Political commentator/analyst Kusal Perera has issued a people centric program for North – East for social discourse which is as follows :

“ _Post-war issues the north-east wanted answers for, will not get trashed merely because 29% in N-E voted for NPP_ .”

– Kusal Perera / Daily FT 30 Nov.2024

North-East clearly exhibited its frustration and anger against traditional political leaderships. It is a fact, traditional political parties and leaderships don’t have a “people-centric” perspective, working on the understanding they could always manipulate the vote, in the absence of alternate leaderships.

This 2024 elections proved the people are no more ready to be manipulated to vote them as representatives of the people. At least a substantial majority in North-East did not, creating a space for an alternate action programme at grassroot level.

That action programme is proposed here as a two-part programme with initial demands in this current context and as the organisational democratic platform for a campaign.

Demands are –
01.  all 22 Tamil and Muslim MPs (including NPP) in North-East issue a joint statement, confirming they stand for “full implementation” of the 13 Amendment to the Constitution

02.  all 22 Tamil and Muslim MPs (including NPP) in North-East table a motion in parliament within month of December 2024, demanding the government announce they would implement the 13A in full and hold PC elections before end March 2025.

03.  Public demand asking the President to present the APRC Final Report in parliament immediately (as the LLRC Report was presented)

04.  De-militarise North-East administration as stressed in LLRC Final Report in establishing a civil administration

05.  Minister of Justice and National Integration to provide a comprehensive list of “enforced disappearances” during and after the war to the parliament, with details and the present situation/status within 03 months

Campaign platform to constitute –
1.     District level action committees consisting of people’s organisations, trade unions and professional associations

2.     Federation of district action committees forming the N-E campaign platform

3.     District Action Committees to form its local actions committees as electoral or professional committees

This is meant for a public discussion among North-East social activists and remains open for due amendments and alterations for improvement and implementation.

Kusal Perera – Political commentator/Analyst
2024 December 01

A video of a fashion shoot in India has gone viral and unexpectedly turned a group of underprivileged school children into local celebrities.

The footage shows the children, most of them girls between the ages of 12 and 17, dressed in red and gold outfits fashioned from discarded clothes.

The teenagers designed and tailored the outfits and also doubled up as models to showcase their creations, with the grubby walls and terraces of the slum providing the backdrop for their ramp walk.

The video was filmed and edited by a 15-year-old boy.

The girls chose accessories by watching fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s Instagram videos

The video first appeared earlier this month on the Instagram page of Innovation for Change, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the city of Lucknow.

The charity works with about 400 children from the city’s slums, providing them free food, education and job skills. The children featured in the shoot are students of this NGO.

Mehak Kannojia, one of the models in the video, told the BBC that she and her fellow students closely followed the sartorial choices of Bollywood actresses on Instagram and often duplicated some of their outfits for themselves.

“This time, we decided to pool our resources and worked as a group,” the 16-year-old said.

For their project, they chose wisely – a campaign by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, one of India’s top fashion designers who has dressed Bollywood celebrities, Hollywood actresses and billionaires. In 2018, Kim Kardashian wore his sequinned red sari for a Vogue shoot.

Mukherjee is also known as the “king of weddings” in India. He has dressed thousands of brides, including Bollywood celebrities such as Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone. Priyanka Chopra married Nick Jonas in a stunning red Sabyasachi outfit.

The girls said they stitched about a dozen outfits in three-four days

Mehak said their project, called Yeh laal rang (the colour red), was inspired by the designer’s heritage bridal collection.

“We sifted through the clothes that had come to us in donation and picked out all the red items. Then we zeroed in on the outfits we wanted to make and began putting them together.”

It was intense work – the girls stitched about a dozen outfits in three-four days but, Mehak says, they had “great fun doing it”.

For the ramp walk, Mehak says they studied the models carefully in Sabyasachi videos and copied their moves.

“Just like his models, some of us wore sunglasses, one drank from a sipper with a straw, while another walked carrying a cloth bundle under her arm.”

Some of it, Mehak says, came together organically. “At one point in the shoot, I was supposed to laugh. At that moment, someone said something funny and I just burst out laughing.”

The outfits were fashioned from donated clothes

It was an ambitious project, but the result has won hearts in India. Put together on a shoestring budget with donated clothes, the video went viral after Mukherjee reposted it on his Instagram feed with a heart emoji.

The campaign won widespread praise, with many on social media comparing their work to that of professionals.

The viral video has brought enormous attention to the charity and its school has been visited by several TV channels, some of the children were invited to participate in shows on popular FM radio stations and Bollywood actress Tamannah Bhatia visited them to accept a scarf from the children.

The response, Mehak says, has been “totally unexpected”.

“It feels like a dream come true. All my friends are sharing the video and saying ‘you’ve become famous’. My parents were full of joy when they heard about all the attention we are getting.

“We are feeling wonderful. Now we have only one dream left – to meet Sabyasachi.”

The fashion shoot has won widespread praise in India

The shoot, however, also received criticism, with some wondering if showing young girls dressed as brides could encouraged child marriage in a country where millions of girls are still married off by their families before they turn 18 – the legal age.

The Innovation for Change addressed the concern in a post on Instagram, saying they had no intention to encourage child marriage.

“Our aim is not to promote child marriage in any way. Today, these girls are able to do something like this by fighting against such ideas and restrictions. Please appreciate them, otherwise the morale of these children will fall.”

