Friday , June 06, 2008 at 2117 hrs “Our goal is the unification of workers to advance class struggle and international solidarity to combat the advance of imperialism”. This quote could be circa 1917 Russia but came on May 5, 2008 from MK Pande, president of CITU (the Left-affiliated trade union). At a recent ILO consultation on employment policy, another Left national trade union leader told me that Chapter 5B of the Industrial Disputes Act (the freedom of companies to hire and fire) was a non-issue (I regret not asking the obvious question of why he opposed a non-issue). He challenged anybody to prove the adverse effects of current labour laws but felt that evidence of the exploding share of informal employment in total employment (93%) and informal temporary employment in total temporary employment (99%) was not enough.
The rhetoric worries and the agenda of trade union leaders and Left parties gives me little hope. They are choosing the status quo over change. They are choosing issues that matter to middle-aged men with a wife at home rather than embracing the issues of women. They fight for spending Rs 1,000 crore on higher provident fund interest rates rather than higher allocations on skill development. By choosing job preservation over job creation, they fight for issues dear to the labour aristocracy in organised employment rather than informal workers. Basically, they choose the past over the future.
Nobody likes informal employment. Policy-makers hate it because it is exploitative and does not yield taxes. Employees hate it because it does not have the corridor effect for skill development and higher wages. Informal employers don’t like it because they are unable to retain employees who jump at the first chance to the formal sector. Formal employers don’t like it because outsourcing manufacturing or services to the informal sector yields uneven quality, lower productivity and higher unpredictability. So, why do we perpetuate a labour regime which ensured informal employment accounted for all net job creation for the last decade? This tragedy is minority rule where trade unions have positioned the self-interest of their small membership as national interest and this represents regulatory capture at its worst.
Trade union leaders today focus their members (Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh 6.2 million, INTUC 3.8 million, AITUC 3.3 million, Hind Mazdoor Sangh 3.2 million, and CITU 2.6 million) on serving their political masters and the small constituency of organised labour. If they want to remain relevant, they must focus on the three burning issues that affect most workers: a) increasing the share of organised employment, b) bringing in labour market outsiders (less skilled, less educated, first time jobseekers, women, retired people, students, etc), and c) fixing the crisis in skill development because employability is more important than employment.
Trade unions were not always so selfish and self referential. The Bombay mills labour association was formed in 1890 but the association worked with the government on behalf of workers. Gandhiji founded his textile labour association in Ahmedabad in 1917 and the All India Trade Union Congress was formed with Lala Lajpat Rai as its president in 1920. Labour leaders made considerable sacrifices in the Independence movement and have been at the forefront of building modern India.
But as with any special interest group, they began to lose the big picture around 1965. Egged on by anti-employer rhetoric often fanned by politicians, trade unions began to exercise powers far in excess of what was required by their original mandate. The loophole that allowed non-employees to take on trade union leadership positions led to part-time roles for professional politicians and unions whose core agenda of building political constituencies is mostly unrelated to workers welfare. Economist Mancur Olson’s work on “distributional coalitions” that describes how a vocal organised minority in a democracy can hijack the agenda at the expense of an unorganised majority seems almost written to describe India’s labour markets of today.
This “scope creep” and “leadership capture” of trade unions has sad consequences for the people they masquerade to protect. I recently spent some time in Kanpur; this once shining citadel of India’s textile power is now an open area museum of tragedy with 5.5 million people, only 10 hours of power a day and thousands of shuttered businesses. The romance of Datta Samant’s defiance was before my time but while it is unclear that the closure of central Mumbai mills got workers prosperity, it may actually have denied them participation in the upside of the current liquidation of the mill land.
Don’t get me wrong; unions have a key role to play in a civilised society. Worker representation and voice is a fundamental right. But their future relevance will come from “soft power” by taking on issues like employability, workplace safety, worker retraining and inclusiveness. Their current agenda of confrontation is bereft of imagination and does not represent the worries and issues of the unorganised sector, women and youth. Evidence is now overwhelming that our labour laws may not be hurting job creation but they ensure that job creation happens in the informal sector. To defend the status quo on labour laws deserves Indira Gandhi’s retort to Morarji Desai on the abolition of the privy purses “a moral façade to an indefensible argument”.
While I believe that the extreme Left does the wrong thing for the right reasons, I was fascinated by the statement of Maoist Prachanda after his recent election win in Nepal where he said that, “we are against feudalism, not capitalism”. To me this statement represents a profoundly developed sense of purpose, destination and reality. India is changing rapidly; 50% of CITU’s membership is unorganised labour that wants job creation (not job preservation). I read an unverified statistic that only 18% of members of the Communist Party of India are less than 30 years old. Are they really keeping up with a country that is growing younger, only has 25% of its women in the workforce and only 7% of its workforce in formal employment?
I am 38 years old and work for a company with 80,000 employees with an average age of 22. While I cannot claim to speak for all of them, I can confidently assert that the stand of trade unions on various issues conflicts with my generation’s confidence in our abilities, imaginations and our country. We believe that India’s superpower status will be built on our economic power. Anything that breeds poverty, or labour markets that are not inclusive, almost seems unpatriotic (and elitist).
—The author is chairman, Teamlease Services
Jun 28, 2008
Three Men in a Boat
Monday , June 16, 2008 at 2307 hrs Larry Summers, Pascal Lamy and Prakash Karat would make a most unusual set of bedfellows at the best of times. Strangely enough, just recently, they did find themselves in the same intellectual boat, (even if not in the cozy comfort of the same intellectual bed), on the subject of globalisation. Karat is, of course, a communist ideologue from central casting. Summers seems a recent convert, purportedly for the cause of the American worker impoverished by globalisation. But, many suggest personal motives as well—-a pitch for a job in a forthcoming Democratic administration. Lamy joined the chorus against ‘unfettered’ globalization, particularly in global finance, last week. There is a bit of the personal here as well—-the ambitious Frenchman is already through with more than half his tenure as the boss of the WTO, with little to show in terms of a result.
Motives aside, all three men do have formidable intellect, and if the three of them form an anti-globalisation team it will be taken more seriously than motley groups of street protestors, who have been the face of the anti-globalisation movement thus far. One hopes, of course, that these three gentlemen see reason in why they are wrong.
Let us analyse the extraordinary volte-face of Summers first—-caught in a premature autumn of his soaring career after his exit from Harvard the eminent ‘liberal’ economist is now pitching for a return to government. Hillary Clinton’s exit has hurt his cause and he is now trying to hop on to Barack Obama’s protectionist bandwagon. Trade, says Summers now, is responsible for the ills of American workers. As an economist, he surely knows how much the US has benefited from globalisation and free trade. He would also know that not everyone can always be a winner—some workers would have indeed lost out. The policy solution, however, is not to shut out globalisation—that would create a bigger number of losers—but to rehabilitate the minority who do lose out by offering them retraining, education and social security. It’s a real pity, then, that Summers has chosen globalisation as the strawman to be demolished.
Pascal Lamy’s problem isn’t free trade. In fact, as WTO chief, it is his responsibility to help break barriers down. However, he too was caught, recently, lamenting unfettered globalisation, training his guns on global finance in particular. His argument—the US subprime crisis, which signals a genuine crisis in financial globalisation has eroded people’s faith in globalisation at large; shut out finance and focus on trade. Sadly, this logic is flawed as well. The spread of global finance has been critically important for both the developed and developing countries. There is admittedly a problem in the Western banking system which was caught out rewarding—and then paying dearly for— excess risk. But the solution lies in better domestic regulation, and initiatives on the part of the industry itself to correct the flawed incentive structures. To shun financial globalisation altogether is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Prakash Karat, the last of the unlikely trio, is perhaps the most trenchant critic of globalisation. Unlike Summers and Lamy, he sees no merit in any aspect of it—trade, investment or finance. His fundamental argument is that economically, it does not benefit the people of India or other poor countries and politically, it perpetuates western (American) imperialism. His argument is, of course, incorrect. Most developing countries, including India and China, have grown faster in the last 15-20 years of globalisation than they did at any earlier time. The number of people in poverty has declined but perhaps not enough. Still, it is less than it was under a more closed international system. Obviously, much more needs to be done to make the process of globalisation more inclusive—state support of infrastructure, education and health and social security nets has never been more critical—-but again, the policy solutions lie in the domain of domestic policy. Autarky is unlikely to solve anything.
If Karat remains unconvinced about the economics of globalisation, there is the politics as well. Developing countries, including India, have never had greater leverage in the international economic system than they do now. A lot of this has to do with their recently acquired economic might, courtesy global engagement. It should warm the cockles of Karat’s heart to see India, Brazil, South Africa, et al reject repeatedly, admittedly lopsided US proposals at the WTO. This was not the case during the Uruguay Round of the 1980s and early 1990s where poor countries including India were simply not able to put up a fight at all. The IMF, too, is mulling an increase in the voting powers of developing countries. Something is clearly changing and it is tilting some balance of power towards India and other developing countries. So why despise the globalisation that is finally bringing power to the previous have-nots?
It is time for Messrs Summers, Lamy and Karat to rise above the personal and ideological and get realistic. Like much else in the world, globalisation has its limitations. Domestic policies can do a lot to help diversify its gains and minimise its losses. Focus the rhetoric and policy on those and let globalisation run its admirable course.
Motives aside, all three men do have formidable intellect, and if the three of them form an anti-globalisation team it will be taken more seriously than motley groups of street protestors, who have been the face of the anti-globalisation movement thus far. One hopes, of course, that these three gentlemen see reason in why they are wrong.
Let us analyse the extraordinary volte-face of Summers first—-caught in a premature autumn of his soaring career after his exit from Harvard the eminent ‘liberal’ economist is now pitching for a return to government. Hillary Clinton’s exit has hurt his cause and he is now trying to hop on to Barack Obama’s protectionist bandwagon. Trade, says Summers now, is responsible for the ills of American workers. As an economist, he surely knows how much the US has benefited from globalisation and free trade. He would also know that not everyone can always be a winner—some workers would have indeed lost out. The policy solution, however, is not to shut out globalisation—that would create a bigger number of losers—but to rehabilitate the minority who do lose out by offering them retraining, education and social security. It’s a real pity, then, that Summers has chosen globalisation as the strawman to be demolished.
Pascal Lamy’s problem isn’t free trade. In fact, as WTO chief, it is his responsibility to help break barriers down. However, he too was caught, recently, lamenting unfettered globalisation, training his guns on global finance in particular. His argument—the US subprime crisis, which signals a genuine crisis in financial globalisation has eroded people’s faith in globalisation at large; shut out finance and focus on trade. Sadly, this logic is flawed as well. The spread of global finance has been critically important for both the developed and developing countries. There is admittedly a problem in the Western banking system which was caught out rewarding—and then paying dearly for— excess risk. But the solution lies in better domestic regulation, and initiatives on the part of the industry itself to correct the flawed incentive structures. To shun financial globalisation altogether is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Prakash Karat, the last of the unlikely trio, is perhaps the most trenchant critic of globalisation. Unlike Summers and Lamy, he sees no merit in any aspect of it—trade, investment or finance. His fundamental argument is that economically, it does not benefit the people of India or other poor countries and politically, it perpetuates western (American) imperialism. His argument is, of course, incorrect. Most developing countries, including India and China, have grown faster in the last 15-20 years of globalisation than they did at any earlier time. The number of people in poverty has declined but perhaps not enough. Still, it is less than it was under a more closed international system. Obviously, much more needs to be done to make the process of globalisation more inclusive—state support of infrastructure, education and health and social security nets has never been more critical—-but again, the policy solutions lie in the domain of domestic policy. Autarky is unlikely to solve anything.
If Karat remains unconvinced about the economics of globalisation, there is the politics as well. Developing countries, including India, have never had greater leverage in the international economic system than they do now. A lot of this has to do with their recently acquired economic might, courtesy global engagement. It should warm the cockles of Karat’s heart to see India, Brazil, South Africa, et al reject repeatedly, admittedly lopsided US proposals at the WTO. This was not the case during the Uruguay Round of the 1980s and early 1990s where poor countries including India were simply not able to put up a fight at all. The IMF, too, is mulling an increase in the voting powers of developing countries. Something is clearly changing and it is tilting some balance of power towards India and other developing countries. So why despise the globalisation that is finally bringing power to the previous have-nots?
It is time for Messrs Summers, Lamy and Karat to rise above the personal and ideological and get realistic. Like much else in the world, globalisation has its limitations. Domestic policies can do a lot to help diversify its gains and minimise its losses. Focus the rhetoric and policy on those and let globalisation run its admirable course.
Brand Article
‘Branding is about detail, advertising is about the big picture’
Ceat, Arvind Mills, Shoppers Stop, Godrej, Sify, Cisco, Canara Bank, Network18 — all have got a brand makeover in the recent past. It’s a great time for design agencies, isn’t it?Yes! There is so much on our hands that we have to turn away work everyday. We’ve done the branding for Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad airports. Since January, we also did four brand launches — Ceat, Trident, Arvind and Shoppers Stop.Are companies looking at it as a long-term investment? It has to be long-term. Changing your brand identity every now and then can be too painful. Internationally, there are hardly any companies who changed logos. How long does a re-branding process take? And how much would you charge for single re-branding exercise? It takes about six months to a year. It depends if the company’s made some acquisition or taken some strategic initiatives. Most of the time it happens if it has entered into a new business. We are the most expensive strategic design agency in India and we don’t benchmark our rates with Indian firms in the business. We charge about 10 times more than the next agency.About Rs 10-15 crore? Well, at least that much.Generally, what do companies expect you to do — increase market shares, push sales? Both. Also, address perception issues. It’s something the public sector banks faced when they were unable to address the youth. But design is only a small part of the solution. Today, it is about looking into the entire picture. We’ve been tracking Indian consumers for decades. Most of the times brands become out-of-tune with customer aspirations. Customers have evolved faster than brands. And the Indian consumer has become extremely demanding. The rate of change in his aspirations and desires in the last 5-7 years is much higher than what it was in the last two decades. Today, because of the media, there is a convergence between urban, rural and small towns. They all consume the same media, so their aspirations are shaped in the same way. How do you go about the re-branding process? We do interviews with a cross section of employees of the company; then we brainstorm with separate sets of employees through workshops. We also run anonymous surveys. Then we speak to all other relevant stakeholders, like customers, competition, analysts and even the media. We also include desk research, where we bring in international expertise from The Brand Union. We scan international trends in that industry and decide on the brand strategy.How do you ensure that brand makeover is not cosmetic? Does it permeate to areas like customer service, work atmosphere? You know, people often people say that, “Oh, they just changed the logo”. But think about it. Changing every interface on that logo costs a lot of money and headache. The owners of these companies have spent their blood, money and sweat to grow them where they are, and they wouldn’t opt for a brand makeover if there wasn’t a good enough reason for it. With Canara Bank, for example, people only saw the logo change. What they didn’t see was that we employed management consultants and recommendations were made to bring people closer together, boost morale. So there was an HR consultancy also working with us. It’s just that these initiatives don’t get plastered on Marine Drive. But the logo does! Once a brand makeover has happened, how do you measure the success or failure of the entire exercise? In most cases, its not difficult to do it. Product branding, for example. We used to do it a lot in the past, like Fair & Lovely, Kissan and Mother Dairy. You can measure it because your sales go up. Corporate branding is measured through either a general perception index or through audits, which we do very often. Earlier branding addressed only external customers. Today, branding is targeted at even your employees, because you need them and there’s a huge talent crunch! Employees want to engage with the brand that they’re working for, but organisations don’t allow them to do it. Aren’t ad agencies trying to turn the tide by forming own design cells? Ad agencies don’t have the specialisation required for this. Branding is about detail, while advertising is about the big picture. Clients are clear about what they want.Which agency would you rate as No 2 and by how far? That’s a terrible question to ask (Laughs). There are hundreds of smaller boutiques who do very pretty work on brochures, pamphlets. But these firms are not attractive to buyers. I don’t know anyone who looks at the whole brand and aligns it with the entire business, like we do. In the last few years, every single global firm looking to enter India wanted to do it through R+K. But I wish people would grow up from small 2-4 agency strong outfits. Are you considering acquisitions in the future? Not really. We always manage to hire the kind of people we want. But we’re open to acquisitions in the future, maybe in special areas like digital.
Ceat, Arvind Mills, Shoppers Stop, Godrej, Sify, Cisco, Canara Bank, Network18 — all have got a brand makeover in the recent past. It’s a great time for design agencies, isn’t it?Yes! There is so much on our hands that we have to turn away work everyday. We’ve done the branding for Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad airports. Since January, we also did four brand launches — Ceat, Trident, Arvind and Shoppers Stop.Are companies looking at it as a long-term investment? It has to be long-term. Changing your brand identity every now and then can be too painful. Internationally, there are hardly any companies who changed logos. How long does a re-branding process take? And how much would you charge for single re-branding exercise? It takes about six months to a year. It depends if the company’s made some acquisition or taken some strategic initiatives. Most of the time it happens if it has entered into a new business. We are the most expensive strategic design agency in India and we don’t benchmark our rates with Indian firms in the business. We charge about 10 times more than the next agency.About Rs 10-15 crore? Well, at least that much.Generally, what do companies expect you to do — increase market shares, push sales? Both. Also, address perception issues. It’s something the public sector banks faced when they were unable to address the youth. But design is only a small part of the solution. Today, it is about looking into the entire picture. We’ve been tracking Indian consumers for decades. Most of the times brands become out-of-tune with customer aspirations. Customers have evolved faster than brands. And the Indian consumer has become extremely demanding. The rate of change in his aspirations and desires in the last 5-7 years is much higher than what it was in the last two decades. Today, because of the media, there is a convergence between urban, rural and small towns. They all consume the same media, so their aspirations are shaped in the same way. How do you go about the re-branding process? We do interviews with a cross section of employees of the company; then we brainstorm with separate sets of employees through workshops. We also run anonymous surveys. Then we speak to all other relevant stakeholders, like customers, competition, analysts and even the media. We also include desk research, where we bring in international expertise from The Brand Union. We scan international trends in that industry and decide on the brand strategy.How do you ensure that brand makeover is not cosmetic? Does it permeate to areas like customer service, work atmosphere? You know, people often people say that, “Oh, they just changed the logo”. But think about it. Changing every interface on that logo costs a lot of money and headache. The owners of these companies have spent their blood, money and sweat to grow them where they are, and they wouldn’t opt for a brand makeover if there wasn’t a good enough reason for it. With Canara Bank, for example, people only saw the logo change. What they didn’t see was that we employed management consultants and recommendations were made to bring people closer together, boost morale. So there was an HR consultancy also working with us. It’s just that these initiatives don’t get plastered on Marine Drive. But the logo does! Once a brand makeover has happened, how do you measure the success or failure of the entire exercise? In most cases, its not difficult to do it. Product branding, for example. We used to do it a lot in the past, like Fair & Lovely, Kissan and Mother Dairy. You can measure it because your sales go up. Corporate branding is measured through either a general perception index or through audits, which we do very often. Earlier branding addressed only external customers. Today, branding is targeted at even your employees, because you need them and there’s a huge talent crunch! Employees want to engage with the brand that they’re working for, but organisations don’t allow them to do it. Aren’t ad agencies trying to turn the tide by forming own design cells? Ad agencies don’t have the specialisation required for this. Branding is about detail, while advertising is about the big picture. Clients are clear about what they want.Which agency would you rate as No 2 and by how far? That’s a terrible question to ask (Laughs). There are hundreds of smaller boutiques who do very pretty work on brochures, pamphlets. But these firms are not attractive to buyers. I don’t know anyone who looks at the whole brand and aligns it with the entire business, like we do. In the last few years, every single global firm looking to enter India wanted to do it through R+K. But I wish people would grow up from small 2-4 agency strong outfits. Are you considering acquisitions in the future? Not really. We always manage to hire the kind of people we want. But we’re open to acquisitions in the future, maybe in special areas like digital.
Ramayan going Global
NDTV Imagine’s Ramayan going global
Expects to regain 50% of its cost via syndication
Meera Mohanty
New Delhi, June 27 NDTV Imagine is leveraging its content through syndication; it expects to regain as much as 50 per cent of its costs on certain shows from out of TV, or out of advertising revenues before the first two years.
“Syndication was always considered a residual or add-on revenue. But at Imagine, we have a different philosophy; we don’t consider ourselves just as a channel, but content creators. We will come up with ideas across platforms,” said Mr Gaurav Gandhi, EVP, Business Operations and Ancillary Revenues, NDTV Imagine.
It has syndicated its Ramayan to Sun Network’s Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam channels. The programme is now reaching 15 million more viewers (NDTV Imagine claims its own Hindi version reached 65 million on prime time). The channel is earning additional revenues from the license fee and a share of advertising revenues that the dubbed versions will generate.
On the agenda is to take Ramayan to Bengali and Marathi audiences through similar tie-ups. The content will also travel to Mauritius, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and will see a multi-lingual home video release. Children’s programmes have been syndicated earlier, so have general entertainment shows and formats, but not while the original version was on air simultaneously. A great part of the credit, Mr Gandhi insisted, goes to Sun Network for betting on the acceptance of a dubbed version of NDTV’s Ramayan. The show’s running at 7 o’clock in the evening on Surya and Gemini and on Sunday mornings on Sun TV.
“The content is doing extremely well in the dubbed versions too. It’s been on air for about a month on Sun and the ratings for the slot have nearly doubled from 4-5 to 10-11 TRPs) said Mr Gandhi. “Mythology and kids content travel well. Soaps don’t always travel well,” said Mr Gandhi. But at NDTV Imagine, new revenue options, such as home video, are being factored in early on.
Nachle Ve, the dance based show hosted by choreographer Saroj Khan, will now be made available as dance tutorials in Jane Fonda-style home videos. It will be released in Germany and France, and licensed domestically too, according to Mr Gandhi. Its English learning programming, ‘Angrezi mein kehte hain” will also see new language versions; talks are also on with an university to use it as teaching material. The channel is also exporting the formats themselves. An Egyptian version of Nachle Ve, hosted by an Egyptian counterpart of Ms Khan, will be produced with the help and expertise of NDTV Imagine.
Expects to regain 50% of its cost via syndication
Meera Mohanty
New Delhi, June 27 NDTV Imagine is leveraging its content through syndication; it expects to regain as much as 50 per cent of its costs on certain shows from out of TV, or out of advertising revenues before the first two years.
“Syndication was always considered a residual or add-on revenue. But at Imagine, we have a different philosophy; we don’t consider ourselves just as a channel, but content creators. We will come up with ideas across platforms,” said Mr Gaurav Gandhi, EVP, Business Operations and Ancillary Revenues, NDTV Imagine.
It has syndicated its Ramayan to Sun Network’s Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam channels. The programme is now reaching 15 million more viewers (NDTV Imagine claims its own Hindi version reached 65 million on prime time). The channel is earning additional revenues from the license fee and a share of advertising revenues that the dubbed versions will generate.
On the agenda is to take Ramayan to Bengali and Marathi audiences through similar tie-ups. The content will also travel to Mauritius, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and will see a multi-lingual home video release. Children’s programmes have been syndicated earlier, so have general entertainment shows and formats, but not while the original version was on air simultaneously. A great part of the credit, Mr Gandhi insisted, goes to Sun Network for betting on the acceptance of a dubbed version of NDTV’s Ramayan. The show’s running at 7 o’clock in the evening on Surya and Gemini and on Sunday mornings on Sun TV.
“The content is doing extremely well in the dubbed versions too. It’s been on air for about a month on Sun and the ratings for the slot have nearly doubled from 4-5 to 10-11 TRPs) said Mr Gandhi. “Mythology and kids content travel well. Soaps don’t always travel well,” said Mr Gandhi. But at NDTV Imagine, new revenue options, such as home video, are being factored in early on.
Nachle Ve, the dance based show hosted by choreographer Saroj Khan, will now be made available as dance tutorials in Jane Fonda-style home videos. It will be released in Germany and France, and licensed domestically too, according to Mr Gandhi. Its English learning programming, ‘Angrezi mein kehte hain” will also see new language versions; talks are also on with an university to use it as teaching material. The channel is also exporting the formats themselves. An Egyptian version of Nachle Ve, hosted by an Egyptian counterpart of Ms Khan, will be produced with the help and expertise of NDTV Imagine.
Gurukul
Anoothi Vishal / New Delhi June 28, 2008, 0:52 IST
Indian classrooms are now opening up to the world.
When Jessica Pealchen, a class eight student at Lotus Valley International School in Noida, returns after her summer break next week, she will be telling teachers and classmates of a holiday spent differently from Indian schoolchildren.
While her peers may have been off to "smart" foreign or domestic locations — or at the very least, to their grandparents — Jessica and her mother were in Mumbai to see "the large slum".
By the time she is back, she will hopefully know it's called Dharavi, and may even have numbers such as one million (the slum's population) on her fingertips — but that's another matter.
Jessica's choice of holiday destination is not the only thing that separates her from other schoolmates in the suburb. For one, there's her nationality (she's German); for another, her background (she's travelled all over the world, thanks to her father's job with Volkswagen; she was last at the American School in the Caribbean, where they hardly ever "studied", and spoke only Spanish); and, of course, her language.
Having studied Hindi for three years, she knows enough to get by, but just. "Sometimes other kids call me ‘German Shepherd' and names in Hindi, but I am not bothered," she grins effortlessly as only a schoolkid can, "My friends have taught me all the bad words in Hindi so I know if someone is using them."
Adults may worry over displacement angst but Jessica is clearly thriving on her multicultural experience in a school with students from 10 different nationalities. She loves the Indian-Chinese food they serve in the canteen every Thursday, likes math, has friends whose homes she visits, and is clearly a favourite with teachers.
Jessica's parents have told her that "In the old days, schools in Germany too used to be like this, with rules and discipline."
In class four, brothers Liam and Ashton Pansearohud are probably more ambivalent towards the "rules and discipline". In South Africa, where they had earlier studied, they didn't have to contend with such issues.
"We were never punished," they say, fidgeting outside class, but also mindful that had it not been for schooling in India, they would never have got a chance to do "so many things…horseriding, golf, swimming, tennis", activities that their very fancy school offers alongside interactive smart boards in classrooms, central air-conditioning, the Advanced level suite of examinations and, in junior classes, a playway method of teaching.
In the last five years the rise of "international" schools in India — with or without affiliation to the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme — is well-documented.
With money from the corporate sector pouring into this very lucrative business, none of the "excesses" that used to get talked about even a year or two ago — wi-fi classrooms, laptop-carrying pupils, air-conditioned school buses with security, extra-curricular activities ranging from shooting ranges in the premises to yoga for the tots, and campuses to rival five-star hotels in their look and feel — seem as eye-popping as they did when these schools first started changing the face of education in India.
But while such schools have always attracted NRIs and moneyed Indians of a certain class and aspiration — children looking to go abroad, seeking IB or International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) tags — they are now emerging as magnets for foreign students from the Asia-Pacific region and, more recently, from even Europe and South America, "countries such as Italy, Germany, France, Spain, even Chile, which are close culturally to the Indian ethos", as Alka Varma, head of admissions at Pathways, an elite school in Gurgaon (with children from an astounding 53 countries this session), says.
Sandeep Dutt, author of the Guide to Good Schools of India, trainer in the field of education and bookseller by profession, whose English Book Depot publishes and supplies tomes to most of India's "good schools", says the education sector is sitting on a boom "the kind that you have seen with IT or medicine, without government intervention, solely through private initiative".
So if IT is outsourcing talent and "five-star" hospitals attracting substantial "tourists", schools in India too are not lagging behind. In fact, with the rapidly increasing number of foreign students — primary to high school level — India is emerging as a popular destination for education, even if you discount the over 15,500 "colleges" of higher learning.
Numbers, of course, don't always tell you the whole story. While CBSE lists 8,979 schools affiliated to it (till March last year), including those abroad, experts like Dutt put the number of elite private schools "of a certain standard", with boarding facilities, at just 100-200, with about 500 students enrolled in each.
Of these, 10 per cent on average are expat students — though Woodstock in Mussoorie always had American students, newer ones like Pathways in Gurgaon, and the Mahindra United World College India, off Pune, have a much higher percentage of foreign enrollments.
Both the number of foreign students in these existing schools and the number of such schools itself is rising phenomenally.
In fact, experts "safely" say that as many as 70-80 more such schools are to come up in the country this year (on an average, a school set up on 25-30 acres of land needs a three-year gestation period; the annual percentage growth is thus more conservative, estimated at about 15 per cent per annum).
The schools themselves report an increase in the number of foreign admissions in the last few years, and a change in student profiles.
Kodaikanal International, a Christian multicultural residential school in Tamil Nadu, has always had a substantial presence of American students, but this year dean Sam Balachandra is amazed.
"There is now a trend towards students from Europe, probably because our students have gone to Europe with good IB results," he offers. There's also another segment seeing a rapid increase: students from Asia-Pacific, Korea in particular.
"We used to have 10-15 students from Korea, but this year we already have 20," Balachandra says. Consultant Gulab Ramchandani, credited as the founder of the new schools movement in India — he has designed schools from the likes of Assam Valley to Bawa Lalvani Public School in Kapurthala to Jain International in Bangalore — agrees.
"Earlier", says Ramchandani, "a significant market was the Middle East and schools would host fairs there to attract students." But now that has stopped "since those countries have also got good schools".
There were always students from Nepal, Thailand and the Saarc nations, he says, "but these days, I see a lot of Korean students. By and large, they don't create any problems. They may show off a new phone once in a while but are clean, no drugs."
One reason for students from Korea and also Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia enrolling in Indian boarding and elite day schools is the medium of instruction: English. "Where else is proper English spoken any longer? Certainly not in the US or UK," laughs Pramod Sharma, principal, Mayo College, Ajmer, who has entertained enquiries from Korean students but says that seats get filled with Indian students and those from Saarc countries.
Sharma adds that upward mobility in the countries is through English, so parents send their wards to Indian schools, generally recognised as being able to bestow good skills in the language. (Reports in the foreign press suggest that primary and secondary students in South Korea are increasingly taking TOEFL exams because they need the scores to apply to "special purpose" high schools and, finally, universities abroad.)
So high is the demand for Indian schools that middlemen and "consultants" seem to be having a field day. "There is obviously a lot of money to be made," Sharma says, explaining how e-mails go around seeking bulk admissions for foreign students.
"If a school normally charges Rs 1.3 lakh per child, foreigners are prepared to pay Rs 2.5 lakh per child plus a commission of Rs 50,000 to whoever gets the admission done."
Even at the extra cost and in spite of international schools charging several times more than most CBSE or ICSE affiliated private schools in the country, these work out to be much cheaper for foreign students than schools in the US or the UK.
One of the biggest trends in private schooling in India is the IB affiliation. In education hub Pune, the Mercedes-Benz International School and the Mahindra United World College used to be the only IB schools. Now, at least five new ones have entered this space in the last two years, including MIT Gurukul and Indus International School, Symbiosis International and the Sharad Pawar International School.
Even the hoary Doon School has become an IB World School since 2006. Apart from being an elite-magnet, the affiliation encourages more international students. Even without that, educationists are united in dubbing the Indian education system "the best in the world".
What they imply is that schools here subscribe to an Eastern ethos while allowing for modern teaching methods and ensuring five-star comforts for students. This is a blend that students (and parents) from culturally conservative countries appreciate.
Hui-Jeong-Gim, a class eight Korean student at Lotus Valley, will probably agree with that. She has been in school in India for four years, speaks English in a markedly Indian way, and says that though she was "initially very shy", she now likes her classmates because "they also respect their gods like we do".
Kodaikanal's dean Balachandra remarks how assimilation is an issue with Korean students, "Their parents insist they stay in separate dorms, not with the rest, otherwise they'll not have any friends." Teachers say that while students from Asian cultures are diligent, they're aloof.
For students from the West, that's not an issue — but there are others. At the MIIT Gurukul, only vegetarian food is served and William Fernandes, head (admissions), admits that "there have been instances where we have had to counsel the students and parents on a vegetarian diet". There are counsellors to help foreign students accustom themselves to Indian culture.
At the Mahindra United World College, where the ratio of foreign : Indian students is 70 : 40, the rural setting is used to establish bonds with a "real" India. Students are required to participate in community service and group games. In the picturesque Western Ghats, colliding with India at close quarters, who can deny that this too is education?
Indian classrooms are now opening up to the world.
When Jessica Pealchen, a class eight student at Lotus Valley International School in Noida, returns after her summer break next week, she will be telling teachers and classmates of a holiday spent differently from Indian schoolchildren.
While her peers may have been off to "smart" foreign or domestic locations — or at the very least, to their grandparents — Jessica and her mother were in Mumbai to see "the large slum".
By the time she is back, she will hopefully know it's called Dharavi, and may even have numbers such as one million (the slum's population) on her fingertips — but that's another matter.
Jessica's choice of holiday destination is not the only thing that separates her from other schoolmates in the suburb. For one, there's her nationality (she's German); for another, her background (she's travelled all over the world, thanks to her father's job with Volkswagen; she was last at the American School in the Caribbean, where they hardly ever "studied", and spoke only Spanish); and, of course, her language.
Having studied Hindi for three years, she knows enough to get by, but just. "Sometimes other kids call me ‘German Shepherd' and names in Hindi, but I am not bothered," she grins effortlessly as only a schoolkid can, "My friends have taught me all the bad words in Hindi so I know if someone is using them."
Adults may worry over displacement angst but Jessica is clearly thriving on her multicultural experience in a school with students from 10 different nationalities. She loves the Indian-Chinese food they serve in the canteen every Thursday, likes math, has friends whose homes she visits, and is clearly a favourite with teachers.
Jessica's parents have told her that "In the old days, schools in Germany too used to be like this, with rules and discipline."
In class four, brothers Liam and Ashton Pansearohud are probably more ambivalent towards the "rules and discipline". In South Africa, where they had earlier studied, they didn't have to contend with such issues.
"We were never punished," they say, fidgeting outside class, but also mindful that had it not been for schooling in India, they would never have got a chance to do "so many things…horseriding, golf, swimming, tennis", activities that their very fancy school offers alongside interactive smart boards in classrooms, central air-conditioning, the Advanced level suite of examinations and, in junior classes, a playway method of teaching.
In the last five years the rise of "international" schools in India — with or without affiliation to the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme — is well-documented.
With money from the corporate sector pouring into this very lucrative business, none of the "excesses" that used to get talked about even a year or two ago — wi-fi classrooms, laptop-carrying pupils, air-conditioned school buses with security, extra-curricular activities ranging from shooting ranges in the premises to yoga for the tots, and campuses to rival five-star hotels in their look and feel — seem as eye-popping as they did when these schools first started changing the face of education in India.
But while such schools have always attracted NRIs and moneyed Indians of a certain class and aspiration — children looking to go abroad, seeking IB or International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) tags — they are now emerging as magnets for foreign students from the Asia-Pacific region and, more recently, from even Europe and South America, "countries such as Italy, Germany, France, Spain, even Chile, which are close culturally to the Indian ethos", as Alka Varma, head of admissions at Pathways, an elite school in Gurgaon (with children from an astounding 53 countries this session), says.
Sandeep Dutt, author of the Guide to Good Schools of India, trainer in the field of education and bookseller by profession, whose English Book Depot publishes and supplies tomes to most of India's "good schools", says the education sector is sitting on a boom "the kind that you have seen with IT or medicine, without government intervention, solely through private initiative".
So if IT is outsourcing talent and "five-star" hospitals attracting substantial "tourists", schools in India too are not lagging behind. In fact, with the rapidly increasing number of foreign students — primary to high school level — India is emerging as a popular destination for education, even if you discount the over 15,500 "colleges" of higher learning.
Numbers, of course, don't always tell you the whole story. While CBSE lists 8,979 schools affiliated to it (till March last year), including those abroad, experts like Dutt put the number of elite private schools "of a certain standard", with boarding facilities, at just 100-200, with about 500 students enrolled in each.
Of these, 10 per cent on average are expat students — though Woodstock in Mussoorie always had American students, newer ones like Pathways in Gurgaon, and the Mahindra United World College India, off Pune, have a much higher percentage of foreign enrollments.
Both the number of foreign students in these existing schools and the number of such schools itself is rising phenomenally.
In fact, experts "safely" say that as many as 70-80 more such schools are to come up in the country this year (on an average, a school set up on 25-30 acres of land needs a three-year gestation period; the annual percentage growth is thus more conservative, estimated at about 15 per cent per annum).
The schools themselves report an increase in the number of foreign admissions in the last few years, and a change in student profiles.
Kodaikanal International, a Christian multicultural residential school in Tamil Nadu, has always had a substantial presence of American students, but this year dean Sam Balachandra is amazed.
"There is now a trend towards students from Europe, probably because our students have gone to Europe with good IB results," he offers. There's also another segment seeing a rapid increase: students from Asia-Pacific, Korea in particular.
"We used to have 10-15 students from Korea, but this year we already have 20," Balachandra says. Consultant Gulab Ramchandani, credited as the founder of the new schools movement in India — he has designed schools from the likes of Assam Valley to Bawa Lalvani Public School in Kapurthala to Jain International in Bangalore — agrees.
"Earlier", says Ramchandani, "a significant market was the Middle East and schools would host fairs there to attract students." But now that has stopped "since those countries have also got good schools".
There were always students from Nepal, Thailand and the Saarc nations, he says, "but these days, I see a lot of Korean students. By and large, they don't create any problems. They may show off a new phone once in a while but are clean, no drugs."
One reason for students from Korea and also Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia enrolling in Indian boarding and elite day schools is the medium of instruction: English. "Where else is proper English spoken any longer? Certainly not in the US or UK," laughs Pramod Sharma, principal, Mayo College, Ajmer, who has entertained enquiries from Korean students but says that seats get filled with Indian students and those from Saarc countries.
Sharma adds that upward mobility in the countries is through English, so parents send their wards to Indian schools, generally recognised as being able to bestow good skills in the language. (Reports in the foreign press suggest that primary and secondary students in South Korea are increasingly taking TOEFL exams because they need the scores to apply to "special purpose" high schools and, finally, universities abroad.)
So high is the demand for Indian schools that middlemen and "consultants" seem to be having a field day. "There is obviously a lot of money to be made," Sharma says, explaining how e-mails go around seeking bulk admissions for foreign students.
"If a school normally charges Rs 1.3 lakh per child, foreigners are prepared to pay Rs 2.5 lakh per child plus a commission of Rs 50,000 to whoever gets the admission done."
Even at the extra cost and in spite of international schools charging several times more than most CBSE or ICSE affiliated private schools in the country, these work out to be much cheaper for foreign students than schools in the US or the UK.
One of the biggest trends in private schooling in India is the IB affiliation. In education hub Pune, the Mercedes-Benz International School and the Mahindra United World College used to be the only IB schools. Now, at least five new ones have entered this space in the last two years, including MIT Gurukul and Indus International School, Symbiosis International and the Sharad Pawar International School.
Even the hoary Doon School has become an IB World School since 2006. Apart from being an elite-magnet, the affiliation encourages more international students. Even without that, educationists are united in dubbing the Indian education system "the best in the world".
What they imply is that schools here subscribe to an Eastern ethos while allowing for modern teaching methods and ensuring five-star comforts for students. This is a blend that students (and parents) from culturally conservative countries appreciate.
Hui-Jeong-Gim, a class eight Korean student at Lotus Valley, will probably agree with that. She has been in school in India for four years, speaks English in a markedly Indian way, and says that though she was "initially very shy", she now likes her classmates because "they also respect their gods like we do".
Kodaikanal's dean Balachandra remarks how assimilation is an issue with Korean students, "Their parents insist they stay in separate dorms, not with the rest, otherwise they'll not have any friends." Teachers say that while students from Asian cultures are diligent, they're aloof.
For students from the West, that's not an issue — but there are others. At the MIIT Gurukul, only vegetarian food is served and William Fernandes, head (admissions), admits that "there have been instances where we have had to counsel the students and parents on a vegetarian diet". There are counsellors to help foreign students accustom themselves to Indian culture.
At the Mahindra United World College, where the ratio of foreign : Indian students is 70 : 40, the rural setting is used to establish bonds with a "real" India. Students are required to participate in community service and group games. In the picturesque Western Ghats, colliding with India at close quarters, who can deny that this too is education?
Remembering Sam Manekshaw - 4
The wonder that was Sam
APRIL 3, 1914 - JUNE 27, 2008
Ashok Mehta / New Delhi June 28, 2008, 0:30 IST
For managers struggling to learn the intricacies of that complex thing called leadership, the model to follow is Manekshaw.
So Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw is gone. The last time I met him was in Delhi over a drink. He was here to attend one of innumerable board meetings. We spoke of soldiering in war and peace. I learnt several lessons anew. One of them was a facet of Sam I hadn't known before.
The fact is there were other Generals in the Indian Army cleverer than him. But it was he who became a living legend of the Indian Army. How? One reason is Manekshaw was one of the finest communicators the Indian Army has ever had. And for managers struggling to learn the intricacies of that complex thing called leadership, the model to follow is Manekshaw.
On March 30, 1972, three and a half months after his victory over Pakistan, in a speech to cadets at the passing out parade at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Manekshaw said: "You are leaving here this morning as officers, as leaders. You will be going from here to your units that are deployed on the border. They are facing an enemy whom they have but recently fought and vanquished. You are going to be given command of troops in an operational area. You are indeed fortunate. Your tasks will be to administer to their needs and to lead them in battle. What sort of men will you be leading? You will be leading veterans, men who have fought, men who have won, men who are used to good leadership. Make sure you give it to them." His speech, his bearing, suggested grace was more important in victory than in defeat.
Management manuals are now discovering many of the attributes of leadership that came to Manekshaw naturally. He had a healthy contempt for bureaucratic authority and detested fawning officers. He wrote in the confidential report of one such officer: "Why this officer has not developed a stammer is incomprehensible to me. I know I shall never suffer from piles."
He was obsessive about the welfare of the troops, although few know that the Field Marshal never commanded a battalion. He was a fastidious and unconventional dresser, his uniform never conformed to regulation, it was always that little bit smarter. And he flirted outrageously with the ladies. All this came together to create a mystique that made people listen to Manekshaw — after all, how many chiefs would refuse to call the prime minister Madame on the grounds that it would be impolite to use a word more appropriate in bawdy houses?
Not everything Manekshaw described about his days in the Army was strictly accurate. Lt Gen JFR Jacob, in his Witness to Surrender, an account of the war for Bangladesh, says the capture of Dacca — the event that led to the complete surrender of the Pakistan Army — was never an objective set out by those who planned the war from Delhi, namely Army Headquarters. Gen Jacob's book is intended to demystify India's military victory over Pakistan in 1971 and Manekshaw's part in it.
But although that is probably the truth, the reality is that because of his personality and the way he told the story, Manekshaw's version of the war is the one that India internalised. He warded off pressures from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to go to war following the crackdown by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan. "War, yes. But not now" he said. During a cabinet meeting Manekshaw managed to convince Gandhi that more time was required to ensure victory. "I guarantee the capture of East Pakistan in two weeks" he said on at least two occasions. It was the timing of the war that won it for India, though Mankshaw accepted, luck played a part.
Sam became a Field Marshal in 1973. For someone who was nearly sacked as a two-star General for being too anglicised and rubbing the wrong way, Defence Minister Krishna Menon and Lt Gen Bijji Kaul, his rehabilitation was remarkable. What saved him from the guillotine was the 1962 war (the Chinese came to my rescue, he used to say). Ironically he was promoted to relieve Kaul, the very man gunning for him. Immediately on reaching the demoralised 4 Corps headquarters he announced: "Gentlemen, I have arrived. There will be no more withdrawal in 4 Corps". Providentially the Chinese declared a unilateral ceasefire and from then on Sam rose to give India its first decisive military victory in 1971.
Today Manekshaw's home Stavka, in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, custom designed by his late wife, Silloo, must be silent. He used have half a dozen Gorkhas in attendance, two dogs, one called Piffer and the other one called Ceasar; and a cow. He used to do his own typing and replied to his mail himself. His bridge partners at the Wellington Gymkhana Club must be desolate — he was regular visitor. He used to be on the board of 14 companies. Then it became six, and lately, he had been excusing himself from most.
Manekshaw had many stories to tell. But one of the most exquisite was the one when at a presidential banquet, he told Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi: "You look very pretty tonight". Surrounded by her ministers, she bowed and said: "Thank you, Sam".
Had Sam not gone off to join the Army he might have become a gynecologist. Luckily he did become a soldier and went on to win the Military Cross in Burma later joining the 8 Gurkha Rifles. He was a favourite with the Gurkhas. It was during his visit to Nepal in 1972 that King Mahendra conferred on him the title of Honorary General of his Army which ruffled some feathers in the Foreign Ministry at Delhi. Since then both countries have made each other's Army Chiefs Generals of their armies. For the Gurkhas he will always be Sam Bahadur, a name given to him on the spur of the moment by Harka Bahadur, a young soldier from his battalion.
Sadly in the twilight of his life, he became a victim of a TV assault. After then President APJ Abdul Kalam handed over Rs 1.6 crore as pension arrears following a hike in the Field Marshal's pension, a TV channel raked up Pakistani soldier-diplomat, Gauhar Ayub's charge against an Indian Brigadier who allegedly sold in the early 1950s, Indian war plans to the enemy for Rs 20,000. A conversation between Manekshaw and US Consul General William K Hitchcock in Calcutta in 1967, in which Hitchcock reported how indiscreet Manekshaw was, was also recalled. Ayub's book where he threatened to reveal all, is however, yet to come out.
In 1968 when Sam was about to become Chief of Army Staff, I was sounded to be ready to move at short notice, as his aide-de-camp. That never happened. Later I knew why. Sam said: "that b….r ? I'll end up becoming his ADC". It was an appointment I didn't get. To this day I have not ceased to regret it.
When the Field Marshal was leading the India-Pakistan war of 1972, Major General Ashok K Mehta was racing towards Dacca with a battalion of 2/5 Gorkha Rifles to help capture it
APRIL 3, 1914 - JUNE 27, 2008
Ashok Mehta / New Delhi June 28, 2008, 0:30 IST
For managers struggling to learn the intricacies of that complex thing called leadership, the model to follow is Manekshaw.
So Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw is gone. The last time I met him was in Delhi over a drink. He was here to attend one of innumerable board meetings. We spoke of soldiering in war and peace. I learnt several lessons anew. One of them was a facet of Sam I hadn't known before.
The fact is there were other Generals in the Indian Army cleverer than him. But it was he who became a living legend of the Indian Army. How? One reason is Manekshaw was one of the finest communicators the Indian Army has ever had. And for managers struggling to learn the intricacies of that complex thing called leadership, the model to follow is Manekshaw.
On March 30, 1972, three and a half months after his victory over Pakistan, in a speech to cadets at the passing out parade at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Manekshaw said: "You are leaving here this morning as officers, as leaders. You will be going from here to your units that are deployed on the border. They are facing an enemy whom they have but recently fought and vanquished. You are going to be given command of troops in an operational area. You are indeed fortunate. Your tasks will be to administer to their needs and to lead them in battle. What sort of men will you be leading? You will be leading veterans, men who have fought, men who have won, men who are used to good leadership. Make sure you give it to them." His speech, his bearing, suggested grace was more important in victory than in defeat.
Management manuals are now discovering many of the attributes of leadership that came to Manekshaw naturally. He had a healthy contempt for bureaucratic authority and detested fawning officers. He wrote in the confidential report of one such officer: "Why this officer has not developed a stammer is incomprehensible to me. I know I shall never suffer from piles."
He was obsessive about the welfare of the troops, although few know that the Field Marshal never commanded a battalion. He was a fastidious and unconventional dresser, his uniform never conformed to regulation, it was always that little bit smarter. And he flirted outrageously with the ladies. All this came together to create a mystique that made people listen to Manekshaw — after all, how many chiefs would refuse to call the prime minister Madame on the grounds that it would be impolite to use a word more appropriate in bawdy houses?
Not everything Manekshaw described about his days in the Army was strictly accurate. Lt Gen JFR Jacob, in his Witness to Surrender, an account of the war for Bangladesh, says the capture of Dacca — the event that led to the complete surrender of the Pakistan Army — was never an objective set out by those who planned the war from Delhi, namely Army Headquarters. Gen Jacob's book is intended to demystify India's military victory over Pakistan in 1971 and Manekshaw's part in it.
But although that is probably the truth, the reality is that because of his personality and the way he told the story, Manekshaw's version of the war is the one that India internalised. He warded off pressures from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to go to war following the crackdown by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan. "War, yes. But not now" he said. During a cabinet meeting Manekshaw managed to convince Gandhi that more time was required to ensure victory. "I guarantee the capture of East Pakistan in two weeks" he said on at least two occasions. It was the timing of the war that won it for India, though Mankshaw accepted, luck played a part.
Sam became a Field Marshal in 1973. For someone who was nearly sacked as a two-star General for being too anglicised and rubbing the wrong way, Defence Minister Krishna Menon and Lt Gen Bijji Kaul, his rehabilitation was remarkable. What saved him from the guillotine was the 1962 war (the Chinese came to my rescue, he used to say). Ironically he was promoted to relieve Kaul, the very man gunning for him. Immediately on reaching the demoralised 4 Corps headquarters he announced: "Gentlemen, I have arrived. There will be no more withdrawal in 4 Corps". Providentially the Chinese declared a unilateral ceasefire and from then on Sam rose to give India its first decisive military victory in 1971.
Today Manekshaw's home Stavka, in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, custom designed by his late wife, Silloo, must be silent. He used have half a dozen Gorkhas in attendance, two dogs, one called Piffer and the other one called Ceasar; and a cow. He used to do his own typing and replied to his mail himself. His bridge partners at the Wellington Gymkhana Club must be desolate — he was regular visitor. He used to be on the board of 14 companies. Then it became six, and lately, he had been excusing himself from most.
Manekshaw had many stories to tell. But one of the most exquisite was the one when at a presidential banquet, he told Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi: "You look very pretty tonight". Surrounded by her ministers, she bowed and said: "Thank you, Sam".
Had Sam not gone off to join the Army he might have become a gynecologist. Luckily he did become a soldier and went on to win the Military Cross in Burma later joining the 8 Gurkha Rifles. He was a favourite with the Gurkhas. It was during his visit to Nepal in 1972 that King Mahendra conferred on him the title of Honorary General of his Army which ruffled some feathers in the Foreign Ministry at Delhi. Since then both countries have made each other's Army Chiefs Generals of their armies. For the Gurkhas he will always be Sam Bahadur, a name given to him on the spur of the moment by Harka Bahadur, a young soldier from his battalion.
Sadly in the twilight of his life, he became a victim of a TV assault. After then President APJ Abdul Kalam handed over Rs 1.6 crore as pension arrears following a hike in the Field Marshal's pension, a TV channel raked up Pakistani soldier-diplomat, Gauhar Ayub's charge against an Indian Brigadier who allegedly sold in the early 1950s, Indian war plans to the enemy for Rs 20,000. A conversation between Manekshaw and US Consul General William K Hitchcock in Calcutta in 1967, in which Hitchcock reported how indiscreet Manekshaw was, was also recalled. Ayub's book where he threatened to reveal all, is however, yet to come out.
In 1968 when Sam was about to become Chief of Army Staff, I was sounded to be ready to move at short notice, as his aide-de-camp. That never happened. Later I knew why. Sam said: "that b….r ? I'll end up becoming his ADC". It was an appointment I didn't get. To this day I have not ceased to regret it.
When the Field Marshal was leading the India-Pakistan war of 1972, Major General Ashok K Mehta was racing towards Dacca with a battalion of 2/5 Gorkha Rifles to help capture it
Sonia'S New Clothes
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi June 28, 2008, 0:29 IST
The fiasco over the Left alliance, among others, exposes the party's weaknesses.
The attacks on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have started. One cabinet minister has said people elected from the Rajya Sabha should not be the ones to decide India's fate. Another minister has said that the Congress is looking to its president to set the priorities right — the decision to go for elections should be taken by the party, not by the government.
Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is saying nothing. Last week a delegation from Madhya Pradesh met her to tell her that if elections were to be held, the Assembly elections should be delinked from the general elections. If the two were held together, the Congress would be wiped out. "Aisa hai?" (is that so) she asked with seemingly gentle incredulity.
The fact is, the disarray in the managerial ranks of the Congress Party is out in the open for the second time in a year. First the Presidential elections and now this.
The story tells itself if you view the Congress-Left relationship as an M&A gone wrong. When the Left parties decided to support the Congress, they did so because they wanted to keep the political marketplace free of the tainting influence of the BJP. The family that defines a common enemy stays together. So far, so good. But below the surface, there was also an attempt to suborn the other: elements in the Congress believed they could capitalize on the vastly superior secular credentials of the Left; the Left thought it could radicalize the Congress and claim the credit for it.
Both processes occurred in the parallel. Those in the Congress who were drawn into the honeypot of Left support became the strongest supporters of the Left within the Congress, rather like the Mohan Kumaramangalams of yore. The logic was: if we have to continue to fight against the BJP, we need a relationship with the Left because not just now, later too, we will need Left support to form a coalition. The days of single-party governments are gone.
Those in the Left parties keen to see a common front against the BJP prosper and flourish with some crumbs falling their way also looked the other way when ideological compromises were made. So when Sonia Gandhi went to Baharampur, West Bengal and said: "I am with the people of Nandigram who faced sorrow and hardship, especially with the women, children and farmers" and slammed the Left Front government over the law and order situation, the Left parties just ignored the jibe. That the UPA government was undertaking no land reform, was not the subject of popular strikes and agitations. It was only a subject for editorial writers at People's Democracy.
All these calculations didn't really affect the vast central stream in both groups that was content to hear views from the Left and right but refused to be swept off its feet by either.
This is where coalition management went wrong. It is the job of middle management to do Swot analyses, to anticipate difficulties. Shouldn't someone in the Congress have been talking to the Samajwadi Party in the full knowledge that the Left might have to pull out one day? Shouldn't efforts have been made to win over disgruntled allies of the BJP including Nitish Kumar ? Could the Congress have prevented the deterioration of relations with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti to the point where they had to leave the UPA?
The straightforward fact is the Congress party is pretty much wasting its time setting such store by allies like the RJD and the DMK. In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections — whether they are held early or on schedule — Lalu Prasad is unlikely to get seats above single digit. With the DMK's electoral alliance all but collapsing, new actors — literally and metaphorically — are certain to emerge on the scene in Tamil Nadu politics, rendering the DMK politically irrelevant, at least temporarily. So a section in the Congress is citing pressure from allies to put off elections and dump the nuclear deal; but these are allies which are going to have zero or negligible value when the next election comes around.
So what does that tell us about Sonia Gandhi's leadership of the Congress? The Presidential election was date-bound. It wasn't as if her party was unprepared for it. The Congress is going blue in the face claiming Pratibha Patil was their candidate all along, they just didn't want to show their hand. But frankly, no one believes this and sees that election as the biggest management failure of the Congress. Similarly, the current mess, where Pranab Mukherjee and AK Antony are running breathlessly from meeting to meeting — with the Left, with the Prime Minister, with the Congress President — and trying to cobble up strategic allies at the last minute to save the government and the nuclear deal is nothing but another management failure.
It is now clear that Sonia Gandhi is not the ruthless, tough Congress leader Indira Gandhi was. If she had been, she would have sacked Amarinder Singh a long time ago, kept other Congress chief ministers on tenterhooks and evaluated their performance through independent agencies. There is much that she would have learnt. She might also have been wiser in her choice of Governors — Buta Singh embarrassed the government but there are many others like him around, only less obvious.
Lalu Prasad paid great tributes to her respect for democracy. But the way Congress ministers are telling it, the whole party is against the nuclear deal — barring the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. So what we're seeing is not democracy at all, they say. The question is: what does Sonia Gandhi have to say about it all?
The fiasco over the Left alliance, among others, exposes the party's weaknesses.
The attacks on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have started. One cabinet minister has said people elected from the Rajya Sabha should not be the ones to decide India's fate. Another minister has said that the Congress is looking to its president to set the priorities right — the decision to go for elections should be taken by the party, not by the government.
Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is saying nothing. Last week a delegation from Madhya Pradesh met her to tell her that if elections were to be held, the Assembly elections should be delinked from the general elections. If the two were held together, the Congress would be wiped out. "Aisa hai?" (is that so) she asked with seemingly gentle incredulity.
The fact is, the disarray in the managerial ranks of the Congress Party is out in the open for the second time in a year. First the Presidential elections and now this.
The story tells itself if you view the Congress-Left relationship as an M&A gone wrong. When the Left parties decided to support the Congress, they did so because they wanted to keep the political marketplace free of the tainting influence of the BJP. The family that defines a common enemy stays together. So far, so good. But below the surface, there was also an attempt to suborn the other: elements in the Congress believed they could capitalize on the vastly superior secular credentials of the Left; the Left thought it could radicalize the Congress and claim the credit for it.
