Final views on news 22 october 2015 by India Legal

Governance Section

VIEWS ON NEWS

MARUTI’S STRIKING WORKERS ENDANGER “MAKE IN INDIA” DRIVE 48 www.viewsonnewsonline.com

THE CRITICAL EYE

OCTOBER 22, 2015

FADING GLITTER The Modi act has slipped several notches on the media charts Plus: C Raja Mohan on Namo’s new world Ashok Desai: PM in UN 22

BIKRAM VOHRA: Encryption policy fiasco 26

ABHAY VAIDYA: Social media vs advertisers 30

Reviews Talvar 38 Quantico 37

`50

EDITOR’S NOTE

CREDIBILITY CRISIS POLITICIAN-BASHING, a favorite pastime of the Indian media—and often with sound reason—sometimes goes completely overboard. This trait is especially in evidence when we paint all public figures with the same black-and-white brush while ignoring the grey areas. For example, there are, and I am sure will continue to be, decent and well-intentioned politicians who are truly concerned about the barbarous lynching over meat-eating in Dadri, outside Delhi, and who are determined never to let such an atrocity, which has shamed India in the eyes of the world as a neoTalibanic republic, to recur. This is perhaps because the Good Guys don’t make news anymore. The culture of impunity, the habit of hyperbole, the convention of tall claims followed by plausible denial has enshrouded India within a miasma of doubt and suspicion. Journalist Barkha Dutt has rightly been quoted elsewhere in this magazine as remarking: “There’s something toxic in the air…poisonous fumes of murderous hatred.” She is right. There is a general malaise in this country today. It is palpable. It is spreading. Just like the monsoon “deficit”, there is also one of trust in the government. This is possibly because the Indian public has been disheartened by the bait-and-switch routine of the Modi sarkar. Bait-and-switch is a term used by advertising agencies to describe a sales gimmick that lures the customer with one product but actually delivers a wholly different one. Executive Editor Ajith Pillai analyzes

4 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

this peculiar phenomenon in the context of Prime Minister Modi’s political and administrative performance so far. In the increasing attacks on him, is the press going overboard in tarring him with a black-and-white brush and ignoring the grey areas? Why is it, for example, that Modi’s repeated assurances to the minority communities and his pledges of equal justice for all Indians today receive less attention and attract less credibility than the criticism of the Indian rightwing for minority-bashing, bans, and assaults on individual liberties? Pillai attributes this, with solid examples to back his conclusions, with the widening chasm between rhetoric, promises and performances. Has Modi become a victim of the electoral hype created for him by his own spin doctors? Is he still living in the flurry and hustle and bustle of a never-ending election campaign rather than within the portals and sobering and moderating influence of South Block? Decisions have to be made regarding not just those whom he would want to convert as his voters but the welfare of more than a billion people whose diversity of cultures, languages, emotional baggage, customs and beliefs boggle the imagination of the world. Our cover story recognizes the importance of being Modi who, many people still believe, is the man of the moment to lift India out of its turgid politics, tired economics, crony protectionism. The doubting Thomases harbor a we-told-you-so attitude: that Modi is essentially a provincial, right-wing Gujarati politician who has learned to mouth the slogans of a new age pan Indian leader with oratory that sometimes matches that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Both the Modis, alas, are the creations of the press, which has either damned him to the nether

CLEAN UP THE ACT Modi needs to send a stern message to the nation after the Dadri “beef” lynching incident

world or praised him to heaven. Has Modi become enmeshed in a PR net in which fantasy and reality alternate? There is much to be proud of what Modi has proclaimed and attempted to do. Cleaning the Ganges, broom-sweeping India, attracting foreign capital, engaging with neighbors, trying to get the US to tilt away from Pakistan and towards India, looking the Chinese leadership in the eye, chasing tax dodgers, stressing primary education, protecting the girl child, chasing terrorists…. But Team Modi, it seems has not being following Leader Modi and the actual ground reality, as Pillai points out, lags far behind speeches and intentions. High expectations produce, unfortunately, a conversely low honeymoon period for a new leader. That honeymoon, alas, seems to be ending. Listen to some of the statements: “The PM is an articulate spokesperson for India but we need to back up the PM’s visits with action on the ground which reinforces the good impression he is creating”—RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. “In the last year, I haven’t seen any action apart from advertisements or showbaazi. I can’t see any street that

has become clean”—Arvind Kejriwal. “People from BJP are threatening us with arrest saying the Election Commission is under them. One cannot bulldoze states in the name of governance”— Mamata Bannerjee. “India should not violate the treaties and agreements between our two countries. India should not violate the international norms and rights of landlocked countries”—KP Oli, chief of the ruling Nepalese UML party. Admittedly, many of these people are traditional Modi-baiters. But the difference is that the press is paying more attention to them because some of the misdeeds and pronouncements of intolerant Indians who proclaim to back Modi are making a mockery of the PM who was brought to power by an enthusiastic groundswell of voters. Modi’s main task is to stand up for what he believes in rather than be defined either by friends or foes.

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 5

VOLUME. IX

ISSUE. 02

Editor Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Executive Editor Ajith Pillai Associate Editor Meha Mathur Deputy Editor Prabir Biswas Assistant Editor Amitabh Srivastava Art Director Anthony Lawrence Deputy Art Editor Amitava Sen Graphic Designer Lalit Khitoliya Photographer Anil Shakya News Coordinator/Photo Researcher Kh Manglembi Devi Production Pawan Kumar Chief Editorial Advisor Inderjit Badhwar CFO Anand Raj Singh VP (HR & General Administration) Lokesh C Sharma Circulation Manager RS Tiwari

C O N LEDE

Reality 12 Check The media is no longer singing in one voice. It is taking a critical view of Modi’s performance, be it the economy, prices or communalism, writes AJITH PILLAI

Vice-President (Ad-Sales) Vivek Mittal-09810265619 For advertising & subscription queries sales@viewsonnewsonline.com

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6 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

Not So Cool

ASHOK V DESAI of Catch News observes that the PM’s uninspired speech at the UN was in sharp contrast to his San Jose speech to chiefs of IT companies

Modi and his World SHOBHA JOHN reviews C Raja Mohan’s book Modi's World: Expanding India's Sphere of Influence, where he talks of the PM’s vigorous style of wooing world leaders

T E N T S ADVERTISING

Car-nama

Advertising professional KRISH WARRIER recalls the revolutionary ads of Volkswagen in its hour of infamy

SMALL SCREEN TECH

Snoop Policy

After going online with its draft encryption policy, the government was quick to withdraw it amidst widespread criticism. BIKRAM VOHRA reports

FOCUS

Newsroom Buzz

High Point for Priyanka

Priyanka Chopra’s foray into American TV, Quantico, will be a much-watched series in India, writes AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

FILM REVIEW

Missing the Edge

Talvar leaves AMITABH SRIVASTAVA unimpressed as he says it offers no clear-cut answers to the biggest whodunit in recent times

ANCHOR REVIEW

Great Show

Independent news websites and social media are challenging the traditional, advertiser-driven newspaper model, writes ABHAY VAIDYA

AJITH PILLAI finds Truth vs Hype, anchored by Sreenivasan Jain on NDTV, an inspiring program that beats rivals hollow

Governance

R E G U L A R S

SPOTLIGHT

Edit..................................................04 Grapevine........................................08 Quotes........................................10 Media-Go-Round............................11 Web-Crawler....................................29 As the World Turns.........................36 Design............................................44 Breaking News................................46 Vonderful-English............................54

Make in India will be a reality when workers, especially non-permanent ones, are treated well. Growing industrial unrest, such as the recent one in Maruti, shows that the way forward is to ensure workers’ rights. VIVIAN FERNANDES reports

Give Labour its Due

Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

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October 22, 2015 7

Grapevine Mother of All Remarks

OTHERS have suddenly become the tagline of comments from sundry politicians and nonpoliticians and this is being drilled into our psyche, day in and day out, whether one likes it or not. Beginning with the Mars Mission, MOM, to Rahul Gandhi’s heart-breaking an-

nouncement, “Har Vyakti ke paas maa hoti hai, aisa koi vyakti nahi hota jiske paas maa nahi hoti hai”, it reached our PM, who with choked voice, and copious tears, recounted his mother’s struggles to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But in all this, the “mother” of all comments came from son Rahul: “Main kissan hoon aur aapko kehna chahta hoon ki Narendra Modiji humari zameen nahin hamari maa chheen rahein hain.”

Swamy’s Place in the Sun

ITH his constant jibes at the Modi government, Subramanian Swamy is trying to find his place in the sun. A little birdie from Ashok Road in Lutyen’s Delhi tells me that the party is planning to offer him a Rajya Sabha seat as a placatory offer. First we heard he would be part of the Union cabinet, then he said he refused the post of BRICS

Bank Head as it wasn’t upto his standard. Then, his name cropped up as a possible candidate for the post of VC of JNU. But HRD minister Smriti Irani, clarified that he was way too over the hill for the post. Anyway, he himself believes that JNU needs an anti-narcotics bureau and a BSF camp to raid dorms and arrest the “anti-nationals” inside.

Prabhu’s Dilemma

HE railway sector has not performed and the Sangh is cut up about this. They are learnt to have done some plain-speaking to Suresh Prabhu about it. Accidents every other day and the railways losing out on passengers despite no fare hike has been galling. The loss of 150 million passengers in the first five months of this financial year has left the BJP red-faced. So, will the railway stations—all 500 of them as we heard in California—be used only as free wi-fi hotspots?

8 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

Money Can Buy Happiness

K’s office for National Statistics has revealed new research surveys which have conclusively proved that money can buy you happiness. “But we in India always knew such wisdom, that our sages and saints had told us, which the British historians conveniently distorted,” says Culture Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma. Indians are perhaps the only people with a community devoted to money matters—Baniyas!

“President” Modi!

N the middle of his statement made after meeting the Indian PM, President Obama referred to Modiji as “President”. In the video of his remarks posted on the White House website, Obama says: “We are encouraged by the aggressive nature of President Modi’s commitment to clean energy.” White House reissued the correct transcript changing “president” to “prime minister”. Is Pranabda feeling a wee bit threatened? After all, it is not everyday that the famous Obama tongue slips!

Ankit Fadia Who?

NKIT Fadia, a self-proclaimed “ethical hacker”, has been named the brand ambassador of the PM’s Digital India initiative. His claim to fame is his book, “Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking”, when he was 15-years’-old. Even the government agencies were confused about his appointment. First, PIB, the government’s news body, issued a clarification to news reports and said that there was no move to appoint a brand ambassador. Then, they withdrew it. By evening, they were confirming it, along with three other names! Was the PIB website hacked? But why Ankit Fadia, who is nothing but the Deepak Chopra of computer security?

