MEDIA PRESSURE AND JUDICIAL PROCESS

Access to information is essential in a democracy to enable its citizen to make responsible and informed choices. Free and unbiased media is an essential element that ensures the same.

Plethora of news channels vying with each other to sensationalise trivia in order to capture the lion's share of viewership in a fiercely competitive media market can at times be unhealthy. At the same time, media championing the cause of the weak, the poor and the aggrieved is always welcome. Two recent developments catch one's attention. First one being the DGP(Retd) Rathore case and the second, the Sukna Land Scam which involves cases against four top Indian Army Generals.

While in the former case, it is apparent that the DGP got away, way too lightly, ostensibly due to lacunae in the Penal Code wherein punishment for child molestation is disproportionately limited and not commensurate with the gravity of the offence. Media attention has now ensured that Mr Rathore cannot breathe easy for a long time to come, as a number of fresh charges are likely to be levelled against him including abetment of suicide. Fresh investigations by the CBI are in the offing as opposed to those by the state Police with whom, Mr Rathore being a former DGP could have had some clout.

In the latter case, however, media seems to have made a mountain of a molehill. Is the media attack on the Army Chief for being soft on his close aides justified? An NOC (No objection certificate) for some private construction was given........... big deal man................oh come off it folks, most of us don't even know, what an NOC is and what the implications of an NOC being issued are. Many a politician and other public servants have gotten away with far more. However that cannot be any justification for lenient action against men in uniform. Media reports suggest that the Court of Inquiry recommended dismissal of Lt Gen Awadhesh Prakash. How can a government officer be dismissed summarily, for heaven's sake. The only authority which can affect a dismissal to my knowledge is a court of law, whether military or otherwise. A court of inquiry has no locus
standi to recommend dismissal of an Army jawan, leave alone a General.

Obviously the media has got it wrong here. The men in uniform here are apparently paying a price for being just that, men in uniform (expected to be a cut above the rest in honesty and integrity). And I wonder why defence analysts and commentators are not bringing this out. Journalists must not only bring out the facts of the case, but it is also incumbent on them to give the viewers and readers the correct perspective. And that in this particular case does not appear to be happening. Yes a number of cases of corruption have surfaced against Armed Forces personnel, but to be fair, they have all been dealt with swiftly and judiciously.

The judicial process, ideally cannot and should not be swayed or affected by media pressure.

FAREWELL 2009 WELCOME 2010

It is the first day of the year. Almost seems like yesterday, that we heard our flamboyant late PM, Rajiv Gandhi's vision of taking the country into 21^st century................. lo and behold, nine tenths of a decade in Ikkeeswin sadi(21^st Century)
is already over. Does time fly? It does, it seems, at supersonic jet speed. Late Mr Gandhi, would not be turning in his grave, at the state of affairs in his beloved country, for indeed we have made rapid progress. While Rajiv had envisaged every home with a TV antenna jutting out of its roof, we have done one better in having now, most homes with Cable TV connection or DTH receivers. While he wanted to see telephones in all homes (remember Sam Pitroda of C-DOT), even a ricksaw wallah has multiple cell phones. Economic liberalisation has borne fruit and we have telephone calls at the rate of a Post Card.

There still are a number of grey areas, like rural development, unemployment, rising corruption, terrorism, sectarian violence, rise in Maoist Insurgency, Climate change ...................and a whole lot more. Nevertheless our achievements have been noteworthy, to say the least. Imagine, who would have thought 25 years ago that representatives of our country would take centre stage, in an international summit on an issue of grave concern to the world at large. No prizes for guessing, that I allude to the Copenhagen Summit.

There are countless websites, TV channels, magazines et al, giving us how 2009, has been. Why do they not do some crystal gazing and foretell what the coming year/s might be like. Do I want to be different and take a shot .................

My guess is that the next major challenge for India is going to be the Maoist Insurgency, (read my earlier post) and like with the rest of the world in the energy climate era, controlling climate change. Maoist Insurgency seems to have engulfed a fairly large portion of the country already. Now that the world is still in the grip of the worst recession in many decades, unemployed youth are susceptible to fall prey to the lure of extortion money and the glamour of the gun. It is better than sitting at home and feeling like a burden on all and sundry. Public service infrastructure in most major cities is being tested to the limit, with ever increasing migration from rural to urban areas. Unless the authorities take a real hard look at what needs to be done and act on it in right earnest, problems like the Mumbai water crisis are going to become a routine affair. Decongestion of major cities is the only solution, as infrastructure cannot keep pace with growing population and associated problems. And to that end, making newer and smaller states may not be a bad idea.

