Heterogeneity of youth market

The youth market worldwide is not homogenous and brands fail to understand this basic truth! Raising Giants like China and India is very different than the saturated youth markets as UK or USA. Hence, the logic applied in those countries will not work at the other.

Here's a case study:

Last year, when an apparel giant opened four stores in China and failed to gain a significant portion of the retail sales, multinational retail stores took note. The Gap, an apparel line successful in more than 3,000 locations worldwide, had everything going for them. So, what went wrong?

The Gap’s biggest mistake was the cookie cutter approach it took to establishing its presence in the world’s largest youth market. The Gap sought to target the increasing middle-income consumers in the rapidly growing Chinese market, but failed to capture the attention of their most important customers, the Chinese youth.

In China, the Gap is perceived as middle class apparel selling for a luxury price. Status and luxury are important goals for China’s consumers, especially for the youth. However, a premium price for a middle class product is a cost youths are not willing to bear. Moreover, The Gap chose to open stand-alone stores rather than locating in mall areas, forcing customers to go out of their way to make a special trip just to visit the store. The majority of Chinese consumers purchase apparel at a mall because they can use it as a single destination for shopping, eating, and entertainment. The Gap failed to realize that China’s middle class youth consumer is very different from an American consumer.

The Gap is not the only apparel company unraveling in the Chinese market. American Apparel also has had issues targeting the youth market. While in the U.S., American Apparel advertises its style as “sexy,” Chinese female consumers prefer “cute” clothing. With all of these differences between the Western and Asian markets, how can a multinational company succeed in China?

While many companies are struggling in China, some have found a path to success. Enovate, a consulting company based in Shanghai, uses its strengths of networking and social media to successfully navigate the complexities of China’s youth.

Why is China’s youth market so challenging?

While the youth market is a difficult target, the Chinese youth market poses additional challenges for companies attempting to enter China. An important segment, Chinese youths have both the desire and means to spend. Disposable income is growing for younger and urban households, and the younger Chinese tend to spend more than save.[1] With rising income levels, the youth are able to afford more diverse and discerning tastes in their purchases.

What sets China apart from other nations is the one-child policy and its effects on the Chinese youth market. Since the implementation of the policy in the 1980s, which has resulted in 90 million only-children, the Chinese youth market is unique. The result of the policy is that a single child is now the focus of two parents and four grandparents, often leading to over-indulgence and high-pressure. These one-child policy children are regularly referred to as “little emperors” and are very persuasive in how their parents spend their money. In comparison, youth in the U.S. tend to have siblings whose parents balance the demands of each child. With so much familial attention and pressure focused on cultivating these only-children, the Chinese youth are interested in expressing their identity through personal choice. This desire to separate and differentiate makes the youth market a broad and diverse demographic.

Many companies looking to enter the Chinese market have yet to develop a more sophisticated understanding of how to successfully target the Chinese youth. Companies still believe that younger Chinese consumers are particularly influenced by Western trends in music, fashion, celebrities and sports. According to Passport GMID, “Chinese brands are slowly picking up market share, and even respect, amongst the fashion-conscious set, but foreign [Western] brands are still king in this marketplace and especially amongst the younger age groups.”[2] However, this old tactic of pushing Western brands without understanding the Chinese consumer is likely to fail.

Although popular culture is reported to be heavily influenced by Hollywood, regional and local influences are not to be ignored. Neighboring countries’ celebrities are also popular in China, evidenced by celebrity endorsements by Rain (Korea) and Ayumi Hamasaki (Japan). Strong foreign trends come from Japanese and, more recently, Korean pop culture, and resonate with many of the Asian youths. In addition to looking towards their neighbors, the Chinese youth also are impacted by Chinese pop culture. Popular Chinese celebrities are Faye Wong (Beijing), Andy Lau (Hong Kong), and Jay Chou (Taiwan). Additionally, half of box-office sales in China are for domestically produced motion pictures.[3]

Furthermore, China has regional differences, affecting preferences for local and foreign influences. For example, Shanghai tends to adopt more Japanese and Western aesthetics whereas Beijing is influenced by its indigenous arts and music culture.[4] Clearly, companies entering China must not underestimate the power of regional and local influences in the diverse youth market when introducing Western brands and culture.

Soruce: http://business.in.com/article/thunderbird/the-race-for-chinas-youth-market/30252/1#ixzz1hzZEO8Rp

India- Ahead 2012

More than 35% of our population is below the age of 20. By the end of 2020, it is expected that 325 million Indian will reach working age, which will be the largest in the world.This will come at a time when the rest of the developed world will be faced with an aging population. It is estimated that by 2020, US will be short of 17 million people of working age, China by 10 million, Japan by 9 million and Russia by 6 million. At the same time, India will have a surplus of 47 million working people. Even when compared to developing countries, Brazil’s working population is set to grow by 12%, China’s by 1%, Russia’s will decline by 18%, while ours will grow by 30%. This is the reason Goldman Sachs predicted that only India can maintain a 5% growth rate until 2050.

With a huge working population will also come a huge consumption boom, as it has happened in China. China accounts for 20% of world’s consumption of aluminum, 35% of the global demand of steel and coal, and 45% of the worldwide cement purchase. The challenge for India will not only be economic growth, but also make it sustainable and bearable for the environment.

But keeping everything in mind, India will become the biggest consumers in the world, that means right from education to FMCGs the demand will cross countries like USA (already a saturated and deteriorating market) and UK.

Before the FDI policy opens in India, the Foreign investors should look at these opportunities and establish their brand, long ahead the demand reaches to the peak. Unlike China, India has its own consumption pattern which is influenced with the strong ethnic root as well as colonial rules.
The brands/ retailers / companies should consider a serious consumer research before venturing into this subcontinent otherwise they will face constrains and lagged growth.

Indian teenagers losing sleep over excess use of tech: study

Teenagers spend maximum time on gadgets such as computers, video games and cell phones, which causes sleep deprivation, resulting into health problems like obesity and depression, a study has said.

These days children spend over eight hours a day playing video games, browsing Internet, sending SMSes and watching TV, an Assocham study said.

“Easy access to technology with lack of parental supervision is the main reason for increasing technology addiction among youths. Activities like watching TV and chatting online have greatly reduced teenagers' sleeping time,” it said.

The chamber surveyed 2,500 youths (both males and females) in 10 major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune.

The study said majority of youngsters, mainly in the age group of 10-18 years, are getting less than eight hours of sleep.

“Children of working parents are found to be more technology addictive in the absence of parental supervision as compared to those whose single-parent is engaged in employment,” it said.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2747496.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

the viral music video and internet swarming : Kolaveri di

In a multilingual country like India, its not easy to break the social and semiotic barrier to become viral. For long, the north south division of language and culture made a huge barricade on promoting local-lingo influenced videos across Bindha mountain (a mountain which is in the middle of Indian subcontinent). Various reasons can be cited for this. The pronunciation of southern languages are very different than the north as well as the meaning and expression of the words. Interestingly, the "Kolaveri di" broke this barrier smoothly and became instant hit among the younger population in India. The words in this song are simple, easy to pronounce and emotional (the love-break-hate is very catchy theme among youth). The singer used Tanglish (quirky mix of Tamil and English) which is very popular way of communication (bengali+english, Hindi+english, punjabi+tamil etc.)among the youth (read my earlier posts on language innovations among the youth in India). Also, the tune is simple to adopt into any language or sing.




