespective of the nature of the issue. Several experts have suggested that the law should be valid only for those votes that determine the stability of the government (passage of the annual budget or no-confidence motions).

(Source – PRS Legislative)

It is often said in the context of lifestyle diseases that “genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.” This means that unhealthy lifestyle can easily trigger diabetes and heart disease among people who are genetically predisposed to them. Now a study has shown that even if one is genetically prone to diabetes or heart disease, one can reduce the risk with healthy lifestyle.

In recent years, several genomic studies have identified genes that are linked with risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease among different population groups. Such findings make people neglect their lifestyles, as they think that why should they bother if anyway they are genetically predisposed to these diseases. The new Indo-British study debunks this, in the case of Indians.

The study has found that people who are genetically more prone to get diabetes and heart disease can reduce their risk with lifestyle modification – consumption of healthy food and physical activity. 

Participants in the study conducted in Chennai – considered India’s diabetes capital – who followed a low-fat diet reported higher levels of good cholesterol or HDL despite carrying a gene shown to increase risk of diabetes in earlier studies. Researchers looked at two gene variants – MC4R and TCF7L2 – known to increase risk of metabolic disorders among study participants who were part of an ongoing study called Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES). 

“We examined if the association between MC4R and TCF7L2 genes, and cardio-metabolic traits is modified by dietary factors and physical activity,” explained Dr Vimal S Karani, a member of the research team. “We found that individuals who consumed a low-fat diet had higher levels of good cholesterol despite carrying the risky gene variant. In particular, those who consumed a diet low in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had higher levels of good cholesterol despite carrying the same TCF7L2 gene variant.”

Besides analyzing genomic data, researchers evaluated dietary habits through a ‘food frequency questionnaire’ consisting of 222 different foods. It included information about portion size and frequency as well. In the same way, physical activity was measured. Individuals were categorized as ‘vigorously active’ when they both exercised and engaged in demanding work activities, while those in ‘moderately active’ group either exercised or carried out heavy physical work. The rest were separated into sedentary group. The study results have been published in journal PLOS One.

The research team included Vimal S Karani, Szilvia Gaal, Israa Shatwan, Shelini Surendran, Julie A. Lovegrove (University of Reading, UK); Viswanathan Mohan, Dhanasekaran Bodhini, Kandaswamy Ramya, Vasudevan Sudha, Mohan R. Anjana  Venkatesan Radha (Madras Diabetes Research Foundation); and Basma Ellahi (University of Chester, UK). (India Science Wire) 

NEW DELHI: “I do not want to look back. My life has changed forever. I want to be an achiever and do some proud to the State and the nation,” says Afshan Ashiq Captain of the `Chief Minister’s XI’ women’s football team.
The `Chief Minister’s XI’ team played the Indian Women’s League Football Championship held in Kolhapur, Maharashtra recently.
Afshan, whose life story might soon hit the silver screen with a renowned Bollywood filmmaker planning to launch a biopic on her life, hails from Srinagar. Her life and career made a remarkable U-turn since the days when her picture splashed in the national media as a stone-pelter.
Her tender hands once hurled stones, but now as the team’s goalkeeper, stand firmly at her goalpost.
Afshan Ashiq, whose team met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, here said the youth (in Kashmir) is talented but there is need for a platform.
In a prompt gesture, the Union Home Minister spoke on the phone instantly with Ms Mehbooba Mufti, the State Chief Minister and conveyed to her the concerns of the young players and that these should be promptly taken up for redressal.
 Â“Met the young and energetic girls of J&K’s first ever Women Football Team. They are highly motivated and driven when it comes to football. Playing the role of new age ‘Gender Benders’, these girls are setting an example for others to follow. I wish them success and a great future,” said Rajnath Singh in a tweet.
The 25 member delegation included three officials who started the team. Of the 22 girls, 11 are from J&K, – five from the Kashmir Valley, four from Jammu region and two from Ladakh. Interacting with the Union Home Minister, the girls drew his attention to the need for creating better sports infrastructure and facilities and providing more opportunities to fulfill the aspirations of the youth from the State.
Rajnath Singh told the team that an additional provision of Rs.100 crore has been specially made for upgradation of sports facilities in the State.
Coach Satpal Singh said the J&K Sports Council has set up State Football Academies in as many as 19 of 22 total districts in the State. The J&K CM’s XI team comprises 11 girls from other parts of the country including six from Haryana, three from Odisha, and one each from Bihar and Jharkhand. The induction of outside talent raises standards to enable the team come up to the national level, said team Manager Tsering Angmo.

