Showing posts with label IIPM Think Tank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM Think Tank. Show all posts

Saturday, October 06, 2012

EU DEBT CRISIS: WHO’S NEXT?

Ireland’s Rescue has Failed to Stem off Market Tensions from Euro Zone. B&E talks to Experts, Including the European Central Bank, to Analyse who will be the next Victim of Sovereign Debt Crisis. 

While Portugal is likely to be forced to go for a bailout, Spain still stands a fighting chance of avoiding the same fate, given that its current trends in bond yields come to an end soon. But then, things don’t look good here too. Ten-year bond yields on Spain have already jumped above 5.5% and are at the record high of 260 basis points just behind spreads of 400 basis points for Portuguese debt, 620 for Ireland, and 890 for Greece. What’s more? Spain’s gross debt will be over 60% of GDP this year (at 63.5% of GDP), which is the EU threshold under the Stability and Debt Growth Pact. In fact, with unemployment rate hovering over 20% and the budget deficit at 11.2%, possibility of Spain’s being the next epicenter can’t be undermined, particularly if Portugal asks for a bailout.

This is surely a big concern for European policymakers as it not only poses a threat of a much deeper recession than one recently experienced (when euro zone total output fell more than 5% peak to trough), but also raises questions about the survival of the single currency area. Raison d’être: The fourth largest economy in the euro zone would require more than $535 billion in bailout (way above the bailout packages of Greece, Ireland and Portugal put together) to see it through the next few years. This eats up more than half of the $1 trillion combined EU-IMF rescue fund, with only a little left over after the other three take their share. Not to say what will happen if another nation joins the beleaguered bandwagon (which has the highest probability). This certainly calls for an immediate action, both by the respective national governments as well as EU. Though both the nations have decided to cut upon their spending to bring down spiralling budget deficits (while Spain plans to cut its budget deficit to 9.3% of GDP this year from 11.2% in 2009, Portugal plans to slash it to 7.3% of GDP, from 9.4% in 2009), it will take them years before that actually happens (interestingly, EU’s threshold limit for fiscal deficits is 3%). Thus, as of now, a bailout seems to be the only possible answer to their miseries.

But then, bailouts too, in any case, are not the permanent solution since they only kick the ball down the road. The only stable remedy to Euro zone’s fiscal woes is a structural reform with national governments showing steadfast commitment to reducing budget deficits. It’s not as if the ECB doesn’t realise the magnitude of the fiscal troubles in Euro zone. In fact, Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB, tells in a communiqué to B&E, “I would say that, for all countries, it is extremely important to substantiate the decisions that would allow the goals for fiscal deficit next year, i.e. 2011, to be attained, also taking into account what is going on this year, of course. But I am concentrating on next year. This is the very, very firm message that we have for all countries, including Portugal and Spain.”

No doubt, EU has proposed the swift implementation of comprehensive consolidation plans, focusing on the expenditure side and combined with structural reforms, which will strengthen public confidence in the capacity of governments to regain sustainability of public finances, reduce risk premia in interest rates and thus support sustainable growth over the medium term, but then isn’t EU a little late in proposing these measures? Well, we would say … S#!t happens, when PIGS come out in the open!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

SUPERBIKES IN INDIA: GROWTH TREND

The Superbike Segment in India is beginning to open up as Incumbents and New Entrants fill up gaps in The Market. B&E’s Sanchit Verma does a Quick Stopgap Review before the Number Game Begins
 
“There were around 1000 super premium bikes sold in 2009 and 2009-10 is going above at the rate of 20% and the reason for it is that the GDP growth rate is about 9% for the youth population and that too, a well earning youth population,” says Sanjay Tripathi, Director of Marketing, Harley-Davidson India. The latest buzz is that BMW would be announcing their motorrad luxury bikes by the end of the year, which will start with a price tag of whopping Rs.1.8 million. Hendrik von Kuenheim, General Director, BMW Motorrad, commented, “We are confident that our motorcycles and will swiftly become established in timely preparation for the growing market.” BMW, which made its successful entry into the Indian market with its luxury cars, seems confident about their reentry into the the luxury bike market after the failed launch of BMW Fundaro 650. The luxury market currently stands at 1% of the overall market. A spokesperson from Honda 2 wheelers comments, “Last year, we sold around 70 units across India with only two operational setups in Delhi & Mumbai. This year, we plan to sell 100 units.”