Both processes occurred in the parallel. Those in the Congress who were drawn into the honeypot of Left support became the strongest supporters of the Left within the Congress, rather like the Mohan Kumaramangalams of yore. The logic was: if we have to continue to fight against the BJP, we need a relationship with the Left because not just now, later too, we will need Left support to form a coalition. The days of single-party governments are gone.
Those in the Left parties keen to see a common front against the BJP prosper and flourish with some crumbs falling their way also looked the other way when ideological compromises were made. So when Sonia Gandhi went to Baharampur, West Bengal and said: "I am with the people of Nandigram who faced sorrow and hardship, especially with the women, children and farmers" and slammed the Left Front government over the law and order situation, the Left parties just ignored the jibe. That the UPA government was undertaking no land reform, was not the subject of popular strikes and agitations. It was only a subject for editorial writers at People's Democracy.
All these calculations didn't really affect the vast central stream in both groups that was content to hear views from the Left and right but refused to be swept off its feet by either.
This is where coalition management went wrong. It is the job of middle management to do Swot analyses, to anticipate difficulties. Shouldn't someone in the Congress have been talking to the Samajwadi Party in the full knowledge that the Left might have to pull out one day? Shouldn't efforts have been made to win over disgruntled allies of the BJP including Nitish Kumar ? Could the Congress have prevented the deterioration of relations with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti to the point where they had to leave the UPA?
The straightforward fact is the Congress party is pretty much wasting its time setting such store by allies like the RJD and the DMK. In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections — whether they are held early or on schedule — Lalu Prasad is unlikely to get seats above single digit. With the DMK's electoral alliance all but collapsing, new actors — literally and metaphorically — are certain to emerge on the scene in Tamil Nadu politics, rendering the DMK politically irrelevant, at least temporarily. So a section in the Congress is citing pressure from allies to put off elections and dump the nuclear deal; but these are allies which are going to have zero or negligible value when the next election comes around.
So what does that tell us about Sonia Gandhi's leadership of the Congress? The Presidential election was date-bound. It wasn't as if her party was unprepared for it. The Congress is going blue in the face claiming Pratibha Patil was their candidate all along, they just didn't want to show their hand. But frankly, no one believes this and sees that election as the biggest management failure of the Congress. Similarly, the current mess, where Pranab Mukherjee and AK Antony are running breathlessly from meeting to meeting — with the Left, with the Prime Minister, with the Congress President — and trying to cobble up strategic allies at the last minute to save the government and the nuclear deal is nothing but another management failure.
It is now clear that Sonia Gandhi is not the ruthless, tough Congress leader Indira Gandhi was. If she had been, she would have sacked Amarinder Singh a long time ago, kept other Congress chief ministers on tenterhooks and evaluated their performance through independent agencies. There is much that she would have learnt. She might also have been wiser in her choice of Governors — Buta Singh embarrassed the government but there are many others like him around, only less obvious.
Lalu Prasad paid great tributes to her respect for democracy. But the way Congress ministers are telling it, the whole party is against the nuclear deal — barring the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. So what we're seeing is not democracy at all, they say. The question is: what does Sonia Gandhi have to say about it all?
The problem that is the media
T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan / New Delhi June 28, 2008, 0:36 IST
The media needs to introspect about the steep increase in the dissatisfaction with it.
Between 1980 and 1997, I was a full-time journalist. Since then I have been a columnist for this newspaper. This takes up, on average, about three hours a day. In the remaining time, I do a bit of this and a bit of that and it is great fun.
But since my primary identity has been of a journalist, it is not surprising that people should complain to me about the media as if I can do something about it. Initially, I would defend my professional colleagues as being more sinned against than sinning. But not any longer because I think the journalists have a lot to answer for.
So I have decided to devote this article to the media, for two reasons. The first is that 11 years is a long enough time for me to be able to stop defending my former professional colleagues. Second, in the last few months, there has been a steep increase in the number of times people have voiced very deep dis-satisfaction with the media.
Thus, when people complain, it turns out very quickly that they are complaining about television. Print is usually less complained against.
Second, if you ask enough questions, it turns out that most of the complaints are occasioned by irritation rather than a factual mistake in reporting. That perhaps explains why there are fewer complaints against print, which irritates no one except those about whom it has got the facts wrong. They, of course, are incensed but it is only by chance that one gets to meet them when they are really angry. Some, of course, phone to protest.
Third, in the financial press — about which I can claim to know something — it is not mala fide (as is often assumed) but plain old fashioned ignorance that lies at the heart of the problem. This is not to say there are no bent journalists. But they are far fewer now than a decade ago.
Ignorance manifests in some strange ways. For example, a day before the RBI increased the interest rates, the largest circulated newspaper in the country reported that no such thing was even being contemplated. And when the increase was actually announced, the reporter on the largest-viewed business channel just lost it, saying the RBI had misled the markets because it had said that it "soothing" things just the previous day. Recently, a well-reputed newspaper carried a report on page one that every dollar that India accumulated between April and June cost it Rs 169 per dollar. The actual figure was less than Rs 43.
Fourth, there has been a staggering increase in the number of publications, and with it, a corresponding increase in the number of columnists, that is writers who have a fixed space reserved for them in the publication. The result is that persons with very little understanding, leave alone comprehension, have become pundits, writing pretty much what they please. (Many people believe I am one of them but a pox on them).
Fifth, with only a few exceptions, there has been a general devaluation of the editorial. Few papers ever took them seriously but now in most newspapers it has become just one more hole in the page to be filled. And, what is worse, many important newspapers, it has become a vehicle for airing the personal opinion of the editor, rather than that of some group or class interest, which is what the editorial used to do in the past. Two striking examples of this are worth citing. One is the manner in which the nuclear deal has been written about by a leading newspaper from the south — India will become a US pawn in that country's battle against China. The other was the view, expressed repeatedly, in a BJP paper from Delhi that the exit of Nepal's monarch was a blow against Hindus, quite disregarding the fact that those who voted the monarch out were themselves Hindus. There has also been a steep decline in the intellectual quality of the persons charged with writing editorials because it costs so much to hire a clever, well-read and sensible writers.
Sixth, the proliferation of TV channels and its hit-and-run nature has meant the deployment of a vast army of the untutored persons who not only report the news but also, as they babble along, give opinions, usually in response to some inane question from the anchor. But, as I said, these persons are merely irritating. It is the print media that hurts more.
I can go on but the short point is clear: those who complain against the media have a much stronger case today than they did in the past. It is the media, particularly television, which has to take corrective steps. The policy only maximising viewership matters has resulted in people not watching the news as much as they used to — they read the ticker underneath instead.
In the old days they used to shoot the messenger who brought bad news. Now the messengers are shooting themselves.
Oil Slick
T N Ninan / New Delhi June 28, 2008, 0:34 IST
There is much criticism of the government and the Reserve Bank for their handling of the macro-economic problems caused by the spurt in international oil prices. Setting aside the question of who deserves how much criticism and for what, take a short history lesson on what oil prices have done to India, starting with the first oil shock, which was when Opec moved in response to the Yom Kippur war of October 1973 and took oil prices up sharply to the equivalent, in today's context, of $110/barrel.
All those who have been arguing that the Manmohan Singh government should have passed on the full impact of the present oil price increase (and that includes this newspaper), should give Indira Gandhi credit for taking the bit between her teeth and jacking up oil product prices overnight. The price index for the fuel sub-set went up by 80 per cent in barely a year, as a result. General inflation in 1973-74 rose to 20 per cent, and 25 per cent the following year. The fall-out wasn't long in coming. Student mess bills went up in Gujarat, sparking off an agitation that became a movement for unseating the state government. George Fernandes launched a railway strike, and another fire was lit in Bihar against corruption. Before you knew it, Jayaprakash Narayan had started an all-India agitation against the government. In the summer of 1974, Mrs Gandhi finally moved against inflation, imposing a dearness allowance freeze, restricting dividend payouts by companies, and cracking down on money supply. The stock market tanked overnight and the economy stalled, but in three months the inflation curve began dropping, and the JP movement soon began losing steam. It was in fact petering out when the unrelated Allahabad High Court judgment created a fresh crisis that led to the Emergency. Though no one can argue that it was the only cause, Mrs Gandhi's long slide down began with her decision to raise petrol and diesel prices, and the runaway inflation that resulted.
The second oil shock came in 1979-80, when prices touched the current equivalent of about $90 per barrel. The government raised fuel prices, inflation soared from nothing in one year to 17 per cent in the next, GDP actually shrank 5 per cent in the wake of a bad harvest, and there was widespread resentment against what was seen as an incompetent government, which got a drubbing in the election that followed. The foreign exchange situation stabilised only after the new government under Indira Gandhi negotiated what was then the largest ever loan taken from the International Monetary Fund, of $5 billion.
Cut to January 1986. Rajiv Gandhi had just enjoyed a year-long honeymoon with the country through his long first year as Prime Minister. Then he raised oil product prices. There was an almighty uproar, and the government had to roll back the price increase in a matter of weeks, but by then Rajiv's honeymoon was well and truly over and he never recovered. Five years later, in 1990, the first Gulf crisis sparked off a sharp spurt in oil prices, the government kept postponing key decisions and before you knew it the country had run out of foreign exchange. This time, though, there was a happy ending as the economic reforms got launched.
In other words, high oil prices light a fire, every time. In today's context, if the government tries to cushion the impact of oil prices, the fiscal deficit (correctly measured) goes sky-high. If oil prices are raised even slightly, inflation marches into double-digits. The RBI then feels obliged to jack up interest rates, pushing the economy into a slowdown, if not a recession, and what was in the world of reasonable oil prices a sunny economy slips into gloom and doom.
The Winning Formula
Gujarat and West Bengal are ideologically and geographically poles apart, but their politics has something in common. Read carefully between the red and saffron graffiti lines and a similar subtext emerges. Both these governments claim that the Centre, that represents India, is doggedly undermining them though they do all the hard work. This hidden message has helped Modi and the Left Front beat the anti-incumbency factor, while all other political formations have been felled by it. Fortunately for them, no other party in their respective backyards can match them in expressing this form of reluctant sub-nationalism. This is the key to their success: not cadre discipline or Hindutva and development. Jyoti Basu gave the CPM a distinctive appeal when from the early 1960s he fused leftism with an anti-Centre posture. According to the Kolkata communists, even the Green Revolution was aimed to benefit hardy wheat eaters in the north with muscular hybrid varieties, while the east continued to harvest its lowly rice. The joke is that when Jawaharlal Nehru's ashes were doing the rounds in various states and eventually reached Calcutta, it was accorded the deepest respect. But Basu, the sceptic, lifted the top of the urn, inspected the ashes inside, then turned to his people and triumphantly announced: "I knew it; we got less." Recently, Modi made a public declaration that Gujaratis should consider not paying any central taxes as all the money Delhi soaks in from this state goes elsewhere. According to Modi, Gujarat contributes Rs 40,000 crore but gets only 2.5 per cent of it. Obviously there are bad guys out there at the Centre, who are using this money, fiddling with the books and fattening their purses. Much of Gujarat's development began well before Modi became chief minister in 2001. Gujarat ranked third among the top 15 Indian states in terms of growth and industrial output. But, as some argue, it may have slipped to the fourth position after Modi took over. The real per capita income growth in Gujarat has reportedly gone down as well between 1994-95 and 2005-06. Out of 17 sub-sectors that measure growth performance, Gujarat has done well only in eight. Its gender parity index in terms of school attendance at the higher primary level shows that it is lower than most other states. For every 100 boys in school in that grade there are only about 81 girls. Not a very comforting human development statistic. Unlike Gujarat, the Left Front inherited an underdeveloped economy in West Bengal, and they have since done their bit to deepen it. There are now fewer teachers per school and more patients per primary health centre even after three decades of "communist" rule in this state. In fact, in terms of education, health and the electrification of households, West Bengal is in the back of the class, rubbing shoulders with Bihar, UP and Mizoram. Yet the Left Front keeps getting elected. To argue that Hindutva boosted Modi's appeal in Gujarat would then prompt the question why it did not help the BJP at the national level. The melodrama at Ayodhya and the shock waves of the Mumbai blasts should have seen BJP through several rounds of elections. In fact, when these events happened many political fence-sitters did some futures trading and opted for BJP stocks only to be disappointed at their short-lived buoyancy. Modi could have stumbled upon his winning formula quite by chance. Initially he only wanted to win an election and planned the carnage in exactly those areas where BJP was weak. As the election campaign progressed, so did criticisms against his handling of the killings grow nationwide. It was somewhere between whistle-stops that he cleverly turned around the attacks against him and made them sound like an assault on Gujarati pride. This was a masterstroke. He wore his hurt on his sleeve like a badge of honour and launched into a counter-attack. All of Gujarat, he said, was being insulted by India, and should the people of this state stand for it? Modi went tub-thumping from stage to stage holding a kind of hands-up referendum on this question wherever he went. This was the turning point. Modi became a Gujarati icon overnight. In public rallies he is greeted by repeated chants of his pet name, Namo. His facial hair and his attire have inspired millions to try and look like him. Those who cannot make it, have to do with Modi shirts and masks, such is this man's charisma. All of this would have been impossible without Modi's subtle anti-Delhi posture. Neither development nor Hindutva, nor a combination of the two, could have helped Modi make it through the night to the second term. Modi's use of sub-nationalism not only foxed his opponents but puzzled the BJP high command in Delhi as well. L K Advani came along for the victory parade in Gujarat but he wore yesterday's look even as Modi was clearly the hero of the hour. In Bidhan Roy's time, the Congress too could sport this morally superior than thou anti-Centre attitude. But since then, only the Left Front has credibly pushed this sentiment of stung hurt to its advantage. And now we have Modi. Truly, what Bengal thought of yesterday, the rest of India thinks of today! The writer is professor of sociology, JNU.
Reservation - For Teaching at IIT
MUMBAI: Buoyed by its success in pushing through a quota for OBC students in higher education, the government has now ordered IITs to introduce - with "immediate effect" - quotas in the teaching faculty for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs. IIT directors, not surprisingly, were livid with the decision, though none of the four TOI spoke to were willing to go on record. The high quality of IIT faculty has built the institution into a globally respected brand. Said an IIT-Delhi professor: "It is hard to imagine that even teachers will now use the caste flag to get in." The government diktat dated June 9, which has been sent to all the IITs, lays down 15% quota for SC, 7.5% for ST and 27% quota for OBCs in teaching positions. IITs currently have reservations for backward category candidates for administrative posts - from attendants to the level of deputy registrar. However, there is no reservation for faculty members in these premier technological institutes. The order signed by Seema Raj, director of technical education in the HRD ministry, read, "I am directed to say that the matter relating to reservation of SC, ST, OBC categories in recruitment to teaching (faculty) posts in the IITs was considered in the second meeting of the SCIC (Standing Committee of IIT Council) held on 11/2/2008. The recommendations made by the SCIC have been accepted by the chairman of (the) IIT Council. Accordingly, it has been decided to implement reservation for SC, ST, OBC, in recruitment to teaching (faculty) posts in IITs with immediate effect." For subjects in science and technology, posts will be reserved for lecturers and assistant professors. In areas like management, social sciences and humanities, reservations will be applicable up to the professor level. The ministry allows IITs to dereserve the posts after a year, if they do not get filled "despite all efforts". Insiders feel that merit, on which brand IIT rests, would be shaken by the decision of the government. The order specifies that in departments dealing with science and technology subjects, "reservation shall be applied to the extent possible at the school or broad branch of engineering, at least, if not at the individual department level." The IIT directors TOI contacted, who were yet to convey the order to their faculty members, said they are shocked by the decision. "Some of the finest people have given up top positions and fat cheques that were offered to them in other parts of the world to come and teach in the IITs, despite the low pay scale that the government offers. With reservation in faculty positions, I see a day, not far from now, when the IITs will crumble," said one director. Another director said that there had been no bias against hiring backward category candidates to teaching positions if they were found meritorious. "Till now, if a backward category candidate was found on par with another candidate, the former was given preference, but reservation will change the atmosphere on campus," said the director. All directors agreed that such reservations for faculty posts would mar the quality of education at the institutes. The lecturer’s post in the IITs is a contractual one and the basic salary is Rs 10,000 per month. Usually, fresh PhD candidates are taken in at this level. If their services are found satisfactory, they are promoted to assistant professor and get onto the permanent rolls of the IITs. But now, almost half the posts - 49.5% to be precise - will be reserved at both these levels.
Reality Show
Teen Paralysed
KOLKATA: The next time you drag your son or daughter to music or dance competition, remember the face in this photograph. She is Shinjini Sengupta, a 16-year-old class XI student of a reputed Kolkata school, who can now neither speak nor move. She wasn't like this even a month ago. She was a good dancer and acted in tele-serials and had even appeared in a Bengali film. Participating in a dance competition on a Bengali TV channel recently, Shinjini was rebuked by the judges of the show during the shooting on May 19. The teenager never recovered from the shock of being publicly chided. She slipped into depression and then lost her speech and finally even the use of her limbs. Shinjini was flown to Bangalore's NIMHANS on Friday evening. "The doctors here have not been able to diagnose her problem. She can't speak or express herself. An MRI and a CT scan have been done, but we still don't know what she is suffering from," said Sibani Sengupta, Shinjini's mother. Till three days ago, she would write if she needed something. Now she has even stopped that. Psychiatrists admit that Shinjini's case, though an extreme one, is not rare. "Quite often we come across such cases. Depression is one of the factors behind a number of illnesses. Shinjini was biologically vulnerable," said psychiatrist Debashish Roy. On May 19, Shinjini participated in a popular dance contest aired from Monday to Wednesday on a Bengali channel. Shinjini didn't break into tears like some of the other participants after being scolded by the judges. "On returning home, she said she felt like singing loudly. I asked her if she was upset. She just said that she had fought hard to hold back her tears. After that day, she was not her usual self," Sibani said. She almost stopped eating and slept for most part of the day. When awake, she listened to music. "Being our only child we never stopped her from doing what she wanted to do. Education was our first priority. If she could manage to learn dance without hampering her studies we were okay with it. Now, I don't know what we will do. All parents should learn a lesson from us," said D K Sengupta, Shinjini's father. Some days later, Shinjini was at Fun City shooting for a tele-serial. That was the first time her parents realised she was facing a medical problem. "She couldn't say her dialogues. The director was a bit surprised since she hadn't behaved like this ever before. We thought she was deliberately doing this. Then we realised that there was a problem," Sibani said. She managed the shoot that day but that was the last time that she appeared before the camera. Shinjini even refused to watch episodes of the dance contest where she had appeared. "We took her to a psychiatrist. She was given medicines which made her drowsy and there was not much improvement in her condition. Since she had stopped eating, her health deteriorated as well and we had to take her to a nursing home," said her father. On 11 June, she was taken to a nursing home and later shifted to Calcutta Medical Research Institute. After five days at the hospital, the family members decided to take her to Bangalore for treatment. Shinjini was in class VII when she won a prize for dance in school.
KOLKATA: The next time you drag your son or daughter to music or dance competition, remember the face in this photograph. She is Shinjini Sengupta, a 16-year-old class XI student of a reputed Kolkata school, who can now neither speak nor move. She wasn't like this even a month ago. She was a good dancer and acted in tele-serials and had even appeared in a Bengali film. Participating in a dance competition on a Bengali TV channel recently, Shinjini was rebuked by the judges of the show during the shooting on May 19. The teenager never recovered from the shock of being publicly chided. She slipped into depression and then lost her speech and finally even the use of her limbs. Shinjini was flown to Bangalore's NIMHANS on Friday evening. "The doctors here have not been able to diagnose her problem. She can't speak or express herself. An MRI and a CT scan have been done, but we still don't know what she is suffering from," said Sibani Sengupta, Shinjini's mother. Till three days ago, she would write if she needed something. Now she has even stopped that. Psychiatrists admit that Shinjini's case, though an extreme one, is not rare. "Quite often we come across such cases. Depression is one of the factors behind a number of illnesses. Shinjini was biologically vulnerable," said psychiatrist Debashish Roy. On May 19, Shinjini participated in a popular dance contest aired from Monday to Wednesday on a Bengali channel. Shinjini didn't break into tears like some of the other participants after being scolded by the judges. "On returning home, she said she felt like singing loudly. I asked her if she was upset. She just said that she had fought hard to hold back her tears. After that day, she was not her usual self," Sibani said. She almost stopped eating and slept for most part of the day. When awake, she listened to music. "Being our only child we never stopped her from doing what she wanted to do. Education was our first priority. If she could manage to learn dance without hampering her studies we were okay with it. Now, I don't know what we will do. All parents should learn a lesson from us," said D K Sengupta, Shinjini's father. Some days later, Shinjini was at Fun City shooting for a tele-serial. That was the first time her parents realised she was facing a medical problem. "She couldn't say her dialogues. The director was a bit surprised since she hadn't behaved like this ever before. We thought she was deliberately doing this. Then we realised that there was a problem," Sibani said. She managed the shoot that day but that was the last time that she appeared before the camera. Shinjini even refused to watch episodes of the dance contest where she had appeared. "We took her to a psychiatrist. She was given medicines which made her drowsy and there was not much improvement in her condition. Since she had stopped eating, her health deteriorated as well and we had to take her to a nursing home," said her father. On 11 June, she was taken to a nursing home and later shifted to Calcutta Medical Research Institute. After five days at the hospital, the family members decided to take her to Bangalore for treatment. Shinjini was in class VII when she won a prize for dance in school.
Seperate at Birth - Rajdeep Sardesai
The state of the UPA government is a bit like a bad old Ajit joke about liquid oxygen: liquid usse jeene nahi deta, oxygen usse marne nahi deta (liquid doesn’t let it live, oxygen doesn’t let it die). Substitute uranium for liquid oxygen and Prakash Karat in the role of Ajit and the plight of Manmohan Singh’s government is apparent. The Indo-US nuclear deal may have been the cause of the latest flashpoint, but the reality is that the Left-UPA relationship has long since reached the point of no-return. Perhaps, the astonishing part is that it’s taken as long as four years for the realisation to dawn that the UPA-Left equation was perhaps untenable to begin with.
Flashback to the CPI(M) manifesto for the 2004 general elections. While the BJP was projected as ‘enemy number one’, there was harsh criticism of the Congress too. Claiming that the Congress’s policies were no alternative to BJP rule, it said: “The Congress party ruled over the country for four decades. Its policies and record of government contributed to the present plight of the people and the country. Its failure to strengthen the foundations of democracy, secularism, federalism and the anti-people policies laid the basis for the rise of the BJP and its coalition government.”
This stinging attack is hardly surprising. In the three states where the Left is in power, the Congress remains its principal rival. Nor is this ‘normal’ political rivalry: the adversarial relationship on the ground with the Congress is bitter and acrimonious, based on decades of ill-will and mutual distrust.
If the two sides chose to still partner each other in the summer of 2004 it was primarily because of the doctrine of necessity, spurred by the logic of numbers. With the UPA having 218 members in the 543-member 14th Lok Sabha, the Congress-led alliance needed the 60 members of the Left to cross the half-way mark. When the CPI(M) overruled the CPI and decided not to actually join the government, the first seeds of trouble were sown. Power without responsibility is always dangerous: in politics, especially in a coalition arrangement, it is a recipe for disaster, as it allows a party to exercise exaggerated influence without any care for the consequences.
But it wasn’t just the numbers that saw the UPA and the Left cosy up to each other. On the one hand, there was a blind hatred for the ‘communal’ BJP which was seen as enough reason to overlook the very basic differences that exist on the ground. On the other, there was also a substantial section of the old Nehruvians within the Congress who still saw the Left as being potential fellow travellers. These unreconstructed Nehruvians — best exemplified by Mani Shankar Aiyar — genuinely seemed to believe that the core principles of the Nehruvian ideology — secularism, socialism, non-alignment — were part of a shared legacy with the Left, based on a fierce opposition to the BJP’s fundamentalism and America’s imperialism.
Unfortunately, these secular ‘warriors’ failed to recognise that the Left’s ideological fervour was based on a sense of self-righteous moral superiority to the rest of the political class and had no place for the Congress’s accommodative spirit. This kind of dogmatic attitude allows virtually no space for dialogue or compromise, so critical while running a coalition government. So, for example, while the Left’s ideology is gradually becoming irrelevant, the red cadres have not lost their commitment to their core belief system. Antipathy to America, for example, is not simply a reflex anti-Bush attitude, it is part of a Cold War worldview that has been shaped over decades. Again, the determined fight against the market economy is based on the Left’s unswerving belief that global capital is an ‘evil’ influence on society.
No one exemplifies this ideological absolutism more than Karat. Four years ago, the CPI(M) leader was embraced by 10 Janpath because he was blessed with the qualities that Sonia Gandhi seems to appreciate in a politician: honest, straightforward, secular, and dare one say, an English-speaking PLU (in sharp contrast to an ‘outsider’ like the wily Amar Singh). Ironically, four years later, some of the qualities that made Karat an attractive option for the Congress leadership now make him such a difficult person to deal with. Call it political naiveté or a misreading of the situation, but the UPA leadership has gone horribly wrong in underestimating the force of Karat’s ideological commitment. In a sense, this also reveals the limitations of the present ruling arrangement. As an ‘accidental’ politician, the PM has been out of place in the hurly burly of alliance politics which demands astute political management, while Sonia Gandhi too has shown herself unwilling to confront hostile allies.
The time though for well-intentioned pussyfooting is surely over. Four years ago, Gandhi’s ‘inner voice’ convinced her that she must not be the PM, she must now introspect again: how long can a marriage of convenience last when the bride and the groom can no longer bear to stay in the same house. In real life, it requires a courtroom to intervene to end the relationship. In a democracy, the court of the people is the only way forward.
The writer is Editor-in-Chief, IBN Network
Flashback to the CPI(M) manifesto for the 2004 general elections. While the BJP was projected as ‘enemy number one’, there was harsh criticism of the Congress too. Claiming that the Congress’s policies were no alternative to BJP rule, it said: “The Congress party ruled over the country for four decades. Its policies and record of government contributed to the present plight of the people and the country. Its failure to strengthen the foundations of democracy, secularism, federalism and the anti-people policies laid the basis for the rise of the BJP and its coalition government.”
This stinging attack is hardly surprising. In the three states where the Left is in power, the Congress remains its principal rival. Nor is this ‘normal’ political rivalry: the adversarial relationship on the ground with the Congress is bitter and acrimonious, based on decades of ill-will and mutual distrust.
If the two sides chose to still partner each other in the summer of 2004 it was primarily because of the doctrine of necessity, spurred by the logic of numbers. With the UPA having 218 members in the 543-member 14th Lok Sabha, the Congress-led alliance needed the 60 members of the Left to cross the half-way mark. When the CPI(M) overruled the CPI and decided not to actually join the government, the first seeds of trouble were sown. Power without responsibility is always dangerous: in politics, especially in a coalition arrangement, it is a recipe for disaster, as it allows a party to exercise exaggerated influence without any care for the consequences.
But it wasn’t just the numbers that saw the UPA and the Left cosy up to each other. On the one hand, there was a blind hatred for the ‘communal’ BJP which was seen as enough reason to overlook the very basic differences that exist on the ground. On the other, there was also a substantial section of the old Nehruvians within the Congress who still saw the Left as being potential fellow travellers. These unreconstructed Nehruvians — best exemplified by Mani Shankar Aiyar — genuinely seemed to believe that the core principles of the Nehruvian ideology — secularism, socialism, non-alignment — were part of a shared legacy with the Left, based on a fierce opposition to the BJP’s fundamentalism and America’s imperialism.
Unfortunately, these secular ‘warriors’ failed to recognise that the Left’s ideological fervour was based on a sense of self-righteous moral superiority to the rest of the political class and had no place for the Congress’s accommodative spirit. This kind of dogmatic attitude allows virtually no space for dialogue or compromise, so critical while running a coalition government. So, for example, while the Left’s ideology is gradually becoming irrelevant, the red cadres have not lost their commitment to their core belief system. Antipathy to America, for example, is not simply a reflex anti-Bush attitude, it is part of a Cold War worldview that has been shaped over decades. Again, the determined fight against the market economy is based on the Left’s unswerving belief that global capital is an ‘evil’ influence on society.
No one exemplifies this ideological absolutism more than Karat. Four years ago, the CPI(M) leader was embraced by 10 Janpath because he was blessed with the qualities that Sonia Gandhi seems to appreciate in a politician: honest, straightforward, secular, and dare one say, an English-speaking PLU (in sharp contrast to an ‘outsider’ like the wily Amar Singh). Ironically, four years later, some of the qualities that made Karat an attractive option for the Congress leadership now make him such a difficult person to deal with. Call it political naiveté or a misreading of the situation, but the UPA leadership has gone horribly wrong in underestimating the force of Karat’s ideological commitment. In a sense, this also reveals the limitations of the present ruling arrangement. As an ‘accidental’ politician, the PM has been out of place in the hurly burly of alliance politics which demands astute political management, while Sonia Gandhi too has shown herself unwilling to confront hostile allies.
The time though for well-intentioned pussyfooting is surely over. Four years ago, Gandhi’s ‘inner voice’ convinced her that she must not be the PM, she must now introspect again: how long can a marriage of convenience last when the bride and the groom can no longer bear to stay in the same house. In real life, it requires a courtroom to intervene to end the relationship. In a democracy, the court of the people is the only way forward.
The writer is Editor-in-Chief, IBN Network
A stitch in Time - Barkha Dutt
For a couple of years now, New Delhi has been clinging to a delusion about Kashmir. The delusion isn’t all without reason. The spiralling number of mobile phones, the multiple airlines that zip in and out of an airport that will soon have international flights, the ski tournaments at Gulmarg and the return of the Bombay film crews — all of this has lulled policymakers and mediators into a false sense of well-being. The hustle and bustle of life is seen at the very least, as a sign of radical improvement.
But tourists and tulips apart, all is not well in Kashmir.
For those of us who have, in the past, watched Srinagar shut down in eerie silence as soon as daylight dimmed or have walked through its empty, lifeless streets in times of violence, the changes were indeed dramatic and inspiring of hope. But it didn’t take long to understand that they were, in the end, only band-aids to wounds that may have needed immediate surgery. Strip away the sheen of economic energy and you will find that the Valley is still emotionally paralysed by anger. And the low simmer that this anger has cooked on for years erupted into a full boil this week.
On the face of it, this week’s controversy is about the transfer of 40 hectares (even less) of forest land to the state’s Governor, who also controls the Amarnath Shrine Board. But at its heart, the protests are saying something that New Delhi should listen to in a hurry and with worry. In an election year, the political discourse is headed towards a dangerous and irrevocable communal polarisation. Among the allegations made by protestors is the suggestion that the transfer of land and construction of facilities on it for Hindu pilgrims is an attempt by ‘outsiders’ to alter the religious demographics of the Valley. The fact that a charge like this is still able to draw a flood of people onto the streets is a statement on how battered and damaged the relationship between Delhi and Srinagar continues to be.
And while intelligence sleuths conspiratorially blame ‘separatists’ for instigating the violence, here’s the bare truth. Like with many other issues in recent months, there is no significant difference between the position taken by the mainstream political parties in the Valley and parties that have demanded freedom or self-rule for the state. In fact, the agendas of the two have blurred into near sameness. This time, all of them, are united in demanding that the land transfer to the Governor’s office be scrapped. The only two parties that are supporting status quo are the national parties: the BJP and the Congress, the latter seen in the state, as essentially a party of the Jammu region. That is the other thing that should worry New Delhi deeply: it is almost as if Jammu were entirely a different state, with its Hindu-dominated demographics determining a politics entirely opposite to that of the Muslim-dominated valley. The street slogans in Jammu have underlined a different sort of conspiracy theory — the charge that Kashmiri politicians are trying to keep Hindu pilgrims out and away from the yatra.
It’s a horrendous falsehood for a state in which local Kashmiri Muslims have for centuries looked after every need of the thousands and thousands of Hindu pilgrims that stream in for darshan at the Amarnath cave. The cave itself is said to have been discovered by a Muslim shepherd in 1860. And since then, from providing ponies to food, to walking sticks, to even lugging up children on their strong mountain-weathered backs, the lives of the local Muslims have been inextricably linked to those of the visiting pilgrims. And when snowstorms or terrorists strike, it’s the locals who have stepped in to save the lives of their guests.
So, how did it all get to be so ugly? The law itself seems innately dangerous and divisive. It provides for the Governor, ‘if Hindu’, to manage both the Amarnath and the Mata Vaishnodevi Shrines. The Chief Minister, ‘if Muslim’, will in turn control the Muslim Wakf board. The legislation was formalised during the tenure of the National Conference, but the new government led by the PDP made no attempt to change it either. In fact, the Forest Minister who cleared the recent transfer of land is a legislator from the PDP. It also doesn’t help that the former Governor (he retired a few days ago) enjoyed displaying his authority and made sure his offices sent a press release on his new plans for the yatra — hardly the sort of sledgehammer publicity-seeking manner you would want in a sensitive, conflict-ridden state.
Omar Abdullah has been candid enough to say that it is time to change the laws his own party made in ‘good faith’. His words should be heeded. To allow religious bodies to come within the domain of the political establishment is a recipe for brewing hatred and mistrust. The new Governor, NN Vohra, has been a peace mediator on Kashmir. He will understand — better than most — that peace in the valley is being held up by safety pins; the cloth itself is still woefully torn. It is time for him to start the process of change by relinquishing control of the shrines. The CM must then follow the example by letting go of the Wakf board. A multi-religious, independent body of eminent citizens and scholars that includes the marginalised community of Kashmiri Pandits should be handed over the charge of all religious bodies, both Muslim and Hindu. Threats by terrorists mean that the army cannot recede into the background. But at least a beginning would have been made in liberating religion from politics.
And in the meantime, if New Delhi had hoped that the historic elections of 2002 would have paved the way for a landmark change in 2009, it has to think again. This election may well be strident, volatile and bloody. Kashmir needs more — much more-than astringents and band-aids. The peace doctors have been missing for too long.
Barkha Dutt is Group Editor, English News, NDTV
But tourists and tulips apart, all is not well in Kashmir.
For those of us who have, in the past, watched Srinagar shut down in eerie silence as soon as daylight dimmed or have walked through its empty, lifeless streets in times of violence, the changes were indeed dramatic and inspiring of hope. But it didn’t take long to understand that they were, in the end, only band-aids to wounds that may have needed immediate surgery. Strip away the sheen of economic energy and you will find that the Valley is still emotionally paralysed by anger. And the low simmer that this anger has cooked on for years erupted into a full boil this week.
On the face of it, this week’s controversy is about the transfer of 40 hectares (even less) of forest land to the state’s Governor, who also controls the Amarnath Shrine Board. But at its heart, the protests are saying something that New Delhi should listen to in a hurry and with worry. In an election year, the political discourse is headed towards a dangerous and irrevocable communal polarisation. Among the allegations made by protestors is the suggestion that the transfer of land and construction of facilities on it for Hindu pilgrims is an attempt by ‘outsiders’ to alter the religious demographics of the Valley. The fact that a charge like this is still able to draw a flood of people onto the streets is a statement on how battered and damaged the relationship between Delhi and Srinagar continues to be.
And while intelligence sleuths conspiratorially blame ‘separatists’ for instigating the violence, here’s the bare truth. Like with many other issues in recent months, there is no significant difference between the position taken by the mainstream political parties in the Valley and parties that have demanded freedom or self-rule for the state. In fact, the agendas of the two have blurred into near sameness. This time, all of them, are united in demanding that the land transfer to the Governor’s office be scrapped. The only two parties that are supporting status quo are the national parties: the BJP and the Congress, the latter seen in the state, as essentially a party of the Jammu region. That is the other thing that should worry New Delhi deeply: it is almost as if Jammu were entirely a different state, with its Hindu-dominated demographics determining a politics entirely opposite to that of the Muslim-dominated valley. The street slogans in Jammu have underlined a different sort of conspiracy theory — the charge that Kashmiri politicians are trying to keep Hindu pilgrims out and away from the yatra.
It’s a horrendous falsehood for a state in which local Kashmiri Muslims have for centuries looked after every need of the thousands and thousands of Hindu pilgrims that stream in for darshan at the Amarnath cave. The cave itself is said to have been discovered by a Muslim shepherd in 1860. And since then, from providing ponies to food, to walking sticks, to even lugging up children on their strong mountain-weathered backs, the lives of the local Muslims have been inextricably linked to those of the visiting pilgrims. And when snowstorms or terrorists strike, it’s the locals who have stepped in to save the lives of their guests.
So, how did it all get to be so ugly? The law itself seems innately dangerous and divisive. It provides for the Governor, ‘if Hindu’, to manage both the Amarnath and the Mata Vaishnodevi Shrines. The Chief Minister, ‘if Muslim’, will in turn control the Muslim Wakf board. The legislation was formalised during the tenure of the National Conference, but the new government led by the PDP made no attempt to change it either. In fact, the Forest Minister who cleared the recent transfer of land is a legislator from the PDP. It also doesn’t help that the former Governor (he retired a few days ago) enjoyed displaying his authority and made sure his offices sent a press release on his new plans for the yatra — hardly the sort of sledgehammer publicity-seeking manner you would want in a sensitive, conflict-ridden state.
Omar Abdullah has been candid enough to say that it is time to change the laws his own party made in ‘good faith’. His words should be heeded. To allow religious bodies to come within the domain of the political establishment is a recipe for brewing hatred and mistrust. The new Governor, NN Vohra, has been a peace mediator on Kashmir. He will understand — better than most — that peace in the valley is being held up by safety pins; the cloth itself is still woefully torn. It is time for him to start the process of change by relinquishing control of the shrines. The CM must then follow the example by letting go of the Wakf board. A multi-religious, independent body of eminent citizens and scholars that includes the marginalised community of Kashmiri Pandits should be handed over the charge of all religious bodies, both Muslim and Hindu. Threats by terrorists mean that the army cannot recede into the background. But at least a beginning would have been made in liberating religion from politics.
And in the meantime, if New Delhi had hoped that the historic elections of 2002 would have paved the way for a landmark change in 2009, it has to think again. This election may well be strident, volatile and bloody. Kashmir needs more — much more-than astringents and band-aids. The peace doctors have been missing for too long.
Barkha Dutt is Group Editor, English News, NDTV
The Nuclear Deal
Emulate America’s bipartisan handling
Brahma Chellaney
The way forward on the nuclear deal is not through disinterest in bipartisan consensus but by emulating the example set by the much-maligned Bush administration at home.
The political drama and uncertainty in India triggered by the partisan wrangling over the civil nuclear deal cannot shroud a key fact: Three years after the deal was unveiled as a “historic” breakthrough in U.S.-India relations, its final shape remains unclear and its future uncertain. Several developments have only increased the odds that finalising and implementing the deal will be a long, arduous challenge for both sides.
The most prominent of these developments is that time has run out for the deal to be approved during U.S. President George W. Bush’s term in office. Given the extended requirements set for congressional ratification by the U.S. Atomic Energy Act and Hyde Act, it will be a Barack Obama or John McCain administration — and a new U.S. Congress — that will have the final say on the deal. While acknowledging this reality, the Bush administration, however, continues publicly and privately to prod New Delhi to play its last card by taking the safeguards accord to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board for approval.
With no role to play in the subsequent stages, India may see more conditions being tagged to the deal by the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and the U.S. Congress. Considering how the deal picked up tougher terms with each stage it crossed, there is a distinct possibility that it would attract more conditions in the remaining phases. Take the NSG process, which promises to be drawn-out in view of the impending change of administration in Washington. Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced hope in Parliament on August 13, 2007 that the NSG rule-change for India would occur “without conditions,” an unconditional waiver now looks fanciful. The Bush team is loath to share with New Delhi its revised draft proposal to the NSG.
In fact, one of the Hyde Act’s prerequisites for the deal’s congressional approval is that any NSG rule-change must mirror the conditions that legislation has set for nuclear commerce with India — from a permanent test ban and tightly regulated uranium access to a continued prohibition on all civil nuclear fuel-cycle technologies and the right to demand the return of transferred items and materials. The Act requires that an NSG exemption should neither be less stringent nor take effect before congressional ratification of the deal. Its clause-by-clause explanatory notes state that no NSG decision should “disadvantage U.S. industry by setting less strict conditions … than those embodied in the conditions and requirements of this Act.”
The concern is that if the NSG fails to replicate U.S.-style conditions, New Delhi would do an end-run around America to buy power reactors from Russia and France. Indeed, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured Congress barely four months ago that the NSG exemption will be “completely consistent with the obligations of the Hyde Act.” The Act asserts the U.S. has the “necessary leverage” in a group it founded to “ensure a favourable outcome.”
Given these realities, there ought to be neither hurry nor heat in evolving India’s strategy and options on the deal. This is an issue that needs to be discussed dispassionately, in a bipartisan spirit, without succumbing to contrived deadlines. After all, the deal centres on the very future of the country’s nuclear programme. Once India has invested billions of dollars in importing power reactors, the congressionally enforced conditions, with cyclic presidential certifications of Indian “compliance,” will effectively bear it down. Even when Washington walked out midway from a binding 30-year bilateral pact over just one plant, the U.S.-built Tarapur nuclear power station, New Delhi continued to honour the accord’s terms till the end — and even beyond to this day.
Declassified U.S. documents show that the CIA had correctly assessed that India would not end its obligations even after America had broken its word, but instead would seek U.S. help to find a substitute fuel supplier to keep electricity flowing from Tarapur. That is exactly what happened. But in return, to this day, India has exacerbated its spent-fuel problem at Tarapur by granting the U.S. a right it didn’t have even if it had not walked out of that accord — a veto on Indian reprocessing of the accumulating discharged fuel. Yet, even in the latest deal, India has inexplicably agreed to forego reprocessing until it has, in the indeterminate future, won a separate, congressionally vetted agreement.
The political passions the deal is generating make it all the more important that spin should not be allowed to obfuscate facts. Both America and China stand to gain from the qualitative and quantitative fetters the deal imposes on India’s deterrent, including the test prohibition and the forced shutdown of Cirus — one of the two research reactors producing weapons-grade plutonium. Yet vicious attacks have been orchestrated on the Left for allegedly acting at China’s behest. Disinformation has been planted to sow confusion in the BJP ranks and break the party’s steadfast opposition to the deal. Can slogans and taunts serve as a substitute to an informed debate on an increasingly complex and technical deal?
One would have expected greater transparency in a deal between the world’s most-populous and most-powerful democracies. In one telling example, the Bush administration, through a gag order on its written responses to congressional questions, has sought to keep the Indian public in the dark on the larger implications, lest the deal should run into rougher weather. In another example, New Delhi continues to shy away from explaining why it agreed to certain glaring provisions in the 123 agreement, such as its grant of an open-ended right to the supplier to suspend supplies forthwith simply by issuing a one-year termination notice on any ground, or the conspicuous absence of any dispute-resolution mechanism.
Citing the newfound support to the deal by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or Brajesh Mishra can hardly lay to rest nagging questions. Cryptic personal opinions of individuals, however distinguished, will not obscure hard facts. After having been a party to all the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led pronouncements against the deal since 2005, Mr. Mishra has suddenly gone solo to find virtue in the accord. All he says is that he was officially briefed and now “hopes” and “believes” the deal is no longer injurious to Indian interests. But why not share with the public any new material facts he may know?
Mr. Kalam, as scientific adviser in 1999, publicly supported the then government’s U.S.-instigated but abortive move to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Now, in lending support to a deal that drags India through the backdoor into the CTBT, Mr. Kalam says: “If at any time there was a fear that national security would be compromised … we can withdraw.” This shows he hasn’t studied the deal, because the one common thread running through the Hyde Act, the 123 agreement, and the safeguards accord is that India is to be barred from ever halting international inspection of its entire civil nuclear programme, even if the U.S. unilaterally terminated cooperation.Rancorous divisiveness
Let’s be clear: the deal has divided India like no other strategic issue. The rancorous divisiveness ought to give pause to those who may think the deal can be rammed through. Indeed, through political over-investment, the deal has been meretriciously presented as the centrepiece, if not the touchstone, of a new Indo-U.S. partnership. To depict the deal as critical to U.S.-India ties is to suggest the base of that relationship is still narrow. Any bilateral relationship cannot rise or fall on the basis of a single issue.
New Delhi’s best option today is to let the deal enter a period of suspended animation and await the new political line-up in Washington. A critical matter like this, which is going to tie India to legally irrevocable international inspections, demands a broad consensus at home. To ignore the widespread misgivings and to precipitously proceed ahead will set a treacherous and damaging precedent.
Dr. Singh had assured the nation on several occasions that he would build a broad political consensus in the deal’s favour. Just two days after signing the original deal on July 18, 2005, he said: “It goes without saying that we can move forward only on the basis of a broad national consensus.” On August 17, 2006, he told the Rajya Sabha: “Broad-based domestic consensus cutting across all sections in Parliament and outside will be necessary.” Subsequently, he reassured Parliament that he will “seek the broadest possible consensus within the country to enable the next steps to be taken.”
That is exactly the wise course he needs to follow today. The partisan acrimony needs to be defused.
New Delhi should learn from the way the much-maligned Bush administration has handled the deal domestically — by forging an impressive political consensus. The Hyde Act was the product of such consensus-building and political co-option, with the administration holding closed-door briefings for lawmakers and allowing its three-and-a-half-page bill to be turned into a 41-page, conditions-stacked legislation. Bipartisan support also holds the key to the deal eventually winning congressional ratification. In India, the deal ought not to be turned into a partisan issue, for it will have to be implemented well after the present government’s term.
Brahma Chellaney
The way forward on the nuclear deal is not through disinterest in bipartisan consensus but by emulating the example set by the much-maligned Bush administration at home.
The political drama and uncertainty in India triggered by the partisan wrangling over the civil nuclear deal cannot shroud a key fact: Three years after the deal was unveiled as a “historic” breakthrough in U.S.-India relations, its final shape remains unclear and its future uncertain. Several developments have only increased the odds that finalising and implementing the deal will be a long, arduous challenge for both sides.
The most prominent of these developments is that time has run out for the deal to be approved during U.S. President George W. Bush’s term in office. Given the extended requirements set for congressional ratification by the U.S. Atomic Energy Act and Hyde Act, it will be a Barack Obama or John McCain administration — and a new U.S. Congress — that will have the final say on the deal. While acknowledging this reality, the Bush administration, however, continues publicly and privately to prod New Delhi to play its last card by taking the safeguards accord to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board for approval.
With no role to play in the subsequent stages, India may see more conditions being tagged to the deal by the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and the U.S. Congress. Considering how the deal picked up tougher terms with each stage it crossed, there is a distinct possibility that it would attract more conditions in the remaining phases. Take the NSG process, which promises to be drawn-out in view of the impending change of administration in Washington. Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced hope in Parliament on August 13, 2007 that the NSG rule-change for India would occur “without conditions,” an unconditional waiver now looks fanciful. The Bush team is loath to share with New Delhi its revised draft proposal to the NSG.
In fact, one of the Hyde Act’s prerequisites for the deal’s congressional approval is that any NSG rule-change must mirror the conditions that legislation has set for nuclear commerce with India — from a permanent test ban and tightly regulated uranium access to a continued prohibition on all civil nuclear fuel-cycle technologies and the right to demand the return of transferred items and materials. The Act requires that an NSG exemption should neither be less stringent nor take effect before congressional ratification of the deal. Its clause-by-clause explanatory notes state that no NSG decision should “disadvantage U.S. industry by setting less strict conditions … than those embodied in the conditions and requirements of this Act.”
The concern is that if the NSG fails to replicate U.S.-style conditions, New Delhi would do an end-run around America to buy power reactors from Russia and France. Indeed, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured Congress barely four months ago that the NSG exemption will be “completely consistent with the obligations of the Hyde Act.” The Act asserts the U.S. has the “necessary leverage” in a group it founded to “ensure a favourable outcome.”
Given these realities, there ought to be neither hurry nor heat in evolving India’s strategy and options on the deal. This is an issue that needs to be discussed dispassionately, in a bipartisan spirit, without succumbing to contrived deadlines. After all, the deal centres on the very future of the country’s nuclear programme. Once India has invested billions of dollars in importing power reactors, the congressionally enforced conditions, with cyclic presidential certifications of Indian “compliance,” will effectively bear it down. Even when Washington walked out midway from a binding 30-year bilateral pact over just one plant, the U.S.-built Tarapur nuclear power station, New Delhi continued to honour the accord’s terms till the end — and even beyond to this day.
Declassified U.S. documents show that the CIA had correctly assessed that India would not end its obligations even after America had broken its word, but instead would seek U.S. help to find a substitute fuel supplier to keep electricity flowing from Tarapur. That is exactly what happened. But in return, to this day, India has exacerbated its spent-fuel problem at Tarapur by granting the U.S. a right it didn’t have even if it had not walked out of that accord — a veto on Indian reprocessing of the accumulating discharged fuel. Yet, even in the latest deal, India has inexplicably agreed to forego reprocessing until it has, in the indeterminate future, won a separate, congressionally vetted agreement.
The political passions the deal is generating make it all the more important that spin should not be allowed to obfuscate facts. Both America and China stand to gain from the qualitative and quantitative fetters the deal imposes on India’s deterrent, including the test prohibition and the forced shutdown of Cirus — one of the two research reactors producing weapons-grade plutonium. Yet vicious attacks have been orchestrated on the Left for allegedly acting at China’s behest. Disinformation has been planted to sow confusion in the BJP ranks and break the party’s steadfast opposition to the deal. Can slogans and taunts serve as a substitute to an informed debate on an increasingly complex and technical deal?
One would have expected greater transparency in a deal between the world’s most-populous and most-powerful democracies. In one telling example, the Bush administration, through a gag order on its written responses to congressional questions, has sought to keep the Indian public in the dark on the larger implications, lest the deal should run into rougher weather. In another example, New Delhi continues to shy away from explaining why it agreed to certain glaring provisions in the 123 agreement, such as its grant of an open-ended right to the supplier to suspend supplies forthwith simply by issuing a one-year termination notice on any ground, or the conspicuous absence of any dispute-resolution mechanism.
Citing the newfound support to the deal by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam or Brajesh Mishra can hardly lay to rest nagging questions. Cryptic personal opinions of individuals, however distinguished, will not obscure hard facts. After having been a party to all the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led pronouncements against the deal since 2005, Mr. Mishra has suddenly gone solo to find virtue in the accord. All he says is that he was officially briefed and now “hopes” and “believes” the deal is no longer injurious to Indian interests. But why not share with the public any new material facts he may know?
Mr. Kalam, as scientific adviser in 1999, publicly supported the then government’s U.S.-instigated but abortive move to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Now, in lending support to a deal that drags India through the backdoor into the CTBT, Mr. Kalam says: “If at any time there was a fear that national security would be compromised … we can withdraw.” This shows he hasn’t studied the deal, because the one common thread running through the Hyde Act, the 123 agreement, and the safeguards accord is that India is to be barred from ever halting international inspection of its entire civil nuclear programme, even if the U.S. unilaterally terminated cooperation.Rancorous divisiveness
Let’s be clear: the deal has divided India like no other strategic issue. The rancorous divisiveness ought to give pause to those who may think the deal can be rammed through. Indeed, through political over-investment, the deal has been meretriciously presented as the centrepiece, if not the touchstone, of a new Indo-U.S. partnership. To depict the deal as critical to U.S.-India ties is to suggest the base of that relationship is still narrow. Any bilateral relationship cannot rise or fall on the basis of a single issue.
New Delhi’s best option today is to let the deal enter a period of suspended animation and await the new political line-up in Washington. A critical matter like this, which is going to tie India to legally irrevocable international inspections, demands a broad consensus at home. To ignore the widespread misgivings and to precipitously proceed ahead will set a treacherous and damaging precedent.
Dr. Singh had assured the nation on several occasions that he would build a broad political consensus in the deal’s favour. Just two days after signing the original deal on July 18, 2005, he said: “It goes without saying that we can move forward only on the basis of a broad national consensus.” On August 17, 2006, he told the Rajya Sabha: “Broad-based domestic consensus cutting across all sections in Parliament and outside will be necessary.” Subsequently, he reassured Parliament that he will “seek the broadest possible consensus within the country to enable the next steps to be taken.”
That is exactly the wise course he needs to follow today. The partisan acrimony needs to be defused.
New Delhi should learn from the way the much-maligned Bush administration has handled the deal domestically — by forging an impressive political consensus. The Hyde Act was the product of such consensus-building and political co-option, with the administration holding closed-door briefings for lawmakers and allowing its three-and-a-half-page bill to be turned into a 41-page, conditions-stacked legislation. Bipartisan support also holds the key to the deal eventually winning congressional ratification. In India, the deal ought not to be turned into a partisan issue, for it will have to be implemented well after the present government’s term.
The Nirmal Shekar Column
London: To Lleyton Hewitt, his momentous brush with Wimbledon glory must seem like a distant memory now. And the little Aussie battler knows who is to blame for that.
His distinguished Aussie predecessors such as Rod Laver and John Newcombe had been multiple-champions on the pampered lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis Club in the past. In the event, Hewitt, on winning the 2002 Wimbledon title, might have expected to add a few more.
But a certain Swiss gentleman who got into the habit of defying geometry with his golden right arm had ideas of his own — and has since become a permanent occupant of the most coveted throne in the game. What is more, Roger Federer went on to ‘own’ Hewitt, as they say in the fight game, beating the Aussie 11 times in a row between 2003 and 2007.
“I came in knowing nobody has beaten me 12 times in a row,” said Andy Roddick in Miami in April this year after beating Federer for the first time in 12 meetings.Dirty Dozen
On Monday, in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, Hewitt will get his chance. Nobody has beaten the Aussie 12 times in a row either, and the last thing he’d want is a Dirty Dozen.
In a men’s championship that promised so much a few days ago but has already lost two of its biggest drawcards in Roddick and Novak Djokovic, the fourth round contest between Hewitt and Federer assumes tremendous significance.
On Friday, after a rain-delay of just over an hour and a half, both Federer and Hewitt posted straight set victories in the third round to set up an intriguing clash, although given their head-to-head record some might believe that all the intrigue was of the imagined variety. To be sure, Federer will step in as the overwhelming favourite on Monday. They have met twice at Wimbledon and Federer won both those matches comfortably. But in their last meeting, at the Cincinnati Masters last year, Hewitt lost 7-6 in the third, and despite a sore hip he has been playing well here this week.
If his record against the great man is unflattering — whose isn’t? — then it must be acknowledged that Hewitt is one of the most accomplished grass court players of his generation with a win-loss record of 87-20 on the surface.
Even if he cannot stop the Swiss maestro, Hewitt is capable of offering Federer his first real test in this championship. He has a chance to prove to himself and to the world that he is not a relic; that he still has it in him to compete with the very best on equal terms.Easy win
On Friday, Federer raced past Marc Gicquel of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 21 minutes. He started on the wrong foot, losing his opening service game, but motored along nicely the rest of the way. “It is always a challenge playing Lleyton. He is a great player, a guy I enjoy watching,” said Federer. “He is a great competitor. We go back a long time. I think it is an intriguing match for both of us.”
Hewitt, playing Simone Bolelli of Italy, seemed set to match Federer in the brevity of the contest but his 22-year-old opponent from Bologna decided to make a match of it in the third set. Bolelli fought off a matchpoint on serve in the 10th game and took the set into a tiebreak. But Hewitt opened up an early lead in the tiebreak and closed out the match with an ace down the middle for a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(2) victory.
Hewitt has been serving well all week — he fired 14 aces against Bolelli — and he is playing with typical aggression from the back of the court. But without the high quality ammunition of a Roddick or a Nadal, can this doughty warrior really challenge the master on Monday? If nothing, it is worth a look.
His distinguished Aussie predecessors such as Rod Laver and John Newcombe had been multiple-champions on the pampered lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis Club in the past. In the event, Hewitt, on winning the 2002 Wimbledon title, might have expected to add a few more.
But a certain Swiss gentleman who got into the habit of defying geometry with his golden right arm had ideas of his own — and has since become a permanent occupant of the most coveted throne in the game. What is more, Roger Federer went on to ‘own’ Hewitt, as they say in the fight game, beating the Aussie 11 times in a row between 2003 and 2007.
“I came in knowing nobody has beaten me 12 times in a row,” said Andy Roddick in Miami in April this year after beating Federer for the first time in 12 meetings.Dirty Dozen
On Monday, in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, Hewitt will get his chance. Nobody has beaten the Aussie 12 times in a row either, and the last thing he’d want is a Dirty Dozen.
In a men’s championship that promised so much a few days ago but has already lost two of its biggest drawcards in Roddick and Novak Djokovic, the fourth round contest between Hewitt and Federer assumes tremendous significance.
On Friday, after a rain-delay of just over an hour and a half, both Federer and Hewitt posted straight set victories in the third round to set up an intriguing clash, although given their head-to-head record some might believe that all the intrigue was of the imagined variety. To be sure, Federer will step in as the overwhelming favourite on Monday. They have met twice at Wimbledon and Federer won both those matches comfortably. But in their last meeting, at the Cincinnati Masters last year, Hewitt lost 7-6 in the third, and despite a sore hip he has been playing well here this week.