NEW DELHI: Legendary actor Shashi Kapoor who was suffering from kidney ailment for the past several years died in a Mumbai hospital on Monday. He was 79. 
Shashi Kapoor, son of illustrious film actor Prithviraj Kapoor and younger brother of actor-director Raj Kapoor, had acted in about 115 movies. He began acting in his father’s plays and began acting as a child artiste in movies like “Aag” and “Awaraa”. Growing to be a handsome young man, Shashi Kapoor is best known for essaying romantic lead roles with ease and flair where he was paired with almost all leading heroines of the day in Mumbai’s filmdom. 
He stood his ground in movies like “Deewar”, “Kabhie Kabhie”, “Namak Halal”, “Trishul” and “Kala Pathar” opposite Amitabh Bacchan who had by then emerged as a superstar and Amitabh-Shashi pair became a hit with everyone, winning instant approval of people. Shashi Kapoor is also known for his role in “Junoon”, “Chor Machaye Shor”, “Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram”, “Fakira”, “Sharmilee” and “Heat and Dust”, a Merchant-Ivory film based on a novel of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
His exposure to international cinema was noteworthy and so was his love for theatre where he met Jennifer Kendal whom he married later. He is survived by sons Kunal, Karan and daughter Sanjana who has kept his initiative of Prithvi Theatre alive. 
President Ram Nath Kovind remembered him for his contribution to meaningful cinema and theatre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several ministers and film personalities also recalled his contribution to the film world and theatre. 
His career in movies and theatre spanned nearly four decades. He made a rare appearance in the Capital in 2015 to receive the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award where his photograph with the leading heroines of his movies Shabana Azmi, Waheeda Rahman, Zeenat Aman, Rekha and Hema Malini went viral. In 2011, he was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan award. 

Akanksha Sood Singh can never stop making films. Film making is her Plan A to Plan Z in life. 

Having worked on 86 films in the past 15 years in various capacities and directed 7 films, including 3 feature films, Akanksha’s works have won her national and international accolades. 

The films you make are more on subjects which film makers would not normally touch– social issues such as sanitary napkins and social evils — how difficult is it to make films on these subjects?

It is not easy. Not at all! While the issues were drastically different, the problems I faced were common: lack of awareness, no historical research data, blind faith in superstition and lack of empathy.

In the case of the `Pad Piper’ – on sanitary napkins—the story was of Arunachalam Muruganandam. He had no qualms about talking and his sanitary napkins manufacturing machine since the work spoke for itself, but for the women, it was a taboo – the subject and even talking on camera! 

The biggest challenge was to make women talk – not just in India, even in the United States.  Interestingly, I had originally wanted to inter-cut his story with vox pops and also with the phenomenon of the ‘menstruating’ Goddess in Kerala. I was told only a man could film there. 

I worked with a group of women in Coimbatore to reach out to rural women. These ladies roamed the streets and went from house to house trying to educate women about basic hygiene and amenities. Not that they were welcomed with open arms, but at least it was not the camera straight in their face. I spent a lot of time first making ground for a conversation in person. 

`Mrityubhoj—The Death Feast’— started out with a newspaper article on Dr Viresh Raj Sharma and his crusade against this social evil. On reading, it was in the first draft a straight forward film. After Public TV Service commissioned the idea, I traveled through the Chambal belt, filming death feasts thrown by the rich. It was a waste of time – they were like lavish marriages. These feasts are given by the so called ‘upper castes’. 

