Essay 5

Nana Patekar (born 1 January 1951) is an Indian actor, writer and filmmaker, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi films.

He won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Parinda (1989). He then won the Filmfare Best Villain Award for his role in Angaar (1992). In 1995, he won the National Film Award for Best Actor as well as the Filmfare and the Screen awards for Best Actor for his role in Krantiveer (1994). He also won his second Filmfare Best Villain Award for his role in Apaharan (2005). In 2017 He won filmfare marathi award for best actor for his performance in Natsamrat

He is also the only actor ever to win Filmfare Award for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Villain categories. He was bestowed the fourth highest civilian honour of India when he was awarded the Padma Shri award for his dedication in the field of Films and Arts

Patekar was born to a Marathi^[1] family as Patekar on 1 January 1951 in Murud-Janjira in Raigad District, Maharashtra^[2] He is an alumnus of the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai

Patekar has played many types of roles. He has played the occasional villain, but has been a hero in most of his films. His debut film was Gaman (1978), after which he did several small roles in Marathi Cinema. He did the role of Nathuram Godse in the British television series Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy. He had notable roles in Aaj Ki Awaz (1984), Ankush (1986), Pratighaat (1987), Mohre (1987) and Trishagni (1988). His performance in Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988) was praised. He was noticed by the mainstream Hindi Cinema for his portrayal of a crime lord in Parinda (1989), for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and was also awarded the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. He turned director with his movie Prahaar (1991), co-starring Madhuri Dixit, for which he underwent training for his role as an Indian Army officer and was awarded honorary Captain's rank in the Territorial Army. His role in Angaar (1992) earned him the Filmfare Best Villain Award. He co-starred with industry veteran Raaj Kumar in Tirangaa (1993). He played a truant, gambling son in Krantiveer (1994), for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor and also won the Filmfare Award and the Star Screen Awards. Patekar portrayed the character of a ghost in the children's film Abhay, which won two awards at the 42nd National Film Festival held in 1994. He co-starred with Rishi Kapoor in Hum Dono (1995). He played a wife beater in Agni Sakshi (1996), a deaf father to Manisha Koirala in Khamoshi (1996), a gangster in Ghulam-E-Mustafa (1997), an honest, but maverick cop in Yeshwant(1997) and a schizophrenic in Wajood (1998). He co-starred with Amitabh Bachchan in Kohram (1999), where he played an undercover Indian Army intelligence officer chasing Bachchan's incognito. His other notable films of this decade were Yugpurush (1998) and Hu Tu Tu (1999). He starred with Aditya Pancholi as the CBI director in the crime drama Tarkieb (2000). After a hiatus of a year he returned to acting in Shakti (2002) in which he played the role of an extremely violent father. In Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), he played a police officer who is an encounter specialist. His performance in Apaharan (2005) earned him his second Filmfare Best Villain Award as well as the Star Screen Award Best Villain. He played a taxi driver in Taxi No. 9211 (2006). Patekar has also done comic roles, such as in Welcome (2007), in which he plays a powerful crime lord in Dubai who once desired to be an actor in films. He acted in Sangeeth Sivan's film Ek (2009). He played the role of a school headmaster in Paathshaala (2010). He also acted in Prakash Jha's multi-star political drama film Raajneeti (2010). In 2011, he starred in the critically acclaimed Shagird and a Marathi film Deool. His next film was Ram Gopal Verma's The Attacks of 26/11 (2013) based on the events of 2008 Mumbai Attacks in which he played the role of Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria. In 2014, he starred in another Marathi film Dr. Prakash Baba Amte - The Real Hero. In 2015, he made two sequels reprising his roles in Ab Tak Chhappan 2, sequel of Ab Tak Chhappan and Welcome Back, sequel of Welcome. In 2016, he starred as Ganpatrao "Appa" Belwalkar in the film adaptation of the Drama Natsamrat which was highly successful critically and commercially. He did the voice acting for Shere Khan in the Hindi version of The Jungle Book

Essay 4

                                                          KASHMIR ISSUE  

The State of Kashmir has always been a bone of contention, an eye sore ever since India achieved its independence. The position at that time was that, all the States that comprised India, and had been independent, had three clear options, available to them.

The three options were that, either they accede to India, or accede to Pakistan. The third option was that they could remain independent of both India and Pakistan.

While all the States did the needful the State of Kashmir took a unique turn, an eventful and an unprecedented turn. The then Prime Minister of India stated that, regarding the accession of the State of Kashmir the wishes of the people of the State would be taken into account, and not only the rules applicable to the other States.

This condition gave the State of Kashmir a peculiar status which no other State had, to enjoy. This little declaration by the Prime Minister turned the tide of events for the State of Kashmir which, till today has not seen the light of an amicable solution.

