FORD – The Brand Story

Ford Motor Company, commonly known as Ford, is an American multinational automaker that has its main headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom and a 32% stake in Jiangling Motors. It also has joint-ventures in China (Changan Ford), Taiwan (Ford Lio Ho), Thailand (AutoAlliance Thailand), Turkey (Ford Otosan), and Russia (Ford Sollers). The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford Family; they have minority ownership but the majority of the voting power.

Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines; by 1914, these methods were known around the world as Fordism. Ford’s former UK subsidiaries Jaguar andLand Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000 respectively, were sold to the Indian automaker Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In 2011, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938.

Ford is the second-largest U.S.-based automaker (behind General Motors) and the fifth-largest in the world (behind Toyota, VW, Hyundai-Kia and General Motors) based on 2015 vehicle production. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe. The company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights. During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century, it struggled financially, but it has since returned to profitability. Ford was the eleventh-ranked overall American-based company in the 2018 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2017 of $156.7 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide.

Ford is a popular name when it comes to automaker companies. The brand has it branches spread all over the world and is a leader among automobile manufacturers. Ford Motor Company better known as simple Ford produces the best cars and trucks under its name. Ford has been pleasing customers of all strata with its wide range of cars and commercial vehicles. The brand has everything from luxurious cars under the Lincoln brand to economy and commercial vehicles under Ford brand. The constant innovation of designs and technology keeping in mind the currents demands and desires of its customers has enabled it to build a strong rapport among target market.  

Key Strategy of Ford :  

Ford Motor Company has carefully examined the needs of customers and derived its marketing strategies accordingly.   

• Ford Mission statement and goal has always been one Ford, one team, one plan and one goal. The statement clearly signifies that the brand believes in establishing itself as a brand that has a team dedicated to single goal of delivering high performance vehicles to its customers.   

• Ford has also been a brand that is very well established strong relationship with the communities it serves. The brand has been involved in campaigns like ‘breast cancer awareness campaigns’.   

• The brand also endeavors to be as protective of nature as possible with its efforts of making fuel efficient cars, electric vehicles, donations and Ford raiser programs for environmental protection.  

• Due to its worldwide presence the company has strong brand recall and reputation. It also gives them edge over other competitors because they can very well determine the needs of different market segment and manufacture efficient vehicles accordingly.  

• The biggest strength of the brand is its unmatched technology and designs that has helped the company to develop a strong portfolio of quality products.    

• Ford’s marketing and advertising tactics involves everything from promotions on social media platforms like twitter, blogs, flickr, press releases, television commercials etc.   

• Ford has a very strong rapport with its employees, suppliers, dealers etc that helps him to stay focused on its mission statement of ‘One Ford’.  

• Ford’s most popular vehicles include Land Rover, Lincoln, Aston Martin, Volvo etc.  

• Ford has cars for every customer. It has luxurious cars as well as mid-size cars to cater needs of every customer. Some of the popular mid-range cars include Ford Figo, Ford Fusion etc.  

Ford has been an age old company that has gathered the trust and loyalty of customers all over the world. The multinational automaker has proved to be innovative and efficient when it comes to vehicle needs of its customers.    The company has been sensitive to its community and has been involved in events that are held in favor of the community. The company tries to view their business from consumer’s prospective to come up with products and services that are full worth in terms of money, comfort and luxury.

Most powerful weapon; our thought

Cognitive abilities like thinking, reasoning and problem-solving may be considered to be some of the chief characteristics which distinguish human beings from other species including the higher animals.

The challenges and problems faced by the individual or by society, in general, are solved through a series of efforts involving thinking and reasoning. The powers of thinking and reasoning may thus be considered to be the essential tools for the welfare and meaningful existence of the individual as well as society.

On this definition, thinking simply equates to conscious cognitive processes. I think this definition is too broad, and we make more scientific and philosophical progress if we tighten it up a bit. 

People of a psychodynamic persuasion might even want to talk about “unconscious thinking,” but I think that makes the term so broad as to be quite useless. Of course, there are tremendously important unconscious cognitive processes shaping the way we make sense of the world, but “thinking” seems to me to be quintessentially conscious.

Thinking can be classified as follows:

1. Perceptual or Concrete Thinking:

This is the simplest form of thinking the basis of this type is perception, i.e. interpretation of sensation according to one’s experience. It is also called concrete thinking as it is carried out on the perception of actual or concrete objects and events.

