How black money finds its way out of India, and how it comes back as white

 In February 2008, R Prasad, the then chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), led a team of tax sleuths to Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius.

Backed by a team from the ministry of external affairs, Prasad made an attempt to convince Mauritius officials to re-negotiate the double tax avoidance agreement (DTAA), which was resulting in massive tax losses to India

Prasad's attempt was unsuccessful, but what he discovered in the process was startling: a handful of persons acted as directors for about 30,000 companies located in that island nation. Also, companies there exist only on paper, as addresses of many of those begin with a mere post box number.

"Mauritius and many other tax havens act as buffers to bring back India's black money as white.

And the challenge before the investigators is to establish the criminality of those involved in such activities," says Prasad, who retired as CBDT chairman six years ago.

Now, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money wants such tax treaties to be re-drafted, a move that will put the government in a spot.

Only this week, a reluctant government had to hand over to the apex court a complete list of 627 Indians who have accounts in HSBC Bank, Geneva.

"The debate so far has been what comes first: investment or tax? Is India ready to sacrifice investments worth billions of dollars for the sake of some tax gain? So far as Mauritius is concerned, any retreat from India's side will allow China to woo the island nation," says a finance ministry official who did not want to be named, explaining why New Delhi hasn't been assertive with Mauritius, a nation where Indian defence forces harbour strategic interests.

In Black and White

While tax havens like Mauritius will help black money come back into the country as white, Indians continue to send illicit money abroad.

This is done through various methods, hawala transactions — where money is transferred abroad without any real movement of funds — being one of them although, according to a finance ministry white paper on black money released two years ago, hawala transactions have actually dwindled over the past decade.

"In recent years, after the 9/11 incident in the US, due to intense scrutiny of banking transactions, enhanced security checks at airports and ports and relaxation of exchange controls, transfer of money through hawala has reduced significantly," says the report. "...increasing pressure on financial operators and banks to report cash transactions has also helped in curbing hawala transactions."

However, there are other methods to siphon black money out of the country, two of which are manipulation of export invoices and setting up of trusts abroad.

Two income-tax officials told ET Magazine that a large number of the accounts of the 627 names based on data stolen by an employee of HSBC, Geneva, would be of such trusts. The modus operandi adopted here is as follows: black money moves abroad through routes like hawala.

Then a trust is formed in, let's assume, the Netherlands. The trustees in this case will be Dutch nationals, but the beneficiaries will be relatives of an Indian back home who put in the initial corpus.

"But we can initiate a probe only when money gets reflected in the accounts of the beneficiaries," explains one of the tax officials.

As the incometax department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will now work under SIT, one can expect more urgency in the mission to bring back unaccounted money. Yet, genuine hurdles may come in the way of that endeavour.

The classic example of such a hurdle is seen in the case of Pune-based stud farm-owner Hasan Ali Khan, who was raided by the I-T department seven years ago. Documents and data in his laptop established that he had a Swiss bank account with a whopping $8 billion (roughly Rs 48,000 crore) in deposits. Ali was sent to jail, but the ED that probes money laundering cases found out from the Swiss authorities that Ali's accounts had been emptied.

The multi-billion dollar question then: how many of the 627 whose names exist in a sealed cover would have done the same?

How a two-year-old firm is hitting a daily turnover of Rs 4,000 crore today

If the lives of start-up founders are about sweat, blood and tears, no one told the trio at Mumbai-based discount broking firm RKSV.

"To be honest, we have had a considerably smooth ride," says Raghu Kumar, one of the three promoters, briefly describing in a matter-of-fact tone their two-year journey as entrepreneurs. He means it.

Rather, he prefers to let the numbers speak. Within two years of starting operations and largely operating in a dull market, RKSV is now clocking daily turnover of Rs 4,000 crore.

That's about 1.3 per cent of total turnover of NSE, in a business where even the leaders are at 5-6 per cent. For the US-bred trio — Raghu, brother Ravi and their friend Shrinivas Viswanath — it was a move by the Indian capital market regulator to allow algorithmic trading that encouraged them to dip their toes in Indian waters.

And when the Securities and Exchange Board of India allowed the direct market access (DMA) facility in April 2008, which gives investors direct access to a stock exchange's trading system, they decided to put in both their feet.