If his record against the great man is unflattering — whose isn’t? — then it must be acknowledged that Hewitt is one of the most accomplished grass court players of his generation with a win-loss record of 87-20 on the surface.
Even if he cannot stop the Swiss maestro, Hewitt is capable of offering Federer his first real test in this championship. He has a chance to prove to himself and to the world that he is not a relic; that he still has it in him to compete with the very best on equal terms.Easy win
On Friday, Federer raced past Marc Gicquel of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 21 minutes. He started on the wrong foot, losing his opening service game, but motored along nicely the rest of the way. “It is always a challenge playing Lleyton. He is a great player, a guy I enjoy watching,” said Federer. “He is a great competitor. We go back a long time. I think it is an intriguing match for both of us.”
Hewitt, playing Simone Bolelli of Italy, seemed set to match Federer in the brevity of the contest but his 22-year-old opponent from Bologna decided to make a match of it in the third set. Bolelli fought off a matchpoint on serve in the 10th game and took the set into a tiebreak. But Hewitt opened up an early lead in the tiebreak and closed out the match with an ace down the middle for a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(2) victory.
Hewitt has been serving well all week — he fired 14 aces against Bolelli — and he is playing with typical aggression from the back of the court. But without the high quality ammunition of a Roddick or a Nadal, can this doughty warrior really challenge the master on Monday? If nothing, it is worth a look.
Remembering Sam Manekshaw - Quotes
“If anyone tells you he is never afraid, he is a liar or a Gurkha!”
“I always wanted to play with dolls. When I was young, my mom wouldn’t allow me to, then my wife came along, and I still was not allowed to. Finally, I told myself, ‘now I am the Field Marshall, I will damn well do as I please and went and got myself the dolls!’ ”
Remembering Sam Manekshaw - 3
A field marshal & a gentleman
Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw was the quintessential soldier: magnificently mustachioed, charming, dapper, decisive, and above all, impervious to political pressure. He was better known as Sam Bahadur, or Sam the Brave, a title bestowed on him by his beloved Gurkhas. Compared to today’s standards and levels of probity in the Army, he was cool, bold and seminal. And he was considerate to those under his command. His was a highly decorated soldiering career that sp anned four decades.
He was also droll and irreverent, traits long extinct in the Indian military. He was an able listener, irrespective of how junior his interlocutor. He was charismatic, and rarely ever stood on ceremony. Through earthiness and plain-speak he motivated an army that achieved what no other army has done since the Second World War — liberating a nation. Even the U.S., with all its might and technical wizardry, has not managed such a feat in the past 63 years.
The Field Marshal was a team player. He almost always finished his own work in an hour and spent the rest of his time floating from one office to another. He often dropped in on harried juniors, and eagerly helped them with their tasks.
As Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Manekshaw’s chutzpah helped achieve ‘jointness’ among the three Services. This was evidenced by the coordinated and synergised operations that resulted in Pakistan’s military rout in 1971. Without doubt India’s finest war-time chief, he was also a noble warrior who looked upon his enemies with respect. Addressing troops from atop the bonnet of his jeep in the Chamb Sector in November 1971 weeks before the 1971 campaign started, he asked them not to be rapacious in victory.
Separately, he urged the officers not to misbehave with Pakistani women. If they were ever overcome with “negative urges,” they should put their hands in their pockets and think of Sam Manekshaw, he added. By and large, the Indian Army behaved in an exemplary manner in both the theatres of war. Having begun with the Second World War in which he was awarded the Military Cross on the battlefield during the Burma campaign, Manekshaw actively participated in all the wars that independent India fought. He capped it all with the decisive 1971 triumph that led to the birth of Bangladesh. Measured campaign
Manekshaw’s planning of the 1971 campaign was brilliantly measured, and it showed his well-rounded leadership qualities. He steadfastly refused to cave in to pressure from either Prime Minister Indira Gandhi or her Cabinet colleagues to launch immediate military operations against East Pakistan. Their intention was also to stem the flow of millions of Bengali refugees into India after the Pakistan Army had executed a pogrom of intellectuals and leaders, killing over 50,000 of them.
In March 1971, largely Bengali East Pakistan had revolted against the dominance of its Punjabi and Pathan-dominated Western section. This resulted in a brutal crackdown by the army, which had a similar ethnic mix. The refugee exodus into India followed. This imposed on India a crippling financial burden. In addition, the influx strained the social and political fabric in the northeastern States, the effects of which remain till today. After touring the teeming refugee camps, Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw what the Indian Army could possibly do to control the situation. “Nothing,” quipped Manekshaw, to the horror of the Prime Minister’s entourage of civil servants and Ministers. No one had ever dared to respond so brusquely to her.
An impatient Indira Gandhi, backed by her eager-to-please Cabinet, wanted Manekshaw to conduct a swift, surgical strike on East Pakistan and install a government led by Mujibur Rehman, the popular Bengali leader. This was to be followed by the return of the refugees. Manekshaw patiently listened, and then went on to elaborate firmly on the enormous logistical exercise that was necessary to launch operations against a 90,000-strong Pakistani Army. Guided by military logic, his capability and the reality on the ground, Manekshaw said that though his army would be operationally ready three months later in June, November 1971 would be the tactically opportune point to launch an attack on East Pakistan.
He had principally two reasons for this. The first was that the monsoon would render the region a virtual lake, making troop movement difficult. If India launched operations in June, the outcome would be catastrophic, he said. The second and equally credible rationale for a postponement was a perceived threat from China, with which India had fought a debilitating border war nine years earlier. Manekshaw wanted the Himalayan mountain passes to be snowed up before troops — at least two divisions of them — could be withdrawn from the Chinese front for deployment in the east.
He maintained in his briefing to Indira Gandhi and her Ministers that India must guard against the prospect of having to fight a war on two fronts. “That,” he declared, “would present me with problems far more complex than what had been the bane of the German General Staff for more than 50 years across two World Wars. It would be unwise to rely on diplomatic assurances that the Chinese would not react in support of Pakistan. We must wait for the snow to block the northern passes.”
Indira Gandhi ordered the General to move his formations into position and be ready to engage battle by June. In the ensuing months a whispering campaign was mounted by senior officials and politicians against Manekshaw. He was being accused of cowardice, vacillation and shoddy generalship. Manekshaw was aware of the calumny unleashed against him, but maintained his cool. He went about preparing for combat by bolstering the communication lines around East Pakistan. Indira Gandhi meanwhile secured a friendship and military treaty with the Soviet Union, the country’s principal materiel provider, thereby neutralising the possibility of any interference from either the United States or China. It also enabled the establishment of a formal Bangladesh government-in-exile in India and the arming and training of Mukti Bahini guerilla fighters jointly by the Research and Analysis Wing and Indian Army Special Forces personnel.
Over the next few months, until war started, these guerrillas successfully harassed and engaged the Pakistani Army, confining it to the garrison towns cut off from the capital, Dhaka. This made Manekshaw’s eventual task easier. And, when the Pakistan Air Force conducted a pre-emptive strike on Indian airfields in December 1971 from West Pakistan, Manekshaw unleashed his campaign. It all ended in a fortnight with the liberation of East Pakistan and the capture of over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers.
A firm believer in the chain of command, he delegated the battle planning and execution to Eastern Army field commanders. Meanwhile, he used his clout with the political establishment to meet the financial and hardware requirements. He was the uncrowned Chief of Defence Staff. (This is a post India’s military and political establishment has been wrangling over for the past decade.) Inimitable modesty
With his inimitable modesty, Manekshaw declined to preside over the Pakistani surrender in Dhaka. He insisted that the credit go to the Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen. Jagjit Aurora. He jocularly remarked that he would go only to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani Army.
As Chief of the Army Staff, Manekshaw had issued instructions that if anyone from 54 Sikhs came visiting, he was to be escorted straight to him, whatever time it was and whatever he was involved with. Occasionally, these grizzled veterans would arrive at Army House with a string of ‘sifarishs’ (requests) ranging from a bag of sugar for a daughter’s wedding or a note to the local administration for help. All were received with a robust burst of colloquial Punjabi, which Manekshaw spoke like a native. And none was left unrequited.
Deployed to Burma during the Second World War, he was badly wounded during a successful attack near the Sittang river on February 22, 1942 to capture a vital hill while leading two companies. As he charged forward with his men, a Japanese soldier emerged from the jungle and pumped seven bullets into Captain Manekshaw. The Division Commander, Major General D.T. Cowan, who was witness to the action, whipped off his own Military Cross ribbon and pinned it onto Manekshaw. His rationale was that a dead person could not be awarded one of the most coveted bravery medals in the British Army.
After recovering from his wounds, Mankeshaw was once more dispatched to Burma as part of General (later Viscount) Slim’s 14th Army and was wounded again. In the final days of the Second World War, he was appointed Staff Officer to General Daisy in Indochina. There, after the Japanese surrender he helped rehabilitate over 10,000 prisoners of war.
Appointed to the Military Operations Directorate after Independence in 1947, Brigadier Manekshaw was responsible for Planning and Logistics during the first India-Pakistan war over Jammu and Kashmir. He was reportedly the only military officer and one of three people present, albeit in an ante-room, in the palace in Jammu, when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession ceding his kingdom to India in October 1947. The third person was V.P. Menon, who was political adviser to Lord Mountbatten at the time of Partition.
A series of staff and command postings followed. But in 1961 Manekshaw’s outspoken nature offended Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon. He favoured Lieutenant-General B.M. Kaul. There was also a court of inquiry into a nebulous charge, but he was exonerated.
India’s 1962 defeat by the Chinese followed, and Manekshaw was swiftly given command by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of the retreating 4 Corps, which was commanded earlier by General Kaul. Manekshaw did wonders to salvage their battered morale. He became Chief of the Army Staff in June 1969 and was made Field Marshal on January 1, 1973. He retired a fortnight later. Unconventional
He was an unconventional and at times risqué dresser. He once hosted his senior Lieutenant-General, Kulwant Singh, who was commanding the Western Army at Shimla, at an inspection in a “wholly unsuitable” jacket that was a cross between a regulation shirt and a bush shirt. When General Singh referred to it disparagingly, he quipped: “Have you come to inspect my formation or my dress?” Manekshaw invariably supported his subordinate officers, even if they expressed views contrary to his — as long as they were professionally sound. Those who served with him said that he never raised his voice. But even a mild rebuke accompanied by “Sweetheart, this will not do,” was enough to tame the wildest of soldiery egos. Towards some of his peers, however, his attitude was one of disguised mockery.
But Manekshaw’s fabled irreverence got him into trouble with a vindictive Indira Gandhi, who was jealous of his standing after the war. A throwaway line to a news reporter at an airport soon after the 1971 victory that had he decided to migrate to Pakistan at Independence — thousands of Parsis had opted to stay on — India would have lost the war, infuriated Indira Gandhi. She not only castigated him publicly but withdrew some of the perquisites he enjoyed as Field Marshal.
Unlike his successors, Manekshaw faded gracefully into retirement, seeking neither to perpetuate the glory that was justifiably his for personal profit nor compromising his Field Marshal’s Five-Star standing
Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw was the quintessential soldier: magnificently mustachioed, charming, dapper, decisive, and above all, impervious to political pressure. He was better known as Sam Bahadur, or Sam the Brave, a title bestowed on him by his beloved Gurkhas. Compared to today’s standards and levels of probity in the Army, he was cool, bold and seminal. And he was considerate to those under his command. His was a highly decorated soldiering career that sp anned four decades.
He was also droll and irreverent, traits long extinct in the Indian military. He was an able listener, irrespective of how junior his interlocutor. He was charismatic, and rarely ever stood on ceremony. Through earthiness and plain-speak he motivated an army that achieved what no other army has done since the Second World War — liberating a nation. Even the U.S., with all its might and technical wizardry, has not managed such a feat in the past 63 years.
The Field Marshal was a team player. He almost always finished his own work in an hour and spent the rest of his time floating from one office to another. He often dropped in on harried juniors, and eagerly helped them with their tasks.
As Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Manekshaw’s chutzpah helped achieve ‘jointness’ among the three Services. This was evidenced by the coordinated and synergised operations that resulted in Pakistan’s military rout in 1971. Without doubt India’s finest war-time chief, he was also a noble warrior who looked upon his enemies with respect. Addressing troops from atop the bonnet of his jeep in the Chamb Sector in November 1971 weeks before the 1971 campaign started, he asked them not to be rapacious in victory.
Separately, he urged the officers not to misbehave with Pakistani women. If they were ever overcome with “negative urges,” they should put their hands in their pockets and think of Sam Manekshaw, he added. By and large, the Indian Army behaved in an exemplary manner in both the theatres of war. Having begun with the Second World War in which he was awarded the Military Cross on the battlefield during the Burma campaign, Manekshaw actively participated in all the wars that independent India fought. He capped it all with the decisive 1971 triumph that led to the birth of Bangladesh. Measured campaign
Manekshaw’s planning of the 1971 campaign was brilliantly measured, and it showed his well-rounded leadership qualities. He steadfastly refused to cave in to pressure from either Prime Minister Indira Gandhi or her Cabinet colleagues to launch immediate military operations against East Pakistan. Their intention was also to stem the flow of millions of Bengali refugees into India after the Pakistan Army had executed a pogrom of intellectuals and leaders, killing over 50,000 of them.
In March 1971, largely Bengali East Pakistan had revolted against the dominance of its Punjabi and Pathan-dominated Western section. This resulted in a brutal crackdown by the army, which had a similar ethnic mix. The refugee exodus into India followed. This imposed on India a crippling financial burden. In addition, the influx strained the social and political fabric in the northeastern States, the effects of which remain till today. After touring the teeming refugee camps, Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw what the Indian Army could possibly do to control the situation. “Nothing,” quipped Manekshaw, to the horror of the Prime Minister’s entourage of civil servants and Ministers. No one had ever dared to respond so brusquely to her.
An impatient Indira Gandhi, backed by her eager-to-please Cabinet, wanted Manekshaw to conduct a swift, surgical strike on East Pakistan and install a government led by Mujibur Rehman, the popular Bengali leader. This was to be followed by the return of the refugees. Manekshaw patiently listened, and then went on to elaborate firmly on the enormous logistical exercise that was necessary to launch operations against a 90,000-strong Pakistani Army. Guided by military logic, his capability and the reality on the ground, Manekshaw said that though his army would be operationally ready three months later in June, November 1971 would be the tactically opportune point to launch an attack on East Pakistan.
He had principally two reasons for this. The first was that the monsoon would render the region a virtual lake, making troop movement difficult. If India launched operations in June, the outcome would be catastrophic, he said. The second and equally credible rationale for a postponement was a perceived threat from China, with which India had fought a debilitating border war nine years earlier. Manekshaw wanted the Himalayan mountain passes to be snowed up before troops — at least two divisions of them — could be withdrawn from the Chinese front for deployment in the east.
He maintained in his briefing to Indira Gandhi and her Ministers that India must guard against the prospect of having to fight a war on two fronts. “That,” he declared, “would present me with problems far more complex than what had been the bane of the German General Staff for more than 50 years across two World Wars. It would be unwise to rely on diplomatic assurances that the Chinese would not react in support of Pakistan. We must wait for the snow to block the northern passes.”
Indira Gandhi ordered the General to move his formations into position and be ready to engage battle by June. In the ensuing months a whispering campaign was mounted by senior officials and politicians against Manekshaw. He was being accused of cowardice, vacillation and shoddy generalship. Manekshaw was aware of the calumny unleashed against him, but maintained his cool. He went about preparing for combat by bolstering the communication lines around East Pakistan. Indira Gandhi meanwhile secured a friendship and military treaty with the Soviet Union, the country’s principal materiel provider, thereby neutralising the possibility of any interference from either the United States or China. It also enabled the establishment of a formal Bangladesh government-in-exile in India and the arming and training of Mukti Bahini guerilla fighters jointly by the Research and Analysis Wing and Indian Army Special Forces personnel.
Over the next few months, until war started, these guerrillas successfully harassed and engaged the Pakistani Army, confining it to the garrison towns cut off from the capital, Dhaka. This made Manekshaw’s eventual task easier. And, when the Pakistan Air Force conducted a pre-emptive strike on Indian airfields in December 1971 from West Pakistan, Manekshaw unleashed his campaign. It all ended in a fortnight with the liberation of East Pakistan and the capture of over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers.
A firm believer in the chain of command, he delegated the battle planning and execution to Eastern Army field commanders. Meanwhile, he used his clout with the political establishment to meet the financial and hardware requirements. He was the uncrowned Chief of Defence Staff. (This is a post India’s military and political establishment has been wrangling over for the past decade.) Inimitable modesty
With his inimitable modesty, Manekshaw declined to preside over the Pakistani surrender in Dhaka. He insisted that the credit go to the Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen. Jagjit Aurora. He jocularly remarked that he would go only to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani Army.
As Chief of the Army Staff, Manekshaw had issued instructions that if anyone from 54 Sikhs came visiting, he was to be escorted straight to him, whatever time it was and whatever he was involved with. Occasionally, these grizzled veterans would arrive at Army House with a string of ‘sifarishs’ (requests) ranging from a bag of sugar for a daughter’s wedding or a note to the local administration for help. All were received with a robust burst of colloquial Punjabi, which Manekshaw spoke like a native. And none was left unrequited.
Deployed to Burma during the Second World War, he was badly wounded during a successful attack near the Sittang river on February 22, 1942 to capture a vital hill while leading two companies. As he charged forward with his men, a Japanese soldier emerged from the jungle and pumped seven bullets into Captain Manekshaw. The Division Commander, Major General D.T. Cowan, who was witness to the action, whipped off his own Military Cross ribbon and pinned it onto Manekshaw. His rationale was that a dead person could not be awarded one of the most coveted bravery medals in the British Army.
After recovering from his wounds, Mankeshaw was once more dispatched to Burma as part of General (later Viscount) Slim’s 14th Army and was wounded again. In the final days of the Second World War, he was appointed Staff Officer to General Daisy in Indochina. There, after the Japanese surrender he helped rehabilitate over 10,000 prisoners of war.
Appointed to the Military Operations Directorate after Independence in 1947, Brigadier Manekshaw was responsible for Planning and Logistics during the first India-Pakistan war over Jammu and Kashmir. He was reportedly the only military officer and one of three people present, albeit in an ante-room, in the palace in Jammu, when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession ceding his kingdom to India in October 1947. The third person was V.P. Menon, who was political adviser to Lord Mountbatten at the time of Partition.
A series of staff and command postings followed. But in 1961 Manekshaw’s outspoken nature offended Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon. He favoured Lieutenant-General B.M. Kaul. There was also a court of inquiry into a nebulous charge, but he was exonerated.
India’s 1962 defeat by the Chinese followed, and Manekshaw was swiftly given command by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of the retreating 4 Corps, which was commanded earlier by General Kaul. Manekshaw did wonders to salvage their battered morale. He became Chief of the Army Staff in June 1969 and was made Field Marshal on January 1, 1973. He retired a fortnight later. Unconventional
He was an unconventional and at times risqué dresser. He once hosted his senior Lieutenant-General, Kulwant Singh, who was commanding the Western Army at Shimla, at an inspection in a “wholly unsuitable” jacket that was a cross between a regulation shirt and a bush shirt. When General Singh referred to it disparagingly, he quipped: “Have you come to inspect my formation or my dress?” Manekshaw invariably supported his subordinate officers, even if they expressed views contrary to his — as long as they were professionally sound. Those who served with him said that he never raised his voice. But even a mild rebuke accompanied by “Sweetheart, this will not do,” was enough to tame the wildest of soldiery egos. Towards some of his peers, however, his attitude was one of disguised mockery.
But Manekshaw’s fabled irreverence got him into trouble with a vindictive Indira Gandhi, who was jealous of his standing after the war. A throwaway line to a news reporter at an airport soon after the 1971 victory that had he decided to migrate to Pakistan at Independence — thousands of Parsis had opted to stay on — India would have lost the war, infuriated Indira Gandhi. She not only castigated him publicly but withdrew some of the perquisites he enjoyed as Field Marshal.
Unlike his successors, Manekshaw faded gracefully into retirement, seeking neither to perpetuate the glory that was justifiably his for personal profit nor compromising his Field Marshal’s Five-Star standing
Remembering Sam Manekshaw - 2
A great soldier fades away
“One who excels at employing the army,” wrote Sun Tzu in the sixth-century classic, The Art of War, “leads them by the hand as if they were only one man.” Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, who passed away Friday at Wellington at the age of 94, will be remembered for his exceptional demonstration of this skill during the Indian Army’s historic, nation-creating victory at Dhaka in 1971. He will also be remembered for representing the finest traditions of the Indian Army: professionalism, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to the core values of democracy. Sam Manekshaw was born in Amritsar to Parsi parents in 1914, and his adult life was entwined with the making of the modern Indian Army. He served the British Indian Army against Japanese forces in what is now Myanmar, twice suffering serious combat injuries; helped put down Partition riots; and fought against Pakistani forces from Jammu and Kashmir in 1947-1948. Sidelined in the run-up to the 1962 war with China, Sam Manekshaw was rehabilitated during the subsequent military reconstruction drive. He was elevated as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command before the India Pakistan war of 1965. He counselled against offensive operations in what is now Bangladesh, demonstrating a concern for avoiding civilian casualties that paid off six years later. His services in Nagaland as Eastern Army commander were rewarded with a Padma Bhushan in 1968. He was awarded a Padma Vibhushan and, in 1973, elevated to the highest rank a soldier can aspire to. He remains one of just two Generals of the Indian Army to have been made a Field Marshal.
Field-Marshal Manekshaw’s military legacy has been the subject of energetic debate in recent years, with some critics arguing that he was not the principal architect of India’s 1971 victory. The official history of the war of 1971 — which for some opaque reason remains a classified document, even though it can now be downloaded from the Internet — suggests that none of the protagonists ever issued an unequivocal order to seize Dhaka. Both Army Headquarters and Eastern Command “had thought of and made some provision for the capture of Dhaka, but had played safe and issued no formal order to any of the formations in the field” — a not-unreasonable position given the prospect of a United States-backed Pakistani counter-offensive. In the event, Lieutenant-General Sagat Singh and Major-General Gandharv Nagra took “the bit in their teeth and gallop[ed] for Dhaka even before receiving any order.” Field-Marshal Manekshaw’s real genius lay in his selection of his field commanders — and his ability to inspire the confidence that, if things went wrong, their commander would stand by them. He refused to condone wrongdoing: on one occasion, he told a subordinate facing credible corruption charges that his choices were to resign or shoot himself. ‘Sam Bahadur,’ as the men of the 8 Gurkha Rifles proudly called him, will be remembered not just for the military triumph he helped achieve — but as an exemplar of military leadership.
“One who excels at employing the army,” wrote Sun Tzu in the sixth-century classic, The Art of War, “leads them by the hand as if they were only one man.” Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, who passed away Friday at Wellington at the age of 94, will be remembered for his exceptional demonstration of this skill during the Indian Army’s historic, nation-creating victory at Dhaka in 1971. He will also be remembered for representing the finest traditions of the Indian Army: professionalism, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to the core values of democracy. Sam Manekshaw was born in Amritsar to Parsi parents in 1914, and his adult life was entwined with the making of the modern Indian Army. He served the British Indian Army against Japanese forces in what is now Myanmar, twice suffering serious combat injuries; helped put down Partition riots; and fought against Pakistani forces from Jammu and Kashmir in 1947-1948. Sidelined in the run-up to the 1962 war with China, Sam Manekshaw was rehabilitated during the subsequent military reconstruction drive. He was elevated as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Command before the India Pakistan war of 1965. He counselled against offensive operations in what is now Bangladesh, demonstrating a concern for avoiding civilian casualties that paid off six years later. His services in Nagaland as Eastern Army commander were rewarded with a Padma Bhushan in 1968. He was awarded a Padma Vibhushan and, in 1973, elevated to the highest rank a soldier can aspire to. He remains one of just two Generals of the Indian Army to have been made a Field Marshal.
Field-Marshal Manekshaw’s military legacy has been the subject of energetic debate in recent years, with some critics arguing that he was not the principal architect of India’s 1971 victory. The official history of the war of 1971 — which for some opaque reason remains a classified document, even though it can now be downloaded from the Internet — suggests that none of the protagonists ever issued an unequivocal order to seize Dhaka. Both Army Headquarters and Eastern Command “had thought of and made some provision for the capture of Dhaka, but had played safe and issued no formal order to any of the formations in the field” — a not-unreasonable position given the prospect of a United States-backed Pakistani counter-offensive. In the event, Lieutenant-General Sagat Singh and Major-General Gandharv Nagra took “the bit in their teeth and gallop[ed] for Dhaka even before receiving any order.” Field-Marshal Manekshaw’s real genius lay in his selection of his field commanders — and his ability to inspire the confidence that, if things went wrong, their commander would stand by them. He refused to condone wrongdoing: on one occasion, he told a subordinate facing credible corruption charges that his choices were to resign or shoot himself. ‘Sam Bahadur,’ as the men of the 8 Gurkha Rifles proudly called him, will be remembered not just for the military triumph he helped achieve — but as an exemplar of military leadership.
Remembering Sam Manekshaw - 1
How he & his men won wars !
NEW DELHI: ‘Sam’ Maneskhaw backed his men through and through. And, his self-belief rubbed on to his men.
He would back officers even if some of them developed a fondness for the bottle that made them anathema in the eyes of some of his more punctilious colleagues. ‘Sam’ felt that the indiscretions of youth could be overlooked if the officer was courageous and a brilliant tactician, one whom soldiers would follow unquestioningly.
Thus, when the 1971 war came about, the General had around him officers who were not afraid to speak out their mind but when ordered to do so, would fulfil their missions with the dedication of evangelists. Like Major General Ian Cordozo who cut off his leg without anaesthesia after gangrene had set in during the battle at Sylhet in Bangladesh. Manekshaw conveyed to his Eastern Command chief Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s wish to move quickly into East Pakistan in 1971. On being asked by General Jacob to wait till the end of monsoons, ‘Sam’ accepted his commander’s advice and did not budge when requested by the political leadership to launch operations immediately.
Asked by Indira Gandhi whether “he was ready [for the war],” Sam replied, “Sweety, I am always ready.” But he stood solidly by the assessment of his field commanders, who felt that a military campaign which began in summer would not be concluded successfully because of the monsoon. This lead to the famous four words from Jagjivan Ram, then Defence Minister: Sam, ab maan bhi jao (Sam, please do agree).
Manekshaw was proved right. By the time war was declared, the army had over eight lakh men, about 300 fighter planes, 1,500 tanks and 3,000 artillery pieces. The Pakistan Army had less than half that number of men, fighter jets, tanks and artillery pieces.
‘Sam’ had mentored many of the officers serving under him. Pakistani military historian Shuja Nawaz recalls that the war gaming models by an Indian officer about Pakistan’s likely offensive in Jammu during the 1965 war were so accurate. It was as if he had read the Pakistan commander’s mind. The Indian army officer later revealed that he had developed these ideas while serving under a certain Brigadier Manekshaw in an infantry school.
The sterling display by the army in 1971 under Manekshaw could not have happened without a combination of factors. Having noted Foreign Minister Swaran Singh’s advice to not venture into the war without an influential international friend, Indira Gandhi signed the 20-year friendship treaty with the Soviet Union which instantly increased the availability of weapons. Foreign journalists expelled from East Pakistan were smuggled back by India to write on the Mukti Bahini’s successes and the Pakistan Army’s excesses. This put Pakistan on the backfoot as far as the liberal international opinion was concerned.
The 1971 war saw several instances of jointsmanship among the armed forces. Naval jets accompanied IAF fighters to pound Chittagong. The navy made innovative use of high-speed short distance missile boats by towing them towards the Pakistan coast at night and launching a lightning attack on ships in the Karachi port from the southern side even as IAF fighters appeared from the eastern side. Indeed this thread of all the three forces chipping in their might made the 1971 war a delight to execute for its Generals, Admirals and Air Marshals.
While Manekshaw was adamant about delaying the military campaign till the monsoon had receded, he was flexible on many occasions. A firm believer in the Clausewetzian theory of that war is continuation of politics by other means, Manekshaw accepted the creation of a joint military command in which the head of the Mukti Bahini (a retired colonel) was given the title of a general and made the East Pakistan’s counterpart of Eastern Command chief Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh. This was essentially a political arrangement and Manekshaw saw sense in accepting this gesture aimed at respecting Bangladesh’s status as an independent nation and its sensibilities. And as result, the Indian Army’s Eastern Command received a steady flow of priceless intelligence about the Pakistan Army.
And then there was Manekshaw’s attitude of not pulling rank if the advice was sensible. The Eastern Command wanted Dhaka as the final objective but the East Pakistan capital was missing from Manekshaw’s battle plans. An intense debate ensued at Fort William in Calcutta, the army’s Eastern Command headquarters, and battle plans were modified to include the capture of Dhaka as a key objective of the attack on East Pakistan. No debate of this kind was conducted at the Pakistan Army’s central headquarters in Rawalpindi, rues Shuja Nawaz.
All these combined to give a decisive victory for the Indian armed forces and helped create a nation that gave the lie to the two-nation theory
NEW DELHI: ‘Sam’ Maneskhaw backed his men through and through. And, his self-belief rubbed on to his men.
He would back officers even if some of them developed a fondness for the bottle that made them anathema in the eyes of some of his more punctilious colleagues. ‘Sam’ felt that the indiscretions of youth could be overlooked if the officer was courageous and a brilliant tactician, one whom soldiers would follow unquestioningly.
Thus, when the 1971 war came about, the General had around him officers who were not afraid to speak out their mind but when ordered to do so, would fulfil their missions with the dedication of evangelists. Like Major General Ian Cordozo who cut off his leg without anaesthesia after gangrene had set in during the battle at Sylhet in Bangladesh. Manekshaw conveyed to his Eastern Command chief Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s wish to move quickly into East Pakistan in 1971. On being asked by General Jacob to wait till the end of monsoons, ‘Sam’ accepted his commander’s advice and did not budge when requested by the political leadership to launch operations immediately.
Asked by Indira Gandhi whether “he was ready [for the war],” Sam replied, “Sweety, I am always ready.” But he stood solidly by the assessment of his field commanders, who felt that a military campaign which began in summer would not be concluded successfully because of the monsoon. This lead to the famous four words from Jagjivan Ram, then Defence Minister: Sam, ab maan bhi jao (Sam, please do agree).
Manekshaw was proved right. By the time war was declared, the army had over eight lakh men, about 300 fighter planes, 1,500 tanks and 3,000 artillery pieces. The Pakistan Army had less than half that number of men, fighter jets, tanks and artillery pieces.
‘Sam’ had mentored many of the officers serving under him. Pakistani military historian Shuja Nawaz recalls that the war gaming models by an Indian officer about Pakistan’s likely offensive in Jammu during the 1965 war were so accurate. It was as if he had read the Pakistan commander’s mind. The Indian army officer later revealed that he had developed these ideas while serving under a certain Brigadier Manekshaw in an infantry school.
The sterling display by the army in 1971 under Manekshaw could not have happened without a combination of factors. Having noted Foreign Minister Swaran Singh’s advice to not venture into the war without an influential international friend, Indira Gandhi signed the 20-year friendship treaty with the Soviet Union which instantly increased the availability of weapons. Foreign journalists expelled from East Pakistan were smuggled back by India to write on the Mukti Bahini’s successes and the Pakistan Army’s excesses. This put Pakistan on the backfoot as far as the liberal international opinion was concerned.
The 1971 war saw several instances of jointsmanship among the armed forces. Naval jets accompanied IAF fighters to pound Chittagong. The navy made innovative use of high-speed short distance missile boats by towing them towards the Pakistan coast at night and launching a lightning attack on ships in the Karachi port from the southern side even as IAF fighters appeared from the eastern side. Indeed this thread of all the three forces chipping in their might made the 1971 war a delight to execute for its Generals, Admirals and Air Marshals.
While Manekshaw was adamant about delaying the military campaign till the monsoon had receded, he was flexible on many occasions. A firm believer in the Clausewetzian theory of that war is continuation of politics by other means, Manekshaw accepted the creation of a joint military command in which the head of the Mukti Bahini (a retired colonel) was given the title of a general and made the East Pakistan’s counterpart of Eastern Command chief Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh. This was essentially a political arrangement and Manekshaw saw sense in accepting this gesture aimed at respecting Bangladesh’s status as an independent nation and its sensibilities. And as result, the Indian Army’s Eastern Command received a steady flow of priceless intelligence about the Pakistan Army.
And then there was Manekshaw’s attitude of not pulling rank if the advice was sensible. The Eastern Command wanted Dhaka as the final objective but the East Pakistan capital was missing from Manekshaw’s battle plans. An intense debate ensued at Fort William in Calcutta, the army’s Eastern Command headquarters, and battle plans were modified to include the capture of Dhaka as a key objective of the attack on East Pakistan. No debate of this kind was conducted at the Pakistan Army’s central headquarters in Rawalpindi, rues Shuja Nawaz.
All these combined to give a decisive victory for the Indian armed forces and helped create a nation that gave the lie to the two-nation theory
Day 5 Over
Hi,
Got late reaching home today.Like i had mentioned yesterday ,spent 12 hours on the road ,visiting our stores.Posted a couple today.Think i will do more of it tommorrow.So till tommorrow
Happy reading & a good night.
Sri.
Got late reaching home today.Like i had mentioned yesterday ,spent 12 hours on the road ,visiting our stores.Posted a couple today.Think i will do more of it tommorrow.So till tommorrow
Happy reading & a good night.
Sri.
Web portal for techies launched
A Web portal exclusively for IT professionals to socialise and share ideas was launched here recently. The portal, technopax.com, will be a common online platform for IT industry related professionals. Mr Ram Mohan, Executive Director of the portal, said such an online platform would improve the technical and professional skills of IT professionals through sharing of knowledge base, methodologies and skill sets. Besides building up a vast circle of friends, the portal will also help them to be keep with the latest developments that happen on the IT front world over. About 40 different online games would also be available in the portal, besides IT related and sports news. The platform is free of cost and no registration fee is levied.
Newsmaker - K.M.Birla
When at 28, Kumar Mangalam Birla walked into Industry House, the then headquarters of the Aditya Birla group in South Mumbai, to take over as the Chairman of Rs-15,000 crore group, not many in corporate India were enthused.But the speed at which the young Birla turned around the group into one of India's biggest business houses has turned even his staunchest critic into an admirer. With Idea Cellular closing India's fourth-largest M&A deal by buying Spice Communications on Wednesday, Birla, 41, has come closer to his dream of breaking into the Fortune 500 list by 2010. Birla is a tough negotiator and had enough experience behind him to take on BK Modi, the Spice chairman, who had been negotiating with his advisors since last year without results. The exasperated advisors then had to ask Birla to lead the talks. Birla, a Chartered Accountant and an alumnus of London Business School, has led some of India's biggest M&A negotiations including an acrimonious battle with the Tatas to buy the latter's shares in Idea Cellular. He also negotiated with the Ambanis to buy Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shares and later with L&T's management to demerge its cement units. "Kumar Mangalam's working model is completely different from his father's. Kumar Mangalam believes in delegation of power. His style is more group-oriented," says his grandfather, BK Birla. Kumar now wants a substantial portion of his group's revenues to come from new economy businesses and retail. His group company is rolling out retail stores under the brand name More and with the takeover of Spice, Idea Cellular will have a pan-India presence. One of the reasons for Birla's success, says his grandfather, is that Birla built a very good Team A. "We had a policy of not recruiting people from outside. He changed it," he says. He created a new team and put HR systems in place by roping in Santrupt Misra from Hindustan Lever. He hired Bharat Singh in 1996 for Aditya Birla Nuvo, Debu Bhattacharya in 1998 to lead Hindalco, Sanjeev Aga in 1999 for Idea Cellular and Sumant Sinha in 2002 for the retail initiative. With Birla now setting his sights on the Fortune 500 list, the Aditya Birla group is turning into an institution which corporate India would be proud of.
The Nirmal Shekar Column
London: In sport, as in life, everybody wants to be somewhere else, no matter where they happen to be.
But in the unforgiving cauldron of competition, “you must run twice as fast” to get anywhere else, as Alice found out in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
On Thursday, in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, Sania Mirza sought new vistas in her own heart and soul to steer clear of the hole in which she found herself, running twice as fast.
But it was still not good enough against a Spanish journeywoman — Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez — who was boldly punching way above her weight in a second round match that lasted eight minutes over two hours.Nightmarish start
Playing in only her fifth match after a three-month injury lay-off, Sania overcame a nightmarish start — she lost the first eight games of the match — to come within a point of victory four times in the third set. But the left-handed Martinez Sanchez, one of a handful of women who tend not to mistake the net for a guillotine, backed her own serving and volleying skills to outlast Sania 6-0, 4-6, 9-7 to go through to the third round.
Surely, as much as the No. 32 ranked Indian, Martinez Sanchez, world ranked 101 and tasting success for the first time in the main draw of a Grand Slam event, too desperately wanted to get somewhere else. On Thursday, she did, at Sania’s cost.
The last few months have been a frustrating period for Sania. She believes that she was playing some of the best tennis of her career when the wrist injury forced her out of the game. And her eagerness to regain lost ground is understandable.
Then again, things seldom fall in place quite as easily as a player would want to after the rehabilitation period. More often than not, you have to start from the foothills all over again and the task might appear daunting.
Sania, for her part, offered the hope on Thursday that she might be closer to her customary altitude than her first round match — or the horrendous start she endured in the second round — might have suggested.
From the third game of the second set, until the 15th of the decider when she lost serve — perhaps demoralised by the four matchpoints she had failed to convert — Sania played with the confidence and authority of old.
Martinez Sanchez, aged 25, can be a tricky opponent on grass; well, in fact, she was. A left-hander with a big serve, she uses every inch of the court space, moving on light feet and thriving on subtle changes of pace. Her volleying skills were impressive but what took the breath away were those delightful half volleys she scooped up with a dazzling sleight of hand.Exhilarating tennis
The Spaniard quickly silenced the dozens of Indian supporters on the showcourt No. 11 with a brand of tennis that was exhilarating to watch but withering to face. But once she won her first game of the match, on serve, Sania was on her way.
Obviously, Martinez Sanchez was going to find it difficult to sustain that level of play and when Sania lifted herself and raced through the second set and then opened up a 2-0 lead in the third, few would have backed a player ranked outside the top 100.
Sania had one matchpoint in the 10th game of the decider and three more in the 12th, all of them on the Spanish woman’s serve.
Sania could have blamed herself only on one occasion, for an unforced error. The other three times, Martinez Sanchez went for broke on her serve and her instincts paid off.
A deft drop set up the break for the Spaniard in the 15th game and she confidently served out the match in the next.
Even as Sania was squandering all those matchpoints, a teenager by the name of Ernests Gulbis, tiny Latvia’s best known export, matched Rafael Nadal, the four-time French champion and second seed, shot for shot and then broke the Spaniard’s serve in the 12th game to take the first set.
Of course, for Rafa, panic threshold is not really a threshold; for it does not exist. He moved up a gear and normal service resumed although, once again in the third set, the impressive youngster ran the Spaniard close before Nadal won 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-3 in two hours and 56 minutes to take his place in the third round.
If Nadal is aiming for the big prize here — and perhaps the No.1 ranking by the end of the year — then, by comparison, Gulbis’ ambitions are modest.
Yet, it would be a surprise if we don’t find him in the top 10 in a year or two.
Surely, nobody is happy where they are — which, of course, is what makes life and sport interesting.
In gathering darkness, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, seeded four in the men’s doubles, were beaten 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 by Philipp Petzschner of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria in a first round match.
But in the unforgiving cauldron of competition, “you must run twice as fast” to get anywhere else, as Alice found out in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
On Thursday, in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, Sania Mirza sought new vistas in her own heart and soul to steer clear of the hole in which she found herself, running twice as fast.
But it was still not good enough against a Spanish journeywoman — Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez — who was boldly punching way above her weight in a second round match that lasted eight minutes over two hours.Nightmarish start
Playing in only her fifth match after a three-month injury lay-off, Sania overcame a nightmarish start — she lost the first eight games of the match — to come within a point of victory four times in the third set. But the left-handed Martinez Sanchez, one of a handful of women who tend not to mistake the net for a guillotine, backed her own serving and volleying skills to outlast Sania 6-0, 4-6, 9-7 to go through to the third round.
Surely, as much as the No. 32 ranked Indian, Martinez Sanchez, world ranked 101 and tasting success for the first time in the main draw of a Grand Slam event, too desperately wanted to get somewhere else. On Thursday, she did, at Sania’s cost.
The last few months have been a frustrating period for Sania. She believes that she was playing some of the best tennis of her career when the wrist injury forced her out of the game. And her eagerness to regain lost ground is understandable.
Then again, things seldom fall in place quite as easily as a player would want to after the rehabilitation period. More often than not, you have to start from the foothills all over again and the task might appear daunting.
Sania, for her part, offered the hope on Thursday that she might be closer to her customary altitude than her first round match — or the horrendous start she endured in the second round — might have suggested.
From the third game of the second set, until the 15th of the decider when she lost serve — perhaps demoralised by the four matchpoints she had failed to convert — Sania played with the confidence and authority of old.
Martinez Sanchez, aged 25, can be a tricky opponent on grass; well, in fact, she was. A left-hander with a big serve, she uses every inch of the court space, moving on light feet and thriving on subtle changes of pace. Her volleying skills were impressive but what took the breath away were those delightful half volleys she scooped up with a dazzling sleight of hand.Exhilarating tennis
The Spaniard quickly silenced the dozens of Indian supporters on the showcourt No. 11 with a brand of tennis that was exhilarating to watch but withering to face. But once she won her first game of the match, on serve, Sania was on her way.
Obviously, Martinez Sanchez was going to find it difficult to sustain that level of play and when Sania lifted herself and raced through the second set and then opened up a 2-0 lead in the third, few would have backed a player ranked outside the top 100.
Sania had one matchpoint in the 10th game of the decider and three more in the 12th, all of them on the Spanish woman’s serve.
Sania could have blamed herself only on one occasion, for an unforced error. The other three times, Martinez Sanchez went for broke on her serve and her instincts paid off.
A deft drop set up the break for the Spaniard in the 15th game and she confidently served out the match in the next.
Even as Sania was squandering all those matchpoints, a teenager by the name of Ernests Gulbis, tiny Latvia’s best known export, matched Rafael Nadal, the four-time French champion and second seed, shot for shot and then broke the Spaniard’s serve in the 12th game to take the first set.
Of course, for Rafa, panic threshold is not really a threshold; for it does not exist. He moved up a gear and normal service resumed although, once again in the third set, the impressive youngster ran the Spaniard close before Nadal won 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-3 in two hours and 56 minutes to take his place in the third round.
If Nadal is aiming for the big prize here — and perhaps the No.1 ranking by the end of the year — then, by comparison, Gulbis’ ambitions are modest.
Yet, it would be a surprise if we don’t find him in the top 10 in a year or two.
Surely, nobody is happy where they are — which, of course, is what makes life and sport interesting.
In gathering darkness, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, seeded four in the men’s doubles, were beaten 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 by Philipp Petzschner of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria in a first round match.
Jun 26, 2008
Day 4 is over
Hi,
Today is been a good day.We crossed the three digit mark ( on the 4th day, tat is a good daily average ,ain't it ?).Think we will be making a few changes to the way we post articles from now on.Will detail them in a day or two.Btw i will be travelling ( market visit,ha ha) to a few places nearby in the next couple of days.So don't expect any posts from me during day time.Will post a few ( not 25-30,but atleast 5- 10) post sunset.So till tommorrow
Happy reading
Sri
Today is been a good day.We crossed the three digit mark ( on the 4th day, tat is a good daily average ,ain't it ?).Think we will be making a few changes to the way we post articles from now on.Will detail them in a day or two.Btw i will be travelling ( market visit,ha ha) to a few places nearby in the next couple of days.So don't expect any posts from me during day time.Will post a few ( not 25-30,but atleast 5- 10) post sunset.So till tommorrow
Happy reading
Sri
Central Asia's Child Aids tragedy
Dilfusa wept as she rocked her baby, Bekhruzbek, to sleep.
She had taken her son to hospital near their village in southern Kyrgyzstan because he had heat stroke.
Eight months later he was diagnosed with HIV. "I thought my life was over," she said.
The doctors who treated Bekhruzbek are now on trial, accused of infecting him.
There are 78 other babies who have contracted HIV inside hospitals in Kyrgyzstan. Three of them have died, and new cases continue to emerge.
Most of their parents do not want to talk - so great is the stigma.
"My husband left me, he is in Russia now. The night when we got the test results he slept on the other side of the bed. I accidentally touched him and he kicked me," said Dilfusa.
Dilfusa, in her early twenties, is now also HIV positive. Like 16 other mothers in Kyrgyzstan, she contracted the virus through breastfeeding.
It is rare, but it happens - yet no-one warned her, she says, that she should not have nursed.
Fourteen medical workers in Kyrgyzstan have been accused of negligence, malpractice and corruption.
The prosecution alleges that doctors charged parents for equipment which they had used again and again.
Crumbling system
But it is not just individual doctors, it is the entire medical system in Kyrgyzstan and across Central Asia that is on trial.
This system is part of the region's Soviet legacy.
Soviet healthcare - just like much in the USSR - was huge, centrally managed and inflexible.
Doctors followed the orders of the Communist Party, but they were well paid and had plenty of resources.
As the USSR fell apart, so did its health system. Hospitals lost funding, many doctors left for better paid jobs overseas, leaving the crumbling medical system unprepared for new challenges like HIV/Aids.
As the international community began to pour tens of millions of dollars into HIV/Aids prevention, very little was spent on reforming the health system itself.
Donors are beginning to realise that this was a mistake.
"I think trying to address the problem of HIV/Aids without investing in health systems is inefficient use of resources," says Gabit Islmailov of the World Health Organisation.
"I think this is a realisation that is coming to the mind of many donor agencies."
But it has come too late for the growing number of children already affected, and not only in Kyrgyzstan.
Drug users
Across the border lies Central Asia's richest nation, Kazakhstan.
It boasts one of the former Soviet Union's most successful economies. But away from the buzz of the capital, the country's health system is in ruins.
One year ago, an unprecedented trial took place in the southern city of Shymkent.
Twenty-one medical professionals were found guilty of infecting more than 70 babies with HIV. The number of infected children now stands at 149.
Most of the babies were infected through blood transfusions as doctors made money by prescribing unnecessary transfusions and selling blood to parents.
Court documents show one child received more than 50 transfusions during just one treatment.
It is not clear where the infected blood came from. But the prosecution suggested drug users could be one possible source.
They are the biggest HIV risk group in Central Asia. In Shymkent three drug users said it had been standard practice for them to give blood for money, and that when they did they were not checked for HIV.
The government says this is no longer the case and that all blood donors are now carefully screened, but the problem, some believe, is that the underlying cause of the outbreak still exists.
"Corruption is a particularly dangerous infection for society," says Bahit Tumeneva, a former senior Kazakh health official who left her job several years ago to protest against corruption in the medical sector.
"The doctors have to bribe in order to get jobs or to get a place for their children in school, and then they start taking bribes too. When the power of law is substituted by the power of money, all of us become hostages to situations like the one in Shymkent," she says.
Ms Tumeneva, like many, is convinced that the Shymkent and Osh outbreaks are part of a larger regional trend.
"The situation in hospitals is similar everywhere. It just happened that it was discovered in Shymkent," she says.
Wasted lessons
More than a year after he was first diagnosed with HIV, two-year-old Syatt now lives with his grandmother, Salima, in the outskirts of Shymkent.
The government provided accommodation for 10 of the 149 families. Their houses stand on the edge of a landfill. The air reeks of rotting rubbish, and their neighbours want them out.
"When the neighbours found out that Syatt was ill, there was a big scandal - there was even fighting. They wanted to evict us," she said.
When Syatt was seven months old, Salima took him to hospital to check a swelling on his knee. It was inside the hospital, she says, that he got sick with pneumonia and doctors administered several transfusions
"I'm heartbroken. None of our relatives want to know us. They told me to abandon him, to put him in an orphanage. But it's not his fault, it's the state's fault and the doctors' fault," she said.
As she speaks, Syatt is playing with his only friend, Ruslana.
She is another of the HIV babies. Salima hopes that maybe one day the two will get married. No healthy girl will ever marry my grandson, she tells me.
But Ruslana is already very sick and only one stage away from getting full-blown Aids.
Fifteen babies have died of Aids in Shymkent, killed in places that are built to cure.
Salima has heard of the new outbreak in Osh. Syatt and Ruslana's tragedy, she says, is all the more pointless because elsewhere the painful lessons of Shymkent have already been wasted
She had taken her son to hospital near their village in southern Kyrgyzstan because he had heat stroke.
Eight months later he was diagnosed with HIV. "I thought my life was over," she said.
The doctors who treated Bekhruzbek are now on trial, accused of infecting him.
There are 78 other babies who have contracted HIV inside hospitals in Kyrgyzstan. Three of them have died, and new cases continue to emerge.
Most of their parents do not want to talk - so great is the stigma.
"My husband left me, he is in Russia now. The night when we got the test results he slept on the other side of the bed. I accidentally touched him and he kicked me," said Dilfusa.
Dilfusa, in her early twenties, is now also HIV positive. Like 16 other mothers in Kyrgyzstan, she contracted the virus through breastfeeding.
It is rare, but it happens - yet no-one warned her, she says, that she should not have nursed.
Fourteen medical workers in Kyrgyzstan have been accused of negligence, malpractice and corruption.
The prosecution alleges that doctors charged parents for equipment which they had used again and again.
Crumbling system
But it is not just individual doctors, it is the entire medical system in Kyrgyzstan and across Central Asia that is on trial.
This system is part of the region's Soviet legacy.
Soviet healthcare - just like much in the USSR - was huge, centrally managed and inflexible.
Doctors followed the orders of the Communist Party, but they were well paid and had plenty of resources.
As the USSR fell apart, so did its health system. Hospitals lost funding, many doctors left for better paid jobs overseas, leaving the crumbling medical system unprepared for new challenges like HIV/Aids.
As the international community began to pour tens of millions of dollars into HIV/Aids prevention, very little was spent on reforming the health system itself.
Donors are beginning to realise that this was a mistake.
"I think trying to address the problem of HIV/Aids without investing in health systems is inefficient use of resources," says Gabit Islmailov of the World Health Organisation.
"I think this is a realisation that is coming to the mind of many donor agencies."
But it has come too late for the growing number of children already affected, and not only in Kyrgyzstan.
Drug users
Across the border lies Central Asia's richest nation, Kazakhstan.
It boasts one of the former Soviet Union's most successful economies. But away from the buzz of the capital, the country's health system is in ruins.
One year ago, an unprecedented trial took place in the southern city of Shymkent.
Twenty-one medical professionals were found guilty of infecting more than 70 babies with HIV. The number of infected children now stands at 149.
Most of the babies were infected through blood transfusions as doctors made money by prescribing unnecessary transfusions and selling blood to parents.
Court documents show one child received more than 50 transfusions during just one treatment.
It is not clear where the infected blood came from. But the prosecution suggested drug users could be one possible source.
They are the biggest HIV risk group in Central Asia. In Shymkent three drug users said it had been standard practice for them to give blood for money, and that when they did they were not checked for HIV.
The government says this is no longer the case and that all blood donors are now carefully screened, but the problem, some believe, is that the underlying cause of the outbreak still exists.
"Corruption is a particularly dangerous infection for society," says Bahit Tumeneva, a former senior Kazakh health official who left her job several years ago to protest against corruption in the medical sector.
"The doctors have to bribe in order to get jobs or to get a place for their children in school, and then they start taking bribes too. When the power of law is substituted by the power of money, all of us become hostages to situations like the one in Shymkent," she says.
Ms Tumeneva, like many, is convinced that the Shymkent and Osh outbreaks are part of a larger regional trend.
"The situation in hospitals is similar everywhere. It just happened that it was discovered in Shymkent," she says.
Wasted lessons
More than a year after he was first diagnosed with HIV, two-year-old Syatt now lives with his grandmother, Salima, in the outskirts of Shymkent.
The government provided accommodation for 10 of the 149 families. Their houses stand on the edge of a landfill. The air reeks of rotting rubbish, and their neighbours want them out.
"When the neighbours found out that Syatt was ill, there was a big scandal - there was even fighting. They wanted to evict us," she said.
When Syatt was seven months old, Salima took him to hospital to check a swelling on his knee. It was inside the hospital, she says, that he got sick with pneumonia and doctors administered several transfusions
"I'm heartbroken. None of our relatives want to know us. They told me to abandon him, to put him in an orphanage. But it's not his fault, it's the state's fault and the doctors' fault," she said.
As she speaks, Syatt is playing with his only friend, Ruslana.
She is another of the HIV babies. Salima hopes that maybe one day the two will get married. No healthy girl will ever marry my grandson, she tells me.
But Ruslana is already very sick and only one stage away from getting full-blown Aids.
Fifteen babies have died of Aids in Shymkent, killed in places that are built to cure.
Salima has heard of the new outbreak in Osh. Syatt and Ruslana's tragedy, she says, is all the more pointless because elsewhere the painful lessons of Shymkent have already been wasted
Signs of division on Egypt's Brow
The zebiba used to be the mark of an elderly Muslim man, the fruit of a lifetime's devotion, but it is increasingly seen on the faces of young Egyptians.
Literally meaning "a raisin", the zebiba is a patch of hardened skin where the forehead touches the ground during Muslim prayers.
Some welcome the trend as a sign of devotion, others say it is ostentatious piety.
Worse still there are fears public displays of faith like the zebiba and the hijab, or headscarf, are spilling over into vigilantism.
Liberals or Christians who don't conform in the workplace or on the street say they are being harassed.
Gift from God
A practising Muslim's forehead is meant to touch the ground at least 34 times a day - in symbolic submission to God's will - which could add up to more than a million prostrations in a lifetime.
The relentless rise of political Islam over the past few decades has succeed in rolling back significant parts of Egypt's secular tradition But over the past few decades, as more and more Egyptians turned to religion, the zebiba began appearing among young men as the veil did among young women.
But not every Muslim gets one, and opinions vary as to where it comes from. It could something to do with skin-type, or created artificially, or come from particular kinds of matting. Others believe it is a gift from God.
Many young Egyptians I asked believe some kind of light will emanate from the prayer mark on their foreheads on the Day of Judgment, marking them out as truly devout.
One of Egypt's greatest living and most popular poets, Abdelrahman al-Abnoudi, has another explanation - in times of crises people turn either to drugs or to religion.
Egyptians have always been religious, he adds, but since being religious has also become fashionable, people now press their foreheads against the ground a little harder to acquire the appearance of a devout Muslim.
Dalia Ziada of the American Islamic Congress - an non-governmental organisation based in Cairo - says some men deliberately pray on straw mats, and rub their foreheads until they eventually develop the zebiba.
Relentless rise
The increased public display of religious devotion is part of a wider phenomenon, affecting what women wear, and what people read or watch on their television screens.
In recent years the zebiba has become a pronounced mark on foreheadsThe relentless rise of political Islam over the past few decades has succeed in rolling back significant parts of Egypt's secular tradition.
For radical Islamist politicians, like Magdi Hussein, that is a move in the right direction, away from the Westernisation which started over two centuries ago with the French and British invasions.
He sees the the zebiba phenomenon in the context of government-inspired "darwasha", an atmosphere of unpolitical religious devotion which goes against the Islamists' self-professed aim of reforming society and fighting corruption and despotism.
But Mr Hussein refuses to acknowledge that the increased public display of piety has had any downsides.
Intimidation
Suddenly the girls - all of whom were veiled - surrounded the car and start banging on the windows
ShahinazEgyptian women and Liberals I spoke to tell a different story. A Coptic doctor, who did not want to be named, told me she had been spat upon in broad daylight for not wearing the veil.
A young Muslim engineer, Shahinaz, who refuses to cover her hair, said she has become scared of intimidation.
"I was driving home one evening and had to stop next to a girls' school. Suddenly the girls - all of whom were veiled - surrounded the car and start banging on the windows and screaming: 'Infidel! Apostate!' I was terrified."
Dr Sayyed al-Qimni, one of Egypt's best known liberal writers and historians, says society has been hijacked by a very conservative brand of religion, which he characterises as Saudi Wahhabi Islam.
"There are now 13,000 religious schools [in Egypt] that produce terrorists, like the Taliban madrassas in Pakistan. At religious schools they teach children that Muslims who do not pray should be killed."
There is no doubt that in one way the Islamists are winning their struggle to increase the role religion plays in social life and public debate in this country.
The question now for Egypt is what kind of Muslim society it is going to be - one that is at peace or at war with modern values.
Literally meaning "a raisin", the zebiba is a patch of hardened skin where the forehead touches the ground during Muslim prayers.
Some welcome the trend as a sign of devotion, others say it is ostentatious piety.
Worse still there are fears public displays of faith like the zebiba and the hijab, or headscarf, are spilling over into vigilantism.
