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It was India shining at WIFW autumn-winter 2013

Themes, colours, drapes, fabrics and even collection titles - the just-concluded edition of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) in New Delhi was all about India and its rich, colourful tradition and heritage. Not surprisingly, the ratio of national and international buyers was uneven.

Several designers claimed the business was good, but the presence of domestic buyers surpassed those from abroad, even though one spotted representatives of fashion houses and stores from places like the US, Britain, Middle East, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“The turnout is more for national buyers. We have got queries from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. International buyers are lesser and the ones who came are not new. We can see same faces who came in last seasons,” Meghna Agarwal of the brand Myoho, said in an interview. It is her third time at the event.

Designer Puja Arya, who has been a regular in the fashion industry, said, “The business has been pretty good. The domestic buyers are more and international buyers are less then past editions.” Arya said she doesn’t cater to Kuwait or Middle East buyers.

Even young designer Vaishali Shadangule managed good business. “I have got orders from across all big stores from India including Fuel, Ogaan, Atosa and others. Also orders have come in from buyers from Kuwait, Dubai, Singapore and stores from Chennai and Hyderabad,” said Shadangule. This autumn-winter edition saw as many as 128 designers presenting their creations, on the ramp and racks, at the five-day fashion extravaganza, which concluded Sunday. It is organised by the country’s apex fashion body, Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI).

Young designer Masaba Gupta’s first line for brand Satya Paul kickstarted the 21st edition of WIFW, and the grand finale was staged by ace designer Manish Arora. The buzz was equally good for both the shows, and they didn’t fail to impress the fashionistas.

Post Arora’s finale, Masaba tweeted: “When I grow up. I want to be Manish Arora. Mother bee of finales.”

Among other designers who dazzled the ramp with their creations included Tarun Tahiliani, Shantanu-Nikhil, Vineet Bahl, Nikasha Tawadey, Namrata Joshipura, Abraham & Thakore, Anju Modi, Manish Malhotra, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Nida Mahmood.

Several designers did choose to go the global way with their lines, with gowns, dresses, tunics, skirts and pants, while there were designers who chose to stick to desi roots and present its culture, embroidery, techniques and textiles with a contemporary twist.

Nikasha Tawadey’s Raat Ki Rani, Anupamaa Dayal’s Ishq-e-dilli, Tarun Tahiliani’s Kumbhback and Samant Chauhan’s Rajputana Bikers were some such shows.

Lauding the creativity quotient at the event, Hiba, a buyer from Kuwait, said, “Though I have been part of FDCI for long, this edition was good, when it comes to using the rich traditional designs of India. Vineet Bahl and Tarun Tahiliani are some of the designers who took my breath away.”

Japanese buyer Keiko was also stunned to see a few designs. “This is my second edition here and I really liked the ambience which was full of colours. My favourite designers are Pankaj & Nidhi and Ranna Gill,” she said.

In flip-flop on anti-rape bill, cabinet keeps age of consent 18

Bowing to political pressure against lowering the age of consent for sex to 16 years, the government recently approved the anti-rape bill by agreeing to stick to 18 years, but women activists said the provision could be misused.

The cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, met to take up the bill after a consensus over the issue was arrived at during two rounds of an all-party meeting.

The all-party meet had at first failed to reach any consensus following major differences over the government’s bid to bring the age of consent to 16 years.

According to government sources, the cabinet agreed to stick to 18 years as age of consent following suggestions at the all-party meeting. They said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) were among the parties which had reservations over lowering the age of consent to 16.

The sources said that the age of consent was 16 years under the Indian Penal Code but was raised to 18 in the anti-rape ordinance promulgated by the government in February this year.

However, following inter-ministerial consultations, the government thought of lowering it to 16 in the proposed Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013.

At the all-party meeting, several political parties suggested the age of consent should be 18 years since the minimum age of marriage for girls was also 18, sources said.

