Showing posts with label iipm arindam chaudhuri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iipm arindam chaudhuri. Show all posts

Monday, October 08, 2012

Wealth Creation or Crony Capitalism?

from nano to sezs; from aviation to telecom, india inc. is a tale of state patronage

Some time during 1998, the media went into a tizzy. For the unthinkable had happened. First, the Delhi Police raided the office and residence of the Group President of Reliance Industries Ltd. V. Balasubramaniam. There were allegations that Balasubramaniam (or Baalu as the legendary lobbyist of the late Dhirubhai Ambani was famously known) had ‘violated’ the Official Secrets Act. Then again, officials of CBI raided the office of Reliance at Nariman Point in Bombay and even the fabled residence of the Ambanis called Sea Wind. All sorts of rumours flew thick and fast at that time. There were dark whispers that Baalu was in trouble because someone finally had the guts to nail him for getting access to the Union Budget even before it was presented to the Parliament. Most business journalists presumed that to be true; even though the allegations have never been proven. More than the raids, it was the political context of the time that had raised eyebrows across all and sundry. A government led by the BJP with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister was ruling India. Hacks, lobbyists and pundits were writing and talking extensively about how the rise and rise of the BJP and the decline and fall of the Congress had dealt a crippling blow to the ‘connections’ that Dhirubhai Ambani could boast of in New Delhi. Many had thought that the salad days of Reliance Industries, when it comes to getting ‘favourable’ back door benefits from the government at the centre were over.

They were conclusively proven wrong. It was under a BJP-led government in 2001 when Reliance made a classic back door entry into the mobile telephony sector of India – without a valid license! Mobile phone service providers like Bharti cried foul and loudly complained against this unfair treatment and asked for a level playing field. The matter went to the Supreme Court and Reliance was effectively given a back dated license after it agreed to pay a license fee. Then again in 2008, rivals cried foul when Reliance Communications, now led by Anil Ambani, was given licenses for launching GSM services across India. This time under the UPA government, but as we said, that debate is no longer relevant.

For some things never do change in India and for India Inc.!

When it comes to covering India Inc., the media has clear perceptions about entrepreneurs and business houses. It is taken for granted that the Ambanis are unmatched when it comes to ‘managing’ the environment in North and South Block. Of course, the Ambanis are also admired for the ‘wealth creating’ skills; but there is always that touch of cynicism when one mentions their name in the list of India’s top business houses. But no such sniggers are heard when it comes to discussing ‘clean companies’ like Infosys and business houses like the Tatas.

Unfortunately, like most perceptions, these pre-conceived notions are merely manufactured myths. The reality is: everybody takes advantage of ‘State’ patronage to create an aura of entrepreneurship and innovation. Take India’s most respected business house Tata. When Ratan Tata unveiled the dream car Nano in January, 2008 in New Delhi, the media went simply hysterical. Even the foreign media, which is usually condescending towards most things Indian, lauded the Nano as a modern day marvel. So hyped was the coverage that you would think Ratan Tata might get the Nobel Prize for leading a team of innovators that could make a car for less than Rs.1 lakh.

Amidst all this, someone like Mamta Banerjee was branded a spoilsport as she was protesting the acquisition of land in Singur in West Bengal for the Nano factory. Bristling when some media outlets gathered the guts to say that the manner in which Tata Motors was acquiring land would sully the good name of Tatas, Ratan Tata made a melodramatic statement to a TV channel: “ If I believe that we were doing something wrong, then I will be the first one to pull out… You put a gun on my head and pull the trigger or take the gun away, I won’t move my head.” Move he did. Both his head and Tata Motors’ factory moved lock stock and barrel from West Bengal to Gujarat. But even as it was shifting base, Tata Motors approached the Calcutta High Court requesting an order to stop the Right to Information Commission from revealing details about the tacit agreement it signed with the West Bengal government.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face


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Saturday, October 06, 2012

Can Ratan Tata Salvage his Nano Dream?

