Interviews

How have oil prices affected polyester yarn business, both in India as well as at the international level? Pinkesh Jain: Oil prices have been dropping all over the world for almost a year now. But we realise that this price (the current price) is rock-bottom; it can't go lower than this. The market has been improving only of late. The prices of yarn and fibres have been improving a bit. All spinners and manufacturers know that these prices (of crude oil) are the lowest. So, that offers a scope...

Senior journalist Salil Tripathi has long-standing experience in advancing the business and human rights agenda. As a researcher at Amnesty International (1999-2005) he participated in negotiations that created the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and represented Amnesty in the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights process from its inception until 2008. Tripathi is a contributing editor at Mint and Caravan, and was formerly a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review...

F2F: In what way can the textile-apparel industry benefit from maintaining fairtrade ethics? Abhishek Jani: Until now Fairtrade's primary focus has been on the cotton farmers, who are often the hidden link in the textile-apparel supply chain despite the need for companies to address sustainability issues at the level of cotton production and ensure farmers get a fair deal. Nearly 70% of farmer suicides in India take place in the cotton producing regions. Over the past couple of years, we have...

Aarvee Denims and Exports Ltd is a leading global player in the textiles industry. Backed by experienced promoters, the company is spreading its wings all over the globe at a very fast pace. Established in 1988 by the Arora & VB Group, which has been involved in textile trade for over 50 years, well-qualified human resources and state of the art production units have made ADEL one of the world's largest vertically integrated denim manufacturers. Pankil Shah, Vice-President (Garment Division)...

Actress Tisca Chopa was born into a Punjabi family of educationists, but a career in academics were not for her. Tisca chose theatre instead, and not without reason or precedent. The very school where her parents taught were one day caught in a bind — they couldn't find anyone to enact the role of little Krishna for a play. It was left to the two-year-old Tisca to salvage the situation. Theatre (officially) happened soon after college, and she moved on subsequently to cinema and television. Her...

India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality In The 21st century explores mating habits of youngsters on campuses and in offices; examines the changing face of pornography and prostitution; probes oppression of the LGBT community. Author Ira Trivedi, who would be in the city later this month, tells dna how India in Love was stitched together. I believe this book was in the making for four good years. How did you go about planning how you would move around the country? What about logistics? Yes, it did...

It took five years of painstaking work since the time he embarked on his project, to finally seeing the translated work in print. And when acclaimed Marathi writer Ranjit Desai's celebrated novel on painter Raja Ravi Varma hit the stands, it was gobbled up in no time. The translated work was in English, and the one who hit on the idea was engineer-turned-writer Vikrant Pande. He now lives in Bangalore with his family, and the city and its weather being what they are, Pande doesn't feel the need...

The ability to cast a ballot is often a given. But can one make the entire voting process a bit more pleasant? How can we encourage more people to cast their votes? Are there more efficient ways that can be introduced to improve voting practices? Can 'service design' play a role in this? A leading design company, Tata Elxsi, feels there is enough scope. Narendra Ghate, chief designer (service design) with the company, has some ideas and some solutions. These can be seen as recommendations for...

It's taken him more than 30 years to chronicle the experiences he underwent as a strapping, young IAS officer. It had anyway been a long haul for him from the beginning itself, quite literally at that — from getting his bags packed in home Kerala to travelling all the way to farflung, landlocked Manipur. The year was 1978, and insurgency was not yet so virulent in that Northeast state. C Balagopal had cleared the civil services exams, and had been drafted into the Manipur cadre. In the three...

Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been a vociferous advocate of planned, intelligent solutions for the varied problems a fast-growing metropolis like Bangalore faces. A strong advocate of the need for the devolution of power to evolve governance reforms based on citizen-centric decision making, Chandrasekhar has been vocal about the need for greater transparency and accountability in governance institutions and public authorities alike. Chandrasekhar is at the forefront of drawing the...