I cannot but think and shudder at how our future generations are going to cope with the multitude of challenges that are bound to confront them. With the short sightedness of our politicians, the future seems bleak indeed. All of us in our individual capacities and collectively think seriously about the future of our children and contribute towards making this world a better and more peaceful place to live in.

In 2010 and beyond, let us resolve to do just that. Need I say how? I am sure, all of us, are aware of how responsible citizens of the world ought to act and behave to prevent further damage to our environment and civilization.

WISH YOU ALL A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR

REFLECTIONS ON THIS BLOG

Only the other day I was talking to one of my close friends and one of the very few* followers of this blog (though it's probably not necessarily for its content that he follows this blog) and he encouraged me to check out if this casual blogging was turning out to be financially rewarding as well. Not expecting anything earth shaking, I checked out my Ad sense account and amazingly, I did have a little bit to my credit, my very first earnings in US Dollars. And it gave me child like pleasure. After all 'Rome was not built in a day'. Let us see if we can improve upon that in the coming year.

This blog is now one year and seven months old. It was launched on 27 May 2008.

This happens to be the forty fourth post.

My profound thanks and gratitude to all readers for their patronage.

And I also take this opportunity to wish all of you a VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

P.S I received this from my brother this morning, thought I would share it with all of you:

Best Wishes for a very happy new year; 2010!

May all your aspirations be met;

May all this happen without sweat;

May you and family thrive;

May you get, whatever for you strive;

May peace prevail;

Your boat of happiness sail;

You be healthy, wealthy and wise;

In your endeavour you rise;

May your 2010 be so far the best;

Better than the best, better than the rest!

* Come on guys, are we going to change that statistic.

SMS ECONOMY TELEVISION AND INFLATION

Answer a simple question (by SMS) and win a free trip to Singapore........................"
"Poonam Dhillon ko bachane ke liye SMS Karen POD................................."
"Is gaane ko apna caller tune banana ke liye SMS Karen ............................."
Do these sound familiar? I bet they do. It is amazing how so many cable TV channels (each one of them worse than the other^*) and shows from the weird to bizarre are flourishing in India. Given the fact that rural India, or most parts of it do not have access to cable or satellite TV. Does proliferation of Cell phones have anything to do with it?
Be it a news channel, a sports channel, music channel or any other TV channel, you have that omnipresent TV presenter / host, trying to persuade you into sending an SMS on some or the other pretext. And mind you, these SMS messages are three to twelve times more expensive than the ordinary ones. Be that as it may, a host of entrepreneurs seem to be making a killing through SMS messaging.
Apart from subscriber to subscriber messaging, stock quotes, Banking services, Cricket / Sports updates, ring tones, caller tunes, jokes, travel services, astrology, ................., (the list is endless)a host of other services are all available through SMS, at a premium of course.
Telecom service providers are laughing all the way to the bank, and TV channels share a substantial part of the revenue for encouraging morons like us to send ridiculous SMS messages.
Doordarshan India in the era of Satellite and Cable Television has become passé. Now we are in the era of soaps, mega soaps, reality shows and talent hunting (Indian Idol and its cousins). A year or two back I did not know what a reality show was. That was till the infamous row between Jade Goody and our very own Shilpa Shetty in the British reality show 'Big Brother'. And now all that I see on the Idiot box, while channel surfing are reality shows.
Let's take a look at the Telecom revolution in India. Just about a couple of decades back, maybe a bit more, the fastest means of communication available to the common man was the Telegram. And the cheapest was the Post Card. Telephones were the exclusive privilege of the high and mighty. It would take a few years and connections at the right places, not to mention greasing of palms of God alone knows how many peons and clerks, to get a new Telephone connection in those times. Liberalisation of the Indian economy post 1991, took care of that. And by mid nineties we had private cellular operators working in select cities. To use a Cellular phone in that era would have made a big hole in one's pocket. Remember, incoming calls were charged at the same rate as outgoing calls, not to mention the astronomical rates. And ten years hence, a paan or a rickshaw wallah has two cell phones. Imagine, in these inflationary times, the cost of usage dropping from Rs 16 to Rs 18 per minute of air time in 1998, to a single paisa per second in 2009. That, for the more mathematically inclined is a drop of more than 96 percent. That is unprecedented and unparalleled negative inflation.
Is there a parallel in Cable TV? Well the number of TV channels has increased from a mere four in 1992 to more than 400 and counting in 2009. Where at one point of time, it was unthinkable that a full time news channel was commercially viable, we have today, not one, but scores of news channels on air. The rates have not crashed like they have in Telephony, but they have not skyrocketed like Dal(Pulses) either.
Coming back to our topic, the Number of TV programmes based on SMS messages for public at large is rising by the day. One forecast predicts that SMS volumes would reach 191.6 billion in India by 2013 and the country would have more than 750 million mobile connections (almost 75 percent penetration assuming a population of a billion). Out of these if only a tiny five percent use SMS for services available every day, at current rates(Re1/- per SMS^#) it would mean a turnover of Rs 3.75 Crores per day. And it would be pertinent to point out here that current margins on SMS are more than 70 percent. Aren't these figures mind boggling?
Small wonder then, that there is such a race on for Television programmes and reality shows from weird to bizarre and Top actors including the bollywood shehenshah, Big B himself queuing up to rake in the moolah.
____________________________

