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Rs. 10.00 . Price with Hindustan Times Rs. 15.50 16 PAGES

A MUSEUM FOR
JAMINI ROY
SATURDAY, APRIL 8 2023 The artist’s home in Kolkata
is being turned into a
museum to reflect his values
of simplicity, creativity and
universalism. The museum
will have an outreach pro-
gramme to engage with the
community, school and col-
lege students SEE PAGE 3

TEMASEK UNIT TAKES CONTROL OF MANIPAL HEALTH | PAGE 16

HACKING
HEALTH
BIOHACKING, OR THE USE OF SCIENCE, DIET
AND LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO OPTIMISE
HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE, HAS A
DEDICATED FOLLOWING IN INDIA. IS IT ALL
HYPE OR DOES IT REALLY SHOW RESULTS?

SMART LIVING
Chinese brands bet big on new
tech in smartphones
fOcuS
Vivan Sundaram:
reteller of memories
STYLE
Labels celebrate India but
the ‘karigar’ is still faceless
buSINESS LOuNGE
Meet Rajkamal Prakashan’s
Ashok Maheshwari
 02 SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi FIRST

PLAN THE WEEK

NEW ON SCREENS Refugees on a remote Scottish island, the story of how Tetris
AHEAD
became a global sensation, and other titles to watch

A LAVISH EASTER FEAST

O
Pedro is hosting the
Easter Feaster, with a
selection of full and half
plates, drinks and music. The
special menu features an array
of warm, comforting dishes
inspired by Goan cuisine, such
as the pumpkin Acorda, smoked
bone marrow toast and Rita’s
chicken omelette curry. All the
full plates can be savoured with a
selection of sides, such as rice
bhakri and Goan brown rice.
Special cocktails have been cre-
ated in association with the Goa-
based Stranger & Sons and Short
Story Spirits. Some of the heady
LIMBO concoctions include Sour Story
A bunch of refugees in hostile conditions on a remote Scottish island, waiting for asylum status. It’s a bleak existence—the characters are and Pedro’s Daiquiri. To add a
struggling with their identity, and in a limbo about their future. One of the refugees is Omar, who carries his grandfather’s oud, which he special touch, Better Call Saul, a
brought from Syria, everywhere but is unable to play it. It is as if the instrument embodies his lost home, culture and identity. The Ben Shar- Mumbai-based band, will be
rock film is heart-breaking and sensitive, with a humorous undertone. (Netflix) playing. At O Pedro, Bandra
Kurla Complex, Mumbai, on 9
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN April (11am-4pm). A select menu is
Cassie (Carey Mulligan), a medical school dropout traumatised by TETRIS also available for delivery
what happened to her friend there, hangs out in bars at night, pre- This unlikely thriller revolves around the popular video game
tending to be drunk—till the so-called “nice guys” try to sexually Tetris. Taron Egerton stars as marketing man Henk Rogers, who is
assault her. Mulligan is unsettling as the feminist vigilante; the fascinated by the game. His attempts to secure the rights from its
ending will divide opinions. Directed by Emerald Fennell. (Netflix) Russian makers take him to Japan and to the other side of the Iron
Curtain. Directed by Jon S. Baird. (Apple TV+)

SUMMER HOURS
Art collector Hélène’s three children gather at their country home
for her 75th birthday. They must decide what to do with her exten-
sive collection and come to terms with her failing health. French
director Olivier Assayas directs this intimate film. The cast
includes Juliette Binoche and Adrienne Marly. (MUBI)
FARAAZ
In this Hansal Mehta fim based on
the 2016 terror attack in Bangla-
desh, five young men, led by
Nibras (Aditya Rawal), walk into an
upscale restaurant in Dhaka and
kill all the foreigners, or non-Mus-
lims, in a siege which unfolds over
a night. Among the hostages is Far-
aaz (Zahan Kapoor), who calls out
the “brain-washed” Nibras on the
WAR SAILOR true meaning of Islam. Barring
Best friends and merchant sailors, Freddy (Kristoffer Joner) and Rawal and Juhi Babbar as Faraaz’s
Sigbjørn (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen) are conscripted to fight for mother, the characters don’t have
the Allies as Germany invades Norway in 1940. It’s a harrowing much to play with. (Netflix)
look at how the brutality of war takes a toll on these men. The Nor-
wegian mini series is an edited version of director Gunnar Vikene’s Compiled by Nipa Charagi and
film of the same name. (Netflix) Uday Bhatia.
BREAKFAST TRADITIONS
O
ota Bengaluru is reintro-
ducing à la carte week-
end breakfasts. The
menu features a selection of
dishes from Karnataka, such as
the ragi roti-uchellu chutney (fin-
ger millet flatbread with nigella
seeds chutney), Bidadi-style
thatte idli served with lentil
vada, tomato chutney and sam-
bar, Davangere benne dose and
the Mangalore Bun, a traditional
banana and cumin flavoured
dish. The culinary diversity is
showcased further through
combinations. Take, for
instance, the Tulu breakfast sta-
ple of sajjige-bajil-sheera, a trio
of avalakki, or tempered flat-
tened rice crisps, uppittu, a
savoury semolina pudding, and
kesari bath, or saffron-flavoured
sweet semolina with pineapple.
At Oota, Whitefield, Bengaluru,
every weekend (8am-11am)
—Compiled by Avantika Bhuyan.

LOUNGE DINE HEAL MOVE READ

ONLINE
A hint of chilli in How to deal with Eat right to recover Women boxers flex
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lounge@livemint.com In Food >> Discover In Relationships >> It’s Complicated In Health >> Wellness In News >> Talking Point
@mint_lounge
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ON THE COVER: PHOTOGRAPH FROM ISTOCKPHOTO; IN THE 1 APRIL ISSUE, KACEY WONG’S NAME WAS MISSPELT IN ‘HONG KONG’S M+ MUSEUM MAKES A BOLD STATEMENT’

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 FIRST SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi 03

The house where Jamini Roy lived

The artist’s home in
Kolkata is being
turned into a museum
to reflect his values of
simplicity, creativity
and universalism
Avantika Bhuyan
avantika.bhuyan@htlive.com

M
y mother would narrate
stories of her grandfa-
ther and his art. He
would often tell her that
the studio was his tem-
ple,” says Arkamitra Roy, great-grand-
daughter of Jamini Roy. She believes that
the artist—a National Treasure known for
his style of folklore modernism—would
have been delighted to see his home in
Ballygunge Place, Kolkata, converted into
a museum. The house where Roy lived
with his family from 1949-72, till his pass-
ing, has now been acquired by DAG to be
converted into the Jamini Roy House
Museum, a rare instance of a privately
owned single-artist museum.
The project is still in an initial stage and
the DAG team hopes to open next year,
hopefully in April, around the artist’s birth
anniversary. Everything will depend, of
course, on the pace and scope of work.
This acquisition marks an important
turn in DAG’s journey in the museum
space. To take art to more people, the gal-
lery inked India’s first public-private part-
nership in the arts space with the Drishya-
kala museum, which started in January
2019. Located within the Red Fort in
Delhi, the project was a collaboration
between the Archaeological Survey of
India and DAG.
In 2020, DAG set-up Ghare Baire, a
museum-exhibition focused on 19th-20th
century art from Bengal, in the renovated
Currency Building in Kolkata. “Drishya-
kala was the starting point. However, we
are doing the Jamini Roy House Museum
on our own and that is the direction DAG
is likely to take in the future in the
museum space. In the course of the next
few years, we plan to open a lot more
museums,” says Ashish Anand, CEO and
managing director, DAG.
There are numerous examples of sin-
gle-artist museums across the world—
some of the best known being the Fonda-
tion Claude Monet in Giverny, France,
the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico and
Munch in Bjørvika, Norway, where
Edvard Munch lived and worked. In
India, the Amar Nath Sehgal Private Col-
lection, located in Jungpura Extension,
Delhi, displays the work and archives of
the late artist, who was known for his
sculptures and installations. Single-artist
museums are different from the rest in
their very essence—each part of the
space is imbued with memories of an art-
ist, his or her process, way of working. By
seeing where iconic paintings or sculp-
tures were created, viewers feel they are
taking a piece of the work and a slice of
history back with them.
The Jamini Roy House Museum hopes
to achieve that too with its design. DAG is
in talks with conservation architects and
designers about keeping the original
building intact while creating a state-of-
the-art museum interface within. The
courtyard, the studio where he worked—
each space will have its own character.
Apart from the programming, which will
keep the space dynamic, the museum will
have an outreach programme to engage
with the community, school and college
students. A bookshop and a café are
planned too.
“The family has a lot of memories and
anecdotes about the space and the artist.
We hope to document these over a period
of time, even making research-led films
Single-artist museums are
different in their very essence
—each part of the space is
imbued with memories of
an artist, his or her process
and way of working
(left) Jamini Roy in his studio; and the courtyard in which he would often paint.
with scholars and academicians on the
artist, weaving in those stories. The
museum is a tribute to Jamini Roy, one of
the most loved and collected Indian artists
the world over. Visitors from abroad
would invariably take away a Jamini Roy
work as a memento,” notes Anand.
The artist moved to this house from his
modest Baghbazar home in north Kolkata.
At the time, the Ballygunge Place neigh-
bourhood, which is now dotted with cafés,
galleries and schools, had fields and bun-
galows owned by the city’s commercial
and professional elite. Roy built a single-
storeyed structure he and his son, Amiya
Roy, had designed. As the family grew,
more floors and rooms were added.
“The ground floor was reserved as a
workspace for Jamini and Amiya Roy and
there was a separate entrance to the pri-
vate spaces on the upper floors reserved
for the family. The family remembers sev-
eral niches where he would sit and
work—usually on the floor, or a low stool,
with a simple plank as a table,” states the
DAG note.
Within some of the larger rooms, Roy
would display his work on wooden stools
of varying heights. One of the rooms,
known as the “Christ room”, displayed
works from his iconic Christ series.
Illustrious personalities such as former
prime minister Indira Gandhi and artist
Uday Shankar visited but everyone was
treated the same, offered the same
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY DAG
wooden stools, with a sheet of paper in
place of a cushion.
One of the most significant events in the
Roy household was the Bengali New Year
celebrations, which coincided with the
artist’s birthday. “The house would be full
of visitors throughout the day, all dressed
in simple Indian attire, with passionate
addas accompanied by tea, singara and a
special sherbet,” adds the note. Over the
years, the family moved out.
Now the 75-year-old house will
resound with cheer and energy once
more. DAG, which has a fairly large col-
lection of Roy works and archival mate-
rial, plans to create a mix of spaces where
aspects of the artist’s studio and a selec-
tion of paintings will be displayed as a per-
manent collection. There will also be gal-
leries for museum shows of works loaned
by other institutions.
Roy’s art, drawn from the people
around him, was made for the commu-
nity. He wanted to democratise art by
making it accessible to a wider section of
people. So, not only did he keep his works
affordable, he also brought the common
man of Bengal—the peasant, the crafts-
person, the Bauls, the homemakers, the
Santhal women—into his paintings. It
seems apt that now a museum will help his
legacy and the values he espoused—sim-
plicity, universalism and creativity—
reach the people not just of Kolkata but
around the world.

Medium Talk More than small talk

‘Fanaa’ over AR Rahman GETTY IMAGES

An ongoing, hotly
contested poll to
identify the maestro’s
best song is bringing
unadulterated joy to
our Twitter timelines
Shrabonti Bagchi
shrabonti.b@livemint.com

W
hen Mumbai-based writer and
editor Runcil Rebello started a
Twitter poll to identify A.R.
Rahman’s top songs, he didn’t expect it to
become a phenomenon that would launch
hundreds of memes, travel across plat-
forms to Instagram and Reddit, get people
to write essays on their favourite Rahman
songs—or that the popular Netflix India
account would refer to it in a sly tweet.
The running poll (actually, think of it as
a sporting contest where teams are pitted
against each other in smaller and smaller
pools), #ARRHindiBracket on Twitter,
started with 128 songs and is down to the
final eight—the culmination of a hotly
contested battle that has brought good-
natured fun to our Twitter timelines, nor-
mally inundated with grumpy tweets from
middle-aged “thought leaders”.
Over the past few weeks, “Fanaatics”
(fans of the Yuva song Fanaa) have pitted
themselves against the “Pigeon gang”
(those who love the pigeon-worshipping
Masakali from Delhi-6), who have
lobbed veiled insults at Ranbircels (who
love songs from films with music by
Rahman that also star Ranbir Kapoor),
who have quote-tweeted Taalcoholics
(yes, fans of the music from Taal) with
extreme prejudice.
It has been the most absurd, funny, nos-
talgia-including, let-me-create-my-own
Spotify-playlist fan-service moment in a
long while, and there has perhaps never
been a more glorious celebration of Rah-
man’s music. Oscars? What Oscars?
Rebello, 33 (@MrNarci on Twitter), fol-
lowed the bracket tournament format
when he started the polling on 19 March.
“The initial longlist was about 180 songs
but due to the power of 2, the next highest
number was 256 and that would have
been stretching it,” he says in a conversa-
tion over Twitter DMs and email. He asked
two friends from Twitter, @peeekaaaaa
This PDF was uploade To Teligram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
(Priyanka) and @PermanentManx (Manx),
to help him whittle the list to 128. “They
actually didn’t know each other before
this but got along well, starting with our
shared love for A.R. Rahman’s songs. For
the seeding, we thought of different
ways.... Priyanka initially suggested we go
by YouTube views, which would have
been a problem, as Param Sundari from
Mimi, which, while a good song, isn’t one
of Rahman’s most iconic tracks, would
have been in the top 10 seeds. We then did
a draft pick; I went first, Priyanka second,
Manx third, but we would do a reverse on
the next 3, so Manx got fourth, Priyanka
got fifth and I got sixth. Rinse repeat till we
reach 128,” explains Rebello.
It isn’t meant to be an objective process.
But this means people have accused
Rebello of playing favourites—semi-
snarky comments like “which song is
going to win and why is it going to be
Chhaiya Chhaiya?” are thrown around on
voting days but Rebello says the poll crea-
tors knew they needed to have the icons in
the top seeds. “This isn’t actually sport,
where there are rankings already in
place…plus of course we are human and
sometimes our personal favourites may
have been seeded higher. But overall, I
think, we managed to get a good list, espe-
cially seeing how the results have turned
out so far.” Chhaiya Chhaiya is indeed in
the top 8.
“I have wanted to run a bracket contest
for a while but the idea of doing it on Rah-
man songs came to me fully formed one
night. Besides my own love for Rahman’s
music, it made sense because he has a vast
number of songs, is much loved (and
could attract people to participate), has
compositions across genres and types—
jazz or rock, Indian classical or ballad, or
EDM-inspired dance tracks—and has
been composing great quality music for
almost 3 decades now,” says Rebello. “I
absolutely do believe in the ‘slow poison’
school of thought regarding Rahman. Yes,
he does have bangers and bops that will
hit from Day 1 but with him, there’s also a
rediscovery that can keep happening with
songs you maybe didn’t like at first. That
happened with me during the #ARRHin-
diBracket with songs from Tamasha and
Raanjhanaa.”
Most people agree that along with a
Spotify playlist of all 128 songs, one of the
best things to come out of all this has been
the meme wars over favourite songs and
voting patterns. They have been abso-
lutely insane fun, agrees Rebello, but peo-
ple have engaged at a deeper level too.
“We really did not expect that 16 people
would agree to write short essays about
their favourites from the Round of 16
songs. Lots of people put time into making
memes or writing essays and that’s the
greatest gift back to us,” he says.
 04 SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi
Source Celebrating brocade and Indian fashion
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Compiled by Pooja Singh & Shrabonti Bagchi.
Things to watch, read, hear, do—and other curated experiences from the team
A COUPLET A DAY
H I
aving grown up in south India,
I am always hesitant to read
Hindi or Urdu poetry—English
translations rarely seem to do it justice
and trudging through the originals is
pure pain. Thinking With Ghalib:
Poetry For A New Generation by Anjum
Altaf and Amit Basole (Roli Books,
2021) seems written for someone like
me—conversant enough to know
when a translation seems “off” yet not
comfortable enough to seek out the
original. Basole and Altaf pick 30
Ghalib couplets, one for each chapter,
and ask you to read (and think about)
just one a day. The Urdu and the Hindi
are followed by the Roman translitera-
tion of the couplet, allowing one to
read and hear, in one’s own voice,
what the original sounds like, so that
you can start contemplating its many
meanings even before you get into the
authors’ explanation.
—Shalini Umachandran
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Madhuri Dixit
A still from ‘The Big Bang Theory’.
FEATHER TOUCH
I
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Golden Wings infantilises nerd-culture, it never worked for me, but fans appear not only to
Brocade Minidress be watching old episodes (streaming in India on Netflix) but doing so very
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which brings together to Netflix India because an early episode of the American comedy includes an
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print, will be a head- had bothered Kumar, a political analyst and longtime Dixit fan.
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Available on Sheldon Cooper and Raj Koothrappali are watching TV. “Isn’t that woman
Farfetch.com; $4,382 Aishwarya Rai?” asks Cooper, the show’s know-it-all. “Yes,” replies a thrilled
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and Ekaya Banaras uses the cactus the fact that neither character actually knows who they are talking about: A
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This instinct has to do with the way Indians place people they love on ped-
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called blasphemy.
A few years ago, when I heard they were making an Indian edition of the
delightful French satire Call My Agent, the first thing I wondered was what
they would call the dog. In the French original, the dog—belonging to a matri-
arch guided by classic cinema—is appropriately named Jean Gabin, after the
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OF THE WEEK
Canadian comedian Mae
they named the pooch “Dilip
Martin has a new great special
Kumar” or “Nargis” or “Bap-
out on Netflix called SAP—
pi-Da”, there would be ridicu-
where they hilariously riff on
LOUNGE LOVES lously righteous furore.
Now, naming a pet after some-
one is the highest of compliments,
everything from childhood
nicknames to
transphobia.
and I consider a friend christening
her intensely adorable Japanese Chin
dog “Raja” one of the most flattering things
of all time. Yet, in India, a dog is somehow considered low, which is why it
HOPPING TO TRAVEL feels like an insult when Aamir Khan had blogged, many years ago, that
A
good beer can often instil the desire to “Shahrukh is licking my feet and I am feeding him biscuits” before going on to
travel. My latest wanderlust-stirring explain that his pet was named Shahrukh. I am reminded also of Salman
find is a Czech Pilsner from Mumbai’s Rushdie’s sprawling Mumbai masterpiece, The Moor’s Last Sigh, a novel that
Drifters Brewery. It’s a clean, crisp, straw- ran into some trouble in India because one of its characters named a dog
coloured brew with pronounced hoppy notes, “Jawaharlal”.
just perfect for summer. The best way to relish Back to the Madhuri Dixit kerfuffle. I refuse to condemn fictional charac-
it is slowly and with full attention. Chugging it ters expressing opinions about celebrities. They should have preferences,
would be a sin. Inevitably, the next step after they should have dislikes, they should be irreverent, and some of these likes
discovering and enjoying a beer is geeking out and dislikes should be ill-informed and ignorant—just like our own opinions
on Google. The birthplace of this lovely beer can be. I loved, for instance, how the 2017 comedy series Brockmire featured
is the historic town of Plzeň (or Pilsen). the leading man fervently disliking the movies of Christopher Nolan. It’s a
Unsurprisingly, the biggest draw is the Pilsner running gag that only gets better, and I can simultaneously be amused by the
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world-famous. Between sips of this refreshing KEEP YOUR COFFEE HOT front the idea that Nolan—like Madhuri Dixit—is human and that someone
brew, I dreamt of visiting it. One day, perhaps, f you, like me, like to linger over your might not like them.
I will. morning cup of coffee or tea while That may be the issue, actually. We make the mistake of assuming that our
—Jahnabee Borah scrolling through Instagram reels, celebrities—like our gods—are fragile enough to have their images dented by
you know there’s nothing that kills that a joke, an insult, an opinion. We assume that they can’t take it on their famous
buzz like your drink getting cold while chins.
SPOT THE SPACE STATION you watch Pedro Pascal being cute for Decades ago, while I was working on the entertainment desk of an online
T
he International Space Station (ISS) is the 50th time. I discovered the perfect publication, a dear colleague—who now writes novels —suggested dropping
the largest man-made structure ever put solution for this and regret the fact all the honorifics from movie interviews. Why, he reasoned, do we need all
into orbit. While we might never be able that, like Pascal, it came into my life these jis and saabs and so on, why can’t we clean it up and use last names
to see it up close, there is a smartphone app quite late—double-walled borosilicate instead? To me, this sounded like a great idea. The editor applauded the
that lets you spot it in the night sky as it passes coffee mugs that keep your drink hot intent but then immediately put things back the way they were, saying that it
your area. The ISS Detector is an easy-to-use (or cold) for a much longer time than might make editorial sense, but the minute we publish a Sonu Nigam inter-
app which tells you about forthcoming your regular ceramic or bone china view to make it look like he’s referring to Kishore Kumar as, well, Kishore
sightings of the ISS. When you receive an app cup. It’s something to do with the dou- Kumar, all hell would truly break loose.
notification, all you have to do is step outside ble-layered insulation, which is stan- The “ji” is much easier. A tiny wordlet that holds up the nation’s reverence
and watch the space station, using the radar in dard across several sizes and shapes of and hypocrisy. Maybe, like the anti-smoking disclaimers tenaciously pasted
the app. I have used it to spot the ISS multiple the mugs that come with or without on to the corners of Indian film and television screens, we should introduce a
times—and it can be a surreal experience. If handles. I do not have a specific brand reassuring little line ahead of scenes where irreverent things are said about
you want to go beyond the ISS, the app allows to recommend—there are plenty of famous people: No jis were harmed in the making of this scene.
you to see comets, planets and objects like the options on online shopping sites and as
Hubble Space Telescope and the Tiangong, far as I can tell they all do the job quite Raja Sen is a screenwriter and critic. He has co-written Chup, a film about
the Chinese space station. The ISS Detector is well—but this has been an absolute killing critics, and is now creating an absurd comedy series.
available on both Android and iOS. game changer.
—Nitin Sreedhar —Shrabonti Bagchi @rajasen