The Small Wonder has been Struggling to Match The Demands of its Target Group after The Settlement of the Initial Hype. The Storm is over. B&E gives a Detailed Analysis of The Past Issues and The Future that Lies Ahead for The Nano

Though the small nano uses less gasoline than many larger cars, the enormous potential numbers could mean an equally enormous environmental impact, an exponential rise in carbon emissions as well as other kinds of pollutants. The United Nations’ top climate scientist, Indian economist Rajendra Pachauri has said he is already “having nightmares” about precisely this scenario

”This was a prominent blogger writing soon after the launch of the Nano in January 2008

And of course, there was the brouhaha over the traffic jams, the pressure on Indian roads and what not. I remember my Editor-in-Chief Arindam being slightly baffled by the extraordinary hype generated in Indian as well as global media in January 2008 when a proud and beaming Ratan Tata wowed everyone by saying “A Promise is a Promise” while unveiling the Nano at the Auto Fair. The promise he was referring to was the one to keep the price of Nano at Rs.1 Lakh(0.1 million). Arindam was baffled because he was perhaps the only person who had written a stinging article in 2007 lambasting Tata and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya for the ugly mess at Singur, the original site chosen for the Nano factory. He had also logically argued how and why a Rs.1 Lakh(0.1 million) car was actually a chimera. Of course, not many alleged pundits of corporate India paid much attention back then. I remember journalists – who otherwise display better sense on some rare occasions – forecasting that Indians will buy more than 1 million Nanos a year very soon.

Sooner or later, reality has a nasty habit of catching up with hype. In early October this year, I sent a fairly long SMS to the Editor-in-Chief basically saying that it is perhaps time for a big story on the Nano since there were persistent and unflattering reports about the actual volume of sales of the Nano. In my SMS, I pointed out that July 2010 was the best month ever for the Nano with sales of 9,000 units. And sales started heading south after that – even though the Indian auto industry was in the midst of an unprecedented boom. We both agreed that it was time for an analytical story on the seemingly inexplicable inability of Tata Motors to increase volume sales of the Nano despite the hype around the brand.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Friday, October 05, 2012

Indian B-Schools might fall short

Indian B-Schools are Facing an Acute Crisis of a Faculty Crunch and if Steps On War Footing are not Undertaken, Indian B-Schools might fall short of their Own Quality Benchmarks Themselves

When I teach “reverse innovation’, that is the idea I created. Therefore, I am going to teach it at a level of depth, which may not be possible for someone who reads my article and teaches from it” says Govindarajan. When Honourable Union Minister for HRD, Kapil Sibal, wrote the cover story in our sister publication The Sunday Indian this year, the dearth of faculty and the lack of focus on research were two of the key critical structural issues he brought out. And the issue is recognised not just at the high forums. When B&E stretched across India, educationists far and wide realised the issue. From professors like Deepa Shimpy (Professor at Symbiosis Centre for Distant Learning, Pune) to faculties like Prof. Krishnaswamy, Dean of Social Science for Higher Studies, Christ College, Bengaluru, the issue that top academicians shared with us was similar – the quantity and quality of faculty has gone down phenomenally since the coming up of many management institutions in India.

As per National Knowledge Commission, “The number of researchers in India was 112 per million inhabitants compared to 633 in China and 4,374 in the USA in 2002. The growth in the number of doctorates has only been a modest 20% in India during 1991-2001 compared to 85% in China during the same period.” And since it is mandatory in almost all top institutions in every field in India to hire only PhDs for the position of permanent faculty, the faculty crunch becomes inevitable. Secondly, the single biggest factor that B-schools in India do not have the requisite number of quality faculty is because of the fact that the investment in R&D in Indian institutes of higher learning is abysmally low and is thus, a deterrent to students going for PhDs and also for PhDs entering the teaching profession. In fact, as per a statistic, not even 1% of the MBAs go on to be doctorates in India. A May 2008 Assocham survey of 258 faculty members of B-schools revealed that 89% of the respondents were unable to state the country’s GDP growth rate in 2006-07, and less than 10% were aware of the subprime crisis in USA.