Taking full advantage of the declaration of the Prime Minister that, the people of Kashmir will decide their own fate, Pakistan has, all through these past fifty and odd years of independence of India been harping on the taking of an opinion poll in the State.

This is so because, Kashmir has a Majority population of Muslims and, Pakistan is convinced and rightly so that, if opinion is taken, the Muslim majority will most certainly vote for the option of acceding to Pakistan.

In the pursuit of this view only, Pakistan has been spreading terrorism in the State and ousting the Hindu Minority so that, the few non Muslim are also out of the scene of voting if the need arises.

All through these fifty years of India's independence Pakistan is very clearly and methodically trying to lay their claim and rightful authority over the State, whether it is with force, murder, or mischief. This means that, a little mistake in the past has caused and is causing havoc to the State and to the people of the State of Kashmir. Seeing no benefit accruing to it by small and far apart skirmishes of big and small magnitude for the last ten years Pakistan is trying to eliminate the minority of Hindus from the State by reigning terror in the State.

They are training, financing and inspiring young men and sending them across the Indian border to spread fear in the State. The trainees are working under the guidance of hard-core Muslim terrorists to kill and plunder in the State.

There have been talks and declarations a number of times but there seems to be no end of the continued struggle for the little State of Kashmir.

After having dealt with the problem for fifty years, it is felt that, even to-day, the problem defies any solution, at least in the near future. The situation is in reality absolutely inflammable as, Pakistan continues to send Jihadist/terrorists to wreak destruction in the State.

The plea taken by the Jehadis is that, they are fighting for their right of freedom. India has all through these years sought to find a solution to the problem, which is amicable and mutually acceptable to all the parties involved. The latest attempt to find peace with Pakistan is the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by India.

Even to this step taken by India the Pakistani reply is not a follow up of a ceasefire by them but with guns and shells.

To this sort of a situation where both parties to the struggle have their own styles of functioning, all solutions seem to obstruct any results.

The policy of 'wait and watch' can only be the keyword to the Indian policy on Kashmir, let us see when Pakistan realizes the futility of a cold attitude towards its neighbor and its cold blooded revolt against India in the process of which, only innocent people are jailed, kidnapped and hacked to death.

The net result of all this being a big zero - we remain as is where is even after fifty years of attempting for a solution.

With this situation remaining for so long a period, it does not appeal to any reason that, relations of the two neighbors will ever improve. The relations are keeping on moving down the ladder of discontent and suspicion of each other, and there is nothing - just nothing achieved.

ESSAY 3

                                      DEMONITISATION

When PM announced that Rs with the denomination of 500/- and 1000/- would cease to be the legal tender from 9th of Nov, the whole country was stunned. This decision caused sensation in the whole country. Social Media was flooded with messages and information. People started counting the trash they had accumulated for years legally or illegally.

The main objective of this move was to curb the black money, corruption and fake money menace. All the people but those who were indulged in malpractices welcomed the move. The whole opposition shook hand against this move under one pretence or the other. They called this decision a draconian law and wanted the govt to roll back it. Tirades were made to target the decision. Govt also carried out counter attacks.

The new currency which replaced the old one is of denomination of 500/- and 2000/-. Though the people faced a lot of inconvenience owing to shortage of funds, they did not criticize the govt for the move. Even they lauded the Modi govt for this big move. Prime Minister also addressed the people many times telling the people that it was a mahayajna  and they must offer their own ahuti   in it.

He further said he was aware the hardships they were suffering from but he sought only 50 days for setting the things right. He jibed at the chief political leaders who have stashed big amount of money and therefore joined hands to force govt to rollback its decision.

The most interesting thing regarding the demonetisation was that people had devised various unique methods for transforming their black money in to white one. Some of these methods were as follows –

• Depositing money in the accounts of their poor relatives and friends.
• Enticing the people with some percentage of money for exchange.
• Asking their employees to stand in the long queues in front of Banks and ATMs for getting money exchanged.
• Hiring labors for some Rupees ranging from  Rs 500/- to 700/- for becoming the part of long queues in front of banks/ ATMs.
• Converting black money in to gold.
• Paying a few months salaries in advance.
• Paying back loans forcibly.
• Using their influence / links with bank employees and so on. 
• We shall see a great impact of this move of the Central Govt on Indian Society and Economy. The first impact shall be that people will have lower expenditure power. With that they will not be able to purchase luxurious things.
• There shall be no ostentatious expenditures on marriages and other ceremonies. So the society will grow lesser materialistic and people more prudent. With the fake money destroyed, Indian economy will see a big boom and the so-far-booming-real-estate-sector shall fall on the ground.
  The things may be cheaper. Indian Currency may get respect at the international market. There may be a great check on the terror-related funding and therefore on terrorist activities. Corruption shall be down to a great extent as people will stop the tendency of accumulating money using wrong means.
  This big move will certainly abridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. However, there may be some difficulties for a couple of months. But this inconvenience shall be temporary and for short-term.