I was at the 8^th feast when I put my foot down – I told Dr Sharma’s volunteer’s I was not here to make wedding videos! It had come down to that. This is not my story. This does not show the reality.

I remember that evening – they went helter-skelter looking for a not-so-well-to-do family where a death may have happened a few days before. And what came out from their ground-work in just 4 hours was a family that had just lost the patriarch. 

This film is a simple story with the canvas limited to what unfolds with Virender Khushwa over 13 days as he goes about making preparations for his father’s death feast. The landscape is unchanging and there are no dramatic events. What plays out in many rural villages across the Indian heartland, plays out here too.  Through the 13 days, as Virender seemingly follows tradition, little does he realize the socio-economic trap he is walking into. Perhaps, for life.

There is a parallel narrative of Dr. Viresh Raj Sharma, the man battling to curb this social evil. Educated and in the police service, he has been able to put his conditioning and prejudices aside to look at death feasts from an outside perspective. Virender and Dr. Sharma’s path cross in the end of the film – for the former it brought hope, but for the latter, it was a struggle gone in vain.

This is a purely an observational film, with no voice-over. It plays to Virender’s thoughts and sometimes to Dr. Sharma’s.  And this came to me as a mark of respect to Virender for allowing me to be a fly on his walls from the day his father died and to his family for the delicate intimacy with which they swept me into their lives. We never spoke. I was as clueless about what will happen next as he was. But we bonded – our presence brought comfort to each other him at the end of every day, a distraction from the conflicts both of us faced. 

As I filmed Mrityubhoj, each day, I realized the sensitive issues I was touching upon –class, caste, tradition, gender- –a complex matrix. It was easy to get carried away, take a stance, confront but I chose not to. Instead, I chose to bring out reality as it is without prejudicing the audience. 

I did another film recently, Urmi’s Cat, which was co-directed by my partner, Soumadeep Sen. A bit of an experimental film. We wanted to bring up incest. And challenge the way films have shown the perpetrator – always an ‘uncle’. No, sometimes, it could be the father. We put it out on social media – free for everyone to watch and think about. It worked. 

What do you think is the immediate impact of your films– other than instant appreciation– is there any change in the mindset?

I believe in using films as a tool for spreading awareness, influencing mindsets and thus bringing about a change. 

For example:

The Pad Piper is used by the women featured in the as a tool to entertain and start a conversation. And it is working brilliantly.

Manas – Return of the Giants brought back Manas into the limelight, a position it had lost to, living in the shadow of Kaziranga. It is also giving conservation agencies a medium to engage local communities, show them the world they live in and take for granted, from an outside perspective and thus build bridges at the grassroot level for long term conservation measures of landscape, resources, flora and fauna.

For Mrityubhoj – we are about to roll out the campaign. The film is picking up in the festival circuit and as is the press around it.  We are now going to take the film and the press it has got so far to villages and hold screenings. We plan to propose to influencers in these communities to curtail the opulence, and propagate alternatives. This is not something that will happen overnight, but at least plant the seeds now.

What are some ideas which you have in mind for making films in the future?

I am working on developing a wildlife series, co-producing and fund raising for an investigate documentary on illegal wildlife trade, exploring some unconventional customs / rituals prevalent in India and also trying to write a feature film story.

What is your primary objective behind making these films — your passion of course is there?

Wildlife films has become a way of living for us. We get so restless- my husband and I- if we don’t get out to a forest and film regularly. City life chokes us. And the stories that exist in the wild – every person needs to see, know and feel a crucial element of their natural world. I could make a power point presentation, too, and give you the same information, but only a good story will make you sit up and make you empathize.

I have done only two social / human interest documentaries and the response to both has been tremendous. It is a new genre of sorts for me, but I can already see that there is so much to explore, to tell, to change with such films.

What made you go into making films?

I must have been 6 or 7 years old when we got a coloured television. My father was posted in Wellington then. I was glued to it. Television gave way to cinema – especially the wave of parallel films. It had a huge impact on me. 

