India politics thread
- Thread starter Shiva87
- Start date
The feck is this?
Mob country
Rich man's word carries more weight.
Odds are that the family got the virus from visiting a rich friend or relative who recently flew into India.
Rahul Gandhi Is Right On COVID-19 Strategy Even If You Dismiss Him As Pappu
On February 12, when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged the Centre to put in place necessary systems to combat the imminent dangers that the coronavirus pandemic could pose to India, he was mocked by all and sundry. The BJP accused him of spreading panic, senior ministers at the Centre claimed there was no health emergency and scores of Twitter users told him to, well, we know what.
On April 16, when the Wayanad MP addressed a nearly hour-long media briefing via video conference, much had changed in the country since his two-month-old tweet. India is now under an extended lockdown. Over 13,000 people have tested positive for the deadly virus. Over 400 have succumbed to it. Lakhs of migrants and those from the working class stare at an uncertain future. The wealthy are, perhaps, watching their steadily depleting bank accounts in disbelief. Even Gandhi’s own attitude towards the Centre seems to have changed – he deftly negotiated questions from the media that clearly sought to provoke criticism of the Centre’s handling of the pandemic.
Gandhi’s message was clear: he wanted to make constructive suggestions and not engage in a political slugfest with the BJP. “We can defeat the virus if we fight it together, we lose if we fight with each other,” he said. When asked if India’s democratic set-up, as we know it today, would change in the post-coronavirus era, Gandhi said “it could” but promptly qualified his comment with, “don’t worry, we know how to make sure India is democratic but we need to fight the virus first”.
Of course, there was also something that didn’t change in these two months – the BJP’s caustic dismissal of anything Gandhi may say, irrespective of the merits of his suggestions. The BJP’s pathological hatred for the Gandhis was also amply visible on media networks sympathetic to the party which promptly dubbed the Congress leader’s press conference as an “attack” on the Centre even though the former Congress president repeatedly stressed on the need for all political parties to work together during the crisis. At one point, Gandhi also asserted that though he doesn’t agree with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on most things now was the time to put differences aside. Modi, he said, has a certain style of functioning, “but we can find a way around it”.
In the 16 years since he plunged into active politics, Gandhi must have realised that nothing he may say or do will ever elicit praise – or even quiet approval – by the BJP. Yet, the Congress leader said he was willing to offer “constructive suggestions” to the BJP-led government – an offer his mother and interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi too had made to Modi several times over the past month.
Through the hour-long media interaction, Gandhi offered, what he thought was the best way forward to fight the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout on India’s already tanking economy. He identified, ostensibly based on his interaction with subject experts, “two flanks” that need a dynamic strategy – health and the economy.
On the health front, Gandhi was clear that the current lockdown is “not a solution” but at best a “pause button” against the virus. He reiterated his demand to ramp up testing and implored the government to change its current strategy of “chasing the virus” by testing symptomatic patients to “pre-empting the virus” by random sampling. He said India’s current testing rate of “199 people per million of population or 350 tests per district” was “in no way enough” and cautioned that the virus will make its way back into the community once the lockdown is eased “if we do not put in place the resources and architecture to fight the virus strategically when it picks up again”.
Given the debilitating effect that the lockdown has had on the economy and particularly for the financially backward people, Gandhi urged the government to simultaneously develop a “safety net”. Calling the Rs. 1.75 lakh crore stimulus package announced by the Centre “inadequate”, Gandhi advised higher amounts of “cash transfer and a minimum financial net” for the poor, better distribution of foodgrains to the marginalized and a “defensive package” for the small and medium enterprises which could then offer job security to India’s massive population of migrant workers who have been forced to take a long, and possibly fatal, journey on foot back to their native villages from the big cities where they had found employment.
None of the suggestions Gandhi made sound unreasonable, particularly since the 21-day lockdown has already made common citizens and power elite alike aware of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the scale of its impact on life and livelihood. If the Centre refuses to see any merit in the Congress leader’s suggestions only because of his surname, it would be foolhardy – much as it was during the period before March 19 when the Centre was busy dismissing anything Gandhi said as an attempt to politicize a crisis and create panic.
There is, however, one other aspect about Gandhi’s utterances on the pandemic over the past two months – and especially his tweet of February 12 – which concerns not the ridicule that the BJP hurls at the man but the Congress party’s own apathy towards what its past president and likely future chief says on critical issues. There can be no doubt that the Gandhi displayed near clairvoyant abilities in sounding an early alarm over the perils of ignoring the dangers posed by COVID-19 and that the Centre erred in dismissing these warning as utterances of a ‘Pappu’ cannot be overstated. However, what also needs to be emphasized is that none of the few Congress-ruled States – Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Puducherry or Madhya Pradesh (before the BJP toppled the Kamal Nath government) – took Gandhi’s early warnings seriously either.
Each of these states (again with the exception of the now BJP-ruled M.P which is moving from one disaster to another), began taking measures to contain the pandemic and its economic fallout only after the Centre woke up. Though Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Puducherry or Maharashtra and Jharkhand where the Congress is a junior ally in the ruling coalition, now seem to be doing better than states under BJP/NDA governments in tackling the crisis, they could have, perhaps, saved more lives claimed by the virus and contained the economic damage that it has unleashed had they taken Gandhi seriously back in February.
Yes, much of the measures needed to comprehensively combat the pandemic had to be taken by the Centre – and were not when the time was still on hand. But, what made Congress-ruled states ignore Gandhi’s prophetic tweet and stopped them in February from pre-empting the medical, social and economic challenges that the imminent coronavirus outbreak would pose is a question the Grand Old Party and the Wayanad MP need to seriously ponder over; particularly if the party is to work under Gandhi's leadership again in a few months from now.
https://www.outlookindia.com/websit...id-19-even-if-you-dismiss-him-as-pappu/350898
On February 12, when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged the Centre to put in place necessary systems to combat the imminent dangers that the coronavirus pandemic could pose to India, he was mocked by all and sundry. The BJP accused him of spreading panic, senior ministers at the Centre claimed there was no health emergency and scores of Twitter users told him to, well, we know what.
On April 16, when the Wayanad MP addressed a nearly hour-long media briefing via video conference, much had changed in the country since his two-month-old tweet. India is now under an extended lockdown. Over 13,000 people have tested positive for the deadly virus. Over 400 have succumbed to it. Lakhs of migrants and those from the working class stare at an uncertain future. The wealthy are, perhaps, watching their steadily depleting bank accounts in disbelief. Even Gandhi’s own attitude towards the Centre seems to have changed – he deftly negotiated questions from the media that clearly sought to provoke criticism of the Centre’s handling of the pandemic.
Gandhi’s message was clear: he wanted to make constructive suggestions and not engage in a political slugfest with the BJP. “We can defeat the virus if we fight it together, we lose if we fight with each other,” he said. When asked if India’s democratic set-up, as we know it today, would change in the post-coronavirus era, Gandhi said “it could” but promptly qualified his comment with, “don’t worry, we know how to make sure India is democratic but we need to fight the virus first”.
Of course, there was also something that didn’t change in these two months – the BJP’s caustic dismissal of anything Gandhi may say, irrespective of the merits of his suggestions. The BJP’s pathological hatred for the Gandhis was also amply visible on media networks sympathetic to the party which promptly dubbed the Congress leader’s press conference as an “attack” on the Centre even though the former Congress president repeatedly stressed on the need for all political parties to work together during the crisis. At one point, Gandhi also asserted that though he doesn’t agree with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on most things now was the time to put differences aside. Modi, he said, has a certain style of functioning, “but we can find a way around it”.
In the 16 years since he plunged into active politics, Gandhi must have realised that nothing he may say or do will ever elicit praise – or even quiet approval – by the BJP. Yet, the Congress leader said he was willing to offer “constructive suggestions” to the BJP-led government – an offer his mother and interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi too had made to Modi several times over the past month.
