Toothpaste manufacturers misguiding the consumers through advertisements

Advertisements have since long been used to promote the products and carry the information regarding the USP of the products to the potential consumers. Innovative advertising has been instrumental in selling innumerable products that were at par with the rest of the breed. However, there are times when manipulative, misleading and misguiding advertisements are used to lure the consumers into buying certain products.
Take the instance of several advertisements related to toothpastes which are based on false, deceptive and fraudulent features. Companies highlight them in such a way that people affirm their faith in them and, later on, when they come to know about the actual position, it is too late. There are no legal checks on such misleading and misguiding advertising practices by the government which are defrauding the public in a big way.
One such advertisement that may not have escaped your notice talks of the presence of fluoride in while other talks of the paste enriched with salt. These advertisements are merely sales gimmicks and may not be beneficial for your well-being.
Dr. Aseem Prakash Tikku, Dean Students Welfare at Lucknow’s King George Dental Sciences University agrees that advertisements talking of fluoride or salt in toothpastes may always not be best for the users. Says Dr. Tikku: “Fluoride is definitely anti-carious and helps fight tooth decay. It is widely used in toothpastes abroad. But the chief reason is that fluoride content is low in water and therefore enough fluoride does not reach them through diet. In India the circumstances are different. As it is we take lot of it in diet and water too, at places, contains excess fluoride. If we do not tell all this and adds fluoride as supplement, what will be its benefit?”
The same is the case with advertisements talking of salt in toothpastes. Advertisers do not tell that salt could be bad for the patients of high blood pressure. If salt is kept on tongue, part of it is bound to reach the stomach. Therefore, entire family continue to use these pastes without realizing that they might be doing harm to some members of the family.
Clarifies Dr. Tikku “Pastes act as lubrication and contain mint as freshener that makes us feel good. Otherwise, you can brush your teeth with water as well.”
When asked about the actual role of toothpaste in the cleansing process, Dr. Tikku tells that the role of toothpaste is negligible when compared to the role of toothbrush and the technique of brushing. He adds, “You keep using paste on finger; it won’t clean your teeth.”
The need of the hour is for the Government to make strict guidelines so that proper message reaches the consumer through advertising campaigns. “Toothpaste is just one product related to our profession. There are innumerable other products like those related to the cosmetic and health industry where guidelines need to be set,” avers Dr. Tikku and says that media too should be more vigilant and impart its duty in carrying forth the relevant information and awareness to the public.
Dr. Tikku rues the fact that the advertising campaign of toothpastes has even reached the villages and incited the rural folks to start using them. “Till the time village folks used neem, which is a good antiseptic and mouth cleanser, their teeth never decayed. This is a time proven truth. But upon seeing the advertisements these people too left neem and shifted to toothpastes. There was nobody to tell them of the right technique of brushing and hence their teeth too started decaying. Eventually, there was greater loss than benefit.”
Moral! People are advised not to believe and follow the advertisements blindly. One must consult their doctors or apply brain before accepting what is being said as true.

Outdoor advertisers at loss over shifting government policies

Drive is currently on at Lucknow to remove the hoardings from prominent places. It started on the pretext of removing political hoardings from top of government properties but the overenthusiastic Municipal Corporation employees roped in other legitimate hoardings as well, leading to sleepless nights for even those outdoor advertising agencies who wish to keep their dealing fair. Every now and then, Municipal Corporation comes with similar drives to torment the advertising agencies. Only recently, a drive was carried on from Amausi airport till Faizabad road on the pretext of the Chief Justice’s visit to the city. What was the relation of Chief Justice’s visit with this drive still remains a mystery but as part of the entire drive, lot many hoardings, whose payment had been collected by the corporation till March 31, 2007, were removed, thus leading to severe financial losses for the agencies concerned. Aziz Haider talked to prominent people involved in the business of outdoor advertising to know their view on these frequent drives by the municipal corporation.

