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Media needs a new outlook
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Benefits of
rainwater harvesting
Indo-US defence pact: Need for cautious response Profile Diversities — Delhi Letter
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Media needs a new outlook and approach Despite rapid growth and expansion of the mass media and the emergence of the new media, its overall reach is not even two-thirds of the country’s adult population. Regional differences between states in this regard continue to be glaring. In the last couple of years, there is some stagnation in the “overall expansion” of the media, going by various national surveys, including the latest National Readership Survey (NRS) for 2005. This is because of the preoccupation of mass media in terms of their concerns, contents and concentration in the operations. That is they, all are trying to reach the same people, those with deep pockets. The latest NRS brings out that even the reach of the press has fallen in urban India since 2002 and that there are 3-4 million people who can read but do not read any publication. Also, despite the proliferation of the media and competitiveness, the choice in the content package is not so distinct. This is because the laws of economics are operating in the field of mass media. Where the ones informed are being informed more and the ones not are being ignored altogether more or less. Some years ago, the media was relatively more concerned with society, community and citizen. Today mass media is preoccupied with markets, consumer, voter and politics. Because of market-driven media today, it is no longer the journalist who dominates the media scene. It is the advertisers, market researchers and public relations people who dominate and determine the concerns and content package of the mass media. No wonder, the media is sometimes described as “marketing media” instead of “mass media”. How do we restore a balance in serving both ends and ensure moderation in this trend? The National Readership Survey (NRS), the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) and the Television Rating Points (TRPs) continue without even being questioned for their relevance and validation. All these surveys are primarily advertising driven. There are no independent experts involved in designing or in conducting these studies or in analysing the survey findings. As a result, television with all its immense potential remains a source more for advertising and amusement than enlightenment and empowerment. Despite so many institutions engaged in teaching mass communication and for so long, neither of them had ever questioned the basis nor could they come up with a realistic alternative to TRPs or even readership surveys. Together, TRPs and NRS/IRS dictate media culture, priorities and preoccupations today. There are no longitudinal studies on the role of mass media as only such studies could reliably track media habits and impact of media on society, culture and lifestyles. India is not short of creative talents to limit to narrow stereo-typed formula. Every part of India has its rich oral and cultural traditions. How much of that get reflected in our media? Because of reliance on TRP-based formula in the case of TV, we have a very restricted view and use of TV. Some 120 higher institutes of learning giving degrees in mass communication and many more offering all kind of media education have made little difference to the country’s media culture. Is this because these schools are busy producing good “copy cats” and “bandwagoners” than in broadening the very scope of media? What difference academics have made to better the credibility of the media? What lessons do we learn as even in US, the confidence level in the news media has declined over the years? There has been an increased trend among universities to emphasise corporate public relations and advertising in the curricula and glorify the opportunities there in. The Centre for Media Studies’ Media Lab has recently brought out that hardly 2 per cent of items of national news bulletins of television channels are from or about rural. But two-thirds of news of national bulletins is from Delhi and Mumbai. Also, not even 4 per cent of items of news bulletins are to do with health, education and environment put together. But two-thirds of the items are about politics. Yet, repeat of such news in TV national news bulletins gives the impression that little is happening. TV’s limitations as a news medium are setting the criteria for what is news of the day and their priority in the presentation of news bulletins is misleading. Now newspapers are trying to emulate and compete with TV news channels. Cannot we hope to have a more reflective news agenda for the country which is more democratic, representative, equity concerned and catering to the country’s unique socio-economic features? Moreover, we have the Right to Information Act with wider implications. There is need for more Indian correspondents abroad, but their number is shrinking. Their number today is lowest in three decades. What is that we lack today to be a global media player? Where are we on the global media scene? Some 60 countries have their media representatives in India today as against our people in hardly 10 countries. Why? Is it because of dearth of talent or increased reliance on Internet? Is it result of a profit maximisation strategy? No wonder, the revenue being spent on news origination has declined despite the revenue having gone up. Original Indian contents for children and by children in Indian media is much less today when it should have been several times more than a few decades ago. On the contrary, imported fare for children is all around in TV today, that too, deceptively. For, foreign children’s programmes are being dubbed into various Indian languages and telecast. There are four or more foreign children channels, available all over the country, mostly with foreign cartoons and animations. All of them with commercial advertisements luring children. The way children’s fare is being broadcast gives the impression that no one is bothered what it all means, least of all the government. The 21st century is not for “more of the same” in the media. We need an extraordinary outlook and approach. For, content is not an end itself. Creativity has to be for a cause. That is why it is said these are the days of “power of ideas” — to work for larger concerns and
