Metaphor for new Indian middle class

By M H Ahssan

The Shatabdi is definitely the perfect metaphor for the middle class in India, which is morphing and sneakily changing, but in its own way, using its own logic.

Many of us have trouble picturing exactly who the members of the great Indian urban middle class are. Though we talk about them all the time, it still is like pornography: “I’ll know it when I see it but can’t exactly describe it’’. When visiting western businessmen talk, with a gleam in their eye, of investing in India because of the growing middle class, one is a bit worried about what images they carry in their heads about this group. The trouble is that our consumer base is so variegated, that even field research, away from meeting rooms, provides every kind of anecdotal evidence, to confirm any kind of mental picture that anyone might have, on any count.

A recent trip from Delhi to Rishikesh on the Shatabdi was a ‘eureka moment’. The Shatabdi is definitely the perfect metaphor for the middle class. Santosh Desai of Future Brands wrote once that the autorickshaw is a metaphor for India.

It can weave its way in and out of utter confusion, is ugly, noisy and inconvenient, but it serves the purpose quite well, at an incredible low price. Unlike an amusing bumper sticker on a Volkswagen that said: “when I grow up, I will become a Mercedes”. The autorickshaw will not grow up to become a car. It will — and is — becoming a much better autorickshaw. But after seeing the Shatabdi, the thought occurs that the autorickshaw may be a metaphor for the lower SEC (socio-economic class) C and D Urban India (roughly the second and third income quartiles of urban India); but the Shatabdi is definitely a metaphor for upper middle India: SEC B, the lower end of SEC A2 and the top end of SEC C (the 5th to 25th or 30th percentile by income of urban India). Roughly that is about a 75 to 100 million people, and is the middle class that we think about.

The Shatabdi is a higher being than the regular train, even if it uses the same old railway station. Even the non-executive, coach class, is quite steeply priced, demand is greater than supply. It comes with an e-ticket, and a certain “culture class” of customers that fits marketer’s definitions of “The Middle Class”. The chair car is definitely like an upper middle class drawing room, and though the air conditioning works well, there is a cocktail of many strong smells in the air. Some of them you soon get used to, even welcome, partly because the strong smell of the cleaner assures you that cleaning has actually been done.

Having not been on a Shatabdi for many years, one was struck by how “upwardly mobile” it had gradually become. And yet, how it has stayed the same on many counts too. Looking at the overhead baggage racks (open racks still), it is clear that a luggage revolution has happened. Smart suitcases (when compared to what we used to see earlier), lots of soft luggage, nylon backpacks — but the same old coolie system, even their uniforms unchanged!

The luggage rack definitely made a statement about what progress Consumer India has made and the attitude it now sported, based on what luggage they were ‘wearing’. No uniformity here, no herd mentality, lots of individualism. No boring single brand here, this was the full blown variety of the gray market, importing from around the world! (The same, by the way, can be said for the winter wear of the passengers. No more aunt knitted hand-made sweaters. Wind cheaters of all hues, and machinemade sweaters and caps. And also of the closed footwear. No cumbersome heavy leather shoes in sight anymore.)

Then came the newspaper boy, in uniform, with an entire range of newspapers. As one clumsily reached into the wallet, after having picked four newspapers, the paper boy says with a cheeky “don’t you know” grin that it is free — on the house, just like in airplanes! The seats actually recline smoothly and the age-old train feature of a ring to place the water bottle in still exists, but now has bottled water, on the house, not carried from your house.

Breakfast comes — same old sad looking contents — in fact much worse quality because it is pre-packed. But the packaging has improved in leaps and bounds. The chana was in a sealed foil container and the baturawas actually more a kind of bread-batura than a conventional batura, folded in the shape of a cone and in a wrapper that made me think it would definitely grow up to be a croissant beater. But the “separate tea’ is here, tea bag, low grade plastic hot water flask, dairy creamer, packed sugar on the side.

