Daily Archives for May 22, 2012

Shekhar Gupta should be “more tolerant about what was written and drawn about them”

Aakar Patel, a director of Hill Road Media & a former newspaper editor, having worked with the Bhaskar Group and Mid Day Multimedia Ltd. writes in his column titled ‘Why Shekhar Gupta is right to be angry, but wrong to sue’ in Firstpost:

My friend Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of Indian Express wants Rs 100 crore from another editor-in-chief, Outlook’s Vinod Mehta.

Gupta claims he was defamed by Mehta, who said in an interview to Open magazine that an Express report published earlier this year was “the mother of all mistakes” and specifically written to damage India’s army chief VK Singh. This is the background to Vinod Mehta’s comments.

The report carried Gupta’s own byline, which was unusual. It claimed the Indian government was “spooked” when it learnt on 16 January that certain army units were moving towards Delhi on the same night as the Supreme Court was hearing a petition by the army chief on his age.

….But this was brushed off and the Indian Express was attacked as being irresponsible. I don’t think that charge is true, and I rate the Express under Gupta as one of India’s three best newspapers.

….What puzzles me is why he is also suing the magazine which carried Vinod Mehta’s interview. There a reporter and editor did their job fairly and accurately. The reporter Hartosh Singh Bal doesn’t egg Mehta on, he is balanced and questions whether it’s fair to say what he does.

Also, quite funnily, Gupta sent his legal notice in the same week his newspaper lectured parliamentarians on being more tolerant about what was written and drawn about them.

I think Gupta was hurt by the collective accusation against him and his paper and reacted angrily to Mehta’s comments, which I accept were unfair and extreme.

I hope Gupta takes no further action on the notice and does what he excels at: editing India’s only reporter-run newspaper.

Read the full column: ‘Why Shekhar Gupta is right to be angry, but wrong to sue’ in Firstpost

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Punsri (Modiland), an example for the self sustainability in India

Punsri, a motley village in Himmatnagar, talks about wi-fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in air-conditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras.

Gujarat, it seems is gaining a popularity day by day and becoming role model for other states in India. Gujarat, also addressed as “Modiland” in western world now, rather seems to be no more a part of India, for many heads of the nation. A delegation from Kenya led by Vice-President for Kenya is coming to visit a village- PUNSRI on 24th May, a village, Taloda taluka near Himmatnagar around 50 kms from Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat. This village is an example for the self sustainability for all the villages!!! A true role model…

Punsri, has an incredible story to say, which may sounds like fairy tale. An Oasis in the Desert. It should make us belief in what good governance can do. Think of an Indian village and what comes to mind are images of mooing cows, open drains and children playing ants and frog games. But, Punsri, a motley village in Himmatnagar, talks about wi-fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in air-conditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras. The village also boasts of its own mini-bus transport system and there are 25-odd CCTVs located on important junctions to spot litterbugs.

Its clearly a model of ideal utilization of funds without any scams.The actual granted amount reaches to the bottom. Its the real indian dream.We have some other model villagese.g. Ralegan Siddhi which is a self sustained village and crime free.

Many such villages in Gujarat have developed by using Govt grant /subsidy for the developmental work. Even private Trusts are equally participating good public work. Many villages are self sustained.

If you think Punsri is drenched in NRI funds, think again. Not a single rupee has come from across the seven seas, instead the village managed its funds over the last five years that it received from central and state sponsored developmental schemes.

District development officer Ravi Arora says, “There is not a single family in Punsri which has an NRI family member. The village has just managed its accounts well and villagers here agreed on a co-operative approach to development.”

“The village panchayat pays an annual premium of Rs 25 lakh against insurance for each of the 6,000 villagers who have a cover of Rs 1 lakh and a mediclaim policy of Rs 25,000. Our schools have zero dropout rates, CCTV cameras in classrooms help us keep watch on teachers in classrooms. Our reverse osmosis plant supplies 20-litre pure water cans to houses for a token cost of Rs 4. These are bare essentials for a standard life today and why should our village be behind,” claims the village sarpanch Hemant Patel, 29.

The village panchayat had a capital of Rs 25,000 five years ago. Today, the deposits have soared to Rs 75 lakh. “The turn-around happened when we sold part of our grazing land as plotted schemes to various communities. The money is deposited in government coffers,” says Patel. The village received rewards from the central government and the state governments recently.

