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Love, hate, despair and finally the triumph — the political theatre of Gujarat had been the stage for all kinds of human dramas. In the ultimate analysis, Ahmed Patel came out victorious — humbling all the Amit Shah’s forces and all the BJP’s machinations. It was a test case of a victory of democratic will of the legislators and giving out a crystal clear mesغير مجاز مي باشدe — does not matter how much powerful you are, you can be humbled in a democracy.Personally, the election victory to the Rajya Sabha would mean a lot to Mr Patel. But more than the personal victory, his election has a wonderful political mesغير مجاز مي باشدe. The mesغير مجاز مي باشدe ought to be understood in its true potential and made use of. Mr Patel now should focus on national politics and give a fresh lease of life to the grand old party’s revival campaign. A man of few words, Mr Patel brought an entirely new political narrative in the corridors of power. Most anchor bolts Suppliers trusted men and women of Congress president Sonia Gandhi have been vocal and media friendly. Some of them, in fact, would interpret the Congress president’s mind. Some others would hold ‘darbar’ with correspondents and even plant stories. Mr Patel generally stayed away from all these. As a general rule — he spoke quietly.

But his words carried surprising force, empowered by a political acumen. The Congress party and the leadership have always benefited by these. It’s time now to take these endeavours further. The post 2014 politics in India has been challenging for Congress.Even prior to Independence, the India National Congress founded in 1885 immediately became the most powerful grouping fighting for Independence. After Independence too, the Congress dominance was firm. In fact, in 1960, the Congress party held 367 of the 500 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, and certainly a commanding strength of 2,105 out of 3,177 seats in the state Assemblies.In contrast, the Congress party today has 44 seats in Lok Sabha. It has been less than one-tenth, and hence even the unthinkable had happened —the Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, has not been recognised by the Chair as Leader of the Opposition. But in Rajya Sabha, the Congress has remained very strong and time and again had made the government’s life miserable by playing the rightful ‘checks and balancing’ role. Late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was definitely right when he said the Congress is always powerful when in power but it is doubly powerful when in Opposition. He was perhaps quoting late prime minister Indira Gandhi in the spirit of what he has said. In fact, the Congress Party can revisit the history of 40 years back and learn how to fight and win back the trust of the people.Indira Gandhi, after the party’s 1977’s massive loss, was not only facing her toughest political challenge but was also facing several cases, an inquiry commission probe and was also jailed. Despite all odds she never gave the spirit to fight till the end and had great trust in the wisdom of the people. It is with this spirit, she hit the street and villages of the country and made the Congress Party took the centre stage of the power in less than three years, which was looking a distant dream after the 1977 General Election defeat. As Opposition party, the Congress Party has always played the role of a constructive Opposition, and therefore though criticised by the government of the day, both in the past and as of now, the people of India have generally appreciated it’s stand. This is one reason that even after being in Opposition for a few years, the grand old party of India is rewarded and brought back to power.The Left parties and regional parties, despite their political differences with the Congress, have appreciated this more than once. In fact, they too know it pretty well that it is the Congress party that can anchor an unity in the Opposition camp and take on the ‘mighty’ (sic) Narendra Modi regime. The Opposition unity game has been given a kick-start. The 16 to 18 Opposition parties are regularly meeting after frequent interval, and slowly but certainly this is going to make some influence. Among the challenges the Congress has to face in near future are two Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. In Gujarat, the Congress needs to fight by putting its back on the wall.