Prior to 2009, their only connection with India was the occasional visit to meet relatives. "DMA was the reason we came to India. We saw a lot of opportunities and wanted to explore them," says Raghu, a University of Illinois graduate in actuarial science and finance.

The concept of algorithmic, or high frequency, trading was not alien to them. Before coming to India, the brothers were active in the US foreign exchange markets between 2006 and 2008.

But, in October 2008, they had to wind up after the global financial markets imploded; trading opportunities had dried up, liquidity had shrunk and spreads had widened enough. By then, however, they made a killing of about $2 million, giving them the self-belief — and the capital — to explore other business ideas.

Against The Tide

In 2009, Raghu and Ravi, along with Viswanath, a computer engineer in New York, shifted base to India. Although the Indian markets were alien to them, funding a venture was never a problem.

Raghu and Ravi spent the first two years trading with their own money, which helped them gauge the pulse of the market here. Meanwhile, they secured a membership to the Bombay Stock Exchange, which had slashed its fees significantly to rope in more members.

After making good money in the two years in proprietary trading, they saw stockbroking as a natural progression. But to set up shop in India, at the time they did, was a contrarian call.

Disappointed by the previous government's tardy attitude towards business and economic policies, business confidence in India had hit its nadir. Foreign investors were wary and several nonresident Indians (NRIs) were returning to countries where they held passports. The broking industry was bleeding too. While competition in institutional broking business was fierce, retail investors had deserted the markets.

But there was still a segment of market participants that was underserved: traders, for whom high brokerage costs was making it difficult to make money. "We realised there were many traders who did not have cheaper options to trade," says Kumar. "What shocked us was the number of branches that retail brokerages had, which is not the case in the US."

It did not take too much time for RKSV's business to pick up as its relatively-older rival Zerodha had taken the plunge by then. Although there was little that RKSV could do to hold an edge in terms of technology, it managed to attract clients by launching the 'unlimited trading model', where traders can transact for as many times at a fixed cost.

Currently, RKSV has about 20,000 clients. They are serviced by about 50 employees from its office in Mumbai's emerging financial services hub, Bandra-Kurla Complex. Raghu said the firm is looking to double its client base to about 40,000 in 2014-15. That's not bad for a two-year-old, first-generation firm.

STARTED: 2012 (retail trading)

FOUNDERS: Raghu Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Shrinivas Viswanath

CLIENTS: 20,000

DAILY TRADING TURNOVER: Rs 4,000 crore

REVENUES: Not disclosed

EMPLOYEES: 50

Why are super-rich Indians buying helicopters and why they are different from their counterparts in West

Helicopters cost between $1.2 million and $15 million, depending on the size and type of machine. An hour of flying a chopper, accounting for insurance, landing fees, fuel and maintenance costs, and again depending on whether it has single or twin engines and its seating capacity, could set back its billionaire owners by `50,000 to Rs 1.75 lakh. Peanuts, as our finance minister would say.

In any case, as BS Singh Deo, managing director of Bell Helicopter India says, expenses related to helicopters are more than offset by cutting down the travel time.

Pradeep Srivastava, a helicopter pilot, says almost every day he encounters people wishing to buy copters. "They are taken aback only for a moment when they hear the price."

That's not to suggest they are reckless investors. "When Indians make an investment, they want to be sure it pays off," says Estill. "They look at the value they are getting. They want proof that the copter will operate as per the promised costs. They want to know how we will support the copter. They want us to train their personnel," he says.

Different Customers

Helicopters, from the accounts of Estill and his colleague Mick Maurer, president of Sikorsky Military Systems, offer a peek into the vanities and quirks of their owners. Maurer says one of his customers - a head of state from West Asia - wanted a shower in his copter. "When he came off the copter to meet people, he wished to be refreshed and clean. I said: 'Yes sir, you want a shower, you got one'."

Chopper Clients: Some of the private helicopter owners in India

Sikorsky has a customer in the UK who goes hunting with friends to Scotland in a chopper. Another client flies from building to building in a chopper for fear of kidnapping, says Maurer. Sikorsky, says Maurer, is never short of such "interesting" clients. With bankers and celebrities in New York, the imagination can run wild with interiors, he says.

Indians are not as demanding. Nor have they embraced choppers except to save time and for convenience. Their needs are limited to a television, a refrigerator and video games for the children.

