October 2018 English

Vol 7 Issue No.84 Oct-Nov 2018

NBFCs are digitalizing inclusive growth Shri V.P. Nandakumar MD & CEO, Manappuram Finance Ltd.

THE DIVINE ART OF FINDING SUCCESS

IN BOTH SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL REALMS

Padma shri Dr. Kurian John Melamparambil

Printed by: Ajit Ravi Published by: Ajit Ravi Owned by: Ajit Ravi Printed at: St. Reddiar & Sons P.B. No: 3627, Veekshanam Road, Cochin Published at: Pegasus, L5-106 Changampuzha Nagar Kalamassery Ernakulam-682 033 e-mail: editor@uniquetimes.org uniquetimesindia@gmail.com Ph:0484 2532040, 2532080 Mob:+91 98460 50283, 94470 50283 Editor Ajit Ravi Sub-Editor Vignesh S.G Associate Editor Ravi Saini Editor-In-charge Jebitha Ajit Legal Advisor Latha Anand B.S.Krishnan Associates bskrishnanassociates@gmail.com Correspondents Dr. Thomas Nechupadam Vivek Venugopal- Quarter Mile Amrutha V Kumar Karthika S Nair Marketing UAE Phygicart.com P.O. Box: 92546, Al Karama Dubai Mr. Anish K Joy Mob: +971528946999 info@phygicart.com Plot No 19A, 9th Floor, Green Building, Film City, Sector - 16A, Noida - 201301 Tamil Nadu Vice president Uma Riyas Khan chennai, Mob: 9841072955 Unique Times, No.6/31, Arunachalam main road, Saligramam, Chennai – 600093 Andhrapradesh & Karnataka PEGASUS Ph: 09288800999 Sunilkumar NN, Saneesh Ashok Your wing Dr. Susan S Sunny Director Shwetha Menon Photographer Ashique Hassan Creative Design PEGASUS Cover Photograph Padma shri Dr. Kurian John Melamparambil

Editorial T

ry not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value, the world-renowned scientist Albert Einstein said. Our cover story unravels the life of a rare kind of businessman who weighs value in equal measure as that of money. Read the inspired story of Padma Shri laureate Kurien John Melamparambil, a man who finds happiness in giving more than receiving. Kurien John, the founder of the Melam group and MVJ Foods which brings out a range of quality products under the brand name Melam, is a rare human being who has realized the divine art of finding success in both spiritual and material realms.

Chairman and Managing Director of Manappuram Finance V.P. Nandakumar in his regular column explains about how Manappuram Finance has changed the age old activity of lending money against gold jewellery with the increasing use of technology. He also predicts that India’s financial services sector stands on the cusp of another technology revolution and the gold loan NBFCs will be seen at the vanguard.

Our expert on Auto gives a glimpse of the rare features of the newly revamped version of new Honda CR-V. Travel says about Mayotte, a rare island in Africa which is also called the Africa’s France.

Stories on beauty, stock market, gadgets, Aadhaar, banking, success, movie review, and book review are there. I sincerely hope you find as much joy in the issue as it brings me.

Dr. Ajit Ravi

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CONTENTS

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16

NBFCs are digitalizing inclusive growth

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Cognitive diversity in Tomorrow’s business landscape

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Padma shri Dr. Kurian John melamparambil: The divine art of finding success in both spiritual and material realms

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Way Ahead to Ease of Doing Business

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AadharThe constitutional challenge

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46

48

52

54

58

46

Gadgets

48

Recipes

52

Beauty tips that will help you to look stunning on camera

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Romancing with Africa’s France

58

New Honda CR-V

UNIQUE DIARY

NABARD grants huge sum to revive irrigation system

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n a bid to give a new impetus to the Indian agricultural sector, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has granted a huge sum of Rs 65,635 cr as loan to develop nearly 93 irrigation projects, which, the government believes, are necessary to support several fertile farmlands across the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana.Actually, the aforesaid irrigation projects have been designed as part of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. As per the scheme, the central government and respective state governments should fund the proposed irrigation projects. What the NABARD has given now is the share which is supposed to be given by the centre and respective state governments.

Devastating floods affected Kerala and Karnataka likely to cause long-term adverse impact on coffee farmers

"There are no secrets to success.

It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure".

Colin Powell

T

riggering the feelings of worry and fear in the minds of coffee farmers, a recent study report has announced that the devastating floods that affected the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka are likely to make a long-term adverse impact on the coffee farmers whose coffee plantations are situated in the floodaffected regions. Earlier, there were reports that the recent floods damaged at least one-fifth of the total coffee plantations situated in the flood-affected regions. As per a source’s opinion, the authorities are trying to come up with a feasible policy to help those farmers who have been badly affected due to the present situation.

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India to curb the import of some non-essential goods

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n order to tackle the difficulties that the unchecked import of certain goods has caused in the Indian economy, the Indian government is set to impose some restrictions in the import of some non-essential goods. The proposed restrictions are expected to affect the import of furniture, electronic items and, even, steel. The Indian authorities believe that through the implementation of the proposed restrictions on the import of some non-essential goods it can overcome the current account deficit and reduce pressure on the Indian rupee. The final decision over the restrictions will be taken by the central cabinet. It is said that senior officials are in favour of the proposed restrictions.

India less likely to impose retaliatory tariffs against US goods soon

"Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It's the best part of the day".

George Allen, Sr.

D

eclining from engaging in an aggressive trade dispute with the United States, the Indian government has decided not to impose any retaliatory tariffs against the goods exported from the US to India.The retaliatory tariffs were proposed by India in retaliation to the controversial decision adopted by US President Donald Trump on March 9 to impose heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium goods.The Indian retaliation to the Trump’s policy was originally announced on August 4. The date of the imposition of the policy was earlier extended till September 18. And, later, an additional 45 days extension was announced in September 18, citing that the US and India is at present discussing a way out of the crisis.

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UNIQUE DIARY

Pakistan says no to Indo-Afghan trade route

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he most sensitive news reports the Indian South Asian affairs reporters have publicised this year are of the proposed trade route connecting India and Afghanistan through Pakistan. The crux of the report is that the US convinced Pakistan to let India and Afghanistan open a trade route using the land owned by the most powerful Muslim nation of South Asia and the prime rival of the largest democratic country in the world. Anyway, while speaking to the representatives of popular media houses, a senior Pakistan official has strongly refuted the news reports that has backed and circulated the aforesaid assumptions.

Uttarakhand receives appreciation for its achievements in PMGSY implementation

"Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art".

Andy Warhol

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iving an indirect blow to all those states which are less enthusiastic about the execution of the central sponsored schemes and projects, the northernmost country of Uttarakhand has received a special appreciation for its notable achievements in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

Under the scheme, each state is supposed to meet the target of 1,500 km. The swiftly developing state of Uttarakhand has easily crossed the target, and constructed 1,839 km roads as part of the scheme. The Chief Minister of the state, Trivendra Singh Rawat, has thanked all those officials that have worked hard to achieve the target for the state.

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BUSINESS

The benefits of digital finance—financial services delivered through mobile phones or the internet—have been widely noted. Digital strategy is enabling NBFCS to reach out to new target segments faster than ever before. Technology imparts scalability to businesses, enabling greater reach into under-penetrated markets.

Shri V.P.Nandakumar MD & CEO Manappuram Finance Ltd.

NBFCs are digitalizing inclusive growth

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s a developing country with a large part of its population facing poverty, driving financial inclusion has been a key priority for the government of India. Financial access underpins economic opportunity.

As economic growth picks up, financial inclusion becomes essential for making the growth process equitable and to ensure that its fruits are widely distributed. In India, the major reasons for financial exclusion are poverty and low income levels, financial illiteracy, high transaction cost, and the lack of infrastructure, especially IT infrastructure. The banking system and the 'priority sector' lending mechanism have been widely used in the past to try and extend the reach of formal credit institutions.

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However, while the global average of adult population with an account (at a bank, financial institution or with mobile money providers) is about 62 percent, India lags behind at about 53 percent.

Against this backdrop, there is no denying the importance of NBFCs in complementing the banking sector and reaching out to provide credit to the un-banked sections of society. Indeed, it is the ability to tap the unbanked customer base that lies at the heart of the growth story of India’s NBFCs. Most credit seekers in India lack documentary proofs of income as they work mostly in the unorganized sector or the cash economy. When data in the traditional format is not available, adoption of digitisation and recourse to digital (including social

media) data become inevitable.

The Digital Strategy The benefits of digital finance— financial services delivered through mobile phones or the internet— have been widely noted. Digital strategy is enabling NBFCS to reach out to new target segments faster than ever before. Technology imparts scalability to businesses, enabling greater reach into underpenetrated markets. The availability of accurate and real-time information leads to faster decision making and reduced turnaround time for loan disbursements. It cuts down on the need for human intervention, thereby making approval, disbursal and repayment processes faster, simpler and less error-prone.

Besides, better compliance with lending regulations, more efficient

tracking of customer transactions, and reduced operational expenses are some of the other benefits of the use of technology. Importantly, with digital technologies enabling the extension of financial services at much lower cost, the activity becomes more profitable. This has the direct effect of boosting efforts towards financial inclusion as catering to the limited requirements of the poor becomes worthwhile when lower cost makes the whole effort profitable.

Digital finance, therefore, has the potential to provide access to financial services for poor people in India who would otherwise not be of interest to mainstream players in the financial sector. It can significantly increase the volume of loans extended to individuals and businesses. In recent years,

along with data, smartphones too have become more affordable, and these have become game changers for digital finance. India has the world's second largest internet population. It is also the biggest smartphone market after China and mobile phone penetration is growing quickly. Mobile payments can lower the cost of providing financial services by 80 to 90 percent, enabling providers to serve lower income customers profitably.

In 2016, India introduced another innovation called India Stack which is described as “a series of secured and connected systems that allows people to store and share personal data such as addresses, bank statements, medical records, employment records and tax filings and which also enables the digital signing of docu-

ments.� The data can be accessed and shared via Aadhaar biometric authentication. The India Stack framework will make the new digital economy work seamlessly and it has created the ecosystem in which financial institutions can offer consumers access to all financial products on their mobile phones by enabling presence-less, paperless and cashless service delivery. With the ability to operate in real time, transactions such as making loans or opening a bank account that earlier took a few days to complete are now instantaneously performed through a fingerprint or retina scan.

This world-class infrastructure is poised to drive innovation in financial services and financial inclusion in the years to come. The India Stack infrastructure includes

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e-Sign, e-KYC (Know Your Customer) via OTP (One Time Password), DigiLocker, Unified Payment Interface (UPI). It can also be extended to eNACH or electronic National Automated Clearing House (which allows automated recurring payments by customers). These tools allow one to authenticate identity, sign documents electronically, provide proof of age, and set up electronic EMI instructions. When combined with mobile internet and paperless financial services, it has the potential to transform India into a technology leader of the world. It may be mentioned here that most developed countries do not have government-owned and managed secure infrastructure for instant identity verification, or signing documents electronically.

