A report out recentlyconducted by communi-cations agency Ogilvyand Public Affairs Asiascored the Indian citiesof Mumbai and Delhinear the very bottom oftheir city brand rankings.

The perception ofcities in the Asian regionis very important andhighly competitive thesedays. The desire toattract tourists, foreigninvestment and skilledlabour is more competi-tive than ever before.

‘Location branding’are the new buzz wordsthat are flying around.The ability for a city to befamous for something

and be placed in poten-tial consumers minds is amust.

Asia is now the hub;it is urbanising fasterthan any other part of theworld. With the expecta-tion in the next couple ofdecades that 20 out of 37global megacities will belocated in the East.

Much like products,cities require a set ofbrand values to leverthemselves on decisionmakers minds.

The task of brandinga city or region is verycomplex. While a prod-uct or service might havea few features that makesit distinct or attractive; acity will have multiplefactors.

The trouble withbranding a developingAsian city is twofold.Firstly selecting whichpositive features thatshould be communicatedand that are compellingand distinct enough fromother competing cities.Secondly, how to dealwith the negative aspectswhich also present them-selves in these cities.

This is the issue thathas faced India. Whilehaving a relatively stable

government, and general-ly being free from majornatural disasters; issuessuch as pollution, cor-ruption and povertystrike the headlines.

That is why theIndian cities of Mumbaiand Delhi struggle whencompared to places likeSingapore, Hong Kongand Sydney, whichappear at the top of theAsian City brand rank-ings.

India I feel will find ithard to compete on simi-lar values that a placelike Hong Kong espous-es.

In many ways India isin quite a confusedspace. Once famous forbeing a place of holy pil-grimage, backpackersand a way to escape thestrains and stresses ofmodern life. India now ismore intense and com-mercial than ever before.It’s been stripped of itssimplicity and spiritualvibes which had made itso unique to tourists.

It will be interestingto see in the comingyears whether Indiacatches up with the lead-ing Asian cities or fallsfurther behind.

Mo Luthra

Branding Consultantwww.moluthra.com

Delhi and Mumbai at the bottomof the city brand rankings

Q: Where were you bornand what is your familybackground?A: I was born and broughtup in as was my elder sisterwho is a PaediatricConsultant at the in . Myfather, a retired CharteredElectrical Engineer and mymother, a retiredCytogeneticist at Guy’s and‘ Hospital came to the afterthey married in 1967.Q: How did you come tobe involved with ?A: I grew up taking tripswith my family to WestBengal every year, spendingsummers in a village calledShondanga in the Districtof Nadia where my fathermigrated to from the thenEast Pakistan after the par-tition of India. I developedan understanding of thechallenges of village life andas a teenager in 2000 afterfloods devastated the area Iset up an appeal at myschool, for Girls, to raisemoney to help rebuild thehomes. When I became ateacher it felt natural todevise an idea to help therural communities of . Q: When did you decide toset up RISE? A: I set up RISE in 2009after the success of a proj-ect I started as a teachercalled the EnterpriseChallenge, the aim of whichwas to promote socialenterprise by connectingmy students in Londonwith students in rural WestBengal, to enable them todevelop an understandingof village life in India, as Ihad done growing up. Iwon the 2008 Teach FirstLearmonth School ProjectAward for the Enterprise

Challenge programme andfelt compelled to work onscaling up which I did withsupport from Teach First,UnLtd and HSBC.Q: How does theChallenge fit in with youreducation project in ?A: In defining the RISEmission during the firstyear of setting up the chari-ty I realised that tacklingeducational disadvantagein rural West Bengal, whereover 25% of children dropout of school before age 10,

was at the core and in 2010I began developing plansfor our Yearn to Learn liter-acy intervention pro-gramme. Through theEnterprise Challenge, stu-dents develop key life skillsas young social entrepre-neurs and the funds theyraise will go towards sup-porting the education ofchildren at the school theyare partnered with in ruralby enabling them to attendYearn to Learn. Q: In what ways has itbeen helpful to be a VirginMedia Pioneer?A: I became a Virgin MediaPioneer in the first year offounding RISE and it wasparticularly great to havesupport in the early phasesof developing the charity.Last year I attended a‘Spark Your Ideas’ work-shop led by Lara Morgan,Founder and Ex-CEO ofPacific Direct which wastruly inspiring.

Q: Where are you nowwith your charity?A: RISE is a small charitywith all members of theteam in the and working ina volunteer capacity. Overthe past 6 months we havebeen able to make signifi-cant progress because ofthe commitment, energyand drive of a team of 20 atAccenture who have beenvolunteering their time tosupport RISE since May.Q: What do you want tohappen next?A: It is an exciting time forRISE as we build momen-tum across our three proj-ects (Yearn to Learn, theEnterprise Challenge andSurvival Week) and employfull time members of staff tosupport our operations inthe and . In 2013 we aim towork with 250 students inthe through the EnterpriseChallenge and support 500students in with their liter-acy through Yearn to Learn.

