title: Women in India

text: Child marriage has been traditionally prevalent in India but is not so continued in Modern India to this day. Historically, child brides would live with their parents until they reached puberty. In the past, child widows were condemned to a life of great agony, shaved heads, living in isolation, and being shunned by society. Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common practice. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 is the relevant legislation in the country.


title: Women in India

text: According to UNICEF's "State of the World’s Children-2009" report, 47% of India's women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18, rising to 56% in rural areas. The report also showed that 40% of the world's child marriages occur in India.


title: Women in India

text: Domestic violence in India is endemic. Around 70% of women in India are victims of domestic violence, according to Renuka Chowdhury, former Union minister for Women and Child Development. Domestic violence was legally addressed in the 1980s when the 1983 Criminal Law Act introduced section 498A "Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty".


title: Women in India

text: The National Crime Records Bureau reveal that a crime against a woman is committed every three minutes, a woman is raped every 29 minutes, a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes, and one case of cruelty committed by either the husband or relative of the husband occurs every nine minutes. This occurs despite the fact that women in India are legally protected from domestic abuse under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.


title: Women in India

text: In India, domestic violence toward women is considered as any type of abuse that can be considered a threat; it can also be physical, psychological, or sexual abuse to any current or former partner. Domestic violence is not handled as a crime or complaint, it is seen more as a private or family matter. In determining the category of a complaint, it is based on caste, class, religious bias and race which also determines whether action is to be taken or not. Many studies have reported about the prevalence of the violence and have taken a criminal-justice approach, but most woman refuse to report it. These women are guaranteed constitutional justice, dignity and equality but continue to refuse based on their sociocultural contexts. As the women refuse to speak of the violence and find help, they are also not receiving the proper treatment.


title: Women in India

text: In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, making dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders have been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported.


title: Women in India

text: In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom) Rules were framed. According to these rules, a signed list should be maintained of presents given at the time of the marriage to the bride and the bridegroom. The list should contain a brief description of each present, its approximate value, the name of who has given the present, and relationship to the recipient. However, such rules are rarely enforced.


title: Women in India

text: A 1997 report claimed that each year at least 5,000 women in India die dowry-related deaths, and at least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought to be intentional. The term for this is "bride burning" and is criticised within India itself.


title: Women in India

text: In 2011, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths. Unofficial estimates claim the figures are at least three times as high.


title: Women in India

text: In India, the male-female sex ratio is skewed dramatically in favour of men, the chief reason being the high number of women who die before reaching adulthood. Tribal societies in India have a less skewed sex ratio than other caste groups. This is in spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower income levels, lower literacy rates, and less adequate health facilities. Many experts suggest the higher number of men in India can be attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions. The sex ratio is particularly bad in the north-western area of the country, particularly in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.


title: Women in India

text: Ultrasound scanning constitutes a major leap forward in providing for the care of mother and baby, and with scanners becoming portable, these advantages have spread to rural populations. However, ultrasound scans often reveal the sex of the baby, allowing pregnant women to decide to abort female foetuses and try again later for a male child. This practice is usually considered the main reason for the change in the ratio of male to female children being born.


title: Women in India

text: In 1994 the Indian government passed a law forbidding women or their families from asking about the sex of the baby after an ultrasound scan (or any other test which would yield that information) and also expressly forbade doctors or any other persons from providing that information. In practice this law (like the law forbidding dowries) is widely ignored, and levels of abortion on female foetuses remain high and the sex ratio at birth keeps getting more skewed.


title: Women in India

text: Female infanticide (killing of infant girls) is still prevalent in some rural areas. Sometimes this is infanticide by neglect, for example families may not spend money on critical medicines or withhold care from a sick girl.


title: Women in India

text: Continuing abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India.


title: Women in India

text: Honour killings have been reported widely in India, most frequently in the northern regions of India. This is usually motivated by a girl (or, less commonly, a boy) marrying without the family's acceptance, especially for marrying outside their caste or religion or, more particular to northwestern India, between members of the same gotra. In 2010, the Supreme Court of India issued notice in regard to honor killings to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.


title: Women in India

text: Violence against women related to accusations of witchcraft occurs in India, particularly in parts of Northern India. Belief in the supernatural among the Indian population is strong, and lynchings for witchcraft are reported by the media. In Assam and West Bengal between 2003 and 2008 there were around 750 deaths related to accusations of witchcraft. Officials in the state of Chhattisgarh reported in 2008 that at least 100 women are maltreated annually as suspected witches.


title: Women in India

text: Rape in India has been described by Radha Kumar as one of India's most common crimes against women and by the UN’s human-rights chief as a "national problem". Since the 1980s, women's rights groups lobbied for marital rape to be declared unlawful, but the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 still maintains the marital exemption by stating in its exception clause under Section 375, that: "Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape". While per-capita reported incidents are quite low compared to other countries, even developed countries, a new case is reported every 20 minutes. In fact, as per the NCRB data released by the government of India in 2018, a rape is reported in India in every 15 minutes.


title: Women in India

text: New Delhi has one of the highest rate of rape-reports among Indian cities. Sources show that rape cases in India have doubled between 1990 and 2008.


title: Women in India

text: Eve teasing is a euphemism used for sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. Many activists blame the rising incidence of sexual harassment against women on the influence of "Western culture". In 1987, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings or in any other manner.


title: Women in India

text: Of the total number of crimes against women reported in 1990, half related to molestation and harassment in the workplace. In 1997, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India took a strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The Court also laid down detailed guidelines for prevention and redressal of grievances. The National Commission for Women subsequently elaborated these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers. In 2013 India's top court investigated on a law graduate's allegation that she was sexually harassed by a recently retired Supreme Court judge. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act came into force in December 2013, to prevent Harassment of women at workplace.


title: Women in India

text: According to a report from Human Rights Watch, despite women increasingly denunciate sexual harassment at work, they still face stigma and fear retribution as the governments promote, establish and monitor complaint committees. As South Asia director at Human Rights Watch explained, “India has progressive laws to protect women from sexual abuse by bosses, colleagues, and clients, but has failed to take basic steps to enforce these laws”.


title: Women in India

text: A study by ActionAid UK found that 80% of women in India had experienced sexual harassment ranging from unwanted comments, being groped or assaulted. Many incidents go unreported as the victims fear being shunned by their families.


title: Women in India

text: The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1956. However many cases of trafficking of young girls and women have been reported.


title: Women in India

text: As stated in earlier sections, Indian women are disadvantaged in comparison to men in many areas such as literacy skills contributing to drop out rates, gender bias, and inadequate facilities. Prior access to someone with a disability is the number one factor that affects how Indian teachers' attitudes toward students with disabilities, so it can be challenging to find unbiased education. Deaf women face unique challenges in education, as they experience the intersection of oppression as both a woman and a Deaf person.


title: Women in India

text: In addition to the normal obstacles in accessible education, the COVID-19 pandemic added another layer of difficulty for Deaf women. Not only are they facing gender bias and having their needs put aside as women, the pandemic created new problems such as lack of face-to-face communication and masks that inhibit lipreading. A study by Rising Flame Organization found that over 90% of their sample of Deaf/DeafBlind/Hard of Hearing women in India struggled when it came to accessibility of education during the pandemic as well as other resources.


title: Women in India

text: Women and girls who have a disability, including deafness, face much more of a risk of sexual violence. Deafness in particular can impair one's situational awareness and ability to quickly and effectively communicate a need for help to others (such as shouting "HELP!" to a passerby) which makes Deaf women easier targets for violence.


title: Women in India

text: Reporting of this violence is also extremely low due to lack of access to adequate communication - accommodations like an interpreter are rarely available in these scenarios. Even though the Indian government intended to upkeep and enforce laws regarding sexual violence - specifically mentioning women with disabilities - following civic unrest about a young woman's rape in 2013, these laws were not able to be executed effectively.


title: Women in India

text: Disabled women in India also struggle with problems regarding obtaining medical treatment, legal justice, compensation, and more. The "2014 Guidelines and Protocols for Medico-Legal Care for Victims/Survivors of Sexual Violence" by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare states their view about the reason disabled women often have trouble with reporting violence:…[be]cause of the obvious barriers to communication, as well as their dependency on caretakers who may also be abusers. When they do report, their complaints are not taken seriously and the challenges they face in expressing themselves in a system that does not create an enabling environment to allow for such expression, complicates matters further.There are obvious obstacles when it comes to Deaf women reporting in the first place, such as lack of interpreters, fear of stigma, and more. However, on top of that, the justice system does not respond well when a report actually does come in. Human Rights Watch even found that sometimes women and girls are denied access to accommodations if they cannot prove that they are disabled. Many cases are just swept under the rug, despite legislation in place.


title: Women in India

text: There is not yet a one standardized sign language in India, so there has been much emphasis on kinship among Deaf women. They often face an intersection of oppression, being Deaf and a woman. A few organizations have crept up that are led by Deaf women to share a sense of community, learn from one another, and understand their identity as Deaf women.


