Does Valentines' Day fit in Indian Culture?

Dear Indian Lovers,

It is just for your kind information about Valentine's Day - Saint Valentine's Day or commonly known as Valentine's Day is an annual holiday held on Feb.14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The holiday is named after one or more early Christian Martyrs (a martyr is somebody who suffers persecution - a systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group - and death for refusing to renounce belief, usually religious) named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius-I in AD 496. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionary, and sending greeting cards. The holiday first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the high middle ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped ouline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. [Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on Feb.14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest of Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. his relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni.] 

If we believe on above information downloaded from wikipedia, Valentine Day is actually a Death anniversary; like 30th January in India - which is celebrated with great happiness, joy and expenditure. Accepting other country's culture has become the culture of India.

Apparently, India is a nation of many castes, social classes, and subclasses. Each social class has it own character, nature, history, intensity and culture. One thing is common in all social classes, i.e, to protect the virginity of female and 'purushatva' of male. Since, globalization has brought a cultural war alongwith acting as a tool of economic strength. A war to disturb Indian Culture through Youth. There is no concept of 'boy friend or a girl friend' in India, historically. Valentines Day promotes this relationship because on this day a boy or a girl proposes the opposite sex to become 'Love Partner but not Life Partner'. It is being observed that every year the Valentine of the boy or girl is different. It is not only unfortunate but dangerous for longer existence of cultural values. A boy or a girl gets addicted with physical or emotional relationship before an appropriate time and is entrapped with 'sensational adaptation'. This devalues the importance of personal intimacy and loyalty with the actual life partner. When a boy proposes a girl, or vice versa both of them attempts to impress each other with all of their positive capabilities and gestures, but as soon as anyone of them happens to encounter negative traits, whole patience get shattered. It is continously observed that majority of love marriages ends in divorces.

An individual has to assume responsibility towards the society to payback, by remaining in the social boundaries & norms and protect its own culture.

Month of 'Baisakhi' is not that much marketed as 'Valentines Day' and thats why Indian youth is ignorant of the fact that 'Baisakhi' is one day of proposals among boy and girls that too infront of whole society. It is absolutely on the discretion of the girl or boy to accept or reject the proposal. Do you have those guts to propose a girl or a boy infront of all members of the society and give commitment for whole life? This is something related to giving value to 'internal beauty' - a beauty for commitment and sacrifice for each other.

Ponder, Ponder, and Ponder again & again before using Valentines Day - an excuse for building relationships only out of physical attraction, majority.

Thank you
Raghvendra s/o Sandeep Singh
Jodhpur

Consumerism and Corporate Marketing Practices

Dear Readers,
This conceptual research paper is an attempt of knowledge sharing.

Consumerism and Corporate Marketing Practices:

Abstract: The paper attempts to give insight about the concept of ‘consumerism’ and its changing dimensions with a blend on ethical values practiced by the corporate sector of Indian economy. Need of social stratification and emulation for the consumption of branded products & services among consumers has become the strength of today’s corporate world. Corporate Marketing practices in the current scenario of consumer market is targeting the ‘ego satisfaction need’ of an individual by positioning its product or service as the near most and loveable object in the life of the consumer. The paper highlights the impact & benefits of liberalization on both the consumer culture and the corporate affairs. Consumer is the biggest beneficiary of liberalization — he gets the best deal in terms of choice, quality, price and value for money. Rising disposable incomes, greater product awareness, affordable pricing, and easy financing schemes made purchasing possible. An explosion in product range, a multitude of brands, Indian and foreign, several finance options, large one-stop shops, colorful stores and shopping a picnic, not to mention a rise in status — the consumer is having a blast. Consumer's lifestyle has taken a turn. There have been many international trade agreements of India with the rest of the world since adoption of the liberalization policy, resulting in high inflow of finance from the multinational companies through collaborations & joint ventures, giving high rally to the stock exchanges. Recent development in bilateral relations with South Korea is exemplified. The gigantic growth rate figure in the sector of Retail, FMCG, Automotive, Consumer Electronics, and Telecom is evident for increasing consumerism and claim the success of liberalization policy adapted in Indian economy, to cadre the increasing needs of the increasing population at a very right time. Corporate Social Responsibility is an increasingly important criterion in judging the corporate affairs and choice of products or services by the consumer. One of the ways to attract companies towards CSR work is to develop a system of CSR credits, similar to the system of carbon credits which are given to companies for green initiatives. CSR should involve the right combination of enhancing long-term shareholder value and protecting the interests of various other stakeholders (including the society in general). Notable efforts have come from the Tata Group, SAIL, IOC, BPCL, BHEL, Orchid Chemicals & Pharma, Infosys, IBM, Bharti Enterprises, Glaxo Smith Kline Pharma, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, Coca Cola India, and Pepsi Co., among others. Ironical as it may sound, the most profitable companies are the ones that are the least profit-minded. The consumer movement is a unique form of social action. It requires people who are genuinely concerned with issues such as exploitation of shortages by business groups, faulty public distribution system, adulteration of food, manufacture of spurious drugs, misleading advertisements, health services, growing environmental pollution and the more. To tackle these issues, consumers require information and consumer organizations require leaders with a deep knowledge of consumer market.

Thanking you for an opportunity to express.
Yours Raghvendra & Sandeep