Thanks to this digital infrastructure, India is poised to leapfrog the rest of the world in financial services delivery by ensuring that every citizen can access any financial product almost instantaneously on their mobile phones, without paper, cash or physically signing documents. The government has enabled the infrastructure with foresight and an eye on financial inclusion, and without compromising on information security.

Technology and the next phase of growth for gold loan NBFCs Until now, the leading gold loan NBFCs have been using information technology mainly to improve operations efficiency. This was achieved by building a centrally managed application that is simultaneously accessed by all branches for each and every transaction.

Moreover, the gold loan business has traditionally run on a branchbased model due to the physical collateral involved which makes it necessary for the customer to visit the branch for valuation and storage. The model also involves a fair amount of physical paperwork and

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therefore the related inefficiencies are inevitably a part of the process.

However, with technology interventions, there is an opportunity to make these processes efficient and paperless.

Information gathering by data entry through pen and paper often result in a higher turn-around-time and error-prone data. The solution is the use of chatbots and RPA (robotic process automation) for the customer on-boarding process, so that most of the application data is filled up by chat bots without much human intervention. Tools like chatbots and voice bots that will not only help reduce operations

One important part of the gold loan business has so far been left out of the ambit of technology, and that is the lockers. Lockers are an essential and critical component of the gold loan business.

spend but will also provide consistent experience to customers. When supplemented with image processing software to read off details from standard government documents such as Voter-ID, PAN card etc., the process of filling a loan application form becomes easier.

One important part of the gold loan business has so far been left out of the ambit of technology, and that is the lockers. Lockers are an essential and critical component of the gold loan business. Currently, due to the necessity of having to open the lockers frequently, the keys to the lockers are held with branch staff who operate within

a vicinity of five meters from the locker during working hours. For obvious reasons, this is a major security risk. To manage this risk, a possible solution would be the use of IoT (internet of things) based eLockers integrated into the central server through the IT network.

The eLockers can only be opened by making a request through the system followed-up by a One Time Password (OTP). These eLockers would be entirely managed (be it opening, closing, auditing, remote monitoring etc.) by encrypted IT systems. This will enhance security of the gold stored in it. Besides, the use of M2M (machine to machine) communications protocol will enable remote monitoring of the stored gold.

The business of lending money against gold jewellery is an age old activity whose practices remained unchanged and bound in tradition for many, many years. Things changed only with the entry of the gold loan NBFCs in the nineties, particularly after Manappuram Finance Ltd. entered the gold loan business. We were the pioneers in introducing technology to this ancient activity and injecting modern management practices to scale up the business. Today, as India’s financial services sector stands on the cusp of another technology revolution, gold loan NBFCs will be seen at the vanguard (V.P. Nandakumar is MD & CEO of Manappuram Finance Ltd. Views are personal.)

BUSINESS

Rajesh Nair Asociate partner-markets, Ernst & Young LLP Rajesh is also the President of the Kerala Chapter of TiE Global

Literature has also traditionally classified words like empathy, care and nurture as feminine words. These impressions over the years have excluded them from the active workforce. The industrial revolution further discriminated them from physically arduous work in mills and factories and provided employment to a handful in offices and the ‘paper environment’.

Cognitive diversity in Tomorrow’s business landscape

W

e normally look at future as a logical extension of the past.

Our surmises and conjectures are often based on incremental changes in technology. But, with the tectonic impact of exponential and combinatorial innovations, the future could be a lot different from what we see from the drawing board Today.

The core of most of these changes can be looked at from the Prism of Moore’s Law –a concept from the 70s which simply suggested that the processing speed of a computer chip that we can buy for $1000 roughly doubles every 18 – 24 months. And, this is not just engineering technology, but even biological sciences see these effects –the dramatic cost decline in human genome sequencing from a whopping US $10 Million in 2008 to around US $800 Today. At the helm of these exponential changes are two important themes –Combinatorial and Recursive.

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Combinatorial Innovation:

Most innovations Today are more combined and integrated than ever before. Seemingly, engineering concepts like machine learning, deep learning, IOT are combining with genomics to produce impressive capabilities in gene editing. Innovations Today encompass and cause changes across a variety of sectors. The same technologically advanced human gene editing technologies like CRISPR –Cas9- can help us make breakthroughs in healthcare with cures to diseases like cancer.

Recursive Innovation:

It is also the ability to self-amplify, observe and course correct, that is drawing attention. Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing are helping robots to reprogram and upgrade themselves. A lot of scientists firmly believe that the future is near where these AI systems with be able to out learn and out think human beings by a stretch. Futurist Ray Kurzweil

calls this ‘Singularity’ –the moment when computers finally win and surpass human grey matter capabilities. So are we playing God? Craig Venter, the genius behind some seminal genomics works, quips: “Well, somebody has to!”

And, now the controversial concept of exogenesis –the idea of growing the baby outside a woman’s body in an artificial womb- is the new one in this series.

With the surfeit of devices comes the vast troves of data which cover every facet of life –Anthropological to Physiological to Metaphysical. The latest analytical help us cull out further information in formats which are cognitively easier to grasp. These tools also influence to shape us and perhaps to invent us. Even technologies can help you surf the world sitting on your arm chair –Samsung VR, Oculus Rift and Microsoft Hololens can help you hike the Himalayas or swim with the piranhas in the Amazon. Most of these are about

the process of automatically converting unstructured information to actionable knowledge.

Literature has also traditionally classified words like empathy, care and nurture as feminine words.

These impressions over the years have excluded them from the active workforce. The industrial revolution further discriminated them from physically arduous work in mills and factories and provided employment to a handful in offices and the ‘paper environment’. The first real breakthrough was the healthcare and education sectors which seemed to favour their physical disposition and did adequate justice to their mental faculties.

But, the digital revolution of the last two decades has completely

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BUSINESS

changed this notion. With the advent of the knowledge worker, we have also been able to adequately find opportunities for women.

Many economists opine that the rapid phenomenal growth of the IT sector in India is because we could leverage our women workforce. A significant section of our educated women who were busy in household work, found a place in the industry. Another sector is the business process outsourcing industry, which was also at the heart of India’s initial economic spurt, and by definition it required flexibility and unusual work hours.

That kind of work model attracted a lot of women.

The changing structure of the working day into flexible hours and connectivity that allowed ‘remote working’ further facilitated the same. We are suddenly facing a watershed period in global business history of being benefited significantly by having women leaders who think differently, display high levels of fiscal jurisprudence and

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bring a sense of stability to the workforce.

Diversity is not just a compulsion and fashionable but an opportunity to get a senior with an array of composite skills and competencies.

An interesting comment which runs in our investment banking circles –‘Why did Lehman brothers fail?’ … The cheeky answer – ‘Because they were not Lehman sisters!’ Perhaps, it is an important point as well.

But, in all these changes and shifts, human happiness and collective prosperity and flourishing will come only by bringing several ideas together –which, at the core, is about more embellished human existence. But, increasing amount of AI applications is not relegating mankind low wage drudgery or forced idleness and unemployment. The best cognitive jobs are not disappearing –it is the mundane repetitive tasks which are easing out. What will be exciting to see is the cognitive diversity, which will usher in –with the best minds and best AI tools working on problems and exploring synergy together and not pitting a competitive space. AI can prepare detailed backup intelligence which will enable to take better strategic decisions.

The best employers of the future will have human resources and AI working side by side to leverage combinatorial innovation and recursive dynamics

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Padma Shri Dr. Kurian John Melamparambil:

THE DIVINE ART OF FINDING SUCCESS IN BOTH SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL REALMS

The story behind the establishment of the brand may surprise you. It was originally established by Mr Kurian, to meet the expenses of his charity organisation M V J M Charities (at present, Melam Foundation) that was founded in the name of his late father Melamparambil Varghese John. Now, you know why this Padma Shri laureate is different and why his business is special and unique.

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ormally, people start business to earn money. For that reason, people sometimes try many ways to find success (in other words, acquire profit in their business). This creates a feeling that business is only suitable for those who wish to make a lot of money within a small timeframe through any means. That is nonsense and not true.

The writer knows a person who has started his business for finding funds for his charity programs. This information may surprise you.

But, it is one hundred per cent truth. There is a man like that. He is none other than renowned businessman and philanthropist Kurian John Melamparambil –the brain behind popular brand Melam.

The story behind the establishment of the brand may surprise you. It was originally established by Mr Kurian, the former senior executive of Malayala Manaroma, to meet the expenses of his charity organisation M V J M Charities (at present, Melam Foundation) that was founded in the name of his late father Melamparambil Varghese John. Now, you know why this Padma Shri laureate is different and why his business is special and unique.

Before going deep into Mr Kurian’s personal and business life, it is important to understand what prompted him to start the Melamparambil Varghese John Memorial

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Charities (Melam Foundation) to understand the man better. It is sad to note that it was the unexpected demise of his beloved father that urged this man to establish a charity organisation in the name of his father. Though his family was financially well-secured he could not save his father from the cardiac arrest due to which he passed away as the unfortunate incident happened on a Sunday –in those days, doctors were not available on Sundays.

That incident opened his eyes and heart and revealed him his purpose of life. His charity organisation, which was started in the year 1986, was born out of a feeling that no one should be deprived of medical assistance even due to the lack of financial resource. It is vital to note that the philanthropist still has the feeling that had his father been given the kind of treatment he required at the right time, he could have been saved.

Let’s break that part of his story here. Let’s go back to Mr Kurian’s business life. He is a very lucky person. He is one of those few who have erected an enviable business empire from an empty pocket. It does not mean he was too poor to find the initial capital himself when he started the business. But, it definitely means that through his brilliance, he managed to articulate a unique formula (bootstrapping) to establish a highly successful business venture without investing a single penny even though

he had money in his pocket to invest as a capital for his business. It can be assumed that his divine goal keeps him unbeatable in whatever journey he ventures into and help him navigate his way towards his success effortlessly.

The Melam Group and the M V J Foods, which brings its products to the market under the brand name Melam, have been constantly growing since its birth. With the support of the profit earned from the company, Mr Kurian has been steadily expanding his philanthropic activities through the Melam Foundation. So far, the charity

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foundation has assisted more than one lakh and fifty-four thousand poor people through over one thousand and twenty-five hospitals.

Mr Kurian uses a democratic process to find those who genuinely deserve his organisation’s financial assistance; it is to be noted that the elected representatives also play a vital role in the process.