However, with the Foreign Universities Bill to be tabled in the parliament soon, the faculty crunch problem could be tackled with an iron hand as the setting up of foreign university campuses in India will bring many more NRI and PIO professors from B-schools in the West to India. But it’s high time that B-schools realise that however strong one’s course contents might be, until and unless the deliverer (nee, the Professor) is competent, the message simply doesn’t get across. Institutions and most importantly the government has to tackle this issue right here, right now.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 10, 2012

Missing the Multiplier

Independent India has seen the MSME sector grow by leaps and bounds and is proving to be the most promising and reliable sector for job creation and poverty alleviation in India. Despite an elaborate and dynamic policy framework, the road to the next level for MSMEs continues to be hindered largely due to the lack of adequate and timely credit.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector is widely considered to be the engine of the Indian economy. Constituting over 80% of the total number of industrial enterprises, it serves as the backbone of the nation’s industrial development. However, since independence, it has been suffering from some fundamental problems (poor credit availability, low level of technology, less skilled manpower, low production capacity and others), which have been the major roadblocks in its endeavour to scale up.

Globally considered as the driver of all economies (developed & developing) and a medium for promoting equitable development, SMEs in India contribute significantly to the manufacturing output, employment and exports of the country. According to the 4th All India Census by GoI, Ministry of MSME, it is estimated that in terms of value, the sector contributes 45% to manufacturing output and 40% to total exports. The sector is an umbrella for around 30 million units (both registered and unregistered in both manufacturing and service enterprises) and is the biggest employment provider after agriculture; providing employment to 59 million people (2006-07), which is supposed to grow to around 70 million by 2010. Producing more than 8000 products for national and international markets, SMEs’ contribution to India’s GDP has risen three-folds from 6.04% in 2000-2001 to 17% in 2009-10, and is expected to reach 22% by 2012.

Of all the problems faced by MSMEs, non-availability of timely and adequate credit at reasonable interest rates is the most significant. Despite its commendable contribution to the nation’s economy, SMEs do not get the required support from the concerned government departments, banks, financial institutions and corporates, which hampers its competitiveness in the national and international markets. One of the major causes for low availability of bank finance is the high risk perception of the banks in lending to SMEs and consequent insistence on collaterals (despite strict RBI guidelines not to insist upon collateral against a loan), which are not easily available with these enterprises. Manas Kumar Nag, CGM-SME, SBI, adds another perspective to the problem, “Generally, SMEs coming for loans are not aware of their financial position, which leads to lack of transparency and hesitation from our side.” The problem is most acute for micro enterprises and first generation entrepreneurs requiring small loans. Let us look at the options that are available to them.

In the year 2000, the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGMSE) was launched by the Government of India to provide collateral-free credit and strengthen the funding system to facilitate smooth flow of credit to the SME sector. To operationalise the scheme, GoI and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) jointly set up the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE). Both the existing and the new enterprises were eligible to be covered under the scheme. Under this scheme, the lender should give importance to project viability and the borrower should avail the credit facility purely on the primary security of the assets financed. The Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) reassures the lender that, in case of any default by the unit that availed collateral free credit facilities, the Guarantee Trust would reimburse the loss incurred by the lender up to 80 to 85% of the credit facility.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

G’FIVE INTERNATIONAL LTD.: STRATEGIES ADOPTED AND THE FUTURE

It took time to come to India. But now that it’s here, the firm is giving nightmares to leading brands in the Indian handset market. What has made G’Five click? Critically, will it become the #2 soon? 

