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With a stupendous electoral victory in the high-stakes election in Maharashtra, Christmas came early for the BJP. In a mixed electoral outcome, while the Mahayuti -- comprising the BJP, the Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) -- displayed its political dominance in Maharashtra, the BJP faltered in tribal-dominated Jharkhand. While the Mahayuti in Maharashtra inched towards a landslide victory, securing nearly 233 of the 288 seats, the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) struggled to reach even 50 seats. In Jharkhand, however, the JMM-Congress combine is all set to return to power as the alliance led in 50 of the 81 Assembly seats. The BJP trailed far behind, with 24 berths. Besides scripting a brute majority in Maharashtra, the BJP also swept the critical Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypolls, winning six of nine Assembly seats. With both Haryana and Maharashtra now firmly under its control, the BJP is expected to make a strong pitch for its long-standing proposal of “One Nation, One Election” in the coming Parliament session. However, after the Assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, all eyes are now on the forthcoming polls in Delhi and Bihar. Recording its best-ever performance by touching nearly 133 seats on its own, the BJP seemed to have strengthened its grip on the chief minister’s chair in Maharashtra. As the Mahayuti secured a gain of 42 seats, the MVA recorded a loss of at least 25 seats. The humiliating defeat in the high-stakes Maharashtra polls has put the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress at the political crossroads. For Uddhav Thackeray, the loss could be hard to swallow. After a disappointing performance compared to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray faction might need to take a long, hard look at its political future. The Maharashtra results also delivered a body blow to the Maratha strongman, Sharad Pawar, who indicated that this could be his “last elections”. Expressing “gratitude” to the “brothers and sisters” of Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X: “Development wins! Good governance wins! United we will soar even higher”. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi described the Maharashtra results as “unprecedented” and said that it “required introspection”. He congratulated JMM chief minister Hemant Soren for his victory in Jharkhand. The Congress, which has been struggling to regain ground in Maharashtra for years, has now plunged deeper into an existential crisis. The Congress, which fielded 101 candidates, managed to lead in only 21 constituencies. Similarly, the Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, could only manage to lead in 18 of the 95 seats it contested. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar, fared only marginally better, leading in 12 of the 86 seats it contested. In stark contrast the BJP emerged as a clear winner, securing 126 of the 149 seats it contested. The Shiv Sena (Shinde) bagged 56 of the 81 seats it fought for and the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar secured 38 of the 59 seats. An angry and beleaguered Sanjay Raut, leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), refused to accept the poll outcome and shot back: “Kuchch toh gadbad hain” (something is fishy). Besides crawling back to power virtually by piggybacking on the JMM in Jharkhand, the other comforting news for the Congress on Saturday was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s impressive victory in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency by a staggering margin of over four lakh votes. While the INDIA bloc, particularly the Congress and SS (UBT), struggled to forge a cohesive narrative, the Mahayuti government’s “Ladki Bahin Yojana”, under which the state has been providing Rs 1,500 to women over the last four months, seems to have hit the bull’s eye with the electorate, particularly women voters. With the party surging ahead, the BJP’s face in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, took to X to reinforce the party’s narrative by posting: “Ek hain to safe hain”. Indicating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s magic has worked again, he added: “Modi hain toh mumkin hain”. While the BJP deployed all its resources and muscle in the Maharashtra polls, quietly, but significantly, the RSS played a key role in securing a stunning win. At the ground level, the RSS organised local events, meetings with community leaders and established a direct line of communication with voters. After a seesaw battle earlier in the day, the JMM-Congress alliance surged ahead of the BJP-AJSU combine in Jharkhand. After being arrested earlier this year by