Rich Indian Culture

HE Union Culture Ministry is awaiting a report from the Institute of Scientific Research as minister Mahesh Sharma is impressed by the findings of the Institute, which used a software procured from the US at a princely sum of `7,000. And what are these findings? Well, Lord Rama was born on 10th January, 5114 BC at 12.05 pm, Mahabharata started on 13th October, 3139

BC, Hanuman visited Ashok Vatika on 12th September 5076 BC, and so on. We all know that Dr Sharma is a qualified doctor, who used to head the Indian Medical Association some years back, and then went on to establish the Kailash Group of Hospitals. He also believes that ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam was a “great man”, a “nationalist” and a “humanist”, “despite being a Muslim”.

—Compiled by Roshni Seth Illustrations: UdayShankar

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October 22, 2015 9

U O T E S

The Prime Minister is an articulate spokesperson for India but … need to back up PM’s visits with action on the ground which reinforces the good impression he is creating. —Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan in The Indian Express

In the last one year, I haven't seen any action apart from advertisements or showbaazi. I can’t see any street which has become clean. —Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on the Swachh Bharat campaign

People from the BJP are threatening us with arrest, saying the Election Commission is under them. The PM should look into this. One cannot bulldoze states in the name of governance. –West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in The Indian Express

India should not violate the treaties and agreements between our two countries, one. Second, India shouldn't undermine and violate the international norms and rights of the landlocked countries in general. —KP Oli, chief of the ruling Nepalese UML party, in Dawn 10 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

William Dalrymple, author Had a gossipy flight to London with lovely old Sharmila Tagore in the next seat. She mentioned she was writing her memoirs.

Tavleen Singh, columnist Loudest voice saying Swachh Bharat has failed. comes from spokesmen of a party that did nothing for 67 years. Guilt??

Mahesh Bhat, film director and producer A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. That is why the Mahatma rules over the hearts of billions.

Barkha Dutt, TV journalist There’s something toxic in the air. Poisonous fumes of murderous hatred. Perhaps we should take Twitter hatred far more seriously than we do.

Shobhaa De, author Peter M. Certainly plans his disappearing acts perfectly ! He was away when Sheena was murdered. And he is not seen now! Nor is Vidhie!

Shekhar Gupta, senior journalist Holiness of cow is now as much a multi-partisan issue now as hostility to Pakistan.

EDIA-GO-ROUND

Indian TV channels blocked

ABLE TV operators in Nepal have blocked 42 Indian channels in protest against “blockade of goods” into the country. The move comes after a former Maoist splinter party started a campaign against Indian movies and TV channels. The indefinite blackout of the Indian channels began at 10 am on September 29. President of Federation of Nepal Cable Television Association

Sushil Parajuli said that they had decided to shut down the broadcasts as “India has been intruding in the national sovereignty of Nepal,” reported Asia Times. However, the Nepal government directed the cable operators to furnish a clarification within 24 hours and continue with the broadcasts. Scores of trucks carrying supplies are stranded on the Indo-Nepal border due to protests in south Nepal over the country's newly-adopted constitution. This has affected supplies of sugar, petrol and essential commodities into Nepal.

“Restrain AAP

Amar Ujala

from issuing ads”

office attacked

ONGRESS leader Ajay Maken has moved the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to immediately restrain the AAP government from publishing advertisements against media houses, alleging that the practice was simply an abuse of public funds. The AAP government had put out full-page advertisement in newspapers denying news reports on

Pak accuses

the alleged onion scam. According to The New Indian Express, Maken, in his application, claimed that by publishing such an advertisement “not only had the Delhi government misused public funds for the benefit of the ruling party, it also sought to criticize and curb the freedom of the press”.

Indian media of propaganda

FTER visuals of atrocities by Pakistan government in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were aired on Indian TV channels, Pakistan claimed the videos were doctored and called the action a “propaganda” of the Indian media, according to IBNlive. On September 29, protesters in PoK were beaten up for staging protests against the Pakistani government and for raising demands for merging with India.

Goa scribes file harassment case

WO women journalists in Goa have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against a senior journalist for alleged sexual harassment, according to a senior police official. A Business Standard report says that the FIR mentions Rupesh Samant, Goa

UPPORTERS of Narayan Sai and Asaram attacked Amar Ujala media persons in their office premises in Agra. Around two dozen supporters of Asaram forcibly entered the Amar Ujala office and had an altercation with the security guards, and later damaged the property. The police arrested two people from the group while the others ran away. The attackers were continuously shouting that the newspaper wrote a lot against Narayan Sai and if it did not stop the negative reporting, they would create even more ruckus and set the office on fire the next time.

bureau chief of Press Trust of India, who is accused of allegedly stalking the two victims, sending them vulgar messages via mobile phone and making sexual advances. This was done at Herald Cable Network, a local cable channel where the two journalists earlier worked. Samant also used to appear as a news anchor at the channel. The Goa Union of Journalists has said that the Goa police should take up the case.

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October 22, 2015 11

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Media Vs Modi

Is the Honeymoon Over? The media, which used to fawn on Modi, is now doing a reality check. The result is a critical view, be it of the economy, manufacturing, prices or communalism BY AJITH PILLAI

S Prime Minister Narendra Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s honeymoon with the Indian media on the wane? Political scientists will vouch for the fact that a prime minister will in the long run be judged more by the performance of his government than his own personality, oratorical skills, hard work or dynamism. Narendra Modi as the CEO of the Indian Republic is no doubt bestowed with all these last mentioned and laudable virtues. The PM, by his admission, works some 18 hours a day. He has jet set to the four corners of the world and met top international leaders in the 16 months he has been in power. He is undisputedly an impressive public speaker and a powerhouse of energy. In fact, within days of assuming office, he set himself 12 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

goals which should have by now heralded in the acche din that he promised in the run-up to the 2014 general elections. But in all this din about the good times, what does one make of the performance of the government that Modi presides over? The Union cabinet and the prime minister had started out in May 2014 with an unbelievable groundswell of goodwill and support. The media then came out with all its guns of praise blazing. Expectations ran high. The general consensus was that the gloom and doom of the UPA-II era would soon be over and Modi and his lieutenants would put the nation back on the track to economic and social prosperity. SCEPTICAL MEDIA But much water has flown down the Yamuna since. The press has over the months become sceptical about Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good governance mantra. It now deems it necessary to place under the scanner the claims and rosy projections put out for public consumption by the ruling dispensation. The Modi act, it would seem, has slipped a few notches on the media charts. The media has its reasons for taking a reality check. Economic progress has been tardy, to say the least. The fight against black money and corruption has been rather tame. Consumer confidence and manufacturing is down, according to an RBI survey released last fortnight. Prices of essentials have not been brought under control and ground-level inflation is on the rise despite official data pointing to the contrary. The rural economy is floundering. The farming community is in distress. Industry is worried and keeping its fingers crossed. Worse, communalism has begun to rear its ugly head, belying all the pledges to equality that the prime minister had made. Attempts have been made at various levels to curtail personal freedom. Textbooks are being rewritten with agendas in mind. Educational and cultural institutions have seen changes brought about under the influence of forces outside the government.

It has become apparent that the sarkar is controlled by the larger Sangh Parivarâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a hydraheaded entity which speaks in different voices and has an agenda rooted in the cultural right-wing ethos of Hindutva and of Vedic supremacy over modern science. It is also committed to the creation of a Hindu nation where minorities are discriminated against. This ideology has many supporters within the BJP and the government. One must presume, given his studied silence on issues related to the Sangh, that Modi tacitly supports it or is left with no other option.

LOST FERVOR? The present gloom is in sharp contrast to the optimism a year ago

BLACK MARK This communalization was most pronounced on the day Modi came back from his recent and muchtrumpeted US visit. In Bisra village, Dadri, 40 kms outside Delhi, a Muslim family was set upon by a Hindu mob for allegedly slaughtering a calf and cooking beef in their house. The head of the family, Mohammed Akhlaq, 50, was beaten to death. His son Danish was grievously injured. The attack was followed by statements by BJP leaders, including VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 13

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Media Vs Modi

NOT AN IMPRESSIVE TEMPLATE (Above and right) The Modi government’s tenure has been characterized by communal violence, like the violence in Dadri over beef eating

a Union minister, who tried to justify the attack as a spontaneous expression of mob anger rather than a planned action that it reportedly was. The media has been outraged and sharply critical of the government. And the criticism has come from quarters which are not traditional Modi baiters. Tavleen Singh, in her September 4 column in The Indian Express, wrote: “Mohammed Akhlaq’s murder gives the Prime Minister a chance to confront the reality that, if he fails to give India change, development and prosperity, it will be because of enemies 14 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

inside his own house.” She goes on to add: “Akhlaq’s death was foretold from the day BJP chief ministers started banning meat on the excuse of festivals during which it has never been banned before.” In the same paper the previous day, Pratap Bhanu Mehta of the Center for Policy Research, Delhi, was more pointed in his criticism: “The blame for this has to fall entirely on Modi. Those who spread this poison enjoy his patronage. This government has set a tone that is threatening, mean-spirited and inimical to freedom. Modi

“This government has set a tone that is threatening, meanspirited and inimical to freedom. Modi... bears responsibility for the poison that is being spread by the likes of Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and (BJP leader) Tarun Vijay.”

“Mohammed Akhlaq’s murder gives the Prime Minister a chance to confront the reality that, if he fails to give India change, development and prosperity, it will be because of enemies inside his own house.”

—Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president, Center for Policy Research

—Tavleen Singh, columnist, in The Indian Express

should have no doubt that he bears responsibility for the poison that is being spread by the likes of Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and (BJP leader) Tarun Vijay — whether through powerlessness or design is irrelevant. But we can be grateful to Vijay for reminding us that the threat to India’s soul emanates from the centre of power, almost nowhere else. It is for that centre, and Modi in particular, to persuade us otherwise.” In The Sunday Times of India, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar, angered by the incident, quoted from Bhavabhuti’s famous 8th century AD play, Uttara Ramacharita, to “claim his right to eat beef as part of the ancient Hindu tradition highlighted by

Bhavabhuti”. He also concluded that as a Brahmin, he was “happily following in the footsteps of the sage Vasishta”. TALL CLAIMS It is not just the Dadri incident that has become the focus of the media. Take the recent report in the Financial Times (London) that with $31 billion of foreign capital inflows, India has surpassed China and the US in attracting the world’s highest FDI in the first half of 2015. The story, “India grabs investment league pole position”, was forwarded to PTI by the Ministry of Finance and was immediately front-paged in most newspapers and widely VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 15

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Media Vs Modi

The media has its reasons for taking a reality check. Economic progress has been tardy, the fight against black money has been tame, manufacturing is down and the rural economy is floundering.

