I'm No Sex Goddess :Sherlyn Chopra

10:01 PM

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She has just returned from the French Riviera, having walked the red carpet at the 66th Cannes Film Festival where she was slammed as well as praised for her outlandish outfit. The model-turned-actress, whose next film Kamasutra 3D is all set to hit the screens, stormed through Kolkata one rain-kissed afternoon recently. In a candid chat, Sherlyn Chopra vowed to remain chaste until marriage, shrugged off insecurities about senior actresses shedding inhibitions and admitted her love for a certain Mr Kapoor. Excerpts:

How does it feel to be known as a sex goddess?I do not consider myself a sex goddess at all. It feels weird, I am no goddess. I am just a very ambitious woman who has recently discovered the true side to herself. The true side is that I am not outrageous as I claimed to be. I am just a girl-next-door who wants to succeed in life and who is ready for love, for commitment, for family life and these are exactly the fundamentals, which Kamasutra stands for, both my film and the original Kamasutra written by Vatsayana.

How is the new Kamasutra different from the previous film?I do not consider my film a sequel to Mira Nair's Kamasutra. I have seen Rekhaji's Utsav and Rekhaji's Kamasutra with Mira Nair, both are quite different in terms of the narrative, the treatment. Would my film be any different from these two? Yes. It has to be, else it would make no sense for the director, producer, myself and the entire cast and crew to execute the film. There has to be a novelty factor, only then would it appeal to the 21st century audience. And so there has been a conscious decision to not attempt what has been attempted but to explore the unexplored in terms of the unadulterated content of Vatsayana's Kamasutra. Kamasutra 3D projects sex not as an easy tantalizing sexual arousal but as a force that compels an individual to move towards fundamental living. Accordingly, the film would present the human sexual behaviour not as a result of obligations or preconceived notions but as an extension of true and compelling love. That's what I truly believe or at least have started to believe that real sex is an extension of true love and if it is not, then it is meaningless sex... it is frivolous sex or casual sex, which does not appeal to me and to the majority of the people across the globe who believe in long-lasting relationships.

So have you been through these frivolous relationships or as you call it, casual sex?Of course yes, and so there has been a transformation mentally, emotionally and spiritually ever since I returned from LA last year. There was a time when I was highly promiscuous, when sex was just a source of pleasure to me. But after having returned from LA, I got to know in ways more than one that what is conceived as a form of pleasure is actually something very sacred and is associated with real love and will continue to be associated with real love. Anybody who denies this maxim is living a lie.

Now that mainstream heroines are opting for bold roles, hitherto a domain you explored the most, do you feel insecure?Do I feel threatened? Not at all. I sincerely believe that we are all unique and just because we may look very desirable or hot or highly attractive doesn't mean that we are just the same or want the same things in life. Do I want to be successful? Yes. Do I want success more than being individual? Maybe not. I treasure individuality much more than any other gift or asset. For me, without individuality, I am nothing. I could have been any other person on planet earth. It is my individuality that sets me apart and I have recently gotten to know myself. Earlier, I wanted to be like everybody else but today I know exactly as to who I want to associate with in the Hindi film industry and I exactly know as to what kind of global cinema I would want to do. And so I do not feel insecure or threatened when I read about or see new hotties entering into the Hindi film industry or the senior actresses shedding their inhibitions and travelling the road that has been less travelled. I know what my strengths are. I know that there can be no other than me.

So, do you vow to be chaste until marriage a la Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson?I would not want to get intimate with anybody or somebody who I would not want to get hitched with. So the answer to your question would be yes although I have been the first Indian to have shot for the cover of Playboy and am the face of Splitsivilla season 6 and have signed a film likeKasmasutra 3D, I am yet very old-fashioned when it comes to matters of love and sex, because I have seen the world of promiscuity and the world of no-strings-attached, I now treasure the value of commitment and so I am gonna wait patiently for my life partner to walk into my life and then I would pounce on him and give him my everything.

www.indiatimes.com

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Rebels securing biggest victory in the north

