Interview
Voters are the unsung intellectuals of Indian Democracy Prof. D.P. Mishra acquaints us with a new perspective on Indian Politics Aditya Pareek
Jaipur,A Gandhian philosopher and eminent
academician, Prof. Dr. D.P. Mishra, President, JECRC University Jaipur shared his views on changing dynamics of Indian Politics with our student journalist Aditya Pareek, B.A. (JMC)II Semester from the Department of Journalism and Mass-communication. Dr. Mishra did his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay, M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani, B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from BIT Sindri. His able intellect reflects in his coherent views over topics even apart from his line of work. Aditya: How do you perceive the current state of the country? Dr. Mishra: India is at a turning point in its history, perhaps a second golden era of good governance is in play post independence. The Majority of the States are being ruled by the best of the leaders, people with spotless reputations and impeccable character. Aditya: What was the first era of Good Governance in your opinion? Dr. Mishra: Nehru’s, if you look at the data, you would find that no country in the history of the world developed as much and as fast as India did post Independence under Nehru’s Administration. Aditya: You mentioned that majority of the State administrations are headed by the best of the people one could expect in the CM’s chair? Dr. Mishra: Absolutely! I’d even say that there are 3 tiers of them. All of them a clean break from the status quo of dysfunction. Tier 1 being the people who have for their respective states been constant heralds of positive change and development both social and economic, among them, I’d count Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, Chandra Babu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, Devendra Fadanvis o Maha
rashtra, Manohar Parrikar of Goa. These people have the highest level of Integrity, can’t ever think of them being corrupt or pursuing their personal interests at the expense of the people of the state that ushered them into office. Their Efficient performance and the work that has resulted into the development of the state’s infrastructure and overall standard of living speaks for itself. Tier 2 are people who are not radical heralds of rapid progress and development in all spheres but have definitely made things better, Manohar Lal Khattar of Hariyana and Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi being the best examples, they are honest individuals but one could certainly expect more. Tier 3 are people who are just above the status-quo of hindrance and regression, as in that they failed to change much from the times of the previous government’s way of administrating and the development of the state in all sphere’s has stagnated. Aditya: How do you assess the country’s cen-
tral leadership? Dr. Mishra: Oh, The PM is able to lead, he is an honest person, very dedicated to the upliftment and progress of the people but his economic vision is not revolutionary, under him our economy hasn’t stagnated but it has definitely not seen as much of a boom as one would expect from his policies. He is definitely an improvement over the days of stagnation and even regression of Manmohan Singh but nothing more. The Last 3 years have delivered little and far between, The PM has been unable to put his foot down and establish a strategy that would usher in rapid economic and social development. Aditya: Is the PM as popular as he was during the Loksabha Elections? One would argue that he is based on the unprecedented mandate in UP for the BJP. Dr. Mishra: See, that is a very selective representation of the phenomena. BJP didn’t win UP because they had the best candidates among the lot, but because they were the lesser evil, the people of UP voted BJP, because they
had endured both The Samajvadi Party and BSP and gotten nil development to show for it, so in a move of desperation and for the lack of alternatives, they turned to the BJP that maybe things would change for the better. If you are to present an anecdote of their victory in UP, then I would counter with their defeat in Bihar. The People of Bihar picked Nitish Kumar, because they couldn’t neglect the amount of work he has done for them, his unrelenting efforts for raising their standard of living has been unparalleled, the people refused to be swayed by the empty rhetoric of the BJP. Aditya: How do you see the role of national leaders in Indian Polity and National political parties that adhere to certain philosophies, biases and rhetoric? Dr. Mishra: The backbone of Indian Democracy The Voter, The Common Man is intelligent, It may be an eye opener for mainstream opinion makers, but it is a truth neglected by most, something that is in plain sight but still shunned. The people of India never vote for communal, rhetorical or jingoistic reasons, they vote for development and the actual grass root level work that is representative of the said leaders’ performance, take any PM from Nehru to Indra Gandhi ,from Atal Bihari Vajpeyi to Manmohan Singh. All who were ushered into office were given the reigns of the country, because they promised and then performed, but as soon as they couldn’t the very next election cycle the voters showed them the way out. This is a fact that the people themselves are oblivious to and the blame for this lays with the makers of public opinion the media in this country.
