The media is flashing this news since yesterday. Dr. Manmohan Singh has told GW, "India loves you". Who is this `you'? Is it America, with its diverse and wonderful people? Yes. Is it GW? That's what it seems from the day's newspapers (See the TOI, for example). Sorry, Mr. PM, I did not give you the mandate to express such feelings on my behalf. In fact, I do not harbour any such emotions in the first place. On the contrary, I have made it a personal policy to not listen to anything that GW says right from the time He invaded Iraq in 2003. Anytime he is shown on the TV, my immediate reaction is to press the mute button.
Give us a break Mr. PM. Do not go beyond your mandate. You have been elected to govern our country, not to express emotions regarding an individual, definitely not on behalf of the whole of India.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Terror attacks and our police
The recent terrorist attacks in Bangalore and Ahmedabad are two more in a
series that has been going on for some time now. I am not a professional
journalist, so I will probably miss out one one or two, but I still can
list the following right away.
1. Blasts in court premises in UP in November 2007.
2. Blasts in Jaipur in May 2008.
3. Blasts in Bangalore
4. Blasts in Ahmedabad
The last two, of course, happening this month. This does not include numerous
such blasts occurring over more than a decade all over the country.
Every blast is followed by usuall politicking, which is nauseating to say
the least. Take for example Sushma Swaraj's statements after the Ahmedabad
blasts. Now I can go on whining about our politicians, but there is no novelty
in that. Also, that is not what I sat down to write in the first place. I
wanted to raise a few question, and to make a few observation, for whatever
they are worth.
1. Is there anyone in the political establishment who seriously wants to stop
these terror attacks? Doesn't seem to be the case from the reactions we get.
They seem to be happy touring the affected areas and posing for photographs
that may help them garnering votes. The PM says these designed to destroy our
social fabric, but is not clear what he can do to preserve that fabric. Any
new ideas Dr. Singh?
2. Can our Police do their job professionally? `Well, what's professionalism?'
might very well be the answer from a lower rung policeman in India. Throughout
their lives and career, our policemen learn to please their bosses, political
bosses to be more precise, rather than doing their job well. After all, how
many of our policemen have the basic orientation that they are there to enforce
the law. How many of them know the law anyway? So, when crises like these
arise, all they can provide us with are knee-jerk reactions. And after a few
days things go back to where they were.
Solution?
Well, the very first step, I believe, should be a thorough reform of our
police force. They should be set up as an independent constitutional body
not directly under the political establishment. This is the only way we can
ever hope to have a police force that works professionally to enforce the
law. Will that solve all the problems overnight? No... surely not. But at
least there is a hope. Will than happen easily? No way. Who wants to
give up power so easily? The police reforms bill is stuck because the
state governments do not want it. But the civil society and the activists
must take this up in a big way, just like the took to the issues of RTI
and NREGS. Police reforms can be a big step in realizing some of the goals
that we wish to achieve as a democratic society.
series that has been going on for some time now. I am not a professional
journalist, so I will probably miss out one one or two, but I still can
list the following right away.
1. Blasts in court premises in UP in November 2007.
2. Blasts in Jaipur in May 2008.
3. Blasts in Bangalore
4. Blasts in Ahmedabad
The last two, of course, happening this month. This does not include numerous
such blasts occurring over more than a decade all over the country.
Every blast is followed by usuall politicking, which is nauseating to say
the least. Take for example Sushma Swaraj's statements after the Ahmedabad
blasts. Now I can go on whining about our politicians, but there is no novelty
in that. Also, that is not what I sat down to write in the first place. I
wanted to raise a few question, and to make a few observation, for whatever
they are worth.
1. Is there anyone in the political establishment who seriously wants to stop
these terror attacks? Doesn't seem to be the case from the reactions we get.
They seem to be happy touring the affected areas and posing for photographs
that may help them garnering votes. The PM says these designed to destroy our
social fabric, but is not clear what he can do to preserve that fabric. Any
new ideas Dr. Singh?
2. Can our Police do their job professionally? `Well, what's professionalism?'
might very well be the answer from a lower rung policeman in India. Throughout
their lives and career, our policemen learn to please their bosses, political
bosses to be more precise, rather than doing their job well. After all, how
many of our policemen have the basic orientation that they are there to enforce
the law. How many of them know the law anyway? So, when crises like these
arise, all they can provide us with are knee-jerk reactions. And after a few
days things go back to where they were.
Solution?
Well, the very first step, I believe, should be a thorough reform of our
police force. They should be set up as an independent constitutional body
not directly under the political establishment. This is the only way we can
ever hope to have a police force that works professionally to enforce the
law. Will that solve all the problems overnight? No... surely not. But at
least there is a hope. Will than happen easily? No way. Who wants to
give up power so easily? The police reforms bill is stuck because the
state governments do not want it. But the civil society and the activists
must take this up in a big way, just like the took to the issues of RTI
and NREGS. Police reforms can be a big step in realizing some of the goals
that we wish to achieve as a democratic society.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Managing the media
I am icreasingly getting frustrated at the mainstream electronic media. They have made news a commodity that sells like soap and shampoo, or perhaps even better. So no qualms about barging into the hospital room of a teenager, who cannot move her limbs, suffering from a serious nervous breakdown. They make news that wasn't, they speculate and make their viewers speculate about non-issues. But they hardly spend time on real issues. Has any channel spent even one minute of Prof. G. D. Aggarwal, who is on a fast-unto-death? Has any of them spent a minute on Dr. Binayak Sen's news? But how many hours do they spend everyday on Abhi-Ash?
Who is going to tame the media?
Who is going to tame the media?
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