title: Women in India

text: The Delhi Foundation of Deaf Women (DFDW) was started in order to create space for career opportunities and to experience community and social skills among alike women that share the same identity. It hosts a number of events and social activities to promote Deaf awareness and pride in Deaf women's identities. Not only that, but it serves as a rehabilitation center for Deaf women. Although it focuses primarily on Deaf women, as their needs are specific, the DFDW also helps Deaf men with some skill-building and a few Deaf men are leaders of some specific programming for the DFDW.


title: Women in India

text: The All India Foundation of Deaf Women began by filling the need of community as a club for Deaf women, but recognized that Deaf women need more structured support. Since then in 1973, they have expanded into a rehabilitation center for Deaf women and other Deaf individuals. They are currently offering support, seminars, and other events.


title: Women in India

text: The Hyderabad Foundation Of Deaf Women has been affiliated with the All India Foundation of Deaf Women since 2014. This foundation focuses on the empowerment of Deaf women in INdia and throws events like the National Cultural Festival of Deaf Women, a festival that celebrates Deaf women participating in arts, technology, and other skills.


title: Women in India

text: There are certain careers that, culturally, are not thought of as appropriate for Deaf people. With that in mind, the intersection of Deafness and being a woman creates a substantial societal issue when it comes to Deaf women in India finding fulfilling careers.


title: Women in India

text: That being said, Deafness is somewhat accepted in India and not necessarily viewed as a disability that makes a person less intelligent, which affects how employers may view Deaf candidates.


title: Women in India

text: The degree to which women participate in public life, that is being outside the home, varies by region and background. For example, the Rajputs, a patrilineal clan inhabiting parts of India, especially the north-western area, have traditionally practiced ghunghat, and many still do to this day. In recent years however, more women have started to challenge such social norms: for instance women in rural Haryana are increasingly rejecting the ghunghat. In India, most population (about two thirds) is rural, and, as such, lives in tight-knit communities where it is very easy for a woman to ruin her family's 'honor' through her behavior. The concept of family honor is especially prevalent in northern India. Izzat is a concept of honor prevalent in the culture of North India and Pakistan. Izzat applies to both sexes, but in different ways. Women must uphold the 'family honor' by being chaste, passive and submissive, while men must be strong, brave, and be willing and able to control the women of their families. The rural areas surrounding Delhi are among the most conservative in India: it has been estimated that 30% of all honor killings of India take place in Western Uttar Pradesh, while Haryana has been described as "one of India's most conservative when it comes to caste, marriage and the role of women. Deeply patriarchal, caste purity is paramount and marriages are arranged to sustain the status quo."


title: Women in India

text: In 2018 the Supreme Court of India lifted a decades-old ban prohibiting women between the ages of 10 and 50 from entering Sabarimala temple in Kerala. In 2019 two women entered the temple under police protection. Hindu nationalists protested the women's entry and Sreedharan Pillai, State President of the Kerala branch of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (of which Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is a member) described the women's entry into the temple as "a conspiracy by the atheist rulers to destroy the Hindu temples." Prime Minister Modi said, "We knew that the communists do not respect Indian history, culture and spirituality but nobody imagined they will have such hatred," The shrine is dedicated to the worship of Lord Ayyappa, a celibate deity, and adherents believe the presence of women would "pollute" the site and go against the wishes of the patron deity. The two women had to go into hiding after entering the temple and were granted 24 hour police protection. One of the women was locked out of her home by her husband and had to move in to a shelter. Dozens of women seeking entry to temple have since been turned back by demonstrators.


title: Women in India

text: Prior to November 2018, women were forbidden to climb Agasthyarkoodam. A court ruling removed the prohibition.


title: Women in India

text: The average female life expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries, but it has shown gradual improvement over the years. In many families, especially rural ones, girls and women face nutritional discrimination within the family, and are anaemic and malnourished. Almost half of adolescent girls are chronically malnourished. In addition, poor nutrition during pregnancy often leads to birth complications.


title: Women in India

text: The maternal mortality in India is the 56th highest in the world. 42% of births in the country are supervised in Medical Institution. In rural areas, most of women deliver with the help of women in the family, contradictory to the fact that the unprofessional or unskilled deliverer lacks the knowledge about pregnancy.


title: Women in India

text: The average woman living in a rural area in India has little or no control over becoming pregnant. Women, particularly in rural areas, do not have access to safe and self-controlled methods of contraception. The public health system emphasises permanent methods like sterilisation, or long-term methods like IUDs that do not need follow-up. Sterilisation accounts for more than 75% of total contraception, with female sterilisation accounting for almost 95% of all sterilisations. The contraceptive prevalence rate for 2007/2008 was estimated at 54.8%.


title: Women in India

text: A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal No. 5802 of 2022 made a ruling on 29th September 2022. The ruling defined "woman" as all persons who require access to safe abortion, along with cisgender women, thus including transpersons and other gender-diverse persons as well as cisgender women. The Court remarked that medical practitioners should refrain from imposing extra-legal conditions on those seeking abortion, such as obtaining the consent of the abortion seeker's family, producing documentary proofs, or judicial authorization, and that only the abortion seeker's consent was material, unless she was a minor or mentally ill. It also stated that "every pregnant woman has the intrinsic right to choose to undergo or not to undergo abortion without any consent or authorization from a third party" and that a woman is the only and "ultimate decision-maker on the question of whether she wants to undergo an abortion." On the topic of the difference between the gestation period considered legal for married and unmarried women -- 24 weeks for the former and 20 weeks for the latter -- the Court ruled that the distinction was discriminatory, artificial, unsustainable and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, and that "all women are entitled to the benefit of safe and legal abortion." On the subject of pregnancies resulting from marital rape, the Court ruled that women can seek an abortion in the term of 20 to 24 weeks under the ambit of "survivors of sexual assault or rape".


title: Women in India

text: Lower caste women in India have seen significant improvement in their status. Educated and financially well-off Dalit women used politics to achieve status, however, that many Dalit women who were involved in politics later declined due to increasing income and educational levels. The status of Dalit women within households is also noted to have been improved.


title: Women in India

text: India has a highly skewed sex ratio, which is attributed to sex-selective abortion and female infanticide affecting approximately one million female babies per year. In, 2011, government stated India was missing three million girls and there are now 48 less girls per 1,000 boys. Despite this, the government has taken further steps to improve the ratio, and the ratio is reported to have been improved in recent years.


title: Women in India

text: The number of missing women totaled 100 million across the world. The male-to-female ratio is high in favor toward men in developing countries in Asia, including India, than that of areas such as North America. Along with abortion, the high ratio of men in India is a result of sex selection, where physicians are given the opportunity to incorrectly determine the sex of a child during the ultrasound. India currently has a problem known as the "missing women", but it has been present for quite some time. The female mortality in 2001 was 107.43. The deaths of these "missing women" were attributed to the death history rate of women in India starting in 1901.


title: Women in India

text: The gap between the two gender titles is a direct response to the gender bias within India. Men and women in India have unequal health and education rights. Male education and health are more of a priority, so women's death rates are increasing. The argument continues that a lack of independence that women are not allowed to have is a large contributor to these fatalities. Women in India have a high fertility rate and get married at a young age. Those who are given more opportunity and rights are more likely to live longer and contribute to the economy rather than that of a woman expected to serve as a wife starting at a young age and continuing the same responsibilities for the rest of her life. As women continue to "disappear," the sex ratio turns its favor toward men. In turn, this offsets reproduction and does not allow for a controlled reproductive trend. While the excess mortality of women is relatively high, it cannot be blamed completely for the unequal sex ratio in India. However, it is a large contributor considering the precedence that Indian men have over women.


title: Women in India

text: In rural areas, schools have been reported to have gained the improved sanitation facility. Given the existing socio-cultural norms and situation of sanitation in schools, girl students are forced not to relieve themselves in the open unlike boys. Lack of facilities in home forces women to wait for the night to relieve themselves and avoid being seen by others. Access to sanitation in Bihar has been discussed. According to an estimate from 2013, about 85% of the rural households in Bihar have no access to a toilet; and this creates a dangerous situation for women and girls who are followed, attacked and raped in the fields.