A sort of a do-or-die battle. It is out of power in Gujarat for last two decades. Last Congress chief minister in Gujarat was Chhabildas Mehta from 17 February 1994 till 13 March 1995. Enough of water has flown down the Sabarmati river. And hence, it will be cyclic turn of events this year if the Congress can give a fight and unseat the saffron party from the citadel of power in Gandhinagar.The victory of Mr Patel in Rajya Sabha polls is a morale booster. But, it should not give any kind of complacency. If any section of the Congress leaders feel an overwhelming section of anti-BJP voters are just awaiting their turn to vote against Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo they may get a rude shocker. Electoral politics is arranging and executing the show till the last minute and past elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur have showed that the BJP chief’s men and machinations can deliver things for the party till the last moment.There is a change in ground zero situation to the Patel agitation also. A quick learner —the BJP leadership has changed the chief minister and repackaged a low profile personality Vijay Rupani as a ‘performing’ man. The taste of the pudding is in its eating, but yet again a perception is being created. Mr Patel knows every aspect of Gujarat politics like the back of his hand. But he would need a persuasive skill in carrying a united leadership — a right mixture of talent and experience —young and old.In Himachal Pradesh, reversing the anti-incumbency wave looks difficult. But like an old war horse himself, Mr Patel understands that it’s veteran leader and state chief minister Virbhadra Singh who has delivered time and again in the hilly state, and that probably this time too, he is the only person who can make the difference. Next on the cards for the Congress Party would be three-state Assembly elections in north east India — Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura — which due by February 2018.After these, the party would face crucial Assembly elections in Karnataka by May 2018. BJP chief Amit Shah and his men are already working overtime in these states. The Congress leaders too ought to go with a single-minded determination.The writer is a former chairman of Andhra Pradesh Electronics Development Corporation & founder of Prof. G. V. Sudhaker Rao Foundation

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." So wrote the poet W.B. Yeats in 1919, in the aftermath of the First World War. A hundred years later, the sentiments behind those words were at the back of many European minds before the European Parliament elections. The fear of many (and the hope of some) was that nationalist parties would surge and inflict a fatal wound on the European integrationist project.So did the centre collapse in the early hours of Monday morning? Looking at the big picture, the answer has to be a definite "don’t know". The two dominant European political families — the centre-left Social Democrats and the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) — have ceased to be dominant. Both broadly sympathetic to European integration, they have together commanded a majority of seats in the European Parliament since the first direct elections in 1979. Without their backing, not much of substance could be achieved. But it would be simplistic to say that we have now witnessed their demise.Although the Social Democrats and the EPP have lost between them roughly a fifth of their representation, they remain the two largest political groupings. One of the principal beneficiaries of their decline has been the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), which has nearly doubled its tally.

Another has been the ecologist Green grouping, which has seen an increase of roughly a third. Far from being hostile to European integration, these two parties are some of its loudest supporters. The net result is that the support of the ALDE or the Greens will be necessary to create a majority.At the other end of the political spectrum, the various varieties of nationalists have also done well, more than doubling their representation. Their mesغير مجاز مي باشدe that the elites care nothing about the "people", that Europe is a scam run for the benefit of big business, seems to have resonated. They now have just over a sixth of the seats in the 751-member European House. And this is probably to understate their support because they also have sympathisers in the conservative grouping and in the EPP.But does any of this matter? On one level, not very much. While the European Parliament is more than embryonic, it is not a fully grown legislature. It can amend legislation, but it cannot initiate it. That is the prerogative of the European Commission. It can veto legislation, but so can the member states sitting in the Council of Ministers. It can sack the European Commission — Europe’s executive — but it cannot appoint it. That is done by the heads of national governments. Its approval is required for certain international treaties, but national parliaments must also approve them. So the fact that ALDE or Green support will now be needed to pass legislation and approve treaties probably won’t change the day-to-day dynamic and functioning of the European Union’s key institutions.On another level, however, the results of the European elections matter a great deal. Despite the hopes of integrationists, the European elections are not primarily fought on European issues.

