Youth Fashion Trend Direction in India : Spring /Summer 2013

Youth fashion trend in India 2012 (men's hair style)

A look-book on the trend of facial hair styles among the young innovators of India:

Youth fashion trend in India 2012 (Men's hair styles) from Kaustav Sengupta

the trend in hiring youth : a mixed reaction

Keeping in mind the rapid down trend in global recruitment here's a report that was published at The Hindu newspaper :

The general downturn across many industrial sectors in India is influencing the hiring scenario but recruitment firms and jobsites predict that there will be an improvement in the hiring trends if the government implements some long due economic reforms.

The hiring activity in the past month has been a mixed bag according to the Naukri job speak index for June 2012. Sectors like construction, insurance, oil and gas and ITES are going slow on their hiring plans, but others like auto and pharma are hiring fresh talent. The IT sector, which is the largest employer of skilled workforce, has also shown a slowdown in hiring and lateral hiring across companies has almost stopped All this has led to the overall job speak index stabilising in the last few months. The Naukri Job Speak Index which is an indicator of online job demand moved up to 1,210 in June from 1,194 in May. Compared to June 2011 when the index was at 1,129, the hiring trends were better this year.

“Selective hiring is happening across most sectors now. However, the next few months will be challenging for the overall recruitment market in India,” says Hitesh Oberoi, Managing Director and CEO, Info Edge India.

Coming to a sector wise analysis of the hiring trends, most sectors are facing the effects of a slowdown and sectors like construction, ITES, oil and gas and insurance saw a 17%, 10%, 8% and 6% dip in hiring levels in June when compared to the same time a year ago. Software services, banking and pharma sectors have, however, seen their hiring levels pick up by 9%, 16% and 19% respectively in June this year compared to last year. The hiring trend for auto and the heavy machinery sector in June was similar to what it was last year. Hiring activity in the media sector has increased by 19% in June 2012 when compared to June 2011. Trends indicate that hiring is positive in sectors like education, healthcare, life sciences, pharmaceuticals etc. But hiring in sectors like telecom and some areas in financial services are down.

A functional area analysis of the report indicates that sales and business development professionals have seen a steady increase in demand in June by 29% compared to last year. Coming to other sectors, professionals in software services and production have seen a 6% and 4% increase in demand respectively, in June this year compared to June of last year. On the other side professionals in BPO and project management saw hiring levels go down by 12% during the same time period. Accounts and HR professionals have not seen any visible change in their recruitment levels when compared to last year.

A city wise analysis of the report indicates that except for Hyderabad which saw a dip in hiring levels by 5% in June compared to last year all the other cities have shown some increase in the hiring activity. Mumbai and Pune witnessed a 9% increase in the index while Delhi, Pune and Kolkata saw an increase between 3 to 6% during last month. However, compared to June last year the hiring in cities of Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune has come down this year.

Coming to hiring based on experience, professionals with several years of experience have seen an increase in demand by over 9% in June. However, freshers and those with four to seven years of experience have seen stable hiring levels in June this year compared to the same time period of last year.

The hiring scenario has been a mixed bag in June. Industries and recruitment firms believe things will be better in the coming months provided some long pending economic reforms are implemented

INgene survey on Addiction

If your are youth in Indian subcontinent, kindly perticipate in this nationwide survey to understand the motivation of addiction among young population :

Click here : trend in Addiction among Indian youth

Substance abuse and addiction : Youth in India

Among amid restrictions over the addictive substances in urban India and the abundance of medical shops (that provides medicines without a prescription), the youth are exploring and exploiting new materials such as Codenine and Vicks. Here’s a report published at Times Of India :

Priyam Panchal's parents found nothing amiss with the 16-year-old sleeping all day and staying awake at night, until the Malad girl slapped her father for stopping her from going out with friends. It was then that her shocked parents found over 40 empty bottles of cough syrup under her bed.