(Original video)


(Punjabi version)


(Garhwali version)


(Gujrati version)


(female version)

'Kolaveri di', a song from the upcoming Tamil movie '3', sung by popular Tamil movie star Dhanush has become an internet rage. That Kolaveri Di, which will feature on the soundtrack of the forthcoming Tamil film 3 starring Dhanush, has found success beyond anyone’s expectations is obvious. Almost a month after its release, it is still being given more airtime than Anna Hazare! According to 18-year-old composer Anirudh Ravichander, the director Aishwarya Rajinikanth Dhanush (who is the wife of the actor Dhanush) wanted a "light-hearted" song about failed love. Ravichandar quickly composed the tune. Dhanush then began work on the lyrics, which he completed in about 20 minutes of playful singing and writing. In an interview to The Times of India, Dhanush said "When I was writing down the lyrics, I kept in mind all the English words that are used in the Tamil vocabulary. Words like I, you, me, how, why, cow.. I just framed them into sentences and thats how I came up with the song." The promo of the song, which was released on November 16, became an instant hit on social networking sites for its quirky 'Tanglish' (Tamil-English) lyrics. The promo features the actor-playback singer Dhanush, son-in-law of superstar Rajinikanth, singing the song in a studio, and composer Anirudh at the piano, while wife & the director Aishwarya Rajinikanth and co-star Shruti Hassan watch along and give suggestions.










"Why this kolaveri di. 24 hours 83000 you tube views. Thank you guys. For making it the most viewed you tube video in music category yesterday. God bless," Dhanush tweeted on the day of the release of the song. The song Kolaveri appeared as the number one Indian trend on Twitter on November 21. The lyrics of the peppy song are simple and since it is a live recording, Dhanush keeps firing instructions while singing, making it more endearing. "yo boys I am singing song soup song flop song why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di rhythm correct why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di maintain this why this kolaveri..di.." goes the song.









Last weekend, the viral video of the song reached two milestones that confirmed its arrival in the YouTube hall of fame. It reached 15 million views—the target that Ashok Parwani, the associate director at Sony Music, which promoted the song, set for it on 25 November. It also got its own “Hitler gets angry about...” video—an essential accolade for any Internet meme and also the first for any Indian music video. (For the uninitiated, Hitler gets angry about is a series of videos featuring a scene of Adolf Hitler ranting in German from the 2004 movie Downfall. Subtitles are changed to make it seem like the subject of his rant is the meme in question.)



According to social media analytic firm Social Hues, the song was being talked about up to two weeks before the video appeared on YouTube on 16 November. A fan from Chennai, with the Twitter handle @arundanush, alerted both Dhanush’s sister-in-law Geetanjali Selvaraghavan and the composer of the song, Anirudh, to the fact that the song had been uploaded to YouTube on 31 October. His tweet, which read “Kolaveri song from 3 again uploaded in YouTube, pls inform Dhanush”, suggested it was not the first time such a leak had taken place.

Over the next few days, people began tweeting about the lyrics of the song and other details of the film. The publicity was global. Between 1 and 10 November (even before the official launch of the song), there were 43,800 mentions of Kolaveri in the US, 7,000 in France and 4,000 from the UAE. Tamil movie fanatics (mostly male) and non-resident Indians drove most of the traffic in the US and the Gulf, and students studying abroad made up the majority of mentions in Europe.






"Kolaveri di" Flash dance at Auckland

Kolaveri already had a significant following days before the official video appeared on the 16 November.

"Kolaveri di" Flash dance at Bangalore


(Kolaveri dance in urban India)

Aishwarya Dhanush said she was alerted to the leaked version via Twitter. “Even now I do not know the source (of the leak),” she said. “Initially I was upset, but since I felt that people needed to hear the right version, I wanted to bring out an official video. In two weeks (we) put together the video as there was no time for CD covers or publicity. Something of this magnitude cannot be planned. It just happens.”
That might be so, but even if the leak wasn’t planned, it’s clear that Sony Music India was quick to capitalize on it and turn it into a marketing advantage. Parwani told NDTV that the video accompanying the song was recorded at 2am, the night before the release on the 16 November, and edited the next morning.

But he also insisted that “we wanted this song to go viral in cyberspace. We marketed aggressively to make the song a national rage”. Parwani said that his team had been posting the song on Tamil, Hindi and international Facebook pages to drive traffic. From 16 November on, according to Social Hues, the rate of Twitter mentions of Kolaveri increased by nearly 200% every day, starting at 179 and peaking a week later at 14,907 tweets on 24 November—the day after it became the first Tamil film song to be played on MTV and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan had tweeted about his admiration for the tune.

It is not easy to send a video viral, despite the claims of myriad Web pages touting lessons from Kolaveri on how to make a viral video. The publicity has to be spread across all forms of social media. In Kolaveri’s case most traffic was driven by Facebook, which accounted for nearly 80% of social media mentions of the song, followed by Twitter and YouTube, according to Social Hues.

Dhanush’s song had something else going for it. The novelty of the word kolaveri was a great driver of interest. Twelve per cent of all conversations on Kolaveri were about the meaning of the word, generally translated as murderous rage.
Then, a series of serendipitous news events drove the #kolaveri hashtag (a hash sign followed by a tag word to indicate importance). When agriculture minister Sharad Pawar got slapped by a youngster on 25 November, tweeters cheered Kolaveri and a Punjabi version of the song known as the Sharad Pawar slap song appeared on YouTube the same day. It has logged over one million views of its own. The following week, when bail was finally granted to Tamil Nadu member of Parliament K. Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum case, the felicitous assonance of her name with Kolaveri did not go unnoticed.

Overseas, the selling point seemed to be the Tanglish lyrics; the Huffington Post tweeted: “Adding a ‘u’ sound to the end of English words is the latest trend in India.” London radio presenters Sunny and Shay raved about the novel lyrics to the song on air when they broadcast it on BBC Radio 94.9 on 26 November.
Nearer home, Sony Music was trying to decide how to encash the Internet buzz. It hadn’t originally monetized the YouTube video, because, according to Shridhar Subramaniam, president of Sony Music Entertainment India, “We initially wanted to release it through Vevo, which is a video platform owned by Sony, but there was some delay because of Thanksgiving weekend, so we decided to release it on YouTube.”
In order to make money out of the swarming viewers, Sony needed to become a content partner with YouTube, which it eventually did on 30 November. Since then, Sony has taken 50% of the revenue generated by the video, Subramaniam said.
Viral popularity might be great publicity for the song, and, therefore, for the film, but it isn’t necessarily an immediate money maker. The nine million odd views that had accumulated before Sony monetized the video would remain unharvested, but the loss would only be an estimated $4,000, he said. “It is a $1 CPM here. The same on Vevo would have been a $40 CPM.” CPM is short for cost per thousand impressions, a term used in digital marketing.

Still Kolaveri’s popularity online must be attractive to marketing gurus looking for inexpensive ways to promote movie songs. Kolaveri marks a tipping point in the industry, after which the social media will emerge as a mainstream option alongside the television and radio, says some analysts.

It is only fair to point out that Kolaveri is not the first movie promotion to be launched on social media first—makers of the movie Peepli [Live], the hit song Sheila ki Jawani and music band Euphoria, among others, have in the past experimented with releasing bits and pieces of their work on Facebook and other social networks.

Nothing on this scale has, however, been attempted before. Don’t be surprised if you find film makers hoarding social networking sites trying to recreate the buzz and popularity of Kolaveri, says one analyst.

“If something is a hit on social media, then your fans become your ambassadors and it goes viral in no time,” said Jehil Thakkar, executive director, KPMG India. “No one can really say what works, so replicating it (success of Kolaveri) is next to impossible.”



Seeing the popularity and far-reaching appeal of the song 'Kolaveri Di', the police have decided to capitalize on its fame to ask motorists to remain calm on roads - a step that might help in bringing down road accidents.



Chennai Police has already brought out posters asking 'why this anger' with the words 'Kolaveri Di' painted in bold. The same poster was added to Delhi Police's Facebook website by a member and became an instant hit.



