Indian Men Spend Millions on Skin-Lightening Creams

Increasingly, Indian men use skin-whitening products. Racism or fashion?

By Saritha Rai

Indian cinema actor Shahid Kapur at a press conference in Bangalore on Aug. 12, 2009. Kapur is the face of Vaseline's controversial skin-lightening cream and the Facebook application that digitally re-tones photos so skin appears lighter. (Dibyangshu
Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)

Bangalore, Aug 1 : Skin-whitening products aren't just for the ladies anymore.

In new India, where the market for skin-lightening creams is more than $500 million a year, men are being spoon-fed the message that having fairer skin is the fastest way to fame and fortune.

And they are eating it up.

Venkatesh Vadde, 25, has been using lightening cream for the last couple years. He says it helps him look more professional at his job as a quality analyst in Bangalore.

"My girlfriend makes fun of me," he said during a recent interview. "But I don't mind because lots of men I know use fairness creams."

According to figures provided by market research group Nielsen, sales in the men’s segment of skin-lightening creams are galloping ahead at a yearly growth rate of nearly 30 percent, overtaking the growth rate in the women’s segment, albeit starting from a lower figure.

Anti-tanning treatments, bleaches, face-lightening facials are all the rage at BYS Unisex Salon on Bangalore’s shopping strip, Commercial Street.

“Young men feel skin lightening will make them attractive to women, it will make them look smarter when attending a job interview,” said the salon's manager Rafiqur Rahman, adding that men tend to have more disposable income to spend on such products and services.

The cosmetics industry has made billions of dollars selling skin-lightening products to women. But in the last couple of years, multinational and Indian cosmetics makers have discovered a vast, virtually untapped male market. Commercials, billboards, magazine advertisements drum the unrelenting message: lighter, fairer skin is the key to getting that dream job and hooking that gorgeous girl.

The ads targeting men follow a familiar pattern: A dark-skinned actor is shown feeling dejected and forlorn. His friend/Bollywood hero shows him the secret to a better life — yet another brand of skin lightener. He gets several shades lighter using the skin cream. Soon, he is transformed to an ultra-attractive, utterly eligible version of his former self.

The list of Bollywood stars endorsing such products for men is impressively long, ranging from superstar Shahrukh Khan to hunk John Abraham to the boy-faced Shahid Kapur.

As if the commercials and billboards are not convincing enough, Hindustan Unilever’s Vaseline brand has launched a Facebook application that digitally re-tones photographs for the social networking site. “Transform your face on Facebook with Vaseline Men,” urges the Facebook page.

via GlobalPost

Saina Nehwal: India's Badminton Star and 'New Woman'

As India's badminton world number two Saina Nehwal is awarded the country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, BBC Sport writer Suresh Menon says the young star is a symbol of the new Indian woman.

When Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar started breaking records or shooter Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual gold at the Olympics, no-one asked them about their Bollywood ambitions.

Saina Nehwal is eyeing August's world badminton championship in Paris

It is an absurd question to ask a serious athlete.

Yet it seems the obvious one to ask India's sportswomen. It was asked of the tennis star Sania Mirza. And, after her third successive Grand Prix title, of badminton player Saina Nehwal, the number two-ranked player in the world.

The two women from Hyderabad (although neither was born there) have to answer such questions in a country that has produced fewer than half a dozen world-class sportswomen.

Liberating

Mirza, 23, and Nehwal, 20, have to demonstrate to a sceptical India the liberating power of sport, its ability to reward hard work and its power to emancipate women.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Indians find it difficult to understand female athletes' ambitions may not lie in getting married or dancing around trees singing meaningless songs ”

End Quote

Already Mirza has gone from being a personality to becoming a brand. It is difficult to see her breaking into the world's top 10 now.

So the mantle has passed to Saina Nehwal, the one with fewer distractions and, importantly, the greater likelihood of becoming the number one in her sport.

Nehwal - whom Indian President Pratibha Patil will later this month present with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sporting honour - has become a household name.

She is one of India's six brand ambassadors for the Commonwealth Games, which Delhi will host in October.

"I hope to win [August's] world championship in Paris," Nehwal says, her tone matter-of-fact, her vision unclouded by the possibility of emerging as the greatest Indian female athlete ever.

That position is currently occupied by PT Usha, the sprinter and hurdler who narrowly missed a medal at the Olympics but emerged as the continent's best.

Girl next door

Indians find it difficult to understand the female athlete, to work out that their greatest ambitions may not lie in getting married or dancing around trees singing meaningless songs.

