Sex, lies and MMS scandals

 

MMS scandals seem to have become a way of life. They are the essential spice added to the world of pornography paving way for more serious crimes and destroying innocent lives. Can we conclude that an MMS scandal is worse than rape?.

CJ: Fahim Ahmedi ,  on  www.merinews.com

Sex has become the most sellable commodity today…what’s more…the more controversial, the better. Man seems to have become a playboy at the hands of technology and women have become commodities for sale. If one was to think about chastity, it’s a long forlorn tale. The rise in camera phones has also seen the rise in mms scandals. Now what leaves us wondering is the fact if it is the Indian male who has opened up to the realm of visual sex that has ripened the cherry or is it the hunger to satisfy something that was concealed since ages?

 

The all-advanced gadgets in the hands of immature kids have resulted in the rise of these mms scandals. With their digital cameras and avante garde technology, the intervention of Bluetooth and the power to capture real life images has set the corn ablaze. India, with its virtues and values seems to have been hit with the torpedo of mms scandals right in the nose.

 

Be it a school going kid, or a father, take their mobile phones and go to gallery, you are likely to find it packed with all kinds of mms scandals. The biggest question here is why sultry sex fascinates the male mind?

 

Harsh Kumar is working in a Corporate and is of the opinion that even though the Kamasutra originated in India, people were kept from reading it openly. One does not have the freedom to express sexual feelings in our country. India might be developing at a fast pace, but people are still narrow minded and refrain from open discussions on the topic. It can be said that the first mms scandal that took us by storm was the one shot at Delhi Public School. It seemed to have hit the hilt by creating history.

 

Even before the evolution of mms scandals, people all over the country were awed by pornography, but the increase in mms popularity is unprecedented. Who suffers in the end? As usual, it is the girl. It is she who is condemned and mocked at rather than the male counterpart as her entire image is put at stake. MMSs are shot not only for commercial purposes but have become part of the regular dating scenario on a large scale.  This is because of the lack of awareness and our rights in modern India.

 

Jill Joseph, a retail professional from New Delhi says, “As far as India is concerned, it is very difficult to change the way people think. If a girl starts liking a boy, it is not taken lightly, so one cannot even imagine what the girl might have to go through if she is trapped in an mms scandal. In our country, a girl is taught to trust the one she loves. Most females end up getting shot only because they want to oblige their partners and trust them blindly.”

 

But does the whole saga end here? If a boyfriend cheats on her, it is because he does not have feelings for her in the first place. The girls are humiliated and abandoned. They hardly get any emotional support from their families and are looked upon as criminals. Lately, there have been several cases in which the girl was openly blamed and she was made a sexual exhibit. But what about the male who first plays with the emotions of the victim and then uses it for cheap publicity?

 

Anshul Kapur, student, says, “I strongly feel that its high time people in our country accept it as normal. The fact is that before mms scandals there was porn, but the girls who acted in those clips were professionals. The reach was not so wide; moreover, with the advent of cell phones, windows were opened to people who did not have access to porn. The changing dating scenario in our country is resulting in the creation of such mms clips and people are running after them as if they were hungry for a glimpse since the early man days. However, the girl should not be traumatized when she falls prey to such an act but we must empathize with her. It can happen with anyone. The guy’s image remains intact, but his ego must be brought under question.”

 

Does this mean that all mms scandals are circulated for fun or are they even sold to those seeking profit at the cost of others? And if they have become a regular thing to be sold, what are the implications on those who are involved in this business?

 

Apurv Tewari, a lawyer from Lucknow says, “There are provisions under the IPC as there are different aspects of this crime. On the whole there is no punishment for making an MMS and sending it across. To send an MMS is not a crime but sending across an obscene MMS is definitely punishable as it is a species of pornographic crime. Whenever crime happens one has to generalize it and then conjure. In our country however, the law is very prudish and lack of implementation of laws stems from the fact that most of the scandals are not reported.”

 

Harmehar Aneja, a businessman from Chandigarh says, “It is mandatory for the media to create awareness among the youth. There are laws in our country that need to be implemented. The earlier the better. Guys will always get the support from their families whereas girls will be treated with indignity.”

 

Vipula Raina, housewife opines, “The issue differs from situation to situation. Firstly, it depends in the relation shared by the couple and it is difficult to conclude who was right or wrong at random. The girl’s family is taken for a ride in our country as we are living in a male dominated society and the parents are likely to suffer from social stigma causing them to lose their emotional balance. In some cases the parents have even left the city in order to escape social disgrace, but not everyone can be that fortunate.”

 

In most of the cases, it is the girl who ends up looking like a fool. She is traumatized beyond imagination at the cost of an idea which for some is nothing more than a sexed up clipping.

 

Rahul Choudhary, a real estate owner from Uttar Pradesh says, “I see nothing wrong with the fact that the new generation wants to have fun. We know that with changing trends the youngsters are indulging in all sorts of crimes and mms scandals are one of them, but we need to start accepting the fact that if the girl objects to it in the first place, no guy can force her into getting shot. To a certain extent it is the girl’s fault who lets the guy make her mms. She should know how to protect her vanity.”

 

But what about the innocent ones who get caught unaware? They are blamed and ravaged for a no reason. For some, it is worse than rape. If rape can lead to destroying a woman’s life, so can an mms clip made for having some fun. Is it right to say that women are always wrong or is the other side of the coin more horrendous? There are mms clips featuring small children, girls who are barely three or four years old, and who is watching them…..? People who have daughters, nieces and sisters of their own! This might be a potential area giving rise to pedophiles and resulting in the increasing rate of child sexual abuse.