Priyam (name changed) was not suffering from any ailment that would require her to consume cough suppressants. Her parents remained in denial for over a month and delayed consulting an expert even as she became more abusive and violent. When they finally took her to a psychiatrist, she was diagnosed with codeine addiction, which was making her heavily dependent on cough syrup. The Panchals sent her to the Drug Abuse Information Rehabilitation and Research Centre in Kalyan, where Priyam is undergoing a nine-month therapy.

De-addiction experts say Priyam's case is neither isolated nor surprising. Codeine addiction, or rather a trend northeastern states are infamous for, has suddenly caught the fancy of adolescents in the city. An essential ingredient in cough syrup, codeine's prolonged use can lead to addiction. Experts say 6-15% of those enrolling in de-addiction programmes in the city have a history of codeine or cough syrup addiction.

"The addiction hits those aged 13-14; the ratio of female addicts is more," said Dr Yusuf Merchant, president, DAIRRC. The observation was shared by other rehabilitation centres in the city, where authorities said four out of the 10 addicts are teenage girls.

Fr Joseph Pereira, founder, Kripa Foundation, a rehabilitation centre for those affected by chemical dependency, said codeine addiction was affecting a "silent and hidden majority". He said, "Young boys are into designer drugs, but for girls, cough syrups are the easiest to access and cheapest to use."

Some centres also receive housewives as codeine addicts. In February, a south Mumbai hospital treated a 32-year-old mother of two from Gamdevi. She was taken to the hospital with complaints of drowsiness, lethargy and extreme mood swings. "After tests costing about Rs 40,000, a doctor suspected that her problem was elsewhere. The woman confessed to the addiction only after four-five counselling sessions, citing lack of attention from her husband as the reason," said a doctor. "The woman admitted to buying cough syrups in bulk."

Counsellor Jatish Shah, who was attached to Masina Hospital's alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, said the facility may have treated 400 patients over eight years. "Codeine addiction leaves no traces like smell. The number of housewives addicted to it could be shockingly large."

The FDA has started raiding chemist shops to find unexplained sales of cough syrup. It cancelled licences of 40 who sold over 1,500 bottles without bills or prescriptions. JJ Hospital professor of psychiatry Dr Yusuf Matcheswalla said some earn Rs 40,000-50,000 from selling the syrups and called the problem "alarming".

child workers in India : new ways of exploitation by retail giants

Corporate conspiracy to recruit children for various strenuous jobs is now becoming an evident trend in India that needs social awarness and protest. The corporates and retail giants are using child works through curtained channels and layered recruitment process to protect the brand persona.

Here’s a report published in The Hindu newspaper today:

School dropouts cycling long hours in the heat to promote a product seek less strenuous job

  Not many would have taken note of these children riding tricycles fitted with triangular banners offering ‘free’ lenses to students on behalf of a private company. And fewer still would have noticed that they are child workers. For Vinayagam, Nirmal and Gouthaman, all school dropouts, this is no hobby. It is a long ride, too. “We start at 9 a.m. from Mambalam and go to Adyar, Kotturpuram, Alwarpet, and Nandanam. At 7 p.m., we come back to office to surrender the cycles and take a bus back home,” says Gouthaman, barely 11 and a class VI dropout. Vinayagam, claiming to be 17, says Gouthaman can’t work like the others, but still insists on joining them at work. “We have been sticking posters, carrying load and running errands for smaller companies. But this is the first time a big company has taken us in,” he says. Their assignment started on Monday and they have been promised Rs. 300 a day. They hope to be paid on Saturday. All are residents of S. M. Nagar on Pallavan Salai, and there are at least 30 other children who take up such jobs. Rajendra Kumar, who takes care of these children and arranges jobs for them, says, “No amount of persuasion seems to convince them to go to school. Some of them have also taken to stealing.” Nirmal, son of a mason, often goes to Tindivanam, Villupuram and Puducherry for work and also cycles the ‘marketing vehicle’ for selling saris in T. Nagar during festival seasons. “This time, a man on a bike is following us to ensure we don’t rest. He got us tea when we rode really fast and covered more areas. But it is difficult to keep riding without breaks.”