They are fought on national ones. Underneath the headline figures, there are a variety of different national stories. And they matter very much for the countries concerned; but also for Europe as a whole. The individual member states remain key actors in the European Union and domestic concerns heavily influence how they act.In France the nationalist National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, edged ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal Renaissance Party — part of the ALDE group — and the Socialists were all but wiped out. The prospect of an extreme right-wing President has come that little bit closer. Were Ms Le Pen to take power, not only would France change dramatically, but given France’s pivotal role so would Europe too. In Germany, Europe’s anchor, both Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centrist Christian Democrats and the moderate left Social Democrats have lost votes to the Greens and the nationalist Alternativ fur Deutschland (Alternative for Germany). In Poland, the ruling Law and Justice Party, which trumpets "national identity" and is under scrutiny for undermining Poland’s democratic institutions, has consolidated its position. In Italy likewise, where a nationalist-populist coalition is in power, the governing parties won a comfortable majority of the seats. Of the major countries, only Spain seems to have bucked the trend, with the Socialists in the lead and the EPP in second place.As for the longer term implications, governments led by parties of the centre-right, centre-left or liberal parties will probably turn inward. More than before, any European initiatives will have to be weighed against domestic considerations. Will it diminish or enhance the nationalist threat? Nationalists and populists, on the other hand, will be emboldened. Although they did not achieve a breakthrough, they are likely to feel that the momentum is with them. Continental Europe is in for a rocky ride.And finally, what about the United Kingdom? Even more than in continental Europe, specific national factors were at play. These were elections that the ruling Conservative Party had said would not take place, because Brexit — the UK’s departure from the European Union — would happen by the end of March. These were elections the Opposition Labour Party did not want to take place, because anchor bolt it is deeply divided. The leader and his entourage — old-style hard-leftists — are Brexiters, whilst the membership overwhelmingly wishes to see Brexit stopped.The Conservative and Labour parties have paid heavily for incompetence on the one hand, and duplicity on the other. A new party, the Brexit party, stole most of the Conservative vote, relegating the Conservatives to fifth place with less than nine per cent of the vote. It came first, with nearly 32 per cent of the vote. As for the Labour Party, it lost nearly half its vote to the ardently pro-European and anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats, who came second overall with nearly 20 per cent of the vote. Both parties are now likely to have to go through tumult as they come to terms with their deep humiliation.So has the centre held? For the moment, probably; for the future, not sure.

Western double standards apply as much to Merkel as everyone else, he says while pointing out the curious silence over the human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.Shetty even had a liking for the host nation of the 10th edition of the most modern media conference to the extent of making what appears to be a logical call for a permanent place on sleeve anchor the United Nations Security Council for Germany. It is the leaders of countries who are forcing us to go astray and we are unable to see it because there are people willing to go along with the flow — out of greed or sheer fear. He says withdraw the power of the super nations to veto UN action at least when it comes to acting on human rights violations. He spoke of the pent-up anger in people that was finding a way to express itself in some 96 countries in which there have been demonstrations just this year.. And Amnesty International’s view served to remind us that all is not well with the world and the media has to do its job to keep telling the people of all that is wrong in the hope that we will right some of it at least, at some point in time.