2. Conceptual or Abstract Thinking:

Here one makes use of concepts, the generalized objects and languages, it is regarded as being superior to perceptual thinking as it economizes efforts in understanding and problem-solving.

3. Reflective Thinking:

This type of thinking aims in solving complex problems, thus it requires reorganization of all the relevant experiences to a situation or removing obstacles instead of relating with that experiences or ideas.

This is an insightful cognitive approach in reflective thinking as the mental activity here does not involve the mechanical trial and error type of efforts.

In this type, thinking processes take all the relevant facts arranged in a logical order into an account to solve the problem.

4. Creative Thinking:

This type of thinking is associated with one’s ability to create or construct something new, novel or unusual. It looks for new relationships and associations to describe and interpret the nature of things, events and situations. Here the individual himself usually formulates the evidences and tools for its solution. For example; scientists, artists or inventors.

5. Critical Thinking:

It is a type of thinking that helps a person in stepping aside from his personal beliefs, prejudices and opinions to sort out the faiths and discover the truth, even at the expense of his basic belief system.

Here one resorts to set higher cognitive abilities and skills for the proper interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference, as well as explanation of the gathered or communicated information resulting in a purposeful unbiased and self-regulatory judgement.

An ideal thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, free from personal bias and prejudices, honest in seeking relevant information, skilled in the proper use of the abilities like interpretation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and drawing conclusion and inferences, etc.

The critical thinking is of a higher order well-disciplined thought process which involves the use of cognitive skills like conceptualization, interpretation, analysis, synthesis and evaluation for arriving at an unbiased, valid and reliable judgment of the gathered or communicated information or data as a guide to one’s belief and action.

6. Non-directed or Associative Thinking:

There are times when we find ourselves engaged in a unique type of thinking which is non-directed and without goal. It is reflected through dreaming and other free-flowing uncontrolled activities. Psychologically these forms of thought are termed as associative thinking.

8 Common Thinking Mistakes Our Brains Make Every Day and How to Prevent Them

1. We surround ourselves with information that matches our beliefs

We tend to like people who think like us. If we agree with someone’s beliefs, we’re more likely to be friends with them. While this makes sense, it means that we subconsciously begin to ignore or dismiss anything that threatens our world views, since we surround ourselves with people and information that confirm what we already think.

2. We believe in the “swimmer’s body” illusion

The “swimmer’s body illusion” occurs when we confuse selection factors with results. Another good example is top-performing universities: are they the best schools, or do they choose the best students, who do well regardless of the school’s influence? Our mind often plays tricks on us and that is one of the key ones to be aware of.

3. We worry about things we’ve already lost

No matter how much I pay attention to the sunk cost fallacy, I still naturally gravitate towards it.

The term sunk cost refers to any cost (not just monetary, but also time and effort) that has been paid already and cannot be recovered. So, a payment of time or money that’s gone forever.

4. We incorrectly predict odds

Imagine you’re playing Heads or Tails with a friend. You flip a coin, over and over, each time guessing whether it will turn up heads or tails. You have a 50/50 chance of being right each time.

5. We believe our memories more than facts

Our memories are highly fallible and plastic. And yet, we tend to subconsciously favour them over objective facts.

6. We pay more attention to stereotypes than we think

The funny thing about lots of these thinking mistakes especially related to memory is that they’re so ingrained, I had to think long and hard about why they’re mistakes at all! This one is a good example—it took me a while to understand how illogical this pattern of thinking is.

IPL 2020 to be played from September 19 to November 10 this year

IPL 2020 will be played from September 19 to November 10 this year. The decision to this effect was taken at a virtual meeting of the IPL Governing Council last night.

The meeting was organised to give a final shape to the schedule and discuss other arrangements for the eagerly-awaited event to be held in the UAE this year.

Taking note of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in India, the IPL Governing Council decided to stage the tournament in UAE and the matches will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi subject to necessary clearances from the Government of India.

The final will be played on 10th November this year. The 53-day tournament will witness 10-afternoon matches starting at 3:30 PM Indian time while the evening matches will start at 7:30 PM.

The Governing Council also discussed the comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which will be finalised and published in due course, including the agencies to execute and deliver a bio-secure environment for safe and successful conduct of IPL 2020 Season.

The Governing Council also reviewed the Player Regulations for replacement players for the 2020 season.

Women’s T20 Challenge will also take place in the UAE and will comprise three teams with four matches to be played during the IPL Playoff week.

Meanwhile, Indian cricketers including ODI captain Mithali Raj has welcomed BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s announcement that the Women’s IPL will take place during the men’s league in the UAE.