The idea has got the thumbs up by hundreds of Facebook users - it has 130 "likes" - and the site is awash with suggestions to replicate the same campaign in Delhi. Even joint CP (traffic) Satyendra Garg was taken with the idea and added his comments. He seconded the thought that "murderous rage" (meaning of the Tamil word 'kolaveri') is a contributing factor in road accidents in the city.

"Going by the national obsession with the song, Chennai Police rightly utilized its value for safer traffic measures. This applies to other cities including Delhi. Why this kolaveri? Just drive without anger...'' Garg posted.

In another post, the joint CP emphasized the need for "restraint'' during driving. "Let there be restraint and disciplined behaviour. It isgood for the safety of everybody,'' he wrote on Facebook.

However, not everybody was as optimistic. A central district officer told TOI that everybody in Delhi won't understand the Tanglish version of the song, so the idea will not find resonance with some. "However, we have always welcomed help of any sort to ensure discipline on roads and any effort by the citizens is appreciated," said the officer.

However, that has not stopped youngsters from showering praise on Chennai Police and urging Delhi Police to follow suit. "Well this is now imaginatively cool,'' commented Ankit Nauriyal. "Imaginative, intelligent thought...now this song has been used for better causes,'' commented Vishnu Panicker.

various brands and retailers started using the phrase as their ad-taglines innovating new "meanings" of "kolaveri".


(Ad for "discounts" at a furniture shop)


(Ad for "fruit shop" a juice joint)


(Amul butter ad)

This soup song has become an anthem for the future managers of the country too! The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are treating the popular song Kolaveri Di from an upcoming Tamil film '3' as a classic example of viral marketing.



IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A ), for instance, plans to dedicate a session to Kolaveri Di as part of its course on Contemporary Film Industry: A business perspective. Bharathan Kandaswamy, faculty and co-ordinator of the course, says, "I will discuss Kolaveri Di as part of a session on social media and online tools when my class starts in December. Kolaveri Di is a perfect case of viral marketing,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif which has created a huge difference in the world of publicity."



Why this Kolaveri Di, which means 'Why this rage towards me, girl' has actually become a rage across IIMs with faculty of marketing playing the song during class.



Professors of IIMs - Bangalore, Rohtak and Lucknow - have played the song in class and later discussed its strategy. The institutes have also made videos of the entire class singing to Kolaveri Di and posted them on networking sites. "Kolaveri has been screened in many classes in IIM Bangalore . The professor sits along with the students and enjoys-... Real Rage," posted Ramya, a student at IIM Bangalore on a social networking site.


(this one is "ladies version" of the same song!)










for more information about this viral video: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_This_Kolaveri_Di

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/brandline/article2692416.ece

10 Indians among Forbes' 'tomorrow's brightest stars'

Ten Indians rub shoulders with the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, human rights activist Ronan Farrow and pop stars Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber in a Forbes list of 'tomorrow's brightest stars'.

The US business magazine's '30 under 30' list profiles about 360 young 'ultra impressive up-and-comers' that the companies should either 'hire today' or would be working for them in the future as they are the young people of today 'who matter'.

Among the Indians on the list of people from 12 diverse fields, including energy, finance, media, law, entertainment, science, design and technology, who are 'reinventing the world' is Kunal Shah, at 29, the youngest managing director at Goldman Sachs.

Also on the list is Param Jaggi, 17, an 'award-winning high schooler' at Austin College, who created an algae-filled device that fits over a car's tailpipe and turns carbon dioxide into oxygen.

Vivek Nair, 23, chief executive of Damascus Fortune, is developing a technology that transforms industrial carbon emissions into carbon nanotubes.

Vikas Mohindra, 25, financial advisor at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch gathered $38 million in three years from scratch, while Manvir Nijhar, 28, co-head of European Equity Derivatives Sales at Citigroup, gave 'Citi's derivatives business a jolt.'
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Raj Krishnan, 29, chief executive of Biological Dynamics is developing blood tests that use electric fields to detect key signals that a patient has cancer from the blood.

Sidhant Gupta, 27, a graduate student at the University of Washington, is developing new sensors and software for the home that conserve electricity, heat and gas.

Nikhil Arora, 24, co-found a business that sells 'grow-your-own-mushroom' kits using one million pounds of recycled coffee grounds and Maneet Ahuja, 27, a producer at CNBC and a hedge fund expert has been on Wall Street since she was 17.

source: http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/10-indians-among-forbes-tomorrows-043142201.html

flash dance and swarming among the youth in india

Flash mob dance is the latest stress buster and thrill trait among the youth in urban India:


Delhi Flash mob dance


flash mob dance in Mumbai


flash dance as promotional tool


Some attempts fail too

my article on the psychology of "being in denim"

denimisation of youth in India- my article in Streetwear international India

View more documents from Kaustav Sengupta

what youth learns from Social Media and Mobile- TEDx presentation

What youth learns from social media and mobile

View more presentations from Kaustav Sengupta

various expressions of youth in India

by Gaurav Asolia

"desi" foods are getting redefined, in India and around the world

Panipuri - an Introduction to perfection in food design.

View more presentations from Abhishek Thakkar

Social media, its relevance, the “flattening of social space” and assumption of “otherness”

India, being numerous countries inside one country and further divisions of regional, religious, cast and sub sect makes a indefinite complex social pyramid structured social positioning which is tough to avoid for brands that seeks consumer attention, visual impact and indigenous usability. The visual representation of one’s social position is very important in this subcontinent which gets reflected right from the clothing, architecture, political posters to the grass root day-to-day customs. The so called “big fat Indian marriage” is nothing but one’s exhibition of social class and positioning. The belonging to certain spiritual, religious and political parties are also a display of one’s class and “otherness” from the mass.

Certain brands or products fail to understand this situation and enacts in a way that India is a “utopian” super-flat democratic society where everybody is visually equal and has the urge to speak/ exhibit of what they are / wants to be or with whom they wants to belong to. The problem broadly exists with those brands who unfortunately doesn’t understand that their products are actually an asset in stead of consumption. The western brands once imported in India with high import duty and currency conversion, certainly lifts to the higher market segment but fails to understand its high impact on how the brand should be portrayed in India.

For example, the vision of Nano car was to replace the two wheelers which it failed to address due to the social pyramid of consumption and perception of product value. A car is considered as an assent among mass India and they will not compromise with the “look” of the product because an asset is supposed to be “exhibited” to enrich the status quo of the owner (first generation riches, mostly). Nano failed here due to its fragile non-classy “dumb” look. It would have been great if Nano appeared as “cool car” among the youth in India where the cast / class doesn’t matter but “desi coolness” is counted (say, Nano offers cool colors, funky decos, add on accessories and appears as a “consume and dispose” car rather than “own” a car concept!).

Interestingly, Social media is an active tool / social platform where class doesn’t exist but one’s intelligence to interact, instant humor, story telling capacity and PR matters. The Facebook is an excellent example on how this social media is literally diminishing the regional, religious and cast barrier in India (at least virtually) which, I believe will have a long lasting influence in offline social division to restructure our society in a new frame.

Facebook provides equal space for everybody to display his/ her photos / works etc. and share the thought in Wall. The discussion is open and anybody from the friend’s list can comment on any topic (no social / political king pins dominating the discussion). Anybody can like the photos but, it has no dislike option!

But, mobile is not as socially flat as social media! This product has become the symbol of class division from the very beginning of its introduction in this subcontinent. There are the brands for “haves” and “have-nots”…for example, today Nokia is the brand for “have-nots” where as “Blackberry and iPhone” are for haves…unfortunately Nokia does not understand this and trying to become the brand for the other class. This “other class” represents not more than the one third of this population! Hence Nokia actually has a better segment to cater, which they are not focusing!