Through the hour-long media interaction, Gandhi offered, what he thought was the best way forward to fight the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout on India’s already tanking economy. He identified, ostensibly based on his interaction with subject experts, “two flanks” that need a dynamic strategy – health and the economy.
On the health front, Gandhi was clear that the current lockdown is “not a solution” but at best a “pause button” against the virus. He reiterated his demand to ramp up testing and implored the government to change its current strategy of “chasing the virus” by testing symptomatic patients to “pre-empting the virus” by random sampling. He said India’s current testing rate of “199 people per million of population or 350 tests per district” was “in no way enough” and cautioned that the virus will make its way back into the community once the lockdown is eased “if we do not put in place the resources and architecture to fight the virus strategically when it picks up again”.
Given the debilitating effect that the lockdown has had on the economy and particularly for the financially backward people, Gandhi urged the government to simultaneously develop a “safety net”. Calling the Rs. 1.75 lakh crore stimulus package announced by the Centre “inadequate”, Gandhi advised higher amounts of “cash transfer and a minimum financial net” for the poor, better distribution of foodgrains to the marginalized and a “defensive package” for the small and medium enterprises which could then offer job security to India’s massive population of migrant workers who have been forced to take a long, and possibly fatal, journey on foot back to their native villages from the big cities where they had found employment.
None of the suggestions Gandhi made sound unreasonable, particularly since the 21-day lockdown has already made common citizens and power elite alike aware of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the scale of its impact on life and livelihood. If the Centre refuses to see any merit in the Congress leader’s suggestions only because of his surname, it would be foolhardy – much as it was during the period before March 19 when the Centre was busy dismissing anything Gandhi said as an attempt to politicize a crisis and create panic.
There is, however, one other aspect about Gandhi’s utterances on the pandemic over the past two months – and especially his tweet of February 12 – which concerns not the ridicule that the BJP hurls at the man but the Congress party’s own apathy towards what its past president and likely future chief says on critical issues. There can be no doubt that the Gandhi displayed near clairvoyant abilities in sounding an early alarm over the perils of ignoring the dangers posed by COVID-19 and that the Centre erred in dismissing these warning as utterances of a ‘Pappu’ cannot be overstated. However, what also needs to be emphasized is that none of the few Congress-ruled States – Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Puducherry or Madhya Pradesh (before the BJP toppled the Kamal Nath government) – took Gandhi’s early warnings seriously either.
Each of these states (again with the exception of the now BJP-ruled M.P which is moving from one disaster to another), began taking measures to contain the pandemic and its economic fallout only after the Centre woke up. Though Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Puducherry or Maharashtra and Jharkhand where the Congress is a junior ally in the ruling coalition, now seem to be doing better than states under BJP/NDA governments in tackling the crisis, they could have, perhaps, saved more lives claimed by the virus and contained the economic damage that it has unleashed had they taken Gandhi seriously back in February.
Yes, much of the measures needed to comprehensively combat the pandemic had to be taken by the Centre – and were not when the time was still on hand. But, what made Congress-ruled states ignore Gandhi’s prophetic tweet and stopped them in February from pre-empting the medical, social and economic challenges that the imminent coronavirus outbreak would pose is a question the Grand Old Party and the Wayanad MP need to seriously ponder over; particularly if the party is to work under Gandhi's leadership again in a few months from now.
https://www.outlookindia.com/websit...id-19-even-if-you-dismiss-him-as-pappu/350898
Ra Ga also called to do something to protect Indian companies from being bought off by foreign companies in this situation.
His mummy also suggested govt suspend spending money on advertisements for 2 years to have funds for fighting corona
In 2002 it was a coverup of HIV and how we had thousands of undetected cases and how government was covering it up. How we were supposed to become the epicenter of HIV because India is covering up. We were supposed to top the list in 2010. Then in 2007, revised figures were not even close to what was predicted in 2002 but these so called trusted news organization didn't even bother to apologize for creating mass hysteria.
BBC has talked to two unnamed docs and concluded how we have so many cases. I am sure so many will lap it up because they wish it is true and somehow get to blame Modi and BJP.
Health is a state subject and there is no way Central and State government can cover it up if thousands are dying in this country. Not in this day and age of social media.
Edit : Before someone mentions about testing, we do 24 test before we find a positive case and these test are all random within certain guidelines. Contrast that to other countries, that number is higher. Watch ICMR head interview on Print YouTube channel where he explains this. Trust the people who know what they are doing rather than foreign media agency
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What is adequate then? We are acting as if we didn't have poor people in the country and somehow it's the mistake of current government in a pandemic. Should we bankrupt our country and then complain later that how millions more are now in poverty?
There is no correct answer here. India simply can't afford 20% of GDP money as handout. We dont have enough tax paying citizens in the country. Comparing India to let's say Canada or UK who doesn't have such huge informal economy is not correct at all.
This pandemic will result in millions of Indians who were uplifted and were on borderline to slip back into poverty. There is a limit to handout that India can afford.
All he mentioned was to increase the amount of handout which is quite easy and convenient for him since he isn't responsible for economic fallout from it. According to him current lockdown is not "solution" but a "temporary measure". Well ofcourse that is what it is. There is no solution to this issue as we don't have meds that work or vaccines. So every measure is a temporary solution.
It's the type of article that gets written every time he returns from vacation after tending his resignation. If you believe Sonia, he was the mastermind behind Bhilwara model but couldn't suggest for Jaipur and Tonk who are now suffering.
His suggestion were not wrong, handout is not adequate, but it is close to dangerous level which we can afford. But to paint him as some sort of genius who predicted the fallout is hilarious.
I wrote this 20 days back, points 1 and 3 could have been easily done by the centre and states without the costs you are complaining about.
if you'd bothered to read the article, it talks about how congress CMs have ignored everything he said.
and if modi as guj CM had said something in early feb about the upcoming pandemic when congress was in charge, and if ghulam nabi azad had said there was nothing to worry about, modi would be treated not just as a genius but a prophet.
I read the article, it paints the same picture as it has been the case with Congress. It's never Rahul Gandhi fault, it's always other people in Congress party fault. We can agree to disagree on this. It's just that image rehabilitation articles can wait till the pandemic is over.
He has been a failure for more than half a decade and yet people somehow think he can be their savior. The guy is a disaster and will give modi 5 more years to lead India.
I am not defending government. But the first point you mentioned is not enforceable in India. You can only request which most of the CM and PM did.
Food shelters were there but the scale was always way too big and implementation of this won't be perfect. Logistics when you have no idea how many migrant worker are there is always going to create huge issue in implementation.
Surely a database should be maintained but same people will claim any registry of its citizens is communal.
The current hatred level is so high that even Rahul Gandhi is now a saviour. That article is full of loopholes and imaginative facts. Didnt even mention that Rahul Gandhi was on vacation in February. Sonia Gandhi told how he envisioned Bhilwara model in Rajasthan. It was successful but Jaipur and Tonk failed to listen so they suffered. Its comical to say the least
Funny right. He resigned last year only to be portrayed as the face of the party again. It's already been one year since the last year's election and yet there is no change in Congress' hierarchy. No new face being projected, no new ideas. Yet no media questions him and ask him what are the plans for the 2024 election. Just stating the obvious and suddenly he is a genius. The guy screams fraud every time he says something. Good luck if modi haters think rahul will topple him.
No, it can be enforced in India too. We have a poular PM and we have police. If he wanted to, he could do it. It doesn't even involve spending. Freeze rent payments for the lockdown.
From the govt's own data, 40% of food is being given by NGOs not the govt. You're also talking as though the governments have no idea at all, but that is not the case, they have NSSO surveys and census estimates.
No need for a database either. Our stocks are enough to provide some fixed quantity of grain to everyone, and you can be sure no rich person would stand in line for that.
http://fci.gov.in/stocks.php?view=46
i don't. he'll lose for sure, and the congres will lose for sure.
you misread it.
it's obviously his fault if he can't control his own party.
We have huge migration worker population. If we had allowed every worker to return back then it would have defeated the purpose of lockdown.