the ED in a money-laundering case, chief minister Hemant Soren staged a stunning comeback. Defying exit poll predictions, the JMM was on track to form a government for the third consecutive time. Unlike Maharashtra, the BJP’s Hindutva pitch -- “Batenge toh Katenge” -- the scare-mongering campaign by invoking the perils of “illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh grabbing the jal, zameen, jungle” of the tribals failed to work in this tribal land. While the BJP orchestrated a high-pitched nationalistic and “divisive” campaign, the Hemant Soren government focused on promoting its welfare schemes which also included the “Maiya Samman Yojana” -- enabling eligible women to receive Rs 1,000 per month. Stealing a page from former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s “Ladli Bahena” scheme, both the Maharashtra and Jharkhand governments relied heavily on welfare schemes for women. It was felt that the JMM victory has been significantly propelled by strong support from women voters. Sixty-eight of the 81 Assembly constituencies recorded a higher turnout of women voters. A section of BJP leaders indicated that the arrest of the chief minister before the elections also hurt the party as it created a sympathy wave in favour of the ruling coalition. “The JMM made the election a Hemant vs BJP contest,” a senior BJP leader said. As for the Congress, it has once again emerged as the weak link for its alliance partners. Nearly five months after it showed a sign of resurgence, winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha, the party seemed to be groping in the dark all over again. The party lacked a narrative, besides reiterating the Lok Sabha slogan -- “Sangvidhan khatre mein hain” (Constitution is in danger). The “Constitution is under threat”, which seemed to have resonated at the national level during the Lok Sabha elections, fell flat in the Assembly polls. While the Mahayuti’s welfare schemes clicked, the MVA’s assurances on a farm loan waiver and caste census failed to find its mark with voters. Moreover, the Congress’ star campaigner, Rahul Gandhi, made only four visits to the state as compared to at least nine election rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Gaming on a laptop used to mean settling for a subpar experience. It was impossible to pack enough power into a portable computer without making compromises to battery life or overwhelming its cooling system. The good news is that’s changed, and you can get a laptop that can play the latest games at respectable settings while you’re on the go. Right now, you can save $300 on ASUS’ ROG Strix G16, a big-screen gaming laptop that’s well equipped to handle any title you throw at it. , $1,099 (was $1,399.99) ASUS outfitted the ROG Strix G16 with NVIDIA® GeForce RTXTM 4060 graphics card, which has 8GB of dedicated memory. This is an impressive portable-friendly version of one of NVIDIA’s highest-end desktop cards, and it’s incredibly capable. The laptop has 16GB of fast DDR5 SDRAM, a 14-core i7-1265HX processor, and a 1TB SSD. You can store a lot of games on this machine without having to swap out the internal drive, or rely on external storage, which is slower. The monitor you use when playing games on a desktop PC is incredibly important, and ASUS managed to cram a very impressive display into the ROG Strix G16. The 16-inch screen has a 165Hz refresh rate with Adaptive Sync and NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology, which means you can play fast-paced games like first-person shooters with no delay. The display also supports Dolby Vision HDR (High Dynamic Range,) so colors will really pop. If you’re a lapsed gamer who doesn’t have the space for a desktop gaming PC, or travel too much to justify a computer you can’t use all the time, ASUS’ ROG Strix G16 is the solution.Melbourne, Dec 30 (PTI) The all-time attendance record at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was smashed on Monday when the total attendance of the fourth Test touched an unprecedented 350,700. The presence of 51,371 spectators at lunch time meant the overall turnout had surpassed the previous high of 350,535 set way back during the 1937 Ashes when the great Don Bradman was at the peak of his powers. Also Read | Will Rohit Sharma Play in India vs Australia 5th Test 2024-25 Match at SCG? Here’s the Possibility of Team India Captain Featuring in Playing XI for Sydney Test in Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The number crossed the 60,000 mark post lunch on day five with India chasing a daunting 340-run target. Also Read | IND vs AUS 4th Test 2024: Australia Run Rampant To Leave India Three Down and 307 Runs Away From Win at Lunch on Day 5. "Day 5 current attendance is 51,371. The total attendance of 350,700 is the greatest for any