title: Women in India

text: In 2011 a "Right to Pee" (as called by the media) campaign began in Mumbai, India's largest city. Women, but not men, have to pay to urinate in Mumbai, despite regulations against this practice. Women have also been sexually assaulted while urinating in fields. Thus, activists have collected more than 50,000 signatures supporting their demands that the local government stop charging women to urinate, build more toilets, keep them clean, provide sanitary napkins and a trash can, and hire female attendants. In response, city officials have agreed to build hundreds of public toilets for women in Mumbai, and some local legislators are now promising to build toilets for women in every one of their districts.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as an auteur, Mahendra usually scripted and edited his films apart from shooting them. He was the recipient of six National Film Awards (including two for Best Cinematography), five Filmfare Awards South and several state government awards.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Mahendran developed a passion for photography and literature at a young age. After witnessing the shoot of David Lean's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) during a school trip in Sri Lanka, he was drawn towards filmmaking. He graduated from London University and started his career as a draughtsman with the Sri Lankan Government. In 1966, he moved to India and gained admission to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to pursue a course in motion picture photography. Upon completion of his diploma, he entered Malayalam cinema as a cinematographer in the early 1970s.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: After working in over 20 films as a cinematographer, Mahendra made his directorial debut in 1977 with the Kannada film "Kokila". Since then, he directed over 20 films in a span of 36 years. Along with Bharathiraja and Mahendran, he is regarded as a trendsetter in Tamil cinema. During the tail end of his career, he established a film school in Chennai, which offers courses in cinematography, direction and acting. Following a brief phase of poor health, Mahendra died of cardiac arrest in February 2014.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Mahendra was born on 19 May 1939 into a Eelam Tamil family in the village Amirthakali near Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Born to a professor father, he did his schooling at Methodist Central College and St. Michael's College National School. As a teenager, he was drawn towards films by his class teacher. It was during this time he happened to see "Bicycle Thieves" (1948) and "Battleship Potemkin" (1925). When he was at the sixth grade, he got an opportunity to witness the making of David Lean's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (shot in Sri Lanka) during a school field trip. Inspired by Lean's personality, Mahendra determined to become a film-maker.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Right from his childhood, Mahendra was interested in fine arts and literature. Upon completion of school, he joined the London University and graduated with a bachelor's degree (honours) in science. After his graduation, he returned to Sri Lanka and worked in Colombo as a draughtsman in the survey department for a brief period during which he edited a Tamil literary magazine titled "Thyen Aruvi". In Colombo, he worked as an amateur drama artist with Radio Ceylon and got acquainted with the Sinhala theatre groups.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Mahendra's passion for cinema prompted him to leave for India and join the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1966. He had to take up cinematography as he could not gain admissions to other disciplines. At the institute he was exposed to world cinema as he got an opportunity to watch films made by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, both associated with the French New Wave movement. In 1969, Mahendra graduated from the institute with a gold medal.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: As a fresh graduate from the FTII, Mahendra's early attempts to enter Sri Lankan Tamil cinema were unsuccessful. He got his first break as a cinematographer in 1971 in the Malayalam film "Nellu". Ramu Kariat, the director of "Nellu", was impressed by "A View from the Fort", Mahendra's diploma film at the FTII. Though the filming of "Nellu" began in 1971, production delays postponed its release for three years. Meanwhile, Kariat signed up Mahendra for another film titled "Maaya" which released in 1972. However, P. N. Menon's "Panimudakku" (1972) got released before "Maaya", thus becoming Mahendra's first release. He continued to work in Malayalam films such as "Sasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu" (1973), "Kaliyugam" (1973) and "Chattakari" (1974).


title: Balu Mahendra

text: "Nellu", shot in colour, won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Cinematography after it was released in 1974. Mahendra had continued successes with films such as "Prayanam" (1975) and "Chuvanna Sandhyakal" (1975), both fetching the state award for best photography to him for the second consecutive time. Between 1971 and 1976, he worked in about 20 films—mostly in Malayalam—as a cinematographer. The following year he made his directorial debut with "Kokila". Made in Kannada, the film was a "triangular love story". In addition to a Best Screenplay award from the Karnataka government, Mahendra won his first National Film Award for Best Cinematography for the film. The film was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. It was equally successful in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu and has the distinction of being the only Kannada film to complete 150 days in Madras (now Chennai) as of 2014.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Despite being a Tamil, it was not until 1978 he worked in a Tamil film when he signed up as the cinematographer for Mahendran's directorial debut "Mullum Malarum" (1978). Apart from handling the cinematography, Mahendra involved himself in other aspects such as screenwriting, casting, editing and direction in the film. After completing "Mullum Malarum", Mahendra decided to work on his second directorial venture, this time in Tamil. He named the film "Azhiyadha Kolangal" (1979), which according to him was "partly autobiographical". Inspired from the 1971 American film "Summer of '42", "Azhiyadha Kolangal" was a coming-of-age film that dealt with the story of three adolescent boys who are in the awakening of sexuality. Although it was controversial for its theme, it was a box-office success. During this time he did the cinematography of K. Vishwanath's Telugu film "Sankarabharanam" (1979) which turned out to be a major critical and commercial success.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Mahendra's third film as director "Moodu Pani" (1980) was loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film "Psycho". "Moodu Pani" saw Mahendra collaborating with Ilaiyaraaja for the first time; Ilaiyaraaja was Mahendra's regular composer since then. In 1982, Mahendra made "Moondram Pirai" which had Kamal Haasan and Sridevi in the lead. The film told the story of a school teacher who looks after a girl suffering from amnesia. It had a 300-day run in the theatres and was labelled a "blockbuster". The film fetched two National Film Awards including an award for cinematography for Mahendra. The same year he made "Olangal" (1982) which marked his directorial debut in Malayalam. Inspired from Erich Segal's novel "Man, Woman and Child", the film was a critical success. At the end of the year, Mahendra won two Filmfare trophies for directing "Olangal" and "Moondram Pirai".


title: Balu Mahendra

text: In 1983, Mahendra entered Hindi cinema with "Sadma", a remake of "Moondram Pirai", with Kamal Hasan and Sridevi reprising their roles. Mahendra received a Filmfare nomination for Best Story and became a well-known director with the Hindi audience with the film. The same year, he worked as the cinematographer of the Kannada film "Pallavi Anu Pallavi", Mani Ratnam's debut film. During this time, he made his second film in Malayalam titled "Oomakkuyil". Unlike "Olangal", "Oomakkuyil" failed to create an impact among the audience.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: During the mid 1980s, Mahendra concentrated on mainstream films. The first of which "Neengal Kettavai" (1984) was labelled an outright commercial picture. Later Mahendra noted that he made the film with a sole intention to prove critics that he could make commercial films. The following year, he collaborated with Rajinikanth to make "Un Kannil Neer Vazhindal" which turned out to be a commercial failure. He then worked on the Malayalam film "Yathra" (1985) with Mammooty in the lead role as a forest officer. The film was an adaptation of the 1977 Japanese classic "The Yellow Handkerchief". Made with "artistic values" the film earned and ran for more than 200days in theatres and went on to become the highest-grossing Malayalam film of that year. By this time, he declined an offer to direct the Kannada film "Malaya Marutha" (1986). As a director who is known for making intense films, critics were surprised when he made "Rettai Vaal Kuruvi" (1987), a full-length comedy film. Closely based on the 1984 American film "Micki and Maude", the film is regarded as one of the best comedies ever made in Tamil cinema during the decade. The film would serve as a base for his future films "Marupadiyum" (1993) and "Sathi Leelavathi" (1995) which explored similar themes.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Towards the end of the decade, Mahendra made two low-budgeted films—"Veedu" (1988) and "Sandhya Raagam" (1989). While "Veedu" focused on the life of a lower middle-class urban woman and her struggle to build a house, "Sandhya Raagam" dealt with "old age". At the 35th, "Veedu" won two National Film Awards—including one for Best Regional Film—and "Sandhya Raagam" won the Best Film on Family Welfare two years later. According to Mahendra, both the films were a tribute to his mother and father respectively. He named these two films as his best works as they were made with fewest mistakes and compromises.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: In 1992, Mahendra made "Vanna Vanna Pookkal" which was produced by S. Dhanu. The film had a 100-day run and won the award for the "Best Regional Film" at the 39th National Film Awards. During this time M. Night Shyamalan, then a newcomer, approached Mahendra to be the cinematographer for his directorial debut "Praying with Anger" to which he refused. The next year, he remade Mahesh Bhatt's "Arth" in Tamil as "Marupadiyum". Mahendra made the film as he felt it was close to his personal life. He then came up with a full-length comedy "Sathi Leelavathi" in 1995 which was produced by Kamal Haasan. The following year, he made a comeback in Bollywood through "Aur Ek Prem Kahani", a remake of his Kannada film "Kokila". He then made "Raman Abdullah" (1997), which deals with a friendship between two friends belonging to different religions. The film's shoot became the epicentre of a dispute that arose between the Tamil Film Producers Council and Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI). It was reported that members of FEFSI had stopped the filming of "Raman Abdullah" as Mahendra was engaging outside cast members in the film. This led FEFSI to go for an indefinite strike which affected to the delaying of several Tamil films. The film received negative reviews and failed at the box-office. He then attempted to make film titled "Vaarayo Vennilave" with Prabhu in the lead role, but the project was later dropped.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: After "Raman Abdullah", Mahendra took a break from films during which he made "Kathai Neram", a television series based on different short stories, mostly by Sujatha. It was aired in Sun TV during the early 2000s.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Following a five-year sabbatical, he returned with "Julie Ganapathi" (2003). The film was based on the psychological thriller novel "Misery" by Stephen King. According to Mahendra, "Julie Ganapathi" was made on the lines of his previous films "Moondram Pirai" (1982) and "Moodu Pani" (1980). A review from "Rediff.com" stated, "Balu Mahendra has kept the flag of sensible cinema within the commercial format once again in his latest offering "Julie Ganapathy"" and rated the film as one of the best thrillers ever made. In spite of being a critical success, the film turned out to be a commercial failure. For his next film "Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam" (2005), he decided to cast Dhanush in the lead role. Initially he stated that the film to be an extension of his 1979 film "Azhiyatha Kolangal". However, he ended up making a different film. The film was loosely based on his own Malayalam film "Yathra" released in 1985. When asked about the difference between the two films, he said "Yat[h]ra was the love story of two adults, this is the love story of two adolescents." Shobha Warrier of "Rediff.com" wrote that the film was "extremely disappointing".


