Ladies and gentlemen, now we have with us a personality who is well known in Indian business fraternity and has also chaired the jury board of Indian marketing awards. Mr. Bharat Puri, Managing Director, Piddy Light Industry. Mr. Puri's association with Piddy Light began as an independent director of the company in 2008. His career has witnessed many achievements during his tenure at leading Indian and global companies. In his last assignment, he was President Global Chocolate Gum and Candy Categories at Mondalis International Zurich with worldwide responsibilities for the growth of these categories. I would request Mr. Bharat Puri to kindly share with us his overall experience on being part of the jury of Indian marketing awards, followed by an interaction with Mr. Naval Ahuja, who's the co-founder of Exchange for Media Group. I welcome you gentlemen. Over to you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Let me start by saying that we, you know, normally people use the word unprecedented rather loosely, but we have this year lived in unprecedented times. And for marketeers, it's been a double whammy because, A, obviously the consumer has been substantially impacted. And secondly, marketing funds have been substantially impacted. And therefore when one went into the jury, one was wondering how has marketing done this year? And I must say it was a pleasant surprise. I think marketing is alive and kicking. Marketing is innovative. Marketing is doing different things. The digital world, the digital consumer, all that we hear of is true, but it's wonderful to see that people have found new ways and improved old ways of connecting with consumers. And therefore the whole experience of chairing the jury for the Indian marketing awards was for me, A, an enjoyable experience, more importantly, a learning experience. You know, all of us are learners, irrespective of the amount of gray in our hair. And I must say at the end of it, I came back with a lot of ideas. I came back quite happy and quite impressed with a lot of the work being done. So overall, while I will add my congratulations to all the participants, not just all the winners. I just say it's been a good day for marketing and it's been a great experience chairing the jury for the awards. Over to you, Naval. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Mr. Puri, for joining us and thank you for your words of encouragement for marketers across the country who have participated in this year. And I could not agree more with you. Challenging times are the ones when companies have to innovate, especially the marketing fork. And I think last year was one such year when budgets were on a tight string and you had to find ideas which would fly without the wings of significant money. And as you might have seen with the IMA entries, a lot of those companies, a lot of brands manage that. Since you're here, we thought it's a good opportunity for us to pick up your brains. I'll come to a little bit more to the IMA part of the discussion a little later. Mr. Puri, as you started by saying it's been an unprecedented year and as you saw it created significant disruption in society with individuals, companies of course are very deeply impacted and naturally every company, every sector responded very differently. As a business leader, you are part of a large category. You also keep track of what's happening across categories, which are the companies that will stand out for you when it comes to response to pandemic and why is that? I think a number of companies really, when you are hit by a pandemic, it's obviously something that no management books or no budgeting process or planning process prepares you for. And it's never about falling down novel. It's about how quickly you get up. So the companies that have impressed me are the ones that got up quickly, connected with consumers very, very quickly, cognized of the new realities, realized there was a trend around health and hygiene. There was a trend around people shopping and interacting electronically. There was a trend around far more emphasis on wellness and a large number of companies reacted very well to this. I don't want to go into specific names because then what happens is when you call out some, you miss out a lot of others and later people come back and say, how could you miss me? But I must say, I think overall if you look at FMCG, you look at durables, you look at the real consumer space, I think marketing is well and alive in India. And it's wonderful to see how quickly brands adapted, came back, whether it be the pace of innovation, whether it be understanding insights and acting on them, and whether it be just good breakthrough communication. So overall, I would say a good year for the consumer industry. I think the services industry has suffered a lot more, retail has suffered a lot more, they will bounce back a little later. But overall, I think it's been wonderful to see people adapt and act with agility. Right, and some data bears that out Mr. Puri, I was told that a category about new product launches got a lot of, a lot many more number of entries that we wouldn't get in the usual year. So that really is kind of proof of the pudding that even in a year as disruptive as 2020, companies didn't stop their sort of animal spirits remained intact and we figured out ways of going out and selling new products if the existing ones were not flying off the shelf. Coming to the role of the CEO and you've been in a leadership position now for many, many years. And again, last year was a very disruptive year. What were the things that came on to a CEO's plate and which would not occupy or consume too much of your time earlier. And do you think the CEO's role pre-COVID and post-COVID is likely to be slightly different and COVID will leave some lasting sort of changes in how a CEO, an MD of a company approaches the business once this entire episode is behind us. Great, great questions. Now, you know, starting with, I think the important thing in any crisis for a CEO is first to stand up and lead. A lot of times we tend to get overcome or overwhelmed by the enormity of what faces us. But I think what distinguishes the CEOs that stand out from the others is their ability to be able to, in a sense, understand that while there is a storm, you have to manage the storm. You have to keep also strengthening your own ship as you're navigating the storm. And really, therefore, actually, I always say that it is periods of crisis that test the character of a leader, the metal of a leader and the culture of a company. All the good work that you've done in better times. This is when it comes back because that's when people really own the agenda. That's when people go the extra mile, they go the extra, you know, they put in a lot of the extra effort because they have a sense of ownership for the organization. So as far as the CEO is concerned, he has to fly the plane visually. He's got this massive plane, but a lot of it is being flown visually because you don't know what is going to happen the next, you know, week, 10 days, I mean, the whole planning horizon shifts and shrinks dramatically. The second thing is you have to also keep saying that, listen, as this gets over, we must emerge from this as a stronger organization. And therefore, you have to put in a whole set of actions, whether it be related to innovation, whether it be related to supply chain, whether it be related to people, which help you basically a manage the storm well, but be emerged from the strong, from the storm, a little more able and a little stronger than you were before the strong storm came. So I mean, is the role of the CEO going to change? Absolutely.  And the role of the CEO is continuously evolving.  So whether it be how you communicate, how you visit the market, how you see consumers, how you meet your own people, given the scale of change, I think the role of the CEO has to change. But at one level level, the role of the CEO still remains very simple. Lead by example, lead from the front, lead authentically and lead and own the company as if it's your own. That's not going to change. I think, I think that that that's a fundamental proof that will remain in place for a perhaps forever. Culturally, organizations are also undergoing a lot of change because of COVID, face to face contact has changed. COVID has also made sure that you don't have as much opportunity to meet your partners as much you're not going out in the market, your teams are not out. Hopefully, all of that will change or will be behind us sooner or later. But as you said, a lot of things will remain, for example, virtual meetings. And what does that do to the culture of an organization? Because, you know, a lot of organizations pride themselves in, you know, very close net, rightly in teams being very closely knit, flat structures, lesser hierarchies, face to face discussions as much as possible, a lot of travel. And all of that might not come back for a year or two. Do you think culturally that changes the DNA of organizations? I think more change the DNA, but again, good organizations will adapt. You will have to find new, you know, I always say right now, the most lonely objects in my office are the coffee machine and the water cooler. And you have to find different ways of having the coffee machine and the water cooler conversations. But as I said, this is time when, you know, the culture that you've embedded actually comes home and pays you back. And all of us will have to adapt to newer ways. I mean, we're all finding different ways of still having the same fun, having the same camaraderie. I do think that as things improve, we will go back to a mix of physical and digital. I don't think we'll go back to the fully physical one. I don't think it'll remain fully digital either. Because there is a value of collaboration, there's a value of apprenticeship, there is a certain social capital that you build in an organization. And a lot of that comes from face to face contact. So I think, again, it's for organizations to adapt, it's for organizations to continuously evolve and keep pace with the times. Who would also introduce a lot of changes in organizations, especially when it comes to decision making? You think, look at the last year, it also tells us that a lot of organizations can be more nimble put it. Decision making can be much more faster than it has been. You know, it was driven and forced due to the pandemic. But the fact of the matter is if companies can launch new products in 45 days, which in normal course of time might take a year or two, you think, you know, one decision making being much faster is something that will continue to happen post the pandemic. And is there a big opportunity waiting for companies to tap it? I think absolutely yes. I think what the pandemic has taught a lot of people is the old adage used to be look before you leave. In these times, you look while you leave.  So I definitely think you will prioritize a certain amount of speed and agility of doing things over, you know, getting dotting the last I and crossing the last T. And what this crisis has taught you is finally what the consumer sees and how quickly the consumer sees the change is what matters more than you're getting it perfect. And that might mean lesser money for research companies, but that's a conversation for a different day. Yes, that's a different conversation.  