Governance Section
HYGIENE
ENVIRONMENT GLOBAL BUZZ
VIEWS ON NEWS WHAT HAPPENED TO NAMO’S TOILET PROMISE?
OVER BEES
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Bihar Elections:
UNLEASHING UNPRECEDENTED PR BLITZKRIEG State to get carpet-bombed c carpet-bom mb by multi-crore a multi-c r no-holds-barred no-holds-b b d Who are campaign. W c a behind the people b n nd mega the meg g strategies? s trategie e 12
AARUSHI MURDER RE-VISITED: Avirook Sen’s book creates national furore. Ajith Pillai analyzes media’s role 18 NEWS ON THE GO: Your fingers do the walking 30
ADVERTISING: FILMS: Scent Ramesh Menon of sex reviews
Bahubali 36
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EDITOR’S NOTE
A WELCOME SURPRISE THE EDIT I am now writing should, ideally, be part of a regular section in Views On News called “Anchor Review”. This is a segment in the magazine dealing with how major breaking stories or interviews have been handled by anchors for TV channels. The pieces, penned by our own senior writers or, sometimes, written by well-known guest columnists and contributors, deal with one, or if the occasion so demands, several situations in which we analyze or criticize the way an anchor treats a breaking story or continuous news happening. The reason I bring this segment into special reckoning by writing an edit on it is because last week I sensed a break from what has become the routine on all TV channels. We either watch interviewees getting hammered or badgered or being denied the chance to speak their minds or express themselves cogently and coherently or see, with mounting revulsion, an obviously obsequious and eager-toplease interviewer massage and pamper the guest. Many of my friends, when it comes to watching interviews during peak
4 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
news hours, tend to switch to entertainment channels and wait out the period of the interview before switching back to the original show. But recently, there occurred the break from the usual to which I referred earlier. It happened on the new India Today TV network. Let me state at the outset that I, too, am a TV anchor with APN News and my own performance and that of the channel should be equally subjected to critical scrutiny by media reviewers. But I am also a TV watcher with my likes and dislikes and above, all, with a professional interest in what competitors are up to and how they are faring. With all channels screaming they’re “number one” in the ratings game, I have been paying special interest to India Today (the old TV TODAY network) and its revamped, dizzying five-ring circus format. But this so-called contemporary “non-linear” look is the subject of another story. What I am focusing on today is the content. We’ve carried a previous story on this and I am mostly in agreement with its conclusion that nothing really has changed despite the Karan-ThaparRajdeep Sardesai left-right barrels firing in succession in order to bring a shotgun gravitas to what is often mediocre reporting. But there’s no gainsaying that India Today deserves kudos for at least trying something different and risking a format change in this era of non-stop me-tooism. Then came a pleasant surprise. Recently, Sardesai did a long interview with Delhi’s maverick chief minister, the controversial but
colorful Arvind Kejriwal. Views On News has a policy of not supporting any politician or any political party except on a case-by-case merit-based criteria. If we have been critical—based on a story or policy—of Prime Minister Modi, we have been equally critical of Kejriwal. But we do support the cause of fairness and the maintenance of a semblance of decency and courtesy on the part of anchors when they have a captive subject in the confines of their studio. To his credit, even though Kejriwal is an easy target for a slam-bang-wham one-sided slugfest, Sardesai kept his cool, maintained a professional distance and chose questions that elevated this interview into a special event—it raised the standards of interviewing. It was a spectacle of intelligence, an occasion to participate, but most of all, to learn. TV as a source of knowledge rather than bedlam. I am not suggesting here that Sardesai went easy on Kejriwal. All the tough questions were there —the unrealistic budget and cutting of electricity rates; his dictatorial conduct within his own party; how the AAP had descended into politics-as-usual from its once lofty goals; charges of corruption against AAP ministers, etcetera. But Sardesai behaved like a gentleman. For a
Sardesai kept his cool, maintained a professional distance and chose questions that elevated this interview into a special event—it raised the standards of interviewing. change, he humbly shut up and listened when Kejriwal asked him to keep his promise not to interrupt. He agreed, again with humility, that an interview was one in which the interviewee had the full right to be heard in response to a complicated question. The interview went beyond just Kejriwal.. It taught us about Delhi, about the non-linear functioning of politics, the problems of governance, the role of Delhi’s governor…and about Kejriwal himself, this time not hiding behind any armor. Sardesai was able to disarm and bring out the man. The interview is worth a dekko if you haven’t watched it already on YouTube. Not because I’m a particular fan of any TV channel or any anchor, but because in this instance, India Today showed the way.
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August 7, 2015 5
VOLUME. VIII
ISSUE. 21 Editor Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Executive Editor Ajith Pillai Business Editor Shantanu Guha Ray
Political Editor Bhavdeep Kang Associate Editor Meha Mathur Deputy Editor Prabir Biswas Art Director Anthony Lawrence Deputy Art Editor Amitava Sen Graphic Designer Lalit Khitoliya Photographer Anil Shakya News Coordinator/Photo Researcher Kh Manglembi Devi Production Pawan Kumar
Chief Editorial Advisor Inderjit Badhwar
C O N LEDE
“Parchey Pe Charcha” 12
The JD(U) and the BJP are set to use films, social media, outdoor campaigns and radio jingles to grab votes in the Bihar elections. SHANTANU GUHA RAY reports on the people behind these mega campaigns
CFO Anand Raj Singh VP (HR & General Administration) Lokesh C Sharma Circulation Manager RS Tiwari Vice-President (Ad-Sales) Vivek Mittal-09810265619 For advertising & subscription queries sales@viewsonnewsonline.com
Published by Prof Baldev Raj Gupta on behalf of EN Communications Pvt Ltd and printed at Amar Ujala Publications Ltd., C-21&22, Sector-59, Noida. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Requests for permission should be directed to EN Communications Pvt Ltd . Opinions of writers in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by EN Communications Pvt Ltd . The Publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All correspondence should be addressed to EN Communications Pvt Ltd . OWNED BY E. N. COMMUNICATIONS PVT. LTD. NOIDA HEAD OFFICE: A -9, Sector-68, Gautam Buddh Nagar, NOIDA (U.P.) - 201309 Phone: +9 1-0120-2471400-432 ; Fax: + 91- 0120-2471411 e-mail: editor@viewsonnewsonline.com, website: www.viewsonnewsonline.com MUMBAI : Arshie Complex, B-3 & B4, Yari Road, Versova, Andheri, Mumbai-400058 RANCHI : House No. 130/C, Vidyalaya Marg, Ashoknagar, Ranchi-834002. LUCKNOW : First floor, 21/32, A, West View, Tilak Marg, Hazratganj, Lucknow-226001. ALLAHABAD : Leader Press, 9-A, Edmonston Road, Civil Lines, Allahabad-211 001.
6 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
CONTROVERSY
Murder Most Tried 18 Journalist-turned-author Avirook Sen’s book, Aarushi, raises pertinent questions and slams the media and the cops for their shoddy job, reports AJITH PILLAI. Also, RAMESH MENON interviews the author
T E N T S
ADVERTISING
The Scent of Sex
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Men’s cologne ads are plainly about sex, instead of intimacy and wooing, observes KRISH WARRIER
BOOKS
When journalism was a mission...
Governance
34
MR DUA says that journalist SK Rau was a consummate editor and his views on governors and politicians are a reflection of the days gone by
FILMS
What Grandeur, What Scale!
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RAMESH MENON reviews Telugu director Rajamouli’s blockbuster, Bahubali
NEW MEDIA
The Long And Short Of It
30
AAQIB RAZA KHAN observes that many print editions have online versions and increasingly, people are reading news on the go
MEDIA MONITORING
DNA bans mobiles
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The paper has prohibited mobiles in its Mumbai and Thane offices
ENVIRONMENT
It’s Simply Not Buzzing
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The dwindling population of bees has become a global concern as it affects agriculture, writes ASHIM CHOUDHURY
MODI INITIATIVE
Toilet Trouble
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Modi had promised that by August 15, 2015, every school would have toilets for boys and girls. The center is now scrambling to achieve the target, writes ROSHNI SETH
R E G U L A R S
Edit..................................................04 Grapevine........................................08 Quotes........................................10 VoxPopuli.................................17 Design Review.................................40 Breaking News.................................42 Media-Go-Round..............................46 As The World Turns...........................47 Vonderful English..............................54 Cover design: Anthony Lawrence
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August 7, 2015 7
Grapevine Animal Farm in Uttar Pradesh? UP GOVERNOR Ram Naik has asked the UP police to urgently look into a case of rooster theft in Rampur. Farhan Ullah Khan of Rampur lost his hens and sought the governor’s help in finding them. Now after the governor’s prompt response in setting the police after the hens, the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow is inundated
with similar requests asking the governor’s help in tracing missing goats and dogs. This, however, is not uncommon in UP. We recall the UP police arresting a person for stealing UP minister Azam Khan’s buffaloes some time back. Meanwhile, the governor has held that his directions to the Rampur police were on humanitarian grounds.
What Cordiality! DISTURBED BY the Vyapam scam, a group of leading lawyers decided one fine evening to give a representation against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to none other than the PM. But who will bell the cat? Who will arrange the appointment? The sole volunteer was none
other than ex-HRD minister, Kapil Sibal. He picked up his phone and called up Modi directly. To everybody’s surprise, the PM responded by asking them to come over and see him at once. Within a few minutes, the meeting had started. What eventually happened to the representation is another story but we admire the bonhomie and the cordial relations between the political foes.
Controversies Around Anthem
The 15-Lakh Promise
“JANA GANA MANA…” keeps running into controversy now and again. Veteran journalist Kanchan Gupta has now researched that it was composed as a Brahmo Psalm. Before this, Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh expressed his reservations about the use of word “Adhinayak” in the song which, he and many others feel, refers to King George V. They claim that the song was composed especially to welcome the king to Kolkata. Earlier, Shashi Tharoor landed in trouble for asking people to place their hands on their chest while the anthem was being played. There was yet another controversy regarding playing the anthem in movie halls where people kept sitting while it was being played.
THE ELECTION PROMISE of the prime minister of putting `15 lakh in each citizen’s account from all the black money he would get back from abroad has posed a strange problem for all his Jan Dhan Yojana officers. Wherever they set up camp offices to open accounts— especially in rural areas—to bring about financial inclusion, they are gheraoed by crowds who have already opened such accounts and now demand to know why it is taking time for the officers to put in the promised amount. “Tell us when the money is coming,” they ask. So the message percolating to the ground level is that the PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana is all but a means to return black money to the people.
8 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
Event Management Sarkar AFTER HOSTING events like Make in India, Digital India, Teacher’s Day and Yoga Day, the government is gaining the name of an “event management sarkar”. Next in line is Raksha Bandhan, which will be an event to publicize new insurance schemes of the government. As part of this, people will be urged to gift a policy called Jeevan Suraksha Bandhan to the economically backward. The master of events will be none other than the HRD minister. This will be followed, towards the end of September, by an event to commemorate the 1965 Indo-Pak war with tableaus, parades, exhibitions, seminars, etc.
