1 Governance and the Indian citizen (Khaleej Times)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign charm offensive is paying
dividends, but his party is losing the governing edge at home. After the rout
in the Delhi state elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party ate humble pie in the
West Bengal civic bodies polls last week.
It didn’t help matters that the party is seen as
favouring rich corporate houses while neglecting the downtrodden and farmers
who make up a bulk of voters. The Trinamool Congress Party, led by its
firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, swept the state with 70 municipal
seats. The BJP was hoping to make inroads into the state but after this debacle
it is evident that the party lacks grassroots support. As the Modi government
completes a year into its term in office, the prime minister and his cabinet
appear to have lost touch with reality.
The ordinary citizen of the country, who strives for
the basics of life, has been distanced from the corridors of the
decision-making apparatus in New Delhi. Corruption and poverty continue their
daily dalliance. A land acquisition bill to help set up industry has met with
resistance from all quarters, corporates excluded.
An embattled opposition led by the Congress party,
former socialist parties, Left parties and regional satraps have smelt blood
and are hoping to make political capital out of it. The ploy is working
already, and it’s hurting the BJP’s push into new states it had hoped to
capture after the high of the national elections last year when Modi swept the
polls with his vision for a new, resurgent India.
Since then, the prime minister and his government
have failed to provide inclusive governance the country deserves by taking all
sections of the people with it. Right-wing outfits and individuals have put the
ruling BJP on the backfoot with their vitriolic comments against minority
communities.
Religious places have been targeted; unseasonal rains have led to
crop failures and farmer suicides.
The ruling party has done little to curb the impression
that the majority Right has the might to settle historical scores in a secular,
democratic country. Brand India may be on the rise abroad but Brand Modi is on
the wane at home. Politics is a great leveler as the New Delhi state and West
Bengal local elections have shown.
2 Under pressure, McDonald’s mulls shake-up (Rupert
Neate in The Guardian) The chief executive of McDonald’s has admitted that the
world’s largest burger chain is “not on our game” as he announced sweeping
changes designed to revitalise the company which is rapidly losing customers to
new a breed of customer-focused fast-food chains.
“The reality is our recent performance has been
poor. The numbers don’t lie,” Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s new president and
CEO, said. Easterbrook said he was “not interested in average for this
business” and the company needed more “hard-edged accountability”. The
47-year-old said the corporate structure of McDonald’s had made it too slow to
respond to the needs of its 69 million daily customers.
On Monday, McDonald’s workers announced plans to
gatecrash the shareholder meeting later this month with “the biggest-ever
protest” demanding an end to “poverty wages” paid to its staff. McDonald’s has
reported six straight quarters of sagging sales, depressed profits and another
miserable outlook. 2014 was one of the worst years in its 60-year history. It
has more than 36,000 restaurants around the world.
The current geographic structure will be replaced by
one that groups countries by the challenges they face. From 1 July the new
structure will consist of four groups: the US (its largest market representing
40% of sales), international lead markets (Australia, UK, Canada, France and
Germany), high-growth markets (such as China, Russia and South Korea) and
foundation markets (the rest of the world where the company will take a step
back in favour of increased franchising.)
The company also plans to cut $300m in costs by
around 2017. The company said it’s too early to say how that will affect jobs.
It will also increase the proportion of restaurants franchised globally over
the next four years to 90% from 81%.
3 The Pac Man effect on Philippine economy (Leisha
Chi on BBC) In the southern Philippines city of General Santos, there is a
dusty little barangay, or village, where boxer Manny "Pac Man"
Pacquiao recalls having slept in the streets, starving and hungry. He grew up
there with a family so poor, they often went to bed having only drunk warm
water for dinner. To earn money, he dropped out of school as a teenager to
fight at local fiestas for a winning purse of 100 pesos, or less than $4
(£2.60).
In a sign of how far he's come, this weekend he
earned at least $100m in the "fight of the century" against American
rival Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. The highly anticipated bout took
about half a decade to organise and is the richest event in the history of
boxing.
Pacquiao wasn't able to defeat Mayweather. Despite
his loss, the 36-year-old remains a hero in locals' eyes and there is
speculation he may turn to politics and possibly run for president in the
coming years. Following his sporting success, he's become so influential in the
Philippines it can be said that he single-handedly boosts the economy each time
he fights.
Some analysts have gone so far as to claim the
Philippines' currency the peso rises ahead of his matches. One media report
said the peso strengthened against the US dollar in six out of 10 of his last
critical fights. Tickets to the match at the MGM Grand Garden in Vegas
officially ranged from $1,500 to $10,000. In the Philippines, it is estimated
that more than a quarter of its population live under the poverty line, or with
less than $2 a day.
Sky Cable charged a pay-per-view rate of 2,500
pesos. Others paid 800 pesos per head to watch Sunday's fight in a cinema.
Operator SM Prime Holdings said it sold 100,000 tickets for showings in 200 of
its 300 cinemas. Even the Philippines' biggest power distributor Manila
Electric (Meralco) benefited. It said electricity usage is about 10% higher
during Pacquiao fights.
Then there are the lucrative sponsorship deals. When
Pacquiao first went professional, he only had one advertiser willing to pay for
their logo on his trunks. In Las Vegas on Sunday, they generated about $2.5m
after at least six companies paid for a space on his shorts, including
Philippines telecoms giant Smart Communications.
Small businesses have benefited from the "Pac
Man effect" as well. In a small shopping mall in Quezon City, a suburb of
Manila, the Bunny Baker café has seen an increase in traffic after its owners
created a life-sized cake of the boxer. The biggest and simplest way Pacquiao
contributes to the local economy is through taxes. He is the Philippines' top
individual taxpayer. He drew $42m in earnings last year, a figure that will
exponentially increase following his fight with Mayweather. Their bout was the
richest in boxing history having generated as much as half-a-billion dollars.
No comments:
Post a Comment