And, you know, in our day to day lives, we're all researching as long as we do a lot more of that research and not rely only on formal research, we'll be happy. Absolutely. The real research is your gut and your, you know, market feedback. Let me come to a feed light, specifically, Mr. Puri, and you've been part of that company for a good part of six years. Tell us how I saw your Q3 results. They were fantastic. Congratulations. The market is very happy with what we delivered. Tell us what are the what are the challenges you faced in the first two quarters of last year and what were the intricacies of those challenges and how were those kind of, you know, overcome? See, in our case, because we operate in a whole variety of categories, we have a B2C business, we have a bazaar business, which is basically a consumer business, but there could be an influencer, a carpenter, a nascent, a plumber. And then we have B2B businesses and all of these obviously had different challenges. In our case, first and foremost, was just to keep the wheels of the vehicle, the wheels of the large truck running. And therefore, how do you get back quickly into action? How do you get your supply chain back into action? Most important, how do you ensure first and foremost, the safety and security of your team, then of your partners, then of your influencers? So amongst the things, for example, and this is when I, you know, when I talk about culture and how it pays, we had teams, we actually had a deal with ATM where we converted the loyalty points of carpenters, masons actually into money because they didn't have any jobs because everything was locked down. And we said, listen, this is the time like companies like us have to be there for you. We had various cases of people going out of their way, therefore to help their users, to help their consumers. Basically, what we were doing was we formed the company to two teams, an act now team and a plan now team. The job of the act now team was to ensure safety, security and keep the wheels moving up, you know, day to day and make sure that business is coming back. The job of the plan now team was listen, this pandemic is going to lead to a lot of change. How can we be ahead of the change rather than struggling to catch up with the change and how do we emerge stronger from this crisis? And, you know, fortunately, as you will have seen in the last two quarters, we've come bounced back much quicker simply because, A, I think we planned well, B, we had a wonderful committed team which was standing right up there and saying, that's the motto. A lot of companies want to follow.  You've seen, you know, a lot of work that's happened in the Indian business environment, brands being built and off late, you know, what we've also seen social media has come up like a hydra headed animal, which has caught a lot of companies, CEOs and, you know, marketers off guard completely and we've had instances where, you know, on one hand, as CMO that marketers, we talk about building brands, which are purposeful brands that stand up for values, brands that are aspirational brands that people look up to. And when those brands try to take stands, even if they're not taking any stands, seemingly mundane issues, very run-of-the-mill issues, just look up into, you know, huge controversies given the amplification power of social media.  What's your take on that? You know, what does a marketer do if you are in that person's shoes? What does the CMO do today? I again think that's a great question. Now, in fact, many, many years ago in Cadbury when social media was active but not as active as it is now, we had a crisis which was like, you know, in a sense company threatening and we went through. The lessons for a marketer are very simple in my view. They're just three simple lessons. A, put the consumer first. The media will go away. The regulator will go away. But if the consumer goes away, then she's not going to come back. So put A, put the consumer first and make sure that you're acting in the interest of the consumer. B, tell the truth. It's, even if you make a mistake, consumers will forgive brands for the mistakes. As long as people stand up and say, this is, you know, rather than try and cover it up or rather than try and tell a story or blame somebody else, et cetera. So I think the second thing is tell the truth. And the third thing is, you're in this for the long run. So don't do anything in the short run, which is going to, in a sense, not let you put your head on your pillow and sleep well and not let your brand succeed in the medium and long term. In the end, brands are going to outlive all of us. We must treat them therefore in the same way. And therefore, very important for us to do the right thing. Even if in the short run, it seems to be like, you have your back against the wall. I mean, when we had the famous Cadbury crisis, people were telling us like, oh, this is going to happen. That is going to happen. But A, we were sure about our product. B, we were sure that we were doing the right thing. And C, we kept putting the consumer first. And, you know, fortunately, it all worked out well in the end. I think the other sort of portents, if I may use that word, sort of poison that's added to the mixes that you have seemingly mundane issues where, you know, there is a very poorly or I would say not even a defined right or wrong person or a group of persons taking offense to somebody and how do companies react to that? And I think that's become a very tricky question. You write in the sense of, you know, a marketer taking the right approach, backing your instinct, backing, you know, what the consumer wants. But here you have, I won't call vested interest, but, you know, there is always a group of people who will have a difference of opinion. So how do you deal with that? I think that's become a very tricky question these days. I think it's a sign of the times. I just think that in today's days and times, you know, we are becoming more and more politically correct. There are smaller and smaller lobbies getting offended at smaller and smaller stuff. I just think it's the same thing as, you know, how you would treat things in your own home. If you think it's important, you act on it. If you don't, you stand up and stick it out and say why you want to stick it out. But I don't think you should topple over easily. I don't think you should also be needlessly stubborn. So I, you know, I don't think there's a magical formula. But the thing is be authentic. Don't forget the consumer and address, don't run away from the issue. Address it. Yeah, I think, I think those are all the wisdom, especially that treat an issue like you would treat it at home. At the end of the day, even if you have consumers who differ from what you are giving them, the fact is that they are consumers. And as long as they are important for you, you need to address what they are looking at. Let me also ask you now, Mr. Puri, about, you know, let me go back to last year and as you also seen a bit from about the entries at the Indian marketing boards. And the CMO's role over the last few years has significantly changed, especially, you know, the media mix has driven that change. I won't say just media mix, but the fact is that digital, not driving businesses, not just part of the marketing mix, but digital as platforms and driving businesses, how do you think that has changed the role of the CMO in organizations? I think what has happened, you know, let me give you a nice analogy. When I, in the good old days, when I was a young marketing manager, marketing was like a test match.  And generally the pitch was predictable, you knew what was to be done. By the time I became a CMO, it had become a one day match.  It's now become a T20 match. So therefore you have to innovate much quicker, you have to find the new switch hits, you have to find new way, you have to find new betting combinations. So I really think the role of innovation, the role of speed, the role of thinking on your feet, all of this has actually got heightened for the CMO and I would, you know, much as all of us older fellows would like to say that in our time marketing was, you know, what real marketing was, I think actually the marketing job is now become a fuller, well-rounded and a constantly changing job. And I think it's a wonderful challenge for any young, you know, manager to be a CMO today because you're talking to your, the consumer is experiencing you in all facets, 360 degrees, seeing you in a variety of media and you have a variety of choices to interact with the consumer. So I really think it's now a T20 match and you know, it's not about which was better, which was, it's just that you have to adapt and you have to now be far more thinking on your feet, you have to innovate a lot more and you have to get results much, much more quickly. And if I may add, I think the CEO's attention to some of the media vehicles that are being used by brands is also gone up. So that kind of more spotlight into the job. That is true. No, I must tell you that, see, traditionally always the CEO's choice of media always, you know, influenced people's media plans. I think now it's much more difficult because the choice is so wide. That's right. That's right. And data analytics, CRM tools, all of those really play a very important part in the mix. Tell me, Mr. Puri, Fiddleight also would have, you know, as is a company that has really adopted digital and when I say digital, I don't mean to say digital as, you know, platform for marketing, but in its entirety, the 360 degree approach to digital, whether you're connecting with consumers, whether you're reaching out to them, whether it comes to reaching out to your B2B community, what are the key ROI metrics that you look at from digital adoption? And when I say ROI metrics, I don't talk about digital advertising marketing alone, but as a company, you know, how do you look at it holistically and, you know, what is the kind of view you would have, say, three years out? I think that's again a great question. You know, our starting point at Fiddleight is whether any initiative, finally, whether it's a digital initiative, it could be a real world initiative, it could be a supply chain initiative, finally must be seen through the lens of impact on business in the short, medium and long term. And, you know, a lot of times we get into doing things for, because it's fashionable, it's trendy, we need to have a story. Our whole piece is, A, we must first look at the lens on the impact of the business, but not just today's business, tomorrow's business, day after tomorrow's business. Secondly, it has to become a lot more cross functional and a lot more people who are younger need to be involved. So in Fiddleight, we have a program called Art of the Possible, where cross functional teams have any ideas or anything digital, it could be a digital idea for a robotic process, automation, finance, it could be some new idea for the supply chain in factories, it could be something with AI, with influencers and carpenters. They actually come and present to a team as, and we are like venture capitalists, if you, if we like your idea, it doesn't matter which, and we believe is going to impact the business, we actually give you seed capital and start you off. We actually get some startups to help these fellows develop the ideas, because, you know, in today's world, we must realize that we must run idea meritocracies. The best ideas are never going to come from the top. The best ideas are going to come from fellows who are close to the consumer, close to the customer. And how do you empower people, get them to do stuff? That's what we've been pushing at.   