OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES The virus’s strangest symptom has opened new doors to understanding our most neglected sense Page 8 A calculating head but no heart FE LINES The last lot of Botticelli portraits were sold recently.We trace the charm behind Botticelli paintings Page 6 WHAT CAN COVID-19 TEACH US ABOUTTHE MYSTERIES OF SMELL? ACROSS THE AISLE , P CHIDAMBARAM VOL. XX NO. 14 Beauty of Botticelli LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM THE FUTURE IS FLUID FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY NEW DELHI SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2021, 22 Pages, `10 (Patna `11, Raipur `10) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , The post-pandemic world seems set to be high on gender-neutral fashion Page 5 READ TO LEAD H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , Chakka jam mainly in Punjab, Haryana; no violent incident ● Police on alert, farm leaders fan out to keep peace in 3-hr highway blockade ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 The road to recovery A comprehensive and lucid book focuses on the crisis our economy is facing ODD & EVEN PRAVEEN KHANNA FARMERS’ PROTEST As a protest captures popular imagination and becomes a topic of conversation in every home, we examine the various facets of dissent RAKHI JAGGA & VARINDER BHATIA Ludhiana/Chandigarh, Feb 6 ROHNIT PHORE D E L H I , P U N E Is 5G round the corner? Not really Farmers block the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Haryana near Singhu Border during the chakka jam on Saturday Protest.Agitation. Movement N E W SPEED TEST WHAT'S INSIDE ■ SPOTLIGHT, P10-11 M U M B A I , FOR THREE HOURS, from 12 noon to 3 pm,farmers protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws blocked several roads including national and state highways mainly across Punjab and Haryana Saturday on the call for a nationwide chakka jam. This disrupted traffic on several highways even as farmer unions took steps to ensurethattherewasnorepeat of the Republic Day violence when a section of the protests had spiralled out of control. On most stretches, traffic resumed after3.30 pm; ambulances and essential service vehicles were allowed to pass through; several leaders crisscrossed the state and underlined to protesters the need to keep the peace; the blockade wasn’t allowed to extend beyond the stipulated 3 pm. The government, too, was HACKERS AT WORK onalert.Rightthroughtheday, all district police chiefswere in the field. Ahead of the chakka jam, the Centre, on February 5 midnight, snapped Internet services at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, all the three sit-in protest sites until 11.59 pm February 6. An orderissued byministry of home affairs said it was being done “in the interest of maintaining public safety and averting public emergency”. After the January 26 violence, the Centre had suspended internet in these areas through a series of orders first between January 26 and January27,andthenbetweenJanuary 29 and February 2. Clearly,the shadowof January 26 hung over the protests on Saturday. Speaking to The Indian Express, Vicky Jainpuri of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), whose membersveered off the designated route on R-Day, said: “We told our youngsters, ‘youhave alreadyseen theconsequences of the RedFort incident.Nooneshouldmisbehave again’.Peace is our strength.” Buta Singh Burjgill, presidentofBKU(Dakaunda),oneof the key protesting unions, said thatheandhisseniorvice-presidentManjitDhanerrepeatedly underlined this caution. Continued on Page 9 ● Telcos have demonstrated 5G with 4G spectrum, but achieving speed not possible with old bands FE BUREAU New Delhi, February 6 FOR THOSE EXCITED by Bharti Airtel’s demonstration of 5G services using its existing 4G spectrum in Hyderabad, which is likely to be done by Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea too, here’s a reality check.The department of telecommunications may allow operators to use existing spectrum bands to provide any services, including 5G, but it does not necessarily mean that 5G services will start in India in 2021. The answer to the question is both yes and no.Yes, it will arrive in name. No, if one is expecting real 5G services which means much faster speeds than what 4G provides today. To understand whythe real deal is still not possible, one needs to understand how this technology is different from Spectrum view ■ The department of telecommunications may allow operators to use existing spectrum bands to provide 5G services ■ 5G speeds requires large amounts of spectrum which would not be possible by optimising the existing bands of 4G spectrum ■ For real 5G speeds, operators need spectrum