All in the Family THE DELHI chief minister is allegedly rewarding his relatives and close associates with plum postings. In the eye of storm now is Swati Maliwal, touted to be the next chief of the Delhi Commission for Women. And the gossip goes that she is supposed to be Kejriwal’s cousin—maternal aunt’s daughter. But the CM denied this: “Complete nonsense. Woh mere chacha ki saali ke jija ki bhatiji ke sasur ki bhanji ke bhatije ke saali ke bhai ki beti hai.” CM with a sense of humour, huh?
Thumbs Up for Niti Aayog
Delhi, the New Marriage Hub THE AAP government proposes to reduce the fees for tatkal registration of marriages from the existing `10,000 to `1,000—a 90 percent reduction. Tatkal service is for getting a marriage registered on priority within 24 hours. The Delhi government feels this will curb corruption and generate revenue for the government. So, as soon as Manish Sisodia, the finance minister of Delhi, puts his stamp of approval, we are likely to witness more and more cases of chat mangni pat byaah in the capital.
THE PMO has finally clarified that the Niti Aayog vicechairman would have the rank and pay-scale of a cabinet minister, the same as was enjoyed by the vice-chairman of the Planning Commission. Members of the Niti Aayog would be of the rank of MoS. Earlier, in April, the PMO had downgraded the Niti Aayog vis-à-vis Planning Commission by giving cabinet secretary rank to its vicechairman, and secretary’s rank to the members. The vice-chairman was not invited to cabinet meetings either. Surely, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Discrimination in SC A RECENT visit to the Supreme Court canteen was an eye-opener and disheartening too. A new rule has come into effect wherein advocates alone are allowed to sit and eat inside the canteen; the rest have to stand. Isn’t this gross discrimination? I too frequent the SC for work, and a visit to the canteen is not for a fancy meal. My Lord, please protect my right to equality as enshrined in Article 14 of the constitution and allow me to sit and eat a few morsels! —Compiled by Roshni Seth Illustrations: UdayShankar VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 9
Q
U O T E S
The Kashmir issue would have been solved by now and Pakistan would have not been facing the energy crisis and terrorism had Musharraf not overturned the democratic government in 1999. —Pervez Rashid, Pakistan information minister, The Economic Times
Shazia Ilmi, journalist-turned-politician Delhi will now have someone heading its women commission who was missing from the Nirbhaya andolan. No meritocracy, only nepotism in AAP.
Shekhar Gupta, editorial advisor, India Today Group
There should be no doubt that any unprovoked firing from the Pakistani side would meet with an effective and forceful response from our forces. Nor will we let down our guard against infiltration and cross-border terrorism. — S Jaishankar, foreign secretary talking to reporters following tension on border
Voters trust me. They know I am not a murderer who will preside over killings. ——Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh CM, The Indian Express
If this is really the “Indian Spy Drone” Pak claims to have shot down, it must've strayed from Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots.
Sagarika Ghose, consulting editor, The Times Of India
Netas are funded by taxpayers. Their religion is welfare of taxpayers. Their own faith should be in their own homes, not flaunted in public.
Suhel Seth, columnist Has anyone seen Rahul? Is he in India? Haven't heard any silly stuff so was just checking?
Sanjay Jha, Congress leader In speeches, Skill India. In action, Kill India. #VyapamScam.
The power of some Western networks is so overwhelming, global opinions are quickly formed based on what is being projected. This level of selective reportage is most damaging, besides being morally reprehensible. —Shobhaa De, columnist, on Greece coverage in media 10 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
R Jagannathan, editor-in-chief, Firstpost
About FTII Protest. I hold no brief for Gajendra Chauhan’s credentials, but since when do students get to elect a principal?
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Nihal Singh, Raghu Rai speak out MURDOCH EMPIRE: Sons Rise Over Horizon 26
OUTLOOK: Sexist gossip boomerangs
CHOCOLATES: How to make fake research into news
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Bihar Elections
BIHAR’S
“Parchey Pe Charcha” A publicity blitzkrieg will be unleashed as the JD(U) and the BJP use films, social media, outdoor campaigns and radio jingles to grab votes in Bihar elections this year. Who are the people behind these mega campaigns? BY SHANTANU GUHA RAY GRAND PLANS Bihar CM has embarked on an expansive campaign blitzkrieg to win assembly elections
I
T’S been almost a month since the ruling JD(U) firmed up its publicity plans for the forthcoming elections in Bihar. The PR blitzkrieg is being led by Prashant Kishore, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s Pied Piper, and a new advertising agency that will, for the first time, handle such a mega project. Delhi-based advertising and communications agency, From Here On (FHO), that was born out of a discord in Japanese advertising giant Dentsu’s India operations, beat a host of other agencies to win the JD(U) account on June 27, 2015. When asked about this development, Sabyasachi “Gullu” Sen, FHO’s top honcho, said: “No comments, we are not uttering a word.” Sen merely said he and his team would be working closely with Kishore, 37, the one-man wonder who walked out
12 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
of PM Narendra Modi’s campaign to join Kumar. His team includes Harish Arora, who once scripted the award-winning line, Kyunki Fighter Hamesha Jeet-ta Hai, for a pen brand. CAMPAIGN WAR The BJP advertising campaign for Bihar, on the other hand, will be spearheaded by Nishith Sharan, who runs Utopia, an agency that was entrusted with the party’s audio-visual campaign, last year. He will be assisted by political consultancy firms like Rann Neeti and Political Edge. Sharan is coordinating with Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP legislature party leader and former deputy CM) in Patna and Ananth Kumar in Delhi. He has plans to target Bihar’s former CM, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and through him, Nitish Kumar. A team of 35 researchers—operating out of Patna and Delhi— has been entrusted with the job of digging up all scandals, including the much-debated fodder scam that rattled Lalu’s regime. The same will be linked to Kumar, with the advertising campaign created along the lines of Phir Ek Baar, Bihar Mein Bhrastachar. The idea is to create an Udham Singh, a rustic villager, who could appear on visual media, appealing voters to stay away from the Lalu-Nitish combine. The total print budget for poll campaigns of both the BJP and the JD(U) is a little over `100 crore and will have loads of films, social media and outdoor campaigns and radio jingles. Sharan, who had often
Kishore has spurred some 13,000 volunteers, who are working almost 17 hours daily and giving feedback from GPS mobile vans. He is pushing JD(U) workers to organize 39,076 events in 120 days. used the Kaka Hathrasi style of poetry (that connects to the common man in the Hindi heartland) for his radio jingles, wants to use the time-tested method in the Bihar polls. The party also plans to have an array of poems to appeal to voters. Sharan has told the BJP top brass that more than social media, BJP’s radio jingles on FM and AIR will have a greater impact on the common man in Bihar. “I will not reveal the ace up my sleeve for you. I have some work to do, kindly have some patience,” laughed Sharan, when asked about his plans. The BJP—it is reliably learnt—will also rely on the genius of Raj Kamal Jha, the former creative head of Ogilvy Rural, who has been promised a seat from Fulparas constituency in Darbangha. Interestingly, Jha has worked for the BJP along with Kishore during the 2014 national elections. TARGETTED ADVERTISING So what is Kishore’s agenda? JD (U) officials reveal that the Buxar-born Kishore had told Kumar and his confidants that he would pitch high on social media, target the 19-35 age group and concentrate on development—all three factors which he
PUBLICITY MANAGERS (From left) Sabyasachi “Gullu” Sen, FHO’s top honcho; Adman Harish Arora, a key member of the CM’s publicity team led by Prashant Kishore
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Bihar Elections
CLINICAL APPROACH BJP’s campaign strategy will focus on scandals during Lalu’s regime
hopes will help Kumar connect with Bihar’s masses. Kishore knows he has a tough mandate, ostensibly because JD(U) members have not liked the fact that an outsider is controlling Bihar’s electoral prospects. Secondly, many were apprehensive of his stoic silence when the Election Commission put a ban on the party’s Badh Chala Bihar campaign. Party workers felt they had lost a vital part of their election campaign and Kishore was silent about it. But the JD(U) top brass has faith in Kishore, who has a number of alternatives in mind. Consider these. His unique offering for the people of Bihar is Parchey Pe Charcha (see poster), which critics say is a near copy of PM Modi’s Chai Pe Charcha. The second one is CM Key Saath Fotu—a subtle dig at Modi’s selfie moments. The third one is Nukkad Natak, the fourth, Chaupal and the fifth, Jan Bhaagidari, which is a leaf out of Delhi’s government’s much-hyped Bhaagidari program designed by adman Suhel Seth for former CM Sheila Dixit. A former UN public health expert-turned-election planner, Kishore has one advice for both politicians and their followers: Be earthy and honest. “Imandaar rahiye aur zameen ke saath jurey rahiye,”
14 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
he said. It could work in rural Bihar, home to 85 percent of the state’s population. Kishore’s focus is clear. For almost a week, workers of JD(U) have been distributing blank leaflets on which people need to write their grievances and suggestions and discuss them with politicians visiting their villages. In some ways, Parchey Pe Charcha almost looks like Coffee and Conversations, a trend popular across Western Europe, where many are encouraged to initiate discussions over coffee. “The parcha is a way to involve villagers, encouraging them not just to listen to conversations but to talk about the point they have written in the parcha,” said Ranjit Sinha, a former Bihar minister and now a JD(U) candidate from a constituency in Patna. In the Chaupal initiative, senior leaders join the discussions. Effectively, it is round two after Parchey Pe Charcha. For the Nukkad Natak initiative, Kishore’s men have guided JD(U) workers across Bihar to pick up trained actors to perform street plays highlighting the work of the ruling government. WAR SECRETS While this is the first phase, Kishore says the next will be revealed close to the festive season, ideally in September, and will revolve around the state’s youth. He knows that almost 61 percent of the state’s population is less than 25 years, the highest proportion in India’s third largest state. But he will not reveal his cards. “Modern election campaigns are like war secrets. I understand people, engage them,” he said. Kishore has already galvanized some 13,000 volunteers who are working almost 17 hours daily and offering useful feedback from GPS mobile vans covering 40,000 villages. He is pushing JD(U) workers to organize 39,076 events in 120 days to reach over four crore people. “Votes from the countryside are very crucial for any politician in India,” said Kishore, who operates from the CM’s residence, and is constantly on his iPhone. He has asked his team to “leave nothing for the dinks”, a direct lift from Platoon, the 1986 Oliver Stone Vietnam war movie. His single-point mission
ROAD TO PROGRESS Bihar’s new highways will be showcased during the polls
is to make a “Green Bihar” from “Black Bihar” (a state of coal mafia, kidnappings, mining deaths, dirty politics, etc) as it exists in the minds of millions in India. In the process, he has urged JD(U) workers to cover every inch of Bihar with gigantic posters of the CM and top leaders. Recently, BJP supremo Amit Shah was visibly annoyed when he saw the party had very few spaces for hoardings as all were pre-booked by JD(U). It was music for Kishore’s ears, who, in private, had blamed Shah and FM Arun Jaitley for his ouster from the PM’s camp, post the 2014 polls. Though he has not said it openly, Kishore intends paying back the PM and his bandwagon in the same coin. His other initiatives include Breakfast with CM, which has earned eyeballs for Kumar, Samvad and Quest, which will connect the NRI Bihari population (mainly in the US) and Bihar Development Dialogues and Leader's Memoirs. The CM will also be the center point in Udhghosh and Bihar Lecture Series. “The CM must be seen as a leader who delivers. The cell phone generation must get hooked on to him and so should the farmer tilling his land in a distant village,” said Kishore. He wants Kumar to be
seen as a doer and a savior. His game plan seems to be working and fitting slowly into place like a Rubik’s Cube. PERSONAL TOUCH Last month, when a couple was kidnapped on their way from Giridih in neighboring Jharkhand to Gaya in Bihar, Kishore advised the CM to handle the crisis personally and let developments be known to all, especially social media. Kumar then spoke on the hotline to his UP counterpart, Akhilesh Yadav, as the kidnappers had escaped there. They were eventually nabbed and the couple, Dr Pankaj Kumar Gupta and his entrepreneur wife, Shubhra, were released. This helped Kumar score brownie points, silencing a strong BJP propaganda that apaharan (kidnapping) was back in Bihar. There was a deluge on social media from India and abroad, the latter both important and strategic. There are reports that NRIs can vote—for the first time—in the Bihar assembly polls. Kishore feels “hope is the biggest seller in any election and development plank is the key to poll campaigns,.” He tackles the campaign comfort-
“The CM must be seen as a leader who delivers. The cell phone generation must get hooked on to him and so should the farmer tilling his land in a distant village.” — Prashant Kishore, Nitish Kumar’s campaign manager
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Bihar Elections
hours; now, it can now be completed in seven hours. Kishore is also aware of BJP plans to airdrop its top leadership—numbering between 25-30—across Bihar for electioneering. “Tech-savvy voters want instant answers, want to know about jobs, infrastructure, power and roads,” said Kishore.