As far as, food distribution issue, it's respective State government issue. If Gujrat, Maharashtra and Delhi failed in that, then they need to answer to it's population.
Also random videos of food not available in certain parts of the country can happen but it's mostly reported with an agenda. No country, let alone poorly developed country like India, was ready for this scale of pandemic.
Implementation could have been improved but it's always the case that you can do better. At this moment I won't be blaming any State or Central government on implementation. Most had to work within limitations and some did better than others.
The only objection I raised was on economic package. We can't do handouts like the Western countries. Their economy is completely different from ours. We did what the government thought it can afford. Maybe more will come in future. But to simply complain about it at this moment and say more should have provided is not correct. Ofcourse the handout is not enough, but it's not something you play politics with especially by someone like Rahul Gandhi who claims to be different than other politician.
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Not meant you. In a general consensus some modi hater still think rahul will do fine. It has become so bad for him that even when once in a bluemoon he speaks some sense people will not take him seriously. It's then when one should realise time to take a backseat and let others lead. The truth is neither him nor his mother want to give away their authority. Good luck winning an election with that attitude.
MSME has demanded this and was under observation for sometime now. We already had this law for Pakistan and Bangladesh, and we extended it for China after Chinese bank investment in HDFC. Australia has done it too. Even Italy has made sure that there is no hostile takeover.
To be fair, any guy will be better than the guy who publicly said the below things:
1. Tried to spell Strength as S-T-R-E-A-N-H
2. Hard Work > Harvard
3. India + Canada = 2ab from the formula (a+b)2
4. Weed Energy
5. “Badal they, Maine socha hum advantage le sakte hai”
6. Used a digital camera before its introduction in India
7. Used internet before its introduction in India
8. Sent an email before internet’s introduction in India
9. MA in “entire political science” at the glorious age of 35
10. Data is the new oil. India has the cheapest data rates.
11. Protesters can be identified by their clothes
12. “Super computer will do super computing and will be the reason for super commitment”
13. That comment about potential energy = silent energy and converting into kinetic energy.
14. I rub my sweat to glow my skin
Rahul Gandhi and Modi are both stupid. It's just that Gandhi's stupidty gets circulated more often because of how dominant and relentless their guys are on the 2 most popular SM platforms - Twitter and Whatsapp.
It's unbelievable that the best a country of 1.3B people can produce are these two guys - one who literally takes the bait every time and doesn't ever know his audience vs someone who knows nothing, and has used his oratory skills to convince the nation that they mean well
It's unbelievable that the best a country of 1.3B people can produce are these two guys - one who literally takes the bait every time and doesn't ever know his audience vs someone who knows nothing, and has used his oratory skills to convince the nation that they mean well
It doesn't take a genius to predict we had a potential crises on our hands in mid feb.
And i dont see anyone here or the author of the article painting him as a genius.
That one is the most mind boggling! Its almost as if modi wanted to outdo rahul gandhis escape velocity formula
3 Men Brutally Killed By Mob In Maharashtra's Palghar, Police Arrest 110
Mumbai: Barely 125 kilometres from Mumbai, a small village in Maharashtra's Palghar district has reported a horrific case of mob killing; three people, including a 70-year-old man, were attacked and killed on Thursday night after rumours they were kidnapping children to harvest organs, including kidneys.
Shocking visuals show angry residents of Gadchinchale village, armed with sticks and stones, out of control and attacking a police team as they try to restore order and rescue the 70-year-old man and the two others. Two of those killed are sadhus, the third was the driver of the car they were travelling in.
In one of several videos of the assault a man can be heard shouting "Oye, isko maro (Hey, hit him)" and the 70-year-old victim can be seen, surrounded by an armed mob and bleeding badly from his head, begging for his life as cops try to control the situation.
A second shows dozens of villagers systematically breaking the glass windows of a police patrol vehicle. Yet another shows the vehicle rolled over with the windshield shattered.
"The police reached the spot and when they put the victims in the police car, the mob attacked them again. Policemen have also been injured in the incident. The officers managed to bring them to the hospital, but they died. We are investigating the incident and 110 people have been taken into custody," Kailash Shinde, the District Collector, said.
"I want to appeal to everyone to not believe in rumours. No one is coming to steal from your village or take your child's kidneys. Villagers have taken the matter into their hands and we will take necessary action," he added.
A post-mortem report is awaited.
Police have said there were rumours of thieves taking advantage of the nationwide lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the novel coronavirus.
However, they also said investigations into the exact cause behind this brutal and inhuman crime are ongoing; the cops feel the attack on the team of officials suggests the mob was intent on killing the trio.
The mob refused to listen to repeated instructions and pleas, the cops said.
The three men who were killed have been identified as Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), Nilesh Telgane (35), who was driving the care they were travelling in, and Chikane Maharaj Kalpavrikshgiri (70). Two of them were sadhus. They were travelling towards Surat to attend the funeral of a common acquaintance.
A case has been registered at the Kasa Police Station located in the interior of Palghar district.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/3-k...ghar-over-rumours-of-organ-harvesting-2214013
A whatsapp rumor can get anyone killed, this is the intellect and scientific temper of our society.
Mumbai: Barely 125 kilometres from Mumbai, a small village in Maharashtra's Palghar district has reported a horrific case of mob killing; three people, including a 70-year-old man, were attacked and killed on Thursday night after rumours they were kidnapping children to harvest organs, including kidneys.
Shocking visuals show angry residents of Gadchinchale village, armed with sticks and stones, out of control and attacking a police team as they try to restore order and rescue the 70-year-old man and the two others. Two of those killed are sadhus, the third was the driver of the car they were travelling in.
In one of several videos of the assault a man can be heard shouting "Oye, isko maro (Hey, hit him)" and the 70-year-old victim can be seen, surrounded by an armed mob and bleeding badly from his head, begging for his life as cops try to control the situation.
A second shows dozens of villagers systematically breaking the glass windows of a police patrol vehicle. Yet another shows the vehicle rolled over with the windshield shattered.
"The police reached the spot and when they put the victims in the police car, the mob attacked them again. Policemen have also been injured in the incident. The officers managed to bring them to the hospital, but they died. We are investigating the incident and 110 people have been taken into custody," Kailash Shinde, the District Collector, said.
"I want to appeal to everyone to not believe in rumours. No one is coming to steal from your village or take your child's kidneys. Villagers have taken the matter into their hands and we will take necessary action," he added.
A post-mortem report is awaited.
Police have said there were rumours of thieves taking advantage of the nationwide lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the novel coronavirus.
However, they also said investigations into the exact cause behind this brutal and inhuman crime are ongoing; the cops feel the attack on the team of officials suggests the mob was intent on killing the trio.
The mob refused to listen to repeated instructions and pleas, the cops said.
The three men who were killed have been identified as Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), Nilesh Telgane (35), who was driving the care they were travelling in, and Chikane Maharaj Kalpavrikshgiri (70). Two of them were sadhus. They were travelling towards Surat to attend the funeral of a common acquaintance.
A case has been registered at the Kasa Police Station located in the interior of Palghar district.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/3-k...ghar-over-rumours-of-organ-harvesting-2214013
A whatsapp rumor can get anyone killed, this is the intellect and scientific temper of our society.
You are obsessed with Modi
no way I could recount so many stupid comments of anyone.3 Men Brutally Killed By Mob In Maharashtra's Palghar, Police Arrest 110
Mumbai: Barely 125 kilometres from Mumbai, a small village in Maharashtra's Palghar district has reported a horrific case of mob killing; three people, including a 70-year-old man, were attacked and killed on Thursday night after rumours they were kidnapping children to harvest organs, including kidneys.
Shocking visuals show angry residents of Gadchinchale village, armed with sticks and stones, out of control and attacking a police team as they try to restore order and rescue the 70-year-old man and the two others. Two of those killed are sadhus, the third was the driver of the car they were travelling in.
In one of several videos of the assault a man can be heard shouting "Oye, isko maro (Hey, hit him)" and the 70-year-old victim can be seen, surrounded by an armed mob and bleeding badly from his head, begging for his life as cops try to control the situation.