Clearly, G’Five is not an underdog anymore. It is not just another name in the crowd, despite the fact that there are 35 manufacturing vendors in the market today (a rise in count of 600% since January 2008). G’Five has very scientifically chosen the right target segments and product models to maximise its sales in India. In recent quarters, there has been a phenomenal rise in the sales of dual and triple-SIM cards slot phones. During Q2, 2010 alone, this category accounted for 38.5% of the total Indian mobile handset shipments – a phenomenal rise from under 1% in the same quarter a year ago (as per IDC; Nokia opposes this finding). To tap this opportunity, all the handset models that G’Five has launched in India over the last three quarters – T560, U800, F2, G9000i, et al – have all been a multi-SIM cards slot phones. The company claims that it has over 300 models in the Indian marketplace, and that it comes out with two new handsets every week.

G’Five also offers prices at points which are precisely as per the doctor’s prescription. Targeting consumers in the lower-middle segment and the bottom of the pyramid, G’Five has built a portfolio of products, which aim to provide a plethora of features, with acceptable quality and at very affordable prices (between Rs.1,300 to Rs.5,000) – an admixture that attracts both the neurologically complex urban dwellers and the simple rural populace. “The demand is so high in this sensitive segment that there is still a lot of untapped potential that G’Five can bet its future on,” explains Pankaj Karna, MD, Maple Advisors. Even IDC feels that G’Five’s dual strategy of tapping both the rural and urban markets with such offerings is what’s working the numbers. Adds Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice-President – Research, IDC India, to B&E, “Based on our interactions with market participants, the large metros have already achieved a high mobile tele-density. Upcountry and rural markets continue to show a healthy appetite for mobile handsets. This trend should continue over the next 2-3 years...”

How a test drive turned into an insatiable hunger for covering countless miles for G’Five, is a question that would squeeze out boredom out of even the most lackadaisical of all strategists. And what makes this book an interesting read is the chapter that explains how G’Five understood the meaning of controlling costs, right from day #1. There are stark differences in quality – of both hardware and software – between G’Five’s handsets and that of the Nokias and the Samsungs. They show. There is also a difference in the manner in which G’Five makes profits. This too is not hidden to the naked eye. The company earns 99% of its revenues from exports out of China, and as such has not set up company-owned branches in any of the foreign markets where it sells, whether it be South-East Asia, the Middle-East, Africa or even South America. Its only manufacturing plant is in Shenzhen, and its lone operation centre is in Hong Kong. In short, the company gives its products to the distributors. This strategy helps to keep a check on operational and fixed costs, thereby allowing the company to enjoy high margins despite keeping the prices of its products at low levels.

A couple of decades back, a claim by any economist that China would overtake Japan as the 2nd-largest economy, would have earned him nothing but humiliating jeers. But China did prove its mettle. Today, you would not dare bet on a roulette on G’Five’s future success probability – at least, we wouldn’t!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Much ado about the ‘General’ @ Motors!

An IPO in the pipeline means that the US government could be well on its way to make a swift exit from running GM. This portends positive tidings for GM, which is recovering on the numbers. But a far more daunting challenge is looming up on the horizon. By Pawan Chabra

As General Motors (GM) filed for the Chapter 11 reorganisation process in the Manhattan New York federal bankruptcy court on the June 1st, 2009, the world saw another giant on its knees (literally!) after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

The ‘GM way’ was way off mark, and it has taken its own toll in no time for the Detroit giant; with the Japanese onslaught led by Toyota making matters worse. In fact, the demand fall experienced by the company was the worst in its history since World War 2. However, understanding the importance of the automobile industry and GM in particular for American pride, America Inc. and American jobs, the Barack Obama Administration decided not to take the Lehman Brothers way and instead keep GM alive by picking up a 60% stake in return for a significant additional oxygen infusion of about $30 billion. As the American president said on the GM restructuring initiative last year, “Our goal is to get GM back on its feet, take a hands-off approach, and get out quickly.”