While it is expected that most of the franchises will send their recce teams to the UAE to check out the facilities as well as the bio-secure environment that can be created, there are concerns that remain, including accommodation plan and catering services.

Monsoon to get active over parts of central and western India from tomorrow

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) says the monsoon will enter an active phase over parts of central and western India from tomorrow bringing heavy rains over the next three-four days.

It said, a low-pressure area is likely to develop over the north Bay of Bengal and move into Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, and then to central Maharashtra and Gujarat, bringing heavy rainfall. Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal may also receive moderate rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A monsoon trough is likely to shift southwards and strengthen during the next three to four days and lash Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala with widespread rainfall.

The weather department has issued a red warning for coastal Maharashtra and Goa for tomorrow. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected today over Mumbai and isolated extremely heavy showers on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Raksha Bandhan being celebrated across country today; Local rakhis completely replace Chinese rakhis this year

Raksha Bandhan, the festival of special bond between brothers and sisters, is being celebrated today across the country. On this occasion, sisters tie colorful rakhi around the wrist of their brothers and pray for their prosperity, health and well-being. In return, brothers pledge to protect and support their sisters and present them gifts.

Rakhis made by Indian companies and Self Help Groups have completely replaced Chineses products this year. Shopkeepers and people have totally rejected Chinese Rakhis this year following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Atmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal for Local.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu have greeted the people on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. In his message, Mr Kovind said, Rakhi is the sacred thread of love, affection and trust that sisters tie on the wrists of their brothers.

He said, this is a unique festival that strengthens the will to protect the interests of women and work for their well-being. He asked everyone to take a pledge to stand for the honour and dignity of women so that they can contribute their best for the nation and society.

In his message, Mr Venkaiah Naidu said, across India and worldwide, the sacred bonds between brothers and sisters are honoured on Raksha Bandhan day and this festival reaffirms the strong ties of love and affection that bind brothers and sisters together.

He added that on this auspicious occasion, let us also resolve to uphold the dignity and respect traditionally accorded to women in the society and empower them to reach their true potential. Mr Naidu expressed hope that this festival will bring peace, harmony and prosperity in the country.

In a massive show of love, solidarity, brotherhood and national bonding, sisters from North-East tied Rakhi on Jawans from armed forces and paramilitary personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

On the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan, Self-help groups from the eight North-Eastern states also sent Rakhis, tri-coloured bands and facemasks to Jawans posted in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – bringing together the eternal emotional bond between the various cultures, States and people of the country.

A symbolic Rakhi ceremony was also held in New Delhi yesterday in which sisters from North East states tied Rakhis to DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.

In Madhya Pradesh, a special type of rakhi has been prepared  following the Prime Minister’s Vocal for Local appeal. Eco-friendly rakhis have been made from cow dung along with silk, paper and seeds of the plants.

Chhattisgarh Governor Anusuiya Uike has sent Rakhis made by tribal and rural women of the state to the President, Vice President and Prime Minister.

DCGI gives permission to Serum Institute of India to conduct phase 2 and 3 human clinical trial of Corona vaccine developed by Oxford university

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given nod to the Serum Institute of India (SII) to conduct phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University.

The approval for conducting phase 2 and 3 clinical trials by the SII was granted by DCGI Dr VG Somani late last night after a thorough evaluation based on the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19.

The expert panel at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had on Friday recommended granting permission for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the vaccine – Covishield on healthy adults in India.

The firm has to submit safety data, evaluated by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), to the CDSCO before proceeding to phase 3 clinical trials.

Currently, phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine are going on in the UK, phase 3 clinical trials in Brazil and phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in South Africa.

Centre asks states and UTs to allow smartphones and tablet devices for hospitalised COVID-19 patients

The Central Government has written to all states and Union Territories asking that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised COVID-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing.

This is expected to provide the patients psychological support. Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the letter was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging that mobile phones are not being allowed by the hospital administrations.

In the letter to the Principal Secretaries of health and medical education of States and UTs, Director General of Health Services in the Health Ministry, Dr Rajiv Garg said, appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allocating time slots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He stressed that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in COVID-19 wards and ICUs.