One of Sikorsky's clients happens to be India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries. Ambani's new home, Antilia, has three helipads. Sikorsky executives say Mukesh's wife Nita Ambani was very involved with designing the interiors of the two choppers. "We customised the interiors the way Mrs Ambani wanted," says Walia.

The interiors can also be configured for comfort with leather-clad seating accompanied by a drinks cabinet, a la luxury sedan of the skies. If these are unexciting demands compared with the West, they are a testament to a still fledgling market.

Diverse Clientele

The typical chopper client in India hails from businesses as diverse as petroleum and real estate. The majority belong to the offshore oil business like Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani and the Ruias of Essar. RWSI's Sridharan says at least 25 copters are being used daily to reach offshore oil platforms. Oil has long been the primary segment, but now corporate travel is driving sales.

Big business groups like the Ruias rely on choppers to fly top managers for strategic meetings. "Everybody is running a tight schedule," says a spokesman. Even smaller companies hire copters from charter companies for factory visits.

Chopper activity, says Airworks' Menon, is no longer confined to Mumbai, Surat and Hazira. It has moved to places like Bhuvaneshwar and Guwahati, he says. "In a sense, copters are driving industrial growth," he says.

Companies also use choppers for medical evacuations. An AgustaWestland copter was used to provide air ambulance cover at the inaugural Indian Formula 1 race last year. Still, copter use boils down to time and convenience.

The super affluent have the money, but lack time. They might want to fly to 3-4 sites a day. They have to be back for a business meeting or return home by evening. How long would that take by road?

Helicopters are, in that sense, godsend. They save time with their twin engines, plane-like streamlining and a top speed of around 350 kmph. Choppers can fly at night, bad weather, over open water and across built-up areas.

Easy Go, Easy Come

The important thing to note, according to Walia, is that people are going from point A to point B, completely bypassing the road network. "So if Mr Ambani is going from Mumbai to his refinery in Jamnagar in a copter, he can have people with him, he can have his meeting and by the time he reaches after an hour and a half... he's already got his feedback, he's already made up his mind about a decision."

Not only is there plenty of room on board to do business - there's enough leg space so that you don't have to knock each other's knees, says Walia - the interiors of a chopper have been "made quiet" so that people can talk without having to shout.

5 Smallest Airports Around the World

Juancho E Yrausquin Airport

Serves: Saba (The Netherlands), Caribbean
Airlines: Windward Islands Airways
Runways: One

Dutch-owned Caribbean island Saba is home to Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport which boasts the world’s shortest commercial runway. At only 400 metres, just a quarter of a mile, the runway is only slightly longer than the average aircraft carrier and jet aircraft are banned from using the runway through fear of over or under shooting the strip and hitting the ocean.

The only airline currently serving the airport is Winair which operates daily flights to nearby islands Saint Martin and Saint Eustatius. The flight to Saint Martin takes just 12 minutes. For the airport's Wikipedia site click here.

Moshoeshoe I International Airport

Serves: Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho

Airlines: South African Airways (international), Mission Aviation Fellowship (domestic flights)

Runways: Two

The Kingdom of Lesotho, entirely landlocked by South Africa, is served by Moshoeshoe I airport. While officially referred to as an international airport, the only non-domestic flights are to Johannesburg with South African Airways.

Passengers can while away the hours waiting for their flight in the airport’s gift shop, restaurant, bar and newsagent. The airport sits at an elevation of 1,630 metres and the shorter of its two runways is just over 1000 metres. For more information click here.

Luang Prabang Airport, Laos

Serves: Luang Prabang, Laos

Airlines: Bangkok Airways, Lao Airlines, Tonlesap Airlines, Vietnam Airlines

Runways: One

The airport's runway currently measures a modest 2,200 metres, although an extension is planned to begin this year, which will see the airport capable of accommodating most large-sized planes except the Airbus 380. In the meantime, those frequenting the airport can enjoy shopping, restaurant and currency exchange facilities. For more information click here.

Morgantown Municipal Airport

Serves: Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

Airlines: United Airways (operated by Colgan Air)

Runways: Two

Morgantown Municipal is used primarily for general aviation but is also served by one commercial airline that connects the town with Clarksburg, West Virginia and Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC.

Not only is there free parking, free coffee and wifi, but patrons can also enjoy lunch in the restaurant - recarpeted in 2008 - while watching planes take-off from the 844-metre runway. For more information click here.