The sources said the government was now confident this version of the antirape bill to be introduced in the Lok Sabha would be passed in this session.

The cabinet had first approved the antirape bill March 14 following a Group of Ministers’ suggestion to bring the age of consent to 16.

“We have introduced changes suggested by various political parties. We hope to pass the bill in the Lok Sabha,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told reporters after the cabinet approved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013.

The government also made voyeurism and stalking punishable under pressure from various parties like Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal- United and Bharatiya Janata Party, who had reservations over these points.

“Consensual sex with a girl under 18 years will be treated as rape,” said another government source.

Under this provision, a minor who is accused of gender crime will have to undergo a probation of one year as punishment for the first offence but will be charged with rape if he is booked for a second time.

Water Resource Minister Harish Rawat said the anti-rape bill was cleared after “all factors” were considered.

“There were political parties who had opposed bringing the age of consent from 18 to 16 as they felt it was not desirable socially,” Rawat said.

He said the government had taken into account women activists’ views on age of consent.

Women activists had argued that girls in rural areas were still married at young age and it would not be proper to criminalise matrimonial relations in such cases, and hence urged the government to fix the age of consent at 16 years.

Shocked by the government’s u-turn, the All-India Progressive Women’s Association chief Kavita Krishnan said the decision to retain 18 years would be misused.

“A young boy under 18 will get a ‘one time probation’ for consensual sex. This is most inadequate (protection), since any third party (parents or khaps) can claim he violated the probation and get him convicted for rape,” she said.

She also said keeping the age of consent at 18 could be used against the oppressed castes also.

The bill also proposes death penalty in the rarest of rare cases for rape and for repeat offenders.

It incorporates suggestions of the Justice J.S. Verma Committee formed to make the anti-rape laws stronger.

The issue has been in focus after the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi Dec 16 last year. She died of grievous injuries 13 days later.

The anti-rape bill will replace the ordinance promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee Feb 3. It has to be passed by April 4.

Bobby Ghosh named editor of Time International

Noted journalist Aparisim ‘Bobby’ Ghosh, an Indian national, has been named the editor of Time International.

“Bobby, quite simply, is a magnificent journalist who has done the highest level of work that one can aspire to in our profession,” the Time Inc. Editor-inChief Martha Nelson and Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel told staffers in an announcement in Washington recently.

Currently Time’s Deputy International Editor, Ghosh takes over from Jim Frederick, who is vacating the position “to move on to other challenges,” the memo said.

“The breadth of his interests and the depth of his expertise is reflected in a sampling of his recent international covers, from soccer star Leo Messi to Bollywood icon Aamir Khan to a profile of Egyptian president Mohamad Morsi,” it said.

The first non-American to be named

World Editor in Time’s more than 80 year history, Ghosh started his career at the Deccan Chronicle, in Visakhapatnam; then went to work in Business Standard in Kolkata and BusinessWorld in Mumbai and Delhi.

His recent India stories for Time have included profiles of cricket god Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood star Aamir Khan and world chess champ Vishy Anand.

During his five years as Time Baghdad bureau chief throughout the worst of the Iraq war, Ghosh “wrote two of our most unforgettable cover stories: Life in Hell, and Sunnis vs. Shi’ites,” the memo read.

“He was not only fearless in his work in Iraq but he was the guardian of all who worked for us in Baghdad.”

Ghosh joined Time in 1998 after ten years as a journalist in India and two on the staff of the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong. He became a senior editor at Time Asia, where he wrote a weekly Time.com column called Subcontinental Drift.

Ghosh then moved to London to become a senior editor at Europe and in 2007, he became the first non-American World editor in Time’s history, the memo noted.

Gayatri Pariwar begins Ganga cleaning awareness campaign

Worried at the increasing pollution in the Ganga, the All World Gayatri Pariwar, a religious group with followers in different cities, recently initiated a programme for the cleaning and conservation of the holy river.