Test match at the MCG exceeding the total of 350,534 v England in 1937 over 6 days. This is also the greatest attendance for any Test match played in Australia," said Cricket Australia in a release. The fourth Test between India and Australia has also become the second highest attended game of all time behind only the India-Pakistan game at the Eden Gardens in 1999 when the overall turnout stood at 4,65,000. It was not a record but as many as 87,242 fans watched the proceedings on day one. Day two turnout was a record with 85,147 people thronging to the stadium and so was day three when 83,073 fans walked into the iconic venue. On Sunday, the count was 43,867. All tickets for the action on Monday were priced at 10 Australian dollars. "I've not seen anything like it at a cricket match," Melbourne Cricket Club boss Stuart Fox was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. "I think that just the spirit in the stadium ... all of our staff on day one just said how happy the crowd were. I thought Taylor Swift was big, but this has been something else. "But I think with Taylor Swift coming in, a fantastic AFL season, then this Boxing Day Test, it's (2024) going to be hard to beat, I can assure you," he added. 7/21/2024 (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
In their Week 12 win over the Los Angeles Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles played 73 snaps on offense and 64 on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts, and some notes. Quarterback • 71 snaps: Jalen Hurts • 2 snaps: Kenny Pickett Notes: Hurts didn't have to do much with Barkley running wild through the Rams' secondary,. He finished 15 of 22 for 179 yards and a TD. Running back • 50 snaps: Saquon Barkley • 23 snaps: Kenny Gainwell • 5 snaps: Ben VanSumeren Notes: I've been asked quite a bit recently about Barkley's heavy usage this season, and whether or not he can continue to play at a high level into December and January. Barkley has 250 touches on the season. He is on pace for 386 regular season touches, plus whatever he does in the playoffs. That is a lot of wear and tear to put on a running back in one season, and in the past we have seen running backs around the league have down years after that level of usage. I think the Eagles have tried to get Barkley off the field whenever appropriate, but the reality is that he is their best player right now, and he is winning them games. It's hard to take a player off the field when he is playing at an otherworldly level like Barkley is. Do you lean toward preservation, or the best record possible? The Eagles are trying to achieve both, but winning game is the priority. As the season has progressed, Barkley only appears to be getting stronger. As long as he doesn't suffer some kind of injury that will hamper him (the odds of which increase with a continued heavy workload, obviously), I think he'll still play like the elite player he is the rest of the way. I do think that the wear and tear he is taking on this season could affect him in 2025 and 2026, though. Wide receiver • 65 snaps: A.J. Brown • 51 snaps: Johnny Wilson • 50 snaps: Jahan Dotson • 7 snaps: Ainias Smith • 3 snaps: Britain Covey Notes: Hurts only attempted 22 passes, and Brown still caught 6 balls for 109 yards and a TD. If this game didn't turn into The Saquon Barkley Show, it could have very well been The A.J. Brown Show, as the Rams didn't have any corners capable of covering Brown man-to-man. The rest of the Eagles' receivers combined for 1 catch for 4 yards on 2 targets. DeVonta Smith missed this game with a hamstring injury. They'll need him Week 13 against the Ravens. Tight end • 55 snaps: Dallas Goedert • 40 snaps: Grant Calcaterra • 16 snaps: C.J. Uzomah Notes: There isn't much to say about the tight ends from this game. Goedert had 4 catches on 5 targets for 19 yards. Offensive line • 73 snaps: Jordan Mailata and Cam Jurgens • 71 snaps each: Landon Dickerson, Mekhi Becton, and Lane Johnson • 2 snaps each: Jack Driscoll, Fred Johnson, and Tyler Steen Notes: The Eagles' offensive line dominated in the run game, and only allowed one sack to a good, young Rams defensive line. Edge defenders • 39 snaps: Nolan Smith • 36 snaps: Josh Sweat • 29 snaps: Brandon Graham • 24 snaps: Jalyx Hunt Notes: Graham said that his season is over with a torn triceps. More here . This was a new high snap count for both Smith and Hunt. They're going to have to play a lot more with Graham out. Sweat has 7 sacks in the last 7 games, and has quietly had a very good season after the team shopped him this past offseason. Interior defensive line • 54 snaps: Jalen Carter • 24 snaps: Milton Williams • 23 snaps: Moro Ojomo • 15 snaps: Jordan Davis • 11 snaps: Thomas Booker Notes: Carter had a heavy workload yet again, until the outcome was decided, at