title: Balu Mahendra

text: In 2007, he started a film school named "Cinema Pattarai" in Chennai. The institute offers courses in disciplines such as cinematography, direction and acting. After a brief hiatus from films, he made a comeback through "Thalaimuraigal" (2013), which marked his acting debut. Apart from acting, he also scripted, directed, edited and served as the cinematographer of the film. The film was about the relationship between an ageing man and his grandson. The film received positive response with Mahendra's acting being well acclaimed. Malathi Rangarajan of "The Hindu" stated, "If Mahendra's aim was to make a film that can compete on a global level, "Thalaimuraigal" is a concrete step in that direction." Despite being critically acclaimed, the film was a commercial failure. At the 61st National Film Awards, it won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Mahendra was married thrice. He was first married to Akhileshwari with whom he had a son. His relationship with actress Shoba ended in 1980 after she committed suicide following their marriage. Upon her death, the media speculated that Mahendra was responsible for her death. Following that, Mahendra wrote a series of "sentimental musings" in the Tamil magazine "Kumudam" under the title "Shobavum Naanum" (lit. Shoba and me). Their relationship was explored by K. G. George (Mahendra's junior at the FTII) in his 1983 Malayalam film "Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback". When the film was released, Mahendra said that the film had nothing to do with him and has not discussed about it with George. In 1998, he married another actress Mounika and declared their marriage publicly in 2004.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Following a heart attack on 13 February 2014, Mahendra was admitted to Vijaya Hospital in Chennai where he was declared dead after six hours of cardiac arrest. Shortly after the news of his death, members of the Indian film industry posted their condolences in Twitter and Facebook. The Tamil film fraternity mourned the death and paid homage to him at his "film school" in Saligramam, Chennai, and decided not to work on the following day as a sign of respect. The last rites of Mahendra were performed at Porur crematorium on the same day.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: As a photographer, Mahendra was inspired by the works of Néstor Almendros and Michael Chapman. Among his contemporaries, he admired the works of Ashok Kumar. Mahendra believed a "well-photographed movie is that which is very close to the script". As a film-maker, he claimed himself as belonging to the realistic way of story-telling devised by Satyajit Ray and Vittorio De Sica. Mahendra was drawn towards realistic cinema after watching Ray's "Pather Panchali" (1955). He is credited as being one among the earliest filmmakers to bring "naturalism" in Tamil cinema in the 1970s. He usually photographed, scripted and edited all his films. His films were characterised by strong "visual appeal" and minimal number of characters. A majority of his films centre on the complexity of human relationships and are known to portray women as strong characters. Although influenced by realism, his films "Moodu Pani", "Rettai Vaal Kuruvi" and "Julie Ganapathi" heavily borrowed from American cinema.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Mahendra was equally praised for his cinematography and directorial finesse. Described by the media as "one of the finest cinematographers of Indian cinema", he was among the first to pioneer innovative colour in South India. Subrata Mitra, Satyajit Ray's cinematographer, presented a viewfinder to Mahendra acknowledging his talent. Fellow cinematographer Madhu Ambat described that it was Mahendra who gave "fame" to those cameramen who came out of the FTII, and further noted that he was one of the few film-makers who effectively used romantic realism. Lauded for usage of "natural lighting", Mahendra was considered "one of the few filmmakers in Tamil who believes in telling a story visually". Kamal Haasan described that he was one of the few directors who balanced between art and popular cinema. As a film-maker, he inspired contemporary actors and film-makers such as Mani Ratnam, Kamal Haasan and Sripriya, He has mentored next generation film-makers including Bala, Ameer, Vetrimaaran, Ram and Seenu Ramasamy. Cinematographers like Santosh Sivan, Ravi K. Chandran, Natarajan Subramaniam and K. V. Anand have taken inspirations from him. The negatives of his acclaimed films—"Moodu Pani", "Veedu", "Sandhya Raagam", "Marupadiyum" and "Sathi Leelavathi"—are lost.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: Balu Mahendra totally directed 23 films, in 5 languages. Except the 1st two films, he collaborated with Ilaiyaraja consecutively, for 21 films. He intended to collaborate with Raja in the 6 films, that he had already conceived, before icy death snatched him away. While other directors never used Ilaiyaraja for their Hindi remakes, Balu Mahendra was steadfast in persisting with Ilaiyaraja, in all the languages. Their equation was symbiotic & synergetic, with Ilaiyaraja, unfailingly churning out enviable chart busters, for Balu Mahendra.


title: Balu Mahendra

text: An exceptional highlight of their creative bonding being, the eternal superhit Thumbi Vaa ... from Olangal-1982, was used by them 5 times, in 4 languages [Mal-1, Tamizh-2, Tel-1 & Hin-1, apart from in Paa by R. Balki & a Vocal-Orchestra Symphony version, in Raja's Concert in Italy–2004, titled as Mood Kaapi.


title: Rashid Khan

text: Rashid Khan Arman (; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and a former captain of the national team. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Australia's Big Bash League (BBL), Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), and Band-e-Amir Dragons in Afghanistan's Shpageeza Cricket League. He bowls right-arm leg spin and bats right-handed.


title: Rashid Khan

text: He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first ever Test match, against India, in June 2018. He returned the most expensive bowling figures by a debutant in a nation's maiden Test match. In September 2019, he led the team in the one-off Test against Bangladesh, and at the age of 20 years and 350 days, became the youngest cricketer to captain a Test match side.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In June 2017, he took the best bowling figures for an associate nation in a One Day International (ODI) match. In February 2018, he became the youngest player to top the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in ODIs. Later the same month, he also topped the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in T20Is. In September 2018, he became the number one player in the ICC's all-rounder rankings, following his performance at the 2018 Asia Cup.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In March 2018, during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, he captained Afghanistan for the first time in an ODI match. At the age of 19 years and 165 days, he became the youngest player to captain an international side. In the final of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, against the West Indies, Khan became the fastest and youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs when he dismissed Shai Hope. He took 44 matches to take his 100th dismissal, breaking the previous record of 52 matches, set by Mitchell Starc of Australia. In June 2018, he became the fastest bowler, in terms of time, to take 50 wickets in T20Is. He reached the milestone in two years and 220 days, in the first T20I against Bangladesh. In October 2021, he also became the fastest bowler, in terms of matches, to take 100 wickets in T20I cricket, in his 53rd match.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In April 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named Khan as the team's new T20I captain, replacing Asghar Afghan. Khan was also appointed as the vice-captain of the ODI squad. In June 2019, during the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Khan played in his 100th international cricket match for Afghanistan. Following the World Cup, Khan was appointed as captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all formats. However, in December 2019, the ACB reappointed Asghar Afghan as the captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all formats. In December 2020, Khan was named the ICC Men's T20I Player of the Decade.


title: Rashid Khan

text: By becoming a successful professional cricketer from a nation with no previous cricketing infrastructure, Khan created a path for others to do likewise, such as countrymen Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane.


title: Rashid Khan

text: Rashid Khan was born in 1998 in Nangarhar, Eastern Afghanistan. He hails from Jalalabad, and has ten siblings. When he was still young, his family fled the Afghan war and lived in Pakistan for "a few years". They later returned to Afghanistan, resuming their normal life with Rashid continuing his schooling. Rashid grew up playing cricket with his brothers and idolised Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi, from whom he stylised his bowling action.


title: Rashid Khan

text: He made his One Day International (ODI) debut for Afghanistan against Zimbabwe on 18 October 2015. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut, also against Zimbabwe, on 26 October.


title: Rashid Khan

text: On 10 March 2017, Khan took his maiden T20I five-wicket haul at the second T20I against Ireland. His figures of five wickets for three runs is the best bowling performance by an Afghan cricket in a T20I and the joint fourth-best figures in all T20Is. He became the first player to take a five-wicket haul in two overs in a T20I match. Afghanistan won the match and Rashid and Najeeb Tarakai shared the man of the match award.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In the ODI series against Ireland, along with Paul Stirling, they became the first pair of bowlers from different teams to each take six wickets in the same ODI.