When companies speak the lingo of friends
CULT
FRICTION
SANDIP
ROY
i Sandip, hope you are having a
H warm and fuzzy Sunday.
Someone sent you a message.
A secret love letter only for you.
My mailbox runneth over with daily
reminders like these of how much my
friends love me. Except they are not
really friends at all.
These are just chatty companies pre-
tending to be my BFFs from way back.
Some, like Swiggy and Zomato, send
messages daily. Often they are not even
offers. They are cutesy little notes. “This
will surely melt your heart,” says one.
Another says, “Sandip, you’ve got a mail
from ChatGPT.” Yet another proclaims
it’s a “Mail from IT Department”. It
warns me “Your Cooking Skills” is a
weak password but “Your Ordering
Skills” is super strong.
For a while, it was cute. It made a
change from the usual barrage of dha-
maka sales and two-for-one offers.
Their tone was informal and warm, it
amused me that someone had invested
time in wordplay. Then I started getting
entire letters like that annual New
Year’s missive from a friend bringing
you up to date with all that has been
going on with them over the year.
Except this is a “friend” about whom I
know nothing other than the fact that
they sell organic cotton T-shirts.
Then there was the long bubbly mes-
sage where a social media and commu-
nications manager told me all about her
small-town upbringing and how much
she enjoys this cool grass-roots com-
pany whose speciality “no-toxic-addi-
tive” toothpaste I once bought, tempted
by some Instagram ad. I have no doubt
that she is a real person making a real
attempt at putting a face to an imper-
How affirmative action works
The lack of a vibrant
economy impacted
reservation policy in
India, writes Abhinav
Chandrachud in his
new book
K.K. Kailash
D
espite a relatively decent
growth rate, unemploy-
ment has touched new
heights. Alongside, there
is this strange conun-
drum: On the one hand, many educated
people do jobs way below their skill set; on
the other, recruiters often find that those
with formal degrees do not possess the
expected skills. Government jobs, prized
for their security, are few and hard to
come by, incentivising aspirants to cut
corners.
Multitudes of young people are passing
through educational institutions hoping
to better their life chances. Instead, they
get jobless growth, unhappy work pros-
pects and insecure jobs. This, naturally,
creates a sense of angst and the obvious
object of such questioning is the working
and outcomes of reservation policies.
Abhinav Chandrachud’s These Seats Are
Reserved: Caste, Quotas And The Constitu-
tion Of India, therefore, could not have
come at a more appropriate time. He
presents a long history of reservation poli-
cies that is relevant and essential to under-
standing the Constitution’s guarantee of
social and economic equality. It gives us a
deeper understanding of the provisions,
often ignored in narrow legal perspec-
tives. The writing is lucid, shorn of techni-
cal jargon, and should be easily under-
stood by the general public.
Those ineligible for affirmative action
benefits fiercely question existing policy
frameworks. For them, “merit” ought to
be given preference, they should not be
“punished” for something that happened
in the past. The counter includes ques-
tions about the neutrality of so-called
merit as well as the relationship between
social privilege and merit. Why shouldn’t
opportunities not be proportional to the
numbers in the population? These ques-
tions have often been asked and the noise
around them becomes louder during peri-
ods of stress. Given that we have seen pro-
tracted periods of scarcity and want, reser-
vation policies and the politics around
This PDF was uploade To Teligram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
There is a sinister fallout to the blurring of the private and the corporate. We are getting too
accustomed to perfect strangers calling and wanting access to private information
sonal company but I don’t really care
about making a personal connection
with the people behind my toothpaste. I
just want to brush my teeth without
visualising the social media and com-
munications manager and her life’s tra-
jectory.
At one time, we didn’t have to strain
so hard to make these connections. Our
local fishmonger would ask about my
mother’s knees while she inquired abut
his wife’s cancer treatment. The man
selling milk and butter offered house-
building advice gratis. The brothers
Majumdar, who ran the stationery store,
complained, “Haven’t seen your sister
in a very long time. How is she?”, as I
bought a bunch of envelopes. Years
after my family left the neighbourhood,
my sister went to our old local sari shop
and the store attendants knew exactly
who she was and asked about everyone
in the family. My mother didn’t go but
sent strict bargaining instructions.
These were relationships and these
people managed them effortlessly, and
nobody needed to call themselves rela-
tionship managers. Now I have relation-
ship managers at my bank but they
change so often it makes me feel pro-
miscuous. This is not about sepia-ton-
ing the past in a nostalgic haze. Those
old relationships were also transac-
tional and based on commerce but they
did not require a daily dose of fake cheer
and funny emojis to maintain a sense of
connection.
All this pseudo intimacy is happening
in a world where our personal connec-
tions feel more under threat than ever
before even as we are more connected
than we have ever been. An American
Sociological Review study said the aver-
age person in the US has only one close
friend. One in four persons said they
have no confidantes at all. Yet one
would not think that if we looked at our
smartphones constantly buzzing with
messages and alerts.
Decades ago, The Beatles asked, “All
the lonely people where do they all come
from? All the lonely people where do they
all belong?” Their vision of lonely peo-
Hundreds of young people race through educational institutions hoping to better their life chances. Instead, they get jobless growth, unhappy work prospects and insecure jobs.
them have been among the most contro-
versial issues in post-independence India.
Who deserves what? How should dif-
ferent concerns and demands be treated?
These are ultimately moral questions.
While cheap access to information has
made the youth better informed than pre-
vious generations, they are also easy prey
to communication that mixes facts with
opinions, alters facts and cherry-picks
information to make a case for a particular
position. Precarity causes angst and
resentment and it is possible that every-
day conversations can take an ugly turn.
It is this context that makes Chandra-
chud’s contribution valuable. While the
introduction sets out the broad contours
of the study, the first two chapters are clar-
ificatory. They trace how terms like
depressed classes, backward classes,
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and
Other Backward Classes came to be used
and how these groups were identified as
categories eligible for reservation. The
historical rear-view approach helps us
make sense of long-standing positions
that critics as well as defenders of reserva-
THINK
As algorithms try to create more ‘friends’ for us, old friendships fall by the wayside—it gets harder to pick up the phone and call.
ple was Father McKenzie writing a ser-
mon that no one would hear or Eleanor
Rigby picking up the rice in a church
where there had been a wedding. They
didn’t think the lonely people would be
busily rushing about their lives and
jobs, with smartphones sending them
constant cheery alerts. All the lonely
people, where do they all belong? Prob-
ably inside our smartphones and their
make-believe communities.
Even worse, now the algorithm tries
to create more “friends” for us. Social
media keeps suggesting people we
might know or should follow. Not con-
tent with that, the latest iteration of
Twitter pops people into our timeline
even if we don’t follow them just
because someone we interacted with
also interacted with them. Suddenly,
my timeline is filled with people who
tion policies advance, including those of
“merit”, “efficiency” and the need for
“proportional” and “substantial” repre-
sentation.
Chandrachud then moves on to the
debates in the constituent assembly and
the life of reservations immediately after
the inauguration of the Republic. We
understand the background to the 50%
cap on reservations and why seats are
reserved only in legislative bodies and
government jobs. The questions and
issues in the early years revolve around
themes of liberty and equality: Can the
two coexist without conflict, especially
since they appear to be ideas straight out
of political theory textbooks? These chap-
ters also highlight two points incidental to
the main discussion but relevant today:
One, there was a strong conservative posi-
tion within the Congress, and two, Jawa-
harlal Nehru and Sardar Patel were on the
same page in many ways.
Over the course of the next few chap-
ters, Chandrachud takes us to the heart of
the contentious debate on reservations.
They map the back and forth between the
seem vaguely familiar even though we
don’t follow each other. It’s as if friends
of friends of friends are hanging out in
my kitchen, drinking my wine.
In the real world, I struggle to talk on
the telephone because I have just
become more used to typing out a What-
sApp message. Old friendships have
fallen by the wayside because it gets
harder and harder for me to pick up the
phone and call. Meanwhile, my phone
message box is full but almost none of
the messages are from real people.
A casual look at my phone shows that
apart from bill payment reminders and
OTPs, all my other messages are from
companies. But they are not just trying
to make me buy stuff the way they used
to. They are all looking out for me and
my well-being, just like old friends do. A
laboratory wants me to get a health
These Seats Are
Reserved—Caste,
Quotas And The
Constitution Of India:
By Abhinav Chandrachud,
Penguin/Viking,
272 pages, ₹599.
ISTOCKPHOTO
checkup because heart attacks are a
silent killer. The cable service thinks I
should watch the Women’s T20 league
because they reckon we should all sup-
port women’s empowerment. And a
food delivery app doesn’t want me to
miss the free momo sauce I can get if I
buy only three packets of frozen
momos. The only “human” message is
from a friend who was running late for
our coffee date and whose WhatsApp
was acting up. Buried as it was in all the
corporate telemarketing chit-chat, I
missed it entirely.
Now even WhatsApp is under tele-
marketing siege. Much of it is self-in-
flicted. Every time I buy something
online, I share my number for delivery
updates. Then I am on a mailing list and
I have acquired a new “friend”. Of
course, one can unsubscribe but the
PTI
legislature and the judiciary at various
points in time and on different dimen-
sions of reservation. This helps us under-
stand how the 50% cap and “creamy layer”
concepts were institutionalised. We also
learn some of the technical dimensions
that work in the background, such as ver-
tical and horizontal reservations, reserva-
tions and promotions, carry-forward and
catch-up rules, consequential seniority
and the working of the roster system.
The book also intuitively reiterates a
point made elsewhere that the judiciary in
India does not have a clear-cut philosophy
of its own and is more comfortable playing
the role of a balancer. The court’s position
on the same question has changed at vari-
ous times, and there appears to be no clear
logic. This may explain how reservations
for “economically weaker sections”
(EWS), which radically breaks from the
“originalist” interpretation of the Consti-
tution, becomes the new normal.
The penultimate chapter addresses the
vexed question of what happens to reser-
vations after marriage, conversion or
migration. Court judgements are exam-
SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi 05
more interesting aspect is how corpora-
tions are seeking to adopt the persona of
friends. And certainly many of them are
more regularly in chit-chat touch with
us than our old-school real world
friends. People probably hear more
often from the Swiggys and Zomatos in
our lives than from our chaddi buddies.
My optical store and bank wish me
happy birthday earlier than most of my
friends do, especially if my birthday is
hidden on Facebook. It’s no surprise
that corporations are now using the
lingo of friends.
There is a more sinister fallout to this
blurring of the private and the corpo-
rate. We are getting too accustomed to
perfect strangers calling and wanting
access to private information.
The other day, a well-spoken man
called my mother out of the blue and
said he was the bank manager. When
she asked which bank, he seemed sty-
mied but recovered and said the State
Bank of India, which was a pretty safe
guess for the most part.
My mother handed the phone over to
me.
Bank regulations had changed, he
said, and he was calling to help my
mother, as a valued customer, navigate
them. He wanted to know who I was,
for, as he told me politely, in these times
you could not just disclose sensitive
information to anyone.
When I asked him which branch he
was calling from, he seemed annoyed.
“The branch with your account of
course,” he said curtly. “Please hand the
phone back to your mother.”
I persisted with my question. Finally
frustrated, he shed his polite persona,
cursed and hung up.
And I felt I had lost one “friend” in this
heartless world, so what if he probably
wanted to bilk us out of our money.
Cult Friction is a fortnightly column on
issues we keep rubbing up against. San-
dip Roy is a writer, journalist and radio
host.
@sandipr
ined to understand how the law has
emerged to answer these questions.
In the concluding chapter, he presents
his main findings of how reservation pol-
icy has worked in practice. Chandrachud
summarises the arguments that are
advanced for and against reservation poli-
cies. We are also told that despite all the
noise made about reservations, the num-
ber of people it has touched is minuscule.
Again, this only underscores the problems
arising from the lack of a vibrant economy
and the failure of developmental policies.
At the same time, this would be an unfair
assessment as affirmative action policies
have energised the politics of recognition
and dignity. Reservations are only part of
the story. They are part of a larger move-
ment and struggle by the marginalised
demanding their due share of opportu-
nity, freedom and equality.
While there are valuable lessons to be
drawn from Chandrachud’s exploratory
analysis, there are also weaknesses. He
tends to blur the political and ignore the
criticism that sociologists like M.N. Srini-
vas, Andre Beteille and Dipankar Gupta,
among others, have made of extending
reservations to the backward classes. They
argue that the backward class clamour for
reservations must be understood in the
context of the changing economy and how
this upset long-standing social structural
and power dynamics in rural areas. Reser-
vations for these groups helped them
transfer their political and economic
power from rural to urban areas.
The deprivations of the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes cannot be
compared with that of the backward
classes. Affirmative action for the former
was meant to enhance equality of oppor-
tunities, weed out caste and compensate
for historical disadvantages. The same
cannot be said of the Mandal recommen-
dations. Gupta argues that these were
meant to “represent castes” and make it a
“perennial political resource”. Chandra-
chud does not make a distinction between
the different categories eligible for reser-
vation and this lumping together weakens
the case he is trying to make.
This is, however, not to take away from
what is undoubtedly a fine contribution.
Today we live in echo chambers where we
are programmed to ignore and even dis-
trust outside sources and voices. Chandra-
chud seeks to undo this, create a more
informed public and asks us to escape and
reboot our belief systems. This, however,
is easier said than done.
K.K. Kailash is with the department of
political science, University of Hyderabad.
 06 SATurDAy, 8 APril 2023
New Delhi
MILLET
IN A FISH
SOUP?
When it comes to millets, the
possibilities are endless. Chefs are
incorporating the ancient grains in
risottos, soups and salads
Avantika Bhuyan
avantika.bhuyan@htlive.com
K
iara Arora, a Bengaluru-
based tech professional,
has been following the
discourse on millets, read-
ing about their resilience
and role in food security. Her interest is
fairly recent—when she looks back at a
childhood spent in Delhi, she doesn’t have
any memory of a millet dish. When she
moved to Bengaluru a year ago, she saw
her landlady whip up traditional ragi
(finger millet) dessert and pan-
cake recipes. “They were deli-
cious. However, I couldn’t
even tell the different
types apart, let alone fig-
ure out how to cook with
them,” she says.
As someone who liked
modern Indian and con-
tinental fare, Arora wasn’t
keen on cooking traditional
pancakes and puddings. And
there was no one to guide her on
the possible combinations in soups,
salads—until she started attending millet
food festivals, chatting with home chefs
and reading about initiatives such as the
Millet Revival Project started by The
Locavore, led by chef Thomas Zacharias,
with support from the Rainmatter Foun-
dation, a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit,
eight months ago. It aims to bring in
diverse perspectives and build purpose-
driven communities. Today, she knows
verified sources of millets in the market,
and why foxtail millet has a cooking pro-
cess different from, say, barnyard.
Like her, many others—especially those
keen on a healthy lifestyle—have followed
the discourse on ancient grains but don’t
know how to cook with them. Chefs are
trying to change that by curating special
sit-down meals to not just showcase the
diversity of millets in India but also create
awareness about the ways in which the
recipes can be replicated at home.
I, for one, keep going back to the millet
chicken biryani recipe shared on The
Locavore website by Janagiamma, a
leader from the Nilgiris’ Kurumba com-
munity. It is easy to make at home and
extremely flavourful. The Millet Revival
Project note on the website describes the
project as an attempt to “facilitate a grad-
The teenager who recreated avocado toast
OUR
D A I LY
BREAD
SAMAR
HALARNKAR
T
o find a teenager who likes to cook
is rare in these days of social
media distraction. To find a teen-
ager who obsesses about perfecting
something is rarer still, which is why
Eva Bakshi’s culinary adventures got
my attention.
Under an uncharacteristically bright,
blue and balmy April evening in Mum-
bai, Eva, a sunny 14-year-old from Cal-
gary, Canada, told me about her experi-
ments with avocado toast, which
sounded simple enough to put
together—after all, what is there to do,
really, than lather some creamy avo-
cado on a toast?
What she made for herself after a
craving one day “wasn’t very good”, she
told me, so she got to work, eating avo-
cado toast “every single day” for the
next week to perfect her recipe. Her
approach to cooking was familiar: no
recipes, a dash of this and a dab of that.
Put it all together and see what happens.
Teenagers can be flighty or dogged. I
tried to think what I was dogged about.
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(from top) A barnyard millet dish from Aragma; ‘jowar’ batter-fried
chilli basil fish at ITC Hotels; and food historian Rakesh Raghunathan.
ual incorporation of mil-
lets into our diets, as well
as create a space for mean-
ingful conversation and engage-
ment so that we can tap into the resilience
of millets while also rediscovering its
taste”.
In its first phase (till May), the project
has become a space for recipes, tech-
niques and information on sourcing mil-
lets. “There is still a lot of ignorance and
misconceptions around the grains. That’s
why we felt that engaging with stakehold-
ers in the food system, creating a cooking
lab, looking at policy, and creating a
resource bank will allow for the shift in
habits to happen in a more sustainable
way,” says Zacharias.
Restaurants too are stepping up. “The
whole idea of our special meals is to allow
our guests to make meaningful changes,
inspired by our recipes, in their daily
lives,” says Poornima Somayaji, founder of
the Pune, Maharashtra-based food studio
Aragma, which hosts private dining expe-
riences, even ticketed dinners. The menu
features modern cuisine cooked with
local, everyday ingredients sourced from
forests and farms around Pune.
Somayaji and her team have included
several millet dishes in the Aragma menu,
including one made with Proso millet
milk, paired with pickled lotus stem,
spice-tossed confit yam, onion chives and
Food was one thing—which is why I had
the avocado conversation with Eva—
drawing weapon systems was another.
I remember spending months trying
to get right the proportions and details
of the two things I liked drawing—
destroyers and fighter planes. I went to
an intelligence-services library, to which
I had access, and pored over Jane’s
Fighting Ships and Jane’s All The World’s
Aircraft, bibles on the subject. I liked to
perfect the shape of anti-aircraft missile
launchers, radar masts and main bow
guns on destroyers and of air-to-air mis-
siles, cockpits and insignia on fighters.
In the kitchen, I was obsessed with
omelettes, an obsession that continued
into adulthood and a topic that was once
the subject of this column. As Eva did
with her avocado toasts, I ate omelettes
over many months to finesse variants
and techniques.
It isn’t what you make but how you
make it that makes the difference to
what you cook at home, something that
young Eva clearly understood. Read the
recipe—which I have left in the original
form that she sent me, so you under-
stand her thought process—and you
will know what I mean.
I have previously acknowledged
being conflicted about young women
cooking, especially here in India. I am
delighted whenever my preteen
decides to cook. Her repertoire has
grown from dosas and fried eggs to
TASTE
spring onion oil. A best-seller recipe fea-
tures steamed barnyard millet, with a pea-
nut-coconut milk curry.
The team’s fascination with the grains
started while researching long-forgotten
recipes. “In Maharashtra, jowar (sorghum)
is made into a bhakri. But the current gen-
eration has no idea how to make it. We
decided to give a modern context to tradi-
tion with dishes like ragi tarts and kodo
(cow grass) millet crisps. When guests saw
the unique ways in which the grains were
being used in Aragma, they started asking
us for recipes. Today, we are happy to be
part of a change,” says Somayaji.
Such efforts have amplified since the
United Nations declared 2023 as the
International Year of Millets. Recently,
Manisha Bhasin, executive corporate chef,
ITC Hotels, curated dishes from across the
Many people are keen to
cook with millets but don’t
know how to. Chefs are trying
to change this, curating meals
and showing guests how to
replicate the recipes at home
Avocado and poached egg toast on rye bread.
cakes and pancakes. She can make her
breakfast and pack her school lunch.
I like young people who like to cook
because I think it is important that
they contribute. More importantly, it is
a vital skill when you leave home. It
was for me when I did. As a rookie
reporter, I earned ₹1,800 in late 1980s
Bengaluru: ₹800 went for renting a
room and tiny bathroom, leaving very
world as part of a sit-down meal, and a
curated buffet, at the ITC Maurya in Delhi.
The selection included jowar and makkai
(corn) tikki, jowar-batter fried chilli basil
fish, puffed amaranth and vegetable pie,
amaranth mushroom arancini, chicken
Mexican bean and pearl millet soup.
Last year, Bhasin and her team
launched a millet programme across their
hotels—in buffets for lunch and dinner
and breakfast at the 24x7 restaurants—in
cuisines such as Asian, continental and
Indian. “We have neither limited our-
selves to the traditional and the indige-
nous, nor to vegetarian fare. It’s a miscon-
ception that only vegetarian dishes can be
made with millets; rather, they pair really
well with poultry and meats,” says Bhasin.
In Chennai, food historian Rakesh
Raghunathan is showcasing millets as part
of The Golden Grain, a pop-up at the
Amethyst’s Wild Garden Cafe, on till 9
April. One highlight is a 12th century Rus-
sian fisherman’s soup, ukha (pronounced
OOH-hwha). This rich broth has tradi-
tionally featured millets, and, sometimes,
a shot of vodka for warmth. Raghunathan
has created a mix of the indigenous and
the modern with dishes like a millet-based
chocolate pudding, millet berry bake, and
a payasam-like dish called hachike made
by the Nilgiris’ Badaga community. His
aim: to create awareness among custom-
ers and protect the interest of farmers.
Zacharias too is keen to ensure farmers
are not exploited. “For that, we are actively
looking at the policy changes that need to
be made,” he says. The team is also work-
ing on perceptions about millets. It
recently held a two-day event in Shillong
with the North East Slow Food and Agro-
biodiversity Society to promote millet
consumption.
“The biggest problem was taste. They
were just boiling the millets, eating it as a
porridge. We got local chefs together and
did a one-day workshop with them on
cooking millet dishes with local ingredi-
ents accessible across the state and with
minimal equipment,” says Zacharias. The
menu of 20 dishes, paired with local cur-
ries, gravies and stews, was served to an
audience that included millet growers,
government representatives and consum-
ers. “Interventions don’t need to be radi-
cal,” he says. “Small and sustained efforts
across different geographies make all the
difference.”
ISTOCKPHOTO
little for petrol and food. So, I had to
cook on my little electric stove and a
pan, squatting on the floor next to my
bed, enjoying bread, eggs and sausage
masala.
But young women are expected to
know how to cook in India, a distinctly
unfriendly country for ambitious
women who dare to break the shackles
of tradition and conformity. So, while I
ISTOCKPHOTO
Clear ice, cocktails
and ChatGPT
How ice unravels flavours and completes the
cocktail experience
Jahnabee Borah
jahnabee.b@livemint.com
W
hat is the importance of ice in a cocktail?” I typed this question on
ChatGPT. The AI chatbot responded with four broad pointers: It
absorbs heat from the drink and “controls temperature”; it dilutes the
cocktail, making the flavours mellow and balanced; it “adds texture”, depending
on whether the drink is served as a slushy or on the rocks; and it is needed for “pre-
sentation” to make the drink “appealing”.
While the succinct answer was almost accurate, it missed a few things. Most
bartenders say ice acts like fire. Here’s a quick test: If you sip on 30ml gin neat at
room temperature, the alcohol hits hard and it will numb your palate for a few sec-
onds. Next, add an ice cube, and voilà, you can taste the botanicals. Ice unlocks
flavours, and, as it melts, one can go from tasting florals to citrus and spicy notes.
For the sake of simplicity, experiment with just one flavour: spicy, for example.
If spices are mixed in a drink, it will taste most potent when served warm and soft
and mellow when it’s cold. It’s the same for bitters, an essential cocktail ingredi-
ent. The bitterness is pleasant when served cold but unbearable at room tempera-
ture. Skilled bartenders, then, can play around with flavours because they have
mastered the knowledge of temperature points.
“Do you know a bartender can bring down the temperature of a drink from 10
degrees Celsius to minus 10 degrees Celsius just by shaking it?” asks Annu Jha.
They don’t use a thermometer, they simply know through practice and instinct.
The Delhi-based bartender started the brand Just Ice in 2021 to produce and sup-
ply high-quality, crystal-clear ice to bars. Now, his ice travels in trains to cities like
Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. He breaks down the technicalities of tempera-
ture: A cocktail, for instance, is best served at temperatures ranging from approxi-
mately minus 2-5 degrees Celsius. “Ice comprises almost 70% of a cocktail and
good bartenders pay attention to this integral component,” notes Jha.
When diners don’t want too much ice in a cocktail, bartenders have a ready
solution: Change the glassware. In such a situation, Rahul Raghav, beverage
director of Tamras Gin in Goa, serves a tall drink (let’s say whisky high-ball) in a
short glass. In most cases, diners complain of a sore throat after ordering such
drinks. Sore throat, Raghav notes, is also caused by poor-quality ice and good bars
pay extra attention to up their ice game.
“Good ice” has a few physical attributes. It should be crystal clear, an indication
of purity, and dense to avoid rapid melting. A single, large spherical ice cube or
ice sphere is used in whiskies, Old Fashioned and Negronis. For, spheres have a
lower surface area than cubes and melt more slowly. Ice cubes are perfect for high-
ball style cocktail. “Good-quality purified water yields good ice. The surface has
to be smooth and it (ice) has to be stored hygienically,” explains Santosh Kukreti,
head mixologist at Slink & Bardot in Mumbai.
The upscale bar has an “ice programme” (a systematic process to make ice) and
is known for some of the best drinks in the city. It has an ice machine from a Japa-
nese manufacturer and sources ice from local suppliers too. One such brand, or
supplier, is Mumbai-based Premium Ice. “A good bar invests in ingredients,
including good-quality ice. One block of clear ice takes time and that’s why there
are entrepreneurs who make it now,” explains Jha. ChatGPT didn’t tell me this.
do want my daughter to know how to up, of course, is an important aspect of
cook, I do not want her serving hot cooking but more for men than women.
chapatis to a future partner, a road to
perdition.
Men who cook like to boast that they,
well, cook, but a great many who do
Much of this may not apply to Eva, freely confess—to the chagrin of their
even though male primacy is evident in spouses—that they leave the cleaning
the West as well. The daughter of an up to someone else, usually said spouse
Indian and a Briton, Eva—whom I first or domestic help. In the West, obvi-
met when she was younger—appeared ously, you clean up your mess or enlist
comfortable in both cultures and evi- your siblings.
dently had no problem with spice, wolf- Is there anything, I asked Eva, that
ing down a spicy and typically Indo- she really wanted to learn to cook. She
Chinese manchow soup that made even replied, “Manchow soup.” All right
her Gujarati father blink. then.
This fondness for manchow soup was
bewildering but somewhat familiar, EVA BAKSHI’S AVOCADO TOAST
since I have seen others from the dias- (I have reproduced her recipe verbatim.)
pora express a similar affinity to spicy Butter and toast. Caramelised onions
offerings that were born in Chinese-In- fried with a little ginger and garlic (not
dian communities but were unknown to too much), lemon pepper seasoning and
the cuisine of mainland China. chilli flakes; then avocado, a sprinkle of
Like me, she appeared to like cooking feta, a little HP sauce (a British brown
for her family, especially her siblings, sauce that you can replace with pickle),
elder sister Maya and younger brother a softly fried egg laid over—pepper, salt,
Janak. “Yeah, so the weekends I usually more chilli flakes.
make breakfast at home because I enjoy A squeeze of lemon and basil but it’s
doing it and I can also make really good mostly for presentation, and, if you have
pancakes,” she said. “And my little goat cheese, add it.
brother is obsessed with pancakes, so I
usually just end up making them.” The Our Daily Bread is a column on easy,
other things that Eva cooked were inventive cooking. Samar Halarnkar is
“breakfast stuff”, eggs and more, apart the author of The Married Man’s Guide
from stir-fries. To Creative Cooking—And Other Dubi-
Her siblings, she said, did not really ous Adventures.
assist but big sister helped her clean up
“because I am really bad at it!” Cleaning @samar11