The programme, named Nirmal Ganga Abhiyan-Bhagirathi Jalabhishek began with a two-day special training camp at Shantikunj-Haridwar.

On the occasion, manager of Shantikunj Haridwar, Gaurishankar Sharma, asserted that the process of cleaning the Ganga would begin with the cleaning of one’s own self.

Under the Nirmal Ganga Abhiyan (clean Ganga campaign) volunteers of the Gayatri Pariwar would reach every home to expand public awareness.

The aim of the programme, Sharma said, was to clean the river right from Gomukh (the snout of the Gangotri glacier, from where the Bhagirathi, one of the tributaries of the Ganga, originates) to Gangasagar (the delta islands, where the river meets the Bay of Bengal after flowing over 2,500 km).

“It is a very big movement and will not only last for these two days of the training camp; it will remain a long-lasting learning process,” the head of one zone of the Pariwar, Kalicharan Sharma, said, explaining that for the purpose of the clean-up programme, the river had been divided into five sectors.

The cleaning project would be taken up from April 1. A detailed survey is part of the project, so that information about social, religious, educational organizations in the different towns and villages on the river banks, the number of ghats at different locations, local festivals, types of industries, governing bodies, medicinal plants, levels of pollution etc. can all be recorded.

The survey work is expected to end in June.

A vast “public awakening campaign” is set to begin during the Hindu calendar period called Chaturmas. As part of this, marches will be held, and posters and banners put up. In the last phase, the cleaning programme will begin, and dense forestation on the banks of the river is also planned.

Memos, peaceful demonstrations and tools like public interest litigation (PIL) may be used for the purpose if needed, the Gayatri Pariwar said.

More than 500 volunteers are likely to take part in the training session.

Andhra to supply nine food items through PDS

The Andhra Pradesh government recently announced a new scheme, under which Below Poverty Line (BPL) families will be supplied nine essential food items at subsidized price through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Under the scheme to be implemented from Telugu New Year Ugadi (March 27), the ration card holders will get a basket of commodities including wheat, wheat atta, sugar, red gram, palmolein oil, iodized salt, tamarind, chilly powder and turmeric powder at fair price shops.

The scheme was announced in the state budget for 2013-14 presented in the assembly in Hyderabad recently.

Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said every card holder will get a benefit by Rs.1,284 per annum. This scheme will cost Rs.660 crore to the state exchequer every year.

The state is already implementing Re.1 a kg rice scheme for BPL families.

The finance minister said 7.5 crore people were benefiting through PDS. Every month 3.25 lakh metric tonnes of rice per is being distributed under the scheme.

Private sector must help meet India’s health goals

As India takes up its ambitious targets for reducing maternal and child mortality, a senior USAID official says participation of the corporate sector is a must to fulfil the government’s aims.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator for Asia Nisha Biswal stressed that success in the field of healthcare in India depended on interventions which could show quick results, and the changes in India will have a global impact.

“I can say India’s private sector is going to be the biggest factor in scaling change,” Biswal said in an interview.

“First, it makes sense for their own business. When the people are healthy, the economy prospers. Also, when the corporates provide benefits like healthcare and social security to their employees, the employee is loyal to the company,” she said.

“Secondly, there is a deep desire to connect the needs of the base level and the aspirations of the top level. You cannot keep the two disconnected very long without creating disturbance in society... As it is said, India needs to work for Bharat,” Biswal added.

“The government of India has a methodological and data oriented working style, which is showing results. The government has identified target districts, and if they succeed in bringing change in these places, the effect will be seen. Focussed interventions are the need of the hour, identifying areas, as well as threats,” Biswal said.

For instance, India accounts for the largest number of under-5 deathsnearly 1.5 million, of which close to

0.8 million die within 28 days of birth. Nevertheless, steady progress in curbing child deaths has been demonstrated. The rate of decline in the under-5 five mortality has much faster than the global average; from 115 in 1990 to 59 in 2010 as against the global average of 87 and 57 respectively.