Liberals or Christians who don't conform in the workplace or on the street say they are being harassed.
Gift from God
A practising Muslim's forehead is meant to touch the ground at least 34 times a day - in symbolic submission to God's will - which could add up to more than a million prostrations in a lifetime.
The relentless rise of political Islam over the past few decades has succeed in rolling back significant parts of Egypt's secular tradition But over the past few decades, as more and more Egyptians turned to religion, the zebiba began appearing among young men as the veil did among young women.
But not every Muslim gets one, and opinions vary as to where it comes from. It could something to do with skin-type, or created artificially, or come from particular kinds of matting. Others believe it is a gift from God.
Many young Egyptians I asked believe some kind of light will emanate from the prayer mark on their foreheads on the Day of Judgment, marking them out as truly devout.
One of Egypt's greatest living and most popular poets, Abdelrahman al-Abnoudi, has another explanation - in times of crises people turn either to drugs or to religion.
Egyptians have always been religious, he adds, but since being religious has also become fashionable, people now press their foreheads against the ground a little harder to acquire the appearance of a devout Muslim.
Dalia Ziada of the American Islamic Congress - an non-governmental organisation based in Cairo - says some men deliberately pray on straw mats, and rub their foreheads until they eventually develop the zebiba.
Relentless rise
The increased public display of religious devotion is part of a wider phenomenon, affecting what women wear, and what people read or watch on their television screens.
In recent years the zebiba has become a pronounced mark on foreheadsThe relentless rise of political Islam over the past few decades has succeed in rolling back significant parts of Egypt's secular tradition.
For radical Islamist politicians, like Magdi Hussein, that is a move in the right direction, away from the Westernisation which started over two centuries ago with the French and British invasions.
He sees the the zebiba phenomenon in the context of government-inspired "darwasha", an atmosphere of unpolitical religious devotion which goes against the Islamists' self-professed aim of reforming society and fighting corruption and despotism.
But Mr Hussein refuses to acknowledge that the increased public display of piety has had any downsides.
Intimidation
Suddenly the girls - all of whom were veiled - surrounded the car and start banging on the windows
ShahinazEgyptian women and Liberals I spoke to tell a different story. A Coptic doctor, who did not want to be named, told me she had been spat upon in broad daylight for not wearing the veil.
A young Muslim engineer, Shahinaz, who refuses to cover her hair, said she has become scared of intimidation.
"I was driving home one evening and had to stop next to a girls' school. Suddenly the girls - all of whom were veiled - surrounded the car and start banging on the windows and screaming: 'Infidel! Apostate!' I was terrified."
Dr Sayyed al-Qimni, one of Egypt's best known liberal writers and historians, says society has been hijacked by a very conservative brand of religion, which he characterises as Saudi Wahhabi Islam.
"There are now 13,000 religious schools [in Egypt] that produce terrorists, like the Taliban madrassas in Pakistan. At religious schools they teach children that Muslims who do not pray should be killed."
There is no doubt that in one way the Islamists are winning their struggle to increase the role religion plays in social life and public debate in this country.
The question now for Egypt is what kind of Muslim society it is going to be - one that is at peace or at war with modern values.
What is keeping oil prices so high?
Despite an emerging global consensus that oil prices are dangerously high, there seems little chance of the cost of oil falling significantly in the near future.
Analysts say measures agreed at Sunday's crisis summit in Jeddah are unlikely to have a dramatic impact on market trends.
But what is keeping prices close to record levels of almost $140 a barrel?
WEAK US DOLLAR
· The sharp jump in prices since 2005 has coincided with the plunge in the value of the dollar against other leading currencies
· Dollar weakness encourages financial investors to look for other more lucrative investment opportunities, with oil top of their list
· As oil is traded in dollars, it also makes it cheaper to buy
· Signs the US economy may be on the brink of recession have undermined the dollar, boosting prices. Prices rose $11 on a single day last month when the unemployment rate rose
SUPPLY CONCERNS
· Analysts say growth in global supplies is worryingly failing to keep pace with growth in demand
· Supplies from countries such as Russia are thought to have peaked and finding new sources of oil is difficult and expensive
· Increasing reliance on members of the Middle-East dominated oil producers group Opec, many of which are already pumping as much oil as they can
· Saudi Arabia is one of few countries with spare capacity but it has been reluctant to boost output substantially
DEMAND GROWTH
· Global thirst for oil is intense. Demand has risen by about 3 million barrels a day since 2005 and is expected to rise by 32 million barrels a day in the next two decades
· The US remains the world's largest oil consumer and high individual fuel usage continues to put pressure on crude stockpiles
· Fast-growing China and India are forecast to account for 40% of the growth in oil demand by 2030, as industry grows and demand for travel increases
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
· Much of the world's oil is concentrated in volatile regions, leading to fears of frequent and unpredictable disruptions to supplies
· Despite oil output being at a six-year high, Iraq is still beset by violence while militant groups in Nigeria's main oil-producing region have recently impeded about a quarter of its output
· Tensions over Iran's nuclear programme. There are fears that an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear installations could trigger a wider conflict and threaten traffic through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, used to ship 40% of the world's oil.
MARKET SPECULATION
· Oil exporters say the price surge cannot be explained by the fundamental ratio of supply to demand and point their fingers at market speculators
· It is claimed that some traders are making huge amounts of money betting on the direction of prices, in turn forcing prices higher
· Others maintain that traders are simply hedging their investments against future market developments to reduce risk
· US regulators are looking for evidence of market manipulation while the IMF is examining the role of traders in the price spike
Analysts say measures agreed at Sunday's crisis summit in Jeddah are unlikely to have a dramatic impact on market trends.
But what is keeping prices close to record levels of almost $140 a barrel?
WEAK US DOLLAR
· The sharp jump in prices since 2005 has coincided with the plunge in the value of the dollar against other leading currencies
· Dollar weakness encourages financial investors to look for other more lucrative investment opportunities, with oil top of their list
· As oil is traded in dollars, it also makes it cheaper to buy
· Signs the US economy may be on the brink of recession have undermined the dollar, boosting prices. Prices rose $11 on a single day last month when the unemployment rate rose
SUPPLY CONCERNS
· Analysts say growth in global supplies is worryingly failing to keep pace with growth in demand
· Supplies from countries such as Russia are thought to have peaked and finding new sources of oil is difficult and expensive
· Increasing reliance on members of the Middle-East dominated oil producers group Opec, many of which are already pumping as much oil as they can
· Saudi Arabia is one of few countries with spare capacity but it has been reluctant to boost output substantially
DEMAND GROWTH
· Global thirst for oil is intense. Demand has risen by about 3 million barrels a day since 2005 and is expected to rise by 32 million barrels a day in the next two decades
· The US remains the world's largest oil consumer and high individual fuel usage continues to put pressure on crude stockpiles
· Fast-growing China and India are forecast to account for 40% of the growth in oil demand by 2030, as industry grows and demand for travel increases
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
· Much of the world's oil is concentrated in volatile regions, leading to fears of frequent and unpredictable disruptions to supplies
· Despite oil output being at a six-year high, Iraq is still beset by violence while militant groups in Nigeria's main oil-producing region have recently impeded about a quarter of its output
· Tensions over Iran's nuclear programme. There are fears that an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear installations could trigger a wider conflict and threaten traffic through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, used to ship 40% of the world's oil.
MARKET SPECULATION
· Oil exporters say the price surge cannot be explained by the fundamental ratio of supply to demand and point their fingers at market speculators
· It is claimed that some traders are making huge amounts of money betting on the direction of prices, in turn forcing prices higher
· Others maintain that traders are simply hedging their investments against future market developments to reduce risk
· US regulators are looking for evidence of market manipulation while the IMF is examining the role of traders in the price spike
Opium financed british rule in India
Leading Indian writer Amitav Ghosh's critically acclaimed new novel Sea of Poppies is set during a time when opium trade out of India was flourishing during British rule.
The novel spans three continents and close to two centuries and is the first in a planned historical trilogy set in the 19th century.
Ghosh, a trained anthropologist and historian with a doctorate from Oxford University, spoke to the BBC's Soutik Biswas on the colonial opium trade.
Sea of Poppies is a historical novel. Is it the fact that the British were the world's biggest opium suppliers two centuries ago that led you into this story?
I should correct you. It was not two centuries ago. Under the British Raj, an enormous amount of opium was being exported out of India until the 1920s.
And no, the opium story was not really the trigger for the novel. What basically interested me when I started this book were the lives of the Indian indentured workers, especially those who left India from the Bihar region.
But once I started researching into it, it was kind of inescapable - all the roads led back to opium. The indentured emigration [out of India] really started in the 1830s and that was [around the time of] the peak of the opium traffic. That decade culminated in the opium wars against China.
Also all the indentured workers at that time came from all the opium growing regions in the Benares and Ghazipur areas. So there was such an overlap there was no escaping opium.
When and how did you end up researching and learning more about the British opium trade out of India?
I was looking into it as I began writing the book about five years ago. Like most Indians, I had very little idea about opium.
I had no idea that India was the largest opium exporter for centuries. I had no idea that opium was essentially the commodity which financed the British Raj in India.
It is not a coincidence that 20 years after the opium trade stopped, the Raj more or less packed up its bags and left. India was not a paying proposition any longer.
What did you discover in the course of your research? How big was the trade?
Opium steadily accounted for about 17-20% of Indian revenues. If you think in those terms, [the fact that] one single commodity accounted for such an enormous part of your economy is unbelievable, extraordinary.
In fact the revenues don't account for entire profits generated [out of opium trade] -there was shipping, there were so many ancillary industries around opium.
How and when did opium exports out of India to China begin?
The idea of exporting opium to China started with Warren Hastings (the first governor general of British India) in 1780.
The situation was eerily similar to [what is happening] today. There was a huge balance of payments problem in relation to China. China was exporting enormous amounts, but wasn't interested in importing any European goods. That was when Hastings came up with idea that the only way of balancing trade was to export opium to China.
In the 1780s he sent the first shipment of opium to China. It was a small shipment and they could hardly get rid of it. There wasn't much demand. [But], within 10 years, demand for opium increased by factors of magnitude. It was incredible - within a period of 10-30 years how much the opium trade spread and increased.
In the period that Hastings started exporting opium in the 1780s until about 1809-1810, most of the opium in India was grown in the Bengal presidency (in eastern India).
After that the Malwa region in western India began growing opium. Finally twice as much opium was growing in western India and there was a huge export from that region. What do you think the major princely states lived off?
What kind of human devastation did opium growing wreak on the Indians?
I can't say I have an accurate picture. Whether it was devastation or not we don't know. There is so little we know [about this aspect].
Some reformers were trying to stop the opium trade and we know from their petitions and letters that there was fair amount of resistance. There seem to have been a lot of difficulties for peasants - they were switching to an agricultural monoculture, and that was causing problems.
With so much poppy being grown, didn't local people get addicted to it?
It happened. One of the curious things I was not aware of was that there are many different ways of consuming opium. One of the ways was to eat it in a bowl. This was somehow the commonest way of taking opium in India - either eating it or dissolving it in water.
East of India and eastwards through China there was a different way of consuming it which was by smoking it. That was very much more addictive.
It was not traditionally the case that people smoked opium in India. Opium also was a part of social life - it was offered during certain ceremonies. So it was a very complex picture.
If there was any direct damage to India, it lay in the disruption of the agricultural timetable. But the damage that was done to China was incalculable.
Both Indian and British history appear to have glossed over this part of colonial rule.
Absolutely. Opium was the fundamental undergirding of our economy for centuries. It is strange that [even] for someone like me who studied history and knew a fair amount about Indian history, I was completely unaware of it.
Why do you think that happened?
I think the reason is some sort of whitewashing of the past.
On the Indian side, there is a sort of shame, I suppose. Also, just a general unawareness. I mean how many people are aware that the Ghazipur opium factory [in India] continues to be one of the single largest opium producers in the world? It is without a doubt the largest legitimate opium factory in the world.
Don't you find it ironic that the tables have turned in a sense with Afghanistan becoming the world's biggest opium producer with most of it sold in the affluent West?
It is strange. But it's an irony in which no one can take any comfort. Opium is a destructive thing for anyone, anywhere.
And it remains a potent driver of economies, at least in a place like Afghanistan..
And, before that in Burma.
Sea of Poppies appears to be a scathing critique of British colonialism. Do you think colonialism has had a pretty easy ride in India and there is not enough examination of the extent of how it affected the country adversely?
It's such an ironic thing. Before the British came, India was one of the world's great economies. For 200 years India dwindled and dwindled into almost nothing. Fifty years after they left we have finally begun to reclaim our place in the world.
All the empirical facts show you that British rule was a disaster for India. Before the British came 25% of the world trade originated in India. By the time they left it was less than 1%.
Lot of Indians believe that the British built institutions, the police, bureaucracy.
I don't know what people think about when they say such things.
When they talk about [the British building] modern institutions it amazes me. Was there no police force in India before the British came? Of course there was. There were darogas (policemen), there were chowkis (police stations). In fact the British took the word chowki and put it into English. So to say such things is absurd
The novel spans three continents and close to two centuries and is the first in a planned historical trilogy set in the 19th century.
Ghosh, a trained anthropologist and historian with a doctorate from Oxford University, spoke to the BBC's Soutik Biswas on the colonial opium trade.
Sea of Poppies is a historical novel. Is it the fact that the British were the world's biggest opium suppliers two centuries ago that led you into this story?
I should correct you. It was not two centuries ago. Under the British Raj, an enormous amount of opium was being exported out of India until the 1920s.
And no, the opium story was not really the trigger for the novel. What basically interested me when I started this book were the lives of the Indian indentured workers, especially those who left India from the Bihar region.
But once I started researching into it, it was kind of inescapable - all the roads led back to opium. The indentured emigration [out of India] really started in the 1830s and that was [around the time of] the peak of the opium traffic. That decade culminated in the opium wars against China.
Also all the indentured workers at that time came from all the opium growing regions in the Benares and Ghazipur areas. So there was such an overlap there was no escaping opium.
When and how did you end up researching and learning more about the British opium trade out of India?
I was looking into it as I began writing the book about five years ago. Like most Indians, I had very little idea about opium.
I had no idea that India was the largest opium exporter for centuries. I had no idea that opium was essentially the commodity which financed the British Raj in India.
It is not a coincidence that 20 years after the opium trade stopped, the Raj more or less packed up its bags and left. India was not a paying proposition any longer.
What did you discover in the course of your research? How big was the trade?
Opium steadily accounted for about 17-20% of Indian revenues. If you think in those terms, [the fact that] one single commodity accounted for such an enormous part of your economy is unbelievable, extraordinary.
In fact the revenues don't account for entire profits generated [out of opium trade] -there was shipping, there were so many ancillary industries around opium.
How and when did opium exports out of India to China begin?
The idea of exporting opium to China started with Warren Hastings (the first governor general of British India) in 1780.
The situation was eerily similar to [what is happening] today. There was a huge balance of payments problem in relation to China. China was exporting enormous amounts, but wasn't interested in importing any European goods. That was when Hastings came up with idea that the only way of balancing trade was to export opium to China.
In the 1780s he sent the first shipment of opium to China. It was a small shipment and they could hardly get rid of it. There wasn't much demand. [But], within 10 years, demand for opium increased by factors of magnitude. It was incredible - within a period of 10-30 years how much the opium trade spread and increased.
In the period that Hastings started exporting opium in the 1780s until about 1809-1810, most of the opium in India was grown in the Bengal presidency (in eastern India).
After that the Malwa region in western India began growing opium. Finally twice as much opium was growing in western India and there was a huge export from that region. What do you think the major princely states lived off?
What kind of human devastation did opium growing wreak on the Indians?
I can't say I have an accurate picture. Whether it was devastation or not we don't know. There is so little we know [about this aspect].
Some reformers were trying to stop the opium trade and we know from their petitions and letters that there was fair amount of resistance. There seem to have been a lot of difficulties for peasants - they were switching to an agricultural monoculture, and that was causing problems.
With so much poppy being grown, didn't local people get addicted to it?
It happened. One of the curious things I was not aware of was that there are many different ways of consuming opium. One of the ways was to eat it in a bowl. This was somehow the commonest way of taking opium in India - either eating it or dissolving it in water.
East of India and eastwards through China there was a different way of consuming it which was by smoking it. That was very much more addictive.
It was not traditionally the case that people smoked opium in India. Opium also was a part of social life - it was offered during certain ceremonies. So it was a very complex picture.
If there was any direct damage to India, it lay in the disruption of the agricultural timetable. But the damage that was done to China was incalculable.
Both Indian and British history appear to have glossed over this part of colonial rule.
Absolutely. Opium was the fundamental undergirding of our economy for centuries. It is strange that [even] for someone like me who studied history and knew a fair amount about Indian history, I was completely unaware of it.
Why do you think that happened?
I think the reason is some sort of whitewashing of the past.
On the Indian side, there is a sort of shame, I suppose. Also, just a general unawareness. I mean how many people are aware that the Ghazipur opium factory [in India] continues to be one of the single largest opium producers in the world? It is without a doubt the largest legitimate opium factory in the world.
Don't you find it ironic that the tables have turned in a sense with Afghanistan becoming the world's biggest opium producer with most of it sold in the affluent West?
It is strange. But it's an irony in which no one can take any comfort. Opium is a destructive thing for anyone, anywhere.
And it remains a potent driver of economies, at least in a place like Afghanistan..
And, before that in Burma.
Sea of Poppies appears to be a scathing critique of British colonialism. Do you think colonialism has had a pretty easy ride in India and there is not enough examination of the extent of how it affected the country adversely?
It's such an ironic thing. Before the British came, India was one of the world's great economies. For 200 years India dwindled and dwindled into almost nothing. Fifty years after they left we have finally begun to reclaim our place in the world.
All the empirical facts show you that British rule was a disaster for India. Before the British came 25% of the world trade originated in India. By the time they left it was less than 1%.
Lot of Indians believe that the British built institutions, the police, bureaucracy.
I don't know what people think about when they say such things.
When they talk about [the British building] modern institutions it amazes me. Was there no police force in India before the British came? Of course there was. There were darogas (policemen), there were chowkis (police stations). In fact the British took the word chowki and put it into English. So to say such things is absurd
India's Elderly facing growing neglect
In India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay), Laxmibai Laxmidas Paleja lies on a low cot with a thin sheet over her.
She's 92 and very frail and there are obvious bruises on her face. She also has swelling around her eyes, nose and mouth.
"My grandson and my daughter-in-law started abusing me. And they said, 'I'll kill you, I'll kill you'," she says.
"I'm old. I couldn't defend myself. I was bleeding all over. I've got bruises all over my body. Then they just bundled me in a car and dumped me here at my daughter's house."
Grandson Vinay Paleja denies the accusation.
"No, I never touched my grandmother. She hurt herself and I don't know why she's making these accusations against us."
While recovering at her daughter's house, Laxmibai Paleja says she now has nothing.
She agreed to sell her land and gold to pay for medical treatment for herself and her son. But none of the money was used for the purpose, she says.
The case will probably go to court, but getting to this stage takes a long time in India. Laxmibai Paleja may not even be alive by the time it is resolved.
Rising abuse
There has been a steady rise recently in reports of cases of elderly being abused, harassed and abandoned in India.
Traditionally older people has been revered in India, signified by the touching of their feet by the younger generation.
Prime ministers and presidents have almost always been senior citizens.
Joint family systems - where three or more generations lived under one roof - were a strong support network for the elderly.
But more children are now leaving their parental homes to set up their own.
Sociologists say the pressures of modern life and the more individualistic aspirations of the young are among reasons why the elderly are being abandoned or, in some cases, abused.
Alarmed by what's happening to some of the elderly, the Indian government recently introduced a new law.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill provides for up to three months' imprisonment for those who do not take care of their parents.
Court orders will also be used to force children to pay maintenance for their elderly parents.
HelpAge India is the biggest non-governmental organisation in the country which campaigns for the rights of the elderly.
It recently launched a helpline in Delhi which has received hundreds of calls since its inception.
The organisation's own research suggests nearly 40% of senior citizens living with their families are facing emotional or physical abuse.
But only one in six cases comes to light, the study showed.
Kewal Singh, of the senior citizens' cell at Delhi police, says it is not easy for parents to prosecute their children.
"First they have to make up their mind if they want criminal action. But then they will have to forget their family ties," he says.
"But if they want to maintain and retain those family ties, then the situation will be different. There's always a conflict between the law and emotions in these circumstances."
Left to die
The problem is not confined to India's cities.
I travelled to the southern state of Tamil Nadu, to a town called Erode. Last year a 75-year-old grandmother, Chinnamal Palaniappan, was found on a rubbish dump just outside the town.
She had allegedly been dumped there by her grandsons and died a few days later.
Palaniappan's daughter, Tulsi, and her husband live in a one-room house with a thatched roof.
There are two beds, electricity and a government gifted free colour television. But it is obvious their home is the poorest in the neighbourhood.
"My mother was living comfortably with us for a very long period and all of a sudden on one particular night she went mad and she kept on talking through the night," Tulsi says.
"I got annoyed and told her not to shout or speak further. But she wouldn't stop. Suddenly I found her missing and heard she had walked out of the house.
"We did not do anything, people have cooked up stories. My mother was mentally unbalanced," Tulsi insists.
Law steps in
Poverty and search for work are two main reasons rural elders are being left behind. So many of them have to rely on charities for food and medical help.
There are more than 70 million senior citizens in India and the figure is set to grow to well over a 100 million in the next 25 years.
Consequently, the number of old age homes is growing dramatically.
The government has ordered the construction of more than 600 across the country.
This is the first project of its kind undertaken by the government - a sign that it has already recognised the reality that more elderly people will need assistance in the future.
The government also hopes the new law will act as a deterrent.
But Matthew Cherian, chief executive of HelpAge India, says it is not going to prevent families from breaking up.
"You're not going to get back to the joint family system. We have to get into more and more old age homes.
"At HelpAge India, 30 years ago when we started supporting old age homes, everybody said this was a Western concept. Today everybody accepts this is not a Western concept, this is the reality."
She's 92 and very frail and there are obvious bruises on her face. She also has swelling around her eyes, nose and mouth.
"My grandson and my daughter-in-law started abusing me. And they said, 'I'll kill you, I'll kill you'," she says.
"I'm old. I couldn't defend myself. I was bleeding all over. I've got bruises all over my body. Then they just bundled me in a car and dumped me here at my daughter's house."
Grandson Vinay Paleja denies the accusation.
"No, I never touched my grandmother. She hurt herself and I don't know why she's making these accusations against us."
While recovering at her daughter's house, Laxmibai Paleja says she now has nothing.
She agreed to sell her land and gold to pay for medical treatment for herself and her son. But none of the money was used for the purpose, she says.
The case will probably go to court, but getting to this stage takes a long time in India. Laxmibai Paleja may not even be alive by the time it is resolved.
Rising abuse
There has been a steady rise recently in reports of cases of elderly being abused, harassed and abandoned in India.
Traditionally older people has been revered in India, signified by the touching of their feet by the younger generation.
Prime ministers and presidents have almost always been senior citizens.
Joint family systems - where three or more generations lived under one roof - were a strong support network for the elderly.
But more children are now leaving their parental homes to set up their own.
Sociologists say the pressures of modern life and the more individualistic aspirations of the young are among reasons why the elderly are being abandoned or, in some cases, abused.
Alarmed by what's happening to some of the elderly, the Indian government recently introduced a new law.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill provides for up to three months' imprisonment for those who do not take care of their parents.
Court orders will also be used to force children to pay maintenance for their elderly parents.
HelpAge India is the biggest non-governmental organisation in the country which campaigns for the rights of the elderly.
It recently launched a helpline in Delhi which has received hundreds of calls since its inception.
The organisation's own research suggests nearly 40% of senior citizens living with their families are facing emotional or physical abuse.
But only one in six cases comes to light, the study showed.
Kewal Singh, of the senior citizens' cell at Delhi police, says it is not easy for parents to prosecute their children.
"First they have to make up their mind if they want criminal action. But then they will have to forget their family ties," he says.
"But if they want to maintain and retain those family ties, then the situation will be different. There's always a conflict between the law and emotions in these circumstances."
Left to die
The problem is not confined to India's cities.
I travelled to the southern state of Tamil Nadu, to a town called Erode. Last year a 75-year-old grandmother, Chinnamal Palaniappan, was found on a rubbish dump just outside the town.
She had allegedly been dumped there by her grandsons and died a few days later.
Palaniappan's daughter, Tulsi, and her husband live in a one-room house with a thatched roof.
There are two beds, electricity and a government gifted free colour television. But it is obvious their home is the poorest in the neighbourhood.
"My mother was living comfortably with us for a very long period and all of a sudden on one particular night she went mad and she kept on talking through the night," Tulsi says.
"I got annoyed and told her not to shout or speak further. But she wouldn't stop. Suddenly I found her missing and heard she had walked out of the house.
"We did not do anything, people have cooked up stories. My mother was mentally unbalanced," Tulsi insists.
Law steps in
Poverty and search for work are two main reasons rural elders are being left behind. So many of them have to rely on charities for food and medical help.
There are more than 70 million senior citizens in India and the figure is set to grow to well over a 100 million in the next 25 years.
Consequently, the number of old age homes is growing dramatically.
The government has ordered the construction of more than 600 across the country.
This is the first project of its kind undertaken by the government - a sign that it has already recognised the reality that more elderly people will need assistance in the future.
The government also hopes the new law will act as a deterrent.
But Matthew Cherian, chief executive of HelpAge India, says it is not going to prevent families from breaking up.
"You're not going to get back to the joint family system. We have to get into more and more old age homes.
"At HelpAge India, 30 years ago when we started supporting old age homes, everybody said this was a Western concept. Today everybody accepts this is not a Western concept, this is the reality."
India's First Woman Bouncer
It's Saturday night and a long queue has formed in front of Score, a hip nightclub in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.
The hefty entry fee of 1,000 rupees ($25) per couple is no deterrent for the city's bold and beautiful. Security is tight - guests pay at the counter, have their arms stamped and are then frisked. Male guests are searched by male bouncers, women by Amandeep Kaur. She is Chandigarh's first and only woman bouncer - a rarity anywhere in India, but more so in a male-dominated society like Punjab's.
'Like a son'
Punjab has one of the worst sex ratios in the country - here a woman's life is often valued far less than a man's. "My father never made me feel like I was a girl. He always used to tell me - 'you are like a son to me'," says Ms Kaur. She is only 22 and has been three weeks in her job. During the day, she presents news programmes on a local television channel. Four nights a week, she dons black jeans and a black T-shirt and takes her place outside Score. As Chandigarh's rich and beautiful women line up to enter, they have to pass through Ms Kaur's hands. So why did she choose this unusual job?
"Some time ago, I came here to attend a party with some friends. I saw lots of male bouncers, but there was no female bouncer. "So I told the hotel staff I wanted to be a bouncer. They said that's not possible. It's a job only a man can do." Ms Kaur set out to prove them wrong. When she first took up the job, her friends and neighbours were shocked. "Why?" everyone wanted to know. Her response: "Why not?" Anupama Bharadwaj, managing director of Score, says: "We were looking for some time for a female bouncer. With Kaur around, our women customers feel safer." And the guests have only nice things to say about the new woman on the door.
Feeling safe
"I had never heard of a lady bouncer but it's only fair that women get checked too since all the men are checked before they are allowed in. Also, it makes us feel safer if there is a woman bouncer. And she seems quite sweet," says Nupur, an architect.
Ms Kaur's work alternates between being at the door (to check those coming in) and inside (to ensure the women guests behave). "My job is to keep an eye on the women guests - sometimes they get drunk and become a nuisance.
"I also have to make sure that they don't smoke outside of the designated area, especially in the ladies' toilet. And that they don't misbehave with anyone. If I see anyone doing anything wrong, I give them a warning. If they don't pay any heed, I throw them out." Surjit Singh, who heads the team of bouncers at the nightclub, speaks highly of Ms Kaur's work. "Earlier, some women would come in and cause trouble, they would harass men, and we couldn't do anything about them. We've also had women trying to sneak in with drugs, but we couldn't check them. All this has stopped since Kaur has come in."
Ms Kaur has had no special training to be a bouncer. But for the job she is in, being fit is essential. "I work out in the gym for two hours every morning. I eat a protein-rich diet. I'm very strong, both physically and mentally." And most guests seem to take her strength on board - not many, even when they are drunk, mess around with her. But sometimes, things can - and do - get ugly. "Last week, this girl was trying to force another in the toilet to smoke. I went in and asked her to stop. When she didn't, I took away her cigarette and put it out. She lit another one! I had to throw them out," she says.
Fears
The matter did not end there.
"Once outside, her boyfriend threatened me. He said you would have to pay for what you have done. "I don't feel scared but sometimes a thought comes to the back of my mind. I'm safe in the club. But once I finish my duty and leave at 2am, I'm on my own. What happens if they come in a group?" It's about 11pm and inside the club, the party is rocking. The bouncers, including Ms Kaur, are strung out across the floor, watching for trouble.
We step out because more guests are coming in and Ms Kaur has to frisk the women before they enter. A group of young men are outside. Single men are allowed in only if they are regulars and pay a cover charge of 1,500 rupees ($37).
Checking over, Ms Kaur goes back in and does the rounds - the loos are checked and it all seems under control. Doors shut at half past midnight. We can now go inside and stay inside. But for Ms Kaur, as long as there are guests, she cannot relax. And as the evening passes, guests get high on alcohol and music.
One couple have to be escorted out by the bouncers - the man has had way too much to drink and is swaying from side to side. Another young man comes crashing down the stairs and falls at my feet. One of the bouncers helps him up. Once on his feet, he lurches towards the dance floor. The bouncers let him be.
There are no more incidents. Amandeep Kaur and the others in her team can now breathe easy - their long night is over. Until the next one.
The hefty entry fee of 1,000 rupees ($25) per couple is no deterrent for the city's bold and beautiful. Security is tight - guests pay at the counter, have their arms stamped and are then frisked. Male guests are searched by male bouncers, women by Amandeep Kaur. She is Chandigarh's first and only woman bouncer - a rarity anywhere in India, but more so in a male-dominated society like Punjab's.
'Like a son'
Punjab has one of the worst sex ratios in the country - here a woman's life is often valued far less than a man's. "My father never made me feel like I was a girl. He always used to tell me - 'you are like a son to me'," says Ms Kaur. She is only 22 and has been three weeks in her job. During the day, she presents news programmes on a local television channel. Four nights a week, she dons black jeans and a black T-shirt and takes her place outside Score. As Chandigarh's rich and beautiful women line up to enter, they have to pass through Ms Kaur's hands. So why did she choose this unusual job?
"Some time ago, I came here to attend a party with some friends. I saw lots of male bouncers, but there was no female bouncer. "So I told the hotel staff I wanted to be a bouncer. They said that's not possible. It's a job only a man can do." Ms Kaur set out to prove them wrong. When she first took up the job, her friends and neighbours were shocked. "Why?" everyone wanted to know. Her response: "Why not?" Anupama Bharadwaj, managing director of Score, says: "We were looking for some time for a female bouncer. With Kaur around, our women customers feel safer." And the guests have only nice things to say about the new woman on the door.
Feeling safe
"I had never heard of a lady bouncer but it's only fair that women get checked too since all the men are checked before they are allowed in. Also, it makes us feel safer if there is a woman bouncer. And she seems quite sweet," says Nupur, an architect.
Ms Kaur's work alternates between being at the door (to check those coming in) and inside (to ensure the women guests behave). "My job is to keep an eye on the women guests - sometimes they get drunk and become a nuisance.
"I also have to make sure that they don't smoke outside of the designated area, especially in the ladies' toilet. And that they don't misbehave with anyone. If I see anyone doing anything wrong, I give them a warning. If they don't pay any heed, I throw them out." Surjit Singh, who heads the team of bouncers at the nightclub, speaks highly of Ms Kaur's work. "Earlier, some women would come in and cause trouble, they would harass men, and we couldn't do anything about them. We've also had women trying to sneak in with drugs, but we couldn't check them. All this has stopped since Kaur has come in."
Ms Kaur has had no special training to be a bouncer. But for the job she is in, being fit is essential. "I work out in the gym for two hours every morning. I eat a protein-rich diet. I'm very strong, both physically and mentally." And most guests seem to take her strength on board - not many, even when they are drunk, mess around with her. But sometimes, things can - and do - get ugly. "Last week, this girl was trying to force another in the toilet to smoke. I went in and asked her to stop. When she didn't, I took away her cigarette and put it out. She lit another one! I had to throw them out," she says.
Fears
The matter did not end there.
"Once outside, her boyfriend threatened me. He said you would have to pay for what you have done. "I don't feel scared but sometimes a thought comes to the back of my mind. I'm safe in the club. But once I finish my duty and leave at 2am, I'm on my own. What happens if they come in a group?" It's about 11pm and inside the club, the party is rocking. The bouncers, including Ms Kaur, are strung out across the floor, watching for trouble.
We step out because more guests are coming in and Ms Kaur has to frisk the women before they enter. A group of young men are outside. Single men are allowed in only if they are regulars and pay a cover charge of 1,500 rupees ($37).
Checking over, Ms Kaur goes back in and does the rounds - the loos are checked and it all seems under control. Doors shut at half past midnight. We can now go inside and stay inside. But for Ms Kaur, as long as there are guests, she cannot relax. And as the evening passes, guests get high on alcohol and music.
One couple have to be escorted out by the bouncers - the man has had way too much to drink and is swaying from side to side. Another young man comes crashing down the stairs and falls at my feet. One of the bouncers helps him up. Once on his feet, he lurches towards the dance floor. The bouncers let him be.
There are no more incidents. Amandeep Kaur and the others in her team can now breathe easy - their long night is over. Until the next one.
Battling drup addiction in Afghanistan
They would slaughter sheep for feasting and take drugs such as opium and heroin.
At first the 30-year-old thought it was fun. But then it took over his life.
He returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban in 2001 with all his worldly possessions - and a drug addiction.
"Then my family became distant from me," said the father-of-one, his face gaunt and emaciated, sitting in the Nejat drug treatment clinic in Kabul.
"It was then that I realised how bad the drugs had become."
Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of heroin and opium. But less well known is the country's drug problem.
According to the most recent UN figures in 2005, there are about one million addicts in a country of about 30 million people.
'Increasing'
But some officials and organisations believe that the true figure is higher.
"The addicts are increasing year on year," said General Khodaidad, the Afghan Minister for Counter-Narcotics. "This is a type of war that we are fighting."
Drug addiction takes many forms in Afghanistan.
In many cases, refugees, like Mr Ahmedy, have returned to the country with their habits. Other addicts are opium farmers, hooked on the drug they harvest.
Some are female carpet weavers who take opium to dull the aches in their fingers joints. And many are young users with little else to do. The Afghan government with the help of the international community has established about 40 drug addiction clinics, according to officials. They are dispersed throughout the country. But Dr Tariq Suliman, the director of the Nejat clinic, says that the number of places available for treatment needs to dramatically increase. He also says that there needs to be greater awareness about drugs among the general population. "The important thing is that the young people who aren't involved in drugs know the dangers," he says. "This would be a very positive step."
Social element
The Nejat clinic runs a three-month programme to help wean participants off drugs.
The drug addicts are provided advice by medical professionals on how to rehabilitate and detoxify their bodies. There is also a large social element to the programme, with participants regularly drinking tea together, talking and even playing chess.
Dr Suliman says that the treatment has about a 30% success rate among the participants. One of those in the programme and determined to get off heroin is Najib Hakimi, 30, who used to be a driver. He became addicted to drugs after socialising with his nephew who is a heroin addict. "The only thing I now have is my family," he says, explaining that he lost his job because of his drug addiction. "But I'm lucky to be alive."
Throughout the morning and early afternoon, drug addicts seeking help arrive at the clinic. At one stage, three men turn up. They are dirty and bedraggled, but Dr Suliman welcomes them warmly to the facility.
Another doctor gives them a small bottle of shampoo and they are taken to shower blocks to wash themselves. They may just be the lucky ones to get the attention they need. Afghanistan is a country facing many problems - and many of its most needy are being overlooked
At first the 30-year-old thought it was fun. But then it took over his life.
He returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban in 2001 with all his worldly possessions - and a drug addiction.
"Then my family became distant from me," said the father-of-one, his face gaunt and emaciated, sitting in the Nejat drug treatment clinic in Kabul.
"It was then that I realised how bad the drugs had become."
Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of heroin and opium. But less well known is the country's drug problem.
According to the most recent UN figures in 2005, there are about one million addicts in a country of about 30 million people.
'Increasing'
But some officials and organisations believe that the true figure is higher.
"The addicts are increasing year on year," said General Khodaidad, the Afghan Minister for Counter-Narcotics. "This is a type of war that we are fighting."
Drug addiction takes many forms in Afghanistan.
In many cases, refugees, like Mr Ahmedy, have returned to the country with their habits. Other addicts are opium farmers, hooked on the drug they harvest.
Some are female carpet weavers who take opium to dull the aches in their fingers joints. And many are young users with little else to do. The Afghan government with the help of the international community has established about 40 drug addiction clinics, according to officials. They are dispersed throughout the country. But Dr Tariq Suliman, the director of the Nejat clinic, says that the number of places available for treatment needs to dramatically increase. He also says that there needs to be greater awareness about drugs among the general population. "The important thing is that the young people who aren't involved in drugs know the dangers," he says. "This would be a very positive step."
Social element
The Nejat clinic runs a three-month programme to help wean participants off drugs.
The drug addicts are provided advice by medical professionals on how to rehabilitate and detoxify their bodies. There is also a large social element to the programme, with participants regularly drinking tea together, talking and even playing chess.
Dr Suliman says that the treatment has about a 30% success rate among the participants. One of those in the programme and determined to get off heroin is Najib Hakimi, 30, who used to be a driver. He became addicted to drugs after socialising with his nephew who is a heroin addict. "The only thing I now have is my family," he says, explaining that he lost his job because of his drug addiction. "But I'm lucky to be alive."
Throughout the morning and early afternoon, drug addicts seeking help arrive at the clinic. At one stage, three men turn up. They are dirty and bedraggled, but Dr Suliman welcomes them warmly to the facility.
Another doctor gives them a small bottle of shampoo and they are taken to shower blocks to wash themselves. They may just be the lucky ones to get the attention they need. Afghanistan is a country facing many problems - and many of its most needy are being overlooked
Plastic recylcing comes full circle
It has long been seen as the emblem of a throwaway society but the ordinary plastic bottle is about to take on an unlikely role as recycling paragon, with the launch on Thursday of a new reprocessing facility in east London.
On a previously derelict site on the outskirts of Dagenham, sandwiched between the roaring A13 and the Thames, the final components are being placed into giant machines which will soon form the cutting edge of recycling in Britain.The Closed Loop recycling plant claims to be the first in the world to take both milk bottles and clear drinks bottles and turn them back into food-grade plastic.
Once it is up and running, the £13m facility aims to help create a continuous cycle by enabling manufacturers to use recycled plastic from the UK in their food and drink packaging.
"Essentially the consumer buys their product, say, a bottle of Coca Cola. If they do the right thing with that bottle and place it in the recycling it will have every chance of ending up at our plant and eventually being turned back into another Coke bottle," says Closed Loop London's managing director, Chris Dow.
It sounds simple but such are the difficulties involved in collecting, sorting and decontaminating plastics, that as recently as four years ago, many people in the industry were sceptical it could be done.
Bottle to bottle
But bottle to bottle recycling, as it is known, could go some way towards answering growing consumer ire about packaging.
The stringent processes used at the Dagenham plant will strip out any bacteria or toxins, says Mr Dow. He adds that Closed Loop aims to deal with 35,000 tonnes of used plastic a year.
The processing begins when grimy half-tonne bales of compacted plastic bottles arrive from council recycling schemes.
They contain two sorts of plastic: polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - which are the clear bottles most commonly used for water and fizzy drinks - and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) - the cloudy plastic used for milk bottles.
First, the bales are broken and a three metre wide spinning sieve called a trommel "shakes and breaks" the bottles to throw off the loosest dirt.
The bottles are then sorted, shredded, washed and decontaminated in a 200C kiln and sorted again by laser before ending up as pure flakes of PET and pellets of HDPE, ready to be supplied to customers who will mix them with virgin plastic to create new bottles.
Mr Dow says it is an achievable goal to aim for 50% recycled plastic in new bottles, any more would risk compromising the strength of the product.
How the process works
Marks and Spencer is one customer which has already signed up for a third of Closed Loop's output and the retailer has been pivotal in developing the market for food grade recycled plastic.
Dr Helene Roberts, head of packaging at M&S says the company has been using increasing amounts of recycled PET in drinks bottles, salad bowls and fruit punnets since 2004 but has had to source it abroad.
"We've not had access to a more local source of food grade recycled material so we are incredibly happy that they're opening the first UK plant," says Ms Roberts.
"At the moment 75% of UK plastics are sent off-shore for recycling in other countries. Yet we are desperate to get hold of more and more recycled material." M&S began using recycled material in its milk bottles in 2006 when it ran trials with bottles containing 10% recycled HDPE in its organic range.
The experiment went down well with customers and Ms Roberts says she aims to increase this to 50% recycled content across the entire range of milk in the stores, taking plastic both from Closed Loop and the UK's other milk bottle reprocessing plant run by Greenstar WES in Redcar.
Packaging giant Nampak who supplies Dairy Crest has also ordered 6,000 tonnes of food grade HDPE from each plant.
Collection problems
Demand, then, is high for the recycled product but the infrastructure to supply the raw material - used bottles - could be an issue.
Huge variations in council collection policies mean that although it is easy for some householders to put all their plastics out for collection along with paper, glass and cans, people living in other local authorities have to separate their plastics out or can only recycle certain types of plastic.
However, the situation is improving rapidly, according to Paul Davidson, Plastics Technology Manager at the government-backed Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap).
"There has been a big improvement in the performance of local authorities who have had to really scale up the amount of plastic bottles they are collecting.
"Households have also responded very positively to this opportunity and have increased recycling as a result."
Figures gathered by Recoup, the UK's leading authority on plastics recycling, put the amount of plastic bottles collected by councils in 2007 at 182,000 tonnes or 4.5 billion bottles - a rise of 68% on the previous year.
This suggests some 35% of the 13.1 billion plastic bottles used by British households now end up in recycling - compared with just 3% in 2001.
If the trend continues, that figure could hit 50% this year, says Wrap.
Waste Reduction
But environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth warns that improved recycling should not be seen as a magic bullet.
"Essentially we want to get to the situation where we are recycling as much as possible, but we want to reduce waste in the first place," says Michael Warhurst, Senior resources and waste campaigner at FoE.
"A classic example is bottled water which is fine when you are out and about but buying bottled water for the home when tap water is available is incredibly wasteful.
"Recycling is a good thing but if you can manage not to use something in the first place you save resources."
Chris Dow of Closed Loop London agrees that consumer attitudes need to change - and are doing so - but adds: "we're dealing with the here and now".
He says plans for a second plant are already on the drawing board and he wants to open five eventually.
"This is part of the urgently needed infrastructure in the UK that every nation in the future is going to have to address - this whole idea of sending your waste overseas for someone else to deal with has a short life."
On a previously derelict site on the outskirts of Dagenham, sandwiched between the roaring A13 and the Thames, the final components are being placed into giant machines which will soon form the cutting edge of recycling in Britain.The Closed Loop recycling plant claims to be the first in the world to take both milk bottles and clear drinks bottles and turn them back into food-grade plastic.
Once it is up and running, the £13m facility aims to help create a continuous cycle by enabling manufacturers to use recycled plastic from the UK in their food and drink packaging.
"Essentially the consumer buys their product, say, a bottle of Coca Cola. If they do the right thing with that bottle and place it in the recycling it will have every chance of ending up at our plant and eventually being turned back into another Coke bottle," says Closed Loop London's managing director, Chris Dow.
It sounds simple but such are the difficulties involved in collecting, sorting and decontaminating plastics, that as recently as four years ago, many people in the industry were sceptical it could be done.
Bottle to bottle
But bottle to bottle recycling, as it is known, could go some way towards answering growing consumer ire about packaging.
The stringent processes used at the Dagenham plant will strip out any bacteria or toxins, says Mr Dow. He adds that Closed Loop aims to deal with 35,000 tonnes of used plastic a year.
The processing begins when grimy half-tonne bales of compacted plastic bottles arrive from council recycling schemes.
They contain two sorts of plastic: polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - which are the clear bottles most commonly used for water and fizzy drinks - and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) - the cloudy plastic used for milk bottles.
First, the bales are broken and a three metre wide spinning sieve called a trommel "shakes and breaks" the bottles to throw off the loosest dirt.
The bottles are then sorted, shredded, washed and decontaminated in a 200C kiln and sorted again by laser before ending up as pure flakes of PET and pellets of HDPE, ready to be supplied to customers who will mix them with virgin plastic to create new bottles.
Mr Dow says it is an achievable goal to aim for 50% recycled plastic in new bottles, any more would risk compromising the strength of the product.
How the process works
Marks and Spencer is one customer which has already signed up for a third of Closed Loop's output and the retailer has been pivotal in developing the market for food grade recycled plastic.
Dr Helene Roberts, head of packaging at M&S says the company has been using increasing amounts of recycled PET in drinks bottles, salad bowls and fruit punnets since 2004 but has had to source it abroad.
"We've not had access to a more local source of food grade recycled material so we are incredibly happy that they're opening the first UK plant," says Ms Roberts.
"At the moment 75% of UK plastics are sent off-shore for recycling in other countries. Yet we are desperate to get hold of more and more recycled material." M&S began using recycled material in its milk bottles in 2006 when it ran trials with bottles containing 10% recycled HDPE in its organic range.
The experiment went down well with customers and Ms Roberts says she aims to increase this to 50% recycled content across the entire range of milk in the stores, taking plastic both from Closed Loop and the UK's other milk bottle reprocessing plant run by Greenstar WES in Redcar.
Packaging giant Nampak who supplies Dairy Crest has also ordered 6,000 tonnes of food grade HDPE from each plant.
Collection problems
Demand, then, is high for the recycled product but the infrastructure to supply the raw material - used bottles - could be an issue.
Huge variations in council collection policies mean that although it is easy for some householders to put all their plastics out for collection along with paper, glass and cans, people living in other local authorities have to separate their plastics out or can only recycle certain types of plastic.
However, the situation is improving rapidly, according to Paul Davidson, Plastics Technology Manager at the government-backed Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap).
"There has been a big improvement in the performance of local authorities who have had to really scale up the amount of plastic bottles they are collecting.
"Households have also responded very positively to this opportunity and have increased recycling as a result."
Figures gathered by Recoup, the UK's leading authority on plastics recycling, put the amount of plastic bottles collected by councils in 2007 at 182,000 tonnes or 4.5 billion bottles - a rise of 68% on the previous year.
This suggests some 35% of the 13.1 billion plastic bottles used by British households now end up in recycling - compared with just 3% in 2001.
If the trend continues, that figure could hit 50% this year, says Wrap.
Waste Reduction
But environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth warns that improved recycling should not be seen as a magic bullet.
"Essentially we want to get to the situation where we are recycling as much as possible, but we want to reduce waste in the first place," says Michael Warhurst, Senior resources and waste campaigner at FoE.
"A classic example is bottled water which is fine when you are out and about but buying bottled water for the home when tap water is available is incredibly wasteful.
"Recycling is a good thing but if you can manage not to use something in the first place you save resources."
Chris Dow of Closed Loop London agrees that consumer attitudes need to change - and are doing so - but adds: "we're dealing with the here and now".
He says plans for a second plant are already on the drawing board and he wants to open five eventually.
"This is part of the urgently needed infrastructure in the UK that every nation in the future is going to have to address - this whole idea of sending your waste overseas for someone else to deal with has a short life."
Sierra Leone - Sports Day Violence
The authorities in Sierra Leone have started a campaign against a recent spate of violence linked to inter-school sporting events.
Fighting between pupils has broken out repeatedly in recent months, with most of the incidents concentrated in the capital, Freetown.
It has become common for schoolchildren to smuggle weapons like knives, razor blades and bottles into the national stadium, where most of the competitions take place.
As rival groups spill out on to the street, motorists and passers-by have been caught up in the clashes.
Some have been injured and property has been destroyed.
Banned
School violence in Sierra Leone is not new. At the end of civil war in 2002, some schoolchildren who had been recruited as child soldiers by rebel groups still carried guns.
These pupils may now have moved on but two of the capital's oldest schools - the Albert Academy and the St Edwards Secondary School - have been banned from the sports competitions because of repeated confrontations between pupils earlier this year.
A few months ago, it took the intervention of newly elected President Ernest Bai Koroma to pacify pupils of the Muslim Congress school in eastern Freetown.
They had engaged the police in running battles after vandalising nearby property.
Police Assistant Inspector-General Tamba Gbekie says the violence has developed into "a major post-war security problem".
"We have therefore increased the capacity of our operations support division to deal with such incidents," he says.
In some cases, police have been accused of responding with excessive force - an accusation they have denied.
Foreign music
Mr Gbekie says the operational division has undergone additional training in crowd control and quelling riots, and do not need to use heavy force.
"We have started a new partnership with school-based organisations to help reduce violence and we believe this will go a long way to help ease the problem," he told the BBC.
Simeon Jaka, a teacher with 35 years of experience, blames the surge in school violence on new social trends and the influence of foreign media and music. "The key reason for this violent behaviour of school kids is the influence of the western media, violent movies and songs, violent behaviour of the stars."
"The kids copy these and bring them to the school environment," he says.
The emerging music scene in Sierra Leone has witnessed an increase in the number of schoolchildren composing hard-core hip hop lyrics with violent contents, and sometimes translating those lyrics into action.
The children adopt names for themselves and school clubs such as The Nigga Killers, The Death Squad, or The Assassins.
Mr Jaka also acknowledges that standards have fallen considerably in schools and that discipline is at a low ebb.
"Overcrowding in classrooms and the lack of sufficient motivation for teachers are additional factors for this problem," he says.
'Message of peace'
Some pupils have, however, taken it upon themselves to eradicate violence from schools.
Students from St Edwards in Freetown have formed the Students Anti-Violence Movement and have been touring schools to urge their colleagues to eschew violence.
Bernard Conteh, a high school pupil who helped set up the new group, told the BBC that their campaign had made considerable progress.
"We have established branches in some 20 secondary schools in Freetown and we intend to spread across the country, into the provinces," he said.
He says the group's objective is to "police" school events and ensure violence-free atmosphere.
"We don't really need the police, we are capable of turning the minds of our colleagues away from violence.
"A good number of colleagues who were notorious for violence are now active members of our organisation, helping to spread the message of peace."
Before inter-school activities begin again in September, the Student Anti-Violence Movement says it is planning a series of activities, including debates and aptitude contests.
Nevertheless, the campaign against school violence has a long way to go.
Fighting between pupils has broken out repeatedly in recent months, with most of the incidents concentrated in the capital, Freetown.
It has become common for schoolchildren to smuggle weapons like knives, razor blades and bottles into the national stadium, where most of the competitions take place.
As rival groups spill out on to the street, motorists and passers-by have been caught up in the clashes.
Some have been injured and property has been destroyed.
Banned
School violence in Sierra Leone is not new. At the end of civil war in 2002, some schoolchildren who had been recruited as child soldiers by rebel groups still carried guns.
These pupils may now have moved on but two of the capital's oldest schools - the Albert Academy and the St Edwards Secondary School - have been banned from the sports competitions because of repeated confrontations between pupils earlier this year.
A few months ago, it took the intervention of newly elected President Ernest Bai Koroma to pacify pupils of the Muslim Congress school in eastern Freetown.
They had engaged the police in running battles after vandalising nearby property.
Police Assistant Inspector-General Tamba Gbekie says the violence has developed into "a major post-war security problem".
"We have therefore increased the capacity of our operations support division to deal with such incidents," he says.
In some cases, police have been accused of responding with excessive force - an accusation they have denied.
Foreign music
Mr Gbekie says the operational division has undergone additional training in crowd control and quelling riots, and do not need to use heavy force.
"We have started a new partnership with school-based organisations to help reduce violence and we believe this will go a long way to help ease the problem," he told the BBC.
Simeon Jaka, a teacher with 35 years of experience, blames the surge in school violence on new social trends and the influence of foreign media and music. "The key reason for this violent behaviour of school kids is the influence of the western media, violent movies and songs, violent behaviour of the stars."
"The kids copy these and bring them to the school environment," he says.
The emerging music scene in Sierra Leone has witnessed an increase in the number of schoolchildren composing hard-core hip hop lyrics with violent contents, and sometimes translating those lyrics into action.
The children adopt names for themselves and school clubs such as The Nigga Killers, The Death Squad, or The Assassins.
Mr Jaka also acknowledges that standards have fallen considerably in schools and that discipline is at a low ebb.
"Overcrowding in classrooms and the lack of sufficient motivation for teachers are additional factors for this problem," he says.
'Message of peace'
Some pupils have, however, taken it upon themselves to eradicate violence from schools.
Students from St Edwards in Freetown have formed the Students Anti-Violence Movement and have been touring schools to urge their colleagues to eschew violence.
Bernard Conteh, a high school pupil who helped set up the new group, told the BBC that their campaign had made considerable progress.
"We have established branches in some 20 secondary schools in Freetown and we intend to spread across the country, into the provinces," he said.
He says the group's objective is to "police" school events and ensure violence-free atmosphere.
"We don't really need the police, we are capable of turning the minds of our colleagues away from violence.
"A good number of colleagues who were notorious for violence are now active members of our organisation, helping to spread the message of peace."
Before inter-school activities begin again in September, the Student Anti-Violence Movement says it is planning a series of activities, including debates and aptitude contests.
Nevertheless, the campaign against school violence has a long way to go.
Cycling away to Cannes
Ramanujam Sridhar - Brandline
The win at Cannes for the Cycle agarbathi ad demonstrates the power and efficacy of simple and lucid thinking in a country as diverse as India.
What is the first association that comes to your mind when I say ‘France’? A normal person might say ‘perfumes’ while an advertising person (not to suggest that he is abnormal) might well say ‘Cannes Lions’, so imp ortant is the winning of this international award to people in the business of creativity.
Coincidentally, it was a brand of agarbathi from the NR Group, a fragrance company headquartered in the quaint town of Mysore, which won a bronze lion at Cannes in the radio category in the first set of awards that were announced on June 18. An award at Cannes is still something that the Indian advertising industry yearns for and so rarely gets, and Mudra Communications, the agency that created the spot, has every reason to be proud of its achievement.The power of the brand
There is a criticism levelled at agencies, not without justification, that most of their international award-winning work is for public service advertising or for marginal brands. The significant fact in this case is the fact that Cycle Brand is a dominant brand in the agarbathi category with over 30 per cent market share of the organised sector. The brand that has been in existence for 60 years, no mean achievement, has a few interesting reasons behind its success. Most successful brands have a simple, yet effective brand name.
The brand name ‘Cycle’ has a few striking advantages in the Indian context. A cycle is something that every Indian has seen, wanted to own, owned or ridden. It needs no translation, has a visual mnemonic that is recognised across the length and breadth of the country and most importantly represents ‘value for money’ which is really one of the key reasons for the brand’s popularity and dominance. Let’s move on to the award winning commercial.Radio, the Cinderella medium
For quite some time, radio has been ignored by advertisers, media planners and creative directors. Thankfully the trend has been changing, courtesy the increasing importance of the youth market and the phenomenal rise in the incidence of traffic jams in every metro. FM radio is here to stay.
In the same breath, however, one needs to accept that India is primarily a television country if script writers are anything to go by. It is all fine to say that ‘radio is the theatre of the mind’ but if the scripts are anything to go by then the scripts for radio more often than not end up being mindless. Of course, I must mention that radio channels seem to do better scripts for themselves than for some of the clients who entrust their creative work to them.
In fact, the actual number of entries for Cannes in the radio category has come down from 46 last year to 36 this year. It is in this context that the award-winning Cycle brand commercial has to be viewed. Let me explain: The entire film is one long and shrill (as per a member of the jury that awarded it) rendition of the familiar Indian tune ‘Om Jai Jagadish …’ on the cycle bell. The commercial is dramatic and single-minded, even if my description is not! Yes, as someone said, “Great advertising is produced by a single-minded thought that comes alive in a compelling way.”