From cheap knock-
offs to the real deal?
In recent months,
Chinese smartphone
brands have led the
charge on introducing
new tech into
smartphones
Tushar Kanwar
C
hinese maal.” Remember
the widely-held stereotype
that Chinese smartphones
were no better than knock-
offs of big-name brands,
known for low-quality but highly
price-competitive offerings? Today
a slew of state-of-the-art smart-
phones and innovations are coming
from companies not named Samsung and
Apple. At MWC 2023 and in the months
since, Chinese smartphone brands have
led the charge on introducing new tech in
smartphones.
FAST CHARGING
This is one department where brands such
as Xiaomi and realme have stolen a march
over the competition. Charging phones in
under half an hour has become common-
place and a blistering 100W charging pace
is no longer considered extraordinary,
even as non-Chinese brands are barely
pushing 50W charging speeds.
Fast charging is a habit-changing mod-
ern convenience, “a critical must-have for
premium smartphone users”, says Prabhu
Ram, head, industry intelligence group, at
CyberMedia Research. “Seven in every
eight smartphone users feel that fast
charging is key for their on-the-go lifes-
tyles, yet the average duration of charging
in a day is 66 minutes,” Ram adds.
Brands like realme and Redmi are
already setting up the next arms race with
240W and 300W charging speeds, the
latter claiming to fully charge a smart-
phone in under five minutes.
DISPLAYS
Premium flagship phones are full of the
latest display tech—quad-HD resolution
with 120Hz refresh rate panels—but the
situation in the budget segment isn’t as
rosy. Sample this—you want a phone with
quad-HD (1,440p) resolution for those
sharp visuals and a fluid 120Hz display but
you want an Apple or a Samsung. You are
going to have to opt for a Galaxy S Ultra or
an iPhone “Pro” model.
What realme and iQOO have done is to
democratise access to high-resolution,
high refresh rate displays—you can pick
up a realme GT2 Pro (₹49,999) or an iQOO
11 (₹59,999) if you want a phone that ticks
off both spec boxes, and phones like the
recently launched realme c55 offer a full
HD+ 90Hz display for as little as ₹10,999.
According to Navkendar Singh, an ana-
lyst at the market research firm IDC, “Fast
charging and high refresh rate display are
the major criteria across price ranges,
REVIEW | ASUS VIVOBOOK GO 15 OLED
An OLED laptop fit for a day in the classroom
Asus has crafted a good
overall package with the
Vivobook Go 15 OLED
but the laptop falters in
some key areas
Sahil Bhalla
eople rarely talk about budget lap-
P tops, let alone recommend them,
and with good reason. For, barring
the Chromebooks (laptops, detachables
and tablets powered by ChromeOS), these
are usually lacklustre. It’s another thing
that the best Chromebook laptops aren’t
available in India. So, when someone asks
for laptop recommendations, the instant
answer is: Get the Apple MacBook. Those
aren’t budget-friendly. Now Asus hopes to
bridge the gap, offering premium features
at an affordable price point.
Asus has come to town with the Vivo-
book Go 15 OLED. The USP? A beautiful
15.6-inch, Full-HD OLED (1,920x1,080
resolution) display with a 60Hz refresh
rate and 0.2ms response time.
The OLED display also features 100%
DCI-P3 and sRGB (a standard RGB, or red,
green, blue, colour space)and meets Pan-
tone’s rigorous testing and calibration
standards. The OLED display has a peak
brightness of 600 for easy outdoor use. All
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especially above ₹10,000, and Chinese
brands have been leading from the front
to differentiate themselves by marketing
these features aggressively.”
FOLDABLES AND ROLLABLES
Samsung may well be the established
leader in the foldables and
new form factor category
but the buzz in recent
times has been around
brands like Oppo, Motor-
ola, even Tecno. The
Oppo Find N2 Flip has
remarkably improved
upon the screen crease
inherent to the foldable
screen form factor while
adding in a useful
3.26-inch cover display on
the rear for selfies and
quick actions and tasks.
At the MWC, Motorola
showed off the Rizr, a
chunky five-inch display
phone that rolls out to a
6.5-inch screen when you
need a larger canvas for
videos or for reading an
e-book. There’s the Honor
Magic VS, which opens up
like the Z Fold 4 into an
eight-inch tablet. But
what piqued our interest
this means the display is great for content
creators and media consumption.
You may be sold on the price (starting
from just ₹50,990), the OLED display (one
of the cheapest OLED laptops in the mar-
ket) and the colours—Cool Silver, Mixed
Black and Grey Green— but does the lap-
top’s performance pass the test?
STANDARD CLAMSHELL DESIGN
Asus’ Vivobook Go 15 OLED is the stan-
dard clamshell laptop that looks like pre-
vious models in this range. It looks sleek,
is sturdy (it meets the MIL-STD 810H
standards for durability) and relatively
lightweight (1.6kg and 17.9mm thick) but
is prone to fingerprints and smudges. The
screen can go back as far as 180 degrees
flat and the metal lid has a considerable
amount of flex.
Considering the price point, Asus has
done a good job with the build quality.
The plastic chassis is sturdy, and, unlike
the lid, the keyboard has very little flex.
The keyboard is backlit (with three levels
of brightness) and there is a relatively
large, smooth and responsive trackpad.
The port selection is fairly robust. You get
one of each of these ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2
(Type-C), USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 2.0, HDMI
1.4, a 3.5mm audio jack and power output.
DECENT PERFORMANCE
Nothing else in this price range comes
close on the display front. The OLED dis-
SMART LIVING
was the Tecno Phantom V Fold, a made in
India foldable with impressive specs—a
7.85-inch inner screen, 6.42-inch outer,
12GB/256GB of memory storage—all at an
even more impressive price (₹77,777)
when it launches in India next week. See-
ing foldables become more affordable is
the first step to the form factor becoming
more accessible, and with OnePlus
slated to launch its foldable
later this year, the market is
only going to get hotter.
CAMERAS
After championing the
cause of massive megapixel
counts on smart-
phones—108 megapixels
pushing on 200 megapix-
els and beyond—the focus
has shifted to larger camera
sensors. About time too,
since most of the big mega-
pixel counts were still
restricted to sensors that
were anywhere between
1/2.55 inches and
1/1.31-inches, while typical
digital SLRs were any-
where between four-five
times the size.
Bridging this gap is the
new Sony 50-megapixel
IMX989 one-inch-type
The Vivobook Go 15 OLED features a clamshell design.
play is bright, has punchy colours, excel- watching YouTube/
lent viewing angles and deep blacks that Netflix will be no
enrich your media consumption experi- problem.
ence. It is great for photo editing and con-
tent consumption. boundaries, though, and the
The AMD Ryzen 5 7520U processor laptop starts to sweat. Given the
with Radeon Graphics has plenty of power price point, one can’t really complain.
for a typical day at the office and even
some light gaming in the evening. Run- editing videos. It’s meant for a modest the keyboard doesn’t help. The keys have
ning multiple tabs, photo editing, typing workload or someone like a college stu- shallow travel and the response is fairly
long documents on Microsoft Word, dent who needs it primarily for taking average. This is not a keyboard to rave
SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi 07
THE WEEK IN TECH
sensor, which finds its first homes in
Xiaomi’s much celebrated 12S Ultra and 13
Pro flagships, as well as the forthcoming
Oppo Find X6 Pro and Vivo X90 Pro. The
larger the sensor, the more light it can
gather, making for better low-light pho-
tography and high dynamic range images.
Extreme low-light imaging demands
extreme measures and that’s where gim-
bal stabilisation comes in. Much like the
1
handheld gimbals at weddings, a gimbal TAKE YOUR EYES OFF MOBILES: MARTIN COOPER
stabiliser counteracts shaky hands to cap-
ture cleaner, steady images and videos. This week saw the 50th anniversary—on 3 April—of the first cell-
Vivo has led the charge in gimbal stabili- phone call ever made. Martin Cooper, father of the mobile phone
sation since the X50 Pro, and succes- and the man who made that call, says humans tend to be “a little
sive iterations in the X60, X70 and obsessed” with the device. Cooper told AFP that we may look at our
X80 series have only become better. mobile phones a little too much right now but in the future, “we can
What if you want to go further? Many expect the cellphone to revolutionise education, it will revolutionise
brands rely on a periscope-style zoom lens healthcare”. He believes future generations will find a solution to the
mounted horizontally in a phone instead obsession with phones. “When television first came out, people were
of a setup that protrudes out. Here’s a fun just hypnotised. But we somehow... managed to understand that there is
fact—despite the periscope zoom lens a quality associated with looking at a television…. Each generation is
being associated largely with Samsung going to be smarter... They will learn how to use the cellphone more
and its Space Zoom, it was an Oppo- effectively. Humans sooner or later figure it out,” he told AFP.
funded prototype that first showcased the
technology and the Huawei P30 Pro’s 5X
2
optical zoom that brought it to market in COULD AI GIVE US A FOUR-DAY WEEK?
2019, followed in 2020 by the Galaxy S20
Ultra. Today, with the S23 Ultra sitting Artificial intelligence
pretty, the forthcoming Oppo Find X6 Pro (AI) models like
and the Vivo X90 Pro+ hope to claw back. ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are
If you want your smartphone to recre- already doing many of the tasks
ate the classic Hasselblad or Leica look, that used to be reserved for
including their distinctive colour tuning humans. Nobel laureate Chris-
algorithms and image processing, it’s topher Pissarides, a professor
really only the Chinese brands that are at the London School of Eco-
forging meaningful partnerships with nomics who specialises in the
these iconic photography brands. Of late, impact of automation on work,
brands like Xiaomi, Hasselblad and Zeiss believes the “ChatGPT revolu-
have moved beyond marketing partner- tion” opens the door to a four-day week by providing a major productiv-
ships to co-engineer camera hardware/ ity boost for many jobs, reported Bloomberg. “I’m very optimistic that
software and optics on phones like the we could increase productivity,” he said. “We could increase our well-be-
Xiaomi 13 Pro, the Find N2 Flip or the ing generally from work.... We could move to a four-day week easily.”
forthcoming Vivo X90 series.
Apple or Samsung don’t feel the need to
do this—they are strong enough on their
own and have R&D teams to create their
own signature look and colour algorithms.
GAMING FEATURES
Gaming phones may seem like an anom-
aly in an age when most top-shelf smart-
phones can run practically every game
without breaking a sweat but if you want
a gaming-focused phone, you would
already know that a regular phone doesn’t
cut it in terms of ergonomics, accessories
or gaming-specific hardware/software
tweaks. With the exception of the ROG
Series by Taiwanese brand Asus, practi-
cally every gaming-focused phone over
the past few years has come from China,
3
be it from Black Shark, Nubia or Poco. THE ‘ARTEMIS II’ ASTRONAUTS ARE HERE
Not only do these phones pack in strong
performance-oriented processors and On 3 April, the US space agency Nasa and the Canadian Space
graphics, they also add in large vapour/ Agency revealed the names of the four astronauts who will per-
liquid cooling chambers for better heat form a lunar fly-by as part of the historic Artemis II mission next year.
dissipation, as well as hardware triggers The mission crew includes the first woman and first African-American
for in-game use. If you are the really com- ever assigned as astronauts to a lunar mission. Christina Koch, 44, who
mitted sort, there are optional cooling holds the record for longest continuous spaceflight by a woman and was
accessories, thumb grips and gamepad part of Nasa’s first three all-female spacewalks, will be a mission special-
attachments for added comfort in ist, while Victor Glover, 46, a US Navy aviator who has been designated
extended gaming sessions. as the pilot of Artemis II, will be the first black astronaut on a lunar mis-
sion. The other two members are Jeremy Hansen, who is Canadian, and
Tushar Kanwar, a tech columnist and mission commander Reid Wiseman, a former US Navy fighter pilot.
commentator, tweets at @2shar. —Compiled by Nitin Sreedhar.
notes, attending classes, etc. The 512GB about.
SSD and 16GB RAM help in finishing day- Something I don’t expect in this price
to-day tasks without any lag. range but would have liked is facial recog-
nition and/or a fingerprint sensor. In an
THE SHORTCOMINGS age of privacy concerns, these would have
The three categories where the Vivobook been useful additions.
Go 15 OLED falters is battery life, the web-
cam and the keyboard. SHOULD YOU BUY IT?
Battery life can just about get you The answer is not so simple. Is this the best
through a day’s work. I only got about five laptop with an OLED display for anyone
hours of usage, without any of the casual on a budget? The answer is a definite yes.
games that are usually on my agenda. Asus has achieved its mission of providing
The webcam comes with a privacy shut-
ter but it is only 720p. I have tested
a lot of laptops recently and
premium features to budget-conscious
consumers. The OLED display, the Ryzen
5 chip, durability and more, make this an
sadly, the webcam is attractive product.
ASUS below average. For just ₹10,000 more, though, you can
VIVOBOOK GO I have taken calls get a sleeker build, fingerprint sensor,
and used the camera 90Hz refresh rates and more, springing
15 OLED app to capture for a Mi Notebook Pro or even a Mi Note-
images. The photo- book Ultra, depending on the discounts
Display: 15.6 inch FHD OLED graphs are washed available. Both should be getting an
ASUS OS: Windows 11 Storage: 512GB out. upgrade later this year and they are the
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7520U Given that we are ones to look out for.
RAM: 16GB Weight: 1.63kg likely to be using our The budget segment has slim pickings
Price: Starting from laptops for meetings and Asus has crafted a good overall pack-
₹50,900 for a long time, the age on the price front. Do not even look at
Try and push the webcam could have been the non-OLED variant.
much better. While the base Vivobook Go 15 OLED
The keyboard is a standard (at ₹50,990) is a decent deal, the spec-ed
six-row chiclet style, with a numpad on out variant (retailing for ₹64,990) is the
This laptop isn’t meant for gamers or for the right-hand side. The compactness of one to go for—the performance boost
alone will be worth it.
Sahil Bhalla is a Delhi-based journalist.
 08 SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi
INSIDE THE CULT OF
BIOHACKING
IN INDIA
Biohacking, or the practice of using
science, technology, diet and lifestyle
changes to optimise human biology and
enhance performance, has a dedicated
following in India. Is it all hype or does it
really show results? Lounge finds out
Shrabonti Bagchi & Preeti Zachariah
f you were eavesdropping on con-
I
versations in Indian tech circles at,
say, a café in Bengaluru or a swanky
pub in Gurugram, you would realise
there’s one hot topic common to
these conversations apart from the usual
chatter about valuations and acquisitions:
how to optimise one’s health. Discussions
range from the benefits of Ashwagandha to
how modafinil helped someone pull several
all-nighters in a row, to how they are using
Indian fitness company Ultrahuman’s Con-
tinuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) patch to
decide what to eat at their next meal.
Experts have noted that the pandemic has
led to an unusual spike in interest in health
and fitness among Indians, and nowhere is
this more noticeable than the early-adopting
tech circles, always in search of the next great
hack for not just getting their health in order
but staying sharp and focused at work,
increasing productivity, beating stress and
anxiety, and even aspiring to live longer; in
short, in the words of health and fitness fanat-
ics everywhere, “be the best version of them-
selves”.
Amura, a Chennai-based health and well-
ness company, fits this health-as-a-service
model. Known as a company that has helped
many startup founders regain control of their
health, with vocal champions like Fresh-
works founder Girish Mathrubootham and
TVS Capital chairman Gopal Srinivasan,
Amura claims to tackle everything from dia-
betes to conditions that require more precise
interventions, such as adrenal fatigue, dysbi-
osis (an imbalance between the healthy and
unhealthy bacteria in the intestine), and
poorly understood diseases like small intesti-
nal bacterial overgrowth (Sibo). It’s not alter-
native medicine mumbo-jumbo either
but“built on 100% evidence-based factual sci-
ence”, claims its website.
“It’s science that has not reached the main-
stream yet but yes, it is completely evidence-
based, research-based,” says Amura’s
founder Saravanan Balakrishnan, who self-
identifies as a biohacker. “We have nutrition-
ists and weight-loss experts, and we also have
doctors who figure out a treatment protocol
for our clients based on the latest scientific
research and cutting-edge medicine that is
not being practised by the mainstream medi-
cal establishment for various reasons. Bio-
hacking is a loose term—when it is practised
by an individual who is using cutting-edge
science to fix things in their own body, that’s
biohacking. When you have licensed medical
practitioners doing it, it’s medicine.”
Balakrishnan’s journey started with “hack-
ing” his own health almost two decades ago,
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when he was based in the US. He started off by
reading books on age-reversal like Brain Lon-
gevity: The Breakthrough Medical Program
That Improves Your Mind And Memory by
Dharma Singh Khalsa and Cameron Stauth,
which became a cult hit in the tech and
finance community in the US in the late 1990s
and early 2000s. A couple of years ago, he
came across another book—A New Way To
Age: The Most Cutting-Edge Advances In Anti-
aging by actor Suzanne Somers, that had a
great impact on him. Balakrishnan was
intrigued by hormone theory—the theory
that ageing is primarily caused by a drop in
the level of certain key hormones. And then,
he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the
age of 41, while his son, then 10, was detected
as having abnormally high triglycerides in the
bloodstream.
They got better after
consulting nutritional
biochemist Henry Osiecki
(the founder of Biocon-
cepts, an Australian well-
ness company). Balakrish-
nan also discloses that he
had cyclical depressive
episodes, for which his
doctor had put him on
Selective Serotonin Reup-
take Inhibitors (SSRIs).
They did him no good, so
he started treating himself
with hormones and select
neurotransmitters and
claims he benefited
immensely.
In 2017, Balakrishnan,
who had returned from the
US a few years earlier,
started Amura. It has hun-
dreds of clients and enjoys
a special cache and trust in
the tech community in
India, which probably
helped it enlist around 100
clients in a somewhat
experimental, a bit hush-
hush pilot health project, a
comprehensive pro-
gramme for “super-lon-
gevity”. This programme,
the company claims, can
add 10-20 fit years to life,
lead to greater mental
clarity and energy, and make you look
younger than your cohort—it includes bene-
fits such as changing the way you look by fix-
ing ageing markers such as hollow cheeks,
droopy eyelids, dark circles, wrinkles and
puffy face—besides more obvious issues like
fatigue, exhaustion, anxiety, depression,
headaches, migraines, insomnia and addic-
tions. The by-invitation-only programme
costs around ₹10,000 a month, plus an equiv-
alent amount in supplements and drugs.
“It’s not a far-fetched claim. When you are
healthy, mentally and physically, you sleep
well, wake up in a good mood, are at a peak
state of mind through the day…your work
improves, your relationships improve. You
are happier. This is a 360-de-
gree overhaul,” says Bala-
krishnan, who is reticent
about discussing exactly how
this is achieved but reveals
that it is a combination of
nutrition, prescribing neuro-
transmitters, adjusting hor-
mone levels, fixing gut
health, etc.
Biohacking, the practice of
using science, technology
and lifestyle changes to opti-
mise human biology and
enhance performance, is a
rapidly growing field around
the world; some of the top
biohacking practices
include nutrigenomics, the
study of how specific nutri-
ents interact with our genes
and how this interaction can
impact health and well-be-
ing; sleep optimisation;
using biofeedback devices
that monitor and provide
real-time feedback about
physiological processes in
the body; the use of nootrop-
ics, substances that are
believed to enhance cogni-
tive function, memory and
creativity; and microbiome
optimisation. They range
from relatively mainstream
practices such as exercise
optimisation and intermit-
tent fasting to more extreme ones like cold
exposure (taking cold showers, ice baths and
cryotherapy, which is believed to have vari-
ous health benefits, including improved
immune function, increased metabolism and
reduced inflammation).
People practise biohacking at all these lev-
els, and, gradually, many of these concepts
have become go-to methods for achieving
optimum weight loss and fixing associated
health risks. Take intermittent fasting (IF), for
example, a phenomenon that was practically
unheard of even a decade ago but today is one
of the most accessible biohacks, practised by
everyone from Bollywood stars to your
spouse or best friend. “I am the fittest I have
ever been since starting IF,” says 40-year-old
Michelle Job, who eats only one meal a day.
In 2020, the Stockholm-based photogra-
pher moved to India and found herself
cooped up in her Hyderabad home during the
pandemic. Job had never been an active per-
son and had always loved her food, so over-
hauling her lifestyle completely would have
been difficult. Instead, she started taking
baby steps towards a healthier lifestyle: using
walk-at-home videos to get in more activity
and adopting an intermittent fasting sched-
ule. Delaying a meal rather than denying her-
self any particular food worked perfectly for
her. She is 25kg lighter today, strength-trains
regularly and has recently taken up running.
“There isn’t one defined, agreed-upon def-
inition of biohacking. One can do this with
supplements, drugs, technology, nutrition or
science,” says Shebani Sethi, consultant chief
medical officer with the digital health and
wellness company HealthifyMe.
It is also a growing business. According to
a recent report by Market Research Future,
the global market for biohacking is projected
to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth
rate )of 19% from 2021 to 2028 and projected
to reach $63 billion (around ₹5.16 trillion) by
2028. And India isn’t left out of this. For
instance, India’s market for CGMs, a tool that
can be used to “hack” metabolism, health and
weight loss by controlling blood sugar levels,
is poised to grow at a CAGR of 17% between
2022-27.
“People these days are looking for new
ways to improve and optimise their health,”
agrees Rakesh Somani, co-founder of Decode
Age, a Bengaluru-based longevity research
company. Somani, an ironman triathlete and
a biohacker himself, ventured into biohack-
ing as part of his fitness journey, discovering
that being healthy went far beyond the estab-
lished practices of eating right and exercising.
“It’s about optimising your body, mind and
soul. This became the mantra for me,” he
COVER
ISTOCKPHOTO
says, adding that he believes a biohacking
approach could help people live a healthy,
long, disease-free life. “It is about becoming
the CEO or the boss of your own health.”
So, who are these people who are taking
health into their hands? How are they doing
it? And is biohacking simply another wellness
fad or the key to exceptional longevity?
IN PURSUIT OF ETERNAL YOUTH
While the origins of biohacking remain
somewhat nebulous, most roads seem to lead
back to Silicon Valley, where the trend
appears to have mushroomed two-odd dec-
ades ago. Perhaps the best known of them all
is American entrepreneur and author Dave
Asprey, the self-declared “father of biohack-
ing”. Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof cof-
fee—a beverage composed of coffee, butter
and oil containing medium chain triglycer-
ides (MCTs) that often complements diets
like paleo, keto and intermittent fasting—has
no background in nutrition or medicine. His
expertise stems from the fact that he once
weighed 136kg and got rid of the extra weight
by going on a low-carb diet. This, in turn, spi-
ralled into a burning obsession “to uncover
the latest, most innovative methods, tech-
niques and products for enhancing mental
and physical performance”, notes his website.
Over the last two decades, Asprey claims to
have spent nearly $2 million on this quest—
think cold exposure, infrared bathing, stem
cell injections and hyperbaric oxygen
therapy—convinced that these
practices will help him live for at
least 180 years. In an August 2021
video, the admittedly well-pre-
served 48-year-old talks about
how the deep knowledge of 20
years of working with the world’s
best anti-ageing researchers and
scientists, “reading the papers,
doing the work, and trying it
myself” gives him the confidence
to believe that he will make it to
this age. “And that’s not the cap,
that’s the floor,” he adds in the
same video.
Longevity is one of the key
components of biohacking, say
Somani and Balakrishnan, point-
ing out that since biohacking opti-
R STORY
mises health, it ends up optimising longevity.
But then again, humankind’s obsession
with eternal youth and longevity, the promise
of a body unencumbered by disease, wrinkles
and infirmity, is as old as time itself. Over the
centuries, there have always been people who
have tried to crack this code, whether it be
futile quests for the fountain of eternal youth
or the inclusion of certain foods, beauty ritu-
als, products or medical interventions that
can somehow slow down that inevitable hur-
tle towards old age. What appears to have
taken this pursuit of eternal youth from niche
to mainstream in recent times is the glut of
information about health and well-being on
the internet today.
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Sanjeev Nair, an Ernakulam, Kerala-based
biohacker, a peak performance coach and the
founder of health startup Vieroots Wellness
Solutions, believes as much. “When it comes
to medical science, due to the criticality of its
role in our lives, most of us used to shy away
from probing and knowing too much,” says
Nair, adding that health was normally
entrusted to doctors who “used to talk mini-
mally, explain little and thus keep our own
medical information a secret to us”.
The advent of the internet and the open
dissemination of medical research changed
this to a great degree, he says, pointing out
that if patients began asking questions, and if
they didn’t get the answers, they were open to
changing doctors or even studying the
underlying issues themselves. “Biohacking
has its roots in this knowledge explo-
sion,” he adds.
Vieroots’ vision statement is
“Live Longer and Stay Younger”
and it claims to do so by providing
personalised holistic lifestyle
management solutions that are
scientific and evidence-based,
“for enhancing the physical,
mental, social, spiritual and
financial well- being of a person”.
Its methodology is based largely
on epigenetics: It starts by creat-
ing a genetic and metabolic pro-
file of a person through a pat-
ented method called Eplimo,
which includes a personalised
wellness management pro-
gramme costing around
₹50,000 a month. The company
According to a Market
Research Future report,
the global market for
biohacking is projected
to grow at a compound
annual growth rate of
19% from 2021 to 2028.
We have nutritionists
and weight-loss experts,
and we also have
doctors who figure out a
treatment protocol for
our clients based on the
latest scientific research...
SARAVANAN
BALAKRISHNAN
FOUNDER, AMURA
ISTOCKPHOTO
also retails supplements , one of the most
prominent being its NAD+ Complex.
Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide
(NAD+), an active coenzyme involved in
many cognitive processes, was originally
used to treat conditions involving cognitive
decline such as Alzheimer’s disease and vas-
cular dementia, and is the hottest anti-ageing
tool in the biohacker’s medicine cabinet the
world over today. In India, several companies
now retail this complex, including Decode
Age, which bottles NAD in the form of Nico-
tinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a deriva-
tive of the B3-vitamin niacin that is associated
with improved health and longevity.
Mumbai-based functional nutritionist and
lifestyle coach Monique Jhingon sees bio-
hacking as the topmost tier of health inter-
ventions in most individuals, including her
clients. “It is the last step on the stack of
health. If people tinker with their own health
in an educated and informed way, I don’t see
any particular harm in it but it has to be on top
of an established lifestyle that includes good
nutrition and exercise,” says Jhingon.
She says there is an increased awareness
about biohacking tools. For instance, she is
often asked about active ingredients such as
sulforaphane (a chemical naturally present in
cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and
cauliflower and known for its antioxidant,
antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory proper-
ties)—this was rare even a few years ago.
Jhingon herself takes cautious steps into
biohacking—while flying to Amsterdam
recently, she took Methylene Blue, a salt tra-
ditionally used to treat a condition called
methemoglobinemia, when the blood cannot
SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
deliver oxygen to cells efficiently. It is becom-
ing popular in the biohacking community to
increase oxygen absorption during events
such as air travel, and even for its anti-de-
pressant effects (it prevents the breakdown of
dopamine, melatonin and serotonin).
OF GENES, SCIENCE AND WEARABLE
DEVICES
When he turned 32, six years ago, Bengaluru-
based Rithin Ravindran, a chief manager with
a multinational firm, decided he needed a
major dietary overhaul. He had always been
fit, training regularly for two hours a day and
eating the food prescribed by his trainer, but
he could see no change in his build and con-
tinued to weigh a steadfast 80kg.
So, he decided to opt for nutrigenetics, a
way to discover how your genome deter-
mines what you should eat to enjoy the best of
health. “They test your blood, stool and urine
to find the genetic codes and prescribe a diet
accordingly,” recalls Ravindran, who discov-
ered that his genetics did not allow him to tol-
erate gluten or support alcohol. Within six
months of rehauling his diet, his weight
dropped to 70kg, a number he continues to
maintain despite a hectic job that involves a
lot of travelling. “It has been six years and I
know what to eat and what not to,” adds
Ravindran. “Science changes everything.”
The rise of wearable devices, like the CGM,
also stems from the belief that health should
be customised and self-sustained. Trawl
through social media and you are likely to see
a health coach, fitness junkie or sportsperson
talking about how they hacked their metabo-
lism, sleep or diet using the semi-invasive
continuous glucose monitor. “CGM is defi-
nitely a very good marker, as being biohack-
ers we like to keep our glucose levels stable,”
says Somani. Chronic elevation of glucose can
be harmful, points out Sethi, especially for
people already struggling with metabolic dis-
eases. “There are many variables that can
affect glucose levels, including hormones,
age, stress and timing of feeding. Making
small changes in behavioural patterns and
timing of activities can make a difference
metabolically,” she says.
Having said that, depending solely on this
device to manage your health can backfire.
“Like any intervention, there are limitations
and it may not work for everyone,” adds Sethi.
THE OTHER SIDE OF BIOHACKING
Nikhil Chaudhary, a Hyderabad-based can-
cer nutritionist, author and speaker, still
remembers the client who developed consti-
pation after experimenting with intermittent
fasting. “She was a colon cancer survivor,” he
recalls, adding that intermittent fasting was
not the ideal solution for someone in her con-
dition. While Chaudhary, in theory, likes the
idea of people taking ownership of their
health by learning natural methods beneficial
for them, he is wary of what he considers a
“reductionist approach”, pointing out that
this can often backfire, and badly.
“You should never blindly follow anything
when it comes to your health,” believes
Chaudhary, who consciously follows a num-
ber of practices that could be termed bio-
hacking, including meditation, a whole-food
diet and taping his mouth at night to encour-
New Delhi 09
ISTOCKPHOTO
age nasal breathing.
One of the biggest issues of the nearly
$4,887 billion global health and wellness
industry has always been the lack of regula-
tion: Science and pseudoscience are often
indistinguishable, tall claims masquerading
as potent scientific breakthroughs, the con-
stant commodification of health by unquali-
fied people preying on consumers naïve
enough to fall for it.
Case in point: Gwyneth Paltrow’s $250 mil-
lion brand, Goop. While the brand has
courted plenty of controversy over the years
for advocating some bizarre wellness prac-
tices—shoving jade eggs up your vagina,
steaming the aforesaid-mentioned canal and
advocating bee venom therapy—it has contin-
ued to thrive and grow exponentially for more
than a decade. Biohacking is often referred to
as Goop for tech bros, a far from flattering
sobriquet that reflects both the inherent sex-
ism of the wellness industry as well as its tend-
ency to glamorise dysfunctional practices,
including highly disordered eating patterns.
“Starving yourself and constructing rigid
rules and rituals around when and how you
eat is generally seen as a problem when it’s
teenage girls doing it; when tech bros do it, it’s
treated very differently,” points out a Febru-
ary 2019 article in The Guardian. The same
article adds that the framing of fasting behav-
iours in a positive light, especially with high-
profile people like Twitter founder Jack Dor-
sey advocating extreme measures like three-
day water fasts, can be cause for concern.
Sethi agrees that the do-it-yourself experi-
mentation mentality, with no medical super-
vision or oversight, can be a safety concern,
an opinion shared by Shwetha Rahul, a Chen-
nai-based dermatologist and founder of
Hydra Dermatology. IV therapy, another
popular biohack which involves introducing
a cocktail of vitamins and antioxidants into
your body via drips in an attempt to get
younger-looking skin, is a medical, not cos-
metic, procedure, one that needs to be super-
vised by a doctor and not a cosmetologist,
says Dr Rahul.
“There is a lot of quackery in the aesthetic
field today,” she points out, adding that get-
ting treated by unqualified people can have
side effects, even leading to cardiac issues.
While she does use IV therapy to treat skin
conditions like psoriasis, eczemas and der-
matitis, she does not advocate it as a sustaina-
ble means to maintain skin.
Clearly, while most biohackers claim that
their habits help optimise health, there are no
real quick fixes. While biohacking, done
smartly, may certainly be useful for people
who want to push the envelope on fitness and
well-being, the average person who wants to
lose some body fat, stave off disease and pre-
serve muscle should inculcate better habits
before rushing to a genetic testing centre or
purchasing a CGM.
Kolkata-based Abraar Khan Waryah,
co-founder of the Gridiron Fitness Studio,
says it is important to get your basics right
before turning to external tools. “Get enough
protein, sleep six-eight hours, strength-train
three-four times a week and get around two
hours of cardio per week consistently first.”
shrabonti.b@livemint.com
 10 SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi
Labels celebrate India but
‘karigars’ remain faceless
After the hoopla of
Dior’s Mumbai show,
it’s time to ask why
artisans still don’t get
a platform to voice
their needs
Pooja Singh
pooja.s@htlive.com
ow that all the memes and
N
look-who-I-met selfies at
the recent Dior show in
Mumbai have stopped
cluttering social media
feeds, let’s look at that one person without
whom this “historic moment” wouldn’t
have been possible: the karigar.
From the moment an Indian model
opened the luxury brand’s fall 2023 col-
lection showcase on 30 March, walking
the cobbled path of Gateway of India in a
black silk lungi dress and matching chap-
pals, it was clear what Dior was going to
serve: The work of the Indian craftsper-
son, who spends 8-10 hours a day for
months with his fingers dancing between
threads, beads and stones, to help create
one outfit that may dazzle the world.
While the 99 looks of the artistic
director of Dior women’s wear, Maria
Grazia Chiuri,didn’t offer anything
extraordinary in terms of style or silhou-
ettes, flirting with clichés (Madras
checks, toile de Jouy showing tigers and
elephants), they made a strong point in
celebrating Indian craftsmanship and yet
again turning the international spotlight
on the karigar, the artisan. It is a big deal,
even if some critics say the hoo-ha around
the event was a massive marketing strat-
egy, even cultural colonialism. No other
major Western brand has ever included
India in one of its seasonal calendars. No
other brand has acknowledged the con-
tribution of karigars so loudly. It’s an
open secret that luxury houses like Her-
mès and Chanel have been sourcing
embroidery from India for decades.
“It’s time we talked more openly about
the hands behind the creations, the hands
behind fashion,” Chiuri had said at a press
conference at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Col-
aba a day before the show. “People need
to know who are the hands behind the
creations.”
People also need to see their faces and,
more importantly, hear their voices. For
far too long, the karigar has remained
faceless and voiceless. It’s time we
became aware of their wants, needs and
demands, hearing directly from them. It’s
time they spoke about why they continue
to be in a profession that pays little but
results in clothes that sell for lakhs glo-
bally.
Can we, whether it’s an Indian or inter-
national brand, give them a platform to
express themselves so freely?
“I have said this several times earlier—
the era of others representing the voices of
karigars is over,” says textile curator
Mayank Mansingh Kaul. “It is the respon-
sibility of the media to find ways to ask
such questions to them directly, given that
social media, the internet and fast phone
Behind the extravaganza of the NMACC show
The ongoing ‘India In
Fashion’ show in Mumbai
documents the influence
of the subcontinent’s
craft and textiles
Pooja Singh
pooja.s@htlive.com
W
hat do you think is India’s con-
tribution to the fashion world?
Is it our embroidery, which has
elevated the outfits of top luxury houses,
including the House of Dior? Or is it the
fluid sari that has been reimagined repeat-
edly by designers like Yves Saint Laurent?
Perhaps brocade and the famous chintz
that continue to be visualised in different
shapes and styles?
It’s all of the above, and more. That’s the
takeaway from the India In Fashion exhi-
bition, on till 4 June at the newly opened
Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in
Mumbai that “aims to preserve and pro-
mote Indian arts”, according to Nita
Ambani, the founder and chairperson. “I
hope our spaces nurture and inspire tal-
ent, bringing together communities from
across India and the globe.”
The exhibition, curated by Hamish
Bowles, Vogue global editor at large and
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connectivity have enabled such access in
recent years. It becomes equally necessary
for self-appointed arbitrators to step down
from speaking on their behalf. But ena-
bling voices can also be often meaningless
without giving them faces.”
It is also time for more brands to clearly
mention on their labels that the embroi-
dery and the craft is from India and
acknowledge the role of the individual
behind the art.
Reema Kapoor, who has been a training
consultant with the Ahmedabad-based
Self-Employed Women’s Association
(Sewa) for 25 years, concurs: “Depending
on the kind of work, people are earning
The World Of Interiors editor-in-chief, fea-
tures over 140 iconic costumes and pieces
from India, global brands and fashion
houses, tracing more than 200 years of
the subcontinent’s contribution to the
global fashion sensibility. The costumes,
from Chanel’s long brocade coat and
matching trousers and dresses created for
Lady Mary Curzon, to Christian Loubou-
tin heels with phulkari work and Sabyasa-
chi’s embellished lehnga-choli, are either
completely or partially made in the sub-
continent. They have either been loaned
by museums like New York’s Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art and Toronto’s The
Royal Ontario Museum, or belong to pri-
vate collections.
What makes this exhibition unique is
that India has never hosted a show that
brings together so many India-inspired
costumes under one roof. “It’s really the
first time something like this has hap-
pened. An Indian can see India-inspired
work that has walked the international
ramp. How often does the public get such
a chance?” says Deepthi Sasidharan, an art
historian, a curator and founder director
at Eka Archiving Services, a cultural advi-
sory, who works on heritage and museum.
“Just from the perspective of humidity
and temperature control… this is the first
kind of a setup that allows suitable space
for archival material. None of our national
museums has been able to do it till date;
STYLE
Even more than name and
fame, the artisan needs
security of work, livelihood
and earnings, which includes
health insurance, pension
and other benefits
©SAHIBA CHAWDHARY/CHANAKYA SCHOOL OF CRAFT
Rahul Mishra’s latest couture collection at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.
they don’t even have 24x7 air-condition-
ing.” She visited the exhibition on the first
day it opened to the public, 3 April.
As soon as you enter the dimly lit space,
which is divided into 10 zones ( like“The
Hippie Trail”, “The Long Shadow of Mus-
lin”, “The Journey of the Sari”, “The Great
Exhibition London 1851”; each zone has a
dedicated background sound), you meet
the Alexander McQueen Jellyfish ensem-
ble that graced his spring-summer 2010
©DOLLY HAORAMBAM
around ₹400 a week. There are women
who get ₹4 per shirt for removing extra
threads from it. Can you imagine the kind
of stress such work puts on the eyes? All
for ₹4. We need more unions, more col-
lectives made for artisans by artisans.”
KNOWING THE MAKERS
Fashion is an industry that offers a liveli-
hood to millions of people across the
world. If you go by the figures from the
India Brand Equity Foundation, a trust
created by the Union commerce ministry,
India is among the world’s biggest gar-
ment exporters, taking care of a textiles
market worth about $250 billion (around
₹20.5 trillion). Add the exceptional crafts-
manship of the 40-million plus karigars
and it’s easy to understand why luxury
brands have outsourced a large chunk of
their embroidery work to India.
Mumbai-based Sharafat Sayyed, 36, is
one of them. His brothers, father and fore-
fathers have always done hand embroi-
dery. “That’s the only work I know. And
it’s clean; I don’t have to run around. We
just sit and work,” Sayyed, who has been
working since 2008, tells me in Hindi.
He’s one of the 100-plus workers at 2M
Ateliers, which creates garments and
accessories for the world’s leading luxury
houses. He gets ₹25,000 per month for
working eight hours six days a week.
“There’s pride in my work. How many
collection: It’s a dress embroidered with
paillettes accompanied by matching leg-
gings and “Armadillo” boots, a contempo-
rary take on the short kurta-pajama. Ten
steps ahead, you are greeted by the chirp-
ing of birds to suit the name of the zone,
“Gathered in a Mughal Garden”. With
about five costume displays, including a
chintz dress made in 1750, the space docu-
ments how the Indian chintz, painted and
printed glazed cottons, has long fasci-
(clockwise, from above) Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri (right) with Chanakya’s Karishma
Swali during the Mumbai press conference; looks from the Dior Fall show in Mumbai;
and (bottom) artisans at the Chanakya school.
people know this art? I am one of the lucky
few to come from such a background.
What I am most proud of is that I am help-
ing create something that is being worn
internationally. The ‘Made in India’ tag is
going global in a way because of me. How
many people can say that?”
When asked what else he would want,
he says: “More money and fame. The rec-
ognition will help me move forward, do
better.”
I get a similar response from Afzal Said-
ullah Shaikh, 67, who has been a karigar
for over four decades. He’s currently
working for designer Rahul Mishra from
nated Europeans. In the book When
Indian Flowers Bloomed In Europe: Mas-
terworks Of Indian Trade Textiles, 1600-
1780, In The Tapi Collection, Ebeltje Hart-
kamp-Jonxis writes, “The brilliant natural
dyes that did not fade even after repeated
washing, the exotic designs and light-
weight cotton fabric made Indian chintz
an immediate success in Europe, which by
the late 17th century became a craze that
would last for well over a century.” Such
was their popularity that Europe banned
its import in the 18th century. To present
its contemporary interpretation, there’s a
Rahul Mishra dress that presents chintz in
an embroidery form.
That’s also one of the favourite zones of
architect Rooshad Shroff, who has
designed the show with Patrick Kin-
month. “The past and present just stand
out so strikingly in this zone—and every-
thing is India-inspired,” says Shroff. “It’s
moving, actually.”
Each zone has been designed to offer a
peek into the next zone. From the “Valen-
tino” zone, for instance, which houses the
famous lehnga the luxury house made for
Isha Mukesh Ambani, you can get a
glimpse of “The Journey of the Sari”,
which investigates the story of the gar-
ment’s constant reinvention, from Paul
Poiret’s creation in 1922 to Schiaparelli’s
in 1939, and, more recently, to Balenciaga,
Madame Grès and Jean Paul Gaultier.
©SAHIBA CHAWDHARY
his home in Kolkata’s Hooghly district.
“The work is hard. You have to sit the
whole day and look at threads and beads
so closely. You develop back problem, eye
problem…,” says Shaikh who, too, wants
to be famous, to be known for his craft.
“There’s a lot of poaching. Often designers
come and ask me to work for them despite
knowing that I work with Rahulji.”
Even more important than name and
fame, though, is security of work, liveli-
hood and earnings for the karigars. “This
would mean giving them regular pay,
health insurance and all required benefits,
something that many people (designers or
contractors) don’t do as much,” says
Mishra, who employs 300 artisans
directly and over 1,000 artisans indirectly
across the country. “It’s a little difficult to
give face to 1,000 artisans who have
worked on a garment but it’s definitely
possible to give them fair pay.”
Collaborations like the Dior one
(Mumbai’s Chanakya atelier and school of
craft has been working closely with Chi-
uri for close to two decades; the fall col-
lection included works by their artisans),
Mishra says, remind the world that “fash-
ion designing is a community exercise
and you can’t move forward till everyone
moves along with each other”.
The Dior show is also a wake-up call for
Indian designers to speak about the arti-
sans, believes Maximiliano Modesti,
founder of 2M atelier. “It starts from
home. Until your homegrown brands give
credit to karigars and listen to what they
want, the change won’t happen.”
Kaul agrees. “I certainly think that
Dior’s acknowledgement of the Chanakya
school’s involvement in co-creating its
designs is important. I only hope that this
leads to other brands extending such
credit.”
In the past, some homegrown brands
have sent their artisans on to the ramp or
seated them in the front row. But this
seems like mere tokenism when you learn
the karigars were not paid on time.
Over the past few months, whenever I
have met an artisan, be it a zari worker or
a chikan karigar, and asked why they
continue to work in a profession where
they don’t get their due, I have been get-
ting two responses: “We don’t know any-
thing else,” and, like Sayyed said, “It
makes me proud of my legacy.”
I got a third response during a recent
trip to the Chanakya atelier, where I met a
karigar from Bihar. “I smile a lot when I
work,” he says, doing aari work. “My work
brings me joy and I always think that if I
smile while making something, the
wearer will smile as well.”
“The Great Exhibition London 1851”,
which highlights the fashion for Kashmir
shawls and their status in international
fashion as a marker of sophistication,
leads to “The Hippie Trail” zone, with
eccentric designs from YSL to Manish
Arora, presented against a background
inspired by the Jantar Mantar’s observa-
tories and buildings in Jaipur and Delhi.
“We chose this background because it’s
this iconic location with fascinating struc-
ture. The hippie era was a time when more
people were coming to India, especially
Delhi and Jaipur, discovering yoga,”
explains Shroff.
In between the zones, there’s a sprin-
kling of costumes by Manish Malhotra,
Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla and Sabyasachi
to reinforce their contribution to the
Indian design story.
The show ends with three garments
from Mishra’s couture collection that he
presented recently at the Paris Haute
Couture Week. The set behind and on the
floor where the mannequins stand repli-
cates the moon. “That background signi-
fies how far Indian fashion has come,” says
Shroff. “It also says how Indian design and
craftsmanship have sealed their space in
the global world.”
India In Fashion is on till 4 June at the Nita
Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai.
Tickets start from ₹199.