                                           FREEDOM OF MEDIA

Mass media are mirror of the society depicting the political environment and making discourses on the issues of significance. Mass media can be defined as: "The methods and organisations used by specialist social groups to convey messages to large, socially mixed and widely dispersed audiences"

In 'The German ideology , Marx asserts that "the ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class". Applying this to Marxism, the media are the means by which the ideas of the ruling class maintain their dominance as the ruling idea.

In studying the relationship between media and government, the most important role of the media is its ability to perform a watchdog role, monitoring and criticizing government behavior because when the media performs this function it is able to act as a forum for political debate regardless of other limitationson its freedom. In his press freedom index, Van Belle focuses on the ability of the news media to criticize the government and thereby serve as an arena for political competition. This more narrow definition of media independence is aimed more at the function and practices of the media. While the political, legal, economic, and professional environments each play a role in the capability of the media to serve as a watchdog and an arena for political competition

Media freedom around the world is different ,developed countries have a better state of media freedom than developing and under developed countries.Research shows that media freedom has relationship with other factors too. Media freedom is directly related to economy , technological advancement ensures media freedom similarly polity is a major reason behind curbing media freedom In the Marxist fundamentalist tradition, 'political economists' see ideology as subordinate to the economic base  Work by Graham Murdock represents the 'critical' political economy approach, locating the power of media in the economic processes and structures of media production. Ownership and economic control of the media is seen as the key factor in determining control of media messages.

The writer concludes Press freedom has become a very important political issue in Swaziland.In general, the government appears reluctant to hasten the process of democratization both in the area of communication and the general area of governance, thus creating problems for itself. The media need information to function and when they are denied this, they can react in several ways, one of which is being critical of government and its policies - and help paint an unfavourable picture of the country to the outside world. The country thus has to suffer in many aspects .

The issue of technological development with respect to media freedom is discussed by an author,In her article on " New media and freedom of expression in Asia" Ariel Heryanto of The university of Melbourne says about new media technologies that "the global technological change that the west has helped propel forward has given more favorable effects to less modernized parts of Asia the reason for this relate to both technology and social factors." She adds "In a sense world history can be seen as history of changes in media technology. The spread of radically new medium of communication always threatens existing power structures and hierarchies, and helps create new ones."

The government leaves it to people to settle issues with the mass media .Laws made in America at later stages have been all to give more freedom to media unlike Pakistan , where laws meant direct curb on media freedom. Few press laws are in force in the U.S. because of this broad constitutional protection of press freedom and analogous provisions in the constitutions of the 50 states. Existing laws tend to provide additional protections in categories not covered by the Constitution. The Privacy Act of 1974, for example, regulates the collection and dissemination of personal information contained in the files of federal agencies; the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 establishes protection from police searches of newsrooms. Additional examples include federal and state Freedom of Information and "sunshine" laws  which opens up executive-branch records to public and press scrutiny.

essay 2

                     GST Impact

GST stands for Goods and Services Tax levied by the Government in a move to replace all of the indirect taxes. The main idea behind introducing GST is to improve the economy of the nation. A single undivided Indian market would strengthen the economy and make a nation, powerful as well.

The Introduction of GST in the country has both the positive and the negative impact.

• GST is a single taxation system that will reduce the number of indirect taxes. Earlier, indirect taxes were charged as central excise, VAT, service tax, etc. From now, a single taxation term would cover all of those indirect taxes.
• The Prices of products and services would reduce so this system would prove to be beneficial for the people who are fed up of paying huge prices.
• This would reduce the burden from the state and the central government. Presently separate taxes are levied on goods and services that you produce. With the introduction of GST, all of these indirect taxes would come under a single roof.
• Market development. GST would not be charged at every point of sale like other indirect taxes so this way, market would be developed.
• Corruption-free taxation system. GST would introduce corruption-free taxation system. In the present scenario, the tax is levied at the time of product release from the manufacturing site, and after that retailers also pay it.
• Positive impact on the Central and the State level 
  According to the latest reports, the introduction of GST would help India to gain $15 billion every year. Let us see how:
• Improved exports
• More opportunities for employment
• Enhanced economy growth
• Reduced burden on central and state government.                                   

• According to many economists, the introduction of GST in the country would impact real estate market. This would increase new home buying price by 8% and reduce buyers’ market by 12%.
• GST levied by the government as CGST for central, SGST for state government are nothing but fantasy terms representing older terms Service Tax, CST, and VAT in a new way.
• GST is a confusing term where double tax is charged in the name of a single taxation system.

• Most of the indirect taxes would now start coming under GST. The Central excise tax is levied at the time of Manufacturing but GST is levied till the selling stage.
• Most of the dealers don’t pay central excise tax and cheat the government by simply paying the VAT. But all of those dealers would be forced to pay GST.