Satyamev Jayate in trouble again - this time with Donations?

As part of  my earlier article on Actor Aamir khan's do gooder television show on organic forming, I did mention that the TRP ratings of this sudden splurge of do-goody show getting dropped phenomenally. On digging up the details, I found the reason..err.. reasons.

One quick reason to start with is the recent trouble with the donations part of the program and the company getting into bad books is none other than...

Reliance Foundations run by Mrs.Nita Ambani with the big publicity on plans to change the world, being economic with the truth (in terms of what it would match). Let me try to explain in my own usual layman terms, so that even I can reassure my understanding :)

Here is the donation figures published at MoneyLife magazine. Thanks to/Courtesy: Moneylife magazine

Reliance Foundation had offered to match the donations received from others to provide 13 NGOs on the list of Satyamev Jayate(SMJ), of which seven received the funds so far: Unique Home for Girls, Snehalaya, Amarjyoti School, Family of Disabled, Himmat, Childline and Azad Foundation.

While the SMJ's website claimed to have received donations upto 1.7 crores for these 7 NGo's, the donation match of Reliance Foundations were about 85.25 Lakhs. that is about half of the total collected donations instead of full match. What is the real problem here?

As on 25th June (seven weeks after the show went on air), the Hanmer PR person wrote to MoneyLife spokesperson to say SMJ has received Rs1.9 crore through Axis Bank and another Rs25 to Rs30 lakh through text messages (so much for precision and disclosures), which means “Rs3 crore plus” of donations after adding “Rs85 lakh donated by Reliance”.

With this confirmation, She writes, “Reliance only doubles the amount collected in the first week (after telecast date). From a legal perspective, there needs to be a cut off date for Reliance to double the amount”. Clear so far? Wondering what is wrong still?

With Aamir Khan continues to tell in each single episodes that Reliance Foundation will match the donations received, why is its contribution less than half the total received, is the debate here. As it appears, Reliance Foundation made an excellent deal out of this proposition, with obtaining big publicity for them on prime TV shows, they merely ended up paying 85.25 Lakhs for over 6 weeks of advertisements, when the other advertisers have been paying Rs8-Rs 10 lakh for a 10 second spot! Bharti Airtel, the presenting sponsor, is understood to have paid Rs17-Rs20 crore while associate sponsors (Skoda, Coca Cola, Axis Bank, etc.) have paid Rs6-Rs7 crore each for a far less visibility than Reliance, in MoneyLife Magazine terms.

The question is why the "Terms & Conditions" of Reliance Foundation clearly did NOT mention that it would match ONLY the donations of the first week?

Now back on why Satyamve Jayate's TRP ratings are falling down:

• First reason stating that 90 minutes of this do-goody programme surveyed to be found too much to spend by the people on a Sunday Morning.
• Second being no further follow up or action being taken by the SMJ team apart from bring to the people through media. Only the two out of 8 shows had a follow up action by the SMJ team as it appears.

Neverthless, I agree with the first such TV show targeting to make some differences in the society through creation of awareness be lauded probably with both the hands and probably with creating another 30 lakhs worth of text messaging!!