Social media is also a place which is not having gender barrier or age barrier.

Though it will take decades to bring this ‘flat society” concept in India unless the perceived division between the haves and have-nots exist and both of them are very conscious of this existence to showoff their “otherness”!

macro trend directions : youth in India 2012

Indian youth macro trends by kaustav sengupta 2012

View more presentations from Kaustav Sengupta

Kaustav spoke at TEDxYouth

http://tedxyouthchennai.com/speakers.php

Bllurp magazine added kaustav's profile

http://know.burrp.com/my-city/chennai-my-city/chennai-recommended/29319

Cops and political leaders are the least respected individuals among the youth in India

A survey by INgene among the youth (16years to 26years) in 4 metro cities reveal that Cops and Political leaders are the least preferred individuals with whom youth in India ever wants to interact! they are neither inspired to opt for these professions nor has any respect for them!

the blow report of utter injustice proves why they youth disguises these individuals:

___________________________________________________________________

How Cops can "fix" you in India:

Super’ SHO spins a web of charges to frame innocent BPO executive. THE INSTANCES of police haughtiness may still be an inescapable part of life in the boondocks, but such an incident bang in the middle of the nation’s Capital belittles people’s faith both in law and the lawenforcers.

In the latest such incident, the Mayapuri police recently slapped cooked-up charges on BPO executive Rajat (name changed) and threw him behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. The high point of the injustice: Rajat was accused of disturbing public peace at the very moment he was sitting inside the Mayapuri police station in front of SHO Rajender Singh Pathania and his staff to defend himself.

After the matter went to court and the police’s vigilance inquiry nailed the tainted cops, the ‘super’ SHO was removed from his post along with two colleagues for allegedly forging papers to illegally detain the west Delhi resident. Pathania was shifted to south district and given an ‘ inconsequential’ posting pending a departmental inquiry, which was scheduled to begin on Thursday.

The victim’s father, Deepak Verma, said no one turned up for the departmental inquiry on Thursday. “I reached the DCP (south) office at exactly 11 am but neither the additional DCP nor the Mayapuri SHO and the other policemen were present. I have been asked to come again on November 21. I hope this is not a delaying tactic,” he added. Incidentally, Pathania is a ‘super’ SHO who has worked at many high- profile police stations, including Karol Bagh (considered the most lucrative).

In Delhi Police parlance, a ‘super’ SHO is one who continues to head a ‘sensitive’ police station beyond the six year tenure. Pathania had even been served a contempt notice for allegedly daring a lower court judge by yelling at him that he was “not touched” despite even the high court initiating action against him.

The current case against Pathania took place on September 27, 2009, when Rajat and his cousin — on their way to the local market in Mayapuri — noticed that a bhandara (a religious function where free meals are distributed) had resulted in a traffic snarl. When Rajat enquired from the organisers if they had the requisite permissions, a scuffle ensued between the parties.

Deepak said: “The organisers called up the PCR but reached a private hospital instead of waiting for the police. We got to know on September 29 about the police case. It was a case of causing simple hurt (which is a non- cognisable offence) but they soon added Section 341 (wrongful restraint) to the FIR to make it a much more serious offence. The fraudulent addition has since been deleted by the court and noted by the vigilance department in its report.

“When my son was arrested on October 3, we went to the police station to bail him out but the police refused to let him out. Shockingly, the police said my son had again disrupted the peace in the area when he was caught fighting on October 3 too. How is that possible when he was at the police station throughout the day?” the anxious father asked.

While the SHO and his subordinates have been taken to task for implicating and wrongly arresting the complainant under CrPC Sections 107/ 151, west district’s former DCP Sharad Agarwal — at whose instance the first case was registered — has been let off by the police brass. “My son lost his job after the police jailed him in the false case. Besides, there was no police or MCD permission for the bhandara ,” Deepak said.

Andaman DIG Sharad Agarwal, who was then the DCP (west), said he did not remember the case. “I don’t remember the case or the complainant. A lot of complainants come to meet a district DCP. I do not know either the complainant or the other party involved in the case,” he said. Pathania and his staff also lied in the court that Rajat was disrupting public peace. The cops prepared a false arrest memo six days after the incident.

VIGILANCE NAILS SHO’S LIE
Probing Deepak’s complaint, the vigilance department found several discrepancies in the police report. In the doctored arrest memo of October 3, Deepak’s signature at the police station confirmed that Rajat was rearrested at 7.30 pm. “… The complainant marked the time as 7.30 pm while the medical examination at the DDU Hospital was conducted at 7.40 pm… which is not possible in this short duration,” the vigilance report, signed by Jt CP (Vigilance) N. Dilip Kumar, states.

It also negates the memo regarding the October 3 “street fight” and the presence of “eyewitnesses”, besides stating that there was no PCR call as claimed by the police. It also nails the police lie by stating that the daily diary (DD) entry for October 3 showed that Rajat was arrested at 8.50 pm while the medical examination took place at 7.40 pm.

ALLEGATIONS against DCP Sharad Agarwal: He recommended to the SHO that a case be registered against Rajat and his cousin for the Sept 27 scuffle. Stringent provisions of law were wrongly added to the non-cognisable case. This addition has been deleted by the court and noted by the vigilance department, but still no action has been taken against Agarwal.

ALLEGATIONS against SHO Rajender Singh Pathania and others: When Rajat was arrested on October 3 for the September 27 incident, Pathania and his men denied him bail. Instead, they cooked up a story about him being involved in another brawl on October 3, at the time when he was inside the police station, so he could be arrested on the charge of disrupting peace. Police prepared false papers, reports and witnesses to frame him. A departmental inquiry has been ordered against the SHO and his subordinate staff.

Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/how-cops-can-fix-you-.html

India: The next university superpower?

India has ambitious plans to increase graduate numbers in a way which would give it the size and status of an education superpower.
The figures are staggering. India's government speaks of increasing the proportion of young people going to university from 12% at present to 30% by 2025 - approaching the levels of many Western countries.

It wants to expand its university system to meet the aspirations of a growing middle class, to widen access, and become a "knowledge powerhouse".

It will mean increasing the country's student population from 12 million to over 30 million, and will put it on course to becoming one of the world's largest education systems.

"We will very likely be number two if not number one in terms of numbers," says Pawan Agarwal, a former civil servant and author of Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the Future.

With US enrolment stagnating and the UK cutting back on university places, "Indian graduates will become more visible globally, particularly in technical and engineering fields", Mr Agarwal predicts.

'Great leap forward'

KN Panikkar, vice chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council, describes India's higher education spending as undergoing a "great leap forward".

The amount of money in the central budget for higher education in the current five year plan (2010-2015) is nine times the amount of the previous five years.

But there is a steep hill to climb. India's National Knowledge Commission estimated the country needs 1,500 universities compared to around 370 now.

Hundreds of new institutions are being set up, including large new public universities in each state. The number of prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Management (IIMs) are being expanded from seven to 15.

India's private university sector is also growing rapidly, particularly in professional education in information technology, engineering, medicine and management where there is huge demand from the burgeoning middle classes.

But that will not be enough. To bridge the gap the government last year tabled legislation to invite foreign universities to set up branch campuses. The Foreign Providers Bill is currently making its way through parliament.

'Fever pitch'

Last year there were reports of up to 50 foreign universities being interested in setting up in India. The hype reached fever pitch in November during the visit of US President Barack Obama and a large group of US university presidents.

UK Higher Education minister David Willetts and the largest-ever Canadian delegation were also in the country, enthusiastically talking of university partnerships.

Some foreign universities are already in place. The UK's Leeds Metropolitan University provides management degrees on a 36-acre campus in Bhopal in central India.