Most of these superbikes are at such hefty prices that the rational minded would prefer buying quality four wheelers for that kind of money. But superbikes are not expected to sell on the rational appeal in India as much as they would for the thrill and the oomph factor, to those with huge disposable incomes. Globally, the scenario is different as bikes are only used for special occasions or sports. But in India, motorcycles have become a regular mode of commuting. One would doubt that the masses would actually be able to enjoy the experience of these bikes on Indian roads. But fanatics have gone through thick and thin to get them nevertheless – be it by paying heavy import duties of about 113% for unregistered bikes and about 153% for registered vehicles – facing government issues like getting it passed through ARAI and also attaching a ‘Sarre guard’ and ‘front plate no.’ to make it legal.

On another front, while traditionally, Indian players have offered bikes in the 90cc to 250cc range (with Enfield the exception with a 500cc offering), the next level starts only with an 883cc Harley-Davidson or a 1000cc CBR. Recently, the gap has been filled by Garware Motors, which announced Hyosung’s re-entry in India with a 650 cc superbike, which is currently under Homologation process. “Beyond the 250cc segment, only the Royal Enfield was available with 350cc and 500cc and after that, the only models available are 1 ltr plus. So we thought we would fill in the gap,” predictably accepts Diya Garware, MD, Garware Motors.

With Aprilla, MV Augusta and BMW Motorrad currently in talks with a local importers and companies like Harley and Hyosung planning their CKD units, it seems that the sector is well on its way to opening up and more such gaps should be filled, taking the superbike exhilaration to a larger audience. Like other sectors, players would ultimately learn to adapt to Indian price sensitivities and penetrate deeper in the market. And then the next big demand from this growing superbike community could well be relaxation of speed limits on Indian roads. That may take quite a while though.


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

AOL: THE HOUSE THAT TIM IS BUILDING

Former Google key man Tim Armstrong is cutting deadwood, exploring new businesses and being trigger happy like how. But his current assignment at AOL could prove to be a career killer. 

But when on September 29, 2010, AOL acquired three Internet startups – namely TechCrunch Inc., 5Min and Thing Labs – reportedly for an amount of over $100 million, it had even the most supportive analysts questioning Tim’s logic in the acquisition. Apparently, this is a move on the part of AOL to become a pure content based entity. According to Armstrong, even though the subscription business still generates a major chunk of their revenue, it is mostly on a decline. As the new content strategy is supposed to work on the mechanism of affiliating advertisers to the content, AOL is planning to invite marketers to work with its editorial team and produce customised content. With this, Tim hopes that ad money will follow suit.

Unfortunately, even if this does work, the fact is that Tim is relocating resources in a suspiciously unproductive manner, and even a seat-of-the-pants analysis is enough to give the reasoning.

After the Time de-merger, AOL was and is basically left with two businesses – subscription and advertising. Subscription, the business responsible for generating almost all of the company’s profits (as per the latest SEC filings by AOL) is alarmingly declining by 30% per annum. It constitutes almost 25-50% of AOL’s web traffic. The advertising business, which consists of a $600 million deal with Google and is powered by the subscription business (due to w


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

For the win!

This one, to the mother of all Blah-Blah forums: Twitter! The microblogging service that reminded us of brevity being the soul of wit, with its 140-character limit on messages, is where you get to witness ‘change’, in real time. Recently Twitter got itself a new CEO, Dick Costolo, and even primped up its interface to make for a richer media experience. #CheckItOut!


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

This Have-a-Cake Government!

The pink papers have been going ga ga over the spanking new Wholesale Price Index (WPI). First, the new index shows that the rate of inflation is 8.5% while the old index would have it at about 9.5%. Conjure and juggle numbers and voila, you have taken care of the aam aadmi! Second, the new index (admittedly) better reflects the changing structure of the Indian economy where citizens now consume a larger basket of products and services. More than 220 new product and service categories have been added to make the index more representative. That’s compelling logic no doubt.

