PICTURE SPEAK

Fishermen set out to sea in Care Today's boats

The seven-month-old saga of the Reliance empire is a story that could have run and run. But the Ambanis settled their differences by dividing up their empire. The division of the spoils is a significant moment in Indian corporate history. Reliance is no ordinary company and the Ambanis are no ordinary family. Thanks to the active intervention of Kokilaben, the wife of Reliance's redoubtable founder Dhirubhai, which India Today reported as far back as December 2004, the tussle has ended. From a position of disadvantage Anil Ambani has been given ownership of three companies of the group, but Mukesh remains the head of India's largest private company. Our cover story this week goes inside the Reliance empire to see how Kokilaben smoothed things out and what this means for the future of the group and corporate India's first family.

On a different note, last week I travelled to the fishing village of Akkampettai in Pondicherry, 300 km from Chennai, for a celebration. The 92 families of Akkampettai whose village had been destroyed by last year's tsunami received 23 boats from funds raised by India Today Group's charitable trust Care Today. The joy of a small community at having their means of livelihood restored was moving.

Journalists, if we are perfectly honest, don't do anything concrete-they don't fight wars, alleviate hunger, catch criminals or score centuries. All they do is observe and report and that is the way it should be. But India needs all the help it can get. The India Today Group felt it should use all its media vehicles as a bridge to raise funds for worthy causes. Care Today began in 1999 as a trust set up to rehabilitate disabled servicemen after the Kargil War.

Our readers' response overwhelmed us and Care Today stepped in after the Orissa cylone, the Gujarat earthquake, the drought in Rajasthan and the tsunami. We have a dedicated unit which channels the funds received, monitoring and following up how they are spent. In six years of Care Today, our readers have donated Rs 8.9 crore of which Rs 6.8 crore has been disbursed.

I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to India Today readers for their support and their trust. We are fortunate to be chosen as a medium to do good work. The morning in Akkampettai reminded us once again of that.

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