PETA offers Kingfisher a vegan lift
One of the many benefits of vegetarianism, so animal rights activists say, is that it cures impotence. To that end, the global rights group PETA is offering a way to give flagging Kingfisher Airlines a lift.
The airline, once the flashiest in the Indian aviation industry with well-groomed hostesses and gourmet food, is struggling to stay upright after running up a debt of about $1.3 billion. It has been wooing investors, pleading with banks and sounding out anyone who could help.
Now, help is being offered from an unlikely quarter.
PETA has made a “tempting offer to help keep Kingfisher Airlines out of its financial crisis and flying sky-high”, the group said in a statement. Condition: The airline — whose advertisements once featured tastefully served lobsters and baked chicken — covers its planes with anti-non-vegetarianism slogans.
“Want Good Times? Go Vegan. Meat Consumption Leads to Impotence,” the slogans would say if Kingfisher accepts the proposal.
Impotence affects more than half of India’s males aged over 40, and this condition can be “prevented or even reversed” with a pure vegetarian diet, PETA says.
It’s certainly an innovative form of promoting PETA’s case, which “operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment.”
Selling stake in alcohol business – Mallya’s last roll of dice?
It’s always spectacular when things go horribly wrong for the rich and famous.
When Vijay Mallya — the king of good times — launched a high-profile airline in 2005, his primary motive was to use the platform to promote his best-selling Kingfisher beer.
“I can’t advertise my brand. I have to live my brand,” he said then.
Owning an airline was probably far more glamorous than being a liquor baron, particularly in India, where drinking still is a taboo. On top of that, a premium airline in one of the fastest growing economies with business travel growing at an even faster speed would ensure additional revenue and add another feather to Mallya’s cap.
It was a perfect plan. It indeed was moving swiftly as Kingfisher soon occupied over a fifth of India’s traffic and Mallya’s kingdom expanded.
But not all good things stay forever.
After his airline nosedived, he is now said to be mulling selling a stake in his alcohol business to pocket some much-need cash for his ailing carrier.
Kingfisher – A Shakespearean Comedy or Tragedy?
State Bank of India Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri took recourse to the Great Bard when asked about what the banks, who now own a substantial portion of the debt-hobbled airline Kingfisher Airlines, would do about its exposure.
“Much ado about nothing,” Chaudhuri said in response to the media frenzy, in a reference to the Shakespearean comedy about two pairs of lovers who are caught in a web of misunderstanding.
Even as he tries to make light of the situation, Chaudhuri, the largest lender to Kingfisher, has reason to be worried. He, himself, is fighting rising bad loans at his own bank and wouldn’t like Kingfisher to add to it.
As for UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya, the eponymous King of Good Times, the unfolding events are more akin to a classic tragedy of the great bard.
Mallya, who has carefully cultivated his flamboyant persona, entered the aviation space to extend the visibility of his cash-cow liquor business. Liquor advertising is banned in India and firms often take recourse to surrogate advertising to promote their products.
Today, Mallya stands to lose his airline as also Kingfisher as an aviation brand.
The spate of flight cancellations at the onset of peak travel season has already hurt the image of the struggling carrier. Mallya’s press interaction Tuesday was aimed at clearing much of the negative air.
I have to agree with Mr Prasad that the indian domestic airliners got it completely wrong when building their business model, but what is not reported is the contribution of the political corruption to the current affairs. No one will really know how much money was being paid by these airliners to the politicians to secure the routes. Another point to consider is the issue of black money; large number of Medium sized business owners in india earn large sums of cash which they will not declare – to save tax but also to protect the business because significant large number of their clients would not want to deal with them otherwise! These business owners (and their employees) would normally prefer to avoid domestic flights so as to not come in light of local income tax inspectors!
All in all, indian domestic carriers have a lot to fight against!
Force India podium, giant leap for Indian motor sport?
India can boast of taking a major stride in Formula One after Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella drove from pole to second on the podium at the Belgium Grand Prix on Sunday.
The first points for the team owned by India’s liquor and airlines baron Vijay Mallya was a pleasant surprise, the team having failed to make an impact since it was launched ahead of the 2008 season.
The Indian media lapped up the news, indicating that F1′s popularity in India will only grow more rapidly as Indian fans gradually embrace the team as theirs.
Although home fans would have hoped an Indian driver had produced the achievement, India would still celebrate Fisichella’s success.
Indian F1 hopes were given a huge boost when Narain Karthikeyan was signed up by Jordan in 2005. However, an uncompetitive car and his lack of experience at the highest level meant India’s first F1 driver stayed very briefly in the limelight.
Karthikeyan’s subsequent role as a tester for Williams pushed him behind the scenes and he has now moved to the A1 Grand Prix, the world cup of motor racing, with his Formula One hopes all but over.
The Force India podium could not have come at a better time, as India gear up to stage an inaugural Grand Prix in 2011.
This win is really a hard-earned win for Force India team of Mallya. With this win, popularity of formula car racing will grow rapidly in India, however it
does certainly not necessitate organization of an Formula 1 Grand Prix event in India in 2011.
Can Formula 1 racing be defined as a “sport”?- according to govt. of India it is an open question.
The government may have not recognized it as a sport, only because to turn down much anticipated demands by interested parties in view of organizing 2011 Grand Prix in India and another reason could be that motor sports is generally considered a luxury.
Prohibition policy in Gujarat — a tragic farce?
More than 130 people died after consuming bootleg liquor in Gujarat last week.
While prohibition is in place in Gujarat, liquor is often smuggled in from neighbouring states and people are forced to buy it at inflated prices.
What can the poor do? They cannot afford to buy branded alcohol so they consume illicit liquor. Plastic pouches called ‘potlis’ of illegally brewed liquor are available for as little as ten rupees.
Some have said that Gujarat’s prohibition policy encourages bootlegging. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya argues that apart from loss of revenue this leads to “illegal, unhygienic and unsupervised production of deadly cocktails which claim innocent lives.”
During the Great Depression, the ‘Noble Experiment’ prohibition policy in the United States was repealed just 14 years after the sale of alcohol was banned.
An article in the Foreign Policy magazine, a couple of years ago, argued:
“A ‘drug-free world,’ which the United Nations describes as a realistic goal, is no more attainable than an ‘alcohol-free world’ – and no one has talked about that with a straight face since the repeal of Prohibition in the United States in 1933.”
Hello,everyone
Is there no way to control country liquor.we r so helpless that we have ban it instead controlling it in a efficient manner,by which tax can be collected without any deaths.
Gandhi memorabilia auction: a wake-up call for India?
“Delighted and relieved,” is what the great-grandson of India’s iconic freedom hero Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi said once news came in that a collection of Gandhi memorabilia sold to tycoon Vijay Mallya will come home.
Over the last two weeks, the auction of Gandhi’s personal belongings has created uproar in India, with indignant citizens demanding to know why things came to such a pass.
Indians, who view the items as part of their national heritage, have said government intervention at a much earlier stage would have perhaps prevented the last minute dramatic build-up over the bidding.
Seller James Otis’ last minute change of heart to withdraw the items — Gandhi’s trademark wire-rimmed glasses, leather sandals, a pocket watch and a metal bowl and plate — failed and the auction went ahead as scheduled.
The one thing the controversial auction brought to light is the need for a clear mandate to bring home items of national heritage, spread out all over the world, in possession of collectors or individuals, before it escalates into a full-scale commercial ball game.
The interest generated over merely five of Gandhi’s items of daily use drove its price over the last two weeks to a staggering $1.8 million from the reserve price of $20,000 to $30,000.
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