A second shows dozens of villagers systematically breaking the glass windows of a police patrol vehicle. Yet another shows the vehicle rolled over with the windshield shattered.
"The police reached the spot and when they put the victims in the police car, the mob attacked them again. Policemen have also been injured in the incident. The officers managed to bring them to the hospital, but they died. We are investigating the incident and 110 people have been taken into custody," Kailash Shinde, the District Collector, said.
"I want to appeal to everyone to not believe in rumours. No one is coming to steal from your village or take your child's kidneys. Villagers have taken the matter into their hands and we will take necessary action," he added.
A post-mortem report is awaited.
Police have said there were rumours of thieves taking advantage of the nationwide lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the novel coronavirus.
However, they also said investigations into the exact cause behind this brutal and inhuman crime are ongoing; the cops feel the attack on the team of officials suggests the mob was intent on killing the trio.
The mob refused to listen to repeated instructions and pleas, the cops said.
The three men who were killed have been identified as Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), Nilesh Telgane (35), who was driving the care they were travelling in, and Chikane Maharaj Kalpavrikshgiri (70). Two of them were sadhus. They were travelling towards Surat to attend the funeral of a common acquaintance.
A case has been registered at the Kasa Police Station located in the interior of Palghar district.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/3-k...ghar-over-rumours-of-organ-harvesting-2214013
A whatsapp rumor can get anyone killed, this is the intellect and scientific temper of our society.
I won't say society in general but it is definitely a problem in villages. Villagers are terrified because child trafficking is quite a reality for them. No sense of justice as your nearest police station provide you with next to no help. It's just a sorry state of affairs that people living in urban cities just don't want to see.
If you neglect their pain, provide no help whatsoever and push them to the point that they break, then you will have cases like that. I was reading that we have 60,000 cases of child trafficking in India each year, mostly from villages and most never return. This is India in 2020. Social media might have just aggravated the problem
Indian Media is Enemy of the Poor, Anti-Science, Worships Falsehoods: Ravish Kumar
Citizens must understand that eventually, they are the losers when false information is deliberately allowed to proliferate, says the senior journalist.
Instead of promoting a scientific temper among people, much of the media in India is today supporting superstition and injecting communal poison in the hearts and minds of viewers and readers, NDTV India Managing Editor and Magsaysay Award winner Ravish Kumar told Paranjoy Guha Thakurta in an interview published on Sunday April 12, 2020. Here is an edited version of the video interview translated into English.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta: We are going through an unprecedented international crisis. The Director General of the World Health Organisation has said this is not just a pandemic but also an “infodemic” because of the way in which fake news has spread all over the world on a scale never witnessed before. In several countries, governments are making citizens give up their privacy. The argument proffered is that unless there are checks on information flows the dissemination of fake news cannot be curtailed or prevented. Is this a cure worse than the disease?
Ravish Kumar: There are many instances that indicate that supporters of governments are themselves in the forefront of spreading fake news. There are two types of news. One is the sort of fake news that supporters of the government (including the Indian government) spread. No attempts are made to curb the dissemination of such “news.” There is another kind of news the government does not talk about and that may be described as “dead news” or buried news. We do not know much about such kinds of information. For a viewer or a reader, the threat of being misinformed by what is put out on Facebook (or WhatsApp) is very real. But there is a much bigger threat and this is the threat that comes from dead news or buried news. I argue that those in power want certain truths to be buried and not reach people.
Governments continue to win this fight. Not just here but in different countries, governments are controlling the narrative through a pliant media. The problem is that the public at large is losing this battle. Readers and viewers must repeatedly question the credibility of what is passed of as “news” but this is not happening. Many have become used to living in a make-believe world. This is part of a longer conversation. However, what we are witnessing at present is a classic case of how, while living through a pandemic, we are on an “information diet.” Even as people are hungry for credible information, this “diet” gives you news in short bursts, for ten minutes at most.
I will give you an example from our country. Look at the short duration of government press conferences. I was watching scientists from the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) speak on the pandemic at a media conference. If they sit with journalists and answer their questions, it would help ordinary citizens. But are they allowed to speak freely and at length? I don’t think so. For example, ICMR scientists said that orders for test kits (to detect COVID-19) had been placed, that these were expected in a few days but that the supplies had not yet arrived. Why? They are scientists and perhaps they don’t know the answer, and might never know because the government is not disclosing the truth. That’s the news we are missing out on, the information we are not getting, the reports from the ground that are not reaching us.
In developed nations as well, information dissemination is in tatters. Still, if you take a look at the US, despite all that is going on, scientists are answering questions raised by journalists every day. Scientists often take public positions that are very different from the positions adopted and the claims being made by the US government and the American President. Can this happen in India? Can any ICMR scientist here say anything that is contrary to what is being claimed by the government? They can’t.
PGT: On April 2, the International Press Institute stated that governments, especially those with existing authoritarian tendencies, are using laws aimed at checking fake news to silence the independent media. They are taking advantage of emergency legislation to crack down on press freedom frequently on the pretext of combating the spread of fake news. They want to curb independent journalism. You spoke about US President Donald Trump. He is one person who has perhaps used the phrase “fake news” the most in the recent past. He addresses press conferences regularly unlike our Prime Minister. On March 20, a reporter from the National Broadcasting Corporation, Peter Alexander, asked Trump a question during a press conference. He said that many American citizens are today scared and asked the President what message he had for them. Trump tore into him and said: “You are a terrible reporter.”
He launched a personal attack on him. You ask a question and you become a terrible reporter?
RK: Paranjoy, please note that the reporter was in front of the US President. In India, not a single reporter can be seen in front of the Prime Minister of India. When we say this, we do not know if he (Narendra Modi) is planning to grant interviews (to selected journalists) like the ones he granted before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Remember the kind of questions the selected journalists asked the Prime Minister. How many nights have you not slept? Did you speak with chief ministers over the phone as late as 2:30 am in the morning? Wait and watch. Such interviews are again going to begin.
On the statement of the International Press Institute on fake news, see how it is being implemented in India. On the reporting on the Tablighi Jamaat episode, police personnel in districts in Uttar Pradesh have debunked the fake news shown on certain television channels.
PGT: You don’t have to take names. Let me take a few names. On the Tablighi Jamaat episode, Amish Devgan (also spelt Devgn, Managing Editor, News18 India Hindi) did a report. And later, Smita Prakash (the Editor-in-chief) of ANI (Asian News International), which, on most occasions, praises the government, tweeted the story. Even the police of the Yogi Adityanath government said such fake news should not have been aired.
RK: But, what happened? You instead send the police to the home of Siddharth Varadarajan (Co-Founding Editor, The Wire). During this lockdown, quite a few policemen came to Delhi in a vehicle. Did they follow social distancing norms? They came to serve a notice on him. So many police personnel from districts in Uttar Pradesh have sent notices to various media houses. The fake news that was spread by one big newspaper has been rubbished. Consider what happened recently in Katihar district in Bihar. A channel there ran a false story that a person who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting (in New Delhi) had got admitted to a local hospital. The good thing is that the chief medical officer of the district hospital and the collector said the story was completely false.
There is a clear pattern we see. When such fake news is put out, many so-called “responsible” television channels or newspapers don’t contradict and condemn the dissemination of false information. Correct information is not reaching readers and viewers. Mainstream media organisations did not trash the fake news from Katihar but an individual YouTuber did. AltNews has compiled many collections of fake news but it is not mainstream media. There is Abhisar Sharma. He is also rubbishing fake news on YouTube.
The moot point is that there is no organised system in place to counter fake news. If wrong news has been spread, there should be a way to expose those who have spread it and associations representing journalists should highlight such fake news. If a district magistrate or a police officer is saying that a certain news item that has been run on a particular channel is fake, others should point this out. There is no system of audit for the media. A few individuals are fighting against the proliferation of fake news. Everything depends on these individuals. Citizens must understand that eventually, they are the losers when false information is deliberately allowed to proliferate.