9:25 PM

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SYRIAN rebels pushed government troops from most of the northern city of Raqqa Monday, and then scores of cheering protesters tore up a poster of President Bashar Assad and toppled a bronze statue of his late father and predecessor, activists said. If the rebels seize control of Raqqa, it would be the first time an entire city falls into the hands of anti-Assad fighters. Rebels hold parts of major Syrian cities such as Aleppo in the north, suburbs of Damascus, the central city of Homs and Deir el-Zour in the east. They also control large areas in the countryside, particularly in the north. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels are now in control of “large parts” of Raqqa, a city on the Euphrates river that flows through Syria into Iraq. A top police officer was killed and intelligence officers were detained, the group said. Activists declared Raqqa “liberated” on opposition social media websites Monday. A photo posted on several pro-rebel Facebook pages showed people tearing down a huge poster of Assad and hitting it with their shœs. The activists said the picture was taken inside the feared Air Force Intelligence headquarters in Raqqa. An amateur video showed dozens of people in a large square jumping on the bronze statue of the late Hafez Assad after it was toppled. The video appeared consistent with AP reporting. Rebels have been advancing in Raqqa province for weeks, capturing the country’s largest dam. On Sunday, anti-Assad fighters stormed the Raqqa central prison. The rebel gains are a significant blow to Assad, although his forces have regained control of several villages and towns along a key highway near Aleppo International Airport in the past week. Earlier on Monday, rebels launched an offensive to try to seize the military air base of Mannagh near the Turkish border and clashed with government forces at a historic mosque in the nation’s largest city of Aleppo, activists said. In Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al- Faisal together warned Assad that they will boost support to rebels unless he steps down. They also put the leaders of Iran’s leadership on notice that time was running out for a diplomatic resolution to concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme. SYRIA CONFLICT

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Hunger strike for Gandak dam, dyke maintenance

9:24 PM

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GANDAK embankment-hit people staged an hours-long hunger strike at Buddha Chowk in district headquarters Parasi on Monday, demanding repair for one of the dykes in the Narayani river. The protesters said they were forced to resort to the move as their repeated calls for repairing Dyke No 12 have yet to be heeded. They reasoned that unless maintenance works are started immediately, the river is likely to flood 13 VDCs in Nepal and affect four Indian districts in monsoon this year. The river has started eroding the dyke. Around 201 hectares of land at Narasahi VDC was swept away last year after the river eroded the dyke. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, during his inspection of the affected area last year, had said that his government had consulted with Indian authorities and assured the locals of initiating repair work soon. However, the agitators said that despite numerous memoranda submitted to the government and the Indian Embassy through the Chief District Officer, repair of the dyke and ‘B Gap’ dam has not started. They warned of stopping water to a canal in India if the work dœs not start immediately. The agitation is led by the Gandak River Control Struggle Committee. GRCSC chief Ashok Gurung said it is difficult to carry out repair works in monsoon and the summer season due to increased water levels.

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Yami sees no need for constitution

9:23 PM

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UCPN (Maoist) leader and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s wife Hisila Yami has remarked that there is no need for a constitution. Speaking at a press meet organised at the Balaju Baisdhara garden, Yami said, “We don’t need a constitution. All we want is development.” “The government is not only expanding the roads, but also the sky. We are bringing two aircrafts,” she said calling on people to wait for some more time. She said that the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML are only good at staging protests and their demonstrations, however, won’t make a difference. “We have been proving through our actions, but they [NC and UML] only stage demonstrations,” said Yami. In another context, she said Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel has been directed to open a road through the Balaju garden. Meanwhile speaking at the same function, Executive Officer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Kedar Bahadur Adhikari accused the media of disseminating wrong information. “I had to give clarifications at various places, including before the minister of local development. Everyone criticise me and I am tired,” he said. He also said the construction of a new road through the garden has started according the demand of local residents.

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Four bigwigs meeting today

9:22 PM

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Top leaders of the four major parties are meeting on Tuesday in a bid to forge consensus on a package deal on the formation of a chief justiceled government. The eight-member cross party taskforce comprising two representatives each from four forces will meet in the morning to prepare a consensus proposal on outstanding issues, including an ordinance on the truth and reconciliation and disappearance commissions, rank determination, the citizenship distribution and update of the voters’ list. Their report will be tabled in a meeting of the top leaders of the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha. Taskforce member Khimlal Devkota from the Maoist party said the parties will recommend the President to clear constitutional hurdles immediately if they reach an agreement on Tuesday. The parties had earlier planned to remove the such hurdles before furnishing their explanation to the Supreme Court, where a case challenging the appointment of the chief justice as the PM is under consideration. Devkota said almost all issues were agreed in the initial round of talks and progress in Tuesday’s meeting will depend on how the opposition parties respond.