Barra Airport

Serves: Barra Island, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Airlines: Flybe

Runways: Three

Barra’s Traigh Mhor beach is the only beach runway in the world to handle scheduled airline services. Despite being little more than a shack on the beach, Barra Airport offers travellers ample parking, car hire facilities and public transport serving the rest of the island.

Flight times vary with the tide so the airport is open for no more than two and a half hours between Monday and Saturday. The shortest of the airport’s three runways is a mere 680 metres. For more information click here.

By Andy Tweddle

If you have any pocket-sized airports you'd like to add to the list, then please leave your comments below.

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Top 10 Smallest Armies in the World

Most of us could have a pretty good crack at naming the world’s 10 biggest armies, but what about the smallest armies? In fact what about naming the countries that don’t have any army at all.

As well as having small armies these countries have small populations and not a lot of land to protect. The armies are no doubt useful for a range of security matters, drug enforcement, border protection and other illegal activities, but protecting the country against a direct attack by a sizeable enemy is going to stretch them.

10. Bahamas

Active Military Personnel: 1,500
Population: 320,000
Where: Caribbean, barely 200 km’s south east of Miami, USA.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force is made up solely of the country’s Navy, although the Navy is responsible for the country’s military aircraft and works with the Bahaman Police on internal matters.

The Bahamas is part of the British Commonwealth of Nations and retains the Queen as the head of state. The British presence here goes back hundreds of years and the country formally became a colony of the British Empire in 1718 in part because of efforts to control pirates in the area. (Blackbeard used the Bahamas as a safe haven).

Nowadays Sean Connery is but one of many famous identities that call the Bahamas home. He can rest easy that the sea borders are well guarded by the Bahama’s strikingly large military force.

The Bahamas certainly has a good looking army. 

9. The Gambia

Active Military Personnel: 2,500
Population: 1,800,000
Where: West Africa, a sliver of land along each side of the Gambia River in Senegal.

The Gambia, or the Republic of Gambia, was a British colony up until its independence in 1965. It is now part of the Commonwealth of Nations but has a Presidential style of government in which the President is the head of state as well as the head of government.

In the context of this list Gambia has a big defence force and it regularly assigns contingents of troops to joint operations around Africa and in other parts of the world.

There are sources that point to the lack of balance and accountability in the relationship between the government of Gambia and the control of the armed forces as being a pretty major problem. The occasional coup attempt and subsequent arrests and, more recently, executions, lends that view some credibility.

The Gambia Independence March Past 2013: 

8. Barbados

Active Military Personnel: 1,000
Population: 283,000
Where: Caribbean, about 400km’s north east of Venezuela

The Barbados Defence Force (BDF) was established in 1979 and is responsible for internal security as well as external security. The Royal Barbados Police Force is a part of the BDF structure.

Details are sparse, but the figure of around 1,000 military personnel looks accurate when we consider the number of battalions in the regular forces, the Coast Guard and the Air Wing.

The British had a garrison stationed here going back to the 1600’s and many of the original buildings are now World Heritage sites.

We particularly like the fact that the Air Wing of the BDF looks to comprise one Cessna plane. It’s not a big country so the Cessna would be a handy thing to have for a quick skirt around the coast.

The Barbados army has quite possibly the coolest, hippest military band in the world.

7. Luxembourg

Active Military Personnel: 990
Population: 538,000
Where: A European country bordering France, Belgium and Germany.

The Luxembourg Army is a volunteer force that operates under the civilian control of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the Chief of Defence who both adopt the military rank of General while on Defence duties.

Although it’s a small force, the Luxembourg Army actively engages in peace keeping duties and other multinational engagements around the world, occasionally under Belgian operational command.

The commentary isn’t in English, but they’re running around in the night with rifles. You’ll get the gist of it. 

6. Seychelles

Active Military Personnel: 900
Population: 90,800
Where: Indian Ocean, about 1,200km’s south east of Somalia

Information about the Seychelles army is surprisingly difficult to find. This tiny island nation (actually something over 100 islands make up the Seychelles) is less than a quarter the size of New York City.

Although the Seychelles was a British colony up until independence in 1976, it has been a socialist republic since a bloodless coup in 1977. Much of the available information on the Seychelles military is centred on foreign powers. For example, Russian announced just a few weeks ago that it intends to build a military base in the Seychelles.

However they clearly do have an army there and we believe the number of active personnel is in the ball park.

