Media Watch

Making MGNREGA self sustainable

2011-10-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has recently announced his plans for mega mechanisation in agriculture sector in the 12^th Five Year Plan. This, he said, was to address the issue of “scarcity of labour” as a result of the “successful implementation of the MGNREGA” (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act). While the issue of scarcity of labour in agriculture may be true, the reason behind it cannot solely be attributed to MGNREGA. Further, one doubts if MGNREGA has been implemented “successfully” as the Minister has us believe.

It is in such a situation that there needs to be a serious rethinking as regards the implementation of MGNREGA. While it is true that the scheme has provided widespread employment to unskilled rural masses, what with the Government increasing the budgetary allocations to 40,000 crore rupees in the 2011-12 budget, recent studies have shown that a large amount of work is either non productive or there is simply no work allocated. To add to such miseries, even when labourers have put in work, the salaries have not been paid for days together. (In June this year, in a protest of one of its kind,members of the Karnataka Pranta Krishi Koolikarara Sangha in Gulburga staged a dharna demanding immediate release of dues pending for labourers under MGNREGA.) There are also reports of fake offer letters being circulated in many parts of the country, thus raising concerns if this scheme too will end up becoming just another toothless government scheme.

The drawback

According to Census 2011, since the time census began in India, for the first time ever the urban population has grown marginally more than the rural population. While rural India added 90.6 million people, the same was 91 million for urban area. The only possible explanation for such a development seems to be the large scale migration of rural masses to the cities where the construction industry is booming. If MGNREGA was “successfully implemented”, perhaps such large scale migration would not have happened.

If Mr Pawar thinks that most workers prefer MGNREG scheme to working as daily labourers in the farm sector, the problem lies in the scheme itself. One of the main drawbacks of MGNREGA is that as of now the work can be undertaken only on government owned land. This indeed defeats the purpose. If the ideals of the scheme were to be true, the scheme seeks to become self sustainable in the years to come. However, in the six years since the Act was implemented, it has not shown any signs of becoming self sustainable.

Earlier this year, speaking at the award presentation ceremony of effective initiative under MGNREGA, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “If MGNREGA work were to help rebuild productivity through water harvesting, drought proofing and ground water recharge, these labourers can go back to full time productive farming. Or they could take up other livelihoods on the foundation of water security created under MGNREGA.” In fact, the purpose of the scheme was exactly that. But, as it has turned out, the productivity has been just minimum.

Work under MGNREGA taken up on government land in most cases turns out to be non productive. It is true in some states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh construction of kuccha roads have led to rural connectivity. In some places works like water harvesting and a-forestation have also been useful. However, such works are limited. There is a large scale criticism that in most places the labourers end up playing with soil just to get salaries with no productivity. This is unfortunate.

Government needs to bring about an amendment in the scheme and allow works to be taken up in private land as well. Labourers under MGNREGA can be lent to rural private agriculture sector. This will result not only in productivity, but eventually the revenues drawn can help the scheme become self sustainable. Of course, the process has to be strictly monitored and no room should be given for foul play. Certain political will can make a big difference.

Further, if a labourer under MGNREGA has some cultivable land, he or she should be encouraged to work in his/her own land rather than undertake unproductive labour. For this they must be given incentives under the scheme. This too has a double effect. First, the end result will be highly productive and second, one who works in one’s own land has greater commitment to labour than working in an alien land.

While the West has dearth of human resource and hence can justify mechanisation in agriculture, the strength of India is its large scale population. Instead of mechanising the farm sector on a large scale, Government needs to take proactive steps to make good use of the availability of widespread human labour in the rural area. While mechanisation might seem an easy way out, it will rob thousands of people of their livelihood making only a few richer by leaps and bounds. Government must immediately stop any such plans and bring about a policy change in MGNREGA to not only make itself self sustaining, but also to make it credible and viable scheme for the poverty stricken rural India.

Plan panel’s idea of ‘tightening the belt’

2011-09-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

One would have liked to term it as a comedy of errors, but sadly it was not. Even as the country’s inflation hovered around 9.78 per cent, the Planning Commission of India in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court on September 20, declared that anyone earning Rs 25 in urban areas and Rs 20 in rural areas is not poor.

Even the World Bank’s international poverty line is $1.25 a day, which amounts to about Rs 60. But the Planning Commission seems to have its own logic. A decent vegetarian meal these days would cost not less than Rs 20-25. If one goes by the Planning Commission’s numbers, a poor man has to eat only once a day. Health and education is a luxury which, at this rate, poor people should never think of.

A recent Asian Development Bank report says that the price rise of food items that India is seeing these days will push another 30 million people into below poverty line in the country. National Health Survey points out that over 46 per cent children in India are malnourished.

That is at a time when the food grain production in India reached an all time record of 246.6 million tons in 2010-11. It is, of course, another story that nearly 20 per cent of the food that is meant for these children is eaten up by rodents and moths.

Denial mode
What surprises is the fact that the Planning Commission is in a denial mode. One of the members of the Planning Commission, Abhijit Sen, said, “The poverty figures in the affidavit are the ones given by the Tendulkar Committee and the government has to accept it.” But the figures of the Tendulkar Committee are those of 2004-05 when the country’s inflation averaged around 5 per cent and the population was 1.09 billion. Today the inflation has almost doubled and the population stands at around 1.21 billion.

The Arjun Sengupta Committee Report on enterprises in the unorganised sector had said that over 836 million people in India lived just on Rs 20 a day. In other words, over 70 per cent of the Indian population was indeed below poverty line. But the government chose not to consider that report seriously; rather it is making much of the Tendulkar Committee report which has since been criticised by many economists. The State, though, found an easy way out to raise the poor from their penury: it compromised on the per capita income to lift the poor to above poverty line. Perhaps, the government thinks it can, thus, live in what is known as ‘happy illusion’ that all is well.

There seems to be a panic like situation in the media and government circles when the stock markets are plummeting. Even depreciating rupee value against the dollar too seems to be a cause of concern for many. However, the fact that thousands of people, especially children, are dying due to poverty and hundreds of farmers are committing suicides due to the callous attitude of the government and its wrong policies, does not seem to catch enough attention.

This is because poor people matter to the government only during elections and not otherwise. Gandhi had famously said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Unfortunately, the government, instead of reducing, seems to be perpetuating this violence. For example, most Indian states today have the worst public distribution system. The food that is supposed to reach the poor households is sold in the open market for a price. There cannot be worse violence than this.

It is time the government acted in a manner that is worthy of a true democratic state. While it is true that the government did a commendable job by introducing MGNREGA scheme in 2005 for rural employment, the scheme needs to be strengthened. Just 100 days of labour is not sufficient.

There is a need to increase the number of days to at least six months, as most farmers in the villages are unemployed for over six months. Also, minimum wages need to be increased to at least Rs 200, as the cost of nearly everything, and especially the fuel, has gone up incredibly in the last one year and the inflation does not seem to ease out.

Instead of playing with numbers and living in illusion, the government needs to take proactive steps to alleviate hunger from this country. It is unfair that millions go hungry everyday while the government tries to escape responsibility by playing the number game.

Adding to fuel to inflation

2011-07-04T06:28:00.000-07:00

Harold Wilson, the former Prime Minister of UK, had once said, “One man’s wage rise is another man’s price increase.” If we were to alter that quote a bit for today’s context we could perhaps say, ‘one commodity’s price rise is multiple price increase of almost everything.’ And the price rise has been so steep that wages can never be on par with it.

Take, for example, the steep hike in the oil prices. On May 14 the price of petrol was hiked by as much as Rs 5 per litre. On June 25, the diesel prices went up by Rs 3, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by Rs 50. Since the time the government deregulated the petrol price in June 2010, the petrol price has increased eight times to almost 12 rupees. If one takes a glance at the last two decades, the price of just petrol has gone up by an incredible 60 rupees. It was around Rs 8 in 1989. Today the cost of petrol is hovering around Rs 67-68 per litre.

What is more hurting is the fact that the government increased the prices of diesel and LPG even as the inflation went up to 9.13 per cent and the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, dubbed such high inflation as ‘unacceptable’. And now, the prices in general and food prices in particular will rise further in the coming days as there is a cascading effect with the fuel price rise. Already, the state transport department of Karnataka has increased its ticket fare by over 6 per cent.

The prices of petroleum products in India are prohibitively high because of the huge taxes levied on them. In fact, the taxes on oil in India are one of the highest among most countries. Consider this: for every litre of petrol that we buy, more than 50 per cent goes as taxes of seven different kinds. The governments, both in the centre and the state, are reluctant to roll back the taxes for various reasons. The governments know that fuel is fundamental and directly connected to day to day living. Many things from transport to agriculture to industries depend on petroleum products. So the governments know that the surest way to fill the state coffers is to hike fuel prices constantly.

Even as the crude oil prices in the global markets go up, it is still possible to manage the local prices by reducing the excise and customs duties and rationalising several other taxes levied on petroleum products. But we hardly see this happening. This time the government reduced the customs duty which was levied last year on crude oil by 5 per cent. This is just an eyewash as the government has not really reduced any original customs duty. For the record, after the government deregulated the petrol prices last year, the oil companies have increased the prices on a monthly basis. The steep hike of about 12 rupees for petrol in the last one year after the government deregulated the fuel price has never happened when the government controlled the prices. However, it is interesting to note that from January to May 2011 the oil companies did not increase the price as per the government directive owing to Assembly elections in several states. It is indeed ironical that the same oil companies that crib all the time about their losses were able to manage when there were elections in the country. It is unfortunate that the government that promises moon to the voters during elections holds them to ransom after the elections.

Global price rise

Why are the global crude oil price rising so much? The main cause is the imbalance between demand and supply. Greater demand for crude oil is seen in rising economies like China and India. In fact, China overtook Japan as the world’s second largest consumer of oil in 2003 itself and is sure to become number one consumer ahead of USA in the coming days.

Analysts believe that the demand for oil will rise from about 90 million barrels a day to more than 140 million barrels in the next 25 years. In such a scenario we will only see further rise in oil prices in the coming days.

The challenge before India is to encourage renewable energy such as solar and wind on a massive scale. This can serve two purposes. One, it will bring down the demand for crude oil considerably. Second, it will reduce the carbon emissions, thus conserving the environment. Perhaps, we must take cue from many Western countries such as Germany and Denmark that have invested quite a lot on such renewable sources of energy and reaping fruits. The steep price rise of oil that we have seen recently is an indicator for us to wake up before it is too late and consider turning our attention seriously towards alternate sources of energy.

India needs to preserve its cultural heroes

2011-06-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

It is said proverbially that a prophet is not welcome in his own country. One may not like to christen the legendary artist M F Husain as a prophet. But that an ardent lover of India, a true nationalist in his own way had to die an alien death in a foreign land does not augur well for a secular democratic country like India. It is indeed unfortunate that a country that recognised the contributions of M F Husain with several state honours such as Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, could not give him security when it mattered the most and let him down eventually leaving him with no choice but to leave the country that he loved. All this even after the Supreme Court had refused to initiate any criminal proceedings against him in 2008.

It is not for nothing that Mr Husain has been acclaimed as the Picasso of India. Picasso was perhaps one of the greatest artists who with George Barque and others introduced cubism in paintings. He was also known for his anti war paintings during both the World Wars. Husain, on the other hand, had a blend of cubism and modern art in his paintings. He was widely known as the artist who gave a definite shape to Indian modernism. There was a certain mysticism emerging out of his unique creations. His classic depictions of Mother Theresa and his painting on corruption are but a few masterpieces which set him apart as a genius who was able to put on canvas what otherwise could have been difficult to express. The legendary British engraver and antiquarian writer Frederick Fairholt once said, “Truth is the highest quality of art.” Many may have had problems with certain renderings of Husain, but none must dispute the sincerity of his work.

Mr Husain had to face unending troubles because he was a painter. The communal brigade in India found fault with almost everything that he painted. In 1996 a Hindi magazine created a controversy by digging up old paintings of Mr Husain, painted in 1970s. The paintings in question seem to have been nude representations of Hindu goddesses. As a result of this, his house in Mumbai and several of his artworks were vandalised. It is an irony that the same persons who were after his blood are now calling Mr Husain “an asset to the country”. Unfortunately, though, they made sure that this ‘asset’ did not spend his last days in India.