Nehwal allows her coach the total freedom to shape her career

They find such things as single-minded focus, ambition, physical training and personal sacrifices in the quest for sporting honours unbecoming of a woman.

"Indian sportswomen face a lot more challenges because of the nature of our society," says Prakash Padukone, who first put India on the world badminton map by winning the All England title in 1980.

In individual sport, the Indians who have made it big have only their parents to thank.

The Krishnans and Amritraj brothers in tennis, Padukone himself, world chess champion Vishwanathan Anand, Olympic gold shooter Bindra and a host of others made the grade thanks to the personal and financial sacrifices of their parents.

Nehwal, too, is in this tradition.

Her father, an entomologist, has refused promotions that might require leaving Hyderabad and thus endangering the training Saina receives under Pullela Gopichand, another All England winner.

Nehwal - and this is where she is different from some of the others - allows her coach the total freedom to shape her career.

Sacrifice

Nehwal, who first showed promise while winning the junior title at the Czech Open in 2003, has won three titles in a row, in Chennai, Singapore and Indonesia.

Nehwal is set to cross the $2m mark per endorsement, say brand experts

"Saina is exceptional," says Padukone, "she is technically sound, physically fit and mentally strong."

It is a range of attributes that has seldom come together in one Indian sportswoman.

After her run at the 1984 Olympics, it took Edwin Moses, the then top male hurdler in the world, to point out to Usha that the number of strides she took between hurdles was wrong.

Nehwal has the advantages of modern coaching methods, the intelligence to protect her ranking and the will to push herself to the top.

In a sporting system which increasingly decides the worth of a player by her market value, Nehwal is set to cross the 10m rupee ($2m; £1.4m) mark per endorsement, if brand gurus are to be believed.

If she is impressed by this, Nehwal shows no sign. She has sacrificed too many things over too many years to settle at a level lower than the one she set out to achieve.

"Why does everyone get excited about a girl who plays a sport only a few countries in the world are interested in? Tennis is so much bigger," Sania Mirza once said about the sportswoman she is often compared unfavourably with.

The answer is simple.

Indians might find it difficult to understand a focused sportswoman, but they can appreciate one.

Nehwal is the girl next door who is the embodiment of the cliche that when talent combines with hard work, the sky is the limit.

Her remarkable self-awareness makes her the symbol of the new Indian woman - independent and determined to make it on her own terms.

Just out of her teens, the badminton star is already lighting the path for women around the country - and not just sportswomen.

Larissa Riquelme Topless In Paparazzo Mag (NSFW)

Here's Paraguan hottie, Larissa Riquelme heats up the latest issue of Paparazzo magazine by posing topless in lingerie and a skimpy bikini.

Northeast India has Capacity to Light up Half of India

By Raju Das

Shillong, Aug 1 : The Northeast has the potential to “light up half of India” with its huge power potential, but most of the proposed hydel power projects here have hit roadblocks.

Arunachal Pradesh alone has the potential of producing 50,000 MW of power. The Northeast as a whole has the potential of producing about 70,000 MW of power. However, most of the proposals have hit roadblocks.

Due to various bottlenecks the region is producing just two to three per cent of its actual potential. “The figure is dismal. Some of the power projects have not been cleared, others are being opposed,” NEEPCO chairman and managing director, IP Barooah said at a conference on ‘Empowering North East’ jointly organized by the State Government and the Indian Chamber of Commerce at Pinewood Hotel here on Saturday.

The NEEPCO CMD said that the region must think in terms of having a uniform hydel power policy so that the power sector can be developed in a coordinated manner.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma during the inauguration of the conference said, the rest of the country was having the wrong impression about the region and that needs to be corrected.

Sangma said there was “lack of knowledge” in the rest of the country about the potentials of the region, which has historically been a victim of ‘negativism’. “It is therefore important for this region to partner with the neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal and other South East Asian countries. The potentialities in trade and commerce must be exploited between the Northeast and its surrounding countries,” he emphasised.

He also urged the Northeastern States to think in terms of having public-private partnerships to produce “green energy” through judicial exploitation of the huge hydro power potential in the region rather than exploiting fossil to the detriment of the fragile environment.

ICC Director General Rajeev Singh assured of continuing support for “inclusive developmental activities”, especially in the power sector in the Northeast, which has the second highest hydro-power potential in the country.

The conference is being attended by major industries in the power sector apart from representatives from Bangladesh and Bhutan.

It’s Time For Northeast to Take PPP Route to Growth

By Sanjay Krishna

Despite becoming the second fastest growing and the fourth largest economy of the world, India continues to face large gaps in demand and supply of essential social and economic infrastructure and services.