Raped in Chitrakoot: Minor Girls are forced to trade bodies for Rs. 150-200 daily during lockdown

In Chitrakoot, minor girls (aged 12-14) from poor families are forced to work in illegal mines but the contactors and middlemen don’t pay then daily wages easily. These girls have to trade off their bodies in exchange for their wages. “We are helpless, we agree to it. They give us a job, exploit us and then don’t pay us our wages full. When we refuse their sexual advances, they threaten they will not employ us any longer. What will we eat if we don’t work? We eventually agree.” – A resident of Karvi. Another victim, a resident of Dafai says, “The contractors don’t reveal their names and if we refuse their advances they threaten to throw us down the hill.” Their parents are aware of this exploitation but say they are equally helpless to do anything. Feeding the family is daily struggle. “They have put some beds behind the hill near the mines. They take us down there and take turns to exploit us. We have to go there one by one. When we refuse they beat us. It pains, we scream but we bear it. What else can we do? We feel sad about all this and think of dying or running away.”
“If we go to the mines without make-up, the contractors ask what we do with our wages. What can anyone do with Rs. 100?”- Another girl of Karvi.
The provisions on the Indian Penal Code do not reach these hills in Chitrakoot, neither do laws whose sole purpose are to protect children from sexual abuse.
Fed up with the rampant, many women have stopped working and sending their daughters to the mines. Dr. Vishesh Gupta, chairperson of UP Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said, “We have taken note of matter and we will send a team to investigate this.”
RS Pandey, ASP Chitrkoot, said, “We have not heard of any such incident. We are fully alert ad have asked the village guards to remain vigilant and report every incident in the villages. We are gathering information.”

Femicide in Turkey

A social evil infesting our harmonious society
19 years old university student, Ozgecan Aslan was killed 5 years ago, by a minibus driver who attempted to rape her on her way home. Following Aslan’s death, a petition demanding an end to reduce sentences for perpetrators of gender-based violence gathered more than 1 million signatures. Despite the protests and petitions, there was a considerable surge in femicides. The “we will end femicide platform”, a women’s rights group, said almost 2000 women have been killed since February 2015, often by husbands or boyfriends. In 2019, 474 women were stain in turkey. Women’s rights activists said the necessary legal tools for the protection of women against violence already exist. Turkey was the first country to ratify the council called the ” Istanbul Convention”. This council focused on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. In 2011, a treaty was introduced specifically targeting violence against women. Law number 6248 which was passed to Protect the Family and Prevent Violence Against Women and introduced gender equality policies.
However, the problem is with the implementation of existing laws. The general attitude in society has not changed. Women are still urged to stay at home to serve and obey. In some cases, violence against women is still acceptable.” Ekin also mentioned that many kinds of violence against women weren’t even taken in consideration which includes psychological abuse or some different kind of degrading treatment. Measures stipulated by the Istanbul Convention, such as the provision of enough women’s shelters and rape crisis centres, were not being met, Ekin said. During a speech at an international women’s rights summit in 2014, Erdogan said women were not equal to men and that manual labour was not suitable for women because of their “delicate nature.” He has criticised women who chose work over having children as “half-persons” and equated abortion to “murder.” Numerous women’s rights NGOs were closed by emergency decree following the 2016 coup attempt. Despite mounting difficulties, the resolve of Turkey’s women’s rights activists has grown stronger and Ekin stressed that this yielded important successes. Due to close monitoring of femicide court cases by activists, courts rarely hand down reduced sentences for “unjust provocation,” a widespread practice until a few years ago. This is the result of our struggle and we will continue to fight for justice for women,” Ekin said.

India likely to miss target of eradicating AIDS by 2030: IMCR Study

Since The covid-19 pandemic several health care related programmes have been put on hold which is why the ICMR has warned India might not achieve the target to end AIDS by 2030. The warning comes in a study by the ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Division of Strategic information – Surveillance and Epidemiology, and the National AIDS Control Organization under the ministry of health and family welfare. Also achieving the goal might be difficult because of the annual decline rate between 2010-2017 was found to be 27% as opposed to expected 75%. An estimated 2.1 million people were living with the AIDS virus, HIV, in 2017, with Maharashtra estimated to have the highest number. Telangana accounts for the largest share of new cases in the 88,000 that have been reported.
States with the highest number of people living with HIV in 2017 were Maharashtra (0.33 million), Andhra Pradesh (0.27 million) and Karnataka (0.24 million). Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had between 0.2 and 0.1 million such patients.
The study highlighted that 15 states accounted for 87% of the total population of HIV-infected persons in 2017.
Another critical target to be achieved by 2020 was prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV virus. As per latest studies out of all cases 58.2% are on treatment as of 2018.
Rise of cases has been observed in low burden states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand in 201y compared to 2010.

