53 pc Delhiites in survey feel spending money to improve looks

From smoothening the skin and erasing wrinkles to getting a sculpted physique or a slim waist, the desire to look like a magazine cover model is not just a teenage whim anymore.
A recent study, Cosmetic Plastic Surgery and Consciousness of Appearance Survey-2015, has revealed a growing aspiration amongst residents of Delhi-NCR across all age groups to look their sharpest.
While 41 per cent of the women surveyed believe that cosmetic surgery is the most effective way to reshape the body, the men were not behind as 37 per cent of them agreed it was so.
Also, 47 per cent of the women and 42 per cent of the men who took part in the survey believe that plastic surgery helps attract potential partners.

As many as 52 per cent of the women respondents felt that plastic surgery helps increase professional opportunities while among men, 37 per cent believed so.
The survey, which was conducted online from October 10 to 24, covered 709 people (193 men and 516 women) aged 25 years and older, including employed professionals, housewives, students and retired professionals.

While 51.7 per cent of the respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that there has been a shift in the attitude of Indians towards plastic surgery, 50 per cent of them said that they would consider going for plastic surgery in the future.

More than half of those who took part in the survey, 53 per cent, believe that spending money on improving one's appearance is an investment.
The report was released by the Department of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery at Max Super Speciality Hospital here.
"Cosmetic surgery has existed in India for more than four decades now, but Indians continued to refer to it in hush-hush tones.
The Survey highlights difficulties in privatising public
enterprises, even for firms where economists have made strong arguments that they should be in the private sector.
In this context, it pointed towards the need to further privatise civil aviation, banking and fertiliser sectors.

The Survey stated that the capacity of the state in delivering essential services such as health and education is weak due to low capacity, with high levels of corruption, clientelism, rules and red tape.
At the level of states, competitive populism is more in evidence than competitive service delivery, it added.
Constraints to policy making due to strict adherence to rules and abundant caution in bureaucratic decision-making favours status quo, it cautioned.
According to the Survey, redistribution by the government is far from efficient in targeting the poor. This is intrinsic to current programmes because spending is likely to be greatest in states with better institutions and which will therefore have fewer poor.

It noted that over the past two years, the government has made considerable progress towards reducing subsidies, especially related to petroleum products.
Technology has been the main instrument for addressing the leakage problem and the pilots for direct benefit transfer in fertiliser represent a very important new direction in this regard, it said.
Noting that India has come a long way in terms of economic performance and reforms, the survey said there is still a journey ahead to achieve dynamism and social justice and completing this journey will require broader societal shifts in the underlying vision.