The company whose product they are advertising, Lawrence & Mayo, said it had no clue that children were hired. It was unfortunate that the advertising agency had done it without informing the company. Personnel from one of the ad agencies said: “We only wanted to help them with books or paying their tuition fees.” However, the children say they have not been going to school for the past one year. “We want to work, not ride cycles in heat. It makes me faint after a while. Can you please arrange a factory job for us, where can pack goods or work sitting in one place,” asks Nirmal.

A Labour Department official said since ‘cycling to advertise a product’ was a new form of exploitation that does not come under the term ‘hazardous work’ it was difficult to take action. However, many children from poor families might not have physical abilities appropriate to their age, and hiring them for jobs such as this is dangerous for them.

The trend in Indian novels and the youth readership

Reading the novels that revisits the history and discover ancient myths, are predominantly popular among the youth in India. The trilogy of “Mehula” (The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi ) a myth based fiction is one of the bestsellers. The report in The Hindu newspaper states "As a nation grows confident, its people become more interested in their own history".

The Empire of the Moghul(series) by Alex Rutherford, Chanakya’s Chantby Ashwin Sanghi, The Palace of Illusionsby Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and almost always something by Amitav Ghosh are blusting the chart. Two of these are retellings of mythological themes, while the others, which have been on the lists for at least a year now, are all, in one way or the other, set in a time and place in Indian history. Authors such as Amitav Ghosh, (famous forThe Calcutta Chromosome,The Glass Palace, andThe Sea of Poppiesand the ongoing Ibis

Trilogy, almost all of which have won literary awards), according to the Blossom bookstore, Bangalore, are staples for the city’s book-reading crowd. “His works are steady sellers. But recently, I see that mythology-based books such as The Immortals of Meluha and The Palace of Illusionsare selling a lot more,” says Mayi Gowda, proprietor, Blossom book store. He credits the sales to the ‘modern format’ that the authors follow.

Formulated in a phrase It’s difficult to put works such as The Immortals of Meluhaand Chanakya’s Chantunder the historical fiction category. Even their authors, Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi, are not happy classifying their works exclusively under this category. But they do agree that they have made a conscious attempt to keep their writing style ‘modern’. “By setting my books in the Indus Valley Civilisation and calling it that, rather than the traditional name ‘Jambudweepa’, I have tried to make the stories more relevant, so that people can connect to them,” admits Amish. But the real reason his books fly off the racks, he feels, is because Indians are now keen to explore their roots. “As a nation grows more confident, its people become more interested in their own history. At the same time, people are not interested in taking a history lesson, so they like to read something which draws from history and crafts an engaging story out of it,” he says. “Twenty years ago, historical fiction was written either from a subservient or a defensive perspective, both of which come from a space of insecurity. But today’s historical fiction comes from a space of relaxed confidence, which people are drawn to.” Though he says his works are more political thrillers rather than historical fiction, Ashwin Sanghi makes similar observations about the genre’s popularity. “For the longest time writers have been writing for a global audience. But today’s books are written for an Indian audience. A Western audience might not appreciate Chanakya’s Chant because of its dependence on history and ancient statecraft,” he explains. “My book is a modern-day thriller set on a bedrock of history. My primary object is to entertain, not educate.”

Contemporary stories with historical plots, therefore, seem to be the order of the day and Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’sThe Taj Conspiracyis one of the latest additions. Steeped in Mughal history, the thriller is the first of a trilogy. And Manreet’s reason for writing a book that falls broadly under the genre of historical fiction is quite straightforward. History buff “I am a history buff. My second book,The Long Walk Home, published in 2009, is the first fictional examination of the 20th century history of Punjab. History, therefore, has been a part of my storytelling and is an inextricable part ofThe Taj Conspiracy.I guess this fascination for history has to do with the small town that I grew up in, Ferozepur, which is located on the border of India and Pakistan and has witnessed Partition, three Indo-Pak wars and the Khalistan movement. It is impossible not to be touched by history when the air of the place you grow up in is suffused with its stories.” Much of Indian historical fiction is set in the Colonial or the Mughal era or during Partition. For instance Amitav Ghosh’s work in set in Colonial India and Salman Rushdie’s Booker prize-winningMidnight’s Childrenis set in the period of Indian independence (post-Colonial and Partition).