Rajneesh Rawat, Managing Director of Origins Advertising Pvt. Ltd., has greatest number of hoardings in the city of Lucknow. In fact, his agency is presently the number one agency in UP in the business of outdoor advertising. Rawat is of view that though no industry could remain bereft of problems, there should not be problems for those doing legitimate business. Says Rawat: “There are clear-cut guidelines. Though I agree that all agencies do not follow these guidelines, we try to abide by them to the extent possible. But when the drive occurs, we and others are all treated with the same stick irrespective of the fact that we have got the sanction from the municipal corporation after paying fees for each of the hoardings.”
Rawat’s case is a perfect example of how all suffer because of the mischief of one or few of the agencies. This chiefly happens because laws are not followed strictly.
Rawat cites the case of Delhi where banning the hoardings also closed the sources of revenue for the corporation and eventually it had to resort to tax hikes to generate money that it needed. Finally, the corporation had to look at its ban afresh and when it gave the go-ahead finally, it started getting about 400-500 crore worth of revenue through outdoor advertising. “It was the common man who benefited. Unfortunately, we do not think that way,” adds Rawat.
Rawat argues that when the administration has already sanctioned hoardings to respective agencies after taking fee for them, they should not take those hoardings back in the legal way. He fears that such drives will catch on as the elections draw near. He says: “Earlier there were no such problems even during election period but now the nuisance has increased.” And adds: “Why should the hoardings be removed if a particular person is visiting the area? We are doing legitimate business.”
Tariq Khan, a prominent outdoor advertiser and director of Fourth Pillar Academy cites lack of political will, entry of small operators and lack of cohesive unity between the various advertising agencies as the root cause of the problem. Says Khan: “In my view the solution is possible through a joint working mechanism between the Municipal authorities and representatives of the industry. Outdoor Advertising Association will monitor and point the illegitimate or hazardous hoardings to the authorities. But presently the committee has no representatives from the Association and hence no way to pass our views to them. If we wish to do something directly, nothing will happen. Nagar Nigam should involve us and we will sort out the problems for them.”
Khan agrees to the lack of cohesive unity among the advertising community though he says that the problem is not rampant in Lucknow. He says that earlier Prime Ministers and Presidents of the country have visited Lucknow but no hoardings were removed. “Why now?”
Khan points that when the authorities have already taken payments till the end of financial year it is their duty to safeguard the hoardings. Instead what is happening is that Corporation officers come now and then to remove them even so the corporation itself has collected money for those hoardings.
Another Khan associated with the outdoor advertising industry is Jamal Khan, who is currently the president of the industry’s association. Jamal Khan’s sleep has once again been taken away by the current order and he is running pillar to post to get the matter sorted out. The association recently met Akhilesh Yadav, which enabled them to get some respite but going by the recent trend, nobody concerned with the outdoor advertising in the State can rest at peace that his hoardings would remain intact till the time for which they have deposited the payments with the Corporation. Wonder when the Corporation will come out with a foolproof plan that will work to everybody’s satisfaction!

Another school of excellence in Lucknow

Another school promising progressive approach and commitment to excellence has come up to expand the educational horizons of Lucknow, courtesy the third branch of Delhi Public School in the city at Jankipuram. This was revealed by Mr. Mukhtarul Amin, Pro-vice Chairman, DPS Lucknow who is already Pro-vice Chairman of DPS Kalyanpur, DPS Bareilly, DPS Riyadh and DPS Jeddah.
Talking to Hi Time Express, Mr. Amin highlighted that the dominant characteristic of learning at the Delhi Public School, Jankipuram was passionate and interactive process in which children are allowed to explore and evolve. “This is the hallmark of all our branches and we are committed to build such an environment,” he said. Mr. Amin also elaborated on the role of parents and teachers in child development. “This is a very sacred pact, the very foundation on which we are setting forth to guide, shape and build character,” added Mr. Amin.
Boasting of a child-centred approach, DPS Jankipuram too will work towards evolving a culture towards passionate and interactive learning process where children will have the freedom to explore and evolve. “Only total development of the child give him an opportunity to face the world on equal terms and equip him in all areas and to take on the global opportunities being provided to him in this fast paced world,” Dr. Amin added. “Art, graphics, carpentry, drawing, painting, sculpture are areas that a student can learn to be a part. A visit to exhibitions, galleries, art shows, theatre and music concerts are encouraged and a special section to encourage design and technology has been created to solve problems and turn ideas into reality. The school campus is also equipped with the state of the art audio-visual teaching aids, computers, modern classrooms and a sports complex that includes a huge swimming pool.”
Shada Kashif, Director DPS Jankipuram, Anu Dhingra, Principal, DPS Indira Nagar and Madhu Khanna, Headmistress at DPS Jankipuram too were present on the occasion of the inauguration of the branch. The three agreed and expressed resolve that they were geared up to lead this school as the foremost institution in its category in the city of Lucknow.

