US President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday on
Twitter that “nothing will change” as a result of the campaign to
recount the votes cast in three states in the November 8 presidential election.

The recount campaign is being headed by the Green
Party’s presidential candidate Jill Stein, EFE news reported.

In a series of tweets, Trump said that his main
rival for the White House, Democratic Hillary Clinton, “conceded the
election when she called me just prior to (my) victory speech and after the
results were in”.

In addition, the next day, Clinton telephoned Trump
to say that “we have to accept the results and look to the future”,
he said, paraphrasing what she had said in one of the presidential debates.

“So much time and money will be spent — same
result! Sad,” the President-elect went on to say, via Twitter.

Stein’s campaign last Wednesday launched a
fundraising effort to finance vote recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan,
all of which Trump apparently won by narrow margins.

Wisconsin announced on Friday that it will conduct a
vote recount in response to the formal request presented by Stein and another
independent presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente.

According to the Green candidate’s campaign, there
is “compelling evidence of anomalies” in voting in the three states
in question and, therefore, it is necessary to verify the results in those
states’ counties that depend on electronic voting machines to tally the ballots.

Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, is backing the
decision by Wisconsin authorities to conduct the recount despite saying that no
irregularities have been detected in the election, and it said that it will
also support recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan if the Green Party, as
expected, formally requests them, EFE news added.

On Saturday, Trump issued a statement in which he
called the Green Party’s effort a “scam”.

“The people have spoken and the election is
over,” Trump said. “We must accept this result and then look to the
future. This recount is just a way for Jill Stein to fill her coffers with
money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount.”

Despite the fact that Trump garnered more than 270
electoral votes, which technically is all that is required to win the
presidency, Clinton received more than two million more votes than the
real-estate mogul in the nationwide popular vote, according to the Cook
Political Report Web page.

During the campaign, Trump was the one who had
warned numerous times of possible election fraud and denounced the electoral
system as being “rigged” against him, going so far as to threaten not
to recognise the results of the election if he lost.

Francois Fillon is to be the conservative candidate in 2017
French presidential election after his rival Alain Juppe admitted defeat.

With virtually all the results counted, Fillon won Sunday’s
run-off with nearly 67 per cent of the vote against his moderate rival Alain
Juppe who collected 32.6 per cent, BBC reported.

“It is a fundamental victory built on convictions.
Progressively, I felt this wave broke all the written scenarios in advance. My
approach was understood,” Xinhua news agency quoted Fillon as telling
supporters.

“The future is ahead of us. We have all the assets to
be a sovereign nation, to lead Europe. Now, I have the duty to convince the
whole country that our project is the only one that can lift us up,” he
added.

Fillon promised to build a fairer society, saying France
wants “truth and it wants action”.

He is likely to face a Socialist candidate and the
far-right’s Marine Le Pen in next April’s election.

Juppe, the more moderate candidate, congratulated Fillon on
his “large victory” and pledged to support him in his bid to become
President.

“I support him and I wish him good luck for his
presidential campaign and the victory in May,” Xinhua news agency quoted
him as telling his supporters after results were released.

A correspondent writes: It sits by its owner, eyes closed
enjoying the November sun. Occasionally it is given pieces of fish by its owner
whenever he can find some leisure from selling fish in Jadu Babu’s bazaar. But
the picture of somnolence is transformed in seconds, even if a friend of its
owner stretches his hand towards the cash box to badger the cat in the
fishmonger’s absence. A fish market becomes a scene of attrition with the human
beating a quick and timely retreat lest it is attacked by the cat. It is an
unlikely place to observe and contemplate, yet I do it whenever I walk into
this fish market in the heart of Bhowanipore. Amidst the smell of fishes and
haggling between the fish mongers and the buyers, I saw this sight which can
easily find a place in either of the National Geographic and Animal Planet
channels. I am at a loss how this whitish cat, a pet of a fishmonger in this
market, sitting by its master all day and occasionally gifted with choicest
morsels, becomes a vigilante within seconds.

Whenever the master leaves his seat on some business or the
other, the cat stands guard over the cash. An otherwise friendly creature, it
is transformed into a ball of fury at the slightest hint of any advance towards
his master’s money. Even if an attempt to dip into the cash box is preceded by
the offer of a saucer of milk or a morsel, it is met with a snarl and if it
fails to dissuade the intruder, the feline does not hesitate to bare its fangs.
Many a friend of its master has been rewarded by scratches and nicks when their
attempt to berate the fourl-egged guard crossed the feline’s level of tolerance.
Small wonder, its owner is firm in his belief that it is not the dog that is
man’s best friend but the cat.

Choreographer-turned-filmmaker
Farah Khan confirmed news that she is working on a script but denied she was
making a sequel of Main Hoon Na.

