NEW DELHI // Mayawati, India's low-caste "Dalit queen" who once saw herself as a future prime minister, was dethroned yesterday after a colourful and scandal-tainted term running the country's largest state.
The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was set to lose office after her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fell to about 79 seats in the 403-seat state assembly after winning 206 in the previous election.
Mayawati, 56, rose from a community of "untouchables" at the bottom of the Hindu caste structure to rule over Uttar Pradesh, a state with a population of 200 million people.
She attracted strong support from Dalits and other marginalised groups who saw her as a champion of the poor fighting against the ruling elite.
Styling herself as a "living goddess", she has often attacked the Congress party government as a corrupt and self-serving cabal that failed to tackle poverty.
But she also drew sharp criticism for her own taste for extravagance, as well as allegations of financial malpractice within her state government - both issues seen as major factors in her dramatic collapse of support.
Born into a leatherworkers' family on the outskirts of New Delhi in 1956, Mayawati was studying law when she was talent-spotted by the then BSP president Kanshi Ram in the mid-1980s.
Mr Ram persuaded her to join politics, telling her "she was born to rule" rather than to serve.
Within a decade, Mayawati had become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first of her four stints in power.
Her latest - and by far longest - term in office, which began in 2007, has seen some economic development, as well as controversy over her building parks with huge statutes of herself and other low-caste icons.
Public records show that more than 50 billion rupees (Dh3.67bn) were spent on the projects, but Mayawati has always brushed off allegations of arrogance, saying the parks acted as a "lighthouse" for downtrodden Dalits.
Her long-term adversary, Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party (SP) defeated her by a thumping margin in the elections, has often vowed to raze the parks.
Mr Yadav, 72, a former wrestler famed for his rivalry with Mayawati, is in line to become chief minister for the fourth time since 1989.
His son Akhilesh, the party's state president and a rising political star, told celebrating supporters that "it was only the SP which came out on the streets on issues of public interest".
In opposition, Mayawati is likely to be a dogged foe, but she would be without the influence and power that critics say went to her head and turned her, in the words of a leaked US diplomatic cable, into a "first-rate egomaniac".
The US cables released last year by the WikiLeaks website recounted a story in which she was said to have sent her private jet to pick up a pair of sandals from Mumbai.
The cables also alleged that she celebrated her birthday each year by receiving millions of dollars from "sycophantic party members, civil servants and business people", while officials vied to feed her cake.
Mayawati denied all the allegations and demanded that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be thrown into a mental asylum.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
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Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
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Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Usain Bolt's World Championships record
2007 Osaka
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2009 Berlin
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2011 Daegu
100m Disqualified in final for false start
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4x100m relay Gold
2013 Moscow
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
2015 Beijing
100m Gold
200m Gold
4x100m relay Gold
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
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The Specs
Price, base Dh379,000
Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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