OBLIVIOUS TO GROUND REALITIES (Above) Farmer Gajendra Chauhan’s suicide at a political rally in New Delhi shocked the nation (Right) Modi with Google officials at the Google campus in Silicon Valley during his recent US visit

16 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

discussed on TV. But within 24 hours, The Times of India put question marks on the veracity of the tall claim. It quoted RBI data for foreign investments from January to June this year at $20.6 billion. Moreover, according to the National Statistics Bureau of China, FDI into that country in the first half of 2015 was $68.4 billion. That is over three times the amount that came into India during the same period. Given the contradictions, the Financial Times story, which initially triggered a tizzy, has virtually disappeared from the news. Earlier, when factually incorrect stories were given to the media, it was not questioned with such immediacy. For example, on October 30 last year, there was an “official leak” from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that the government had cleared the allocation of an additional `5 lakh as compensation for each of the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. It was carried prominently by newspapers and the electronic media. The fact that the news came ahead of the 30th anniversary of the anti-Sikh riots ensured maximum coverage. However, when the Election Com-

BIG BROTHER INVITES WRATH Protests erupt in Nepal against India’s displeasure with the country’s new constitution

mission objected to the compensation because it violated the model code of conduct in force since byelections had already been announced in three assembly constituencies in Delhi, the MHA promptly denied the story. It pointed out to the Commission that no compensation package had been announced; the media had got it all wrong. Those who leaked the story got away with it since only one newspaper carried the ministry’s denial to the EC. But the media can no longer be relied upon to be as kindly disposed as before. Take the story of black money stashed away overseas being brought back under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. The total disclosures were only `3,770 crore, way below all expectations and projections. R Jagannathan, senior business editor, pointed out in his Firstpost column that the response under the scheme was “underwhelming” since “only 60 percent (of the amount) will come in as tax revenues (30 percent tax, plus 30 percent penalty)” and that the “government’s coffers will be richer to the paltry level of `2,262 crore. That, in fact, ought to have been the amount realisable from just one big businessman

or crooked politician.” Other publications, TV channels and news websites also took up his point that the scheme was “not just a flop but a superflop” when compared to P Chidambaram’s amnesty scheme for black money holders in 1997. The scheme then had declarations of around `33,000 crore. According to Jagannathan’s estimate, given today’s money value and size of the Indian economy, the Modi government should have had declarations of about `3 lakh crore. The press was unanimous in declaring the scheme as a failure. Some papers even reminded readers of the BJP’s electoral promise of bringing back enough black money from overseas to deposit `15 lakh into the accounts of all citizens. BIG BROTHER Similarly, the government’s sharp reaction last month to Nepal’s new constitution came in for strong criticism. Subhir Bhaumik, veteran BBC correspondent and author, commenting in The Hindu, noted: “Good diplomacy is all about effective, gentle persuasion minus threats or use of force.

The press has become sceptical about Modi’s good governance mantra. It now deems it necessary to place under the scanner the claims and rosy projections put out for public consumption by the ruling dispensation.

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October 22, 2015 17

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Media Vs Modi

QUESTIONABLE PERFORMANCE (L-R) R Jagannathan says the response to the Black Money disclosure scheme of the government is underwhelming; IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hastily retracted the snooping policy (Below) According to Scroll.in, the only US newspaper to feature the first leg of Modi’s visit on page 1 was San Jose Mercury News

India should have lobbied discreetly on getting some of its concerns addressed in the Nepali Constitution, not thrown tantrums after the statute was adopted by a sweeping majority. This does not sit well with India’s image at a time when the Modi administration is making a determined bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.” Many other publications were critical of India playing Big Brother and not adopting a more diplomatic approach to resolving the issues it had with Nepal’s constitution. Managing the media is no longer as easy as it initially was for the government. The hidden draconian motive of its recent draft encryption policy, circulated on the internet, was not lost to the press and there was much hue and cry about it. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology withdrew the draft policy within six hours and Union Communication and Infor18 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

mation Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad issued a curious and rather unconvincing statement to the effect that a policy of such import was made public without his knowledge. (See accompanying story by Bikram Vohra). But despite the explanation and apology, a media website put out a story last week that the policy might be brought back in a different form with the same objectionable clauses intact. The media has, of late, put into perspective various government initiatives and policies. It has also been critical of the ruling dispensation as was seen in the Lalit Modi affair and the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh. But there have been lapses too— while the Indian media went overboard in reporting the success of Modi’s US visit, including his engagements at the UN, the western press was not as enthusiastic. In fact, Modi did not make big news in the country he was visiting till he hit Silicon Valley and spent time in the company of IT czars and the Indian diaspora. (See Ashok V Desai’s column). A vigilant press, it is oft said, has a vital role in a democracy like India. One hopes that the Fourth Estate lives up to its commitment of being fair, objective and relatively immune to pressure from vested interests both inside and outside the government. Remember, the truth involves us all.

EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE MINDS IN THE NATION

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GUJARAT HARVESTS THE SUN 53

OCTOBER 7, 2015

ALL THE

Politicians and public

A JOURNALIST

By Ajith Pillai

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Sundeep Khanna: Newspapers dying? 36

Shobha John: Trump blazing on TV 32

Bikram Vohra: Who blacked out the OROP vets?

TMM Survey: Women as commodities 44

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Lede Editors’ Pick Ashok V Desai

Dear PM, please sell the right message to the right audience

VON brings in each issue, the best written commentary on any subject. The following write-up, from www.catchnews.com, has been picked by our team of editors and reproduced for our readers as the best in the fortnight.

Modi’s uninspired speech at the UN was in sharp contrast to his San Jose speech to chiefs of IT companies

PERSUASION SKILLS

“O

NE must care about a world one will never see,” said Mahatma Gandhi according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: that is how he began his speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations. Well, it was Bertrand Russell who said it, not Gandhi. Provincial pride must not go so far as to misappropriate wisdom. Then he went on to give translated versions of Sanskrit sayings he must know by heart, and gave a message which could be summarized as saying, “Be good, and trust in God; He will see you through.”

20 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

PM Narendra Modi addressing the UN General Assembly

That is a perfectly good message; it would have been fine in a meeting of Indic believers. But it is not the subject I would have chosen to speak to senior representatives of 180 diverse countries about. The prime minister was preceded by King Tupou VI of Tonga and President Prosper Bazombanza of Burundi, and followed by the prime minister of Fiji and the foreign ministers of Germany, Russia and China. His speech must have gone entirely over their heads. Modi also spoke at length about hoary old topics dear to Indians—development, poverty removal, industrialisation, infrastructure, environment and so on. I do not know

how well he succeeded, but it was a speech eminently designed to put his audience to sleep. If anyone stayed awake, he must have thought, “Not another boring Indian!” A MISSED OPPORTUNITY More important, he missed the chance to convey anything of strategic national interest. For instance, he could have mentioned the resolution of the problem of enclaves with Bangladesh, and thanked Sheikh Hasina, who spoke after him. He could have thanked Josaia Bainimarama for making him feel at home in Fiji, and appreciated its rainbow of races living together. He said while the world spoke of the private and public sectors, India had defined a new personal sector of individual enterprise, micro enterprise and micro finance, drawing on the strength of digital and mobile applications. This is confused thinking. All these are part of the private sector. And the government did not create this sector. It emerged in the days of licence permit raj to evade controls, and continues to survive because of its low wages. Indians are prone to boast when they meet foreigners. They like to tell them what a great country India is and what great things we are doing. They think they are educating foreigners about Indian realities. They do not realize that the foreigners think they are boasting, and that boasts are a speciality of insecure people. A PROMISING PITCH The same prime minister gave a very different kind of speech to the chiefs of information technology companies in San Jose. He began by mentioning his hosts by first name. He was witty—for example, “Google has made teachers less awe-inspiring and grandparents more idle." He spoke in short and crisp sentences. He spoke with knowledge about social uses of IT. He told arresting stories —for instance, of a patient he saw in Bishkek being treated online by a doctor in Delhi. He was passionate about using technology to change the lives of his people, and spoke in some detail about the IT initiatives of his government. He announced a plan to take help from Google - a foreign enterprise - and make 500 railway stations wifi hotspots. And he made a practical

Democracy is a game of persuasion. The prime minister has proved himself to be a great fighter; he would be ten times more effective if he also tried persuasion. proposal - an Indo-US partnership in digitising India. Not surprisingly, he won over his audience. BEING BAD AND GOOD The prime minister gave two speeches within the space of a week: the one in the UN was indifferent, the one to IT professionals was masterly. How could he be so bad and so good? One possibility is that the speech writers were different. This is obvious: Even the English was so much better in the second talk. But he did not passively read speeches given to him. Both reflected his views. In other words, he chose the message; the speech writers only dressed it up. The difference in quality reflected his thinking. He obviously holds strong views about Hinduism. He is equally passionate about digitisation. The difference was that he gave the first talk to the wrong audience, and the second one to the right audience. He makes good verbal products; that is what has made him a good politician. But surprisingly for a Gujarati, he does not match his products with their markets. And often when he has a ready market, he cannot think of the right product. This is true of Parliament, a perfect field for verbal games. For more than a year, he has been largely tonguetied, and has let the Congress make hay. That is a pity, because democracy is a game of persuasion. The prime minister has proved himself to be a great fighter; he would be ten times more effective if he also tried persuasion. —Ashok V Desai is a senior economist and commentator on economic policy and was also Chief Economic Advisor to the government. VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 21

Lede Book Review Modi's World: Expanding India’s Sphere of Influence

Modi and P his World PM Modi has surprised many in the foreign policy domain. With his vigorous style of wooing world leaders and putting national interests first, he is a statesman worth emulating, says analyst C Raja Mohan BY SHOBHA JOHN CORPORATE OUTREACH Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center), with CEOs from the Fortune 500 group of companies in New York City recently

22 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

RIME Minister Narendra Modi’s third visit to the US has once again shown the success of his foreign policy. As American CEOs lined up to meet him, it was easy to forget that this was the same Modi whom the US had denied a visa in the aftermath of the 2002 riots. The fact that he converted the chill of those times into a pragmatic and warm relationship with US President Barack Obama shows the master statesman that Modi has become. This is especially so in the foreign policy domain where he has reached out to the US, China, Pakistan, Japan, Australia, neighbors and even tiny Fiji. Of course, these countries can only ignore the man who got the largest mandate in Indian politics at their own peril. But as C Raja Mohan’s sem-

inal book “Modi's World: Expanding India's Sphere of Influence” says: “For some it was the dawn of the Third Republic that would help India realize its full potential as a nation.” CHANGED STYLE This book, by one of India’s most distinguished foreign policy analysts, details how Modi inherited a foreign policy which was characterized more by inertia and tentativeness than confidence. With his vigorous personal style, Modi has brought India back into the limelight. It deals with the great hopes riding on him during his first year in office and constantly gives it a historical perspective. The period between 1947 and 1989, dominated by the Congress, is called the “First Republic”; the period following that, characterized by economic liberalization and the rise of coalition politics, is called the “Second Repub-

Despite the US treating Modi as a pariah after the 2002 riots, Modi was smart enough to realize that a vigorous engagement with the US would be in India’s interest and would pay dividends. lic”. The present period has been called the “Third Republic”. The book goes back and forth between the UPA’s way of doing things and Modi’s own initiatives. The marked contrast between both is the reason for Modi’s success. Most of the chapters are actually columns by Raja Mohan for The Indian Express from 2014-15. Starting with neighbors, the book says that one of the most distinguishing facets of Modi’s foreign policy was the emphasis on improving ties with smaller neighbors. The fact that he called all the SAARC countries for his swearingin is a far-sighted move. Unlike his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, who was shackled by his allies, be it Mamata Banerjee or Jayalalitha while dealing with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka respectively, Modi’s huge mandate made him a virtual kingmaker with no one to question him on his foreign policy initiatives. And as he reached out to these countries, he didn’t forget Mauritius either, a strategically important country in the Indian Ocean. With China making moves in the Indian Ocean, Modi was far-sighted enough to see the importance of these countries. BOLD MOVE Even with Pakistan, Modi was pragmatic enough to see that anger could not be the guiding force of relations. As he increasingly engaged with a hostile neighbor, he also laid down the rules for future talks. The Hurriyat, a third-party entity in previous talks, would no longer be entertained by this government and Indo-Pakistan talks VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 23

Lede Book Review Modi's World: Expanding India’s Sphere of Influence

One of India’s most distinguished foreign policy analysts details how Modi inherited a policy characterized by inertia and how his vigorous style brought India back into the limelight.