Indian Constitution, as we know, gives freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental right in article 19. Of course, there are certain reasonable restrictions under which a person can be restrained legally. In the case of Mr Husain it was very clear from the High Court ruling in 2004 and the Supreme Court’s refusal to initiate criminal proceedings against him in 2008, that he had not done anything unconstitutional through his artworks. The judiciary through such rulings affirmed the maestro’s worth in a multi cultural country like India. However, despite such cognizance by the courts, the successive governments at the Centre failed to give protection to its cultural hero. This indeed was a sad development.

Nudity in art

There is a great deal of difference between nudity and vulgarity. While nudity can be aesthetic, vulgarity can lead to prurience and malice. Nudity is a common factor in modern art. Mr Husain’s art was not an exception to this. However, he was accused of depicting Hindu deities in nude postures. But India has a tradition of nude temple paintings and sculptures. No one thinks they are vulgar. It is also very naive to consider Husain’s paintings as vulgar. What fringe groups lacked was an aesthetic sense to make meaning out his classic works.

There have been several instances in the recent past of both religious as well as cultural intolerance in India. Several literary as well as art works have borne the brunt of the fringe groups that claim to be the custodians of Indian culture. The vote bank politics that political parties bank on these days has only boosted the confidence of these hate mongers. The sluggishness of the government in dealing with intolerant groups will only dent the image of our cultural ethos. The international media has taken strong cognizance of the fact that Mr Husain had to die abroad as a result of unfortunate circumstances. It is important that India learns a lesson at least now and makes sure that its cultural heroes feel secure here. Freedom of speech and expression has meaning only when all citizens are safe to express themselves and not face the wrath of certain anti social elements.

Well, the game is almost over; or is it?

2011-01-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry! For two days Indian news channels, practically all of them, discussed and debated round the clock with utmost seriousness the dynamics at work at the IPL auctions. The intensity with which tv anchors and the ‘experts’ shot their opinion, one felt if this was a General Election. (Who knows, time may just come when candidates may be auctioned for various parties.)

Yes! It is true that cricket is larger-than-life-sport in India. What our political leaders cannot do, a one day cricket match can achieve, namely, make forget differences and be united – at least for that day. But should an IPL auction get that much coverage, that too during prime time, is a big question. The whole exercise exposes further the unholy nexus between the corporates and the media. Most of the IPL franchises are owned by the top corporates of India. Several of them also own very many media organisations. However, getting a nation-wide coverage of the auction drama would only add to the sale-value of their respective team. It is not for nothing that Kolkatta Night Riders has bought Goutham Gambir for 2.4 million dollars, or Irfan Pathan by Delhi Dare Devils for 1.9 million dollars. The corporates are not so much interested in these players as the money they (cricketers) can amass for their respective franchise. Hence, the likes of Laras and Gnagulys are a spent force and do not have any re-sale value. It is a shame that cricketers are reduced to roadside consumables so that mammon can fill the coffers of the corporate.

Indian tv channels had gone hammer and tongs exposing the corruption of the then IPL chairman, Lalit Modi sometime ago. The channels described IPL as a haven for corrupt practices. The same channels are now in awe of the IPL. An ironic volte-face, that is.

The idea of the BCCI to develop IPL like that of English Premier League would have looked good, except for the fact that IPL matches turn out to be a mere spectacle of glamour and sensation. The real game is forgotten and what remains in the minds of the spectators at the end of the day is sleaze and glaze of it. Further, the matches are just a medium for the advertisers to splash their product messages somehow. There is no more the game anymore. What is left is only the advertising game. It is indeed shocking to what extent they can go on doing this. We thought at least the six deliveries of an over will be spared. It is not to be! Now you are made to see ads even when the bowler bowls – not just below the screen, but in the middle as well. One wonders why the Indian fans still tolerate all this and do not protest. In the mean time, cricketers are not complaining, what with them making a killing out of the auction.

Voyage to the Moon

2010-12-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

Watch the early trick cinema of Milies "The Voyage to the Moon"

http://www.sendspace.com/file/n6w3jn

Bhopal verdict and media activism

2010-07-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

June 7, 2010 will go down in history as one of the saddest days ever. For, it was on that day that the famous (or infamous) judgement of a Bhopal sessions court came out, after as many as 26 years. In fact, that decision was so disappointing that media all over India came out in the open to raise crucial issues relating to the tragic 1984 Bhopal gas leak and developments thereafter. Perhaps, never before in the history

of India have the media institutions were so united, taking a clear stand against the judgement. Even as one is happy at such developments, one, nevertheless, is dismayed by such boisterous media activism.

There may be many facets to these developments. It is a known factor that if media suffer from dearth of ‘big’ news, anything big has to be made bigger. Something similar is the case with the media activism following Bh

opal verdict. Secondly, media in the recent past have come under severe attack for being highly elitist and not giving adequate concentration for the common man. It looks as though media, especially the electronic media, want to redeem themselves of such a ‘misconception’.

Whatever be the case, media are doing a commendable job in discussing and debating the Bhopal verdict. In fact, they seem to overdo it. In the bargain, the distinction between news and editorial comments seems to blur. Each TV anchor seems to have his/her strong opinion about the issue which he/she utters with a certain amount of sentimentalism.

Despite all such drama by media, it is because of media that even the Government seems to have woken up to the tragic reality. Recently the government announced a relief package of 180 crores, besides assuring that steps would be taken to bring Anderson back to India. Would that be enough? Government needs to do more. Union Carbide and its parent company Dow Jones must be made to pay compensation for all the victims, including those suffering to this day. Also, it is the responsibility of those companies to clean up the defunct Union Carbide factory. Steps must be taken to pressurise through international agencies to make sure that they own up the responsibility, at least now after 26 years.It is in this context that one must relook at the traditional functions given to the mass media, namely, informing, educating and entertaining

As regards bringing about social change, many scholars think that mass media must not be burdened with such responsibility; social change does take place through awareness created among masses. Mass media have been traditionally accused of agenda setting. However, the recent media activism and the agenda setting by the media seem to have worked very well. Generating public opinion is an important role that mass media must play. And mass media, especially the electronic media, played that role to best results, even though they gave too much of the same thing over and over again.

The role to the mass media is only to bring about awareness and perhaps play a bit of persuasion role. It is the Government which must take notice of the issues and concerns raised by the media and act immediately. In this case, the concerns have been well articulated. It is time the Government acted with a certain amount of urgency.

Who is greater? Author or the script writer?

2010-01-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

‘3 idiots’ film has broken all box office records as regards collections and profits. Part of the reason, one might say, is the kind of negative (or positive?) publicity it got due to certain mis-understanding between Chetan Bhagat, the author of ‘Five Point Someone’ which, it is claimed, has been adapted for the ‘3 idiots’ script, and the film’s makers. There is no mention of Chetan Bhagat’s name at the beginning of the film. Only a small name tag appears during the credits at the end of the film.

Has it all been done for greater publicity, one cannot be sure. However, both the parties have a point to make. If the story has been taken from Mr Bhagat’s book, due credit with royalty has to be given to him, which the director, Rajkumar Hirani and the Producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra say, has been given. But Mr Bhagat does not quite agree. According to him, the

film is 70 per cent faithful to his book and as much credit has not been given to him. In fact, he says he has been overlooked deliberately.

Amir Khan and the ‘3-idiots’makers have a different point to make. According to them, even though the film has been based on the story of Mr Bhagat’s book, the script writer Mr Abhijit Joshi spent over three years to adapt it to a film narrative and hence it is apt that Mr Joshi gets his due. Whether the fact that Abhijit spent three years to make a script justifies the gross neglect of Mr Bhgat, the author, is further debatable.

Amir Khan and his team at ‘3 idiots’ have a point to make. Film is indeed a different medium altogether. It is a visual medium and the style of a novel can never suit the film medium. What novel says in a page, the film may have to show in just about 20 seconds. That is indeed a challenge. Further, film does not give much of a scope for imaginati

on like the novel, as the audience sees everything unfolding in front of them. They may interpret the symbols, but even that may not give much scope for imagination. In such a situation, it is indeed a hard task for the script writer to adapt a story to a visual medium and make the audience involve into it so much that they relate their own life experiences with the film narrative. Indeed, ‘3 idots’ achieves this to a very great extent, simply because the script writer has been very imaginative in his treatment of the story.

All the same, can the original author be neglected? Is it not true that but for the idea, the script writer can do nothing? For every art, idea is the basic building block and in the case of 3 idiots, the idea has come from Mr Bhagat. By acknowledging the idea borrowed from someone can never take credit away from you, even as you have created a wonderful script. So one finds it very odd, why one must shy away from accepting the fact that one is only the creator of ‘methodology’ and not ‘idea’?

Both have a point; but the ‘3 idiots’ think tank would have not lost much (except of course a few more bucks they made due to the undue publicity) by adding that one extra name at the beginning of the film.

Telangana issue as discussed in the media

2009-12-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

The struggle for Telangana state in Andhra Pradesh, spearheaded by the Telenagana Rashtra Samithi president T S Chandrashekhar has become a highly debatable issue across the nation, especially in media circles. The struggle, however, has taken an ugly turn, as the leaders are trying to play on the emotions of the common man, thus polarizing the whole state in terms of geographical and community divides. The historical unification of states based on language in 1956 may have had its limitations, but it was the best method possible those days and has been a major success in several states in the South. The leaders in Andhra across political parties, though, are raking up the whole issue to get political mileage and strengthen their base.

The entire episode has been the staple food of the media in the last couple of weeks. In fact, media, especially the electronic media, were chewing the Hedley … over and over again, much to the annoyance of the viewer. It is a forgone conclusion that the US will never extradite Hedley to India. Besides, it is also alleged that Hedley may have been an FBI informer and he can embarrass the US in more than one terms. Here was a clear case of dearth of news and media went all over Hedley making him the most important person of the world for quite many days.

So, the Telangana ‘power struggle’ came as a saving grace for the media and they were too happy to gobble it before anything could be decided through proper channels. For days together reporters got stuck in Hyderabad, more precisely, near Osmania Univeristy and doled out stories after stories of the ‘struggle’. Every single move and almost every breath TS Chandrasekhar was recorded. Some reporters even took courage to send him to a coma, even as he tried to speak. But no channel, no newspaper, seemed to do an analysis and take a firm stand. Media looked more confused than the politicians themselves. It is true media are not the ones to give solutions. But powers that be can draw a lot from media when they make decisions. TV channels were busy showing the violence than going in depth. What they were looking for, it seemed, was some excitement and not so much an effort to find a solution, making leaders aware of the ramifications of a crucial decision.

Indian media seem to be struggling when there is ‘dearth’ of news. When nothing ‘big’ is happening, they seem to be lost and find it difficult to appease the audience. This is struggle is mainly due to the fact that media today have termed only certain events, happenings and developments as newsworthy and not others. Scores of developments taking place as regards agrarian crisis, doubts, famines, floods, communal discord, corruption etc do not seem to get enough media attention. Even if they do, follow up is hardly to come by. In the bargain, viewers are left high and dry as they have to struggle to keep their heads straight reading, viewing the same stuff day in and day out.

Media need to at least seriously consider the well being of the viewer.

Media loves to mock the ‘austerity’

2009-09-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

So these days media are giving far too much attention to the austerity drive of the Congress Party. What began as an expectation of all ministers (as said by Pranob Mukherji) ended up being an expectation of only Congress MPs. Of course, the likes of Rahul Gandhi did endorse the whole idea and followed it up by actually practicing it by traveling in a train. So did Madam Sonia, who traveled in an economy class. However, there were the likes of Shashi Tharoor who got some unsolicited publicity with their cattle-class controversy.