TRAILING SUCCESS? The Parchey Pe Charcha concept of JD(U) is inspired by Modi’s Chai Pe Charcha
ably dressed in T-shirt and jeans. He knows what will sell in Bihar. His team—Citizens for Accountable Governance—comprise some 50 people, many of them IIT and IIM graduates, who are working with enthusiasm on power, an important constituent in the assembly polls. Kumar had promised voters in 2010 that he would not seek re-election if unable to deliver electricity across Bihar, which, at one point, had power cuts up to 14 hours daily. But the situation has improved dramatically and Kumar is in the reckoning. And the tagline that Kishore will be highlighting is: “I gave you power, return me to power”. He is also hyping Bihar’s new highways that have reduced distances between Patna and other cities by six to seven hours. Earlier, a ride between BettiahPatna or Purnia-Patna would take a little over 14
16 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
MOTIVATED TEAM Kishore’s team also has a unique plan for politicians pressed for time. It has a reality-based application which will make politicians interact with voters “live” from billboards or flex boards. “It is called Hustings Platform and offers physical interaction by converting static data to interactive information,” said Ashok Kumar, a senior JD (U) member. He adds that the content can be integrated with social media, blogs and online newspapers. It is learnt that Singapore-based Cearsleg Technologies is already in touch with senior JD(U) leaders and members of Kishore’s team. “Current elections are all about communication and conviction,” said Kishore. Akshat Mittal, a key member of the JD(U) election war room, says that in Bihar, Kishore has split up his team into Citizens Alliance (CA) and Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC). CA is working on Jan Bhagidari, the largest campaign of its kind in the world, of which Badh Chala Bihar is the centerpiece. IPAC will push the bar for the social media campaign of JD(U). Presentations have already been given by six top advertising agencies, 6,00,000 booths have been mapped and intricate data analysis done to understand the demand of voters. These, admits JD (U) leaders, are crucial to the polls. The party has also planned the CM’s breakfast with editors and corporate captains, lectures in five big cities on ways to develop Bihar and radio and television shows with students, titled Jigyasa. This will seek answers on the modern changes they want in the state. “This will be a modern-day Mahabharat, Bihar’s biggest and most technologically advanced elections,” remarked Pavan Varma, JD(U) spokesperson, author and former diplomat. The battle lines are being drawn fast.
V
OX POPULI
DO SENSATIONAL HEADLINES DUPE READERS?
VON spoke to a cross-section of people who felt that many times, the sensational part of the news report was highlighted in the headline
Giving sensational headlines has become a trend due to the race to grab more readers. However, this is against journalism ethics. Newspapers should not misguide readers. If this practice goes on unchecked, media houses will lose credibility. Newspapers and magazines, as well as TV and radio should disseminate the truth. — Mehak Sabarwal, sub-editor, ANI
Many people in a hurry just glance through newspapers and magazines. In such a scenario, a sensational headline either attracts the person to read further or manages to barely equip the reader with the sensational part of the news. People should read the entire report to know all facets of the truth. — Oeindrila Biswas, accounts executive, Avian Media
Yes, sensational headlines dupe readers, especially those who just read the headlines and don’t read the reports in detail. A smart headline is meant to grab eye-balls; which means that the most sensational aspect of the report gets highlighted. However, without a proper reading of the report, the headline just gives incomplete information. — Tarun Pratap, junior editor, Hard News
Headline-writing is an art, incorporating brevity, facts, language, comprehensibility and so on. As long as it satisfies these preconditions, it’s considered a good headline. However, one cannot but accept that unscrupulous journalism has given rise to the debate that headlines dupe readers. Ultimately, readers need to guard themselves against misinformation. —Subhayan K Chakraborty, correspondent, Business Standard
Yes, I think sensational headlines dupe readers. Readers get easily excited. For example, a headline saying “flat 70 percent off on Benetton” makes you dash off to the nearest store, but then you realize that the discount is not offered on the entire collection. It’s only on some clothes that you may not want to buy. So advertisers and marketers twist headlines to attract people. Newspapers do the same to outshine rivals in the race to grab more readers. — Charandeep Singh, assistant manager, Morphy Richards
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Controversy Aarushi Coverage
MURDER MOST TRIED The Aarushi murder case was one of the most discussed and vilified. Avirook Sen’s book, Aarushi, raises many pertinent questions and slams the media and the police for doing a shoddy job BY AJITH PILLAI
T
HE sensational Aarushi twin murder case, in which a dentist couple is currently serving a life sentence for murdering their 14-year-old daughter and their live-in male domestic help Hemraj, is often referred to as a classic case of trial by the media. Most journalists are loath to rewind to May 16, 2008, when the crime came to light, or to re-examine the role of the Fourth Estate in shaping public opinion against those presumed guilty long before the case was tried. In retrospect, by virtually passing its own judgement that the couple, Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, had committed the murders most foul, the press is held guilty by critics of not just sensationalism but also fuelling public outrage and giving LIFE CUT SHORT Aarushi Talwar, who was found murdered in her room on the night of May 15-16, 2008
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its stamp of approval to what some believe was shoddy and irresponsible investigation by the police, which culminated in a guilty verdict. A new book, Aarushi, by journalist Avirook Sen puts through the scanner the evidence gathered and the conclusions arrived at by the police and the CBI and raises a pertinent question: Was there conclusive evidence to prove the Talwars were guilty of the heinous crimes? But then, who committed the murders? While piecing together events that followed the discovery of Aarushi’s body on a fateful Friday, Sen refrains from playing an armchair detective and offers no answers as to who could have possibly perpetrated the crime. That remains, for him, in the realm of mystery, although he suggests crucially that the murder could well have been committed by someone other than the parents of Aarushi. POLICE HAND What the book questions is the police deduction, based on the premise that there were four people in the house, of whom two died, so the other two must be guilty. Sen’s contention is that since the judgment was primarily based on this conclusion, one could put a question mark on the final verdict itself. Incidentally, the fulcrum of the police case
was the testimony given by Bharti Mandal, a domestic help who then worked at the Talwars and was the first to arrive at their residence on the morning of May 16 when Aarushi’s body was discovered. She initially testified that the door to the house was locked from inside, but later told the court during cross-examination that she had been tutored to say so by the CBI. “Jo mujhe samjhaya gaya hai, wahi bayan main yahan de rahi hoon (Whatever was explained to me I am saying here).” While researching the book, Sen met Bharti Mandal at her home in the Baans Balli slum in Sector 8, Noida. She spoke of how the police visited her home and made her “rehearse” what she had to say several times before producing her in the court. She also told Sen that she did not
CASE NOT RESTED (Clockwise from above left) The Talwars being taken to CBI court during hearings; Slain domestic help Hemraj; Defense lawyer Tanvir Ahmad Mir, who cited 24 circumstances in Talwars’ favor
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Controversy Aarushi Coverage
“ON CAMERA” TRIAL (Left) Gurdarshan Singh, IG, Meerut, held the Talwars guilty in a press conference just a week after the twin murders (Below) Dasna jail in Ghaziabad, where the Talwars are serving their life sentence
discover that the front door was locked from inside. Neither did she “touch the door” and find it closed, as recorded by the police. But her statement in the court that her testimony was a tutored one was dismissed by Judge Shyam Lal of the fast-track CBI court in Ghaziabad. To quote from his judgment: “Bharti Mandal is totally illiterate and bucolic lady from a lower-
strata of the society and hails from Malda District of West Bengal who came to Noida to perform menial jobs to sustain herself and family and therefore, if she has stated that she has given her statement on the basis of tutoring, her evidence (recorded earlier by the police) cannot be discarded or rejected.” The judge thus factored in Bharti’s original statement to back the police case. Her statement was critical to the construct drawn by the prosecution that “four people in a house, two died, so the other two must have committed the murders”. MOTIVATED VERDICT? Sen also interviewed Judge Shyam Lal and his lawyer son, Ashutosh, who helped his father write the 210-page judgment. The duo started writing it one month before the judgment was actually delivered on November 25, 2013. In fact, the father-son team had begun keying in the judgment even as the defence lawyer, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, was presenting his final arguments—24 circumstances that he felt should lead to the acquittal of his clients. So, Sen throws up the suggestion that the verdict was perhaps already decided
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“The media played a huge role in swinging public opinion against the Talwars. No one wanted to listen to anything said in their defense. There were several trials—one by the media and the other by the public.” — Masooma Jha, a lawyer, whose daughter was a close friend of Aarushi
upon before the defence could press its case. While detailing the murders and their fallout, the book also brings the focus on media, which unquestioningly reported the police version and painted Rajesh Talwar as “the adulterous father” (who had several liaisons disapproved by his daughter) and Aarushi as the “sexually precocious child because she had several boyfriends”. According to the police, her sexual fling with Hemraj was what led to the two being murdered by the father. The police claim was that Rajesh Talwar found them in a “compromising” position and flew into a rage and killed his daughter and Hemraj. Nupur Talwar was an accomplice to the act. Incidentally, the judgment has crude references to Hemraj’s body with the “willy turgid” and his “pecker swollen” to suggest that the domestic help may have been killed while he was in a sexually aroused state. Judge Lal told Sen he used such colloquialisms for the penis thinking that it
was colorful English or because he had “read it somewhere”. JOURNALISTIC NORMS As for the media, ever since Gurdarshan Singh, IG (Meerut Range), held his infamous May 23, 2008, press conference, where he propounded the “father killed Aarushi and Hemraj” story in an honour killing, the press went overboard. The story was a juicy one, with sex and masala in it. The crime, playing to Singh’s script, was even enacted by some TV channels, leading the then Union I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi
