#dnaEdit: Important analysis in brief

Hostage to racism
The complaint lodged by two Sudanese students of a private university in Moradabad alleging racist attacks within and outside the campus reveals a darker side of India that cannot be camouflaged by phrases like “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” and “Atithi Devo Bhava”. Left unsaid is a mindset that judges people by their ethnicity and colour of their skin. The Sudanese students alleged they were beaten by a mob with bricks and rods, locked up, and received no help from authorities because they were “black”. This inherent racism has not spared even people from India’s North-East from such bestial treatment. Some months ago, a huge mob encircled three African students at the Delhi Metro’s signature Rajiv Chowk station and attacked them with sticks and chairs. Last year, a Burundi national studying at Lovely Professional University in Punjab died after lying in coma for two years after a racist attack. These racial prejudices must have been at the back of their mind when the executives behind India’s top selling beauty product decided to name it ‘Fair & Lovely’.

Amethi remembered
Months after the Centre scrapped a proposed food park at Amethi, Rahul Gandhi, suddenly woke up to protest the injustice done to his constituency. On returning from his 56-day sabbatical, the Congress vice-president ignored Amethi, also reeling from agrarian distress, and visited NDA-ruled Punjab and Maharashtra to express solidarity with farmers. Battling barbs that he had neglected his constituency, Rahul has only himself to blame. The project, proposed in 2010, has remained on paper with Rahul showing little interest in motivating the promoter or pursuing clearances. Under these circumstances, his allegation of vendetta is hardly convincing. While food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur delivered a combative response in Parliament, Rahul baiter and HRD minister, Smriti Irani, who has repeatedly visited Amethi despite losing the Lok Sabha polls, held four kisan panchayats to rake up the local discontent against Rahul. In the last Lok Sabha, Rahul had used a mere 53 per cent of his local development funds. The sight of BJP leaders targeting Rahul directly and other Congress MPs on their feet to protest the disservice to Amethi betrays the nervousness in both camps.

Future is handheld
Fashion portal Myntra.com’s decision to shed the dotcom tag and become exclusively available as a mobile app heralds another revolutionary change in the information age. Myntra, owned by e-tailing major Flipkart, was reportedly seeing 90 per cent of its traffic and 70 per cent of sales coming through the mobile app. The decision then to junk nearly 30 per cent of its sales revenue that came through its website is certainly a courageous one. Nevertheless, the decision to go mobile is easier for a fashion portal than a generic e-tail company because of its predominantly young clientele. It is interesting to note that the smaller screen areas on mobile phones as opposed to personal computers have not deterred shoppers from buying clothes and fashion accessories on a mobile app. We are also witnessing the rise of a generation growing more and more at ease with miniaturisation and a virtual shopping experience. With smartphones getting cheaper and popular, tougher days are in store for showrooms and e-commerce websites.