But take a quick look at the kind of new product and service categories added and you will immediately realize how this government – thanks to a hopelessly ineffective opposition and a virtually supine and servile media – is getting away by fooling all the people almost all the time. Some of the new products that are part of this ‘more representative’ index are beer (a weight of 0.155), ice cream, mineral water (I am sure distressed farmers rush off to buy a bottle of Bisleri along with pesticides when they see suicide as the only option), blended liquor, gold (a weight of 0.364), computers, washing machines and refrigerators (a weight of 0.194). How many of the 500 odd million Indians who live in abject and degrading poverty drink beer & mineral water and go to swanky malls to buy computers and refrigerators?

Sure, some might argue that the presence of 500 million poor Indians does not mean that we don’t need a ‘better’ and ‘bigger’ WPI. After all, the consuming classes too are Indian citizens. Fair enough. But how about an honest attempt to create a new consumer price index that reflects the consumption patterns of the really poor and of families hovering on the edges of poverty? Of course, we have consumer price indices of various kinds – for industrial workers and even for agricultural workers. But when was the last time you heard about this government spending time, money and energy on committees to upgrade those indices? The point is simple: for the really poor, more than 80% of income is spent on food. And with rampaging food inflation, you can well imagine their plight. Nobody talks about it anymore because the vocal middle class which also consumes the media has been virtually insulated against inflation because of a rapid rise in family incomes – both in the private and the government sector. And yet, imagine the hungama that is created when the price of LPG cylinders is raised by a relatively meager amount. Really, this is unparalleled hypocrisy for a society that claims to be democratic and a government that claims to think mainly of the aam aadmi.

Food-grains rotting while the poor are starving? This government ticks off the Supreme Court for interfering in policy matters. Vocal and politically powerful groups demand more reservations? Give it to them: most of them will not go to a college anyway. The poor dying of malaria and tuberculosis by the tens of thousands and their families going bankrupt due to medical expenses? Give more ‘subsidised’ land for corporate hospitals.
 
 

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Monday, September 03, 2012

UTV’s Global Broadcasting

UTV’s Global Broadcasting division posted a remarkable turnaround in the last year. CEO M. K. Anand speaks to B&E on the favouring factors and future expansion

B&E: UTV Entertainment Ltd. (a part of UTV Global Broadcasting) posted a profit of approx `355 million as opposed to last year’s loss of `820 million. How did you manage the turnaround?
MK: There has been a big write down that has happened on the inventory side, there has been some consolidation and all movies in the movie library have been taken in and written off. Right now we are sitting on a library which has zero cost on our profit and loss account. So our programming cost has significantly reduced because of that. In general, there has been an operational efficiency improvement between Q3 last year and Q1 this year by absolutely 100%. We were operating at `110 crore; this year our target was `220 crore. In order to achieve those numbers we needed to get `55 crore of revenue. In the year which ended at `110 crore, you would expect that the quarter would have made 27 crore, so the one ending at `220 crore should make somewhere about `35 crore in Q1 but we actually did around `50 crore. So we have already set the run rate for Q4 in Q1 and that’s how we move forward. The GRP increase happened in Q3 last year after a lag of 3 months. We were anyway planning to monetize. In Q4 we did significant marketing; we became sponsors of Goafest, which is the biggest ad event for the advertising fraternity and our ad rates have substantially increased over the last year after that. Also, all the channels were operating at 50% inventory utilization and right now we are operating at 100%.

B&E: UTV has been toying with various genres with Bindass, 3 movie channels and a news channel. What further expansions are expected now?
MK: A movie business is required as a portfolio player. It is better to have flanking businesses, like a movie business, which are bulk driven in nature so that it becomes easier for you to negotiate business with distributors and advertisers, as long as they are profitable, obviously. But our network will concentrate on the 15-24 target group and we will not push ourselves into the GEC (General Entertainment Channels) business. We are at a life-cycle where the GEC business will go lower. It’s like the mainframe business of the 1990s. If you already had it, it was good; but if you didn’t, it was better to have a desktop business rather then a mainframe one.