The upcoming IPO of the company is a right step in the same direction – getting out. Government intervention surely saved America’s largest automaker and more importantly, millions of jobs associated with it. Undoubtedly, GM has made a speedy recovery going against what was expected by many industry experts at the outset. For the uninitiated, the company filed a profit of $2.2 billion in the first half of 2010 rather than guzzling it at a rate of $1 billion a month, the way it had been doing in the pre-bankruptcy period. As the US Treasury is reportedly looking at shedding close to 20% of its stake in the company, the fact of the matter is – while it will give investors a chance to complain by choice (unlike the earlier case where the US government used the taxpayer’s money to fund GM’s bankruptcy), the Government will continue to hold a substantial share in the company for the short-run, at least. But market watchers are of a view that government will like to move out as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the strategy to make the China operations as a launching pad for India and other emerging markets has done wonders in no time. Apart from the fact that GM China emerged as the biggest foreign car manufacturer in the country last year, the only 12-year-old subsidiary of the company is very close to overtaking US in sales volumes. For the record, GM sold 1.83 million vehicles in China in 2009 with a whopping rise of more than 67% over 2008, while it sold 2.07 million vehicles in 2009 in US. No wonder, it has chosen Shanghai as the headquarters of its international operations.



 
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Monday, September 03, 2012

Drunk pilots should be jailed!

It’s unbelievable that DGCA still does not cancel the flying license of a pilot flying drunk; the IIPM Think Tank does a critical analysis of the lopsided DGCA regulations

Last month, the DGCA announced that a pilot who gets caught drunk twice ‘might be’ sent for ‘rehabilitation’; and if caught thrice, the same ‘might’ lead to their job termination. Within two days of the announcement, DGCA upped the punishment post haste and announced that a pilot caught drunk once will have his or her license suspended for three months. A second time would lead to permanent suspension.

While the DGCA is self-applauding itself on its apparently stringent resolve to reduce drunk flying, one is flabbergasted at how lenient such a resolve is in reality, given the fact that pilots are responsible for the lives of more than a hundred passengers per flight. The DGCA should learn a lesson or two from the Delhi Traffic Police, which now has a zero-tolerance policy for drunk driving, where any driver caught driving drunk even once will have his/her license cancelled immediately (1378 licenses were cancelled by the Delhi Police in the last eleven months under this clause). Clearly, the DGCA feels that it’s all right to allow drunk pilots to keep flying.

Further, till now, the DGCA has been checking pilots through breath analysers before the flight starts, without keeping a check on whether the pilot drinks during the flight. Pilots know and realise this easiest method of avoiding getting caught. One is told that the DGCA, after so many decades of existence, has started advising such checks post the flight too.

We say that the DGCA diktat should have focussed on cancelling the licence of the pilot and jailing him. The Motor Vehicles Act already has this stringent provision of jailing for drunk drivers, with the term ranging from three months (for first time offenders) to six months (for repeat offenders). It’s unbelievably strange that the DGCA doesn’t believe in that.


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Friday, August 31, 2012

TO EARN PROFITS, ATTRACT INVESTORS!

Global Investment Guru Jim Rogers, who Co-Founded the Quantum Fund along with George Soros (The Fund Returned 4,200% in ten years, as compared to the S&P 500’s 47% in the same duration), believes that commodities are a strong investment avenue for indian firms, and that the govt. should cooperate to make india inc. more profitable

When the economy gets better after the ongoing recovery mode, commodities will go up. And even if it doesn’t get better, commodities will remain the hot favourite, as governments would press to print more currency and whenever the government has done that in the past, real asset prices tend to go up, be it rice, wheat or natural gas. In the present situation, a credible investment and productive capacity for 25 or 30 years in the commodity field will be excellent whether the economies get better or they don’t. Most of the commodities tend to be fruitful but for the near future that is 2 to 3 years, agriculture will be a golden call.

With the recent mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity heating up the Indian market, like any other economy, Indians are shelling-out a little extra for the target company. But these M&As are of no sense as they normally destroy value. Forget about making-profits with these deals. If an Indian company can, it should rather invest in the stock market over M&As as there is a lot of liquidity in the Indian market and a huge potential in stocks. So stocks are the right way to go if you want to make profits.