 

People have impressionable minds and they want to practice what they see. At the cost of innocent lives, majority of males are enjoying these clips and waiting for the arrival of new ones everyday. Isn’t it high time to educate a sex starved nation about the pros and cons of the whole desi mms masala?

 

What can a girl do when confronted with such a situation?

• Find your voice and object. Don’t trust any guy with your life and dignity.
• In a hotel room, watch out for hidden cameras.
• If you suspect anything wrong even in the least, you must run with no turning back. If your guy really loves you, he will respect your decision.
• Remember, an mms scandal is worse than rape. It can destroy your life.
• Check trial rooms for signs of hidden cameras.

As opined by lawyer Tewari, “We lack in spreading awareness and sensitivity among the people. One cannot make a law to prevent a crime. What we need today is a human face.”

Structured product

A structured product is generally a pre-packaged investment strategy which is based on derivatives, such as a single security, a basket of securities, option, indices, commodities, debt issuances and/or foreign currencies, and to a lesser extent, swaps. The variety of products just described is demonstrative of the fact that there is no single, uniform definition of a structured product. A feature of some structured products is a "principal guarantee" function which offers protection of principal if held to maturity. For example, an investor invests 100 dollars, the issuer simply invests in a risk free bond which has sufficient interest to grow to 100 after the 5 year period. This bond might cost 80 dollars today and after 5 years it will grow to 100 dollars. With the leftover funds the issuer purchases the options and swaps needed to perform whatever the investment strategy is. Theoretically an investor can just do this themselves, but the costs and transaction volume requirements of many options and swaps are beyond many individual investors.

As such, structured products were created to meet specific needs that cannot be met from the standardized financial instruments available in the markets. Structured products can be used as an alternative to a direct investment, as part of the asset allocation process to reduce risk exposure of a portfolio, or to utilize the current market trend.

SEC Rule 434^[1] (regarding certain prospectus deliveries) defines structured securities as "securities whose cash flow characteristics depend upon one or more indices or that have embedded forwards or options or securities where an investor's investment return and the issuer's payment obligations are contingent on, or highly sensitive to, changes in the value of underlying assets, indices, interest rates or cash flows."

The Pacific Stock Exchange defines structured products as "products that are derived from and/or based on a single security or securities, a basket of stocks, an index, a commodity, debt issuance and/or a foreign currency, among other things" and include "index and equity linked notes, term notes and units generally consisting of a contract to purchase equity and/or debt securities at a specific time."

Are structured products good enough?

Amidst the stock market volatility, it is not surprising to find investors who have all but redeemed their investments. Considering the losses incurred, investors are now exploring investment opportunities in avenues beyond equities. These avenues even have a fancy name - structured products.

Structured products, is the latest buzzword among investors and fund houses alike. Many investors are enticed by the investment proposition offered by these products. Fund houses on their part are only willing to launch more products to feed their popularity among investors.

Most investors believe that structured products are designed in a manner that equips them to deliver superior returns. Besides, they also consider them to be less risky.

Before we explore this subject further, let us first understand what structured products are. As the name suggests, these are customised products that comprise of various financial instruments (derivatives, stocks, bonds and debentures, among others) and investment strategies in one investment.

These products were initially made available to cater to the needs of a specific group of investors (mainly high net worth investors). However, they are now being offered to retail investors as well. To that end, the concept of structured products is relatively new for retail investors.

Terms like derivatives, paired trades and equity-linked debentures among others, have enticed a lot of investors into investing in these products. A strong marketing pitch by fund houses combined with fancy terms/investment strategies leads them to believe that structured products are superior to regular mutual funds. However, there are certain elements that investors need to consider before investing in structured products.

While the advantages offered by structured products are widely-advertised, investors would do well to understand their downside in order to make an informed investment decision. We put forth some of the disadvantages associated with structured products.

Complexity
Structured products are not as simple as they are usually made out to be; they are quite complex. Since they use a blend of investment strategies, it is difficult for most investors to understand the strategy driving the fund. Expectedly, investors aren't aware of the situations when the strategy might fail to deliver.

Misrepresentation
Fund houses usually compare the indicative return on structured products with other seemingly comparable instruments. While there is nothing wrong in doing so, the problem arises when the returns are misrepresented. For instance, one of the recently launched structured products compared its indicative returns, in absolute terms, with returns in CAGR (compounded annualised growth rate) terms, offered by another seemingly similar instrument. Both these measures are incomparable.

For example, a 15 per cent return (in absolute terms) over 2 years would actually mean 7.24 per cent CAGR over a similar time frame. However, if investors are being led to believe that the structured product will yield a 15 per cent CAGR over a 2-Yr period when it's likely to deliver a 15 per cent absolute growth over a 2-Yr period, it's a case of misrepresentation. To that end, comparing such returns would lead investors to making a wrong investment decision.

Capital protection
Most structured products belong to the capital protection category. In other words, they aim to protect the investor's capital in any market condition. Given that the larger portion of the fund is invested in debt and the rest is invested in equity, the chances of achieving the stated objective appears to be high. However, these products do not talk about the credit risk involved in the debt component. Although these funds aim to protect the investor's capital, the chance of the fund not achieving the same does exist.

All season fund
Some of the structured products claim to perform across market conditions. Too good to be true, isn't it? This is simply because, these products are designed in such a manner that if the fund manager runs out of investment options, the fund can have a higher cash component. Subsequently, the fact that this will hurt the fund's performance is rarely revealed.

What should investors do?
Investments in instruments like structured products should be made only after there is a clear understanding of its investment proposition, risks involved and the returns projected. If the investor can unravel the structure and can take on the risk for that additional return, then he can consider investing in them. The investor who finds the process of evaluating them difficult, must render the services of a competent financial planner and take a well-informed decision accordingly.