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

The company saw sales & profits surge phenomenally

It was a stellar year for M&M, as the company saw sales & profits surge phenomenally. But M&M is now equally concerned about where its numbers come from, as it diversifies into new segments & geographies via M&As and alliances. by Pawan Chabra

Cash-strapped c auto major SsangYong Motors has provided the company a lucrative opportunity to enter the global SUV market. Besides acquisitions, the deal with Renault for Logan and the JV with Navistar for its commercial vehicle ventures are noteworthy. For the record, while the partnership with Renault wasn’t that fruitful as initially predicted by M&M, the company now has a 100% sake in the JV and is now planning to relaunch the model in the small-car segment.

Anand Mahindra recently said at the 50th annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, “The comics and novels that I used to read in the 1960-70s surely showed the use of mobile phones as a technology & laptops as devices, but the girls in the pictures were still blondes and men were still the same old gentlemen. The imagination of the author never had guys with pierced ears or girls with tattoos.”

Indeed, it’s a mantra he lives by now – that one has to be visionary enough to look at future possibilities and enterprising enough to place a bet on them. The investments being made and their possible impact on profitability do raise the question of whether M&M will be able to raise its position even further on the B&E Power 100 next year. But from the perspective of Mahindra’s vision to be a larger player on the global platform and to have a strong play in green vehicles, the course correction is unavoidable.


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Thursday, August 30, 2012

What, how and why of GPM!

A benchmark index to measure relative well being of income classes
 Wish to know where you stand in your profession with respect to your global peers? Global Poverty Multiple (GPM, visit www.globalpovertymultiple.org) is an internationally comparable ratio developed by IIPM Think Tank in collaboration with B&E presents a comparative picture of the standing of various income receiving classes of a nation against the poverty line income (the latter decided by the nation and/or by international organisations).

GPM is a globally portable ratio that, on one hand, is easy to calculate, and on the other hand, presents a very clear and comprehensive comparative picture of economic well being of various income-receiving classes of countries across the globe. There are many globally accepted indices with a similar intention. GPM does not take life expectancy or literacy rate into consideration. It divides the population into various income-receiving classes and compares their annual per-capita income with the standard poverty line income. Since GPM is a ratio (per capita income/poverty line income), a GPM of “1” of an income receiving class indicates that his income is just on the poverty line, he is neither better off nor worse off. The higher the multiple, the better the economic well being of the particular income receiving class. GPM therefore further allows an inter-country comparison of economic well being of people in different professions by using the poverty line income as the base for comparison. Comparably, the PPP method and the GPM method are quite similar due to the fact that inter-country comparisons become easier.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Water is my right!

The UN declares water a basic human right. You mean it wasn’t one till now?!

In a far-flung village in Africa, women wake-up every morning and walk for more than a kilometre to fetch the basic necessity of life – water. On some days they even get lucky and find clean water. Such is life for not only the people in Africa but about three billion people in the world, who have no access to running water within a kilometre of their homes. Alarmed by the scarcity of safe and clean water, which is responsible for claiming upto two million lives every year, the General Assembly of United Nations held a summit on the human right to water for the first time and declared that access to clean water is now a human right.

In the recent past, various attempts have been made to spread awareness of saving water and electricity, but with growing population and expansion of industries, it is estimated that by 2030 the gap between supply and demand of water will increase to more than 40% (according to a World Bank report). Let us take into consideration the Indian scenario. More than half of the population resides in rural areas, where let alone running water, even access to clean water is a luxury, and people dying of water-borne diseases is a common occurrence. The fluoride and arsenic content in groundwater endangers the life of more than 70 million people and 10 million people respectively. The so-called sacred water of the Ganges has now been contaminated to an extent that contact with it may lead to skin eczema, digestive and respiratory disorders. “In the last few years, I have seen that cases of water-borne diseases have risen to a great extent. And more people in the rural areas are being affected because they don’t have access to clean drinking water. We doctors are also helpless because we cannot provide them with this basic amenity,” laments Dr. Singhal, a medical practitioner in Delhi.


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Friday, August 24, 2012

Mohit Khattar

Managing Director, Godrej Nature’s Basket, talks to b&e’s angshuman paul about the peculiarities of the industry and the company’s future plans

B&E: Don’t you think the Godrej Group has been too late in recognizing the potential of retailing?
MK: I can’t comment on other businesses of Godrej group but regarding Nature’s Basket, yes. Five years back, the group didn’t have any intention to foray into retail. But during the last two years, the group has moved on and we are exploring all possible opportunities for growth; and one of the biggest opportunities in recent times is in the retail industry.