in the 3.5 Ghz band, which the government is not putting up for auctions planned in March 2G,3G and 4G.To provide servicesunderthesetechnologies, different networks have to be created but in case of 5G services, a different layer of network is not required. Through dynamic spectrum sharing the same spectrumcanbeusedtoprovide4G as well as 5G services. Continued on Page 9 CONSUMER PREFERENCES Data of armymen No effect of political tension using Airtel in J&K on Indian smartphone choices allegedly leaked Chinese vendors collectively shipped ● Chinese QuickPicks PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, February 6 India developing seven more Covid vaccines: Minister UNION HEALTH minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said the country is developing seven more Covid19 vaccines and also working on further vaccine development to inoculate every citizen of India, reports PTI. He said the Centre does not have any immediate plan to make the vaccines available in the open market and a decision will be taken as the situation demands. Three vaccines are in trial phase, two in pre-clinical stage, one is in phase 1 and another in phase 2, he said. H-1B visa process for 2022 to begin on Mar 9,results by Mar 31 THE REGISTRATION process for the H-1B visa application for the next fiscal year will begin on March 1 and the successful applicants through a computerised draw of lots would be notified by March 31, a federal agency has said, reports PTI. The notification by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday came a day after the Biden administration announced that it will continue with the traditional lottery system to issue the work visa to foreign professionals. A HACKER GROUP has allegedly leaked data of Army personnel using Bharti Airtel network in Jammu and Kashmir,however,thecompanyhas deniedanybreachinitssystem. The group, with the name of Red Rabbit Team, hacked some Indian websites and posted the data on the web pages of those portals. The hackers shared some linksofthosewebpagesonTwitterin a comment overa tweet of cyber security researcher RajshekharRajahariaandtagged severalmediaorganisations. The query sent to the Indian Army did not elicit any reply but an Army official said “We are not aware of any such information but it appears to be malicious intent of some inimical elements”. When contacted, Bharti Airtel spokesperson denied any breach of its server. In the dark The hackers posted the leaked data on the web pages of those portals and shared some links of those web pages on Twitter The links shared by the hacker were initially accessible with mobile number, name and address of subscribers but stopped working after sometime Airtel says multiple stakeholders have access to some data as per regulatory requirements “We can confirm there is no hack or breach of anyAirtel system as claimed by this group. Multiplestakeholdersoutsideof Airtelhaveaccesstosomedataas perregulatoryrequirements.” Continued on Page 9 smartphone vendors persist, share likely to rise in 2021 RISHI RANJAN KALA New Delhi, February 6 THE ONGOING BORDER tensionsandtheanti-Chinasentiment in India have failed to check the dominance of Chinesehandsetmakers,whocontrolled awhopping 77% of the total145millionsmartphones shipped during the last calendar year. Analysts expect that as India prepares for 5G, these brands are expected to increase their influence in the domestic market in 2021. “Politicalheadwindsbetween China and India are having little tonoimpactonthemomentum vendors like Xiaomi,Oppo and Vivo gathered in 2020.Chinese 77% of smartphones in India in 2020 Canalys India smartphone shipments, by vendor Q1 2017-Q4 2020 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Xiaomi (Units in million) Vivo Samsung Oppo Realme Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2017 2018 2019 2020 Source: Canalys estimates, Smartphone Analysis, January 2021 vendorscollectivelycontributed toabout77%oftotalshipments in 2020,against 72% in 2019, with the share likelyto continue moving north as the nation prepares itself for the onset of 5G,” Canalys Research analystVarun Kannansaid. During Q4 2020, Xiaomi shipped12millionunitsconsolidatingitsleadwith27%market sharefollowedbySamsungwith 9.2millionshipmentsandamarketshareof21%.Vivoremained thirdshipping7.7millionsmartphones,while Oppo moved up therankstofourthplacewith5.5 million units. Realme came in fifth,shipping 5.1 million units, Canalyssaid. “The last power shuffle in India, from Samsung to Xiaomi, occurred when the countrymadeitsarduousjourney from 3G to 4G. As the nation stands on the brink of a mass-market movement to 5G, Chinese vendors will be readyto capitalise on the shift. All-in-all,the outlook for2021 will be better