MAKE IN INDIA Prime Minister Modi visiting the Airbus A380 assembly line facility in Toulouse, France

would only be bilateral engagements. This was a bold move and Modi was willing to call off talks if the Hurriyat was involved. But it is with China that Modi has shown the greatest flexibility. He was already familiar with the country from the time he was Gujarat’s chief minister and had always admired its economic might. China too was familiar with the ease of doing business in Gujarat when Modi was at the helm and the warm feelings were reciprocated by Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, that did not stop India from being wary of China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean, which is liter-

24 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

ally India’s backyard. Also, despite increased patrolling on the border with China, Modi has decided to take economic cooperation forward. Obviously, there is no one solution for all problems as far as Modi is concerned. However, it is with the US that Modi’s flexible approach is most appreciated. Despite the US treating Modi like a pariah after the 2002 Gujarat riots, after he became prime minister, he decided not to hold any grudge. He was smart enough to realize that a vigorous engagement with the US would be in India’s interest and would pay dividends with Pakistan, China, Europe, Japan and Russia. Getting the equation right with the US would help India attain greater synergy when dealing with other large powers. This was a sea-change in policy as compared to Jawaharlal Nehru’s who had a distaste for American materialism. Modi also sheds the nonalignment approach and sees the potential of doing great business with this superpower. With Manmohan Singh, there was policy paralysis and

SOFT POWER PM Modi acknowledges greetings from the crowd near the Daxingshan Temple in Xi’an, China

India lost credibility with business leaders the world over. Saying “no” became the fashion of the times, be it in trade negotiations, climate change or nuclear policy. India’s lack of self-confidence and inability to assess its long-term interests did a lot of harm. Modi overturned this diffidence and his body language said that here was a leader one could do business with, albeit, one who even thrived on it. INDIAN OCEAN POLICY With its Look East policy, India now sought cooperation both from Japan and China on various fronts such as high-speed railways, smart cities, manufacturing, cleaning the Ganges, etc. Further, his engagement with other countries, be it Australia, the Middle East, Vietnam, etc, have seen India taking the lead on various issues. He was also one of the few leaders who understood the importance of a policy for the Indian Ocean and involved countries like Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. He used yoga and religious tourism to reach out where he could. More importantly, he changed the way India’s moribund bureaucracy approached matters, says

Raja Mohan. He made them abandon long-held positions and move forward with swiftness and decisiveness to seize important moments, be it rejuvenating SAARC, changing the Rafale aircraft negotiations with France or resolving the nuclear liability issue with the US. In the end, the book concludes, economic diplomacy would serve India's national interest. And it needn’t mean that all things have to be tied up politically as well. Countries have realized that economic growth can override many obstacles and Modi with his business sense has understood that more than any other Indian prime minister. It would be fitting if Dr Raja Mohan writes another book at the end of NDA’s five-year tenure to analyze if the great hopes riding on Modi in foreign policy eventually fructified or whether it was all talk and no action. On the whole, this book is a seminal work for those wanting to understand Modi and why he rocks outside India. Why adulatory crowds greet him wherever he goes and why foreign governments happily lay out the red carpet for him. He has the force of a billion plus people behind him. He knows it.

MODI'S WORLD: EXPANDING INDIA'S SPHERE OF INFLUENCE By C Raja Mohan Publisher: HarperCollins Price: `499; Pages: 229

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 25

Tech Draft Encryption Policy

Mom, There Is a Snoop at the Door

Anthony Lawrence

After going online with its draft encryption policy, the government was quick to withdraw it amidst widespread protests. Was it a blunder in the corridors of power or a trial balloon sent up to see how the minority intelligentsia responds? BY BIKRAM VOHRA 26 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

NYONE who has read a recent spy novel or watched Enemy of the State is well aware that having a mobile phone in your pocket is as good a tracer of your whereabouts as having an ankle bracelet put there by a judge. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a given and we all know we can be tracked, traced, overheard and be on CCTV footage for a large part of our waking lives. Nothing is confidential and our electronic files thicken like gout. As for every manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home being his castle, suffice

it to say that if the government wanted to put a bug into our computers, ping sounds of our windows or simply tune in to our telephone conversations and position trip words that would automatically start the tapes whirring, we are not cascading into an Orwellian nightmare but accepting something that is part of hi-tech big brother surveillance. That we are invaded and our privacy set up for grabs is so very possible that we do not take it seriously and it stays a non-issue so far as it is done in a clandestine fashion. As the public, we duck the discomfort and pretend it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happening. PUPPETS ON A STRING Last week, in India, that robe of secrecy got undone and a naked intent was on display. The draft of an encryption policy that would make us all puppets on a string was sent out to the public for gauging a reaction. All our calls, our WhatsApp conversations, i-messaging, SMS conversations and Facebook pages would not only have to be saved and stored for 90 days but it would also be a crime to delete anything in that period and the individual could be accountable for having pressed that button. That means private exchanges between friends, lovers, families, parents, married couples and political right wingers, men and women of interest, to authorities, criminals, gangsters, traffics, crooks and charlatans, terrorists and Uncle Tom Cobley would all be treated with democratic equality. Ergo, if you are chatting with your wife, you would have to keep that conversation on freeze for 90 days. Six hours after the draft went out to the public with the proviso that it had to offer reactions till October 16, it was snatched back. An elitist howl of protest compelled the government to withdraw the draft and take the flimsy stand that the draft was not the real McCoy and had been dumped on 1.2 billion people without the knowledge of Minister for Telecom Ravi Shankar Prasad, who then rushed to seek sanctuary in the fact that he was not aware it was going public.

TESTING WATERS? Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tried to explain that the draft policy was in public domain without his knowledge

THREE QUESTIONS There are three factors that shriek for answers. One, no government withdraws anything in six hours. Nothing major happened, there were no strikes, no marches, no public displays of rage. It would be a comfortable surmise that 90 percent of India did not even register the invasion and frankly, the majority are so invaded in so many ways already, they couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have cared less if the government wanted to listen in. This sudden pullback gives rise to the doubt that the whole idea was a trial balloon sent up to see how the minority intelligentsia would respond. Couple that with the unholy haste of asking for a public assessment inside three weeks and you get the distinct impression that this bizarre plan is well on its way to fruition and way beyond the draft stage. Where is the almighty hurry to get it catapulted into reality that you expect to receive, assimilate and assess millions of responses in next to no time? Two, governments do not ask the public if it can be spied upon. They do not need permission and it must be incredibly naive to imagine that any individual in his right senses would have written in before the deadline and found merit in being

An elitist howl of protest compelled the government to withdraw the draft and take the flimsy stand that the draft was not the real McCoy and had been dumped on people without the knowledge of the minister.

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 27

Tech Draft Encryption Policy

We have to assume that the kernel of such a blanket snoop has been sown. Some thought must have gone into the rules, the breaking of rules and the results. It is a new ball game. INSIDIOUS PLANS? The mere idea of such a draconian encryption policy is a matter of great concern

under the microscope. So the asking and the withdrawal seem to be a clever way of getting from the back door. Let’s look at the element of haste. Haste to create a document with no prior warning. Haste to get the public to give its okay in next to no time before it wraps its heads around it. Then this hurtle to rescind it as if it never really happened, sorry folks, wrong call. Without being too sinister, the wriggling suspicion that something is not quite right lingers. Is it just the Machiavellian plot of some fawning bureaucrat trying to toady up to his political master with a “good idea, suh” or is it a fait accompli… No reason why not. Either we take that route and write it off as a blunder in the corridors of power or we say, hey, just a second, there was something deeper there and it wouldn’t just be a single guy plan, more a think-tank concept. A little paranoia is a healthy ingredient in assessing something that has no precedent. There is this fond sensation that the matter is over, the people triumphed over the evil dragon and that's that. Which makes for a rather fragile faith. Why would it be over if it was started. In a quarter

28 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

of a day? You seriously cannot believe that the idea has been canned because in six turns of the clock we, the people, intimidated the government. Much as we would like to flatter ourselves, it doesn’t work that way. After all, even a draft plan would have needed a fair amount of work on the backend of a system geared to collecting data from millions of people, correlating and monitoring the information flow. That would require a huge investment, quantified at several hundred crore, expensive skilled manpower and installation on super hi-tech premises. Just the selection of programmers will come with a hefty price tag not to mention maintenance. Unless much of this was already done and much effort already gone into it, why would it be given to the people for a plebiscite? The codicil to this will be the policing required to investigate individuals and capture those who break the new social media laws if they were to come into being. On this canvas we have to assume that the kernel of such a blanket snoop has been sown. This just did not occur overnight. Some thought must have gone into the rules, the breaking of the rules and the consequences which is a dimension in themselves. It’s a whole new ball game in legal parlance. Anything so draconian must be a matter of great concern. Whether it was a premature kick-off or an in-house exercise, it is scary that it was even considered. In capsule, why the government would be interested in a conversation between lovers, friends, colleagues and the such is beyond comprehension. Millions of private messages of trivial consequence go out every day and they are not meant for official reading. A joke can become an indictment, a remark in jest can have you up the creek, a stupid “pass it on” photograph can have you hauled up on a porn charge. Knock knock. Who’s there? Guess who? Gestapo. Except, at least they knocked!

Web Crawler What Went Viral

Modi with Zuckerberg

WITTERATI and Internet trolls had a field day, after a video showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi grabbing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg while gesturing to the waiting shutterbugs to take his picture, went viral. The hashtag #ModiFindsCamera was the top trending one in India. Most of the tweets were jocular: pictures of Modi looking at the camera and comments on

how the PM somehow managed to always find the lens, during situations ranging from meetings with foreign delegates to merely shaking hands with others. Detractors used the occasion to criticize Modi, with user DrVatsa tweeting: “Modi ji cannot find: Punishment to criminals/ Compensation to farmers/ OROP to soldiers/ Strength to Rupee/ But surely: #ModiFindsCamera.”

Harley or Ducati?