It's all actually happening. It's, I mean, today all my carpenters, my masons actually have an app on which they actually interact directly with the company. So, I mean, it's a massive area, but if I was to say, how do you evaluate ROI on digital, A, sure impact on business, B, chunk it, give, you know, a lot of times the idea develops as you go along. So, give people seed capital as it develops, give them more capital and have a lot more ideas. And three, involve cross-functional as well as younger people early. Fantastic nuggets, I think. And if I may add, the humongous amounts of increasing productivity, if you have your B2B community joining you digitally, the kind of the upside, the X factor is, you know, limitless if I can. Absolutely. Let me, before I get into specifically, I am one last question about, you know, what's happening in the economy. Yesterday, we saw the budget and like a lot of, you know, leaders in the business community were seeking from the government, additional spending has been committed by the government. It was done last year, more has been committed next year. A lot of mixed things are happening in the Indian economy. And as globally in many countries, it's not a, you know, uniform story. Growth is uneven. Small businesses are more impacted perhaps than large ones. They will take more time. Some industries are more impacted like you said. What's your view on the economic recovery? Some say we are likely to see a V-shaped recovery. Others talk about a K-shaped recovery.  Others talk about, you know, the mean growth not really picking up because a lot of sectors will take time. What's your view on, you know, how 2021 and beyond is likely to... See, I'm fairly optimistic now along the next 12 months, notwithstanding the low basis, because if you look at the numbers, I mean, in the end, what has impacted us substantially is the pandemic and the numbers at least as of now. And, you know, you can keep putting these famous multipliers, etc. But there is no doubt about the fact that India is now in a much better place in terms of controlling the pandemic. Now, as we go into March, the next six months, most of industry is cycling last year's depressed basis. So growth rates are not going to matter too much. But if you look at the IMF forecast, the IMF says we will grow real 11%. Yes, there will be some sectors that will grow, but it's always been so that there are some sectors that at times grow faster, there are some, but overall as an economy, as economic growth, will it return? I'm fairly confident it will return. Will it be 11? Will it be 14? Will it be 15? Let's wait and see. But we're getting prepared for it and I again think the agile market here, the innovative market here will have the higher growth rate, the fellow who's waiting for everything to fall into place and have a lower growth rate. Absolutely, no doubt about that. And a very big question of interest to people who are in the advertising and media business, what happens to marketing spend? Are they going to significantly go up this year and not compare to last year because spend significantly came down? What happens to marketing spend?  Without any doubt. In fact, when we look at it and whenever there is growth, marketing thrives, advertising, communication thrives. And given the kind of growth that the government is punting on, all of us are looking forward to in the next year, I think it's going to be a great year for marketing and therefore advertising, communication and related fields. Historically, there's been a correlation, kind of loose correlation between economic growth and advertising has roughly grown 2x of the economic growth. So if we get close to 10 percent, advertising industry will grow much faster. Last two questions about your experience of IMA, you've spoken a bit about that. But let me just ask you, what were maybe a couple of things that really impressed you the most about IMA this year? I must say in the marketing awards, what impressed me was the breadth of work that is happening across categories. You see, in the good old days, when you had limited channels, etc, you ended up seeing a lot of the work as consumers. And as I said in my opening address, I really enjoyed the process because I learned a lot and I learned a lot because there was a lot of work that I had not seen, which I was very impressed by. So I was impressed by the breadth and I liked the fact that marketers, even in an environment like last year, were pushing the envelope, were trying new things and you will see that in the awards that have been awarded. So at an overall level, a great learning experience and an enjoyable experience, always good to meet some old friends and make some new ones. Did you also notice any clear impact of the pandemic on what you saw, the work you saw? I think without doubt, as marketers, you have to be connected with the environment, you have to take note of what's changing in consumer behavior because in the end, marketing is getting the consumer to change his or her behavior in your favor and therefore, if there's a massive environmental thing, yes, there's been a substantial impact.  But as they say, some categories have thrived, some have thrived even more and some will come back. People are back to buying cars, hopefully back to buying houses and taking home loans. Thank you, Mr. Puri. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for spending time, especially driving this jury. Thank you to all the jury members. We look forward to meeting you very soon in person. My pleasure, Nava. Thank you so much.


Hello, my name is Mike Steer. I'm the Research Director for Saudi Aquatic Sciences, which is the research arm of PERSA. And today I'll be presenting the updated survey results for the giant Australian cuttlefish spawning population. The purpose of this presentation is to give you some indication of how we undertake the surveys and interpreting the latest results. So each winter, tens of thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish aggregate along a thin stretch of coastline around Point Lowly, which is north of Waila in northern Spencer Gulf, South Australia. They tend to start aggregating in May, peak in June, and then Peter off in July, August and September. Now, Saudi undertake a survey every year, and we try and coincide that survey with the peak spawning in June, and we have ten survey sites that extend around Point Lowly and up until Fitzgerald Bay. At each one of those sites, we send a team of divers down, and those divers undertake anywhere between four and eight 50 metre transects. Along each of those 50 metre transects, any cuttlefish that is encountered within one metre either side of the tape is recorded, and the divers also try and record the sex of that animal and estimate its relative size. In times, there could be quite a number of cuttlefish within that area, and the divers can take a considerable amount of time. It's really important that when the divers are undertaking that survey, they check in all the crevices and dens and gaps in the rocky reef, because quite often you'll have females wedged right underneath the rocks, whether either taking refuge or they're actually laying eggs. What we then get is an estimate of how many cuttlefish there are per unit area, so how many per metre squared. And from that, we can then scale them up to our known area estimate of available habitat for each one of those sites, add them all together, and then we come up with an estimate of abundance, a population abundance for that survey. The estimates of size then give us some indication of the relative weight of those individuals, and we can also calculate a relative biomass as well from those estimates of size. So we end up with two sources of information. We ended up with a time series of cuttlefish abundance, and we also have a time series of cuttlefish biomass. So here are the results from when we started in 1998, all the way through this year. 1998 was the year when fishing was allowed, and 1999 is when the closure was put in place in Falls Bay. You can see that through time, there was a decrease really to low levels in 2013, which was a cause for concern. And there was a whole heap of research that was directed towards trying to understand the cause for that decline. And we've seen a subsequent rebound in that population quite dramatically over a relatively short period of time. And incredibly, we've seen, well, quite a large increase in the population abundance in 2020, a record level. So in excess of 240,000 individuals were estimated to occur along that stretch of Point Lely Reef in June of this year. We then come up with a calculator, a biomass estimate, and you notice that even though we've got a record high cuttlefish abundance estimate, our biomass estimate isn't reflective of that record high. And there's a number of reasons for that. The main one is that the population seems to have consisted of a lot of smaller animals than it has in the past. And I'll go through that, I'll go through that. So if you look at these three figures, the first one at the top here just gives us an indication of the sex ratio of the population. And this tells us that we see more males to females on that spawning aggregation. And in 2020, we had basically a five to one ratio between males and females. And this is pretty typical of that spawning population. In fact, you don't really, you don't ever see it as a one to one relationship through time. Now, if you look at the average size of the animals, of the males and females across all surveys, this red line represents the long term average for both males and females. And these bars represent the average size of those animals, each subsequent survey. And you can see that we've had a decline in the relative size of males over the past three or four surveys and similarly with females. But it's important to note here that we've changed the way that we estimate size. Since 2013, we no longer touch the animals. We just estimate their size from a distance, which of course has quite a lot of variation in those estimates. Previously, we used to collect a subsample of cuttlefish that we estimate underwater, take them to the surface and then measure them on board a vessel. But we figured that's no longer appropriate given that we're trying to leave that population undisturbed. So I guess the take home message from this is that we should place greater emphasis on the number of cuttlefish on the site rather than the biomass. So in summary, the 2020 population estimates are the highest on record, much higher than 180 plus thousand that we saw in 1999. The biomass estimates reflect to some degree smaller animals, but remember we're approximating individual size underwater, which has obviously some issues around it. And overall, the population has indeed returned to healthy levels since that 2013 decline. As we saw, there's a high level of annual variation. We've seen booms and busts in this population over the past 20 plus years. So it really highlights how important these annual surveys are in terms of monitoring this population. So this year, very happy to see the highest number of animals on record. And thanks very much for taking the time to tune into this presentation.


Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu news analysis. These are the list of news articles that will be discussed in the news analysis. They are provided along with the page numbers of the different editions of the newspaper. This editorial article talks about announcing the thought partnerships. So in this discussion let us see what is meant by thought partnership and the need for it. The syllabus for this news article is given below. See a partnership is a collaboration among business non-profit organizations and government in which risk resources and skills are shared in projects that benefit each partner as well as the community. And according to business experts, a thought partner is someone who challenges the thinking, who causes to modify or change our paradigms, assumptions or actions and who has got information or a way of thinking that provokes us to innovate or which leads to value creation in the business, career or life. So thought partners are usually people who possess information and knowledge that challenges and provokes diversion, thinking and action. Thus we can say that thought partnership provides a position where the domain knowledge and resources of private individuals can be used to the maximum advantage. So the author here defines thought partnerships as a structured mechanism for private entities to lend relevant strategic expertise to the government on matters of policy design, evaluation and implementation. One of the important reasons to build thought partnership is a lack of capacity in government, both in terms of size as well as ability. In terms of size if we see there is a large number of vacancies in the central government which in turn over burdens the civil servants and also it makes the government under resourced. Similarly in terms of ability the lack of capacity is visible in comparatively low standard policy decision and also in the poor implementation of those policies. Now let us see what are the issues with engaging in thought partnerships. The first issue is funding. Here you should note that every time it is not feasible for the government to fund and also comes the issue of red tapism which refers to the official rules and processes that seems to be unnecessary and those that delay the results. And in our context red tapism is present in the process of getting required approvals for such fundings which is often a tedious process. On the other hand if we think about getting fund from other agencies then government has to be cautious in accepting it after analyzing their implicit and explicit agendas. In order to resolve this issue the author suggests to have a funding from committed external partners that have no special demands. For this purpose there are several domestic and international philanthropies and impact investing firms who are already investing in the critical sectors of developing countries. Here you should note that impact investing is a kind of investment strategy that generates financial returns along with the creation of constructive outcomes and also it aims to generate specific social or environmental effects in addition to financial gains. An example for this would be investing in non-profit organization that benefit the community or investing in clean technology enterprises that benefit the environment. Those firms that do impact investing are called as IVFs and such IVFs investments should fund the systematic or sectoral transformation program in our context. In this regard the author has given these examples where government has occasionally tried systematic thought partnerships. You can take a note of it then comes the issue that even though such thought partnerships have been established occasionally between the government and private entities the author feels them to be disconnected and irregular and then comes the issue government private collaboration they do not provide for prospective government private collaboration. The next issue is that India lacks scholars and practitioners who are singularly focused on researching and solving India's problem that will ultimately result in better policies. Therefore the need of the R is to forge more thought partnerships and to fund it in order to channel external expertise and skills. In this regard you should also take note of the recently launched third version of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. As you are aware it aims to encourage and promote skill development in the country by providing free short duration skill training and incentivizing this by providing monetary rewards to youth for skill certification. Among its many objectives comes the objective to promote skill centers for greater participation of private sector. Here thought partnerships can be applied it can also be applied in the creation of implementation framework for the second phase. With this we have come to the end of this news article. Let us now move on to the next news article. See these two articles which talk about the United Nations Security Council. As we all know India has joined the UNSC as a non-permanent member from the first of this month for a period of two years. In this context the author of this lead column discusses what should be the priority issues for India at the height table that is at the UNSC. The syllabus relevant for this article is given below. First let us have a brief overview of the UNSC. As we all know the UNSC is one of the main organs of the UN. It has 15 members, five permanent and 10 non-permanent members. Under the UN Charter the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. The Security Council has a presidency which rotates and changes every month. This presidency is held by both permanent and non-permanent members in the English alphabetical order of their names. Now let us come to UNSC membership. The five permanent members of the UNSC are China, France, Russia, UK and the USA. Out of the 10 non-permanent members five are elected every year by the General Assembly for a two-year term. They are elected based on geographic representation. Over a period there has been a demand for reforming the structure and membership of the UNSC and this is essential as it was formed in 1945 and does not reflect the present-day geopolitics. The leading countries aspiring a permanent seat in the expanded UNSC are the G4 namely India, Japan, Germany and Brazil. As said before India is a current non-permanent member in the UNSC. India deserves a permanent seat at the high table of the UN and the India deserves a permanent seat at the high table of the United Nations that is a UNSC but it is almost sure that India won't be getting it soon. So therefore this two-year non-permanence tint at the UNSC should be viewed as a once in a decade opportunity to clearly identify and pursue its national interest both regionally and globally. See India's entry into the UNSC coincides with the emergence of a new world order and this new world order the new global order is marked by systemic uncertainty, little care for global commons, absence of global leadership and the steady division of the world into rival blocks. The author feels that the new US president by rejoining the Paris climate agreement and possibly the Iran nuclear deal may solve some of the important global problems. Then the UNSC has also reached a point where its very relevance is questioned so can it ensure its primary objective that is the maintenance of international peace and security? It is a serious question only time can answer and not just global order even India is different now contemporary India is more confident the contemporary India is more self-confident resolute and it wants to be a shaper of geopolitics even though it lacks the material capital the economic heft and the domestic consensus. So the author feels that India's pursuit of its interest at the UNSC should therefore reflect its material and geopolitical limitations and its energy should be focused on a clearly identified agenda. Then comes the China factor already India is in border clash with China the impact of which is already started to be felt at the UNSC meetings in New York even China is opposing India has chairperson of the counter terrorism committee in 2022 and this reflects the challenges India is going to face at UNSC. If the president Biden continues with Trump's policy of pushing back Chinese aggression including at the UNSC it will be much helpful for India in countering China but this could hamper India's relations with Russia. India's seat at the UNSC is also significant because the next two years will be key to ensure checking further Chinese incursions along the line of actual control and in building up enough infrastructure and mobilizing sufficient forces in the forward areas. Our experience from Doklam to Ladakh to now Anarchal Pradesh clearly tell that Chinese land grab attempts will continue and in pushing China back we would need all the assistance we can get. Next terror is likely to be a major force for India the UNSC. India recently it assumed the chair of the Taliban sanctions committee which assumes significance given the fast-moving developments in Afghanistan and India's new found desire to engage with the Taliban. The issue of terrorism has been a major theme in the country's national security and foreign policy discourse for decades now. However, India must formulate its policy towards terrorism with far more diplomatic finance and political nuance. Another area India wants to focus on would be to use a forum to build coalitions among like-minded states and to set out its priorities for the next decade that is from climate change to non-proliferation. India it should also use its bargaining power at the UNSC to pursue its national interest in other forums and domains as well. Then India's UNSC strategy should also involve shaping the narrative and global policy engagement like the Indo-Pacific. Given India's centrality in the Indo-Pacific region and the growing global interest in the concept, India would play a decisive role in projecting Indo-Pacific. Further, India's pursuits of its national interest at the UNSC should understand that it is very unlikely that UNSC will be expanded in the near future. And the recent debates on UNSC reforms and the state of the international system today should tell us that submitting to Big Five that is to the permanent countries to enter the UNSC will not make a difference and so India must focus its energies on what it can achieve during the short period that it would be