Lancaster University runs courses at the GD Goenka World Institute - a 69-acre site near Delhi. Both institutions opened in 2009 as joint ventures with Indian non-profit partners under existing laws.

Some bring faculty and staff from their home institutions, but even the most prestigious public institutions, including the IITs, are struggling to fill top faculty positions and teacher student ratios are deteriorating.

Foreign institutions able to lure staff with higher salaries will make the situation worse, detractors of the Foreign Providers Bill point out.

Mr Panikkar says foreign and private institutions are not the answer. "If only 1% of the population can afford the fees, then it will be very serious for the country in terms of equity."

Fair access

Access is an important issue for the government which came to power because the benefits of India's rapid economic growth were seen to have bypassed the country's poor.

Students in the chemistry department at the private Amity University in Noida While more than 95% of children now attend primary school, just 40% attend secondary school, according to the World Bank. That in itself will limit growth in university enrolment.

The World Bank has said India's economic success cannot be sustained without major investment in education, including higher education, with public spending on the sector still lagging behind countries like China and Brazil.

But the gold-rush mentality has dissipated. The Foreign Providers Bill is stuck in a parliament that has done little business since a telecommunications corruption scandal erupted last year.

"There has been some toning down of expectations of foreign universities," said Rahul Choudaha, associate director, World Education Services in New York and a close observer of the sector.

"The public university system in many countries is in crisis, facing serious budget cuts. They are not ready to invest money in partnerships."

Some "gold diggers" were dissuaded as the government made it clear for-profit companies would not be allowed to exploit India's thirst for higher education.

Unlike Singapore and China, the Indian government does not want to appear to favour foreign institutions by providing public money or large land grants.

Duke University, based in North Carolina in the US, has been interested in India for some time.

"We want to develop Duke as a globally-networked university. The best researchers are those connected globally," says Gregory Jones, Duke's vice president and vice provost for global strategy.

'Eastward shift'

But its Shanghai campus will be in operation first. "They [Shanghai] were willing to donate and build the first phase at their expense so it was a financially-viable proposition for us," said Mr Jones.

"It is not yet clear how we will develop our presence in India. It is a complicated reform bill."

An eastward shift in the geography of science and technology is a major draw as international companies set up research and development sites in India and China.

"We are tapping into the research potential of these Asian countries," says Professor Pradeep Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering.

The prestigious US institution has teamed up with India's Shiv Nadar Foundation to open an engineering college in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

But these joint ventures are not fully-fledged overseas campuses. "Only a handful of overseas universities are thinking about that seriously," said Mr Agarwal. "But even if they go ahead it will not be enough. They will only increase capacity for hundreds of Indian students, not millions."

That means huge public spending on colleges outside the cities, says Mr Panikkar who has written extensively on social justice in higher education. He believes the enrolment targets are too ambitious given limited public resources and bottlenecks in staffing and infrastructure.

"What is achievable is adding perhaps 10 million students to existing capacity in the next five to seven years," he says.

That would still be a major achievement, but some way from making India an education superpower.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12597815

Mobile apps in India- a survey

Are people living in mumbai more interested in finance than those living in other cities? Are south Indians more fond of mobile gaming? Or are people in the North-East more inclined towards education? Their usage of mobile phone apps certainly seem to suggest so.
According to a survey conducted by Nokia, 16% of those surveyed in west download finance apps (the highest of any region), 23% south Indians mostly use gaming apps (again, higher than any other region) and 29% of people from the North-East download educational apps. Nearly 30% of south Indians surveyed use the apps on their smartphone during commutes, while 32% use them at home. Over 40% of those surveyed in the North download music apps-more than in any other Indian region. Around 25% of people in the North-East use almost all the apps they download on their smartphone, while their neighbours in the east, are the highest users of social networking apps (39%). The survey was conducted on 501 Indians last November.
"The mobile apps market in India can be pegged at $2 billion. Of the 70 crore mobile phone users in India, smartphone users account for around 1 crore," says Prashant Singhal, partner at Ernst and Young. A recent study by Informate Mobile intelligence, a telecom research company, says that 70% smartphone users visit a Value Added Services (VAS) portal and Operator VAS portals are most popular among their subscribers. "Value Added Services (VAS) contributes to around 10% of revenues of telecom companies and currently, apps seem focused on games, music and social networking," says Hemant Joshi, partner at Deloitte Haskins and Sells. "To make apps profitable, companies must introduce utility apps like banking and healthcare, for which users wouldn't mind paying Re 1 a day."
Gartner released a list of the most important mobile applications in 2012 on Tuesday that focus on high-end devices with an average selling price of over $300 (around Rs 15,000). Location-based services, social networking, search, commerce, payment, content-aware service, object recognition, instant messaging, e-mail and video will the top apps for 2012.
"VAS in India include SMS, caller ringtones and general web browsing, so mobile apps is still a small market, though it is growing quickly," says Jaideep Ghosh, executive director at KPMG India."Utility apps haven't been able to become very popular in India on the mobile platform due to lack of awareness for these apps among the target groups." Globally, mobile application store revenue is projected to surpass $15.1 billion in 2011, both from sales and advertising revenue. This is a 190% increase from 2010 revenue of $5.2 billion.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-25/india-business/28633905_1_mobile-apps-smartphone-users-mobile-gaming

Several Kanpur girls silently bear sexual abuse: Survey

Nearly 40 per cent of girls in the city are victims of some form of sexual abuse, revealed a study conducted by the home science department of Chandra Shekher Azad (CSA) University of Agriculture and Technology. It includes girls who are in the age group of 9-12 years and have been molested either at schools or homes. Many girls have faced physical and emotional neglect and social abuse as well.

Out of 249 girls surveyed, 123 reported of instances where their private parts were touched. While 41.2 per cent were forced to expose their genitals or subjected to other forms of sexual abuse. Whereas many girls reported of sexual act where the abuser forced the girl to touch his genitals.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-02-21/kanpur/28618805_1_sexual-abuse-neglect-sexual-exploitation

India "most improved" in bribery index

Chinese and Russian firms are the most likely to pay bribes while operating abroad, and the most corrupt sectors are public works contracts and construction, according to Transparency International's latest "Bribe Payers' index".

China and Russia rank bottom, in 27th and 28th place respectively, in the 2011 index released on Wednesday, while the Dutch, Swiss, Belgians, Germans and Japanese get the top scores. Britain and the United States rank eighth and ninth.

But the Berlin-based anti-corruption campaigners said not one of the 28 countries surveyed -- which include all of the G20 -- was perceived as "wholly clean of bribery" and few had made a major improvement since the last bribery index in 2008.
"India's score improved the most, with an increase of 0.7, but it still remains near the bottom of the table. Canada and the United Kingdom saw the most significant deterioration in their scores with a drop of -0.3," read the report.

The group asked 3,016 business executives in 30 countries -- selected by the value of their foreign direct investments and exports, plus their regional significance -- how often companies based in countries in the survey engaged in bribery.
Transparency urged countries to ratify conventions against bribery under the auspices of the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union.
"In their meeting in Cannes this week, G20 governments must tackle foreign bribery as a matter of urgency," said Huguette Labelle of Transparency International in a statement.
"It is of particular concern that China and Russia are at the bottom of the index," it said, citing their increasing global presence, especially in oil and gas in Russia's case and China's investments in infrastructure and mining, in particular in Africa.

China's decision this year to expand anti-corruption laws to Chinese firms operating overseas and foreign companies in China was an important step, but there was still a risk of "bottlenecks", said Ran Jianmin of Transparency in China.

New Russian laws outlawing foreign bribery gave rise to hope, Transparency's Russian research head Elena Panfilova said, although she added that there were as yet "no islands of integrity in Russian public and business life".