Throw in a tune and a chant that the whole of India can relate to and you have a winner. Once again, I must hasten to add that this is not dependent on turn of phrase, or ideas lost in translation in this vast and confusing land that is India, which even jurists who did not understand the language or the significance of the words could still award. It certainly has ‘legs’ as it could be extended to ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ and a whole host of tunes pertaining to other religions that this not always secular country can recognise, if not relate to. Awards and media
All of us are familiar with the ‘strategy’ of agencies releasing their award-winning entries in cheap media at their own cost. I am sure that this is not one such happening and this campaign will get extensive media as the idea surely has the capability not only to win an award as it has done, but will also deliver at the market place, addressing as it does, the Indian ethos and preferences for things that are religious, and stokes the Indian penchant for prayer, particularly in the face of problems! Speaking of media exposure and visibility, one must mention also the ‘Lead India’ campaign that had tremendous media weight behind it, not to forget celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, also winning an award as did other well known brands such as Luxor and Reynolds. Indian agencies too had sent 295 entries this year as against 252 the previous year. Yes, winning is important for Indian agencies as it represents global recognition for Indian talent.Winning at the market place
It is generally accepted that the creative mind is very different from mine, dull and predictable as it is. Awards matter to the creative mind like nothing else and winning at Cannes must be the ultimate. At the risk of pouring some cold water on their enormous enthusiasm, I must say one thing. India is an enormously diverse, complex country ridden with differences of language, colour, caste and religion. To sell here is no mean achievement and many of our eminent brands and creative people do this with regular ease. Some of the work done for dominant brands in the Indian context continue to deliver outstanding creativity that makes customers notice it, on occasion smile and almost invariably buy. Let us put a premium on work like this and if it wins an award, then it is a bonus. Let us not get preoccupied with the approval of a few foreigners who have limited understanding of this country, its people and complexity.Taking a leaf out of the BCCI
Let me digress to cricket, my obsession and I can almost hear you saying, ‘So, what is new?’ In the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, India – even if it was a good team and the winner of the Cricket World Cup, was a nobody in the pecking order of the people who mattered, when it came to running the game. Our itinerary was at the mercy of the biggies like England and Australia who treated us as ‘illegal immigrants’ on their hallowed turf. Now all that has changed; India has the eyeballs, the spectators, the TV revenue, the marketing acumen and now wonder of all wonders – a good team.
The shoe is on the other foot. We call the shots and the erstwhile dominant countries are protesting and perhaps some of our actions are worth protesting about. But the balance of power has shifted, slowly, steadily and inexorably in India’s favour. The cricketing world had to sit up and take notice when we ran the IPL. Now others are trying to do their own versions and only time will tell how successful they will be.
Similarly at Cannes, one suspects that India and Indian advertising is not as well represented or as powerful as it ought to be. There are whispers of South American dominance in the jury for one. My submission is that our time will come and that day is not far off. Let us not do what we used to do in the world of cricket for so many decades, complain about being discriminated against and sidelined, but discover a way of getting the recognition that we rightly deserve. Recognition, not only for our work, but also for the industry. Let us learn from our clients who faced the same problems that we are facing globally and yet who have placed India on the global map through their achievements whether it is the Tatas through their acquisition or the technology companies who have put us on the global map of recognition. It did not happen by whining or ‘whingeing’ as the Aussies might say, but by the power of achievements, that just cannot be ignored.
Yes, we can!
The win at Cannes for the Cycle agarbathi ad demonstrates the power and efficacy of simple and lucid thinking in a country as diverse as India.
What is the first association that comes to your mind when I say ‘France’? A normal person might say ‘perfumes’ while an advertising person (not to suggest that he is abnormal) might well say ‘Cannes Lions’, so imp ortant is the winning of this international award to people in the business of creativity.
Coincidentally, it was a brand of agarbathi from the NR Group, a fragrance company headquartered in the quaint town of Mysore, which won a bronze lion at Cannes in the radio category in the first set of awards that were announced on June 18. An award at Cannes is still something that the Indian advertising industry yearns for and so rarely gets, and Mudra Communications, the agency that created the spot, has every reason to be proud of its achievement.The power of the brand
There is a criticism levelled at agencies, not without justification, that most of their international award-winning work is for public service advertising or for marginal brands. The significant fact in this case is the fact that Cycle Brand is a dominant brand in the agarbathi category with over 30 per cent market share of the organised sector. The brand that has been in existence for 60 years, no mean achievement, has a few interesting reasons behind its success. Most successful brands have a simple, yet effective brand name.
The brand name ‘Cycle’ has a few striking advantages in the Indian context. A cycle is something that every Indian has seen, wanted to own, owned or ridden. It needs no translation, has a visual mnemonic that is recognised across the length and breadth of the country and most importantly represents ‘value for money’ which is really one of the key reasons for the brand’s popularity and dominance. Let’s move on to the award winning commercial.Radio, the Cinderella medium
For quite some time, radio has been ignored by advertisers, media planners and creative directors. Thankfully the trend has been changing, courtesy the increasing importance of the youth market and the phenomenal rise in the incidence of traffic jams in every metro. FM radio is here to stay.
In the same breath, however, one needs to accept that India is primarily a television country if script writers are anything to go by. It is all fine to say that ‘radio is the theatre of the mind’ but if the scripts are anything to go by then the scripts for radio more often than not end up being mindless. Of course, I must mention that radio channels seem to do better scripts for themselves than for some of the clients who entrust their creative work to them.
In fact, the actual number of entries for Cannes in the radio category has come down from 46 last year to 36 this year. It is in this context that the award-winning Cycle brand commercial has to be viewed. Let me explain: The entire film is one long and shrill (as per a member of the jury that awarded it) rendition of the familiar Indian tune ‘Om Jai Jagadish …’ on the cycle bell. The commercial is dramatic and single-minded, even if my description is not! Yes, as someone said, “Great advertising is produced by a single-minded thought that comes alive in a compelling way.”
Throw in a tune and a chant that the whole of India can relate to and you have a winner. Once again, I must hasten to add that this is not dependent on turn of phrase, or ideas lost in translation in this vast and confusing land that is India, which even jurists who did not understand the language or the significance of the words could still award. It certainly has ‘legs’ as it could be extended to ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ and a whole host of tunes pertaining to other religions that this not always secular country can recognise, if not relate to. Awards and media
All of us are familiar with the ‘strategy’ of agencies releasing their award-winning entries in cheap media at their own cost. I am sure that this is not one such happening and this campaign will get extensive media as the idea surely has the capability not only to win an award as it has done, but will also deliver at the market place, addressing as it does, the Indian ethos and preferences for things that are religious, and stokes the Indian penchant for prayer, particularly in the face of problems! Speaking of media exposure and visibility, one must mention also the ‘Lead India’ campaign that had tremendous media weight behind it, not to forget celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, also winning an award as did other well known brands such as Luxor and Reynolds. Indian agencies too had sent 295 entries this year as against 252 the previous year. Yes, winning is important for Indian agencies as it represents global recognition for Indian talent.Winning at the market place
It is generally accepted that the creative mind is very different from mine, dull and predictable as it is. Awards matter to the creative mind like nothing else and winning at Cannes must be the ultimate. At the risk of pouring some cold water on their enormous enthusiasm, I must say one thing. India is an enormously diverse, complex country ridden with differences of language, colour, caste and religion. To sell here is no mean achievement and many of our eminent brands and creative people do this with regular ease. Some of the work done for dominant brands in the Indian context continue to deliver outstanding creativity that makes customers notice it, on occasion smile and almost invariably buy. Let us put a premium on work like this and if it wins an award, then it is a bonus. Let us not get preoccupied with the approval of a few foreigners who have limited understanding of this country, its people and complexity.Taking a leaf out of the BCCI
Let me digress to cricket, my obsession and I can almost hear you saying, ‘So, what is new?’ In the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, India – even if it was a good team and the winner of the Cricket World Cup, was a nobody in the pecking order of the people who mattered, when it came to running the game. Our itinerary was at the mercy of the biggies like England and Australia who treated us as ‘illegal immigrants’ on their hallowed turf. Now all that has changed; India has the eyeballs, the spectators, the TV revenue, the marketing acumen and now wonder of all wonders – a good team.
The shoe is on the other foot. We call the shots and the erstwhile dominant countries are protesting and perhaps some of our actions are worth protesting about. But the balance of power has shifted, slowly, steadily and inexorably in India’s favour. The cricketing world had to sit up and take notice when we ran the IPL. Now others are trying to do their own versions and only time will tell how successful they will be.
Similarly at Cannes, one suspects that India and Indian advertising is not as well represented or as powerful as it ought to be. There are whispers of South American dominance in the jury for one. My submission is that our time will come and that day is not far off. Let us not do what we used to do in the world of cricket for so many decades, complain about being discriminated against and sidelined, but discover a way of getting the recognition that we rightly deserve. Recognition, not only for our work, but also for the industry. Let us learn from our clients who faced the same problems that we are facing globally and yet who have placed India on the global map through their achievements whether it is the Tatas through their acquisition or the technology companies who have put us on the global map of recognition. It did not happen by whining or ‘whingeing’ as the Aussies might say, but by the power of achievements, that just cannot be ignored.
Yes, we can!
India arrives at the Cannes
A growing interest in the country’s economy and culture has had a positive impact on its advertising industry’s creative output.
Mahesh Chauhan - Brand Line
Terry Savage, the CEO of Cannes Lions Festival, termed 2008 as the year of awakening of a sleeping giant called India. He applauded the fine performance of China in winning its first ever Gold Lion and the rise of the Asia-Pacific region, in general, on the global creative map. He was absolutely correct in his observations and his praise for the new stars on the horizon. It just got me wondering if his praise also signified a great business mind at work.
The Cannes story of India, like that of other developing countries, began 16 years ago when the six-strong Indian contingent landed on the hallowed soil of this quaint city on the French Riviera. As Pradeep Guha and Piyush Pandey, two of the six, told me the other day one nostalgic evening at the Gutter Bar in Cannes, there were barely any Asians then. Maybe we were not good enough; maybe our sleeping and insulated economies didn’t warrant so much attention from the Western world then as our pockets were minuscule.
This dimension comes alive if one notices that this year almost every category had a jury member from India barring one. A far cry from the days when Indians barely made it to the festival, forget the jury. This year at the Cannes festival there were more than 10,000 delegates from all over the world. In terms of proportions, I have no doubt in my mind that this year saw a significant rise in the number of delegates from the developing world. Gut feel tells me that there could actually have been a decline in the absolute number of participants from Europe and North America given the economic stagnation in these markets. The Indian contingent itself was nearly 300-strong, an approximation, as a lot of people made up their minds at the eleventh hour and the actual official number wasn’t available. This was also the largest Indian team at the fest, a 50-fold increase in 16 years. Given the astronomical costs of everything associated with Cannes, this suddenly makes a lot of sense. And Savage’s kind words towards our region begin to take on an interesting business perspective!
The second big factor that comes into play is the growing global interest in the economically vibrant economies of the developing countries. Interest leads to an effort towards understanding the culture. I must add here that cultural understanding takes time and is not an overnight process. I have a feeling that this enhanced understanding has also led to greater appreciation of the creative output of these nations and maybe, therefore, a richer tally of metals with every passing year. I say so because creativity’s soul might lie in a fundamental human insight but its interpretation is inevitably always influenced by the local cultural milieu. I wonder why the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk cricket film done in India in the early ’90s did not win a metal while the same idea done using a gorilla wins a Grand Prix this year. Either the joy as portrayed by the gorilla was different from the joy of an uninhibited, spontaneous girlfriend on a cricket field or maybe the jury discovered the feeling of joy post early ’90s.
Incidentally everyone at Cannes and in the industry wants to understand the Gorilla commercial because they all believe there is something to it beyond the simple feeling of joy. I have been trying to as well but not with great success. Worth starting a blog though, and as I insist that, if at all, is the idea of a gorilla in the modern times. Like every festival, this one too will eventually be remembered for a few heroes. While the gorilla with all its flaws will be one (critics like me be damned!), some other scintillating stars will also be shining once the dust settles. If I were to pick five outstanding ideas from the entire festival, I would look at HBO Voyeur; the Black boy wanting water initiative of Studio Brussels; Halo3 of Xbox: all of which I wrote about in my previous pieces in Business Line; the Titanium-winning Uniqlock entry from Japan where the team took the idea of promoting a fashion brand to another level by creating a widget, which lived on your computer. The girl on the widget dressed according to the weather in your city and occasion. The outfits belonged to the brand. Here’s a great example of a client brief taken to another level by an agency which thought of the problem and how best to solve it. It abandoned the traditional solutions and came up with an exceptional thought that changed the paradigm. And of course, India’s and JWT’s Lead India.
Coming to the Indian performance, the Indian tally at the end of this weeklong festival of advertising stood at an incredible 23 metals, the previous best performance by India being 12 metals for each of the past two years. India won its first Grand Prix and first Integrated Lion, both for the Lead India campaign. The other notable winners from India were Leo Burnett and Contract Advertising.
However, the biggest winner for India is the belief I saw writ large on the faces of Indian delegates at Cannes. It’s the belief that comes from the first taste of blood. Almost every Indian now believes that we can win on the global stage. Almost everyone wants time to fast forward to Cannes 2009. Almost every Indian said a silent prayer. Almost every Indian promised his buddies to walk up those steps. Almost every Indian at Cannes this year is inspired. I hope they carry that inspiration and pass it on to those not fortunate to be at the festival. I hope they realise that it will call for Herculean efforts for this belief to translate to reality. I hope they realise that fame and glory comes from big ideas executed on a big scale using relevant and newer media solutions. The winners next year will have to embrace “the genius of and” and do different things differently. An encore has never been child’s play. But then India has come of age!
(The writer is President, Rediffusion DY&R)
Mahesh Chauhan - Brand Line
Terry Savage, the CEO of Cannes Lions Festival, termed 2008 as the year of awakening of a sleeping giant called India. He applauded the fine performance of China in winning its first ever Gold Lion and the rise of the Asia-Pacific region, in general, on the global creative map. He was absolutely correct in his observations and his praise for the new stars on the horizon. It just got me wondering if his praise also signified a great business mind at work.
The Cannes story of India, like that of other developing countries, began 16 years ago when the six-strong Indian contingent landed on the hallowed soil of this quaint city on the French Riviera. As Pradeep Guha and Piyush Pandey, two of the six, told me the other day one nostalgic evening at the Gutter Bar in Cannes, there were barely any Asians then. Maybe we were not good enough; maybe our sleeping and insulated economies didn’t warrant so much attention from the Western world then as our pockets were minuscule.
This dimension comes alive if one notices that this year almost every category had a jury member from India barring one. A far cry from the days when Indians barely made it to the festival, forget the jury. This year at the Cannes festival there were more than 10,000 delegates from all over the world. In terms of proportions, I have no doubt in my mind that this year saw a significant rise in the number of delegates from the developing world. Gut feel tells me that there could actually have been a decline in the absolute number of participants from Europe and North America given the economic stagnation in these markets. The Indian contingent itself was nearly 300-strong, an approximation, as a lot of people made up their minds at the eleventh hour and the actual official number wasn’t available. This was also the largest Indian team at the fest, a 50-fold increase in 16 years. Given the astronomical costs of everything associated with Cannes, this suddenly makes a lot of sense. And Savage’s kind words towards our region begin to take on an interesting business perspective!
The second big factor that comes into play is the growing global interest in the economically vibrant economies of the developing countries. Interest leads to an effort towards understanding the culture. I must add here that cultural understanding takes time and is not an overnight process. I have a feeling that this enhanced understanding has also led to greater appreciation of the creative output of these nations and maybe, therefore, a richer tally of metals with every passing year. I say so because creativity’s soul might lie in a fundamental human insight but its interpretation is inevitably always influenced by the local cultural milieu. I wonder why the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk cricket film done in India in the early ’90s did not win a metal while the same idea done using a gorilla wins a Grand Prix this year. Either the joy as portrayed by the gorilla was different from the joy of an uninhibited, spontaneous girlfriend on a cricket field or maybe the jury discovered the feeling of joy post early ’90s.
Incidentally everyone at Cannes and in the industry wants to understand the Gorilla commercial because they all believe there is something to it beyond the simple feeling of joy. I have been trying to as well but not with great success. Worth starting a blog though, and as I insist that, if at all, is the idea of a gorilla in the modern times. Like every festival, this one too will eventually be remembered for a few heroes. While the gorilla with all its flaws will be one (critics like me be damned!), some other scintillating stars will also be shining once the dust settles. If I were to pick five outstanding ideas from the entire festival, I would look at HBO Voyeur; the Black boy wanting water initiative of Studio Brussels; Halo3 of Xbox: all of which I wrote about in my previous pieces in Business Line; the Titanium-winning Uniqlock entry from Japan where the team took the idea of promoting a fashion brand to another level by creating a widget, which lived on your computer. The girl on the widget dressed according to the weather in your city and occasion. The outfits belonged to the brand. Here’s a great example of a client brief taken to another level by an agency which thought of the problem and how best to solve it. It abandoned the traditional solutions and came up with an exceptional thought that changed the paradigm. And of course, India’s and JWT’s Lead India.
Coming to the Indian performance, the Indian tally at the end of this weeklong festival of advertising stood at an incredible 23 metals, the previous best performance by India being 12 metals for each of the past two years. India won its first Grand Prix and first Integrated Lion, both for the Lead India campaign. The other notable winners from India were Leo Burnett and Contract Advertising.
However, the biggest winner for India is the belief I saw writ large on the faces of Indian delegates at Cannes. It’s the belief that comes from the first taste of blood. Almost every Indian now believes that we can win on the global stage. Almost everyone wants time to fast forward to Cannes 2009. Almost every Indian said a silent prayer. Almost every Indian promised his buddies to walk up those steps. Almost every Indian at Cannes this year is inspired. I hope they carry that inspiration and pass it on to those not fortunate to be at the festival. I hope they realise that it will call for Herculean efforts for this belief to translate to reality. I hope they realise that fame and glory comes from big ideas executed on a big scale using relevant and newer media solutions. The winners next year will have to embrace “the genius of and” and do different things differently. An encore has never been child’s play. But then India has come of age!
(The writer is President, Rediffusion DY&R)
Adding some sparkle
The Kirtilal's story
When a conservative and low-profile group such as Kirtilals reveals that its diamonds, which are cut and polished in China and Botswana, are being supplied to top international brands such as Cartier, Tiffany, Rolex, Harry Winston, Gucci and Bvlgari, and that some creations by yesteryear ace designer A.V. Shinde adorned The Queen of England, Princess Diana and Oprah Winfrey, ears are sure to perk up … one can also spot a few jaws drop.
What took Kirtilals so long to open up?
Says T. Shantakumar, Managing Director, Kirtilals, “Though we were doing well as a retail chain, we wanted to establish ourselves in the manufacturing sector too. In fact, our group company Dimexon Diamonds is a prominent sightholder of the Diamond Trading Corporation (DTC) and is one of the largest manufacturers of diamond in the world. Now we are ready to make our presence felt in the whole of India.” It’s raining gold and drizzling diamonds everywhere! And with jewellery retailing on an all-time high in India, the competition among the big brands has been fierce, to say the least. High-profile brand ambassadors, tie-ups with Bollywood blockbusters, glitterati dos … no stone has been left unturned. But despite the hullabaloo surrounding it, Kirtilals, the diamond and gold jewellery retail chain from the Kirtilal Kalidas Group, has no brand ambassador, no television ad and no store in the jewellery hubs of Mumbai and Delhi.
While one got to witness some fascinating diamond jewellery making in a trip to their factory – Vispark Jewellery Manufacturing – in Coimbatore, one wondered what else the jeweller had to offer that would set it above the rest or at least on par.
Long ago, Kirtilal Kalidas Mehta and his family from Gujarat made Coimbatore their home. In 1939, it opened its first store. However, despite being popular on the international radar, Kirtilals is relatively unknown to many frequent jewellery buyers in the country, especially in the North.
But not any longer, is Kirtilals’ firm assertion as it gears itself up for the makeover it has been waiting for.
Kirtilals store staff has been trained on international lines and the retailer is focussed on trendy designs for the youth. From quietly making inroads into the hearts of jewellery lovers in South India (the group has showrooms in Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Vijayawada and even Ludhiana), Kirtilals says it is determined to get noticed in other parts too. Going ahead, the company is planning to open boutiques in New Delhi. It is also looking at other cities.
Unlike others, Kirtilals is not following the clichéd procedure of getting a celebrity brand ambassador, entering into a movie tie-up or doing an ad campaign. The company is coming up with a series of innovative concepts which it feels will get jewellery lovers talking about them.Making designers of customers
Kirtilals has come up with the concept of an exclusive lounge called the ‘design studio’, where customers can sit with in-house designers at the store and design their own piece of jewellery. Seema Mehta, head of the design team at Kirtilals explains, “Women no longer want to buy jewellery right off the shelves. They want something exclusive that is not worn by others. We have come up with the lounge concept in some of our showrooms down South where women can design their own piece of jewellery from scratch to finish and rest assured the design is not repeated.” A glittering trip
The company also has another unique concept called ‘A day with Kirtilals’ – a few high-profile customers from all over the country are taken to the Kirtilals factory in Coimbatore to witness jewellery being made. From designing to diamond assortment, setting stones to gold polishing, the customers are given a step-by-step demonstration of jewellery making. Adding some glamour
While other jewellery stores are racing to bag contracts from supermodels and pretty faces from the film industry, Kirtilals does not have a brand ambassador to promote its jewellery nor does it plan to. “We don’t want any model to take away the attention from our jewellery; however, to add some glamour quotient, we have recently tied up with ace fashion designer Rohit Bal who is designing a new collection for us called ‘Rohit Bal for Kirtilals’ that will turn quite a few heads,” says Mehta.
As Kirtilals is all set to assume its new avtaar, whether this makeover will work wonders, only time will tell.
When a conservative and low-profile group such as Kirtilals reveals that its diamonds, which are cut and polished in China and Botswana, are being supplied to top international brands such as Cartier, Tiffany, Rolex, Harry Winston, Gucci and Bvlgari, and that some creations by yesteryear ace designer A.V. Shinde adorned The Queen of England, Princess Diana and Oprah Winfrey, ears are sure to perk up … one can also spot a few jaws drop.
What took Kirtilals so long to open up?
Says T. Shantakumar, Managing Director, Kirtilals, “Though we were doing well as a retail chain, we wanted to establish ourselves in the manufacturing sector too. In fact, our group company Dimexon Diamonds is a prominent sightholder of the Diamond Trading Corporation (DTC) and is one of the largest manufacturers of diamond in the world. Now we are ready to make our presence felt in the whole of India.” It’s raining gold and drizzling diamonds everywhere! And with jewellery retailing on an all-time high in India, the competition among the big brands has been fierce, to say the least. High-profile brand ambassadors, tie-ups with Bollywood blockbusters, glitterati dos … no stone has been left unturned. But despite the hullabaloo surrounding it, Kirtilals, the diamond and gold jewellery retail chain from the Kirtilal Kalidas Group, has no brand ambassador, no television ad and no store in the jewellery hubs of Mumbai and Delhi.
While one got to witness some fascinating diamond jewellery making in a trip to their factory – Vispark Jewellery Manufacturing – in Coimbatore, one wondered what else the jeweller had to offer that would set it above the rest or at least on par.
Long ago, Kirtilal Kalidas Mehta and his family from Gujarat made Coimbatore their home. In 1939, it opened its first store. However, despite being popular on the international radar, Kirtilals is relatively unknown to many frequent jewellery buyers in the country, especially in the North.
But not any longer, is Kirtilals’ firm assertion as it gears itself up for the makeover it has been waiting for.
Kirtilals store staff has been trained on international lines and the retailer is focussed on trendy designs for the youth. From quietly making inroads into the hearts of jewellery lovers in South India (the group has showrooms in Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Vijayawada and even Ludhiana), Kirtilals says it is determined to get noticed in other parts too. Going ahead, the company is planning to open boutiques in New Delhi. It is also looking at other cities.
Unlike others, Kirtilals is not following the clichéd procedure of getting a celebrity brand ambassador, entering into a movie tie-up or doing an ad campaign. The company is coming up with a series of innovative concepts which it feels will get jewellery lovers talking about them.Making designers of customers
Kirtilals has come up with the concept of an exclusive lounge called the ‘design studio’, where customers can sit with in-house designers at the store and design their own piece of jewellery. Seema Mehta, head of the design team at Kirtilals explains, “Women no longer want to buy jewellery right off the shelves. They want something exclusive that is not worn by others. We have come up with the lounge concept in some of our showrooms down South where women can design their own piece of jewellery from scratch to finish and rest assured the design is not repeated.” A glittering trip
The company also has another unique concept called ‘A day with Kirtilals’ – a few high-profile customers from all over the country are taken to the Kirtilals factory in Coimbatore to witness jewellery being made. From designing to diamond assortment, setting stones to gold polishing, the customers are given a step-by-step demonstration of jewellery making. Adding some glamour
While other jewellery stores are racing to bag contracts from supermodels and pretty faces from the film industry, Kirtilals does not have a brand ambassador to promote its jewellery nor does it plan to. “We don’t want any model to take away the attention from our jewellery; however, to add some glamour quotient, we have recently tied up with ace fashion designer Rohit Bal who is designing a new collection for us called ‘Rohit Bal for Kirtilals’ that will turn quite a few heads,” says Mehta.
As Kirtilals is all set to assume its new avtaar, whether this makeover will work wonders, only time will tell.
Democratising the presidency
Barack Obama may or may not make it to the White House but he has already made a vital difference to American politics. He has democratised the sources of campaign finance, that crucial element of any election campaign that played a not insignificant role in Mr Obama's victory over Hillary Clinton. In US election campaigns, as in most such campaigns across the world, it is typically the big businesses/lobby groups that fund political parties or their candidates who, in turn, try and do something for their benefactors without making it too obvious a quid pro quo — though that has not prevented the occasional scandal from surfacing. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance law tried to fix the problem in the US by putting a ceiling on individual donations at $2,000, which after adjusting for inflation is now pegged at $2,300. This changed the way funds were raised, because aggregators became the new players in the game.
To say that Mr Obama found his way round the problem by using the internet would be to diminish his innovative effort; what he did was to tap into the whole social networking phenomenon on the internet — so, My.BarackObama.com wasn't just a website, it encouraged people to network on it socially. You could, if you wished, just log in and give a donation; you could also opt for a subscription model which ensured you went back month after month; and set up your own page soliciting donations and then persuade your friends to make donations. Another button, "Make Calls", gave volunteers a list of phone numbers to call in order to spread the word (the internet's faster version of bumper stickers). You could download Obama ring-tones, even SMS updates in much the same way you'd get them for a Twenty20 match. Mr Obama's new-age campaign has netted him $200 million from 1,276,000 donors; in addition, he has got 750,000 active volunteers and 8,000 affinity groups. Not surprisingly, Mr Obama used Silicon Valley venture capitalists to help create his campaign finance model. A $200 million campaign fund from small individuals, it is important to note, means that an Obama presidency, should there be one, will not be obliged to favour big business.
Mr Obama plans to use the internet to transform the American presidency, if he gets the chance. This includes online chats and putting out legislation on the net for public comments before it becomes law. A White House blog, some say, is a near certainty. Whether Mr Obama can deliver a genuinely participative presidency is an open question. But there can be little doubt that Senator Obama has made a great start.
To say that Mr Obama found his way round the problem by using the internet would be to diminish his innovative effort; what he did was to tap into the whole social networking phenomenon on the internet — so, My.BarackObama.com wasn't just a website, it encouraged people to network on it socially. You could, if you wished, just log in and give a donation; you could also opt for a subscription model which ensured you went back month after month; and set up your own page soliciting donations and then persuade your friends to make donations. Another button, "Make Calls", gave volunteers a list of phone numbers to call in order to spread the word (the internet's faster version of bumper stickers). You could download Obama ring-tones, even SMS updates in much the same way you'd get them for a Twenty20 match. Mr Obama's new-age campaign has netted him $200 million from 1,276,000 donors; in addition, he has got 750,000 active volunteers and 8,000 affinity groups. Not surprisingly, Mr Obama used Silicon Valley venture capitalists to help create his campaign finance model. A $200 million campaign fund from small individuals, it is important to note, means that an Obama presidency, should there be one, will not be obliged to favour big business.
Mr Obama plans to use the internet to transform the American presidency, if he gets the chance. This includes online chats and putting out legislation on the net for public comments before it becomes law. A White House blog, some say, is a near certainty. Whether Mr Obama can deliver a genuinely participative presidency is an open question. But there can be little doubt that Senator Obama has made a great start.
The Darkening Sky
How things change in three months. Back in early March India's economic growth was still barreling along at around 9 per cent. Headline inflation data (for late February) still indicated a "comfortable" 5 per cent rate. The finance minister, fresh from presenting a populist budget, was confidently projecting the continuation of a ŝ per cent batting average" on growth. The sub-prime credit crunch in industrial countries seemed to have little direct fallout for India and the indirect effects through slower OECD growth were as yet distant. True, international oil prices had broken the talismanic $100/bbl level but concern in India was muted, mainly because domestic prices were held unchanged and the fiscal burden of massive implicit subsidies was masked by the double ploys of hammering oil company profits and issuing oil bonds. True, some economists had carped about a fiscally lax budget (including unfunded subsidies for oil, fertilizers and food), lack of reform and the damage to the credit culture from the farm loan waiver. But hey, who listens to economists? The overall mood remained quite buoyant.
Three months later things look much less rosy. The indicators of slowing growth proliferate in the daily papers. The government and RBI are in a small minority in expecting growth in 2008/9 to attain 8.5 to 9 per cent. The great majority of independent analysts expect the outcome to be in the 7 to 8 per cent range, with a growing number favoring the lower side of this band. Equity markets have tanked and stock prices are in doldrums. The really nasty surprise has come from inflation. Headline inflation has shot up since March and stood at a very uncomfortable 11 per cent in early June. Although a whole slew of fiscal, monetary and administrative measures have been deployed by the authorities, there is little respite in sight. The price spike has been concentrated in commodities, especially food, metals, fertilizers and oil products (either uncontrolled or because of rare upward revisions in controlled prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG). Yes, the primary source of this inflationary surge has been external, but that provides little consolation to people buying goods and services.
The other great dampener to economic spirits has been the growing realisation that the fiscal situation has suddenly turned quite dire. The February budget's estimate of a central government deficit of 2.5 per cent of GDP for 2008/9 appears laughably optimistic. As fuel, fertilizer and food prices soared since March and the corresponding "issue" or user prices were kept unchanged by the government, the estimates of implicit subsidies on these items rose steeply: over 3 per cent of GDP on fuel; nearly 2 per cent on fertilizers and perhaps 1 per cent on food. Even allowing for revenue increases on higher rupee bases, a true (implicit subsidy inclusive) central fiscal deficit of around 6 to 7 per cent of GDP seemed very likely. Together with State fiscal deficits in the order of 2 to 3 per cent of GDP, the combined true fiscal deficit is clearly going to be in the range of 9 to 10 per cent of GDP. Keeping these true deficits off the budget books through devices such as oil bonds and arrears owed to public entities in food and fertilizer in no way dilutes their adverse economic consequences. Nor does it fool knowledgeable observers. By April and May more and more analysts and investment banks were routinely reporting such high deficits, making a mockery of the budget estimate and (more importantly) pointing to a correspondingly heavier public sector borrowing burden on the market for loanable funds and hardening interest rates.
The drivers behind the burgeoning fiscal deficit have been the surging international prices of oil, fertilizers and food. The same factors are causing the yawning deficits in foreign trade and the current account of the balance of payments. If world oil prices average around $ 130/bbl in 2008/9, India's commodity trade deficit is likely to be in the order of 10 per cent of GDP and the current account deficit close to 4 percent of GDP. (Very roughly, every $2/bbl change in the average world oil price means a 0.1 percent of GDP change in the current account deficit). Unsurprisingly, the five year old problem of external capital surge seems to have disappeared, with the current account deficit widening and FIIs withdrawing over $ 5 billion from Indian capital markets in the first five months of 2008. Suddenly, it seems more like 1987-90, with reforms stalled, fiscal and balance of payment deficits ballooning and political uncertainty on the rise.
Actually, of course, things are not nearly as bad as the late 1980s for three important reasons. First, the RBI holds more than $300 billion of foreign exchange reserves as insurance against temporary liquidity crunches on external account. A couple of years of balance of payments strain could be absorbed easily without undue turmoil in external trade and payments. Second, the Indian private sector is in far better shape today than 20 years ago on all the usual yardsticks of productivity, profitability, balance sheet strength and dynamism. In theory, at least, it is much better placed to ride out temporary stresses in the economic environment. Third, the latest official data indicate that aggregate investment in the economy was 41 percent of GDP in 2007/8. It would be quite unlikely to drop by more than 6 or 7 per cent of GDP even if the economy goes through a couple of weak years. That suggests aggregate investment levels will probably not fall below 34-35 per cent of GDP, which, in turn, makes economic growth below 7 percent a year somewhat unlikely. However, given the massive scale of the implicit subsidies noted above, a deterioration in public savings of 4 to 5 per cent of GDP is quite possible, associated with a drop in investment and a widening of the investment-savings gap.
The trajectory of corporate investment and savings (which have risen sharply in recent years) is much more uncertain. The exceptionally difficult short-term challenge for monetary policy will be to contain the current, strong inflationary tendencies and expectations without inflicting undue damage to private investment. We know that in 2008/9 the investment-savings gap may need to widen by perhaps 2 per cent of GDP to accommodate the higher current account deficit. The question is at what level (of total savings and investment) will the equilibration occur. Beyond the short-run, fiscal policy (including price increases of fuel, fertilizer and food) must shoulder the primary responsibility for reducing macro imbalances.
Seven months ago (BS, November 22, 2007) I wrote "the UPA's legacy for sustaining rapid and inclusive growth in future years leaves a lot to be desired". Since then, the government's continued and prolonged failure to gradually adjust domestic oil prices to international realities has spawned a massive fiscal deficit and significantly worsened this government's already dubious economic legacy.
The author is Honorary Professor at ICRIER and former Chief Economic Adviser to Government of India. The views expressed are personal
Three months later things look much less rosy. The indicators of slowing growth proliferate in the daily papers. The government and RBI are in a small minority in expecting growth in 2008/9 to attain 8.5 to 9 per cent. The great majority of independent analysts expect the outcome to be in the 7 to 8 per cent range, with a growing number favoring the lower side of this band. Equity markets have tanked and stock prices are in doldrums. The really nasty surprise has come from inflation. Headline inflation has shot up since March and stood at a very uncomfortable 11 per cent in early June. Although a whole slew of fiscal, monetary and administrative measures have been deployed by the authorities, there is little respite in sight. The price spike has been concentrated in commodities, especially food, metals, fertilizers and oil products (either uncontrolled or because of rare upward revisions in controlled prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG). Yes, the primary source of this inflationary surge has been external, but that provides little consolation to people buying goods and services.
The other great dampener to economic spirits has been the growing realisation that the fiscal situation has suddenly turned quite dire. The February budget's estimate of a central government deficit of 2.5 per cent of GDP for 2008/9 appears laughably optimistic. As fuel, fertilizer and food prices soared since March and the corresponding "issue" or user prices were kept unchanged by the government, the estimates of implicit subsidies on these items rose steeply: over 3 per cent of GDP on fuel; nearly 2 per cent on fertilizers and perhaps 1 per cent on food. Even allowing for revenue increases on higher rupee bases, a true (implicit subsidy inclusive) central fiscal deficit of around 6 to 7 per cent of GDP seemed very likely. Together with State fiscal deficits in the order of 2 to 3 per cent of GDP, the combined true fiscal deficit is clearly going to be in the range of 9 to 10 per cent of GDP. Keeping these true deficits off the budget books through devices such as oil bonds and arrears owed to public entities in food and fertilizer in no way dilutes their adverse economic consequences. Nor does it fool knowledgeable observers. By April and May more and more analysts and investment banks were routinely reporting such high deficits, making a mockery of the budget estimate and (more importantly) pointing to a correspondingly heavier public sector borrowing burden on the market for loanable funds and hardening interest rates.
The drivers behind the burgeoning fiscal deficit have been the surging international prices of oil, fertilizers and food. The same factors are causing the yawning deficits in foreign trade and the current account of the balance of payments. If world oil prices average around $ 130/bbl in 2008/9, India's commodity trade deficit is likely to be in the order of 10 per cent of GDP and the current account deficit close to 4 percent of GDP. (Very roughly, every $2/bbl change in the average world oil price means a 0.1 percent of GDP change in the current account deficit). Unsurprisingly, the five year old problem of external capital surge seems to have disappeared, with the current account deficit widening and FIIs withdrawing over $ 5 billion from Indian capital markets in the first five months of 2008. Suddenly, it seems more like 1987-90, with reforms stalled, fiscal and balance of payment deficits ballooning and political uncertainty on the rise.
Actually, of course, things are not nearly as bad as the late 1980s for three important reasons. First, the RBI holds more than $300 billion of foreign exchange reserves as insurance against temporary liquidity crunches on external account. A couple of years of balance of payments strain could be absorbed easily without undue turmoil in external trade and payments. Second, the Indian private sector is in far better shape today than 20 years ago on all the usual yardsticks of productivity, profitability, balance sheet strength and dynamism. In theory, at least, it is much better placed to ride out temporary stresses in the economic environment. Third, the latest official data indicate that aggregate investment in the economy was 41 percent of GDP in 2007/8. It would be quite unlikely to drop by more than 6 or 7 per cent of GDP even if the economy goes through a couple of weak years. That suggests aggregate investment levels will probably not fall below 34-35 per cent of GDP, which, in turn, makes economic growth below 7 percent a year somewhat unlikely. However, given the massive scale of the implicit subsidies noted above, a deterioration in public savings of 4 to 5 per cent of GDP is quite possible, associated with a drop in investment and a widening of the investment-savings gap.
The trajectory of corporate investment and savings (which have risen sharply in recent years) is much more uncertain. The exceptionally difficult short-term challenge for monetary policy will be to contain the current, strong inflationary tendencies and expectations without inflicting undue damage to private investment. We know that in 2008/9 the investment-savings gap may need to widen by perhaps 2 per cent of GDP to accommodate the higher current account deficit. The question is at what level (of total savings and investment) will the equilibration occur. Beyond the short-run, fiscal policy (including price increases of fuel, fertilizer and food) must shoulder the primary responsibility for reducing macro imbalances.
Seven months ago (BS, November 22, 2007) I wrote "the UPA's legacy for sustaining rapid and inclusive growth in future years leaves a lot to be desired". Since then, the government's continued and prolonged failure to gradually adjust domestic oil prices to international realities has spawned a massive fiscal deficit and significantly worsened this government's already dubious economic legacy.
The author is Honorary Professor at ICRIER and former Chief Economic Adviser to Government of India. The views expressed are personal
Anomalies of a small town boom
Kanika Datta - BS Column
Both Indian executives and foreigners who have spent even a couple of years in India are struck by the boom in small-town India. We know how Mercedes' biggest market in India famously comes from the prosperous smaller towns of Punjab. But it is true that most purveyors of a range of goods and services, from televisions and washing machines to insurance and other financial services, have been increasingly looking at ways to tailor their offerings to consumers in these urban agglomerations known as Tier I and Tier II towns in marketing jargon.
This is not solely because markets in the big cities have become saturated — far from it, in fact — or more competitive. Statistics, both national and from quasi-private research organisations, have demonstrated rapidly growing incomes in these towns — Coimbatore and Nagpur, for instance, boast some of the fastest growth in upper-end incomes.
Even a cursory look at the transformation in India's smaller towns corroborates what businessmen and corporations have long understood. Testimony to this lies in the ubiquitous glass and concrete shopping malls, which appear to have become a global urban architectural uniform, that have sprung up in awkward proximity to paddy and wheat fields around former small towns and the high visibility of multinational brand names scrawled on walls and billboards. The self-conscious urban glitz that these towns —from Nagpur and Mysore to Dehra Dun and Bhubaneswar — have acquired roughly approximates the boom in incomes and opportunities that economic growth has created.
But in India, unlike China, this boom in what economists call "lower order cities" is a bottom-up transformation rather than a top-down one. This may or may not be a bad thing — most of Europe's oldest and most beautiful cities were products of the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But both in contemporary China and industrial revolution-era Europe, the urban boom was led by manufacturing. The famous covered "cloth halls" of Leeds that attracted gently-bred ladies were the by-product of a prosperous textile manufacturing industry. Guangzhou, yesterday's paddy fields, has metamorphosed into a (relatively) sophisticated urban conglomerate after the area became a factory to the world.
Not so in India. The income boom in lower-order cities is largely driven by the income from the steadily increasing numbers of people entering the rapidly growing and people-hungry services sector — whether it is IT, IT-enabled services, hotels, airlines, financial services and so on. Big-city India has pretty much maxed out the seemingly insatiable market for talent, so it is to small-town India that industries have turned as a supply base. Thus, you see alluring ads in Siliguri and Darjeeling where a westernised and English-speaking populace is considered an invaluable recruitment reservoir for the airlines and hotels businesses. Other cities serve India Inc's voracious requirement for chartered accountants, IT engineers and administrative and back office services. Even the fashion industry has played a role in transforming youthful aspirations in small-town India —– many of its well-known models come from here than from the big cities.
However, although the supply for emerging India's talent has expanded to small town India, the market for it remains in the big cities. Most of these people relocate to the bigger cities and it is mostly repatriated income that is fuelling consumption in small towns. An airline steward, to provide a simplistic example, will instinctively look to build or buy a house in his native town, which sets off a chain of consumption in construction materials, security services and so on.
This asymmetry in the services labour market — ironically, it is no different from the overall labour market — has consequences for India. Rising congestion and escalating costs are increasingly compelling businessmen to eye India's lower-order cities as production bases as well. This was the striking point recently made by the head of one of India's largest companies who is looking to expand his company's ambit outside of Delhi, Bangalore and so on.
Given that IT technology does not tie a company to a location, the opportunity and advantages of expanding operations to Tier I and II cities are enormous. The problem, this CEO said, was the abysmal state of small-town India. Few senior executives are willing to be relocated because of the lack of good education for their children, limited entertainment choices and even worse civic infrastructure than the big cities.
These are valid concerns. Given that good civic infrastructure dictate quality of life, both central and governments need to take them seriously if they truly want to expand the depth and breadth of economic reform. After all, if there is a strong evidence of "inclusive growth", this is it. Small town India has prospered because India's economic growth has accelerated, not because the government has handed out subsidies to the poor. As China, which is urbanising at a faster rate than India has shown, public investment in urbanisation can create a widening and virtuous circle of growth and prosperity than waiving an agricultural loan ever can.
Both Indian executives and foreigners who have spent even a couple of years in India are struck by the boom in small-town India. We know how Mercedes' biggest market in India famously comes from the prosperous smaller towns of Punjab. But it is true that most purveyors of a range of goods and services, from televisions and washing machines to insurance and other financial services, have been increasingly looking at ways to tailor their offerings to consumers in these urban agglomerations known as Tier I and Tier II towns in marketing jargon.
This is not solely because markets in the big cities have become saturated — far from it, in fact — or more competitive. Statistics, both national and from quasi-private research organisations, have demonstrated rapidly growing incomes in these towns — Coimbatore and Nagpur, for instance, boast some of the fastest growth in upper-end incomes.
Even a cursory look at the transformation in India's smaller towns corroborates what businessmen and corporations have long understood. Testimony to this lies in the ubiquitous glass and concrete shopping malls, which appear to have become a global urban architectural uniform, that have sprung up in awkward proximity to paddy and wheat fields around former small towns and the high visibility of multinational brand names scrawled on walls and billboards. The self-conscious urban glitz that these towns —from Nagpur and Mysore to Dehra Dun and Bhubaneswar — have acquired roughly approximates the boom in incomes and opportunities that economic growth has created.
But in India, unlike China, this boom in what economists call "lower order cities" is a bottom-up transformation rather than a top-down one. This may or may not be a bad thing — most of Europe's oldest and most beautiful cities were products of the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But both in contemporary China and industrial revolution-era Europe, the urban boom was led by manufacturing. The famous covered "cloth halls" of Leeds that attracted gently-bred ladies were the by-product of a prosperous textile manufacturing industry. Guangzhou, yesterday's paddy fields, has metamorphosed into a (relatively) sophisticated urban conglomerate after the area became a factory to the world.
Not so in India. The income boom in lower-order cities is largely driven by the income from the steadily increasing numbers of people entering the rapidly growing and people-hungry services sector — whether it is IT, IT-enabled services, hotels, airlines, financial services and so on. Big-city India has pretty much maxed out the seemingly insatiable market for talent, so it is to small-town India that industries have turned as a supply base. Thus, you see alluring ads in Siliguri and Darjeeling where a westernised and English-speaking populace is considered an invaluable recruitment reservoir for the airlines and hotels businesses. Other cities serve India Inc's voracious requirement for chartered accountants, IT engineers and administrative and back office services. Even the fashion industry has played a role in transforming youthful aspirations in small-town India —– many of its well-known models come from here than from the big cities.
However, although the supply for emerging India's talent has expanded to small town India, the market for it remains in the big cities. Most of these people relocate to the bigger cities and it is mostly repatriated income that is fuelling consumption in small towns. An airline steward, to provide a simplistic example, will instinctively look to build or buy a house in his native town, which sets off a chain of consumption in construction materials, security services and so on.
This asymmetry in the services labour market — ironically, it is no different from the overall labour market — has consequences for India. Rising congestion and escalating costs are increasingly compelling businessmen to eye India's lower-order cities as production bases as well. This was the striking point recently made by the head of one of India's largest companies who is looking to expand his company's ambit outside of Delhi, Bangalore and so on.
Given that IT technology does not tie a company to a location, the opportunity and advantages of expanding operations to Tier I and II cities are enormous. The problem, this CEO said, was the abysmal state of small-town India. Few senior executives are willing to be relocated because of the lack of good education for their children, limited entertainment choices and even worse civic infrastructure than the big cities.
These are valid concerns. Given that good civic infrastructure dictate quality of life, both central and governments need to take them seriously if they truly want to expand the depth and breadth of economic reform. After all, if there is a strong evidence of "inclusive growth", this is it. Small town India has prospered because India's economic growth has accelerated, not because the government has handed out subsidies to the poor. As China, which is urbanising at a faster rate than India has shown, public investment in urbanisation can create a widening and virtuous circle of growth and prosperity than waiving an agricultural loan ever can.
Reality Check on Salary
Shyamal Majumdar: BS Column
At a time when salaries continue to rise, ICICI Bank says it's important to keep economic realities in mind.
When ICICI Bank announced in April that it would skip annual rituals like promotions or large-scale bonus payouts this year, there was a general sense of disbelief.
After all, India's largest private sector bank was going against the conventional wisdom that the Great Indian Salary Boom will continue despite the slowdown signals. The general consensus was that ICICI Bank was being foolish as the talent shortage and emergence of new job opportunities will ensure an exodus from the bank.
The bank's move also went against the projections of all leading global consultancies that Indian employees will bag the biggest global salary increase this year, at an average of 15 per cent.
ICICI Bank, however, went ahead and gave a moderate 8 per cent increase in salaries (11 per cent last year), skipped promotions and slashed bonus payouts. Three months later, Ram Kumar, ICICI's group head of human resources, says the bank's attrition rate hasn't gone up — even marginally.
Many also feel that ICICI's salary increases this year actually mean a huge erosion in real wages due to the high inflation rate. But Ram Kumar trashes that logic. People have got enough salary and bonus increases in the last four to five years and they have been cushioned to that extent. The bank believes the economic volatility will be short term and things will be back on track soon.
ICICI Bank, Ram Kumar says, doesn't want to get swayed by what the consultants say ("most of their reports are anyway based on opinion surveys and no real economic reasoning") and prefers to depend on sound economic logic. For a bank with a large retail portfolio, the thumb rule is simple: operating expenses can't exceed 45 per cent of total revenues if it has to deliver on profitability. And one-third of that — 15 per cent — should be the wage cost.
Ram Kumar has a word of advice for those who think higher wage increases can solve the attrition problem: divert some money — however marginal it is in terms of percentages — from your planned wage increases to your training budget.
Say, a company has a total manpower budget of Rs 2,000 crore, of which Rs 80 crore is for training and development. If the company has budgeted a 10 per cent salary hike, that works out to Rs 200 crore. If the company decides to reduce the amount allocated for increments to 9 per cent, which is a marginal cut, and won't make much of a difference, and reallocate this money to training, the training budget goes by as much as 25 per cent to Rs 100 crore.
The additional money for training can work wonders, which no amount of salary increases can ensure. "There is no job which reasonably intelligent people cannot learn in 60 days," Ram Kumar says.
In short, the Great Indian Salary Boom story will have to take a pause for at least some time to come. The economic boom in the last four to five years meant companies had to go in for premium pricing of manpower and sometimes "overskill" themselves, as no one wanted to miss out on the opportunity the economic growth could provide. ICICI Bank also did just that.
But at a time when growth is plateauing due to the oil and commodity shocks, no one can predict when the volatility will end. The only thing that is certain is that consumer demand and sentiment will take a hard knock. If a company has to still maintain a cost structure that will enable it to meet the market expectations of its profitability, capital and cost prudence is the key.
"An HR manager is no different from a finance manager; he can't be swayed by emotions and have some vague notions about employee welfare. Wages are a fixed cost but wage increases are optional costs, which have to be kept in check in turbulent times. After all, you can't give chocolates to your diabetic child just because he is crying," Ram Kumar says.
Some manpower consultants, however, still refuse to buy that argument. "Look at your own industry — media. With almost every media organisation planning new launches, journalists are graduating from Santros to Pajeros in double-quick time," a consultant says, referring to journalists in a leading media house.
The consultant says he doesn't need opinion surveys to arrive at this conclusion as it's plain economic logic. The salary boom may be restricted in some sectors this year, but will continue in sectors where new players are coming in and talent is in short supply.
At a time when salaries continue to rise, ICICI Bank says it's important to keep economic realities in mind.
When ICICI Bank announced in April that it would skip annual rituals like promotions or large-scale bonus payouts this year, there was a general sense of disbelief.
After all, India's largest private sector bank was going against the conventional wisdom that the Great Indian Salary Boom will continue despite the slowdown signals. The general consensus was that ICICI Bank was being foolish as the talent shortage and emergence of new job opportunities will ensure an exodus from the bank.
The bank's move also went against the projections of all leading global consultancies that Indian employees will bag the biggest global salary increase this year, at an average of 15 per cent.
ICICI Bank, however, went ahead and gave a moderate 8 per cent increase in salaries (11 per cent last year), skipped promotions and slashed bonus payouts. Three months later, Ram Kumar, ICICI's group head of human resources, says the bank's attrition rate hasn't gone up — even marginally.
Many also feel that ICICI's salary increases this year actually mean a huge erosion in real wages due to the high inflation rate. But Ram Kumar trashes that logic. People have got enough salary and bonus increases in the last four to five years and they have been cushioned to that extent. The bank believes the economic volatility will be short term and things will be back on track soon.
ICICI Bank, Ram Kumar says, doesn't want to get swayed by what the consultants say ("most of their reports are anyway based on opinion surveys and no real economic reasoning") and prefers to depend on sound economic logic. For a bank with a large retail portfolio, the thumb rule is simple: operating expenses can't exceed 45 per cent of total revenues if it has to deliver on profitability. And one-third of that — 15 per cent — should be the wage cost.
Ram Kumar has a word of advice for those who think higher wage increases can solve the attrition problem: divert some money — however marginal it is in terms of percentages — from your planned wage increases to your training budget.
Say, a company has a total manpower budget of Rs 2,000 crore, of which Rs 80 crore is for training and development. If the company has budgeted a 10 per cent salary hike, that works out to Rs 200 crore. If the company decides to reduce the amount allocated for increments to 9 per cent, which is a marginal cut, and won't make much of a difference, and reallocate this money to training, the training budget goes by as much as 25 per cent to Rs 100 crore.
The additional money for training can work wonders, which no amount of salary increases can ensure. "There is no job which reasonably intelligent people cannot learn in 60 days," Ram Kumar says.
In short, the Great Indian Salary Boom story will have to take a pause for at least some time to come. The economic boom in the last four to five years meant companies had to go in for premium pricing of manpower and sometimes "overskill" themselves, as no one wanted to miss out on the opportunity the economic growth could provide. ICICI Bank also did just that.
But at a time when growth is plateauing due to the oil and commodity shocks, no one can predict when the volatility will end. The only thing that is certain is that consumer demand and sentiment will take a hard knock. If a company has to still maintain a cost structure that will enable it to meet the market expectations of its profitability, capital and cost prudence is the key.
"An HR manager is no different from a finance manager; he can't be swayed by emotions and have some vague notions about employee welfare. Wages are a fixed cost but wage increases are optional costs, which have to be kept in check in turbulent times. After all, you can't give chocolates to your diabetic child just because he is crying," Ram Kumar says.
Some manpower consultants, however, still refuse to buy that argument. "Look at your own industry — media. With almost every media organisation planning new launches, journalists are graduating from Santros to Pajeros in double-quick time," a consultant says, referring to journalists in a leading media house.
The consultant says he doesn't need opinion surveys to arrive at this conclusion as it's plain economic logic. The salary boom may be restricted in some sectors this year, but will continue in sectors where new players are coming in and talent is in short supply.
100th Post - Swedish approach to youth detention
Was thinking of what should be a good read as the 100th post.Found this one ( Was published as an editorial in The Hindu today). V.G.Read
Sri
Maggie O’Kane
The most striking thing about the Hassela reform centre, apart from the apple blossom, the thick white candles burning on the breakfast tables and the smell of old wood from the ancient eaves of the dining room, is the silence. Sixty teenagers with criminal records, drug problems or a history of antisocial behaviour live here in Gotland, Sweden, in and around a beautiful wooden house with a conservatory stretching back into the garden. A trampoline sits on the lawn and a b arbecue still charred from a recent feast is by the back door.The “students,” as they are called, are part of one of the world’s most striking youth detention centres. They live in the main house or in smaller houses scattered throughout the village. Occasionally, there are “challenges” — the Irish boy, for example, who tried to hold up the post office with a knife, then went back to apologise — but for the most part, this small Swedish community accepts the 60 or so students who live in its midst as kids who need help to straighten themselves out
Family Environment
The students are referred here mostly by the Swedish authorities, although in recent years children from Ireland and Scotland have come to Hassela. There is a waiting list. Over the last 25 years, 700 people from 12 to 20 have been through its doors, most after having got mixed up in drugs or antisocial behaviour.
Its founders, Lasse Siggelin and his wife Kirstin, started their professional lives as teachers in the local school. They adopted two Colombian children and, over the years, were asked by social workers to take children from difficult backgrounds, and then children and young people referred by the courts.
The key to their philosophy is recreating a family environment — something few of the students have experienced. The young people live in “micro families” in houses scattered throughout the village. Students are sent to Hassela for two years. Many of the “house parents” are former offenders who are prepared to embrace the extraordinary demands of life at Hassela, working for six weeks before taking a two-week break. “Hassela is a way of life for many of us who work here, not a job,” says one.
But there is also an explicit political and cultural dimension to its work. Lasse declares himself a “child of ’68,” and an idealist. The Hassela website declares: “We have chosen to fight for democracy by creating conditions for young people to live a life based on democratic and not fascist grounds!” Despite its emphasis on vocational training, the programme is motivated neither by charity nor business. “We are doing the work to make people feel that they belong somewhere, to make them take responsibility, to make sure handicraft traditions are carried on, and to make sure that the countryside has a future,” says the website.
Alex Siggelin, 28, and his wife Erica — plus their new baby — run a dog training centre where six young people live and work. Their old wooden house is the centre of a project that trains Alsatians for the Swedish police. On the day we arrive, they are leaving for a weekend break on the mainland, but are taking one of the new students with them. Eric, 17, has been sent to Hassela for attacking his social worker and her car. “He has just got here and is very agitated, but he is calming down,” says Alex. “I don’t want to leave him alone here just yet, so we are taking him with us.”
Alex was a street child in Bogota, Colombia, until the age of five, when he was adopted by the Siggelins. He believes most children need routine, to be listened to, and to know that the house parents will stay with them until they do what is expected of them. “Sometimes, when we get them here, they refuse to get out of bed. So we sit in the room and wait and talk until eventually they realise they just have to get up.”
Alex and his family live with five students, and they eat and work together. “This place is about relationships,” he says. “They are coming to my home and they can be part of that, but there are rules.”Some children are given dogs to care for and are allowed keep them overnight in cages in their rooms. This removes the need for any arguments about getting up in the morning. “You can’t negotiate with a dog,” Alex says. “The dog has to be fed and exercised, so you just have to get up. You can’t be angry around a dog or they’ll get agitated. The kids know this and they learn to become aware and to amend their hyperactive behaviour"
Valdes, 20, is a Hassela student. He was abandoned as a child in Lithuania and lived in an orphanage until he was adopted by a Swedish couple. He turned to drugs and had a heavy cannabis addiction. Since he came to Hassela, dog training has become the centre of his life — and he has been clean of drugs. He shares his room with his dog, Sita, and her nine puppies that will be trained as sniffer dogs for the Swedish police. The dogs are also used to check that the students don’t try to smuggle drugs into their rooms. “I am so happy,” Valdes says. “The dogs are my friends. I have a job working with the dogs. I never dreamed that could be possible.”