Novel Proposal

HEN MS Dhoni posted a picture of a twostroke, single cylinder bike on Twitter and expressed his desire to restore it, former England seamer Darren Gough showed off his Ducati by posting a picture with the caption:“Not as good as this.” Not to be outwitted, Dhoni posted a picture of himself perched on a Harley Davidson cruiser, complete with Harley Davidson logo biker jacket, and replied to Gough’s message: “@D Goughie ur[sic] right this one is better mate.” Dhoni is currently busy with the South African cricket team’s tour of India.

Kidney Trail on Twitter

FTER three years spent on the transplant list, waiting in vain for a kidney donation, Jenna Franks’ family painted a sign reading, “Daughter needs kidney type O”, along with her email address kidney4Jenna@gmail.com, on the rear window of the family car. Tatum Bateman saw the sign and tweeted it, with a message: “This honestly needs to go viral!” Luckily for Jenna, the tweet started getting noticed. Almost 8,000 retweets later, 25 people have stepped forward willing to be tested to see if they can be donors. “It just feels like it’s meant to be,” Jenna’s mother told NBC. “There is something really powerful here.”

T may not have been the most romantic of locations, but when a man knelt in front of his boyfriend, proposing marriage on a Beijing subway train, it became a novel way of proposing. Commuters whipped smartphones out of their pockets to record the event. Thousands have been talking about the proposal on the Twitter-like Weibo service, using the hashtag “Mid-autumn festival man proposes to his boyfriend.” In the video that went viral, the kneeling man says: “Today I invite all people we know and do not know to bear witness.” As the commuters look on, several people can be heard shouting “disgusting” or “sin”. When the boyfriend accepts the proposal and the two men embrace, the carriage breaks out into a spontaneous applause. Interestingly, homosexuality was removed from the Chinese Psychiatric Association’s list of mental illnesses in 2001.

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 29

FOCUS

Alternate Media

New Buzz in the Newsroom Independent news websites and social media are challenging the traditional, advertiser-driven newspaper model, sparking a revolution in Indian media BY ABHAY VAIDYA

30 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

HE Aston Martin accident of December 2013 which embroiled Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest industrialist Mukesh Ambaniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son Akash, is one of the most eloquent examples illustrating trends in the Indian media today. Memory is still fresh of the manner in which mainstream newspaper giants and TV channels in Mumbai were shamed by independent news websites and netizens on social media for trying to suppress and downplay news of this car accident on the intervening night of December 7-8, 2013. Almost similar to the incestuous media silence over the

Radiagate tapes, here was an episode of a recklessly driven Aston Martin Rapide sports car (priced at around `4 crore) that had rammed into two cars at high speed near Peddar Road, Mumbai. Barring some exceptions, the Mumbai media not only conveniently allowed the police to try and hush up the case, but was reluctant to report the full details as the car belonged to Ambani’s firm, Reliance Ports. Worse, there were credible eyewitness accounts of the car being driven by a “portly young man” who resembled Akash. While the mainstream media tried to suppress this story with many twists and turns, such was the trending buzz on social media that even the then J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted tongue-in-cheek: “If friends in Mumbai are to be believed, it seems the only people who don’t know who was driving the fancy Aston Martin are the Mumbai police.” MEDIA SILENCE The fiercely independent Delhi-based news website Newslaundry was among the first to expose the media silence and named a number of top publications for their skewed reporting. The same media which does not hesitate to attack politicians, governments, public institutions, the police and all and sundry for their failings, rarely applies the same yardstick to corporate entities, real estate firms and businesses. This is because of its heavy dependence on advertising revenue and the morbid fear of losing it by carrying adverse reports. More than a dozen news and media watch websites exist today such as thehoot.org, newslaundry.com, scroll.in, thewire.in, thenewsminute.com and many others in regional languages, all riding high on the promise of the internet. One common thread linking many of them is the anger over the double standards and subservience of mainstream media to business interests and the general dumbing down of news. The Indian journalism model, as it exists

today, is flawed because of the heavy dependence on advertisers “who are nothing but middlemen”, said Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry at the Symbiosis RK Laxman Chair seminar on “Rise of Digital Media: Changing Dynamics in Journalism” on September 11. Hosted by former Times of India editor and Symbiosis Institute’s RK Laxman Chair Professor Dileep Padgaonkar, the seminar was illuminating because of the rich insights presented by the speakers. Besides Padgaonkar and Sekhri, the speakers included media analyst and Centre for Media Studies (CMS) chairman, N Bhaskara Rao, and journalists Siddharth Bhatia (co-founder, The Wire), Dhanya Rajendran (co-founder, The News Minute), Aekta Kapoor (editor, Dainik Bhaskar’s Fashion101.in) and Sebin Abraham Jacob (editor, marunadanmalayali.com). According to Sekhri, advertisers subsidize the costs of producing a newspaper and in turn, extract their price by influencing news operations in their favor. Rather than resist this tendency, publications like The Times of India have “institutionalized paid news”, he said. With the internet, however, news operations can be run without middlemen. In his view, it was easy to kill a story in the preinternet era, but today, stories cannot be killed because they will be instantly put on a blog and

NEWS SUPPRESSED The wrecked Aston Martin which was allegedly driven by Mukesh Ambani’s son Akash on the night of December 7-8, 2013

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 31

FOCUS

Alternate Media

Where the money, honey? News websites are exploring alternative ways to generate revenue

he biggest challenge for digital news organizations is generating revenue. Although printing and distribution costs are eliminated, staff salaries and other costs need to be met. While advertising revenue hasn’t caught up as yet in new media, Abhinandan Sekhri, one of the founders of Newslaundry, believes that dependency on advertisers can be eliminated altogether and revenue can be raised through readers. Thus, as a policy, Newslaundry does not accept advertisements and has even disabled Google ads on the website. The website prefers to raise revenue directly from its readers. Says Sekhri: “If there ever was a time to change the

news model, it is now because people can pay you directly and you don’t need the entire mass audience like Salman Khan’s Bigg Boss or Rakhi ka Insaaf. You just need a sliver of that lot. That’s enough to sustain you. As long as influencers are reading you, that’s fine.” Newslaundry thus offers monthly subscription options ranging from `100 per month to `1,000 per month with an appeal “to make news a service to the public and not to the advertiser”. At The Wire, the founders are closely looking at various funding options to become self-sustaining. Siddharth Bhatia, co-founder, said that profits will not be the driving motive at The Wire which will be a “not-for-profit” enterprise.

taken forward by people who believe in a free press. Essentially a TV producer, Sekhri who had worked previously at Newstrack and Aaj Tak with the late SP Singh, launched Newslaundry with Madhu Trehan and two others to throw the spotlight on the media itself. The Indian media named and shamed whosoever it pleased, but never spoke about its own cozy club. Newslaundry wanted to change that by taking names. As Sekhri put it: “Journalists too should be questioned and that’s why Newslaundry was set up. We had to democratize the newsroom.”

The media named and shamed whosoever it pleased but never spoke about its own cozy club. Journos too should be questioned. —Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder, Newslaundry 32 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

New media should not get into a competition cycle but strive for a model that targets influencers. —N Bhaskara Rao, Chairman, Center for Media Studies

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY Given the high speed of communication over the Internet today, Padgaonkar said, the digitization and democratization of news is changing the way journalism is practiced, consumed and “the way journalism operates in a highly competitive market economy”. One clear fallout is that the monopoly of those with money who control the media has been challenged in the new environment. Now, people are able to express their opinion “in a manner unheard of in the entire history of communication,” he said.

Senior journalist and author Siddharth Bhatia who co-founded The Wire along with the former editor of The Hindu, Siddharth Varadarajan, agreed with Padgaonkar that “sooner or later” the news consuming public will accept news only from organizations they trust. Thus, the credibility factor will kick in as the availability of sources of news also multiply. Having launched The Wire about three months ago, Bhatia sees the internet as a fantastic opportunity for good journalism. He feels that the phenomenal reach of the internet, coupled with its speed and interactive nature, the low cost of putting up a news website, and the convergence technology of text and video, gives new media a clear advantage over newspapers and TV. “We see it (The Wire) as a compact between all of us— journalists, readers and concerned citizens. No advertiser is going to tell me publish this or don’t publish that,” said Bhatia. “This is the future that makes me the most optimistic because a lot of the mainstream corporatized media has got compromised,” he said. Bhatia sees the internet as a technology which is not an end in itself; the end is journalism— good, old-fashioned journalism where information will be collected, analyzed and presented with rigor, fact-checking, fairness and credibility. REGIONAL NEWS Former Times Now journalist Dhanya Rajendran, who, along with journalist Chitra Subramaniam co-founded The News Minute, quoted media critic Jay Rosen saying that the people formerly known as the audience had moved on. “Think of the audience as passengers on a ship who have got a boat of their own. Your readers are now the writing readers; your viewer is someone who has picked up a camera.…” said Rosen. The trends Dhanya noticed were the growth of small, independent, alternative media, a phenomenal growth of news sites in regional languages and the assertiveness of netizens.

One common thread linking many of the news websites is the anger over the double standards and subservience of mainstream media to business interests and the general dumbing down of news. Mainstream TV channels and news organizations that initially scoffed at social media had begun to take them very seriously, she noted. The News Minute was launched, she said to provide greater visibility to important stories from the southern states which tended to be ignored by mainstream media because of the Delhi-Mumbai centricity of news and the heavy emphasis on metro cities.

Given the digitization and democratization of news today, the way journalism is practiced and consumed has changed. —Dileep Padgaonkar, former editor, The Times of India

Restricting oneself to English while on the net would be a big mistake. If you know two languages, use them both. It will be advantageous. —Aekta Kapoor, editor, fashion101.in VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 33

FOCUS

Alternate Media

The speed, low cost, interactive nature and convergence technology of the internet give new media a clear edge over print and TV. —Siddharth Bhatia, co-founder, The Wire

The growth of small, independent, alternative media and the assertiveness of netizens also includes regional languages. —Dhanya Rajendran, co-founder, The News Minute

“We should stay independent, alternative and small. If we grow too fast, we’ll become like mainstream because then you will be TRP-driven,” Dhanya said. HINDI WILL DOMINATE Indeed, a flurry of activity in the regional language press accompanied with galloping readership was a point that came up time and again and was stressed by Sebin Abraham Jacob, editor, Marunadanmalayali and Aekta Kapoor, editor of Dainik Bhaskar’s Fashion101. Kapoor was commissioned by the Bhaskar media group some four years ago to create a fashion website in Hindi. She was already getting disenchanted with mainstream fashion journalism, fed-up with the paid news culture. That was when the Dainik Bhaskar 34 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

offer to create a lifestyle website in Hindi materialized and her experience with the digital medium began. Starting with a Hindi and an English website which soon added a Gujarati version, the experience has been enriching, with 4.2 million visitors and an award-winning mobile platform. “Two out of three of our readers are women, more than half are under 24 and 65 percent are reading on the phone,” Kapoor said, adding that 35 percent of the Gujarati traffic “is coming from the US and the women there are only interested in diamonds and designer handbags,” she said. Kapoor was startled, when, during a meeting, a senior Google executive said that by 2017, “70 percent loggings out of India will be in Hindi, followed by Telugu”. Google, she said, has “invested a lot in their Hindi operations and has also tiedup with the Bhaskar Group”. Restricting oneself to English while on the net, she said, “would be a big mistake. If you know two languages, use them both—it’ll give you a big advantage in future,” she said. TARGET INFLUENCERS N Bhaskara Rao, chairman, CMS India, who has studied the Indian media closely for decades, suggested that new media should not get into a “competition cycle” but strive for a model that targets “influencers”. This would mean that rather than the number of subscribers or visitors, the extent to which opinions are built or mobilized would matter. New media should also remain “moderate” in size of its operations and not compete with mainstream media. It would be better, he said, if new media got into a “joint venture” model where readers and viewers are roped in and become partners the same way as investors and advertisers are viewed. He cautioned new media against getting into the “ratings” trap, even as there was a need to evolve some alternate way to quantify its reach and impact.