* No offence meant to anyone.

# Varies from operator to operator.

HOW SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL ?

The Telangana controversy has added a fresh dimension to the problems of Insurgency infested India. Including the Maoist insurgency, more or less, half of India is in the grip of Insurgency. Now, demand for smaller states (division of existing states) seems to be emanating from several other corners of the country. Unless, the issue is tackled firmly and quickly, there is the real possibility of the movement for demand of smaller states taking on much bigger proportions and inevitably be followed by armed struggle.

Had the Maoist Insurgency been nipped in the bud, while it was still in its fledgling state, we would not have had to see state apparatus being not only challenged but also being held to ransom at will by Naxalites on numerous occasions in the past year alone. Now this issue with the Government, needs to be put to rest once and for all before the very notion of taking up arms to get their demands met even crops up.

The Armed Forces, largely the Indian Army, along with the Para military forces, have been embroiled in Counter Insurgency operations in the North Eastern states for more than five decades and in J&K for more than two decades. And still there is no end in sight. The Army has so far been kept away from Maoist Insurgency, but unless things take a drastic turn for the better(which seems unlikely) that situation is set to change. It is probably only a matter of time.

On the issue of Telangana, the Union Government is walking on thin ice. If they are not careful, the situation may just get so out of hand, that military intervention in most if not all states of the country would eventually become inevitable. What a catastrophe, that could be, I shudder even to think.................Civil war in the country.

In an earlier piece on this blog, I had delved into the fallacy of our slogan "Unity in Diversity". Here we have a situation where there is no unity even in small states, leave alone the country.

TWITTER MANIA

I have not understood what all the fuss is about............... Twitter is making headlines in the national media, what with the flamboyant, new kid on the political block, Shashi Tharoor, creating a needless controversy by calling economy class air travel, cattle class. No doubt it is a bit insensitive of him, given the fact that air travel by itself, is kind of a dream for more than 98 percent of Indians. However, Twitter is Mr Tharoor's private space..............and doesn't the Indian constitution guarantee freedom of speech to all Indians.

The tweet itself, was triggered by Pranab da's so called Austerity Drive, that has triggered quite a debate on whether it is required in the first place. However, talking of Twitter. How should anybody be interested in what someone is doing on a minute to minute basis. Who in this day and age has got the time to keep following what Mr Tharoor or for that matter anybody else is doing in real time. Aren't, sms, emails, tele marketing calls, needless spam and what not, enough to fill 24 hour work day. I am at a loss here...............

BTW, all that Mr Tharoor tweeted on ths subject was, "@KanchanGupta absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!"

Yes out of curiousity and since I have a lot of free time these days, I logged in to twitter and went throgh his tweets.