causes. The writer is Chairman, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi |
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On Record
Former Union Minister Sharad Yadav is among few leaders on the national scene who have created political space for themselves outside their home state. An engineering graduate, Mr Yadav, 58, was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1974. Hailing from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Yadav has contested and won elections from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He is MP (Rajya Sabha) at present. Not shy of a tough political fight, Mr Yadav has humbled the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav from Madhepura in Bihar. Having held key positions in the undivided Janata Dal, he is now Chairman of the JD(U) Parliamentary Board. He is confident of the
BJP-JD(U) combine winning the ensuing Assembly elections in Bihar. Excerpts: Q: How is the JD(U) preparing for the Bihar Assembly polls? A: We are well prepared for the polls. The State Assembly was kept in suspended animation after the last elections so that a government could be formed but the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which has 24 MPs, pressurised the Centre to recommend dissolution of the Assembly. People had elected 243 MLAs to the new House. The BJP-JD(U) had assured support of 131 MLAs on May 23, the day the recommendation was made to dissolve the Assembly. In all, 21 of 29 LJP MLAs had extended us their support. A meeting was taking place at my home and we were to stake claim to form the government the next day. But the Governor recommended dissolution of the House under the RJD’s pressure. No Assembly has been dissolved in this manner. The injustice done to the people of Bihar cannot be described in words. We went to meet President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to demonstrate our support in the dissolved Assembly. We staged demonstrations last month all over Bihar to protest against the dissolution. We will fight against the injustice in every possible way. We have also filed a petition in the court and we are also going to the people. I am confident we will come to power with a massive majority. Q: How do you see the role of the LJP, whose leader Ram Vilas Paswan had emerged as the kingmaker after the last polls? A:
The LJP tried to stall the formation of the government for three months. Mr Paswan set impossible conditions. We met one of his main conditions by offering to extend support of all 55 JD(U) MLAs, but he could not bring the other 66 MLAs needed to form a government. Q: What are your poll issues? A:
The Assembly dissolution has affected eight crore people of the state. People are unhappy and angry. They will give vent to their anger through the poll outcome. Bihar today is the most backward state in the country but it is being made to face one election after other. The state has been sliding backwards in the RJD’s 16-year rule. The period before the next Assembly elections is also that of proxy rule by the RJD with Governor’s rule only being a cover. The RJD was defeated in the last elections as two-thirds of those elected fought against it. Q: With RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav talking of rectifying mistakes of the previous election, do you see a tougher contest ahead? A: How many mistakes can he improve? He has made a series of mistakes in the last 16 years. Apart from possibly keeping away some of his family members from the electoral arena, what other rectification will he bring about? Q: Who is your Chief Ministerial candidate? A: Mr Nitish Kumar is the leader of the JD(U)-BJP alliance in the state. Q: Will there be change in your seat sharing arrangement with the BJP? A:
There will be no problem in seat sharing. The LJP’s 21 MLAs and several independents had supported us in our efforts to form a government. It is their choice to join either the JD(U) or the BJP. Their claims will be suitably accommodated. Tickets will be decided after scrutinising the results of the last polls. Winnability will be the main factor in deciding candidates. Q: When do you want elections? A:
It seems the elections would be held by October. We want elections on a single day. Q: How are you expanding the JD (U)’s base? A: The impression that the JD(U) is a party confined to Bihar and Jharkhand is wrong. We have MLAs in Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh. The party has an MP from Lakshadweep. Ours is the parent Janata Dal. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Naveen Patnaik, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda have all left the party and gone out. The day their obsession wanes, they will return to the parent party. The country has been passing through a phase of dominance of regional satraps. Q: How do you view the remarks of BJP president L.K. Advani on Jinnah? A: We support his remarks on Jinnah. Mr Advani’s visit to Pakistan was successful. The UPA government is following the NDA government’s initiative for improving ties with Pakistan. Q: Could developments in the BJP have an impact on the NDA’s future? A: Our relations with the BJP are linked to the NDA’s national agenda prepared after the BJP decided to keep off the Common Civil Code, Article 370 and Ayodhya. Relations with the BJP were formed on the basis of issues. Q: How do you look at the possibility of revival of the Third Front? A:
There is only discussion about it. How can it be formed? The idea of the Third Front suffered the day the Janata Dal became
weak. |
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Benefits of
rainwater harvesting WE get a lot of rain. Yet we face acute water crisis because of our failure to save rainwater. To meet our increasing demand for water, to augment the groundwater storage and to improve the quality of groundwater, rainwater harvesting and efficient utlilisation is of utmost important today. The best option is to harvest rainwater where we get it and store it properly for use when necessary. In North India, 80 per cent of the total rain is received in monsoon months (July to September). During the rest of the year, the region faces a number of dry spells, causing water stress to crops. There is erratic behaviour of rains during sowing. Many times there is delayed onset or early withdrawal of monsoon. By following suitable land and water management practices, rainwater can be efficiently utilised and crops grown successfully with limited available water. When soil is slopping, it needs to be modified in a manner that maximum rainwater stays back on the field. Where slopes are below 5 per cent, earthen bunds should be made across the slope at a vertical interval of 0.67 m or at 30 m length. Major land levelling should be avoided. Proper structures for excessive water disposal should be installed. Where slopes are greater than 5 per cent, bench terraces are required for reducing erosion and conserving moisture. Instead of bunds, well-maintained densely planted khas, sarkanda, babbar, kahi and napier bajra hybrid are also suitable for this purpose because these grow quickly with a strong deep root system. One should follow appropriate management practices for helping rainwater to remain in the field. All agricultural operations including ploughing and sowing should be done across the slope. It reduces runoff velocity, increases infiltration and reduces soil erosion. Plough the fields after first pre-monsoon rains for harvesting more rainwater uniformly. Ridges and furrows across the slope will reduce the runoff and check soil loss. Mulching in standing maize with waste vegetative materials or grasses @ 4 tonnes/ha in the middle of August checks soil erosion by restricting runoff. A substantial amount of runoff, which goes waste in the cultivated land, can be collected in dug-out ponds/ tanks to check seepage loss in light soils. A lining of polythene sheet at bottom and brick-cement walls on sides of tanks may be required. Inverted pyramid shaped tanks having 1:1 side slopes and 5-meter depth are suitable for the region. The conserved water may be used for establishing an orchard or for raising a fodder or grain crop. In urban areas, roof-top rainwater harvesting technology can be used to conserve rainwater which can be stored or used for recharging of
reservoirs. The writer is District Extension Specialist, Punjab Agricultural University, Hoshiarpur |
Indo-US defence pact: Need for cautious response THE new framework for the US-India defence relationship signed in Washington on June 30 is an important landmark, reflecting the maturing political relationship between the two countries. Some high-level defence agreements such as 1985 MoU on defence technology cooperation, 1995 agreed minutes on defence relations, official policy group meetings, military-to-military visits and some joint military exercises in the recent past helped towards gradual thawing of bilateral relations. The US had also agreed to cooperate in civil nuclear and space programme and high tech trade between the two. Since defence agreements cannot but be equal to political decision, the US has obviously decided to pay attention to India in today’s fast-changing strategic environment. In its multi-faceted approach to further relations, the US has now offered a comprehensive military menu to India. The so-called convergence of interests underlined in this 10-year pact covers a vast array of issues including combating terrorism, preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), protecting free flow of commerce through land, sea and air and promoting security and stability in Asia. A mechanism has been evolved to promote long-term bilateral defence industrial ties, two-way defence trade and outsourcing of research and co-production by US defence contractors in India. Collaboration on multi-national military operations and multilateral defence cooperation involving other countries is also on the cards. Will all this translate into more than mere platitudes? If so, the implications are vast and need careful scrutiny. If the rapidly growing US interest in India is a matter of gratification, it is also a matter of deep concern. Why should the sole superpower feel compelled to promote India all of a sudden and help boost its economic, military and technological prowess? Why this sudden fancy to turn India into a 21st century major power? How has India become strategically so relevant that the US wants it to get onboard its bandwagon, even to the detriment of its long term ‘most allied ally’, who is already on record expressing its grave concern about expanding Indo-US defence cooperation? Any rational mind would be sceptical about this initiative on the part of the US. Given the US record as a military supplier since 1965, there is cautious scepticism against the US move for defence cooperation with India. Its not difficult for a super power to break its promise, considered necessary in its national interest. The US is particularly prone to this tendency. Barring a brief interlude after the 1962 debacle, India and the US had little defence cooperation. Around the end of the cold war, some progress was made in regard to technological cooperation pertaining to the development of LCA and military-to-military