Uttarakhand to generate electricity from waste

The Uttarakhand government has decided to convert waste generated in the state to electricity under an initiative titled ‘Waste to Energy’. The government is ready with the draft and the chief minister would hold a meeting regarding it soon.
The hill state is said to produce about 900-tonnes of waste everyday. Out of which half is organic in nature while 17 per cent falls in a recyclable category followed by 21 per cent biomedical waste and 11 per cent of inert nature. The above amount of waste is speculated to generate 5 megawatts of electricity and the scheme also aims to solve the problem of unavailability of land fills to dispose of waste across the state.
Earlier, in January this year, Dehradun city featured as almost 11 times more polluted than prescribed standards of World Health Organization standards and worse than Kanpur according to a Greenpeace report. That is why Last month, UEPPCB approved the state fuel policy to reduce air pollution in the coming years including ban on the use of petroleum coke as fuel in a few years, which has a large-scale impact on air pollution. Petroleum coke also known as petcoke is a final solid by-product that derives from the oil refining process and is very rich in carbon. Given its high carbon content, it contributes more pollution, greenhouse gases. According to a meeting that was held in second week of June the government has set a deadline to ban the use of petroleum coke and furnace oil as fuel in the state which is March 2024.

Keralite braveheart is a national hero in Croatia

Biju Raveendran a Malayali from Pullukulangara has managed to become a national hero in Croatia because of his bravery and quick thinking. Without bothering about his safety, Biju rescued a local woman and her two children stuck inside a three-storey building which had caught fire. He was feted by the local government for the act of bravado. The event took place on 10th July at 2am according to Croatian time. The top floor of the building in which Biju lived at ground floor caught fire. Biju was woken up due to the loud noise and scrambled out of the building with hs 2 Malayali friends.
After realising a family was trapped in the building, Biju borrowed ladder from another resident and scaled the building. After getting in through the ventilator the trapped woman, Helena Roobilu handed over her children while Biju passed her small ladder to help her get out. He later used the big ladder to get her out to safety. He was assisted by his friends Varghese and Jobi from Pathanamthitta with whom he shared the apartment.
Biju had come to Croatia 14 months ago from Gulf. His wife and daughter live in his native village. After the incident he is being offered jobs by many Croatian company.
Dario Hrebak, Mayor of Bjelovar, invited him to his office and felicitated him.

Chhattisgarh: Eight youths gang-rape two minor sisters, blackmail them with recorded video

On 31st May, two minor girls were raped by 8 men, including a cousin of theirs’. The incident unfolded in Baloda bazaar district of Chattisgarh, when both these girls were out with their male friends.
On their way back, 8 drunkard men approached them, thrashed all the four, scared the two boys away and raped both the girls, in a deserted area, the girls were silenced of the fact that they had made a video and would circulate it, therefore there was no report made immediately.
After the incident, there was no peace for these girls, as they were called every day, blackmailed for circulating a video, the threatening escalated to a point that after two months, one of the girls called the women helpline, subsequently an FIR was filed.
Consequently 11 people are booked under various sections of IPC and POCSO, the two friends were booked for kidnapping as the girls were minor.

Importance of sex education

Sex education is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. Sex education is also about developing young people’s skills so that they make informed choices about their behaviour and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. It is widely accepted that young people have a right to sex education. This is because it is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and AIDS. Sex education aims to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour, such as unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. It also aims to contribute to young people’s positive experience of their sexuality by enhancing the quality of their relationships and their ability to make informed decisions over their lifetime. Sex education also helps equip young people with the skills to be able to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate information and to discuss a range of moral and social issues and perspectives on sex and sexuality, including different cultural attitudes and sensitive issues like sexuality, abortion and contraception.

Possible steps to deal with slums in india

Slums have constituted an integral part of India’s urban landscape. Many people who migrate from villages to towns in search of better income opportunities stay in slum colonies for the lack of a better alternative. Slum-dwellers stay in shanty structures in an unhygienic environment, as formal housing is unaffordable and much beyond their income levels. There is no electricity, running water or sanitation in these slums.
Affordable, low cost and planned housing will contribute immensely in this regard. This, in turn, will bring about a marked improvement in health and hygiene of the residents as well as raising the level of public hygiene. Another important aspect is availability of sustained employment opportunities for the slum people. Once a steady flow of earnings is maintained rather than ad-hoc menial work, one can hope for a quality of life far better than that in slums. All these steps in conjunction with long-term steps to decentralise economic activities will help a great deal in slum rehabilitation.