Identifying Gujarat as perhaps the best example of effective governance and impressive development in India, a Congressional report showered praise on the chief minister Narendra Modi and said that the state under him has become a key driver of national economic growth. Narendra Modi’s Gujarat best example of effective governance

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Hunger strike of Aseem Trivedi and Alok Dixit from Save Your Voice

On 11th April 2011 Government of India notified the new Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 in order to have a significant monitor and control over the vicarious web world. The act will allow government agencies to have access to each and every activity of ours on the internet. Let it be your facebook profiles, twitter accounts, blogs, YouTube, gtalk, Skype calls and even data stored via cloud computing, they can trace them all. If the government finds something obscene on the ministers or disagree on few issues, they can shut down site or blog on its own. Basically the IT Act 2011 will lead to;-

1. Lead to a clamp down on the freedom of speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution of India by providing for a system of censorship/self-censorship by private parties;

2. Adversely affect the right to privacy of citizens by allowing Government agencies to access their information;

3. Will severely hamper the growth of internet penetration in India, and consequently lead to a slowdown of economic growth;

4. Limit the growth of various IT related industries and services (in particular cyber cafes, search engines and bloggers). Courtesy (Save your Voice).

The Protest

On 2nd May Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and Journalist Alok Dixit from ‘Save Your Voice‘ started open- ended hunger strike at Jantar Mantar to support the ANNULMENT MOTION against IT Rules-2011 in the Rajya Sabha.

It started with the Anna Hazare agitation against corruption; he went on “fast” from 27th December, and cartoonist Aseem went all the way to Mumbai from Kanpur to attend. He made few cartoons which were later on published in Hindustan Times and Prahar a leading Marathi newspaper. And the next day his sitecartoonsagainstcorruption.com where he uploaded the same poster was shut down by Mumbai police on a complaint being filed by the local Congress leader. After checking up with the lawyers he found that the action taken by the police official is not covered in the IT Act.

So, Aseem and Alok decided to take an action and started protesting against the various loopholes and freedom of speech held by IT Act 2011 in the gandhian or Anna way by fasting. The protest was started quite peacefully and they gathered support from a Rajya Sabha MP, Sh. P. Rajeev., and theatre personality Arvind Gaur, Director of Asmita Theatre (New Delhi) and other associates.

The protest was gaining momentum and on 6th may the duo decided to quit water as well. But later in the evening Delhi Police came on spot and on their persuasion, Aseem and Alok were admitted in Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. However, they are adamant to continue the protest.

Recently Mamta Banerjee got Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra behind the bars for making cartoons on her! Most of us were shocked on this lame news, but if the IT Act 2011 gets approved than people like Ambikesh will lose their voice and there can be a monarchy similar to Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s regime where only a government run channel was allowed to show what PM wants to show.

However, there has been an increasing need for an IT regulation, as Cyber crimes are increasing at an alarming rate, Pornography is highly accessible, Piracy has been adding new channels and the worst part is Terrorism is make a full use of social networking sites leading to high risk for the country. But the current Act is of severe loopholes, which can lead to an adverse effect on the freedom of speech and expression provided by the World Wide Web.

Courtesy:  Madhav Gupta & Youth Ki Awaaz

Aamir Khan’s “moral” marriage code of conduct

Bollywood’s ” aam aadmi” (ordinary man) Aamir Khan writes in his column titled ‘ It’s your entire life — not just an event’, in The Hindu about his thoughts on marriage:

Second time lucky in love!- Aamir Khan, who divorced first wife Reena Dutta after 15 years of marriage, fell in love with Kiran Rao during the shooting of Lagaan and married her. (photo courtesy: Hindustan Times)

Let’s give marriage the importance it deserves — in every sense, financial, emotional, mental.

Marriage is a terribly important part of life. It’s a partnership you form, a companion you choose, hopefully for the rest of your life. Someone who helps you, who supports you and vice versa. The way we view marriage and the way we approach it determines how our life could end up being.

Today, I want to largely address youngsters, because most of you who are older are already married and for better or worse have already made your choices.

….Should you agree to spend the rest of your life with someone just because he/she carries an attractive label such as IIT or MBBS? Is one marrying the person or the label? Shared interests, like-mindedness, companionship, shared sensibility, sense of humour — shouldn’t all this matter?

….Instead of spending all that money on the wedding day, why not decide to take the amount set aside for the girl’s wedding and give it to her to use to kick-start her new life with her spouse? Instead of that lavish function, why not just have a simple, sharbatwedding and give the girl the money instead? It will be so useful for her life? I believe sharbat weddings are a great idea. Call as many people as you desire, serve them a soft drink and say thank you for coming and for blessing the newlyweds.