Be that as it may, are the media going overboard? There have been series of discussions and debates on the issue. One wonders whether so much precious time should be wasted on an ordinary subject as this. Is it not a personal choice of people, as expressed by a panelist on NDTV? The larger issue, according to many thinkers, is the widespread corruption which is far greater an evil than anything else bogging down this country.
Nevertheless, some feel that our leaders must set an example for people. They must lead by example in being austere and simple, even if they have excessive wealth. Others feel this is sheer hypocrisy. One needs to question how our leaders are able to afford luxurious residences and travel. All that is, no doubt, a reflection of wealth amassed thorough unjust means. That is, of course, a serious issue to address. You are trying to save a pie and gobble up a shark. It looks ridiculous. Media do not seem to be addressing this issue adequately. Their whole concentration seems to be to make a mockery of the austerity drive and laugh at those who have thought of it. They are not so much concerned about the melee eating into the vitals of our political system. They consider the austerity drive as tokenism. Fine. But if a leader is sincere, media have the responsibility to recognise it. There have been several leaders who are practicing austerity much before the whole issue came for discussion and debate. There is no hypocrisy there. These leaders know that they need to be people’s servants and not bosses.
It is true that austerity becomes ridiculous when our leaders have so much wealth. here are others who might even argue that if our leaders are able to perform and can deliver, no one really needs to care about their austerity. But even when one has wealth one can consciously choose to be austere. One may be rich; but the question is whether one can feel with the life situation of common people. Can he/she be as simple and humble like simple people?
Should leaders be austere? Should they set an example to their people? The answer lies in how a leader approaches his/her position? If he/she thinks that being leader is to be superior and domineering, then austerity does not sound good. But if a leader considers himself/herself a representative of common people, austerity, though symbolic, can definitely be a path to connect with the masses.

What is so Real about Reality Shows?

2009-08-19T02:23:00.001-07:00

So Rakhi Sawant has finally found her life partner. In fact, it was a real stiff competition at that. The contest was not easy at all. The Canada-based industrialist Elesh Parujanwala had to face quite a bit of challenge before he ‘won’ the proverbial bride. It is another matter that the actual winner was NDTV Imagine and not Elesh or Rakhi

Then of course, there was another Reality Show, Sach Ka Saamna on Star Plus. You are asked all sort of personal embarrassing questions to make you truthful, or more truthful. The lie detector machine will catch you if you falter. Even if you have spoken the truth there is no guarantee that you will win. According to the organisers at least, machines do not lie; they only go out of order at times.

Many years back scientists had discovered predecessor of the now famous lie detector. It was called Haggoth. That machine would find out if a person was speaking the truth when he/she talked over the phone. It would detect the stress content in your voice and declare that you were lying. You could not speak the truth, at least according to Haggoth, if you had stress in your voice. Today Haggoth in its new avatar has come into Reality shows as well.

Coming back to the point, what is so fascinating about Reality Shows? Why are they so popular despite many controversies? (Or are the controversies making them popular?) The answer lies in the very human nature itself. Human beings by their vey nature are voyeuristic. We are curious to know the personal matters of people. Not that that will give us entertainment of pleasure. But we are anxious to know what makes people the way they are; we want to know what makes them tick. So there is no point in pondering whether we should ban Reality Shows. They are just the reflection of human nature itself.

It was unfortunate that our netas wasted precious time debating this useless issue in the Parliament. However, what we need to ponder over is what is so real about reality shows? There is hardly anything real in such shows. People may or may not be surprised if they come to know that almost all the so called reality shows are staged and well-edited. There is nothing that is happening off-hand. So one wonders why they should be called reality shows at all. Even in Sach Ka… certain hints as to what questions may be asked are already given to the participants. So it is indeed a big fraud that these channels are playing on gullible audience.

It is a fact that once the cameras are on there is nothing that is natural. Everything automatically becomes a bit artificial. There is nothing called natural in front of the camera. Even a villager when he knows he is on camera tries to be smarter and wiser. So let us not be sucked into this useless debate of the Realness of Reality shows.

So should they be banned? Our netas do not miss a chance to be hypocritical. In the bargain though, they gave enough mileage to Sach Ka.. If the TRP of the show has soared, much credit should go to them as well.

Reality Shows are here to stay, simply because human nature desires for more of them. So do not blame them. If you are offended, kindly switch off the TV.

MJ – a youth icon; courtesy media!

2009-07-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

Media all over the world mourned the death of rock star Michael Jackson, Jacko as they fondly called him. It was on expected lines, given the fact that MJ had fan-following across continents. He has traveled through lengths and breaths of all continents popularising his brand of music and dance. It was also but natural that media celebrated the unique talent of MJ, hailing him as a born genius. No doubt, he was a born singer and musician and dancer. In fact, he is considered the creator of what is now known as the break dance.

What is perhaps missing in all the eulogising across media is MJ’s compulsions to metamorphose himself into a white. Was he not proud to be a black? Was he ashamed of his race? Or was he not sure of his success with his colour?

We are not sure. But he was one of his kinds among blacks to be so gifted in several arts – music, singing and dancing. Perhaps, he felt it was impossible to survive as black singer in racist country. Or may be he was apprehensive as to how people would accept him as a black rock star. Be that as it may, media’s portrayal of him as a youth icon, somehow, does not seem to go well with those who would think that some of his eccentricities would more be a challenge to youth spirit than to enthuse it.

Attaining fame and name seems much easier than living up to their demands. We have seen this in the case of many celebrities, including Murline Munroe and Elvis Presley. What brought end to MJ was his own fame. He took it very seriously and thought that the glory he had attained was a licence to live a horrendous life, courting women and finding comfort in drugs and narcotics. His changing of religious faith into Islam does not seem to have done any good to him. In fact, one wonders whether religion was important to him at all.

Coming back to Media, some newspapers and news channels carried the news of his death and tried doing a post-mortem of the possible causes of his death. However, what is surprising is that media went amuck describing him as a model which every youth must follow. Sorry! MJ is a good musician, singer, dancer. His hard-earned achievements are definitely worthy of emulation. But not so his un-inspiring life. It is a irony that a person who lived among crowds died a loner. One is naturally distraught at the sheer cruelty of the turn of events. However, in the case of MJ, at least, it seems he cared less about life and more about his glory, which is not one of the subjects any youth must emulate.

Online campaign: Why did Advani fail?

2009-06-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

Two major elections took place in two of the world’s largest democracies within a matter of six months. While the result of the first one (USA) was on expected lines, that of the latter (India) threw some surprises. However, in the end both results reaffirmed people’s faith in democracy, despite all its shortcomings.

If there are any significant similarities in the two elections, it is in the online campaign that was extensively used by leaders in both countries. This was for the first time that online campaign was used so widely to woo the young voters. In fact, much of Obama’s success lay in his ability to attract youngsters through his online campaign.

Obama laid great emphasis on convincing the GenNext to vote for change. Through systematic research he found out that youngsters were very slow in voting and he took it upon himself to make them politically active. He did not rely only on advertisements, though he spent the maximum in various types and forms of advertisements. He recruited volunteers throughout different communities to work for his campaign. Through his charismatic approach he built up a network of very loyal supporters to build newer personal relationships.

Apart from TV, radio, advertising, events and press releases, online campaign was key to his successful campaign. His website was linked to his personal blog and social networks such as facebook, myspace, youtube, dig and twitter. Also the whole archive of videos of his speeches was available online. People could even sign up on his website to receive regular updates about the campaign.

The result? Over 130 million people turned out to vote, out of whom 67. 7 per cent voted for him as against 32.3 for McCain. The voter turn out in some states was as high as 82 per cent.

L. K. Advani, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate too tried a similar online strategy. A committed team of 20-30 young professionals worked hard for months to make a successful ‘Advani-for-PM’ online campaign. In fact, Advani’s picture appeared in over 2000 important and popular websites throughout India. Even when one typed words like Congress, Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh etc. Advani’s picture would pop up on the right side of the screen. It is learnt that BJP’s IT team had chosen more that 1000 important key words which would lead to L. K. Advani’s ad. Many bloggers expressed their dissent at being subjected to view unsolicited political ads with not-so-pleasing picture of Advani. According to the BJP, though, they were able to attract more than 25,000 online visitors daily as the election date approached.

Despite all this systematic work why did Mr Advani’s online campaign fail? Simple answer: Advani is not Obama and India is not US. In India only five per cent of people visit the internet. In fact, for 34 per cent of our people such campaign makes no sense, because they cannot read and write. Nearly 70 per cent of our people still live in villages, hundreds of them remote having no electricity connection. So the BJP’s online campaign reached only the urban net savvy generation most of which cares a dime for voting. Accordingly, the BJP’s strategy was doomed to be a failure even before it was kickstarted with much fanfare.

Then, or course, there was the Advani factor. No one questions Advani’s physical fitness despite age and his oratory skills. But age can still be a factor. While American voter saw youthfulness and newness in Obama, Indian voter was not so sure about Advani. Added to this was the youthful factor of Rahul Gandhi who brought in a lot of youngsters into the party and eventually was responsible for the victory of many of them.

So what has the online campaigns to tell us? In an American context it is crucial and can make a difference in the election of the President, as the percentage of online visitors is very high. However, India has still a long way to go. The government’s over-concentration on cities year after year has only alienated the rural population, especially from benefiting from the fruits of IT revolution. Even in the next General Election it is unlikely that the online campaign will make a difference for the election of our Prime Minister.

Election 2009: many surprises and media celebrations

2009-05-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

The 2009 General Elections have indeed thrown up major surprises. Very few, perhaps, would have predicted a substantial 206 seats for the Congress. Many political analysts and media pundits have termed the UPA victory as a victory of secularism. Though UPA in general and the Congress party in particular may like to consider themselves secular, secularism for them is more a tactic or means to garner a vote base than an ideology to stand by. However, among the plethora of political parties one would agree to the fact that the UPA, by and large, was closer to secular ideals.

The voter in the country, it seems, has not voted so much for secularism as for a stable government. This was reflected immediately in the markets when they opened on Monday, May 18, when the Sensex went up over 2000 points, mainly with the excitement of a stable government in the centre. Added to this was the NDA campaign which backfired. While in 2004 they tried to fool the country through their India Shining campaign and paid for it, this time round they once again tried a similar strategy by attacking an honest Prime Minister calling him weak. Their usual hate campaign against the minorities (cf. Modi and Varun) and projecting Modi as the Prime-Minister-in-waiting, too did not go well with the voters. Be it as it may, the common man is rejoicing because he/she can expect at least a stable government for five years.

The media too were upbeat. Strangely, almost all news channels and the print media in their Exit Poll predicted an edge for the UPA. It is a known fact that Exit Polls reflect more the desire of the particular media organisation than the opinion of the voter. So there was a visible rejoicing among media institutions at the UPA’s victory. They know very well that the UPA will be much more corporate in its approach, unlike the NDA which is ambivalent and not sure as to which road to tread on. Further, the absence of the Left parties in the UPA was another cause for celebration, as the UPA government got a free hand to further their unfulfilled agenda of privatisation of important sectors like Insurance and Banking.

But the media have their task cut out now. In the absence of the Left parties, the UPA will be emboldened in its endeavour for aggressive privatisation. It is here that the media have to play the watchdog and constantly keep the government on tenterhooks by critiquing its policies. Further, the government has the responsibility to fulfill all its pre-poll promises. Now is the golden opportunity for the media to be the fourth estate in true sense of the term.

A book with shocking Kandhamal facts

2009-05-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh termed Kandhamal carnage as a ‘national shame’. But if one were to lay hands on a recent book on Kandhamal, one would realise that it was more than a national shame – it was a blatant denial of the constitutional privileges of Fundamental Rights.

Kandhamal: a blot on Indian Secularism is a book, perhaps the first of its kind, that vividly portrays the violence that took place in Kandhamal last year. The author, Mr Anto Akkara, a senior freelance journalist, visited the ravaged villages over six times to get a first-hand information and document it. His search has resulted in the revelation of certain shocking and hitherto unreported details of the Kandhamal issue in the mainstream media.