He has received several prestigious awards for his contributions in the business and social service sector. Recognising his contribution in the social service sector, he was felicitated with the Padmashri Award in the year 2010. His company is

also the four-time recipient of the National Award for Outstanding Performance in Export. Mr Kurian was also awarded with the National Award for Outstanding Entrepreneur in the year 1997.

Now, he devotes almost all of his time exclusively for the social service activities. For him, his business was only the rocket that helped to put his charity organisation in the right orbit. He believes that his business has done its part perfectly. At present, he is an active member in several charity organisations committed to wipe the tears of the deprived; the Mahatma

He has received several prestigious laurels for his contributions in the business and social service sector.

Gandhi International Charities, Ashraya Charitable Society, Indian Red Cross Society, Mithram Charitable Society of Parents of Mentally Handicapped and International YMCA are some of them.

Mr Kurian is on a divine mission. It is his family which stands as a strong support in his eventful journey. His wife, Sujatha, is his biggest support, well wisher and guide. This perfect couple is blessed with two charming daughters: Divya and Dhanya. Both contribute extensively to help accomplish their father’s goal.

The entire life of the legend-

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ary businessman of Kerala, who has been respected with one of the highest civilian awards of the country, is beautifully articulated in the book ‘Zero to Zenith’. There are around thirty-seven chapters in this book. Each one is better than the other. The book clearly portrays the school, college, personal and business life of this extraordinary personality. It also describes the incidents which have made significant changes in his life including the unexpected demise of his father, the minor and major mistakes he committed in his young age, the circumstances which have prompted him to take some tough, but important, decisions in this life and business. The book also helps us get a small glimpse of the beautiful love story between Mr Kurian and his wife, Sujatha. It is pertinent to note that the book gets positive reviews from two highly respected personalities Dr Shashi Tharoor (the Member of Lok Sabha) and Justice K T Thomas (a former judge of the Supreme Court

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of India). Notably, the book also elucidates in details the magical formula Mr Kurian has used to create a powerful business empire from almost nothing, bootstrapping.

As Mr Kurian is one of the first businessmen who have successfully experimented the challenging technique of bootstrapping in Kerala, it is vital to understand how he has managed to done that. The book actually offers a good chance to understand the risky strategy of venturing into the challenging world of business with minimal resources to chase big dreams, from that person who has tamed the tricky technique skilfully. In reality, no one can explain the technique better than Mr Kurian. The book is recommended to all aspiring businessmen and business students. At a time, it serves both as a reference and as a motivator. There is life in each and every nook and corner of this book. It is that which makes this book different and attractive to all kinds of readers.

Mr Kurian had been an ordi-

nary man like us, until he met his purpose of life. It is important to understand our purpose of life and rewrite our priorities and redraw our directions in the way that helps to pay justice to the purpose for which we are born in this world.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”; Paulo Coelho.

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BRUSSELS:

THE BEST GATEWAY TO KEY EUROPEAN MARKET

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eet the very enterprising, pleasing and committed Trade Commissioner at the Belgian Consulate, Chennai, Mr. Jean-Francois Aernouts. We also had effective inputs from Mr. Reinout Van Hullebus, who travelled all the way from Belgium to Kochi.

He is responsible for the operations of Brussels Invest and Export at North-America, UK, MENA & South Asia regions. He is here to facilitate beneficial trade between Belgium and India. They both talked and shared ideas extensively on why Brussels is the right choice to invest if you are willing to tackle the European market.

Belgium Trade representation is at Chennai for 7 years now. Every year the Consulate General’s office plans seminars and roadshows in different Indian cities. This year, they are reaching out to Kochi,

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Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Delhi. Mr Jean-Francois, based out of Chennai, is delighted to meet hundreds of companies regularly during the seminars and road-shows, they organize across the country.

Diplomatic relations between The Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of India were established more than 70 years ago and have remained friendly ever since. As two vibrant democracies, India and Belgium share common values and have a similarity on a number of issues confronting the world.

Belgium is the second largest trading partner of India in the European Union after Germany making Belgium the second largest commercial partner of India in the European Union and 9th worldwide. Among all the EU27 Member States, the largest surpluses in trade with India were observed in

Germany (+3.2 bn) and Belgium (+1.9 bn). At present, a large part of exports comes from the diamond sector. Over 80% of these are Diamonds. Belgium cut diamonds are still the best in the world. There is a business specialized ecosystem designed, uniquely strategized incubators for sectors like IT, Robotics, Life Sciences etc. Nearly 25% of the world vaccines are produced in Belgium (for eg, if you talk about life sciences which had been promoted for more than 30 years now). The government has devised so many friendly incentives which can be beneficially used for R&D, innovations and investments.

The tax rates have been lowered tremendously to help the investors and business in the country.

Brussels, the Capital city of Belgium, continues to hold its position as a favourite destination for many foreign companies accessing

the EU markets. A strategic location with clear logistics, cultural and economic advantages, Brussels continue to be the investment gateway. Many Indian companies have been notionally considering UK as the EU headquarters / representative office for Europe, which is being reconsidered, amidst the potential realignment of trade and economic policies in the region.

Britain’s proposed exit from the EU membership (BREXIT) has created flurry of diverse thoughts among the investor community, who considered London/UK for EU market access for trade and investment. In the wake of events, which is shaping the socio-economic- political future of EU as a strategic market bloc, Brussels plays a significant role. The UK represents a smaller but important market. You cannot surpass the significance of having an office in London. However, Europe is a wider market. After Brexit, it’s not the same single market anymore and there could be administrative difficulties to work between both UK & rest of EU. Even the immigration or customs are going to get affected if it is going to be a hard Brexit. So post Brexit, it became even more important to tackle the European Union from outside London.

So now to access the EU market, probably no other city in Europe rivals Brussels for its strategic location at the nexus of economic and political decision-making in

Europe, not to mention its location at the heart of a European market of 500 million consumers. Brussels is a truly an international city, situated at the crossroads of Anglo-Saxon, Latin and Germanic cultures.

The location, infrastructure and human capital is making Brussels unique and thus portraying it as an attractive business hub.

World Investment Report, 2012

by UNCTAD has ranked Belgium in the 2nd Position in terms of FDI attractiveness. Many Indian companies were daring to look beyond the domestic market and fascinated by the “global markets”. Along with Industrial conglomerates such Tata, Mahindra and Reliance etc., the technology era has given birth to a whole lot of information technology corporations such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro etc., from India. Piggybacking success stories of front runners, many more medium and small Indian companies are willing to explore the global markets for various reasons such as quality, better value, newer customers etc.

There are a lot of Indian nationals in Belgium, increasing every year following the growth of India.

Records state a 5 to 7% increase in the number of work permits and the number of people who get residency in Belgium.

Brussels being at the heart of Europe is the best gateway to the region. Brussels has the best possible ease of doing business facility and 100% foreign ownership in

Belgium. The country has entered a double-taxation treaty with India that has helped to escalate trade between two nations. Brussels is very competitive on tax rate from 2018, compared to the neighbouring regions. There are no hidden surprises for you are directly dealing with the government, when you invest for your business in Brussels.

The cherry on the cake is, for the first job you create i.e. the first person you employ in Belgium, will be free of professional charges, which is a saving of more than 30%, and this is exclusively for the whole life of the job no matter who sits in the position. There is a new tax benefit coming up which is a reduced corporate tax rate for business owners.

For SMEs, the tax rate goes as low to 20%, and it’s still lowering for other sectors.

Diversity here, is amazing, so that expansion to entire Europe is easily achievable. Belgians are quite famous for their great adaptivity, which explains the reasons why you see a growing number of Belgian CEOs across the world. Even though English is the language used for business communication, majority knows three national languages: Dutch, French and German. Thus, hiring someone who knows these four languages can easily launch you to more than half of Europe, whether it is Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, or even Africa. It is very economical com-

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pared to the neighbouring major commercials centres, whether it is London, Paris, Frankfurt or Berlin. The thought of renting or buying a property in Paris can turn you crazy but it will be much economical and cheap to live in Brussels and take a train to Paris in an hour and 20 mins.

The quality of life is exceptional in Brussels. All components put together, Brussels is the best location in Europe to be in to do business.

In any kind of business, the biggest challenge being identified is the cultural difference. Brussels Invest & Export decided to hold hands with a local partner here in India to address this. Mr Alex T Koshy, Director, SAS Partners who is currently their local connect, commented that “Their

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engagement with SAS Partners is a serious proof of commitment in culturally engaging with India.”

The consultant identifies, interact and motivate the Indian businesses in considering Brussels as their investment gateway to Europe.

They translate their business objectives so that Brussels team could extend maximum possible support. As a part of their Welcome Package, Brussels Foreign Investors Hub provides you with a 3 months’ incubator, 3 months free of charge with a co-working space, free Wi-Fi, meeting rooms and lounge area, which would help you enormously for your market study. hub.brussels is the Economic Development Agency of the Brussels Capital Region and is born with the ambition to make Brus-

sels the most attractive European country to undertake and intelligently grow your business. hub. brussels, above all, is more than 300 attentive, dedicated and passionate employees and a promise to accompany you in your most daring project of EU expansion.

What more you want than tailored support, free tools, proven expertise to enhance your autonomy, facilitate your decisions, expand your knowledge and deploy your network, gain confidence and excellence, bring you close to the success in Brussels. Business models have changed across the world. European customers do identify that you are serious about your business by having a physical footprint in Europe. Choose to be at the heart of Europe. Explore Brussels, it’d be worth it

Ravi Saini

M

ake in India initiative will not be fulfilled if necessary market feedbacks are ignored.

There is a general perception prevalent in the market that the government is creating the Acts or amending the Acts in a hurry, without taking it into consideration whether its objectives will be fulfilled or not. But, the other perception is also there that the government is sensitive towards public concerns and is ready to bring about necessary changes or amendments accordingly. Some recent amendments to the company act have criminalised the act of non filing of returns with Registrar of Companies (ROC) and imposed heavy penalty over such acts.

There are many companies that are struck off that are neither shell companies nor involved in any unlawful activities. The government needs to review the portion of the company act that distinguishes a company from “benami” or “shell” and frame proper guidelines.

There are many companies which may be dormant and may have not been started or doing business for past few years. But, these companies should not be given an unfair treatment as it will add a huge financial burden on them for getting them restored once their names are struck off

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There are many companies that are struck off that are neither shell companies nor involved in any unlawful activities.

The government needs to review the portion of the company act that distinguishes a company from “benami” or “shell” and frame proper guidelines.

from ROC. If anyone feels that their entity needs to be restored, ROC should take an affidavit from them and allow provisional restoration for a year. If all their filings are completed before the prescribed timeframe of one year, it is permanently restored. The recognition of their entity will stand till the occurrence of a future violation which demands striking off the company.