B&E: Ernst & Young claims that organised retail accounts for an approximate 4% of the total retail sector market, and players are in an inordinate hurry to capture the retail sector. Is this the reason that propelled you to join the retail bandwagon?
MK: We are not into the trading business and we don’t believe in doing something just because other players are doing it. Our retail brand was an initiative to offer everything that the Indian consumers’ palate would require. Most of these are gourmet retailing, which Indian consumers have never seen before. That was the reason we rolled out Nature’s Basket.

B&E: Gourmet retailing already has brands like ‘Le Marche’ functioning. Given that, how do you think your brand is unique?
MK: We are tying up with many foreign brands and will be providing a wide array of products related to food and beverages. Moreover, we have our own food products [of the company]. We started operations in 2005 and in five years, we have done our market-research, set up our logistics and supply chain. We are fully prepared to expand our presence now and we know we won’t come across a situation where we will have to shut down a store once we’ve opened it. We have ten stores while Le Marche has just eight.

B&E: Yes, you have ten stores, but the first store was rolled out in 2005. Do you think the pace at which you’re growing is relatively slow?
MK: The type of format that we are offering [in fine dining] is very exotic and we did not want to roll out stores unless we have done our ground work. Our conscious steps have paid off; we did not have to shut down our stores like other brands had to do in Mumbai. Nature’s Basket is different in terms of the products, offerings and services that are offered. Our target audience are the people living in metros and we can’t be expanding in every nook and corner of the country.

B&E: But then, even in metros, you are present only in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Will you continue to follow this retail penetration strategy in the future too?
MK: Not really. Of course, we didn’t expand in all cities across India as we didn’t believe in going places where we don’t have a market. And then there’s no point in opening stores unless you are financially or logistically prepared for the same. In gourmet retailing, we don’t have much competitors and we are the only one having presence in two metros. We will be rolling out Nature’s Basket in other metros too by the end of this year.


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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

An electric shock or a safe recharge?

Despite promises, Reva has been struggling over the past decade to strike gold when it comes to sales. But with M&M acquiring a controlling stake in the electric carmaker, much is expected to change in the near future. So has Anand Mahindra placed an electrifyingly winning bet? by Pawan Chabra

He was all of six when he surprised many by winning an award for having designed a remote-controlled toy car during one such competition at school. Chetan Maini’s love for machines had just started bearing its first fruit. Much water has flown under the bridge since then, but what has remained unchanged in the past 34 long years has been Maini’s (today the Chief of Technology & Strategy at Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Company) love for machines. He started Reva in 2001 and nine years later, has witnessed the change in ownership at the electric car manufaturing company. And just like every other journey, there have been times of thirst for Maini too. This mechanical engineer (from Stanford University) turned entrepreneur’s has been time and again running after banks to finance his business plan. He finally seems to have found solace in Anand Mahindra’s cash-loaded arms. On May 26, 2010, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) bought a majority stake (55%) in Reva. [Post-sale to M&M, Maini’s family will hold just 31% in the new Reva. It’s now called Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Company. The other large shareholder will be Lon Bell, the other co-founder, who holds 11%.] So, the question bothering many a well-wishing heart is – Is this really the end of problems for Maini? Seemingly, yes. But chances are, the Oracles might just be proven wrong this time.

Interestingly, for the lesser informed, Reva had joined hands with GM India in December 2009, for developing an electric version of Spark for the Indian roads. The final product was to hit the market in December 2010, and was to be sold via GM’s sales & distribution network. GM however called off the deal (most likely for information security purpose) once M&M entered the scene. So, while many are grieving over GM’s loss in the process, the more pertinent issue to mull over would be to question what the transaction brings to the table for both Reva & M&M.

“The deal between M&M and Reva is beneficial for both the parties in their own ways. While Reva will benefit financially, Mahindra can add Reva’s technology to complement its vast existing portfolio,” says Pankaj Karna, MD, Maple Capital Advisors. So for now, Maini’s footsoles can take some rest from rambling about in search of fresh fund infusion, as the stake purchase by M&M brings-in close to Rs.450 million for the electric carmaker. For M&M of course, the case is stronger. It gives it the much needed hybrid edge, something which it would have been eyeing for long now. Maini’s brainchild would further strengthen M&M’s electric vehicle portfolio, that as of now consisted of only a three-wheel vehicle called Bijlee apart from a yet to be launched ‘Maxximo’, an electric-powered mini-truck.