Advertising Column Volkswagen Controversy

Krish Warrier

Bitter Lemon Even as “the bug” is roiled in dishonest practises, this advertising professional remembers the brand for its revolutionary ads ...Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men Look’d at each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak in Darien. —From John Keat’s poem, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer

HESE lines sum up my feelings when, as a 22year-old, I first saw the Volkswagen ads from DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach). In retrospect, that must have been a turning point in my life—I quit an engineering job to get into advertising. Let me give you a brief account of why the Volkswagen ads are considered a kind of landmark—and benchmark—in advertising. It was in 1949 that William Bernbach, along with colleagues Ned Doyle and Maxwell Dane, formed DDB: the Manhattan advertising agency that created the revolutionary Volkswagen ad campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s. The challenge thrown to DDB was to sell Hitler’s favourite car to the American people only a decade-and-a-half after World War II. And DDB rose to the occasion innovatively—it turned all the rules of advertising on their head. Thus was born the famous “Lemon” ad. The ad showcased a black and white photo of the Volkswagen Beetle with the word “Lemon” in bold san serif font. Under the picture followed a statement that proclaimed that this particular car was rejected by Inspector Kurt Kroner because of a blemish on the chrome piece of the glove box. The ad then went on to describe the uncompromising inspection process. “This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars,’’ said the body copy. And it concluded with the memorable tag line—“We

pluck the lemons; you get the plums.” That ad, along with the rest of DDB’s first VW campaign, launched the advertising industry's creative revolution. VW was a brand that stood for quality, honesty, and a commitment to its customers; a brand—not a company or a product— worth many, many millions of dollars. Now herein lies the rub. A brand, built on the bulwark of honesty, has suddenly been found dishonest. A few weeks back, it was revealed that VW broke the law and deceived its employees, dealers and customers by concealing the torrid level of emissions in its diesel models with a sensor and software that conveyed false data. I’ve not owned a VW so far. But like anyone who has ever worked in an advertising agency, I’ve admired the VW work and even been envious of my counterparts in their ad agency. Writing in Adweek, Edward Boches, a professor of advertising at Boston University, says: “They (the agency guys) may not have been hurt as badly as customers who’ve seen the value of their cars plummet or the dealers who are likely to endure some rough times, but they too have lost something. Like goodwill, it may be intangible, but whatever sense of pride and accomplishment marketers feel for having been part of VW’s advertising legacy has been blemished—like the glove box on the 1961 VW Bug.” Today, those guys who have so assiduously worked on the VW ads have my sympathy. Because it’s like waking up one morning and discovering that your spouse is unfaithful. VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 35

S THE WORLD TURNS

Instagram crosses 400 million users

HOTO sharing app Instagram has crossed the 400 million user mark, with more than 80 million pictures shared daily across its platforms. It’s a big jump from the Facebookowned service's 300 million user milestone at the start of this year. In a blogpost, Instagram said more than half of the last 100 million to join, live in

Snowden is now on Twitter

DWARD Snowden is now on Twitter using the @snowden handle. The former National Security Agency contractor had infamously leaked classified information about

Cleric loses TV show after tweeting

report in The Indian Express says a respected Islamic scholar in Abu Dhabi has landed in trouble after he tweeted against the allotment of land for a temple in the emirates last month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit. In response, the UAE authorities have taken off his talk show on a local television channel. Sheikh Waseem Yousef, a young cleric who specialised in Quranic readings and interpretation, tweeted on August 18 that “all Muslim Sheikhs agreed that building temples for infidels is 36 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

the NSA in 2013, revealing mass documents on government secrecy and surveillance. His efforts sparked debates on information privacy and got him branded as both a hero and a traitor. “Can you hear me now” was his first tweet, which was retweeted many times. Within an hour, Snowden had 1,00,000 followers and within two days, the number went up to 1.15 million. Interestingly, Snowden has been following only one account @NSAGov, the Twitter handle of NSA. Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, wasted no time in giving Snowden a personal welcome to the site. After bringing the NSA secrets to Hong Kong, Snowden fled to Russia, where he lives as a temporary resident.

forbidden”. His tweet, in Arabic, went viral with over 1,800 retweets. His TV show, which he hosted on the local Noor Dubai channel, went off air after the incident.

Europe and Asia. The countries that added the highest number of users are Brazil, Japan and Indonesia, it said. In 2012, Facebook had announced the acquisition of Instagram for USD one billion. Instagram had recently opened its platform for advertisers from India and 30 other countries to advertise on the app.

Egypt Prez pardons scribes

WO Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt for broadcasting false news have been freed after receiving pardons from President Abdul Fattah al Sisi. Mohammed Fahmy, a Canadian, and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian, were among 100 prisoners whose release was ordered earlier this week. The move came a day before Sisi was scheduled to fly to New York for a UN General Assembly gathering. The pardons appeared to be part of a customary prisoner release on the eve of the Eid al Adha holiday. Fahmy, Mohamed and a third Al Jazeera colleague, Peter Greste, were arrested in December 2013 from the hotel they had used as an office and charged with broadcasting false news. They were also accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement.

Small Screen American TV series Quantico

Priyanka Impresses on US TV

Quantico will be a much-watched series in India for its female lead, Priyanka Chopra. And she doesn’t disappoint. BY AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

HE much-talked about TV series Quantico, starring Priyanka Chopra, has debuted all over the globe and is already a rage. This thriller, shot in the FBI Training Academy in Virginia, is about a group of FBI recruits, each with a mysterious past, was produced by ABC Studios and the story was written by Joshua Safran. The casting for the series began in February this year and Priyanka bagged the role of the female lead, FBI trainee Alex Parrish. The first episode leaves us asking for more. It begins with Priyanka recovering after a bomb blast, for which she herself becomes the prime suspect later. The Quantico story alternates between two timelines: Alex training at the Academy with other recruits and her being on the run to find the real culprits. Her love interest in the series is Jake Laughlin, with whom she has some steamy scenes. Proving herself on American TV was a formidable challenge. But Priyanka says she trained very hard for it, including the accent. She reportedly says in an interview: “I had to work a lot on it. It was hard for my tongue to roll. It was

just like the Marathi training for Bajirao Mastani.” Watching her, one can say that the director played safe by showing her of mixed origin—she is half-American. Her confidence and oomph factor are too evident to be ignored. However, the American media seems to have a problem with her. Says one critic: “If there is a problem with her casting, it is that she may come across as too seasoned and assured to be persuasive as a shaky, neophyte recruit.” Priyanka, on her part, was on the defensive over her bold scenes and reportedly said that it was a bit awkward doing them. She said: “It’s the same as in Bollywood movies. Anyway, it’s an awkward situation; there are hundreds of people standing around and it’s something you want to finish off fast and get over with.” Priyanka’s debut on American TV has garnered many comments on Twitter. Shabana Azmi writes: “@priyankachopra you do us proud Priyanka. Congratulations for Quantico and a big tight hug!” Another comment on Twitter reads: “Now that’s what I call message with a ‘punch’. Thank you@The ShilpaShetty#QuanticoInIndia#CatchQuantico.” VIEWS ON NEWS

October 22, 2015 37

Film Review Talvar

A Confusing Tangle While Talvar has been receiving good publicity, the film is disappointing as it offers no clear-cut answers to the biggest whodunit in recent times BY AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

F you thought that a film produced by none other than Vishal Bhardwaj would settle questions that remain unanswered even after seven years of the double murder of Aarushi Talwar and the family servant, Hemraj, think again. Talvar leaves us more confused than ever. Though Aarushi’s parents, Dr Rajesh Talwar and Nupur, have been awarded a life term under Section 302, many people, including this reviewer, are not convinced that justice has been done. When the twin murders took place in Noida, there was shock and outrage. How could an innocent 14-year-old DPS student be murdered in her own home?

QUESTIONABLE ETHICS Irrfan Khan delivers a good performance, though the role has shades of grey

38 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

BUMBLING POLICE Shoddy investigation by the Noida police blamed the father for killing his daughter because he found Hemraj, according to then IG Meerut Zone, Gurudarshan Singh, “in an objectionable but not compromising position”. Singh was transferred by then Chief Minister Mayawati, for maligning the reputation of a dead child. However, his successors were equally categorical that the Talwars were the real killers. But they added another motive—Aarushi wanted to take revenge on her father because he was having an extra-marital affair and so she invited Hemraj to her room and the enraged father killed both. Yet another theory that vanished as mysteriously as it was floated was that it was Krishna, a for-

mer servant of the Talwars, who along with another friend, had killed both of them after they had drinks and sexually assaulted Aarushi. Krishna had made these revelations after he went through a lie-detector test but backed by a strong battery of lawyers, he not only came out of prison but started making wild charges of extramarital affairs against Dr Talwar. These were not only lapped up by the media but also became potent weapons in the armory of the police who had been looking for a more sensational theory in the case. NEW THEORIES The CBI took over the investigations but it didn’t help matters as every new CBI team floated a new story. With so many twists and turns, the faith of the public in law enforcement agencies took a jolt. All this may sound repetitive and boring for those who have followed the case, but the film does exactly that. Irrfan Khan leads the investigating team and sometimes borders on the unlawful for he is convinced that being a little unethical to get results is part of the game. Beating up a policeman with a stick for botching up investigations comes as naturally as blackmailing a witness to say what he wants. However, he gets into trouble for promising to spare the life of a witness if he turns approver because of

the vaulting ambitions of his younger colleague who records the torture on his mobile. LIGHTER MOMENTS Some hilarious moments are provided by the domestic battle between Irrfan and his wife Tabu who wants to separate because their marital life has lost all zest and “we are just living under one roof ”. When they are asked to live separately for some time, Tabu offers him their marriage album as part of his share of belongings, whereupon he asks: “Tumne Ijazat dekhi hai?” When she declines, he walks away, while the film’s song “Mera kuch samaan tumhare paasa pada hai” plays in the back. The film does not offer a clear-cut answer to the biggest “whodunit” mystery of our times. On top of that, it makes the legal system redundant by showing two teams of the CDI arguing with each other over facts and evidence, leaving us more confused than ever. It also begs the question: Why are narco tests allowed if they are not legally tenable in court? Konkona Sen as the mother of Aarushi (played by Shruti Tandon), is a total waste and so is Tabu. My biggest complaint against director Meghna Gulzar is that she allows such a sensitive subject to become gross with atrocious jokes about the sexual postures of the 14-year-old girl who was the apple of her parents’ eye and her friends.

