An illusion or a reality?
Some style and much pretence!
Media in India both print and TV needs much introspection!
So many IT tools? Yet, what are their effective use for the farmers and general public?
You see Indian agriculture is in distress. So much has been said all through the election campaigns and also in the speeches in Parliament. But what is the progress? After Adhaar, there is no public awareness that they are helped by the government in constructive schemes and programmes. We read that only 14% of farmers are registered on eNAM marketing platform. eNAM, the much talked about (talked about in around 2016) electronic National Agricultural Market, has yet to take off in an important way so that farmers feel benefitted. Only 14% of farmers benefited and it is more noteworthy that 51% of farmers have not benefited from the trading platform.
eNAM is a pan-India electronic platform. Why don’t you get is more active and get a separate CEO appointed?
It is an irony of sorts, that instead of talking something that would benefit farmers, given the spread of the mobile phones use among the farmers and the rural people, the newly appointed agri minister, the Hon’ble Tomar and also his predecessor, the Hon’ble Singh are indulging how many farmers have committed suicides since they came to power, since they are in the hot seat of the krishi ministry!
Is this the time to do something positive and newsworthy? The very attitude of our politicians is very discouraging. This only shows how we respect and treat our helpless farmers. Farmers, perhaps, in the only social groups who are disrespected, disregarded and almost ignored and let to their own survival instincts.
It is a great pity. The very Indian attitude of the Indian people to their own much exploited and much suppressed rural segment is worse than how the
Indian society treats is very critical sector. Indian history is full of such ironies. Indian social system is such that we praise the farming profession as something divine, each language has enough songs and hymns in praise of farmers and farming profession.
Yet, the society has so developed, through famines and poverty, mass deaths and worst diseases, plague and what have you and yet we have survived as a nation. In the post-Independence period what we have seen is of course greater food production and food self-sufficiency, but also as a consequence of economic development, the new challenges of child nutrition, the impact on the children’s body, bodies, growth of many needed nutrients and much more worse the callous way the Integrated Child Development schemes are neglected. In Karnataka for example there are instances the very entire budget for the Child Development schemes remain unspent!
Under the Prime Minister’s many new initiatives we have bring the Integrated Child Development a separate CEO and close monitoring. One of the many ways in which the IT tools can be deployed is the child nutrition monitoring schemes and its budgets.
Also, we like to bring our readers to a new perspective here. That is the how the press and the TV media are helping the public or hiding the many new critical information for fear of antagonising the authorities.
The Broadcasting Ministry is using the DD for any positive propaganda or for propaganda for the ruling party’s many other fancy schemes. Here is a book before us. It is: The Indian Newsroom, Studios, Stars and the Unmaking of the reporters. By Sandeep Bushan. Publishedby, Westland. You see that we, the public, are misled by fashionable Brand Building that is indulged by the many TV news channels. NDTV, Times Network, Newsex, Arnob Goswami, Sardesai, Pronnay Roy and his partner, Radhika Roy and many others like Barka Dutt and others have built up a great reputation for their skills. But one thing that has been brought by this well-researched and insightful and also very objective and restrained research and writing skills, is that these TV channels tried to build a brand positioning and thus they make the viewers to believe them. But do you know what lies behind this smart looks and rhetorical words and phrases?
Lies, lies, sometimes total lies and plain unethical conduct and we can even say moral bankruptcy and plain misbehaviour?
During the Neera Radia tapes (You still remember and can recall?) some of the leading lights of these brands turned up as corporate lobbyists and plain Cabinet berth negotiators?
Some respected senior columnists even wrote some plain lies to promote some candidates? What came out? The 2-G corruption scandals that sent soke netas to jail!
Is this great media job?
Also, we see for the first time, we found that the upper crust youngsters, yes, most of them were and are from public schools. They all seem to be very smart in some stylish pretence, yet with much moral guilt!
What sort of respect this highly privileged or self-indulgent younger generation have for truth. For digging the truth that can reach out the under privileged and out of reach for the noble goals of life?
So, we are an empty generation. We don’t care to take part or become partners in the collective exploitation of three poor and weaker sections? Given this paradigm what chance the poor and the inaccessible have to get the benefits of development?
And lo! Behold the privileged group secretly helped the dynasty to benefit, exploit the rule over the country in the name of democracy and much else?
So, what value we can give when you carry stories of exploitation etc while you also try to help the guilty to hide themselves from public investigation?
If you, the print media and the TV media jointly help one party, one family to thrive, this applies now to the ruling party, whoever has captured power you will become a partner in the loot and black money or some other form of accumulating funds and fight elections and promote democracy or any party or ideology that is on display? Or, do you really have a hard core of some value?
These are some of the troubling questions that when we hope to run an agri media small outfit?
And at the end of the day where you are?
In deep debt? You are bought over by money lenders, whoever they are!
Oh, the smart, selfish set; there are some of these troubling questions. They will be there so long you continue to play partners and collaborators!