Feature
Radio: From defense technology to Mass Communication Invention of Radio technology drastically changed the dynamics of communication
Falguni Shrivstava
Jaipur. The man most associated with the advent of the radio is Guglielmo Marconi, who in 1986 was awarded the official patent for the radio by the British Government. The early uses of the radio were mainly for maintaining contact between ships out a sea. However, this initial radio was unable to transmit speech, and instead sent Morse code messages back and forth between ships and stations on the land. During time of distress, a sinking ship would use a radio message nearby vessels and stations on the land to ask for aid. The radio saw a surge of use during the First World War. Both sides used the radio to relay messages to troops and top officials as well as people not on the battle front. At the end of the war, President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points was sent to Germany via use of the radio.
After the war’s end, with the growth of radio receivers, broadcasting began in Europe and The United States. As far as status of Radio network is concerned, AIR is one of the largest radio
networks in the world. A national service planned, developed and operated by the Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India. All India Radio, Jaipur was established at 9th april, 1955.the satellite earth station was established at 21st march, 1944. The first radio program in India was broadcasted by the Radio Club of Mumbai
in June 1923. In 1926 the private Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) was granted permission to operate two radio station was inaugurated on July 23, 1927, the Calcutta station followed on august 26,1927. the introduction of the commercial channel ‘VividhBharti’ in October 1957 interest and popularity of radio.2,75,000 receiving sets at the time of independence, now there are about 132 million estimated radio sets in the country. Air today has a network of 237 broadcasing centers with 149 medium frequency (MW), 54 high frequency (SW) and 177 FMtransmittors.the coverage is 91.85% of the area, serving 99.18% of the people in the largest democracy of the world. AIR covers 24 languages and 146 dialects in home services.
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Interview
Wednesday,April 19, 2017
Once a Marine always a Marine
Col. Danveer S.Chauhan(Retd.) shares his perspective on the amphibious capabilities and lack therof in indian military Aditya Pareek Jaipur, Colonel Danveer Singh Chauhan served for 20 years as an Infantry officer of the Indian Army through which he has been deployed to every possible terrain from the deserts of Rajasthan to the peaks of Siachen. He has commanded his own battalion and helped raise the contingent of amphibious assault forces that the Indian Army maintains, In an interview with Aditya Pareek(B.A. (JMC)-II) from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Col. Danveer Singh set into perspective a few vital things related to the military. Aditya: Sir, Do you agree with the notion that the 3 branches of the military have a strong sense of sibling rivalry? Recently this was highlighted with the disagreement between the Army&Airforce’s bid for operating attack helicopters (Apaches that are yet to be delivered and the Mi 35 Hind E that the Army sought to get under their operational control from the Airforce’s but the Airforce’s Brass refused to part with them). Col. Danveer Sigh Chauhan: Yes there is a turf rivalry, none of the services would like to have to abandon their turf, the airforce believes anything that flies should be their area of responsibility alone. Specifically with the “attack hapters” the idea is that an army pilot will have a bet-
ter idea of what land warfare is like. Generally with air attacks carried out by the airforce is that the troops on the ground asking for close in gunship support have to contact somebody who is the link between them and the airforce staff and then they have to clear the sortie and then finally the pilot hovers over you, establishing friend from foe and finally the job is done. So the idea behind the army asking for attack hapters is to shave time off this process and increase their battlefield capabilities.
Aditya: Do you think amphibious warfare capability is rather d ow np l ay e d compared to other combat Image: Col. Danveer Singh’s Twitter Aditya: Do you arms of the Inthink sir that certain policy decisions are dian military? Frankly speaking sir, is it inflicted on the Government by The Army appropriate for India to raise a full size simply because it is the larger service? Marine corps as an independent branch For example The raising of The Moun- of the military and not just make do tain Strike Corps was arguably given pre- with a few battalion of MARCOS under cedence over Warship procurement for Navy and the small amphibious force that The Navy to counter threats from China. Army maintains to support the Navy in Many people would argue that confront- case of a beach head landing scenario?