The toilets were filthy. Some things never change. But on the other hand they had a roll of toilet paper — a definite evolution in sophistication from the past. However, the toilet paper was dangling from an improvised holder comprising a plastic string. The metric this writer uses to see the state of evolution of a society is the cleanliness of its public toilet and the number of people who light a cigarette under a no smoking sign. By these metrics, both Russia and China are not so great. Our airport toilets are cleaner now but train toilet are not yet so. When will Hindustan Unilever, the messiah of mass consumption, collect some consumer insight on how we use dirty toilets, and give us individual use products that can help us on this count? But that is the subject of yet another article.

The highlight was the customer satisfaction survey that was handed out. It not only was a very well designed questionnaire by a leading market research agency, it had to be self filled, and small disposable plastic ball point sticks, no doubt made in China, were handed out with each. The dimensions of evaluation also reflected the more evolved, higher order needs the new middle India has — cleanliness of compartment floor, windows, and uniforms worn by the staff, as compared to a general cleanliness question that we would have asked earlier; aesthetic appeal of the compartment (definitely a higher order need!), temperature of the meal and body language of the serving staff.

Of course, everyone was on their mobile phone either working or socially networking throughout the journey and a few young salesmen were also on email. When I got off at Haridwar, and was looking for the car that was supposed to pick me up, my coolie said to me impatiently, why don’t you phone the driver, how can he not have a phone!

This is middle class India, morphing and sneakily changing, but in its own way, using its own logic. Just like the Shatabdi.

Opinion: Keep a close eye on the middle

By M H Ahssan

Somewhere between the late eighties and the early nineties, a new word — “disintermediation” — was silently introduced into our collective consciousness and vocabulary, especially in the context of the financial sector. It was a bit like how the words “paradigm” and “synergy” have attached themselves, uninvited and somewhat unobtrusively, to our conversations.

Disintermediation is no longer restricted to the financial sector and it is changing many parts of our familiar world. Many other unfamiliar parts will also alter immutably. But, yet, there might still be some parts of this world that will continue to require a middle tier.

Disintermediation, when it was introduced into the Indian market jargon, simply meant savers taking their hard-earned savings directly to those who needed it most — that is, companies setting up projects — instead of lending it to intermediaries (such as banks), which then eventually lent it to the companies. The word was used repeatedly in the perspective of developing the Indian capital markets. It is another matter that in the meantime a larger number of intermediaries have reinforced their presence in the capital markets.

But, beyond the framework of the capital markets, the word “disintermediation” found new currency during the internet boom and, once the dust settled, in all kinds of consumer offerings. The term also inspired new theories on organisational structure and management strategy. What disintermediation simply meant was cutting out the middleman from — or delayering — a company’s supply chain or distribution networks. For example, Michael Porter’s value chain concept became the foundation for re-engineering corporate structures to e-commerce applications.

Two examples of disintermediation are threatening to change two industries beyond recognition.

Reams have already been written about Apple’s iTunes and how this business model has changed the music industry. Apple realised early on that the internet would modify the music distribution business forever. That model — which has the sale of hardware layered on the software promise — has now become the defining template for music distribution. It peeled off many layers — such as, the music stores and the distributors, all of whom meant additional costs for the ultimate customer. But, there are further changes coming, which drive the disintermediation process further and promise to even do away with the need to buy hardware to access the software. A new service called “Spotify” allows users to hear songs of their choice from a virtual jukebox, all free, provided they agree to listen to 20 seconds of ads between 30 minutes of uninterrupted music.

The songs can only be heard, not downloaded, reducing the piracy threat for music companies. The promise becomes attractive, given the easier access to the internet today, especially through mobile phones. It not only does away with the need to carry an iPod around or manage shelf-space overflowing with CDs, but it also has music labels signing on to offer their music. The service is still developing, but it has already created a buzz.