Spend thrift BSNL ignores public concern

Public money and time does not matter at BSNL

In a recent interview with Hi Time Express (published March 10, 2007), Dr. Shakeel Ahmad (Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology) had criticized the media for singling out BSNL and writing adverse stories on it. Dr. Ahmad even said that he had asked BSNL officials to concentrate on this issue and handle the media more carefully. He also pointed out that media was ignoring the fact that telecom operators were giving lifelong offers when their license was valid for not more than 8 years.
Agreed that media may not have been critical of private operators to the extent that it writes against BSNL but what can the media persons do when they get story after story against BSNL, that too without much effort.
Hi Time Express presents one such issue out of the countless that can be brought to print. The issue relates to a man named Ram Kumar Awasthi, who is the residence of Nauranga Ghatampur near Kanpur. An exchange was already operational at Nauranga but when the need arose to build a tower at Nauranga, Ram Kumar Awasthi, whose residence is about 200 metres from the exchange, was contacted. An agreement was finalized between him and the BSNL officials, based on which a tower was constructed at Awasthi's house about one year back by Nokia, the executing agency working on behalf of BSNL. In fact, Nokia too sublet this to another company RN Infra Communications, who hired a contractor Shamshul to erect the tower on Awasthi’s property.
The tower had been standing for about one year but for reasons best known to the BSNL officials they decided not to shift the exchange there in spite of Awasthi agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions originally decided with BSNL. Awasthi lays the blame on some BSNL officials who demanded money from him and upon his refusal to pay them refused to shift the tower to the new site. The entire plan was stranded even though the tower continues to stand on Awasthi’s property, for which he has received no payment till the last information received to us.
When contacted, T.N. Shukla, GM-BSNL at Kanpur says that BSNL has done no agreement with Awasthi and its exchange is already operational since years. He says: "If somebody erects a tower somewhere, what can we do? We have not given the order. Why should we be bothered if we are not to pay?"
Mr. Shukla is right that BSNL has neither given permission nor done any expense on the construction of tower. That is why BSNL has not released the payment for construction of the tower to Nokia, who have stopped the payment to RN Infra Communications, who have further not paid to Shamshul. If Shamshul has not paid to the labourers employed to construct the tower, we do not know. Neither has any payment been made to Awasthi in whose house the tower stands.
Contrary to what Mr. Shukla says, Prabhat Sinha, Project Manager at Nokia says that construction could not have been initiated without BSNL’s permission: "We are doing project for BSNL. Acquisition is done by BSNL and rent is also paid by them. They give us the location and only then we make the tower for them."
Likewise, Vijayan Pandey of RN Infra says that the tower was constructed after an agreement was reached between BSNL and Awasthi, about 200 metres away from the exchange. He says that they would not have commenced worked on the site if there had been no agreement. Moreover, why would have Awasthi allowed the construction of tower on his land without an agreement?
There is no doubt that an entire tower could not have come up if BSNL had not given the go-ahead to the execution agencies. But why did the BSNL officials back out still remains a mystery.
Mr. Sinha further says: "Terms must have been written in the agreement. Unless agreement is not made, tower would not have come up." And says: "We too are the aggrieved party. After we constructed the tower, we were told that the location is not right. Our money too is at stake on that site. We are talking about resolution."
The signing authority BSNL which gave the entire order to Nokia, who passed it on to RN Infra and then to Shamshul, are now backing out and saying that they never gave the orders to construct the tower.
When contacted, Vikas Jain, Chairman of RN Infra says: "We have taken up the case with BSNL. I was told BSNL is in negotiation with the owner. My experience is that BSNL never does the agreement in advance. It is an understanding, construction starts and then the formalities are completed. Some dispute must have occurred afterwards."
What about loss of money and energy? Why can't BSNL finalize the terms and conditions in advance and then initiate work?
Mr. Jain gives the solution that if no agreement comes through, they will seek permission to dismantle the tower. Again more money and energy will be spent. And says: "I am also the sufferer. We are not allowed to talk to BSNL directly. We are making presentations through Nokia."
Both Nokia and RN Infra’s official line refutes BSNL's claim that the tower was built without their permission. There is something fishy somewhere. TN Shukla’s views clarification in this regard lacks credibility while AK Mishra – DGM Marketing at BSNL-Lucknow refused to entertain Hi Time’s query in this regard. CMD-BSNL and other top officials and also the MoS-Communications and Information Technology chose not to respond to the mail sent in this regard. Wonder whether Dr. Shakeel Ahmad was apt when he talked of better media management for BSNL!