title: Rashid Khan

text: On 9 June, he took his second ODI five-wicket haul, finishing with figures of 7 wickets for 18 runs against the West Indies at Gros Islet. It was the fourth best ODI bowling figures and first by an associate nation cricketer to take 7 wickets. Afghanistan defended its total of 212 runs and won the match by 63 runs, and Khan was adjudged man of the match.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In January 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as the Associate Cricketer of the Year. The following month, he was named as the stand-in captain of the Afghanistan team for the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament, while Afghanistan's regular captain, Asghar Stanikzai, recovered from having his appendix removed. In February 2018, the ICC named Khan as one of the ten players to watch ahead of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In April 2018, he was named in the Rest of the World XI squad for the one-off T20I against the West Indies, which was played at Lord's on 31 May 2018. In February 2019, in the third T20I match against Ireland, he took a hat-trick and four wickets with four balls.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In May 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for their inaugural Test match, played against India. He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, against India, on 14 June 2018. On his Test debut he conceded 154 runs in the first innings of the match, becoming the first bowler to concede more than 150 runs in their inaugural Test appearance of any player's country. Rashid's figures of 2 for 154 in the first innings was also the highest number of runs conceded by a bowler in country's inaugural Test match, beating the previous record held by Amir Elahi, who conceded 134 runs during Pakistan's debut Test against India in 1952. During the Afghanistan's inaugural test match he along with Wafadar set a new record for becoming the first pair of teenagers to concede more than 100 runs each in nation's inaugural Test match.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In February 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's Test squad for their one-off match against Ireland in India. In the second innings, he took five wickets for 82 runs, becoming the first bowler for Afghanistan to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In April 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as one of the five exciting talents making their Cricket World Cup debut. On 1 June 2019, in Afghanistan's opening match against Australia, Khan played in his 100th international cricket match. This included one game with a World XI side in the Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge in May 2018. Three days later, against Sri Lanka, Khan played in his 100th international match for Afghanistan. On 18 June 2019, in the match against England, Rashid bowled the most expensive spell in a Cricket World Cup match, conceding 110 runs from his nine overs.


title: Rashid Khan

text: Following the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Rashid was appointed as captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all three formats. His first Test match as captain was against Bangladesh in September 2019. Afghanistan won the match by 224 runs. Rashid Khan became the first bowler for Afghanistan to take a ten-wicket haul in Tests, and was the first cricketer to score a fifty and take a ten-wicket haul in his debut match as captain in a Test match. In December 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board reappointed Asghar Afghan as the national captain across all three formats.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In November 2020, Khan was nominated for the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Decade award, winning the accolade the following month. In July 2021, Khan was again named the captain of Afghanistan's T20I team. In September 2021, Khan was named the captain of Afghanistan's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. However, after the squad was named, Khan stepped down as the team's captain, stating that the selection committee had not gained his consent for the team. On 7 November 2021, in Afghanistan's T20 World Cup match against New Zealand, Khan took his 400th wicket in Twenty20 cricket.


title: Rashid Khan

text: On 7 December 2016 he made his first-class debut, for Afghanistan against the England Lions in Abu Dhabi, taking 4 for 48 and 8 for 74, and scoring 25 not out and 52.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In February 2017, he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) for . He was also amongst the two first ever Afghan players to be selected for the IPL.


title: Rashid Khan

text: He made his IPL debut in the opening fixture of the 2017 tournament, taking two wickets, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad won the match by 35 runs. He finished the tournament as the sixth-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets from 14 matches.


title: Rashid Khan

text: On 5 May 2018, during the 2018 Indian Premier League, Khan played in his 100th Twenty20 match. He took two wickets, affected a run out, and was named the man of the match. In March 2022, he played as the vice-captain for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022.


title: Rashid Khan

text: A month after getting selected in the IPL, he was bought by Guyana Amazon Warriors for $60,000 to play in the 2017 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). In September 2017, he took a hat-trick for Guyana Amazon Warriors, the first hat-trick in the history of the CPL.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In July 2020, he was named in the Barbados Tridents squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League. On 20 August 2020, in the match against the St Lucia Zouks, Khan took his 300th wicket in Twenty20 cricket. At the age of 21 years and 335 days, became the youngest bowler to take 300 wickets in T20 cricket. He also became the fastest to take 300 wickets in the format, doing so in 213 matches.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In September 2017, he signed with Adelaide Strikers to play in the 2017–18 Big Bash League, he later went on to win the tournament. On 8 January 2020, in a match during BBL|09 against the Sydney Sixers, Rashid took the fifth hat-trick in the history of the BBL. Since joining the Strikers, he has cemented himself as a fan's favourite in Adelaide.


title: Rashid Khan

text: On 12 January 2022, in the 2021–22 Big Bash League season, Khan played in his 300th Twenty20 match. In the game he took six wickets for 17 runs, his career-best figures, and the third-best figures in the BBL.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In September 2018, he was named as the Icon Player for Kabul Zwanan's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. Despite being on the losing side in the final, he was named as the player of the tournament.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In November 2017, he was selected to play for the Quetta Gladiators in 2018 Pakistan Super League players draft.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In October 2018, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) drafts revealed that Rashid Khan was included in the 14-men Platinum Category. For the 2021 edition of Pakistan Super League, he was named as the first Platinum Pick for the Lahore Qalandars and played his first match against Peshawar Zalmi.


title: Rashid Khan

text: In October 2017, he was signed by Sussex County Cricket Club to play in the NatWest T20 Blast in England. During the first-ever player draft for The Hundred, Rashid was the first pick for the Trent Rockets, in the top price band (£125,000). In October 2018, he was named in Durban Heat's squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Rotterdam Rhinos in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled. In December 2021, Khan was again signed by Sussex for the 2022 T20 Blast tournament in England. In April 2022, he was bought by the Trent Rockets for the 2022 season of The Hundred.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficiency video codec (e.g. AMD VCE) is an ASIC. Application-specific standard product (ASSP) chips are intermediate between ASICs and industry standard integrated circuits like the 7400 series or the 4000 series. ASIC chips are typically fabricated using metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology, as MOS integrated circuit chips.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: As feature sizes have shrunk and design tools improved over the years, the maximum complexity (and hence functionality) possible in an ASIC has grown from 5,000 logic gates to over 100 million. Modern ASICs often include entire microprocessors, memory blocks including ROM, RAM, EEPROM, flash memory and other large building blocks. Such an ASIC is often termed a SoC (system-on-chip). Designers of digital ASICs often use a hardware description language (HDL), such as Verilog or VHDL, to describe the functionality of ASICs.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are the modern-day technology improvement on breadboards, meaning that they are not made to be application-specific as opposed to ASICs. Programmable logic blocks and programmable interconnects allow the same FPGA to be used in many different applications. For smaller designs or lower production volumes, FPGAs may be more cost-effective than an ASIC design, even in production. The non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost of an ASIC can run into the millions of dollars. Therefore, device manufacturers typically prefer FPGAs for prototyping and devices with low production volume and ASICs for very large production volumes where NRE costs can be amortized across many devices.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Early ASICs used gate array technology. By 1967, Ferranti and Interdesign were manufacturing early bipolar gate arrays. In 1967, Fairchild Semiconductor introduced the Micromatrix family of bipolar diode–transistor logic (DTL) and transistor–transistor logic (TTL) arrays.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology opened the door to the broad commercialization of gate arrays. The first CMOS gate arrays were developed by Robert Lipp, in 1974 for International Microcircuits, Inc. (IMI).


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) standard cell technology was introduced by Fairchild and Motorola, under the trade names Micromosaic and Polycell, in the 1970s. This technology was later successfully commercialized by VLSI Technology (founded 1979) and LSI Logic (1981).


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: A successful commercial application of gate array circuitry was found in the low-end 8-bit ZX81 and ZX Spectrum personal computers, introduced in 1981 and 1982. These were used by Sinclair Research (UK) essentially as a low-cost I/O solution aimed at handling the computer's graphics.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Customization occurred by varying a metal interconnect mask. Gate arrays had complexities of up to a few thousand gates; this is now called mid-scale integration. Later versions became more generalized, with different base dies customized by both metal and polysilicon layers. Some base dies also include random-access memory (RAM) elements.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: In the mid-1980s, a designer would choose an ASIC manufacturer and implement their design using the design tools available from the manufacturer. While third-party design tools were available, there was not an effective link from the third-party design tools to the layout and actual semiconductor process performance characteristics of the various ASIC manufacturers. Most designers used factory-specific tools to complete the implementation of their designs. A solution to this problem, which also yielded a much higher density device, was the implementation of standard cells. Every ASIC manufacturer could create functional blocks with known electrical characteristics, such as propagation delay, capacitance and inductance, that could also be represented in third-party tools. Standard-cell design is the utilization of these functional blocks to achieve very high gate density and good electrical performance. Standard-cell design is intermediate between and in terms of its non-recurring engineering and recurring component costs as well as performance and speed of development (including time to market).