Rapidly growing economy, increased industrial activity, burgeoning population pressures have led to greater demand for better quality and coverage of infrastructure services. In order to bridge the gap between supply and demand, the Government of India has taken up the public private partnership (PPP) mode of investment for providing services to the populace within a reasonable time frame.

The approximate requirement of infrastructure investment in the Twelfth Plan is estimated at $1 trillion and 50% of this is proposed to be met through the PPP mode. This has become a great challenge to a state like Assam which needs huge investments to catch up with the national growth rate by 2020.

North Eastern Region (NER) Vision 2020 aims at bridging the yawning gap between NER and the rest of the country. The document estimates that investments worth Rs 13 lakh crore are primarily needed for development of infrastructure.

This investment requirement can not be met by the government alone and shall need involvement of private partners. However, considering the present scenario of inadequacy of infrastructure and location disadvantage, it would be a challenge for the state government like Assam to attract private investment of such colossal magnitude.

The Assam government with the help of the Centre has taken up physical and social infrastructure development programs through initiation of various measures like infusion of capital from World Bank, ADB, JICA and Central government pool.

Mobilising government resources to fully meet the fund requirements would put a huge tax burden on the people of the state. The Assam government proposes to bring in private sector investment with PPP mode as one of the preferred routes.

Many infrastructure projects may not be financially viable, at least in the short run. Financial viability of such projects can be improved by availing viability gap funding from Government of India.

Assam is blessed with abundant water resources, huge hydrocarbon, large quantities of low ash coal, limestone and dolomite, granite as well as deposits of a few other unexplored important minerals and oils etc.

It offers ideal climatic conditions for growing tea, rubber and forest resources like bamboo, medicinal herbs etc. Assam is packed with number of tourist hotspots which offer vast potential for tourism.

Therefore, the state offers a congenial investment atmosphere with comprehensive central investment policy for Northeast Region and liberalized state industrial policies, both providing attractive incentives or subsidies.

Availability of skilled and cheap manpower, a large pool of English-speaking manpower and vast natural resources have the potential to translate the state into a suitable destination for major investment hub.

Some national and international investors may shy away from investing in Northeast citing geographical distance and the so-called turbulence in the area but many PPP projects are being unfolded in Assam in particular, indicating investors’ interests.

Many projects—numbering 45 in total and worth of over `8,350 crore—have been identified and are being taken up for development by the state government across sectors ranging from urban development to power, health and education.

The political stability coupled with the state’s incentives for industries have turned out to be key drivers for the new PPP story in the Northeast. It’s only a matter of time that Northeast India may script major success stories in private sector investments as well.

(**The writer has served as joint secretary in PMO and finance ministry)

Wales and Northeast India’s Shared Past Will Help Forge New Ties

By David Williamson

David Cameron’s Indian tour has made clear he sees the economic superpower as an essential future market for Britain. But, writes David Williamson, Wales has already forged an exciting relationship with India through Bibles, Bollywood and the blasting furnace

IF YOU are hiking through the Khasi Hills in northeast India the area’s legendary rainfall may remind you of a wet day’s walking in Wales.

But true pangs of hiraeth will stir through you if the province’s regional anthem reaches your ears. It is a jaunty re-working of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau.

And if you are blessed with a clearly Welsh surname you are guaranteed a welcome to rival that found in our most gregarious valleys.

The bond of Welsh-Indian friendship was forged by generations of Welsh missionaries who lived in the Khasi Hills from 1841 to 1966.

They founded schools, bringing education to women, and developed a written script for the local language which has unleashed a vibrant culture of poetry.

Thomas Jones, a graduate of the Calvinistic Methodist College at Bala, is now celebrated as the “Father of Khasi Alphabets”. Commemorations to mark the anniversary of his death drew reported crowds of 250,000.

Indian corporations today have the potential to have almost as defining a role on the lives of Welsh communities as the early generations of colonialists and missionaries.

The Corus steelworks in Port Talbot – a blazing icon of what remains of Wales’ industrial heritage – is owned by the Tata Steel empire.

Corus had initially accepted a £4.3bn offer which was trumped by Brazil’s CSN. Tata blew this bid out of the water and bought the Anglo-Dutch steel giant for more than £6bn.

The chutzpah of the deal demonstrated the new confidence which buzzes through India and fuels the international ambition of its brightest entrepreneurs.

This energy, which pulses through a land where dire poverty is found alongside extraordinary wealth, also fascinated Bangor University English and drama graduate Danny Boyle. His Slumdog Millionaire film was a box office hit and triumphed at the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

The success of the AR Rahman soundtrack demonstrated India’s growing cultural power alongside its industrial might.