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PM Bhattarai orders VC to end hospital row, retain Dr Koirala

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PRIME Minister Baburam Bhattarai has instructed the Tribhuvan University vicechancellor to resolve the issue of TU Teaching Hospital and ‘persuade Dr Bhagawan Koirala to withdraw his resignation’. In a tweet on Monday, PM Bhattarai informed that the government had also provided a sum of Rs 50 million to TUTH to overcome the financial problem. He has called for joint efforts to resolve the problems instead of engaging in a blame game. The prime minister’s tweet comes in the wake Dr Koirala’s resignation as the TUTH executive director on Friday. Dr Koirala had stated that non-cooperation from “department heads” and lack of financial support from the government forced him to quit. Writing on Facebook on Monday, Dr Koirala said that “the University Teacher’s Association and unions showed resentment with [my] tight regulations. It became extremely painful when some ‘leaders’ and ‘clean’ professors started justifying patient referrals out of the Hospital.” When he got the charge of the hospital, said Dr Koirala, it had over Rs 660 million in negative balance and he was assured of financial support by the government, which never materialised. He further stated that “the authority to make decisions on financial and administrative matters had always been seized by the TU’s central office, going against government rules and regulations”. He also mentioned that a precondition he had set before taking charge of the hospital was giving more financial and administrative authority to the Institute of Medicine (IoM), the TUTH governing body. Dr Koirala stated that working full time in the TUTH cardiac surgical programme along with an administrative job became the “final tipping factor”. However, he will continue to run the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Centre. Meanwhile, over 100 TUTH officials staged a sit-in on Monday outside the IoM office demanding that Dr Koirala’s resignation not be accepted.

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Paras ‘on path to recovery’

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DOCTORS attending to former crown prince Paras Shah have said that he is on the path to recovery and has been removed from ventilator support from Sunday. The Bangkok-based Samitivej Hospital issued a statement on Monday, stating that Shah has regained consciousness and is able to communicate and drink water without assistance. After suffering a major heart attack on February 19, the former crown prince was rushed to the hospital by his friends. He was unconscious for nearly two weeks and kept in the critical care unit of the hospital. Doctors said Shah’s blood pressure and body temperature have also returned to normal. Source said the doctors are preparing to perform the magnetic resonance imaging of Shah’s brain, the result of which will allow them to determine the further course of treatment.

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LACK OF AWARENESS, WOMEN’S RIGHTS impunity hurdles to

9:18 PM

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EVERY year on March 8, people from all walks of life come together to observe the International Women’s Day (IWD) and celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women. This year, IWD will be marked in Nepal under the slogan “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”. On this occasion, Chitra Lekha Yadav, treasurer of the Nepali Congress and former deputy speaker of the Parliament, shared her experiences in politics, spoke on the issues of women empowerment and the way forward on genderbased activism. I was in class eight in a boarding school in Kathmandu Valley when I was first introduced to various articles on democracy and its importance to people like us who were then living under the Panchayat regime. At that time, the word ‘democracy’ was everywhere, but I personally did not know what it meant. However, reading such articles, I was convinced that democracy is what the country needs to help its citizens enjoy freedom, express their feelings and help the country onto a prosperous path. Even during that time, it was not easy to read articles on democracy in the open, so I often ended up reading them in my room where no one could see me. This way, I was exposed to politics at a very young age. Later in college, I led an active life and became treasurer of the Nepali Congress. Entering politics back then was not as easy as it seems now. Entering politics and speaking about the importance of democratic values was considered taboo. We never aimed to become parliamentarians and ministers or lead the government. It was a matter of faith and responsibility towards the nationbuilding process. The present political scenario is different. Now, most people, even the youth, aspire to become politicians to earn name and fame in a short period of time and the general consensus is that only those with bad intentions enter politics. Despite being a girl and that too from the Tarai, I never had to face any sort of genderbased discrimination within my family. My parents were progressive and helped me get into one of the most reputed schools in the country. I was a bright student, both in studies and extracurricular activities and was never afraid of expressing my views during various debate competitions. I never encountered genderbased discrimination in my school, college or even during my political life. Since childhood, I believed in two things—god and education. Education was my top priority to be independent and strong. I was satisfied with my profession. I was confident in my capacity and never feared expressing disagreement. This is what every woman should do. They should never underestimate their power, quality and importance in family, society and even the nation. However, in our context, there is a lack of adequate representation in various important sectors, including the bureaucracy, executive and legislative. In recent years, there has been a growing-level of awareness, advocacy and women’s rights-based activism. This is a positive move that needs to be capitalised on to ensure the active role of women in all decisive levels of the country. Compared to our previous status, there has been promising growth in terms of women empowerment and qualitative involvement in important sectors of the country. Following the political changes and the establishment of a republic in 2006-07, the political empowerment of Nepali women gained momentum. The Interim Constitution of 2007 laid down mandatory provisions of 33 percent of seats for women parliamentarians. In 1993, there were only 12 women out of the total 205 parliamentarians in the House. However, in the 2008 Constituent Assembly, of the total of 601 members, 197 were women, many of whom were representing underprivileged communities. This was a landmark victory for all women in the country. Meanwhile, it is saddening to hear of the spiralling cases of gender-based violence in the country. Even during the 16-day campaign against violence against women, we observed a severe case against a migrant worker that shook the country. This was totally unacceptable and unfortunately, government authorities failed to take prompt action against the culprits. Despite continued efforts, interventions and advocacy, a majority of women still do not come out in the public and express their feelings and share their problems, including domestic violence from their husbands and in-laws. There is still a lack of awareness on legal policies and related punishments for different kinds of violence against women. There is a need to reach out to the majority of the population, particularly rural women who are subjected to various kinds of violence, ranging from domestic violence and rape to murder. Even from the government’s side, there is a lack of implementation of various legal practices, policies and programmes targeted at addressing women’s issues. There are a lot of cases where government bodies have failed to take prompt action and thus the victims never receive justice. As told to Pragati Shahi