Trust me, striking off companies and DIN disqualifications will not deter the wrong-doers, but will definitely cause irreparable damages to the prospective visionary first generation entrepreneurs, struggling businessmen and also to the nation.

The intents of the government were that all the wrong-doers must be dealt firmly and a system is created to bring more and more businesses to the honest working system so that the image of India is improved. But, has it been successful? I am afraid, it has not. Why, because generally either the wrong doers comply with the regulatory frameworks through manipulations or leave nothing behind for the government to be benefitted. It is also suggested that there should be no late filing charges if a company is not in the taxable bracket, as otherwise it will be a criminal wastage of time, money and energy, par-

ticularly if the company is forced to chase the government or judiciary for its restoration.

The key change will make it easier for holding companies to give loans and financial assistance to their subsidiaries and joint ventures. Once the amendments take effect, no shareholder approval will be required for such transactions.

Experts point out that the proposed changes will make structuring of transactions easier and will further ease of doing business.

Another significant change relates to loans is that a company can extend to its directors and persons that a director is ‘interested’ in.

The law prohibits a company from granting a loan to its director or his relatives or to • any firm where such director or his relative is a partner, or • a private company where the director is shareholder or director, or • a corporate where the director has 25 percent and more voting rights or management control.

But, now, a slight modification to this provision will allow a company to extend loans and security to such entities, but on approval by a special resolution (that is, approval by at least 75 percent of shareholders present and voting).

The other condition is that the loan funds can be used by the bor-

Way Ahead to Ease of Doing Business

rower only for its principal business activity. However, those loans given directly to a director or his relatives will continue to be prohibited.

The problem is that the present section does not allow any type of loan between a holding company or a subsidiary company where there is a common director. Therefore, the only option left with the holding company to fund the subsidiary company is by way of equity shares or preference shares, which may have adverse tax implications.

We believe that the proposed amendment is positive, since it gives shareholders the discretion to approve such transactions.

This is a very progressive amendment. In respect of the transactions contemplated under this section, there are only two stakeholders who are involved in

this. One is the board of the lending company, and the other is its shareholders. With the proposed amendment, the shareholders can confirm that the company will not lose money because of directors’ arbitrary decision, satisfying the needs and requirements of all stakeholders. This is how it should ideally be.

Incompetency or forced ignorance It is so sad that schools have started taking kickbacks from teachers, peons and clerks (by giving more in their accounts and taking good portion back in cash). The majority of private schools and hospitals are in control of goons and mafia and are run in connivance of the government administrators.

This has put the exploitations of

students or parents and teachers at its all time high.

It seems social media is majorly used by those who are either looking at the media as a source of entertainment or as a tool to pass the time. We all have been given just one birth, just one only.

We owe a lot to the country in which we are born in and we must contribute as much as quick as we can, because tomorrow may be too LATE. Be loyal to your nation first, secondly to the organisation you work for and then to your family if you wish to see an empowered you and the society you live in. Freedom without responsibility has no meaning. Both, the public servants as well as the general public, must come together to find permanent solutions to one of the the biggest issue “Ease of Doing Business”

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Vinod Kumar

The identity needs a sense of ownership of everything. The proprietor then seeks control and dominance of the environment. Then is the need for certainty. The individual gets severe fixation on implementing his favorite and deliberate plans.

Dispute T

here are four people and have been living for a few days in the same flat.

Every activity fitted into a routine. All the four members were aligned and understood this routine. Everything moved with clockwork precision.There was no sign of a dispute and not even unhappiness. But then as you know, status quo has time limits. Consistency may not be constant. Routines have a shelf life and the same became the case in the group with four people. While doing the same and doing nothing, a new idea popped up in member A. Why cannot we get a new colour for our walls?

Somebody had told him about wall paper with designs. With the pop up of this idea, began the disruption of the existing harmony. If the idea of change on the colour of the wall did not originate, then there the harmony could be sustained.

This member A, cannot contain his own enthusiasm of originating this idea. He Immediately wanted to discover methods to implement it.

But then status quo, sequences and the semblances of repeatability are essential for the functionality of any product .If the change in the wall colour has to happen, then members B and C have to relent.

They have to forego their rights to the comfort of continuity. It is costly for members C and D to part

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with their conveniences. Member E, was even emotionally attached with the previous wall colour. It was distressing for member E to discard his association with the previous paint on the wall. Almost sentimental.

The disputes have begun.

The intrusion with the new idea for member A, has shaken the established norm. What was the established norm? Some fortification of code of conduct. A protective wall of method of operation. An inherited legacy that no one wants to challenge. Or even a tradition that is passed on to new generations, that of reverence. What is the need to shake the roots of that establishment? Even the High Courts and the Supreme Court are looking for clarity. Look at the latest judgement on Article 377 of IPC. This verdict by the Supreme Court has decriminalized this sexual conduct of gays and lesbians. The generations have moved on.

What is your credibility and credential to assume that changing the colours on the wall is a less serious offence than that of the LGBT relationships. The conservative and orthodoxy of society are petrified at this new verdict. Just like members C and D cannot allow the change in the colour of the paint, in the same way, many parents cannot accept that their

children have different orientations of sex. The disruptions are there to stay. Much certainties will collapse.

Many correct behaviors of the past will become more fluid. The rigid mentalities and the robust thought processes will collapse into fluidity. Whether this change will get recognition, acknowledgement will depend on the wisdom of the civilization.

How much ever you were glued to the patterns, habits, behaviour and, perception, this huge drill of disruption will choose you, as a target. Confrontations and conflicts will never say goodbye to you. You simply cannot wish that, it will go away.

So then what is the solution?

Can you wish that this new idea that popped up in member A will have a natural death in itself?

Or that no new idea will ever be produced? To maintain status quo, the existing wall paper on the wall must be extremely seductive. It must retain it's appeal and attraction. All must get tempted by the doctrines and Orthodoxy, else people will want to drill through it and move on. If something has to be sustained, it must have Adhambar, Abushan, Alankara and Abharana.

Yes. Aakarshana is essential to retain subscribers, to your views. In India, they call it as Vishnu. When the Vishnu of the product becomes diluted, then new ideas will take it's place. You may call it the new ideas as Brahma. This is a direct conflict between Brahma and Vishnu. The ancient Indians found a way to revere the conflict itself. The new

pop up idea, called Brahma. For this to operate, it is in conflict with the status quo. That is the Vishnu.

A conflict cannot happen without transformation and disruption.

You may call that as Shiva. So let's go to the source of the dispute. By what skill can we synchronize these three functions? That is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. This is the paradigm inside orbit one. Knowing this, we can decide to elevate to orbit two.

Do we have a solution? The solution is in the transcendence.

Orbit one, has it's own features and characteristics. The individual has an identity. The identity needs a sense of ownership of everything.

The proprietor then seeks control and dominance of the environment. Then is the need for certainty. The individual gets severe fixation on implementing his favorite and deliberate plans. But this orbit one is prone to get exposed to counter attacks. It has properties of contrarian and contradictory principles. Confrontations are inevitable here. Disharmony, fights and other regressive attributes cannot be deleted or erased from this orbit one.

Orbit two is different from Orbit one. Orbit two espouses possibilities for collective living. The benefits are shared to all. People here live in groups devoid of an individual existence. Progress of the group is the objective of all who live in Orbit number two. All conveniences and comforts are for the common cause. In Orbit two, the recognition of commonality in everybody is paramount. There is much buoyancy here. Turbulences are rare . The sheer heaviness due to the size of the group is the most stabilising factor . In India, it is ‘Sanghe Shakti Kali Yuge’. At these times, the difference and separateness is rampant. Then the solution is to, come together, be together, work together and stay together.

Yes, the word together cannot have enough emphasis here because the word together is your most precious survival kit. Orbit two also has exposure for the heat from external predators. Some strong

predators want to penetrate and dismantle your togetherness. Once again, you are vulnerable to be hurt and injured.

What is the recourse when Orbit two is also attacked? Earn through exertion, the new thrust and drive. Much energy is needed to transcend out of the gravity of Orbit two. There is an Orbit three and that is of universality. In Orbit three, you open up to being an infant once again - an infant is helpless. Acquire the gratitude and the humility. Open your fists and let go of all it's content. Choose to lie now in the lap of eternity. Let the universality decide to pamper and cajole you. Know that everything burns out and away inside the frame of infinity. Get the deep rest and the much needed relief.

The Orbit three is constant and tranquil. It is a transcendence out of the new ideas, the old doctrines and the strength of disruptions.

In Orbit three, you are connected to the new charge . You are linked to new energies . You are empowered with stamina and enabled with strength. Here alone you can be empowered with courage .

In all you get the significant voltage. With the new charge and the new voltage, you can experience a sense of completeness . Once you are serviced and overhauled totally, then you may decide to cruise back. Back into the Orbit two and then into the gravity of Orbit two.

Recharge , refurbished and a reinvented personality. Your happiness is contagious . Percolate your happiness into all the members in Orbit one. They get uplifted and inspired . The sexual orientation of the people as decided by the court,

or even the verdict on the colour on the wall are all of transient status. Nobody wants to invest in a conflict or dispute, which is evident of transient status. You have the capacity to demolish the ideas of permanence in the entities of Orbit one.

Your accountability is to reorient all the people in Orbit one.

That the four members, of the group and the families around and the children, and the parents can all open up to transitioning out of Orbit one. The Holy Trinity or even the Trimurthis can rejoice into transcendence. The universality will prevail. Wisdom of living is the only method to arbitrate the disputes and conflicts. If the civilization has the wisdom, then they will resolve to subscribe to the methods of universality, and eternity. It is an experience of abundance, victory that will allow you to offer all that you have to the field of eternity .

Even all the sexual orientations and verdicts from the courts can be seen as transient. Can you discover an alternative method to resolve disputes?

Sangathchadwam Samvadadwam ! You can decide on the methods of breathing techniques and meditations. Traditions and cultures are the works chosen by duration and time. When the details of Brahma and nuances of Vishnu, get together, then there is alignment. The Shiva principle becomes pacified into this alignment, then our focus is on the Social Progress Index (SPI). In the Orbit four, then, all are diluted. The disputes and conflicts can do the melt down. And then merge and evolve, into one big happy family

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FINANCE

Adv Sherry Samuel Oommen is a practising lawyer at High Court of Kerala who specialises in tax and Corporate Laws.

Presently he heads the tax and corporate law practice of Nash Capital Partners. Apart from being a qualified lawyer, he is also a chartered accountant, cost accountant and a company secretary. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate Degree and is reachable at sherryoommen@nashcp.com.

A

adhar is a 12 digit unique identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Post its introduction, “Aadhaar” has been the centre of many discussions and debates.