Wales is already on the radar of India’s mighty Bollywood film industry.

Mayur Verma, who has starred in scores of musical epics, moved his family to Dolgellau in 2007 and praised the location as somewhere to “satisfy my creative appetite”.

Bollywood films have been shot at locations including Caerphilly Castle, Conwy Suspension Bridge and Llanberis.

The country has become a source of home grown productions, albeit with a uniquely Welsh twist.

In 2006, Indian-born Nikhil Kaushik, a consultant ophthalmologist at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, decided to use his bonus to finance a musical love story featuring two young medical students.

He explained at the time: “Some people thought I was mad and that includes some of my very close family. The bonus was additional income so it was an argument between me and my wife – she wanted an extension to the house.”

Rather than hire professional actors he persuaded real-life health professionals to star in Bhavishya – The Future.

The colossal contribution of Indian doctors to the Welsh NHS is only matched by the escalating value of the country as a buyer of Welsh goods. Exports from Wales to India have jumped from £26m in 1996 to £80m in 2009. This barely scratches the surface of the potential of trade relations.

Bangor University’s Centre for Advanced Research in International Agricultural Development has forged hi-tech collaborations with Indian peers in an EU-funded project to “improve food security through research on the under-utilised grain legume rice bean”.

It is this blend of shared knowledge, fused cultures, dynamic trade and, most importantly, continent-crossing friendships which will ensure Wales and India grow closer together as the 21st century unfolds.

Students from India have flocked to Welsh universities to study subjects such as medicine and engineering. In 2008-09 there were 3,005 enrolled at the nation’s institutions.

In the coming years aspiring business executives from Wales will strive to learn Hindi and take part in exchanges with colleges on the sub-continent.

Despite the horrendous poverty which still blights the lives of so many in India, enduring corruption and the rumbling threat of terrorism, it is hard not to marvel at India’s success in maintaining its status as the world’s largest democracy. With a population of 1.2 billion and more than 20 recognised languages and faiths, it seems a miracle the country has responded to adversity with reinvention, not disintegration.

At a time when many Western countries are struggling with the challenges of pluralism and emerging economies are opting for state autocracy rather than messy democracy, India may provide an essential role model for how tolerance, freedom and growth can co-exist.

Thomas Jones jumped into this melting pot when he left Bala for India in the 19th century and the country’s readiness to take the best of other cultures is demonstrated in the reported popularity of scones and Welsh lacework in the Khasi Hills. Poet Nigel Jenkins’ study of Wales’ links with this area, Gwalia In Khasi, won the Arts Council of Wales Book Of The Year award in 1995.

In sharp contrast with Wales, Presbyterianism is thriving in this corner of India. The city of Shillong is now home to the Thomas Jones School of Mission & Evangelism.

Reports of the 1904 religious revival which swept Wales and resulted in an estimated 100,000 conversions reached the Welsh-planted congregations who prayed for similar events in India – two years later 8,000 people had joined the Indian churches.

And in 1910, 24-year-old Watkin Roberts, whose life had been transformed in the Welsh revival, went as a missionary to the Hmar people, also in northeast India. The British saw the Hmar as notorious headhunters and Roberts enjoyed little initial success but within two generations thousands had embraced his message.

One of the few early converts was a man named Chawnga. His son, Rochunga Pudaite, came to Wales on the 100th anniversary of the Welsh revival to thank the nation for Roberts’ work.

Since 1971 he has had the dream of giving a free copy of the New Testament to all the families of the world, and more than 16 million have now been distributed through his charity.

The secularisation of Wales is reportedly a concern to churchgoers in both the Hmar and Khasi hills. It is possible, in coming decades, missionary fervor will propel Indian preachers to communities which Jones and Roberts once called home.

Just as British colonial rule in India shaped the nation, the country’s economic might, creative and spiritual energy will run through Europe in the rest of this century.

In December Welsh business people will go on a trade mission. But their aim is not to bring solutions to Indian problems. Rather, they hope to make crucial contacts, discover new technologies and strike glittering deals. Britain – and Wales – cannot dominate India in the years ahead but there is every chance for a partnership driven by respect and adventure.

via Walesonline

Mizoram Click as a Team, Finally

By Shamik Chakrabarty

Mizoram football seems to have arrived on the national scene finally. The win against Kerala in the Santosh Trophy pre-quarterfinal match on Wednesday, which took them to the elite quarter-final stage for the first time, has set the tournament alight.

Suddenly, Beingaichho Beokhokhei & Co, with their electrifying pace and short-passing game, are among the favourites to win the title.