For more informationabout RISE visit www.rise-online.co.uk.

If you have any ques-tions or would like to sup-port the charity in anycapacity please emails a n j u . p a l @ r i s e -online.co.uk.

Leading Lightsby Rani SinghSpecial Assignments Editor

Sanju Pal, 29

Sanju Pal

Sanju Pal is a Management Consultant at global technology consulting firm

Accenture. She is also the Founder of RISE (Rural India School Enterprise) a charity

she set up to address educational disadvantage in rural West Bengal and promote

global citizenship in the UK, after completing the Teach First graduate programme

and teaching Maths at Mulberry School for Girls in East London. Sanju has a First

Class honours bachelor degree in Mathematics and a Masters in Operational

Research and Finance. She is a Virgin Media Pioneer, part of an enterprising com-

munity supported by Virgin Media to ‘get inspired, get connected and get ahead’.

Tackling educationaldisadvantage in rural

West Bengal is at the core of RISE

Asian Voice - Saturday 10th November 20126 UK

UK (London) Chapter ofThe Institute of CharteredAccountants of Indiaorganised its Third Annualevent on 27 October, 2012at Hotel Crowne PlazaLondon – St. James. Theevent was attended by 150people including members,guests from business hous-es, financial institutes andsenior functionaries fromaccountancy profession.This was the third suchannual event of the chapterafter the success of last twoyear’s events whichbrought together membersof the Institute of char-tered accountants of Indiain the UK, their family andfriends.

The Guests of Honourfor the evening were MrRichard Heald, CEO-UKIBC, Mr George Raju,First Secretary (Economic)High Commission of Indiain London. The event hada session of seminar in thefirst half focusing on

investment opportunitiesin Real Estate in India andeducational presentationby HDFC and ACT. Thesecond half of the eventwas a fun filled eveningwith Bollywood music &dance, Magic shows andstand up comedy entertain-ment performance byKspark Entertainments ofKaran Pangali- of JustDance fame.

The Institute ofChartered Accountants ofIndia (ICAI), one of thelargest accounting bodiesin the whole world, is rec-ognized globally for itscontribution in the fields ofeducation, professionaldevelopment, maintenanceof high accounting, audit-ing and ethical standards.

UK (London) Chapterof ICAI is one of the largestand most active chapters ofthe 21 overseas chapters ofICAI and has more than600 registered members.The Chapter was formed

11 years ago with the mis-sion of promoting theIndian CharteredAccountancy Profession inUK.

The Chapter, from timeto time provides opportu-nities to the members tomeet, exchange views andinteract with one anotherfor furtherance of theirtechnical competency andknowledge. This is alsoachieved by hosting semi-nars and events. Also, byorganising social and cul-tural events the Chapterstrengthens the communi-ty ties among the members.

The Chapter has fromtime to time has also part-nered with various busi-nesses and leadingaccounting bodies and hasorganised various activitiesof professional interest tonot only its members butalso to the wider group ofprofessionals engaged inprofessions other thanaccountancy.

Annual event of the UK (London)Chapter of ICAI held in Central London

Mr Manoj Agarwal, Mr Satish Sonthalia- ICAI London, Mr Richard Heald, CEO - UK IndiaBusiness Council, Ms Fiona Crisp, Council member - The Association of Corporate

Treasurer, Mr George Raju, First Secretary (Economic) - High Commission of India in UK,Mr Anil Gadodia, Mr Amit Lahoti, Mr Ajay Agrawal - ICAI London.

The government’s promiseto reduce net migration by2015 includes measuresthat have made it moredifficult for people fromoutside Europe to joinfamily members in the UK,creating tough choices forsome British residents.

The Home Secretary,Theresa May, toldParliament in June that ithas been “too easy for eld-erly dependent relatives tojoin their migrant childrenhere and then potentiallybecome a burden on thetaxpayer.”

Dr Avinash Kanodiawas recruited by theDepartment of Healthfrom India in 2003because of doctor short-

ages in the NHS, he worksas a consultant radiologistin Perth. He, his wife andtwo children are nowBritish citizens.

An only child, hechecked before commit-ting to move to the UKthat his mother would beallowed to join them if herhealth deteriorated. Underthe new rules she wouldnot be granted a visabecause Dr Kanodia canafford to pay for nursingcare in India. He told theBBC “The rules are moral-ly wrong. I don’t want toleave my mother in thecare of a stranger thou-sands of miles away. I waslured here with the prom-ise of citizenship.

“But look how I ambeing treated as a citizenof this country. This is theworst thing the govern-ment could have done tome.”

Dr Kanodia is nowconsidering whether tomove his family back toIndia before his daughterstarts secondary school in2013. “I pay over £40,000in income tax every year. Idon’t see how driving peo-ple like me away will helpthe economy of this coun-try.”

According to theHome Office, 2700 adultdependent relatives weregranted visas in 2010. Ofthose, 1350 were aged 65or over.

Are UK immigration laws splittingfamilies apart?