This is no insane call of rabid activists. The distinct lack of true leaders is the crux of the world’s problems at the moment and what he would personally recommend is a global movement driven by the people like, say, the one in Gambia where the youth brought about the change by just uniting.A simple reminder that China, India and the rest of South Asia accounted for 70 per cent of the world’s seven billion people and how come leaders of eight nations, or for that matter 20, are taking the decisions that impact all the people. He is as abrasive as sandpaper. Give up the UN veto for the greater good of the world, he pleads. But then Shetty is different because he and possibly his organisation are convinced that Saudi Arabia is the fount of all evil and at the moment is the villain of the piece in the region for "bombing the !@#$ out of Yemen". On a complaint by a journalist who pointed out how some like him were painted as "jihaids" for pointing out human rights violations or casting light on the cow vigilantes, the AI representative said this may be treated as a "badge of honour".He has a reputation for calling a spade a bulldozer.His dark foreboding that one day Saudi Arabia would implode may not have gone down well with the audience. This sense of anger was what Shetty seized upon to put the point of view across of his famous watchdog group, which is being hounded out of many countries because Amnesty International has this preponderantly anti-establishment view. Such an opinion is not necessarily wrong because only very few people with a quintessential antiestablishment viewpoint hold it.The idea of the Deutsche Welle global media conference seemed to be to wake us all up to consider every point of view there is. Such a move would also recognise and accommodate Germanys willingness to be a world leader at this point of time in contemporary history.What Shetty said made perfect sense. Meet Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International, who stole a session of open discussion by a panel in the splendidly put together Global Media Forum of Deutsche Welle, Germany’s pre-eminent broadcaster, in Bonn last week.The mesغير مجاز مي باشدe was clear enough.It is not generally up to watchdogs to suggest remedies as well because they are the ones too busy "barking" at the violations. Sounds of controversy rang out the most from this lively panel of eminent speakers and spokespersons who had a DW anchor of African descent as moderator and Carmen Perez, national co-chair of the US "Women’s March" initiative, as a participant. The world is badly led and what do we do about it? These may be unusual views said with an edge of bitterness.

Merkel has done this at considerable political غير مجاز مي باشدt to herself, her party and alliance, but then she has shown to Europe and the West how a brave moral high ground can be taken when it comes to putting out one’s hand to offer succour and solace to the victims of someone else’s interventionist policies. Doomsday scenarios are not rare these days, but no one wishes ever to make a prognostication because to live to see it possibly come true is too fearful a prospect. Even there, Shetty has a part solution to offer. Even so, it did not preclude his stating a fundamental view of geopolitics about the rationale of the G8 deciding for and on behalf of the whole world. And yet there is no denying he puts across his point of view with the forthrightness of a JCB clawing the earth. The world leaders are keeping quiet because the Saudi Royals keep their armament industry going. His take on the current global political scene was undeniably honest, even if frightfully provocative. Even India came in for a fair bit of flak for toying with the freedom of the press. If there are violations in Aleppo and north-eastern Nigeria, don’t allow veto power to run roughshod, make the countries accept there is a problem and act on a solution.It is not as if the Amnesty spokesperson did not shower praise where it is due, as at Angela Merkel who took the decision on behalf of Germany to take in a million more refugees from a wave of migration caused by the wars that the bigger powers run in West Asia and North Africa

"Its potentially putting companies in a situation where they are forced to choose between the US and China and that could definitely backfire on them," said Polk.Chinas commerce ministry said it would roll out the detailed measures against companies on the list shortly, noting foreign fixing anchor firms that break contracts, cut off supplies or take other discriminatory measures against Chinese firms would be included.

A 90-day reprieve was later issued."The integration of civilian businesses with the military is too close."It is quite possible there will be significant collateral damage here," Balding said.The list includes beauty products, sports equipment, musical instruments, wine, condoms, diamonds, wood, fabric and toys.Beijings move hits USD 60 billion worth of US goods with new punitive tariffs ranging from five to 25 percent, and comes in retaliation for Washington raising punitive tariffs on USD 200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 per cent.Hitting back, Chinas commerce ministry said Friday it would release its own list of "unreliable entities" that break their commercial contracts and stop supplying Chinese firms.Speaking at a defence and security conference in Singapore on Saturday, the acting US defense secretary said Huawei was "too close" to Beijing, creating "too much risk".Chinas state-owned tabloid the Global Times said the new list would "work as deterrent forming a protective barrier around Chinese companies".While Trump insists China will pay billions in duties, experts note that US consumers and importers bear the brunt of tariffs on products coming into the United States."If the US wants to force the Chinese to make concessions by engaging in unilateralism and putting on extreme pressure, this is impossible," said Wang, according to Xinhua.The US Commerce Department placed Huawei on an "entity list" on grounds of national security on May 16, a move that curbs its access to US-made components it needs for its equipment.