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: By the late 1990s, logic synthesis tools became available. Such tools could compile HDL descriptions into a gate-level netlist. Standard-cell integrated circuits (ICs) are designed in the following conceptual stages referred to as electronics design flow, although these stages overlap significantly in practice:


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: These steps, implemented with a level of skill common in the industry, almost always produce a final device that correctly implements the original design, unless flaws are later introduced by the physical fabrication process.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: The design steps also called design flow, are also common to standard product design. The significant difference is that standard-cell design uses the manufacturer's cell libraries that have been used in potentially hundreds of other design implementations and therefore are of much lower risk than a full custom design. Standard cells produce a design density that is cost-effective, and they can also integrate IP cores and static random-access memory (SRAM) effectively, unlike gate arrays.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Gate array design is a manufacturing method in which diffused layers, each consisting of transistors and other active devices, are predefined and electronics wafers containing such devices are "held in stock" or unconnected prior to the metallization stage of the fabrication process. The physical design process defines the interconnections of these layers for the final device. For most ASIC manufacturers, this consists of between two and nine metal layers with each layer running perpendicular to the one below it. Non-recurring engineering costs are much lower than full custom designs, as photolithographic masks are required only for the metal layers. Production cycles are much shorter, as metallization is a comparatively quick process; thereby accelerating time to market.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Gate-array ASICs are always a compromise between rapid design and performance as mapping a given design onto what a manufacturer held as a stock wafer never gives 100% circuit utilization. Often difficulties in routing the interconnect require migration onto a larger array device with a consequent increase in the piece part price. These difficulties are often a result of the layout EDA software used to develop the interconnect.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Pure, logic-only gate-array design is rarely implemented by circuit designers today, having been almost entirely replaced by field-programmable devices. The most prominent of such devices are field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) which can be programmed by the user and thus offer minimal tooling charges, non-recurring engineering, only marginally increased piece part cost, and comparable performance.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Today, gate arrays are evolving into structured ASICs that consist of a large IP core like a CPU, digital signal processor units, peripherals, standard interfaces, integrated memories, SRAM, and a block of reconfigurable, uncommitted logic. This shift is largely because ASIC devices are capable of integrating large blocks of system functionality, and systems on a chip (SoCs) require glue logic, communications subsystems (such as networks on chip), peripherals, and other components rather than only functional units and basic interconnection.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: In their frequent usages in the field, the terms "gate array" and "semi-custom" are synonymous when referring to ASICs. Process engineers more commonly use the term "semi-custom", while "gate-array" is more commonly used by logic (or gate-level) designers.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: By contrast, full-custom ASIC design defines all the photolithographic layers of the device. Full-custom design is used for both ASIC design and for standard product design.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: The benefits of full-custom design include reduced area (and therefore recurring component cost), performance improvements, and also the ability to integrate analog components and other pre-designed—and thus fully verified—components, such as microprocessor cores, that form a system on a chip.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: The disadvantages of full-custom design can include increased manufacturing and design time, increased non-recurring engineering costs, more complexity in the computer-aided design (CAD) and electronic design automation systems, and a much higher skill requirement on the part of the design team.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: For digital-only designs, however, "standard-cell" cell libraries, together with modern CAD systems, can offer considerable performance/cost benefits with low risk. Automated layout tools are quick and easy to use and also offer the possibility to "hand-tweak" or manually optimize any performance-limiting aspect of the design.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: "Structured ASIC design" (also referred to as ""platform ASIC design"") is a relatively new trend in the semiconductor industry, resulting in some variation in its definition. However, the basic premise of a structured ASIC is that both manufacturing cycle time and design cycle time are reduced compared to cell-based ASIC, by virtue of there being pre-defined metal layers (thus reducing manufacturing time) and pre-characterization of what is on the silicon (thus reducing design cycle time).


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: This is effectively the same definition as a gate array. What distinguishes a structured ASIC from a gate array is that in a gate array, the predefined metal layers serve to make manufacturing turnaround faster. In a structured ASIC, the use of predefined metallization is primarily to reduce cost of the mask sets as well as making the design cycle time significantly shorter.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: For example, in a cell-based or gate-array design the user must often design power, clock, and test structures themselves. By contrast, these are predefined in most structured ASICs and therefore can save time and expense for the designer compared to gate-array based designs. Likewise, the design tools used for structured ASIC can be substantially lower cost and easier (faster) to use than cell-based tools, because they do not have to perform all the functions that cell-based tools do. In some cases, the structured ASIC vendor requires customized tools for their device (e.g., custom physical synthesis) be used, also allowing for the design to be brought into manufacturing more quickly.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Cell libraries of logical primitives are usually provided by the device manufacturer as part of the service. Although they will incur no additional cost, their release will be covered by the terms of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and they will be regarded as intellectual property by the manufacturer. Usually, their physical design will be pre-defined so they could be termed "hard macros".


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: What most engineers understand as "intellectual property" are IP cores, designs purchased from a third-party as sub-components of a larger ASIC. They may be provided in the form of a hardware description language (often termed a "soft macro"), or as a fully routed design that could be printed directly onto an ASIC's mask (often termed a "hard macro"). Many organizations now sell such pre-designed cores – CPUs, Ethernet, USB or telephone interfaces – and larger organizations may have an entire department or division to produce cores for the rest of the organization. The company ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) "only" sells IP cores, making it a fabless manufacturer.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Indeed, the wide range of functions now available in structured ASIC design is a result of the phenomenal improvement in electronics in the late 1990s and early 2000s; as a core takes a lot of time and investment to create, its re-use and further development cuts product cycle times dramatically and creates better products. Additionally, open-source hardware organizations such as OpenCores are collecting free IP cores, paralleling the open-source software movement in hardware design.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Soft macros are often process-independent (i.e. they can be fabricated on a wide range of manufacturing processes and different manufacturers). Hard macros are process-limited and usually further design effort must be invested to migrate (port) to a different process or manufacturer.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: Some manufacturers and IC design houses offer multi-project wafer service (MPW) as a method of obtaining low cost prototypes. Often called shuttles, these MPWs, containing several designs, run at regular, scheduled intervals on a "cut and go" basis, usually with limited liability on the part of the manufacturer. The contract involves delivery of bare dies or the assembly and packaging of a handful of devices. The service usually involves the supply of a physical design database (i.e. masking information or pattern generation (PG) tape). The manufacturer is often referred to as a "silicon foundry" due to the low involvement it has in the process.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: An application-specific standard product or ASSP is an integrated circuit that implements a specific function that appeals to a wide market. As opposed to ASICs that combine a collection of functions and are designed by or for one customer, ASSPs are available as off-the-shelf components. ASSPs are used in all industries, from automotive to communications. As a general rule, if you can find a design in a data book, then it is probably not an ASIC, but there are some exceptions.


title: Application-specific integrated circuit

text: For example, two ICs that might or might not be considered ASICs are a controller chip for a PC and a chip for a modem. Both of these examples are specific to an application (which is typical of an ASIC) but are sold to many different system vendors (which is typical of standard parts). ASICs such as these are sometimes called application-specific standard products (ASSPs).


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by Tempe on the west, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community on the north, Chandler and Gilbert on the south along with Queen Creek, and Apache Junction on the east.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa is the third-largest city in Arizona after Phoenix and Tucson, the 37th-largest city in the US, and the largest city that is not a county seat. The city is home to 504,258 people as of 2020 according to the Census Bureau, which makes it more populous than Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Miami. Mesa has been described as "America's most conservative city".