which point he got some rest. Williams had a pair of sacks and a forced fumble. He now has 5 sacks on the season after posting 0.5 sacks in 2023. Linebacker • 53 snaps: Zack Baun • 52 snaps: Nakobe Dean • 9 snaps: Oren Burks • 5 snaps: Jeremiah Trotter Notes: Dean had 8 tackles and a sack. Baun only had 3 tackles, but he made a really nice pass breakup while in coverage on Cooper Kupp. His play against the pass has been shockingly good. Cornerback and safety • 64 snaps: Quinyon Mitchell • 62 snaps: Cooper DeJean • 57 snaps: Reed Blankenship • 56 snaps: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson • 28 snaps: Darius Slay • 13 snaps: Avonte Maddox • 8 snaps: Tristin McCollum • 6 snaps: Sydney Brown Notes: DeJean had a couple of pass breakups. PFF had him down for 6 catches allowed on 9 targets for 49 yards. That's 5.4 yards per attempt. The Eagles landed two of the best players in the 2024 draft in DeJean and Mitchell. I thought it was interesting that Tristin McCollum — and not Sydney Brown — filled in for Blankenship when Blankenship was banged-up for a few plays. Three stars 🤩 Eagles game ball 🏈 Season game balls Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
How to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Friday, December 6
Investor excitement for artificial intelligence (AI) might be overhyped today. The stock market can at times seem like a manic-depressive being, exaggerating any positive or negative developments with rapid share price swings. With AI stocks like Nvidia soaring tenfold in just a few years, it is possible these stocks will head into a correction, given that they are priced for perfection at the moment. This doesn't change the fact that the generative AI sector is still in the early innings of growth. Some analysts estimate that spending on generative AI alone will reach $356 billion in 2030, growing at a 46% annual rate over the next six years, making it one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. That would be up from an estimated $36 billion this year. With its premium valuation, a company such as Nvidia already has a lot of this growth priced into its stock. However, there is one reasonably priced AI stock hiding in plain sight: Alphabet ( GOOGL -1.71% ) ( GOOG -1.58% ) . Here's why the technology giant will benefit from surging demand for generative AI through 2030. Alphabet's AI comeback OpenAI struck fear into Alphabet investors back in late 2022. With the rapid growth of ChatGPT and its advanced conversational AI tools, investors worried that Alphabet -- parent company of Google Search -- had fallen behind in AI. This led its stock to fall to a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of close to 15 in early 2023, its cheapest earnings ratio in a decade. In the last two years, Alphabet has proven these doubters wrong. The stock has posted a 90% total return since these 2023 lows. Through its various subsidiaries and research labs, Alphabet has copied or bested every single one of OpenAI's innovations and has come up with some new AI products of its own. There is NotebookLM, a document summary tool that can speak audibly or provide written summaries on complex topics. There are also the new Google Search AI summaries, which are helping improve the customer value proposition of the most-used product on the planet. Let's not forget the new Google Lens feature, which allows people to search by taking a picture instead of the traditional text query. The list could go on. Alphabet is winning outside of generative AI, too. Its self-driving start-up, Waymo, has expanded to multiple cities across the United States and now does 100,000 weekly rides, growing tenfold year over year. This is an underrated part of Alphabet's business that is only enabled by its leadership in AI. Betting on cloud revenue growth Alphabet has proven in the last few years that it is not a lagging tech company in AI. In fact, you might be able to argue that the company is the definitive winner so far in this new generative AI space. But how will the company monetize all these new tools? One way is through Google Cloud, Alphabet's most promising subsidiary at the moment. The cloud computing giant takes all of Alphabet's innovations in AI, computer chips, and data centers and sells these tools to third parties. Last quarter, Google Cloud revenue grew 35% year over year to $11.4 billion. Over the long term, investors should expect this fantastic growth to continue if the analysts are correct about booming generative AI spending through 2030. At $100 billion in annual revenue and 25% profit margins -- a milestone Google Cloud should reach within a few years -- the segment will be generating $25 billion in operating earnings for the parent company. That is a sizable and growing chunk of its $105 billion in trailing