Skip to main content

We want to annihilate caste, but without alternative media?

By Rajiv Shah
There is an increasing view among civil society groups that the established media is “not responsive” to the needs and aspirations of civil society. I would like to be audacious: I think the complaint is totally misplaced. Working with the Times of India for nearly two decades, and looking after Gandhinagar beat for 15 years, last as political editor, I knew the constraints under which one had to work. 
There were some very specific “holy cows”, and this wasn’t just true of the Times of India, but of all media houses with presence in Gujarat: One can report whatever was true, but “business interests” of the paper should be taken care of. I always believed – it was wrong to complain: It was business interests alone that drove news. If business interests of the newspaper were hit, the news wouldn’t go through, you could be in trouble.
I remember, once I got terribly disturbed when my paper published an editorial page article, (presumably by Jug Suraiya), that news something like Colgate. But when I was in a high-level meeting in Ahmedabad with our top-most owner, I realized there was little reason to protest: This is what he told us pointblank, and I admire his frankness even today: that the newspaper was his “family business”. He wrote on the board “liberal social agenda” and crossed it out, though when queried by me, he replied “liberal political agenda is always there”.
Indeed, the established media may have good journalists, but they have to operate under heavy constraints. One can find great stories occasionally by enterprising journalists, till they wouldn’t contradict the business interests of the paper. The newspaper’s support or opposition to a particular political leader would have to depend on the business interests of the paper. I would tell my colleagues frankly: “If you think that it is difficult to operate in this framework, one had better resign and join a civil society organization.”
I remember in 1996 I was sent by my bosses in the Times of India to Vadodara to participate in a seminar on environmental issues. The time slot was just 40 minutes, and I was to speak on media and environment, but I triggered uproar when I argued: Don’t blame media for not taking your news, as media is controlled by business interests. Blame yourself for failing in your advocacy efforts. The debate continued on the issue for nearly two-and-a-half hours, indeed without end, till lunch. It was 1996. I still hold the same view, but times have changed, and fresh opportunities have arisen before the civil society than they were there at that time.     
In 2007, I was presented by a senior Gujarat bureaucrat a book by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, the Grameen Bank man from Bangladesh. Titled “Bankers to the Poor”, the book was first published in 1998 and republished by the Penguins in 2007. In 1998, when information and communication technology (ICT) was still not in fashion, Yunus said, ICT was going to “change the world in the immediate future far more rapidly and fundamentally than any other technology so far in human history.” In his article “Poverty Free World: How and When”, his words were prophetic: “The most attractive aspect of this spread of ICT is that it is not in anyone’s control. Neither government, nor big business, nor anyone of any authority can restrict the flow of information. The next best aspect of it is that it is becoming cheaper every day.”
Yunus further said, “ICT is raising the hope that we are approaching the world which is free from power brokers, and knowledge brokers”. He predicted that this ICT revolution was “particularly exciting for all disadvantaged groups, voiceless groups, and minority groups.” He insisted, “Any power based on exclusive access to information will disintegrate. Any common citizen will have almost as much access to information as the head of government. Leadership will have to be based on vision and integrity, rather than on manipulation of information”. I think few noticed what he said then, but the opportunities that he pointed towards to be deeply investigated. I know there is a strong view that ICT is still a middle class thing, but one should not forget what he pointed towards – that it is possible to disseminate information without the control of the powerful media groups and government, and to overlook this would mean overlooking the logic of socio-economic development.
It may not be fashionable to quote Karl Marx, as was in 1970s. But what Yunus said is only a reflection of Marx’s views enunciated way back in 1859 in “Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy”: “No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive forces for which it is sufficient have been developed, and new superior relations of production never replace older ones before the material conditions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society.” Established Communists have, unfortunately, never paid heed to this truth. Yunus’ views on ICT only go to show the correctness of Marx’s views. It is time civil society heeds the voice of reason of Yunus and Marx and consider ICT as a means to change.
Indeed, it is in this context that I am stressing on the need to develop alternative media. Vested interests have begun using the ICT tool their advantage, so why wait now when we want to “annihilate caste” or take up other human rights issues? It is possible to develop it, without the support of powerful media houses. There have been extremely scattered efforts to do it; one of them is www.counterview.net, which I developed as a voluntary news portal, something I could not even dream of a decade ago. The effort is to provide information sourced on alternative sources, mainly civil society. Indeed, my 15-year interaction in government proves: to think official information is authentic is totally misplaced, the information one gets from the ground is more authentic.
Let me quote one of the latest instances: Based on just five (FIVE, imagine!) samples of Gujarat Muslim households, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reached the conclusion that OBC Muslims’ poverty rate is down from 42 per cent in 2006-07 to 2.5 per cent in 2011-12. And economist Arvind Panagariya writes how Gujarat has done so well in reducing Muslim poverty ratio! Panagariya didn’t know the sample size, which was revealed to me by Amitabh Kundu, author of the new but unpublished report on the condition of Muslims in India. On advice from Gagan Sethi, I carried an article on this in counterview.org, a blog jointly run by Navsarjan, Centre for Social Justice and Janvikas.
Indeed, it is time one develops media based on alternative sources of information, which are more authentic, even if they may be based on limited experiences. There is lot of information on Dalit, women, other oppressed groups’ human rights issues available with civil society, which is never disseminated. In fact, I find there is more often a tendency to find a major daily of a news channel to highlight the issue, and but when this doesn’t happen, one sits back and criticizes the established media of being “biased.” I am not saying that established media shouldn’t be given a chance, but there is a need to create a new bias – for alternative media, to reflect human rights, environmental and other issues nagging people.