exchanges also began to take place. But soon this framework collapsed as India went nuclear in May 1998. The biggest casualty in this affair was the LCA project. However, its for India to respond to the US move without being overwhelmed by its beneficence. In real life, there is nothing called a free lunch. A careful and cautious response taking into account all the consequences of such an engagement is necessary. Mutuality of interests notwithstanding, India has to remember where it stands economically, militarily and politically in relation to the mighty America. The asymmetries are awesome, to say the least. Will India be able to protect its sovereignty and maintain strategic autonomy in this overwhelming one-sided relationship? Or will India be able to resist being relegated to a subsidiary relationship? There is too much at stake for India. It wouldn’t be that easy for India to ensure an equitable relationship with the US. India can hardly afford to be a pliant state like some others in the region. India should, therefore, handle its US fetish with caution and not jump to the apparently highly attractive US offers. National interests change with time and so do national strategies. There was a time when the US wanted to enlist China’s support to contain Soviet Russia. Today, the changed circumstances find the US confronting the same China, now growing menacingly fast. For the US, it’s now India that can provide a stable balance of power in Asia. China’s rapidly growing economic and military prowess and its obsession for a multipolar global dispensation pose a comprehensive threat to the US national security. Besides, the US views the China-Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a regional grouping aimed at counterbalancing it and containing its vast influence in Central Asia. In US strategic calculus, India is considered more than relevant in countervailing China. However, the US is at pains to stress that the containment of China is not an American objective. Both India and China apparently want to avoid defining their expanding relationship in any negative perspective. It may be in India as well as the US’ interest not to unduly highlight the China factor in this calculus. Sino-Indian relations in recent years have shown a marked improvement. Though the border dispute remains largely unresolved, peace and tranquillity prevails all along the border with improved trade, economic and military relations. The Sino-US relations are too presently substantive with ever-increasing trade and investment flows between the two. Apparently, the US intends to carry defence cooperation to levels that would literally transform India’s armed forces. Missile defence is one such strategic area. The US is keen that India acquires its Patriot-2 missiles. It is even willing to offer Patriot-3. Whilst these may offer nuclear protection against Pakistan and China, the deal with certainly kill India’s own integrated missile development programme. Besides, there are other repercussions too. If India acquires Patriot-3 missile defence system, Pakistan would try to “restore the disturbed strategic balance” as General Karamat said in Washington recently. Arms race in the subcontinent would become unavoidable. The US’ offer of F-16s and F-18s has to be seen in proper perspective. India’s public and private sectors seem excited at the prospects of joint R&D and production of new weapons systems in collaboration with the US. But there is no need for undue excitement because of the likely interaction with the US Central Command that conducts military operations west and northwest of India in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia, as well as military engagement between Washington and Islamabad. Not wanting to upset Pakistan in the past, the US had limited India’s military interaction to its Pacific Command. Even though Pakistan is upset at these developments, the US has gone ahead and opened its Central Command doors to India. How serious is the US in assisting India to become a major power is a moot point. If it is indeed sincere, what is then holding it from lifting the dual use technologies sanctions, stopping from nagging India on it’s nuclear programme and posture and coming clearly in support of India’s entry into Security Council with veto? Wouldn’t these policy decisions help India become a major power faster? The writer is a former Director-General, Defence Planning Staff, |
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MPs, telegenic and articulate by Harihar Swarup The presence of the two leaders in the Rajya Sabha suggests a major change in the party’s tactical line. In the Rajya Sabha, both Brinda and Yechuri will speak for West Bengal while paradoxically, their grooming in politics and subsequent activities have been outside the Marxist-ruled state. Though born in Kolkata, Brinda left the city when she was barely 12 to study in Dehradun’s elite Welham Girl’s School. Yechuri’s tryst with politics began as a student in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. He joined politics to protest against the Emergency and went on to win the JNU students’ union elections. Since then, there has been a steady rise in his career. How Brinda, one-time Miss Miranda House, became a rebel is an interesting story. In the late Sixties, there was a huge movement in Europe against the US intervention in Vietnam. Why should a poor country like Vietnam be attacked by a super power like America was the question on everybody’s lips. Why should young people go to war? What were the reasons for the war? How to fight back injustice? These questions exercised the minds of the younger generation and Brinda was one of them. To find answers, she started reading books and studied Marx. The analysis of social realities in Marx’s works greatly influenced Brinda. She discovered that the only way to fight inequality was the path of revolutionary politics. She