Russia came joint 154th of 178 nations in Transparency's 2010 index of public-sector corruption and China ranked 78th.

Breaking down the bribery index into 19 business sectors, public works contracts and construction were the most prone to bribery and agriculture and light engineering were the least, but no single sector scored above 7.1 on a 10-point scale.
Mining, oil and gas, real estate, and legal and business services were also very prone to bribery, it said, adding that they were "all characterised by high-value investment and significant government interaction and regulation, both of which provide opportunities and incentives for corruption".

Transparency said it was surprised that the likelihood of bribes being paid from one private firm to another "is almost as high as bribery of public officials across all sectors".

"Bribery can also be disguised through offering clients gifts and corporate hospitality that are inappropriate in value," said the report.

New British legislation this year making bribery between firms an offence, including any company incorporated overseas or carrying out business in the United Kingdom, "sets a new global standard" that should be widely imitated, it said.

It said corruption in public works contracts and construction often compromised safety in public buildings, "which, as witnessed by the many deaths from earthquakes in highly corrupt countries, has a very real impact on human lives".

(Reporting by Stephen Brown; editing by Andrew Roche)

more information: http://www.transparency.org/

Metallica concert in India

Music is perhaps a quintessential part of youth, and implicit in the development of the notion of the 'teenager', providing a way to sculpt an identity and at once rebel against authority figures, with each generations music being considered better in every way than the predecessor. It should come as no surprise then that the upcoming series of gigs planned by Metallica in India have caused such furore. Not least when the first had to be cancelled due to safety issues.



The audience reacted to the news that the gig was cancelled in a way that is reminiscent of 1969's infamous Hell's Angels plagued Rolling Stones concert, and certainly at odds with the international perception of a skilled, intellectual generation of Indian teens coming through. Could it be that the implied violence associated with the 'Metal' genre inspired such reaction, or could it be the result of a newly established youth conscience within India? What is certain is that the uproar came as a shock to the world observing it eliciting commentary from, amongst others, the Huffington Post. What is undeniable however, is that the event proves Indian teens to be a passionate collective, dedicated to their interests.

As one of the world's youngest, and yet largest countries it stands to reason that India has reached a state of national (and cognitive) maturity to enable the demarcation of a group of individuals that can define themselves in such a way as to spontaneously protest, however, it would be unfair if the world viewed both India, or the individuals involved negatively as a result of them mimicking decades old behaviour of likeminded teenagers.







Additional information: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-29/gurgaon/30336704_1_lars-ulrich-metallica-concert-indian-fans

the Media consumption of Indian youth

Source: http://www.bytecolumn.com/08/big-digital-launches-youth-online-reality-show/

BIG Digital launches India’s first youth online reality show ‘Transform India- Youth Uncensored’

BIG Digital, the digital content and marketing arm of the Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd., is proud to announce India’s First Youth Online Reality Show, which promises to play the role of a catalyst, in initiating a youth movement in the country. Aptly titled ‘Transform India- Youth Uncensored’, the reality show will empower the youth by providing a platform for them to voice their opinion through an extensive social media initiative.

Consuming information through multiple platforms and translating it into highly opinionated discussion forums either online or with peers, the youth of today have a mind of their own. It is against this milieu that BIG Digital launches ‘Transform India- Youth Uncensored’, a high voltage online reality show which will address social problems ranging from escalating corruption, safe sex, eve teasing to gender discrimination from the perspective of the youth.

This digital reality show will bring over 100 colleges from across the six cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad to fight the battle to Transform India through their innovative ideas, on raising concern for issues and tackling them thereafter. Colleges will compete against each other, as they upload videos on how they believe they can best tackle societal issues. These videos will be judged by an esteemed jury panel, and will then be left open for online voting. Teams will be given a socially relevant topic and will be asked to upload the video of their proposed recommendation to tackle them. It goes without saying that as the show progresses the battle between colleges will be very exciting and audiences the world over can watch its un-edited version online.

Hard pressed for time and a challenging audience base to garner attention from, with 70% of brands in India struggling to communicate and engage with, the youth are a key audience base that marketers today chase. Transform India – Youth Uncensored, brings forth a unique opportunity for both youth and marketers looking to connect. While it offers the youth a platform for expression fuelled by issues that make for serious conversation currency, creating engaging environments leading to a transformation – an India 2.0, it will provide fantastic opportunities to marketers to get associated and play a pivotal role in piloting India's transformation.

BIG Digital will ensure a holistic treatment to this property, across its media verticals ranging radio, television, out of home, on-ground promotions and of course digital.

Soumen. G. Choudhury Business Head, 92.7 BIG FM said “It is our constant endeavour to offer pioneering initiatives, and Transform India: Youth Uncensored is a leap in that direction. We want, through this initiative to galvanize a movement in the youth space as we allow them to focus their energies towards this path-breaking social media initiative. We are confident of the youth coming on board to express their views, while we offer an excellent platform for advertisers to partners with.”

Transform India will culminate in an online reality show which is fun, motivational and educational. Every episode will capture imaginations of millions of youth, featuring unique tasks, controversies, goof-ups and sincerity. The content will be packaged to create a rage among Indian youth. The content will mirror the face of bold Indian youth willing to go to any extent to accomplish tasks that will transform people, the city and India!
About BIG Digital:

BIG Digital, is Reliance Broadcast Network’s initiative in the digital space, creating a surround of innovative digital media integrations on the mobile and online platforms. BIG Digital works with fresh talent across regions, in the music and entertainment space, to create intellectual properties for brands via digital endorsements. It thereby creates platform agnostic ideas bringing brands and content, closer to the consumer.

Source: http://pearlriseentertainment.blogspot.com/2011/08/big-digital-launches-indias-first-youth.html

Most of the Indian youth reads news at the online sites

The year 2010-2011 can very appropriately be termed as ‘The Year of Scams’ for India. From CWG to Adarsh Housing Society, India witnessed scams in almost every major sector. The common man in India who has seen and heard about numerous such scams with regularity that leaves the outside world astonished, is mostly unflustered after any such news breaks. But the sheer number and magnitude of scams those were unearthed before the common man in the past year surprised and generated interest from all in the country.

While television and newspapers have remained the primary source of information for any news, internet has also played its role in creating awareness about these scams and providing readers with more details and facts around these. ViziSense, in its report, analyzed and highlighted that contrary to common perception, a substantial chunk of audience is from the age group of 15-24. The report highlights readers from the 15-24 years age group constitute 24% of the total size of audience that has read scam related news online. But the largest chunk of 40 % is formed by working professionals, the age group of 25-35.

Not to surprise an astonishing 77 % of readers read about the 2G scam on the internet which is said to be one of the biggest scams of recent times. This was followed by the CWG scam read by 16% of readers. Adarsh, land scams and LIC corporate loan scam followed the list.

The data was analyzed and collected basis ViziSense panel’s consumption of news content across top news / web portals.

Source: http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Scams...Indian-youth-make-a-beeline-for-online-news-sites/5097947932

facebook brings in "other life" of "romantic utopia" in the life of urban and rual youth in India

The adopted otherness in a SNS away from the conservative society and ever increasing social pressure brings in SNS utopia as a "release point":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=begUTxCzoZw&hd=1

here's a statement from a viewer in youtube:

"I actually had an incident like this happened to me a few months back .. I met this girl from out of town a day before she was leaving... We clicked and I was like ... Shinning .. So i gave her my card and told her to get in touch with me.. She mailed me .. got me on facebook .. We send mails back and forth ... and she told me she would come to town in a few months .. Then a friend who happened to know her.. told me She was married.. She came to town yesterday ... I won't meet her.. :'(" - oooohyaaah100

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=begUTxCzoZw&feature=player_embedded#!