The genesis of the India’s grand experiment towards a unified and unique identity system began with the introduction of the unique id (UID) scheme for poor families by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in 2006. This was followed by the setting up of the UIDAI in 2009. By this time the Aadhaar had transformed from being a scheme which aimed at purging counterfeit identities in the system and closing the gap in targeted welfare deliveries, to the world’s largest biometric ID. As much as this has raised enthusiasm as to the ways in which latest technologies can be leveraged, it equally raises doubts on whether

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The introduction of Aadhaar as a unified system of identity from the start raised many eyebrows. The collection of biometric data of citizens and the involvement of private agencies without statutory safeguards were few of the many reasons that were a cause of concern. The Supreme Court subsequently referred the question of the validity of the Aadhaar to a fivejudge constitutional bench.

there is a right to privacy and the true intentions of the state.

The government’s gung-ho efforts in patronizing the Aadhaar has caused some amount of backlash. The question on the validity of the Aadhaar has caused the Supreme Court to hold its second longest hearing in its entire history.

The doors of the Supreme Court were knocked upon by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court, Justice KS Puttaswamy in 2012 whose contention was that the Aadhaar was an infringement on privacy. The Supreme Court took cognizance of the concerns of the petitioner and passed an interim orderin September, 2013 which in effect prevented the state from making the Aadhaar compulsory till the larger issues were dealt with.

The introduction of Aadhaar as a unified system of identity from the start raised many eyebrows.

The collection of biometric data

of citizens and the involvement of private agencies without statutory safeguards were few of the many reasons that were a cause of concern. The Supreme Court subsequently referred the question of the validity of the Aadhaar to a fivejudge constitutional bench. During the proceedings, the sensational question of whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right was raised in light of collection, storing and dissemination of an individual’s bio-metric data in the Aadhaar system. The bench decided to refer this to a nine-judge bench, to adjudicate whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right.

The question of privacy has been raised in earlier instances also. The position arrived by an eight-judge bench of the Supreme Court in the case of M P Sharma in 1958 was that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right. This view was affirmed by a decision of a six-judge

AADHAR-

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE bench of the same court in Kharak Singh in 1961. In both cases, the Supreme Court arrived at an unfortunate conclusion that the Right to Privacy was not protected under the Indian Constitution.

Quoting of Aadhar for filing of tax returns The Government of India vide Finance Act, 2017 had inserted a new section 139AA in the Incometax Act, 1961 (“the Act”), requiring every person who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar to quote his Aadhaar number in the return of income with effect from July 1, 2017. It was also provided that if any person does not possess the Aadhaar Number but he had applied for the Aadhaar card then he can quote

Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form in the ITR. It would also be pertinent to note that section 139AA provides for linking of Aadhar with PAN. Interestingly, the validity of section 139AA of the Act was challenged before the Supreme Court in Binoy Viswam vs Union of India [2017] 82 taxmann.com 211 (SC).

In the said judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of section 139AA of the Act by repelling the contentions predicated on the footstool of Article 14 and Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

However, notably, the provisions of section 139AA of the Act were not examined in the context of privacy rights as enshrined in Article 21

of the Constitution. It was held by the Supreme Court in the case of K S Puttaswamy vs Union of India writ petition (civil) no 494 of 2012 that though privacy is a fundamental right inter alia traceable to the right to liberty enshrined in Article 21 (Protection of Life and Personal Liberty) of the Constitution, it is not an absolute right but subject to limitations, which have been stated below.

The following are the triple test which need to be satisfied for judging the permissible limits for invasion of privacy while testing the validity of any legislation: 1. The existence of law; 2. A legitimate state interest; and 3. Such law should pass the test of

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proportionality. The third requirement ensures that the means which are adopted by the legislature are proportional to the object and needs sought to be fulfilled by the law. Proportionality is an essential facet of the guarantee against arbitrary state action because it ensures that the nature and quality of the encroachment on the right is not disproportionate to the purpose of the law.

There was no dispute that first requirement stands satisfied as section 139AA is a statutory provision and therefore, there is a backing of law. Insofar as requirement of ‘legitimate State interest’ was concerned, Section 139AA seeks to safeguard the following interest: “To prevent income tax evasion by requiring, through an amendment to the Income Tax Act, that the Aadhaar number be linked with the PAN” Based on the above, the Honourable Supreme Court has held that the provisions of section 139AA of the Act mandating linking of Aadhar with PAN meets the triple test of the right to privacy, as stated above. The other key observations of the Honourable

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Supreme Court are as follows: • The Court has held that requirement under Aadhaar Act to give one's demographic and biometric information does not violate fundamental right of privacy.

• The provisions of Aadhaar Act requiring demographic and biometric information from a resident for Aadhaar Number passes the three-fold test as laid stated above and hence cannot be said to be unconstitutional.

• Collection of data, its storage and use does not violate fundamental Right of Privacy.

• Aadhaar Act does not create an architecture for pervasive surveillance.

• Aadhaar Act and Regulations provide protection and safety of the data received from individuals.

• The state while enlivening right to food, right to shelter etc. envisaged under Article 21 can neither encroach upon the right of privacy of beneficiaries nor the former can be given precedence over the latter.

• Section 7 of the Aadhaar mandating the possession of an Aadhar number for receipt of any subsidy or benefit is constitutional. The

Court has also held that the provision does not deserve to be struck down on account of denial in some cases of right to claim on account of failure of authentication.

• Section 57, to the extent, which permits use of Aadhaar by the State or any corporate or person, in pursuant to any contract to this effect is unconstitutional and void. Thus, the last phrase in main provision of Section 57, i.e. “or any contract to this effect” is struck down. Owing to the same, companies (for instance, telecoms, banks, insurance companies, etc) that use Aadhar based KYC to acquire customers would need to discontinue the same.

In view of the above ruling of the Supreme Court, while the linking of Aadhar to a PAN has been held to be valid, there would arise no need to link the Aadhar number for availing other services specifically those operated by private service providers. For instance, in a scenario where a bank account (for instance) has been already been linked with the Aadhar, a request could be immediately placed to have the same delinked

HEALTH

Dr Binoy John MD DM (Cardiology) FCSI FACC FESC FSCAI FAPSIC Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist & Specialist in Advanced Heart Diseases, Heart-failure & Cardiac Transplant Medicine, Chennai

“Even with the proven success of heart transplantation and with survival rates as high as 90% at 1 year, 71% at 5 years, 50% at 10 years, 20% at 20 years and close to 15% at 25 years, the number of heart transplantations are at a dismal low, yet to pick up in developing countries due to a huge shortage of donors.”

E Binoy John Dr D@ANGIOBLASTER Q @doktor.john

“HAVE A HEART, G IVE A HEART!”

Heart-failure & Heart-transplantation: An avoidable ‘mismatch’ “To give unconditionally is truly divine, but can any act be more divine, when one gives a life itself, even in death.” Dr. Binoy John

O

n 29 Sep 2018, the world celebrated the World heart day, the theme of which was, ‘My heart, your heart’ with an aim to inspire people to take care of not only one’s own heart, but also that of our loved ones. Honouring this theme, I thought it apt to write an article to create awareness amongst the masses on the increasing incidence of heart-failure and especially the utility

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and efficacy of heart-transplantation in treating this growing pandemic of heart-failure and how each one of us as potential organ donors can contribute to make an impactful difference in saving lives.

Heart-transplantation is considered as the gold-standard in the treatment of advanced and refractory heart-failure, where no medications or machines can help to treat it and sustain life anymore. Heart-failure is a very complex topic in cardiology. So, for the layman’s understanding, heart-failure can in simple terms be described as a reduced pumping efficiency of the left chamber of the heart or left ventricle, which is

the chamber which serves to pump blood to the entire body and sustain the function of various organs and thus life. The normal pumping function of the left ventricle or ejection-fraction is 55 to 70% and patients with advanced heart-failure have an ejection-fraction of less than 30%, as one of the multiple criteria.

In general, with advances in overall health-care and cardiaccare, use of refined and sensitive diagnostic tools and with procedures as coronary angioplasty and stenting, coronary artery by-pass

graft surgery, valve therapy and various other life-saving procedures, the survival and life-expectancy of the general population have increased. However, this increased survival comes at the cost of more and more patients ending up with heart-failure, as they age. Globally it is estimated at least 26 million people suffer from heart-failure and in Asia the prevalence of heartfailure is found to be higher than compared to the west, affecting 1.3 to 6.7% of the population and in India it is estimated that 1.3 to 4.6 million people are affected

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by heart-failure, with 0.5 to 1.8 million new cases of heart-failure being diagnosed every year, which actually may be an underestimate.

However, sadly the number of heart transplantations that happen around the entire world approximate only a measly 3800 to 4600 per year, with a recent further decline in numbers, with 7% of all cardiovascular deaths being due to heart-failure, clearly exposing the stark shortage in hearts available for transplantation, mirroring the paucity of heart donations and thus exposing an unmet need of heart donors.

Heart-failure can result due to various causes, few of which may be reversible if detected on time but many are invariably progressive. Damage to the muscle of the heart-pump can occur due to heart-attacks or can occur due to causes other than heart-attacks.

Causes other than heart-attacks can be genetic or familial or can be from causes like poorly controlled diabetes, thyroid disease, obesity (excess body-weight), substance abuse like cocaine, chronic alcoholism, iron-overload, following pregnancy, following certain viral infections, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), sudden severe stress, nutritional deficiencies like thiamine (a vitamin of the B-complex) and from some medications used to treat certain cancers, to mention a few. The risk factors for developing heart-failure include uncontrolled hypertension or high blood pressure, uncontrolled diabetes and atherosclerotic disease or blocks in the arteries which supply blood to the heart.

Heart failure can be staged as A, B, C and D and once it sets in, is characterized by breathing difficulty which may be only mild initially but then progresses with time, to levels where the individual cannot perform even their daily personal activities like bathing

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or dressing up without help and eventually reaching a stage where the individual is breathless even at rest. As the failure progresses there will also be fluid accumulation in the body and abdominal cavity, worsening the condition and reaching a stage where the patient needs hospitalization for administration of intravenous medications and oxygen and sometimes even needing elective artificial ventilator support for treating the severe breathing difficulty due to fluid accumulating in the lungs and thus survival.

Eventually, the frequency of hospitalization becomes more with the heart-failure reaching a terminal

For stages A, B and C heart-failure, the 5 year survival is 97%, 96% and 75% respectively.

However, once in stage D the 5 year survival is only 20%. stage where even hospitalization cannot help to sustain life.

For stages A, B and C heart-failure, the 5 year survival is 97%, 96% and 75% respectively. However, once in stage D the 5 year survival is only 20%. The absolute mortality (death) rate from heart-failure is approximately 50% within 5 years of diagnosis of heart-failure, despite advances in treatment. Once hospitalized and discharged, the need for repeated hospitalizations for these advanced heart-failure patients become more frequent, with a 1-month hospital readmission rate as high as 25%. The biggest impact on the patient is in the quality of life being affected with daily life turning miserable.