Have fun. Enjoy the day. Make merry. But with simplicity.

…And please take your time over that decision. Understand, probe, check, go deep. The better you do this, the happier life is likely to be. Take the step of marrying only when you are fully satisfied about the character and temperament of the person you are marrying.

…. Should we not invest in our daughter’s education instead of saving up for her dowry? Make her so accomplished and independent that she is capable of crafting her own future, and becomes the master of her own happiness. Then she won’t need a greedy, useless groom to complete her life. Let her marry a person who respects her. Let her marry a man who she believes is worthy of her. Whom she is happy to spend the rest of her life with. 

Read the full article:  ‘ It’s your entire life — not just an event’, in The Hindu

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Mamatamayee: a worthy psychological case-study

Abhirup Bhunia writes an electrifying piece, “Didi, The Eccentric, Paranoid, Conspiracy Theorist”  in Youth Ki Awaaz

Cartoon courtesy: surendran & The Hindu

Having conquered the erstwhile Marxist citadel riding on heavy anti-incumbency, she has since tended to put an attitude of indomitability. But deep within lie a sense of insecurity and a fear that she might be unseated. She fears tough questions. She doesn’t like her shortcomings being pointed out to her. Critics unsettle her.

All the same, she has an even worse propensity to fly her own kite and go on about how it is her 1 year at the helm that saw the best of Bengal.

Typically, politics is dirty, and much so in India. It is about mudslinging, arguments and counter arguments.  But Mamata can be solely charged with disfiguring the rhetoric. Her tirade against CPM and anything distantly CPM like is ugly, fearsome. Not since independence has Bengal seen a more overbearing state. Badmouthing is all the rage in Mamata’s Bengal. And it is mostly the ruling party.

Mamata’s illogical statements and bizarre justifications have citizens worried. Her censorship tales are common knowledge. Arbitrary arrests under her rule on the one side and discretionary release of jailed partymen on the other side add up to a depressing incongruity.

Her hatred for CPM is understandable, not that it is allowed in democracy. But what’s downright intolerable is her labelling of all people as CPM’s agent who question her tenure, criticise her government’s functioning or point out the severe anomalies among her party and her cabinet.

And it so happened at a recent people show at a TV channel when university students gathered to engage in a Q&A session moderated by the channel’s senior editor. What ensued was absurd, deplorable and literally slanderous. Mamata went on to directly allege the students rightly critical of her government of being “Maoists”, “CPM cadre”, SFI members and everything anti-TMC. She wildly asserted that the audience was selected from an ultra-Leftist student block.  Clearly, it’s the same old conspiracy theory that Mamata resorted to. Bengal has heard this before. The nation has. Mamata has to get over her paranoia, stop seeing conspiracies everywhere, bite the bullet, and finally broaden her mind up.

And if she gets the time, she should start fearing the lull in Bengal. The storm might not be too far away.

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Media: India’s most relevant & excellent bilingual national journal from Kerala scribes

Media, a bilingual monthly journal of Kerala Press Academy, in it’s May issue has published some impressive, enlightening, interesting, most relevant,  and outstanding & excellent articles on Media, a media person’s flashback, film journalism in India, a feature on ‘Hum Log’ the first family soap on Indian Television, Book Reviews and lot more.

It is probably one of the most ‘content rich’ publication in present times, and affordable price wise too with an annual subscription of only Rs. 1000.. sorry 😦  , Rs. 100 only. Can you imagine a “priceless” magazine @Rs. 10/- per month !!!

A bilingual monthly journal of the Kerala Press Academy Media, was released recently by CPI(M) ideologue P. Govinda Pillai. Pillai released the journal by handing over a copy to Kerala Sahitya Akademi president Perumbadavam Sreedharan. Kerala Press Academy chairman N.P. Rajendran is the Editor of the magazine..

Some of the highlights of the features published in the May 2012 issue of MEDIA are as follows:

Media and credibility – T J S George: 
I personally have no doubt that in the end, India will come out of its present phase of corruption and emerge as a healthy and prosperous nation. Journalism will re-discover its destiny as a noble public service. The present may be bad, but the future will be good. We have to know the weaknesses of today, in order to build up the strengths of tomorrow. It is in that spirit that I examine the loss of credibility of today’s media…. Because the Times of India began making more profits than any other media group in the country, the ideas of Times of India found acceptance among other media owners. That explains why we no longer have Chintamanis and Pothan Josephs and Chalapathi Raus. What we have today is news as entertainment – journalistic variations of Vidya Balan playing Dirty Picture…… Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia’s telephone conversations revealed some frightening facts – how cabinet appointments and policy decisions could be manipulated by fixers in Delhi. Among these fixers, to our surprise, were stars of journalism. How can journalism have credibility if even its famous practitioners are doing underhand business in private?