(BBC News)

Hello Kitty, arguably Japan’s best loved creation, is celebrating her 50th anniversary.

But all has not always been well at Sanrio, the Japanese company behind the character. The business has been on a spectacular journey of financial peaks and valleys.

Hello Kitty has been ranked the second-highest grossing media franchise in the world behind Pokémon, and ahead of the likes of Mickey Mouse and Star Wars.

Underscoring her global fame, Britain’s King Charles wished her a happy birthday during the state visit to the UK by Japan’s Emperor and Empress in June.

In recent years though Sanrio had been struggling to make money, as interest in Hello Kitty waned.

Two previous surges in Sanrio sales, in 1999 and 2014, were both driven by the character’s popularity. But these jumps in demand for the firm’s products were not sustainable, says Yasuki Yoshioka of investment company SMBC Nikko.

“In the past, its performance had many ups and downs, as if it was on a rollercoaster ride,” Mr Yoshioka says.

Tomokuni Tsuji took over the top job at Sanrio four years ago

Then, in 2020, Tomokuni Tsuji inherited the role as Sanrio’s boss.

He is the grandson of the firm’s founder, Shintaro Tsuji, and was just 31 at the time, making him the youngest chief executive of a listed Japanese company.

His grandfather then became Sanrio’s chairman.

Under the younger Mr Tsuji’s leadership, Sanrio changed its marketing strategy of its stable of other characters.

“It is not about lowering Hello Kitty’s popularity but it is about boosting others’ recognition,” he says.

This resulted in Hello Kitty losing the position of Sanrio’s most popular character.

According to a poll of customers, that spot is now held by Cinnamoroll – a blue-eyed white puppy with pink cheeks, long ears and a tail that looks like a Cinnamon roll.

Sanrio is also no longer just about cute characters.

If Hello Kitty is Japan’s ambassador of cute, then angry red panda Aggressive Retsuko – or Aggretsuko – channels the frustrations of an ordinary working woman.

The character, which is popular among Gen Zers, first appeared in a cartoon series on Japan’s TBS Television before it became a global hit on Netflix.

Another unconventional character is Gudetama, or “lazy egg”, who is living with depression and fires out cold one-liners that reflect dark realities of life.

Sanrio is also no longer just about cute characters

As well as diversifying its characters, Sanrio boosted its overseas marketing and is now tackling counterfeits more rigorously.

“We are now using artificial intelligence to detect fake products and to make removal requests,” says Mr Tsuji.

For its marketing strategy, collaborations with major brands – including Starbucks, Crocs and the LA Dodgers baseball team – have been key, he added.

“In addition to our own promotion, by collaborating with global brands, we are trying to have our characters in the market throughout the year without many breaks.”

Hello Kitty collaborated with the LA Dodgers, home to Japanese baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani

In a society that puts so much emphasis on seniority, Mr Tsuji’s surname was crucial to his ability to make major changes at Sanrio.

Almost a quarter of listed companies in Japan, like car makers Toyota and Suzuki and camera firm Canon, are managed by members of the family that founded them.

The reason is cultural, according to Professor Hokuto Dazai of Nagoya University of Commerce and Business.

In Japan, home to the world’s oldest continuous monarchy, “there is strong recognition of families and family businesses,” he says.

The master-servant relationship from the samurai period has transitioned into the relationship between founding families and their employees, and “historically commoners never fought over the top job”.

“It is also because Japan has a smaller pool of professional executives to choose from,” says Professor Dazai.

“Firms tend to look for their next boss internally, including founding family members.”

King Charles wished Hello Kitty a happy birthday during the Japanese Emperor’s state visit

Still, “it would be a lie if I said there was no pushback” from other managers and employees in the company, Mr Tsuji says.

He also says he clashed with his grandfather over how to run the company.

“But one day I realised that I was being arrogant, trying to convince someone 60 years senior,” he says.

“After about a year, my grandfather told me to run the company as I see fit – that he will leave it up to me.”

The new boss’s revamp of the business has been paying off so far.

Within two years of the younger Tsuji becoming chief executive, Sanrio was profitable again, in what analyst Mr Yoshioka calls “a beautiful V-shaped recovery”.

Its share price has risen tenfold since 2020 and the company now has a stock market valuation of more than a trillion yen ($6.5bn; £5bn).

Hello Kitty is no longer the most popular Sanrio character

Away from the boardroom and stock market, there was also an intriguing incident earlier this year.

While Hello Kitty’s true identity is relatively well-known in Japan, some overseas fans were shocked by comments from a Sanrio executive in July.

Speaking on US television, retail business development director Jill Koch told viewers that “Hello Kitty is not a cat” and is in fact a British schoolgirl.

Her comments sparked a flurry of social media posts, with fans expressing their shock and confusion about the revelation.

“Hello Kitty is Hello Kitty and she can be whoever you want her to be – she can be your sister, your mother, it can be another you,” Mr Tsuji says.

Pushed on whether he has any idea why his grandfather decided not to make her Japanese, Mr Tsuji concludes: “London is an amazing city and it was the envy of many Japanese girls, so that may be one of the reasons they decided that she’s from London.”

It may not be the definitive answer her fans are looking for – but after all, Hello Kitty was created 14 years before the younger Tsuji was even born. Half a century since her creation, it is possible that the beloved character’s origin story will continue to be shrouded in mystery for years to come.

– Mariko Oi

(BBC News)