72 killed, not 32

For example, the Orissa government claims that only 32 persons were killed in the communal violence. But the author has given a list of75 with their names, villages they belong and the date on which they were killed. He has procured this list from the affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court by the Archbishop of Bubeneswar, Rev. Raphael Cheenath. Says the author, “The government refusal to acknowledge the murders also means that there will not be any prosecution either in majority of the killings in Kandhamal.”

The funeral procession

There is also another chilling detail of the funeral procession of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati who was killed allegedly by the Maoists on August 23. The procession was taken out for over two days. The author holds that the procession went along the puzzling difficult route covering 250 kilometers which could have taken along main roads and completed in few hours. “This has been done deliberately by the communal forces to whip up communal passions,” the author holds. Hundreds of houses and religious centres were torched as the funeral procession traversed along the rugged path. The author gives a total list of 5031 houses that have been burnt or damaged in Kandhamal in the communal violence.

Godhra vs Kandhamal

What makes Kandhamal different from Godhra? It is true that in the Godhra carnage over 2000 Muslims were killed, compared to the 72 or so in Kandhamal. Had the people not fled to the forests the number in Kandhamal also would have been much higher. Nevertheless, there is no big difference as regards the intensity of the damage. Both incidents have dented the faith of the minority communities in the government machinery and its commitment to uphold secularism.

Perhaps, what sets Kandhamal apart , as claimed by the book, is the media notice or the lack of it. While Godhra saw a minute by minute coverage by the media – both print and electronic – Kandhamal was not adequately reported in the mainstream media. There are several reasons for this. First of all, Kandhamal is over 220 kilometres away from the State capital, Bubeneswar. It is covered by dense forest and reaching there is quite an agonising experience. Secondly, the communal outfits saw to it that media did not reach Kandhamal for weeks together. Even the ministers could not enter the territory as the roads were completely blocked and the situation was really tense.

Due to all this, people in general have not got a comprehensive picture of Kandhamal. This book, no doubt, gives readers very many details of the violence that took place for months together. Author’s painstaking efforts have brought forth many first person narratives of many victims, the reading of which is very disturbing.

Curious case of Niladri Kanhar

Among the many narratives in the book, there is one by Niladri Kanhar. He was a hard core Sangh Privar activist who masterminded several attacks on Christians and their institutions earlier.

However, his family underwent a series of major problems which resulted in the whole family becoming desperate and on the verge of losing hope. It is at this point that a pastor, Pavitra Mohomo, seems to have prayed over the family for many days and, as a result, all the suffering just vanished. This was a moment of conversion for Niladri who along with his whole family became Christian.

A hardcore Sangh Parivar activist becoming a Christian was too much to bear for the saffron brigade. They harassed him repeatedly and finally burnt his house and beat him and left him half dead. Niladri survived, not before undergoing several surgeries. “Jesus was crucified. It is a joy for me to carry an injury for the faith in him,” he says.

One fails to understand if Niladri’s case was a forced conversion or a result of inducement. Here is a clear violation of a person’s fundamental right of religious freedom. If this could happen to a redeemed Sangh Parivar activist, one can only imagine the plight of the ordinary tribals and dalits. “Threats, intimidation and boycott to force the returning Christians forsake their faith is continuing unabated in many villages in Kandhamal,” explains the author.

Releasing the book in Bangalore on April 24, former justice of the High Court, M. F. Saldanha said, “The government should take suo moto cognizance of a well-documented report like this book and stop wasting money on commission reports which run into thousands of pages only to gather dust in libraries.”

Recently in a television debate, Seema Mustafa, senior journalist and the editor of Covert, said, “Incidents like Godhra and Kandhamal should be treated as issues directly related to Indian Constitution. It is unfortunate that political parties are turning them into election issues for their vote bank politics.”

One only waits for such a day when political parties will stop playing cheap politics on the lives of people. Otherwise it will not be a surprise if more Godhras and Kandhamals take place in India.

The rise of regional parties: boon or bane?

2009-04-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

The writing on the wall is fairly clear: the days of single-party rule at the centre are over for Indian democracy. Today only a coalition government which can hold its partners together through thick and thin can hope to form a government at the centre. What has given rise to such development is the rise of regional parties which try hard to make their presence felt at the centre as well.

When Indian democracy had its first elections in 1952 there were hardly any regional parties. In fact, it was the Congress party which held its sway over the nation. Even in the sixties the national parties won nearly 90 per cent of seats. That trend has changed considerably today. In the 2004 general elections, regional parties won as many as 43 per cent of the total number of seats and national parties 57 per cent. Today there are 47 regional parties and over 400 smaller parties vying with one another for their share of pie.

It is not at all surprising that today two states are ruled by independent regional parties and in as many as eight states there is an alliance government of regional and national parties. In Tamil Nadu, for example, national parties have hardly a chance. The regional parties have dominated the scene since 1967. Andhra Pradesh was ruled by the Telugu Desham Party between 1983 and 1989 and between 1994 and 2004. Uttar Pradesh has also been ruled by regional parties for greater part of the last two decades. National parties do not seem to make any significant progress in their voters’ share in UP.

Whether such a trend is good for Indian democracy can be debated; but one cannot ignore the fact that in a large democracy smaller parties do have a place and also have a crucial role to play. It is possible that in the larger interest of the Nation, the local aspirations of people can be totally forgotten by national parties. It is here that local and regional parties can bargain hard to get fair representation of local needs.

Recently Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said that regional parties were responsible for the backwardness of several states and that they lacked a national perspective, much to the ire of many regional parties. What he meant to say, perhaps, was that regional parties indulged more in regionalism rather than having a broader vision of the country. At times it is difficult to draw line between regionalism and nationalism. If a nation is a sum total of multi-cultural, linguistic and ethnic regions, regionalism is a natural fall out and cannot be ignored easily. Though regional parties try to draw greater political mileage out of regional issues, no one can deny the fact that all regions must be given adequate attention.

The other important aspect is that in several instances regional parties eventually grow to become national parties. The present Bharatiya Janatha Party had its origin in the erstwhile Jan Sangh which was a regional party. The Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting independently in all Lok Sabha constituencies in these elections. The Left parties are no longer regional parties as they have their strong presence in several states and are contesting Lok Sabha elections in many states. Even National Congress Party and Samajwadi Party are contesting in several states. While regional parties want to strengthen their base in their core states, they also want to grow nationally as a power to reckon with.

The rise of regional parties can only be attributed to the failure of national parties to give due importance to the regional aspirations of people. While it may be true that regional parties fail to have a national vision and think only of their region, single party rule, as history has shown, can be authoritarian, caring little for the regional issues. It is here that the formation of the Third Front consisting mostly regional parties can make a difference. Combining both national and regional aspirations, though difficult, is not impossible. If they are able to put their sectarian politics behind and concentrate on more pertinent issues that trouble the country, indeed, the Third Front can bring about a breath of fresh air into the Indian democracy.

Media must set trend for lawful protests

2009-04-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

It is becoming a trend of sorts. In the last four months we have had four instances of public display of protest. What is unusual about this development is in each of theses cases footwear has been hurled at prominent dignitaries and in two of the four cases involved people from the media.

The first instance took place on December 14, 2008. Muntazar al-Zaidi, an Iraqui journalist for an Egyptian newspaper hurled both his shoes at no less a leader than the then US President, George W. Bush for his alleged attempts to destroy Iraq. Then on February 2, 2009 a 27-year old unnamed person threw his shoe at Chinese premier, Ben Jiabo while the latter was lecturing at Cambridge University.

The third instance happened in India at New Delhi on April 7. Jarnail Singh, a correspondent of Dainik Jagran protested through similar manner at the press conference of Home Minister, P. Chidambaram. His reasons? As a Sikh he was upset, along with scores of Sikh brethren, at CBI giving a clean chit to Jagadeesh Tytler and Sajjan Kumar who allegedly had a hand in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The most recent case of shoe-throwing took place on April 10. A retired schoolteacher hurled a shoe at Congress MP Naveen Jindal while he was campaigning at a rally in Kurukshetra constituency.

While the first two shoe-throwers have been detained and cases filed against them, the latter two have been lucky in this election year to go without any case.

While the validity of the issues for which these people have been protesting is unquestionable, it is the manner in which they have chosen to protest that raises serious questions. It is true that Iraq war, anti-Sikh riots etc. were no minor issues. It is also true that prominent leaders were involved in those mayhem. Despite all that, one cannot indulge in unacceptable protests. It is sad that two cases involved media persons. Media, by definition, cannot resort to raking up passions while reporting. They are called to be objective as far as possible. If this is true, then those taking up the task of reporting have to work against their personal issues and see the larger good of society. Otherwise, they are unfit to be journalists. It amounts to journalists too becoming communal and partisan which will be an unfortunate development. What these journalists will do, without their awareness, is that they will only bring disrepute to their profession and to the whole media fraternity. Media must set trend for lawful protests.

The election time is a challenging time for the media. Newspapers and TV channels can overtly display their support or hatred to certain parties. But if they are to be faithful their profession, media have to watch out and be critical of issues rather than show clandestine support or disregard to any party. Not many media institutions, sadly, succeed in this regard. Fairness would mean, as somebody has rightly said, among other things, “listening to different viewpoints, and incorporating them into journalism.” If objectivity is a hard thing, media persons could at least be fair while reporting and making analysis which is crucial during an election.

Election 2009, party politics and lack of debates

2009-03-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

The next couple of months are going to be different and hectic for the whole nation. The itinerary of elections is both a time of expectations and anxiety. Political parties are working harder day in and day out to woo the voters. They know too well that voters cannot be fooled so easily. In such a scenario parties should be focusing on issues that are troubling India as a nation rather than picking on each other.

But that is not to be. Sonia Gandhi kickstarted her campaign in Karnataka from what the party describes as the ‘lucky’ place, Dhavangere on March 24. As expected, she attacked the BJP and the newly formed Third Front. There may be a lot of truth in what she said; but her loyal voters are all aware as to what sort of a party BJP is or is not. Perhaps greater good would have been done if she had spoken on issues; what her party’s agenda for the nation is etc. But precious time and money were lost in, what I would call, as vitriolic rhetoric.

The BJP on the other hand does not seem to have any clarity with regard to their election campaign. Their one point agenda seems to be to attack the UPA government headed, according to them, by a weak Prime Minister. In his speech in Mathura on March 25, L. K. Advani was, as always, at his rhetorical best in attacking the UPA. “Decisions are made at 10 Janpath and not at 7 Race Course Road,” he said. But what is his alternative? What sort of ‘goverance’ is he assuring the electorate? The five years of NDA regime was not witness to great governance and progress. In fact, economy was in bad shape with only 5 per cent growth rate. Today’s economy slowdown has been a global phenomenon and hence voters will not believe the BJP if they were to say that the UPA has made a mess of the country’s economy. (Just as the issue on terrorism failed to break ice with Delhi and Rajasthan voters during the assembly elections last year.)

So where is the agenda? Where are discussions and debates on serious issues? Media are a party to this development as they too do not seem to initiate debates on leadership and governance and many other issues of relevance. They, especially the news channels, seem to be more interested in getting leaders from various parties together in the studio just to have verbal duels with each other. This development is a direct fall out of the new concept of news dissemination today. It is no more news, but infortainment. Even as you are watching ‘news’ you should also be entertained. Otherwise you may not watch the channel the next time and as a result the channel in question may lose the great TRP. So, all reportage is packaged with background music and special effects. Every story looks like a detective thriller.

Thus the viewers are condemned to put up with the same old faces day and night. The singhvis, the Ravishankar Prasads, the Janyanthi Natarajans, the Zaudekars, the Rajas and their ilk are in great demand to ‘entertain’ you. In the bargain, however, the common man is all at sea finding difficult to decide as to which party he/she must vote. Cheap party politics of mud-slinging has hijacked the whole election campaigning at the cost of serious debates on issues. Unless media wakes up to give a direction to the campaigning, this election too will be fought on petty personal agendas than serious issues.

The tale of two films

2009-02-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

It is truly a celebration time for Indian film industry. A film made in India has been recognised by the world fraternity and how! Eight Oscars for a film made with an average budget of 15 million dollars, and with almost entirely an unknown cast, is not a joke. One has to give greater part of the credit to its genius of a director, Danny Boyle.