The quality of life for patients with

heart-failure is the worst when compared to other chronic diseases. The patient becomes totally dependent on others for his daily needs and there is a big impact on the family in terms of mobilization of human and financial resources.

Many of these advanced complications and sequelae can be prevented and or delayed with periodic consultations with the doctor and identifying any risk factors well in advance and making the necessary life-style changes and use of medications as prescribed. With a lot of research going on in heart-failure, there have been the emergence of numerous newer diagnostic tests and therapies which have served to improve diagnosis and treatment, importantly improve the quality of life and reduce the need for recurrent hospitalizations in these patients, to an extent.

However, with so much of suffering from heart-failure, it is still not widely known to the patients or the lay-public that heart transplantation provides the most effective treatment for end-stage heartfailure and provides the recipient with an excellent quality of life and a median survival approaching 11 years. But, with all these advances in care and proven benefits of heart transplantation, even 50 years after the first successful heart transplantation way back in 1967

by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in South Africa, there is still a huge vacuum in the awareness on the scope of this proven life-saving procedure.

The protocol for a heart transplantation however involves a huge concerted multidisciplinary teamwork involving a lot of people from various specialties including cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, transplantation coordinators, nurses and paramedics all simultaneously involved in a speedy procurement of the heart and facilitation of the procedure with the least delay, even at the oddest hours of the night.

It is also important to note that all patients with advanced heartfailure are not eligible for a heart transplantation. There are many factors which would make a patient a poor candidate for a successful heart transplantation and many factors which would make a patient an excellent candidate for heart transplantation, which is decided by various parameters and tests by a transplant cardiologist. Thus, the patients with advanced heart-failure are carefully selected and those eligible for heart transplantation are entered into a list of potential recipients, a procedure called listing. Due to the distressing lack of availability of hearts, it is only the sickest on the list who would be eligible for receiving a heart from a potential donor, when available.

The transplanted heart however is seen as a foreign body by the recipient’s body and the recipient’s body tries to reject the donor heart, as soon as both are in contact with each other, a process called rejection. Therefore, due to this risk of rejection of the heart from the body, the heart is allotted only after age, size, blood group and other key immunological factors are matched as perfectly as possible between the donor and the recipient, which are crucial for reducing the risk of rejection. If there is a mismatch between the donor heart and the recipient, the heart is then allotted

to the next sickest patient on the list, until the best match is obtained. Following heart transplantation, these patients are put on medications which help to prevent rejection and are then placed on close follow-up with the treating specialist.

There are numerous patients being listed globally for heart transplantation and more than half of these listed patients die waiting for a heart, some waiting for as long as three years, in vain. The best centres in the west perform as many as 130 heart transplants a year, which is like one heart transplant every two or three days, with notable success and long term survival. Even with the proven success of heart transplantation and with survival rates as high as 90% at 1 year, 71% at 5 years, 50% at 10 years, 20% at 20 years and close to 15% at 25 years, the number of heart transplantations are at a dismal low, yet to pick up in developing countries due to a huge shortage of donors.

This is more because of a lack of awareness amongst the public on the beauty of heart transplantation in saving lives and how a heart donation can help give a new lease of life to the recipient and thus can make a life-changing difference for the family too.

So who are the potential heart donors? Any person is declared as dead only when the person is found

to be brain dead or brain-stem dead. Brain death is confirmed only after extensive and stringent neurological testing. Once a patient is brain dead they can never come back to life, even though the heart may continue to beat for a while even after the person is brain dead.

The heart continues to beat after brain death in individuals who die primarily of brain related causes than heart related causes, like a massive bleeding in the brain or a severe head or brain injury due to accidents or other causes. These persons who die of non-heart related causes are likelier to have healthy hearts which are in excellent condition and are the best for heart transplantation and for functioning well in the new body.

Thus the usual people who have their hearts removed or explanted are those patients who have primarily suffered severe brain injury and are declared brain dead.

However, due to the severe shortage of donor hearts, hearts which have stopped beating are also being used for cardiac transplantation of late, in order to help benefit more heart-failure patients. Various tests are then performed to assess the donor heart condition and function. In some of these hearts even a coronary angiogram is performed to ensure that the heart is perfect and healthy. Meanwhile blood tests are also done to see with which

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recipient on the list the heart would match. The best match ensures the best post transplantation results. The heart has to be then removed or harvested as quickly as possible from the donor, while it is still beating, immersed in special solutions and ice, transported and then transplanted into the recipient’s body as fast as possible, because the time the heart can remain with good function for a good heart transplantation success called the ischemic time should not exceed 6 hours, and should be ideally as short as possible.

The ischemic time has a bearing on the success of the heart transplantation procedure and the survival and longevity of the recipient after the surgery. Once the heart transplantation is over, the hurdles are in preventing the heart from being rejected by the body, which is a battle won with proper donor-recipient match and with the help of a few medications which can help prevent rejection and fight infections. Majority of the transplanted patients enjoy leading an almost normal life.

Thus, there are many patients who succumb to death daily from

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this incapacitating condition merely for the want of a heart, with many being in their younger and productive age groups. The major hurdles faced in performing this life saving procedure are in getting sufficient heart donors, in reducing the time wasted on counseling the potential donor’s family for encouraging a heart donation and then the time wasted in traffic during transportation of the heart in developing countries. The delays in decisions on organ donation can be easily circumvented by creating awareness (as narrated above) amongst the young people to pledge their hearts in advance, by making them understand the significant success of heart transplantation surgery not only in saving lives but also on how it helps in adding several years and even decades of quality life to the lives which would otherwise be lost and the difference it brings to the recipient’s family.

What more satisfaction can there be than having the gratification of having one’s heart or the heart of their loved one still beating in another body and sustaining a life and more importantly the

divinity in the deed of actually being able to give a life and also add years of life to another on the brink of death, than just lose two lives.

This should be inspiration enough to encourage more people to come forward and pledge to donate their organs and heart. In giving, our joy is only multiplied and I am sure every one of us have at some time relished and experienced the immense joy in giving something to others and one can only imagine the ecstasy and divinity, when it is a life itself that you have the choice and power to give.

“To give unconditionally is truly divine, but can any act be more divine, when one gives a life itself, even in death.” So, in this humble endeavour of mine, I would prefer not to conclude by saying, “Have a heart, give a heart” but by appealing, “Have a heart, give a… LIFE!” I dedicate this endeavour to Dr. J. Kobashigawa, Dr. J. Patel, Dr. D. Chang, Dr. Czer, Dr. M. Kittleson, Dr. M. Hamilton, Dr. J. Moriguchi, Dr. F. Esmailian and all my dear friends and staff @ Department of Heart-failure and Heart Transplant, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles.

MOTIVATION

Dolly Neena Dolly Neena is founder of Your Wing, a training company born out of a noble cause and spirit.

She holds a decade long experience being a passionate mentor and entrepreneur.

When we find ourselves knee-deep in this vicious seemingly endless struggle, pause and think. After admitting and accepting the failure, get on to addressing the concern on face. The later step is to analyze why it happened, and find ways to recover.

TO EVERYTHING, THERE IS A SEASON!

I

n the aftermath of the cataclysmic floods in Kerala, we have witnessed thousands of professionally and personally affected people. There might have been hundreds who were not prepared, not even mentally for this setback. The suffering and pain that we see around cannot be explained. Even though we know that life isn’t smooth all throughout, only when it hits us, we find the herculean difficulty to find way through it upwards. During the floods, we also witnessed hundreds of good souls dedicating and risking their lives to make other’s plight smoother. They helped even when they were going through a tough time. So, what is it that makes one weaker and another stronger given the same instance? So, this piece of writing is to contemplate some elements on how to face failures with courage, and survive successfully. Most of the times, adversity launches us straight onto the right

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track, equips us with the armours needed for winning the battles ahead.

Many of us, particularly entrepreneurs, know the significance of the right decisions we make in life, or at work, that the consequences cannot be chosen, and the value moving on after a failure is inevitable, in case one hits us down hard.

For a successful businessman, seeing rock-bottom might not be a new thing. He or she can only be truly successful once they strengthen themselves by innovating solutions to cross the obstacles that is placed recurrently in front of them. The more hindrances you have, the more you learn how to overcome them. The more you have those kinds of ‘successful overcomings’ that is when you learn to respond more positively to all impediments life poses in front of you. Your success solely depends on the quality of your response and reflex.

One major mistake that we

make while facing a failure or setback is not able to address it, face it or accept it brave-heartedly.

Sometimes, we end up blaming ourselves completely or blame the external situations totally. You don’t at times tend to own up your mistake, nor take accountability of the situation. This blame game could be organizational, social or personal. You may find yourself in the denial state, may be weaker in state not to take any strategic actions to overcome the situation. Your happy hormone levels like serotonin, oxytocin or dopamine will drop off drastically. And, bad feelings will start whirl winding your mind to a more negative state. As we already know, coping well with the external situations naturally is more or less a mind-conditioning and is programmed into you from your childhood. Each individual has different sets of circumstances to stride through and learn differently to respond to stimuli, one from

each other.

One thing you need to remember is that it could be just as hard to recover from success as well.

There are people around us who undertake varied adventures and other things and still feel that no happiness fills them. Some try out new cultures, spend a lot of money on shopping and buying materialistic possessions, explore different destinations, engage in several relationships –and alas, still feel void and empty. Some try meditative solutions out and some of us vent out at the gyms and parks.

Our body tricks us much throughout. Even after reaching the summit of success, we might very well experience a happy-hormone drop.

Oxytocin, Serotonin and Dopamine are your mind medicines. The hormone Dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter associated with happiness, controls rewards and pleasure. It reduces pain perception and increases the emotional connection with the thing or person we love. Serotonin regulates your mood. These positive hormones help us to disconnect amygdala, which eventually leads cutting off negative emotions like guilt, shame, fear etc. When your mind is focused and determined on the goals and when you reach it

finally, dopamine is triggered for us to feel the ecstasy. But, the catch is once it drops right afterwards, we confusingly feel “low” in energy.

Things around us seem less exciting than the flight or spike we just experienced before. I’m sure that we have been so confused by similar kind of plays and mind-games by hormones that control our body.

Wouldn’t you be happier if I said learning about these mind medicines in a deeper state can even help you release them at your own will. These cognitive effects may well be related to neurochemistry.

But, understanding these dynamics of our body-mind connections and how it in effect controls us without our permission can help us deal effectually with internal and interpersonal conflicts. Understanding the functioning of our brain and human relations and how it affects your choices in direct can be very well helpful to deal with difficult situations, and, hence, recover successfully from an event of failure.