The second example is “Kindle”, an e-book reader launched by Amazon, which is now in its second version. It would be instructive to remember that Gutenberg’s invention freed ordinary people from the tyranny of priests and godmen, when he made available printed copies of the holy texts and scriptures at affordable prices. That was disintermediation 101. With Kindle-2 comes the second phase. With the help of the net, readers can download books, magazines and newspapers on their e-reader, which can then be read at leisure. Most importantly, if Amazon becomes a publisher also (which is not too distant a likelihood), the Kindle would have eliminated — in one stroke — the whole middle kingdom of agent, publisher, distributor and book shops. Sure, the Kindle-2 still has a long distance to travel — readers are unlikely to give up the printed, paper version completely in favour of a Kindle (at least, not yet), or eschew the option of browsing in a bookshop. But, the field has been set and a game is certainly afoot. Watch this space to see how traditional publishers respond to this challenge, especially with Google and Sony also adding their hats to this e-space.

But, despite the seeming invincibility of disintermediation as a business process, a few things in life will always come with middle-men. For instance, our desire to live a life of good health is no longer within our control. Doctors have taken over every aspect of our health and maintain a stranglehold over the whole medical well-being business. With all of us leading complex lives, there is no way we could even begin thinking of a disintermediated surgical procedure.

There is another category which we love to hate and yet cannot eliminate from our lives — politicians. Post 26/11, many embittered citizens asked resentfully whether we needed politicians at all. The emotional outburst at that moment was understandable, but we elect politicians to govern on our behalf. If they’re abolished, we have to police ourselves, clear the garbage, or finance and oversee road-building through mosquito-infested swamps. The least we could do is elect the right guy and then monitor his work, his questions in Parliament or the quality of his debate. Since we have to live with this devil, we might as well keep an eagle eye on him.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE: ADVANI TO CANDIDATES

By Kajol Singh

To pre-empt the possibility of BJP leaders landing themselves in a soup because of their remarks, the party has sent out clear instructions that they should refrain from making inflammatory speeches

BJP was on guarded in its response to the course of action adopted so far by Varun Gandhi, who courted arrest amid high drama in Pilibhit on Saturday. Having made his point, the Gandhi-Nehru family scion, the party felt, should seek bail and get down to campaigning for his maiden election bid, and let the law take its own course. The party brass has simultaneously asked its candidates to exercise restraint in its speeches.

“The charges levelled against him in the video CDs have not been proved whether they are true or false. He says the voice in the footage is not his,” BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani told newspersons here on Sunday afternoon. This was the first time the BJP veteran has articulated his views on the subject.

Mr Advani chose to go public with his views on a day when the police filed a case against Varun Gandhi and slapped on him several charges, including an attempt to murder, following the violence when he was arrested here for reported hate speeches Saturday.

The cases were filed against Varun Gandhi, senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra and former legislator B K Gupta in the Kotwali police station of Pilibhit.

“While Varun Gandhi has been booked under Section 144 (unlawful assembly), Mishra and Gupta have been booked under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” superintendent of police Prakash D said.

“Besides Section 144, Varun Gandhi and his 13 supporters have been booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 331 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confusion), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act and also for destroying public property and rioting,” Pilibhit district magistrate Ajay Chauhan said.

These sections are part of the same first information report (FIR) registered against Varun Gandhi, he said.

District authorities said the BJP leaders had provoked party workers to indulge in violence. However, BJP, Mr Advani said, has already disassociated itself from the remarks attributed to him in the CDs. “But it’s the first time that the Election Commission has told a political party not to make a person its candidate. The Constitution has not assigned such a role to the poll panel,” Mr Advani contended.

The saffron party, after due deliberations, has already rejected EC’s advice. “So far as the party is concerned, we feel that it has taken the correct stand in keeping with the law,” Mr Advani asserted.

However, to pre-empt the possibility of its candidates landing themselves in a soup because of their remarks, BJP has sent out clear instructions that they should refrain from making inflammatory speeches. “I’d urge our candidates to exercise restraint,” Mr Advani said.

The party feels Mr Varun has, by organising a show of strength before courting arrest, made his point. “The prudent thing for him would be to let the issue die down, secure bail and get on with campaigning,” BJP sources said.