Fine. Slumdog Millionaire truly deserves days of celebration. But after all celebrations are done, one needs to ponder whether this film deserved all the glory it has won. May be! But many critics have said that Slumdog.. had no real opponents in the fray. Of course, a film with an unusual storyline, A curious case of Benjamin Button, was considered a front-runner till the end. However, anyone who saw that film would surely agree that the story was not very convincing and was out of the ordinary, to tell the least. So Slumdong.. had its share of luck, a fact no one can deny.

Let us consider another factor. Could the film have won had it been directed by an Indian director? It is another issue that if that was the case, the film itself would have been different. But let us not mince words. The film could make it to the top mainly because it had a British for a director who not only did a commendable job of designing it, but also made sure that it was marketed well. Not to forget, he also made certain that it gained enough media glare. He never missed a chance of giving an interview or attending a talk show when it had something to do with his film. So the film had already won before it could win at the Oscars. Ground work was done with a surgical precision that even if they wanted, perhaps, the critics at the Academy Awards could not refuse to crown Slumdog.. with glory. What famous film critic, Pete Haimond said days before the D day could well summarise the hype created by the media: “If Slumdog.. does not win at the Oscars, it would be the biggest disappointment in the Hisory of Academy Awards.”

Well, Danny Boyle’s work was that much easier, what with the media helping him to the top all the way.

It is not without reason that several critics would consider another film with a similar theme far superior than Slumdog.. It is Salaam Bombay directed by Mira Nair in 1988. It also was nominated for Oscars in 1989 in the Best Foreign Film category, but failed to make the final cut. The film is more powerful than Slumdog.. simply because the raw reality portrayed in it affects you deeply, unlike Slumdog.. where reality is sugarcoated with a touch of romance which lingers in your mind more than anything else. At the end of the film what remains in your mind is not the stark reality of communalism, begging mafia, underworld etc.’; but Jamal’s passionate longing for Lathika, the kiss on the railway platform and, of course, Jai Ho.

But in Salaam Bombay, Chaipau’s deep remorse for not having saved his friend Chillum, sadness for not being able to make 500 bucks to get back home, and his helplessness at not succeeding in winning the love of Sola Salisi will trouble you like never before for many days. This is simply because all these chilling moments come to you in an unsophisticated manner with no any tinge of romanticisation or melodrama. They are not given any filmy twists and turns, but made to embrace you as they are. Apart from all that, what will speak louder than all the dialogues in the entire film is the silence of Chola Salisi.

It is a pity that Salaam Bombay did not win any Oscars, even as Slumdog.. gobbled almost all of them.

Moral policing and media

2009-02-12T00:51:00.001-08:00

“What would you choose as a press photographer if you were to decide between clicking a photograph and saving the life of a victim?” I had asked a press photographer in a seminar. The photographer, after a moment of hesitation, said, “I would rather click a photograph.”
Harsh as it may sound, thought the press photographer said the right thing. There is a case of a US photographer who won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in the best picture category. The photograph shows a malnourished skinny African boy crawling and a vulture behind him at a distance. The vulture is waiting for the boy to die so that it can feast on him. The photograph received rave reviews; however, the photographer was criticised for failing to carry out a humanitarian duty. Subsequently, it is said, the photographer went missing. Some even say that he committed suicide.
The recent pub attack in Mangalore, and the media role in it, brings to shore several such issues. It was alleged that the miscreants who attacked the hapless women in the pub took TV journalists along to cover the ‘moral policing’. Whole thing, it is alleged, was orchestrated with precision with cameramen waiting for the ‘action’ to begin.
Subsequently, though, the police accused the media for not informing them about this planned attack. According to police, the media should have alerted the police so that the whole incident could have been avoided. Yes, media could have informed the police and the police could have averted the incident. But the question is would such an action by the media serve purpose. Next time if the Ram Sene goes out to put ‘order’ in another pub, they may go quietly and inflict a greater blow. With no any media coverage, it is likely that the world will not see their hooliganism.
It is widely argued, at least in media circles, that but for the wide and constant reportage/broadcast by media channels, the Mangalore pub attack would have gone unnoticed. In a way, it is true. It was only after the national news channels beamed the story that the police and the government woke up to take some measures. Even now, the whole incident refuses to die down what with the Ram Sene being vindicated by the apparent lackluster response by the State government to take stringent action.
However, in the whole development there emerged another disturbing trend. It is reported, and quite convincingly, that certain local broadcast channels were party or at least part of the entire assault. In fact, it is alleged that the Sene members made sure that TV cameras were there with them when they went on a rampage. Perhaps, they wanted to show to the whole world their ‘chivalry’ of attacking helpless women and be proud of it. If it is true that TV cameras went along with the hooligans, then it could spell a depressing trend in the Indian media. Yes, journalists have to tell, show to the whole world, the reality as it is (well, as far as possible). For this they may have to be candid. They may, at times, have to cross boundaries even. However, the danger and temptation is to indulge in such endeavours purely for personal gains – to increase circulation, gain a few more TRPs etc. When that happens, medium will fail to be the message.

Have they stopped asking questions?

2009-01-24T04:27:00.000-08:00

Was it possible that Satyam fiasco would not take place if media had asked right questions at the right time? Or put it this way: may be Satyam scandal could have been averted if media were alert years back and done a bit of investigation (not sting operation!).
Rajdeep Sardesai in one of the Weekend Editions put it well: we (journalists) are not exposing corporates the way we do politicians and bureaucrats. There is much truth in what he says. Indian media are obsessed beyond limits with politics. Everyday when you open a newspaper you find more than 50 per cent of space being gobbled by politics and related stories. Broadcast media is no better. Even there you find politics eating up the prime time. So, corporate world and its pitfalls and scandals have escaped the media glare. In fact, when did you last hear a journalist writing an investigative piece on any corporate house? It is not without reason. Most media industries today are owned by corporates, or many of the corporate moguls are on the Board of Directors of media institutions. So, obviously you cannot expose someone of your own, can you?
Well, let us come to the main issue: reporters have stopped asking questions or pertinent questions. The major responsibility of media is not so much to give answers as raise questions; not even to find solutions to recurring problems. There is State and other organisations to do that. But the prime duty of media is to raise questions. Sadly, most media institutions today shirk from this duty.
Take for example the Mumbai terror attacks. Media were active alright. In fact, broadcast media went overboard making the whole scenario look like a bollywood extravaganza. But media did not raise important questions. In fact, they raised all wrong questions. Nobody asked as to why India should be subjected to such brutal attacks repeatedly and why the State cannot spend a portion of the humongous money it spends on border security, to beef up internal security. Our airports are armed with heavy security cordon. But look at our railway stations and bus shelters. There is only cosmetic security there. Media have stopped asking why should our railway stations and bus shelters not have as much security as airports. Aren’t lives of ordinary people as valuable and important as the elite traveling in the air?
Do reporters seem not bothered about probing? It looks as though they go to press conferences and are satisfied just with what has been doled out to them. What is not spoken, it seems, does not come into their purview. They seem happy with the lunch and dinner provided and the perks served at the end of the session.
So no one, for example, asks the question why so many outlaws repeatedly give a slip to the police accompanying them and are killed in ‘encounters’.
May be, journalists are not asking questions because questions can open Pandora’s Box and make them insecure. Sadly, by stopping to ask questions, reporters will only belittle an all important responsibility of media.

Mumbai Terror and media’s forgotten role

2008-12-16T03:07:00.000-08:00

TV channels drew much flak for going overboard covering the Mumbai terror live for more than 60 hours. The likes of Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami etc. etc. overworked to bring ‘exclusive’ reportage to the anxious audience. Does’nt matter, if they asked some silly questions to the relatives of those who were taken hostages inside Taj (like, ‘Are you worried?’). They made sure that their TRP ratings shot up by over 30 points in those 60 hours.
In the bargain, as critiqued widely, two important events were almost forgotten: elections in 3 states and the death of V. P. Singh (Unfortunately, he died at the wrong time). But one thing was clear: the attacks did not dither the voter from coming out to vote. In fact, the average across the states was 66 per cent, much higher than what it used to be earlier. And as the results show us, the voter came out defying all odds just to make sure that only the performer got elected. The BJP’s cashing in strategy on terror boomeranged, as the voter did not perceive terror as something that concerned only the ruling party. All this shows that that the voter has become more intelligent and choosy. No party, thus, is a frontrunner in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Coming back to the live media coverage of Mumbai terror: It was sheer loss of professionalism on the part of Indian TV channels. They threw all caution to the wind and reported as if they were the only heralds of hope for those trapped inside and waiting anxiously outside, not to mention millions of hungry viewers all over. All norms of broadcast journalism were forgotten, at least for sometime. Their main concern seemed to be only TRP ratings and nothing else.
Compare this with the reportage of BBC network. They too went live to a certain extent; but they never gave a feeling of a loss of balance anywhere. Granted, that they were a foreign channel and that they did not have as much stake in the Mumbai terror as Indian channels did. But such stakes need not overburden you to be melodramatic and, in some cases, even to the extent of loss of voice. It is true that reporters too are human and, perhaps, most of them were covering such terror live for the first time. But, whatever happened to those long years spent in training, learning news values, social responsibility, sense proportion and so on? It is indeed unfortunate how journalists conveniently forget fundamental theories of journalism when it comes to competition.
Media sets agenda and manufactures consent. This was proved decades ago by Walt Lippman, Noam Chomsky and others. The coverage of the Mumbai attacks was a fascinating example corroborating these theories. The audience was made to believe that Taj and Trident were more important (national icons!) and CST was just another railway station. We were also told that it was an attack on Indian economy. But does our economy depend only on a miniscule filthy rich people who frequent such avoidable hotels?
A quick final comment: over the last five years or so, more than ten thousand farmers have committed suicide, owing to debt and other reasons, in Maharashtra alone. But that tragedy does not seem to be a worthwhile issue for the TV channels. However, lives lost in Taj and Trident are deeply mourned. Does it mean that some lives are more valuable than others? It is true that all terror attacks should be condemned and that we cannot condone the violence that takes its toll on hundreds of innocent civilians. But all lives are equally precious and hence must be given equal waitage, if not intensity. A farmer’s life is as important as the life of a wealthy man dying in the Taj or a police official dying while fighting terrorists at CST. We can only hope media will learn from their mistakes.

Terror attacks and the symbolic message

2008-11-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

This has not been the first time; and it may not be the last time either. The scenes are becoming that much more routine and common. In the last seven months or so over 500 people have been killed – most of them innocent civilians – in merciless terror attacks in major cities like Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Guwahati, Malegaon and now once again Mumbai, by both Islam and alleged Hindu terrorists.
The audacity with which these terror attacks are carried out is one angle to these rampant strikes. What is even more shocking and terrifying, especially in the present Mumbai terror, is the obvious message that comes alive as a powerful symbol: India is a haven for terrorists and easy target to vent someone’s anger on someone else. The almost complete failure of Indian intelligence during this terror strike can only further destroy the faith of common man in the State. The life of common man has come to naught, what with he/she finding no security anywhere. Indeed it is surprising that the Mumbai city which is on the shore of the sea had such poor security with hardly any coast guards or security agents at important places like the India Gate, that the terror outfits could sneak in so casually and hold the entire city to ransom.
If we look around the world and see we should further be troubled to learn that no other country, including Pakistan, has had so many and such brutal terror strikes in the recent past. The USA had one major attack – the 9/11. That’s it. After that no one ever heard of any kind of terrorism in that country. Similar was the case in the U.K. After minor terror strikes in 2001 and Glagow international airport car bombings in June 2007, no one heard of terrorists holding the cities to ransom. Only in India can such terrorism be meted out on innocent civilians and how. This is because the powers that be are either afraid to act or they do not have the political will to respond. They did care, of course, about themselves – when the Parliament was attacked on December 13, 2001. Democracy was under attack, they said, as though democracy contained only in the stony Parliament structure and had nothing to do with civilians.
It is now or never. Unless the state acts immediately, these strikes will only increase. Terrorists, whoever they are, have to get a strong message that India and Indians cannot be an easy prey for their hate mongering. Passing anti-terror laws like the POTA and MCOCA will not deter the terrorists from carrying out their sinister designs. What India, at this stage needs is stringent security measures in places of high human activities like railway stations, bus shelters, government offices and also market places. Further, we cannot fight the disease by fighting the symptoms. One needs to go to the root of the problem and see why India is an easy target for the militants. Our think tank has to deliberate seriously, pooling together the resources of the experts in the subject and then act accordingly. Only thus can the terrorists get a strong message and not otherwise. The common people are not asking authorities to provide them with z type of security. What they are just asking is to at least keep cities and towns safe for them to freely move around. If the state cannot do even this much, then it has indeed no credibility to be in power. The common man only hopes that the honourable Home Minister will at last take this wake up call seriously.
As for the media, it was a heyday of sorts. What one viewed on TV, as described by the anchors, may not have been the actual scene on ground zero, even if it was tense and frightening. What one saw throughout the day on TV was melodrama and great work of dramatics doled out by the TV journos. Of course, electronic media is all about dramatisation as journalists there are expected to describe and visualise news. But we till now thought that it was not to be melodramatic and Bollywood style narration. With Barkha Dutts and Rajdeep Sardesais and Arnab Gosamis vying with one another for viewers’ attention, you could only forgive them their misdemeanor.