consolidated operating earnings. GOOG PE Ratio data by YCharts Investors are still underrating the stock Even though Alphabet is proving its might in AI both with product innovation and its financial performance, the stock is still not performing in line with other technology peers. With a P/E of just 23, Alphabet has one of the cheapest earnings ratios across the AI and broader technology landscape. Nvidia has a P/E of 66. Apple -- which is growing much slower than Alphabet and has shown little ability to succeed with AI products -- is trading at a P/E of 37. Generative AI revenue is going to soar through the rest of this decade. The one company set to take the largest slice of this revenue is Alphabet because of its plethora of AI products and monetization tactics. You can buy the stock today at a P/E of 23, well below the S&P 500 index average of 30. That is a recipe for producing fantastic long-term returns for your portfolio.Trump's Return to White House May Boost Defense Stocks, Bernstein Says
‘A bit of a b***end’: Ed Sheeran apologises after gatecrashing Man Utd interviewHashiCorp Announces Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results
The Crown can be found in a passageway close to Carfax off the busy shopping street. It used to be a hidden gem but now there are lots of signs directing drinkers down the passageway to the bar. The pub, run by Nicholson's, has an interesting history. Its website said: “The Crown has had a succession of famous landlords. “In the year of the Gunpowder Plot it was kept by John Davenant and it was during this time Shakespeare paid his frequent visits to Oxford. “The poet used to stop in the university town on his journeys between Stratford and London, and The Crown was his headquarters.” Ross McCarthy, general manager of The Crown for the past three years, said he was delighted it has been chosen as the Oxford Mail Pub of the Week. He added: "Everything we do here is trying to emulate the traditional British pub experience, with real ales, gin and tonics and traditional pub food including fish and chips, sausage and mash and a good selection of pies. "In the summer, people can sit outside and watch sport, and then in the winter we can transition to a cosy pub indoors with soft lighting and Christmas decorations." Mr McCarthy said customers included tourists, students and locals. "We welcome everyone and our A-boards in Cornmarket direct people to our door. "You will get a good welcome if you come in here by yourself or with friends and family." There is already a festive atmosphere at The Crown, fuelled by generous servings of mulled wine from a barrel. The pub is warm inside, with subtle lighting, and there are lots of nooks and alcoves where you can enjoy a meal and a pint. The pies on the menu are a popular choice for customers. The website says: "When you’re hungry for a catchup and ready to meet, here’s a few options you’ll be tempted to eat. "Taste our new Pulled Duck Croquettes and Garlic Mushrooms on Sourdough or skip straight to the main event: our hand-crafted specialty pies, including our brand-new Chicken and Truffled Oyster Mushroom Pie and our British Steak & Nicholson's Pale Ale Pie." Real ales include Plum Porter by Titanic, and Theakston's Old Peculier. The pub is open seven days, from noon until 11pm, although it shuts on Sunday at 10pm. Food is served from noon until 9pm, and at weekends from noon until 9.30pm. "We're in a great position here off Cornmarket - bang in the middle of all the colleges," added Mr McCarthy. "We try to stock some darker beers at this time of year but we always have a good range." Dave Richardson, of real ale group Oxford CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), said: "This is a fine old building that was once the stables and outhouses of a much larger coaching inn that fronted onto Cornmarket Street, and it's generally a haven of relative tranquillity in the hustle and bustle of the city centre. "I'm not so sure about Shakespeare being 'more than friendly' with the owner's wife, as claimed on the wall outside, but it adds intrigue." Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get: Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire. His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.