RETELLER OF
MEMORIES
Vivan Sundaram always put people first—whether working on the family
history of the Sher-Gils or raising his voice against social injustice
Avantika Bhuyan
avantika.bhuyan@htlive.com
I
n the 1990s, artist Vivan Sunda-
ram moved away from the tradi-
tional form of oil painting, find-
ing it an isolating process. And
yet, to my mind, if there is one
work from his extensive oeuvre that offers
a glimpse into his subconscious, it is a
6x8ft oil painting from 1983-84, titled The
Sher-Gil Family. I saw it when it was dis-
played at Delhi’s Kiran Nadar Museum of
Art (KNMA) in 2018 as part of the artist’s
retrospective, Step Inside And You Are No
Longer A Stranger.
It had a wispy, dream-like quality.
According to KNMA’s Roobina Karode,
who curated the show to mark 50 years of
the artist’s career, the women of the family
could be seen sitting in one room, yet they
seemed isolated, trapped in thoughts of
their own. The artist’s late aunt, Amrita
Sher-Gil, was shown in the foreground, in
the middle of the act of painting. And yet,
Karode feels that instead of the canvas, her
gaze was directed at the viewers, as if urg-
ing them to come closer and investigate
the scene further. Sundaram, who died
last week, placed himself in the work as a
young boy whose shadow was reflected in
a mirror. A pistol on the table enhanced
the sense of melancholia and impending
doom. Karode had long conversations
with Sundaram at the time about the mel-
ancholy in the family and the preoccupa-
tion with death.
Sundaram spent decades understand-
ing and retelling the complex family his-
tory of the Sher-Gil-Sundaram family—of
his grandfather, scholar-photographer
Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, aunt, Amrita, and
mother, Indira. This took the form of pro-
jects such as Re-Take Of Amrita, a series of
black and white digital photomontages
based on archival photographs taken by
Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, and the installa-
tion series The Sher-Gil Archive. In fact, the
archive went on to become his favourite
subject. “He had not even been born when
Amrita passed away. I find it fascinating,
his obsession with a person who had
departed young, and his reliving of that
through the archives,” says Karode.
In the show, Sundaram placed portraits
of his father and a two-channel video of his
mother playing the piano. There were
black boxes with photographs of family
members who had died. And right at the
centre of the room was a cabinet, featuring
a closed briefcase. “He had an intense pre-
occupation with objects that had survived
their owners. Some of the boxes, which he
had shown earlier in Re-take Of Amrita,
featured little combs. But this box lying
shut was quite telling in itself—it was this
idea of inaccessibility and retrieval which
preoccupied him and his frequent turning
to the archive,” says Karode.
Nalini Malani is perhaps the other artist
from that generation who moved towards
a multimedia practice, yet Sundaram’s
oeuvre is very different, entrenched as it is
in memory. In rough notes, penned while
conceptualising the retrospective, Karode
had written four words: recycle, retake,
retrieve and reiterate. And now that she
looks back, it definitely felt that Sundaram
was focused on the retrieval of time. From
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publishing Amrita Sher-Gil’s letters to creat-
ing digital montages, he was trying to col-
lapse notions of time and space. “The
archive was central to his work, as he was
always trying to create an archaeology of
images. I found a similar resonance in his
drawings, be it the ones done in graphite,
charcoal or the Engine Oil series,” she adds.
Born in Shimla, Sundaram studied at
the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vadodara and at
the Slade School of Fine Art, London. He
moved away from conventional painting
after the outbreak of the Gulf war in 1991.
with a series of 40 drawings, Engine Oil
And Charcoal. However, certain aspects of
his painting remained when he took to
multimedia—be it installation, sculpture,
video art or photo archival work. Karode
finds threads of continuity that connect
his paintings and installations—such as
building and assembling disparate forms,
or working with signs and symbols that
come together in different spatial frames.
This breaking of the mould was a radi-
cal move at the time. “The paintings, espe-
cially the ones he made when he was part
of the student protests in London (1968),
helped me in understanding how he took
a direction so different from that of his col-
leagues and friends,” says Karode.
If Karode has memories of the emotional
persona behind the prolific and articulate
artist, artist/photographer Ram Rahman
remembers just how quick Sundaram was
to stand up against social injustice. In fact,
he played a crucial role not just in helping
FOCUS
(top) An installation shot from ‘Vivan
Sundaram, A Retrospective: Fifty Years;
Step Inside And You Are No Longer A
Stranger’, 9 February-20 July 2018,
curated by Roobina Karode; and
‘Eclipse’ (1991), charcoal on paper,
enamel on acrylic sheet, from the
collection of the Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.
Sundaram set up the Sher-Gil
Sundaram Arts Foundation
not just to carry forward his
family’s legacy but to support
cultural practices that deal
with historical memory
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY KIRAN NADAR MUSEUM OF ART
set up the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust,
or Sahmat, in 1989 after the activist’s mur-
der but also in conceiving programmes.
The first exhibition the trust organised
that year, Artists Alert, brought the arts
community together and helped raise
funds. “It was also an act of solidarity. Art-
ists protested against what had happened
by contributing their work. It was the
beginning of Sahmat’s role in art activism
and Vivan had a huge role in approaching
artists from across India for that,” says
Rahman, who worked on involving pho-
tographers in what became one of the first
shows to place photography on a par with
other art forms. Sahmat emerged as a plat-
form that used art to make statements.
Many programmes, such as Postcards For
Gandhi and Gift For India, were concep-
tualised by Sundaram.
“At that time, Shamshad Hussain, I and
some others were collectively discussing
and conceiving ideas but the energy that
Vivan brought was fantastic. Whenever
there was a sense of injustice—for
instance, the attacks on (the late artist
M.F.) Husain, Vivan would get very agi-
tated. He would immediately call and say,
‘We have to do something’,” reminisces
Rahman. They would organise meetings,
write letters to the President, and more.
Sundaram, Rahman and other Sahmat
members actively took their concerns to
the political leadership of the day.
“Be it any issue—the attacks on students
in Vadodara or ban on film screenings
across India—he would immediately call
and discuss what could be done. He played
an important role in keeping the commu-
nity aware and alert to things that were
going on. He was in touch with student
groups across the country through Sah-
mat and his call for collective action kept
the art community together in a progres-
sive space,” says Rahman. In recent years,
with his health failing, Sundaram was una-
ble to attend meetings physically, yet he
was part of the statement signed by 75 art-
ists, writers, researchers and others
against the redevelopment of the Central
Vista in Delhi, especially when the pan-
demic was raging.
Rahman notes Sundaram’s engage-
ment with student groups. His interest in
the practice of the younger generation
impressed Karode too: “I don’t think I can
say this of any artist, who has been more
committed to taking on conversations
with, and critiques of, the emerging artists
across generations. He was a visiting fel-
low at Jamia Millia Islamia and conducted
workshops for students. But most impor-
tantly, he was always there for them. If
younger artists called him to their shows,
he would make it a point to be there.”
In fact, he started the Sher-Gil Sunda-
ram Arts Foundation in 2016 not just to
carry forward the legacy of the family but
also to support artistic and cultural prac-
tices that deal with historical memory.
Founded on the tenets of secular freedom
of expression, it has offered grants to art-
ists such as Prajakta Potnis and Shrujana
Niranjani Shridhar, co-founder, Dalit
Panthers Archive, in the past.
Potnis, the second artist to be awarded
a grant for photography, recalls Sunda-
ram’s involvement every step of the way,
“It was a very inspiring process.”
SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi 11
A gallerist
remembers
Sundaram
The ‘art warrior’ and archivist-artist never
stopped venturing into uncharted waters
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY CHEMOULD PRESCOTT ROAD
Vivan Sundaram at the Chemould Prescott Road office in Mumbai; and ‘Sailboat
And Oar Resting Against Tent’ (1992).
Shireen Gandhy
V
ivan Sundaram’s friends were used to getting updates twice a day on a
WhatsApp vigil group formed five weeks before his passing. Vivan had
been fragile for so long, and had fought so many health battles, that it felt
natural that this was just one more fight, which he would get through. It was his
80th year and this “art-warrior”, as I like to think of him, had big plans. He had just
completed his project for the Sharjah Biennale curated by Hoor Al Qasimi and was
looking forward to the installation of his 1993/2014 work, Memorial, a recent
acquisition by Tate Modern in the UK.
There was also the Kasauli residency book, documenting the numerous art resi-
dencies the artist had organised between the 1970s-80s. To add to that, the very
active events roster of the Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation. There was no way
he was ready to go anywhere and he knew he had to battle it out. Vivan’s body,
however, had other plans. Life is not fair but this is one argument you cannot win.
For me, the last week has been one of gathering memories. It feels like a daunt-
ing task. How does one recollect an intimate friendship and professional interac-
tions spanning several decades? One of the first solo exhibitions I ever witnessed
was Vivan’s in 1988. Titled Long Night, it featured dark textured charcoal land-
scapes of natural calamities. Many of his exhibitions in the early 1990s were held
at the Jehangir Art Gallery, including his swansong to traditional oil painting,
soon after which he began his foray into sculptural installations.
His 1992 exhibition, Collaboration/Combines, of sculptural objects was a monu-
mental, multidimensional one. If I was new to this form of art, so was my (at that
time) 25-year-old gallery, run until then by my parents. Two nails on walls with
strings is how we had managed until then! Never had we had to “install” art in that
way. And suddenly there we were, handling an operation! We called upon stu-
dents from the Sir JJ School of Art to come to our rescue. I remember Bose Krish-
namachari being one of those boys who helped us. It was truly a collaboration.
Compilations of postcards from friends, photographs by artists, writers, were
pasted within large granite structures. A combination of materials—paper sculp-
ture pasted on finely painted wood surfaces, large paper columns, tents made in
paper and painted with engine oil, and so on. It was for many of us a wildly exciting
moment of possibilities! I have a memory of the students being a big part of this
excitement, which undoubtedly percolated into their subconscious.
I look back to that exhibition as a benchmark of how we would change track.
Vivan opened the doors for us to welcome other artists, who began to work in
mediums other than two-dimensional paintings. In my 20s, I felt like I was on to
something new in the art world. I can now say, unequivocally, that Vivan was the
trailblazer in all this. This was the beginning of a new chapter for him—working
with mediums like engine oil, or cast sculpture as he did for the seminal work
Memorial, the first fully realised installation by any Indian artist—and there was
no stopping him. He would dream and he would make. There were no hesitations.
But in all this was also Vivan the
activist. Something was brimming
within him and those around him. In
the 1990s, art and politics were con-
verging in a very real
way. In fact, Vivan had
been doing that years
before with his draw-
ings on the Emer-
gency, or The Heights
Of Macchu Pic-
chu (based on
Pablo Neruda
poems). It was Vivan
who introduced us to Sahmat,
the art-activism collective started in
Safdar Hashmi’s memory. India was at a tipping point in the early 1990s with the
demolition of the Babri Masjid. For us at the gallery, the inclusion of our activities
with Sahmat, and the artists we engaged with, began to reflect our identity as that
of a gallery-activist.
However, let me take you back to the personal space. I have not yet mentioned
the other pea in the Sundaram family pod—his wife, lover, intellectual partner,
writer (and often title-giver), and his curator: the inimitable cultural theorist
Geeta Kapur. She also happened to be Chemould’s guest curator. In fact, the gal-
lery had the distinction of being the only private gallery that she curated six exhi-
bitions for, especially to mark its 40th and 50th years.
While Geeta was the curator for the shows, it will be difficult to separate her art-
ist-partner from the process. Vivan was the vital piece to our symphony, without
which none of this would have been possible. He held a mirror, was that person
that we bounced ideas off, the one she would confer with on exhibition design,
and also the one who carried her bag! He was with her every step of the way.
I look back at those times of working so intensely on exhibitions together—the
privilege, the joy, the heartburns (at times) and the sheer knowledge that one
gained from the combined forces of Geeta and Vivan.
Much has been said about his engagement with his new body of work, titled Six
Stations Of A Life Pursued, made for the Sharjah Biennale 15; his childlike curiosity
to continue to explore, to imagine, to jump into unknown terrains once again—
translating ideas to those who would be his collaborators. Eventually, my being
in Sharjah for the opening of the event in February 2023 (sadly, without Vivan),
witnessing these conversations coming to fruition, was a moment of reckoning.
The Vivan who was still able to combine the personal, the public, the collabora-
tive, took me back three decades, to the installation of Collaboration/Combines.
On 27 March 2021, he sent me a random message, and I quote: “Have you read
‘X’s’ piece on the edit page of The Indian Express today, directed to you as the big
guns in the world of fast-moving digital global commons for the smart young art
makers, who can promote their art without galleries? He is singing your death epi-
taph (mine included). Love to you and Kurush, Vivan.” The piece was about NFTs
(non-fungible tokens). When I think back, I would bet anyone’s money that if
Vivan had had the time and energy, he would have been in that NFT space before
any other. That was him, ever ready to plunge into uncharted waters.
I have no doubt that you, Mr Sundaram, are going to continue to wave your
wand. And we mortals you leave behind will continue to breathe the legacy you
have so richly laid the path for. Goodbye, my brave art warrior!
Shireen Gandhy is the director of Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai.
 12 SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi BUSINESS LOUNGE