Comments

TRENDING

Abrogation of Art 370: Increasing alienation, relentless repression, simmering conflict

One year after the abrogation by the Central Government of Art. 370 in Kashmir, what is the situation in the Valley. Have the promises of peace, normalcy and development been realised? What is the current status in the Valley? Here is a detailed note by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties , “Jammu & Kashmir: One Year after Abrogation of Art. 370: Increasing Alienation, Relentless Repression, Simmering Conflict”:

Repeated failure to appoint Chief, other commissioners undermining RTI Act

By Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri* The post of the Chief Information Commissioner of the Central Information Commission (CIC) has fallen vacant with the retirement of Bimal Julka with effect from August 27, 2020. This is the fifth time in the last six years that the Commission has been rendered headless. Four posts of information commissioners are also vacant in the CIC. Currently more than 35,000 appeals and complaints are pending in the commission resulting in citizens having to wait for months, even years for their cases to be disposed, thereby frustrating peoples’ right to know. Since May 2014, not a single commissioner of the CIC has been appointed without citizens having to approach courts. The failure of the government to make timely appointments of commissioners is a flagrant violation of the directions of the Supreme Court. In its February 2019 judgment, the apex court had categorically stated that if the CIC does not have a Chief Information Commissioner or required strength

Sunil Gavaskar, G Viswanath rated Andy Roberts best fast bowler they ever faced

By Harsh Thakor  The West Indies pace quartet or battery of the 1970’s and 1980’s truck terror to deliver a knockout punch, like never in cricket history. One was reminded of bomber raiding an airbase or a combing operation. Andy Roberts was the pioneer in orchestrating or propelling the most fiery and lethal pace bowling attack ever in the history of the game. Simply the godfather of Modern West Indies fast bowlers. He spearheaded the pack from the mid 1970’s .Without Andy the talent of Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft would never have blossomed.Michael Holding credits Andy for shaping his great bowling career, by infusing vital elements.

Adivasi land rights question in Telugu states: Digitization process without transparency?

By Dr Palla Trinadha Rao  This paper examines whether the Land Records Modernization Program initiated by the successive governments in Telugu States is beneficial to tribals in the Scheduled Areas in the light of special protective Land laws that are in force there. Digitization process or regularization of land records or land surveys without transparency will result in disempowerment of Adivasis. This can be tested in the case of Adivasis in the Scheduled Areas of Telugu States. British colonialism, through its land revenue policy and elaborate exploitative bureaucratic structure, made land alienable on a large scale especially in tribal areas. 1 Land and the forest produce remain the main source of tribals’ livelihood; but availability of land is restricted by forest reservation on the one hand, and non-tribal encroachment on the other. 2 In the Andhra Area, there were certain laws including the Agency Tracts Interest and Land Transfer Act, 1917 that existed before the inaugurati

Ultimate champion in crisis, arguably best ever skipper: Created history in Aussie cricket

By Harsh Thakor  In the history of cricket few cricketers knit and propelled a cricket team or had such profound influence on the game as Ian Chappell. Ian Chappell was responsible for converting a bunch of talented individuals into a world beating side, giving a dramatic turn to Australian cricket. Few cricketers ever led such a renaissance.