China has national policies and laws where data is required to be shared," Patrick Shanahan told the forum.He emphasised the trade wars effect on Chinas economy would be "controllable"."Obviously its mostly aimed at Huawei suppliers, Intel, Qualcomm, ARM .Washingtons tariffs appear to have already had an impact on Chinese manufacturing activity, which contracted more than expected last month..Beijing: China on Saturday increased tariffs on billions worth of US goods as it prepares to unveil a blacklist of "unreliable" foreign companies that analysts say aims to punish US and foreign firms cutting off supplies to telecoms giant Huawei..Washington and Beijing resumed their trade battle last month when trade talks in the US ended without a deal, with American negotiators accusing Chinese negotiators of reneging on previous commitments."The United States remains an important export market for China, but its importance is declining," said Wang Shouwen, who was on Chinas negotiating team, according to official news agency Xinhua.The countries have exchanged tariffs on USD 360 billion in two-way trade so far.US President Donald Trump more than doubled punitive tariffs on USD 200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent last month, and launched the process to hit nearly all remaining imports from the Asian giant. if anything its probably aimed at non-US companies, so European, South Korean and Japanese companies that may be trying to decide how strictly to apply the US ruling," said Andrew Polk, an economist at Trivium China. Fight, and well fight to the end," said Kang."For Chinas countermeasures, what we say, we do," said anchor Kang Hui on Chinese state-broadcaster CCTVs primetime news show that aired across multiple Chinese stations Friday.Former Chinese officials warned Friday that the trade war could last decades."Talk and our door is open.The tit-for-tat tariff war has been upstaged in recent weeks by Washingtons move to blacklist Chinese tech giant Huawei over national security concerns, threatening the firms global ambitions.China responded by increasing tariffs five percent to 25 percent on 5,410 American products Saturday, worth USD 60 billion in trade."It is quite clear now that this is no longer a trade dispute and will extend much more broadly to punitive economic measures that each side can inflict upon each other," said ChristopherBalding, a China expert at the Fulbright University Vietnam, adding it was reasonable to expect further escalation by each side..China wants to make it a much more difficult choice to cut off supplies to Huawei, he added."China is ready to wage a protracted economic and trade war with the United States," the nationalist paper said in an editorial

When the anchor asked those present in the hall to vote if they agreed that demonetisation was good, a majority of them said yes.. currency replacement takes place even in normal course.."But "the fact that money has got into the banking system doesnt mean that they are wholesale drop in anchors legitimate money.Speaking at the Economist India Summit here, Jaitley termed as a "very narrow vision" to consider just the dent in RBIs profit due to printing of new currency as the غير مجاز مي باشدt of demonetisation."As the demonetisation progressed and the monies were deposited, it was quite clear that people have found ways and means, legitimately or otherwise, to get the money into the banking system irrespective of the consequences they will face later. We had anticipated that one or two quarters could be impacted but the larger impact is you have 25 per cent more people filing income tax returns."It was clear that overwhelmingly large amount of money had come back into the banking system, something which was not of great consequences to us in the government," he said. And henceforth he was fixed with explaining the liability of the money," he said.Depositing money in bank accounts had ended their anonymity.."In third quarter (of 2016-17 fiscal) when demonetisation took place GDP wasnt substantially impacted.According to submissions by its lawyers in the Supreme Court, the government had initially estimated about Rs 5 lakh crore would not come back into the banking system as holders of unaccounted money may find it difficult to deposit them in banks - the only source allowed for getting rid of old currency.Jaitley said despite the pain, the move had mass backing.