Are stories now moving away from traditional historical fiction, blurring the lines between genres like fantasy, mythology, crime and politics? Paul Vinay Kumar, Editor of Westland books, says, “Historical fiction as a genre has been vastly underdeveloped in India, which is ironical considering how interesting and diverse India’s history is, and also because our glorious past is systematically invoked by everyone as a pointer to our glorious future. I am a big fan of Amitav Ghosh, and Alex Rutherford. I wish there were more writers writing like that,” he says, observing that a variety of sub-genres like Madhulika Liddle’s historical detective novels, and historical romance are becoming popular. Manreet adds “The immense success of some recent books — the Meluha trilogy for instance — might give this impression, but it could also be a fad. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the genre grows.”

the emotions and its expression in social media : youth in India

After the emotics, the expression of SNS emotions of youth in India are now getting consolidated into more intangible formats; the facebook “like” button. The button which was only a graphic way to represent one’s “linking” is now used at various formats / situations to express “solidarity”, “brotherhood”, “exhibition of fan following”, “power (of supporters)” and yes, “love”…. The recent article at The Hindu newspaper expresses it well.

The article states “Half of our personality now lies in the virtual world. Are ‘likes’ are replacing common emotions of anger, happiness, solidarity or sadness”…. Further it cites various case studies as given below:

A few days ago, Bihar (a state in eastern India) touched the social networking scene. If the government is to be believed, apparently youngsters can reach out to the officials and choose to either ‘like’ the policies and governance or could express their ‘dislike’ through their facebook page. In April this year, reports emerged out on the internet that Facebook was now going to employ the dislike button. Keeping up with times, we do know that, the tiny little button ‘like’ is in in fact an infallible business model that helps brands and businesses get insight into the consumer’s lifestyle: primarily the likes and dislikes. When we get into the more personal form of interaction, it’s surprising that likes are replacing most emotions. When 25-year-old Rizwan Mohammed posted about his late father, he didn’t expect a 235 people from his friends to ‘like’ his status. He is more composed now and understands that, it has become a form of solidarity. “It was upsetting to see that people like that my dad is dead. But I guess you can’t go by the literal meaning anymore. All those people were showing their support that way,” says Rizwan. When Dev Dutta’s relationship status went from single to in-a-relationship, it evoked as many as 300 likes from his 500-odd friends circle. A few months later when it went to ‘it’s complicated’, as many as 250 people liked that status too! Do these 250 people actually like that his relationship is on the rocks? A now-single Dev laughs and says, “I was really confused, so I never commented or said anything there. I didn’t know, if they are mean enough to like what is happening to me or if they are showing support. It’s funny now, but I was really hurting then.” It’s not all that different with Sneha Devulapalli either. The 17-year-old engineering student met with an accident recently and posted, “Met with an accident, bed-ridden.” 39 of her friends liked the status. “I am assuming that they feel bad for me and I take it as solidarity ‘like’,” she says cheerfully. Culture studies student, Suzzana Joseph notes, “The ‘like’ button is giving all our emotions the easy escape route, that’s how we are beginning to interact with each other. ‘Like’ is becoming a necessary obligation.” Like is perhaps first reflective of the ‘pop’ in society, tweens who have little respect for grammar and dish out sentences with more than three likes.

Now ‘like’ is all inclusive. Liking someone’s status, picture, and video takes less than a split-second, but if you’re still on the dial-up connection, it might take longer. However, with the ease of the button, it’s making us not think so much. Let’s just ‘like’ it, let’s store that emotion somewhere in the corner of our mind, to deal with later (or not, whatever suits).