Talking about the comparison between India and China, when returns are considered, the Chinese market will outperform India in the short-term, but with India allowing foreigners to invest in the Indian market, India will be a much better market in comparison to China in the long-term. But considering the manner in which the government behaves and acts on important economic and corporate decisions at present, I am not really sure that the government in India actually means good. But if it does, India is really the place of more interest. Hence, for the time being, China is the preferred destination and Chinese companies would be my desired targets.

Talking about profit-making in the farm & agricultural sector in India, at present, a lot has to change. There has to be definite reforms in different sectors in India to unlock their potential specifically in agriculture, where India can be a leader in the global economy, as India has the soil, weather & location. Unfortunately, the government is ruining agriculture with all kinds of restrictions and despite thousands of Indian farmers committing suicide every year, the government is allowing the restrictions to develop. A farmer in India cannot have more than 5 hectares of land and these Indian farmers can never compete with their counterparts sitting in Australia and America. A farmer in India has the potential to own 10,000 hectares. The Indian government should open up the agricultural sector, so that it becomes much more competitive.


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Thursday, August 30, 2012

THE CAPTAIN OF THE SOUTH KOREAN SHIP

AFTER BEING THE CLEAR #2 IN THE INDIAN PASSENGER VEHICLE SEGMENT FOR OVER 11 YEARS, THE TIDE SEEMS TO BE TURNING IN FAVOUR OF ITS CLOSEST COMPETITORS. CAN H. W. PARK, THE CAPTAIN OF THE SOUTH KOREAN SHIP, STEER IT CLEAR OF THE MANY ICEBERGS ON THE WAY? BY PAWAN CHABRA

The market leader has even announced a plan to stage a comeback in the Indian market, starting with the launch of the Alto K10, coupled with five CNG models (of the SX4, the EECO, the WagonR, the Alto and the Estilo models), and the automatic A-Star. But even Shashank Srivastava, CGM – Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India, confesses, “A lot depends on how many units of the Nano does Tata Motors plan to sell in the Indian market.”

The issue of capacity crunch is also keeping many Hyundai investors on tenterhooks. Currently, its Sriperumbudur (Chennai) plant, with an annual manufacturing capacity of 600,000 units, is operating at full capacity. But as insiders quote, the auto major has an option of stretching it to 670,000, by modifying the assembly lines. The worrying fact is – Hyundai has not revealed plans to do that. Hyundai’s Saxena says, “If there is more demand for our products, we will possibly look into it. But I don’t think there will be a need for capacity expansion this year, perhaps not even in 2011.” But despite this, Park has good news for his investors.

Hyundai will land some hard punches on its competitors with the launch of its small car (reportedly scheduled for 2012), that will be positioned in the A2 minus segment, which would then be in direct competition with the Alto. The product is expected to bring high volumes to the company, which will then help it claw back market share in the domestic arena. Park reveals, “We are in the development stage of the model and it is going very well. However, I can’t comment on the time frame of the launch in the Indian market,” says Park. To this, Saxena adds, “While our small car will not compete with the Nano, when we are looking at such a model, we are looking at high numbers...”

Most likely, even though Tata Motors will again displace Hyundai as the #2 player for some more quarters to come, one cannot deny that Park still leads one of Hyundai’s most profitable overseas subsidiaries, which is also the #1 exporter of passenger cars from India, with exports of 285,658 units in FY2009-10 (64% market share in exports, while Maruti and Tata command a much lower 33.1% & 1.5% respectively). In fact, production figures prove how after Hyundai China (production volume of 570,309 units in 2009), the Indian subsidiary, with an output of 559,880 units in 2009, is the most important for the Chaebol.