What happens when bank officials harass members of the public? What happens when schoolteachers, who were receiving low salaries in any case, stop receiving their pay? Many jobs are going away. Does the public not deserve to know what is happening? If viewers and readers do not come together and oppose the media organisations that put out false information, they will themselves one day get suffocated by the spread of fake news. How much information can you and I disseminate? Can we reach out to every person in the country? Obviously not––neither do I have the ability nor the resources. The public has to think hard about the information diet they have been kept on. They have to realise that the diet isn’t good for their health.
People are being pushed into a tunnel from which they cannot return. Many members of the public aren’t able to comprehend what has been done––and what is being done––by most of the Indian media. For the last four or five years, the media has been single-mindedly spreading propaganda against Muslims, against minorities. You hear horrible debates on television. Many of the lies that have been propagated have not been refuted or challenged. Large sections of people have accepted as true all that that has been broadcast. Based on these lies, a new “bar code” has been created to identify people who subscribe to a certain religious faith. You don’t need to explain anything else: an entire community has been disenfranchised. Isn’t it the media’s job to strengthen democracy, to make it better, and not spread the virus of communalism?
I feel sad saying this. How many times will we discuss the state of the media in India? What do we do if many viewers do not understand? Are they all communally biased and want to believe what is being shown? This is the same media that does not want to talk about the viewer’s problems, his job and his salary. I don’t know what language to use any more. You are free to make your political choices, fall into whichever pit you wish to. But if you support the falsehood the media is propagating day-in and day-out, you will cause enormous damage to the country. This is an issue of ethics.
We say don’t make the reports Hindu versus Muslim. They, in turn, retort that we are doing exactly what they are being accused of, namely, ensuring that every story has a Hindu-Muslim narrative. All we are saying is that you should not spread rumours. They, on the other hand, believe that since they have the soldiers of the (Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology) IT cell with them, they can do just about anything. And yes, unfortunately, they are actually doing everything they want to and getting away with it. I just hope that some day viewers and readers realise that it is not in their own interest that untruths be spread.
PGT: On March 31, the Home Secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, supported by the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta. The petition stated that any “deliberate or inaccurate” reporting by any electronic, print, social media outlet, particularly web portals, would cause “panic in large sections of the society” and that the court should direct the media to first verify what was “true” and “factual” from the central government and only thereafter disseminate the information. The Supreme Court, however, did not agree with the government and said that whereas fake news should not be disseminated, it did not intend interfering with “free discussion” about the pandemic while asking the media to refer to, and publish, the “official version” of developments. The question is, what does a journalist do if she or he does not get the official version, or does not get it on time.
For me, what was most surprising was that the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justice L Nageshwar Rao said that the migration of large numbers of workers from cities was triggered by the panic created by fake news to the effect that the lockdown would continue for more than three months and not three weeks (as the government had stated at that juncture). The SC bench said that such panic-driven migration had caused untold suffering to those who believed and acted on the basis of such news. The bench then read out the provisions of the law––the Disaster Management Act––that stated how an individual could be jailed for a year and also fined for spreading rumours and false news. The Supreme Court agreed with the government on this point. Does this mean that fake news circulated on WhatsApp caused the migration? There are an estimated 400 million users of WhatsApp in India at present. Ravish, you have yourself talked about how many Indians who have not had the opportunity to receive quality education are today getting “educated” in WhatsApp University…
RK: We have to look at a few things. What were the facts that were placed upfront? Did the media actually spread news about the lockdown continuing for two or three months thereby creating panic? I am not aware that this was done. What about the errors made by the government in communicating facts about what was actually happening? Rumours about the lockdown spread like wildfire amongst migrant labourers because the government completely mismanaged its communications strategy.
When certain areas were declared hotspots by the Uttar Pradesh government in Noida and Ghaziabad, there was a lot of important information that was not communicated as a consequence of which large crowds gathered on the streets to buy food and other essential items. The state government wants to fix journalists using threats of jail or bail. But it fails miserably in communicating important facts to the people.
The Supreme Court should direct the IT cells of political parties, who are media entities in their own right, not to spread fake news. It is such cells that circulate fake news. Consider what happened after the PM-CARES (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund was launched about which many questions were raised. Those who are part of so-called WhatsApp universities spread rumours that moved from village to village. They claimed that this new fund had been set up by Modi because (India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal) Nehru had taken a decision that only the president of the Indian National Congress could head the existing Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Now this information was clearly false. It has been clearly specified in Hindi and English in the government’s official website that the Prime Minister is the head of the fund in an ex-officio capacity. Should government agencies not have countered the fake news that was circulated in this regard? They did absolutely nothing.
During this ongoing crisis, every news channel should highlight the briefings made by government officials right through the day. I’ll tell you why. You switch on your TV during the evening and that is when those useless debates start. During the day, when press conferences happen, a lot of the important information that is disclosed does not reach viewers. For example, the central government took a decision that standing crops could be harvested in the fields and that vehicles carrying farm equipment could cross state borders despite the lockdown. The media did not highlight this decision. This is important news for many people. Wheat is ready to be harvested. If this information does not reach people on time, it has adverse consequences––grain would go waste.
On April 8, the government issued a notice stating there should be no discrimination against doctors. There is a line in the Dos and Don’ts section of the notice that no one belonging to a particular community or any one locality should be identified or stigmatised. This should have been the first sentence of the notice. But the “godi” (literally lap) media or the pliant media continued to harp on the Talbighi Jamaat story because it reinforced their communal bias. Even government officials dished out statistics to ensure that this half-baked story remains on top of the minds of viewers.
How many media outlets have told us about the travel itinerary of the son of the top official of the Madhya Pradesh government, an officer belonging to the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) who is under quarantine? From which country did he come and why did he and his mother not inform anyone about his travels? Why was this not a big story?
The media in India is almost finished. There are still a few who are still trying to do their bit and supporters of the government are targeting them. We are told that the country is united in its fight against COVID-19. If indeed that is the case, why are so many private hospitals closed? Why have doctors closed their clinics and run away? The government has granted them permission to remain open. We gave our taalis (clapped) and banged thaalis (metal utensils) for our doctors. But there are many patients who are currently in deep trouble, including pregnant women and people on dialysis. How will the government get feedback about the condition of its citizens, if the stories of such patients are not told by journalists? Remember that many such people voted for the political party that formed the government in New Delhi.
PGT: Let me rewind a little. I am 64. I started journalism 42 years ago just after the Emergency. After Indira Gandhi returned to power in January 1980 following her party’s electoral defeat in March 1977, she was asked: What was your biggest mistake during the Emergency?
Her reply was: “Press censorship.”
Indira Gandhi had put many journalists behind bars. Not just opposition leaders but journalists as well, Kuldip Nayyar and many others. In the Morarji Desai government, Lal Krishna Advani was the Minister for Information and Broadcasting. He is today 92 years old. He was asked why so many journalists and editors didn’t have the courage to oppose Indira Gandhi. He said something very interesting in response: “When they (the editors) were asked to bend, they crawled.”
Today, are we seeing a new type of Emergency? The government is not even asking them (media barons) to lower their heads but they are flat on the floor. On March 23, the Prime Minister spoke to owners and editors of media houses and urged them to help the government. He even told journalists to be careful while reporting, to use boom microphones while reporting and staying a metre away from the person being interviewed. So have we gone back 40-45 years?
RK: This is an old question. We have been living through the new Emergency for more than five years now. People should understand that this section of the media, which I describe as the “godi” media, is working against the interests of those who voted Modi to power. These voters are today facing many difficulties, are they not? They are facing problems getting jobs, repaying loans, paying their children’s school fees and so on. They are his voters, but their voices aren’t being heard. We are told that we are going through hardships and that it is important that the country remains united at this juncture. But does this also mean we should not be asking questions.