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Nepal capable of combating discrimination

9:15 PM

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HUMAN beings desire peace, prosperity, happiness and fulfilment. Accordingly, the Vedas show us the way to our ultimate goal—physical prosperity with spiritual accomplishment. All else— purse, power, position, prestige and profession—are just means to that end. However, in the course of years, the eternal principles of the Vedas have been diluted and distorted, resulting in many contradictions in the social conduct of today, namely the malpractices of the caste system based on birth and discrimination against women, both of which are against Santana Dharma. If we observe the past, discrimination developed through various human activities related to the disciplines of economy and philosophy. For instance, women were excluded from politics and social life, as per Greek philosophy. John Locke, an influential enlightenment thinker, focused political theory on the Social Contract but concluded that women were not allowed the same contract. Economist Adam Smith, who made a distinction between public (state government) and private (market) through The Wealth of Nations, excluded women and children from his discourses. These examples show that even pertinent philosophers minimised women’s roles and supported discrimination in public life. In fact, men and women are considered two sides of a single coin. Both are human beings, as jurisprudence states, there are no men or women in society, only people. Therefore, if we believe in jurisprudence, we cannot believe in gender discrimination. For example, a daughter says I am woman, I want property. However, she dœs not say, I am a person that is why I want property. When rights are created, there should be users as rights do not exist in a vacuum. This is the reason for affirmative action—to make woman capable of using their rights as per jurisprudence. Practically, affirmative action is one of the instruments to empower women in various areas including political leadership and representation in decisionmaking. However, this provision is debatable as some feminists argued against it. Those who favour affirmative action say that it aims to compensate women for past injustices, provide a level playing field, ensure diversity and meet the needs for female role models. Those against say that it impacts the incentive to work harder, reduces general quality and represents reverse discrimination. Historically, affirmative action emerged in the USA, from Executive Order 10925 by John F Kennedy and Executive Order 11246 by Lyndon B Johnson. Internationally, it emerged after the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1979 (CEDAW). Since then affirmative action has been adopted in many countries. Currently, about 100 out of 193 UN member states have introduced some kind of quota provisions for women in parliamentary leadership and representation in various areas. Democratisation, globalisation and liberalisation emerged after the Second World War, especially the post-Cold War period, and emphasised equal rights for women and men. This is an issue that deserves urgent, and multi-dimensional, attention in all sectors in many countries, especially developing nations like Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Some initiatives, like the Beijing + 5, promoted equal rights, opportunities and access to resources and the equal sharing of responsibilities between men and women in the family. Women empowerment is an essential instrument to provide equality in holistic areas between men and women but women need to be emphasised in some key areas, which is one of the core agendas of the 21st century, under the UN umbrella. Nepal has adopted many legal frameworks at national level, especially after the 1990s as before that there were many discriminatory provisions like daughters had no right to ancestral property. The Constitution of Nepal 1990 articulated many provisions in favour of women, including affirmative action. Presently, the Interim Constitution of Nepal has stressed that no discrimination of any kind shall be made against women. Likewise, every woman shall have the right to reproductive health and no woman shall be subjected to physical, mental or any other kind of violence. Such acts are punishable by law. Moreover, sons and daughters shall have equal rights to ancestral property. Article 21 of the Interim Constitution also stresses that economically, socially or educationally backward women shall have the right to take part in the state structures on the basis of proportional inclusion. In addition to these constitutional provisions, many legal frameworks like Section 4(3) of the Children Act 2048 stresses proper health care for pregnant women and women in the post-natal stage. Moreover, the Civil Service Act 2049 and Regulation 2050 respect reproductive rights and provide privileges to women employees. Pregnant civil servants are granted maternity leave for sixty days before and after delivery with full remuneration for two infants within the service period. Similarly, Section 42 of the Labour Act 2048 has made some special provisions for women workers. For example, an enterprise with more than fifty female workers needs to provide a separate room for the use of their children, a trained nurse and female workers will need to be provided necessary time to feed their suckling babies. Furthermore, the Nepal Health Service Act 2053 and Regulation 2055, Local Self Governance Regulation 2056, Education Regulation 2059 and Parliamentary Service Act 2052 have provided affirmative privileges to women employee in many areas. These affirmative actions adopted after the 1990s, therefore, provide support for women and ensure gender neutrality in various areas. There are, however, still some barriers like orthodox socio-cultural values, weak implementation and a lack of monitoring and commitment.