This is the transcript of a speech by TJS. TJS is a veteran senior journalist and one of the best known columnists in India. He is currently the Editorial Advisor of The New Indian Express. TJS’ E-Mail: tjsoffice@newindianexpress.com

From Grub Street to grab street: A veteran journalist looks back at his life – P. P. Balachandran
“I am perhaps the only one or among the very few journalists who worked across the whole media rainbow –newspaper, magazine, wire service, radio and television, and the Web, both as a dependable staffer and as an undependable freelancer. Add to this the two magazines I started up, edited, and folded up.”…
Today, thirty-year olds are plying their spurious stuff as ‘Senior Editors’ from the same offices where C.P. Ramachandran, an assistant editor, and his peers sat and wrote all those profound
editorials and think pieces. It is only appropriate here to recall one of C.P’s favourite quotations, this one credited to Roman emperor Titus Flavious, which he remembered whenever faced with a situation where mediocrity thrived at the cost of excellence. “Large souls languish in small places while mean souls lurk in large places.” His voice would carry a genuine pathos as he said it. 
If that was my first ever published piece – even before I became a fullblooded journalist – and in Mainstream, that also taught me my second lesson in journalism. Never be biased; and never write to please others. I can say with all honesty at my command that to this day I have tried
my best to uphold what I learnt from these two titans. Be right with your story and never be a court writer.

P. P. Balachandran is a Delhi-based senior journalist. This is an extract from his forthcoming book: A View From The Raisina Hill. His E-Mail: balacnambiar@gmail.com

Film Journalism in India – Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
Cinema has become an important part of Indian culture, besides being a huge industry worth about Rs 100 billion with increasing transnational operation. It warrants more responsible, serious, educative and productive journalism. Attempts are being made by the government, civil society groups like film societies and several trade bodies to promote better film journalism…. Barring few notable exceptions, Film Journalism in India has largely been non-serious and gross entertainment-focused. Information regarding films and gossip relating to the heroes and heroines has been the staple of film journalism…..Interesting advancements have been made with the progress of technology. Consider what Galatta Cinema, the print media initiative of South India’s movie portal Galatta.com has done. It was also the first to launch a mobile version on the iPhone, Android and Nokia app stores.

Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee, an author & a journalist turned media academician presently heads Eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) located in Dhenkanal, Odisha. His E-Mal: mrinaliimc@yahoo.in

HUM LOG celebrates its 30th birthday this year – Shoma A. Chatterji
Hum Log is the first commercially sponsored program in the history of Indian television. Hum Log’s popularity, and the increased sales of Maggi 2-Minute Noodles, the advertised product convinced many other advertisers to sponsor television programs. This led to an increase in locally produced television serials and encouraged
the Indian film industry to become more involved in television production….. But whose ‘development’ was the serial aiming it? If it was the development of women, then it was a self-defeating exercise because the women portrayals were heavily tinged with the politics of patriarchy. Research on the effects of Hum Log on Indian television viewers indicated that ethnicity, geographical residence, gender, and Hindi language fluency were significant determinants of beliefs about gender equality.

Shoma A. Chatterji is a freelance journalist, author and film scholar based in Kolkata. She has authored 17 books and contributed to many edited compilations on cinema, family and gender.

Silence kills democracy, but a free press talks – Umar Cheema
In its 64-year history, Pakistan has remained under non-consecutive army rule for 34-years. Even the quasidemocratic regimes were unhappy with the media. But the situation changed after the advent of electronic media as several print media veterans who faced earlier ordeals joined TV channels spreading their critical voices far and wide. In this setting, where 24/7 channels complement critical print media, mal-governance is certainly not an easy job for the government. Media is a harbinger of change in Pakistan, a development that has gone unnoticed in the external world. President Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf felt threatened by it for the first time when he sacked the Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2007, after the latter handed out verdicts against the former’s government. The media mobilized the people on this illegal sacking, turning it into a mass movement that culminated in the restoration of the top judges and liberating the judiciary from the clutches of the executive. The government’s attempt to close TV channels backfired. This struggle resulted in the formation of an independent judiciary.