Ashok Maheshwari
THE LEGACY BUILDER The chairman and MD of the publishing house Rajkamal Prakashan on why it’s an exciting time to be a
Hindi reader, ironing out issues with marketing and sales, and starting a series of programmes
Illustration by Priya Kuriyan
Vangmayi Parakala
vangmayi.parakala@htlive.com

I
miss it twice but take one more
round of the block in Delhi’s
Daryaganj, wandering again into
a by-lane filled with tikka and
kebab shops that opens into a
sludgy back lane. Surely, the office of one
of the biggest Hindi language publishing
We have five-six
houses in India, one whose writer won the
International Booker Prize no less, should
announce its presence with some fanfare?
Apparently not.
generations of
To rescue me, someone from Rajkamal
Prakashan descends from a little opening
between a row of narrow buildings and
authors currently
waves me up a cramped staircase. As we
reach the landing, a stream of white light
behind a glass sliding door illuminates the
many stickers and posters on it. One
associated with us....
clearly stands out: a flyer of the 2022
International Booker Prize win for Geet-
anjali Shree, the 65-year-old Hindi writer.
There isn’t a writer
Rajkamal Prakashan first published
Shree’s Ret Samadhi, translated into
English as Tomb Of Sand by Daisy Rock-
well, in 2018.
in Hindi who has
This is the only giveaway to Rajkamal
Prakashan’s role in making history. The
win opened up a new world for Indian lan-
guage book publishing. Having coincided
not been published
with the beginnings of a more mainstream
market for translations within the Indian
English publishing landscape, the award
by Rajkamal...
also became a moment for the Indian lan-
guage publishing industry to see itself and
its work a little differently.
But Rajkamal Prakashan, the Hindi lan-
guage publishing house that is celebrating
its 75th year of operations this year, and
whose journey runs almost parallel with
the journey of independent India, shows
off its part in this global achievement in
the only way most Indian families would
show off their children’s laurels: in an
almost overlooked yet “no-of course-we-
remember!” kind of way, important
mementos endearingly jostling for space
with smaller wins and everyday things.