TRAIL OF EVIDENCE Police gather evidence from the spot where Hemraj’s body was found
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Controversy Aarushi Coverage
“We were told to bring chatpata stories to the table....So we carried stories about the Talwars being orgy goers who were part of a swish south Delhi wife-swapping club.” —A chief reporter, speaking of the intense pressure on him to produce stories
WILL SHE GET JUSTICE? Aarushi’s parents joined by well-wishers at a candle light vigil at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi
to point out that “unhealthy competition among media companies is threatening all journalistic norms and values”. One TV anchor even came on the show with his hands dipped in red paint for visual effect! The police fuelled the press reports with sensational leaks. CBI sources were quoted as saying that Rajesh and Nupur had spent the evening before the murders with other couples at a “swinging sex party”. It was alleged that the couple had booked several rooms in a Delhi star hotel for the purpose. The story, with not an iota of truth, was carried by some newspapers and several TV channels. The Talwars were painted in gory black and public
opinion was strongly pitted against them. Those who tried to defend the couple were labelled as being part of the fraternity that practiced licentious living. Says Masooma Jha, a lawyer, whose daughter was a close friend of Aarushi: “The media played a huge role in swinging public opinion against the Talwars. No one wanted to listen to anything said in their defense. The public was baying for their blood. There were several trials—one by the media and the other by the public. The press had virtually pronounced the Talwars guilty much before the verdict.” PRESSURE TO SENSATIONALIZE When contacted by India Legal, those who manned the newsrooms of leading newspapers and some TV channels refused to speak on record. But one chief reporter spoke of the intense pressure on him to produce stories. “We were told to bring chatpata stories to the table. So, our reporters went out and came back with whatever was given to them by the cops. We carried stories about the Talwars being
Anil Shakya
22 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
orgy goers who were part of a swish south Delhi wife-swapping club. The stories were carried because they were being dished out by the police and this was stuff that the bosses wanted.” Rajdeep Sardesai, senior TV journalist then with CNN-IBN, wrote about the media going overboard in his blog: “The Aarushi case is one where both the print and the TV media have much to answer for. Let me also be honest: the Aarushi Talwar murder case was a great news story and a great TV story. A father was accused of murdering his daughter, so naturally the media was excited. Where we failed was to understand that the bigger the story, the greater the need to exercise restraint.” Shohini Ghosh, who teaches at the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, was equally critical of the media in her write-up in The Hindu: “Having demonised the Talwars (as decadent perverts, corrupt manipulators, neglectful parents, honour-killers and so on) the print and electronic media have failed miserably to uphold even the basic tenets of professional journalism.... The media never told us that the Talwars’ domestic help, Bharti, the first to enter the house after the murders, had inadvertently confessed to being tutored by the CBI. The media never told us that Dr Naresh Raj’s observation (having conducted the autopsy on Hemraj’s body) that the “swollen penis” on the cadaver was proof that he was either having sex or preparing for it was based not on any “scientific authority” but his own experience as a married man! Medical science explains that a cadaver exposed to extreme heat commonly manifests such swelling....” WHAT NOW? So where does the Aarushi case go from here? According to sources close to the Talwars, the
“It was a great news story and a great TV story. Where we failed was to understand that the bigger the story, the greater the need to exercise restraint.” — Rajdeep Sardesai, senior TV journalist, in his blog
Anil Shakya
lawyers are considering various options. “The revelations by the maid, Bharti, in Sen’s book have opened up possibilities. But it is for the lawyers to take a call,” says a family confidant. Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have been serving a life sentence since November 2013. Their appeal against the CBI court judgment is still pending in the Allahabad High Court and they fear it will be years before it even comes up for hearing. Meanwhile, the Talwars have learnt to live in their new home—Dasna jail in Ghaziabad. Rajesh has set up a dental chair in the prison clinic and has a regular stream of VIPs from the local area as his patients— magistrates, police officers and the like. For him and Nupur, though jail life comes with its hardships, it must come as a relief to be away from the persistent glare of the media.
FRIENDS FOR A CAUSE Aarushi’s classmates and friends demonstrating at Jantar Mantar, demanding justice
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Controversy Author interview Aarushi
“BE JOURNOS, NOT STENOS� AVIROOK SEN, author and journalist, has caused ripples with his latest book, Aarushi, which looks at the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case in great detail and raises many questions about the way the trial was conducted and the judgment delivered. He has painstakingly put together interesting bits of information after interviewing scores of people. The questions the book raises are disturbing. He talks to Managing Editor RAMESH MENON about the sensational case that continues to baffle everyone. Excerpts: 24 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
Did you start writing this book with any preconceived notions or did it evolve after you attended hearings in the Aarushi case? I knew very little about the case when I started reporting it in mid-2012. But the daily workings of the court and a procession of suspect prosecution witnesses led me to think: If this was such an open-and-shut case, why was there a daily attempt at manipulation? Why, for instance, did policemen suddenly develop amnesia or blindness or an inability to smell? Where did the media go wrong in its assessment? I think they asked too few questions to the CBI.
FRESH ANGLE? The Aarushi case raises many unanswered questions in Avirook’s (left) book
Was it a case of shoddy reporting or did the Talwars become easy targets? A bit of both. The Talwars, firstly, were hardly as influential as they were made out to be. But even this was an impression created by an orchestra of “deep throats” that the police and the CBI seemed to have in their employment. The media, in a lot of cases, didn’t do the first thing it is supposed to do: Verify. There was not much serious investigation. There were exceptions, for example, the stories that appeared in Tehelka, or Manoj Mitta’s thoughtful early pieces for The Times of India (but why did they stop?). By and large, the media was just happy doing a clerical job—merely taking dictation from some unnamed “boss”. Should the media take police versions with a pinch of salt? I think the media should have stopped doing stenography and done some journalism. The mainstream media seemed tilted against the Talwars. Why do you think it happened? I don’t know. This is best put to them. If the press had remained with the story all along and attended trials, would some of the discrepancies in the case have come out?
The press was with the story. There was at least a trickle of news coming in on trial days—the part that I am most familiar with. But almost all of this fits the old story put out by the orchestra of “deep throats” mentioned earlier. The difference was that the public prosecutor was now spinning them out from events in court, under a tree, in the courtyard of the jail…
“If this was an open and shut case, why was there a daily attempt at manipulation? Why did the cops suddenly develop amnesia or blindness or an inability to smell?”
You have pointed out in your book that the judgment of the case was written even before the defense was heard out. Isn’t this a cause for worry? On a TV show I was on, I received an interesting remark on the issue by a “legal editor”. He said that judgments were long (210 pages in this case) VIEWS ON NEWS
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Controversy Author Interview Aarushi
“The Talwars were hardly as influential as they were made out to be. This was an impression created by an orchestra of “deep throats”. The media, in a lot of cases, didn’t do the first thing: Verify.” MEDIA TRIAL Some TV grabs that tried to sensationalize the crime and influence public opinion
and the “trend” among judges was to start writing them well in advance. He was not perturbed that arguments were yet to be made. I have two thoughts about this: First, if final arguments are of no consequence, then why have the process at all? It would save everyone’s time. Second, if this is a “trend”, then shouldn’t the public—whom the institution of the judiciary is designed to serve—know about it? Why hasn’t the media reported this “trend”? Should the judiciary review the entire case, including the manner in which the judgment was written? I’m a journalist, not a jurist. My common sense, for whatever it’s worth, tells me it should. But it’s best left to the appropriate people.
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What are the lessons the media should learn from the Aarushi case? Be journos, not stenos. What would you like to say about police investigations? Obviously, there was a lot that could have been done. It could have been a tad cleverer, perhaps with a little bit of responsibility thrown in. I say this, because after all that has happened, there are people who defend it. The police do this by blaming the Talwars of misguiding them. They never ask themselves: As policemen, were we doing what we were expected to do at a crime scene? You spent a lot of time with the Talwars and even visited them in jail.What is the feeling you got about them? That our situations are similar. The difference is that they are in jail, and I am not. This could happen to any of us. Would you like to share any anecdotes from your interactions with the Talwars
CONVICTED DUO (Left) The Talwars lost everything and are cooling their heels in jail (Below) For Aarushi’s friends, the loss was irreparable
or the visit to Dasna Jail? You have also quoted from Rajesh Talwar’s diary. I have given examples of Nupur Talwar’s toughness under pressure. But a year in jail changes things. The Nupur Talwar I saw in November 2014 did not have the bearing of the woman I had seen striding into court (when the case was being heard) with a policeman making way for her. She had, instead, the sharp movements of a bird on constant alert for approaching predators. Rajesh was more settled, telling her constantly that it was all right; that nothing was going to happen. Yes, I got hold of the diary. On December 18, he had written: “This is the 25th year of our marriage and we will celebrate 25 years on the 19th of January. Could anybody imagine where we would be on our 25th anniversary? No Aaru, no house, no clinic, no money, and sitting in jail for something we haven’t done. Nupur said they were getting food from the bhandara and food from the canteen had been stopped because of some fighting. She looked hungry and it’s really a shame what God is making us go through. Even looking forward to some food now.”