As for the reports that the state government had, after taking cognisance of the events that unfolded in Pilibhit on Saturday before and after Mr Varun’s arrest, slapped grievous charges against him, BJP leadership was not unduly perturbed.

“By embarking on such a course, the authorities will only end up providing him with the opportunity to project himself as a martyr. If you persecute him, he’ll sooner than later come to occupy political centrestage,” was how party leaders saw the developments unfolding.

Mr Varun, according to BJP, had acted in haste initially when he approached the Delhi high court seeking anticipatory bail. He then realised his mistake, and took the sensible decision of surrendering before the law. “For a political person, this was the best course available,” said party sources.

Through the lens of elections

By M H Ahssan

Elections reflect the nature of our democracy. They show that ours may be the largest democracy in the world but it is not one that rests upon the public presentation of reasons.

Elections in India are like the game of cricket. Initially attention is focused on the process of selection, or more appropriately, nomination of the team members who will contest seats, and next on winning the game. As the date of elections comes close, media and political astrologers swing into action predicting the possible outcomes of the game. And when the day of reckoning dawns, everyone is fixed to the monitors seeing how each ball adds up and contributes to victory for one and loss for the other.

As is inevitable in any great spectacle what catches the eye and becomes the main subject of conversation are the activities of specific individuals — the political leaders and their key associates. Who is standing with whom, when and where, who stays away and who comes in wearing heels but not pink, become matters of continuous interpretation, leading to speculations about future alliances and break-ups. It is no different this time. Indeed, every evening the excitement builds up as possibilities of new alliances surface and old ones seem to fade away.

But what does this tell us about the nature of our democracy? The common lament — one that is expressed by the media and the analysts during election period — is that political parties indulge in personality targeting and shy away from raising ‘issues’. The reality, however, is that political parties get away with commenting on statements made by an individual because that is what we rush to them for.

There is also the question of what is meant by discussion of issues. Even a quick look at the campaign trails shows that political leaders speak of issues, but they are in the form of what was or was not accomplished. Election meetings resound with charges and countercharges; who provided housing and employment for the poor, who gave cheaper rice or waived loans; who stood by the minorities and who is firm in their resolve to fight terror.

So issues do get raised and punches are thrown at each other in staged media confrontations. What does not find space is a sustained debate about what would be the policies favoured by a political party on a specific issue — say, the environment or education or agricultural growth. As is the case everywhere, our country too faces challenges and there are concerns that citizens have about their security, housing, employment, the future of their children, to say the least. How would political parties deal with these issues? What are the differences between them on these matters? What are their priorities? If they were to initiate one project or policy on matters relating to environment, what would that be?

As a democracy we emphasise the importance of casting the vote, even though the vote becomes an asset only when the citizens are in a position to make informed choices. Informed choices, however, are not possible as we do not debate specific policies and alternatives on a given issue. It is not, therefore, surprising that people have no option but to choose among leaders, and, at the local level, the patron with some clout, whether that is family ties, wealth or simply terror.

The striking feature is that the media and the intelligentsia which never fails to lament the absence of serious discussion and debate in Parliament too is obsessed with comments on the day’s occurrences rather than an intensive debate on key areas of policy and decision making. It is almost as if everyone believes that policies must be left to specialists or that there are no significant differences between most political parties and irrespective of who comes to power existing policies would continue with few significant changes.

Elections thus reflect the nature of our democracy. They show that ours may be the largest democracy in the world but it is not one that rests upon the public presentation of reasons. While the thinking and practice of democracy is moving towards a public justification of judgements, actions planned and taken, we focus on reiterating and recounting what was or was not done. It is not reason but rhetoric and emotion that clinches discussions and shapes, by extension, the choices of the voters.