Punishment is a dirty word at Hassela. Lasse says that once students have been through the initial induction period and have been settled in a house where they are comfortable, discipline is not a problem. “In 25 years, we’ve had three or four violent incidents,” he says. It’s an observation that is born out by two visiting Irish social workers. “We’ve been here 11 weeks and I’ve seen one incident where a voice was raised, and that was dealt with in 30 seconds,” says Claire O’Dowd.
There are failures. On the day we arrived for a two-day visit, one student had absconded on the ferry — it’s a three-hour journey from the holiday island of Gotland back to the mainland. Another went the next night. The waiting list for placements reflects the high demand for places at Hassela. But there is little in the way of hard outcomes evidence, apart from a study commissioned by Hassela that carried out phone interviews with students who had completed the programme in 2003-04. It recorded that 90 per cent of the girls and 53 per cent of boys described themselves, one year after “graduation,” as being “well established, drug-free and not involved in crime.”
Returning for inspiration
David Chubb, a social worker who has spent two decades working in traditional youth detention centres in Scotland, keeps returning to Hassela for inspiration. He says: “I came here when I was training to be a social worker over 20 years ago, and I still haven’t come across anything that works the way this place does.” He has referred students to Hassela, and next year is planning to come to Gotland — with his wife and two young children — to write a PhD. “I’ve been around youth justice for 25 years,” he says. “It doesn’t work the way we do it, and it costs a fortune.”It costs about $165,000 to put a young person through the Hassela programme. Chubb, who is based in the Shetlands, says Hassela makes economic sense. “I’ve come across kids who are clearly heading for a life in prison, and that is going to cost thousands of pounds over the years,” he says. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008
Sri
Maggie O’Kane
The most striking thing about the Hassela reform centre, apart from the apple blossom, the thick white candles burning on the breakfast tables and the smell of old wood from the ancient eaves of the dining room, is the silence. Sixty teenagers with criminal records, drug problems or a history of antisocial behaviour live here in Gotland, Sweden, in and around a beautiful wooden house with a conservatory stretching back into the garden. A trampoline sits on the lawn and a b arbecue still charred from a recent feast is by the back door.The “students,” as they are called, are part of one of the world’s most striking youth detention centres. They live in the main house or in smaller houses scattered throughout the village. Occasionally, there are “challenges” — the Irish boy, for example, who tried to hold up the post office with a knife, then went back to apologise — but for the most part, this small Swedish community accepts the 60 or so students who live in its midst as kids who need help to straighten themselves out
Family Environment
The students are referred here mostly by the Swedish authorities, although in recent years children from Ireland and Scotland have come to Hassela. There is a waiting list. Over the last 25 years, 700 people from 12 to 20 have been through its doors, most after having got mixed up in drugs or antisocial behaviour.
Its founders, Lasse Siggelin and his wife Kirstin, started their professional lives as teachers in the local school. They adopted two Colombian children and, over the years, were asked by social workers to take children from difficult backgrounds, and then children and young people referred by the courts.
The key to their philosophy is recreating a family environment — something few of the students have experienced. The young people live in “micro families” in houses scattered throughout the village. Students are sent to Hassela for two years. Many of the “house parents” are former offenders who are prepared to embrace the extraordinary demands of life at Hassela, working for six weeks before taking a two-week break. “Hassela is a way of life for many of us who work here, not a job,” says one.
But there is also an explicit political and cultural dimension to its work. Lasse declares himself a “child of ’68,” and an idealist. The Hassela website declares: “We have chosen to fight for democracy by creating conditions for young people to live a life based on democratic and not fascist grounds!” Despite its emphasis on vocational training, the programme is motivated neither by charity nor business. “We are doing the work to make people feel that they belong somewhere, to make them take responsibility, to make sure handicraft traditions are carried on, and to make sure that the countryside has a future,” says the website.
Alex Siggelin, 28, and his wife Erica — plus their new baby — run a dog training centre where six young people live and work. Their old wooden house is the centre of a project that trains Alsatians for the Swedish police. On the day we arrive, they are leaving for a weekend break on the mainland, but are taking one of the new students with them. Eric, 17, has been sent to Hassela for attacking his social worker and her car. “He has just got here and is very agitated, but he is calming down,” says Alex. “I don’t want to leave him alone here just yet, so we are taking him with us.”
Alex was a street child in Bogota, Colombia, until the age of five, when he was adopted by the Siggelins. He believes most children need routine, to be listened to, and to know that the house parents will stay with them until they do what is expected of them. “Sometimes, when we get them here, they refuse to get out of bed. So we sit in the room and wait and talk until eventually they realise they just have to get up.”
Alex and his family live with five students, and they eat and work together. “This place is about relationships,” he says. “They are coming to my home and they can be part of that, but there are rules.”Some children are given dogs to care for and are allowed keep them overnight in cages in their rooms. This removes the need for any arguments about getting up in the morning. “You can’t negotiate with a dog,” Alex says. “The dog has to be fed and exercised, so you just have to get up. You can’t be angry around a dog or they’ll get agitated. The kids know this and they learn to become aware and to amend their hyperactive behaviour"
Valdes, 20, is a Hassela student. He was abandoned as a child in Lithuania and lived in an orphanage until he was adopted by a Swedish couple. He turned to drugs and had a heavy cannabis addiction. Since he came to Hassela, dog training has become the centre of his life — and he has been clean of drugs. He shares his room with his dog, Sita, and her nine puppies that will be trained as sniffer dogs for the Swedish police. The dogs are also used to check that the students don’t try to smuggle drugs into their rooms. “I am so happy,” Valdes says. “The dogs are my friends. I have a job working with the dogs. I never dreamed that could be possible.”
Punishment is a dirty word at Hassela. Lasse says that once students have been through the initial induction period and have been settled in a house where they are comfortable, discipline is not a problem. “In 25 years, we’ve had three or four violent incidents,” he says. It’s an observation that is born out by two visiting Irish social workers. “We’ve been here 11 weeks and I’ve seen one incident where a voice was raised, and that was dealt with in 30 seconds,” says Claire O’Dowd.
There are failures. On the day we arrived for a two-day visit, one student had absconded on the ferry — it’s a three-hour journey from the holiday island of Gotland back to the mainland. Another went the next night. The waiting list for placements reflects the high demand for places at Hassela. But there is little in the way of hard outcomes evidence, apart from a study commissioned by Hassela that carried out phone interviews with students who had completed the programme in 2003-04. It recorded that 90 per cent of the girls and 53 per cent of boys described themselves, one year after “graduation,” as being “well established, drug-free and not involved in crime.”
Returning for inspiration
David Chubb, a social worker who has spent two decades working in traditional youth detention centres in Scotland, keeps returning to Hassela for inspiration. He says: “I came here when I was training to be a social worker over 20 years ago, and I still haven’t come across anything that works the way this place does.” He has referred students to Hassela, and next year is planning to come to Gotland — with his wife and two young children — to write a PhD. “I’ve been around youth justice for 25 years,” he says. “It doesn’t work the way we do it, and it costs a fortune.”It costs about $165,000 to put a young person through the Hassela programme. Chubb, who is based in the Shetlands, says Hassela makes economic sense. “I’ve come across kids who are clearly heading for a life in prison, and that is going to cost thousands of pounds over the years,” he says. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008
All in a Name - Fun Read
Reading signboards and nameplates is a unique pleasure. It gives one a peep into the psyche of the person who came up with the imaginative name. I got into the habit of memorising signboards and nameplates quite early and am thrilled to come across unusual word plays. I often wonder about the creative souls who must be languishing in prosaic vocations, never having got the right break! Among the very first boards that caught my attention was a barber's shop in Pune. The owner has donned the Sanskritised moniker, calling his establishment 'Kesh Kartanalaya', transforming a simple barber shop into a centre of artistic work, distinct from mere mundane activity. That reminds me of an occasion when one smelled a genius at a popular Mumbai restaurant, known for its seafood, especially fish preparations. It's called 'Excellensea', conveying a lot about the owner and the establishment. A sari shop will capture the attention of a lady. But in Andheri, Mumbai, a shop known for its exotic stock attracts the attention of men, too, not because of the visitors, but for its name. 'Wraptures' will gladden the heart of any lexicographer, sending him into raptures at finding a kindred soul in such an unlikely place. Certain names are too archaic, however. 'Petrol Supplying Company' has been doing business — undisturbed — for a long time in central Mumbai, while other, even less busy, such outlets are adopting jet-age titles like 'Autoport'. Still, one needs to acknowledge the talent for choosing outstanding names that abounds in India. A foreign visitor was impressed with shop names in our country — one of the tiniest shops in an obscure corner of Chandni Chowk market in Delhi calls itself 'Universal Trading Company'! There is no shortage of proud owners of a variety of businesses, irrespective of the size of their empire. For example, a 'Maharashtra Trading Company' will be found in almost every town and village in that state. It could be selling anything from slates to hardware, underwear, medicines, building materials or cereals. Gods, too, are propitiated. It's no wonder then that Balaji is among the most popular deities where commerce is concerned. There are real estate agents, dealing in property in the holy name of Sri Balaji, or builders, perhaps hoping for atonement for their defamed business. Shri Krishna dairy farms are commonplace, but what took my breath away was the 'Jai Hanuman Fertility Clinic'.
Promise of Mobile Television
Mobile TV services in India represent a major opportunity for the entire mobile TV ecosystem like broadcasters, wireless operators, equipment manufacturers and content providers. It presents broadcasters with an exciting opportunity to extend their brand into the mobile space by leveraging existing content assets and developing new mobile content. Advertisers have the potential to cater to a specific need of their target audience wherever they are, while operators can benefit from a complementary revenue stream. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) recommendations reiterate the potential of mobile TV in the country.
Commercial and pilot mobile TV services have been deployed in numerous countries around the world, including the US where Verizon Wireless rolled out its V CAST Mobile TV service last year and then expanded the service to more than 50 Markets.
Closer home, commercial mobile TV services are already available in the Philippines and Indonesia, among other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, Portio, a UK-based research firm, expects Asia-Pacific to account for about 50% of the world’s mobile TV subscriber base by 2011. It already hosts the world’s two biggest mobile Markets in China and India.
Trials with Australian consumers in recent years have confirmed that there is strong nascent demand for mobile TV services. 80% of participants expressed an interest in subscribing to a commercial mobile TV service during a Sydney-based trial of 16 television services to mobile handsets in 2005. Trials in Taiwan and Japan in 2007 have shown that for mobile TV customers, great picture quality, fast channel switching and an electronic programme guide (EPG) were among the most important features. In India, mobile TV could be the next killer service with the media and entertainment business in the country expected to double by 2011, to reach Rs 1 trillion, or $22.5 billion, in sales.
Internationally, major Sports events have been found to be significant drivers for mobile TV uptake. This will be a factor in its continued adoption over the next couple of years, leading up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India.
Mobile TV is an industry catalyst, fostering the development and collaboration of an expanding ecosystem. It includes multi-channel broadcasters, operators, content developers and technology vendors. Mobile TV services provide broadcasters with a new distribution channel for existing shows or made-for-mobile content. Some of the most successful broadcasters that have established licensing agreements for mobile TV services in the US include CBS, ESPN, FOX, MTV Networks and NBC Universal. Today, subscribers can watch their favourite selection of live, simulcast and time-shifted full-length television programming on select handsets. LG, Motorola and Samsung are some of the manufacturers that offer handsets optimised for mobile TV.
It is important to distinguish mobile TV from the video download services that are available in India today, via the 2.5G and 3G wireless data networks. A true mobile TV experience is delivered over a dedicated mobile broadcast network, which aggregates programming and prepares it for transmission to specially equipped handsets. 2.5G or 3G telephony is configured for one-to-one network connectivity; it can stream live content to mobile handsets, but the quality of the broadcast will deteriorate as the number of viewers increase.
By establishing a dedicated mobile broadcast network for mobile TV, operators can prevent any degradation to existing voice and data services. A dedicated mobile broadcast network allows content providers to deliver a range of different channels and services, while maintaining a very high quality user experience. In other words, they can provide a compelling mobile viewing experience that mimics what consumers have become accustomed to after more than 70 years of conventional television.
Mobile TV represents a good fit with the technology-savvy and highly mobile consumer demographic worldwide. Studies have found that these users are very comfortable watching TV and entertainment on their mobile phone or handheld devices. In 2007, worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion—equivalent to half the global population. If we follow these trends it’s almost inevitable that the mobile phone will become the ‘TV of the future’.
Market research firm Screen Digest predicts that the global mobile TV market will be worth over 4.4 billion in 2011 in Asia, North America and Western Europe combined. Subscription business models will dominate, generating more than 90% of revenues in 2011. The most impressive growth will be experienced in North America where the broadcast mobile TV market is set to grow by 350% between 2008 and 2010.
For mobile TV to succeed in India, there are a number of issues that need to be ironed out from a regulatory standpoint. The adoption of a technology-neutral stance and the opening up of terrestrial broadcast spectrum to multiple players would create a level playing field, which is the ideal working environment for all mobile TV value chain members.
Content developers, broadcasters, mobile operators and technology vendors have a critical role to play in establishing a viable proposition for mobile TV and related services. These seemingly disparate stakeholders will need to come together to create new partnerships and offerings, which is why the issue of mobile TV in India needs to be on the agenda for regulatory bodies, handset manufacturers, broadcasters, wireless operators and content providers.
—May Oh The author is senior director of business development for Greater China and India, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies
Commercial and pilot mobile TV services have been deployed in numerous countries around the world, including the US where Verizon Wireless rolled out its V CAST Mobile TV service last year and then expanded the service to more than 50 Markets.
Closer home, commercial mobile TV services are already available in the Philippines and Indonesia, among other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, Portio, a UK-based research firm, expects Asia-Pacific to account for about 50% of the world’s mobile TV subscriber base by 2011. It already hosts the world’s two biggest mobile Markets in China and India.
Trials with Australian consumers in recent years have confirmed that there is strong nascent demand for mobile TV services. 80% of participants expressed an interest in subscribing to a commercial mobile TV service during a Sydney-based trial of 16 television services to mobile handsets in 2005. Trials in Taiwan and Japan in 2007 have shown that for mobile TV customers, great picture quality, fast channel switching and an electronic programme guide (EPG) were among the most important features. In India, mobile TV could be the next killer service with the media and entertainment business in the country expected to double by 2011, to reach Rs 1 trillion, or $22.5 billion, in sales.
Internationally, major Sports events have been found to be significant drivers for mobile TV uptake. This will be a factor in its continued adoption over the next couple of years, leading up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India.
Mobile TV is an industry catalyst, fostering the development and collaboration of an expanding ecosystem. It includes multi-channel broadcasters, operators, content developers and technology vendors. Mobile TV services provide broadcasters with a new distribution channel for existing shows or made-for-mobile content. Some of the most successful broadcasters that have established licensing agreements for mobile TV services in the US include CBS, ESPN, FOX, MTV Networks and NBC Universal. Today, subscribers can watch their favourite selection of live, simulcast and time-shifted full-length television programming on select handsets. LG, Motorola and Samsung are some of the manufacturers that offer handsets optimised for mobile TV.
It is important to distinguish mobile TV from the video download services that are available in India today, via the 2.5G and 3G wireless data networks. A true mobile TV experience is delivered over a dedicated mobile broadcast network, which aggregates programming and prepares it for transmission to specially equipped handsets. 2.5G or 3G telephony is configured for one-to-one network connectivity; it can stream live content to mobile handsets, but the quality of the broadcast will deteriorate as the number of viewers increase.
By establishing a dedicated mobile broadcast network for mobile TV, operators can prevent any degradation to existing voice and data services. A dedicated mobile broadcast network allows content providers to deliver a range of different channels and services, while maintaining a very high quality user experience. In other words, they can provide a compelling mobile viewing experience that mimics what consumers have become accustomed to after more than 70 years of conventional television.
Mobile TV represents a good fit with the technology-savvy and highly mobile consumer demographic worldwide. Studies have found that these users are very comfortable watching TV and entertainment on their mobile phone or handheld devices. In 2007, worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion—equivalent to half the global population. If we follow these trends it’s almost inevitable that the mobile phone will become the ‘TV of the future’.
Market research firm Screen Digest predicts that the global mobile TV market will be worth over 4.4 billion in 2011 in Asia, North America and Western Europe combined. Subscription business models will dominate, generating more than 90% of revenues in 2011. The most impressive growth will be experienced in North America where the broadcast mobile TV market is set to grow by 350% between 2008 and 2010.
For mobile TV to succeed in India, there are a number of issues that need to be ironed out from a regulatory standpoint. The adoption of a technology-neutral stance and the opening up of terrestrial broadcast spectrum to multiple players would create a level playing field, which is the ideal working environment for all mobile TV value chain members.
Content developers, broadcasters, mobile operators and technology vendors have a critical role to play in establishing a viable proposition for mobile TV and related services. These seemingly disparate stakeholders will need to come together to create new partnerships and offerings, which is why the issue of mobile TV in India needs to be on the agenda for regulatory bodies, handset manufacturers, broadcasters, wireless operators and content providers.
—May Oh The author is senior director of business development for Greater China and India, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies
Day That Shook Cricket
LONDON: A day before the commemoration of 25 years of India's World Cup victory, there was a lone figure lost in thought at one end of the Long Room at Lord's. I went up closer and discovered to my surprise that it was none other than Kapil Dev. One couldn't resist asking him something he must have been asked countless times ever since India lifted the World Cup on June 25, 1983: How did he manage to win the Prudential Cup with a bunch of unheralded players? The answer was vintage Kapil: "Simple. We just beat the West Indies." The Lord's ground is special for Indian cricket fans. It was here on a summer evening 25 years ago that Indian and world cricket was changed forever. The ground today is very different from the one in which history was made in 1983. The Natwest media centre, which identifies Lord's in the London horizon, hadn't been conceived and seating inside the ground, in some stands, wasn't numbered, allowing hordes of Indians to make Lord's their own with each falling West Indian wicket. But on Wednesday, the clock was turned back and the scene was the same as it was 25 years ago. In a special ceremony, Kapil once again lifted the World Cup on the Lord's balcony cheered by a crowd of journalists and invitees from the ground below. That evening in 1983 was not just a victory for Kapil and his team. It marked the beginning of a shift of the nerve centre of cricket to the Indian subcontinent, allowing the underdog to gradually become the arbiter of the once gentlemanly English pastime. Today, over 70 per cent of cricket's global revenue come from India. That's a far cry from 1983 when the Indian cricket board didn't even have sufficient funds to reward the winning Indian team. Lord's itself is very much part of that story. Glenys Williams, curator of many excellent cricket exhibitions organised at Lord's, says, "We are fortunate that India won the World Cup here at Lord's. It has created a special place for the ground in the Indian mindset evident from the fact that it is now a tourist attraction for almost every Indian who visits London." The museum will release a special first-day cover and stamp to commemorate the 25th anniversary celebrations of the 1983 win. The celebration, as wicketkeeper of the 1983 team, Syed Kirmani, points out, "marks the first occasion the entire contingent will visit Lord's as a team since we beat the West Indies in the Prudential Cup final". There's little doubt that it was only after India's triumph in 1983 that the game came to be perceived as a viable path to fame and income for middle and lower middle-class Indians. Kapil — who had not been to college — himself was a symbol of this change. Significantly, the creation of a national television network, with the introduction of colour TV in India during the 1982 Asian Games, coincided with India's epochal win. This was not Indian cricket's first great win. The 1971 victory of Ajit Wadekar's team against England perhaps ranks higher in cricketing terms, but the 1983 World Cup was different. Inexperienced in the one-day format and led by a 24-year-old captain, Kapil's Devils, as they became known, were seen by millions of Indians through their journey to winning the Cup. Indeed, cricket star Rahul Dravid remembers watching the finals as a 10-year-old and getting inspired by it. Kirti Azad sums it up well, "However much India wins at cricket these days the feeling of the Prudential Cup victory will always remain special. Nothing can replicate the sensation. Beating West Indies at Lord's on June 25, 1983 was incredible. It will always remain the best moment of our lives." The 1983 victory was followed by another victory in 1985 in the Benson and Hedges Champions Trophy in Australia. Again, television was the conduit as for the first time Indians saw the Australian tournament live and in colour. It is possible to precisely map the rise of cricket with the increase in television penetration. These victories paved the way for corporate sponsors to invest in cricket in anticipation of rich dividends. It also gave the media events to hype up and cricket proved a salve for a troubled nation. For world cricket too, June 25, 1983 remains a standout moment. Clive Lloyd, who led the West Indians that day, made this point in an interview: "Even when we beat the Indians convincingly in the winter of 1983, we knew that it was only a matter of time before India became a cricketing superpower. The self-belief the World Cup victory had given Indian cricket had little parallel. It was great for your cricket." Soon after the victory, efforts were initiated to stage the World Cup in the Indian sub-continent and Indian administrators began asserting themselves on the world stage. Within a decade, the English and Australian veto was done away with and the subcontinent got the rights to host the World Cup for a second time. In the two decades since 1983, the craze for cricket in India has become a veritable mania. This obsession with cricket was born at Lord's exactly a quarter of a century ago. The World Cup win transformed cricket into what a billion Indians now know it as. It helped mould a popular sport into a quasi-religion. (The writer is a sports historian.)
Inflation threat - Exaggerated ?
The rate of inflation has soared into the double digits. This has set alarm bells ringing. News channels beam the bad news into homes through the day and this creates a pervasive sense of gloom. Double digit inflation has been associated with the collapse of economic growth. Many wonder whether the present bout of inflation augurs the end of the high growth phase of the past five years. These apprehensions are unfounded. There is every reason to expect the rate of inflation to subside in the coming months although we may have to wait until September to see a meaningful reduction. Economic growth remains pretty much on track. Corporate earnings may see some slowdown but not as much as feared. These propositions need elaboration. To begin with the current rate of inflation, this certainly has to do with the base effect. In May-August 2007, the wholesale price index remained virtually unchanged going by monthly averages. At a time of rising food, oil and metal prices, this is bound to result in a spike in the inflation rates in the corresponding months this year. We are already seeing a moderation in food prices thanks to a good rabi crop, terrific success in food procurement and a slew of administrative measures. If the kharif crop turns out to be good, as is expected, food articles should cease to be a contributor to rising prices. Remember, it is a rise in food prices that are the primary concern to the vast majority of people and hence politically explosive. As for metal prices, we can expect a good portion of the rise to be absorbed by the end-user industries. India’s corporate sector has been growing profits annually at an incredible 45% over the past four years. There is enough room for end-user industries to absorb the increase in prices of intermediate products. That leaves oil prices. True, there is no dearth of doomsayers on this subject. But, as I argued a few weeks ago, the imbalance between supply and demand is still quite small - just 0.2% of overall supply. This imbalance does not justify the steep rise in oil prices that we have seen in recent weeks.
Moreover, we are seeing both consumers and producers respond to high oil prices. Demand is being curbed by prices being passed on, even if only partially, to consumers. Oil producers have committed to stepping up output. The big imponderable in the oil scenario is a US attack on Iran. Barring this eventuality, I stick to my earlier forecast that oil prices can be expected to drop to below $100 per barrel later this year. Many analysts see high inflation as provoking interest rate rises that will lead to a significant deceleration in growth. Most investment banks project GDP growth of under 8% for the Indian economy. These are dog days for investment bankers but what is bad for investment banking is not necessarily bad for the Indian economy. Because it reduces real interest rates, a rise in inflation is, in fact, a boon to those who have borrowed funds. Investors will become apprehensive only when they come to believe that high and variable interest rates have become entrenched in the economy. This requires quite a leap in imagination at the present juncture. The Indian economy has become investment-led since 2002-03. The surge in investment may be expected to underpin growth this year as well. The impact of the present adverse environment will be reflected mostly in lower earnings growth of companies. Most forecasts already show lower earnings growth but they ascribe this to a sharp deceleration in GDP and sales volumes. They are wrong. Earnings growth will slow down but this will be on account of lower margins, not lower sales, as firms try to absorb some of the increase in costs. This implies that a slowdown in earnings is built into the present forecasts; further downward revisions and the jitters in the stock market appear unwarranted. How should the authorities respond to the latest inflation figures? The current pessimism is misplaced, nevertheless there is pressure to ‘do something’. There is a case for monetary tightening but not entirely on account of the latest inflation numbers. Money supply has grown at 21% against the RBI’s target for the year of 16.5-17%. Prospects for the world economy look better in the second half of the year compared to those in the first half. This means that we can expect Indian economic growth to accelerate in the second half. If this happens, it could conceivably put the Indian economy in the ‘overheating’ zone, say, six months from now. Since an increase in interest rates takes effect with a time lag, now may well the time for some tightening. There is said to be debate within the UPA government over the timing of the next general elections. If the state of the economy is an important criterion, it makes sense to defer elections to next year. The news on inflation, growth and even the stock market promises to get better in the months to come.
Moreover, we are seeing both consumers and producers respond to high oil prices. Demand is being curbed by prices being passed on, even if only partially, to consumers. Oil producers have committed to stepping up output. The big imponderable in the oil scenario is a US attack on Iran. Barring this eventuality, I stick to my earlier forecast that oil prices can be expected to drop to below $100 per barrel later this year. Many analysts see high inflation as provoking interest rate rises that will lead to a significant deceleration in growth. Most investment banks project GDP growth of under 8% for the Indian economy. These are dog days for investment bankers but what is bad for investment banking is not necessarily bad for the Indian economy. Because it reduces real interest rates, a rise in inflation is, in fact, a boon to those who have borrowed funds. Investors will become apprehensive only when they come to believe that high and variable interest rates have become entrenched in the economy. This requires quite a leap in imagination at the present juncture. The Indian economy has become investment-led since 2002-03. The surge in investment may be expected to underpin growth this year as well. The impact of the present adverse environment will be reflected mostly in lower earnings growth of companies. Most forecasts already show lower earnings growth but they ascribe this to a sharp deceleration in GDP and sales volumes. They are wrong. Earnings growth will slow down but this will be on account of lower margins, not lower sales, as firms try to absorb some of the increase in costs. This implies that a slowdown in earnings is built into the present forecasts; further downward revisions and the jitters in the stock market appear unwarranted. How should the authorities respond to the latest inflation figures? The current pessimism is misplaced, nevertheless there is pressure to ‘do something’. There is a case for monetary tightening but not entirely on account of the latest inflation numbers. Money supply has grown at 21% against the RBI’s target for the year of 16.5-17%. Prospects for the world economy look better in the second half of the year compared to those in the first half. This means that we can expect Indian economic growth to accelerate in the second half. If this happens, it could conceivably put the Indian economy in the ‘overheating’ zone, say, six months from now. Since an increase in interest rates takes effect with a time lag, now may well the time for some tightening. There is said to be debate within the UPA government over the timing of the next general elections. If the state of the economy is an important criterion, it makes sense to defer elections to next year. The news on inflation, growth and even the stock market promises to get better in the months to come.
Biofuels pushing people to poverty
The bio-fuel policies pursued by the rich countries are pushing millions of people in the developing world into poverty and increasing carbon emission, thereby negating the climate change mitigation programmes, says an Oxfam study released on Wednesday.
The report comes at a time when leaders of the industralised countries are to discuss policies to mitigate the impact of climate change at a G-8 conference in Hokkaido, Japan, in the first week of July. About 30 million people across the world have been dragged into poverty in the last three years because the rich countries are pursuing their bio-fuel policies, the report, Another Inconvenient Truth, says.
Quoting World Bank estimates, the study says the price of food has increased by 83 per cent in the last three years, which is disastrous for the world’s poor people. “The lives of about 290 million people are immediately threatened because of the food crises and about 100 million people have already fallen into poverty as a result,” the study says.
The study attributes 30 per cent of the rise in food prices to bio-fuels and says it has pushed 30 million people into poverty already. “Today’s bio-fuels are not solving the climate or fuel crises but are instead contributing to food insecurity and inflation, hitting poor people the hardest,” said Rob Balley, the author of the report.
Blaming the rich countries for the crises, the report says the subsidies for bio-fuels by the US and Europe are taxing food for poor in the developing world. Last year, the report estimated that industrialised countries spend $13-15 billion on subsidies. This equals the amount required to provide food to those threatened by global food crisis. The amount will rise in the future, with consumption of bio-fuels rising in rich countries, the report says.
On the climate change front, the report quotes an analysis published in the Science journal stating that carbon emissions from global land use changes due to the US’s corn-ethanol programme will take 167 years of climate mitigation programme to pay back. Similarly, Oxfam estimates that by 2020, carbon emissions resulting from land use changes in Europe because of rising demand of bio-diesel derived from palm oil would be between 3.1 to 4.6 billion tonnes — 46 to 68 times higher than the European Union hopes to be achieving by then from bio-fuels. The report recommends that the richer countries should freeze implementation of future bio-fuel mandates and dismantle subsidies and tax exemptions to bio-fuels to save more people from falling into poverty and accelerate the global food crisis.
The report comes at a time when leaders of the industralised countries are to discuss policies to mitigate the impact of climate change at a G-8 conference in Hokkaido, Japan, in the first week of July. About 30 million people across the world have been dragged into poverty in the last three years because the rich countries are pursuing their bio-fuel policies, the report, Another Inconvenient Truth, says.
Quoting World Bank estimates, the study says the price of food has increased by 83 per cent in the last three years, which is disastrous for the world’s poor people. “The lives of about 290 million people are immediately threatened because of the food crises and about 100 million people have already fallen into poverty as a result,” the study says.
The study attributes 30 per cent of the rise in food prices to bio-fuels and says it has pushed 30 million people into poverty already. “Today’s bio-fuels are not solving the climate or fuel crises but are instead contributing to food insecurity and inflation, hitting poor people the hardest,” said Rob Balley, the author of the report.
Blaming the rich countries for the crises, the report says the subsidies for bio-fuels by the US and Europe are taxing food for poor in the developing world. Last year, the report estimated that industrialised countries spend $13-15 billion on subsidies. This equals the amount required to provide food to those threatened by global food crisis. The amount will rise in the future, with consumption of bio-fuels rising in rich countries, the report says.
On the climate change front, the report quotes an analysis published in the Science journal stating that carbon emissions from global land use changes due to the US’s corn-ethanol programme will take 167 years of climate mitigation programme to pay back. Similarly, Oxfam estimates that by 2020, carbon emissions resulting from land use changes in Europe because of rising demand of bio-diesel derived from palm oil would be between 3.1 to 4.6 billion tonnes — 46 to 68 times higher than the European Union hopes to be achieving by then from bio-fuels. The report recommends that the richer countries should freeze implementation of future bio-fuel mandates and dismantle subsidies and tax exemptions to bio-fuels to save more people from falling into poverty and accelerate the global food crisis.
Airlines put a freeze on freebies
NEW DELHI: The next time you board a plane, don’t expect free toffees or cookies to soothe the heartburn caused by high price of air ticket. For loss-making airlines — which find operational cost escalating and passengers dwindling — have now started looking at every possible way of saving money. On passenger front, it means putting a freeze on all freebies earlier given to them. And on employee front, most airline have put a freeze on further recruitments especially of high salaried personnel like pilots, engineers and expats. Some are even retrenching staff by up to 30%. Airlines like Go and Deccan are learnt to have sent back personnel, mostly expats. While Go refused to comment, Deccan founder Captain Gopinath said: Airlines need Rs 1,000 (LCCs) to Rs 2,000-2,500 (for full service) more per seat to break even. There are various ways of getting it and till that happens, there will be issues. The expats were hired for a limited time and some have been sent back. "This tightening of belt could only increase as oil prices show no sign of decline while domestic travel growth is down to single digit now, for the first time in three years. The industry anticipates a negative growth in July and August as school vacation will be over, slowing down leisure travel. And companies under pressure to cut costs are cutting travel by executives to a bare minimum level.Air India-domestic (Indian Airlines before merger) has stopped giving free toffees to economy and fruit baskets for executive class fliers. AI has also decided to discontinue the 5% commission ticketing agents used to get on selling their tickets to cut down distribution costs, a move that other airlines are likely to follow.SpiceJet has stopped giving free toffees, cookies and water on its flights. The big cost cutting is expected from route rationalisation but are looking at every other area also. Considering that a toffee costs Re 1 and 50 lakh people fly with us annually, the saving is Rs 50 lakh. Similarly, boarding cards’ thickness has been reduced, leading to a saving of Re 1 per card. So these small things have led to Rs 1 crore saving," SpiceJet CFO Partha Basu said. He, however, added that these freebies were stopped ever since the airline started selling eatables and soft drinks on its flights. Kingfisher has for some months stopped giving its popular pouches to passengers. Now the items in that pouch like pen and toffees are offered to passengers which they may or may not take. We have adopted more fuel efficient techniques of flying planes that has led to a saving of 1.5-2% on our fuel cost," said Kingfisher EVP Hitesh Patel. These methods include washing planes frequently to reduce drag by dust and gentler take offs and landings.The travel industry does not see an early revival of passenger growth as OPEC has announced oil prices won’t cool down in a hurry, as a result of which cost of flying can go only northward. While two main categories of fliers — visiting friends and relatives and leisure — will suffer due to the middle class reeling under sever inflationary pressure and increasing EMIs, business travel is also under pressure. Companies are under pressure and looking closely at every way of cutting costs, including travel by executives. We are witnessing a trend of essential corporate travel being downgraded. But with oil prices unlikely to cool down, companies will have to learn to live with that as telecon has never been an alternate to actual meetings," SOTC COO Sunil Gupta said.
Nirmal Shekar Column - The Hindu
Safin shuts out a listless Djokovic
Ivanovic survives scare; Paes-Dlouhy take the tough route to advance
London: If you believed popular myth, the cheapest flight fuel in sport is hunger. Many a fabled take-off has been energised by nothing more than an athlete’s burning desire.
If only life were that simple!
In the last few days here, in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, much has been said and written about a man — Novak Djokovic — who has been touted as the finest example of this sort of flight of fantasy.
In just over two hours on a lovely summer afternoon on the centre court, an enigmatic, outrageously talented Russian — Marat Safin — showed how utterly simplistic and flawed such a reasoning is.
Safin, aged 28 and world ranked No.75, is given to flirting with greatness once every few years. On Wednesday, he chose his moment perfectly to show how still-very-green the third-seeded Djokovic was on the slippery grass of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.Finest moment
The Russian two-time Grand Slam champion’s stunning giant-killing act made sure that the much-awaited semifinal between Roger Federer and the Serbian-who-would-be-king will never take place — at least, not in this tournament.
With a breathtaking exhibition of controlled aggression from the back of the court, Safin, who won the second round contest 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2 in two hours and one minute, brought up his finest moment on a surface which he had always insisted was best left to cows.
It wasn’t as if Djokovic’s desire had diminished. It is just that hunger also can seldom do the job. On this day, Djokovic simply did not have the tools to deal with Safin’s brilliance on a grass court.
“The pressure was on him. He is trying to become the No. 1 at the end of the year,” Safin said with a wan smile, moments after closing out the match on his third matchpoint. “From me, nobody expects anything.”
When he says ’nobody’ that is really nobody, for it includes himself. And, Safin was merely holding a mirror to his soul, or neural hard-wiring if you please.
What you can confidently expect, of course, is this: if that great literary master, Fyodor Dostoevsky, were still writing today, you’d find a Safin-like character in one or other of his works.Pure one-off
Complex, intriguing, torn by existentialist angst, haunted by inner demons one moment and unabashedly bacchanalian the next, motivated forever by contradictory impulses, Safin is not your average tennis pro. He is a pure one-off.
Pete Sampras, who knows a thing or two when it comes to talent, had always insisted that Safin was one of the most- talented players he has played against. But in a career plagued by injuries and steered off course by the lure of the good life, the 6ft 4in Russian has hardly done justice to his natural talent.
Then again, in what might be the final quarter of his career, after a victory like Wednesday’s, Safin is unlikely to find himself looking back ruefully.
“It was a great match for me. I haven’t won such a match in a long time,” said the man who seemed set to dominate the men’s game when he won the first of his two Grand Slam titles, beating the peerless Sampras in the U.S. Open final in the year 2000.Big difference
On a day when Djokovic looked strangely listless, Safin called the shots from the baseline. He served with tremendous confidence and skills, controlled the rallies superbly and, most of all, returned wonderfully well.
Although Djokovic did have problems with his serve — especially in the first set and in the third — it was the quality of Safin’s returns that made a big difference. Safin returned so well and so deep that the 21-year old Serb, standing on the baseline, rather than a few feet behind, was rocked back on his heels.
It was a very bad day for me. I didn’t do anything I was expected to do,” admitted Djokovic who looked tactically inept on a surface that demands more flexibility than any other.
Safin took the first set riding on a break in the seventh game, dominated the second set tiebreak, winning six points in a row from 0-1, and then outplayed his young opponent in the third.
``The (grass) court is getting slower and slower each year and you can play from the baseline without going close to the net,” said Safin, seeking to explain his stunning success on a surface he has hated to play on.
Ivanovic survives scare; Paes-Dlouhy take the tough route to advance
London: If you believed popular myth, the cheapest flight fuel in sport is hunger. Many a fabled take-off has been energised by nothing more than an athlete’s burning desire.
If only life were that simple!
In the last few days here, in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, much has been said and written about a man — Novak Djokovic — who has been touted as the finest example of this sort of flight of fantasy.
In just over two hours on a lovely summer afternoon on the centre court, an enigmatic, outrageously talented Russian — Marat Safin — showed how utterly simplistic and flawed such a reasoning is.
Safin, aged 28 and world ranked No.75, is given to flirting with greatness once every few years. On Wednesday, he chose his moment perfectly to show how still-very-green the third-seeded Djokovic was on the slippery grass of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.Finest moment
The Russian two-time Grand Slam champion’s stunning giant-killing act made sure that the much-awaited semifinal between Roger Federer and the Serbian-who-would-be-king will never take place — at least, not in this tournament.
With a breathtaking exhibition of controlled aggression from the back of the court, Safin, who won the second round contest 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2 in two hours and one minute, brought up his finest moment on a surface which he had always insisted was best left to cows.
It wasn’t as if Djokovic’s desire had diminished. It is just that hunger also can seldom do the job. On this day, Djokovic simply did not have the tools to deal with Safin’s brilliance on a grass court.
“The pressure was on him. He is trying to become the No. 1 at the end of the year,” Safin said with a wan smile, moments after closing out the match on his third matchpoint. “From me, nobody expects anything.”
When he says ’nobody’ that is really nobody, for it includes himself. And, Safin was merely holding a mirror to his soul, or neural hard-wiring if you please.
What you can confidently expect, of course, is this: if that great literary master, Fyodor Dostoevsky, were still writing today, you’d find a Safin-like character in one or other of his works.Pure one-off
Complex, intriguing, torn by existentialist angst, haunted by inner demons one moment and unabashedly bacchanalian the next, motivated forever by contradictory impulses, Safin is not your average tennis pro. He is a pure one-off.
Pete Sampras, who knows a thing or two when it comes to talent, had always insisted that Safin was one of the most- talented players he has played against. But in a career plagued by injuries and steered off course by the lure of the good life, the 6ft 4in Russian has hardly done justice to his natural talent.
Then again, in what might be the final quarter of his career, after a victory like Wednesday’s, Safin is unlikely to find himself looking back ruefully.
“It was a great match for me. I haven’t won such a match in a long time,” said the man who seemed set to dominate the men’s game when he won the first of his two Grand Slam titles, beating the peerless Sampras in the U.S. Open final in the year 2000.Big difference
On a day when Djokovic looked strangely listless, Safin called the shots from the baseline. He served with tremendous confidence and skills, controlled the rallies superbly and, most of all, returned wonderfully well.
Although Djokovic did have problems with his serve — especially in the first set and in the third — it was the quality of Safin’s returns that made a big difference. Safin returned so well and so deep that the 21-year old Serb, standing on the baseline, rather than a few feet behind, was rocked back on his heels.
It was a very bad day for me. I didn’t do anything I was expected to do,” admitted Djokovic who looked tactically inept on a surface that demands more flexibility than any other.
Safin took the first set riding on a break in the seventh game, dominated the second set tiebreak, winning six points in a row from 0-1, and then outplayed his young opponent in the third.
``The (grass) court is getting slower and slower each year and you can play from the baseline without going close to the net,” said Safin, seeking to explain his stunning success on a surface he has hated to play on.
Tolerance under attack
C. Gouridasan Nair - The Hindu Editorial
Recent events have provided an opportunity for a critical examination of the objectives of school education in Kerala.
Religion has often been a convenient weapon for political vested interests in India. Its use has been brazen on very many occasions in recent times. The nation has been witnessing the insidious arrival of religion in the realm of politics and attempts by vested religious interests to be the handmaiden of narrow political partisanship, their moves threatening to tear asunder the social fabric of the nation.
Kerala, hailed widely for its redistributive and social security achievements and progressive social processes, today faces such a challenge: in the name of protests choreographed by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and powerful religious groups against what they describe as objectionable content in the Social Sciences school textbook for Class VII. The protests have in recent days taken the form of virtual street battles between pro-UDF student activists and the police, and disruption of preparatory cluster meetings of school teachers across the State.
In the State Assembly, the Congress and its allies have been staging noisy protests over the allegation that the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is using textbooks as conduits to propagate Communist ideology among schoolchildren. Pro-Opposition teachers’ organisations have declared that they would not teach the controversial lesson. The Christian Church, all the major Muslim groups and the Nair Service Society (NSS), the quasi-political social umbrella of the Nair community, have come out against the textbook, in particular against a lesson that tries to inculcate the renaissance value of religious tolerance in the children (see side-panel). With the rumblings of the Lok Sabha elections already audible, even their protests have acquired a political dimension.
Education Minister M.A. Baby has stood his ground in the face of demands for the withdrawal of the textbook. He has also tried to assuage misgivings in any quarter on the issue by offering to subject the controversial lesson to scrutiny by a panel of eminent experts. But these offers have been of no avail. Defending the book unflinchingly, he argues that the emphasis of the book is on religious diversity and tolerance among different religions. He points out that not even the worst critics of the government would be able to cite any attempt to bring in Communist leaders into discussion in the textbook despite opportunities to do so. He has welcomed a public debate on the subject so that the imagined ghosts could be exorcised from the minds of those who have come up with objections to the contents of the textbook.
The government had changed some textbooks meant for Classes I, III, V and VII, going through an elaborate process involving the work of separate subject committees and the State Level Curriculum Steering Committee headed by the Education Minister and comprising representatives of pro-UDF teachers’ organisations — who have now denied having approved the books despite meetings of the Curriculum Committee having taken place. According to Mr. Baby, the books prepared in Kerala are much more nuanced in their treatment of various subjects as compared to even textbooks prepared by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Interestingly, the message that the controversial lesson seeks to convey is very much there in the NCERT’s Political Science textbook of Class XI, which speaks of Jawaharlal Nehru’s lack of faith in God and religious rituals and goes one step further to identify the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 and the mass killing of Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims in Gujarat as three major onslaughts on secularism.
The lesson in question in Kerala is followed by a portion from Jawaharlal Nehru’s Will where he says no religious ritual should be performed on his death as he does not believe in any such ritual and that he considers participation in them, even as a matter of courtesy, a hypocritical act that would amount to an attempt to intimidate oneself and others. There are also quotations from the Mahabharata, the Bible, the Prophet and Guru Nanak on religious tolerance accompanying the lesson. And the exercise for the children is to collect and display in class news clippings, and notes that narrate the story of tolerant coexistence of religions.
The other units of the textbook provide vignettes from Kerala’s social and political history, dealing particularly with the various struggles to liberate large masses of people from caste oppression and landlessness, and inspiring episodes from the national freedom struggle both at the national and the regional levels in which the Indian National Congress, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were the most prominent players. The controversial lesson itself is just a fictionalised account that reflects one of the seminal teachings of the thinker-savant of Kerala, Sree Narayana Guru: “Whichever be the religion, suffice it if it makes a better man,” a teaching that encapsulates the quintessence of the renaissance values that Kerala prides itself on.
The lesson does not question the rationale behind the existence of religions or try to negate any particular religion. There are those who feel that the lesson lacks subtlety and is insensitive to the social realities of Kerala which is characterised by increasing religiosity. But there is the counter-argument that the kind of religiosity seen in Kerala is only a veneer that hides under it intolerance and obscurantist revivalism. The book is seen by many as a bold experiment to help Kerala break free from the regressive pulls and pressures of institutionalised religion and political vested interests which have often combined with lethal effect as in the infamous ‘Liberation Struggle’ of 1959 that contributed to bringing down the first E.M.S. Namboodiripad Ministry in the State.
Going by conventional wisdom, the fierce debate that the lesson and the textbook have triggered might seem politically costly for the LDF. But it has thrown up a rare opportunity for a critical examination of the objectives of school education and its ultimate objectives.
India Launches E-Passports
India on Wednesday became the first major developing country to launch electronic passports that will act as a shield against fraudulent misuse and spur easier travel to other countries.
President Pratibha Patil launched the e-passport scheme at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the first diplomatic e-passport to her.
Mukherjee also presented an e-diplomatic passport to Patil's husband Devisingh Shekhawat.
The biometric passports are initially meant for diplomats. They would be issued to those included in the "officials category" from next month. The scheme will be extended to other citizens from September next year.
"It is compatible with international standards and national identity cards and would protect against fraud and security breaches," Mukherjee said.
"It is easy to verify the authenticity of e-passports," he said while allaying security concerns about the new scheme.
"Around 800,000 e-passports would be issued by 2010," he added.
“It will make it easier for the Indian citizens to cross border control points with e-passports reading facilities,” Patil said.
Alluding to India's rising international profile and growing global linkages, Patil underlined that the passport issuance is an area where the government has to constantly balance the needs of security with making passports and travel facilities easier for the people.
Mukherjee then visited the residence of Vice President Hamid Ansari and presented e-passports to him and his wife. Later on, he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his 7 Race Course residence and presented him his e-passport.
“The e-passports will be issued to all fresh applicants and to those who apply for reissue,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna clarified.
With the national launch, India has become the 42nd country to issue e-passports and the first major developing country to do so.
Most countries have started issuing e-passports only during last two years.
The Indian e-passports conform to the specifications laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The e-passports contain an electronic contactless chip embedded in the passport booklet and its cover page has an ICAO approved special logo.
The chip in the e-passport booklets for diplomats and officials will contain data such as facial bio-metrics, signature, name, nationality and date of birth of the passport holder. Specified bio-metric features such as finger-prints of the holder are also proposed to be added to this data when e-passports are issued in the ordinary passport category.
The external affairs ministry has designed e-passports to prevent fraudulent misuse and tampering as these passports will have the necessary technical features to prevent access to the data stored in the chip by unauthorized persons.
E-passports will also be useful in preventing holding of multiple passports, he added.
The National Informatics Centre has designed the e-passports in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, and the India Security Press, Nasik.
As more and more Indians travel abroad and the demand for passports growing by 18 percent per annum, the ministry has already initiated the Passport Seva Project for introducing latest IT solutions to simplify procedures and to cut down on paper work.
President Pratibha Patil launched the e-passport scheme at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the first diplomatic e-passport to her.
Mukherjee also presented an e-diplomatic passport to Patil's husband Devisingh Shekhawat.
The biometric passports are initially meant for diplomats. They would be issued to those included in the "officials category" from next month. The scheme will be extended to other citizens from September next year.
"It is compatible with international standards and national identity cards and would protect against fraud and security breaches," Mukherjee said.
"It is easy to verify the authenticity of e-passports," he said while allaying security concerns about the new scheme.
"Around 800,000 e-passports would be issued by 2010," he added.
“It will make it easier for the Indian citizens to cross border control points with e-passports reading facilities,” Patil said.
Alluding to India's rising international profile and growing global linkages, Patil underlined that the passport issuance is an area where the government has to constantly balance the needs of security with making passports and travel facilities easier for the people.
Mukherjee then visited the residence of Vice President Hamid Ansari and presented e-passports to him and his wife. Later on, he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his 7 Race Course residence and presented him his e-passport.
“The e-passports will be issued to all fresh applicants and to those who apply for reissue,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna clarified.
With the national launch, India has become the 42nd country to issue e-passports and the first major developing country to do so.
Most countries have started issuing e-passports only during last two years.
The Indian e-passports conform to the specifications laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The e-passports contain an electronic contactless chip embedded in the passport booklet and its cover page has an ICAO approved special logo.
The chip in the e-passport booklets for diplomats and officials will contain data such as facial bio-metrics, signature, name, nationality and date of birth of the passport holder. Specified bio-metric features such as finger-prints of the holder are also proposed to be added to this data when e-passports are issued in the ordinary passport category.
The external affairs ministry has designed e-passports to prevent fraudulent misuse and tampering as these passports will have the necessary technical features to prevent access to the data stored in the chip by unauthorized persons.
E-passports will also be useful in preventing holding of multiple passports, he added.
The National Informatics Centre has designed the e-passports in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, and the India Security Press, Nasik.
As more and more Indians travel abroad and the demand for passports growing by 18 percent per annum, the ministry has already initiated the Passport Seva Project for introducing latest IT solutions to simplify procedures and to cut down on paper work.
Dubai plans Moving Sky Scraper
The Dynamic Tower will constantly change its shape
The world's first moving building, an 80-storey tower with revolving floors giving a shifting shape, will be built in Dubai, its architect says.
The Dynamic Tower design is made up of 80 pre-fabricated apartments which will spin independently of one another.
"It's the first building that rotates, moves, and changes shape," said architect David Fisher, who is Italian, at a news conference in New York.
"This building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime," he added.
The 420-metre (1,378-foot) building's apartments would spin a full 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor.
The world's first moving building, an 80-storey tower with revolving floors giving a shifting shape, will be built in Dubai, its architect says.
The Dynamic Tower design is made up of 80 pre-fabricated apartments which will spin independently of one another.
"It's the first building that rotates, moves, and changes shape," said architect David Fisher, who is Italian, at a news conference in New York.
"This building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime," he added.
The 420-metre (1,378-foot) building's apartments would spin a full 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor.
The slender building would be energy self-sufficient as the turbines would produce enough electricity to power the entire building and even feed extra power back into the grid, said the Italian architect at the unveiling of the project in New York.
The apartments, which will take between one and three hours to make a complete rotation, will cost from $3.7m to $36m.
There are also plans to build a similar, 70-storey skyscraper in Moscow.
"I call these buildings designed by time, shaped by life," said the Florence-based architect, who has never built a sky-scraper before.
"These buildings will open our vision all around, to a new life."
The skyscraper will cost an estimated $700m to build and should be up and running in Dubai in 2010.
The apartments, which will take between one and three hours to make a complete rotation, will cost from $3.7m to $36m.
There are also plans to build a similar, 70-storey skyscraper in Moscow.
"I call these buildings designed by time, shaped by life," said the Florence-based architect, who has never built a sky-scraper before.
"These buildings will open our vision all around, to a new life."
The skyscraper will cost an estimated $700m to build and should be up and running in Dubai in 2010.
Jun 25, 2008
Day 3 is over !
Day 3 is over ! Got stuck with a meeting & certain other discussions.Good things about meetings are they have started serving banana chips.ha ha
Coming back to the posts , think i did pretty ok for a day which was supposed to ensure i get stuck in a room for 11 hours feeding on Pizzas,Chips & a helluva lot of crap!
Have been trying to bring in variety to the posts with articles which would appeal to everyone who wants to read a thing or two.Think we have tried learning everything from the sports to politics to brand to the oil prices to inflation to the world that we live in.
Think we will be touching on the 100 post mark tommorrow.So iam hoping there will be a few good articles leading up to the momentus occassion ;-) .Time just crossed 20.01 ,so i think i will call it quits
So till tommorrow,happy reading !
Sri
Coming back to the posts , think i did pretty ok for a day which was supposed to ensure i get stuck in a room for 11 hours feeding on Pizzas,Chips & a helluva lot of crap!
Have been trying to bring in variety to the posts with articles which would appeal to everyone who wants to read a thing or two.Think we have tried learning everything from the sports to politics to brand to the oil prices to inflation to the world that we live in.
Think we will be touching on the 100 post mark tommorrow.So iam hoping there will be a few good articles leading up to the momentus occassion ;-) .Time just crossed 20.01 ,so i think i will call it quits
So till tommorrow,happy reading !
Sri
Online ads start talking
Tarana Khan afaqs! New Delhi, June 25, 2008 Brands in
India have done well in adopting the Internet for their branding and marketing activities. So far, they have experimented with display ads, search ads and even social networks. Now, marketers have another avenue opening up for their brand communication -- online video.Who’s watching?In the US alone, Internet research company comScore reports that 141 million people watched 10 billion videos in December 2007. Citing ABI Research, eMarketer predicts that ad spending on online video in Asia will be $202 million in 2008 and will grow to $3.3 billion in 2012, scoring over the ad spends in Europe and the US.According to research agency JuxtConsult, 36 per cent of the 35 million active Internet users in India share videos online. This audience represents an opportunity for brands to not only use audiovisual ads on the Internet, but also make them interactive. The growing interest in this medium is evidenced by the entry of online video ad agencies in India. One of them is Jivox, a US based online video ad agency, which recently received $10.7 million in funding. Similarly, Vdopia, an online video ad network, has operations in India and the US. Home grown agencies in the category include Monsoon Ads and Nautanki.tv.The challenge for these agencies is to give marketers another reason to increase their spending on the Internet, touting video ads as TV commercials, which actually let the viewers interact with the brand on the spot.
"The online video industry currently is a small fraction of the online ad spends in India, but the volumes are growing in leaps and bounds. What’s interesting is the fact that a lot of small advertisers -- the ones who never went online for their requirements -- suddenly feel that their TVCs can run (on the Internet) and give them branding opportunities that TV cannot because of the costs," says Sunil R Nair, director of Nautanki.tv, which runs video ads online through its network of original productions.Nair predicts that in the next two years if the Indian online ad industry reaches Rs 1,000 crore, videos would account for about 30 per cent. An internal survey conducted by the company suggests that around 670,000 unique visitors watch a video on the Nautanki.tv network per day.
The broadband penetration in India is 3.5 million (referring to Internet speeds of more than 256 Kbps) and this could be a factor in pushing the consumption of online video. YouTube, which recently launched an India site due to the growing usage in the country, is another indicator of the changing habits of users as Internet connections get faster.Naren Nachiappan, managing director of Jivox India, believes that about 15 million videos are watched online in India every day. He also thinks video ads comprise 15-35 per cent of the online ad industry, which he pegs at around Rs 400 crore.Is it an online TVC?Video advertising on the Internet is not simply playing the TVC online. It comes with a range of response mechanisms, which allows customers to interact with their brands.
Harsh Nagpal, director of Monsoon Ads, says, "Unlike television, online video advertising is extremely focused and guaranteed. An advertiser is only billed for an ad seen by a viewer as opposed to being billed for the ‘perceived reach’ of a given TV channel. Furthermore, we leverage user location and demographic data to provide advertisers an opportunity to target ads better. For example, advertisers should be able to say ‘Target this ad only at women between the ages of 25 and 35 in the Mumbai region’."Online video is also different from search, which is the fastest growing segment in Internet advertising. Saurabh Bhatia, managing director, Vdopia, says, "What distinguishes video advertising from search advertising, which is the major chunk of Internet spending in India, is that search finds who is needy and video ads create that need and desire. Video ads create brand recall... It’s the same difference as between TV advertising and classifieds."Some of the common formats of video ads on the Internet are pre-roll and post-roll ads, video overlays and in-stream ads. Pre-roll ads play in the form of a short video before the actual video content being watched plays, and post-roll ads refer to ads that follow at the end of the main video. Overlay ads work by providing textual information in the form of a banner at the bottom of the screen when the ad is playing. These can be clicked on for more information or turned off if desired. In-stream ads play between the video, similar to how we see ads in TV shows.Elaborating on some of the innovations in video ads, Nachiappan says, "Video advertising itself, and particularly the capability to deliver video ads via existing ad units on a web page (such as banners) and within video streams, is a recent innovation. Other innovations that are particularly relevant in India include the capability to automatically and quickly detect connection speeds, and then serve up the most appropriate ad to that user, based on the ad’s bandwidth needs and the user’s Internet connection." He explains how ‘bugs’ may be inserted in video ads -- animations superimposed on the screen and product placements -- where the user can click on a particular portion of the video for more information.