On December 19, he wrote: “Just kept daydreaming of what would happen if the incident had not happened. Miss Aaru so much. Wonder where she is, and what she would feel if she saw us like this. Just no way to prove innocence. No one has proved anything in this case. Just that they are not satisfied by our reply.” In quiet moments, you must be thinking of the Aarushi case. What are your thoughts like? One recurring thought is that we, as taxpayers, have some stake in this game. There’s a penny of ours that’s gone into this travesty. We fund the agencies and the judiciary. We buy the stories in the media. Can’t we, as stakeholders, clients and consumers, ask for something better? Can’t we? Shouldn’t we? Isn’t it our money that led to this injustice? VIEWS ON NEWS
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Advertising Men’s Perfumes
THE SCENT OF SEX I
Men’s cologne ads are plainly about sex, instead of intimacy and wooing BY KRISH WARRIER
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T won’t be wrong to say that a man is not fully dressed till he wears a deo! In India, in the young adult culture today, the perception of male bodies has changed in a significant way. Earlier, only women were viewed as sex symbols; now men are seen in the same light. Advertisements promoting cologne, underwear and clothing have been the reason for this metamorphosis of masculine sexual culture. The fact is that washboard abs and athletic male bodies appeal to both gay men and straight women. There are three broad theories on the use of perfumes: The first is that people wear it to mask body odor. The second is that some perfumes have chemicals that replicate the actions of human pheromones—substances believed to play a role in impacting the behavior of an individual. The third is that people use it to heighten or fortify natural scent, and thus
advertise sexual attractiveness or availability. According to an article in The Economist some years back, researchers found out that appropriate scents improve the mood of those who wear them. When a man changed his natural body odor, it could alter his self-confidence to such an extent that it also changed how attractive women found him. (There must be some truth in the hit song from Tanu Weds Manu Returns— Banno Tera Swagger Lage Sexy. The song could well have been, Bunty Tera Swagger Lage Sexy!) Makers of men’s scents peddle self-confidence. The nice-smelling dude getting the girl is merely an interpretation of this self-confidence. How do ad agencies go about using this insight? Let’s go a little back in time. BOOSTING SELF-ESTEEM Take a look at the print ad for ginseng cologne by English Leather (left), released
in the 1970s.The main visual is a line illustration against a black background. The copy, while sticking to the product information, is suggestive—of what could happen if you wore ginseng cologne. It was, indeed, all about sex. The 1980s Paco Rabanne advertisement featured a handsome, shirtless man (de rigueur for cologne ads?) The scent celebrated a decade of success as the first of the aromatic fougères (the other was the macho, Drakkar Noir). The man’s machismo is not due to his muscular body. His den looks like that of an artist; he could be about 34 years old. And the storyline is the day after a one-night stand. The protagonist is a little bothered about competition. The text mentions why men buy cologne: to define their individuality, to be cool, to bolster their confidence. Paco Rabanne was making the ad idiot-proof by creating a scenario and a story that one could relate to. OVERTLY SEXUAL Hindustan Unilever markets its deodorant Axe, playing up the so-called “Axe effect”—which is supposed to make men irresistibly attractive to women. Even in the Wild Stone ad, sex is the main ingredient. Around May 2011, the ministry of information and broadcasting issued a statement warning television channels not to broadcast overtly sexual television commercials featuring voracious women and “libidinous” men. In a letter to the Advertising Standards Council of India, the ministry said: “These ads appear indecent, vulgar and suggestive…they appear to denigrate women and thus violate cable laws.” It warned that the ads be modified or withdrawn immediately from broadcast. Scent advertising has denigrated “from a knowing cleverness about sex to the rawness of a porn shoot” says Robert Klara, in an article in Adweek, circa 2012. Marketers are not bothered about the meaning of why men wear fragrances. Today, it is posi-
tioned solely around attractive, young people—and looks like, with them, only sex sells. Another ad in 2012, for Loyalty, the cologne from clothing chain Express, features a shirtless man with a girl. Sadly, that’s all there is in the ad. According to Marian Bendeth, founder of fragrance consultancy Sixth Scents: “It is a classic example of how the cologne’s role in the complexity of human sexuality has been reduced to a beefcake shot.” DIFFERENT STROKES In the Paco Rabanne ad, there was intimacy, conversation, wooing and bonding. The Loyalty ad, on the other hand, projects narcissistic indifference. The man is disinterested in the girl. That’s surely ironic, says Klara: “Why would a product, historically marketed to assist guys with their carnal conquests, paint a picture of indifference to that very success?” Sometimes, the whole table is turned around. Like Fogg’s highly popular “No gas, Only deo” ad. It eschews overt sexuality and focuses on the product. It is the number one deo brand in India Scent advertising is, to a large extent, symptomatic of our times. In a culture where the obsession is to be forever young, conceit is the order of the day. The ads reflect this culture. As American writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr said: “What passes for culture in my head is really a bunch of commercials.” Deodorants/perfumes for men may have nothing to do with a woman’s appreciation of the smell, and everything to do with its psychological effect on the man wearing it. But for now, the whole communication strategy behind men’s deos is to start a kind of fire in women.
SIGN OF THE TIMES (Facing page) The 2012 ad for Loyalty is mainly about the role of cologne in enhancing sexuality; (Above) American writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr observed that commercials represent our culture
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New Media Online News
The
LONG &
SHORT
of it
The medium of tomorrow is the internet and it is already changing journalism. Many print editions have online versions and increasingly, people are reading news on the go BY AAQIB RAZA KHAN
L
ONG live the newspaper. The newspaper is dead. This is a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled as the world shifts to the digital medium. While journalism has been reinvented time and again, with print, radio and television, now the internet is making quick inroads into it, attracting readers, media owners, advertisers and other stakeholders to invest in the “medium of tomorrow”. In fact, in 2007, Columbia Journalism Review had predicted: “As succeeding generations grow up with the web and lose the habit of reading print, it seems improbable that newspapers can survive with a cost structure at least 50 percent higher than their cheaper internet competitors.” CAPTIVE MARKET But are we prepared to look into our phones and digital screens to scan the latest news? This is already happening, slowly but steadily. What’s more, news has gone social with Facebook and Twitter becoming major news breakers. Internet penetration in India stands at around 19 percent and is growing, while mobile users are expected to reach 213 million in June 2015. A large part of the information exchange is happening over the internet and communities are “always-connected”. This is making 30 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
established names in journalism rethink the rules they play by. This is largely evident in western countries, especially the US and the UK. The New York Times has started to focus a lot on its digital arm, nytimes.com, and has built a slew of exclusive content and mobile applications for subscribers. There’s also a metered paywall which puts a limit to the content a free user or an unsubscribed reader to the website can access. This concept was pioneered by The Wall Street Journal and followed successfully by Financial Times. These American news websites now have a significant revenue share from subscribed customers, which could balance out the loss in print editions. The online sphere is proving to be a fertile ground to experiment and grow, especially for digital startups catering to a new kind of journalism and promoting content for the mobile audience. The web is also getting flooded with user-created content, so the definition of a journalist is also getting blurred. Journalism also has to keep social media in mind, know where the audience is, tailor the content to their tastes and address trends observed on various platforms. As print publications set up online arms, they either replicate these editions or provide exclusive content. For example, PC World, a global computer and technology magazine, had to shut its print operation after 30 years in business. It shifted to a “digital only” platform from August 2013. INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS A 2013 report released by the Audit Bureau of Circulation showed that British automotive magazine, Top Gear, showed an annual decline of 16.7 percent in circulation. But Top Gear’s interactive mobile application, with videos and high resolution picture galleries, along with other exclusive offers, ranks at the top of the table in terms of motoring applications in the US and the UK. Another trend is that original websites, which had news as a side feature, are adding to their news
SURVEY ON MEDIA CONSUMPTION PATTERNS Preferred Medium for News
36%
40% 44%
64% Print
Web
Time Spent for News (Online)
22% 37% 41%
Payment to Access News Online
16%
Wouldn’t pay for online content Would pay for online content or already paying Can’t say
Time Spent for News (Print)
39% 1 hour maximum 2-4 hours More than 5 hours
61%
1 hour maximum 2-4 hours
Source: A dissertation by the author
muscle. Yahoo.com, one of the world’s leading email service providers and a host of other websites with varied interests, has been working to reshape its already popular news service, Yahoo! News. In India too, there’s a big push towards webbased journalism and multimedia reportage. Raghav Bahl, one of the biggest media moguls, has started a news website, The Quint, post his sale of Network 18, a primarily electronic media production house, to Reliance Industries Limited. Bahl has said that it would follow a mobile-first approach and the news would be appropriately packaged. “The textual word got a huge second life in the form of internet,” said Bahl in an interview to Afaqs, a media and advertising portal. Another recent initiative is by Shoma Chaudhury, who was previously associated with Tehelka. She, in association with the Rajasthan Patrika group, has set up an online news portal called, Catch News. Barkha Dutt is also reportedly planning a similar multimedia based start-up. “[Print] circulation is like the sun. It continues to rise in the East and decline in the West,” said Christopher Reiss, CEO of World Association of VIEWS ON NEWS
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New Media Online News
spent on an average with each medium (see graph). The survey covered 50 respondents between 20 and 57 years of age from Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Noida, Chennai, Hyderabad, Patiala, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. It found out that only 36 percent preferred print media for their news, while 64 percent said they went to the internet to check latest happenings.
Raghav Bahl (above), a media mogul, has started a news website, The Quint, post his sale of Network 18. Bahl has said that it would follow a mobile-first approach and the news would be appropriately packaged.
Newspapers and Newspaper Publishers-IFRA, in 2011 at a forum to discuss prospects for the newspaper industry. VERNACULAR BASE However, this slump in newspaper readership is yet to be seen in India, where print is still going strong. This is mainly due to a strong vernacular print base and rising levels of literacy. Newspapers are an integral part of the morning routine in many households and publications here enjoy circulation figures which are the largest in the world. According to a KPMG report on media released in 2014, the Hindi print media grew at an annual rate of 10.5 percent, followed by the vernacular market at 10 percent and then, English print media at 5.8 percent. The growth story is expected to continue. This can be correlated with rising literacy levels in India. From 2001 to 2011, the literacy rate rose by 8.2 percent. The 2001 census showed 64.8 percent of the population to be literate. This grew to 73 percent in 2011. Of the total population, 31.2 percent lived in urban areas, while 68.8 percent were in rural areas. This shows that there is a lot of untapped potential, making India a promising market. To understand media consumption patterns for a college project, I did a survey for a Master’s dissertation on how people prefer to access information, through what medium and how much time they
32 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
PAYMENT MATTERS However, the revenue model in the online sphere is still in an experimental phase. While online news websites have erected paywalls, it is not clear whether web users will pay, especially when the internet offers other sources to get the same information for free. While 44 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn’t pay for online content, 16 percent were willing or had already subscribed to digital news portals and 40 percent reserved their opinion on this. The swing would be the key to the success of online news websites. Further, the revenue of print newspapers and magazines is mostly from the middle class and the maximum they would spend would be `150-300. Coming to the average time spent on various mediums, the survey found that 47 percent spent two-four hours online to read news, while 22 percent spent more than five hours online. Out of those who chose print, 61 percent spent one hour, while 39 percent read for 2-4 hours. No one spent more than five hours reading newspapers or magazines. The survey significantly found that 47 percent of online readers had high awareness of news, while 44 percent of print readers had the same advantage. Six percent in both print and online had the highest degree of news awareness. Even the styles of news presentation in online and print mediums was different. While 44 percent preferred a story to be around 500 words, 12 percent said that 300 words was apt, while 28 percent said they would read irrespective of word limit. It’s obvious that in future, news will become more personal and customized.