Power politics and a not-so-sure media

2008-11-05T03:42:00.000-08:00

Politics is always about power. But Indian politics is also about power at any cost. That is the message the common people receive always. This time around, it was more vivid than ever. Indian politicians – well, most of them – are concerned about power and only about power and nothing else. They do not seem to be concerned whether people are killed or cities and towns are being burned down by militants.
Take a few examples of recent past: there was a clear case of booking Raj Thakre under the National Security Act. He has already over 80 cases registered against him. This time, though, he went about fearlessly inciting violence and challenging the government to arrest him at its own cost. But the Vilasrao government was not interested in acting tough. Arrest him they did. But we knew it was a token arrest. The reason is obvious. The Congress party does not want Raj Thakre to stop his pranks, as he is a threat not so much to the ruling coalition as the Shiv Sena itself. It is just trying to use Raj Thakre as a weapon to wipe out Shiv Sena from Maharashtra, as they drove away the left parties using Bal Thakre in the seventies. However, it has not been an easy task for them, as the North Indians form a major part of their vote bank. Raj Thakre for them seems a greater choice than North Indians.
Another clear example is the recent Assam blasts and how political parties tried to cash in on them. No sooner was the State rocked by terror attacks than opposition party leader L. K. Advani began the blame game, holding Bangladeshi militants responsible for the blasts. Our politicians, it seems, have an unimaginable sixth sense which can get to know the cause of incidents even before they can be investigated. While it is true that the UPA government is slow on terror, taking into consideration the possible alienation of a community (their vote bank), it is also unfair on the part of the BJP to terrorise a community, holding it responsible for all the terror in the country.
Unfortunately for the BJP, it had to face the turn of events. And it was a very embarrassing situation as well, to see one of the hardcore VHP leaders being arrested in connection with the Malegaon blasts. It is interesting to see how BJP leaders are trying to hold their nerves together and putting up a brave face. “Let the law deliver justice; but let us not try and accuse someone when investigations are underway,” they say. But the Rudys, the Ravi Shankar Prasads and their ilk have no problem delivering ‘justice’ to those arrested from other communities, even before they being convicted by court.
Media, especially the English press, have given quite good coverage to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. However, media are in a piquant situation. Till now they used the terminology ‘Islamic terrorists’ or ‘suspected Islamic terrorist’, almost associating terrorism with Islam. But they have been slow to use the phrase ‘Hindu terrorist’ or not even ‘suspecting’ Hindu terrorists. Terrorists are terrorists, irrespective of their religion. Media seem not to be sure as regards Hindu terrorists and are waiting for the court to decide it. This only means that media are being very partisan as regards terrorists.

Politics of violence

2008-10-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

It was indeed quite a sight to watch Navin Pathnaik, the Orissa Chief Minister, grilled mercilessly by Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN in the Devil’s Advocate programme. Only Thapar can do what he is best at: ask straight forward, relevant and challenging questions, without mincing words. Earlier, several leaders, including L. K. Adwani and Ram Jethmalani have walked out of Karan’s programmes, finding him impossible. Fortunately, Pathnaik withstood the ‘onslaught’, even as he fretted, frowned and almost sweated it out in the confines of the air-conditioned studio.
What one has to admire is Pathnaik’s resolve and consistency throughout the interview, denying allegations that not even the minimum was done to protect Christians when they were attacked in Orissa. He went on to say that everything possible was done to stop violence. However, one cannot still understand why Christians are living in such fear in Kandhamal and neighbouringdistricts. One even fails to reason why the government is shying away from acting tough on those who are out to destroy Christians in Orissa, even after such international pressures. There have been reports of hundreds being converted (not re-converted, for they were not Hindus but tribals before accepting Christianity) to Hinduism by force. And if conversion by force is a crime, why not punish these self-styled protectors of Hinduism? Why this double deal?
The answer lies not so much in the communal as the political angle of the development. Parties have realised that one of the best way to come to power and stay there is to polarise people on communal lines, kill some if you must and sow the seeds of hatred among the dominant class. Modi did it to near perfection in Gujarat . He is the model for most political parties, even as some of them do not wish to accept it openly. Raj Thakre is doing that in Mumbai. Unfortunately, the Congress and several other so called secular parites have their own agenda and hence are ambivalent as far as taking a clear stand on Hindutva politics is concerned.
We pride in calling ourselves the largest democracy. But I think we need to ask ourselves whether this democracy on which we have placed our trust is able to give all citizens security guaranteed by the Constitution. Why should some live in eternal fear while others roam about fearless terrorising and killing people? Why is that political parties, including the ‘secular’ ones, care little about people, especially the poor, when they call themselves public servants? The answer is very simple: altruism may be a pan-Indian virtue, propagated in our religious heritage; but that is not a virtue to be imitated as regards modern politics is concerned. Most of today’s political parties, including the Left, have compromised heavily on ideologies and are busy strengthening their base at any cost. While the Congress tries its traditional means of wooing subalterns and minorities, the BJP is anti-intellectual and playing, as usual, its Hindutva card. The Left are Marxists on paper. But their recent adventures in Singur and Nadigram only prove the fact that they are out to convert Marxism into neo Capitalism. Meantime, Media are content to maintain the status quo instead of critically evaluating such developments.

A Wednesday - the arrival of the common man

2008-10-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Is anybody taking the common man seriously? R. K. Laxman’s common man in Times of India is merely a mute spectator to everything that happens around him. Perhaps he is wise as he knows that talking may not help much in easing uneasy situations.
But the common man in the film A Wednesday is not dumb. In fact, throughout the film he talks the most, and rightly so; because his only desire is that he be taken seriously. For long he has been kicked around like a soda can on the streets. No more! Now he has risen, with vengeance. So what if his means are unethical and too technical? His ultimate aim is quite clear, at least to him. And for that he is ready to take a risk. His worth is acknowledged at the end by the web hacker who accepts that this common man is ‘the best’.
A Wednesday raises many questions. Does not the common man have any other means to make his presence felt than hold the entire city to ransom? Does he require ‘blackmailing’ as his weapon to announce his arrival? Does he think he can thus clean up the mess around him? When Inspector Rathod tells him on his face that he is a coward, afraid to come in the open and fight, the common man has no issues. He quite plainly accepts that he is afraid. But more afraid is he to go to market, catch a suburban train; for he thinks he is not safe anymore. He does not know when the next bomb will go off. He is made to be resilient, not by choice but by force.
Is the common man taken seriously, at least in the film? For a while, yes. There is no other choice. One cannot take risk with situations where lives of thousands of people are involved. So he is taken seriously, not as a common man, but as a supposed terrorist. But whether he succeeds in representing all common people is a further intriguing question.
A Wednesday indeed is a good film with a simple but effective plot. Neeraj Pandey has done a commendable job; so have the actors, especially Naseeruddin Shah as the common man and Anupam Kher as the Inspector. The main plus point of the film is that it makes the audience think. The hapless common man among the audience who has witnessed the mindless terror attacks in the bylanes and subways will surely identify himself with the common man in the film. It will further give him a cathartic effect. For a while, the common man in the audience might as well think that the path chosen by the common man in the film to tackle terrorism could as well work, what with technology coming handy. But whether technology can be a solution for all evil in the world and whether an ordinary common man has the access to such sophisticated, almost out-of-reach, technology is even more difficult question.
One thing, though, is certain. The film makes a bold statement from the perspective of simple ordinary people – do not take us for a ride; take us seriously. Give us a sense of security which is what we are asking for, not your empty promises.

Media becoming communal?

2008-10-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

“Journalists say a thing that they know isn't true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true.” - Arnold Bennett

People being divided on communal lines, though unfortunate, is nevertheless acceptable. Political parties sadistically trying to get political mileage out of communal politics, though difficult to accept, is still understandable; for, at the end of the day a politician will only look for his survival in the political fray.
But how can we understand journalists and media professional openly declaring their communal ‘credentials’? This is exactly what has been happening in Mangalore in the last few weeks. Very many reporters were indirectly, if not directly, involved in some sort of communal tension. There were also reports of reporters actually abetting communal violence. However, greater violence was done through their reportage. At least a few of them had the audacity to put the entire blame on the Church. They were resistant to at least accept that violence on minorities, on whichever pretext, was not acceptable in a democracy.
Why is such a development taking place among media professional? Do these journalists also experience some sort of insecurity that they need to align to some political party or communal organisation? Or do they slavishly accept the order of their superiors? It could be both. But the question is how can we call all that journalism? Reporters are supposed to be objective, at least when it comes to reporting sensitive issues. They are not to show any leaning to any political party. All that is good wisdom; but in reality, there is nothing called objectivity in journalism anymore. If one has to be objective one has to give up all adjectives. If a reporter calls a murder ‘brutal’ he is already giving his opinion. Or if a reporter terms Bishop Moras’s interaction with the CM as ‘lambasting’, we cannot call it objective, as Bishop may not have lambasted the CM. He may have just voiced his concern, of course, with a little impatience and anger.
So objectivity is relative. Nevertheless, objectivity should necessary be the ultimate goal of a journalist and he/she should strive to be objective at every beat.
What we have seen in the reportage of Karnataka violence is a subjective approach by many reporters, increasingly adding subtle comments to their reports. There was this lady of a news channel. After covering the Mangalore incident on one of those days, she added an unsolicited comment, ‘Unless there is serious rethinking on conversion, such incidents can only repeat,’ (or to that effect). First of all, has she to add her ‘wise’ comments in a report that is so sensitive? Secondly, who has given her the authority to evaluate constitutional rights? Thirdly, has someone told her that such violence will continue? Or is she just making an assumption? Is she aware that a communal force viewing her ‘report’ could get carried away? This was not only poor reporting; it was irresponsible and disgusting, to say the least.
Swapandas Gupta of the Times of India has a strong BJP allegiance, which everybody knows. But at least as a journalist he has the moral obligation to commit himself first to good journalism. However, he had no qualms in wholeheartedly endorsing Modi, even when the whole nation knows that it was because of him that three thousand Muslims were lynched in Gujarat. Journalism is just getting murkier.
Channels and newspapers were full of such stuff, though they did give a wide coverage to communal turmoil in the country. It is not news today to know that communal elements are increasingly spreading their tentacles within the newsroom. This development is mainly due to the fact that people from lower strata of society and the minority communities are either not getting into journalism or they are not given freedom to do objective reporting. We do require many more journalists from these communities in today’s media. One cannot expect a dominant class to be objective, especially when it comes to issues of dalits and minorities. We need more dalits and those from minority communities to do that.