in the UNSC. Recently came the most hard-eating comments on the real impact of the COVID-19 crisis by the United Nations Secretary General in which it says that the COVID-19 has revealed the fractures in our society and has exposed the falsehood about free markets that it can deliver free healthcare for all and also that unpaid care work is not work at all. Also, it created a delusion that we live in a post-racist world and free market has created the myth that we are all in the same boat. But the truth is we are all in floating sea in which some people aren't supercharged while others are clinging to drifting debris. It is to be noted that Oxfam International's annual report on inequality for the year 2021 which is aptly titled the Inequality Virus goes on to prove the statements made by the Secretary General. The Oxfam report highlights on how the virus led to increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. For example, the richest of the world both individuals as well as corporations are thriving while hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty. Also, it was found that worldwide billionaires saw their wealth to increase by a staggering 3.9 trillion dollars between March 18 and December 31 of the year 2020 and within nine months the top thousand billionaires, mainly white men, had recovered all the wealth that they had lost. On the contrary, recovery for the world's poorest could almost take over a decade and it is estimated that the total number of people living in poverty could have increased by between 200 million and 500 million in the year 2020. Now let us look at the gender and racial aspects of the impacts of COVID-19. Globally if we see women are overrepresented in the sectors of the economy that are hardest hit by the pandemic. If women are represented equally in all sectors where men predominate then 112 million women would not be at the risk of losing their job or income. Talking about racial discrimination, let us take for example Brazil, people of Afro descent have been 40% more likely to die of COVID-19 when compared to white people. The virus has also led to an explosion in the amount of underpaid and unpaid care work which is done predominantly by women, particularly women from groups facing racial and ethnic marginalization. When you analyze the impact of the virus in India has expected the rich have escaped from the pandemic's worst impact. Note the wealth of Indian billionaires has increased 35% during this lockdown and 90% since 2019. Interestingly the increase in the wealth of the top 11 billionaires during the pandemic can easily sustain the MG Narega scheme or the health ministry for the next 10 years. According to the International Labour Organization almost 90% population of India works in the informal sector and about 40 crore workers in the informal economy are at risk of falling deeper into poverty and it was also found that during lockdown 24% of Indian population was earning less than 3000 rupees for a month. With all these available data about inequality there comes a need or a significance to strengthen our resolve to fight this virus of inequality. Importantly we must take this as an opportunity to fight inequality of all shades including gender and racial inequality. Whatever countries like South Korea, Sierra Leone and New Zealand have shown the path in this regard. On talking about India's measures in fighting the zene equality the first thing we should do is to invest in free universal healthcare, education and other public services. Following it comes a need to guarantee income security for all citizens and for this to happen we need not just these living wages but a far greater job security with labour rights, sick pay, paid parental leave and unemployment benefits if people lose their jobs. Following this we should also reintroduce wealth taxes and ensure financial transaction taxes also we must ensure that tax avoidance and evasion does not take place. Importantly we need to invest in a green economy and prevent further degradation of our planet. For the time being we should focus more on this since as we know a degraded planet affects the poor and marginalized more. Have a look at this data point it is based on an analysis done by the Hindu team on the data available from NCW and the NFHS since 2015. In this context let us discuss this data point in detail and also we will discuss about NCW. The syllabus relevant for this article is given below for your reference. Know that according to the UN women one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly by an intimate partner. See we have been hearing of news regarding data and reports from those on the front lines that since the outbreak of COVID-19 all types of violence against women and girls particularly domestic violence has intensified and recently we heard that the National Commission for Women has registered an increase of at least 2.5 times in domestic violence complaints since the nationwide lockdown and now this data point says that complaints received by the NCW regarding crime against women reached a six-year high in 2020 and the reason for this hike is attributed to the rise in the prolonged lockdown. However there are also opinions that the perceived rise in violence against women during lockdown period is just the tip of the iceberg since 86% of women in India who experience domestic violence do not seek any help from anyone. The report says that in 2020 more than 23,000 complaints were received by the NCW which is the highest since 2014 also as shown in the graph the complaints registered had risen sharply since 2017. Now talking about the nature of the crime the highest number of complaints is recorded for 10 types of crimes which includes complaints related to right to live with dignity, the protection of women against domestic violence, dowry harassment, molestation, police apathy against women, rape or attempt to rape, horn or crimes then comes dowry, death and sexual harassment. In this 71% of complaints were regarding infringement of a woman's right to live with dignity, domestic violence and marital or dowry related harassment. Now this graph shows statewide distribution of the number of complaints registered in 2020 against the number of complaints received per 1 million women. It shows that the complaints from UP were the highest followed by Delhi and Haryana and Goa had the lowest in the graph. The report also says that about 77% of the victims did not even mention the incident to anyone and around 14% victims sought help from some source out of which only 7% reached out to relevant authorities like police, doctors, lawyers or social service organizations and more than 90% of the victims sought help from immediate family members. Moreover women who faced physical and sexual violence sought the help from others and the authority more when compared to those who suffered only one form of abuse. Now let us have a brief understanding about NCW. Know that NCW was formed on the basis of recommendations by the Committee on the Status of Women in India or the CSWI. The NCW was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women at 1990. The mission of NCW is to enable women to achieve equality and equal participation in all spheres of life. This will be done by securing her due rights and entitlements through suitable policy formulation, legislative measures, effective enforcement of laws and the implementation of schemes. This can be done by securing her due rights and entitlements through suitable policy formations, legislative measures, effective enforcement of laws and by the implementation of schemes. NCW would also devise to solve specific problems that are arising out of discrimination and atrocities against women. It envisions and Indian women secure in her home and outside fully empowered to access all her rights and entitlements with opportunity to contribute equally in all walks of life. Now, let us look at some of the important functions of NCW. See, it reviews the constitutional and legal safeguards for women. Then it reports the Center about working of such safeguards and it recommends for its effective implementation by the Center and States. It also suggests remedial legislative measures to address the shortcomings in the existing legislations. They can sewer motor consider matters of deprivation of women's rights, non-implementation of laws and or non-compliance of policy decisions etc. The Center shall submit the report of the NCW before each House of the Parliament and they shall also explain the action taken or proposed to be taken on the recommendations and the reason for non-acceptance of any such recommendations. Know that NCW shall have the powers of a civil court while investigating any matter. Now, let us discuss the composition of the NCW. See, there shall be a chairperson committed to the cause of women and there shall be five members from among persons of ability, integrity and standing. They must also have experience in law, trade, unionism, management of an industry potential of women, voluntary organization and administration etc. Know that at least one member each shall be from among persons belonging to the schedule cast and schedule tribes respectively. And there shall also be a member secretary. Note that all of them are nominated by the central government. