WorthvieW

Snippets from One of the most glaringly frank articles in the recent times by Magsasay Awardee Journalist P Sainath. (columnist in The Hindu).

“Issues today have to be dressed up in ways certified by the corporate media. They have to be justified not by their importance to the public but by their acceptability to the media, their owners and sponsors”

Every issue is now reduced to a fight between individuals, heroic, villainous or just fun figures. So the complex issues behind the shunning of Pakistani cricketers by the Indian Premier League are reduced to a fight between Shah Rukh Khan and Bal Thackeray. (As one television channel began its programme: “Shah Rukh stands tall. His message to the nation …”). The agonies of Bundelkhand are not about hunger and distress in our Tiger Economy. They are just a stand-off between Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati. The issues of language and migrations in Maharashtra are merely a battle between Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray. And the coverage is all about who blinked first, who lost face.

The devastating rise in food prices (let’s skip the boring factors) and the mess in agriculture are a face-off between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The pathetic squabble within the Samajwadi Party is virtually a television serial. A blow-by-blow account of Amar Singh’s valiant bid to retain his honour against Mulayam Singh’s yahoos. (Indeed, some Hindi channels have begun using the language of theatre to report it — Act II, Scene II. And there was one programme which Mr. Amar Singh ended humming verses from his favourite film song). The Bt brinjal story had mostly only one villain — Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. He had no visible adversary unless you pose the humble Brinjal as the hero. But that won’t work for television. The other, more sinister heroes in this media story preferred to function from behind the scenes, plying newspapers and channels with faked data and false information. Hell hath no fury like a powerful corporate scorned, as the Minister is learning.

Leave aside escaping a recession, India Shining is back. The cover story of a leading weekly gushes over the fantastic ‘rural resurgence’ that is, in fact, saving all of us. Farmers are doing just great. Drip, micro-sprinkler, and other micro irrigation, the stories in it suggest, played a major role in this hidden-from-the-human-eye revival. And the proliferation of such stories across the media spectrum reflects, in part, the strenuous media efforts of a major Maharashtra-based company. A corporate group that spends a fortune on propaganda and whose interests in this line of irrigation are pushed by some of the most powerful members of the Union Cabinet.

The main ‘rural resurgence’ story hit the stands the same day the National Crime Records Bureau officially brought the 2008 data for farm suicides on to its website. The 16,196 suicides that year brought the tally of farmers’ suicides since 1997 to 199,132. That’s the largest single, sustained wave of such suicides ever recorded in history — anywhere. Guess nobody told them about the resurgence. Farmers in 2008 did know of that year’s loan waiver, but it didn’t stop large numbers of them from taking their lives.

Whether it’s the Suresh Tendulkar committee, the BPL Expert Group, or earlier the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised sector, Or a U.N. study which reports that 34 million more Indians remained poor or joined their ranks in 2008 and 2009, because of the ‘slowdown.’ That is, 34 million more than would have met that fate prior to the 2008 crisis. It matters little if Census data show us that 8 million cultivators quit agriculture between just 1991 and 2001. (That is, on average, well over 2,000 a day, every day for 10 years.) Or that the 2011 Census just months from now will show us how many more have fled agriculture since then, un-seduced by the rural resurgence. Never mind the facts. One giant private irrigation company stands to make its already huge fortune bigger. Good for growth.

The ABC of Indian media roughly translates as Advertising, Bollywood and Corporate power. Some years ago, the ‘C’ would have been cricket, but that great sport is fast becoming a small cog in the large wheel of corporate profit. (In the IPL, the ABC of media converge, even merge.) And, of course, everything but everything, has to be bollywoodised. To now earn attention, issues have to be dressed up only in ways certified by the corporate media. They have to be justified not by their importance to the public but by their acceptability to the media, their owners and sponsors. The more entrenched that ABC gets, the greater the danger to the language of democracy the media so proudly claim to champion.

What is the amount of bribes requested by people in India?

The above numbers clearly suggest that Bribery in India is at a grass root level with close 86% demands were done for $5000 or less (2,50,000 rupees or less, out which more than half were for $26 (Rs. 1300) or less.

Because, corruption takes place at such a grass root level, it is extremely difficult to contain it.

Having said that, 14 people out of 100 taking bribes are for amount more than $5000 (Rs. 2,50,000). Actually, if you look at the top officials are even more corrupt. I will tell you why I say that –

The number of big bosses is merely 1%-2% of all officials, yet according to the report 14% of bribes are of huge amounts, showing that big bosses are involved even more compared to low level officials who are taking bribes.

On a sidenote, China’s number is much higher with 24% of reported demands were for amounts between $5,001 and $50,000, 6% of reported demands were for amounts between $50,001 and $500,000, and 6% were
for amounts greater than $500,000. interesting…

• What is the nature of Bribe Demands in India?

No guesses here – if you want to get your work done, bribe em’ ! thats what is quite clear and in line with the notion we have.

More than half of all the bribes were paid to get the work in time !

