Where are we headed?

So you have got that much-desired senior reporter title and the beat you are experienced in. Salary matches your lifestyle and then there are some crumbs left to put in the Small Investment Plan (SIP). You miss stories couple of times a week but it’s not that bad- good exclusives level off the slump. You are still far from being that old hag journo who is now writing tit bits for some horribly-unknown broadsheet. In your late 20s, you still have lot of time and stamina to carry on with the profession. But does your job have that kinda stamina to carry on? What if the profession runs out of steam before you do?
It was in the late 90s that English dailies in India decided to realign themselves. Introducing newer clever designs, westernised style of reporting and hiring contract workers rather than Wage Board journalists, they went on to capture young readers. Hindi publications followed suit but with a time gap of 5-10 years.
A decade after the first experiment, things are about to change again with TV news, Internet and mobile making inroads at places where newspapers may take years to set up a printing press.
That’s what is happening across the world starting from US. Going by the pace at which we are catching up with the West, it would not take long for the trend to get to our share of pie. With Internet giants like google and yahoo offering news for free across the world on computers and mobile devices, paper may soon face the brunt.
In Britain around 70 local papers have shut down since the beginning of 2008. Among the survivors, advertising is dwindling, editorial is thinning and journalists are being laid off. Technology has earlier phased out several popular products like typewriters, cassette players and landline phones. Television news has taken over the newspaper space and lesser time available with people means they watch more TV or read news on cellphone.
But can you really compare these mediums with a newspaper. Journalists investigate and criticise governments, thus helping voters decide whether to keep them or sack them. With sting operations out of TV news, they have nothing else but to give spot news and have a panel of members discuss issues already debated. In newspapers, pressure is always for exclusives, journalists work overtime to build sources, meet them every other day and do investigations. Power of the written word is still strong as all public offices manage news clippings concerning them, letters to editor is still the best option for readers to present their views since TV has less time for them and nobody knows how blogs are read, by whom and from where.
Newspaper companies are trying to ride the wave by launching web editions and offering services on blackberries, but they are yet to find a business model for that. With Google and Yahoo offering free news, they can’t yet ask for charges from readers. But they have to find out a way soon. India, meanwhile, seems to be lax on this front. Recent statement of India Today group chairman Aroon Purie at a London conference sums up the mood. “I hope that this (business) model is sorted out in the West and by the time it comes to us we have it all up and running,” he said. This blatantly means we would continue to ape the West both in progress as well as decay.
India, however, has one unexpected advantage- that of large number of illiterate citizens who can be potential market for the newspapers if we know how to sell. Hindi and regional newspapers have already taken the bait and are rising in numbers as well as circulations. English papers are catching school students forcing on them a habit to read by offering discounts.
The growing influence of so many news sources can be gauged from the fact that we have lesser news in common to discuss at tea time. We all have different sources and differnt news to quote. But does not that translate into more job avenues? It’s all very ironic.
Future feels uncertain, the only surety remains we would have news which is different from present just like present is different from past.

Photo courtesy- www.raingod.com

Only affirmative collective action can save India

I was very much impressed by Arvind Kejriwal's. From his work on RTI to the recent campaign for Swaraj, he has shown his strong motivation for people's rights. Streetpolls in Delhi are dotted with posters seeking Swaraj. So this time it's just reproduction of what he wrote for IBNlive--

Despite aggressive "Go out and vote" campaigns and thousands of Mumbaikars thronging Mumbai roads to express their anger at 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the voter turn-out in Mumbai actually decreased rather than going up. It is easy to blame the middle-class as lazy. But a deeper analysis would show that the people actually do not see a connection between voting and a solution to their problems. In the last sixty years, almost every political party and leader has been tried. But things have gone from bad to worse. People do not see elections bringing any change. They vote and then plead before the same people the next five years.


For example, can you as a citizen do anything if a school teacher does not turn up to teach at your local government school? If a doctor in a government hospital does not attend to patients? If a ration-shopkeeper is siphoning off ration supplies? If a policeman does not respond despite repeated complaints? If the engineer colludes with the contractor and makes a road which wears off within a few days? If a sweeper does not turn up for work and your area remains dirty and unhygienic?


All we can do is complain to higher authorities. In all likelihood, these individuals don't care to act on our complaint. In short, we have no control over the teachers who don't turn up to teach at government schools, or janitors who sweep the road, the ration-shopkeeper, the government-hired contractors, the politician, the policemen or the bureaucrat.


And that's the reason why, 62 years after Independence, there is so much illiteracy, there is so much poverty. So many people die of simple diseases like TB and so many others go hungry while roads are broken and cities are filthy.


This has to change. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to give complete power to the people. He stood for swaraj. He said, "Twenty people sitting at the Centre cannot run true democracy. That should be run from the bottom by the people from each village...The centre of power today is located in Delhi, Calcutta or Bombay i.e. in big cities. I want to distribute it amongst seven lakh villages in India."


But this is not what we got after Independence. Swaraj is about giving direct control over all local affairs to people's assemblies - mohalla sabhas in urban areas and gram sabhas in rural areas. These sabhas would have complete control over funds, functions, functionaries and land in their area.


These assemblies would meet every month and take decisions regarding all issues in their area. Decisions taken by these assemblies would have to be implemented by elected representative and bureaucrats. People's assemblies would have the power to recall elected representatives and penalize bureaucrats if they act against the will of the people.


The people's assemblies would have complete control over all public funds spent in their area. The people would have power to spend public funds in such a manner that no one starves, no one is homeless, no one is illiterate and no one goes without adequate health care in that area. Why should the schemes related to our lives be made in Delhi or state capitals by some politicians and bureaucrats who have no clue about our problems? The people should have the power to plan for their own lives and surroundings.


Therefore, the people, through people's assemblies should directly manage all affairs of their area, which can be managed at their level. Only such issues which cannot be managed at their level will go to higher levels of government.


If a majority of gram sabhas and mohalla sabhas in a state vote for a particular issue, the state government should implement it even if it requires legislative amendments. That would be true democracy -government by the people. This would be swaraj. This is self-rule. This is Lok Raj.


This is how it used to be since the Buddha's times until 1830. The villages were run by the people assemblies. Those who invaded India merely took control of the central government. Villages continued to be governed by village assemblies. But after 1830, the British demolished this system and introduced collectorates taking away all power from the people handing it to the British bureaucrats. Unfortunately, we did not restore the powers back to the people after Independence.


Today, in many countries like the US, Switzerland, Brazil etc, people collectively take decisions on all local issues in people's assemblies.


For urban areas, the Central Government recently sent a draft Nagar Raj Bill to all state governments, which seeks to create mohalla sabhas in urban areas, but does not give any power to them. After extensive consultations with various people and experts on this issue including Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Prashant Bhushan, S C Behar etc, a redraft of this Bill has been prepared to give complete control over local affairs of an area to mohalla sabhas. For Delhi, this Bill needs to be passed by Parliament. The important points and the complete draft of this Bill are available at www.lokrajandolan.org.


Swaraj Abhiyan is a campaign by several eminent citizens, NGOs, groups etc who are encouraging people to demand swaraj from the parties in these elections. They are encouraging people to vote for that party, which will bring in necessary laws to give swaraj.