Social life at bangalore for singles

If you’re in Bangalore, single and are looking for a social circle that doesn’t involve married friends, here’s a great new place to hang out. Floh (Find Life Over Here) is a start-up that aims to bring together urban professionals in their twenties and thirties not with the ambition of setting them up, but to give them a platform to mingle and find interesting people outside their immediate social circles.

Siddharth Mangharam, entrepreneur and founder CEO, hit upon this brainwave after meeting his wife at a cheese-tasting event, an interest they both share. Having realized how increasingly difficult it has become for urban, well-settled single men and women to venture out and meet other singles outside of work and the comfort of friends, Siddharth and his wife decided to pitch this idea to singles within their personal networks, i.e., friends and professional contacts who had hit a dead end in dating.

Having said that, Siddharth is quick to assert that Floh is not a dating site or even a matrimonial one even though it has been instrumental in bringing some singles together. His business model works on the premise that singles have as much right to a happening social life as married people do – in fact, being free from rigid commitments and obligations, singles should find it an active social life easier than their not-single counterparts. There is no matchmaking involved, though. Every member is vetted and personally interviewed by a Floh founder and ‘determined’ whether they’d fit in with the network and enjoy interacting with its existing members before they gain entry.

There is also a very thoughtful right-of-admission reserved – access to Floh is on an invite-only basis, where only an existing member can invite you and refer you to Floh. Siddharth insists he doesn’t want this to balloon to unmanageable sizes and says that it’s not at all about the numbers. Considering the number of women members trump the number of men in the Bangalore venture currently, this ‘security’ measure is much welcome.

S, (name withheld on request), a marketing professional in her thirties, vouches for this. Having been a member since its inception, she’s still single, but welcomes the opportunity to meet like-minded people (or otherwise) outside her hectic corporate life once in a while and let her hair down. Her work and lifestyle have included a lot of travel so far, but she’s now in Bangalore for a good while and highly recommends Floh to single women in Bangalore.

Though this network is open to people in their twenties, Joe, an artist in his mid-twenties, found the evening event to cater mostly to the 30+ crowd, something Siddharth says depends on the event you attend, since the network caters to people in the 25-40 age bracket. Floh events are bracketed into 4 categories – food (cook-outs), beverages (trips to vineyards, cocktail events) outdoors (nature sports, heritage walks) and cerebral/artsy (theatre workshops, photography). One can choose the event based on their likes and preferences. This way, the chances of meeting like-minded singles increases dramatically, says Siddharth. He tries to organize at least 4-8 events a month and covers a wide variety of interests including the recently concluded and hugely successful paint ball event for the perennially-young-at-heart populace.

With experience at McKinsey & Co. and Microsoft, Siddharth with his latest initiative seems to be poised on the edge of hitherto uncharted territory in urban India. His mantra is perfectly summed up in his own quote: “Emotions are best expressed when two people meet in a no-pressure, natural environment.”

He hopes to expand this to Delhi and Mumbai soon.

Bangalore’s Floh already has close to a 1000 members in 6 months of existence, but they’re handpicked and have to go through the Floh screen to gain entry. Floh’s only requirement is that if you find someone you’d like to date in their network, you’ll have to quit the network – a small ask for a terrific opportunity to meet interesting people and to skip the odious matchmaking ritual by well-meaning but largely irritating relatives and/or having to register on matrimonial sites with no surety of authenticity of profiles.

Note: Visit the Floh blog for write-ups and articles by members.

Youth in Manipur demands "change"

It's hard to see anything positive coming out of the 60-day economic blockade in Manipur (India). But the blockade and counter blockade by two communities have actually led to a new wave of consciousness in this northeastern state with people, particularly youngsters, getting together and demanding a change in the present state of affairs.

With assembly elections due next year, many people are networking online and off it too to organise themselves and be the arbiters of their own 'destiny' in the Congress-led state wracked by unrest.

Anguished by the poor state of affairs in his home state, Bimol Akoijam has started an online campaign on the social networking site Facebook titled 'People's Campaign for Assembly Election 2012: Deciding Our Destiny'.


'It's time we act in order to have a life with dignity and well-being. The right to choose our political leadership is the basis for the change that we are seeking. The aim is to make the political class accountable for the mess and decadence that we are in today,' Akoijam wrote on his Facebook page.

The economic blockade called by the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) Aug 1 and a counter blockade called later by the United Naga Council have crippled normal life in Manipur, making prices of household commodities soar and resulting in acute scarcities, including of life-saving drugs.

Among the various activities planned is one on Oct 18 that aims to bring together all those who have moved out of the state for education, employment or other purposes and take their help in spreading awareness about the upcoming assembly elections and urge people to vote for the right candidate and make it an 'issue-based election'.

The meet, which is to take place in different cities across the country, has found many takers.

Yet another online group, 'Debate on Economic Blockade in Manipur' has scores of followers voicing their opinion.

'The economic blockade is happening because some people have political authority over their tribe, but even their own tribe people condemn this (blockade). Majority of people- whatever be their tribe- are suffering because of this,' wrote Achilles Vaiphei.

'The people of Manipur have been taken for a ride for far too long,' said Sharmila Singha, a homemaker from one of the worst affected districts, Chandel. 'Because of the interest of a handful of people, the entire state is in doldrums. And all the while the government has not been able to do anything about it.'

The main bone of contention in the logjam is the demand by the SHDDC for a separate Sadar Hills district, which is strictly opposed by some other sects as the area also includes some ethnic-Naga settled areas.

So, as the clashing communities remain firm on their demands, the rest of the state looks on helplessly and pays a heavy price.

Therefore, even as people in other states protest the rise of petrol prices to Rs.67 per litre, in Manipur it is being sold at around Rs.200 in the black market. An LPG cylinder can cost anywhere between Rs.1,800-2,000.

'We have gone back to using firewood for cooking. How can anyone afford a cylinder at such prices? Whatever be the issue, it's always...always the common man who suffers,' said a bitter Priyanka Yumnam, a homemaker.

Madhu Chandra, who hails from Manipur and is the spokesperson of the Northeast Support Centre in Delhi, told IANS: 'There is a feeling that there is a dearth of things in the state, but these are available in the black market for those who can afford the high prices...the blockade has therefore unleashed corruption in a big way.'

Mandira Singha, a 20-year-old who lost her father to the blockade because of lack of life-saving drugs, added: 'There is government apathy towards our condition. It's been 60 days and nothing has been done by the centre. Why? Had this happened anywhere else in the country would the reaction have been the same?'

(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.rahman@gmail.com)
Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/demand-change-cry-manipur-youth-052243212.html

Indian youth is comfortable to add their parents in facebook

In India, the youth thinks their parents are cool to add in facebook. 64% said their parents are cool enough. One said 'its no big deal... i send my parents messages and i chat with them on it since i don't get to see them now that i'm abroad . i dont mind them seeing my page. what am i hiding.... she also knows where to draw the line between having a look at my page and being nosy. Besides fcbk is not the place to put info you dont want some people to see'. another stated that 'parents shud be added...in my view first parents,then comes everyone...parents shud also know with whom we are talking to, what we are sharing..and ofcourse keeping them upto date with the technology'. 'Its cool to have my mom, aunts and uncles on my fb.... even my grand parents !! its a good way to keep in touch, especially if u dnt call them up regularly... they get to know wat i'm up to, who i'm with or i broke up with... its all there.you dnt hv to go around explaining, how, why, what, where or when. Its there for them to kno... so its alrite'.

It's interesting to know that some of them has dual account! one for parents and other for friends/ 'not so known friends'. 'tatz y i hav 2 account .. 1 fr ma family member and known... another for making frndz nd known frnds.... :-'.

source: http://campus.yahoo.com/debates/friend-your-parents-facebook-c659f8f55dae1fd452c753534286193ba8b1d1e4

the youth in India- La Tomatnia or anna team?