WHERE’S THE GRIP? Konkona Sen, playing mother of Aarushi, is wasted in the role

TALVAR ********** Direction: Meghna Gulzar Actors: Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Tabu, Neeraj Kabi, Ayesha Parveen

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October 22, 2015 39

Anchor Review Sreenivasan Jain

Stories straight from the field Be it the Marathwada crisis, meat ban or Professor Kalburgi murder, NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain tackles all of them with aplomb in Truth vs Hype, putting every story in context BY AJITH PILLAI

THE BIGGER PICTURE Sreenivasan Jain anchoring his show

T a time when news on TV has become synonymous with noise, hyperbole and sensationalism, Truth vs Hype, the weekend slot on NDTV 24X7, deserves more than a mention. It must perhaps be the only news program currently on Indian television that involves the anchor—Sreenivasan Jain—leaving the air-conditioned confines of the studio and venturing out into urban and interior India and bringing back in-depth stories for the viewer from the ground. He is ably assisted in his pursuit by the TV network’s reporters. As a result, what you have are

40 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

well-researched stories that immediately remind you of the programming that was once seen in the early days of satellite news channels in the 1990s. That was when a now defunct channel— BiTV—used to attempt a documentary-like presentation of important news that was credible and refreshing because of its dependence on reportage. But that exercise involved planning, research and effort which has since then largely been given the go by; instead, an-easy-does-it formula has been arrived at which has become the standard operating procedure for all news channels. This is very elementary in its format and involves minimal pro-

duction costs. Guests having sharply differing views are invited to the studio to indulge in a shouting match with each other. At the end of it, no one is left the wiser. ANCHOR AS STAR This approach has literally taken away the limelight from reporting and has given pride of place to presentation. So the anchor with the ability to moderate a debate or discussion in an engaging and dramatic manner has become the star attraction of news channels. As a result, news, the critics say, has taken a hit and has been dumbed down. Thankfully, Truth vs Hype breaks the mould and attempts to be informative. It brings to the viewer various aspects and angles to a story by putting it in a context. Allegations made from certain quarters are put to test. Claims made by others are verified. Admittedly, no story can be complete or perfect. But Jain and his team, to their credit, at least try to get to the truth and separate it from the hype that surrounds every controversial story. The last Truth vs Hype that I watched was “Marathwada’s Unequal Fields”. This region has been confronted with its worst-ever drought. And yet, it abounds with lush green fields of “water guzzling” sugarcane. It obviously benefits from the irrigation projects in the region, while other crops like toor, urad and soya bean which consume ten times less water, are left to suffer. The program deals with the irony of the situation. It also brings into focus the politics of sugarcane, the vested interests involved and why more and more acreage is added to the cultivation of a water-dependant crop every year. I have been following Truth Vs Hype and must report that the program has tackled other issues like the meat ban in various states and the Professor Kalburgi murder mystery in Karnataka equally well. MEASURED STORY The Marathwada story, with additional reportage from Manas Roshan, was far more informative and

measured than any heated discussion in a studio could ever have been. Imagine Congress, NCP and BJP-Shiv Sena spokespersons leveling charges and countercharges at each other before the camera on the drought situation and the politics of sugarcane cultivation! Lost in the noise would have been the real issue in focus. Jain won the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for "Journalist of the Year (2012)" for Truth vs Hype. The Indian Express had this to say on why he was chosen: "In a world pre-occupied with breaking news and centered around studio rooms, Sreenivasan Jain’s show aimed at bringing stories straight from the field. From covering the aftermath of the revolution in Egypt to investigating the riots in Assam, from exposing the nexus between miners, real-estate players and politicians in Goa to a series on the coal scam, the show kept its focus on hard news." Truth vs Hype proves that good old fashioned reportage has a very significant place in TV news programming. While it may involve more production costs, it serves a very important function when it comes to examining issues. For one, it does not depend on the debating skills and articulation of guests which, incidentally, is of prime importance for the success of a TV discussion. And then, a story well-reported leaves a far more lasting imprint than any vacuous let-me-provemy-point discussion.

DETAILS MATTER Manas Roshan doing additional reporting on the Marathwada story

Jain and his team, to their credit, try to get to the truth and separate it from the hype that surrounds every controversial story.

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October 22, 2015 41

Design

DESIGNS THAT MADE IMAGINATIVE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS, FONTS, COLOR AND WHITE SPACES TO LEAVE AN IMPRESSION By ANTHONY LAWRENCE

Surprisingly for a cover on the changing design scene, it’s just a play of font sizes. Is this where design is headed?

Is this a pious sea of humanity emanating out of a fountainhead? Is this a gathering of blind men trying to find their way amid the famous monuments of Petra in Jordan, and symbolically, in this world? Or else is this a myriad of ideas? What is Canadian artist Robert Gonsalves trying to convey through this optical illusion work? A happy visualization of a billionaire— clear from his stature compared to the tiny windmills—nurturing alternative energy. 44 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

Lest you think of this as a war front, this is a peace-time exercise. Phil Nijhuis captured this moment as the Dutch cavalry was rehearsing for the opening of the parliament and grenade fumes had blurred the vision. The idea was that the horses should not be startled by any sound during the main event. This photograph was selected among the top 10 photographs by The Nation.

Taking global warming literally. A sculpture in Berlin shows climate experts mulling over the impending catastrophe even as the town is already deluged.

An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s depiction of how two realities exist within a single boundary. But going by the cover, both Mexicos happily coexist.

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October 22, 2015 45

DATE 20/9/15

20/9/15

22/9/15

23/9/15

24/9/15

25/9/15

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

“I have immense faith in people’s power, getting enough feedback on Man Ki Baat... selfie with daughter campaign extremely successful,” says Modi in Man Ki Baat.

11:00 AM

11:01 AM

Congress holds Kisan Samman Rally in Delhi. Rahul says PM Modi far removed from ground reality; center’s climbdown on land acquisition act a victory for farmers.

12:15 PM

12:16 PM

12:18 PM

Center will withdraw the draft of the new National Encryption Policy and supports freedom on social media, says Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

12:50 PM

12:52 PM

12:53 PM

Delhi Police reaches Somnath Bharati’s house to arrest him, but can’t find him. Somnath’s lawyers to approach Supreme Court for anticipatory bail.

11:38 AM

11:39 AM

11:40 AM

11:41 AM

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announces the list of poll candidates for the “grand alliance”, in Patna. Hits out at PM Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on reservation policy.

11:40 AM

11:42 AM

11:45 AM

11:46 AM

Mass panic, followed by stampede, led to the death of 100 pilgrims with around 390 injured during Haj pilgrimage outside Mecca.

1:48 PM

1:49 PM

1:50 PM

1:54 PM

Saurav Ganguly appointed the president of Cricket Association of Bengal. Announcement made by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

7:05 PM

7:06 PM

7:07 PM

Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra wants that legal drinking age be lowered from 25 to 21 years. No such proposal on the cards, says Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

12:56 PM

1:00 PM

1:23 PM

1.31 PM

46 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

11:02 AM

Here are some of the major news items aired on television channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.

DATE 26/9/15

28/9/15

29/9/15

30/9/15

1/10/15

2/10/15

NEWS CBI raids the house of Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh in Shimla, in relation to a disproportionate assets case.

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

11:15 AM

11:16 AM

11:22 AM

There is no good or bad terrorism says PM Modi at the Facebook headquarters in the US. Gets emotional while answering a question on his father.

10:37AM

10:38 AM

10:39 AM

Rahul Gandhi tweets his pictures at Aspen, US, on his official Twitter handle. The tweets also mention the enriching discussions held at the conference.

10:49 AM

Gurgaon JCP Bharti Arora complains to Haryana DGP against Police Commissioner NS Virk. Says Virk mentally harassing her in a rape case enquiry.

10:15 AM

10:16 AM

10:18 AM

11:00 AM

Lalu Yadav lashes out at PM Modi and RSS on the reservation issue. Says he will continue to fight for reservation even if RSS chief Bhagwat is given Bharat Ratna.

10:17 AM

10:18 AM

10:20 AM

11:00 AM

MCOCA court in Mumbai sentences five people to death and awards life sentences to seven in the 7/11 Mumbai local train blastsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; case.

12:00 NOON

12:01 PM

12:02 PM

12:03 PM

BJP MP Vijay Goel praises PM Modi on a hoarding at his residence, on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti. Compares Narendra Modi to Mahatma Gandhi.

10.22 AM

10.24 AM

11.35 AM

11.45 AM

Union Minister Mahesh Sharma pays a visit to the family of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri. Says the killing was a mere accident and demands a CBI probe.

12.05 PM

12.08 PM

12.10 PM

11:24 AM

10:50 AM

12.12 PM

VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015 47

Governance Spotlight Labor Unrest

Life’s Labor Lost

48 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

Make in India will be a reality when workers, especially non-permanent ones, are treated well. Growing industrial unrest, such as the recent one in Maruti shows that the way forward is to ensure workers’ rights BY VIVIAN FERNANDES

O persuade companies from the world over to “Make in India”, the government is keen to improve the ease of doing business, which pro-market economists and industry chambers have conflated with relaxed labor laws. But simmering discontent on factory floors in the Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal-Daruhera belt of the NCR shows that non-permanent workers do not enjoy the legal protection they are entitled to because of weak implementation. The flare-up at the Maruti plant at Manesar on September 26, when technical trainees and contract, casual and temporary workers protested at the carmaker’s factory gates got good press coverage. Police lathicharged the workers and two previously rusticated employees were arrested under

six charges, including rioting, and released on bail. But many incidents do not catch the public eye because of the indifference of the media, the inability of independent plant-level unions to engage with journalists and the failure of central trade unions to use the internet to systematically document and present violations of workers’ rights to the public. UNSAVVY UNIONS The website www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com has not been updated since June 2014. Similarly, www.sanhati.org, devoted to “fighting neoliberalism in Bengal and beyond”, is episodic in coverage of labor issues and so is the website of the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), which was formed in 2006. When this correspondent blamed trade unions for not maintaining regular communication

with journalists on labor law violations during a discussion on Rajya Sabha Television on September 10, Gautam Mody, general secretary of NTUI, said journalists were “part of the same corporate media”. This attitude does not help. It is true that television channels and newspapers have a code of silence. They do not as a rule report what is happening in their own backyards except when it comes to readership or viewership figures. There is no bar on covering labor strife outside the media industry unless big advertisers pressure the marketing departments. But Mody is partly right: media also does not go out of its way; few organizations have reporters on the labor beat. This is in contrast to the shrill presence in the media of NGOs like Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Oxfam or Coalition for GM Free India. Their recruits in the media are more activists than journalists and they have been able to block the advance of agricultural biotechnology in this country and mining in the name of tribal rights. Advocacy in the media increases with foreign funding. Western groups, keen on blocking cheap imports of shoes, garments and carpets, have been able to eradicate child labor or drive it underground. Buying agents have enforced compliance, and export-promotion agencies have got the government to act. Working conditions in garment export units are no longer as abysmal as they used to be. But crossing the threshold of legal requirement does not necessarily make working conditions less oppressive. After the 2012 strike at the Maruti plant in Manesar in which a top human resources executive was killed, the company terminated the services of 546 permanent em-

