India's 'Writing With Fire' nominated for Best Documentary Feature at Oscars
New Delhi, Feb 8: Indian documentary 'Writing With Fire' has been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 94th edition of the Academy Awards.
The nominations were announced by Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan on Tuesday evening via the Twitter page of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, both debuants, Writing With Fire chronicles the rise of Khabar Lahariya, India's only newspaper run by Dalit women.
"We are beyond delighted. This is a massive moment for us and for Indian cinema... This film is about fearless Dalit women journalists who are redefining what being powerful means, quintessentially the story of the modern Indian woman," co-director Ghosh told PTI.
The festival favourite film follows this ambitious group of Dalit wonder women led by their chief reporter, Meera as the team switches from print to digital in order to stay relevant.
Armed with smartphones and the courage and conviction one must be born with, they investigate the incompetence of the local police force, listen to and stand by victims of caste and gender violence, and challenge long-standing, harmful practices that lead to injustice and intimidation.
Other nominees in the category are: "Ascension", "Attica", "Flee", and "Summer of Soul ( Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
The awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on March 27.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