The price of communal politics

2008-09-20T23:30:00.001-07:00

The pattern is continuing. First it was Gujarat in 2002. Madhya Pradesh and Orissa followed suit. Now the State sponsored violence has come to Karnataka. One does not require great reasoning to make sense of the developments. Various statements that our ‘great’ leaders are making are a good-enough proof to illustrate the point.
The Bhajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishat and the RSS do not need any reason to carry out their hate campaign against minorities. For sometime, it was Muslims. Just now Muslims are given a break. Christians have obviously become their bête noir. Who knows? Once they are fed up with Christians, they may go to Dalits. (In fact, Dalits have long been their target anyway.) Fascists basically thrive on annihilating everyone else, except themselves. What they do not realise is what they will do when everyone is gone!
Coming to ‘conversion’ – an age old issue. In fact, this is not an issue for debate at all, even if the BJP claims it as important. The Constitution of India has clarified it quite clearly (A 25). So how can the Bhajrang Dal assume responsibility to be the custodian of anti-conversion process? How can a bunch of hooligans represent an entire Hindu religion, which in fact, is an umbrella religion, and which has a rich tradition of being a tolerant religion? One does not require a scientific analysis to judge the hidden, but political, agenda of the BJP.
The media have indeed given quite a bit of coverage to the hate campaign in the State. However, what media have rather failed to understand is the clear and pretty open political motifs behind the violence. The sole purpose of such aggressive and systematic violence against Christians is merely to communalise regions and communities and polarise voters on the basis of divisive politics, to be able to garner enough votes in the coming elections.
Barring a couple of newspapers, no media institution has given space and time to go behind the developments and bring out the truth. This may be either because they are scared or they do not care. Further, whatever coverage they have given looks stereotyped, with a couple of news channels even subscribing to the false allegation of the issue of conversion. What many newspapers and channels have failed to observe and strongly condemn is the fact that these attacks on Christians have been unleashed with the total support and encouragement of the ruling party. It is only because of this that the State chief of the Bhajrang Dal, Pramod Kumar, has the audacity to claim responsibility publicly and even encourage such violence, caring a hoot to the secular fabric of our Constitution, much less the legal system.
Again, after a few days media institutions will forget the whole issue, without carrying out a meaningful debate on the malicious, divisive politics of the State government. Media, in the long run, will, of course, be held responsible for not creating a meaningful and all-important public opinion on communal politics and brining about awareness among the public.

Channels have forgotten Orissa

2008-09-05T04:57:00.000-07:00

Great writer Mark Twain was the one who said, “In the real world, nothing happens at the right place at the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct that.”
But the question is, are the journalists seriously engaged in this social responsibility entrusted upon them by their very profession?
Take for example the Orissa episode. It has been nearly 15 days since the communal violence broke out in Kanadhmal and neighbouring districts of Orissa. And there are no signs of the violence coming to an end. Sporadic violence, burning of churches and houses is continuing unabated. According to a report, over 50,000 people, mostly tribals and dalits, are still hiding in the jungles, deeply scared to come out, fearing insecurity. The question is, even if they come out where will they go? Their houses are burnt to ashes. With houses their faith in the authorities, the government officials and the police is also shaken. So they seem to find nowhere to go.
It is indeed a mystery why the State is taking such a long time to address the situation head on. The Supreme Court had to order the State machinery to act, to be tough on those who disrupt law and order situation in the State and give protection to the minorities. Still the State seems to be going very slow, even as it is speaking ‘tough’.
Coming to the point, the Orissa violence seems to have suddenly disappeared from the media, especially the electronic media. Last four days the leading channels of the country had nothing to report on Orissa during prime time news bulletin. One got an impression that the situation in the State had come to normalcy. But sadly, that was not the case. News coming from ground zero said that the violence was still looming large and the situation was tense. But channels said nothing. This is a very sad development of modern mass media. Reporting is also about doing the follow up. No channel seemed to be serious in doing that. For a couple of days the channels did report from places most hit by violence. Then, of course, they were silent. One frantically searched the internet to see what was happening.
The newspapers did have some courtesy reporting to do every day, but buried in the inner pages, drawing less attention.
Indeed one becomes suspicious about the whole development in the media circles. Why is that even when things are not going right, they have nothing, or hardly anything, to say about such a grim reality as the threat to the secular fabric of our country? Is it because they are afraid? Or they do not care? Or is it because they think this is nothing unusual and that they have ‘better’ developments to cover?
At least the media have miserably failed in making the State accountable to the failure of law and order situation. The Navin Patnaik government is treading as though everything was normal. They are more concentrated on the coming elections and keen to exploit the volatile situation. In the real world, it is true that nothing is happening at the right place and at the right time. Sadly, though, the journalists and the media institutions are also scantly bothered to correct it. May be because, nothing right is happening for them these days.

Orissa violence, a threat to secularism

2008-08-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

Christens have been targeted by communal forces in the State of Orissa like never before. One fails to understand how fundamentalists can stoop to such animalistic levels of barbarism perpetrating so much violence on innocent civilians – mostly tribals and poor villagers. Has humanity lost all its sense of judgement and discretion, one wonders. Fundamentalists in Orissa are just proving to be what famous political philosopher Thomas Hobbes termed the human being as: savage, barbaric and cruel.
For the media, of course, these are hay days. There is so much to cover and so little time and space. Jammu and Kashmir is burning, Bihar is flooded and now Orissa is communally divided. But ‘plenty’ can upset the balance at times. That is exactly what has happened if one closely follows the media coverage.
One might claim that the communal violence in Orissa is an attack on a minority community. Such a feeling is true to a certain extent. But I think it is much more than that. It is an assault on the secular and plural constitutional values of India. The violence is a symbolic of the intolerant and sinister designs of communal forces to perpetuate communal hatred among gullible people, thus seriously tarnishing the identity of a democratic country. In no way can such attacks be justified and perpetrators’ actions condoned. There is an agonising sense of insecurity and fear among minorities across States and one really wonders if the State is bearing any responsibility.
The Orissa developments have received quite a bit of coverage across media – both print and electronic. While some newspapers highlighted the violence on front pages, others treated it in the inner pages. Several dailies carried editorials condemning the attack on minorities. Such a stand of the print media was heartening.
Across electronic media, though, there was palpable lack of priority amply displayed. One news channel gave it a third priority in its prime-time news bulletin. JK hostage crisis received as much as 10-minute coverage, while Orissa violence less than three minutes. (Perhaps there was greater ‘news value’ in JK). In terms of importance and urgency, Orissa communal clashes should have received better coverage, as secularism was at stake.
Moreover, electronic media reporters looked cynical in their approach. There was this anchor who asked Fr Babu Joseph, CBCI spokesperson, whether closing down of educational institutions would not incite further violence. He called the closing of institutions as ‘unfortunate’. What is so unfortunate about a silent protest is indeed a mystery. Further, can mindless violence for any reason justified is for anyone to decide.
Priority, sadly, does not appear as a news value in Journalism books on news values. It is high time that we included it, so that the future media professionals learn to prioritise issues and send right messages among readers and viewers.

Abhinav strikes gold and media glitters

2008-08-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

So finally India has won a gold medal in Olympics. The whole country is in such a jubilant mood that hardly anyone noticed India’s series loss to Sri Lanka in cricket. The gold that Abhinav Bindra has won has not only created history but has turned the mood of the country. At least for the time being, people, including Abhinav’s parents are not complaining about India’s dismal training facilities and politics in sports. All are celebrating India’s first ever individual gold in Olympics.
As expected, media went berserk giving more than due importance to the event. There were copious reports and photographs dotting the front pages of most newspapers with dramatic layouts and designs. Most news channels covered the event the whole day and more. Most part of the prime time news was devoted to Abhinav, with reports of his hard training, state-of-the-art facilities provided to him by his father, the unassuming nature of the gold medalist himself and so on.
Why not? Media were doing the right thing. Even if they were going overboard, for the time being, at least, they could definitely be excused. No one is really complaining about the media this time, as every one wants to know about Abhinav.
Granted that media normally are falls in love with winners. Losers have very little space and time devoted to them. Even that can be accepted as well. But it is sad and a difficult matter to accept that media do not have space and time even for the fighters. It is only now, after he has won the gold that the whole country has come to know who Bindra is. It is only now that we know the efforts that he has put in. Media had no time or space to tell us the fighting sprit in such people.
Winning or losing is part of the game. But what makes the difference is the fighting sprit of the athletes, the hard work that they put in and the amount of sacrifices they make. Such efforts sure have to be given their due place by the media. It is only through such ways that the younger generation can be inspired and motivated. Sadly, media do this only for the winners. Losers and fighters are rarely noticed by them. No wonder, India Today magazine once made a rather ‘candid’ acknowledgement as regards its inability to put Vishwanathan Anand on their covers when he failed to win the World Chess Championship. The editor said, “Only winners make covers”. Perhaps Anand took serious notice of that statement. The very next year he won the same championship in style and he was on India Today’s covers. When fighters also make covers India can expect more medals in the years to come.

Bombs and media blast

2008-08-04T10:58:00.001-07:00

Last week was a week of panic and terror for the whole country. There seemed to be bombs everywhere. Suddenly people felt they were not safe anywhere. Bombs exploded in buses, bus-shelters, near shopping malls, in parks and, sadly, even in hospitals. So which was the safe place? No place was safe, no one was safe. That was the message picked up by the people after the bomb blasts occurred in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
Media were, as usual, agog with wide coverage of the twin blasts. News channels had no other news, except the terror news in two states, for several days. Further, they were also quick to make equations and draw conclusions on the pattern of terror – that it happened only in BJP-ruled states. So a high alert was sounded by the Media, to start with. Accordingly, other BJP-ruled states went dizzy beefing up security measures.
Such equations seemed far too pre-matured. In fact, the two blasts that happened may not have had any immediate connection with each other. When all attention is concentrated somewhere else, terrorists have their job easy. That is how the strategy may have worked.
But there was another issue; that was media’s carelessness exposed abundantly those days. On the first day most channels were in a way responsible in creating panic among people by airing all the while only the blasts in Bangalore. They had no other news. Though the blasts were of low intensity, the channels made them look really serious and enormous. Because they aired only that news, the whole city was in panic. Everything came to a standstill, at least for sometime, when terror struck Bangalore.
The next day, however, when there were blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore was totally forgotten, left to fend for itself. Channels spared not even a few minutes doing a follow up. That was not their concern, at least on that day, as they had a bigger pie to savour. It is unfortunate; but it is a fact that media always look for stories to ‘appease’ their audience and keep themselves afloat in the market of cutthroat competition. In the bargain, of course, audience is left to wonder at the media dynamics that are at work.
A couple of days later, however, channels came up showing the resilience of the people of both cities. They had high praise for these people. They said that in general people in all metros were highly resilient. What else can those people do? Can they lock themselves inside their houses for days? Life in a metro is tough for common people. Unless they work hard everyday they have to worry about their next meal. Media may call it resilience; but people would rather term it their fate; their daily struggle.

The deal and the ‘deal’

2008-07-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

The nuclear deal is not only causing tremors in government circles, it is also having its aftereffects on the media as well. Expectedly, most media organisations have stopped discussing anything else except the ‘deal’. Hence channel after channel is inviting the same leaders to discus, debate and fight it out (literally).
We sometimes fail to understand as to why several channels are fond only a few politicians. Abhishek Singhvi (Congress), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP), Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP), A. Raja (CPI), Jayanti Natarajan (Congress), Shahid Siddiqui (formerly SP, now BSP) are all favourite of many a channel. But there is no guessing. Their oratory and argumentative skills apart, these leaders can argue their cases well, even against their convictions. A classical case was that of Shahid Siddiqui. He defended the deal tooth and nail in several news channels, only to oppose it a few days later. He thus went to the extent of deserting the party by joining hands with BSP.
Channels like NDTV and Times Now know very well that whenever there is Pratap Rudy, the debate heats up. Rudy is known for his abrasive acumen, where he lacks immensely the decency to allow others to speak. He can argue his case only with certain concocted ‘facts’ which he can present with utmost rhetoric. He further has the uncanny knack to silence the opponent with his curt but illogical remarks. His very presence can stimulate heated discussions, simply because he speaks more from the pigment of his imagination. And with another argumentative Indian like Abhishek Singhvi around the place, there is assurance of sensational debates – whether they are worth all the time and money is a further debatable issue.
So here are media institutions, falling head over heels to urge leaders to come to their studios to discuss the deal. No one, of course, is introspecting as to the ultimate usefulness of such an important debate. That the media, in general, are in favour of the deal is a fact well known. But brining in leaders with vitriolic oratory can add up rich dividends in terms of advertisements and TRP ratings. So no channel wants to forego the ‘deal’ with politicians.
Meantime audience, of course, is fed up seeing the same faces time and again, listening to same arguments from more or less the same people. The issue is the same; unfortunately, those debating the issue also are the same. What does the common man feel about the whole debate, we hardly know. I think to know that we need to wait for the next elections, which may be just round the corner.