Holders of old notes were given a 50-day window to deposit them in banks.Jaitley said the fallout of demonetisation was on predicted line as "more and more people will now be compelled to come into the tax net.44 lakh crore junked currency had come back, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said deposits of "overwhelmingly large amount" of money in banks has ended anonymity around it and helped fix liabilities.The RBI, which had so far shied away from revealing how much of junked currency came back to system post the November 8 note ban decision, in its annual report on Wednesday said banks have received Rs 15. (demonetisation)," Jaitley said, apparently referring to BJPs victory in Uttar Pradesh state elections in March 2017. This is a kind of trifling argument," he said. If you hadnt been printing new currency but printing old currency.On the غير مجاز مي باشدt associated with note ban, he said the status quo of a parallel economy running could not have been allowed to go on indefinitely.He said the fallout of the demonetisation of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes was on predicted line, with a hit on economic activity in one to three quarters but gains would accrue in medium to long term from integration of formal and informal economy.."When the demonetisation was initially announced there was an element of uncertainty. But, I think, a large amount of that has come in," he said.Asked if demonetisation was good for the country, he said it was good for Indian citizens as they could not have lived indefinitely with an economy that was fastest growing in the world and yet had different colours of money.The finance minister said it is quite obvious that people found the ways and "I think it did shake the system.New Delhi: A day after the RBI revealed that almost all of the Rs 15. "I had a supportive voter immediately after the . There has not been many such experiments world over and therefore it is natural that there will be speculation as to how much money will come back," he said.Jaitley said despite the pain associated with demonetisation, the country was ready for this kind of change. "Its nobodys case that the black money has totally been eliminated."Therefore when you say you spent money on printing of currency you have a very narrow vision .

The banned notes formed 86 per cent of the currency in circulation at that time. Or the monies have got legitimately converted," he said. There are still people who will be doing such transactions. The money got identified with the owner."This was evident from the rise in personal income tax as well as collections from the GST, which compelled transactions to be brought within tax net, he said."It means that the anonymity around the money which was otherwise floating in the system has come to an end.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the currency invalidated

Following Anupmas success, there are more girls in her hometown wanting to follow her footsteps and even their parents are encouraging them to live their dreams. Excited. While Anupma’s parents encouraged her to study but the rest of things she had to fight hard.The best moment of Anupma’s life was when Salman Khan himself applauded the star interviewer for her talking skills for which she got appreciated by the masses. She also has firm hands in theatre with having eminence voice modulation practice and getting a grip on her acting skills, polishing them for the best. Her first television appearance was in Kitnimohabbat hai season 2 in which she played Karan Kundra*** girlfriend. Her family expected her to do what other girls had been doing for ages in their society, finish basic schooling and get married!However, Anupma chose a path which was tough but would surely get her to the top.Besides her upcoming projects Anupma is a trained dancer having to know a number of dance forms.Anupma Singh a small town girl from Ambala, Haryana had a dream of becoming a top name in Bollywood but the path towards her goal was not easy as the diva has to face a number of hurdles.Anupma Singh is a huge Oprah Winfrey fan which became her source of inspiration and continues to inspire her till date. She comes from a conservative family with Anupma’s father being a soldier and she did not have the permission or the financial means to pursue her dreams. Anupma has also hosted some of the biggest corporate events of the country carrying toward with hosting for IPL (Kings xi Punjab), Siyaramas, Donear, Adani & many more.Anupma Singh has been praised by a number of Bollywood celebs such as John Abraham, national award winning singer Suresh Wadikar who mentioned of the interview being the best interview of his life.Surely Anupma’s fans couldn’t wait to witness her on the big screen with the diva slaying millions of hearts with her terrific jaw dropping performance.

Anupma with her astounding persona and charm interviewed a number of stars on her first live digital talk show naming ‘Superstar on Anupma’s love show’ which turned out to be a hit where in Karan Johar, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and many more stars went live on a similar platform (anchor boltfame app).Anupma made her way to Mumbai the city of dreams on her own and have been working towards her goals from that time on! Her big break came when she was doing her Masters in Mass Communications, and through the campus placement, she landed a job in All India Radio and from there on, there has been no looking back for this beautiful soul.Today she is all set to enter the btown world with a biggie. The actor/interviewer is in full swing and has pulled up her socks to carry out the role well. In her hometown, girls did not even have right to education, forget making a name for themselves. Now, Anupma is all geared up for her upcoming projects in the pipeline and will soon be revealing about the same. Are we?(AA does not endorse the above content).