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TWO SMARTPHONES FROM LG COMING UP

9:14 AM

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TWO new smartphones from Korean electronics conglomerate  LG are scheduled to hit store shelves this month. CG Impex, a subsidiary of the Chaudhary Group and the sole authorised distributor of LG in Nepal, plans to introduce the LG Optimus L9 and the LG Optimus Vu F100 in a move that is expected to strengthen the presence of the Korean tech-major in the country. LG claims to possess the second spot in Nepal’s smartphone market after Samsung. “With innovative products, we have been doing quite well in the smartphone segment since the past few years,” said Ramesh Shrestha, general manager of CG Electronics, the parent company CG Impex. “These new devices are likely to secure a good position for LG in its segment.” The first one to release in the Nepal market, the LG Optimus L9 is sleek and has well-defined lines and eye-catching metallic details, giving it a superior outlook. The device runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform and has a powerful 1 GHz dual core processor which helps users to multi-task faster. The phone has a 4.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touch-screen with multi-touch functionality. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen protector. The new LG handset boasts a five mega pixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash light. It has various enhanced camera features such as continuous shot which lets users capture multiple images in a row, panorama shot that lets users capture incredible panoramic views by pressing a button and panning while the camera dœs the rest. Another interesting feature of this handset is that users can simply take pictures through one’s voice command. Regular features like geo-tagging, touch focus and face detect, among others, too are available in this handset. There is also a VGA secondary camera. The device has an internal memory space of 4 GB and 1 GB of RAM. Users can expand the memory up to 32 GB through a microSD card. According to CG Impex, the device is likely to be priced in the range of Rs 36,000 to Rs 40,000. The launch will be followed by the introduction of another smartphone model, the LG Optimus Vu F100. According to CG Impex, the device runs on Android’s V2.3.5 gingerbread Operating platform. The device incorporates Qualcomm MSM8660 Snapdragon chipset, dual-core 1.5 GHz scorpion CPU and Adreno 220 GPU. As for the display, the new LG device comes with an HD-IPS LDC 5- inch capacitive touchscreen having multitouch functionality. The LG Optimus Vu F100 has an 8 mega pixel primary camera with LED flash and autofocus functionality. The device features a 1.3 mega pixel front facing camera. Its camera boasts features like Geotagging, face detection and image stabilization, among others. There is an internal memory storage of 32 GB along with 1 GB RAM in this device. However, users will not be able to use microSD cards since the device dœsn’t have a card slot. To give it superior standby time, the device is equipped with a non-removable Li-lon 2080 mAh battery that ensures standby time of up to 270 hours and talk time of up to six hours. CG Impex is yet to finalize the price.

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