News18.com Daybreak| #BeingAWoman Series; Chandrababu Naidu's Revolt & Stories You May Have Missed

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Today, we are celebrating women-- our sheroes. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, News18.com has put together a series— #BeingAWoman— to celebrate womanhood in today’s India.

Meet Seema, 27, who is one of the first women who was trained and employed by Even Cargo, a startup that offers delivery services for e-commerce companies. All of its half a dozen delivery personnel are women. She has been going from door-to-door to deliver packages for the last 18 months.

Anne Frank’s account of her days in the secret annex and how she dealt with her life when confined by space, relationships and the lack of opportunities gave a woman courage and hope. Here, she writes about her ‘best friend’ in her darkest days.

Eram Agha writes a piece on her reporting days in Aligarh and her struggles with battling every day sexism. No matter which police station she called or visited for a story, she was greeted as "Haan Eram Bhaiyya bolo." (Yes brother tell me.) This was replicated in AMU as well when some people would call her, “Aur Eram Agha Sahab, kal kya likh rahin hain aap?”

When Madonna released her album ‘Music’ in 2001, the one song that captured everyone’s mind was ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’. This was way before #MeToo happened, and way before women started going out on night walks to occupy public spaces. Madonna taught young women that it’s alright to be a ‘Girl Gone Wild’.

From turning brothels into classrooms to adventure biking— meet the seven women who are breaking the barrier.

On a day when Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu warned of severing ties with the NDA, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reached out to him saying the Centre will stand by all its commitments regarding the funds that were promised to the state after its bifurcation. However, he added a rider, saying, “Sentiments do not define the quantum of funds” as the Centre has to look at a number of things.

Naidu, however, has decided to pull out Telugu Desam Party's two ministers from the Union Cabinet, but said that the party would remain in alliance with the BJP, for now. Referring to Jaitley’s statement that the Centre had already given Rs 4,000 crore to the state, he said that the government is more interested in showing calculations than helping out.

After Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah reportedly refused to give technocrat Sam Pitroda a nomination from Karnataka, Congress is most likely to nominate him from Gujarat.

The BJP released a list of eight candidates for the upcoming elections to the Rajya Sabha to be held in six different states. Five of the six states, for which candidates have been announced, have BJP governments while the sixth has a BJP alliance in power. Among the big names that feature on the list is that of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Jaitley is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, where he was elected to the Upper House in April 2012. His term ends next month and instead of seeking re-election from Gujarat, he will be nominated from Uttar Pradesh.

An imposing statue of communist icon Vladimir Lenin, which was pulled down by a group of people in South Tripura's Belonia, will be kept at the premises of the municipal body, a top official has said. The nearly 11-ft tall fibre glass statue was brought down at Belonia town, headquarters of South Tripura district days after the BJP's victory in the Assembly elections in Tripura where a 25-year-long communist government was ousted.

After Lenin and Periyar statues, a statue of B R Ambedkar was vandalised in Meerut district’s Mawana Khurd. Uttar Pradesh police swung into action and rushed a team to the spot to avoid any untoward incident. However, sources said that it is not a “fall-out of any political vendetta”, but related to local caste tension.

With by-elections in Uttar Pradesh's Phulpur and Gorakhpur inching closer, all the political parties and their leaders are continuously camping in the two constituencies and are leaving no stone unturned in order to garner support for their candidates. While addressing the public in Gorakhpur, Akhilesh Yadav said that all of a sudden we have become 'Saanp' (snake) and 'Chachundar' (shrew) after the pre-poll alignment.

Shares of Adani Group companies plunged by up to eight per cent, wiping out over Rs 9,000 crore in market value, after BJP MP Subramanian Swamy called Gautam Adani the "biggest NPA trapeze artiste in PSUs".

The India-China bilateral trade has reached USD 84.44 billion last year, a historic high notwithstanding bilateral tensions over a host of issues including the Doklam standoff.

Sri Lanka declared a nationwide state of emergency after anti-Muslim riots left two people dead and more than 100 homes and shops ablaze in the popular hill resort of Kandy. Realising the gravity of the situation in their country and how their message of peace could inspire many, cricketing legends Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara, and Sanath Jayasuriya took to Twitter to condemn the violence. Dear Indian cricketers, can you please take note?

Agree or disagree?

The arguments for and against CBI’s demand for Karti Chidambaram’s custody were now over. The special CBI Judge was writing the order in his chamber. In the courtroom a milieu of lawyers, journalists, Congress men from Tamil Nadu and CBI sleuths were all waiting and chitchatting. Also present there was Karti Chidambaram sitting about 10 feet away from his parents. This was a welcome break, after five days of sustained custodial interrogation. The attempt at keeping a brave front was clear but the fear in the Chidambaram camp was visible and palpable. How long will he be able to remain strong, how many days before he breaks down?

That a statue of Erode Venkata Ramasamy aka Periyar can be defaced in the heart of Dravidian political landscape, where even an objective criticism of him or his ideology is unacceptable, sends shockwaves. While the BJP has distanced itself from the act and Mr Raja even reportedly claimed that he did not post such a message, both cannot deny their deep discomfort and hatred for Periyar and Dravidian ideology. In every way, what Periyar represents and what he has left behind is an enormous fundamental barrier to Hindutva’s march towards Kanyakumari. His legacy remains in strong control over the state’s polity and this is why Periyar isn’t Lenin and Triupattur isn’t Tripura.