Headquartered in Delhi,
the Rajkamal Prakashan
Samuh acquires 300
new titles every year and
prints about a million
copies of all its books

It feels almost on-brand. The office of

Ashok Maheshwari, the Rajkamal Pra-
kashan group’s chairman and managing
director, is not through the main sliding
door, which opens up to a bookshelf-
filled, low-ceiling reception. In a tiny
room at one corner of the landing, he sits
behind a standard office desk, with rimless
glasses and in a crisp beige shirt.
Maheshwari has been at the helm of
Rajkamal Prakashan for 29 years. Having
recently launched their multi-city literary
festival, Kitab Utsav, to promote their rich
Hindi and Urdu catalogue and writers, and
to engage with literature in the cities they
visit, he recalls that the possibilities
seemed endless when he took over the
reins as a 36-year-old in 1994.
“It was like a dream come true,” he says.
In 1963, when Maheshwari’s father, a
teacher named Premchand Mahesh,
started Vani Prakashan, his own publish-
ing house, Rajkamal Prakashan had
already been running for about 15 years:
“At that time, we used to view Rajkamal as
our competitor, no one else—they had all
the big writers like Nirmal Verma, Krishna
Sobti, Bhisham Sahni,” Maheshwari says.
Vani Prakashan hoped to serve the
cause of Hindi, says Maheshwari, remi-
niscing about how his parents would
spend the two-month summer break from
their teaching jobs to travel around south
India and promote Hindi. In fact, Vani
Prakashan initially focused on “publishing
non-Hindi-speaking Hindi writers…so
that they would be encouraged to write
more in Hindi, so that they could get their
kids to learn Hindi,” Maheshwari explains.
His father died young but his mother and
uncle kept the business afloat.
Some years later, his brother Arun was
given full responsibility of Vani Prakashan;
and after his master’s in Hindi literature
from Rohilkhand University in Uttar Pra-
desh (UP), Maheshwari began to chart his
own course in Hindi publishing, working
with Lokbharti Prakashan (acquired by
Rajkamal in 2005) and then Radhakrishna
Prakashan (acquired in 1988).
By this time, Rajkamal Prakashan had
changed hands from its original founders,
Om Prakash and Devraj, the brothers
from Punjab who started it on 19 February
1947. Sheela Sandhu, a fierce lady, full of
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ideas, took charge in 1964 and built up
their literary catalogue, moving away
from their earlier focus on academic
titles—the establishment of organisations
like the National Council of Educational
Research and Training made it harder for
private players to compete in this seg-
ment. For 30 years, Sandhu worked on
making Rajkamal Prakashan one of the
most well-regarded publishers of Hindi
literature.
“It wasn’t easy when I took over,”
Maheshwari says, recalling the day, 4
October 1994, when he joined Rajkamal
Prakashan as its managing director,
going on to become the group’s chairman
in 1996. The change of guard was big
news. But the literary stars and stalwarts
Sandhu had brought on board were not
sure if the young Maheshwari could lead
such a big and respected publishing
house. He too was in awe of a few big
names: “Some of them even complained
to Sheelaji and wondered if she was sure
I was the right one to pass on this legacy
to,” he recalls.
Slowly, however, Maheshwari won
them over. He began by ironing out issues
with sales, finding more agents and
increasing the number of market visits to
have a finger on the pulse. He also estab-
lished direct relationships with universi-
ties, colleges and libraries, to whom they
could sell books in bulk. For marketing, he
began regular book launches, author felic-
itations and similar programming, then
still relatively new to Hindi publishing.
This included, for example, a big function
to mark Nirmal Verma’s Jnanpith Award
in 1999. “Once we streamlined our prac-
tices, and when writers started seeing that
we were working hard, they were reas-
sured and satisfied,” he adds.
Headquartered in Delhi, with branches
in Patna and Prayagraj (UP), the Rajkamal
Prakashan Samuh, with eight publishing
houses, currently employs 150 people.
Maheshwari says the Rajkamal Prakashan
Samuh acquires 300 new titles every year
and prints about a million copies of all its
books, including those in the backlist. In
2012, Maheswhari’s son Alind, a graduate
of the SP Jain Institute of Management
and Research, joined the group, starting
their foray into e-books and e-commerce.
He now heads their digital marketing and
copyright divisions.
Rajkamal has built up a redoubtable list
of 2,500 authors. “We have five-six gen-
erations of authors currently associated
with us,” he says in Hindi. From a
92-year-old Vishwanath Tripathi to a
29-year-old Parwati Tirkey, Maheshwari
rattles off at least 15 names, including
Anamika, Vandana Rag, Mandeep Punia
and Anuradha Beniwal. It’s an exciting
time to be a Hindi reader.
In recent times, however, Rajkamal has
come under fire for not being as responsi-
ble towards its authors as it should be.
While the International Booker win for
Geetanjali Shree catapulted sales of her
Hindi original (over 35,000 copies in the
week of the announcement), many writers
and translators believe Ret Samadhi’s
translation into French and English, and
the subsequent recognition, happened
despite the system. Around the same time,
a video of the noted Hindi writer Vinod
A favourite but Kumar Shukla claiming Rajkamal and Vani
Prakashan had paid him peanuts by way of
underrated Hindi royalties over the years, had also gone viral.
writer In news reports, Maheshwari’s
Shiv Murti—he wrote only about response was perfunctory. But he gushes
10-12 stories but each book is a about Rajkamal’s legacy: “There isn’t a
classic. writer in Hindi who has not been pub-
lished by Rajkamal...whether it is Hazari-
A new writer who will prasad Dwivedi, Bhagwati Charan Verma,
become big soon Sumit Nandan Pant, Harivansh Rai Bach-
(Journalist) Ravish Kumar. He’s chan, Geetanjali Shree, Abdul Bismillah
only two books old but he has or Akhilesh. If I also consider the work of
taken the Hindi literary world by Radhakrishna Prakashan, we have trans-
storm. lated big writers from other Indian lan-
guages into Hindi.” This includes Kan-
As a child, an nada writers such as U.R. Ananthamur-
international thy, Girish Karnad and Shivarama
Karanth. In 2021, they published a trans-
writer you first lation into Hindi of Dayanadi, an Odia
read in Hindi work by Gayatribala Panda; its original
Charles Dickens. went on to win a Sahitya Akademi Award
in 2022. “This has happened with inter-
national authors who have won the Nobel
too,” notes Maheshwari—he mentions
Olga Tokarczuk and Alice Munro. Their
editorial leadership, under editorial
director Satyanand Nirupam, wants to
introduce good literature to Hindi audi-
ences, he suggests.
This is important when considering the
criticism about Rajkamal’s lack of role in
Ret Samadhi’s journey to the International
Booker. Some observers argue that push-
ing for translations of their lists need not
be a publisher’s priority. However,
Maheshwari’s life in publishing, including
his father’s impulse of “seva” for Hindi lit-
erature, and his own work at Rad-
hakrishna Prakshan, which focused on
translating books of other Indian langua-
ges into Hindi, should have ideally
ensured Rajkamal proactively pushed
Hindi writers and their stories to a wider,
non-Hindi reading audience.
The bigger problem, says Maheshwari,
is that while there is a fair amount of work
in translating from other languages into
Hindi, there is a gap in taking Hindi litera-
ture into other languages. It is clear that
his father’s initial approach of campaign-
ing for Hindi through individuals or by
tapping into the networks of organisa-
tions like the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Pra-
char Sabha, will not work any more.
Maheshwari insists, however, that the
solution is simple: A clear road map to sys-
tematise and professionalise translation
from Hindi into other languages; “this
would facilitate familiarisation, and any
opposition would fizzle out”.
This is the vision that fills him with
energy for the next 25 years, when Rajka-
mal Prakashan will turn 100. “Ye kayi
dinon se mere mann me hai (this has been on
my mind for a while now),” he says. “More
translations…will of course help business
but it will also do good for national inte-
gration. Aur ye desh ke boudhik vikas ke liye
bhi accha hoga (this will help the intellec-
tual growth of our country too).”
Over a cup of chai and a plate of til
gazak, Maheshwari offers a belief in sim-
ple solutions and a low-key approach as
the secret to longevity in business. The
ceilings at the Daryaganj office may be low
but Rajkamal Prakashan’s ideals and ambi-
tions seem nothing less than sky high.
 LIVEMINT.COM NEWS SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi 13

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(DVC). The project was awarded through a competitive bidding
jump in covid-19 cases boost CSR
spending
followed by an e-reverse auction in which Avaada emerged as the
winner with a quoted tariff of ₹2.70/kWh. The plant is expected to FROM PAGE 16
generate about 750 million units green energy annually which will
reduce 698,250 tonnes CO2 equivalent emissions. PTI India reported single day jump of 6,050 covid-19 cases after six months taken in subsequent years. All
The company will cover all major these have likely contributed
SUV sub-segments. BLOOMBERG to the overall increase in CSR
Former Andhra CM Kiran Reddy Priyanka Sharma of precaution dose vaccination of all eligi- spending in FY21.”
joins BJP, slams Cong leadership Maruti priyanka.sharma@livemint.com
New DelhI
ble population, especially of the elderly
and vulnerable population group.
FY21 witnessed economic
devastation following the first
India has achieved over 90% coverage harsh lockdown India
Suzuki eyes
I
ndia, on Friday, reported a single-day of primary vaccination which stands at imposed in March 2020 to
jump of 6,050 new covid-19 cases over 2.2 billion administered vaccine fight the pandemic.

25% of nearly after six months, prompting

India’s SUV
market
FROM PAGE 16
New Delhi: Former Congress leader and last chief minister
of undivided Andhra Pradesh N. Kiran Kumar Reddy joined uki nameplate which will be
the BJP on Friday, lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered as a four-wheel drive
and slamming his earlier organization’s leadership for “dam- here. It already sells its Grand
aging” it across the country. Reddy joined the BJP in the Vitara mid-SUV and Brezza
presence of union minister Pralhad Joshi and hit out at the compact SUVs in the market.
Congress “high command”, an apparent reference to the Maruti Suzuki’s strategy is
Gandhi family, for its inability to accept people’s verdict and to corner a quarter of the SUV
make a course correction. PTI market and become the top-
most player in the segment,
beating rivals Hyundai, Kia,
‘Need to continue anti-dumping Mahindra & Mahindra and
Tata Motors. It has received
duty on Chinese flax yarn’ more than 16,000 bookings
New Delhi: The commerce ministry’s investigation arm DGTR for the Fronx so far, and nearly
has initiated a probe to review the need to continue the anti-dump- 24,000 for the Jimny, which it
ing duty on flax yarn imported from China, following complaints believes will ultimately settle
from the domestic industry. Grasim Industries Ltd and Sintex into a more niche, lifestyle
Industries have filed an application before the Directorate General segment, with the Fronx driv-
of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for initiation of the sunset review of the ing the bulk of the volumes out
anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of ‘flax yarn of below 70 of the two products, along with
lea count’ exported from China to India. PTI the Grand Vitara.
“The thing with niche prod-
ucts like Jimny is that there is
World food prices fall for 12th always a set of passionate cus-
tomers who will just go and
month running in March: FAO book at the first opportunity,
whereas the Fronx is an abso-
lutely new vehicle, and the
brand proposition needs an
explanation to the customers.
And I would guess the posi-
tioning of the brand for Fronx
is the bigger challenge than
the Jimny, although the
rewards in terms of volumes
will be much higher,” Srivas-
tava said.
He explained that incre-
mental bookings for Jimny
Rome: The United Nations food agency’s world price index after the first month have
fell in March for a 12th consecutive month, and is now down slowed down compared to
20.5% from a record high hit one year ago following Russia’s Fronx, where bookings are
Union health minister Mansukh Man-
daviya to take a pandemic prepared-
doses while the coverage of precaution
doses is very low which is around 228.7
million vaccine doses. The current cov-
Also, businesses took vari-
ous relief measures during the
pandemic, especially in health,
ness review meeting with the health min-
isters of states and union territories.
id-19 surge in India is dominated by Omi-
cron and its sub-lineages, XBB.1.16 vari-
even as the government
expanded the scope of activi-
The country has been witnessing a ant. Its prevalence has increased from ties defined as CSR so that pri-
steady increase in covid-19 cases, with
average daily cases rising to 4,188 in the
21.6% in February to 35.8% in March. But
it was not reported any increase in hospi-
vate sector efforts comple-
mented state measures.
week ended 7 April from 571 in the week talization or higher mortality rate. In January 2021, the penalty
ended 17 March while increasing the posi- The World Health Organization is provision—at least ₹1 crore for
tivity rate to 3.02%. According to govern- tracking one variant of interest, XBB.1.5 the defaulting company and at
ment figures, eight states are reporting a The average daily covid cases rose to 4,188 and also six other variants --BQ.1, BA.2.75, least ₹2 lakh for each default-
high number of covid cases, with 10 or in the week ending 7 April from 571 in the CH.1.1, XBB, XBF and XBB.1.16. ing officer—was given effect.
more districts reporting more than 10% week ending 17 March. AP The Centre has urged the states to As part of that, the ministry
positivity in Kerala, Maharashtra and implement their share of the ‘emergency also allowed companies to
Delhi, and over five districts reporting sufficient samples for testing of covid-19 COVID response plan’ (ECRP-II) for spend more than the man-
more than 5% positivity in Karnataka, Ker- and influenza; and ramp up whole revamping health infrastructure as a pri- dated 2% of their net profits on
ala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Himachal Pra- genome sequencing of positive samples. ority and be on alert in view of the rise in CSR.
desh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. I urge state health ministers to personally tourism in the country. The extra spending could be
In view of the rise in tourism in India, monitor and review the preparedness of “Last few months we have observed a set off against the spending
the government has alerted large number of cases with obligation in future years. This
states to keep covid-19 pre- COVID PREPAREDNESS viral illnesses (caused by the also enabled businesses to
paredness measures ready, influenza virus and lately help fulfil the community’s
simultaneously directing the ACCORDING to TEN or more THE health minister rapid rise in covid cases). It is needs.
states to maintain the influ- govt figures, eight
states are reporting
districts reported
more than 10%
has urged for an
increase in the pace
clear that the elderly and Companies with a net worth
enza surveillance system. A a high number of positivity in Kerala, of precautionary those with comorbidities are of ₹500 crore or more, a turn-
total of around 4,000 influ- covid cases in India Maharashtra and Delhi dose vaccination getting admitted to ICUs and over of ₹1,000 crore or more,
enza cases and 15 deaths were there is mortality also. How- or a net profit of ₹5 crore or
reported recently. Of which, ever, there is complacency in more are required to spend 2%
1,000 were H1N1 (swine flu) and 500 were all logistics and infrastructure including following covid appropriate behaviour of their average net profit of
H3N2 (seasonal influenza cases. the availability of sufficient designated due to low risk of complications and the preceding three years on
“Identify emerging hotspots by moni- hospital beds and ensure that there is ade- death,” said Dr G.C. Khilnani, chairman of CSR activities. In FY21, India
toring trends of influenza-like illness/ quate stock of essential medicines,” Man- pulmonary, critical care and sleep medi- Inc. spent over ₹25,700 crore
severe acute respiratory infections, send daviya said, urging an increase in the pace cine at PSRI hospital. on CSR.
‘Unseasonal rains are not due to climate change’
FROM PAGE 16 west monsoon this time? be issued in April is seen to be moisture incursion from the Bay
When do we expect it to more accurate. of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. All
trend, that implies it has been arrive? How is El Niño seen to influ- these caused rainfall activities.
happening for 30-40 years. This These questions will be ence southwest monsoon? Western disturbance is a
does not mean the temperature answered when we come up El Niño is one of many factors. condition that develops over
will rise each year. Some years, it with this year’s monsoon fore- Indian Ocean dipole is another the Mediterranean Sea, and it
will fall. There is an upward cast around mid-April. major factor, which is seen to be moves towards Iran, Afghani-
trend in temperature. As a result, El Niño has been a hot topic, positive. Positive Indian Ocean stan, Pakistan and then India.
some extreme weather events and according to some dipole signals good monsoon. In Western disturbance forms
are increasing, like heatwaves, weather experts, the the weather system, there could each year, but the frequency of
thunderstorms and lightning. weather phenomenon may be developments of low-pres- it is more this year.
The frequency of heavy rainfall be developing sooner than sure systems or depression in the IMD’s short-term forecasts

invasion of Ukraine.The Food and Agriculture Organiza- now picking up.
tion’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally With its four SUV products,
traded food commodities, averaged 126.9 points last month Maruti Suzuki will cover all
against 129.7 for February, the agency said. REUTERS major SUV sub-segments in
the market, but it does expect
the formation of new sub-seg-
US adds a healthy 236,000 jobs in ments in categories which
have big markets, like the mid-
March despite Fed’s rate hikes SUV segment.
Washington: America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs “We are covering the mar-
in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing ket in a good way. However,
despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has one interesting segment that’s
imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation. The unem- emerging in the mid-SUV
ployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in space is that of a three-row
January. At the same time, some details of Friday’s report from the SUV, where some of our com-
Labor Department raised the possibility that inflationary pressures petitors have launched new
might be easing and that the Fed may soon pause rate hikes. PTI products. We will examine and
take a decision in the future,
but right now, we are very
Tesla slashes prices of entire focused on establishing these
products,” Srivastava said.
model lineup , third cut this year Maruti Suzuki is focused on
Detroit: Tesla cut prices on its entire US electric vehicle model enticing the young SUV buyer
lineup for the third time this year in an apparent effort to lure more to its fold through its refreshed
buyers amid rising rates.The cuts that appeared on Tesla’s website, product range to regain the
on Friday, ranged from $5,000 per vehicle for Tesla’s more expen- market share it has ceded to
sive models, the S large sedan and the X big SUV. AP rivals in recent years.
is also increasing, while light and
moderate rainfall frequency is
decreasing. Due to it, the total
number of cyclones is also fall-
ing, but intense cyclones are
increasing.
Weather trends show dry
regions in India such as
west Rajasthan, central
Maharashtra are getting
more rain in recent years
while wet regions like
Andaman and Nicobar
Islands are getting less rain.
What are the reasons
behind such changes in
weather?
There is a trend of western
Rajasthan and Saurashtra wit-
nessing more rainfall as far as
the monsoon season is con-
cerned, while rainfall over
north-eastern states such as
Bihar, Jharkhand and east
Uttar Pradesh is decreasing.
When you talk about climate
change, it is not about one year
Rainfall is increasing in some
regions and decreasing in
other parts of the country. HT
or one season. This is variabil-
ity. The climate varies, and it
will go on in the future. Climate
change is measured at least by
the data of 30 years. You can go
through the trend of 30 years
and see whether the frequency
of such weather conditions is
increasing.
Rainfall is increasing in
some regions and decreasing
in other parts of the country.
The frequency of heavy rainfall
is increasing in central and
south India.
Variations occur in day-to-
day life because of the weather
system. Unseasonal rains and
heat waves are weather varia-
bility and cannot be attributed
to climate change.
Shall we see a good south-
‘
expected, which is May. monsoon season, which have been on target, but it
What is your take on this? could be a has not been
How is it going to impact the major factor. able to bring
southwest monsoon? These influ- El Niño conditions that accu-
We go by our predictions. El ence rainfall. are neutral. We racy to long-
Niño conditions are neutral. We This is called predict that there term fore-
predict that there could be El intra-seasonal
could be El Niño
casts. Are you
Niño development in July-Sep- variations. working on
tember. It is not like the weather Typically, development in improving
would be very bad due to El east and July-September your long-
Niño. Considering the total northeast t e r m
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra
number of years, about 60% of El India and Director-general, IMD
weather
Niño years had inadequate rain- some parts assessment?
fall. El Niño is not the sole factor of central There are
for bringing dry weather. There India witness thunder- limitations of science, not only
are many others. All drought storms accompanied by in India but also globally. Predic-
years are El Niño years, but all El strong winds and torrential tions are made by certain mod-
Niño years are not drought downpours in March-April. els, which are based on mathe-
years. In 1997, we had a very This March, we saw heavy matical equations. These math-
good monsoon despite El Niño. spells and thunderstorms ematical equations are solved
Therefore, we should not pre- throughout India due to with high-performance com-
dict anything hypothetically. western disturbances. What puters and thus enhance predic-
The forecast for El Niño is still in causes such disturbances, tions. However, that may not be
the initial stage. There are some and how bad could their accurate.
spring barriers in El Niño predic- impact be? Gradually, it is improving and
tions worldwide. Henceforth, There are active western dis- coming nearer to exact, leading
the forecast of El Niño that will turbances, circulations, and to less number of errors.

Bosses are keen on hiring older people Economists expect longer rate
FROM PAGE 16
gram for what it calls
“mature” workers in 2021
after hearing clients’ con-
cerns about labor shortages
and high turnover, says Lau-
rel McDowell. Ms. McDowell,
69, came out of retirement to
rejoin her former firm and
lead the initiative.
Older workers can be good
fits for businesses focused on
retention, she says. Young
professionals don’t necessa-
rily job-hop more frequently
than their predecessors did at
the same career stage, but
people tend to value stability
as they age, she observes.
“We’re generally not look-
ing for the next move,” Ms.
McDowell says of her age
cohort. “Frequently you can
get us for a very reasonable
cost.”
Some un-retirees say they
draw inspiration from ath-
letes, such as quarterback
Tom Brady and Olympic
This PDF was uploade To Teligram channel_ LBS Newspaper platform (https://t.me/LBSNEWSPAPER) @LBSNEWSPAPER
Temasek unit
takes control
pause even as RBI doesn’t commit
beach volleyball champion workers, age-discrimination
Kerri Walsh Jennings, who complaints to the Equal
tions for flakiness, Mr. Taylor
says. of Manipal for
have made comebacks and Employment Opportunity He adds that young peo-
excelled long past their pur- Commission dropped 45% ple’s approach to work isn’t FROM PAGE 16 rise more than expected, it fore- ₹16,400 crore
ported primes. from 2011 to 2021. That’s necessarily worse. Plenty are casts two repo rate cuts of 25 bps
Ms. Walsh Jennings, 44, partly because claims are hard hard-charging, and those who research note on Thursday. each in Q1 and Q2 of 2024. FROM PAGE 16
aims to qualify for a sixth to prove and lawyers are often dial down the intensity can It expects inflation to remain Others also seem to suggest
Olympics next year, after sit- reluctant to take borderline improve their health and hap- in a broad range of 5-5.6% in that RBI has paused for good, at acquired Columbia Asia Hospi-
ting out the 2020 cycle. She cases. Johnny C. Taylor Jr., piness. While balance may FY24. Inflation, it said, is likely least in the current cycle, and it tals for ₹2,100 crore in April
tells me it’s natu- chief executive of strike some as lazy, others see to remain at sub-5% in April- would need more than a nudge 2021, taking its bed count to
ral to question People 55 and the Society for refreshing groundedness—or June, albeit driven by favoura- for it to restart hiking the repo over 7,000. In July, it acquired
whether you’ve older are the Human Resource well-founded skepticism of ble base effects. “Hence, MPC is rate. “We think the bar set for Multiples PE-backed Vikram
still “got it,” but fastest-growing Management, the idea that hard work pays unlikely to see the need to hike further rate hikes is quite high, Hospital for ₹350 crore, giving
adds it’s impor- segment of the says the decline off. further unless inflation once and based on our own growth Manipal access to an additional
tant to let per- also signals a Still, old-fashioned grind- again moves above or closer to and inflation forecasts, we do 300 beds. Last month, Manipal
workforce,
formance speak meaningful ers appeal to employers. the upper threshold of the man- RBI projected real GDP growth not expect any more rate hikes Health also acquired AMRI
for itself. according to reduction in age “With the economy slow- dated band of 2-6% (with 4% as for 2023-24 at 6.5%. HT from the RBI in this cycle,” said Hospitals from Emami Group
“I see these federal data discrimination. ing down, companies need the medium-term target),” it Kaushik Das, chief economist, for around ₹2,800 crore.
amazing athletes There is no fewer people and need the said. RBI projected real GDP band) for the rest of the year, and India and South Asia, Deutsche Manipal Health Enterprises
who are signifi- official measure people who are there to be OK growth for 2023-24 at 6.5%, now expect the RBI to remain Bank. Das wrote that if El Nino reported net sales of ₹3,975.2
cantly younger and very hun- of discrimination claims on with working hard,” Mr. Tay- slightly higher than the 6.4% on hold till end-2023 (as against or other weather disruptions crore on earnings before inter-
gry, and I wonder: Can I do the basis of being too young lor says. “Instead of trying to projected in February. Mean- our earlier forecast of a 25-bps lead to a sharp spike in food and est, tax, depreciation and
this? Am I crazy to even think because federal law protects convince younger genera- while, the central bank lowered rate cut in the December policy overall headline CPI inflation in amortization of ₹1,030.3 crore
about it?” she says. “But [last only workers over 40, but tions to be something differ- its consumer price index (CPI) meeting) while maintaining the coming months, then Deut- in the year ended 31 March
month] I was in Miami com- human-resources depart- ent, some companies are say- inflation expectation for tight banking system liquidity,” sche Bank would assess the 2022, according to data
peting, and it took me two ments frequently field griev- ing, ‘Why don’t we just go hire 2023-24 to 5.2% from 5.3%, esti- Goldman Sachs said in a report. need for incremental rate hikes. research platform VCCEdge,
minutes to be like, no, I got it. ances from millennials and people who are naturally pre- mated in February. The Goldman report said that Otherwise, it does not see the owned by HT Media, the pub-
I belong here.” Gen Zers who say they’re disposed to work harder?’” “We expect headline CPI while there is some risk of justification for further rate lisher of Mint.
While ageism remains a unfairly passed over because ©2022 DOW JONES & inflation to come in below 6% renewed tightening in this cal- hikes beyond what has already ranjani.raghavan@live-
barrier for some graying of their generations’ reputa- CO, INC (the upper end of the target endar year if commodity prices been delivered. mint.com
 14 SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi NEWS LIVEMINT.COM