The Seychelles Military on parade. It must be their entire defence force. 

5. Tonga

Active Military Personnel: 700
Population:
Where: South Pacific Ocean, about 700 km’s south east of Fiji.

The Tonga Defense Service has a long history going back to WW1 where Tonga was a part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The formal Defence Force entity came into being at the start of WWII and carried out operations with New Zealand and the US in the Solomon Islands and other parts of the South Pacific.

More recently they have been involved in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

Over the last five years the TDS has expanded its military strength to around 700 personnel along with infrastructure such as barracks, a new mess hall and general military equipment like rifles and things.

Tongan marines do their traditional dance. They are a big unit. Don’t practice hand to hand combat with them. 

4. Sao Tome and Principe

Active Military Personnel: 600
Population: 187,000
Where: Gulf of Guinea about 300 km’s off the coast of Gabon, Africa.

Sao Tome and Principe is the smallest Portuguese speaking country in the world and the second smallest country in Africa after the Seychelles, which is also a small group of island but in the Indian Ocean, not the Atlantic Ocean like Sao Tome and Principe.

The army is variously described as being too small to be effective, rife with corruption, and hampered by an extremely humid and wet tropical climate. On top of that poor salaries and living conditions have led to several failed coups over the last twenty years.

A new military chief has just been sworn in to focus on “military discipline in the barracks” after a presidential honour guard failed to show up to give President Pinto da Costa a proper farewell as he left the country on a state visit.

Nevertheless, in the context of our list this is a reasonably large force and they no doubt have a strong and proud culture.

We’re not sure if they are displaying their military hardware or having a second hand sale. Perhaps if you understand Portuguese you’ll be able to find out. 

3. Antigua and Barbuda

Active Military Personnel: 170
Population: 90,000
Where: Caribbean, about 400km’s south east of Puerto Rico

The Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF) definitely exists and the figure of 170 appears to be pretty accurate, but like a lot of these small nations Antigua and Barbuda doesn’t like to talk about its military too much. When it’s the second smallest in the world I guess that’s fair enough.

We do know that new recruits go through a pretty extensive basic training process. The course is five months long which is pretty long as far as basic training courses go. The recruits learn marching drills, minor field tactics (learning major field tactics would probably be a bit of a waste), basic security, arms training and 30 hours of swimming.

The swimming intrigues us as you would expect soldiers would spend most of their time on land. As the Coast Guard is part of the ABDF and the islands have a lot of coast line it seems rational enough.

Military exercises in the Caribbean seem to have the same level of urgency that is apparent in other aspects of their lives in those gorgeous, tranquil isles. 

2. Saint Kitts and Nevis

Active Military Personnel: 150
Population: 53,500
Where: Caribbean, about 300km’s south east of Puerto Rico

Reports vary on how big the Saint Kitts and Nevis army is. The official Government website makes no mention of their army although it does have press releases referring to their Defence Force. One welcomes 25 new soldiers, another talks about a new male barrack that can accommodate 200 soldiers.

Based on this evidence the country clearly has an army. Their Coast Guard falls within the Defence Force structure so this boosts the numbers a bit. As an aside, the US recently gave the SKN Coast Guard two boats, accompanying towing trailers, spare parts and a ‘4×4 Ford F350 pick-up truck’. Handy having the pick-up truck.

Whatever the exact numbers, the army is small. Very small.

Forget the army here, it’s so small there’s virtually nothing to see anyway. Just have a look around the islands. 

1. Countries with No Army

Active Military Personnel: 0

These countries don’t have an army. Some of them have a small paramilitary force, civil guard or similar, but it’s just not the same as having something you can call an army.

Costa Rica, Iceland, Mauritius, Monaco, Panama and Vanuatu.

This is what a country looks like when it has no army (except Iceland):

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OddSpot

After victory in the Costa Rica civil war in 1948, President Jose Figueres Ferrer disbanded the countries military forces and enshrined his act in the constitution. The budget that had been spent on the military was thereafter spent on education and culture instead. They kept on a police force for security purposes.

So there’s a precedent.
______

Haiti abolished its military forces in 1995 but late last year was starting them up again. 41 recruits returned to the country last September after training in Ecuador. The aim is to get military engineers to help the country continue its rebuilding efforts after the devastating earthquake three years ago.

