Namboothiri women’s fight for rights focus of Sanskrit film
G Prabha, a retired professor of Chennai’s Loyola College, has made a Sanskrit film titled Ishti highlighting the fight of women from Kerala’s Namboothiri community to gain property rights from their male relatives in the early 20th century.
So far only four Sanskrit films have been made and they all had mythological plots, Prabha said. “Ishti intends to recreate a social situation that existed some decades ago when a patriarchal system oppressed women,” he said.
The 108-minute-long movie has subtitles in English.

Republic Day honour for women achievers
Eight women from Tamil Nadu were selected by the federal ministry of Women and Child Development for their contribution to women’s empowerment and other societal improvement on the eve of the Republic Day.
The women were among 100 achievers selected from across the country.
Among the winners from Tamil Nadu are N Swarnalatha, a Chennai-based artist who paints about women abuse; Shyama Ramani who has built toilets in a fishing hamlet in southern Nagapattinam district; Mariazeena Johnson, an educationist of Sathyabhama University in Chennai that allots 500 free seats annually to the disabled; Saundarya Rajesh for guiding career women and Vijayalakshmi Devarajan for skill-based training of women from poor families.
The winners were treated to a lunch hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

Three students of medical college commit suicide
Three students of the private SVS medical college committed suicide by jumping into a well at a nearby farm in Villupuram, about 170km from Chennai, last week.
The girls left a suicide note which allegedly blamed the college for collecting exorbitant fees, but police are yet to confirm this.
However other students of the college had similar complaints. The current incident created further protests and some students even consumed pesticide in front of the district collector. They were saved by rushing them to hospital.
Finally police arrested the son of the college owner and have launched a detailed inquiry.

Founder of publishing house dies
Vanathi Thirunavukkarasu, the founder of Vanathi Pathipagam publishing house, died of old age in Chennai on January 19. He was 88 and is survived by wife and four children.
In nearly six decades, Vanathi published the works of Rajaji’s Kambaramayanam, Kanchi Sankaracharya’s Deivathin kural, Chandiliyan’s novels, Kalki’s historical novels, Kannadasan’s Arathamulla Indu Matham, Sahitya Akademi award winner Neela Padmanabhan’s novel and others.
Thirunavukkarasu worked with his father in Burma until they were forced to flee during World War II. He founded Vanathi Pathipagam which in six decades has published 8,000 titles - mostly best sellers.

Jallikattu held despite ban
Defying a government ban, two villages in Tiruchi district held jallikattu or bullfight last week.
In Navalarukuttapattu village, some bulls were let out into an open ground and young men raced to tame them. The event lasted 30 minutes and was over before the police arrived. A similar event was held in Anbil village in Lalgudi sub-division. However the detractors were let off with a fine and a warning.