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: More than 40,000 students are currently enrolled in more than 10 colleges and universities located in Mesa, including the Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University, Benedictine University, A.T. Still University, Upper Iowa University, Mesa Community College and Chandler-Gilbert Community College. Private for-profit institutions include Arizona College, Carrington College, DeVry University, Pima Medical Institute, and CAE Phoenix Aviation Academy. In January 2020, Arizona State University broke ground on ASU at Mesa City Center, a project offering programs from the Herberger Institute for Design and Arts that will be located in downtown Mesa that is scheduled to open in spring 2022. It is also home to the largest relief airport in the Phoenix area, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, which is in the southeastern corner of the city.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: The history of Mesa dates back at least 2,000 years to the arrival of the Hohokam people. The Hohokam, whose name means "All Used Up" or "The Departed Ones", built the original canal system. The canals were the largest and most sophisticated in the prehistoric New World. Some were up to wide and deep at their head gates, extending for as far as across the desert. By A.D. 1100 water could be delivered to an area over , transforming the Sonoran Desert into an agricultural oasis. By A.D. 1450, the Hohokam had constructed hundreds of miles of canals many of which are still in use today.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: After the disappearance of the Hohokam and before the arrival of the early settlers little is known, as explorers did not venture into this area. By the late 19th century near present-day Mesa, U.S. Army troops relocated the Apache, opening the way for settlement.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mormon pioneer Daniel Webster Jones, with Henry Clay Rogers as his right-hand man, left St. George, Utah in March 1877. Jones had been asked by Mormon officials to direct a party of people in establishing a settlement in Arizona. They traveled south and settled on the north side of the present Mesa area. This settlement was initially known as Fort Utah and later as Jonesville. It was located about where Lehi Road is now. In 1883 it was named Lehi at the suggestion of Brigham Young, Jr.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: About this same time, another group dubbed the First Mesa Company arrived from Utah and Idaho. Their leaders were named Francis Martin Pomeroy, Charles Crismon, George Warren Sirrine and Charles I. Robson. Rather than accepting an invitation to settle at Jones' Lehi settlement, they moved up onto the mesa that serves as the city's namesake. They dug irrigation canals and used some of the original Hohokam canals. By April 1878, water was flowing through them. The Second Mesa Company arrived in 1879 and settled to the west of the First Mesa Company because of more available farmland. This settlement was originally called Alma and later Stringtown. It was located about where Alma School Road is now.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: On July 17, 1878, Mesa City was registered as a townsite. The first school was built in 1879. In 1883, Mesa City was incorporated with a population of 300 people. Dr. A. J. Chandler, who would later go on to found the city of Chandler, worked on widening the Mesa Canal in 1895 to allow for enough flow to build a power plant. In 1917, the city of Mesa purchased this utility company. The revenues from the company provided enough for capital expenditures until the 1960s. During the Great Depression, WPA funds provided paved streets, a new hospital, a new town hall and a library.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: After the founding of the city the elected official that most impacted the municipality was George Nicholas Goodman. He was mayor 5 different times in parts of 3 different decade (1938–1942, 1946–1948, 1952–1956) (see: List of mayors of Mesa, Arizona). As mayor he was directly involved in the process of acquiring land for both Falcon Field and Williams Field.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: With the opening of Falcon Field and Williams Field in the early 1940s, more military personnel began to move into the Mesa area. With the advent of air conditioning and the rise of tourism, population growth exploded in Mesa as well as the rest of the Phoenix area. Industry—especially early aerospace companies—grew in the 1950s and 1960s. As late as 1960, half of the residents of Mesa made a living with agriculture, but this has declined substantially as Mesa's suburban growth continued on track with the rest of the Phoenix metro area.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Due to Mesa's long east to west travel distance, in excess of and large land area , locations in Mesa are often referred to as residing within either West Mesa or East Mesa.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa employs a grid system for street numbering that is different from that used in Phoenix and other portions of the metropolitan area. Center Street, running north to south, bisects Mesa into eastern and western halves and serves as the east and west numbering point of origin within Mesa. Streets west of Center St., such as W. University Drive or W. Main St. are considered to be in West Mesa, whereas streets east of Center St., such as E. University or E. Main St., are considered to be in East Mesa.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa Drive, running north to south and bisecting Mesa into east and west sections, is located east of Center Street, and serves as the zip code boundary between the 85281, 85201, 85202, and 85210 zip codes of Western Mesa and the 85203, 85204, 85205, 85206, 85207, 85208, 85209, 85212, 85213, 85215, 85220, and 85242 zip codes of Eastern Mesa.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Located in the Sonoran Desert, Mesa has a hot desert climate (Köppen: "BWh"), with mild winters and very hot summers. The hottest month is July, with an average high of and an average low of . The hottest temperature ever recorded in Mesa was in July 1995 at . The coldest month is December, with an average high of and an average low of .


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 439,041 people, 146,643 households, and 99,863 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 175,701 housing units at an average density of .


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: The racial make-up of the city was 81.6% White, 2.4% Black or African American, 2.2% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 9.3% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. 24.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: There were 146,643 households, out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.7% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.20.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: The age distribution was 27.3% under 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the city was $42,817, and the median income for a family was $49,232. Males had a median income of $35,960 versus $27,005 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,601. About 6.2% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.7% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Numerous properties in the city are considered to be historical and have been included either in the National Register of Historic Places or the listings of the Mesa Historic Properties.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa has over 2,280 acres of parkland in the city limits. Its largest is Red Mountain Park which spans 1,146 acres. It includes a lake, playgrounds, a basketball court and a cement volleyball court.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa is home to numerous championship golf courses, including the original course in town, Mesa Country Club. This course was founded in the late 1940s by the original leaders of the town, and "Country Club Drive", the most prominent street in Mesa, was at one point the modest entrance to the club.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: The abandoned Fiesta Mall is located in West Mesa, and owned by Westcor. Its anchors were Sears and Best Buy. It is located near several shopping centers, Mesa's Bank of America, and other retail stores, banks, and restaurants. Though deserted, a refurbishment and expansion of the mall has been planned.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa Riverview is a new outdoor destination retail center in the northwestern corner of the city, near Loop 202 and Dobson Road. At build-out the center will include of retail space. Its anchors include Bass Pro Shops, Cinemark Theaters, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Located in East Mesa is Superstition Springs Business Park. It includes the Superstition Springs Center, a shopping mall owned by Macerich. It features an outdoor amphitheatre and fountain which convert to a stage. Anchor stores at the mall are Dillard's, JCPenney, and Macy's. Mission Community Church, previously known as Superstition Springs Community Church, was initially named after this business park.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Almost all of the city of Mesa is served by public schools operated by Mesa Public Schools; however, a small southern portion is served by the Gilbert Public Schools and the Queen Creek Unified School District, and a small western portion is served by the Tempe Elementary School District and the Tempe Union High School District.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Pilgrim Lutheran School is a Christian Pre-K-8 school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Mesa.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Mesa is home to Mesa Community College, the largest of the Maricopa Community Colleges, which enrolls over 24,000 full and part-time students. The Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University lies in southeast Mesa. This satellite campus enrolls over 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students in scientific and engineering fields. A. T. Still University operates an Osteopathic Medical School in Mesa. The aviation school CAE Global Academy Phoenix is located in Mesa.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: After launching a higher education initiative in 2012, Mesa became home to branch campuses of five private, liberal arts institutions: Albright College, Westminster College, Benedictine University, Upper Iowa University and Wilkes University. Two have since left (Albright College and Westminster College), while a third, Wilkes University, recently announced it would move entirely online.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Several area freeways serve the Mesa area, such as U.S. Route 60, locally known as the Superstition Freeway, which runs between Apache Junction and Phoenix. It is also served by SR 87 and bypass loops Loop 101, which skirts the western city limits as the Price Freeway, and Loop 202, which bypasses the city on the north and east. The main east–west arterial road in Mesa is Main Street (former US 60/70/80/89), serving Downtown Mesa. The primary north–south arterials include Country Club Drive, Gilbert Road, and Power Road.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Public transportation in Mesa is provided by Valley Metro via bus and light rail (Valley Metro Rail). The light rail section in Mesa spans about four miles from Sycamore/Main St in the west of the city, through downtown to Mesa Dr/Main St. Until July 2008, Mesa was the largest U.S. city with no public transit service on Sundays, but now has Sunday service available on Routes 40-Apache/Main, 61-Southern, 96-Dobson, 108-Elliot, 112-Country Club/Arizona, 156-Chandler/Williams Field, and 184-Power. Up to the final years of Southern Pacific passenger railroad service, the "Sunset Limited" passenger train used to make stops in Mesa.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: Air service in the city is provided by two airports. Falcon Field, located in the northeastern part of the area, was established as a training field for British RAF pilots during World War II and was transferred to the city at the end of the war. Falcon Field has 605 aircraft based there. Boeing builds the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter at a facility adjoining Falcon Field. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is located in the far southeastern area of the city, and provides alternate but limited air service when compared to Sky Harbor International Airport. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway was formerly Williams Gateway Airport, and before that, Williams Air Force Base, which closed in 1993. Williams Gateway was announced as a new Focus City for Allegiant Air. Service started October 25, 2007.


title: Mesa, Arizona

text: The public hospital system, Valleywise Health (formerly Maricopa Integrated Health System), operates Valleywise Community Health Center – Mesa and Valleywise Behavioral Health Center – Mesa. Its sole hospital, Valleywise Health Medical Center, is in Phoenix.


title: Kate Schellenbach

text: Kate Schellenbach (born January 5, 1966) is an American musician and television producer. She is the drummer of Luscious Jackson and was a founding drummer of the Beastie Boys.


title: Kate Schellenbach

text: Born in New York City, she played with the Beastie Boys from 1981 to 1984, and drummed for Luscious Jackson until the band broke up in spring of 2000, and again when they re-formed in 2011.


title: Kate Schellenbach

text: Schellenbach was also the drummer for the punk band the Lunachicks, during early 1993 for a very short period of time, before Chip English was recruited.


title: Kate Schellenbach

text: She was later an Emmy Award-winning segment producer on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" appearing on screen on a show first aired on December 4, 2007, playing the bongos with host Ellen DeGeneres. She has also worked as a producer on "Lopez Tonight", "Kathy", "Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings", "Chelsea Lately", "Hello Ross", and currently "The Late Late Show with James Corden".


title: Kate Schellenbach

text: Schellenbach attended New York City's math and science high school, Stuyvesant High School. She graduated with a BA in Studio Art from Hunter College. She was romantically linked to the Breeders bassist, Josephine Wiggs. During their relationship, they were featured in an article in "The Advocate", a national LGBT magazine published in the United States. They formed the short-lived band Ladies Who Lunch, and Schellenbach played drums on Luscious Jackson's side-project, Kostars, which Wiggs recorded and co-produced.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: On January 6, 2021, Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot during an attack on the United States Capitol. She was part of a mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump who breached the United States Capitol building seeking to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Babbitt attempted to climb through a shattered window of a barricaded door, which led to her being shot in the shoulder/neck by a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer. After a USCP emergency response team administered aid, Babbitt was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she later died. The USCP deemed the shooting was "lawful and within Department policy" and "potentially saved Members (of Congress) and staff from serious injury and possible death".