Media Monitoring DNA
DNA bans mobiles
In a retrograde step, the paper has prohibited cell phones in its editorial and marketing offices in Mumbai and Thane BY AJITH PILLAI
F
OR a newspaper which, according to its own PR, prides itself for having “fast entrenched itself into the lives of the young and dynamic readers in India’s financial capital”, the July 16 ban on the use of mobile phones in its Mumbai and Thane offices can best be described as a retrograde step in this communication age. Journalists at the broadsheet Daily News and Analysis (DNA), headquartered in Mumbai, are yet to come to terms with the new company rule. Interestingly, DNA completes 10 years in the business on July 30, but its reporters will be functioning like their counterparts in the late 1990s when mobiles were a rarity in newspaper offices. “We now have to go back to using landlines and forwarding our mobile calls to our extensions,” a frustrated reporter told India Legal. According to him, the editorial staff was informally told that those uncomfortable with the mobile ban should look for new jobs. “It was a threat from the management. But we hope that better sense prevails and at least reporters are allowed to use their mobiles,” he added While the ban on cell phones was in place at Zee Entertainment (a sister concern) since April 15, no one expected the new prohibitory policy to include editorial staff of the DNA. They were formally informed through an email from the HR department on July 15 that mobiles were banned inside the office from July 16. Addressed to all, this is what the email said: You will need to surrender the mobile to the se-
curity on entering the premises. The mobile needs to be either switched off or on silent mode. Two registers will be kept at the reception for ZEE (ZDCL and ZMCL) and DNA staff respectively. You are hereby requested to fill the required details whenever you enter/exit the office premises. A token number will be shared with you to reclaim your phone whenever you walk out of office. Please note, the lift area is also part of the DNA premises and not permitted for telephonic conversations. Guests will also need to follow the same process. You can refer to the updated extension list on the intranet (http://10.40.3.4/intranet.htm) to connect with anyone internally. Do ensure that your phone list is synced to your Gmail account for immediate access to contacts. The mobile ban has been ostensibly introduced to increase “productivity”. But the restriction comes with its own negatives—journalists have pointed out that their contacts may not answer calls from a landline. Politicians, police officials as well as celebs are known to attend only those numbers saved on their mobiles. Meanwhile jokes—laced with black humor—are doing the rounds among journalists in Mumbai. One is that DNA reporters can now blame their mobiles for missing a story. The other is about lower call charges with cell phones switched off and less exposure to radiation.
Reporters are concerned as to how they will contact sources who don’t answer calls from a landline.
VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 33
Books
A Journalist Reflects
WHEN JOURNALISM WAS A MISSION… Editorials, columns, biographical sketches, interviews…SK Rau was a consummate editor and his views on various governors and politicians are a good reflection of days gone by BY MR DUA
J
OURNALISM is considered to be the rough draft of history. A good newspaper is obliged to faithfully record and publish the correct account of important events and political developments of the times. How far this is covered comprehensively depends on the foresight and skill of the editor. This book reflects on important happenings that occurred during India’s post-Independence years, through the writings of the prolific and eminent editor, Seshagiri Krishna Rau. Rau edited half-a-dozen newspapers and worked in Karachi, Bangalore, Patna, New Delhi and Lucknow. He edited The Pioneer for over 20 years in Lucknow.
A JOURNALIST REFLECTS: On Eminent Governors & Politicians By SK Rau Avichal Publishing `450; 253 pages 34 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
VERSATILE EDITOR Rau could comfortably reel out an editorial, accompanied by a regular column every day; a humorous piece along with a special article; and a biographical sketch along with an interview. The book, complied by Rau’s son, Keshav Rau, is divided into four sections. It encompasses Rau’s pithy comments and views on how various gov-
ernors of Uttar Pradesh like Sarojini Naidu, HP Mody, KM Munshi and VV Giri discharged their gubernatorial functions. In an article titled, “Governors as Jokers”, Rau reproduced a conversation between the then governors KN Katju and Sarojini Naidu. Sarojini told Katju: “My dear fellow Governor, you are a joker, I am a joker and governors are nothing but jokers in free India.” Rau lauded the work of the then UP chief minister Sampurnanand, who believed in astrology and Ayurveda. He branded VV Giri as a “chip off the old block” but eulogized his qualities as an eminent labor leader. While giving prodigious credit to many senior journalists and editors, who left a lasting imprint on Indian journalism, Rau mentions Kunduri Iswara Dutt as a “literary artist”. Pothan Joseph, noted Rau, was the “first to introduce a humor column and also popularized cartoons as a daily feature in Indian newspapers”. His daily column, “Over a Cup of Tea”, accompanied by Shankar’s cartoon was said to have helped Hindustan Times swell its circulation manifold. “His humor never hurt anybody, even those at whom it was aimed at,” remarked Rau. Among the editors of language papers, Rau
GOING BACK IN TIME While Rau seemed fond of Ram Manohar Lohia (left), he slammed media baron Ram Nath Goenka
thought highly of Subramaniam Srinivasan and R (Kalki) Krishnamurthy who launched Tamil monthly journals. Rau slammed The Indian Express owner Ramnath Goenka, and MSM Sarma who edited a British-owned paper, The Daily Gazette of Karachi, and branded Sarma as “an editor who believed in stunts in an age of sober journalism”. STRONG OPINIONS Rau’s decisive opinions made or marred the political careers of many politicians. He wrote in praise of Charan Singh: “If Charan Singh continues to head the government for the next five years, a good deal of economic imbalance is bound to disappear and along with it, the movement for the division of the state”. Rau seemed to be fond of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, who got a doctorate degree in economics from Berlin. He called Lohia “well-read, impulsive, dogmatic and an uncompromising socialist”. As Lohia came from a poor family, he had frequent tiffs with “aristocratic” Nehru’s economic policies. Rau says of Lohia: “He wanted an entirely new economic set-up.” Lohia once successfully sued the reputed US
weekly, Time, for publishing a “damaging” story about Nehru’s sister, alAs Lohia came leging that “Lohia had cautioned from a poor people against Vijayalakshmi, asking family, he had them not to be captivated by her frequent tiffs with beauty because it was not real as she “aristocratic” had undergone plastic surgery”. Nehru’s economic Rau’s comments on “the maverick policies. Rau says politician” Raj Narain, who set a of Lohia: “He record as a legislator, exhibiting his ecwanted an centric actions inside and outside the legislative assembly sessions, are interentirely new esting. Narain was known to create economic set-up.” chaos and disorder by numerous and sudden walk-outs. The book takes the reader back to the good old days, when journalism was deemed to be a mission and not an industry. Any old hand will be reminded of so many tidbits about fellow penpushers of yesteryears. It should be a must read for journalism students researching Indian print media’s illustrious history. Dating the various chapters would have added perspective to the reader; an index too would have enhanced its value. Some misprints spoil the flow of the text. VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 35
Films
Bahubali-The Beginning
QUEL GRANDEUR, WHAT SCALE! The success of this film with its dream sets can teach Hollywood cinematographers a lesson or two BY RAMESH MENON
L
OOK at this canvas: Bahubali is the most expensive Indian film costing over `250 crore. It grossed over `140 crore in the first two days. Another record. It was simultaneously released in 4,650 screens. It took over 500 days of shooting, one year in pre-production. As many as 600 artists worked in shifts in 17 VFX studios in India, China and South Korea. It has battle scenes with over 2,000 actors. It has sets not seen before in terms of size and scale. When the film starts with scenes of a waterfall shot from the most amazingly creative angles, you know you will be watching a spectacular epic
36 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
drama for the next 159 minutes. These are punctuated with visual grandeur, special effects and the evocative magic of sound. Senthil Kumar’s cinematography is mesmerizing. The magnum opus by Telugu director SS Rajamouli has shaken up Bollywood, which is cagey to invest in huge budgets and take a calculated risk. Good performances by Telugu actor Prabas, who is a superhero because of the feats he accomplishes, and Tamannah Bhatia, his love interest who is a lissome rebel warrior, add to the film. Rana Daggubati and Anushka Shetty are passable. It is Prabas who carries the film all the way. Another shock for Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman and Hrithik. They now have competition. It is now VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 37
Films
Bahubali-The Beginning
possible for a blockbuster outside of Bollywood. Rajamouli reportedly visualized every frame in the film down to its minutest detail: Huge palaces, courtyards, battlegrounds, multitudes of people.‌ He got everything sketched to see how it would look before it was made into a huge set. More than anything, this film shows what technology can accomplish to create a dream-like situation that almost defies imagination.
T
he period action drama revolves around Mahishmati kingdom, which has the most magnificent edifices and palaces, and where two brothers fight it out for the throne. The war scenes are spectacularly shot and breathtaking because of the sheer size. Struggling against the torrent of water under a huge waterfall, a determined mother saves her royal son from drowning, but cannot save herself. He later grows up and travels to claim his throne, which is hijacked by a scheming cousin. The story is told through complex flashbacks, which many find very confusing. But the technical brilliance can sway them. Bahubali dies and it is now up to his son to avenge the death. But for that, you have to wait another year for the sequel, Bahubali-The Conclusion.
38 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
ONLY THE STORIES THAT COUNT EVERY FORTNIGHT INDIA LEGAL WILL BRING YOU NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE LEGAL MINDS IN THE NATION ON MATTERS THAT MATTER TO YOU
SINGLE MOTHERS Supreme Court to the rescue
NDIA EGAL I L AL ‘‘The verdict is a breath of fresh air for women’’ - Brinda Karat
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Design
DESIGNS THAT MADE IMAGINATIVE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS, FONTS, COLOR AND WHITE SPACES TO LEAVE AN IMPRESSION By ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Jose Alves da Silva has brought out a range of 3D characters for gaming, ads and films, using computer graphics and 3D software. Is this how abs and expressions are brought about?
To foster the raw and uncorrupted imagination of little ones, Tulip Books has brought out this book cover where a cow done in photoshop is a riot of colors and patterns. This mix of photoshop, illustration and hand-made paper will surely spark the curiosity of the target audience.
40 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
These plastic-looking figurines are actually clay work, photographed and filmed for motion pictures.
This brochure presents an interesting interplay of flat colors. In a case of contrasts, notice how green, white, red and white are alternatively used. This is a great example of how color enhances the text.
Can garbage ever be an object of beauty? An exhibition in Winthertur, Switzerland, titled “Oh, plastik-sacki�, has an art installation of illuminated plastic bags in the backdrop of a city street. If only garbage looked so stunning in reality! VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 41
DATE 6/7/15
6/7/15
6/7/15
6/7/15
7/7/15
7/7/15
7/7/15
7/7/15
NEWS Sub-Inspector Anamika Kushwaha commits suicide in Sagar Police Academy in MP. She was recruited through Vyapam.
NEWS
CHANNEL TIME
9.22 AM
9.23 AM
9.35 AM
11.35 AM
11.39 AM
11.42 AM
11.45 AM
SC upholds rights of unwed mother. She can be a guardian, no permission required from father.
10.56 AM
11.26 AM
11.30 AM
12.38 AM
Kejriwal tweets on Vyapam: asks PM to break silence and act in the matter.
11.17 AM
11.31 AM
Uma Bharti says she asked for CBI inquiry into Vyapam scam in the first place and that the charges distress her.
9.51AM
10.00 AM
10.06 AM
10.09 AM
11.00 AM
11.03 AM
1.24 PM
1:25 PM
PM Modi leaves for six-country visit. Uzbekistan is the first destination.
Modi in Tashkent, meets Indian Diaspora; says music prevents violence.
Rape attempt in Barabanki; woman burnt alive. Victim’s son a local journalist.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan announces CBI inquiry in Vyapam scam; says the scam and deaths will be investigated.