decided to take a plunge in the uncertain world of politics. She quit her London job, returned to India and joined the Communist Party. Yechuri gave up a lucrative career to pursue his ideals. He had a brilliant academic career, having remained always at the top. Having done his schooling in Hyderabad, he graduated in Economics in First Class from New Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. His rendezvous with Marxism began when he was studying for his Master’s degree in Economics in the JNU. Getting a high-profile job for a man of his calibre was quite easy, but Yechuri resolved that all he had studied should be used to change the system, and to achieve that objective, joining mainstream politics was very important. Yechuri was recently asked: “With criminals aspiring to be Chief Ministers and corrupt politicians calling the shots, how do you expect the youth to come forward and join politics”? His reply was prompt: “Precisely to change this sort of situation. And this is happening. Further there is a need to establish that politics is not only electoral politics. It has larger and more noble objectives. It requires all sincere people to create this atmosphere”. Yechuri and Brinda are not taking the popular election route to Parliament, but they would still be the most important faces in pursuance of the “noble
objective”. |
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India rising as a superpower by Humra Quraishi
WITH the monsoon having set in, the roads are giving in here. The thought that keeps hitting my head is that when we are unable to manage simple and straight road forms, can we upkeep other forms? Even at the risk of sounding cynical, this writer feels that day-to-day living is getting tougher. In the midst of this scenario, lands London-based Ketan J. Mehta’s book, The Master Strategist (Hutchinson). When this writer questioned him along the lines that all strategies could dampen in the midst of the changing world climate, with particular reference to third world countries, he said, “We are at one of those historic shifts where two new superpowers are rising and India is one of them. Only 10 years ago, when the Western media thought of India, they thought of Kolkata’s back streets. Today, they think of the slick offices of Infosys. How fast and sure the rise of India will be will depend on the quality of the strategies that India pursues”. Ketan says, the benchmark in terms of the strategic will of the government has been set by China. The benchmark for business success, military might and personal wealth creation has been set by the US. However, India’s story is capturing the imagination of American and Chinese business and capital. We all know that so much remains to be done. It has to be done quickly. If Indians are to capitalise on the massive opportunity that is available to them, they must be ready for a massive transformation of the nature of Indian society itself. To my query on East-West tussle, he says, “Who will win and who will lose often becomes self-fulfilling. Assumptions become subtly planted in our consciousness”. He says, two of the most significant assumptions today are that the decline of the West is inevitable and that the rise of China and India is unstoppable. There is a growing momentum behind these changes. The acceptance of this in the West has the potential to lead to more protectionism, competition and conflict. The win-lose equation is something no one need accept. There is no inevitability in the rise of the East and the fall of the West. Both are inventive enough to prosper and become interdependent. Policymakers will have to find ways to galvanise their countries in ways that avoid the unnecessary protectionist, competitive and conflict-oriented forces. Meanwhile, two books landed this week. Promod Batra’s How to trigger your positive thoughts and Krishna Gupta’s Clear your bottlenecks — managing yourself (UBSPD). Maybe, as the writers have been able to see the rise in the depressing scenario around, they would like to inject some enthusiasm in you.
Remembering Tarkunde On July 3, the 96th birth anniversary of the late Justice V.M. Tarkunde, who passed away last year, was observed. A talk on the theme “The state of civil liberties today” was organised. Human rights groups such as PUCL, Citizens for Democracy, Indian Radical Humanist Association, Human Rights Trust, Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity, Co-ordination Committee on Kashmir, Champa, The Amiya and B.G. Rao Foundation, the Minorities Council participated. Tarkunde will always be remembered as a crusader for human rights.
Festival of Asian
cinema Osian’s festival of Asian cinema takes off here on July 15. It would go on till July 24. One of the largest film festivals in Asia, it is being held for the seventh successive year. French National Day falls on July 14. The French Ambassador to India will host a reception to a number of invitees. Your guess is as good as mine. We Indians go absolutely berserk spotting the French wines, served with much abundance. Also upcoming is the 14th Durgabhai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture. It will be delivered on July 15 at the India International Centre with focus on challenges facing tribal
development. |
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is not happiness without action. — Book of quotations on Happiness Life is to be worshipped. For through Life, we can realise God and come closer to Him. — Book of quotations on Hinduism The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. — Book of quotations on Happiness  |
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At 16, Brinda was enrolled in Delhi’s prestigious Miranda House college. After obtaining a degree in arts, she went to London for higher education. Simultaneously, she took up a job with Air-India. Brinda’s mother, a Bengali, married to a North Indian, died when she was five. 