USAID has also announced a new effort to support diarrhoea management, one of the leading causes of child deaths in India. Out of the total funding of $4.7 million, the partnership is leveraging $2.4 million from the private sector.

India is now looking beyond the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality rate (CMR) to 38 per thousand. The target in the 12th Five Year Plan is to reduce it to 33 per thousand by 2017.

USAID provides funding and other assistance for several programmes in the fields of health, education and food security. Health programmes, especially on maternal and child healthcare, are in the agency’s focus.

The agency recently extended two flagship projects on child survival - the Maternal and Child Health Integrated Project (MCHIP) and the Health of

Urban Poor Project (HUPP).

The first, with funding of $16.4 million, will support the Indian government in establishing quick response teams, which in turn will help the states on the cusp of accelerating their efforts for child survival. The HUPP programme will continue to support the Indian government in implementing its various urban health initiatives.

Talking about India’s role in the South Asian region, Biswal said changes in the country can make a huge difference in the region, as well as globally.

“India has a very important role to play in the region. Because of the scale, it is hard to address challenges in India. The lessons learnt here are applicable at other places as well. Just that India has decided to change something in itself makes an impact,” she said. “The changes in India will have an impact in the region and globally.”

Talking about USAID’s plans for future, Biswal said though the focus at present was on health, this would diversify in future.

“Presently 70 percent of our funds go for healthcare. In the course of time, you will see diversity in the partnership,” she added.

BY NIMA MENON

I have always had a fascination with Rajasthan, and I’m sure that this was created by the numerous Amar Chitra Katha comics I read as a child. The story of the brave Rajputs, who fought for valour and love, particularly captured my attention. This seed of romanticism was sown sometime during that time, and is still with me. The Samyukta Swayamvar, the patriotic arrogance of Prithviraj Chauhan, the grit of Chatrapathi Shivaji, and the chivalry and bravery of Maharana Pratap, and his horse Chetak, have all managed to leave a lasting stamp on my memory.

I wed my man in uniform, and when he got posted to Mathura, I thought that this would finally be my chance to visit the place. But it was not to be. Then, we moved to Delhi, but Rajasthan still remained elusive. Finally in 2012, we planned my much awaited trip, departing from Sydney. Initially, I thought that Palace on Wheels would be a great idea, but after speaking to friends posted there, I decided against it. I wanted to see the untainted Rajasthan, as the locals see it, rather than the tourist package.

To see the heart of Rajasthan we decided to start with Jodhpur, before travelling to Jaisalmer, Mount Abu and Udaipur. We flew from Delhi, and there was way that the resident’s keep themselves cool. All of the houses are painted with ‘neel’ (indigo). Looking down on the hundreds of blue rooftops from the high ramparts of the Meharangarh Fort, is quite an amazing sight. The imposing fort is atop a 150m hill, and is more than 500 years old. The artefacts are breathtaking, and there are local artisans who work within the fort. In the past, the fort had its own little township, complete with a temple where the kings used to pray before embarking on a battle. The other impressive building here is the more sophisticated Umaid Bhawan palace, the residence of the Maharaja of Jodhpur.

We travelled by road from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, and were lucky enough to get a fantastic driver who was a native Bishnoi. He gave us a local’s perspective on the culture and traditions of Rajasthan. On our way to Jaisalmer, we went via Pokhran and visited the legendary Ramdevra Temple. This temple symbolises cross-religious beliefs, as both Hindus and Muslims visit the temple to worship Ramdevji. This is a Tanwar Rajput, as well as a saint who worked tirelessly for the upliftment of the downtrodden. Many ‘melas’ are organised, and people travel by foot for hundreds of kilometres as a part of their pilgrimage.

The deserts of Jaisalmer are also magic. We took a jeep ride across the desert, and it was one of the most thrilling experiences I have ever had. Kilometres of