I want to tell you what the great poet Tulsidas wrote in the Ramcharitmanas a long time ago. He said that if the minister, the doctor and the teacher start saying nice things to the ruler, that is the end of his rule, his life and his body. This “godi” media does not even know this country’s traditions. It is perpetuating a rule by the mob and condoning the most irreligious acts in the name of religion. Our tradition is to stand by the truth. But much of the media is today standing alongside falsehood. What hope can we have from this media?
I am merely urging citizens to understand that nobody wants to interfere with their political preferences. The role of the media is different. When the government announced that Rs 1,000 would be given to construction labourers, did any media organisation conduct a social audit? What did the media play instead? Songs that were meant to make you feel good.
When doctors and nurses are given accommodation in five-star hotels, the cameras are ready beforehand. People applaud. But when the same doctor is bashed up, the cameras are not there. The doctor does not have adequate personal protection equipment. Complaints are coming in. This was an occasion when the media should have promoted a scientific temper among the people of the country. This was an opportunity to explain what is going on in rational and scientific terms. A large section of the Indian media is instead promoting superstition in the name of religion. People are being asked to believe lies.
I was informed that 70-odd engineers who had been working on contract with a government body had been removed from their positions. I asked some of them a few questions. I asked them how much they had been earning and for how long they had been working. I also asked them if they had banged thaalis on March 22 on the suggestion of the Prime Minister. One man who spoke to me candidly said that he was among those who had banged thaalis that evening. Will my journalist sisters and brothers write about this person’s predicament? Will they deliver his message to the Prime Minister? And if he listens to his problems, he may do something. He may direct that there be a reduction in school tuition fees and ensure the timely payment of salaries to teachers and even, the gardeners who work in schools. But is the media taking such messages to those who are in positions of power and authority? Regretfully, no. The chain of communication linking the ruled with the rulers is broken. This media is anti-public, anti-poor…
The biggest story for television reporters in the national capital was the unprecedented migration of the poor. But then came the Jamaat story to divert attention. This became a story that was bigger than the hardships suffered by hundreds of thousands of workers. Much of the media has stopped reporting on what is happening on the ground. The government’s decisions are not being questioned. The government may have taken certain decisions with good intentions but if the decisions are not being implemented, it is the job of the media to point out the shortcomings. This is not happening. The space for the independent media, that had already shrunk, has now shrunk further.
PGT: A last question. On April 8, (Acting President of the Congress) Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi making a number of suggestions, including stoppage of work on the renovation of the Central Vista in the capital. One suggestion she made got many in the media very angry, especially the owners of “godi” media organisations. She called on the government to completely stop spending on advertisements, barring ones related to COVID-19 and public heathcare, for two years. She said that the central government would save Rs 1,250 crore. Soon after this suggestion was made, owners of media organisations protested loudly. They asked: “Does she want to finish us?”
What do you have to say about Sonia Gandhi’s suggestion?
RK: The reaction of the owners of media organisations did not surprise me. In that letter, there is mention of the Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista renovation scheme. If your economic condition is so bad that you are cutting the salaries and pensions of Members of Parliament, then the scheme to renovate the Central Vista should be scrapped. But will it?
As for advertisements given by the government, we don’t know who gets how much of this amount of Rs 1,300 crore. Does 80% of this amount go to five big media houses? Small newspapers regularly complain that they don’t enough government advertisements. This is, after all, public money and people should know who is getting how much from the government. There should be full transparency in this regard. But that is an ideal situation.
Sonia Gandhi said that the government could issue advertisements on COVID-19. This implies that if the government wants to, it can issue hundreds of advertisements on the pandemic. But that is not the issue at stake. You need an enemy? You need to demonise an entire community. Those who shouted the loudest about the Tablighi Jamaat incident did not talk abut how Muslim clerics in many small towns and remote villages repeatedly told their followers not to congregate for namaaz (prayers), about mullahs (clerics) who said they were wholly supportive of the Prime Minister. Did the media praise them? No. Yes, the Jamaat, which is an international organisation, was irresponsible, but so was the government.
At that time, the government was busy conducting rallies for US President Trump. What was the message that was being sent? What moral authority is the government left with? It is with great sadness that I am saying what I am. Still I hope that some day people will realise that their children should not grow up hating Muslims. I reiterate that a communal person cannot be a good citizen because communalism is built on lies. You are insulting your own religion. You are disregarding what is written in the Gita that you should have the strength to tell the truth. What do I say to those who lie and simultaneously swear by what is written in the Gita?
https://www.newsclick.in/Ravish-Kumar-On-Media-During-COVID-Corona-Lockdown
Citizens must understand that eventually, they are the losers when false information is deliberately allowed to proliferate, says the senior journalist.
Instead of promoting a scientific temper among people, much of the media in India is today supporting superstition and injecting communal poison in the hearts and minds of viewers and readers, NDTV India Managing Editor and Magsaysay Award winner Ravish Kumar told Paranjoy Guha Thakurta in an interview published on Sunday April 12, 2020. Here is an edited version of the video interview translated into English.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta: We are going through an unprecedented international crisis. The Director General of the World Health Organisation has said this is not just a pandemic but also an “infodemic” because of the way in which fake news has spread all over the world on a scale never witnessed before. In several countries, governments are making citizens give up their privacy. The argument proffered is that unless there are checks on information flows the dissemination of fake news cannot be curtailed or prevented. Is this a cure worse than the disease?
Ravish Kumar: There are many instances that indicate that supporters of governments are themselves in the forefront of spreading fake news. There are two types of news. One is the sort of fake news that supporters of the government (including the Indian government) spread. No attempts are made to curb the dissemination of such “news.” There is another kind of news the government does not talk about and that may be described as “dead news” or buried news. We do not know much about such kinds of information. For a viewer or a reader, the threat of being misinformed by what is put out on Facebook (or WhatsApp) is very real. But there is a much bigger threat and this is the threat that comes from dead news or buried news. I argue that those in power want certain truths to be buried and not reach people.
Governments continue to win this fight. Not just here but in different countries, governments are controlling the narrative through a pliant media. The problem is that the public at large is losing this battle. Readers and viewers must repeatedly question the credibility of what is passed of as “news” but this is not happening. Many have become used to living in a make-believe world. This is part of a longer conversation. However, what we are witnessing at present is a classic case of how, while living through a pandemic, we are on an “information diet.” Even as people are hungry for credible information, this “diet” gives you news in short bursts, for ten minutes at most.
I will give you an example from our country. Look at the short duration of government press conferences. I was watching scientists from the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) speak on the pandemic at a media conference. If they sit with journalists and answer their questions, it would help ordinary citizens. But are they allowed to speak freely and at length? I don’t think so. For example, ICMR scientists said that orders for test kits (to detect COVID-19) had been placed, that these were expected in a few days but that the supplies had not yet arrived. Why? They are scientists and perhaps they don’t know the answer, and might never know because the government is not disclosing the truth. That’s the news we are missing out on, the information we are not getting, the reports from the ground that are not reaching us.
In developed nations as well, information dissemination is in tatters. Still, if you take a look at the US, despite all that is going on, scientists are answering questions raised by journalists every day. Scientists often take public positions that are very different from the positions adopted and the claims being made by the US government and the American President. Can this happen in India? Can any ICMR scientist here say anything that is contrary to what is being claimed by the government? They can’t.
PGT: On April 2, the International Press Institute stated that governments, especially those with existing authoritarian tendencies, are using laws aimed at checking fake news to silence the independent media. They are taking advantage of emergency legislation to crack down on press freedom frequently on the pretext of combating the spread of fake news. They want to curb independent journalism. You spoke about US President Donald Trump. He is one person who has perhaps used the phrase “fake news” the most in the recent past. He addresses press conferences regularly unlike our Prime Minister. On March 20, a reporter from the National Broadcasting Corporation, Peter Alexander, asked Trump a question during a press conference. He said that many American citizens are today scared and asked the President what message he had for them. Trump tore into him and said: “You are a terrible reporter.”
He launched a personal attack on him. You ask a question and you become a terrible reporter?