Largest democracy in world has become weakest at hands of fascist Hindutva forces

Note on “The Nazification of India”, a report released By Justice For All: *** This report, the Nazification of India, compares how Hindutva ideology not only is inspired by Nazis and Fascists of Europe, but their treatment of the Muslim minority closely follows developments that resulted in pushing Jews to the gas chambers. Situation is indeed quite alarming. The report says that the largest democracy in the world has become the weakest at the hands of the fascist Hindutva ideology. India today is ruled not just by a political party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but its mother organization the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Because the BJP’s government policies are linked to extra-legal enforcement by RSS paramilitary street power, this report has coined the term “The BJP-RSS regime” to reflect their intrinsic links and collaborative relationship. The Nazification of India report marks the anniversary of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002 against Muslims which propelled the BJP-RSS

BSF's unconstitutional, whimsical order violates life, livelihood of Dalits, minorities

Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), writes to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission: *** I want to attract your attention towards the illegitimate restrictions on the life and livelihood of the villagers of Paschim Sahebganj village under Dinhata - II Block and Sahebganj police station in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal by the Border Security Force personnel attached with Dharala Border Out Post under 138 Battalion BSF. The population of Paschim Sahebganj village is around 1480, where almost 75 percent of the villagers belong from Hindu Scheduled Caste (Dalit) and 25 percent from minority Muslim backgrounds.The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. About 260 acres of cultivable land in the village that belongs to the villagers is located outside the border fencing, which is heavily guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF). The BSF regulates the ingress and egress of the villagers to their fields through the fencing gates that a

Varanasi social worker who has devoted her life for the ultra-poor and the marginalized

Passion Vista and its partners profile Founder and Managing Trustee Shruti Nagvanshi as  someone whom women leaders look up to: *** Shruti Nagvanshi, a social worker and human rights activist based in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, has devoted her life to reaching out to the ultra-poor and marginalized communities in India. Born in Dashashwmedh, Varanasi on 2 January 1974, she married Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi on 22 February 1992 and has a son, Kabeer Karunik, a Business management Graduate who is also a national level snooker player.

An approach to lake/pond restoration by Ramveer Tanvar, Pond Man of India

By Monami Bhattacharya*, Mansee Bal Bhargava**  Lakes/ ponds are often referred to as an elixir of life, a living ecosystem that adds incremental value to the larger biota. Across the tropical landscape of the country lakes/ ponds are a common sight. Lakes/ponds have always shaped the life and livelihood of those dwelling in and around it. The dependence of the local population on these natural resources of water is noticeable since time immemorial. However, they are fading fast in both rural and urbanscapes from the popular parlance with the advance of humanity. It has been a popular notion to value land more than the waterscape and hence these nurturers of life are under stress in several areas. In many instances, these once beautiful waterscapes referred as the ‘Eye of the Earth’ are mostly now only dilapidated garbage dump yards emitting foul smell with no sign of a healthy ecosystem.

Urban crisis: Impact of erosion of democratic framework on Indian cities

By IMPRI Team  On 13th February, 2023, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi in collaboration with ActionAid Association India arranged a book launch followed by lecture series under the title “India’s G20 Presidency & the Urban Agenda for the Developing Countries”. The event was held in Indian International Centre (IIC) Annex, New Delhi. The event began with the book inauguration session, under the honorary presence of Mr Sitaram Yechury, former Rajya Sabha member and General Secretary, CPI (M), accompanied by Mr Sandeep Chachra, executive director, ActionAid Association India. Session 1 | Book Launch: ‘Cities in Transition’ by Mr Tikender Singh Panwar The book launched was “Cities in Transition”, written by Mr Tikender Singh Panwar, former Deputy Mayor, Shimla and a Senior Fellow at IMPRI. Beginning with brief remarks on his book, Mr Panwar outlined the basic subject matter and the purpose behind writing the book, which he considers as a by-product of his experien