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ABUJA – The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has issued a scathing rebuke of former Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, accusing him of engaging in sycophancy and lacking the integrity expected of an elder statesman. Wike’s remarks came during a Special Thanksgiving Service organized by the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, held at the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in Port Harcourt on Sunday. The FCT Minister in a statement signed by his Media Aide Mr Lere Olayinka criticized Odili for his recent comments praising the current Rivers State Governor as having surpassed the achievements of all previous governors, including Wike himself. Wike dismissed the comments as insincere and politically motivated. “How can an elder statesman, someone who is supposed to be a father figure, reduce himself to a sycophant and a trader?” Wike asked. “Must you be a trader all the time? After serving as governor for eight years, what else are you looking for?” Wike claimed that Odili’s statements were inconsistent with his earlier positions, highlighting past instances where Odili praised Wike’s administration. “When I was governor, this same Odili praised me to high heaven,” Wike recalled. “He said all past governors combined did not achieve what I did. Now, barely a year into a new administration, he’s already saying this governor has done more than all past governors. What kind of elder talks like this?” Wike also detailed his contributions to Odili’s legacy, including state sponsorship of students at PAMO University, a private institution linked to Odili. “Rivers State sponsored 100 students per session, each paying nothing less than N5 million. People attacked me for it, but I stood firm because I believed in supporting him,” Wike explained. He added, “I personally called Julius Berger to build him a mansion. He was taking people around, saying, ‘Look at what Wike has done for me.’ Now, because of a Christmas Carol, he’s singing a different tune. Why reduce yourself to a laughing stock?” Wike further criticized Odili’s political inconsistencies, accusing him of neglecting his late elder brother’s son for a political appointment. “It was his nephew, his late senior brother’s son, that was recommended for commissioner. But what did he do? He took the slot and gave it to his own daughter. Is that the mark of an elder statesman?” He also accused Odili of sycophantic behavior towards the current Rivers State Governor. “When I was plotting who would be governor after me, was he there? Then, he said this governor couldn’t speak in public. Now, he’s organizing Christmas Carols for him,” Wike said. Wike questioned the values Odili was passing on to younger generations. “When your children ask you, ‘Is this not the same man you praised before?’ What will you tell them? An elder must be consistent and uphold integrity,” he stated. Wike concluded by urging Odili and others to focus on unity and sincerity in governance rather than divisive politics. “We have left the government. We are managing. You’ve taken the assembly money; they are not dying of hunger, and they will not die of hunger. But all these sycophancies will not elevate you to the level I have attained,” Wike said. The Minister’s remarks highlight ongoing tensions within the Rivers State political landscape, raising questions about the conduct and integrity of its key players.It could have been a photo people posted on family WhatsApp groups on what seemed like a routine day—a young girl in a crowded metro, clicked by a friend. The difference, however, was that it was not a friendly click. The photo was maliciously made public on social media. An anonymous social media handle posted the picture, “calling the girl out” for “having an affair with a Hindu boy”. The post’s caption said: “The girl in hijab was in a relationship with a Hindu boy”, who had “gotten off the metro at a station” before the picture was supposedly taken. What followed was a barrage of comments against the girl in particular and women from Kashmir working or studying outside the Valley in general. Religion was invoked, the girl was vilified. This is one brazen example of social media defamation of girls in Kashmir—a Muslim-majority region not known to enforce diktats on either dress or morality, except for a brief period in the 1990s when an all-women separatist organisation, Dhuktaran-e-Milat, tried to enforce hijab. The movement did not last, as it failed to garner public support. The Dhuktaran cadre, known for throwing colour on “non-hijabi women”, was denounced for humiliating girls publicly. However, for some time now, fast-sprouting faceless accounts/handles have been using social media as a platform for the resurgence of this very narrative. For them, everything spells problems—girls enjoying a musical evening at a college fest, marriages, relationships and even friendships happening outside of religion and region. In a similar incident a few months ago, a Kashmiri girl and her friends, who happened to be her non-local classmates, were attacked by a mob of local boys. Later, the video of the altercation was uploaded on social media. The video identified the girl, her residence, and the educational institute. The video was, however, taken down, sources