Photos: Amit Chakraborty

INDUSTRIAL UNREST The September 26 flare-up at Maruti plant in Manesar (left), surprisingly, got good press coverage (right)

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October 22, 2015 49

Governance Spotlight Labor Unrest

HUMOR IN DIFFERENT HUES (Clockwise from above) The Fevicol, Greenply and Mentos ads

Governments are keen on attracting investments than ensuring the well-being of labor. They want to raise the difficulty of forming unions and want changes to the apprentices law for exploiting labor. FIGHTING EXCESSES (Above) Technical trainees and contract, casual and temporary workers participated in the September 26 unrest at the Maruti plant in Manesar

ployees and 1,800 contract workers. Contract workers are no longer employed on the assembly line; they do non-core functions. The behavior of the supervisors has changed for the better, says Jitender Kumar, a sacked welder, who now volunteers his services for the Workers Solidarity Center, a group that fights for the rights of migrant workers in this belt. CUTTING COSTS But Maruti has found other ways of reducing labor costs. Students from industrial training institutes are recruited from campuses as temporary workers for

50 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

seven months, as they can claim permanent status after 240 days. They are made to sign an undertaking that they will not apply for a permanent job, says a 22-year-old recruit from Madhya Pradesh. Vijay (name withheld) has completed three of the seven months and is paid `12,000 a month after statutory deductions for employees’ state insurance and provident fund. This includes `2,600 for “good work”, which he loses if he takes more than six days of leave, including four weekly-offs. Permanent workers get around `35,000 a month. However, this was before their three-year wage settlement announced on September 24, which raises their monthly pay by `8,430 a month this year and `4,200 a month next year and the third year. Vijay says that regardless of status, there is little difference in the proficiency of assembly line workers, though it can be reasonably presumed that those with practice will have an edge. The work is intense, he says. The line dictates the pace. “I do not have time to even go to the toilet,” he says. Workers

Photos: Amit Chakraborty

can stop the line but risk being pulled up. Indignity at the hands of supervisors was one of the triggers for the 2012 strike. Kumar says the employment of temporary workers is quite rampant in the Gurgaon area. Differential wages for work of the same nature is often the cause of frayed industrial relations. Attempts at union formation are another cause of friction. Employers nip these in the initial stages by first suspending union leaders and later, terminating their services. INDIFFERENT UNIONS The central unions affiliated to political parties like INTUC, AITUC, CITU, HMS and BMS have not shown much interest in organizing casual and contract workers, says Nayan Jyoti. The indifference is reciprocal, he says. The central unions move in when plant workers have coalesced and are seeking registration. They are detached from the daily struggles of workers, but make their presence felt at events like demonstrations. Corruption is not unknown. Some

Employment of temporary workers is rampant in Gurgaon. Differential wages for same work is often the cause of frayed industrial relations. Efforts to form unions is another cause of friction. of their leaders exact a fee of say `5,000 per worker, when registration costs virtually nothing. Disruptions of work at Baxter India, a maker of medical products; Autoliv, a manufacturer of passenger safety devices like airbags and seat belts; Munjal Kiriu, a producer of castings and machined components; Bellsonica, which crafts accelerators, brakes and clutch pedals; Autofit, a maker of seats and wheel assemblies; Talbros, a producer of gaskets and heat shields and Hero MotoCorp, the motorcycle manufacturer, are proof of oppressive conditions and injustice felt by workers in NCR. Labor has been on the backfoot since the

EXPLOITING LABOR (Above) The Manesar plant of Maruti-Suzuki

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Governance Spotlight Labor Unrest

PLIGHT OF LABOR (Clockwise from right) Sunil Kumar Yadav works for Bajaj Motors in Manesar; one of the urban villages of Gurgaon where the workers live; Jitender Kumar was sacked after the 2012 strike in the Manesar plant of Maruti-Suzuki

Journalists, especially from business, have a fixation on investment. Big numbers always make headlines, regardless of their employment potential. There is a bias against labor in the business media.

economy was liberalized in the early 1990s. The number of man days lost to strikes declined from 17.6 million in 2009 to 1.8 million in 2014, says the Economic Survey. It says informal employment in the organized sector has increased by 15.2 million between 2004-05 and 2011-12, while total informal employment has decreased by 9.5 million to 436 million in 2011-12, because of a fall in numbers in the unorganized sector. The share of unorganized labor has declined to nearly 83 percent from 87 percent during this time. Employee cost at Maruti Suzuki India has nearly doubled from `844 crore in the financial year ending March 2012 to `1,607 crore in 2015. But as a percentage of net sales, it has increased from 2.43 percent to 3.30 percent during this period. Operating profit (before other income, interest, tax and one-off income) has tripled in those three years. So, it is not as if companies cannot afford to pay more. This is a worldwide trend. Even in the US, real wages after accounting for inflation have declined over a period of time. The share of wages in overall

52 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

GDP has also fallen. Employers have never had it so good. But they want more. This is also the case in India. Investors will beat down a stock if profits do not meet their expectations. SELFISH GOVERNMENTS Governments are keen on attracting investments than ensuring the well-being of labor. They do not see decent wages as investment in a healthy society. The central government wants to raise the difficulty of forming unions by requiring a greater share of workers to give their assent. It wants changes to the apprentices law so that employers can engage them for up to three years at less than minimum wages. Apprentices cannot be called workers and will not enjoy the rights that permanent workers do. Relaxations in the Industrial Disputes Act will make government permission necessary for retrenchment in establishments that employ 300-plus workers from 100 now. Kumar says that under this criterion, only two companies will qualify in Bawal: S I India and Uniproducts India, makers of adhe-

Flipkart. He works with Orient Craft, one of India’s biggest garment exporters, and earns `6,200 a month. There is little else all these guys can do besides working, eating and sleeping. It is nothing but a zombie-like existence.

Photos: Vivian Fernandes

sives and car carpets, respectively. India’s GDP has grown four-fold between 1990-91 and 2013-14 in constant prices. More people have been moved out of poverty during this period of liberalization than at any time before. But most of them still hover at the edge. Sunil Kumar Yadav, 25, of Bihar’s Kaimur district has been working for three years with Bajaj Motors in Manesar in the quality-control department. Educated till Class XII, his salary is `6,300 a month, but he makes about `10,000 by doing 3.5 hours of overtime every day at the rate of `30 per hour. He lives with two others and his wife is in the village. Pramod Kumar, 22, of UP’s Hardoi district has also completed 12 years of schooling. He is working in the quality-check department of 360 Degrees, which is into industrial coatings. His fixed pay is `5,813 and as business is down, he has never managed to cross `7,000 a month with overtime pay. He lives with four others in a room near the Maruti factory in Manesar. Pankaj Kaushik, 28, of Aligarh, UP, was getting `9,500 a month at Myntra.com till it was acquired by

TOUGH LIVES On the occasion of a countrywide strike by the major trade unions on September 2, NDTV India anchor Ravish Kumar did a walk-in program through the urban villages of Gurgaon populated by workers of India’s marquee sectors: automobiles and garments. The video camera showed families cramped in single rooms with little light, ventilation and sanitation. Ravish was moved to suggest that India must legislate a “right to a window”. India’s labor laws oppress small and medium enterprises, which create most of the employment, because officials and politicians have made them opportunities for bribe-taking. But the answer to poor enforcement is not denial of the protections that the working class has won after long years of struggle. We need sensible labor laws that are effectively enforced. Among journalists, especially in the business media, there is a fixation on investment. Big numbers make headlines, regardless of their employment potential. But we need to focus on the number of jobs that investments create and the quality of those jobs. There is a bias against labor in the business media because it is an item of cost. Investors cheer whenever there is downsizing because reduced costs means higher profits. But journalists, who have gained from a shift from industry-level wage awards to contract employment and suffered the consequences of insecurity, must be more alive to the concerns of unorganized workers. They constitute more than four-fifths of the workforce. India is not just a market; it is a nation. Ravish is right: every worker must have a window to be able to breathe freely. — The writer is consulting editor, www.smartindianagriculture.in

India’s labor laws oppress small and medium enterprises, which create most of the employment, as officials and politicians have made them opportunities for taking bribes. Sensible labor laws need to be enforced.

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English is one of modern India’s 22 official languages, and is widely learned as the second language in most countries. Enjoy it and avoid falling into some common error traps. BY MAHESH TRIVEDI

DID YOU KNOW?

NEVER SAY ‘GOODBYE’

Bored with, NOT bored of

Leave a lasting impression by saying ‘goodbye’ in style:

Burglar, NOT …ler Numskull, NOT numbskull Precursor, NOT …er Moneyed, NOT monied Moniker, NOT monicker Nerve-racking, NOT -wracking Could have, NOT could of Prior to, NOT prior than Among themselves, NOT among one another

Adios!

Gotta go!

After!

Gotta slide!

Be good!

Hasta la vista!

Check you!

I am outta here!

Cheerio!

I’m history!

Chow!

It’s been real!

Ciao!

Keep the faith, baby!

Good hunting!

Peace!

GAP-FILLERS ALL

SPECIAL ADJECTIVES

Some words are empty or gap-fillers, and used by speakers to get some thinking time when he or she is stuck for exact words. Avoid them in writing.

Like beautiful from beauty, most adjectives are derived from the base form of a noun. But some nouns have special adjectives: Barber ……………Tonsorial Author ……………Auctorial Brother ……………Fraternal Bishop ……………..Episcopal Governor ……………Gubernatorial Fisherman ……………Piscatorial Emperor ……………Imperial Daughter ……………Filial Uncle ……………Avuncular Tailor ……………Sartorial Wife ……………Uxorial

At the end of the day

You know

Basically

Well

By and large

Really

Currently

You see....

I mean

Well, let me see....

Meaningful

Look!

Simply

Listen!

SMARTEN YOUR TALK What’s the world coming to?........What a worrisome state of affairs? That’s all she wrote!........There’s nothing more You can (can’t) talk!........You are no different! Stuff and nonsense!........ Rubbish! Nice one!........Good! Take a hike/walk!........Go away! Cat got your tongue?........Why don’t you answer me? How’s tricks?........How are you? Can it!........Shut up! Where’s the beef?........Where’s the important content?

54 VIEWS ON NEWS October 22, 2015

NEW WORDS Some high-profile new words have recently come into popular use: Wired …………….Tense Stonking ……….Very impressive Actioner …………Thriller Ho (Hoe)…………… Wife or woman Mouse potato ………….Computer addict Skell ……………………Homeless person Slacker ……………….Shirkler Slaphead ………………….Bald person Dweeb ………………….Boring person

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