Opinions about ‘MEDIA’

Congratulations on the launch of your magazine MEDIA and thank you for sharing the same with me. I found it extremely relevant and found the articles very interesting. I have also asked my library to subscribe the same for larger reading by my colleagues. My colleagues and I will be glad to contribute in this magazine and in your endeavours at Kerala Press Academy.Best wishes and regards

P. N. Vasanti; Director; Centre for Media Studies

“Media” seems interesting, Warmly,

B.G. Verghese; former editor, HT and IE; heads the Centre for Policy Research

Read the Media magazine. Excellent content. Wishing you all the best.

Shajan C. Kumar

This looks impressive.

Bindu Bhaskar; Asian College of Journalism Dean

Had a quick look – excellent effort. I especially liked the pictures you have used, not just on the cover but on almost every page. I will forward the copy to people I know. warm regards,

Sashi Nair; Editor, Vidura

Hats off to you! This is great. Let me take this chance also to assure you my full support to your endeavors at The Press Academy. I’m sharing this PDF magazine with my colleagues at WAN-IFRA.

V. Antony; WAN-IFRA

To subsribe MEDIA, please write to The Secretary, Kerala Press Academy, Kakkanad, Cochin – 682030, India, Tel: 91-484-2422275, Tele fax: 91-484-2422068, Email: media.kpa@gmail.com; mail@pressacademy.org website: http://pressacademy.org/
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Mamata Banerjee a spoilsport says a simple woman

Taniya Bhardwaj: I hold offers from the University College, London and the School of Oriental and African Studies to study development and administration. I too will probably leave, and now you know the reason why.

Taniya Bhardwaj a student of political science from Presidency University who was labelled as ‘Maoist’ by Mamata Banerjee on a news channel and became a centre of attraction, writes an open letter to CM:

Dear ‘Simple Man’,

On being asked a simple question, you acquired a complicated avatar. We all went to the CNN-IBN question-answer session on Friday, May 18, at the Town Hall expecting to hear some heated exchanges, but it got too hot to handle.

You, the most important person in West Bengal, labelled me and the rest of the audience ‘Maoist and CPM cadres’. What exactly did we do to deserve this honour? We asked you questions. I asked you whether affiliates of your party, specifically minister Madan Mitra and MP Arabul Islam, who wield power, should act, or should have acted, more responsibly.

Like many others, I was also greatly disturbed when Madan Mitra pronounced his own judgement on a rape victim before the police were done investigating. This woman, whose character was assassinated, is an Anglo-Indian, a member of the minority community. Thus, if we were to even forget about sensitivity, the question of political correctness still hangs over his conduct.

A few months ago, this very same man had misbehaved with policemen who had stopped his car on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass as part of its routine. As for the Arabul Islam case, it is still making headlines.

I asked you something that had been on the minds of most people around me, people who voted for ‘paribartan’ (change). Is this what we expect of our leaders? The ones who set examples and whom people follow. This is all that I wanted to know. What I got to know, instead, is that in West Bengal, asking a question can be the equivalent of being a Maoist.

‘Simple man’, you claimed with pride on stage that you’re not a feminist.

That proclamation did not surprise us, especially after the Katwa and Park Street cases. You also spoke of democracy. The answers you gave to the questions you took before mine were sprinkled with words like ‘people’, ‘democracy’, and ‘Bengal’.

But one of the most important features of a true democracy, which I have learnt as a student of political science, is freedom of expression. This freedom is the one that allows an individual to express oneself, to not have to mince words out of fear of authority. It involves enjoying a chuckle or two at cartoon about important public figures.

Sadly, there seems to be a gradual failure in this aspect of the democratic machinery in the state. And just like I won’t become a Maoist simply because you called me one, the state too won’t epitomize democracy unless it is truly so in all spheres. All said and done, what you did was in haste and it made me the centre of attention. And as you stomped off in fury, you automatically assumed the role of the spoilsport.

It would have been so much more ‘simple’ had you just answered my question, or even said “No comments” and moved on. The question became so important because you chose to make it important.

You have spoken of ‘brain drain’ so many times. I hold offers from the University College, London and the School of Oriental and African Studies to study development and administration. I too will probably leave, and now you know the reason why. Had you stayed on, it would have been fun. And you would have honestly been ‘a Chief Minister with a difference’. The role of your office as Chief Minister is to aggregate interest – you should at the least have heard us all out.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”. So said Abraham Lincoln.

Love

A Simple Woman – Taniya Bhardwaj

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