RK: Paranjoy, please note that the reporter was in front of the US President. In India, not a single reporter can be seen in front of the Prime Minister of India. When we say this, we do not know if he (Narendra Modi) is planning to grant interviews (to selected journalists) like the ones he granted before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Remember the kind of questions the selected journalists asked the Prime Minister. How many nights have you not slept? Did you speak with chief ministers over the phone as late as 2:30 am in the morning? Wait and watch. Such interviews are again going to begin.
On the statement of the International Press Institute on fake news, see how it is being implemented in India. On the reporting on the Tablighi Jamaat episode, police personnel in districts in Uttar Pradesh have debunked the fake news shown on certain television channels.
PGT: You don’t have to take names. Let me take a few names. On the Tablighi Jamaat episode, Amish Devgan (also spelt Devgn, Managing Editor, News18 India Hindi) did a report. And later, Smita Prakash (the Editor-in-chief) of ANI (Asian News International), which, on most occasions, praises the government, tweeted the story. Even the police of the Yogi Adityanath government said such fake news should not have been aired.
RK: But, what happened? You instead send the police to the home of Siddharth Varadarajan (Co-Founding Editor, The Wire). During this lockdown, quite a few policemen came to Delhi in a vehicle. Did they follow social distancing norms? They came to serve a notice on him. So many police personnel from districts in Uttar Pradesh have sent notices to various media houses. The fake news that was spread by one big newspaper has been rubbished. Consider what happened recently in Katihar district in Bihar. A channel there ran a false story that a person who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting (in New Delhi) had got admitted to a local hospital. The good thing is that the chief medical officer of the district hospital and the collector said the story was completely false.
There is a clear pattern we see. When such fake news is put out, many so-called “responsible” television channels or newspapers don’t contradict and condemn the dissemination of false information. Correct information is not reaching readers and viewers. Mainstream media organisations did not trash the fake news from Katihar but an individual YouTuber did. AltNews has compiled many collections of fake news but it is not mainstream media. There is Abhisar Sharma. He is also rubbishing fake news on YouTube.
The moot point is that there is no organised system in place to counter fake news. If wrong news has been spread, there should be a way to expose those who have spread it and associations representing journalists should highlight such fake news. If a district magistrate or a police officer is saying that a certain news item that has been run on a particular channel is fake, others should point this out. There is no system of audit for the media. A few individuals are fighting against the proliferation of fake news. Everything depends on these individuals. Citizens must understand that eventually, they are the losers when false information is deliberately allowed to proliferate.
What happens when bank officials harass members of the public? What happens when schoolteachers, who were receiving low salaries in any case, stop receiving their pay? Many jobs are going away. Does the public not deserve to know what is happening? If viewers and readers do not come together and oppose the media organisations that put out false information, they will themselves one day get suffocated by the spread of fake news. How much information can you and I disseminate? Can we reach out to every person in the country? Obviously not––neither do I have the ability nor the resources. The public has to think hard about the information diet they have been kept on. They have to realise that the diet isn’t good for their health.
People are being pushed into a tunnel from which they cannot return. Many members of the public aren’t able to comprehend what has been done––and what is being done––by most of the Indian media. For the last four or five years, the media has been single-mindedly spreading propaganda against Muslims, against minorities. You hear horrible debates on television. Many of the lies that have been propagated have not been refuted or challenged. Large sections of people have accepted as true all that that has been broadcast. Based on these lies, a new “bar code” has been created to identify people who subscribe to a certain religious faith. You don’t need to explain anything else: an entire community has been disenfranchised. Isn’t it the media’s job to strengthen democracy, to make it better, and not spread the virus of communalism?
I feel sad saying this. How many times will we discuss the state of the media in India? What do we do if many viewers do not understand? Are they all communally biased and want to believe what is being shown? This is the same media that does not want to talk about the viewer’s problems, his job and his salary. I don’t know what language to use any more. You are free to make your political choices, fall into whichever pit you wish to. But if you support the falsehood the media is propagating day-in and day-out, you will cause enormous damage to the country. This is an issue of ethics.
We say don’t make the reports Hindu versus Muslim. They, in turn, retort that we are doing exactly what they are being accused of, namely, ensuring that every story has a Hindu-Muslim narrative. All we are saying is that you should not spread rumours. They, on the other hand, believe that since they have the soldiers of the (Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology) IT cell with them, they can do just about anything. And yes, unfortunately, they are actually doing everything they want to and getting away with it. I just hope that some day viewers and readers realise that it is not in their own interest that untruths be spread.
PGT: On March 31, the Home Secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, supported by the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta. The petition stated that any “deliberate or inaccurate” reporting by any electronic, print, social media outlet, particularly web portals, would cause “panic in large sections of the society” and that the court should direct the media to first verify what was “true” and “factual” from the central government and only thereafter disseminate the information. The Supreme Court, however, did not agree with the government and said that whereas fake news should not be disseminated, it did not intend interfering with “free discussion” about the pandemic while asking the media to refer to, and publish, the “official version” of developments. The question is, what does a journalist do if she or he does not get the official version, or does not get it on time.
For me, what was most surprising was that the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justice L Nageshwar Rao said that the migration of large numbers of workers from cities was triggered by the panic created by fake news to the effect that the lockdown would continue for more than three months and not three weeks (as the government had stated at that juncture). The SC bench said that such panic-driven migration had caused untold suffering to those who believed and acted on the basis of such news. The bench then read out the provisions of the law––the Disaster Management Act––that stated how an individual could be jailed for a year and also fined for spreading rumours and false news. The Supreme Court agreed with the government on this point. Does this mean that fake news circulated on WhatsApp caused the migration? There are an estimated 400 million users of WhatsApp in India at present. Ravish, you have yourself talked about how many Indians who have not had the opportunity to receive quality education are today getting “educated” in WhatsApp University…
RK: We have to look at a few things. What were the facts that were placed upfront? Did the media actually spread news about the lockdown continuing for two or three months thereby creating panic? I am not aware that this was done. What about the errors made by the government in communicating facts about what was actually happening? Rumours about the lockdown spread like wildfire amongst migrant labourers because the government completely mismanaged its communications strategy.
When certain areas were declared hotspots by the Uttar Pradesh government in Noida and Ghaziabad, there was a lot of important information that was not communicated as a consequence of which large crowds gathered on the streets to buy food and other essential items. The state government wants to fix journalists using threats of jail or bail. But it fails miserably in communicating important facts to the people.
The Supreme Court should direct the IT cells of political parties, who are media entities in their own right, not to spread fake news. It is such cells that circulate fake news. Consider what happened after the PM-CARES (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund was launched about which many questions were raised. Those who are part of so-called WhatsApp universities spread rumours that moved from village to village. They claimed that this new fund had been set up by Modi because (India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal) Nehru had taken a decision that only the president of the Indian National Congress could head the existing Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Now this information was clearly false. It has been clearly specified in Hindi and English in the government’s official website that the Prime Minister is the head of the fund in an ex-officio capacity. Should government agencies not have countered the fake news that was circulated in this regard? They did absolutely nothing.
During this ongoing crisis, every news channel should highlight the briefings made by government officials right through the day. I’ll tell you why. You switch on your TV during the evening and that is when those useless debates start. During the day, when press conferences happen, a lot of the important information that is disclosed does not reach viewers. For example, the central government took a decision that standing crops could be harvested in the fields and that vehicles carrying farm equipment could cross state borders despite the lockdown. The media did not highlight this decision. This is important news for many people. Wheat is ready to be harvested. If this information does not reach people on time, it has adverse consequences––grain would go waste.
On April 8, the government issued a notice stating there should be no discrimination against doctors. There is a line in the Dos and Don’ts section of the notice that no one belonging to a particular community or any one locality should be identified or stigmatised. This should have been the first sentence of the notice. But the “godi” (literally lap) media or the pliant media continued to harp on the Talbighi Jamaat story because it reinforced their communal bias. Even government officials dished out statistics to ensure that this half-baked story remains on top of the minds of viewers.