say, following intervention by the local police. BY Mehroob Mushtaq Not Standalone Incidents These incidents are not standalone. For years, the social media landscape in Kashmir is reeking of misogyny. The real-life misogyny is spilling onto social media platforms. Taking a leaf from the right-wing book, Kashmiri men, like the Hindutva brigade in the rest of the country, want to take control of “what women do” and “what they wear”. Some call it the rise of the “right in Kashmir”, others a “mere reaction” to what is happening in the rest of the country in the name of “ love jihad ”. Technology and social media are providing the required tools to spread this misogyny. Girls are trolled for anything from riding a bike to reciting poetry. “ Papa ki pari ” is a highly abused tagline, used not only in Kashmir but the rest of the country as well. Social Scientists agree that cyber misogyny is on the rise. “Social media is a new platform that has given people the agency and space to express themselves. The abuse that women face in private and public spaces is now being witnessed on virtual platforms as well. Women face ‘digital abuse’ for numerous reasons, and misogyny is the most important one,” said sociologist Farah Qayoom. BY Zahir Abdullah The trend started with trolling women for their choice of clothes and careers, demeaning their achievements and has now become a new form of harassment for Kashmiri women on social media. Any out-of-the-box video featuring a girl, any achievement highlighted on social media has some keyboard warrior sitting on a prowl. In February 2022, Srinagar’s Aroosa Parvaiz, who had topped class 12 board exams in the science stream, was trolled for not wearing a hijab after photographs of her without a headscarf went viral across social media. The 17-year-old girl, who was hailed as an achiever by people, was soon targeted for her appearance with derogatory comments and vicious attacks flooding social media. Some people hide behind the anonymity of unidentified accounts and use hate and trolling as weapons of harassment and character assassination. The incident happened in the backdrop of Karnataka’s hijab ban in educational institutes. More recently, in October, a video from a college festival in SKUAST, Jammu, was relentlessly shared on X with sermons of “dwindling morals of Kashmir students, especially girls”. The X user called the video “a serious concern” because young female students were seen clapping and enjoying the musical programme. Questions were raised about Kashmiri values and the dwindling morality. In another post, the same user posted a video of a male singer singing in woods and called it “mesmerising”. BY Ather Zia Shrinking Social Media Space Experts agree social media spaces are shrinking for women in Kashmir, and most women are leaving platforms for fear of being trolled. “On social media platforms, many Kashmiri women are targeted for their dress, not covering their head, their appearance, and so on. Often, it is seen that the ones doing it use religion to malign women. Misogynist religious ideology is reflected when many Kashmiri women are asked to keep their heads covered, to wear a certain type of dress, and are accused of having relations with Hindu boys,” Qayoom adds. However, she adds that the digital abuse that women face is not confined to Kashmir but is the same as it is in the rest of the country. “It’s a reflection of the larger social inequality that women are inferior to men that prevails in our society,” she says. Statistics show women across the world are subjected to abuse. A 2023 UN report says 16-58 per cent of women are targeted online in Kashmir; however, it is being used as a tool for the subjugation of females. Creating Synthetic Role Models Another phenomenon Kashmir watchers believe that fuels the misogyny is the “synthetic role model narrative”. “A certain set of women, who are pro-administration, mostly seen supporting the BJP at the Centre government and its stance on Kashmir , are being promoted as role models for Kashmiri women and girls,” says a politician who did not want to be named. “The state facilitates these women; they call themselves social media influencers but are government mouthpieces. This type of social remodelling and botched reengineering has also made people sceptical of the rise of girls as social media opinion-makers or role models. And as a consequence, common women and girls are unfortunately bearing the brunt,” he adds. This “role model” trend started in 2019, when a girl claiming to be Kashmiri featured in viral videos extending support for abrogation of Article 370. A media article later revealed the girl was not “a Kashmiri Muslim” as was being projected but a Sindhi who claimed ancestry in Kashmir. The young girl, who later married a Kashmiri