Illegal wildlife trade threatens 30% natural heritage sites
Illegal
History of TV
ing China in the seas perhaps even blockading them would be a better course of action in case hostilities break out? Col. Danveer Sigh Chauhan: No I don’t agree with that, see the mountain strike corps is not your regular strike corps it’s more of a defensive reserve. It should have been implemented way earlier than it was.
Col. Danveer Sigh Chauhan: Yes amphibious warfare is a neglected area, the Army insists that everything that has to do with land warfare is its domain and when the Navy raised the issue Army overruled it. Yes it is a great disappointment that unfortunately a permanent amphibious formation was not adopted. Aditya: How Would you rate the various special forces outfits belonging to the 3 branches, from Garud SF on the IAF to the Para SF of the Army. Col. Danveer Sigh Chauhan: Every outfit has its own forte but if you were to pick the best of the best well I would say the best anti terrorist force is the NSG , the Para SF and MARCOS are both world class outfits they are at par but obviously have different functions and roles they serve the MARCOS being frogmen. Aditya: If the Government Resolved to Raise a 4th Major Branch, i.e. The Marine Corps independent of both the Navy and the Army, would you return to active service to lead it? Col. Danveer Sigh Chauhan: Oh that’s very hypothetical, passionately yes practically no.
Cartoon Corner
poaching, logging, fishing and trafficking of rare animal species threaten nearly 30% of natural and mixed World Heritage sites, according to a report by conservation charity World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Overexploitation and trafficking of the endangered species can lead to their extinction and risk the well-being of communities which depend on them, WWF warned.
It all started with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio In 1950s, TV division was a part of All India Radio, now its billion dollar industry
Harshit Jha
J
aipur. The invention of the television was the work of many individuals in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Individuals and corpora-
tions competed in various parts of the world to deliver a device that superseded previous technology. Many were compelled to capitalize on the invention and make profit, while some wanted to change the world through visual and audio communication technology. Terrestrial television in India started with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959 with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The television service was extended to Bombay and Amritsar in 1972. Up until 1975, only seven Indian cities had a television service. SITE was an important step taken by India to use television for development. The programs were mainly produced by Doordarshan which was then a part of AIR. The telecasts
happened twice a day, in the morning and evening. Other than agricultural information, health and family planning were the other important topics dealt with in these programmes. Entertainment was also included in these telecasts in the form of dance, music, drama, folk and rural art forms. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, color TV was introduced in the Indian market. Indian small screen programming started off in the early 1980s. At that time there was only one national channel Doordarshan, which was government owned. The Ramayana and Mahabharata were the first major television series produced. This serial notched up the world record in viewership numbers for a single program. By the late 1980s, more and more people started to own
television sets. Though there was a single channel, television programming had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcast terrestrially. In 1997, Prasar Bharati, a statutory autonomous body was established. Doordarshan along with AIR was converted into government corporations under Prasar Bharati. The Prasar Bharati Corporation was esablished to serve as the public service broadcaster of the country which would achieve its objectives through AIR and DD. This was a step towards greater autonomy for Doordarshan and AIR. However, Prasar Bharati has not succeeded in shielding Doordarshan from government control.
Printed and Published by JECRC University, Ramchandrapura, Sitapura, Jaipur. Sub Editors: Aditya Pareek , Harshit Jha, Layout Designer: Aditya Pareek, Chief Sub-Editor: Shailendra Pratap Singh Bhati, Editor: Dr. Neeraj Khattri , DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this paper are author(s) own. Facts reported by them have been verified to the extent possible and the publisher are not liable for the same. This publication is for internal circulation only. Please send your valuable suggestions and feedback on ; themessage@jecrcu.edu.in