Whether or not Park manages to retain the silver sceptre, the domestic market will remain key to Hyundai’s future. With the domestic market size growing by the day, fragmentation is inevitable. He has to focus on profitable volumes (and not ranks), with the key adjective being ‘profitable’ (given that currently, for every Nano that Tata Motors manufactures, it makes a loss due to capex depreciations). Park’s job as a CEO is to keep the volumes high and profits thick. For now, he is doing that. Tata Motors may focus hard on the Nano and critics may write volumes about how the product will ensure a second spot for Tata Motors, but experts opine that such low-priced products with wafer-thin margins, can hardly give companies a sustainable lead. There will be much more botheration for Park over the next couple of years in the form of Bajaj-Renault’s ultra low-cost car, FIAT’s model below the Punto and Volkswagen’s small car. But he needs to remember that increasing capacity is key, focusing on the Indian market with good margin products is important and keeping his investors happy (with profits) is religion. And for the sake of this religion, Park should not fret over giving away the runners-up trophy.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Style Police catches Sonam!

Sonam Kapoor’s co-star in Saawariya, Ranbir Kapoor, consciously toyed with the imagination of women as he danced with just his towel on, but Sonam herself recently came close to some inadvertent skin-show. At a promotional event organised for her upcoming film Aisha, Sonam nearly had a wardrobe malfunction incident, when it was noticed that she was having a rather tough time keeping her pants on. For someone who has been working very hard on being a style diva, such an event would’ve been disastrous!


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Friday, August 24, 2012

Fathers in India are still pitted against rigid ancient laws

A hundred years after Father’s Day was commemorated, fathers in India are still pitted against rigid ancient laws and struggling for equal right over their children...

“It is almost impossible for Indian fathers to get custody of their children,” said Satya Kumar, Founder of 498a.org. “The Hindu Marriage Act is of 1955. The laws are very ancient. When the laws were written, only 1% of the women worked while now about 25% work. Kids in the custody of working mothers are no better taken care of than kids living with fathers. The mindset of people needs to change. There should not be women’s right and men’s right but the government should implement common family rights,” suggests Kumar.

“Father’s day, Mother’s day or any other such day is just another opportunity to show your love for each other. At times, the occasion can present a chance to patch-up things, to clear the muck and start things afresh,” says Dr. Sanjay Chugh, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist. Perhaps that’s why one of the demands being made by AIMWA is that ‘when a person or couple approaches court for divorce, counselling of the parents by professional counsellors should be given first priority.’

This Father’s Day, let’s hope that it doesn’t take another hundred years for fathers to get their due.


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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The times they are a-changin’ and established norms and beliefs are now being challenged...

On questioning him about a different statement issued in the media, Maulana Abdul shot back saying, “I don’t understand how this fatwa was leaked to the media. We have explained our stand that according to Islam, Muslim women cannot be together with men without purdah. Those who do not follow this are not true Muslims. But this is just a religious order. We can definitely not punish anyone who chooses not to follow the religious rules. We have issued several fatwas in the past. Our job is to give advice based on what Islam says. To follow it or not is up to the individual.”

Centuries-old rules pitted against evolving times are probably at the heart of this imbroglio. The Belgium government’s ban on the burka had created an uproar among Islamic groups. Says Maulana Abdul, “People should be allowed to do what they wish to, if it’s not causing any harm. How can you impose a ban on anything? This rule might be unacceptable to many Muslim women. This is also injustice. It’s unfair.” Well, true. But why should there always be resentment with acts of liberation? For instance, the controversies created around Sania Mirza’s skirt, Salman Khan attending Ganesh Puja, MF Hussain’s paintings, Shiv Sena bashing youngsters who celebrated Valentine’s Day. Then again when a lot of support came streaming in for the Muslim, Lebanese-born Miss USA, Rima Fakih, who paraded in a bikini on the ramp, there’s hope enough to believe all is not lost yet!

Every religion believes in peace and harmony and eventually it’s up to both, us and the custodians of every religion to let it not be misjudged and misunderstood.


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