Cricket Murdered

If apprehensions regarding murder of Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer are true, this will be the murder not only of a senior ex-cricketer alone but that of cricket at large. The entire Pakistani team ahs been asked to stay back at Jamaica by the local police who are looking at the prospects of involvement of some key players in Bob Woolmer’s death in mysterious circumstances in his hotel room at Jamaica.
Pakistan and betting has been nearly synonymous till now. Several key players have been accused of this though West Indies, South Africa and India too have not been spared of the blame.
Ex-cricketer Sarfaraz Nawaz’s comments have further added fuel to fire and enhanced suspicions of the relation between Woolmer’s death and betting. That Pakistani team lost two easy games right at the beginning of the tournament further strengthens the point. Nawaz has said that Woolmer was writing a book on the role of betting in cricket and his death could have been planned by bookies who were afraid that their nexus would get exposed.
If all this is true, Woolmer’s death could turn the tide either ways. It is time that ICC takes the death of Woolmer seriously and starts looking beyond the burgeoning coffers so that the chapter of betting gets permanently silenced from world cricket. Or there is a chance that Woolmer’s death would silence all those who might have spoken out against the prevalence of evil practices in the game. As it is, the bookies have shown their long army by planning and executing Woolmer’s death (if true).
Media’s role too is important. It has been doing stories about how the bookies operate. But no spy camera has until now reached the player’s dressing rooms. Indian police that had been tracking the calls of visiting cricketers have not revealed whether they did the same in the case of Indian cricketers. Neither have they commented whether they could muster guts to bring such a conversation to public if they find out anomalies as they did in the case of South African cricketers. And when the media truly got a story, courtesy Manoj Prabhakar, attempt was made to brush the issue under the carpet and Prabhakar was silenced into oblivion by revealing stories of his misconduct and financial irregularities by one of his companies.

And we will also play cricket

It is strange how our worthy media ignored the comments of Rahul Dravid after the win of Indian cricket team versus Bermuda by a convincing margin. In a press conference, Dravid said that his team members were not bothered by the booing fans, adverse comments in the media or other fallouts of humiliating losses, like that suffered in the game against Bangladesh, and the only thing that was of concern to them was the safety of their near and dear ones back home.
This is to be remembered that our media too is equally hysterical as the rest of the fans. A manifest example of this is that there were several papers and TV channels which were talking of India being the top contender till the news of the humiliating defeat poured in. Next morning, India was the minnows, capable of doing nothing. Dravid was being criticized, salvos were being fired at Sehwag and several changes were suggested. Things changed once again after the ‘thundering’ victory against the real ‘minnows of the game – Bermuda – whose coach Gus Logie is on record saying that he will be satisfied if his team reaches the three figure mark in batting. That Bermuda went off to score lot more runs must have been hugely satisfying for him.
Coming as it is, as an aftermath of a great win, the overjoyed media persons ignored the wide-ranging implications of Dravid’s comment, which if taken verbatim implies that the Indian team is least bothered about the sentiments with which the Indians back home view cricket. Had it not been for the physical loss and safety of their relatives, they would have not cared for the patriotic fervour which we at times exhibit towards our cricket. Such remarks and the ignominious defeat when the market was favouring Indian win further strengthens the fears of bookies ruling the roost till then. Pakistan’s defeat and the subsequent death of Bob Woolmer has further strengthened the point that Dravid and his men would have played more freely, winning and loosing at will, had there been no fears of fans attacking their houses or assaulting their relatives.