Microsoft also rolled out contextual video advertising earlier this year, which is similar to product placements. The company was also the first to launch a simpler form of video advertising in India, Desktop TV, which plays TV ads online. Speaking about the platform, Rajnish, India head of Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, says, "The response has been encouraging as it has allowed us to reach out to a large set of advertisers and sample the medium with them as an effective option." Apart from Desktop TV, Microsoft also offers video ads on its MSN Video site and has recently launched Messenger TV, where videos can be viewed while chatting. It recently tied up with MTV to use Messenger TV to promote its new series.While regular portals such as Yahoo! India and Rediff have not warmed up too much to video ads, the portals of media companies have been showing the way. NDTV, CNN-IBN, Zoom TV and Network18 have all adopted video ads in association with some of these agencies. This could possibly be because media companies own a lot of video content, which horizontal portals don't.A range of advertisers such as HDFC, Idea, DLF and Jeevansaathi.com are doing video advertising on these portals.Does it work?It may be a little early to say whether online video ads are actually delivering results. More so because video ads are seen as a brand building medium as compared to display and search ads, which are more performance driven. Nagpal says, "We have the capabilities to send users to online surveys, direct brand sites and microsites to obtain a direct response during the ad. Advertisers are guaranteed that the response rate will be higher than on television because every ad played is actually viewed by a user."Online videos are usually measured in terms of CTR (click through rate), the parameter used for display advertising. Therefore, if the video is delivered 100 times and one person clicks on it, the CTR is 1 per cent. According to Nachiappan, the average response for an in-stream video ad in India is between 0.7 per cent and 2 per cent, that for an in-banner video ad (where the video plays within a banner) is between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, and that for an in-text video ad (where a text link opens up a video) is between 1 per cent and 3 per cent.The industry average for banner ads in terms of CTR is between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent, so video ads are not far behind. However, CTR may not be a suitable measure at all. Nair says, "Online video ads are normally in the range of 10-30 seconds and the engagement is far greater since the audience knows that the ad is followed by content that is of his choice. Unfortunately, media agencies are stuck on CPC (cost per click) campaigns, forgetting that the branding that an online video ad provides is far greater than a text or banner ad." Nautanki.tv recently launched a rating system for video content and is in the process of launching parameters to measure the effectiveness of online video ads.Bhatia agrees, "CTR is just one of the parameters and it is a function of creative and many other factors. It does not mean leads. With video, it means you have generated user interest and engagement."As Internet advertising increases in value, advertisers will look for diverse ways in which to cut the clutter of banners and search listings and ‘talk’ to the audience. Video advertising will present that opportunity to them, and as video content (both original and user generated) grows, it will be the right platform to do so.
The People factor in Takeovers
Shobhana Subramanian
Most surveys have it that two-thirds of acquisitions don't work — apparently the synergies don't come through as anticipated because all that the buyers seemingly think of, when the deal is being inked, is the price. Indian companies too have done their share of shopping overseas but by all accounts, things aren't going too badly. They have managed to shift production back home, leverage distribution networks across countries and acquire new clients. But, what they seem to have done well — and what has been crucial to their success — is manage people, which is not always easy in an alien environment.
Take the case of Daewoo CV, the Korean truck maker that the Tatas acquired way back in 2002. Revenues for this subsidiary were up 32 per cent for the year-ending March 2008, while profits soared 91 per cent at a time when the global automotive market is going through difficult times. Tata Motors exploited the opportunity in the CV market that always existed; it utilised the capacity better and marketed the product well. But it succeeded because, from the very beginning, it focussed on winning the confidence of the employees.
The good news is that Indian firms have learnt to let go of controls. When it bought out UK-based Christy's, also a terry towel player, Welspun didn't send a single person from India to the UK office. Instead, it empowered the existing management to do what was needed: simply putting in place some financial targets. Of course, there was a concerted effort to realise synergies — for instance, Christy's brands were marketed in the US through Welspun's better distribution network in that country. The results are showing. Christy's net profits for FY08 were Rs 7 crore. When it was taken over in July 2006, the company was just about breaking even.
Crompton Greaves is another a good case study that promoters wanting to go global might want to check out. Crompton took over the ailing Pauwels in May 2005 and had turned it around by March 2007. It managed that by retaining the core team and posting very few Indian executives in Belgium. As for blue collar workers, Crompton recruited rather than retrenched and increased wages. It's well known that labour unions are very powerful in most European countries and that labour laws are strict, making the operating environment a difficult one. So, it's to their credit that our companies have operated within those constraints and successfully turned around loss-making units, taking tough decisions when needed. Alok Textiles, for instance, has retrenched workers at its loss-making Mileta plant in the Czech Republic and continues to do so. By shifting production back home, it has cut costs, allowing Mileta to break even.
Even with white collar workers, Indian companies have not always opted for the kid-glove treatment. When it took over Hungary-based Ganz, Crompton replaced what it believed was an inept top management. Today, Crompton has gained market share across markets and before the year is out, Ganz should break even. In short, Indian promoters appear to have learnt the ropes fairly quickly. It is relatively simple to handle the executive cadre by giving earn outs or performance-linked pay and convince senior executives about future prospects and synergies that the acquisition throws up. But it can be far more difficult to motivate blue collar workers. That's because in several countries there are no individual performance criteria for blue collar workers; the target is more for the factory as a whole and it is not easy to improve productivity. With inflation low in many countries, workers don't really strive for too much and are happy just to retain their jobs.
The challenges can be particularly big in large people-driven businesses like telecommunications. When Tata Communications took over Tyco in June 2005 and Teleglobe in February 2006, it decided that it would not control everything out of Mumbai. It headquartered the voice business in Montreal and the data piece in New Jersey: and instead of sending people from India to head those divisions, it recruited from the global pool of professionals. Even today, not too many Indian companies are comfortable delegating and even multinationals prefer to post their own people in different parts of the world. But Tata Communications' strategy seems to have paid off. The company today has 5,200 people on its rolls across the globe and though it has taken a while, both Teleglobe and Tyco are in far better financial health today than they were when acquired.
What has stood Indian managements in good stead while working in foreign countries is the fact that workplaces in India are already a mix of people from diverse cultures. So, to that extent, they are better equipped to deal with people from different regions. It's not that everyone has succeeded — there are those who are taking time to turn around loss-making units. Bharat Forge, for instance, hasn't really achieved the kind of profitability it was looking for while Keyline, acquired by Godrej Consumer, doesn't have the kind of margins it did eight quarters back. But given that most acquisitions are less than three years old, it's been a good start.
Most surveys have it that two-thirds of acquisitions don't work — apparently the synergies don't come through as anticipated because all that the buyers seemingly think of, when the deal is being inked, is the price. Indian companies too have done their share of shopping overseas but by all accounts, things aren't going too badly. They have managed to shift production back home, leverage distribution networks across countries and acquire new clients. But, what they seem to have done well — and what has been crucial to their success — is manage people, which is not always easy in an alien environment.
Take the case of Daewoo CV, the Korean truck maker that the Tatas acquired way back in 2002. Revenues for this subsidiary were up 32 per cent for the year-ending March 2008, while profits soared 91 per cent at a time when the global automotive market is going through difficult times. Tata Motors exploited the opportunity in the CV market that always existed; it utilised the capacity better and marketed the product well. But it succeeded because, from the very beginning, it focussed on winning the confidence of the employees.
The good news is that Indian firms have learnt to let go of controls. When it bought out UK-based Christy's, also a terry towel player, Welspun didn't send a single person from India to the UK office. Instead, it empowered the existing management to do what was needed: simply putting in place some financial targets. Of course, there was a concerted effort to realise synergies — for instance, Christy's brands were marketed in the US through Welspun's better distribution network in that country. The results are showing. Christy's net profits for FY08 were Rs 7 crore. When it was taken over in July 2006, the company was just about breaking even.
Crompton Greaves is another a good case study that promoters wanting to go global might want to check out. Crompton took over the ailing Pauwels in May 2005 and had turned it around by March 2007. It managed that by retaining the core team and posting very few Indian executives in Belgium. As for blue collar workers, Crompton recruited rather than retrenched and increased wages. It's well known that labour unions are very powerful in most European countries and that labour laws are strict, making the operating environment a difficult one. So, it's to their credit that our companies have operated within those constraints and successfully turned around loss-making units, taking tough decisions when needed. Alok Textiles, for instance, has retrenched workers at its loss-making Mileta plant in the Czech Republic and continues to do so. By shifting production back home, it has cut costs, allowing Mileta to break even.
Even with white collar workers, Indian companies have not always opted for the kid-glove treatment. When it took over Hungary-based Ganz, Crompton replaced what it believed was an inept top management. Today, Crompton has gained market share across markets and before the year is out, Ganz should break even. In short, Indian promoters appear to have learnt the ropes fairly quickly. It is relatively simple to handle the executive cadre by giving earn outs or performance-linked pay and convince senior executives about future prospects and synergies that the acquisition throws up. But it can be far more difficult to motivate blue collar workers. That's because in several countries there are no individual performance criteria for blue collar workers; the target is more for the factory as a whole and it is not easy to improve productivity. With inflation low in many countries, workers don't really strive for too much and are happy just to retain their jobs.
The challenges can be particularly big in large people-driven businesses like telecommunications. When Tata Communications took over Tyco in June 2005 and Teleglobe in February 2006, it decided that it would not control everything out of Mumbai. It headquartered the voice business in Montreal and the data piece in New Jersey: and instead of sending people from India to head those divisions, it recruited from the global pool of professionals. Even today, not too many Indian companies are comfortable delegating and even multinationals prefer to post their own people in different parts of the world. But Tata Communications' strategy seems to have paid off. The company today has 5,200 people on its rolls across the globe and though it has taken a while, both Teleglobe and Tyco are in far better financial health today than they were when acquired.
What has stood Indian managements in good stead while working in foreign countries is the fact that workplaces in India are already a mix of people from diverse cultures. So, to that extent, they are better equipped to deal with people from different regions. It's not that everyone has succeeded — there are those who are taking time to turn around loss-making units. Bharat Forge, for instance, hasn't really achieved the kind of profitability it was looking for while Keyline, acquired by Godrej Consumer, doesn't have the kind of margins it did eight quarters back. But given that most acquisitions are less than three years old, it's been a good start.
GSK's big bang on open drug discovery
PATENTLY ABSURD
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi June 25, 2008, 0:26 IST
It was unexpected and went almost unnoticed. Last Friday, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world's second largest drug maker, announced in Philadelphia that it was donating an important slice of its research on cancer cells to the cancer research community to boost the collaborative battle against this disease. Only a couple of specialty wire services in the US picked up this news; the mainstream press ignored what appears to be a marked — and dramatic shift — in the approach to drug discovery.
What we are seeing is the first big bang contribution to open source drug discovery (OSDD), an initiative to rope in researchers, universities and companies to make drug breakthroughs less expensive and time-consuming. Big pharma claims that it costs as much $1 billion to bring a new molecule to the market and 8-12 years to develop it. That's something that few companies can afford any more. For developing countries, too, OSDD may prove to be the route of the future. With few of the drug giants interested in investing in R&D pertaining to diseases that are common in poor countries, countries and organisations like the WHO are banking on collaborative research bring about the much-needed cures.
In India, we have our own OSDD champion in Samir Bramachari, director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who has an innovative plan to find cures for diseases like tuberculosis which are bigger killers than cancer in this country. Patents, believes the CSIR chief, although necessary in some cases only go to fatten the pockets of lawyers, and his idea is to have an incentive-based licensing plan to kick off OSDD.
GSK's move will certainly bolster such hopes even though the focus areas are vastly different. What GSK has done is to release the genomic profiling data for over 300 sets of cancer cell lines to the National Cancer Institute's bioinformatics grid, known as caBIG™. This is a website that collects data along the entire research pathway and enables researchers to share and analyse an extraordinary amount of information, thus helping to cut down costs and time on research. The significance of the GSK data is that it's derived from a wide variety of tumours, including breast, prostate, lung and ovarian cancers. This is a godsend for small research units and academic institutions which will have access to this information without incurring what the company describes as "the prohibitive cost and time involved in identifying and cataloguing each cell line". The hope is that somewhere, sometime, some brilliant researcher or two will make a stunning breakthrough sifting through this data.
The critical component in OSDD is, of course, the information network that supports it. Mandated on the three principal goals of open development, open access and open source, the caBIG™ informatics grid draws its inspiration from the open source software movement which has spawned the most creative collaborative research in modern times. caBIG™, already a huge repository of genetic information, is a network that will allow all constituencies in the cancer community — from researchers and physicians to patients — to share information that is aimed at accelerating the discovery of new approaches for the detection, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. And the best part is that it has wider applications beyond cancer.
Anyone can participate in caBIG™ and it's free. That would explain why 900 individuals are part of this community which includes over 50 cancer centres apart from 30 other research institutions, along with industry and not-for-profit organisations.
Will the GSK initiative have a ripple effect and act as a catalyst to OSDD? There is, of course, the cynical view that it makes sense for companies like GSK to free their data; the more the number of people working on it, the higher the chances there will be a breakthrough. It's also more economical for pharma companies to let research outfits and academics to do the groundbreaking work and then pick up from the point when the researchers need funding for further development.
It's also an indisputable fact that the new drugs pipeline is getting narrower for most of big pharma which is on a huge cost-cutting exercise. Just a fortnight ago, GSK, which is heavily focused on cancer therapeutics, said it was sacking 350 of its research staff as part of an ongoing restructuring plan aimed at boosting productivity. More job cuts and shutdown of some sites are expected to pare costs by a whopping $1.4 billion.
Economics could be a reason for GSK's gift to the research community but there is no gainsaying that it's quite an endorsement for OSDD. As the old saw goes, let's not look at gift horse in the mouth, specially when the mount, to all appearances, is as splendid as this one.
An Alternative scenario to Oil
Apart from hiking prices to curb demand, you can expect moves to curb speculators.
Just about everybody has now thrown in the towel on oil prices. Despite many observers believing that we are in the midst of an oil bubble, oil prices refuse to come down on a sustained basis. Prices seem Teflon-coated, and despite global economic weaknesses, chances of rising interest rates, attempts to talk up the dollar, etc. oil prices refuse to cool down.
The bull case is very clear — constrained supplies, strong demand from the large emerging markets and geo-political tensions. The bears are equally clear that this is another price bubble, and will end as all such financial market spikes ultimately do. Whatever be the arguments, the bulls are clearly winning. Most market participants accept that we are in a new era for oil prices and it is very unlikely that prices will come down anywhere near the pre-2005 levels.
As is the norm, just when everyone capitulates, the seeds of a reversal get sown. In the case of oil, there are steps being taken and they will cool down this red-hot commodity, but they are being ignored by the markets.
First, all the major Asian consumers of oil have now hiked retail prices. India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and now even China have hiked retail prices by 12-40 per cent. This is a major break in pattern as these governments have now seemingly accepted the unsustainability of continuing to subsidise consumption. Having bitten the bullet, all now have plans to reduce oil subsidies further in the coming months. Once prices are hiked in these countries, they will not be reduced, independent of oil price movements, and thus consumers in these countries will now have to adjust to permanently higher fuel prices. Given the income profile in these countries, the impact on consumption should be far steeper than price hikes in the OECD economies. Already demand for petroleum products is shrinking in the OECD, with gas demand in the US dropping by 6 per cent year-on-year. Demand growth in the Asian countries should begin to stall as price hikes cascade through the system. Today's high oil prices are justified not on the basis of current shortages, but on the expected sustained growth in future demand. If the major Asian consuming nations, which account for all the incremental demand growth today, are on a clear path to remove subsidies and force energy efficiency, this has to have an impact on the trend incremental demand. As consumers accept that they will have to ultimately pay near global prices, demand and behaviour will adjust.
Secondly, there seems to be a serious mood change in the US towards energy security. The fact that John McCain has openly come out and suggested a revival of the US nuclear programme, and that the Governor of Florida has talked of re-examining the ban on offshore drilling, are just straws in the wind, pointing to a change in political mood. The US consumer is now feeling the pain of higher gas prices and the country will I think become more pragmatic in balancing environmental and energy security concerns.
Who would have thought that the Americans can ever be weaned away from their gas-guzzling SUVs? But that is exactly what is happening. As consumers adapt to high petroleum prices, this adaptation will soon manifest in policy change as well. One cannot rule out tax changes designed to reduce the carbon intensity of the economy.
There is also, to my mind, a high probability of some type of legislative changes designed to reduce speculation in the commodity futures markets. It could be as simple as imposing, on institutional investors, the same prudential and disclosure norms that currently govern ordinary commodity speculation. The loophole that currently allows investment banks to be treated as commercial hedgers, rather than financial participants, could easily be plugged. The governments in the US and Europe could reconsider the tax-free status of investments in commodities by endowments and pension funds, etc.
There is too much pressure on US lawmakers to be seen to be doing something, and this is an area where there is limited political opposition. Given the fiasco of laissez-faire regulation in the structured products and sub-prime arena, it will be difficult to resist the move to increase legislative oversight in these futures markets. Any moves in this direction are bound to have an impact on positions sizes and the number of participants in the commodity futures markets, and will reduce volumes and speculative activity.
The fourth factor is the gradual realisation among the large OPEC producers, viz. Saudi Arabia (with huge reserves still in the ground), that it is seriously damaging its own long-term prospects by letting oil prices get out of hand today. It is unprecedented for the Saudis to call a meeting of producers and consumers, which, even though not successful, underlines the growing sensitivity of Saudi Arabia to global calls to stop this parabolic rise in oil prices. The Saudis must be afraid of serious policy action in the major oil-consuming countries designed to reduce dependence on imported oil.
Oil prices have now become the single-biggest issue facing the global economy. The long-term negative impact of the sharp surge in oil prices far exceeds any effects of the sub-prime crisis. High oil prices affect the poor disproportionately, and will increase global poverty. Unlike the credit crisis, it is not investment bankers but the man on the street who will feel the pinch. The rise in prices from $70 to near $140 a barrel will alone transfer in excess of $2 trillion from oil consumers to producers. Countries and politicians can no longer wait for or afford the luxury of markets finding their own equilibrium. We will see action of the type outlined above and more as policymakers are forced to try and engineer a reduction in oil prices. Current prices are causing too much political and economic damage across too many countries and the beginnings of action to reverse this rise are now visible. I think we have crossed the limits and the world will act through all the policy levers at its command, both obvious and unconventional.
Oil prices will come down; it is only a matter of time and this will be a huge positive for global markets, especially Asia. They may not go much below $100, but even a move from $135 to sub $100 is huge in today's context.
Just about everybody has now thrown in the towel on oil prices. Despite many observers believing that we are in the midst of an oil bubble, oil prices refuse to come down on a sustained basis. Prices seem Teflon-coated, and despite global economic weaknesses, chances of rising interest rates, attempts to talk up the dollar, etc. oil prices refuse to cool down.
The bull case is very clear — constrained supplies, strong demand from the large emerging markets and geo-political tensions. The bears are equally clear that this is another price bubble, and will end as all such financial market spikes ultimately do. Whatever be the arguments, the bulls are clearly winning. Most market participants accept that we are in a new era for oil prices and it is very unlikely that prices will come down anywhere near the pre-2005 levels.
As is the norm, just when everyone capitulates, the seeds of a reversal get sown. In the case of oil, there are steps being taken and they will cool down this red-hot commodity, but they are being ignored by the markets.
First, all the major Asian consumers of oil have now hiked retail prices. India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and now even China have hiked retail prices by 12-40 per cent. This is a major break in pattern as these governments have now seemingly accepted the unsustainability of continuing to subsidise consumption. Having bitten the bullet, all now have plans to reduce oil subsidies further in the coming months. Once prices are hiked in these countries, they will not be reduced, independent of oil price movements, and thus consumers in these countries will now have to adjust to permanently higher fuel prices. Given the income profile in these countries, the impact on consumption should be far steeper than price hikes in the OECD economies. Already demand for petroleum products is shrinking in the OECD, with gas demand in the US dropping by 6 per cent year-on-year. Demand growth in the Asian countries should begin to stall as price hikes cascade through the system. Today's high oil prices are justified not on the basis of current shortages, but on the expected sustained growth in future demand. If the major Asian consuming nations, which account for all the incremental demand growth today, are on a clear path to remove subsidies and force energy efficiency, this has to have an impact on the trend incremental demand. As consumers accept that they will have to ultimately pay near global prices, demand and behaviour will adjust.
Secondly, there seems to be a serious mood change in the US towards energy security. The fact that John McCain has openly come out and suggested a revival of the US nuclear programme, and that the Governor of Florida has talked of re-examining the ban on offshore drilling, are just straws in the wind, pointing to a change in political mood. The US consumer is now feeling the pain of higher gas prices and the country will I think become more pragmatic in balancing environmental and energy security concerns.
Who would have thought that the Americans can ever be weaned away from their gas-guzzling SUVs? But that is exactly what is happening. As consumers adapt to high petroleum prices, this adaptation will soon manifest in policy change as well. One cannot rule out tax changes designed to reduce the carbon intensity of the economy.
There is also, to my mind, a high probability of some type of legislative changes designed to reduce speculation in the commodity futures markets. It could be as simple as imposing, on institutional investors, the same prudential and disclosure norms that currently govern ordinary commodity speculation. The loophole that currently allows investment banks to be treated as commercial hedgers, rather than financial participants, could easily be plugged. The governments in the US and Europe could reconsider the tax-free status of investments in commodities by endowments and pension funds, etc.
There is too much pressure on US lawmakers to be seen to be doing something, and this is an area where there is limited political opposition. Given the fiasco of laissez-faire regulation in the structured products and sub-prime arena, it will be difficult to resist the move to increase legislative oversight in these futures markets. Any moves in this direction are bound to have an impact on positions sizes and the number of participants in the commodity futures markets, and will reduce volumes and speculative activity.
The fourth factor is the gradual realisation among the large OPEC producers, viz. Saudi Arabia (with huge reserves still in the ground), that it is seriously damaging its own long-term prospects by letting oil prices get out of hand today. It is unprecedented for the Saudis to call a meeting of producers and consumers, which, even though not successful, underlines the growing sensitivity of Saudi Arabia to global calls to stop this parabolic rise in oil prices. The Saudis must be afraid of serious policy action in the major oil-consuming countries designed to reduce dependence on imported oil.
Oil prices have now become the single-biggest issue facing the global economy. The long-term negative impact of the sharp surge in oil prices far exceeds any effects of the sub-prime crisis. High oil prices affect the poor disproportionately, and will increase global poverty. Unlike the credit crisis, it is not investment bankers but the man on the street who will feel the pinch. The rise in prices from $70 to near $140 a barrel will alone transfer in excess of $2 trillion from oil consumers to producers. Countries and politicians can no longer wait for or afford the luxury of markets finding their own equilibrium. We will see action of the type outlined above and more as policymakers are forced to try and engineer a reduction in oil prices. Current prices are causing too much political and economic damage across too many countries and the beginnings of action to reverse this rise are now visible. I think we have crossed the limits and the world will act through all the policy levers at its command, both obvious and unconventional.
Oil prices will come down; it is only a matter of time and this will be a huge positive for global markets, especially Asia. They may not go much below $100, but even a move from $135 to sub $100 is huge in today's context.
Ekta's Mahabharat
Ekta Kapoor readies for the mother of all wars on 9X
9x has finally announced the launch date – July 7 – of its much awaited show, Kahaani Hamaarey Mahaabharat Ki (KHMK), produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms. 9X has rolled out a marketing campaign encompassing print, TV, radio and cinema for the serial.The creative campaign for the mythological epic, including the show’s logo, on-air promos and the print and outdoor ads, have all been done by INX Network’s in-house creative units, INX Studio and INX On-Air Promotions.
Anupriya AcharyaTalking to afaqs! Anthony Pettifer, group director, brand and communications, INX Network, explains the marketing strategy adopted to promote the epic serial, “The idea is to extend our reach to all possible touch points in order to reach out to the maximum number of people in our target group. Through our creative campaign, we have lighted a fire which we hope will spread like wildfire to inform people about Mahabharat.“Epics have always done well in India, and they have often been used by general entertainment channels (GECs) to boost their viewership. NDTV Imagine used Ramayan to launch itself, literally. TAM data shows that the serial did influence the channel’s fortunes. Ramayan achieved a TVR of 3.19 within a month, despite starting its run with a TVR of below 1 (CS4+, HSM, as per TAM data). The robust performance of the show propelled NDTV Imagine to No. 3 position behind only STAR Plus and Zee TV in Week 10 of 2008.Similar, if not greater, success is being envisaged for KHMK. And it shows in the way the serial is being promoted. Pettifer says that with the increasing competition among GECs, creating the right kind of curiosity and buzz is a must for a new show. “The creative proposition for promoting the show has been kept simple deliberately. It translates into 9X presenting the biggest TV stars in the greatest drama ever. For us, the expression is brutally simple and clearly communicates to the audience that we bring to them their favourite stars, portraying legendary characters,” he says.KHMK’s marketing campaign has been divided into two phases. Pettifer says, “The first phase began when we revealed the powerful logo of Mahabharat. In the second phase, we aired the promos for the show on 9X itself. Now, a multimedia campaign is being rolled out. This includes introducing the characters of the show to the viewers through various media such as hoardings and billboards.”
The show's hoarding at Mahim Causeway9X has revealed the look and appearance of some of the protagonists of the serial, Bheem and Duryodhan. Next come Bheeshma and Ganga, characters which are being played by well known TV stars Ronit Roy and Saakshi Tanwar, respectively. Explaining why the characters are being revealed in phases, Pettifer says, “The one of the USPs of our show is that the big names of the television world are playing the lead roles. Popular actors such as Chetan Hansraj, Akashdeep Saigal, Anita Hassanandani, Rakshanda Khan, Makrand Deshpande and Kiran Karmarkar are all acting in the serial. The sheer star power is going to pull in the audience for us.”
Will these well recognised faces from popular soaps be accepted as the larger than life mythological characters they play in the serial? Media planners offer mixed responses to both the question and the fate of the serial. Chandradeep Mitra, president, Mudra Max, says, “Well, the popular faces will contribute initially to attracting people to the show. The audience will be eager to see for themselves how the heroes and heroines of the ‘saas-bahu’ serials don the look of iconic characters.” As far as KHMK’s fortunes are concerned, Mitra adds, “Being a Balaji show, there is a fair amount of excitement and buzz in the market. This is a first for the production house, something entirely different from the family soaps that it is known for.”
Mitra points out, “The success of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) has proved that the audience is ready to experiment. Today, no one can conclusively predict the success or failure of any particular genre, so fragmented is the audience. The next big idea on TV could be a humour show or, say, even a detective serial. One can only be sure of one thing: The era of the ‘saas-bahu’ shows is over.” However, Mitra cautions that even the IPL failed to garner double digit TVRs. So, one cannot expect KHMK to achieve staggering TRPs. However, since the serial is a Balaji creation, its production values and content are certain to be strong and to appeal to viewers.Anupriya Acharya, president, TME, says, “Mythology and costume dramas are seeing a revival. Obviously, no new epic drama, be it the new Mahabharat or the new Ramayan, can replicate the success of their earlier avatars on Doordarshan. That is because today, cable TV penetration has resulted in fragmented viewership and divided loyalties.” She clarifies, “The promos that are on air are going to be a big asset for KHMK. The show is being promoted really well. Viewers in both metros and the rural areas are equally going to look forward to it. Advertisers will find plenty of opportunities in the epic serial to place their products.” Acharya is not impressed with the galaxy of stars that Ekta Kapoor has lined up for KHMK. She says, “The TV medium, unlike films, is not dependent on stars. This is proved by fact that many new GECs have introduced fresh faces in new shows. With epic dramas, it’s the story that pulls in the viewers. Otherwise, actors like Deepika Chikhalia (Sita), Roopa Ganguly (Draupadi) and Nitish Bhardwaj (Krishna) would not have become household names in the past.”Pettifer is confident that Mahabharat will do well because it has strong content, powerful characters and high production values. He reveals, “An extensive promotional strategy will ensure enough eyeballs for the show. More than 600 outdoor hoardings and billboards have been employed to catch the viewers’ eye across the country. In addition, INX Networks’ channels, 9X, 9XM and NewsX, are being used to promote the show. Other news channels are also being targeted to air the show’s promos. And, from next week, the show will be advertised on 20 radio stations – we have booked around 4,000 ad spots.”Cinema halls in 17 major cities are airing promo clips of KHMK. Pettifer says, “All the advertising is experiential. We took to advertising in cinema halls during the movie breaks to ensure that viewers can sample the real grandeur, power and scale of the show as they will when they see the promos of Mahabharat shot in high definition television on the big screen.”
9x has finally announced the launch date – July 7 – of its much awaited show, Kahaani Hamaarey Mahaabharat Ki (KHMK), produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms. 9X has rolled out a marketing campaign encompassing print, TV, radio and cinema for the serial.The creative campaign for the mythological epic, including the show’s logo, on-air promos and the print and outdoor ads, have all been done by INX Network’s in-house creative units, INX Studio and INX On-Air Promotions.
Anupriya AcharyaTalking to afaqs! Anthony Pettifer, group director, brand and communications, INX Network, explains the marketing strategy adopted to promote the epic serial, “The idea is to extend our reach to all possible touch points in order to reach out to the maximum number of people in our target group. Through our creative campaign, we have lighted a fire which we hope will spread like wildfire to inform people about Mahabharat.“Epics have always done well in India, and they have often been used by general entertainment channels (GECs) to boost their viewership. NDTV Imagine used Ramayan to launch itself, literally. TAM data shows that the serial did influence the channel’s fortunes. Ramayan achieved a TVR of 3.19 within a month, despite starting its run with a TVR of below 1 (CS4+, HSM, as per TAM data). The robust performance of the show propelled NDTV Imagine to No. 3 position behind only STAR Plus and Zee TV in Week 10 of 2008.Similar, if not greater, success is being envisaged for KHMK. And it shows in the way the serial is being promoted. Pettifer says that with the increasing competition among GECs, creating the right kind of curiosity and buzz is a must for a new show. “The creative proposition for promoting the show has been kept simple deliberately. It translates into 9X presenting the biggest TV stars in the greatest drama ever. For us, the expression is brutally simple and clearly communicates to the audience that we bring to them their favourite stars, portraying legendary characters,” he says.KHMK’s marketing campaign has been divided into two phases. Pettifer says, “The first phase began when we revealed the powerful logo of Mahabharat. In the second phase, we aired the promos for the show on 9X itself. Now, a multimedia campaign is being rolled out. This includes introducing the characters of the show to the viewers through various media such as hoardings and billboards.”
The show's hoarding at Mahim Causeway9X has revealed the look and appearance of some of the protagonists of the serial, Bheem and Duryodhan. Next come Bheeshma and Ganga, characters which are being played by well known TV stars Ronit Roy and Saakshi Tanwar, respectively. Explaining why the characters are being revealed in phases, Pettifer says, “The one of the USPs of our show is that the big names of the television world are playing the lead roles. Popular actors such as Chetan Hansraj, Akashdeep Saigal, Anita Hassanandani, Rakshanda Khan, Makrand Deshpande and Kiran Karmarkar are all acting in the serial. The sheer star power is going to pull in the audience for us.”
Will these well recognised faces from popular soaps be accepted as the larger than life mythological characters they play in the serial? Media planners offer mixed responses to both the question and the fate of the serial. Chandradeep Mitra, president, Mudra Max, says, “Well, the popular faces will contribute initially to attracting people to the show. The audience will be eager to see for themselves how the heroes and heroines of the ‘saas-bahu’ serials don the look of iconic characters.” As far as KHMK’s fortunes are concerned, Mitra adds, “Being a Balaji show, there is a fair amount of excitement and buzz in the market. This is a first for the production house, something entirely different from the family soaps that it is known for.”
Mitra points out, “The success of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) has proved that the audience is ready to experiment. Today, no one can conclusively predict the success or failure of any particular genre, so fragmented is the audience. The next big idea on TV could be a humour show or, say, even a detective serial. One can only be sure of one thing: The era of the ‘saas-bahu’ shows is over.” However, Mitra cautions that even the IPL failed to garner double digit TVRs. So, one cannot expect KHMK to achieve staggering TRPs. However, since the serial is a Balaji creation, its production values and content are certain to be strong and to appeal to viewers.Anupriya Acharya, president, TME, says, “Mythology and costume dramas are seeing a revival. Obviously, no new epic drama, be it the new Mahabharat or the new Ramayan, can replicate the success of their earlier avatars on Doordarshan. That is because today, cable TV penetration has resulted in fragmented viewership and divided loyalties.” She clarifies, “The promos that are on air are going to be a big asset for KHMK. The show is being promoted really well. Viewers in both metros and the rural areas are equally going to look forward to it. Advertisers will find plenty of opportunities in the epic serial to place their products.” Acharya is not impressed with the galaxy of stars that Ekta Kapoor has lined up for KHMK. She says, “The TV medium, unlike films, is not dependent on stars. This is proved by fact that many new GECs have introduced fresh faces in new shows. With epic dramas, it’s the story that pulls in the viewers. Otherwise, actors like Deepika Chikhalia (Sita), Roopa Ganguly (Draupadi) and Nitish Bhardwaj (Krishna) would not have become household names in the past.”Pettifer is confident that Mahabharat will do well because it has strong content, powerful characters and high production values. He reveals, “An extensive promotional strategy will ensure enough eyeballs for the show. More than 600 outdoor hoardings and billboards have been employed to catch the viewers’ eye across the country. In addition, INX Networks’ channels, 9X, 9XM and NewsX, are being used to promote the show. Other news channels are also being targeted to air the show’s promos. And, from next week, the show will be advertised on 20 radio stations – we have booked around 4,000 ad spots.”Cinema halls in 17 major cities are airing promo clips of KHMK. Pettifer says, “All the advertising is experiential. We took to advertising in cinema halls during the movie breaks to ensure that viewers can sample the real grandeur, power and scale of the show as they will when they see the promos of Mahabharat shot in high definition television on the big screen.”
The Waterpurifier business
Water purifier cos tapping the bottom of the pyramid ( June '25,2008, Economic Times)
Early this month, Eureka Forbes, the market leader for water purifiers in the country put popular television actress Smriti Irani (Tulsi of Kyunki Saas Bhi fame) behind its product range - Aquasure. Whether Irani helps counter the buzz that Hindi film actress Hema Malini and her daughters bring to Kent’s water purifier sales is still to be seen.Aquasure talks to the bottom of the pyramid with a purifier costing Rs 1,800. In comparison, Kent is relatively high-brow at Rs 7,000 for an ultraviolet (UV) purifier and Rs 14,000 for a reverse osmosis (RO) variant . At sub-Rs 2,000 price point, Aquasure is not the only one tapping the market. Pureit, consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever’s maiden entry into the consumer durables category, is also talking to consumers from a similar price point. After being around for less than four years, both brands of chemical-based water purifiers have managed to create a market that now accounts for 20 per cent of all water purifier sales. Not just that, Aquasure and Pureit are now estimated to be growing at 100% annually , while the rest of the Rs 700-crore water purification category is pacing ahead at 19%-20 %. What are the key drivers? According to S K Palekar, senior VP marketing, Eureka Forbes the category is largely under-penetrated , even in urban India. “Only 6%-7 % of the urban population use electrical water purifiers, while another 12% boil drinking water,” he says. That leaves a whopping 81 per cent of the urban population who drink water directly from the tap, or purify it using candle water filters, muslin cloth and other unsafe methods . This is where both HUL and Eureka Forbes have spotted an opportunity. Existing segments like ultra violet (UV) purifiers or reverse osmosis (RO) systems, are either not relevant or simply not affordable to a large percentage of urban users. While UV purifiers sell upwards of Rs 4,000, RO-based systems are the costliest with prices going upto Rs 25,000. Vivek Sharma, chief marketing officer, Philips India, estimates that about two-thirds of the Indian market uses UV products and the rest is divided between RO and chemical-based purification systems. Sarosh Shetty, marketing manager - water business, HUL, points out that the opportunity was waiting to be exploited . “Eighty percent of all diseases in India is water related and affects households across income-groups . Our aim is to help provide safe water anytime, anywhere and make it as affordable as possible,” he says.The other reasons why many urban households did not use the existing purifiers , according to Palekar is the requirement of running water at a certain pressure or uninterrupted electricity to perform the purification process. In some areas, including urban centres, access to either of the two was a problem. Water shortage is partly one reason why even tap attachments like Zero B have not taken off, despite a promising start several years back. But company executives are confident about the prospects of Zero B Suraksha — that prides itself as the smallest water purifier in the market. “The Zero B Vision is `One Zero B for every Home’ which is to provide a range of pure water solutions across income segments,” says RS Rajan, senior VP - consumer products , Ion Exchange. But merely developing a product for this segment was not enough. Companies had to ensure that consumers saw a compelling reason to buy the product. Because the triggers to buy a product at the bottom of the pyramid are much different than what it would be for an upmarket urban customer. Sharma of Philips explains: “Although in the urban areas there is awareness, there is no trigger from awareness to actions. Because of the strong belief in traditional methods people still don’t want to invest in a purifier.” Then, upmarket customers need choice to compare and pick the product best suited to their needs. For example, areas which have hard-water will have consumers investing in a RO purifier that can purify and remove any bad taste from the water, rather than UV-based purifiers. That would explain the variety of choice that companies offer. Philips launched its water purifiers in May 2007 and has four models which use UV technology , Kent RO Systems similarly has products based on both UV and RO technologies. The other motivator for the middle-andupper-end customers are aggressive marketing campaigns. As Gupta of Kent puts it, “We wanted our TVCs to be clutter-breaking and the best way to do that was by having a celebrity as that improves customer confidence in the product.” Eureka Forbes on the other hand believes in the power of direct marketing for its upscale product range — Aquaguard. Palekar of Eureka Forbes explains the rationale: “In India people believe only in what they see. They believe what you can’t see, cannot be harmful. Therefore it is important to do concept selling in this category , which can only be done house-tohouse . If people don’t understand the concept , nobody will buy the product even if there is a lot of advertising.” Eureka Forbes has a sales force of 6,000 which is responsible for selling Aquaguard.In comparison, Aquasure is sold through retail channels. Sharma of Philips endorses the view. “Direct marketing is effective as the category has a low penetration . However, now the awareness about water purifiers has gone up considerably and today customers don’t need to be convinced as much as they had to be earlier,” he says. Modern retailing and after-sales service are also critical components for the success of the UV and RO range of purifiers. For example, most distributors of water purifiers like multibrand outlets also double up as service centres. The arrival of consumer durable chains like Croma, Next and others have helped waterpurifiers which also share shelf-space with TVs, refrigerators, washing machine’s , etc. Kent RO for example has even tried unconventional retailing options like tying-up with IOC petrol pumps and LPG outlets which stock the brands. HUL’s Pureit is not available in stores, but have set up Safe Water Zones across the country which are offices where customers can walk-in and make enquires about the product. After-sales service contributes to 60% of Eureka Forbes’s annual revenues. Says Palekar, “In a category like water purifiers, service and sales go hand-in-hand . Service is very important for success in this category.” Eureka Forbes has a service network across 500 top towns in the country, while Ion Exchange has 1,200 service engineers providing 24x7 service. Brands like Philips and HUL are trying to empower the consumer to service the system themselves. Although both brands have a helpline where consumers can reach them, their systems are customer friendly and customers can service their products themselves. In the case lower priced brands like Aquasure, the product design resembles a drum filter, and the purification cartridge is designed like a candle . HUL’s Pureit has a GermKill Battery Kit, which has an indicator that goes red once 1,500 liters of water has been purified, hinting the customer that a change of battery kit is due. While metros are important for the category , the growth is being fuelled by Class 1 and Class 2 towns. Below-the-line (BTL) activities are important for every brand including Ion Exchange’s customer-meets , consumer fairs and interactive programmes with school children and free water tests for consumers through the direct sales, retailers and watermarts. “We follow the inside out strategy by rewarding our customers for their loyalty. Over 50% of our sales comes through customer referrals,” says Rajan of Ion Exchange. The rules are changing and the players growing, but will price-points change equations in this category is what remains to be seen. Pureit’s roll-out just before the monsoon season is an indication of how monsoon’s are critical season for water-purifiers . “About 60% of both our sales and services come between the July - September months,” says Palekar. Rains increase the threat of water-borne diseases and hence the importance of safe drinking water in consumer minds also rises. And though activities are done throughout the year, rainy season cannot be ignored. Whether HUL’s vision of making safe drinking water available to every Indian home is fulfilled or not, this rainy season sales will be critical for Pureit’s future.
Early this month, Eureka Forbes, the market leader for water purifiers in the country put popular television actress Smriti Irani (Tulsi of Kyunki Saas Bhi fame) behind its product range - Aquasure. Whether Irani helps counter the buzz that Hindi film actress Hema Malini and her daughters bring to Kent’s water purifier sales is still to be seen.Aquasure talks to the bottom of the pyramid with a purifier costing Rs 1,800. In comparison, Kent is relatively high-brow at Rs 7,000 for an ultraviolet (UV) purifier and Rs 14,000 for a reverse osmosis (RO) variant . At sub-Rs 2,000 price point, Aquasure is not the only one tapping the market. Pureit, consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever’s maiden entry into the consumer durables category, is also talking to consumers from a similar price point. After being around for less than four years, both brands of chemical-based water purifiers have managed to create a market that now accounts for 20 per cent of all water purifier sales. Not just that, Aquasure and Pureit are now estimated to be growing at 100% annually , while the rest of the Rs 700-crore water purification category is pacing ahead at 19%-20 %. What are the key drivers? According to S K Palekar, senior VP marketing, Eureka Forbes the category is largely under-penetrated , even in urban India. “Only 6%-7 % of the urban population use electrical water purifiers, while another 12% boil drinking water,” he says. That leaves a whopping 81 per cent of the urban population who drink water directly from the tap, or purify it using candle water filters, muslin cloth and other unsafe methods . This is where both HUL and Eureka Forbes have spotted an opportunity. Existing segments like ultra violet (UV) purifiers or reverse osmosis (RO) systems, are either not relevant or simply not affordable to a large percentage of urban users. While UV purifiers sell upwards of Rs 4,000, RO-based systems are the costliest with prices going upto Rs 25,000. Vivek Sharma, chief marketing officer, Philips India, estimates that about two-thirds of the Indian market uses UV products and the rest is divided between RO and chemical-based purification systems. Sarosh Shetty, marketing manager - water business, HUL, points out that the opportunity was waiting to be exploited . “Eighty percent of all diseases in India is water related and affects households across income-groups . Our aim is to help provide safe water anytime, anywhere and make it as affordable as possible,” he says.The other reasons why many urban households did not use the existing purifiers , according to Palekar is the requirement of running water at a certain pressure or uninterrupted electricity to perform the purification process. In some areas, including urban centres, access to either of the two was a problem. Water shortage is partly one reason why even tap attachments like Zero B have not taken off, despite a promising start several years back. But company executives are confident about the prospects of Zero B Suraksha — that prides itself as the smallest water purifier in the market. “The Zero B Vision is `One Zero B for every Home’ which is to provide a range of pure water solutions across income segments,” says RS Rajan, senior VP - consumer products , Ion Exchange. But merely developing a product for this segment was not enough. Companies had to ensure that consumers saw a compelling reason to buy the product. Because the triggers to buy a product at the bottom of the pyramid are much different than what it would be for an upmarket urban customer. Sharma of Philips explains: “Although in the urban areas there is awareness, there is no trigger from awareness to actions. Because of the strong belief in traditional methods people still don’t want to invest in a purifier.” Then, upmarket customers need choice to compare and pick the product best suited to their needs. For example, areas which have hard-water will have consumers investing in a RO purifier that can purify and remove any bad taste from the water, rather than UV-based purifiers. That would explain the variety of choice that companies offer. Philips launched its water purifiers in May 2007 and has four models which use UV technology , Kent RO Systems similarly has products based on both UV and RO technologies. The other motivator for the middle-andupper-end customers are aggressive marketing campaigns. As Gupta of Kent puts it, “We wanted our TVCs to be clutter-breaking and the best way to do that was by having a celebrity as that improves customer confidence in the product.” Eureka Forbes on the other hand believes in the power of direct marketing for its upscale product range — Aquaguard. Palekar of Eureka Forbes explains the rationale: “In India people believe only in what they see. They believe what you can’t see, cannot be harmful. Therefore it is important to do concept selling in this category , which can only be done house-tohouse . If people don’t understand the concept , nobody will buy the product even if there is a lot of advertising.” Eureka Forbes has a sales force of 6,000 which is responsible for selling Aquaguard.In comparison, Aquasure is sold through retail channels. Sharma of Philips endorses the view. “Direct marketing is effective as the category has a low penetration . However, now the awareness about water purifiers has gone up considerably and today customers don’t need to be convinced as much as they had to be earlier,” he says. Modern retailing and after-sales service are also critical components for the success of the UV and RO range of purifiers. For example, most distributors of water purifiers like multibrand outlets also double up as service centres. The arrival of consumer durable chains like Croma, Next and others have helped waterpurifiers which also share shelf-space with TVs, refrigerators, washing machine’s , etc. Kent RO for example has even tried unconventional retailing options like tying-up with IOC petrol pumps and LPG outlets which stock the brands. HUL’s Pureit is not available in stores, but have set up Safe Water Zones across the country which are offices where customers can walk-in and make enquires about the product. After-sales service contributes to 60% of Eureka Forbes’s annual revenues. Says Palekar, “In a category like water purifiers, service and sales go hand-in-hand . Service is very important for success in this category.” Eureka Forbes has a service network across 500 top towns in the country, while Ion Exchange has 1,200 service engineers providing 24x7 service. Brands like Philips and HUL are trying to empower the consumer to service the system themselves. Although both brands have a helpline where consumers can reach them, their systems are customer friendly and customers can service their products themselves. In the case lower priced brands like Aquasure, the product design resembles a drum filter, and the purification cartridge is designed like a candle . HUL’s Pureit has a GermKill Battery Kit, which has an indicator that goes red once 1,500 liters of water has been purified, hinting the customer that a change of battery kit is due. While metros are important for the category , the growth is being fuelled by Class 1 and Class 2 towns. Below-the-line (BTL) activities are important for every brand including Ion Exchange’s customer-meets , consumer fairs and interactive programmes with school children and free water tests for consumers through the direct sales, retailers and watermarts. “We follow the inside out strategy by rewarding our customers for their loyalty. Over 50% of our sales comes through customer referrals,” says Rajan of Ion Exchange. The rules are changing and the players growing, but will price-points change equations in this category is what remains to be seen. Pureit’s roll-out just before the monsoon season is an indication of how monsoon’s are critical season for water-purifiers . “About 60% of both our sales and services come between the July - September months,” says Palekar. Rains increase the threat of water-borne diseases and hence the importance of safe drinking water in consumer minds also rises. And though activities are done throughout the year, rainy season cannot be ignored. Whether HUL’s vision of making safe drinking water available to every Indian home is fulfilled or not, this rainy season sales will be critical for Pureit’s future.
The Food chain rush
Bring them on: The food chain rush ( June '25,2008, Economic Times)
When Eli Zedaka was approached by a customer asking if Falafel’s served “Jain” cuisine, the director of JB N JEG Foods that owns Falafel’s in India , did not know what hit him.Falafel’s , the West Asian cuisine chain, had just opened its first Indian outlet in South Mumbai and for Zedaka who had lived in Israel for more than three decades, the “Jain” request was a global first. But this was certainly not to be the last. Having opened shop in a locality predominantly inhabited by Jains, a community that is strictly vegetarian, minus even garlic, onion and potatoes on their plate, similar requests kept trickling in. Soon Zedaka got in touch with chef Guy Itzhaki, his partner who handles Falafel’s operations globally, to localise the Falafel Hummus . The result was ‘Jain Falafel’ , the company’s first localised offering — minus the onion and garlic, but with the original taste of Hummus intact. Falafel’s is certainly not the first international food chain to play the localising game in India. McDonald’s , the US fast food major has perfected the act of saying “no-beef” , while pizza chains have select outlets dishing out only vegetarian toppings. But the story is not really about localising to suit diverse Indian tastebuds. It’s about how the not-so-big international food and beverage chains are willing to bend backwards to serve Indian customers , build a strong customer base and lock up market share, before the big names — Taco Bell, Burger King and Starbucks, among others — come and woo customers. The market, to risk a pun, is piping hot. According to a survey by consulting major AT Kearney, the Indian quick service restaurant (QSR) market is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 10% to touch Rs 30,000 crore by 2011. Amit Jatia, managing director and JV Partner , McDonald’s India (West and South Region) adds that a decade back, the eating-out frequency was only 3-4 days a month in the big cities like Mumbai and Delhi. This increased to six days a month in 2004 and is currently at eight days a month. The frequency will only get better with more and more consumers opting to eat out, particularly on weekdays. In cities like Bangkok, for example , consumers eat out on 45 occasions in a month. No wonder, the food and beverage chains are eager to push investments into emerging markets like India. Over the next three-five years, Australian coffee chain Gloria Jean’s Coffees, US Pizza (which began its journey in Sweden) and Falafel’s put together, will invest over Rs 250 crore and add another 700 outlets to their existing tally.Others like the Italian chain Costa Coffee (300 outlets in the next 3-4 years, from the present 40), pizza chain Papa John’s (100 outlets in three years) and the South American Bembos also nurse similar ambitions. Why the hurry? “Growth is essential to achieve economies of scale,” reasons Myles Felt, vice president - international, of the US-based Papa John’s . There is another side to the coin: a snail-paced growth in global markets. Papa John’s , that has more than 3,250 Papa John’s restaurants worldwide, will have a bulk of its new restaurants in newer markets like India. Felt says, “We could see that our expansion in the US would slow down at some point due to market saturation. So we decided to expand overseas to continue adding shareholder value.” By the end of 2008, Papa John’s will have over 500 international restaurants in 29 markets. Even brands like Starbucks have similar thoughts playing on their minds. In a statement to Brand Equity, the company said it was “reviewing all options and evaluating how we will proceed related to our entry into one of the fastest growing economies in the world.” According to a Euromonitor International report, Starbucks’ future position as the leading coffee specialist depends greatly on its global expansion efforts. With nearly 4,500 coffee-houses in 45 countries, Starbucks aims to increase the international store count by 20% every year, and both China and India will be two key target markets in achieving this target. Burger King, which is facing fierce competition at its hometurf from McDonald’s , KFC and Subway , has no choice but to expand its international operations — which means it can’t afford to ignore India for too long. As if it’s working with the script, the Indian market has also taken off at the right time. Akbar Khwaja, managing director, United Pizza, owner of US Pizza, says the company was struggling to keep three restaurants running in 1995 in Bangalore. But all that changed, he says, after Pizza Hut, which entered India in 1995 with deep pockets, started aggressively marketing pizzas two years later to increase its acceptability not just among the elite but also the middle class. US Pizza today has 62 outlets across the country. “The market is booming but only a few have capitalised on it,” agrees Ravi Saxena, MD of Citymax Hotels India, part of Dubai-based Landmark Group and the franchisee for Gloria Jean’s in India. Paul Robinson, country head, Costa Coffee India, adds: “Our entry timing was near perfect as the presence of a few local chains had already exposed consumers to the cafe culture.”
When Eli Zedaka was approached by a customer asking if Falafel’s served “Jain” cuisine, the director of JB N JEG Foods that owns Falafel’s in India , did not know what hit him.Falafel’s , the West Asian cuisine chain, had just opened its first Indian outlet in South Mumbai and for Zedaka who had lived in Israel for more than three decades, the “Jain” request was a global first. But this was certainly not to be the last. Having opened shop in a locality predominantly inhabited by Jains, a community that is strictly vegetarian, minus even garlic, onion and potatoes on their plate, similar requests kept trickling in. Soon Zedaka got in touch with chef Guy Itzhaki, his partner who handles Falafel’s operations globally, to localise the Falafel Hummus . The result was ‘Jain Falafel’ , the company’s first localised offering — minus the onion and garlic, but with the original taste of Hummus intact. Falafel’s is certainly not the first international food chain to play the localising game in India. McDonald’s , the US fast food major has perfected the act of saying “no-beef” , while pizza chains have select outlets dishing out only vegetarian toppings. But the story is not really about localising to suit diverse Indian tastebuds. It’s about how the not-so-big international food and beverage chains are willing to bend backwards to serve Indian customers , build a strong customer base and lock up market share, before the big names — Taco Bell, Burger King and Starbucks, among others — come and woo customers. The market, to risk a pun, is piping hot. According to a survey by consulting major AT Kearney, the Indian quick service restaurant (QSR) market is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 10% to touch Rs 30,000 crore by 2011. Amit Jatia, managing director and JV Partner , McDonald’s India (West and South Region) adds that a decade back, the eating-out frequency was only 3-4 days a month in the big cities like Mumbai and Delhi. This increased to six days a month in 2004 and is currently at eight days a month. The frequency will only get better with more and more consumers opting to eat out, particularly on weekdays. In cities like Bangkok, for example , consumers eat out on 45 occasions in a month. No wonder, the food and beverage chains are eager to push investments into emerging markets like India. Over the next three-five years, Australian coffee chain Gloria Jean’s Coffees, US Pizza (which began its journey in Sweden) and Falafel’s put together, will invest over Rs 250 crore and add another 700 outlets to their existing tally.Others like the Italian chain Costa Coffee (300 outlets in the next 3-4 years, from the present 40), pizza chain Papa John’s (100 outlets in three years) and the South American Bembos also nurse similar ambitions. Why the hurry? “Growth is essential to achieve economies of scale,” reasons Myles Felt, vice president - international, of the US-based Papa John’s . There is another side to the coin: a snail-paced growth in global markets. Papa John’s , that has more than 3,250 Papa John’s restaurants worldwide, will have a bulk of its new restaurants in newer markets like India. Felt says, “We could see that our expansion in the US would slow down at some point due to market saturation. So we decided to expand overseas to continue adding shareholder value.” By the end of 2008, Papa John’s will have over 500 international restaurants in 29 markets. Even brands like Starbucks have similar thoughts playing on their minds. In a statement to Brand Equity, the company said it was “reviewing all options and evaluating how we will proceed related to our entry into one of the fastest growing economies in the world.” According to a Euromonitor International report, Starbucks’ future position as the leading coffee specialist depends greatly on its global expansion efforts. With nearly 4,500 coffee-houses in 45 countries, Starbucks aims to increase the international store count by 20% every year, and both China and India will be two key target markets in achieving this target. Burger King, which is facing fierce competition at its hometurf from McDonald’s , KFC and Subway , has no choice but to expand its international operations — which means it can’t afford to ignore India for too long. As if it’s working with the script, the Indian market has also taken off at the right time. Akbar Khwaja, managing director, United Pizza, owner of US Pizza, says the company was struggling to keep three restaurants running in 1995 in Bangalore. But all that changed, he says, after Pizza Hut, which entered India in 1995 with deep pockets, started aggressively marketing pizzas two years later to increase its acceptability not just among the elite but also the middle class. US Pizza today has 62 outlets across the country. “The market is booming but only a few have capitalised on it,” agrees Ravi Saxena, MD of Citymax Hotels India, part of Dubai-based Landmark Group and the franchisee for Gloria Jean’s in India. Paul Robinson, country head, Costa Coffee India, adds: “Our entry timing was near perfect as the presence of a few local chains had already exposed consumers to the cafe culture.”
Clearing the air
Clearing the air as pollution catches up ( June '25,2008, Economic Times)
Once again , the European Commission is gearing up to intervene in the marcoms business. After tightening up rules on tobacco, alcohol and ‘junk-food’ advertising, Brussels has told the car industry that it will have to display more information about vehicles’ carbon emissions in its print ads.The proposal follows research showing that existing rules, under a 1999 labelling directive, are not helping raise consumer awareness about CO2. With cars pumping out 12% of emissions in Europe, the EC has decided to get tough. Car manufacturers are not thrilled, but the angriest response has come from publishers, who see the EC’s proposals as unnecessary and unfair. “Our biggest concern is that the rules apply only to print media,” says Kerry Neilson, head of legal affairs at the PPA. “Our members generate 100 million pounds of car ad revenue a year. They are worried that increasing the regulatory burden on publishers will drive these advertisers out of print into rival media , or below the line, without achieving anything.” This view is echoed by Mark Millar, head of legal affairs at Future Publishing. “At a time when media choice is proliferating, it’s another thing that makes it harder for print media to compete. There’s no logic to our industry being singled out for special attention.” The scale of the commercial threat won’t become clear until after the EC’s public consultation, at which point it could introduce a ‘traffic-light’ system for ads — red dots for high-emission cars and green ones for low. If that’s all there is to it, press buyers doubt there will be much impact. One leading executive, who preferred not to be named, said it would take more than traffic lights to deter clients because “they like the audience profile and brand-engagement delivered through consumer magazines” .A bigger concern is if the EC decides to back a tobacco health-warning-style approach. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies delivered a controversial report late last year in which he argued that at least 20% of each ad should be given over to emissions data. The recommendation was welcomed in Brussels , but is the kind of suggestion that irks publishers. “Extending restrictions on print ads is an easy way out for politicians — to make it look like job done,” says Neilson . “We think it would be counter-productive , because publishers have a key role in educating people about emissions.” Besides, there are signs that the car industry is adapting, as it begins to view low emissions as a marketable proposition. Hyundai’s current print campaign, for example, prompts consumers to go to the Act On CO2 website - an online emissions comparison service run by the government and What Car? As the major manufacturers move toward hybrid engines, this emphasis is sure to become much more mainstream. Dr Alan Kemp, group business development director at Haymarket Media Group, which owns What Car? and Marketing, says the company has done a lot of thinking about emissions — without needing the EC to crack its whip. “This is about more than discrimination between media. It’s about why the EU needs to get involved , rather than trusting the industry to self-regulate . People actively seek emissions information when buying a car. This is another example of Europe’s nannyish behaviour when it comes to regulating marketing.” But it’s possible the industry is its own worst enemy . Last year saw a record 300 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about ‘greenwashing’ , with the body criticising Shell and Toyota for exaggerated claims about emissions. Some may argue that this proves self-regulation is working. But these figures, combined with the car industry’s poor record on hitting emissions targets, show why it’s no surprise that regulators are on the offensive. It’s unfortunate that the magazine sector looks like it may end up paying the price.