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article talks about the projections of the world economic outlook by the International Monetary Fund. It is projected an 11.5% growth rate for India in the year 2021 and 6.8% in 2022. The point to be noted is that India is the only major economy to have growth projections in double digits for 2021 whereas other major economies like China is projected to have a 8.1% growth in 2021 followed by Spain with 5.9% growth and France with 5.5% growth. India's projections are a reflection of the rebound in the economy because the activity and mobility recovered much faster than expected in India. But unfortunately due to the pandemic Indian economy has contracted by 8% in the year 2020. In this context, let us now know about WEO and IMF. IMF or the International Monetary Fund was created in the year 1945. It is an organization that is governed by and accountable to the 189 member countries. It is working to foster global monetary cooperation to secure financial stability to facilitate international trade, to promote high employment and sustainable economic growth and finally to reduce poverty around the world. Thus the IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system and it does this in three ways. First by keeping track of the global economy and the economies of member countries, then by lending to countries with balance of payment difficulties and finally by giving practical help to members. Apart from this, it also monitors the economic and financial policies of its member countries and it releases reports such as the Global Financial Stability Report and the World Economic Outlook. The Global Financial Stability Report provides an up-to-date assessment of global financial markets and prospects and it highlights the imbalances and vulnerabilities that could pose risks to financial market stability. Next is the World Economic Outlook. See these reports are a survey by the International Monetary Fund which is published twice a year and it presents the IMF's analysis of global economic development during the near-term and medium-term. It also provides an overview and more detailed analysis of the world economy. It considers issues affecting industrial countries, developing countries and economies and transition. Now let us take up this editorial article. Here the author talks about the recent announcement which was made by the Chief Election Commissioner of India. The announcement was that the Election Commission of India will be commencing trials of a remote voting project. So in this discussion, first let us refresh our knowledge regarding electronic voting mission and the VVPAT and then we will discuss this article in brief. See electronic voting mission is nothing but voting using electronic means. It helps or takes care of the chores of casting and also the counting of votes. It is to be noted that an EVM is designed with two units that is a control unit and a balloting unit. With the EVM instead of issuing a ballot paper, the polling officer will press the ballot button which enables the voter to cast the vote. A list of candidates name or symbols will be available on the mission with a blue button next to it and the voter can press the button next to the candidate's name they wish to vote for. So you should note that the program used in the EVMs cannot be reprogrammed in a particular manner and furthermore the EVMs are standalone missions which are not accessible remotely from any network. So it eliminates the chances of getting tampered. Coming to VVPAT, it is an independent system which is attached with the EVMs and it allows the voters to verify that their votes are cast as they have intended. A printer is attached with the EVM and it is kept in the voting compartment. The printed slip remains exposed for seven seconds under a transparent window and then it gets cut automatically and falls into a drop box which remains sealed. Now let us look about the remote voting project which is a system that is being developed by the IIT Madras and it uses blockchain method for two-way remote voting at designated centres. It is same as the bitcoin blockchain technology which records a list of transactions of bitcoins in a decentralized manner and in the case of this blockchain-based voting system the voting authority will authenticate a bulletin board in which users sign in using cryptographic signatures to register their votes in a ledger. See the bulletin boards are a component of cryptographically secure end-to-end verifiable voting systems. It is a storage system where all the public information related to the election is published for anyone to see, review and audit. Now in this article the author advises the Election Commission of India to make the available safeguards before deploying these methods in elections. The author also opens that the Election Commission of India should seek solutions to make the EVM more robust in order to eliminate the apprehensions that is related to EVM mechanism. See this question which is based on this news article. The news is that Indian and Chinese troops clashed at Nakula in North Sikkim last week. You know that in the last nine months there have been many such incidents where China tried to encroach Indian territory. Now read the question and options. The question says which of the following contentious areas between India and China are in Sikkim? The options are Debsang Plains, Daulatbeg Oldi, Nakula, Galwan Valley and Difu Pass. So the question asks us to select the correct answer. See Nakula is in Sikkim, the Debsang Valley, Daulatbeg Oldi and the Galwan Valley are in the Union territory of Ladakh along the India-China border and the Difu Pass is at the tri-junction of India, China and Myanmar. And therefore the right answer is option A that is three only that is Nakula. Now let us move on to the prelims practice question. Let us look at this question regarding the electronic voting missions. The questions ask us to identify the incorrect statement. When you look at statement one they say EVM uses reprogrammable microchips. But this statement is incorrect because the microchip used in EVMs is a one-time programmable or a masked chip which can neither be read nor overwritten. Hence the program used in the EVMs cannot be reprogrammed in a particular manner and therefore our statement one is incorrect. Statement two which says an EVM being used by ECI can record a minimum of 2000 ores and this statement regarding the EVM is correct. Coming to statement three which says they have been devised and designed by the technical experts committee of the election commission in collaboration with public and private sectors. When you look at the statement this statement is also incorrect since the EVMs have been devised and designed by the technical experts committee of the election commission in collaboration with two public sector undertakings that is Bharat Electronics Limited and Bagluar and Electronic Corporation of India Limited Hyderabad. So the EVMs are manufactured by the above two undertakings and not with the public and private sectors. So therefore the right option is option B that is one and three only. Look at this question it says which is or are common to the two financial institution known as World Bank and International Monetary Fund. See both first statement is both are Britainhood's institution then both are institutions in the United Nations system then the wealthy as well as the poor can get financial assistance from both the institutions. So when you take the first statement statement one is correct because the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were both created at an international conference that was convened in Bretton Hoots New Hampshire US in the year 1944. Talking about statement two it is also correct since they are institutions in the UN system and they are UN specialized agencies. So UN specialized agencies are autonomous organizations that work with the United Nations all were brought into relationship with the UN through negotiated agreements and they are independent international organizations that is funded by both voluntary and assist contributions. Coming to statement three it is incorrect because see the bank and the IMF are twin intergovernmental pillars supporting the structure of the world's economic and financial order. So neither wealthy countries nor private individuals borrow from the World Bank which lends only to credit worthy governments of developing nations. The poorer the country the more favorable the conditions will be under which it can borrow from the bank. The banks lend money to middle income countries at interest rates which are lower than the rates on loans from commercial banks and in addition to that the bank lends money at no interest to the poorest developing countries that is those that often cannot find other sources of loans. And also in contrast to all member nations both wealthy and poor have the right to financial assistance from the IMF because maintaining an orderly and stable international monetary system it requires all participants in that system to fulfill their financial obligations to other participants and therefore the right option is option C that is 1 and 2 only. Look at this question consider the following statements with reference to Oxfam inequality report titled the inequality virus. Statement one it mentions that income inequality reduced between the rich and poor globally due to the ongoing pandemic. Statement true it also mentions that due to work from home culture men have realized the importance of care and work that women do at households. So as seen above statement one is incorrect because globally the income inequality as widened and not reduced. Coming to statement two it is incorrect because the pandemic has led to more explosion in terms of women's unpaid work. So the question asked us to identify the correct statements is both the statements are wrong the right option is option D that is neither one nor two. So let us look at this question related to the data point which says with reference to the national commission for women consider the following statements. Statement one says that it is a constitutional body. So this statement is incorrect because as we saw in the discussion the national commission for women is a statutory body that is set up in January 1992 under the national commission for women act of 1990. Coming to statement two it says the recommendation of the commission are binding on the government. This statement is also incorrect because the national commission for women has got only the powers to recommend amendments to submit reports which are not binding on state or union governments but however the centre shall submit the report of the national commission for women before each house of the parliament and also they shall explain the action taken or proposed to be taken on the recommendations and the reason taken based on the recommendations and the reason for non acceptance of any such recommendations. Coming to third statement which says the commission does not have the power to select its own members is correct because the power to select the members for the commission it does not lie on itself but rather it is vested with the union government and therefore since the question asked to identify the incorrect statement the right option is option A that is one and two only. Main's practice question is displayed below write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this we have come to the end of today's news analysis. If you like the video don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IA's academy youtube channel for updates regarding UPSC civil service preparation.