How many media outlets have told us about the travel itinerary of the son of the top official of the Madhya Pradesh government, an officer belonging to the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) who is under quarantine? From which country did he come and why did he and his mother not inform anyone about his travels? Why was this not a big story?
The media in India is almost finished. There are still a few who are still trying to do their bit and supporters of the government are targeting them. We are told that the country is united in its fight against COVID-19. If indeed that is the case, why are so many private hospitals closed? Why have doctors closed their clinics and run away? The government has granted them permission to remain open. We gave our taalis (clapped) and banged thaalis (metal utensils) for our doctors. But there are many patients who are currently in deep trouble, including pregnant women and people on dialysis. How will the government get feedback about the condition of its citizens, if the stories of such patients are not told by journalists? Remember that many such people voted for the political party that formed the government in New Delhi.
PGT: Let me rewind a little. I am 64. I started journalism 42 years ago just after the Emergency. After Indira Gandhi returned to power in January 1980 following her party’s electoral defeat in March 1977, she was asked: What was your biggest mistake during the Emergency?
Her reply was: “Press censorship.”
Indira Gandhi had put many journalists behind bars. Not just opposition leaders but journalists as well, Kuldip Nayyar and many others. In the Morarji Desai government, Lal Krishna Advani was the Minister for Information and Broadcasting. He is today 92 years old. He was asked why so many journalists and editors didn’t have the courage to oppose Indira Gandhi. He said something very interesting in response: “When they (the editors) were asked to bend, they crawled.”
Today, are we seeing a new type of Emergency? The government is not even asking them (media barons) to lower their heads but they are flat on the floor. On March 23, the Prime Minister spoke to owners and editors of media houses and urged them to help the government. He even told journalists to be careful while reporting, to use boom microphones while reporting and staying a metre away from the person being interviewed. So have we gone back 40-45 years?
RK: This is an old question. We have been living through the new Emergency for more than five years now. People should understand that this section of the media, which I describe as the “godi” media, is working against the interests of those who voted Modi to power. These voters are today facing many difficulties, are they not? They are facing problems getting jobs, repaying loans, paying their children’s school fees and so on. They are his voters, but their voices aren’t being heard. We are told that we are going through hardships and that it is important that the country remains united at this juncture. But does this also mean we should not be asking questions.
I want to tell you what the great poet Tulsidas wrote in the Ramcharitmanas a long time ago. He said that if the minister, the doctor and the teacher start saying nice things to the ruler, that is the end of his rule, his life and his body. This “godi” media does not even know this country’s traditions. It is perpetuating a rule by the mob and condoning the most irreligious acts in the name of religion. Our tradition is to stand by the truth. But much of the media is today standing alongside falsehood. What hope can we have from this media?
I am merely urging citizens to understand that nobody wants to interfere with their political preferences. The role of the media is different. When the government announced that Rs 1,000 would be given to construction labourers, did any media organisation conduct a social audit? What did the media play instead? Songs that were meant to make you feel good.
When doctors and nurses are given accommodation in five-star hotels, the cameras are ready beforehand. People applaud. But when the same doctor is bashed up, the cameras are not there. The doctor does not have adequate personal protection equipment. Complaints are coming in. This was an occasion when the media should have promoted a scientific temper among the people of the country. This was an opportunity to explain what is going on in rational and scientific terms. A large section of the Indian media is instead promoting superstition in the name of religion. People are being asked to believe lies.
I was informed that 70-odd engineers who had been working on contract with a government body had been removed from their positions. I asked some of them a few questions. I asked them how much they had been earning and for how long they had been working. I also asked them if they had banged thaalis on March 22 on the suggestion of the Prime Minister. One man who spoke to me candidly said that he was among those who had banged thaalis that evening. Will my journalist sisters and brothers write about this person’s predicament? Will they deliver his message to the Prime Minister? And if he listens to his problems, he may do something. He may direct that there be a reduction in school tuition fees and ensure the timely payment of salaries to teachers and even, the gardeners who work in schools. But is the media taking such messages to those who are in positions of power and authority? Regretfully, no. The chain of communication linking the ruled with the rulers is broken. This media is anti-public, anti-poor…
The biggest story for television reporters in the national capital was the unprecedented migration of the poor. But then came the Jamaat story to divert attention. This became a story that was bigger than the hardships suffered by hundreds of thousands of workers. Much of the media has stopped reporting on what is happening on the ground. The government’s decisions are not being questioned. The government may have taken certain decisions with good intentions but if the decisions are not being implemented, it is the job of the media to point out the shortcomings. This is not happening. The space for the independent media, that had already shrunk, has now shrunk further.
PGT: A last question. On April 8, (Acting President of the Congress) Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi making a number of suggestions, including stoppage of work on the renovation of the Central Vista in the capital. One suggestion she made got many in the media very angry, especially the owners of “godi” media organisations. She called on the government to completely stop spending on advertisements, barring ones related to COVID-19 and public heathcare, for two years. She said that the central government would save Rs 1,250 crore. Soon after this suggestion was made, owners of media organisations protested loudly. They asked: “Does she want to finish us?”
What do you have to say about Sonia Gandhi’s suggestion?
RK: The reaction of the owners of media organisations did not surprise me. In that letter, there is mention of the Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista renovation scheme. If your economic condition is so bad that you are cutting the salaries and pensions of Members of Parliament, then the scheme to renovate the Central Vista should be scrapped. But will it?
As for advertisements given by the government, we don’t know who gets how much of this amount of Rs 1,300 crore. Does 80% of this amount go to five big media houses? Small newspapers regularly complain that they don’t enough government advertisements. This is, after all, public money and people should know who is getting how much from the government. There should be full transparency in this regard. But that is an ideal situation.
Sonia Gandhi said that the government could issue advertisements on COVID-19. This implies that if the government wants to, it can issue hundreds of advertisements on the pandemic. But that is not the issue at stake. You need an enemy? You need to demonise an entire community. Those who shouted the loudest about the Tablighi Jamaat incident did not talk abut how Muslim clerics in many small towns and remote villages repeatedly told their followers not to congregate for namaaz (prayers), about mullahs (clerics) who said they were wholly supportive of the Prime Minister. Did the media praise them? No. Yes, the Jamaat, which is an international organisation, was irresponsible, but so was the government.
At that time, the government was busy conducting rallies for US President Trump. What was the message that was being sent? What moral authority is the government left with? It is with great sadness that I am saying what I am. Still I hope that some day people will realise that their children should not grow up hating Muslims. I reiterate that a communal person cannot be a good citizen because communalism is built on lies. You are insulting your own religion. You are disregarding what is written in the Gita that you should have the strength to tell the truth. What do I say to those who lie and simultaneously swear by what is written in the Gita?
https://www.newsclick.in/Ravish-Kumar-On-Media-During-COVID-Corona-Lockdown
This will explain why he is successful. For others who doesn't get swayed by his oratory, there is no alternative.
For Modi, I can give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't receive great education, but what is Rahul Gandhi excuse?
Yeah tell that to 1 billion plus people in india to vote for rahul over modi.
And I get you don't like modi you but you are just acting stupid if you think rahul is better than modi. But of course you will think that, so don't bother responding.
Criticizing modi automatically means that said person is a rahul gandhi bhakt even though he actually may not be .
.Irony should be opposite. Criticizing or questioning congress for not having a new face makes you a bjp supporter or sanghi.Criticizing modi automatically means that said person is a rahul gandhi bhakt even though he actually may not be
Who's saying that here ? Please do show us.
Chances of this day and age of being termed a sanghi or rss supporters is more than a rahul supporter. By the way who called you rahul supporter or bhakth.
No one. But inferences were made against others.
Ive never come across a rahul gandhi bhakt on this forum since ive been here which is 2007.
My personal favourite
Those facial expressions and hand movements always gets me when he starts saying "clouds hai, benefit kar sakte hai"
My personal favourite
Those facial expressions and hand movements always gets me when he starts saying "clouds hai, benefit kar sakte hai"
He won the election with this.