Team manager Vanlal Ngheta is confident about going the distance. “The win against Kerala is a huge boost and now we are aiming big. The boys are young, very fit and agile. We are missing our top two stars S hylo Malswamtlunga and Lalram Luaha owing to injury.

But in Beokhokhei, skipper Zaidin Moya and Robert Lalthampuana we have quality. We are definitely a title contender,” Ngheta told The Indian Express.

This despite the lack of infrastructure in the state. “We don’t have a single proper football ground in the state. Boys practise on hard grounds. The local football set-up is also not something to speak of. Only six teams play in the first division league and there is not a single academy to groom the youngsters,” Ngheta said.

“The state government is interested in football. They support the game financially as private sponsorship doesn’t exist. The government is also planning to build a good stadium,” he said.

Notwithstanding the odds, there has been a steady flow of talents from Mizoram. Malswamtlunga, Luaha, Robert, Beokhokhei, PC Lalawmpuia — all have been representing the top clubs in the country. But unlike their next-door neighbour Manipur, they have so far failed to taste success as a team.

“Young talents are usually picked up by the spotters of the Tata Football Academy and SAIL Academy and are nurtured there. From there they burst into the big league. Sometimes there is help from the North-East Council as well,” Ngheta said.

Without a proper training facility back home, the Mizoram team arrived in Kolkata 15 days before the Santosh Trophy. They did some conditioning in Aizawl, and here they have been using the SAI facility.

Delhi Games Put Accent on Sounding British

By Sanjoy Majumder

"Delhi Metro welcomes you. Before taking your seats, please check to see that no suspicious, unidentified articles are lying under it," a young Delhi Metro trainee says, looking up nervously after finishing his announcement.

"S-u-s-p-i-c-i-o-u-s," his instructor, Alka Gupta, prompts him. "Go on repeat after me."
"Suspicious," comes the hesitant reply.
I am at the Delhi Metro training institute where a special class is under way.

The class puts an emphasis on mastering a clipped British accent

It is a spoken English class and the students, all dressed in crisp yellow shirts with matching ties, are trainees who will eventually go on to work on the underground rail system.

Mostly in their early 20s, they have been hired after a stiff entrance test and interviews for a job, that for many of them, represents a major opportunity.

In October, the Indian capital Delhi will play host to the Commonwealth Games.

With large numbers of foreign tourists expected to visit the country during the event, India is taking steps to ensure that they have an enjoyable stay.

Regional accents

For the staff of the Delhi Metro this means brushing up on their English language skills and being trained to replace their local, Indian accents with clipped, British ones.

None of the students in the class are native speakers of English and the emphasis is on making sure they speak the language with the right pronunciation.

My English was never very good. But now I am much more fluent and a lot more confident”

Delhi Metro worker

Ms Gupta is from the Delhi-based British Academy for English Language and has been doing this for 17 years - teaching English language to those not familiar with it.

"The trainees who are here come from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and have a strong regional accent," Ms Gupta explains.

"So we first have to reduce their accent and then after neutralising it, we have to give them British accents, since that's the correct way to speak English," she says.

To try to simulate their working environment, the trainees are put through role-playing exercises.

So, in one exercise, a Metro staff member tries to assist a foreign tourist - played by one of the other trainers speaking in an accent that sounds like a cross between an American drawl and broad Australian.

"Since we have these Commonwealth Games coming up, they need to communicate with foreign nationals. If they cannot follow their English, it's going to be a problem," adds Ms Gupta.

Confidence boost

And with the Games just months away, there is a real sense of urgency.
"We are gearing up and we are training all our frontline staff, since we expect a lot of foreign visitors to come to Delhi and we want them to have a world class experience," says Praveen Pathak, the vice-principal of the Training Institute.

The Commonwealth Games are set to take place in October
At the Delhi University station on the Metro's Yellow Line crowds of passengers are coming up from the underground stations on escalators.
Others are gathering outside ticket counters with big glass windows, where metro staff deal with their queries - everything from tickets to which station to get off at and what local attractions there are to see.
"Good morning, how may I help you?". Customer care agent Kailash Chowdhury smiles as he tries to help a student from north-east India find her way to her destination.

Like many of his colleagues, Kailash has been through the English training sessions and is anxious to put his newly acquired skill to practice.

"My English was never very good. But now I am much more fluent and a lot more confident," he says. "My vocabulary has improved tremendously too."
The Delhi Metro is the pride of India's capital city. And why not? It is air conditioned, the stations are spotless, the trains are quick and always on time. It is a convenient way to swing across this vast city.

And for those foreign visitors who may choose to use the service, things may just have got a bit easier.