Family Theatre presents Elizabeth Scott, Regis To Me, and Jean Ruth. From Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theatre Incorporated brings you Regis To Me and Jean Ruth in Alexander Hayes' classic The Denver Express. To introduce the play, your hostess, Elizabeth Scott. Thank you, Jean. Back in the late 19th century, a quiet studious man named Augustus Allen Hayes wrote a number of serious historical works and novels. On the strength of them alone, his name would have been little known, except by a handful of students and research workers. But Mr. Hayes wrote a short story, and the impact of that story still reverberates in the pages of present-day literature, for he created a character who became the prototype of our modern-day heroes of action and melodramatic fiction. The character's name is Major Harry Sinclair, and he's portrayed for you tonight by Regis To Me, as we present Augustus Allen Hayes' classic railroad story, The Denver Express. Now let me set you straight on something. In spite of anything you may have heard or read, there's nothing romantic, exciting, or dangerous about the construction or operation of a transcontinental railroad. There are no heroes or heroines connected with it. Any ordinary man with a straightforward logical mind can handle any situation that might arise. Let me tell you the story about the first run ever made by the Denver Express, old number 17. That should prove it to you. You see, the story really began back in the 1870s while we were building the road. We had pushed the rails across the plains to the old frontier town of Barkers, and we established division headquarters there. I was working in the engineer's shack late one afternoon when one of the contractor's superintendents came in. How are things going? Not too good, Sam. We should be averaging a mile more of track every day. Yeah, if I know. That's the reason I came up. There's trouble brewing in Barkers, Major. Is there, Sam, what kind? Well, you know about these construction towns. The minute you bring in a big payroll, all the gamblers and shoppers from miles along come flooding in. We've warned the men about that, haven't we? Oh, sure, Major. There's some who just can't stay away from their Pharaoh and Kino games. What's more, it seems them games is crooked.  Yeah, and some of them down to the Thai camp is talking about a vigilante committee. They can't do that, Sam. They know I can't stand violence of any kind. Who's the ringleader of these gambling crooks in town? A fellow by the name of Big Jeff Johnson. But don't you go tangling with that ordinary cuss by yourself, Major. He's got a hundred men armed down there in Barkers. I told you I can't stand violence, Sam. I only wanted to remember his name. As I said earlier, the business of building a railroad doesn't require any heroes. And I'm certainly not cast in any heroic mold. So I went into my office to figure out a logical level-headed solution. I'd been at it only a few minutes when... There's Major Sinclair. Talk to him, Cyrus. Hurry! I'm sorry to bust in on you like this, Major, but I need your help. You've got to help him, Major.  Now, just a minute. Let's not get emotional. Suppose you tell me what this is all about. My name's Cyrus Foster, Major, the young lady Sally Johnson. Any relation to Big Jeff Johnson? I'm his daughter, Major. All right, go on. Well, I've been dealing pharaoh for Johnson, but a square game. Every one at my table got an even break, and Johnson didn't like it. He liked my courting Sally even less. And when Cyrus refused to deal crooked and wouldn't stop seeing me, my father threatened to kill him. A threat doesn't make a fact, Mr. Foster. No, but they rigged a crooked deck on me today. And one of his gang tipped the players at my table. They've organized a lynch, Marba Johnson's men. They're looking for me right now. You've got to get me out of town aboard one of your trains, Major. Sounds like you're a few minutes late, Mr. Foster. That mob's trailed you here. He's right. I understand emotional people, Mr. Foster. If you'll take Miss Johnson into the next room, I'll see what I can do. But I can't let you face that marble loan, Major. I don't think you have much choice, Mr. Foster. Well, all right. Come on, Sally. Just a minute, gentlemen. Now, what can I do for you? We want that cheating pharaoh dealer, Major. Cyrus Foster. And if I won't let you have him... We're not asking permission, Major. We're taking him. Now, get out of the way. We're coming in. Just a minute, gentlemen. This is railroad property, and much as I dislike violence, I'll have to defend it.  All right. Come ahead. But what happens when 500 men in the Thai camp learn about it? Well, what about it? What's that got to do with it? Maybe you haven't heard, but railroad men stick together. If you don't think so, just come ahead. And one hour after those men hear about it, there won't be a piece of any one of you big enough to bury. All right, Major. You win this round.  When he pokes his nose outside, we'll get him without seven foot on railroad property. I watched them through the window and soon saw what they meant. Guns in hand, they deployed on the top of the small mesa, overlooking my quarters. They could draw a clean bead on anyone leaving the building. All right, Mr. Foster, Miss Johnson, you can come out now. Major, I don't know how we'll ever be able to thank you for this. Even if all your trouble was for nothing. If you mean those men waiting for you on the mesa, forget them. Forget them? But how can he? The minute he tries to leave the building, the... He's going to leave the building, Miss Johnson. What's more, there's a construction train pulling out for the east in a half hour. He'll be aboard that train, alive, unhurt. Major, if you could do that, we'd owe you a debt of gratitude for the rest of our lives. I think the road would prefer that you paid off in cash, Mr. Foster. In cash? Yes. We don't carry non-paying passengers. We'll have to charge you at the standard rate of three cents a mile. I got Sam the contractor superintendent on the buzzer system that he came over to the building. I told him the situation. It looks like force isn't a fix for sure, Major. Unless we call out the men from the Thai camp and the road gang, I don't let me see how you'll ever get to that train alive. It'll cost us another mile of track today if we call those men off the job. We can't afford it. But a man's life is at stake, Major.  And we don't solve any problems, Miss Johnson, by getting emotional. Sam, take this note down to the conductor aboard that construction train. When he's followed the instructions, have him signal me with the whistle. I'll carry on from there. After Sam left, I studied the terrain out of the window. There were over 20 rifles on the edge of the mason covering every inch of the path to the railroad. The construction siding, 200 miles away, was the most important part of the construction. I could see the engine up there getting up steam. And a short burst of white smoke came from the whistle pipe. There's the signal, Mr. Foster. Let's get started. The trains on this road always run on time. We walked at a steady, unhurried pace. Mr. Foster's eyes glued on the path straight ahead. From the moment the door opened, those rifle barrels covered us. They followed us now, unwavering, vacant, stared. The train was on the road. They followed us now, unwavering, vacant, stared. Deadly. I really don't know how long we walked that path before the tension-filled silence was broken. I guess this is it, Major. That shot didn't come from the mason, Mr. Foster. I don't think any shots will come from there. What do you mean? Look over there at the train. Major, that train's crowded with men. And each one is armed with a rifle. Those are the crewmen, Mr. Foster. The shot you heard came from the train, a warning that at any sign of violence towards us, those trainmen will open fire. From their higher elevation, they can wipe out Johnson's men in a couple of volleys. I don't think there'll be any shots fired from the mason. So let's finish this little walk, shall we? When the train pulled out on schedule with Mr. Foster aboard, I wasn't there to see it. There was a good deal on my mind. Primarily, that mile of track we were losing each day because of Johnson's gamblers and their effect on my construction gangs. I thought I'd better talk to Mr. Johnson about it. I found Big Jeff Johnson in an office above one of his gambling dens talking with some of his men. They stopped talking when they saw me.  Yeah, that's right, Major Sinclair. What can I do for you? Nothing for me. A good deal for yourself and your men. Like, uh, what would you say? Like getting out of Barker's and staying out. Getting out of... No, you're not really meaning that serious, are you, Major? Enough to give you a 24-hour deadline. 24 hours. Well, now that's real generous of you. It's real generous. I think so. I'll expect to find this place and your other's vacant when I check back tomorrow. Good night. Now, just a minute, Major. Just a minute. Suppose...  That might be unfortunate for you, Mr. Johnson. You see, I expect to have 500 Thai camp men and rail gang workers with me. Yeah.  If you don't leave here alive tonight. They'll come on their own hook, Mr. Johnson, if they learn that you're responsible for my death. Sure, sure they will, if they learn.  