Once again , the European Commission is gearing up to intervene in the marcoms business. After tightening up rules on tobacco, alcohol and ‘junk-food’ advertising, Brussels has told the car industry that it will have to display more information about vehicles’ carbon emissions in its print ads.The proposal follows research showing that existing rules, under a 1999 labelling directive, are not helping raise consumer awareness about CO2. With cars pumping out 12% of emissions in Europe, the EC has decided to get tough. Car manufacturers are not thrilled, but the angriest response has come from publishers, who see the EC’s proposals as unnecessary and unfair. “Our biggest concern is that the rules apply only to print media,” says Kerry Neilson, head of legal affairs at the PPA. “Our members generate 100 million pounds of car ad revenue a year. They are worried that increasing the regulatory burden on publishers will drive these advertisers out of print into rival media , or below the line, without achieving anything.” This view is echoed by Mark Millar, head of legal affairs at Future Publishing. “At a time when media choice is proliferating, it’s another thing that makes it harder for print media to compete. There’s no logic to our industry being singled out for special attention.” The scale of the commercial threat won’t become clear until after the EC’s public consultation, at which point it could introduce a ‘traffic-light’ system for ads — red dots for high-emission cars and green ones for low. If that’s all there is to it, press buyers doubt there will be much impact. One leading executive, who preferred not to be named, said it would take more than traffic lights to deter clients because “they like the audience profile and brand-engagement delivered through consumer magazines” .A bigger concern is if the EC decides to back a tobacco health-warning-style approach. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies delivered a controversial report late last year in which he argued that at least 20% of each ad should be given over to emissions data. The recommendation was welcomed in Brussels , but is the kind of suggestion that irks publishers. “Extending restrictions on print ads is an easy way out for politicians — to make it look like job done,” says Neilson . “We think it would be counter-productive , because publishers have a key role in educating people about emissions.” Besides, there are signs that the car industry is adapting, as it begins to view low emissions as a marketable proposition. Hyundai’s current print campaign, for example, prompts consumers to go to the Act On CO2 website - an online emissions comparison service run by the government and What Car? As the major manufacturers move toward hybrid engines, this emphasis is sure to become much more mainstream. Dr Alan Kemp, group business development director at Haymarket Media Group, which owns What Car? and Marketing, says the company has done a lot of thinking about emissions — without needing the EC to crack its whip. “This is about more than discrimination between media. It’s about why the EU needs to get involved , rather than trusting the industry to self-regulate . People actively seek emissions information when buying a car. This is another example of Europe’s nannyish behaviour when it comes to regulating marketing.” But it’s possible the industry is its own worst enemy . Last year saw a record 300 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about ‘greenwashing’ , with the body criticising Shell and Toyota for exaggerated claims about emissions. Some may argue that this proves self-regulation is working. But these figures, combined with the car industry’s poor record on hitting emissions targets, show why it’s no surprise that regulators are on the offensive. It’s unfortunate that the magazine sector looks like it may end up paying the price.
Sleeping with the Enemy
Times of India Column - K.Subramanyam
Russia is the primary military countervailing force to the US and the world looks to Russia to provide a balance of power in strategic terms. Yet, the Russian ambassador in New Delhi urged India to sign the nuclear deal with the US to enable Russia to step up its interaction with India in the nuclear arena. Russia does not seem to have any fears that India will become a satellite of the US thanks to the proposed treaty. China is vigilant about the moves of other major balancers, perceived to be attempts to contain it. It has no problem with India signing the deal since it has itself signed a similar agreement with the US. Yet our communist parties claim that the Indo-US deal is just a cover for India voluntarily subjecting itself to US strategic goals. This charge is so absurd that it is necessary to probe deeper into the real purpose of the Left's opposition to the deal. For that, one has to go back to the behaviour pattern of Stalinist communists from the mid-twenties. While the Indian communists claim to be an integral part of the communist ummah - to which the Chinese also profess allegiance - the difference between the ideologies of the present-day Chinese Commu-nist Party and of the Indian communists is analogous to that between Shias and Sunnis. The Stalinists and Maoists were isolationists, believers in communism in one country and were practitioners of policies that led to millions perishing in Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. The present Communist Party of China is only communist in name. It is a capitalist party and uses the communist label to sustain its single-party totalitarian rule. The Indian communists claim ideological affinity to them because China has become a successful nation with the label of communism attached to it. Deng Xiaoping, who launched China on its present path, was called a capitalist roader by Mao Zedong. Therefore, in spite of their professed ideological affinity to today's China, our communists are in reality Stalinists and Maoists. The basic objective of the Stalinist commu-nism was to oppose and eliminate social democracy. They considered social democrats as their primary adversaries and made them their first targets. This happened in Europe from the mid-twenties to the outbreak of the Second World War and thereafter during the Stalinist era. During the 50s and 60s the crucial struggle in Europe was between communist parties and the socialists. Mao's Cultural
Revolution was a conflict between reformers like Deng Xiaoping and diehard ideologues. In India, the communist party's aim is to oppose, slow down and destroy the reforms. In this struggle their primary adversary is the Congress party. Their support to the Congress party in the last four years was meant to ensure that the reforms were stalled and brought to a virtual standstill. After successfully thwarting the planned reforms of the UPA, their aim appears to be to denigrate the Congress leadership both internationally and domestically. They could have broken away from the UPA and brought down the government in 2005 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the joint declaration with President Bush. They could have done it in 2006 when the Separation Plan was adopted, or in 2007 when the deal's draft was finalised. No. They waited till the government would stake its reputation, prestige and credibility in the international arena. Now the Left's true colours are revealed and it threatens to vote against the UPA and bring it down by joining those who it claimed till the other day were, to it, political untouchables. If the UPA yields what does it gain? A measly three months more in office. The cost of such surrender to the Left's blackmail is tremendous. Over the next three months the communists will ensure that the government is completely paralysed. The inter- national credibility of India would have been damaged severely not only in Washington but in Moscow, Paris, London, Berlin, Tokyo and Beijing as well. The NDA will get an ideal election campaign platform and will say in the last four and half years it was not really UPA running the country's affairs but the communist party, through remote control. The target of the communists is not the US imperialist hegemony they imagine. It is the Congress party and the reforms it had originally planned to carry out. The communists aim at promoting a Third Front government, which they hope to dominate and in this effort their primary impediment is the Congress party. It does not matter to them if the next election is won by the NDA. In their long-term strategy, the weakening and destruction of a pan-Indian social democratic force like the Congress is essential for the advancement of the communist party in India. The choice before the Congress is stark. Will it face the next election as a party humiliated - internationally and domestically - by the communists or will it face the electorate as an assertive party ready to lead the country in the 21st century? The UPA has been sleeping with the enemy all these years. It is time it woke up. The writer is a strategic affairs analyst
Russia is the primary military countervailing force to the US and the world looks to Russia to provide a balance of power in strategic terms. Yet, the Russian ambassador in New Delhi urged India to sign the nuclear deal with the US to enable Russia to step up its interaction with India in the nuclear arena. Russia does not seem to have any fears that India will become a satellite of the US thanks to the proposed treaty. China is vigilant about the moves of other major balancers, perceived to be attempts to contain it. It has no problem with India signing the deal since it has itself signed a similar agreement with the US. Yet our communist parties claim that the Indo-US deal is just a cover for India voluntarily subjecting itself to US strategic goals. This charge is so absurd that it is necessary to probe deeper into the real purpose of the Left's opposition to the deal. For that, one has to go back to the behaviour pattern of Stalinist communists from the mid-twenties. While the Indian communists claim to be an integral part of the communist ummah - to which the Chinese also profess allegiance - the difference between the ideologies of the present-day Chinese Commu-nist Party and of the Indian communists is analogous to that between Shias and Sunnis. The Stalinists and Maoists were isolationists, believers in communism in one country and were practitioners of policies that led to millions perishing in Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. The present Communist Party of China is only communist in name. It is a capitalist party and uses the communist label to sustain its single-party totalitarian rule. The Indian communists claim ideological affinity to them because China has become a successful nation with the label of communism attached to it. Deng Xiaoping, who launched China on its present path, was called a capitalist roader by Mao Zedong. Therefore, in spite of their professed ideological affinity to today's China, our communists are in reality Stalinists and Maoists. The basic objective of the Stalinist commu-nism was to oppose and eliminate social democracy. They considered social democrats as their primary adversaries and made them their first targets. This happened in Europe from the mid-twenties to the outbreak of the Second World War and thereafter during the Stalinist era. During the 50s and 60s the crucial struggle in Europe was between communist parties and the socialists. Mao's Cultural
Revolution was a conflict between reformers like Deng Xiaoping and diehard ideologues. In India, the communist party's aim is to oppose, slow down and destroy the reforms. In this struggle their primary adversary is the Congress party. Their support to the Congress party in the last four years was meant to ensure that the reforms were stalled and brought to a virtual standstill. After successfully thwarting the planned reforms of the UPA, their aim appears to be to denigrate the Congress leadership both internationally and domestically. They could have broken away from the UPA and brought down the government in 2005 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the joint declaration with President Bush. They could have done it in 2006 when the Separation Plan was adopted, or in 2007 when the deal's draft was finalised. No. They waited till the government would stake its reputation, prestige and credibility in the international arena. Now the Left's true colours are revealed and it threatens to vote against the UPA and bring it down by joining those who it claimed till the other day were, to it, political untouchables. If the UPA yields what does it gain? A measly three months more in office. The cost of such surrender to the Left's blackmail is tremendous. Over the next three months the communists will ensure that the government is completely paralysed. The inter- national credibility of India would have been damaged severely not only in Washington but in Moscow, Paris, London, Berlin, Tokyo and Beijing as well. The NDA will get an ideal election campaign platform and will say in the last four and half years it was not really UPA running the country's affairs but the communist party, through remote control. The target of the communists is not the US imperialist hegemony they imagine. It is the Congress party and the reforms it had originally planned to carry out. The communists aim at promoting a Third Front government, which they hope to dominate and in this effort their primary impediment is the Congress party. It does not matter to them if the next election is won by the NDA. In their long-term strategy, the weakening and destruction of a pan-Indian social democratic force like the Congress is essential for the advancement of the communist party in India. The choice before the Congress is stark. Will it face the next election as a party humiliated - internationally and domestically - by the communists or will it face the electorate as an assertive party ready to lead the country in the 21st century? The UPA has been sleeping with the enemy all these years. It is time it woke up. The writer is a strategic affairs analyst
The Necktie Story !
Necktie wearers of the world unite! You have everything to lose: your stripes and paisleys, solids and patterns, silks and linens, cottons and wools. Heck, you stand to lose a whole lot more, including grace and elegance, style and dignity. And even more insidious, as this column will reveal, you stand to lose your personal freedoms to a bunch of fundamentalists, health fascists and faceless bureaucrats. In the past few days, the news media have circulated reports trumpeting the steady decline of the necktie. According to these reports, fewer than 6 per cent of men wear neckties to work anymore. Consequently, sales have plummeted to just 50 million neckties annually from nearly 250 million in the 1970s. An Associated Press reporter filed the story from New York in advance of Father's Day, when ties fly off the racks and are presented to dads, year after year; the famous "peg". He sounded positively gleeful at the decline of the necktie. The piece was funny as obituaries go. But wait, there's more to the story. It will wipe the grins and stifle the chuckles this jocular-veined story may have evoked. It is no laughing matter for the journalist has made common cause with the three main opponents of the necktie. The three are strikingly different from each, united only by their hatred of the necktie. To begin with, there's the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose fundamentalist rulers have carried on a campaign against the necktie since 1979, when a religious revolution deposed the monarchy of Shah Reza Pahlavi. To them, the necktie is a symbol of decadent western culture that could adversely affect their country's pure Islamic traditions. The Shah was condemned as an agent of western imperialism. After his ouster, the new regime moved to purge Iran of all symbols of the West. A strict dress code was imposed for men and women alike. The necktie was discouraged as an insidious western influence. Bands of revolutionary guards took to patrolling the streets to enforce the Islamic dress code. Even harmless barbers were warned and forbidden to entertain customers with neckties. Then there's the giant internet firm, Google. Its privacy lawyer took up cudgels against the necktie when he wrote to the Financial Times, asserting that the firm had "unofficially" banned the wearing of ties as part of its new privacy policy. The tie, Google's learned counsel averred, "acts as decorative camouflage for the business suit, designed to shield the middle-aged male physique, with its shrinking shoulders and protruding paunch, from feeling sufficiently self-conscious to hit the gym". Incensed by an article written by the newspaper's fashion editor in favour of neckties, the Google lawyer wrote the letter nearly a year ago, just about the time when Iran's aya-tollahs were embark-ing on their crusade, also "unofficial", against the tie. He went on to argue that a necktie cons-tricts circulation to the brain. While the mullahs of Iran came at the tie from their intolerance of the West's decadent culture, the Google official flaunted an attitude that's become a concern in America; it's called health fascism. The difference between Iran's totalitarian state and the health fascism of the emergent "nanny" state in America is just one of degree. In the former, the government wants to protect culture; the latter wants to protect its citizens' health. That is not all. In their bureaucratic way, officials at the European Union headquarters in Brussels also want to ban neckties. Mercifully, they limited their ambit to the summer season. The argument is nevertheless ingenious. They say that by not wearing neckties, men would be cooler in the summer. This would allow them to turn the temperature in their air-conditioned offices up a notch or two. The result: savings of significant proportions. They put a "green" angle on it and suggested that this would help mankind in its mortal combat with global warming. The barbarians are at the gate. Their battering rams are totalitarianism, health fascism and global warming. Straighten your ties, gentlemen, the time has come to take the activists on!
Consumer Confidence Survey - India
Consumer confidence falls by 11 points in India: Survey
Advertisementconfidence in India has fallen by 11 points to 122, the lowest level in the last five runs of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index survey, which measures consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits in 51 countries. Some 42 per cent of the Indian online consumers who took part in the survey believe that their country is currently in an economic recession. Globally, the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index has dropped to 88 – down six points in the last six months and the largest single drop the index has recorded in the last three years. India dropped from 133 points in the last leg of the survey in November 2007 to 122 points. Across countries, the US has suffered the biggest fall in the Confidence Index, dropping 17 points.Overall, Asia Pacific consumers are still amongst the most confident in the world. Five of the global top 10 countries hail from the Asia Pacific and the overall total for the region is one point above the global average. However, for many emerging countries in Asia that have enjoyed the fruits of economic growth and the boom in recent years, the last six months have been a stark wake-up call as consumers find themselves struggling with double-digit inflation, rising unemployment rates and stagflation for the first time in a decade.“The last six months have been a turbulent period for the global economy and this has impacted the growth of the Indian economy as well. The rising crude oil prices, inflation and growing unemployment rates have all diminished consumer spending powers and have in a way shaken the Indian consumer’s confidence,” says Sarang Panchal, managing director, customised research, Greater China and Asia Pacific, The Nielsen Company.However, all is not lost. Despite the drop, India ranked second on The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index, with 122 points, just behind Norway, which scored 129 points. Indian consumers continue to be the most confident in the region, despite posting a dramatic 11 point fall. India is one of the few markets that stand to gain from the grim economic outlook. In recent years, India has established itself as a hub for outsourcing technical and support staff, and as belts in the world’s leading economies tighten, we may well see India’s economy and the confidence of its consumers soar.Portugal, Korea and Japan languished at the bottom of the rankings as the world’s most pessimistic nations. Indians are optimistic about the local job prospects over the next 12 months. At 86 per cent, Indians are the second most optimistic people where the job market is concerned over the next 12 months. Around 26 per cent of the Indian respondents said they considered job prospects in the country “excellent”, while 60 per cent respondents said job prospects were “good”.The promising job prospects over the next 12 months make Indians confident about their personal finances over the same period. Around 12 per cent of the Indian respondents said they considered their state of personal finances to be “excellent”, while 67 per cent said it was “good” in the next 12 months. At 79 per cent in this positive frame of mind, India figures along with Denmark and Indonesia in the list of countries most optimistic about personal finances. “In spite of an alarming inflation rate, India is still a growing economy with the GDP ranging at around 9 per cent. There is still demand for talent in the market and, especially with the entry of various multinational brands, the job market looks lucrative,” explains Panchal. Good job and financial prospects have sufficiently loosened the Indian purse and 45 per cent of the respondents surveyed were optimistic that this was the perfect time to buy things they want or need.Indians are shopping more and buying well known brands as seen in the recent Luxury Brands Survey done by Nielsen, where India figured amongst the top three most brand conscious countries in the world. This shows that good jobs, hefty pay packages and exposure to global lifestyles are pushing the Indian consumer towards luxury items. “So, even when there is an economic recession globally, Indians are splurging and optimistic about their finances,” adds Panchal.Compared to the last leg of the survey, the percentage of people putting their spare cash into savings has increased by 5 per cent and the percentage investing in shares and mutual funds has dropped by 3 per cent. It is interesting that despite a downturn in the economy, concerns about inflation, etc., the percentage of Indian respondents who do not have any spare cash after their monthly essentials have been paid for remains the same – 4 per cent – as in the last leg of the survey. This shows that the majority of Indian consumers have money left even after meeting their essential expenses.Savings are still a priority for Indians and 59 per cent Indians put their spare cash into savings, 48 per cent invest in stocks and mutual funds, this being the fourth highest percentage globally. “Today, Indians are more careful about the financial risks that they want to take. The fluctuating market conditions have curbed risk taking behaviour and made Indian consumers opt for saving, rather than take a chance with their money on the market,” says Panchal.Spending on holidays and vacations has increased by 4 per cent (to 37 points) and shows the growing interest of Indians in travelling and seeing the world. Incidentally, the amount of money spent on home improvement (27 per cent) and new technology (27 per cent) has been impacted by the rising inflation rates and dropped by 3 and 2 percentage points, respectively.Paying off debts/ credit cards/ loans (35 per cent), buying new clothes (34 per cent), out of home entertainment (28 per cent), and retirement fund (22 per cent – fifth highest globally) are other areas where Indians spend their spare cash. The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, conducted by Nielsen Customized Research, was conducted in April 2008 among 28,253 Internet users in 51 markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and West Asia. The survey provides insights into current confidence levels, spending habits/ intentions and the major concerns of consumers across the globe. The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is developed based on consumers’ confidence in the job market, the status of their personal finances and their readiness to spend.
Advertisementconfidence in India has fallen by 11 points to 122, the lowest level in the last five runs of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index survey, which measures consumer confidence, major concerns and spending habits in 51 countries. Some 42 per cent of the Indian online consumers who took part in the survey believe that their country is currently in an economic recession. Globally, the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index has dropped to 88 – down six points in the last six months and the largest single drop the index has recorded in the last three years. India dropped from 133 points in the last leg of the survey in November 2007 to 122 points. Across countries, the US has suffered the biggest fall in the Confidence Index, dropping 17 points.Overall, Asia Pacific consumers are still amongst the most confident in the world. Five of the global top 10 countries hail from the Asia Pacific and the overall total for the region is one point above the global average. However, for many emerging countries in Asia that have enjoyed the fruits of economic growth and the boom in recent years, the last six months have been a stark wake-up call as consumers find themselves struggling with double-digit inflation, rising unemployment rates and stagflation for the first time in a decade.“The last six months have been a turbulent period for the global economy and this has impacted the growth of the Indian economy as well. The rising crude oil prices, inflation and growing unemployment rates have all diminished consumer spending powers and have in a way shaken the Indian consumer’s confidence,” says Sarang Panchal, managing director, customised research, Greater China and Asia Pacific, The Nielsen Company.However, all is not lost. Despite the drop, India ranked second on The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index, with 122 points, just behind Norway, which scored 129 points. Indian consumers continue to be the most confident in the region, despite posting a dramatic 11 point fall. India is one of the few markets that stand to gain from the grim economic outlook. In recent years, India has established itself as a hub for outsourcing technical and support staff, and as belts in the world’s leading economies tighten, we may well see India’s economy and the confidence of its consumers soar.Portugal, Korea and Japan languished at the bottom of the rankings as the world’s most pessimistic nations. Indians are optimistic about the local job prospects over the next 12 months. At 86 per cent, Indians are the second most optimistic people where the job market is concerned over the next 12 months. Around 26 per cent of the Indian respondents said they considered job prospects in the country “excellent”, while 60 per cent respondents said job prospects were “good”.The promising job prospects over the next 12 months make Indians confident about their personal finances over the same period. Around 12 per cent of the Indian respondents said they considered their state of personal finances to be “excellent”, while 67 per cent said it was “good” in the next 12 months. At 79 per cent in this positive frame of mind, India figures along with Denmark and Indonesia in the list of countries most optimistic about personal finances. “In spite of an alarming inflation rate, India is still a growing economy with the GDP ranging at around 9 per cent. There is still demand for talent in the market and, especially with the entry of various multinational brands, the job market looks lucrative,” explains Panchal. Good job and financial prospects have sufficiently loosened the Indian purse and 45 per cent of the respondents surveyed were optimistic that this was the perfect time to buy things they want or need.Indians are shopping more and buying well known brands as seen in the recent Luxury Brands Survey done by Nielsen, where India figured amongst the top three most brand conscious countries in the world. This shows that good jobs, hefty pay packages and exposure to global lifestyles are pushing the Indian consumer towards luxury items. “So, even when there is an economic recession globally, Indians are splurging and optimistic about their finances,” adds Panchal.Compared to the last leg of the survey, the percentage of people putting their spare cash into savings has increased by 5 per cent and the percentage investing in shares and mutual funds has dropped by 3 per cent. It is interesting that despite a downturn in the economy, concerns about inflation, etc., the percentage of Indian respondents who do not have any spare cash after their monthly essentials have been paid for remains the same – 4 per cent – as in the last leg of the survey. This shows that the majority of Indian consumers have money left even after meeting their essential expenses.Savings are still a priority for Indians and 59 per cent Indians put their spare cash into savings, 48 per cent invest in stocks and mutual funds, this being the fourth highest percentage globally. “Today, Indians are more careful about the financial risks that they want to take. The fluctuating market conditions have curbed risk taking behaviour and made Indian consumers opt for saving, rather than take a chance with their money on the market,” says Panchal.Spending on holidays and vacations has increased by 4 per cent (to 37 points) and shows the growing interest of Indians in travelling and seeing the world. Incidentally, the amount of money spent on home improvement (27 per cent) and new technology (27 per cent) has been impacted by the rising inflation rates and dropped by 3 and 2 percentage points, respectively.Paying off debts/ credit cards/ loans (35 per cent), buying new clothes (34 per cent), out of home entertainment (28 per cent), and retirement fund (22 per cent – fifth highest globally) are other areas where Indians spend their spare cash. The Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, conducted by Nielsen Customized Research, was conducted in April 2008 among 28,253 Internet users in 51 markets in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and West Asia. The survey provides insights into current confidence levels, spending habits/ intentions and the major concerns of consumers across the globe. The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is developed based on consumers’ confidence in the job market, the status of their personal finances and their readiness to spend.
Blackboard Jungle - V.G.Read
Vipul Mudgal,Hindustan Times
Early this year in Gurgaon, a tractor pulled up in front of a government school. The driver insisted on seeing the principal. It turns out that the old man had sold his land for an astronomical sum of money and was pleading with the principal to recommend a suitable bride for his school dropout son. His logic: only a well-educated daughter-in-law could save his next generations from vices like drinking, gambling and womanising.
Then there’s a painter who came to work at my house and wanted to begin it only late afternoon. His daughter was appearing for board exams and he had decided to forego half a day’s wages to accompany her to the examination centre.
Such examples show where education figures on India’s aspiration list. Perhaps the illiterate ‘aam admi’ understands its value as well as any of us. Just as middle-class parents make any sacrifice for their children to do well in exams, many parents in slums and villages consider education more important than even nutrition. Never mind if a bulk of these children have to study after a hard day’s work and in between chores. Small mercies include free mid-day meals that bring health and happiness as by-products of school attendance. The moot question remains: is our education system anywhere close to meeting our heightened expectations?
Quantity wise, India has made a vital breakthrough in primary school enrolments. We are set to reach Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets well before 2015. Over 85 per cent children now complete the full course of primary education, according to Unesco 2005 figures. Within the next five years, nine out of 10 children between six and ten years will be in schools. But is there a catch in the numbers?
The enrolment figures draw a rosy picture and lost in the statistics is the rather unnerving quality of education children in rural areas get. Village children in Classes 4-5 often cannot read or write simple sentences or do basic mathematics and their problem-solving abilities are pathetic. By the time they come to the middle level, most either lose interest or are rendered unsuitable for higher classes. According to the latest National Family Health Survey, before they reach 14, attendance drops to 75 per cent and then to 41 per cent in the next three years.
Is there a way to resolve this paradox of high growth, high dropout and low standards? A significant initiative has been taken by one of India’s largest public-private partnership projects, the Annual Status of Education Reports (Rural) or Aser 2007. The report measures what is intended against what is finally delivered. Led by the education NGO Pratham and backed by some of India’s best-known corporate houses, it conducted mid-session checks on reading, writing, learning and arithmetic abilities of over 700,000 children in 16,000 villages with the help of State agencies. The checks included comprehension and problem-solving abilities. According to provisional figures collected from 567 rural districts, about 96 per cent of India’s rural children between six and 14 years go to schools.
And now, the worrisome part. Over 40 per cent children in Class 5 are unable to read Class 2-level text. Although the number has improved by about 5 per cent since 2006, it is ridiculous that such a large number of children progress to the next level without learning basic skills. Nearly 45 per cent of kids enrolled in upper primary classes cannot read their own mother tongue. What can be worse than this? More than 80 per cent of six to eight-year-olds are unable to solve simple problems involving numbers. Over 40 per cent of upper primary kids cannot subtract. In fact, there is hardly any improvement in math-learning abilities over the past three years. Equally dismal are their problem-solving abilities. Over 80 per cent of six to eight-year-olds could not solve simple problems regarding money by subtracting numbers from a sum Rs 50 that they were given.
Parents who sense a problem prefer to send their children to private schools. Unfortunately, the standards are not vastly different there as most of them use the same pool of teachers and rote-learning methods, with the costs being much higher. In about a decade, private schools have more than doubled to almost 20 per cent for junior levels and nearly 25 per cent for middle levels. The number would be a lot higher if we were to include the ubiquitous ‘unrecognised’ schools. In rural areas of many states, up to 40 per cent of all rural children go to private schools.
Another regrettable necessity is private tuitions. In some states, the proportion of government schoolchildren taking private tuitions is as high as 60 per cent. With every higher grade, the use of private tuitions goes up by a percentage point or two even in rural areas. Studies by Pratichi Trust set up by Amartya Sen reveal that private tuitions worsen teaching standards because the relatively affluent — and, therefore, influential — parents settle for tuitions rather than demanding better results in the classrooms.
Unfortunately, the school-inspection system, an old institution for enforcing standards and accountability, has gone from bad to worse in India. The world over, school inspections are central to education policy and they go beyond quality checks. In most developed countries, the inspections are seen as tools of improving teaching standards and learning environments. But in India, the largely vestigial institution is steeped in local power politics. A common occurrence is to report drawbacks and anomalies in a politically correct fashion that defeats the very purpose of checks and balances. On the basis of Pratichi’s experience in rural West Bengal, Sen argues that the issue of quality control in education would reach nowhere without making the system of school inspections effective.
The issues of quality teaching and decent learning environments are directly linked to those of training and attendance of teachers, water, sanitation and teacher-pupil ratios. True, the percentage of schools with no teacher present has gone down from around 4 per cent to below 1 per cent. But schools with all teachers present are still few and far between. Obviously, India’s modest primary education programme is nowhere close to realising its full potential even at low benchmarks.
Studies by Unicef have shown that the lack of clean toilets has a direct link with girls’ drop-out ratios. Unicef projects, in tandem with the Tamil Nadu government, registered a dramatic improvement in attendance of post-puberty girls as soon as clean toilets and incinerators for sanitary napkins were provided at some schools. Based on this experience, the agency has now devised inexpensive toilets for rural schools — although most state government agencies are yet to take notice. For the record, over 25 per cent of India’s rural schools do not have safe drinking water and above 40 per cent lack proper toilets.
India’s impressive school enrolment data could have inadvertently harmed the cause of quality of education. The problem is that the enrolment-focused government agencies are hardly bothered about their customers’ expectations. In fact, so sanguine are some states with the new enrolment data that crucial issues like teaching standards or learning environment are hardly high on the agenda. Now that the aam admi’s expectations have raised the bar and universal primary enrolment looks within reach, we need to develop and share our own best practices of school inspections, community monitoring and social audits of all related services — like meals, water and sanitation — for which government money is being spent.
Early this year in Gurgaon, a tractor pulled up in front of a government school. The driver insisted on seeing the principal. It turns out that the old man had sold his land for an astronomical sum of money and was pleading with the principal to recommend a suitable bride for his school dropout son. His logic: only a well-educated daughter-in-law could save his next generations from vices like drinking, gambling and womanising.
Then there’s a painter who came to work at my house and wanted to begin it only late afternoon. His daughter was appearing for board exams and he had decided to forego half a day’s wages to accompany her to the examination centre.
Such examples show where education figures on India’s aspiration list. Perhaps the illiterate ‘aam admi’ understands its value as well as any of us. Just as middle-class parents make any sacrifice for their children to do well in exams, many parents in slums and villages consider education more important than even nutrition. Never mind if a bulk of these children have to study after a hard day’s work and in between chores. Small mercies include free mid-day meals that bring health and happiness as by-products of school attendance. The moot question remains: is our education system anywhere close to meeting our heightened expectations?
Quantity wise, India has made a vital breakthrough in primary school enrolments. We are set to reach Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets well before 2015. Over 85 per cent children now complete the full course of primary education, according to Unesco 2005 figures. Within the next five years, nine out of 10 children between six and ten years will be in schools. But is there a catch in the numbers?
The enrolment figures draw a rosy picture and lost in the statistics is the rather unnerving quality of education children in rural areas get. Village children in Classes 4-5 often cannot read or write simple sentences or do basic mathematics and their problem-solving abilities are pathetic. By the time they come to the middle level, most either lose interest or are rendered unsuitable for higher classes. According to the latest National Family Health Survey, before they reach 14, attendance drops to 75 per cent and then to 41 per cent in the next three years.
Is there a way to resolve this paradox of high growth, high dropout and low standards? A significant initiative has been taken by one of India’s largest public-private partnership projects, the Annual Status of Education Reports (Rural) or Aser 2007. The report measures what is intended against what is finally delivered. Led by the education NGO Pratham and backed by some of India’s best-known corporate houses, it conducted mid-session checks on reading, writing, learning and arithmetic abilities of over 700,000 children in 16,000 villages with the help of State agencies. The checks included comprehension and problem-solving abilities. According to provisional figures collected from 567 rural districts, about 96 per cent of India’s rural children between six and 14 years go to schools.
And now, the worrisome part. Over 40 per cent children in Class 5 are unable to read Class 2-level text. Although the number has improved by about 5 per cent since 2006, it is ridiculous that such a large number of children progress to the next level without learning basic skills. Nearly 45 per cent of kids enrolled in upper primary classes cannot read their own mother tongue. What can be worse than this? More than 80 per cent of six to eight-year-olds are unable to solve simple problems involving numbers. Over 40 per cent of upper primary kids cannot subtract. In fact, there is hardly any improvement in math-learning abilities over the past three years. Equally dismal are their problem-solving abilities. Over 80 per cent of six to eight-year-olds could not solve simple problems regarding money by subtracting numbers from a sum Rs 50 that they were given.
Parents who sense a problem prefer to send their children to private schools. Unfortunately, the standards are not vastly different there as most of them use the same pool of teachers and rote-learning methods, with the costs being much higher. In about a decade, private schools have more than doubled to almost 20 per cent for junior levels and nearly 25 per cent for middle levels. The number would be a lot higher if we were to include the ubiquitous ‘unrecognised’ schools. In rural areas of many states, up to 40 per cent of all rural children go to private schools.
Another regrettable necessity is private tuitions. In some states, the proportion of government schoolchildren taking private tuitions is as high as 60 per cent. With every higher grade, the use of private tuitions goes up by a percentage point or two even in rural areas. Studies by Pratichi Trust set up by Amartya Sen reveal that private tuitions worsen teaching standards because the relatively affluent — and, therefore, influential — parents settle for tuitions rather than demanding better results in the classrooms.
Unfortunately, the school-inspection system, an old institution for enforcing standards and accountability, has gone from bad to worse in India. The world over, school inspections are central to education policy and they go beyond quality checks. In most developed countries, the inspections are seen as tools of improving teaching standards and learning environments. But in India, the largely vestigial institution is steeped in local power politics. A common occurrence is to report drawbacks and anomalies in a politically correct fashion that defeats the very purpose of checks and balances. On the basis of Pratichi’s experience in rural West Bengal, Sen argues that the issue of quality control in education would reach nowhere without making the system of school inspections effective.
The issues of quality teaching and decent learning environments are directly linked to those of training and attendance of teachers, water, sanitation and teacher-pupil ratios. True, the percentage of schools with no teacher present has gone down from around 4 per cent to below 1 per cent. But schools with all teachers present are still few and far between. Obviously, India’s modest primary education programme is nowhere close to realising its full potential even at low benchmarks.
Studies by Unicef have shown that the lack of clean toilets has a direct link with girls’ drop-out ratios. Unicef projects, in tandem with the Tamil Nadu government, registered a dramatic improvement in attendance of post-puberty girls as soon as clean toilets and incinerators for sanitary napkins were provided at some schools. Based on this experience, the agency has now devised inexpensive toilets for rural schools — although most state government agencies are yet to take notice. For the record, over 25 per cent of India’s rural schools do not have safe drinking water and above 40 per cent lack proper toilets.
India’s impressive school enrolment data could have inadvertently harmed the cause of quality of education. The problem is that the enrolment-focused government agencies are hardly bothered about their customers’ expectations. In fact, so sanguine are some states with the new enrolment data that crucial issues like teaching standards or learning environment are hardly high on the agenda. Now that the aam admi’s expectations have raised the bar and universal primary enrolment looks within reach, we need to develop and share our own best practices of school inspections, community monitoring and social audits of all related services — like meals, water and sanitation — for which government money is being spent.
New Barcode in UP
The Hindustan Times Column
The Uttar Pradesh administration is building the world’s biggest jail in Lucknow with state-of-the-art security systems, double-storied barracks (of course, the air-conditioners would have to be fitted by the inmates), a gym and a hygienic central kitchen. We are not surprised that it is being built in Lucknow, more so in UP. To appreciate such an expensive facility, it will need a steady supply of inmates, not the small fry, but the real biggies (they lovingly call them ‘Don’ in UP). And which place can ensure a steady stream without fail year after year?
Spread over 200 acres, the prison will have a capacity of 3,000 inmates. We are sure that the administration is also thinking about mobile connectivity inside the prison, considering that the high net worth individuals, who would possibly grace the cells, will need uninterrupted service; after all, their businesses can’t just come to a halt because they are cooling their heels somewhere.
There is yet another reason that makes Lucknow the right choice. And, that’s got to do with climate change. Since some of the future guests at the facility could be current or former inhabitants of the Assembly, the government would save on transportation costs because the jail would be just on the city’s borders. Less fuel consumption in these inflation-hit times would mean less greenhouse gases. Now, the only question is who will be the first VIP guest of the new facility.
The Uttar Pradesh administration is building the world’s biggest jail in Lucknow with state-of-the-art security systems, double-storied barracks (of course, the air-conditioners would have to be fitted by the inmates), a gym and a hygienic central kitchen. We are not surprised that it is being built in Lucknow, more so in UP. To appreciate such an expensive facility, it will need a steady supply of inmates, not the small fry, but the real biggies (they lovingly call them ‘Don’ in UP). And which place can ensure a steady stream without fail year after year?
Spread over 200 acres, the prison will have a capacity of 3,000 inmates. We are sure that the administration is also thinking about mobile connectivity inside the prison, considering that the high net worth individuals, who would possibly grace the cells, will need uninterrupted service; after all, their businesses can’t just come to a halt because they are cooling their heels somewhere.
There is yet another reason that makes Lucknow the right choice. And, that’s got to do with climate change. Since some of the future guests at the facility could be current or former inhabitants of the Assembly, the government would save on transportation costs because the jail would be just on the city’s borders. Less fuel consumption in these inflation-hit times would mean less greenhouse gases. Now, the only question is who will be the first VIP guest of the new facility.
This evening,the lords return to LORD's -SG
The Sunny Gavaskar Column
Every year for over a century, the annual conference of the ICC is held at the Long Room at Lord’s. Several meetings, of which the chief executives’ meeting is one, precede the conference. Last year around the same time, after the chief executive’s committee meeting, I was leaving the venue, which is next to the Long Room, and found a table-plan for that evening’s charity dinner laid out. Going through the list I found there were some famous names who were to attend the dinner and as I checked the date I realized it was around the time when India won the World Cup 24 years earlier.
It struck me that it would be fantastic to celebrate the silver jubilee of that stupendous win with a dinner at the Long Room where we had won the Cup.
It took a few days to ascertain if there was a Test, one-dayer or even a county fixture on that day for in that case the Long Room would not have been available. Fortunately, no game was scheduled and being a member of the MCC, I immediately booked the room. The idea was to have a reunion of the team that stunned the world and changed the way the world looked at Indian cricket.
When I broached the subject to Vijay Mallya, he said it was a great day for Indian cricket and he would ensure his company celebrated it in an appropriate manner. After that assurance, there was nothing left to do but to simply let go and enjoy and that is what the team is going to do on Wednesday night.
It will be an evening to remember, as it will take us down memory lane and relive some of those moments that changed our lives and gave us the affection of the country’s sports followers. That is our greatest reward for no amount of money can buy the affection of the people. Just seeing the smiles when they recollect the match is priceless and it humbles all of us that people we didn’t know were praying for us and egging us on, albeit silently, in the final.
Even now, whenever the highlights are replayed, the mind still boggles at the ball which Balwinder Sandhu bowled to dismiss Gordon Greenidge and the catch that Kapil Dev took to get rid of Viv Richards when the great man was looking to finish the game early all by himself. Not many talk about the catch that Syed Kirmani took to dismiss Faoud Bacchus, who was looking to build a partnership with the lower-order batsmen, and then Jimmy Amarnath’s swing that got rid of the dangerous duo of Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall and finally trapped Michael Holding in front of the stumps. As the ball ricocheted off Holding’s pads I instinctively ran towards it to prevent a leg bye. Dickie Bird’s raised finger meant that I had to do the fastest sprint of my life towards the safety of the dressing room. The ball tucked in my pocket is now my most prized cricketing possession.
When we batted on a greenish pitch, the ball hardly met the bat and I remember taking a leg bye and coming towards Joel Garner, with whom I had shared a flat playing for Somerset in 1980, and saying plaintively, “How about a half volley for your flatmate?” The reply with that famous smile was, “No maan, this is the World Cup final.” Then Srikkanth cut loose even and the six and the ferocious square cut gave us hope that the pitch had eased out. It hadn’t. It was simply Srikkanth’s eye that had got him into position quickly.
Jimmy showed the guts and courage he had displayed earlier in the year when he had batted splendidly against the West Indian pace battery.
Yashpal Sharma and Kapil perished trying to milk the part time spin of Larry Gomes for he was the only bowler off whom runs seem to be gettable. It was a forlorn dressing room and then came the spark that gave us a bit of a lift.
Sandhu cover drove for four and Kiri showed such spirit. Marshall crashing a bouncer into Sandhu’s helmet may have evoked a few smiles but it also brought forth that here was a bowler risking serious injury to add a few precious runs for the team. Before leaving the dressing room, Kapil said we had to defend the meagre total and give it our all. We did. The rest is history.
Sunil Gavaskar 1983 World Cup member, On the famous reunion
Every year for over a century, the annual conference of the ICC is held at the Long Room at Lord’s. Several meetings, of which the chief executives’ meeting is one, precede the conference. Last year around the same time, after the chief executive’s committee meeting, I was leaving the venue, which is next to the Long Room, and found a table-plan for that evening’s charity dinner laid out. Going through the list I found there were some famous names who were to attend the dinner and as I checked the date I realized it was around the time when India won the World Cup 24 years earlier.
It struck me that it would be fantastic to celebrate the silver jubilee of that stupendous win with a dinner at the Long Room where we had won the Cup.
It took a few days to ascertain if there was a Test, one-dayer or even a county fixture on that day for in that case the Long Room would not have been available. Fortunately, no game was scheduled and being a member of the MCC, I immediately booked the room. The idea was to have a reunion of the team that stunned the world and changed the way the world looked at Indian cricket.
When I broached the subject to Vijay Mallya, he said it was a great day for Indian cricket and he would ensure his company celebrated it in an appropriate manner. After that assurance, there was nothing left to do but to simply let go and enjoy and that is what the team is going to do on Wednesday night.
It will be an evening to remember, as it will take us down memory lane and relive some of those moments that changed our lives and gave us the affection of the country’s sports followers. That is our greatest reward for no amount of money can buy the affection of the people. Just seeing the smiles when they recollect the match is priceless and it humbles all of us that people we didn’t know were praying for us and egging us on, albeit silently, in the final.
Even now, whenever the highlights are replayed, the mind still boggles at the ball which Balwinder Sandhu bowled to dismiss Gordon Greenidge and the catch that Kapil Dev took to get rid of Viv Richards when the great man was looking to finish the game early all by himself. Not many talk about the catch that Syed Kirmani took to dismiss Faoud Bacchus, who was looking to build a partnership with the lower-order batsmen, and then Jimmy Amarnath’s swing that got rid of the dangerous duo of Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall and finally trapped Michael Holding in front of the stumps. As the ball ricocheted off Holding’s pads I instinctively ran towards it to prevent a leg bye. Dickie Bird’s raised finger meant that I had to do the fastest sprint of my life towards the safety of the dressing room. The ball tucked in my pocket is now my most prized cricketing possession.
When we batted on a greenish pitch, the ball hardly met the bat and I remember taking a leg bye and coming towards Joel Garner, with whom I had shared a flat playing for Somerset in 1980, and saying plaintively, “How about a half volley for your flatmate?” The reply with that famous smile was, “No maan, this is the World Cup final.” Then Srikkanth cut loose even and the six and the ferocious square cut gave us hope that the pitch had eased out. It hadn’t. It was simply Srikkanth’s eye that had got him into position quickly.
Jimmy showed the guts and courage he had displayed earlier in the year when he had batted splendidly against the West Indian pace battery.
Yashpal Sharma and Kapil perished trying to milk the part time spin of Larry Gomes for he was the only bowler off whom runs seem to be gettable. It was a forlorn dressing room and then came the spark that gave us a bit of a lift.
Sandhu cover drove for four and Kiri showed such spirit. Marshall crashing a bouncer into Sandhu’s helmet may have evoked a few smiles but it also brought forth that here was a bowler risking serious injury to add a few precious runs for the team. Before leaving the dressing room, Kapil said we had to defend the meagre total and give it our all. We did. The rest is history.
Sunil Gavaskar 1983 World Cup member, On the famous reunion
Poor India makes fastest millionaires
Times of India Column
WASHINGTON: India, with the world's largest population of poor people living on less than a dollar a day, also paradoxically created millionaires at the fastest pace in the world in 2007 even though the world grew such "high net worth individuals (HNWIs)" at the slowest pace in four years. Growing them at a blistering pace of 22.7 per cent, India added another 23,000 more millionaires in 2007 to its 2006 tally of 100,000 millionaires measured in dollars, according to an annual Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini report that weighs such financial information for its wealth and asset management purposes. In contrast, developmental agencies put the number of subsistence level Indians living on less than a dollar a day at 350 million and those living on less than $ 2 a day at 700 million. In other words, for every millionaire, India has about 7000 impoverished people. While India's HNWI population growth of 22.7 per cent in 2007 exceeded China's 20.3 per cent and its own 2006 gains of 20.5 in 2006, it was still way below its giant neighbour in absolute number of millionaires. China counted nearly 500,000 HNWIs. Overall, the numbers of millionaires (not counting home values in their assets) in the world grew at 9.4 per cent and crossed the 10 million mark for the first time. The United States, despite its economic woes, led the pack of Richie Rich's with more than three million millionaires, i.e., one in every three millionaires in the world lives in America. The combined wealth of the globe's millionaires grew to nearly $41 trillion last year, which means their average wealth was more than $4 million, the highest it's ever been. In measuring the millionaire mob in India, the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini report looked at metrics for the year 2007, which means it did not take into account the precipitous stock market slide that has wiped out nearly a third of the market value in 2008. "India led the world in HNWI population growth at 22.7 percent, driven by market capitalization growth of 118 percent and real GDP growth of 7.9 percent. Although India's real GDP growth decelerated from 9.4 percent in 2006, current levels are considered more stable and sustainable," the report observed. It also ranked India's two largest exchanges – the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange – among the world's top 12 exchanges by end of 2007, "with growth rates of 122% and 115% respectively....that were boosted by initial public offering markets and heightened international interest." Explaining the faster rate of growth of millionaires in India than in China, the report suggests that as market capitalization and real GDP in China were spread over a larger population, there were smaller per capita gains in China. In 2006, India had a larger market capitalization growth than gross national income, significantly impacting HNWI population growth. In addition, it said, China is currently experiencing explosive growth in its "mass affluent" population, which has yet to break the HNWI threshold of US$1million. The observation also suggests China is having greater equitable growth than India.
WASHINGTON: India, with the world's largest population of poor people living on less than a dollar a day, also paradoxically created millionaires at the fastest pace in the world in 2007 even though the world grew such "high net worth individuals (HNWIs)" at the slowest pace in four years. Growing them at a blistering pace of 22.7 per cent, India added another 23,000 more millionaires in 2007 to its 2006 tally of 100,000 millionaires measured in dollars, according to an annual Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini report that weighs such financial information for its wealth and asset management purposes. In contrast, developmental agencies put the number of subsistence level Indians living on less than a dollar a day at 350 million and those living on less than $ 2 a day at 700 million. In other words, for every millionaire, India has about 7000 impoverished people. While India's HNWI population growth of 22.7 per cent in 2007 exceeded China's 20.3 per cent and its own 2006 gains of 20.5 in 2006, it was still way below its giant neighbour in absolute number of millionaires. China counted nearly 500,000 HNWIs. Overall, the numbers of millionaires (not counting home values in their assets) in the world grew at 9.4 per cent and crossed the 10 million mark for the first time. The United States, despite its economic woes, led the pack of Richie Rich's with more than three million millionaires, i.e., one in every three millionaires in the world lives in America. The combined wealth of the globe's millionaires grew to nearly $41 trillion last year, which means their average wealth was more than $4 million, the highest it's ever been. In measuring the millionaire mob in India, the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini report looked at metrics for the year 2007, which means it did not take into account the precipitous stock market slide that has wiped out nearly a third of the market value in 2008. "India led the world in HNWI population growth at 22.7 percent, driven by market capitalization growth of 118 percent and real GDP growth of 7.9 percent. Although India's real GDP growth decelerated from 9.4 percent in 2006, current levels are considered more stable and sustainable," the report observed. It also ranked India's two largest exchanges – the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange – among the world's top 12 exchanges by end of 2007, "with growth rates of 122% and 115% respectively....that were boosted by initial public offering markets and heightened international interest." Explaining the faster rate of growth of millionaires in India than in China, the report suggests that as market capitalization and real GDP in China were spread over a larger population, there were smaller per capita gains in China. In 2006, India had a larger market capitalization growth than gross national income, significantly impacting HNWI population growth. In addition, it said, China is currently experiencing explosive growth in its "mass affluent" population, which has yet to break the HNWI threshold of US$1million. The observation also suggests China is having greater equitable growth than India.
Anaesthesia causes post surgery pain
CHICAGO: General anaesthesia during surgery may increase a patient's pain after they regain consciousness, US researchers said on Monday. They said "noxious" anesthesia drugs, which include most of those used in general anesthesia, sensitize nerves that sense pain and cause inflammation. "The choice of the anaesthesia may be a contributing factor to post-surgical pain and inflammation," said Gerard Ahern of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, whose study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ahern said doctors have known for some time that anaesthesia drugs can cause pain at the injection site or in the lungs, and anesthesiologists often administer drugs first to dull that pain. "That was thought to be a temporary thing," Ahern said. Ahern and colleagues suspected that the noxious chemicals in most general anesthetics were acting on two specific sites on nerve cells known as TRPV1 and TRPA1. Both are involved in sensing pain from irritants in plants, like wasabi. In lab experiments, they found that TRPA1 — more commonly known as the mustard oil receptor — becomes activated when exposed to noxious anesthetics. "It's a major pain receptor on peripheral nerves," Ahern said. "When they are activated they cause burning pain." To see if TRPA1 was involved, they tested the drugs on mice genetically engineered to lack the TRPA1 gene and found they showed no pain when the drugs were used, unlike normal animals.
300 varieties of mango in One Tree
LUCKNOW: Toss the word 'mango man' in Malihabad, it would refer to Haji Kalimullah Khan.
His rare technique of growing more than 300 varieties of mangoes of different shapes, sizes and hues on one tree has helped him get Padma Sri recently.
When Khan talks about the variety of mangoes grown by him in his orchards in the renowned 'dussehri' belt in Malihabad, it seems that he is fondly referring to his family members.
Khan's prized tree is about 100 years old on which he started work in 1987 to develop the craft of growing different varieties on one tree.
He has named the mangoes on this particular tree after his family members who also were mango growers, he said.
Khan who had put in about 50 years of efforts on mango growing has lately developed five new varieties of mangoes.
He is, however, excited about a "most delicate" and "graceful" looking latest variety which he has named as "Aishwarya" as it reminds him of Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai.
"It were the children in the family who on seeing the new variety remarked that it resembles the actress in its colour and grace," Khan said.
Among his most precious creations is a tree in the Mughal Garden at the Rashtrapati Bhawan flowering 54 varieties.
The ten-foot tall tree, having six-foot-long root, was dug out not with the help of axe or spade but by water currents and transported from the orchid to Delhi in five quintiles of mud in 1999 as a present to the then president, Khan said.
The craft developed by him has become a mystery for researchers and agriculturists from the country and abroad who have been left baffled by his work.
The sexagenarian who also finds mention in Limca Book of records for growing the rare tree has the support of his sons in keeping the tradition alive.
Among his regular visitors is the Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar who had in 2006 named three of his varieties as Nayantara, Nargis and Jahanara, his son Nazimullah Khan said.
Khan has also cultivated a new variety of all season flowering guava which on ripening grows as red as apple.
His rare technique of growing more than 300 varieties of mangoes of different shapes, sizes and hues on one tree has helped him get Padma Sri recently.
When Khan talks about the variety of mangoes grown by him in his orchards in the renowned 'dussehri' belt in Malihabad, it seems that he is fondly referring to his family members.
Khan's prized tree is about 100 years old on which he started work in 1987 to develop the craft of growing different varieties on one tree.
He has named the mangoes on this particular tree after his family members who also were mango growers, he said.
Khan who had put in about 50 years of efforts on mango growing has lately developed five new varieties of mangoes.
He is, however, excited about a "most delicate" and "graceful" looking latest variety which he has named as "Aishwarya" as it reminds him of Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai.
"It were the children in the family who on seeing the new variety remarked that it resembles the actress in its colour and grace," Khan said.
Among his most precious creations is a tree in the Mughal Garden at the Rashtrapati Bhawan flowering 54 varieties.
The ten-foot tall tree, having six-foot-long root, was dug out not with the help of axe or spade but by water currents and transported from the orchid to Delhi in five quintiles of mud in 1999 as a present to the then president, Khan said.
The craft developed by him has become a mystery for researchers and agriculturists from the country and abroad who have been left baffled by his work.
The sexagenarian who also finds mention in Limca Book of records for growing the rare tree has the support of his sons in keeping the tradition alive.
Among his regular visitors is the Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeswar who had in 2006 named three of his varieties as Nayantara, Nargis and Jahanara, his son Nazimullah Khan said.
Khan has also cultivated a new variety of all season flowering guava which on ripening grows as red as apple.
Bottle of Champagne in my Kitbag - Kapil Dev
If 1983 is ever mentioned in passing, whether in connection with a birthday, anniversary or graduation, my mind goes back to only one event — the World Cup! It seems that only a few years have passed since that amazing day, but unbelievably, twenty-five years have gone by. As individuals, we are so much more mature now and have opened up a lot. But back in 1983, we could not share as much with each other as we can today.
Those three weeks in June were the golden period of my life and will always remain so. The mere fact that Sunil Gavaskar has organized a celebration goes to show how much it means to each of us even today. We want to be together to celebrate.
When we began the tournament, all we had was enthusiasm and optimism and decided to take a step at a time, with the initial target being to reach the semifinals. What turned out to be a blessing was the fact that we were coming off a tour of the West Indies, and what’s more, had beaten them in the series. It was the first time they had lost to a visiting team on home soil. In the opening match of the World Cup, we again beat the West Indies, which was a tremendous confidence booster. From there on, we went match by match and the rest is history.
On the morning of the final I told myself, whatever the result, we must celebrate. We were the underdogs and no one had expected us to reach the final, but we proved everyone wrong. Though the desire to win was overwhelming, the fact that we were pitted against the two-time world champions was larger-than-life. Irrespective of the outcome, we were already winners and I had put a bottle of champagne in my kitbag.
There are few memories that are firmly entrenched in my mind — Balwinder Singh Sandhu getting Gordon Greenidge, Sandeep Patil’s four fours against Bob Willis at Old Trafford, Srikkanth square driving Garner at Lord’s, and the most memorable of them all, umpire Dickie Bird raising his finger to declare Michael Holding leg before.
I am glad to see that our team of 1983 is in good health and each member has done well for himself in the last 25 years. God willing, we should be together for the golden jubilee celebration as well.
Those three weeks in June were the golden period of my life and will always remain so. The mere fact that Sunil Gavaskar has organized a celebration goes to show how much it means to each of us even today. We want to be together to celebrate.
When we began the tournament, all we had was enthusiasm and optimism and decided to take a step at a time, with the initial target being to reach the semifinals. What turned out to be a blessing was the fact that we were coming off a tour of the West Indies, and what’s more, had beaten them in the series. It was the first time they had lost to a visiting team on home soil. In the opening match of the World Cup, we again beat the West Indies, which was a tremendous confidence booster. From there on, we went match by match and the rest is history.
On the morning of the final I told myself, whatever the result, we must celebrate. We were the underdogs and no one had expected us to reach the final, but we proved everyone wrong. Though the desire to win was overwhelming, the fact that we were pitted against the two-time world champions was larger-than-life. Irrespective of the outcome, we were already winners and I had put a bottle of champagne in my kitbag.
There are few memories that are firmly entrenched in my mind — Balwinder Singh Sandhu getting Gordon Greenidge, Sandeep Patil’s four fours against Bob Willis at Old Trafford, Srikkanth square driving Garner at Lord’s, and the most memorable of them all, umpire Dickie Bird raising his finger to declare Michael Holding leg before.
I am glad to see that our team of 1983 is in good health and each member has done well for himself in the last 25 years. God willing, we should be together for the golden jubilee celebration as well.
Fun Read !
One day I met a sweet gentleman and fell in love. When it became apparent that we would marry, I made the supreme sacrifice and gave up eating beans.
Some months later, on my birthday, my car broke down on the way home from work. Since I lived in the countryside, I called my husband and told him that I would be late because I had to walk home. On my way, I passed by a small diner and the odour of baked beans was more than I could stand.
With miles to walk, I figured that I would walk off any ill effects by the time I reached home, so I stopped at the dinner and before I knew it, I had consumed three large orders of baked beans.
All the way home, I made sure that I released all the gas. Upon my arrival, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly: "Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight." He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call. The baked beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming most unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go. It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a pulpwood mill.
I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other cheek, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than stinking cabbage. Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable. When eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself. My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long.
He asked me if I had peeked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not. At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table chorused: "Happy Birthday!" I nearly died
Some months later, on my birthday, my car broke down on the way home from work. Since I lived in the countryside, I called my husband and told him that I would be late because I had to walk home. On my way, I passed by a small diner and the odour of baked beans was more than I could stand.
With miles to walk, I figured that I would walk off any ill effects by the time I reached home, so I stopped at the dinner and before I knew it, I had consumed three large orders of baked beans.
All the way home, I made sure that I released all the gas. Upon my arrival, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly: "Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight." He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call. The baked beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming most unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go. It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a pulpwood mill.
I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other cheek, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than stinking cabbage. Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable. When eventually the telephone farewells signaled the end of my freedom, I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself. My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long.
He asked me if I had peeked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not. At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table chorused: "Happy Birthday!" I nearly died