And, with the coming of cable television, came wildlife programming. It gave me a different perspective altogether. Till then I wanted to ‘make films’, but after cable television, I wanted to be a ‘wildlife filmmaker’. Through graduation and post graduation and early years of working, I did everything else other than making films. It was in 2002, when I met my husband, that I finally got a chance to be a part of a film, and that too one on the human – leopard conflict in India. It was his student film that was commissioned by National Geographic. It won the Student Emmy. 

Which are some of your award-winning films?

Mrityubhoj – The Death Feast is the winner of Best Indian Documentary at the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival 2017, was official screened at the 5th Woodpecker International Film Festival 2017 and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 4th Asia Rainbow Television Awards, 2017

Urmi’s Cat (Fiction) was nominated for Best Film at the 12th Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, 2017 and is the winner of the Best Short Film Award at Virgin Spring Cine Fest, 2017. 

The Parlour Boys is nominated for the Scroll India People’s Choice Award, 2017

Manas – Return of the Giants is the winner of Best Film on Wildlife at the 9th CMS Vatavaran Film Festival 2017, Woodpecker International Film Festival, 2016; Winner of Best Film on Asian Elephants at the International Elephant Film Festival, held at the UN Headquarters on the UN World Wildlife Day, 2016

The Pad Piper is the winner of the Best Film on Science and Technology at the 61st National Film Awards given by the President of India

India’s Wandering Lions and Tigress Blood have also won several awards and hugely acclaimed. 

The Modi government has announced setting up of a National Nutrition Mission (NNM) to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and bring down low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively. 
Although the target to reduce stunting is at least 2% annually, the Mission would strive to achieve reduction in stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022. The decision to set up the Mission was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 
The Mission will be rolled out with a three year budget of Rs.9046.17 crore commencing from 2017-18. Implementation uld be based on intense monitoring and Convergence Action Plan right up to the grass root level. NNM will be rolled out in three phases from 2017-18 to 2019-20.  The National Nutrition Mission, as an apex body, will monitor, supervise, fix targets and guide the nutrition related interventions across the Ministries. 
The broad proposal includes mapping of various schemes contributing towards addressing malnutrition, introducing a robust convergence mechanism, ICT based Real Time Monitoring system and incentivizing States/UTs for meeting the targets. 
  Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) would be incentivized for using IT based tools and introducing measurement of height of children at the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs).  Social audits and setting-up Nutrition Resource Centres as well as involving masses through Jan Andolans for their participation on nutrition through various activities are other highlights of the Mission.  More than 10 crore people will be benefitted by this programme.  All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner, beginning with 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.  An amount of Rs. 9046.17 crore will be expended for three years commencing from 2017-18. The government budgetary support would be 60:40 between Centre and States/UTs, 90:10 for NER and Himalayan States and 100% for UTs without legislature. Total Central share over a period of three years would be Rs. 2849.54 crore.  There are a number of schemes directly/indirectly affecting the nutritional status of children (0-6 years) and pregnant women and lactating mothers. In spite of these, level of malnutrition and related problems in the country is high. There is no dearth of schemes but lack of creating synergy and linking the schemes with each other to achieve common goal. NNM through robust convergence mechanism and other components would strive to create the synergy.

Dhinakaran threatens to form government in Tamil Nadu in three months time.

BJP expected to back cine star Rajnikanth’s political party on December 31.

The stunning and shocking win of rebel AIADMK candidate TTV Dhinakaran contesting as an independent in the R K Nagar bye-election in Chennai adds a new twist to the complex political environment in Tamil Nadu following the death of party supremo and chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December last year. 

It is widely being interpreted as an anti-BJP vote which has been reportedly backseat driving the government in Chennai in a bid to make its presence felt in this important southern state which has 39 seats in the Lok Sabha. 

The outcome in the R K Nagar bye poll has the portends of queering the pitch for the ruling party leading to a fresh spell of  political instability in the troubled state. Dhinakaran not only won by an impressive margin of 40,000 odd votes over his nearest AIADMK rival E Madhusudhanan but dealt a knockout blow to the DMK candidate Marudu Ganesh who lost his deposit. 