Unseasonal rains
to impact wheat
Shipping ministry to exceed
output this season 4-yr asset monetization aim
Puja Das
puja.das@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
Goal is to raise ₹6,760 cr this fiscal year through the development of berths and terminals The new power plant is

I
ndia’s wheat production is situated in Jharkhand BLOOMBERG
estimated to fall to 102.8 mil-
lion tonne (mt) this season as
unseasonal rains and hail-
Rituraj Baruah & Subhash Narayan
NEW DELHI
Adani opens
storms in March led to wide-
power plant
T
spread crop losses, according to he union ministry of ports,
Agriwatch. This marks a down- shipping and waterways is set
ward revision from the 104.2
mt forecast made by the agri- Wheat production is likely to
cultural research agency on 9 fall to 102.8 mt this season MINT
to widely surpass its four-year
asset monetization target of
₹12,828 crore ahead of the
for supply to
March.
To be sure, wheat output agriculture ministry will assess
deadline thanks to robust awarding of
projects under the public-private part- Bangladesh
would still be higher compared the crop and issue the third nership (PPP) model.
to 97.6 mt last season due to advance estimate in May, as In an interview, union minister for Mayur Bhalerao
increased acreage, according to scheduled every year. Unveil- ports, shipping and waterways, Sarba- mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com
the findings of a field survey ing the report, Ashok Kumar nanda Sonowal said the aim is to raise ₹ MUMBAI
conducted by Agriwatch in col- Meena, chairman and manag- 6,760 crore this fiscal year through the

A
laboration with the Roller ing director, Food Corporation development of berths and terminals at dani Power Ltd opened
Flour Millers Federation of of India said the agency has so major ports under the PPP initiative. a new power plant in
India. The survey report esti- far procured 700,000 tonnes He said 20 projects worth close to Jharkhand that will
mated that wheat crop for of wheat compared to less than ₹7,000 crore would be put on the block supply electricity to Bangla-
2022-23 (Jul-Jun) would be 200,000 tonnes in the corre- for monetization this fiscal. This would desh.
less than the government’s 112 sponding period last year. Most help the ministry exceed the monetiza- Adani Power, said in a regu-
mt estimate. The survey was of the quantity has been pur- tion target set for the sector under the latory filing on Friday, that Unit
carried out in two phases across chased from farmers in MP. National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) 1 of the new plant has begun
nine states—Bihar, Gujarat, “If the wheat procurement of ₹6 trillion finalized by the finance operations with a capacity of
Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, estimated target of 34 mt is ministry in 2021, he added. In the first two years of monetization (FY22 and FY23), the ministry of ports had monetized ₹10,519 crore of assets. B4LOOMBERG 800 MW. This is part of the
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Pun- met, the government will have Most of the current year’s monetiza- 2x800 MW ultra-supercritical
jab, Uttar Pradesh and West adequate quantity to run open tion would involve developing a new crore in terms of value that year. under the monetization process, includ- trillion, and till FY25, the government power project of Adani Power
Bengal. It found market sales berth at the Deendayal Port (Kandla, In FY23, about 24 projects valued at ing additional berths, mechanisation, seeks to monetize assets worth ₹6 tril- (Jharkhand) Ltd (APJL),
that 38 districts in 38 districts in operations Gujarat), setting up a container terminal ₹12,550 crore were scheduled for award, development of oil jetty, container jet- lion under the NMP. according to the filing.
MP, 10 in UP, five MP, 10 in UP, (OMSS) to ensure at Haldia Dock Complex of Shyama out of which approval was accorded to ties, operation and maintenance of con- In FY22, transactions worth ₹ 96,000 APJL, a wholly-owned unit
in Haryana and 21 five in Haryana price stability,” Prasad Mookerjee Port (Kolkata, West seven projects by the government by tainer terminal, operation and mainte- crore under the NMP were completed, of Adani Power, has a 25-year
in Punjab were and 21 in Meena said. “The Bengal), and plan for a dry dock in Vadi- December. The latest report shows that nance of international cruise terminal largely backed by shipping, coal and power purchase agreement
affected due to first priority of the nar (Gujarat). assets worth ₹9,544 crore were mone- and development of marina. The pri- mining assets, exceeding the target of ₹ (PPA) to 748 MW from Unit 1 to
Punjab were
heavy rains. This government is In the first two years of monetization tized under nine projects awarded mary model for monetization of ports 88,000 crore. The NMP has been the Bangladesh Power Devel-
may result in a affected due to distributing (FY22 and FY23), the ministry of designed for a dozen infrastructure opment Board.
slight fall in wheat heavy rains grains under the ports had monetized ₹10,519 crore SPEEDING UP line ministries and are spread across Meanwhile, the second unit
yields to 3 tonne public distribu- of assets, involving a dozen projects, 20 asset classes. The announcement of 800 MW is in the final stages
per hectare, from tion system, and as against a target of ₹4,936 crore. 20 projects worth THE monetization THE ministry has a THE primary model was made in the FY22 budget with of completion and is expected
3.03 tonne a hectare. the second responsibility is to This was more than two times the close to ₹7,000 crore plan includes a berth pipeline of 81 projects for monetization of
would be put on at Deendayal Port, a worth over ₹42,400 cr ports and shipping
Niti Aayog given the mandate to to be commissioned soon, the
Agriwatch projected that curb price volatility in the mar- target for the two-year period. the block for terminal at Haldia, a to be awarded on PPP assets is by way of develop it. The ambitious asset company said. On 8 February,
wheat availability in India will ket.” He added that the govern- Sonowal noted the strong per- monetization in FY24 dry dock in Vadinar mode till FY25 grant of PPP monetization plan was announced Adani Power reported its con-
be 5.2 mt higher than the previ- ment has received requests to formance of his ministry in terms of to boost financial resources for the solidated net profit plunged
ous year, despite the inclement relax norms in wheat procure- asset monetization in the past two fis- National Infrastructure Pipeline. 96% from a year earlier to ₹8.7
weather. The government ear- ment from Punjab, Haryana, cal years. In FY22, the Centre approved 13 under the PPP mode last fiscal. and shipping assets is through grant of India’s maritime sector offers signifi- crore in the quarter ended 31
lier said that 7 mt of additional UP and Rajasthan. A team is projects worth ₹6,944 crore, and accord- The ministry has a pipeline of 81 pro- PPP concessions. cant scope to the government for asset December 2022 (Q3FY23),
wheat would be available examining samples, and based ing to a year-end review report released jects totalling more than ₹42,400 crore, Shipping has been among the few monetization. India has 12 major and from ₹218.5 crore a year earlier.
domestically as a ban on wheat on its assessment, the govern- by the ministry for 2022, seven projects to be awarded on PPP mode till FY25 departments along with coal and mines over 200 non-major ports situated Consolidated revenue from
is already in force, and it is ment is expected to take a deci- worth ₹ 5,278 crore were awarded and even though the target under the NMP ministries, which have exceeded their along its 7500 km long coastline and a operations, however, jumped
hopeful of a record wheat pro- sion by either Monday or Tues- others were in various stages of bidding. is just over ₹ 12,000 crore. monetization targets last fiscal. For vast network of navigable waterways. by 45% to ₹7,764.4 crore from
duction of 112 mt. However, the day. Finally, monetization achieved ₹ 975 According to the NMP, assets put FY23, the Centre had set a target of ₹ 1.62 rituraj.baruah@livemint.com ₹5,360.9 crore a year ago.

Lenders may India, Mexico exploring free trade agreement: Envoy Leap India targets
extend process
for resolution
Shashank Mattoo &
Rituraj Baruah
up to ₹500 cr deals
Lotfe said joint ventures
between Indian and Mexican
entrepreneurs from both at specific investments by
countries? Indian firms in Mexico or
firms on lithium research Well, that has not been a pro- vice-versa?
of RCap matter NEW DELHI should be realized over the posal so far, but it certainly is That may be the case in the Priyanka Gawande which will, in turn, help
medium term. Edited excerpts: not ruled out. So far, we have future. We have just taken the priyanka.gawande@livemint.com improve the turnover,”
PTI

I
ndia and Mexico have linked the Mexican startups first step in that direction. The MUMBAI Mathew said. Meanwhile, Leap
feedback@livemint.com launched studies to explore India and Mexico have a with some of the Indian start- question of investments is India is gearing up for an initial

A
NEW DELHI the potential for a free-trade growing economic rela- ups. We have also been in close open-ended. If companies sset-pooling firm Leap public offering (IPO). The com-

‘
agreement (FTA), Mexico’s tionship. Are there any touch with Nasscom. Mov- want to invest in Mexico, India, which is prepar- pany plans to file its draft pro-

L
enders of debt-ridden
Reliance Capital (RCap)
may consider extending
the deadline for completing the
resolution process till 30 May
this year, persons aware of the
matter said. The current dead-
line ends on 16 April.
Considering the fact that the
second round of auction is yet
to take place, it is not possible to
wrap up the resolution process
within the current deadline.
Earlier this week, lenders
postponed the second auction
to 11 April.
The deadline to complete
the resolution process of RCap
has been extended multiple
times in the past.
On the other hand, the per-
sons said, all the three bid-
ders— IndusInd International
Holdings Ltd (IIHL) of Hinduja
Group; Torrent Investment
and Singapore-based Oaktree
—who will be participating in
the extended challenge mecha-
nism (second round of auction),
are still engaged with the Com-
mittee of Creditors (CoC) on
certain issues or concerns
ambassador to India, Federico plans for an FTA? ing towards a they’re more ing for a public listing, spectus with the Securities and
Salas Lotfe, said in an interview. We got an expression of inter- forum is cer- than welcome plans to invest ₹300-500 crore Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
However, given India’s preoc- est from the Indian side before tainly a possi- I think what is to. But we’re over the next three years in line by May and expects to launch
cupation with ongoing FTA the pandemic to explore the pos- bility. Within important is that even looking more with its inorganic growth plans, the IPO in the September quar-
negotiations with the UK, Aus- sibility of a free trade agreement. Mexico, we into the aspect founder and managing director ter, Mathew said.
tralia and other partners, Lotfe Now, what has happened is that I think what is important is that created a
without a free trade of research Sunu Mathew said. Mint reported on 7 Novem-
stated that the India has been even without a free trade agree- forum which agreement, the trade into the possi- “Just like we acquired Skan ber 2022 that Leap India aims
agreement is INTERVIEW
m very busy nego- ment, the trade relationship is a includes relationship is a very ble uses of lith- Marine, we are planning a slew to raise nearly ₹1,000 crore
unlikely to be tiating other free very healthy and growing one. some of the healthy and growing on ium. From of acquisitions worth ₹300 through the IPO.
signed within trade agree- It’s so I would think that if we I n d i a n there, we crore to ₹500 The IPO will
the next two years. ments with Australia, the UK and were to eventually have a free startup com- Federico Salas Lotfe would look not crore in the next The company comprise a fresh
To bolster economic linka- the European Union. trade agreement, things would panies that Mexico’s Ambassador to India so much into three years,” is also preparing issue of equity
ges, Lotfe proposed connecting So, I would think that the move much, much faster. How- are already the mining Mathew said in an to launch shares and an
entrepreneurs from both coun- negotiating team of India is quite ever, I think this isn’t something working in Mexico. But we may and exploitation of the lithium interview. its initial public offer for sale, the
tries while also highlighting busy right now. So this has not that is going to happen this year move in that direction (of a for- itself but what happens once it Leap India pro- report said, citing
offering in the
opportunities in research on moved as fast as one would or next. mal platform). We are just start- is being used in, for example, vides end-to end people aware of
the uses of lithium. Last year, think. But we are at the stage You mentioned that Mexico ing in some ways. electrical batteries for automo- supply chain September the development.
Mexico encouraged India’s Sun right now of exploring whether is interested in India’s digi- Both countries have agreed biles. That is an area where assistance to com- quarter Mathew said
Mobility, which builds energy having a FTA is something that tal and startups sector. Will to look into technology tie- there might be opportunities panies. It has 25 given the strong
infrastructure for electric vehi- we’re both interested in. This is India and Mexico set up a ups on lithium technology. for investments. warehouses and consumption
cles, to expand into Mexico. in the pipeline. Having said that, formal platform to connect Are we going to be looking shashank.mattoo@livemint.com 22 manufacturing units, as per story and expectations of
its website. In February, it growth in overall spends in
acquired Skan Marine, a Mum- India, the company expects to
bai-based forklift rental busi- grow at 20-30% on year-to-
Multliplex demand worries Punjabi moviemakers ness for an undisclosed year basis. He also expects most
amount. Skan Marine offers of the growth to come from the
rental services for forklift, company’s pallet pooling or
reach trucks, tow trucks and renting business. Some of the
Lata Jha it’s a fair ask given industries agreed four weeks. These short-changed due to a unilat- exhibitor with a network of battery-operated pallet trucks. major factors driving growth,
lata.j@htlive.com across India should follow stan- major multiplexes insist that eral decision by the newly more than 1,500 screens. The “The acquisition has helped he said, are steady supply of
NEW DELHI dard practices, but the produc- Punjabi producers/distributors -merged, major multiplexes two companies didn’t respond mark the company’s presence pallets, cost-effectiveness and
ers argue that it’s unfair on sign a letter/undertaking playing Punjabi film content. to queries on the conflict in the forklift renting segment tech-enabled management.

M
raised by them. ultiplex operators in industries like the one in Pun- before the release Zee also among producers and exhibit-
The major concern of the Punjab have been jab that’s already battling lower of a Punjabi film Multiplex pointed out that ors in Punjab. CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
bidders is compliance of reso- demanding an eight- revenues. agreeing to an operators are Punjabi films get Several trade experts agree
lution plans as per the Insol- week window between the the- A few weeks ago, Zee Studios eight-week hold- demanding an the lowest per- that non-Hindi language films, Mint welcomes comments, suggestions or complaints about errors.
vency and Bankruptcy Code atrical and digital premiere of wrote to the Producers Guild of back window, fail- eight-week centage share including from the South, have
(IBC) and Request for Resolu- films, the norm prior to the India pointing to the ‘ad-hoc ing which the said Readers can alert the newsroom to any errors in the paper by
window between among all film been granted a four-week win-
emailing us, with your full name and address to
tion Plan (RFRP) guidelines, as pandemic, even as the regional and lopsided change’ in the major multiplexes categories, dow across the country. “Exhib-
in the first round of auction, bid film industry struggles with low OTT release window by major refuse to screen theatrical and despite average itors are looking for a standard
feedback@livemint.com.

by the Hinduja Group firm was
submitted post auction.
This bidding post auction
date is being contested by Tor-
rent Investment in the Supreme
Court as it was the highest bid-
der as per the auction.
footfalls and limited run in cin-
emas.
Producers feel that the move
is monopolistic as two large
chains, PVR and Inox Leisure,
have merged and can now dic-
tate terms. Industry experts say
multiplex firms in Punjab. “It is
unfortunate that major multi-
plexes operating in the Punjab
industry have taken an inequi-
table stand of changing the the-
atrical window to eight weeks
instead of the previously
the film in their digital premieres ticket rates being benchmark across the country, It is our policy to promptly respond to all complaints. Readers
multiplexes/cine- similar to those of so in that sense, it is a fair ask in dissatisfied with the response or concerned about Mint’s journalistic
mas,” Zee said. Hindi films. order to ensure that audiences integrity may write directly to the editor by sending an email to
According to Zee, an indus- In March 2022, the boards of come to cinemas. However, asktheeditor@livemint.com
try that has been struggling to PVR and Inox approved an all- there cannot be a one-size fits
Mint’s journalistic Code of Conduct that governs our newsroom is
find its feet post the pandemic stock merger of the companies all approach,” said a film pro- available at www.livemint.com
to stay profitable has been to create India’s largest film ducer, declining to be named.

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 LIVEMINT.COM NEWS SAturDAy, 8 April 2023
New Delhi 15

‘India is well within its Disparity over rate hike transmission by

public banks hit retail loan customers
right to ensure quality’ Gopika Gopakumar
gopika.g@htlive.com
hand, loans to the industry saw
an increase of 155 bps in lend-
ing rates while infrastructure

T
hough the Reserve Bank saw a 128 bps hike. The highest
of India (RBI) has hiked rise in rates was for loans given
repo rates by 250 basis to trade services, at 240 bps and
Can take action against dumping of poor-quality goods, a govt official said points (bps) since May 2022, rupee export credit, at 223 bps.
there are disparities over the “This puts the corporates at
transmission of the rates by an advantage over retail cus-
Ravi Dutta Mishra banks for different customer tomers, as the rate pass-
ravi.dutt@livemint.com segments, RBI data showed. through is slower for them if
NeW DelhI The rate of transmission has their loans are linked to the
been faster for private sector MCLR. Private banks have a

T
he government’s quality control banks compared to public sec- higher proportion of retail
orders for products of mass con- tor lenders, with private banks The rate of transmission has been faster for private sector banks loans. While large PSU banks
sumption, such as machinery having a higher share of loans compared to public sector lenders. MINT have been aggressive in grow-
safety equipment, pressure linked to the external bench- ing their retail loan book, other
cookers, toys and air condition- mark lending rate (EBLR), or tor banks compared to public corporate loans witnessed a far PSU banks have lagged,” said
ers, are compliant with World Trade Orga- the repo rate. Nearly 70.5% of banks. slower pass-through of the rate Madan Sabnavis, chief econo-
nization (WTO) norms, and India is well all outstanding loans of private From 61.8% in March 2022, increases compared to retail or mist of Bank of Baroda.
within its right to retaliate against dumping sector banks are linked to the the share of EBLR-linked loans small business loans. For the A banker said MCLR-linked
of poor quality goods, a government official EBLR, against 35.2% in the case for private banks has jumped to 250 basis point rate hikes so far, loans are higher for private
said. In January, several WTO members of public lenders. That said, all 70.5%, while the share of PSU EBLR loans have risen by 173 banks than PSU banks as it
objected to India issuing quality control banks witnessed a rise in the banks increased to 35.2% from bps, while MCLR loans rose by depends on low-cost deposits.
orders to curb a Chinese import surge and share of EBLR loans since RBI 33.3% during this period. 140 basis points. State Bank of India’s one-year
boost exports. Canada, Japan, the UK and started raising rates. According to RBI norms, all According to RBI’s monetary MCLR, for example, is at 7.7%
the EU had also expressed concerns over According to RBI data, the new retail and small business policy report, banks passed on compared to 8.95% for HDFC
the quality control orders at the WTO. share of EBLR loans increased loans must be linked to EBLR. 178-184 bps of rate hikes to new Bank. “Corporates will opt for a
New Delhi has been pushing for quality from 44% to 48.3% between For corporate loans, banks can, retail loans, including housing, market-driven benchmark to
control measures in the wake of an over- March and December 2022. however, offer loans linked to education, personal, and agri- determine risk-free curve, that
haul of global supply chains since the pan- However, the rise in EBLR either EBLR or MCLR. culture loans from May 2022 to is, government securities or
demic and the Russia-Ukraine war. India has been pushing for quality control measures in the wake of an overhaul of global loans is higher for private sec- This clearly suggests that February 2023. On the other treasury bills.”
The official said India lagged in terms of supply chains since the covid pandemic and the Russia- Ukraine war MINT
international standards but must ramp up
its focus on quality to make the best of free- deceptive trade practice, or national secu- are estimated at $710 billion, up 15.8% from
trade agreements and take advantage of the rity. Notably, while announcing QCO on $613 billion in 2021-22, according to The
China-plus-one strategy adopted by the toys, the Centre argued that cheap quality Global Trade Research Initiative.
West. “QCOs are first applied in the domes- products from other countries pose a India has the highest deficit with China
TaMo posts 8% wholesale volumes growth
tic market and only then are they imposed health risk for children in India. of more than $87.5 billion. Around 65% of
on imports. So we are well within our rights QCOs are increasingly being used by the Chinese exports to India are in three cate- Mayur Bhalerao Times report on 1 April, the ris- new car or truck loan to 8.95%, quarter to 1,35,654 units.
(to bring QCOs). They (western countries) government to curb the dumping of cheap gories--electronics ($31 billion), machinery mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com ing costs of borrowing exacer- up from 5.66% a year earlier, To be sure, Jaguar Land
impose quality norms on our ($21.7 billion), and organic MuMbaI bated by the recent turmoil in according to Cox Automotive, Rover (JLR) contributed
products, so we are duty- QUALITY CHECK chemicals ($13.6 billion). Other the banking sector have side- which provides services to car almost a third of Tata Motors’

T
bound to retaliate by imposing key categories include plas- ata Motors Ltd posted lined some buyers in the US dealers,” the report said. global sales. JLR’s wholesales
QCOs on their products as INDIA lagged in WTO rules say FOCUS on quality tics, fertilizers, medical and 8% growth in wholesale new car market, At Tata Motors, stood at 1,07,386 units in the
well,” he added, requesting terms of global
standards, but must
members should use will help India take
similar standards for benefit of the China-
scientific instruments, and volumes globally in the putting pressure It said vehicle global wholesales quarter. Wholesales for Jaguar
anonymity. focus on quality, a domestic as well as plus-one strategy iron and steel products. March quarter, while car sales on manufacturers sales in the Jan- of all commercial were at 15,499, while for Land
According to WTO rules, govt official said imported products adopted by the West The Union textile ministry witnessed muted demand due to discount vehi- Mar period stood vehicles and the Rover it was at 91,887 vehicles,
members should use similar is also considering imposing to the declining purchasing cles. “Cars have at 361,361 units Tata Daewoo the company said.
standards for domestic as well quality control orders for 107 power of consumers amid a become increas- range fell by 3% to JLR’s retail sales during the
compared to
as imported products. products from China amid the widening technical textile products such as surgical rising interest rate scenario. ingly unafforda- 1,18,321 units in March quarter were at 102,889
Anil Jauhri, former chief executive of the trade deficit, accounting for nearly 40% of gloves, PPE kits, bulletproof clothing, and In an exchange filing, Tata ble after shorta- 334,884 units in the March quar- units, including for the Chery
National Accreditation Board for Certifica- the total deficit. Besides, imports of mer- fire-resistant clothing to ensure better Motors said vehicle sales in the ges over the past the year-ago ter from 1,22,147 Jaguar Land Rover China joint
tion Bodies, had said that QCOs cannot be chandise goods by India touched a record standards for products manufactured in January-March period stood two years forced units a year ago. venture, with a 21% sequential
challenged at WTO if they are imposed on high in the last financial year. India and minimize imports of poor quality at 361,361 units compared to consumers to pay However, Tata rise and 30% higher from the
grounds of health, safety, environment and India’s merchandise imports for FY23 goods. 334,884 units in the year-ago, at or above sticker prices. The Motors’ global passenger vehi- year-earlier.
including the sale of its luxury US Federal Reserve’s efforts to cle dispatches (including elec- On Thursday, shares of Tata
brand Jaguar Land Rover. curb inflation have now driven tric vehicles), were up by 10% Motors ended 2.6% higher at
According to The Financial the average interest rate on a from a year ago in the March ₹437.65 apiece on the NSE.