42 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
10.20 AM
11.58 AM
11.45 AM
Here are some of the major news items aired on television channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.
DATE 8/7/15
8/7/15
8/7/15
10/7/15
10/7/15
10/7/15
11/7/15
11/7/15
NEWS
NEWS
CHANNEL TIME
NN Sahay to be new home secretary of Delhi; LG approves his name. 9.30 AM
9.54 AM
Hema Malini attacks media over road accident; says efforts being made to disrepute her. Expresses sympathy for the family of the girl.
10.03 AM
10.17 AM
PM to be in Srinagar on July 17 for Iftar. Eid to be celebrated July 18 or 19.
10.17 AM
11.02 AM
11.09 AM
Modi-Sharif meet in Ufa, Russia. Lakhvi, 26/11 focus of discussion. Meeting lasts for 55 minutes.
9.36 AM
9.45 AM
9.48 AM
Sharif invites Modi for Saarc Summit next year, NSAs of both the countries to meet in Delhi. Pakistan offers support in probe of 26/11.
12.04 PM
11.50 AM
11.50 AM
1.51 PM
GoAir aero plane collides with an air bridge at Chennai airport; all the 138 passengers on the plane safe.
1.48 PM
1.50 PM
1.51 PM
1.51 PM
PM greets ISRO for successful launch of PSLV-C28 on twitter; proud moment for India.
9.16 AM
9.18 AM
12.04 PM
Delhi police ASI in 14-day police custody on rape charge. AAP demands resignation Commissioner BS Bassi; says he’s responsible for law & order.
10.51 AM
11.36 AM
12.14 PM
1.27 PM
1.31 PM
2.04 PM
2.20 PM
9.49 AM
VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015 43
DATE 11/7/15
11/7/15
12/7/15
12/7/15
12/7/15
14/7/15
15/7/15
15/7/15
NEWS AAP MLA Manoj Kumar in police custody; allegation of forgery in a property deal; More than 10 cases against Kumar
NEWS
CHANNEL TIME
10.37 AM
10.44 AM
11.38 AM
Congress condemns PM for not taking people into confidence; soldiers being killed and Modi shaking hand with Sharif; PM ahs not even paid tribute.
10.55 AM
10.56 AM
Three terrorists killed in Keran sector of J&K, trying to infiltrate; corpses and arms confiscated. Search operation under way in the area.
9.23 AM
9.36 AM
Zimbabwe wins the toss in Harare one day match, chooses to bat first, India leads the series by 1-0.
12.01 PM
12.01 PM
Modi in Kyrgyzstan; signs deal on joint military drill, puts emphasis on trade and cultural interchange; election commissions of both the country signs deal.
12.19 PM
12.20 PM
Stampede in Godavari Pushkar Fair. Fifty thousand thronged the river bank in Rajamundary, Andhra; hundreds injure in the stampede; casualties feared.
10.22 AM
10.42 AM
11.07 AM
Death warrant issued against Yakub Memon, the main culprit in the 1993 Mumbai Blast case; could be hanged on July 30 in Nagpur Jail.
8.10 AM
8.10 AM
8.10 AM
T- 20 Champion league scrapped. Decision taken by BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Asia.
12.15 PM
12.20 PM
44 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
11.12 AM
9.38 AM
12.01 PM
12.25 PM
12.02 PM
8.11 AM
8.14 AM
DATE 16/7/15
NEWS
CHANNEL TIME
PM’s Varanasi visit cancelled again due to laborer’s death. 10.52 AM
16/7/15
16/7/15
17/7/15
17/7/15
17/7/15
17/7/15
18/6/15
NEWS
10.55 AM
10.59 AM
11.00 AM
Amit Shah starts BJP’s election campaign in Bihar; launches Parivartan Rath , 160 raths to visit every district of state.
11.39 AM
11.40 AM
BJP and Congress supporters protest against hike in VAT on petrol, diesel in Delhi.
12.30 PM
12.30 PM
12.00 NOON
12.00 NOON
12.00 NOON
12.01 PM
12.50 PM
12.52 PM
12.53 PM
12.56 PM
Pakistani and ISIS flag waved in Srinagar; clashes between police and protesters.
3.50 PM
3.50 PM
Torrential rains in J&K; Amarnath Yatra stops; Meteorological Department predicts continuous heavy rain for 72 hours .
9.58 AM
10.00 AM
10.15 AM
7.18 AM
7.22 AM
8.14 AM
11.40 AM
12.30 PM
11.00 AM
11.42 AM
12.30 PM
12.30 PM
PM visits Jammu on birth anniversary of Girdhari Lal Dogra; greets nation on Eid.
Rahul Gandhi attacks PM in Jaipur; says Lalit Modi and Vasundhara have business connections.
3.51 PM
3.52 PM
12.02 PM
4.00 PM
Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra starts, Gujarat CM Anandiben joins the Yatra. 8.19 AM
VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 45
M
EDIA-GO-ROUND
Viacom 18 launches two English channels
CO-CURATED BY Karan Johar and Alia Bhatt, Viacom 18 has announced two new English general entertainment channels—Colors Infinity and Colors Infinity HD. The channels will be available across DTH and digital cable platforms. The network has entered into
major multi-year deals with Warner Bros, International Television Distribution, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, BBC and Endemol Shine, among others. The channels boast both scripted and unscripted content that will span genres like drama, comedy, fantasy, crime, action and thriller and will have special focus on reality shows and documentaries.
PCI demands
WhatsApp, Skype
law to protect journalists
may be charged?
WITH AN INCREASING number of attacks on mediapersons, the Press Council of India (PCI) has demanded a legislation that will make physical assaults or intimidation through words or gestures a cognizable offense with stringent punishment. It has also recommended that serious attacks against journalists should be referred to the CBI for investigation and be tried by special courts for speedy trials. The Council has also sought welfare measures like compensation for death and injury in the line of work. PCI chairman Justice (retd) CK Prasad said that November 3 should be proclaimed as “National Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists”. Any case against a journalist or an editor should be booked only after getting clearance from the DGP, as is the practice in Madhya Pradesh, it added.
A PANEL FORMED by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to decide on net-neutrality, has recommended a licensing charge from free internet telephonic services, such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, etc. If the recommendation is accepted, service providers will eventually have to pay a license fee, which could force them to start charging customers for these services. Primary users of these online platforms will be charged for domestic calls; but messaging and international calls have been kept free. However, the government will have to study these recommendations as it waits for suggestions from TRAI before taking the final call.
Sun TV debarred from FM auction WITH THE DENIAL of security clearance by MHA, the Sun group has failed to get a go-ahead from the I&B ministry to take part in Phase-III auctioning of 135 private FM channels. Sun TV is owned by Kalanidhi Maran, the grandnephew of DMK president M Karunanidhi. Security clearance from MHA is a must to apply for FM auctions. However, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had earlier said that corruption cases being probed against the network’s promoter cannot be a ground for denying security clearance. Karunanidhi has slammed the center’s decision to reject the Sun group’s application for FM auctioning and said that it was strangulating democracy. 46 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
S THE WORLD TURNS
Johnny Depp’s wife summoned JOHNNY DEPP’S wife, actress Amber Heard, has been served summons to appear in court in Australia for unlawfully bringing the couple’s two pet dogs into the country on a private jet, BBC reported. She has been charged on two counts— of illegally importing the dogs into Australia and for producing false documents. Penalties range from a
Australian woman deported after Facebook post AN AUSTRALIAN woman has been detained in Abu Dhabi, and is to be deported from the United Arab Emirates after she took a photo of a car parked across two disabled parking bays and posted it to Facebook. Jodi Magi, who has been teaching graphic design since 2012, took the photograph in February to draw attention to the driver’s apparent lack of consideration, although she obscured the number plate, Time reported. However, following a complaint to the police, the case went to court. Magi, 39, was charged under UAE’s Cyber Crime law and was found guilty of “writing bad words on social media.”
hefty fine to more than 10 years in prison. Australia has strict quarantine laws. All animals entering the country must have an import permit, and must undergo relevant testing and health checks, signed off by a government veterinarian from the exporting country to ensure pests and diseases from overseas are not brought into the country.
Reddit interim CEO steps down ELLEN PAO, the interim CEO of Reddit, stepped down on July 17, after a week of continued protests from users of the online message board.Hundreds of thousands of users signed a petition calling for Pao to resign after she dismissed the popular talent director
Victoria Taylor last month. Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman will take over as CEO, New York Post reports. Reddit is an entertainment, social networking and news website where registered community members can submit content.
Instagram bans #curvy
INSTAGRAM HAS banned users from searching for the hashtag curvy as part of a clampdown on content which violates the service’s nudity guidelines. The social network has blocked #curvy alongside a host of other search terms, including
thighs and butt. This adds to Instagram’s long history of banning users and terms for, what many view as, arbitrary reasons. Explicit terms that occasionally portray nudity, #fatso and many others are still searchable on the application.
Rapper files for bankruptcy AFTER LOSING a multimilliondollar lawsuit, rapper 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The latest plea arrived three days after a jury ordered the rapper to pay $5million to Lastonia Leviston of Florida for buying her sex
tape, editing it and posting it online without her permission.The news came as a shock considering the Grammy winner was listed at No.4 in the Forbes list of wealthiest hip-hopers. VIEWS ON NEWS
August 7, 2015 47
Governance
Environment
Global Pollinator Project
IT’S SIMPLY NOT
BUZZING The dwindling population of bees has become a global concern as it affects agricultural produce BY ASHIM CHOUDHURY IN ALMORA
Bh aw an a
48 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
Ka pk ot i
I
F you are a city dweller, it is likely you haven’t seen a bumble bee in years. And there is not much hope to spot one soon either as their numbers are falling. Even in the countryside, their numbers have dwindled alarmingly. This needs to be taken seriously as they are among the best known wild pollinators. It is through pollination that plants and trees produce crops, vegetables and fruits. Though many crops are pollinated by the wind, a large number depend on bees, butterflies, drones, flies, insects, bats and birds. Bumble bees help pollinate crops like coffee and large cardamom, among many others. The bumble bee is a metaphor, just like the tiger is a metaphor for saving our wilds and the environment. There are 18,000 wild bee species, besides butterflies, drones, hornets and flies, birds and bats whose free serv-
Ravindra K Joshi
ices are being increasingly missed. Apples, oranges, mangoes, apricots, strawberries and many other crops are likely to get affected due to the falling bee population. I was in the hills investigating this story when an onion farm in full bloom shocked me. There was not a single bee or butterfly flitting around. The absence of these little winged visitors on our farms has escaped the notice of even farmers and orchard-growers. In fact, many of them are not even aware of the free pollination services these nectar-raiders on the farm are providing. What escaped the notice of our farmers—and the media as well—caught the attention of experts across the world. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) joined hands for the Global Pollinator Project (GPP), that started in January 2010 and concluded in December 2014. The five-year project, involving seven countries— Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa—set out to “conserve and manage pollinators through an ecosystem approach to farming”. Simply put, it attempted to improve the bee, butterfly and other insect (polli-
nator) population by reviving their habitat—essentially forests, weeds and untended fields that have tiny wild flowers on which pollinators feed and thrive. Europe already has what is known as the Big Bee Project, to address the bee-colony-collapse syndrome.