Winning or losing this seat should not make any difference to the DMK. However, what cannot be lost sight of is that the voters of this constituency have sought to infuse a fresh round of political oneupmanship between Dhinakaran, nephew of Amma’s one time confident Sasikala who is in jail, and the AIADMK where the two factions headed by chief minister E Palaniswamy and deputy chief minister O Paneerselvam respectively have come together in the larger context of occupying the seat of power at Fort St George in the state capital. 

An elated Dhinakaran claimed he will assume power in Tamil Nadu in three months time with a renewed bout of bluster rather than being realistic about the complex ground realities.  The DMK has suffered considerable erosion in its vote share but is holding its horses in the event of a snap poll in the state in the short to medium term. 

Dhinakaran’s shock victory can lead to confusion in the ranks of the AIADMK. Many of the legislators and MPs in the ruling faction of the AIADMK owe their allegiance to Dhinakaran and the Sasikala family. They, however, chose to back Palaniswamy and Paneerselvam as they did not want a mid-term poll. 

Be that as it may, Dhinakaran feels in the wake of his electoral victory, many of the legislators may now view the Sasikala factor as a force that can keep the party together and command wider voter support. 

Despite having won the battle for the party name and symbol, the fight for political legitimacy is far from over. The question is can the Dhinakaran faction attain a critical mass for the legislators of the ruling camp to resort to desertions on a large scale. This needs to be watched closely in the weeks and months ahead. The ruling faction of the AIADMK has spent far too much time on dousing the internal fires in the party rather than overseeing the critical aspect of governance. 

As a measure of abundant precaution the ruling party wasted no time in expelling at least five pro-Dhinakaran functionaries and relieved four more supporters of their position as district secretaries. 

Meanwhile, the BJP is keen on knitting alliances in Tamil Nadu  with an eye on the 2019 general elections followed by the assembly poll two years later in 2021. They have sought to build bridges with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling on DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi recently in Chennai. 

Now they seem keen on hitching their bandwagon with mega Tamil star Rajnikanth who is expected to reveal his political plans on the eve of the New Year or December 31. 

The Lotus party will back Rajnikanth’s entry in politics hoping to improve its prospects of making an impact in Tamil Nadu. The discriminating in the state feel Rajnikanth’s popularity is on the wane compared to those younger than him. 

Rajnikanth is also being closely watched by the DMK as any such new venture in Tamil Nadu politics could pose a challenge to DMK’s heir apparent M K Stalin and his efforts to form the next government in Chennai. 

(Views are personal)

 The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee is leading an Indo-UK consortium working on addressing the problem of peak demand reduction by aiming to eliminate peak demand of power in buildings. The project named Zero Peak Energy Building Design in India (ZED-i) is being led by IIT Roorkee with the consortium partners being Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and CSIR-CBRI from India and Bath University and the UK Met office. The total project value is around Rs. 15 crore out of which IIT Roorkee will receive a grant of Rs 6 crore. The overall vision of the project is to decouple building energy use from economic growth in India through a new science of zero peak energy building design for warm climates. This will provide “thermal stress free” living conditions whilst minimizing mean and peak demand. The project will work majorly on improved building designs, low-energy cooling & heating, social practices of adaptive thermal comfort and post-occupancy evaluation in order to bring about peak demand reduction. It will also look at providing support through research to urban planning, and integration of information, communication and renewable energy technologies at building level. The ZED-i project will also entail careful consideration of the current and future weather signals, which will be critical for any realistic assessment of mean and peak energy demands. It hopes to replace the current use of a small amount of observed weather data from a small number of sites with a repository of computer generated weather data from approximately 10,000 sites. Importantly, this repository will contain examples of events such as heat waves and cold snaps that can be used to test the resilience of buildings and the stresses they subject their occupants to. It will also include weather up to year 2080, thereby, allowing the impacts of climate change over the lifetime of buildings to be fully considered. The second focus of the project is on delivering a method of construction that is compatible not only with the Indian climate but also its building practices and social customs, thus avoiding the trap of an “imported” standard. This will be delivered through the creation of 60 pathways for a range of building types in 6 cities comprising different climates. Speaking about the Zed-I project, Dr. E. Rajasekar, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, IIT Roorkee said “In many developing countries, rising energy demand, and consequently carbon emissions, is seen as an unequivocal indicator of increasing prosperity. This trajectory has important consequences not just for global carbon emissions but for the ability of countries such as India to achieve its developmental goals. This is because, in most developing countries, growth in energy demand far outstrips growth in supply due to the large capital investment required to build energy infrastructure. Thus, even people with access to energy networks often find that they are unable to meet their comfort needs due to supply shortages.” Â“The population of India is growing at 1.2% per annum and is expected to reach 2.3 by by 2080. The per-capita energy use, driven by greater urbanization, is growing at an even faster pace at around 3.3% annually. This project directly addresses the problem of peak demand reduction by aiming to eliminate peak demand in buildings, where it is created. In most developing countries, the vast majority of the building stock of the future is still to be built, so there is a real opportunity to decouple economic growth from building energy use whilst ensuring comfortable conditions.” Dr. Rajasekar added This project brings together world-leading academic expertise in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, computer science, mathematical sciences, environmental psychology, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, hydrology, climate science and advanced materials to tackle the problem of climate change driven peak energy demand in buildings.