The shoot of the untitled project will be starting later this year. Anupma will also is in cahoots for her South Indian debut as the diva already had a number of offers but was waiting for the write script. Having become a source of inspiration for many, Anupma has become even more responsible for the choices she is making. Finally the wait is # over as she’ll be witness by the country on the big screen.Thats right a birdie informed us about the diva signing a well renowned banner for her debut.Anupama has a huge fan following all thanks to her talk shows. Her beauty and charisma has taken over the B’town world and soon will be slaying the big screen making her fans proud with her jaw dropping performance

He also believes that people will latch onto anything as long as they can peer into someone else’s life. The photo captured in a moment of fun has now become a subject of ridicule with people pointing out that the guy could never get a lovely, foreigner girl like that — mainly referring to his looks and the fact that he is dark skinned. The comedian also points out how he faces casual body shaming on a regular basis. And, people believe that they can comment on anything and everything," he explains. Equal rights activist Harrish Iyer believes that the fact that such a meme went viral on Twitter is perfect proof of how men are victims of their own patriarchy and ***ism.A picture drop in anchors Suppliers of a white woman and an Indian man sitting alongside each other at the match has gone viral with n number of jokes. As if your entire life were a film," he says. "With memes, it feels like anyone can capture you at any moment without your knowledge and make fun of you.This kind of stereotyping isn’t a new thing."Sorabh Pant of East India Comedy thinks it is a simple case of privilege.

 After a point, I am like, ‘Guys, enough, let’s move past this’, but no, they don’t. So, this obsession with looking good goes across genders," he says. "We are becoming increasingly vain as a society, and particularly with the advent of the social media, there’s a tendency to try and look the best you can. "I don’t think individuals who make such jokes think about crossing a certain line or misbehaving. "Comedians and these meme makers are just making jokes. The real problem is with people who overlook these.Screenwriter and novelist Anuvab Pal finds this phenomenon fascinating. When people feel like they can peer into someone’s life, they do, and they most certainly will say anything at all. "When so many people were mocking the guy in the meme, I am sure many people stood up against this kind of humour. Tell me, how often do you see a television anchor not cracking jokes on somebody’s skin colour?

How many times do you see a politician validating their so-called tolerance for dark-skinned people? These custodians of Indian culture are at fault!" he concludes. It seems like inherent racism, casual body shaming too applies across genders. We need to concentrate on the right side. He thinks it boils down to society propelling damaging stereotypes."—With inputs from Dyuti Basu. "Today, everyone has a voice with the Internet and social media. "My Facebook mentions are filled with people mocking me with bald jokes and gaps between my teeth. Elaborating on his points, Harrish says, "The men’s fairness cream ad starring Shah Rukh Khan shows a model applying a women’s fairness cream while dancing to Pari Hoon Mein. You want to post your photos on Facebook and Instagram and get the maximum number of likes. As someone from the advertising industry that is obsessed with fairness creams and other products to make people look their brightest, ad director Vinil Matthew says the desperation to look their best is swallowing people across genders. "So, when it comes to something like body shaming, the same rules that apply to women also apply to men. That is just how social media works — the good and the bad.While women always have faced discrimination based on skin tone and looks, it seems men are not exempt from body-shaming either. Again, this can be thought of as an instance of casual ***ism against men. Men are body shamed very casually," he says. This is not just true for women, but equally valid for men."He, however, urges people to look at the bright side."While jokes like these are omnipresent on the Internet with a fresh stock of casual ***ist, racist humour filling up every day, comedian Kunal Kamra doesn’t believe comedians or people who make these jokes are to be blamed. A photo captured during the India-South Africa match at the ICC Champions has been making the rounds on Twitter, and not for the right reasons