politician from BJP, has since spoken in various international forums supporting India’s reading down of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Experts say such achievers and influencers undermine the real achievers and leave people with a sense of doubt. “State manufacturing role models, stigmatises the narratives and helps further fuel misogyny,” says an expert. BY Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra Surprising as it may sound, in a place like Kashmir, where any social media post can lead to years in jail, the trend is catching on unabated. Police say they initiate action upon receiving complaints. Whether the complaint is from the victim or flagged by another person, the concerns are met with “swift and decisive action”. However, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, V K Birdi, urged “women to report the incidents”. “We acknowledge the problem, are cautious, and try to scan social media for such incidents. But people have to also come forward. If any girl feels threatened, she can register a complaint at our cyber police station, and we will take the required action. We have acted very swiftly many times when women have complained,” he says. “However, if the content is viral and risks the safety of the women/girls, action is taken without any complaints,” he adds. Is cyber harassment of women a reaction to the “love Jihad” conspiracy theory in the rest of the country? “They have anti-conversion laws, and we can’t even talk about it”, “are you supporting organised bhagwa ‘love traps’, “are you also sleeping with some Hindu?”, and many similar replies with extremely unparliamentary language were reactions this reporter got after objecting to a misogynist post regarding interfaith relationships. Most of the abusive replies were from accounts formed a few months ago with just a few followers. Although cyber trolling is a common phenomenon, social scientists say the trolls are taking refuge in the “love jihad conspiracy” being fuelled in the rest of the country. Every time an Islamophobic incident takes place in the rest of the country, misogynistic and trolling incidents of women are on the rise. Earlier this year, many X accounts, including that of a senior politician, ran into trouble with law enforcement agencies when the marriage certificate of a local Kashmiri Muslim girl with a Hindu non-Kashmiri boy was widely circulated on social media. Another document confirming her religious conversion also went viral. The incident had many Kashmiris crying foul claiming such marriages and conversions were part of “organised bhagwa love traps”. Many users on X claimed the Centre and state were closing their eyes to the cases where the brides happened to be Muslim, especially Kashmiri. BY Naseer Ganai Junaid Azim Mattu , former mayor of Srinagar, posted the same documents on his X account, trying to draw a parallel with a case of a cleric of Dargah Hazratbal, who was barred from performing religious duties for “helping a man convert to Islam”. “A 23-year-old Muslim girl, Humerah, from a village in Baramulla is converted to Hinduism by Sanatan Vedic Samaj Kalyan Sansthan, given a name Purni, and married to a certain Mr. Parihar from Maharashtra by an organisation that proclaims, “approved by the government of India. No cry for Love Dharam Yudh?” Mattu had written. Existence of Traditional Misogyny While Kashmir has not been a strictly patriarchal society but it’s also not a matriarchal society as well. Although women have traditionally been given opportunities in education and employment, men have greater power and social status than women. Qayoom said that the problem is that “in a traditional society like Kashmir, children are not socialised to accept gender equality”. “We don’t inculcate a gender-sensitive approach in our children. Boys are made to believe that they are superior, and girls are inferior. When such boys grow up, they harbour a misogynistic attitude, and it is reflected in their expressions over social media and other such platforms,” Qayoom says. Qayoom believes there is a need for comprehensive strategies to address this pressing issue; people must learn to create a balance between traditional and cultural beliefs and modern life. Social scientists say society has to be reminded that respect for women cannot be only for those, those who live in your home, your mother and daughters but it has to be extended to those whom you don't know. Those whom you meet in unfamiliar situations like social media. “These interactions would define who you are,” says Qayoom. These interactions cannot be governed by premature judgements, the patriarchal norms and predetermined or predefined rules particularly for women.Wright runs for 118 yards and 2 TDs, No. 13 Illinois State gets 1st win over North Dakota, 35-13