Frequent quibbling along with indulging in one-upmanship between the Executive and the Judiciary about their powers as enshrined in the Constitution has occupied centre stage once again. 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi might have been conciliatory but the issue of judicial overreach was left hanging.
This happened on the occasion of commemorating the National Law Day spread over two on November 25 and 26 when President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the need for the three organs of the State — the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary — to remain within their limits in fulfilling the wishes of the people. 
The message from the highest echelons of the BJP led NDA was unambiguous. The Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary should go about their business without stepping on the toes of one another. Modi drew pointed attention to this aspect emphasising “the balance between the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary has been the backbone of our Constitution. Because of this balance our nation was able to defeat the Emergency. When we are making every attempt to build a new India, these principles as outlined in the Constitution assumes significance. We have to fulful the peoples’ hopes and aspirations while remaining within our limits”. 
The emphasis was unmistakable. After the Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and the Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra had spoken, it became apparent that the Centre was concerned about judicial activism particularly with regard to the Court striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) in 2015. What had bothered the government all along tumbled out into the open. 
He wondered why the Prime Minister, being a popular global leader in his own right and highly popular at home or he himself as the Law minister could not be trusted to make fair judicial appointments. 
He drew attention to the case of Kolkata High Court judge C S Karnan having been held guilty of contempt of court for questioning the collegium system of appointment of judges. 
On his part Justice Mishra quoted from a judgement interpreting Article 75 observing the Constituent Assembly had reposed faith in the Prime Minister and “we also repose the same trust in the Prime Minister”. Further, the CJI sought to dispel the impression that judges intended to run the country and cited specific instances to drive home the point. 
Quoting various judgements of the Supreme Court, Modi maintained “the Constitution creates three major instruments of power — the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary — demarcating their jurisdiction minutely expecting them to exercise their respective powers without overstepping their limits”. 
President Kovind believed the pillars of democracy were designed to lean on each other with countervailing force to strengthen the democratic processes. It is critical to keep this intricate and delicate balance when exploring the relationship among the three branches of the State. They should be careful not to disturb the separation of powers by even unknowingly intruding into the domain of either of the two other branches, the President added. 
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley observed that the Judiciary may intervene in the case of Executive failure but only to issue directives for taking necessary action. He had no doubt that the judiciary should steer clear of overreach by interfering in Executive functions. The argument that judicial activism was meant to fill the gaps left by other State organs was flawed, Jaitley added. 
The focus was on the government and the judiciary respecting each others turf coupled with overcoming their deficiencies. Pragmatism is what the judiciary and the executive need at this juncture. It has become imperative to strike the right balance between the three arms of the government. At the same time the judiciary remains the first among equals and is the unequivocal custodian and defender of the Constitution.