If the recent elections to the American Presidency captured the collective popular imagination it is because justifications were publicly given and sought for future policies, domestic and foreign, economic and social. We could vicariously participate in them because reason transcends national boundaries. So, even though arguments were presented before the American electorate we could all listen, reflect upon them and make an assessment on hearing both sides. It is not quite the same in India and political parties alone are not to blame for this. If we look at the past few weeks, particularly since the elections were announced, we are all, media, the intelligentsia and the middle classes, complicit in this.

The peculiarity also is that this apparent limitation, and perhaps even a weakness, of our democracy has yielded mixed results. If in the early period of coalition politics it made governments unstable and dependent entirely on individual caprice, in recent times it has facilitated the free (unburdened by past record) coming together of political parties in pre- and post-poll alliances. Since explanations offered for making and breaking of alliances are simply announced on public forums rather than justified in an open debate with another, actions are not constrained by reason. At a time when no one political party is able to win a simple majority in the Lok Sabha, this flexibility has been transformed into an asset, one that can be used to keep the government in office for a full term.

Political opportunism, crossing over for individual gains and positions, sloganeering and walkouts are not simply symptoms of the gradual erosion of our democracy. They are a direct consequence of the nature of our democracy — one that is laid bare before us during the period of election. So long as we are busy tallying votes, predicting results and receiving press briefings from selectors, coaches or captains, we are unlikely to see the many ways in which we are ourselves implicated in giving this form to our democracy.

POWER PLAY - Indi'a Most powerful CEOs

By HNN Research Desk

Great leaders know that power is all about bringing about deep and lasting change — which can never be achieved through coercion

Power has many definitions, depending on the context. In maths, it's the product obtained by multiplying a number by itself, like two to the power of three is eight. In physics, it's the rate at which work is done, expressed in units of watts or horsepower. In people-terms, my favourite definition of power is from an old organisational behaviour text which simply says, "power is getting people to do what they otherwise would not do."

This little definition has stayed with me while I've forgotten almost everything else I learnt in business school because it's been re-enforced time and again in real life. It neatly links power to the ability to bring about change, for if there's one thing people do not otherwise do, it's change. This, in turn, links to leadership, which is about bringing change (as opposed to management, which is mostly about promoting order and efficiency).

Powerful leaders, by definition then, are those who bring about the greatest positive change in society, improving the way people live, they way they relate and the way they think. This might be achieved by coercion, through rules and regulations that people must follow whether they like it or not. But most often, if it is to have a lasting impact, it is done by persuasion. Powerful leaders represent a great idea, which others make their own. They persuade people to do what they otherwise would not do through the force of their personalities.

Every year, HNN Corporate Dossier magazine commissions IMRB to conduct a survey to determine India Inc's Most Powerful CEOs. The project starts inhouse, with a long-list of CEOs prepared by The Economic Times Intelligence Group, based on the size of the companies that the CEOs control. After that, the survey goes into the public domain, with roughly 500 executives in senior, middle and junior management across five cities doing the selecting. They are not allowed to pick their own group CEOs, but others who don't have direct power over their lives and careers.

In the five years it's been running, the top rankings in the survey have been occupied by business leaders who have had a great positive impact on Indian society. They have introduced products and services that improved the lives of their customers. They have created wealth for their investors. They have grown the business of their suppliers and dealers. They have created a pool of highly talented employees. And most importantly, they have influenced they way we think about ourselves.

For the first three years of the India Inc's Most Powerful CEOs survey, the man at the top was NR Narayana Murthy. The glory of Infosys was then at its height and its CEO held unquestionable sway over India Inc. But power, as everyone knows, is a sifting thing, and its hard for any single person, however iconic he might be, to retain his hold on people's minds in perpetuity. Last year, NR Narayana Murthy seceded the top position to Mukesh Ambani and slipped to third place. This year, the survey has thrown up a brand new No 1. And there are several interesting changes at the top, reflecting changing perceptions in a period of slowdown.

Set to hit the news stands on 3 April 2009, the special edition of Corporate Dossier (CD) containing the results of the India Inc's Most Powerful CEOs survey features several articles on the theme of power. The lead article analyses the historic relationship between economic and political power in India, right from the days of the Harappan civilisation. There have been periods in history when those with economic power have managed to wield political power (The East India Company being a case in point) and then a period of backlash when those in political power sought to gain economic power (the License Raj).