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: After Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, then-incumbent Donald Trump pursued an aggressive and unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support and assistance from his campaign, his proxies, his political allies, and many of his supporters. These efforts culminated in the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, the day set for the Electoral College vote count.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Babbitt was raised in a mostly apolitical family near San Diego, California. In 2004, she enlisted in the United States Air Force, where she served twelve years; while on active duty, she met her first husband, Staff Sgt. Timothy McEntee. Babbitt was deployed at least eight times by 2014, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar; from 2010, she served in the Air National Guard. Six of her years in service were spent in a "Capital Guardians" unit of the District of Columbia Air National Guard, whose mandate is to defend the Washington D.C. region and quell civil unrest. In 2014 Babbitt served as a "mentor" to less-experienced airmen about to go on their first deployment. She reached the rank of senior airman, a "relatively low rank" for a twelve-year veteran according to "The Washington Post".


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: From 2015 to 2017, near the end of her service, she supplemented her income by working as security at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland. There, she met Aaron Babbitt, who would become her second husband. She filed for divorce from her first husband in 2018.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: In 2016, she faced criminal charges of reckless endangerment in Maryland after she repeatedly smashed her SUV into a vehicle being driven by a former girlfriend of Aaron Babbitt. Citing ongoing harassment, the victim obtained multiple judicial orders forbidding Babbitt any contact with her.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: In 2018, Babbitt moved back to California with her second husband and they purchased a pool servicing business. She worked there with her brother and several other relatives.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Babbitt voted for Barack Obama at least once: asked by another Twitter user on November 15, 2018 if she had "supported Obama the same way [she] supported Trump?" she replied "[...] yes I did [...] I think Obama did great things... he jacked some s*** up... but I think he did do a lot of good... at a time where we needed him. I voted for him!" She later registered as a Libertarian.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: According to her brother, she became frustrated with such issues as the number of homeless people in San Diego and the difficulties of running a small business. As she struggled professionally, Babbitt came to embrace the radical right. On July 1, 2019, a judge issued a $71,000 judgment against her pool business for failing to repay a loan; around the same time, she supported Donald Trump and started following and promoting conspiracy theories. In November 2019, Babbitt tweeted about Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory which says that senior Democrats were operating a child sex-trafficking ring. By February 2020, Babbitt publicly supported QAnon, a broader far-right conspiracy theory which expanded Pizzagate's claims by adding the concept of a worldwide cabal of Jewish, Satan-worshipping child abusers whom Trump is secretly fighting. One customer recalled having stopped doing business with the company in 2020 after Babbitt unexpectedly delivered a political rant over the telephone.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Babbitt was very active on social media through her Twitter handle @CommonAshSense. She did not post much original content: most of her posts were retweets, frequently of messages from conservative and right-wing figures like Michael Flynn and Jack Posobiec, and conservative news sites like Right Side Broadcasting. According to Marc-André Argentino, a researcher working on QAnon and other extremist groups, Babbitt was not "a leader or major influencer within the QAnon movement", and was not involved in selling QAnon-themed merchandise. She has nonetheless tweeted regularly about the conspiracy theory since February 2020. Babbitt posted about 50 times a day on Twitter; on election day, she had posted 77 times.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: After the election, Babbitt rejected the results and began supporting the Stop the Steal movement. On January 1, 2021, Babbitt announced plans to travel to DC for January 6.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: A central belief among QAnon members is that Trump was planning a massive sting operation on the "cabal", with mass arrests of thousands of cabal members to take place on a day known as "The Storm". On January 5, 2021, the day before the assault on the Capitol, Babbitt tweeted: "Nothing can stop us...they can try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours...dark to light..."


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: On January 6, prior to her arrival at the Capitol, Babbitt retweeted messages by Trump lawyer and QAnon promoter L. Lin Wood demanding that Vice President Mike Pence, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts resign and that charges be brought against Pence and Rosenstein.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Rioters occupied the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: At 2:44p.m., law enforcement was trying to "defend two fronts" to the House Chamber, and "a lot of members [of Congress] and staff that were in danger at the time". Pipe bombs had been discovered outside the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, and Capitol Police officers had been warned that many attackers were carrying concealed weapons.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Babbitt, wearing a Trump flag as a cape, was part of several dozens of rioters who approached the Speaker's Lobby, adjacent to the House chambers. Three uniformed officers were posted outside the Lobby when they were threatened by the crowd. One member of the mob yelled, "Fuck the Blue" (blue being a reference to the police). One officer guarding the door told the others "They're ready to roll", and the three officers moved away from the barricaded door leading to the Speaker's Lobby. No longer impeded by police, one rioter, Zachary Jordan Alam, smashed a glass window in the door. Many lawmakers and staff were being evacuated by Capitol Police, but some were trapped in the House balcony.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Babbitt, hoisted by two men, attempted to climb through the shattered window. She was then shot in the neck/shoulder by Capitol Police Lieutenant Michael Byrd and fell back among the other protesters. Babbitt had been warned not to proceed through the window: one witness recalled that "A number of police and Secret Service were saying 'Get back! Get down! Get out of the way!'; [Babbitt] didn't heed the call."


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: A Capitol Police emergency response team administered aid, and Babbitt was transported to Washington Hospital Center where she later died; Babbitt was 35 years old. She was unarmed at the time of the shooting.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a witness to Babbitt's attempted breach, said that Lieutenant Byrd "didn't have a choice" but to shoot, and that his action "saved people's lives".


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: The shooting was recorded on several cameras, and footage was widely circulated. John Earle Sullivan, who recorded footage of the shooting, was arrested for his role in the attack. Zachary Alam was also arrested for his role in the attack.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Following the routine process for shootings by Capitol Police officers, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and the United States Department of Justice investigated Babbitt's death and made a determination that the shooting was "lawful and within Department policy". Upon clearing Byrd, USCP released a press statement saying his action "potentially saved Members and staff from serious injury and possible death".


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: After being cleared of wrongdoing, Byrd made his name public in an August 2021 interview for NBC News. He said his name had been previously revealed in right-wing media and online forums and that he had received racist (Byrd is African-American) and violent threats, causing him to remain in hiding for several months. Looking back on his January 6 experience, Byrd said: "Once we barricaded the doors, we were essentially trapped where we were. There was no way to retreat. No other way to get out. If they get through that door, they're into the House chamber and upon the members of Congress." He stated that he had pulled the trigger as a "last resort" after the mob of protesters ignored his repeated orders to get back, and that he had no idea at that moment that Babbitt was unarmed and was a woman. Byrd commented: "I know that day I saved countless lives. I know members of Congress, as well as my fellow officers and staff, were in jeopardy and in serious danger. And that's my job".


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Though they deplored Babbitt's death shortly after the event, few among Republican Members of Congress and conservative media initially claimed any wrongdoing from law enforcement, or suggested that it warranted a backlash. Gradually, though, efforts were made to suggest that Babbitt was a martyr, or at least a patriot who was unjustly killed. Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin were sympathetic to Babbitt, with Levin understating Babbitt's actions and claiming that she had been just "walking around with the rest". U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) said Babbitt had been "executed", later doubling down on that comment and adding that the police officer had been "lying in wait" and demanding to know his name. This drew a rebuke from representative Liz Cheney, who accused Gosar of "[smearing] the men and women who defended us". Fringe figures and far-right extremists have also cast Babbitt as a martyr or a "freedom fighter". Democratic strategist Mark Burns said this was a "dangerous development for a Republican Party with members increasingly comfortable pressing for and defending political violence". Both he and David Frum in "The Atlantic" compared these efforts to the Nazi glorification of Horst Wessel.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: Some QAnon supporters, including Lin Wood, have said that Babbitt is still alive and that her apparent death was a "false flag" operation.


title: Killing of Ashli Babbitt

text: In October 2021, Trump recorded a video message arguing that "There was no reason Ashli should've lost her life that day. We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family". Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the shooting of Babbitt, describing it as an "assassination".