When we find ourselves kneedeep in this vicious seemingly endless struggle, pause and think.

After admitting and accepting the failure, get on to addressing the concern on face. The later step is to analyze why it happened, and find ways to recover. Planning out

a new route map and setting action plans for the next milestones is crucially important. Commit yourself completely into this goal.

Once you are done with repenting, do not look back much, unless you want to remind the ‘learnings’ from your mistakes –only not to go back there again. Taking accountability for your own actions and sticking onto it is important. To have a new environment, a visible change is needed. To have different results, you’ll have to try out something new. Persistence plays a key role here. When distractions occur on the highway, make sure you do not detour and lose your way again.

The magnifying glass can only fire up the paper if you focus the former towards the latter unwavering for a consistent amount of time. If you keep it moving, no fire is going to happen. So, focus. Keep trying, even if you do not see any results.

Do not be dismayed by the fact that nothing much is seen superficially.

Make sure you analyze the elements of your choice and actions regularly. Do not ever try to confine yourself by defining yourself by this season of your life. One day, your determined will definitely bear fruits.

Happy Living!

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GADGETS

Asus ROG Phone

MRP: `59,990 (approximately)

Android v8.1 (Oreo)

6.0 inches Display

12 MP + 8 MP Dual Primary Cameras

8 MP Secondary Camera

8 GB RAM

128 GB Internal Memory

4000 mAh Battery Capacity

HTC U12 Life

MRP: `27,690 (approximately) Android v8.1 (Oreo) 6.0 inches Display 16 MP + 5 MP Dual Primary Cameras 13 MP Secondary Camera 4 GB RAM 64 GB Internal Memory 256 GB Expandable Memory 3600 mAh Battery Capacity

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Turing Knight Icefyre

MRP: `64,990 (approximately) Android v5.1 (Lollipop) 5.5 inches Display 13 MP Primary Camera 8 MP Secondary Camera 3 GB RAM 128 GB Internal Memory 3000 mAh Battery Capacity

Gionee M7 Mini

MRP: `13,990 (approximately) Android v7.1.1 (Nougat) 5.5 inches Display 8 MP Primary Camera 8 MP Secondary Camera 3 GB RAM 32 GB Internal Memory 256 GB Expandable Memory 4000 mAh Battery Capacity

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COOKERY

Navaratri Recipes

Toshma Biju

Kashmiri Aloo Ingredients

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Potatoes (cut into thick slices)-4 numbers (medium) Water-4 cups Salt-1 teaspoon Lemon juice-1 tablespoon Crushed pepper-½ teaspoon Kashmeeri chilly powder-1½ teaspoon Crushed fennel seeds-2 teaspoons Salt-1 teaspoon Lemon juice-1 tablespoon Butter-4 tablespoons Ginger-1 tablespoon Cardamom powder-½ teaspoon (green) Chopped coriander leaves-as much as required

Method Boil sliced potatoes for 5 minutes in 4 cups of water with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon kashmeeri chilly powder and 1 tablespoon lemon juice added to it.

Cool the sliced potatoes and saute on a big pan with 2 tablespoons of butter till it turns golden colour.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter, add crushed pepper, ginger juliennes, and cook till ginger turns

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a little crisp. Add fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon degi mirch and cook for around ½ minute.

Add 4 tablespoons water, and when the water comes to boil, add potatoes. (The water will help to uniformly coat the spices on the potatoes). Add salt to taste. Cook for about a minute till dry.

Sprinkle coconut, ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder and few coriander sprigs, and serve it.

Gothambu Payasam Ingredients

• • • • • • • • •

Ghee-2 teaspoons Basmati rice-¼ cup Warm milk-4 cups Sugar-5 tablespoons Pinch of salt Cardamom crushed-2 or 3 numbers Generous pinch of saffron strands Chopped nuts-¼ cup Rose water-2 teaspoons

Method Soak saffron in 1 tablespoon of warm milk and keep it aside.

Heat up a heavy bottom non–stick pan. Add in ghee. Now, stir in the drained rice for 1 minute on medium heat. Slowly add in the warm milk. Let it come to a boil. Stir occasionally. Once it starts to boil,

lower the heat and keep stirring often to avoid rice or milk sticking to the bottom and the sides.

The milk will start thickening and reducing within 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, just check the rice, it should be tender enough. Now, add in the sugar, salt, cardamom and saffron milk. Cook it for another

10 minutes. The milk should have considerably reduced. Mash some rice with the back of the spoon if desired. It might look thin, but remember after cooling and chilling it will considerably thicken up. Stir in the chopped nuts. Switch off the flame. Serve warm or chilled. Add rose water before serving.

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Coconut Ladoo Ingredients

• • •

Khoya-1 cup Sugar-1/2 cup Grated Coconut-2 cups

Method In a non-stick pan, take crumbled khoya, sugar and heat till it turns into a loose or semi-fluid state. Now, add in food colour and mix well.

Add in coconut and mix well. Cook this till it leaves the sides and form into a soft dough. Cool this down a little. Take small portion from this and roll into a ladoo; roll this in more desiccated coconut. Arrange this in a plate.

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Halwa

Ingredients

• • • • • •

Semolina or Sooji-1 cup Ghee-3/4 cup Sugar-11/2 cups Almonds-1/2 cup Milk-1 cup Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon

Method In a non-stick pan, take crumbled khoya, sugar and heat till it turns into a loose or semi-fluid state. Now, add in food colour and mix well.

Add in coconut and mix well. Cook this till it leaves the sides and form into a soft dough. Cool this down a little. Take small portion from this and roll into a ladoo; roll this in more desiccated coconut. Arrange this in a plate.

BEAUTY

BEAUTY TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOU TO LOOK STUNNING ON CAMERA

W

e all like to be on camera. We all want to look our best. By best means, our face should flawless and elegant on camera. We like to click a selfie or do a makeover. So, how to ensure that we look good on camera?

Well, it depends on the photographer. Photography is an art, but doing the perfect makeover is also a classic art that requires both skills and patience. To some, it comes naturally.

So, here are some makeup tips that you could use to look nice on camera.

that natural glow on camera, you have to clean your skin at every opportunity. So cleanse, exfoliate and tone your skin.

2. Foundation Make sure that the colour that you choose blends well with your skin. If you have a darker skin, choose the foundation that will enhance its natural glow. Don't try to whiten it.

3. Do the eye make-up accordingly Do the eye makeup accordingly. Wash and clean your eyes. Draw the outline and then apply the eye shades. Your eyes will look big and elegant.

1. Clean your skin.

4. Overall polishing

Photoshop can hide blemishes but in order to get

Apply both blush and bronzer so that your face

Dr. Elizabath Chacko, MD-Kalpana's International

Mob: 9388618112

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doesn't look flat. Apply the bronzer on your cheek bones.

Put on lipsticks and choose a shade that stands out yet blends well with the skin as well as the colour of the dress. Wear a contrasting colour based on the dress and the ornaments.

Finally, Smile!

A smile is the best curve on a woman. So keep smiling, have a great day.

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TRAVELOGUE

Romancing with Africa’s France This African Island has everything to emerge as a promising tourist destination in the African continent. It has good climate, competent infrastructure, stable government, perfect security framework and beautiful destinations.

T

here is no wrong in falling in love with someone.

When that ‘someone’ is an Island, it is unusual and is interesting. Actually, it is normal for a traveller to have a special feeling for a particular destination.

Anyway, the aforesaid arguments are not intended to judge whether one should stop falling in love, but are aimed at bringing to our notice

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how lucky a French Island territory located in Africa is. Mayotte is the Island about which some interesting comments have been made above. She is an Europeanised African Island beauty who has many lovers, mainly travellers. She is being loved sincerely because her lovers know that she is actually white and progressive from inside even though she looks dark and

conservative from outside. In this edition, let’s hear what more her lovers have shared with us about her.

Mayotte is an overseas department of France and, thus, an integral part of the European Union.

Unlike many other overseas territories, this Island is not a conquered land, but a purchased land- this Island was brought by France from the sultan who was ruling the region at that time. Most of us probably wonder why this Island has not received independence from its European boss yet. Actually, those doubts are irrelevant. France is not who denies freedom to this Island, Mayotte is the one who prevents the European from breaking their centuries-old relation. Nearly two referendums have happened in the country to hear what Mayotte thinks about the concept of freedom. In both of them, the Mayotte people have overwhelmingly supported staying under the supremacy of their European ruler.

There is no doubt that the choice Mayotte made during the referendums has helped them enormously, especially in the economic front. This Island is one of the most economically developed regions in this part of the world.

When one looks little closer, he/ she understands that the benefits are not only limited to economic prosperity, but also extended up to internal and external security –the French military is responsible for the maintenance of internal and external security of Mayotte.

French is the official language of Mayotte. Unfortunately, only half of the population understands this language. The common languages of the Island are Shimaore and Kibushi. The travellers, who visit this Island unaccompanied with a local guide or local language expert, may face trouble in their communication with the local people.

Mayotte is one of the most densely populated Islands near Africa. All of its costal borders are heavily guarded by the French forces as the prosperity of this Island continuously prompts those living in the less developed regions around the Island to infiltrate into this Island.

The climate of this Island is ideal for tourism. It experiences a tropical humid climate and its average temperature is less than

77 degree Fahrenheit or 25 degree Celsius. This pleasant climatic condition also provides a natural habitat for wide variety of flora and fauna. That is one of the reasons why this land is needed to be explored at least once.

This beautiful island is the land of beautiful beaches, mesmerising hills, vibrant art and culture, and friendly people. When all the other qualities are gifted to this land by the God, its art and culture are the contribution of all those who have been offered a place in the land’s

lovable heart.

In all ways, Mayotte is rich. It can be called as a white spot on the leg of a dark giant. Though it is cruel to make such a statement as it indirectly means Africa is a dark continent, there is no other suitable statement to showcase how developed Mayotte is compared to other countries and Islands in this part of the world.

This African Island has everything to emerge as a promising tourist destination in the African continent. It has good climate, competent infrastructure, stable government, perfect security framework and beautiful destinations. If they explores that opportunity, they can easily get rid of their over reliance to France for their economic needs and, even, security needs (as a strong economy often contributes to the growth of a strong security system –internal, as well as external).

The Saziley nature reserve, the islets of Choazils and M’tzamboro, Mount Choungui, the Passe en “S” nature reserve, and the Combani reservoir and its fields of ylangylang are the most popular tourist destinations in this Island.

Mayotte is a perfect stop for adventure tourism. There are opportunities for trucking and hiking in this Island. Apart from that, it is an ideal destination to explore coral

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reefs, as it is located close to one of the biggest natural lagoons.