IN FULL BLOOM The Aesculus Indica plant flowering well
RELEVANCE FOR INDIA Why is the GPP so important for India? Kevin Gallagher, acting representative of the UN’s FAO in India, is concerned over the disappearing pollinator habitat. “Declining pollinator populations are one of the greatest threats to the world’s agricultural economy,” he warns. Falling bee, butterfly and other such populations is a consequence of dwindling biodiversity. Ironically, farming activity itself de-
The value of good pollination can be understood better when you see a well-pollinated fruit. An apple or a strawberry that is well-pollinated grows much larger and shapelier.
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August 7, 2015 49
Governance
Environment
Global Pollinator Project
TAKING THE LEAD Hanging flower bunches of pollinizers on commercial trees is a traditional practice in Himachal Pradesh
Dr Kishor Kumar, GBPIHED, HP
grades biodiversity and small ecosystems on which pollinators survive, and in turn, help increase farm produce. Unlike wheat or rice, horticultural crops like fruits and vegetables are more dependent on nature’s pollination services. Pollinators like bees, butterflies, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production and are responsible for increasing the output of 87 leading food crops, including many medicinal plants. With horticulture’s increasing importance in food trade and nutrition, the role of pollinators has become important. “Pollinators are closely linked to food security,” says
Crops like fruits and vegetables are more dependent on nature’s pollination services. Pollinators like bees, butterflies, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production.
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Gallagher. “There’s an urgent need to raise awareness on this issue.” A key reason for a steep decline in pollinator population is the indiscriminate use of chemicals and pesticides on our farms. These not only kill intended pests but cause collateral damage to the bee, butterfly and insect population. Dr RS Rawal of the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development (GBPIHE), who was GPP’s Principal Investigator in India, says: “Besides the increasing use of chemicals and pesticides that have led to natural pollinator declines, there are bad farming practices like burning of post-harvest fields… and of forests.” Burning not only kills pollinators but also destroys their homes and breeding grounds, he says. This writer was witness to vast swathes of burnt landscapes in the Konkan, where burning farms after harvest is, like in many other places, a common practice. In summer, raging forest fires are a common sight in the hills of Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh; these are often lit by locals. Urbanization has led to a steep decline in the pollinator habitat and population. Most wild bees and drones make their home on the ground or on the branches of shrubs and trees that dot the land.
But these untended spaces are fast shrinking. “We need to harness the free services provided by nature. The eco-system has to be rejuvenated,” says Rawal. GPP’s aim is to restore the health of natural surroundings where bee and insect populations can thrive, particularly in times when there are no “flowering” crops like mustard or pulses. In the absence of flowers (food), pollinator populations dwindle rapidly. This is particularly true during extreme summers or extreme winters when little or no flowers/crops grow. The GPP had four main objectives or STEPs—study, training, evaluation and promotion. In the words of Dr PP Dhyani, Director, GBPIHE, its aim was to “increase knowledge of pollinators among farmers and create an enabling ecosystem around farms for wild pollination and finally, mainstreaming wild pollination services into best farming practices.” Currently, while diminishing returns from excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides is a concern, there appears to be no holistic policy on increasing yields through sustainable practices that the GPP espouses. BOOST TO AGRICULTURE “The project has clearly demonstrated that pollinators can help in improving agricultural yields,” Dhyani says. “This calls for aggressive efforts towards pro-pollinator policies and programs, both at the national and state level.” The value of good pollination can be understood better when you see a well-pollinated fruit. An apple or a strawberry that is well-pollinated, for instance, grows much larger and shapelier. Besides higher yield, it also fetches higher prices. The apple growers of Himachal have understood this well. But with natural bees and butterflies virtually missing, they are now hiring “domestic” bee colonies to fill the gap in nature’s pollination services. However, use of chemicals and pesticides continues unabated. It’s only a return to organic farming that can revive the natural pollinator population. Multi and mixed cropping, and interspersing farms with flowering plants
The Pollinator Project in India IN India, the Global Pollinator Project (GPP) was coordinated by the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment &Development (GBPIHED) in Almora, Uttarakhand. The fiveyear project was spread over three sites and covered three pollinator dependent crops— apples in the Beas watershed of Himachal Pradesh, mustard in the Upper Kosi watershed of Uttarakhand, and large cardamoms in the Mamlay watershed of Sikkim. Covering over 21,000 hectares for direct impact, the project had an indirect impact in over 70,000 hectares. It was noted that sites with higher forest cover had higher insect density, supporting
the established hypothesis that insect populations are greater around natural habitats. A baseline study threw up interesting discoveries. It found that over 95 percent farmers in apple-growing areas were aware of the importance of pollination for crop yield. Among mustard and cardamom farmers, the awareness was lower, less than 37 percent and 23 percent respectively. The database can come in handy for practicing eco-farming. The challenge is how to disseminate this information among farmers and other land users for increasing pollinator populations. And, more importantly, how to transfer this “technology” to agricultural universities and farms.
and trees provide the way forward. Good pollination depends on a wide range of activities by bees, butterflies and birds. Experts are now turning to nature to fill the gap. The plan is to restore natural pollinator habitats particularly around farms. Many decades ago Albert Einstein has said: “If bees disappear from the surface of the earth man would have no more than four years to live.” In all probability, he was warning us to protect pollinators and save farming from collapsing. The important question is, are our agricultural scientists and policy makers alive to this issue? Will they save the lost habitat of the humble bumble bee?
BOOSTING YIELD A bee farm to fill the gap in nature’s pollination services
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Governance
Modi Initiative Toilets
TOILET TROUBLE
Modi had promised that by August 15, 2015, every school would have toilets for boys and girls. But this has proved a Herculean task and the center is now scrambling to achieve the target BY ROSHNI SETH
P
RIME Minister Narendra Modi on August, 15, 2014, promised the nation that “by next August 15, we should be in a firm position to announce that there is no school in India without a separate toilet for boys and girls”. The Department of School Education & Literacy under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), which is monitoring the “Swachh Vidyalaya” project, is burning the candle at both ends to show some results—come hell or high water. The states are not too happy either as meeting the target is becoming increasingly difficult. The burden is now on them to ensure separate toilets with water facility for boys and girls in each school. As the deadline for implementing this was June 30, 2015, SC Khuntia, Secretary (School Ed-
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ucation), MHRD, held a meeting with stakeholders on June 22 to review the progress of the Swachh Vidyalaya initiative. Also present were representatives of PSUs and the corporate sector, which had promised to build toilets by the thousands. But as usual, promises are faster made than kept. Now each state has been asked to review its requirements in view of the targets to be achieved. The government has practically given up hope that the private sector will reach its target, though the number of companies was never very high. Only a few of them had turned up at a highprofile meeting with Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani last September. States have been asked to take over the construction of toilets promised by the private sector where work has not even started. Not giving up hope, the MHRD plans to persuade the private
sector with deep pockets, have lagged behind. Work is yet to start on 23,564 toilets promised by PSUs and even if they work full throttle, time is scarce and they will not be anywhere near the finish line.
S
BASIC FACILITY (Top) School children during the inauguration of the campaign “Toilet for Every House” in UP’s Badaun district (Above) A student marks World Toilet Day at a function in New Delhi
sector to at least cough up the funds. But expectations are not too high and the ministry has now decided that if this last-ditch push fails, funds for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other schemes will be utilized for building toilets. States have been asked to step on the gas and complete all pending toilets by July 15. The PSUs too had made tall promises. While some have done good work, big companies, especially those in the power and oil
tates have been asked to take over construction of toilets in the PSU quota too. PSUs have been asked to transfer the requisite funds to deputy commissioners of districts as per the schedule rate of the state for constructing toilets and providing water. State societies too have been authorized to step in and accept funds from PSUs to make the toilets. And, wherever construction has begun, PSUs will have to complete them. However, the states themselves are facing major problems in constructing the toilets at various places. These include: Many schools are functioning out of private premises. Here, they have been asked to explore private donations and contributions. There’s lack of space to build a toilet in a school inside a temple or a mosque. In these cases, deputy commissioners have been asked to explore if toilets can be constructed in an adjacent government land or whether toilets in adjacent government buildings can be used. Many schools are closed due to natural calamities. States have been asked to ensure toilets wherever children are studying. Obviously, the center is very concerned as not just the prime minister’s office, but the prime minister himself is monitoring the project. At the initiative of the prime minister’s office, 250 director-level officers from various ministries are being dispatched as central observers of the Swachh Vidyalaya project to different districts across the country in order to certify the existence of toilets. The task is daunting and an uphill one. It will be interesting to note what prime minister Narendra Modi will say on August 15. VIEWS ON NEWS
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English is one of modern India’s twenty-two official languages, and is widely learned as the second language in most countries. Enjoy it and avoid falling into some common error traps. BY MAHESH TRIVEDI
DID YOU KNOW?
SAY IT RIGHT
Dispose of, NOT dispose off
Look into a good dictionary and you will know that you had been wrongly pronouncing some of these, if not all, common words: Bury Coupon Plumber Salad Suggestion Almond Cupboard Kaleidoscope Photographer Cucumber
Wash hands of, NOT wash
hands off Chip off the old block, NOT chip of the old block Comprises, NOT comprises of Centre on, NOT center around Anyway, NOT anyways Two-thirds, NOT two-third Accidentally, NOT accidently Command of English ,NOT command on/over/in English
IN PLURAL ALWAYS
SIMILES TO REMEMBER As blind as a bat
Binoculars
As clean as a new pin
Glasses
As deaf as a post
Forceps
As cool as cucumber
Jeans
As different as chalk and/from cheese
Knickers
As dry as bone
Pants
As easy as ABC
Pajamas
As fresh as a daisy
Scissors
As gentle as a lamb
Shorts
As happy as a king
Spectacles Trousers
TEN COMMONLY USED SHORT FORMS DNA— DeoxyriboNucleic Acid AIDS—Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome FMCG — Fast Moving Consumer Goods HIV—Human Immunodeficiency Virus HTML—Hyper Text Mark-up Language ISBN—International Standard Book Number ISDN— Integrated Services Digital Network. LPG -- Liquefied Petroleum Gas SOHO—Small Office Home Office TOEFL—Test of English as a Foreign Language. 54 VIEWS ON NEWS August 7, 2015
SMARTEN YOUR TALK Are we away?…… Shall we go? Let’s go Bingo!…… Yes! That’s right Break a leg! ……Good luck Bug off! ……Get out! Cut the comedy!……Get serious! Stop acting silly! Cut the crap!……Stop the nonsense! Don’t make me laugh! ……That is a stupid suggestion! Don’t sweat it! ……Don’t worry about it! Get real!……Start acting realistically! Good call! ……That was a good decision! Heads up!……Look out! How does that grab you?……What do you think of that? Make it snappy! ……Hurry up! No fair! ……That’s not fair!
RNI No. UPENG/2007/22571
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