In another article, business historian Gita Piramal analyses the way corporate power has become more democratic, with the old business houses giving way to new-gen entrepreneurs. She also looks at the fate of the PSU chiefs, who wield considerable power in terms of the assets they control and the large number of stakeholders they affect, but who never seem to climb very high in the power rankings, possibly because they are seldom in the public eye.

Then there's a pictorial page, featuring some of India Inc's prominent boardrooms, from the effecient-looking Bajaj Auto board room to the opulant Aditya Birla group board room in the western region. On a lighter note and on the eve of the IPL touranament, CD puts together the Indian Promters League, a dream cricket team.

Lastly, the CD special issue features 'Musings On Power', a series of very candid interviews with Deepak Parekh of HDFC, NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys and Sunil Mittal of Bharati Airtel. The panels alongside would give you an idea on how they handle this crazy little thing called power.

Israel missile ad BOMBS in India

By Vir Khanna

Dancing around trees is out. Cavorting around missiles is in. Using the matkas-jhatkas of a Bollywood item number, Israeli armament company Rafael has let loose an unusual advertising missile this time.

Unveiled for the first time during the Aero-India show in Bangalore in February, Rafael’s advertising music video to woo the Indian defence establishment and the public at large is evoking incredulity and derision in equal measure, both in the web world as well as South Block. “We are buying a whole host of missiles, ranging from SpyDer air defence systems to Python air-to-air ones, and other equipment from Rafael. Their products are good. But this advertisement is quite tacky... like a C-grade Hindi movie song,” said a senior defence officer. The over three-minute music video shows a man, presumably Rafael, wooing a woman, representing India, by singing a song which goes something like this: “We have been together for long... trusting friends and partners... What more can I pledge to make our future strong?”

The woman, in turn, hums back: “I need to feel safe and sheltered... security and protection, commitment and perfection, defence and dedication.” Then, there is a chorus by the accompany i n g group of g yrating d a n c e r s, who look to be of Israeli-origin but are dressed in Indian costumes, which proclaims, “Together, forever... I will hold you in my heart... we will never be apart... Dingadinga, dinga-dinga, dinga-dee.”

That’s not all. The man “promises” to “defend and shield” the woman and “fulfil” all her expectations and meet all his “obligations”, even as the entire group dances around missiles to the music beat. For good measure, there are pictures of Goddess Durga and Hanuman strategically positioned in the background. Despite attempts, no one from Rafael could be contacted to shed light on what seems to be a marketing pitch gone completely awry.

Israeli officials are always reluctant to talk about the burgeoning military ties with India. New Delhi, too, tries to keep the relationship under wraps due to domestic political sensitivities.

Israel, on its part, has emerged as the second-largest defence supplier to India after the 1999 Kargil conflict, notching up sales worth around $1 billion a year.
The relationship is now further heading north. Just last month, for instance, the UPA government quietly inked a Rs 10,000 crore project with Israel to develop advanced medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, capable of detecting and destroying hostile aircraft and spy drones at a range of 120 km.

The joint DRDO-IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) project, despite being in the pipeline for over two years, was on hold till now since CBI had named IAI and Rafael in the kickbacks case in the original Rs 1,160 crore Barak-I deal, sealed by the previous NDA regime in 2000.

On a wing and a vote prayer

By M H Ahssan

Is it a whirly-bird or a plane? It’s the cash-rich Indian political league flying high this poll season

Forget recession, it’s boom time for helicopter and aircraft charter companies. The ongoing poll season will see top leaders of all parties criss-cross the country over the next three months and the charter industry is looking at raking in upwards of Rs 200 crore.

Chopper and small plane rentals have shot up. The costliest private planes that cost about Rs 3 lakh an hour have been hired from ‘friendly’ industrial houses for top leaders.