The New Age Jallads

Country’s law goes backstage as sharp-shooters decide who is to be killed

The term jallad is synonymous with ruthlessness, barbarity and death. During medieval times, the jallads were associated with the King’s durbars; their chief role being to send a prisoner sentenced to death to the gallows.
Even now, in various prisons across the country, it is the jallads who execute the prisoners convicted to death by the courts. In the recent past, these jallads have been brought to notice courtesy the media and stories related to the humane and no so humane side of their lives have been aired and published. Debate is also raging whether such men are a boon or bane for the society.
The new age jallads are different. They are the group of policemen for whom it does not matter whether the criminal has been tried in the courts or convicted of crime. They are a law unto themselves, a law outside of the existing law that governs the country, and seldom abide by the rules and regulations that the Police Department has framed for them. They are the encounter specialists, a term much hyped by the media, courtesy Daya Nayak, the man famed for killing in encounter 83 people in four years outside the framework of country’s law. Wonder why our esteemed judiciary is silent on this account!
Not that these encounter specialists are not to be found in UP. Only recently, the alleged encounter of Atru has much defamed the image of the UP Police when a woman named Gita from Mohammadabad (Farrukhabad) claimed that the person killed in the encounter was not Atru but her brother Kailash alias Attar Singh. This is another matter that police continue to stick to the stand that it was Atru, hobnobbing with them for past 10 years, who had been killed. If the man killed by the police in encounter was indeed Kailash, then who is to be blamed for killing of the innocent truck driver whose death orphaned three children, Muskan (6), Vishal (4) and Vikas (2).
Today, UP Police Headquarters too has certain people demarked as ‘encounter specialists’. Even those who do not carry this tag know that encounters, particularly when the elections are round the corner, would ensure them a raise in position and salary. Fake killing of Kailash is a result of this itself.
What is most worrying is the fact that these ‘encounter specialists’ have now been given a sanction by the people. This clearly suggests people’s dying faith in the systems of the country, including judiciary. Other than certain human rights activists who loathe these policemen, the public as well as the police have more or less given sanction to these ‘specialists’. What used to be called fake encounters till some time back are now ‘encounters’ with the policemen even claiming gallantry awards for doing so.
Debate is raging whether this unique, unofficial policing ‘institution’ needs to be checked. Allegations have been made that these policemen are a law unto themselves hobnobbing with criminals themselves. A local Mumbai journalist recently alleged that Daya Nayak, the most well-known of the encounter specialists, was in the pay of city’s mafia bosses. He cited the illegitimate assets of the SI, drawing not more than 9000 rupees a month, to strengthen his case. Police Commissioner AN Roy was forced to issue a personal report vouching for his man’s honesty.
To an extent these policemen are doing a good job, particularly in Mumbai where the crack team of five policemen has broken the back of the city’s once notorious crime syndicates. But that they have done so at a terrible cost necessitates that such killings should be checked. More than 600 suspected criminals are alleged to have been shot in cold blood, if the human rights groups are to be believed, without allowing them to seek justice from the country’s law.
Daya Nayak is not the only policeman who is involved in encounter killing. Pradeep Sharma claims a total of over 100 “successful” encounters with suspected criminals. Another specialist Vijay Salaskar has more than 30 encounter deaths to his credit.
Daya Nayak and Pradeep Sharma, both defend themselves by saying that they killed the other person when they fired towards them. If that is so, why are they called ‘encounter specialists’? Moreover, why is it that all the rest of the country’s policemen do not ‘encounter’ criminals when they go on performing their duty.
Fact is that encounter or extra judicial killings are not new phenomena for Indian state, though it has changed its position or acceptability in the public psyche for past few years. This is courtesy the Mumbai film industry for making several films ‘inspired’ by the real life of an encounter specialist. After the box office success of such films, one can say that the act of extra judicial killing, which otherwise is a gross violation of the Judicial system, the very aspect of our Constitution (by denying the fundamental right to live), the civil liberties and the human rights, has now got legitimacy in the Indian society.
That is why until people like Kailash continue to be killed in such encounters, the work of these modern day ‘jallads’ will continue to raise eyebrows.