“Yes, I am working on a script
but I am not making a sequel of ‘Main Hoon Na’. I did not announce anything
officially on that. Many times, we chat or joke about something and that goes
all over (in the media). However, nothing concrete is there. Currently the
script is in a developing stage… the story is very different and there is no
big hero in that,” Farah said.

Asked if she is interested in
making a sequel of Main Hoon Na as once she tweeted about it, she
said: “There are many sequels made and some of them did not do well at the
box office in recent time.

“Since Main Hoon Na is
a cult film, if I want to make a sequel, the story has to be good! People have
a huge expectation from that film. We might just take the character of Ram
Prasad Sharma (played by Shah Rukh Khan) to the next level in the sequel but
nothing substantial has been scripted. So I cannot say anything on that.”

Farah, along with her three
children Czar, Anya and Diva came to Adoptathon, a two days initiative
programme organised by World For All on pet adoption at St Teresa’s Boys’ High
School here.

Noting her daughter is an animal
lover, Farah, sharing her experience of pet adoption, said: “Though in the
beginning it was not our plan as my daughter Anya wanted them so much we have
adopted two beautiful looking dogs and it has changed the vibes of my household
completely.

“Adopting a pet is like taking
the responsibility of a baby. All my pets are well-trained now but in the
beginning, it was a bit difficult. However, they are so loving, adorable and
very emotionally attached to all of us.”

Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are
in fact plans to protect man. If this piece of Stewart Udall’s wisdom is
anything to go by, our country still is still lagging behind in wildlife
conservation. Environ, a city-based wildlife magazine is carrying on its
crusade to improve the awareness about the flora and fauna together with the
hills, dales and rivers which make ensure sustainable living for man and beast.
In its October-December issue, it has focused on Antarctica, elephant-man
conflict in north and south Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Assam, the role
of poverty alleviation of indigenous freshwater fish of north-eastern India and
class five student’s take on his visit to Ranthambhore national park.

Way back
in 1981, India had recognised the importance of scientific research of Antarctica,
the first expedition taking place the same year. Ever since, India has been a
participant in various national and international scientific projects on Antarctica.
Discovery of 30 new insects, identification of the new genes from the bacteria
which helps them to survive at low temperature. Going through this issue of
this issue of Environ, makes one seek to look into the future and feel like
that we are nothing without wildlife as they are the stars on the sky and we
feel awkward in their absence.

Kashmiri Pandits had traditionally been Congress supporters. In the 1970s and 80s the political fight in Jammu and Kashmir was between the Congress and National Conference mainly. The PDP was not born then and BJP was politically confined to two or three constituencies of Jammu city.

Since J & K is a state which is overwhelmingly Muslim (68 per cent)  and BJP was then considered to be a small Hindu-minded communal party, not acceptable to the people at large, the choice was between NC and Congress. Since NC was essentially a Muslim-oriented party( a new incarnation of Muslim Conference), which talked of autonomy and pre-1953 position for J&K, it was very popular among Kashmiri Muslims.

The Hindus of Jammu mainly voted for the Congress and the Muslims of Jammu province voted for both NC and Congress. Congress had a fair amount of support among the Kashmiri Muslims also, especially in the hilly outskirts of the valley. A number of top Congress leaders like Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, Saifuddin Soz and Taj Moiuddin were from the Kashmir valley. A number of Gujjar leaders were from the Congress.

The scenario started changing after the death of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The Pandits had a soft corner in their hearts for Nehru because he was a Pandit by birth and Indira was in their eyes a Kashmiri “batain” (pandit lady) and they were extremely proud of her. Their confidence in the Congress was shattered when in 1990-92 India was unable to protect their interests. They had to flee Kashmir in the wake of unprecedented persecution by the Kashmiri Muslims as a part of a bigger game plan of Pakistan to fully Islamise Kashmir by purging it of all Hindu minorities.

Overnight the Pundits became as helpless as orphans. They had always considered the government of India as their protector and when this government couldn’t protect them they started looking for other political alternatives. In the early 1990s, BJP took an upward swing with the Rath yatra and Babri masjid  demolition. The Pandits found an alternative to the Congress and there was a mass migration from Congress to BJP. Now there is hardly any Pandit who supports the Congress.

For the Hindus of Jammu the situation is quite different. In the elections of 2014 a number of Jammuite Hindus were carried away by the Modi wave, like other north Indian Hindus but the switchover from Congress to BJP was not 100 per cent. Roughly 60 per cent of them shifted to BJP but the rest still remained with Congress.