To me, India is not one country but a "theme & ideology" under which many countries stay together...the demography, psychography and even economy changes in each 500kms...we have more than 200 languages, varied cultures, rituals, society. Even the religious belief for each religion are diversified (even within same religion)...it is actually very tough to create one movement pan-India.

Interestingly, I understood that we do have common AIOs (Youth segment) for few factors...one of them is the "hatred against the politicians and bureaucrats". the "anna team" (the team behind anti corruption movement in India) understood it well and created the movement successfully. This is the first ever post-independent movement in India which appeals to all the youth in India across the demography, culture, class, economy and social barrier. the team successfully promoted it through alternative media, word-of-mouth, open press, radio stations to gather support. The govt was bent, finally.

in other hand, we have "other india" who lives in socio-cultural Utopia and dreams of being "exotic" in this very country.

In the wake of a popular Bollywood movie which glorified Spain through its crap story, half Indian actress and a six fingered Hero, the “La Tomatnia” came in India!

The original La Tomatina festival which once started in Spain (once a year) to overcome the over-production of Tomatoes and reincarnate Spanish tourism is now being enthusiastically “copied” as a “social activity” by some enthusiasts in Bangaluru and Delhi! It’s unfortunate that we, being Indian, fail to understand that this country is culturally rich enough to arrange or re-invent any mode of “social activity” (which is fit for our demography) rather than merely copying the “others”. A socio-cultural activity as “Holi” (which unfortunately became religious, later) was designed by our fore-fathers to initiate the social network, break self-barrier, social belonging, spreading happiness and peace; the same motto, that La Tomatnia has in Spain.

The fetish of being “westernized” is rooted so deep in our gene that we fail to recognize the price of a tomato (in India) vis a vis the hungry Indians (for original La Tomatina at Spain, the tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive and are grown specifically for the holidays, being of inferior taste)!

Or is it actually a fetish of showing off the power of money to the “other India”? A fetish that is growing in monstrous proportion in the cities like Bangaluru and Delhi… “See I can smash so many tomatoes with my girlfriend which you might never have eaten in your life”…a Spanish dream in dreadful Bangaluru traffic!

The most common disease in “India.inc” is ‘living in a socio-cultural Utopia’ which many youth relishes everyday. When these day dreams break, they lands into the Smokey, polluted, poverty ridden, class barricaded roads of modern India…

Read more about Anna team and La Tomatina, India:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/anna-team-anticipates-every-step-centre-plans-meticulously-214

http://www.benglued.com/tomato-festival-in-bangalore/

http://www.latomatina.co.in/

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:854YhvOwXGIJ:post.jagran.com/juice-up-your-coming-weekend-with-la-tomatina-festival-1311845291+la+tomatina+delhi&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in

celebs are encashing on "anna phenomenon"!

Brand Anna has gone beyond corruption; marketers have begun dismantling the components of Anna Hazare's successful sway over India in what is now acclaimed as the biggest online and offline public campaign India has ever seen.

Many have already jumped the gun, and latched on to Annagiri to promote subjects Anna Hazare might not endorse, or even be aware of.

Arindam Chaudhary: Ramlila Maidan, Day 11

IIPM thought beyond the Nobel, and created the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize. Even after Anna Hazare rejected the one crore rupee prize this year for undisclosed reasons, Arindam Chaudhary somehow got on the stage on Day 11 of Anna's protest. With Mahatma Gandhi's giant poster and his sequel listening on, he ranted about murdering "some two hundred million people of our country before the age of 40…" so that we can live till 80.

This, from the founder of an institute which sued Google(!) for unfavorable results, sued a media house for an unfavorable article and just lost a defamation case against a website after the court quashed the case.

Sankalp Srivastava: 'Anna Chalisa'

Anna Chalisa, a five minute track was written, composed and sung by him, and Sankalp even distributed free CDs to support India Against Corruption.

Unlike Arindam's rant on the Ramlila Maidan, Sankalp Srivastava's Anna Chalisa could be a genuine case of Anna-holism.

But Sankalp's background as an event manager makes this suspect; free giveaways are an old marketing gimmick. The poor are always poor, the protesters are always protesting - where was Sankalp when we needed him then?

Sanjay Leela Bhansali: My Friend Anna

There's a lot of Bollywood regulars on the social activism scene. Rahul Bose was quietly lending a hand in the rubble of the Indian tsunami, and even owns an NGO.

Shabani Azmi has done a lot of children and women's rights, the rights of displaced migrants.She' also the Goodwill Ambassador of the UNPF as well as for the HIV/AIDS programmes for SAARC region. Gul Panag works actively for Col. Shamsher Singh Foundation and Gul 4 Change to work for gender equality, addiction awareness, education and employment, environment and disaster management.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has never been seen doing anything - even light a candle at the fashionable vigils. And now he's distributing 'My Friend Anna' T shirts to blatantly promote his upcoming My Friend Pinto.

KRK, Salina Wali Khan, Yoggitta Dandekar: Stripping for Anna Hazare

Kamaal Rashid Khan tweeted his willingness to strip at Ramlila Maidan. In his own embarrassing words: "bhai logon maine kapde nikal diye hain. barish ho rahi hai na. Ramleela maidan mai nanga baithoonga.(sic)." (Brothers, I have taken off my clothes. It's raining. I will sit naked at Ramlila Maidan)

Ditto for Yuvraaj Parashar (seen in 'Dunno Y... Na Jaane Kyon' )..'I will strip for Anna. He is like a God to me,' says Yuvraaj "I am totally inspired by Anna Hazare. Woh humein batana chahte hain ki humein apne haq ke liye ladna chahiye. And this is why I am giving my support to his cause, totally."

Marathi actress Yoggitta Dandekar's willing to do a Poonam Pandey; she's ready to run topless in a marathon if Anna wins, or so she claims. She's already painted her body in the tricolor to support to "pledge support" to Anna Hazare's cause.

Salina Wali Khan is willing to do the opposite. The Delhi-based actor and model has claimed that she will dance naked if Anna's Jan-Lokpal Bill is not passed.

Amusingly, she also stated: 'My decision is not for gaining publicity. I am not like other models who make controversial claims for grabbing eyeballs. I am not doing it to be famous but for the common people."

Federation of Indian Animals Protection Organisation: Donkey Rights

In a letter to Anna Hazare, the organization wrote of India's 1.6 million donkeys, used as "objects to mock at corrupt officials…"instead of being treated as the "innocent, hard working animals who truly bear the burden of the world"

The donkeys, FIAPO wrote, "were undoubtedly terrified and confused…" and "had no vote in the matter", requesting Anna to ask his followers to not use donkeys as symbols of corrupt politicans

DJ Jenni: Stripping Against the Casting Couch

intoday

"We need an Anna Hazare in film and music to curb this menace… ", says Jenny D, talking about the "open secret" of the casting couch in Bollywood and Indian music industry.

Mumbai based DJ, Jenni Costa has launched a Facebook campaign called

'Fight the Casting Couch', and has received support from Citizen Action Forum.

According to her: "Has anyone wondered why there are so many female singers and musicians, but hardly any female Music Directors in the film industry? The reason is simple - the Casting Couch. I myself have been a victim of this nasty phenomenon, and I had to face humiliation in the past. I know a lot of girls who just give in because they have almost no other option…"

However, apart from regular posts from Page Admin to invite others, there is nothing actually happening on the Facebook Page. There's a post about 'Ten Bollywood Models' who will strip nude to support the cause, but no one knows how they are. Another Poonam Pandey?

Source: http://www.mensxp.com/