Reality show is not so real

2008-07-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is indeed a wonder and a mystery as to how these kids are able to withstand so much pressure of this modern cruel world of reality shows. Children are made to behave like adults. They are asked to perform like adults by the show-men (and women, of course). In the bargain precious childhood which is supposed to be so much fun is lost for good.

The 16-year old Shinjini Sengupta is just one of such many teenagers who today are lured by their parents and relatives into becoming celebrities. She was allegedly reprimanded for poor dance by one of the judges of a reality show hosted by a Bengali channel for . Consequently she fell ill, taking the remarks seriously. They have affected her psychologically.
Shinjini may not even have had any freedom to say a firm ‘No’ to the demands. Perhaps, she was made to believe that becoming a celebrity at her age was the best thing that could have happened to her. So she was caught in the trap of illusions and over-ambitions even before she could realise. Now it is a bit too late to introspect as she is battling for her life in the NIMHANS hospital, Bangalore.
There is nothing real about reality shows that every channel is airing at will these days. Reality show is another name for making life miserable. We know what had happened to Shipla Shetty in UK. Some might call it racism; but it is much more than that. Reality shows, in general, demand that you be a superhuman, possessing extra thick skin and a strong heart to be free of any emotions and feelings. To be more precise, I do not think the demands of reality shows are fair enough for ordinary mortals, especially children.
Indian channels are famous for doing a copy-cat of Western channels, especially of USA and UK. There seems to be very little original in terms of programming and creativity. Any show that gains popularity in the West is immediately re-made in Indian channels. ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ ‘Are you smarter than a 5th grader’ are some of the many reality shows that have been ‘lifted’ into Indian channels. In the last few years there have been sporadic increase in the number of dancing and music reality shows on many entertainment channels. Many of them are children-centred and have become popular, but at a very costly price.
It is a big question whether children have the wherewithal to withstand the demands of their studies on the one hand and the reality show on the other. Shinjini’s case has grabbed media attention because she has been affected psychologically and physically; but media do not report anything about all those scores of children who are silently suffering the demands and over-ambitions of their parents who cajole them to become ‘famous’. We also do not get to know what happens to their studies and their childhood owing to reality shows. Media are too busy with trivial things that they have little time to address these issues. The ‘shows’ will continue unhindered until another Shinjini falls prey and then media will wake up, at least for a while.

The glamour of price rise

2008-06-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

There have been several major issues that have taken place during the last few months over which the Government had very little control. The whopping inflation though was mainly due to the hike in petrol and diesel prices, was a global phenomenon. The impasse of Indo-American Nuclear Deal was due to because of the unrelenting behaviour of the Left parties.
Take for example the rise in crude oil prices; it was an international development and was caused by the stalemate between OPEC and the developed countries, USA in particular. It was a foregone conclusion that with fuel prices going up, prices of most commodities too would rise, as transport takes a toll on both retail and wholesale pricing. So what could the Government really do?
The Media, however, showed scant sympathy for the Government. They made it look like a political issue, having hardly anything to do with bad economics. The Media instantly began talking about the impending general elections instead of suggesting ways and means to curb the price rise and the inflation. Electronic media gave graphic presentations of how price rise had put pressures on common man and woman. So the camera tilted and panned in the kitchen presenting close up shots of less pappads and puris being fried in the boiling oil. But common man and woman for the media were those living in sky-rise apartments and bungalows and not people living in subways and slums.
Thus, we got very little to know as to how the price rise had affected over 30 per cent of people living with one dollar a day. Or, has it affected them at all? They were in penury anyway. So there was hardly any ‘glamour’ in focusing on the misery already existing. There was better ‘sense’ in brining apartments on to TV screens, as that is where you will find most commodities whose prices have risen steeply – LPG, edible oil and basmati rice – and not in god-forsaken villages where they are a rarity. Villages do not have cable connection. So news channels do not find the ‘usefulness’ of rural coverage as that will not fetch them TRP ratings.
One TV channel, though, said that the poor were not really affected as prices of essential commodities such as some vegetables, daal and some other pulses had, in fact, come down. That was indeed a grave misconception. The most essential commodities for the poor are rice, wheat and millet whose prices have gone up by over 15 per cent in the last one year. Perhaps there is some glamour in distorting reality and make it look normal or more than satisfactory. Remember India Shining?

Dying for media glare

2008-06-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Two unnatural deaths – one a murder, the other a suicide – rocked the media in the last one month. Not all murders and suicides attract media attention. Hundreds of farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra in the last few years and the media have rendered minimum attention to them. But Arushi Talwar’s murder in Noida and Karnataka MLA Raghupati Bhat’s wife Padmapriya’s suicide in a Delhi Apartment grabbed far too much media glare.
Media thrives on crime and sensational stories. They have, unfortunately, become the staple of media institutions. In fact, many of them thrive on such stories; and when there aren’t any happening, media have no qualms in creating something sensational out of nothing.
It is over a month since the murder of Arushi Talwar took place. But the whole episode refuses to cool down - at least in the media. There was not a single day since that fateful occurrence when news channels did not telecast some ‘twist’ and given some different ‘angle’ to the story. A couple of channels even crossed the limit by conducting their own hypothetical investigations, putting the police into ‘shame’. One channel conducted an interview with Nupur Talwar, mother of Arushi. The anchor grilled her into making some controversial statements, but to no avail.
Solving murder mysteries these days seem to be a Herculean task for the police department and the CBI. The media are making their job that much tougher by following them everywhere to get some ‘bytes’. In the bargain the whole issue becomes more complex than they can ever imagine. But for the overemphasis and the sensational twist given by the media, the police would have at least reached somewhere. Now they are only groping with lose ends.
Another difficulty is that everyone, including the police, wants to be in the limelight these days. Hence for the police speaking to the media has become a prestigious and worthwhile affair. So the audience listens to a different story from different officials appearing on TV.
That is exactly what happened in Padmapriya’s suicide case. While the police and the Home Minister said she was somewhere in Kolar and would be brought back to Udupi soon, she was found dead in Delhi the next day (15th June). After this, the Home Minister, Mr Acharya struck a totally different pose before the media, observing that Ms Padmapriya’s whereabouts were kept secret for security reasons. Unfortunately, though, such security reasons were not of much use as they could not save the life of Padmapriya. In the meantime the whole issue thus was blown out of proportion by the media, mainly because there were far too many unanswered questions.
Both these crime stories attracted media attention for different reasons. However, the media converted them into glamour and sensation, giving scant respect for the sentiments of the close relatives of the deceased. It is true that emotions and reportage do not go together as the media are supposed to be ‘objective’; but the media, especially the electronic media, can at least allow the police and those responsible to carry out their responsibility with ease so that mysteries are solved and tranquility is arrived at.

Freedom of siege

2008-06-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

It was C. P. Scott who said, “Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” Unfortunately, though, what he has not said is whether it is safe to state the facts and how free one is to voice his/her comments.
The recent attack on the house of the resident editor of Loksatta, a Marathi daily, by Shivasangram sainiks raises many such questions. What was Kumar Ketkar’s sin? An editorial that he wrote criticising the Maharashtra government’s move to construct a 309-ft statue off Marine Drive in Mumbai. And the attackers, it is alleged, has strong connections with Nationalist Congress Party.
Freedom of speech has been guaranteed to every citizen by the State’s constitutions. But the reality seems just the opposite. Though the Constitutions guarantee freedom of speech, the State, on its part, seems to be unwilling to guarantee the same to anyone who opposes or criticises its fanciful projects. Recently Ahmedabad police filed a case of sedition against the resident editor of Times of India and a reporter and photographer of another daily. Their crime was that they had carried an article criticising the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner. Such incidents only corroborate the State’s refusal to ensure freedom of speech to everyone, including those who need it the most, the journalists and the media practitioners who are supposed to be the watchdog of the State.
Coming back to the issue: What was wrong with Mr Ketkar’s comments? Is it not ridiculous that the government has crores of rupees to spend on a whimsical project and no money to give as subsidies or as support price for the produce of the distressing Vidarbha farmers? The region has the dubious distinction of having one of the largest suicide rates in the whole country. According to a survey, every eight hours a farmer commits suicide in that region (DNA Aug 24, 2006). Nearly 30,000 farmers have ended their lives in the whole of Maharashtra between 1997 and 2005. (The Hindu Nov 14, 2007). Even after the Central Government’s loan waiver scheme to the tune of over 60,000 crore rupees during this year’s Budget, the rate of suicides does not seem to come down in that region just like the rate of inflation these days.
Helping the Vidarbha region farmers may not win the government many votes; but appeasing the cultural sentiments of the larger Marathi population will definitely bring them greater dividends in terms of votes and popularity, especially as the state is going for polls next year. Hence, Shivaji, the great Marathi warrior, unfortunately, has been made a scapegoat.
Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it.” The State needs to realise this and defend citizens’ right to expression and not terrorise them for being critical.

2008-06-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

The Pug as the Alternative

One little girl and a pug! Both small – but make a great pair. The pug is ‘ready to help’ – anytime. It searches her lost sock. It helps her in fishing. The girl seems to forget many things. But no problem! The pug is there to redeem her memory, that is. It even catches up with the school van.
The pug in Vodafone advertisements (earlier Hutch) has succeeded in catching the fancy of the consumers. There are reports that the breed has become one of the most sought-after pets. Most people did not even know the breed existed before the ads were launched. Now everyone associates the pug with the brand. The breed is almost patented.
Very many questions crop up even as we watch the creative pug-girl-combination ads. You see only the two of them – mostly. No trace of the girl’s parents or siblings. She seems to be all alone in the house. Where are the others? Have they gone on a holiday leaving the girl ‘home alone’ to fend for herself with the ‘ready to help’ canine? Have they abandoned her or something? Or do they have such a great faith in the pug? Where are they?
It may appear like reading too much into the ads; but that seems to be the message: ‘You buy our product (read Vodafone network) and you can be independent. You can even do away with what you hitherto thought as the most essential in life. Our product has it all. It will cater to all your needs, including parenting. So don’t you worry!’
Every advertisement is persuasive. That is why it is called advertisement. But today ads are going beyond their ordinary purview of persuasion. They are cajoling consumers with a new brand of values. They are asking them to be independent. Individualism is glorified. You are made to feel that being independent is the next best thing that can happen to you.
The little girl in the Vodafone ad seems to be comfortable and happy-go-lucky in the company of the pug (the network, that is!). She does not seem to miss her parents or siblings. She is all alone in the house and she is at ease, going about doing her work in the company of the ‘ready to help’ saviour. So the network is the 'formidable' replacement for parents. Hence when you have the network you do not need parents and other people. Sounds cynical? But the harmless pug does not come across cynical at all. He (or is it she?) is as caring, if not more, than any parents.
The message driven home is definitely not as pleasing as the creativity and the imagination that has gone behind the creation of the ads. One may say ads are not to be taken seriously. If it was true there should have been less of them in the media. Media are full of ads and the space and the time they occupy are just increasing by the day. That means ads are taken ‘seriously’, in the sense that none till date has denied the effect they have on the subconscious of gullible mortals, especially the children.
So the pug in the Vodafone ads is as lovable as it is disturbing!
- Melwyn Pinto SJ
melwynsj@jesuits.net