None of the new recruits will have a weapon but they may get handguns in a few years if the recruits buy the weapons themselves, or the government gets financing for them. It’s a pity; they might have made the list if their army had had guns.

Swapna the first transgender to clear the IAS.

Swapna the first transgender to clear the IAS. Hope the society will recognize their talent in the future. They are humans let us accept it 

Chennai: The results for the civil services examination that were out yesterday have a fine blend of achievers - men, women and even physically challenged. But the country's top bureaucracy is not yet open for transgenders. One such civil services aspirant from Madurai is taking on the government head on, demanding equity.

When she was 18, Ms Swapna's parents chased her away from home just because she was a transgender. She begged on the streets to pay for her studies to realise her dream to become the first transgender to clear the IAS. But after graduation, a rude shock awaited her. Civil Services had no place for the third gender and she had to apply only as a female candidate.

"The application form offers only two options, male and female. When I received my admit card for the preliminary exam I wasn't comfortable. I'm not a female and how can I be forced to assume that sex. I was also worried, what if a flying squad member drags me out of the hall saying I'm cheating?" she told NDTV.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that conducts these exams turned down her RTI petition asking her to approach the government. But Swapna has decided to pursue the issue. "Canada and Thailand have recognised transgenders as the third sex. They even train them to participate in the next Olympics. But in India we still let transgenders beg," she said.

Supporting Swapna is Ms Rose Venkatesan, India's first transgender television host who also made colleges admit the third sex in Tamil Nadu a few years ago. "The community is fighting the stigma of flesh trade and begging; ending the discrimination in government jobs will be a great incentive to join mainstream society through education," she said.

Often the government stops with giving ration cards and voter IDs to transgenders. But the community wants something beyond tokenism which would pave way for a dignified life

                  the news source from :-Ndtv.com thankyou

12 Girls From Mumbai’s Red Light Area To Perform A Play Across The U.S

These girls are from one of Asia’s largest red-light districts, Mumbai’s ‘Kamathipura’. They are the daughters of sex workers, and have faced pain and abuse for as long as they can remember. Most of these girls have never even met their fathers. They are young girls whose ages are between thirteen and nineteen. Many of these girls have faced sexual abuse from their own family members since they were little.

This is the amazing story of these girls from the red-light district who want to change thousands of people’s mind sets about them, their moms, and their community.

What do they want to do?

These brave girls want to bring change through theatre. They want to share their stories of growing up in the red-light district to raise awareness of sex workers’ lives and their daily struggles. They have written, directed and acted in plays about the situation of people in their community.

Why do they want to do this?

One of the girls mentions that she wants to do this because she has always been told that “A prostitute’s daughter will only be a prostitute”. These girls have never even had a chance to dream about becoming anything else. They have been under constant abuse and all they could look forward to is, doing what their mothers did. They want to take a step forward to change all that for them as well as all their friends living in the red-light district.

How do they plan to do this?

Robin Chaurasiya is the cofounder of Kranti, a non-governmental organisation working to educate and empower trafficked girls and daughters of sex workers in Mumbai. Kranti is helping these girls to travel to the U.S in May to perform the play ‘Lal Batti Express’. The nearly hour-long play depicts the trials and tribulations faced by sex workers, their children and others in the red-light area. The narrative is based on the girls’ lived experiences. The girls, in the 14-19 age group, will perform the play in New York, Washington, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Francisco.

Pinky Sheikh, 19, who plays the role of a woman running a brothel, says theatre has given her confidence a new boost in a life otherwise sprayed with anecdotes of stigma and obscurity. While she was studying in a Marathi-medium school, she recounts, she was often spoken to with contempt and reminded of her background. “They were rude to me and would make me sit on the last bench,” she says.

Why do they want to travel to the U.S to perform?

The Red-light district was their entire world so far. After partnering with kranti was the first time these girls ever got to travel in their lives. Their world grew to include all of Mumbai and slowly India. It turns out that the play was so awesome, they were asked to perform it in over 50 venues in front of over 1,00,000+ people. Traveling helped them broaden their worldview and now their personal stories will help broaden the worldview of their audience.

How you can help these brave girls dream beyond the red light?

All of their transportation, food, lodging and sightseeing will be donated by individuals and companies in the USA. But they are fundraising for the things that people can’t donate: visa applications, theatre props, venue fees, etc.

You can support the Lal Batti Express to carry their voices all the way from Mumbai’s red-light area to stages in the US.