In fact the Hindus of the hilly areas of northern India like Himachalis, Garwalis and Dogras/Ladakhis have a natural tendency to be with Congress. I don’t know the reason why. Their inclination towards the BJP is more peripheral, skin deep. It is not so deep as the bond of other North Indians or Central Indians or Western Indians. In other words, BJP may lose support in Jammu quite easily.

Jammuites have traditionally voted for parties which are likely to come to power in the state so that their MLAs can give them better roads irrigation facilities and employment in Government. Initially they were reluctant to vote for BJP for exactly this reason. It is for this reason that BJP was desperate to come to power even if it meant holding the hands of a party with an ideology opposed to their own. They had simply no other choice. If at least some of the BJP MLAs could not become Ministers, BJP would not get votes in future in Jammu. Jammuites would think that BJP can never get them any benefits even if they sent 25 MLAs to the Assembly.

So to remain in power the BJP MLAs of Jammu have to always remain close to their voters. People of Jammu have shown in the past that they could even vote for Kashmiri parties like NC or PDP.  They have, in the past, sent NC MLAs from Hindu majority areas like Samba, Marh, Bishna and Nagrota. So they can never be taken for granted by the BJP.

The Pandits on the other hand are blind supporters of BJP and especially Modi. Congress had never talked about their rehabilitation in the valley. Modi has done that. Although the Pandits know very well  that it is practically impossible for them to go back to Kashmir, when Modi talks about their “ghar vapasi” it gladdens their hearts and they feel obliged to support him blindly. Even if Modi puts them to extreme inconvenience and makes them stand in huge queues at banks and ATMs, even if he puts restrictions on sale of property after March 2017, they will continue  chanting “Ghar ghar Modi, Har har Modi”— in the same pattern as Kashmiri Muslims in the past adored Sheikh Abdullah.

The fascination of upper caste Hindus, living in northern and western India, with BJP may not however be too deep. They may tolerate some pain for so called imaginary future gain for a few weeks. If there is no relief,  even the ‘sukh bhogi’ upper caste Hindus of the Hindi cow belt may start leaving the BJP fold.

The scheduled castes have already left BJP after the cow slaughter harassments. The Muslims and Christians are likely to vote for those candidates who have the highest chance of defeating BJP. In 2014 BJP was swept to power with only 31 per cent of total votes. If due to disputed and misguided moves like cow slaughter ban and demonetisation, they slip by even three or four percentage points  they will not be able to get even 150 seats. This will leave millions of BJP supporters and workers terribly disappointed. Before it is too late they  properly advise the PM. During the emergency, if Congress supporters had properly advised Indira instead of clapping and singing meaningless praises of sychophancy, she would not have to face the  terrible defeat of 1977.

The writer, a retired IAS officer, was Financial Commissioner, J&K 

It is an open question whether the “punitive
fire-assaults” the Indian Army unleashed at several points across the LOC on
Wednesday sufficed as the “heavy retribution” promised after the barbaric
mutilation of an Indian soldier killed in the Machhil sector the previous day.
It is also an open question if the speed with which the counter-assault was
mounted was the result of India having painted itself into a corner by making
such political capital of the “surgical strikes” of 28 September — a gung-ho
public now expects swift, telling, responses.

What is not open to question is that in seeking to
satisfy domestic political audiences the armed forces of both India and
Pakistan are now caught in a spiral of violence that is threatening to spin out
of control.

 A scary
prospect, even if the argument is accepted that there is still “space” for a
conventional conflict between the two nuclear-weaponised nations. Propelling
that spiral is the strong politically-induced sense of ‘badla’ that so
negatively impacts rational thinking. For, apart from sending death counts
inexorably upward, the string of angry “exchanges” have yielded little on the
ground: Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism has hardly been diluted, the
Kashmir dispute has not moved an inch toward resolution. Yet lives, precious
whether Indian or Pakistani, continue to be lost.

Civilians have borne the brunt of a deteriorating
situation: it would be inhumane to deem a passenger bus being destroyed in the
Neelam Valley nothing more than “collateral damage”.

Nor should there be much gloating over the Pakistan
Army’s Director-General of Military Operations seeking an unscheduled
interaction with his Indian counterpart — no tangible efforts at de-escalation
resulted.

Nor should too much be made of Sartaj Aziz’s travel
plans to Amritsar for an Afghanistan-focused meeting.

To be fair, Mr Narendra Modi walked more than the
“extra mile” in an effort to restore normality in the bilateral relations.

That he met with no success did hurt. But does that
valid sense of hurt merit allowing conditions to sink to the present depths?
Voices of restraint are being silenced, rabid rhetoric is the order of the day.

Those who dare call for lowering the temperature are
deemed guilty of being treacherously “anti-national”. It is no secret that
jingoistic passions are being fuelled for perceived political gains. And there
are lurking suspicions that sections of the electronic media are seeking to
ingratiate themselves with the ruling entity by amplifying the belligerence.