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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Dependants of jawans killed by Maoists struggle to stay afloat. A report from Orissa by B&E’s Dhrutikam Mohanty

A few days after the surgery, not only did her department pester her to report back to duty, she also received a phone call claiming that she had taken a loan of Rs . 40,000 from the PWF and that the amount would be recovered from her. She was totally stunned. Pratima alleges that an additional Rs. 20,000 was withdrawn by the SP, Cuttack against her name. Says Pratima, “While the government has promised to bear the complete cost of my medical treatment, it is painful that people from the department are fraudulently withdrawing money in our name and then trying to recover it from us.”

When the doctor treating her learnt that the police department wasn’t going to bear her expenses anymore, he stopped taking proper care of her. He discharged her even though she had not recovered fully. She continued to receive notices from her department to join back.

At her tether’s end, Pratima met the then Director General of Orissa Police, Gopal Nanda, as a last resort. He not only waived off her loan but also ordered that she be assigned an office job. She could now see light at the end of the tunnel. But Pratima is still nursing the wound in her leg. It hasn’t healed because of the unseemly haste with which the doctor discharged her from hospital. We ask her how much she has got by way of compensation. She replies, “What compensation are you talking about? I haven’t received a single penny.”

Pratima points out that it has taken the government two years to set up a board to prepare a detailed report on those who were injured in that Maoist strike. She adds, “As for my own case, one of the two board members who examined me was the same doctor who discharged me untreated. I, therefore, don’t have must expectations from this board.”

Now meet Jayakrishna Bardhan, a superannuated government employee who resides in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Though he retired in 2004, he still does the rounds of government offices. Sometimes he is in the provident fund section of the police headquarters requesting the dealing assistant to push his file. At others, he is seen in the pension section inquiring about the release of his family pension. It isn’t his own retirement benefits he is chasing. Jayakrishna’s policeman-son was killed in a Maoist attack and all he is asking for is the legitimate compensation for an irreparable loss.

Bardhan and his family reside in a single-storey building in Gadakana area of Bhubaneswar. It has neither a boundary wall nor a proper approach road. The entrance has no door bell. So we knock on the grille. The family’s pet dog, Blackie, barks in response. Jayakrishna is soon at the door to usher us in.

His elder son, Ajit Bardhan, was an Orissa police sub-inspector posted in the Maoist-infested Sundargarh district. While on patrol duty, Ajit was overpowered by a group of Maoists and abducted. The very next morning – the date was July 16, 2009 – his body was found near Jharbeda. Darkness descended on the slain cop’s family. Unable to withstand the shock, Jayakrishna suffered a heart attack. Ajit’s widow, Rosalin, who was expecting her first baby on August 7, experienced acute labour pain even as arrangements were being made to take her husband’s body to Puri.

The Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, came down to Ajit’s residence to express his condolences to the bereaved family. When he learnt about the condition of the cop’s father and widow, he immediately instructed senior officers to make all arrangements for them.

But nothing moved after that. Say Jayakrishna, “I am still wandering from one office to another for the release of my son’s provident fund amount and family pension. They haven’t even paid a small amount of Rs. 17,000, which I spent on my treatment after the heart attack. The CM had declared the government would bear all the expenditure. I have been to the Rourkela SP’s Office and the IG Operation’s office on several occasions, but nothing has been done. It is humiliating. It is as if they are going to do us a favour. Did my son lay down his life in vain?”

Ajit Bardhan, in a letter to his wife Rosalin, had once written that it would be the happiest moment of his life if he were to die serving the nation. If only he knew what would be in store for his family after his death, he might have changed his view. Rosalin, who recently got a police job under the rehabilitation scheme, is still waiting to get her other dues. She says, “My father-in-law has taken much pain to get my husband’s legitimate dues and I couldn’t help him because of my job and daughter Arushi.” Arushi is only eight months old.


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