Helicopters, that offer unparalleled connectivity with the ease of landing anywhere including playgrounds or roads, are predictably in maximum demand. The rates for choppers, say industry sources, is upwards of Rs 60,000 per hour. They can go up to Rs 2.5 lakh for twin-engine ones, if some leader desperately wants this flying machine on a tight day.

There are two other categories of flying machines in demand: Small turboprop planes that can do up to 600km in less than two hours; but the most expensive ones are the jet aircraft hired only for top leaders like Sonia Gandhi and L K Advani. “Helicopters represent 60% of the total demand and will do several thousand hours of flying in poll season. Small turboprop and jet planes will be 30% and 10% of the total demand,” said Manav Singh of Club One Air, one of the pioneers of this field.

As a result, big, small and sarkari players are all having a field day. John Kuruvilla of Deccan Charter — a JV of Captain Gopinath and Vijay Mallya — said the company has 10 choppers. “As of now, four are on election charter and from April 1, six will be flying politicians. Four of the 10 choppers are with long-term clients and can’t be pulled out,” Kuruvilla said.

The Bell 206 can seat four passengers, fly them to a range of 500km and is going for Rs 75-80,000 an hour. Deccan’s faster Bell 407 is going for Rs 90,000 to Rs 1 lakh an hour. The five-seater twin engine ‘Squirrel’ has gone for a cool Rs 1.1 lakh per hour, he added.

Chopper operators say the demand has risen in past one month. Parties who held talks with chopper firms last month but didn’t finalise terms are now coming back with at least 20% higher offers to get these machines. Jyoti Gupta of Monarch Aviation that currently has three Enstrom-480 B choppers said: “The demand is very good and no number of choppers would be enough with any one at this moment.”

Apart from political parties, government agencies are also hiring choppers. “In areas like Lakshadweep and Andamans, ballot boxes have to be flown to islands,” said R K Tyagi, chief of state-owned Pawan Hans.

While the mid-segment of small turboprop planes is being used for flying up to 600km, the most expensive remains the jets being hired by top leaders. “Sonia and Advani will be using the latest Falcon 2000 that is being hired from a big south Indian company,” said sources. These flying castles in air cost about Rs 3 lakh an hour. All in all, the aviation industry — reeling under slowdown and high oil prices — is heaving a sigh of relief.

Hic! Villagers up their ‘brand value’

By Sri Balaji

Gone are the days when netas would woo voters, especially those in remote villages, with a Rs 100 note along with a biryani packet and a cheap liquor bottle. Today’s voter will not settle for anything less than branded liquor along with a Rs 500 note to cast his/her vote in favour of the candidate.

With hardly a fortnight left for the elections, leaders of all the parties have begun to face the “hiccups” what with villagers refusing to accept cheap liquor. “On a quarter bottle of branded liquor we have to spend nothing less than Rs 100 whereas cheap liquor costs a mere Rs 20. But without batting an eyelid the villagers say they won’t attend rallies or meetings if we don’t provide branded liquor,” a candidate of a regional party told HNN.

Sources said some of the candidates are cagey about spending on liquor as they are not sure of victory. “The voters have realised our weakness and have upped their demand to exercise their franchise,” another aspirant of a national party observed.

Penchalaiah, a worker hailing from Erpedu mandal, hit the nail on the head when he said: “The netas cheat us with false promises. After all, they come to us once in five years only to beg for votes. So, why can’t we cash in on that.”

That the voters are not going to be floored by liquor/cash freebies doled out by candidates was visible in several constituencies of the district.Sixtyfive-year-old Venkatamma of Kattamanchi in Chittoor said: “I accept money from all the parties since this is the only time to make a few bucks. But I will vote to a party of my choice only.”

Meanwhile, with the voters demanding branded stuff, liquor shops have hiked the rates. Some shops have even started displaying ‘no stock’ boards.

“With the demand for branded liquor ever increasing, leaders are busy dumping the stock from outside the state as they don’t have much time to woo the voters,” an analyst said.