All experts, including those in the NDA camp, are
aware that bilateral relations can only improve when diplomatic and political
efforts are re-launched. The soldier- talk about “surgical strikes”, ‘heavy retribution”
and “punitive fire-assaults” may expand the vocabulary — but narrow the
chances of a cessation of hostilities.

Protesters massed in Brazil’s largest city to call for the
president to be removed from office and express outrage at a host of his
policies, while the embattled leader tried to head off some of their criticism.

President Michel Temer has suffered a continual drip of
scandal and high-level resignations since he took office six months ago. But on
Friday a scandal touched him directly for the first time amid allegations he
abused his power to do a personal favor for one of his Cabinet ministers. He
denied the allegation.

The scandal could scuttle Temer’s ability to pass a series
of austerity policies that he says are necessary to pull Latin America’s
largest economy out of a deep recession and they are a threat to his
presidency. Opposition politicians have promised to introduce measures in
Congress calling for his impeachment.

On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered on a main avenue in
Sao Paulo to call for just that. Representatives from political parties and
social movements also protested against the government’s proposal to cap spending
to rein in the deficit, which many fear will result in deep cuts to education
and health care.

Others were protesting rampant corruption in politics,
criticizing not just the current administration, while some complained about
the lack of suitable housing. One group held up a banner with a drawing of
Fidel Castro, paying homage to the Cuban revolutionary leader who died Friday
night.

Many criticized the way Temer came to power. He was the
vice-president to President Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached and removed from
office earlier this year, and protesters said that meant he had no mandate to
pass widespread changes in government programs.

“I am here to fight against the root of all the current
problems in Brazil: the impeachment without cause, the impeachment without
merit,” said Edva Aguilar, a retired nurse who said she wanted to see
Rousseff’s removal annulled and the Worker’s Party politician returned to
office.

But many protesters expressed disgust at all politicians.

“So much money has been stolen,” said Carlos
Alberto, a butcher. “I’m against everyone who is involved in
corruption.” Dozens of business executives and senior politicians have
been charged and arrested this year in a spiraling corruption investigation
that has shocked Brazilians with the scale of graft it has revealed. 

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said neither India could take back
Pak-occupied-Kashmir nor Pakistan has the power to take this part of Kashmir by
going to war, so the solution to the problem lies in dialogue between the two countries.

“We cannot take what is with them
with war…what is with them neither can we take it nor they have the power to
take this Kashmir from us, so what other way is left?” Abdullah told
reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

He said people who call him
“anti-national” and making “hue and cry” over his recent
statement on PoK are those who once appreciated him for “defending the
nation in the United Nations” and if they have guts, (they should) go and
fight on the borders.

“They will keep on saying Farooq
Abdullah as anti- national, it is upto them what they call, when I defended my
nation in the United Nations that time was I not anti- national, even (Atal
Bihari) Vajpayee lauded me,” he said.

Stressing for resumption of dialogue
between India and Pakistan, the National Conference chief said resident of
Jammu and Kashmir on both sides of the divided line (Line of Control) were
suffering due to the cross-border firing.

“They should come and see the
problems of the people living on the borders. The people of Jammu and Kashmir
are dying. On both sides, it is our people who are dying. What is the solution?
There is no solution except dialogue,” he said.

Senior Abdullah also took a swipe on
India’s failure to bring back Masoor Azhar or Dawood Ibrahim, saying we could
not bring Masood Azhar or the Don who lives in Karachi what resolutions are you
talking of.

Alleging that demonetisation of Rs.500
and Rs.1,000 currency notes was a “thoughtless” action by the NDA
government, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said the move has
put people into enormous inconvenience.

Yechury, who took part in ongoing
‘padayatra’ organised by CPI-M’s Telangana unit to highlight issues of
backward classes in the country, claimed that 75 people have lost their lives
due to the hardship owing to demonetisation.

Alleging that alternative currency
notes have not come into circulation, he claimed that RBI has said that it
would take 175 days for new notes to arrive.

BJP had described former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh as ‘Maun Mohan Singh’, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi
is not speaking in Parliament now though he spoke outside, Yechury said.

Modi had said in 2014 that 90 per cent
of black money lay outside the country and that Rs 15 lakh would be deposited
in bank accounts of citizens, he said.

The NDA government had waived loans to
the tune of Rs 1.12 lakh crore for corporates, but why the Rs 75,000 crore
loans of farmers were not being waived, he questioned.

The new Rs 2,000 note would lead to
more corruption and scams, the CPI-M leader claimed, adding that a special
act be brought to check corruption.