than just the nation recovering from Covid19,”Kannan added. Overall, the smartphone market finished 2020 with nearly 145 million units compared to 148 million units in 2019,markingtheworld’ssecond-largest smartphone market’s first full year decline in history. However, following a recordhighquarterinQ32020 driven by strong sell-in preparation of holiday promotions, shipments in India during Q4 2020 stood at 43.9 million units,a healthygrowth of 13% over Q4 2019,Canalys said. Canalys research director RushabhDoshisaid,“Alongwith theongoingexecutionofthePLI (production linked incentives) scheme,thelooming5Grollout, aswellasnewplayers’entries,we expect a faster recovery for the entire industry in 2021. The pandemic underlined the need for connectivity, with smartphones at the centre of people’s lives and livelihoods.” On the whole,the market is now poised to adopt newer technology faster than it did before,beit5G,rollabledisplays or even connected technology like hearables orwearables. What’s in a logo? Cautious brands on the backfoot and social media fodder ●As incidents of outrage grow, brands doing complete due diligence to rule out negative perceptions REYA MEHROTRA New Delhi, February 6 THE WORLD WAS thrivingwith Adam’s virtue until Eve untied hisblindfold.Andthen,hecould notunseewhathesaw.Whenthe world opened its eyes to Myntra’s logo — the letter M written withoverlappingshadesofpink and orange — after a complaint of it being suggestive,it was no longer representative of the brandbutawoman’slegs(assuggested in the complaint filed in December2020withtheMumbai cyber police by Naaz Patel from Mumbai-based Avesta Foundation NGO). The brand acted quickly by promising a revisedlogointhecomingdays. But William Shakespeare would agree that if we asked today “what’s in a logo?”, it would mean much more than just the identityand essence of the brand,andwould include a well-thought out exercise to Laud and applaud Myntra had to change its logo after a complaint said the letter M written with overlapping shades of pink and orange was suggestive Sportswear and fragrance line Polo Ralph Lauren and US Polo Association are fighting over the use of the horsemen playing polo in their logos Audio streaming and media services provider Spotify India’s use of a Good Day biscuit as its logo on its Twitter handle in June last year was a meme fest Elon Musk’s electric car firm Tesla’s logo T was pointed out by some as being representative of the male genital Automaker Volkswagen’s ‘VW’were labelled as vulgar, while Renault’s logo, a cubical square, was called out for being sexually suggestive ILLUSTRATION: SHYAM KUMAR PRASAD rule out any possible objectionable design. A reality that Harish Bijoor, brand-strategy specialist & founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc,a brand and business strategy consulting firm, confirms.Hesaystheyrunink-blot checks on logos even before allowing roll-outs, “There is activismallaround,andpeople are looking for the smallest reason to rile and ridicule. In such an environment it is prudenttodonegativitychecks on logos before they are put out.” Bijoor says brands usually go through checks before rolling out campaigns or communications and even brand ambassadors before they are signed on for brands. He adds that the need for a review mechanism for brands has givenbiggerbusinessopportunities to firms like his.“This is a new revenue stream that has opened up over the last couple of years for companies such as mine.We call it brand due-diligence practice. The idea is to get a neutral viewpoint that vets these items from political, social,economic,religious and environmental viewpoints.” In the hyper social mediadigital era,when minutest fails become the subject of trolls, brand specialists say a review mechanismisamusttoprotect the brand’s identityand image. Ambi Parmeswaran, brand strategist and coach and founder of Brand-Building, a brand consulting platform, says, “In this day and age you don’t want anyone to get upset with your brand, its symbol or itslogo.Thisdoesnotmeanyou retreatintosimplisticapproach to branding. It just means you havetobeextracareful.InIndia we have been used to checking New Delhi and rechecking brand names, symbols and logos in all the Indianlanguages.Nowweneed to add a few more filters to the processofapproval.Bettertobe proactive about it than wait for a court case oraTwitterstorm.” ParmeswarancallsMyntra’s move a ‘sensible thing’. “The brandsawthisgettingescalated into a court case and decided to do a quick retreat,”he says. Karthik Nagarajan, chief content officer, Wavemaker India, a Mumbai-based media agency, says this will usher in an era of caution for brands and lead to rise in brand consultancy firms. Continued on Page 9