Now, can they, Major? Now, what happened next doesn't mean I changed my mind about violence. It was merely the only logical, reasoning solution of a crisis that suddenly faced me, so I carried it out. I cracked Mr. Johnson's face hard with my open hand. As the blow swung him around, I grabbed his revolver, pressed it against his back, and shoved him around until he stood between me and the rest of his men. Mr. Johnson, I'll repeat what I said earlier. You and your men have exactly 24 hours in which to leave Barker's. And speaking of leaving, perhaps you'd better escort me peacefully from here right now. Well, Mr. Johnson, shall we go? Now, the events I've just described were typical of those that might arise during the construction of any railroad. And, as you just heard, they didn't involve any so-called bravery, emotional entanglements, or storybook heroics. The application of simple, cool-headed reason was all that was necessary to handle Mr. Foster's problem, get Big Jeff Johnson and his men out of town, and let the construction of the road go ahead according to schedule. Well, when the road was finished, I went back to New York to marry the beautiful girl to whom I'd been engaged for some time. Then we came back west on our honeymoon in order to be aboard the Denver Express when she made her first run. She pulled out on schedule, maintained her speed as she roared westward, and it looked like nothing would interfere with my determination to have her reach Denver exactly on time. Then, near Pawnee Junction, some events out of the past began to catch up with me. Well, Major Sinclair, I should have known you'd be traveling the Express on her first run. Why, hello, Mr. Foster. Honey, I'd like you to meet Mr. Cyrus Foster. Mr. Foster, Mrs. Sinclair, my wife. Well, thank you, Mr. Foster. It's nice of you to say so. What have you been doing since we last met, Mr. Foster? Still dealing a square game? Well, yes, Major, but in a different profession. I'm working for an express company now. Going to Denver to take over a branch office. Well, that sounds a good deal better. My congratulations, too, Mr. Foster. Thanks, Mrs. Sinclair. It was your husband who made it possible. Well, my boss is waiting up ahead. I'll have to leave now. Goodbye, Mr. Sinclair, Major. Thanks for everything. Goodbye, Mr. Foster. Harry, isn't that the young man who was involved in that escapade at Barker's with Big Jeff Johnson? Yes, that's right, Jane. I wonder what ever became of his romance with that young girl. Sally Johnson? Yes, yes, that's it. I wonder if they're still in love, and if they'll get married now that he has this wonderful new job. Now, Jane, don't you get the fever, too, just because you're traveling on a railroad? There's nothing any more romantic about this business than the passenger cleaning out a pigsty. Isn't there, Harry? Well, would you like to know a little secret? I think you're the most incurable romantic I've ever known. Now, just about the time that Jane was making that little foolish statement, Sam, the contractor's superintendent was passing the time of day with Jim Watkins, our station agent and telegrapher in the depot at Barker's. Looks like you're pretty busy today, Jim. Yeah, that's right for facts, Sam, with number 17 starting her first schedule run for Major Sinclair. Major? Is he right number 17? No, you don't rightly think he'd missed that first run, do you? I guess I'll leave you. It'll be good seeing him again. Must be pretty nearly a month now, since... I beg your pardon. I was out in the waiting room, and did you say Major Sinclair was aboard the Denver Express? That's right, Miss. Then you've got to wire that train. You've got to stop it from making the run between Pawnee Junction and Barker's tonight. That train? Hold on, Miss. You don't know what you're saying. Just a minute, Jim.  Yes, yes, that's right. And you've got to listen to me. You've got to stop that train. Oh, no. I suppose you've got a pretty good reason for asking that. What is it, Miss Johnson? I can't tell you what it is. All right. It's my father. He's Jeff Johnson? Yes. He and his men are going to wreck that train. Wreck it? Yes. At the sixth mile post between here and Pawnee Junction. They're going to throw the train off the track and rob the passengers in the express car. That's why you've got to stop that train, Mr. Watkins. You've got to. When Number 17 pulled into Pawnee Junction that night, the local station agent was waiting for me with a wire from Jim Watkins at Barker's. He was a very worried man. Well, that's the situation, Major Sinclair. Watkins couldn't give me any further information, but it looks like we'll have to hold Number 17 here until daylight tomorrow. Trains on this line run on schedule, Mr. Number 17 will leave here on time. But, Major, why? The Johnson gang? Getting emotional won't help, Mr. We have 11 minutes before Number 17 pulls out. That's plenty of time to make a few arrangements. Short distance out of Pawnee Junction, we stopped the deciding for a few minutes. I hated to lose the time from our schedule, but it was a logically necessary stop. For we picked up an attachment of 20 soldiers in Fort Pawnee for whom I'd wired ahead. I stationed them in the baggage car, and then their Lieutenant and I went forward into the engine cab to check with the engineer. How are the air brakes, Jack? First rate, Major. Can you stop her in about a third of her length? Easy enough. If you don't mind being shaken up a bit. Good. Now, Lieutenant, the traffic at the six-mile post is pretty level. The headlight will pick up the spot easily enough, and we'll have plenty of time to stop. All right, Major. Second-mile post, just past, Major. Thanks, Jack. Now, Lieutenant, when we get busy with Johnson and his men, don't let any of them get back to the main body of the train. This line has a reputation for maintaining the well-being and comfort of its passengers. I don't want them annoyed. And just one more thing. The less shooting, the better. I don't like violence, and I prefer... Major, look ahead there, down the line. There's a red lantern burning alongside the trunks. Yeah. Yes, you're right, Jack. Slap on the brakes. The brakes? But we haven't even reached the third-mile post yet. Slap on the brakes, Jack. All right, Major. Be mature, Major. I hope your nerves haven't got the better of you. I don't happen to be an emotional man, Lieutenant Halsey. That lantern was put there for some reason. But what reason could there possibly be? To your answer, Lieutenant, Johnson has changed his plan. If someone hadn't warned us with that lantern, his train would be erect right now. They seem to be getting quite near. Suppose we alert you or men and start handling the situation. Lieutenant Halsey and his men knew their business. The gang was rounded up in short order and secured as prisoners in the baggage car. I checked on my wife and found her unhurt, but alarmed and upset over my safety. After I got her calmed down, I went looking for Lieutenant Halsey. I found him and several of his men at the mouth of a narrow aroy a short distance away from the train. What's the trouble, Lieutenant? It's Big Jeff Johnson. He broke through our circle and he's hiding out back there. It's a dead end, so we can't get out, but we can't get to him. Looks like we're held up until dawn. Well, that won't do, Lieutenant. We're behind schedule now. I'd better go in after him. That's impossible, Major. He's hidden back there in the rocks with a clean bead on the bed of the arroyo. You can't make it. The night's dark. The shadows are thick. I believe there's a chance. Besides, I've got something I have to talk over with him. I'm going in. Are you new to surrender, Mr. Johnson? Can you again, Mr. Johnson? Better give yourself up. That lead meal didn't feel so well in your stomach, did it? Well, that's fine with me. And if any of you monkey-suited tin soldiers out there, try to come in after me. You'll get the same. They won't have to. Got that gun, Mr. Johnson. I've got one pointing at your head. I'll be hanged if I drop it. Drop it, Mr. Johnson. And now, Mr. Johnson, you and I have a few things to settle. I'll start by throwing away my gun. And I'll carry on like this. Come on, Mr. Johnson. It's just between the two of us now. We might as well keep it up until everything's settled. A short time later, Lieutenant Halsey and his men carried Mr. Johnson back to the train and we pulled out again for barkers. On the way, Jane filled in with some minor details for me. Remember the red lantern that warned you in time, Harry? Well, Sally Johnson held it. She learned of her father's change in plans and risked her life to stop the train. Right now, she and Cyrus Foster in the next car making plans together for their future. What do you think about the romance of railroading now, Harry? The telegraph agent began dancing around the platform impatiently trying to say something to me. But I was so busy with the troops and disposing the prisoners, I didn't have time to talk to them until we were ready to pull out. Now, just a doggone minute, Major Sinclair. You just can't get away without helping me out here. Sorry, Jim. What's on your mind? It's Denver. That's why. They've been burning up the wires for two hours trying to find out what happened in number 17. I've got to wire them, Major. What did happen out there on the line? What's the story? What did I tell them? This is a railroad, not a class and short story writing, Jim. Just wire them this. Number 17 departed Barker's 55 minutes late. Oh, no, no, wait, Major. Is that all? No, Jim. You can add this. Number 17 will arrive in Denver on time. With the first run of the Denver Express, there were no heroes or heroines connected with it. All it took was a straightforward, logical mind without any emotion to handle any situation that might have come up. What's that? Oh, my little encounter with Mr. Johnson back in the Arroyo. Well, maybe the soldiers would have gotten him eventually, and I'll admit I didn't have to throw my gun away and handle him with my fists, but that was just a result of logical, cool-headed reasoning. After all, his actions were responsible for my wife getting alarmed and upset that night. And no man on Earth's going to do that without answering to Major Harry Sinclair. A family theater listener once asked us how we've managed to present such a variety of plays week after week and always wind up with the same theme, family prayer. You present a mystery set or a story of suspense or a comedy or a historical drama, and each time you conclude, the family that prays together stays together. It never fails to make sense, but, well, how do you do it? Well, here's the secret. If it can be called a secret, there isn't a thing in life that doesn't somehow tie in with the family that isn't somehow of interest to it because the family is the base of all society and civilization, whether it's baseball or babies, railroads or religion. It's connected with the family, and our family theater audiences like to hear about it. In the same way, there isn't a thing in life that isn't connected with God who created and sustains the world and all that's in it. So it's never an effort to introduce the thought of prayer, family prayer. After all, do we possess anything that doesn't come from the hand of God? And isn't it only sensible that we should pray together as a family for the graces we need each day?  The family that prays together stays together.  Family Theater has brought to you Regis Toomey and Jean Roof and Alexander Hayes the Denver Express with Elizabeth Scott as your hostess. Others in our cast for Barton Yarborough, Jim Nusser, Ken Christie, Virginia Eiler, Herbert Butterfield, Victor Perron and Charles Lund. This adaptation of Hayes' familiar classic was written by Sidney Marshall with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman and was directed for Family Theater by Jaime Del Valle. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt the need for this type of program by the mutual network which has responded to this need and by the hundreds of stars who have so unselfishly given of their time and talents to appear on our stage. This is Gene Baker inviting you to join us next week at this same time when your Family Theater will present Terry Moore in an incident in Charlemagne's Invasion of Spain, the Song of Roland. Join us, won't you? He's at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is broadcast to our troops overseas and forces radio service. Casting System.


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