This Island and the sea around it is not only the home of homosapians, but also the home of turtles, dolphins, flying foxes, rare fishes and many such beautiful creatures.

Non-African travellers usually show less interest to taste the food items offered in the African land as the African cuisine is very different from the cuisine offered elsewhere.

This Island is no different. The Mayotte people’s love for nonvegetarian dishes is well known. No Mayotte cuisine is complete without a fish-related dish; that much this Islanders The Mayotte people’s love for love fish. Notably, non-vegetarian dishes is well fishing is also one of the main ocknown. No Mayotte cuisine is is one of the cupations of the complete without a fish-relatpopulous Islanders. ed dish; that much this Islandcities. It is Mamoudzou ers love fish. comprised is the capital city of at least of Mayotte. It is a six beautiful coastal city. Mtsavillages. Each pere Mosque and one is better Notre-Dame de and more attractive than the other.

Fatima church are the two prime Pamandzi is the commune tourist destinations in the city. where the Island’s one and only There are several popular beaches International airport is situated. in the city.

Notably, it is actually a tiny Island Koungou is the second largest located off the main Island of city or commune in the Island. It

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Mayotte.

Tsingoni is another important commune in the Island. Tsingoni Mosque is regarded the oldest mosque in France and, thus, in Mayotte. Travellers never miss the opportunity to visit this marvel erected in the year 1538.

This limited space is not enough to portray completely what Mayotte’s lovers has described about her beauty, culture, art and many more. Don’t miss any chance to get a glimpses of this beauty

AUTO REVIEW

VIVEK VENUGOPAL

E

ver since the launch of the second gen in India in 2003, the CR-V has been the family crossover of choice for many. Over 17600 have been sold in India ever since, and the CR-V is the second best selling Honda worldwide with around 6.5 lakhs units sold every year. Every generation of the CR-V has always impressed with its comfort, ease of use, driver appeal and clever packaging. This new fifth gen CR-V is not different taking on the successful formula. This time, it comes with a diesel engine and a clever 9-speed automatic transmission.

The CR-V is now larger than the one it replaces. It is bolder to look at, and has more visual drama in the form of flares and bulges. The front

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end features a sleek look with all LED headlamps and a chrome grille tying them together. The petrol variant gets a slightly different bumper with an L-shaped chrome element. The wheelbase is 40mm longer and the whole car feels one size larger than the outgoing model. The wheels are now 18 inches and their design, which has six spokes visually merging into three, might polarize opinion. The rear has classic CR-V style tail lamps straddling the rear windscreen with a more prominent L-shape that now goes all the way into the hatch.

The CR-V continues with its practical cabin, but feels more upmarket this time around. The materials, dashboard and door pads feel like they belong to a car twice its price. The front seats

New Honda CR-V

The new CR-V improves upon all that we’ve liked about the model and rounds off the package with the long-overdue inclusion of a diesel engine and the added practicality of a third row.

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The CR-V has great highway manners too, with great high speed stability and a composed ride. The steering feels accurate and weighs up nicely.

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are comfy and offer a high seating position with good all round visibility. The rear seats, though short on headroom, are comfortable enough for average sized adults.

The last row requires quite some effort to get into, and is best suited for children. Only the diesel variant comes with a third row of seats.

The boot is just 150 litres with all seats up, but grows to 472 and 936 litres with the second and third row folded respectively. The CR-V gets full digital display for the instrument console. The touch screen on the centre console looks great too with an almost bezel less look. The diesel car also gets buttons for the gearshift which looks cool but takes some getting used to. The petrol CR-V gets a conventional gear selector. The car is loaded with features such as dual zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof, keyless entry, push button start, leather upholstery, an 8-way adjustable driver seat, automatic LED headlamps etc. It also scores on the safety front with the driver attention assist, the Honda Lane watch (which shows a camera view of the left hand side, every time you turn on the indicator), in addition to the full complement of ABS, ESP and six airbags.

The CR-V gets a 2.0 litre petrol engine or a 1.6 litre diesel engine, both mated to automatic transmissions. While the petrol is a CVT, the diesel gets the new 9-speed torque convertor automatic from ZF, which soon will come in the Compass diesel AT too. The petrol variant has 154bhp and 189Nm, and feels effortless pottering around town. There is some of the CVT buzz when you accelerate hard and there are no paddleshifts this time around. The performance of the car feels adequate, and, unlike the diesel, which has an all-wheel drive option, the petrol CVT is front wheel drive only. The 1.6 litre diesel engine feels way more refined than the 1.5 litre we have seen in smaller Hondas.

It isn’t the 160bhp, 350Nm, twin turbo variant sold abroad and gets a modest 120bhp and 300Nm. It feels smooth in its delivery and there is no lag whatsoever, helped of course by the torque convertor.

The gearbox is quick to respond and ‘upshifts’ early and seamlessly. You wish the engine could do with a bit more power when you overtake but for regular driving, it doesn’t disappoint. The gearbox has very tall ratios upwards of fourth and gives the diesel CR-V, fantastic

cruising ability.

The CR-V has great highway manners too, with great high speed stability and a composed ride. The steering feels accurate and weighs up nicely. There is good amount of grip, but it isn’t as entertaining as the third gen car. The all-wheel drive variant can send up to 40 percent power to the rear, and sits 208mm high compared to the 198mm ground clearance of the front wheel drive one. The brakes are fantastic and confidence inspiring with good pedal feel and stopping power.

The new CR-V improves upon all that we’ve liked about the model and rounds off the package with the long-overdue inclusion of a diesel engine and the added practicality of a third row. Sure, the diesel could have had a bit more power and the third row is for occasional use at best, but for the typical urban SUV buyer, the CR-V offers the right ingredients. The Price of the car has not been announced yet, but do expect the diesel to cost around 35 lakhs. The diesel is the pick of the range and, although it is expensive, the prospects of lower running costs, higher fuel efficiency and good resale value are hard to ignore

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MOVIE REVIEW

Helicopter Eela

I

t is a music-oriented film directed

by Pradeep Sarkar. It is based on a popular Gujarati play ‘Beta Kaagdo’.

The movie tells us the story of a single mother, who is an aspiring singer.

Though the play on which the movie is based is originally written by Anand Gandhi, Mitesh Shah is also considered as a contributor in the writing section when it comes in the form of a movie.

The movie is expected to attract both family audience and youngsters alike.

Kajol, who appears in the lead role, is the prime attraction of the movie.

Apart from the DDLJ actress, Riddhi Sen, Neha Dhupia, Mukesh Rishi, Atul Kulkari appear in the prime roles.

Jalebi

I

t is a romantic movie directed by highly talented filmmaker Pushpdeep Bhardwaj. It is the remake of a popular Bengali film ‘Praktan’, which was released in the year 2016. The Bengali movie was an extremely successful one and received several positive comments.

For that reason, Mr Bhardwaj has a huge responsibility to keep its classiness unspoiled. From the preliminary reports, he has succeeded in his task of remaking a classic without tainting its soul. Rhea Chakraborty, Varun Mitra and Digangana Suryavanshi appear in the lead roles in the movie. There are several beautiful songs in this film.

This romantic drama is likely to win the heart of our youngsters.

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Venom

I

t is a science fiction movie directed by renowned filmmaker Ruben Fleischer. The film introduces a new super hero Venom. He is not like the ordinary superheroes we have seen so far. He is different and dangerous. Actually, it is the negative shade of this superhero that keeps him more attractive and more mysterious than any other superheroes we have seen till now. This movie is also the story of highly talented journalist Eddie Brock and extremely brilliant scientist Carlton Drake. There are several action sequences in the movie. Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate and Scott Haze appear in the lead roles in the film.

Johnny English Strikes Again

I

t is an action thriller cum comedy thriller directed by acclaimed filmmaker David Kerr. It is the story of a retired secret service agent Johnny English, who has been called in for a challenging mission after a brilliant cyber hacker exposed the details of all active agents. Will the retired agent with no skills necessary to complete secret missions in the technology dominated world be able to overcome the challenges posed by the technology to solve the mystery behind the cyber attack and expose the attacker? It is what the film tries to tell. There are numerous fun sequences in the movie; most of these sequences are handled by its lead character Rowan Atkinson who is popular for his role in the proper series Mr Beans as Mr Beans. Olga Kurylenko, Miranda Hennessy, Emma Thompson and Ben Miller are the other important actors perform in this highly anticipated movie.

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BOOK REVIEW

The Girl in Room 105 Author Price

: Chetan Bhagat : Rs. 159 (paperback)

I

t is the first thriller novel written by the write of popular romantic novel ‘2 States’. The novel tells the story of a boy, whose struggles to cope with his unpleasant past and dim present, and his ex-girlfriend, who lives in the mysterious Room Number 105 of a hostel. It seems that the religion and contemporary political situation in the country play a important role in the novel. In the novel, the boy is a Hindu, as well as the son of a Hindu fundamentalist, while the girl is a Kashmiri Muslim.

The thrilling factors of the novel have received wide appreciation.

Hippie Author Price

W

: Paulo Coelho : Rs. 299 (paperback)

ith the help of this book, the writer of world renowned novel Alchemist takes us to the beautiful world of Hippie, the world which is less familiar to the present generation which loves to live a robotic life and fears to let themselves feel liberated. It is the most autobiographical novel the writer has ever written. For that reason, there is the fresh taste of real life in each and every paragraph. The novel discusses how a wantto-be writer rediscovers himself through a journey of his life he ventures into along with a group of people, who shares similar mindset, and a girl, who is as curious as he is.

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BOOK REVIEW

Why I Stopped Wearing My Socks Author Price

: Alok Kejriwal : Rs. 224 (paperback)

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t is difficult to take business decisions. It is even more difficult to stand with those decision and face its odds sternly. In this book, it is discussed about a man, who has courageously chosen to walk through a tough and uncertain path, rejecting the easy and less risky path he has been offered and created by his forefathers through their persistent hard work and dedication. The book tells how that tough decision brings success and all fortunes to that man. The book will definitely motivate all, want-tobe, businessmen to take tough decisions in their life. The writer tries to indirectly tell us that success and risk are not enemies, but friends.

Flirting with Stocks: Stock Market Investing for Beginners Author Price

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: Anil Lamba : Rs. 559 (hardcover)

his book contains all you need to know about the risky sector of stock market, around which several misconceptions exist. The writer himself is a highly respected stock market expert. The book covers a wide range of areas related to the subject, from the basic to the complicated areas. It tries to gives its readers a clear understanding about each and every aspect of this subject and, thus, aims to convince the readers that investing in the stock market is not that risky, but funny and, even, entertaining. It is the best book for all those who want to earn a huge fortune through the stock market business and for those who love to acquire knowledge about this less explored subject.

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Oct-Nov-2018

Printed On 01/ 10/ 2018

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