77% of all reported bribe demands in India are related to the avoidance of
harm, including securing the timely delivery of a service – which is actually a right of a person (such as clearing customs or having a telephone line installed) and receiving payment for services already rendered

Only 12% of the bribe demands were for gaining a personal or business advantage (including exercising influence with or over another government official, receiving inappropriate favorable treatment or winning new business).

One thing for sure, we are now used to this corrupt system and take it in our stride as part & parcel. We do not want to go extra lengths and take the easy way out. But this easy way out is actually the roots of corruption in India.

• Who demand bribe in India?

No guesses here !

Whooping 91% of reported bribe demands originate from government officials in India.

The greatest sources of bribe demands, were from national level Government officials (33%), the police (30%), state/provincial officials and employees (16%), and city officials (10%) respectively .

Do you know which of the two Indian ministries ask for bribe more than other? – They are Customs office (13%) and Taxation and Water (9%).

China fares slightly well when it comes to Government officials taking bribe (85%) – Another major difference is that India Police (30%) are far more corrupt than their Chinese counterparts (only 11%).

• What is the frequency of Bribe Demands in India?

Nearly 90% indicated being solicited for a bribe between two and 20 times.

Overall 60% people reported bribe demands of 5 times or lower from the same individual. However, 9% asked for bribes more than 100 times.

Compared to China, it differs significantly with 73% people indicating that they had received multiple bribe requests. Almost 20% of those individuals reported receiving more than 100 bribe demands in China.

• In what form was the bribe requested?

Do you want any tips on how to give bribes? here is what our corrupt officials prefer..

If in doubt, give cash, as 92% of all bribes are preferred to be “cash or cash equivalent,” The next best thing is a “gift,” (5%) including requests for company products, jewelry and similar items. Less common still, at approx. 1% each, were requests for hospitality or entertainment items; travel for other than business purposes; and other assistance, such as
help with a visa, medical care, or scholarships.

Surprisingly, there were no reports in India of demands for “additional business” or “sexual favors.” In China, those demands accounted for a combined total of 7% of reported bribe solicitations.

Credits to Author : Arun Prabhudesai

Where to Complaint ?

Many things are happening at night. We got independence at night, statements on seperate states are announced at nyts and why not to fly our flag at night. Countries like Malaysia, Jordon, Abu Dhabi, North Korea, Brazil, Mexico and Turkmenistan have rights to fly their flag at night.

Now we got a New year gift from our government. Indian citizens can now fly the National Flag even at night respecting to the condition that the flagpole is really tall and the flag itself well-illuminated.

The Home Ministry took the decision following a proposal in this regard by industrialist Naveen Jindal, who had earlier won a court battle in the 1990s for flying the national flag (Tiranga) as a fundamental right for every citizen. In a communication to Jindal, also a Congress leader and Member of Parliament, the Ministry said it has examined the proposal and had no objection to installing “giant flagpoles for flying the National Flag day and night at various places.”

In a representation to the Ministry in June 2009, Jindal had sought permission to fly mammoth-sized national flag on monumental flagpoles during night. Jindal had said that the National Flag is to be flown in “as far as possible between sunrise and sunset” as per Flag Code of India, but it was a common practice worldwide for massive national flags to be flown day and night on monumental flagpoles of 100 feet and above in height.

Source: PTI

Whatever or whoever might be the initiator and whatever might be his past records/impressions, this is definitely a ground breaking stand taken so far. Making Voting compulsory (and that too, for local body elections) is a step in the right direction and it is never late.

We support this motive, and would like to see the performance after it is implemented for the first time. Hopefully it shows some defining results, which can then force other state governments and even the central government to think on amending the constitution or the election commission orders!

The Gujarat Assembly on Saturday adopted an official Bill making voting compulsory in elections to all the local bodies in the State amidst opposition from the Congress which termed the move as “impractical and designed with political motives.”

Gujarat has emerged as the first State in the country to make voting compulsory in the local elections following the example, as Chief Minister Narendra Modi described, of 32 countries where the pattern of exercising the adult franchise showed a remarkable improvement from 45 per cent to over 90 per cent.

Talking to journalists after the adoption of the “Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment), 2009,” the Chief Minister described the measure to make voting compulsory in the local body elections as a “historic move to strengthen democracy” and taking it from “drawing room politics to the polling booth level.”

Regretting that the kind of solidarity the people showed in lighting the candles in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack was not demonstrated in the elections to choose their own rulers who would handle such situations, Mr. Modi said Gujarat had shown the way and hopefully other States and the country would follow suit. Claiming that the move would help eliminate some corrupt practices in the electoral process, he said, “politics and politicians would have to think beyond vote bank politics and ethnic groups and regional settings.”

He said the idea was not to “punish” the “defaulters” who fail to cast their votes without a valid reason, but to instill a sense of discipline. “Why should not people spare just half-an-hour as and when the elections are held to cast their votes?” he asked. It was intriguing that the candidates and parties with support of less than 25 per cent of the total voters ruled for years because a large majority of people did not participate in the voting and had no voice in selecting their rulers, he said.

Maa Telugu Thalliki Song Lyrics