Centre fixes gas price at $7.92/mmBtu

Staff writer Dubai and Oman (sour) and vided for determining domes-
feedback@livemint.com Brent Crude (sweet) oil prices. tic gas prices for a six-month
NeW DelhI The cabinet also approved a period based on the volume-
floor price of $4 per mmBtu weighted prices prevailing at

T
he Centre announced on
Friday that natural gas
prices will be fixed at
$7.92 per metric million British
thermal unit (mmBtu) for the
8-30 April period.
However, the price of gas
produced from nomination
fields of Oil and Natural Gas
Corp. and Oil India Ltd, used
for piped natural gas (PNG) and
compressed natural gas (CNG),
was capped at $6.5 per mmBtu.
“For gas produced by ONGC
and OIL from their nomination
fields, the price shall be subject
to a ceiling of $6.5 per mmBtu,”
it said in a statement.
The announcement comes a
Prices for consumers were
capped at $6.5/mmBtu MINT
affairs approved the new gas
pricing guidelines, paving the
way for linking domestic natu-
ral gas prices in India to global
crude rates. According to the
and a cap of $6.50 per mmBtu
under the Administered Price
Mechanism (APM) gas pricing.
In a statement, the oil minis-
try the move seeks to increase
consumption of natural gas to
achieve the government’s tar-
get to raise the share of natural
gas in the primary energy mix
in India from the current 6.5%
to 15% by 2030.
The Centre said the move
will also reduce the impact of
rising international gas prices
on domestic gas prices. Inter-
national gas prices have stayed
elevated over the past year due
to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Earlier, gas prices in India
the gas trading hubs in Henry
Hub, Albena, National Balan-
cing Point (UK), and Russia for
a period of 12 months and with
a time lag of a quarter.
Now the revised gas pricing
guidelines link domestic natu-
Where every
ral gas prices to global crude
prices, which is more relevant
and will track prices in real-
number
time. The earlier guidelines
had significant volatility. Data
on Indian crude basket prices
tells a story...
from the previous month used
to determine APM gas price.
In November, the Kirit Par-
ikh committee made several
recommendations, including Introducing
pricing locally produced natu-

day after the Union cabinet
approved the new gas pricing
norms. On Thursday, the cabi-
net committee on economic
guidelines, price of natural gas
will be 10% of the monthly aver-
age of the Indian crude basket,
which is a weighted average of
was determined by domestic
gas pricing norms approved by
the government in 2014. The
2014 pricing guidelines pro-
News in
ral gas at 10% of crude oil prices
and implementing a floor price
of $4 per mmBtu with a cap of
$6.5 per mmBtu.

India woos Bhutanese students, youth

Numbers
Shashank Mattoo hood and to their people, not
shashank.mattoo@livemint.com just in terms of their presence
here, but also in terms of the
Exclusively on the Mint App

N
ew Delhi has launched
a slew of measures to
promote India as an
attractive destination for Bhu-
tanese students, following a
steady decline over the past
decade, and Australia emerg-
ing as a key alternative, said
people in the know.
According to All India Sur-
veys of Higher Education
(AISHE), the number of Bhuta-
nese students receiving terti-
ary education in India
declined from 2,468 in 2012-13
to 1,827 in 2020-21, account-
ing for just 3.8% of all interna-
tional students from 7% a dec-
ade ago, according to data
from the Union ministry of
education.
The development has major
strategic implications, consid-
ering that education and peo-
ple-to-people ties have long
buttressed India’s relationship
with Bhutan. Most senior
members of Bhutan’s govern-
ing elite have studied in Indian
educational institutions.
“Economic opportunities,
negligible visa restrictions,
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Most senior members of Bhutan’s governing elite have studied in
Indian educational institutions.
regular training programmes,
education opportunities, and
Buddhist tourism and educa-
tion have bolstered people-to-
people relations between
India and Bhutan for genera-
tions,” said Aditya Gowdara
Shivamurthy, a scholar at the
Observer Research Founda-
tion, in a recent article on Bhu-
tan’s migration trends and pol-
icies.
The government is taking
steps to make it attractive for
the youth from Bhutan to
study in India, including
increasing opportunities for
ISTOCK
STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math) subjects,
and making it easier for them
to work in India’s startup sec-
tor, said a person, seeking ano-
nymity. Vocational training
will also be a key focus for the
Bhutanese yourh, he added.
Foreign secretary Vinay
Mohan Kwatra said the coun-
tries were discussing the pos-
sibilities to increase access to
Indian institutes. “There is no
change in terms of access and
availability of the Indian edu-
cation system to our partner
countries in our neighbour-
continuing national treatment
that they get here. Which des-
tination they choose, of
course, is always an evolving RajCOMP Info Services Limited (RISL)
st
C-Block, 1 Floor, Yojana Bhawan, Tilak Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur
feature in terms of what hap-
RISL invites e-bids from the eligible bidders for the following:
pens within that society,” he
NIB No./ Date/ Particulars Estimated Start of sale
said at a press briefing in New Unique bid no. Cost/ EMD /Last date
Delhi on Friday. 49/05.04.2023 RFP for Providing, Testing, Rs. 68.00 Cr/ 05.04.2023
According to the Australian RIS2324SLOB Commissioning and Maintenance of Rs. 136 Lacs 12.05.2023
00004 connectivity to Government offices
education ministry, the num- Scan to Download under RajNET across Rajasthan on
ber of Bhutanese students has RRC Basis
shot up to 3,863 in 2023, up Details can be seen on the websites http://sppp.rajasthan.gov.in,
http://risl.rajasthan.gov.in, & http://doitc.rajasthan.gov.in. Bids are to be
142% from a year ago, growing submitted through http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in.
at a faster clip than any inter- Raj.Samwad/C/23/245 General Manager (Technical)
national student community.
“Push factors in Bhutan,
combined with better stan-
dards of life, economic oppor-
tunities, relaxed work hours,
and education opportunities
in Australia has attracted sev-
eral Bhutanese in recent years.
In 2021, the Australian census
indicated that over 12,000
Bhutanese stayed in Australia.
The migration trend has
largely increased in recent
years, coinciding with Bhu-
tan’s attempt to open to the
international labour market,”
Shivamurthy said in the arti-
cle.
 New DeLhi, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 17 NO. 83 Rs. 10.00 . Price with Hindustan Times Rs. 15.50 16 PAGES

Saturday, April 8, 2023

Govt on alert after big jump in Centre fixes domestic gas

livemint.com covid-19 cases uP13 price at $7.92/mmBtu uP15

SENSEX 59,832.97 0.00 NIFTY 17,599.15 0.00 DOLLAR ₹81.90 ₹0.00 EURO ₹89.34 ₹0.00 OIL $85.12 $0.13 GOLD ₹60,397 ₹0.0

Temasek unit takes Big chunk

Maruti Suzuki expects the SUV segment to account for about 47% of
the 4.10 million passenger vehicles sold in the current fiscal year.
Market share (in %)
Economists
expect
DON’T MISS

Quarterly (FY23) Yearly

prolonged
control of Manipal
17
13

10.4
12.4
11
FY21
rate pause
FY22
8.5 Shayan Ghosh
Singapore’s Sheares buys controlling stake for ₹16,400 crore 25
FY24*
shayan.g@livemint.com
12 MUMBAI
FY23 Shipping ministry to exceed 4-yr
Ranjani Raghavan & Sneha Shah

A
lthough the Reserve asset monetization target
MUMBAI TakiNG ChaRGe Q1
*Projected
Q2 Q3 Q4
Source: Company filings, MSIL
Bank of India (RBI) sig- The Union ministry of ports, shipping and
nalled it won’t hesitate waterways is set to surpass its four-year

S
Sheares Healthcare will raise its ownership in Manipal Healthcare from SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
heares Healthcare, a unit of to hike rates again despite hit- asset monetization target of ₹12,828 crore
Singapore’s Temasek, has
agreed to buy a controlling
stake in Manipal Health
18% to close to 59%
Deal timeline Who owns how much
in Manipal
Maruti eyes 25% of ting the pause button in April,
several economists now expect
the central bank will keep its
ahead of the deadline thanks to robust
awarding of projects under the public-
private partnership model. >P14
2015
Enterprises, raising its own-
ership from 18% to close to 59% for
about ₹16,400 crore, two people with
TPG picks up a 24% stake for $146
million  21.5
TPG
India SUV market repo rate on hold for an
extended period.
The central bank’s monetary Lenders may extend process for
knowledge of the development said. 2017 policy committee (MPC) opted resolution of RCap bankruptcy
(in %) Alisha Sachdev
TPG, an existing shareholder of TEMASEK buys True North’s 16% stake 52.5 Vitara. So we grew from 10.2% to hold the repo rate at 6.5% fol- Lenders of debt-ridden Reliance Capital
18
Bangalore-based hospital chain in Manipal for ₹1,000 crore.   alisha.sachdev@livemint.com to 17%. So now we have to lowing six consecutive hikes (RCap) may consider extending the deadline
Manipal Health Enterprises, will sell 8 Temasek NEW DELHI increase this 17% share to a since May last year, citing the for completing the resolution process till 30
11% of its 21% stake, valuing the com- 2021 Ranjan Pai fixed 25% for the whole year. need to evaluate the effects of May this year, according to the people

pany at around ₹40,000 crore
($4.88 billion), the people said,
requesting anonymity. The National
Investment and Infrastructure Fund
(NIIF) will sell its entire 8% stake,
they said, adding that Sheares
Healthcare will acquire the remain-
ing stake from the holding entity
backed by Ranjan Pai. Manipal Edu-
cation and Medical Group Pvt. Ltd
will retain approximately 31% of the
company, and TPG will hold around
10%.
Both Ranjan Pai and Temasek
declined to comment. Spokespeople
for TPG and NIIF did not respond to
requests for comment.
A year ago, private equity firm
TPG decided to sell its stake in the
company and began negotiating
with the founders to buy back its
shares. Since the buyback did not
materialize, TPG began looking for
NIIF picked up stake in Manipal for
₹2,100 crore  Source: Mint Research
ON SALE
TeMaSek first
bought 18.1% stake
from 2 PE firms in 2017
other buyers, Mint reported in Sep-
tember.
In November, Mint reported that
KKR and Temasek were in separate
discussions to seal the deal in
November. On 17 December, Mint
reported that Temasek outbid oth-
ers to emerge as the preferred buyer
for Manipal Health Enterprises.
TPG’s sale of 11% of its stake in
Manipal Health Enterprises will
result in a 10x return on its ₹900
crore investment in 2015.
Temasek first acquired around
M
and family NIIF
MaNiPaL Healthcare LaST month, Manipal
was assigned $1.14 bn Health acquired AMRI
enterprise value then Hospitals from Emami
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
18.1% stake from PE firms True North
and Faering Capital in 2017. A $1.14
billion enterprise value was assigned
to the hospital chain at the time. This
stake was later transferred to Tem-
asek’s healthcare platform, Sheares
Healthcare. NIIF acquired around
8% of Manipal Healthcare for $286
million in 2021.
Manipal Health has made several
acquisitions to expand its offering
over the past two years. The chain
TURN TO PAGE 13
aruti Suzuki India Ltd
is aiming to capture a
25% share of the rap-
idly expanding sport utility
vehicle (SUV) market, more
than doubling its share by the
end of the current fiscal year, a
top executive said.
To achieve the target,
India’s biggest automaker
plans to focus on boosting
sales of its SUV models that
cost ₹10 lakh or more and con-
solidate its brand positioning
through its premium Nexa
sales channel.
“In FY22, our share in the
SUV market was 10.2% and just
over 12% in FY23. But if you
look at each quarter in the last
fiscal, our Q4FY23 SUV mar-
ket share was 17% because of
the addition of the Grand
Let’s say we will begin with
20% in Q1 of FY24 and go up to
27% in Q4 so that for the full
year, we are at around 25%
market share,” said Shashank
Srivastava, senior executive
director of Maruti Suzuki.
Srivastava expects the SUV
segment to account for about
47% of the 4.10 million passen-
ger vehicles sold in the current
fiscal year, with an estimated
size of 1.9 million units. Maruti
will need to sell around
475,000 SUVs to achieve its
target.
The automaker is set to
launch its latest crossover SUV
Fronx by the end of the month,
followed by its urban lifestyle
offering Jimny, an iconic Suz-
TURN TO PAGE 13
the past increases. Further, the
MPC noted that “additional
downside risks from financial
stability concerns” on the
global front were also behind
its decision to keep rates
unchanged.Addressing report-
ers, Das said April’s decision
was only a pause, not a pivot.
The MPC will not hesitate to
take further action as may be
required in its future meetings,
he said in a statement.
That has not deterred econo-
mists from expecting the pause
in April to be a long one.
“We had expected the repo
rate to peak at 6.75%. However,
with today’s pause, we believe
the repo rate has peaked,” Stan-
dard Chartered Bank said in a
TURN TO PAGE 13
aware of the matter. The current deadline
ends on 16 April. >P14
Tata Motors reports 8% growth
in wholesale sales volume
Tata Motors Ltd reported an 8% growth in
wholesale sales volume globally in the
March quarter, while car sales witnessed
muted demand due to declining purchasing
power of consumers amid rising interest
rates. >P15
Disparity over rate hike transfer
hits retail loan customers
Though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
hiked repo rates by 250 basis points (bps)
since May 2022, there are disparities over
the transmission of the rates by banks for
different customer segments, RBI data
showed. >P15

Bearish bets
Some analysts expect FPIs to retain their bearish bets and the
market to consolidate with a negative bias.
Pandemic spurs Indian firms to ‘Unseasonal rains are not
17,800

17,600
(Nifty 50, daily closing)

17,599
boost CSR spending, compliance because of climate change’
17,400
Gireesh Chandra Prasad ous year. The number of com- Puja Das 2022 was ranked as Earth’s
17,200 gireesh.p@livemint.com panies that spent less than the puja.das@livemint.com fifth-warmest year. In the
17,000
NEW DELHI mandated amount also NEW DELHI Indian context, February
16,988 declined to 3,525 in FY21 from was the warmest since 1901.

T W
16,800 he number of compa- 4,760 in the previous year. But hile the impact of cli- This year is probably the
20 Mar 2023 6 Apr 2023
nies defaulting on their those spending more than the mate change is man- wettest March in the last
Source: Bloomberg
corporate social respon- required amount rose sharply ifesting in extreme 100 years in several parts of
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
sibility (CSR) spending com- to 9,792 in FY21 from 6,964 in weather events with growing India. Is the occurrence of

‘Nifty could hit mitments plummeted in FY21,

even as an increasing number
of companies went beyond
the year before.
Experts offered several rea-
sons for the improvement in
frequency, the recent unsea-
sonal rainfall cannot be attrib-
uted to climate change, says
extreme weather patterns
increasing?
There are rising temperature

18,000 level as
their legal obligations to con- companies spending on char- India Meteorological Depart- conditions globally. The rise
tribute to their communities, ity. According to Noorul Has- ment director-general Mrut- has been quite significant since
corporate affairs ministry data san, a partner at Lakshmikum- yunjay Mohapatra. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the 1970s, which is attributed to
showed. aran and Sridharan Attorneys, However, Mohapatra noted director-general of IMD. MINT climate change. Because of

FPIs turn upbeat’ The encouraging trend of

Ram Sahgal pause,” said Shrikant Chouhan,
Ram.sahgal@livemint.com head of equity research (retail),
MUMBAI Kotak Securities Ltd. “We ini-
tially thought it would run
companies complying with
their CSR obligations and
many going beyond comes
after legislative changes
kicked in on 22 January 2021.
The changes in the legal
Data showed that the number
of firms meeting the 2% profit
spending rule doubled MINT
Data showed that the num-
ber of companies meeting the
in 2021, the pandemic year,
corporations came forward to
meet the exigencies that arose
from the health crisis and
spent on healthcare activities
in addition to contributing to
the Prime Minister’s Citizen
that the frequency of heavy rain-
fall is rising while the frequency On the El Niño climate pat-
of light-to-moderate precipita- tern linked to droughts in
weather changes, the tempera-
ture is rising, and so are heat-
wave conditions. This does not
tion is declining due to man- India, Mohapatra said there are mean that we will witness heat
made climate change. On the some spring barriers around it waves every year.
other hand, Mohapatra high- worldwide. Therefore, it will be This year in March, there
lighted that the early to predict was no heatwave except for one

T
he pullback rally seen
over the past 11 sessions
could extend the Nifty
level to 18,000 as foreign port-
folio investors (FPIs) cover
bearish derivative bets while
simultaneously turning net
buyers in the cash segment in
March and so far this month,
two analysts said, while a third
expects FPIs to retain their
bearish bets and the market to
consolidate with a negative
bias.On Thursday, FPIs closed
out 3,040 contracts while buy-
ing a provisional ₹466 crore in
cash, enabling the market to
pare its losses and close in the
green. As of Thursday, FPIs
through 17,500 from the low of
16,828, but now the MPC action
could induce a rally in interest
rate sensitives, which could
also result in more short-cover-
ing by FPIs.”
The MPC surprised inves-
tors by keeping the repo rate
unchanged but added that its
action was not to be interpreted
as the rate cycle having peaked
as the withdrawal of accommo-
dation stance was retained.
The short covering implies
buying back what was sold as
the market begins to move up
instead of trending down. The
short covering provides more
strength to any pullback.
framework, a carrot-and-stick
approach, introduced penal-
ties for companies and their
officers that fail to meet their
CSR obligations, as well as
offered flexibility for busi-
nesses that choose to exceed
spending the mandated 2% of
net profits on CSR activities.
Bosses want hard workers—so they’re hiring older people
Callum Borchers
feedback@livemint.com
2% net profit spending
requirement for CSR almost
doubled to 1,477 in FY21 from
the FY19 level. Meanwhile, the
number of profit-making
companies that were required
to spend but did not spend
anything dropped to 3,202 in
FY21 from 10,425 in the previ-
likely to carry AARP cards
than the latest iPhone.
“The learning curve is a bit
Assistance and Relief in Emer-
gency Situations (PMCARES)
Fund. “Also, the statutory pro-
visions regarding CSR was
changed in 2021, including
allowing business to spend
extra for which credit could be
TURN TO PAGE 13
tant to them personally.
Among 18-to-29-year-olds,
61% said hard work is very
overall number m INTERVIEW its impact accu- or two days in Saurashtra,
of cyclones is rately, as good Kutch and coastal Maharashtra.
decreasing, but monsoons have There has not been any heat
the incidence of intense been witnessed in the past in wave condition in northern and
cyclones is on the rise. some El Niño seasons. Edited central India, where it gener-
“The unseasonal rainfall or excerpts: ally occurs.
heatwaves could be attributed When we say there is a rising
to variations in weather,” Moha- We have been witnessing
patra said in an interview. extreme weather patterns. TURN TO PAGE 13
group says. The roster of offers access to job boards and
pledge-takers now features career fairs for workers over
more than 2,500 businesses, 50.

were net sellers of 106,259 con-
tracts, down from a record
short level of 194,626 contracts
on 20 March.
This short covering of
88,367 contracts was the force
behind the market’s 4.6% rally
from a low of 16,828 to 17,599,
along with buying of ₹12,114
crore by domestic institutional
investors. FPIs purchased
shares worth only ₹651 crore
over the period.
Analysts expected the short
coverings to persist, taking the
market up. “The pullback rally
has more steam as we expect
FPIs to cover their bearish Nifty
and Bank Nifty futures posi-
tions following the MPC’s
K
Rohit Srivastava, founder of
IndiaCharts, said that post the
MPC, the 10-year bond yield
had broken the nine-month
trendline of 7.3%, which shows
that markets are pricing lower
rates for now. “The FPIs cover-
ing will assist the market in
testing 18,100, which is the
61.8% retracement of the fall
from the record high of
18,887.6 on 1 December to
16,828 on 20 March.
However, U.R. Bhat, founder
of Alphaniti Fintech, which
advises foreign investors,
expects FPIs to hold on to their
short positions as a hedge
against negative global news
flows.
ip Conforti is hiring for
a part-time position at
one of two package-
shipping stations that he
owns in Pennsylvania. He’s
filled such roles with high
school and college students
during two decades in busi-
ness, but this time his top can-
didate is a man in his 70s.
Mr. Conforti has grown
weary of younger employees
who, he says, arrive late for
shifts, call out of work often
and spend more time scroll-
ing social media feeds than
chatting with customers.
About a year ago, he tried
something different—recruit-
ing people who are more
longer,” he says, “but once
they get it, God, it’s refresh-
ing. I say, ‘This is what we’re
doing today,’ and it gets done.
Their shift starts at 9 and
they’re here at 8:50. It’s their
work ethic.”
Older
workers are
in demand
at a grow-
ing number of compa-
nies.Perceptions of genera-
tional differences don’t
always match reality, but
three-quarters of people 65
and older said in a Wall Street
Journal-NORC survey of
Americans’ values last month
that hard work is very impor-
important.
So much for youthful ambi-
tion.
People 55 and older are the
fastest-growing segment of
the workforce, according to
federal data. Demographic
shifts help
explain the
trend—
people are
living longer and having
fewer children—and some
retirement-age folks have lit-
tle choice but to work because
of inflation and a weak stock
market.
But certain businesses are
targeting seniors on the
premise that age is an asset.
Older workers are in demand at
a growing number of firms. ISTOCK
The AARP since 2012 has
asked companies to sign a
pledge to give workers over
50 a fair shot in hiring. Com-
mitments rose 122% last year,
compared with 2021, the
including Bank of America
Corp., Microsoft Corp. and
H&R Block Inc.
“It makes great business
sense to hire experienced
workers,” says Heather Tins-
ley-Fix, senior adviser for
employer engagement at the
AARP. “More companies are
also recognizing the need to
include age in their diversity,
equity and inclusion efforts.”
KinderCare Learning Cen-
ters Inc., which operates more
than 1,500 child-care facili-
ties, signed the pledge last
August to expand recruiting
efforts amid an acute child-
care worker shortage. The
AARP’s pledge program
Less than a year in, Kinder-
Care hasn’t tallied the result-
ing hires, but the payoff is
already clear, says Travis
Trautman, the company’s
senior director of talent
acquisition.
“There’s a willingness from
this group to work the open-
ing shift or to close down for
the day, to cover during
lunches and breaks or even be
on call as needed,” he says. “I
could go on and on about the
value and benefits.”
Global staffing agency
ManpowerGroup Inc.
launched a placement pro-
TURN TO PAGE 13

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