Don't shoot the messenger

I always look forward to my meetings with Mr Kanwar Sandhu. The perspicacity and intellect of this venerable and distinguished journalist never fails to impress me. But I was deeply perturbed when I met him a few days ago. He told me that how the broadcast of the news channel he was heading was being stalled by the cable mafia simply because the channel had dared to air certain news that powers that be found inappropriate or against their interests. This in fact, isn’t the first time that such a thing has happened. I have been hearing instances of ‘unfavourable news’ being blocked out, media organisations being persecuted for daring to report things against the ruling dispensation. The unfortunate aspect is that the malaise isn’t restricted to a particular state or a political party. It is a pan India problem now, a fact borne by the recent survey of Reporters Sans Frontiers, which puts India at a dismal 122 on its famous World Press Freedom Index. It is a disgraceful paradox that in a country which takes pride in being the largest democracy in the world, the fourth estate is being treated so shabbily by the governments. The survey clearly mentions that in India the rich and powerful can intimidate journalists with ease. 

For India, this is tantamount to utter hypocrisy. We make no qualms in teaching Chinese how to treat its Nobel Prize Winning peace activists. We castigated Myanmar when it restricted access of international media to Aung Sang Su Kyi and waste no time in preaching the Mid East countries the values of an open press. But our own record is miserable. I am really disturbed with the impunity with which media is being stifled in Punjab in particular. An unhealthy trend has emerged wherein the ruling government of the day patronises a particular media organisation (which is owned by it and or its well wishers) and then bullies the others to toe its line. This is akin to what was happening in Germany under Nazis. As the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in the Third Reich, Joseph Goebbels, maintained absolute control over all publications and broadcasts. Criminal penalties were set in place for hearing non German radio stations or subscribing to non German newspapers or periodicals.  

Eminent thinker and prolific writer, Naom Chomsky had once written that propaganda is to democracy, what violence is to totalitarianism. I feel that attempts by the powerful to ‘tame’ the media can only be to the detriment of India. Vibrant democracy presupposes a well informed citizenry. If the government chooses to determine what people know, then it is undermining the very principles of the democracy. It is only when the citizens have the information that they can make the right choices. Some of our politicians need to accept the fact, that media is not their personal public relations office. It is not media’s job to be charitable to them. Media’s job is show things as they exist- the good, the bad and the ugly. Media is the most important sentinel of a democracy. A true democracy listens to the warnings of the sentinel and goes about reforming itself. If we silence our sentinel, there will be no one left to tell us of our warts. The fact, that the ruling British government obfuscated information pertaining to the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq, ensured that British citizenry ended up supporting a war it did not believe in. Media in Italy, is often despised and rarely trusted because most of the media organisation are owned by President Berlusconi. 

Through his two legendary books 1984 and Animal Farm, George Orwell, brilliantly portrayed the pitiable state of a society where media is controlled. Though the subject of Orwell’s description was Stalinist Soviet there were ample warnings that liberal societies could also descend into such repressive regimes if its governments show intolerance towards ideas that they consider undesirable. A mature polity welcomes dissent. It is unfortunate that in India, some governments today want media to sing paeans for them. While I can understand that today’s politicians may not have the broadmindedness of our first Prime Minister (who was so wary of his cult following and media worshipping that he once wrote an anonymous letter to parliamentarians wherein he exhorted them to be wary of ‘this man called Nehru’) they can at least ensure that they do not stop media from doing its job in a proper manner. Media is the most important purveyor of information in any society. All our measures to bring in more transparency in government functioning through measures such as RTI would be futile if media is silenced. Our policy makers may do well to remember what Thomas Jefferson, the author of US Declaration of Independence, said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

New Year Resolution

At my public meeting at Khanna two days ago, a bright young boy barely out of his  teens, approached me gingerly. “What are your new year resolutions, sir?,” he asked. I jokingly, replied, “New year resolutions are like money. They are easier made then kept.” Of course, my reply did not cut much ice with him. So, I in turn asked him, “What about you son? What have you resolved to do in 2012?”

With an enthusiasm which is the hallmark of uncorrupted youth, he rattled, “Sir I want to get a good score in my XII exams then get an admission in a top college in Delhi University.” 

Now, having studied in St Stephen’s College myself, I know the aura of certain colleges in Delhi University, but still I goaded him to talk a bit more. “But why Delhi University in particular? “, I asked him. He replied with extreme candour, “Sir, we don’t have any other option apart from Delhi University. Colleges and Universities in Punjab don’t prepare one for the professional life. I know there are couple of good colleges in Chandigarh, but again in most courses Panjab University is giving reservations to students who have done their XII from Chandigarh. Most of my friends are planning to go abroad. I don’t want to leave India, but I can’t afford to stay in Punjab. If I do, my career will be ruined”

Needless to say, the last two sentences was disturbing. I tried to reason with the youngster but deep inside I realised that the youngster was correct. If Punjab’s own youngsters have such a low opinion about its education system, then we can’t expect others to take us seriously. It is perhaps one of the reasons, why we don’t see too many IT, KPO,BPO companies setting up their offices in Punjab.

Why is our education system in such a ruin? People may point out that Punjab now has an IIT at Ropar and an ISB is coming up at Mohali. Certainly, these are premier institutes and are important for our state, but here we are talking about something much more basic. Not everybody can afford to go to an IIT, does it mean that he is doomed to study in a miserable engineering college? Not everyone can secure an admission in ISB, does it mean that he gets an MBA degree which is not even worth the paper it is printed on? I know there is an Army Institute of Law at Mohali and now an upcoming university in Patiala, but can they take care of the aspirations of so many youngsters in Punjab who want to be lawyers? 

As said earlier, these are world class premier institutes. They will retain their excellence but I doubt, that we can point to them and say that education in Punjab is improving. To make any significant improvement, we will have to improve the quality of education at our other local colleges as well. Or to go even at a more fundamental level, the quality of education and teaching at our schools has to be good. Come to think of it, is it fair to expect a student who has studied in an ill equipped government school with a teacher in permanent absentia to compete with a student who has studied in a premier private school in Chandigarh for a place in an IIT or any other good college? 

Of course, it is easy to point out the warts. But then someone has to point out the ills, only then can we go about correcting them. I think bigger steps such as investment in infrastructure can come later, but small initiations need to be made. This can include respecting the teachers, paying them better, making them accountable for performance, giving the right exposure to the children, giving them hope that they can do well. From my personal experience I can tell you that this goes a long way. A few years ago, we started this new initiative in my constituency at Gidderbaha. Under the scheme, all the students studying in government schools in Gidderbaha constituency who scored more than 80 per cent marks in their Class VIII and X exams, are rewarded with a two day trip to Chandigarh wherein they visit the campus of Dell Computer, Infosys and other premier software offices in Chandigarh. There they interact with the professionals and the senior company executives. In the last three years, I have seen that this has had a remarkable effect on children’s and their parent’s psyche. Many of students have gone on to pursue careers in management and engineering. For pupils studying in mofussil government schools, this was unimaginable. The scheme had other effects too. For instance, the parents and pupils started to perceive the scheme as a distinction and everyone wanted to get selected for this trip which meant, that everyone started to work hard to get 80 per cent marks. The teachers in the schools of my constituency tell me that there is a great improvement in the attendance at the schools and students are more focussed and committed. 

The point I seek to make is that we need to make small initiations before we make the big ones. It is eminently possible. Let us not forget that our neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh is likely to beat Kerala as the most literate state in India by the end of this year. There is no harm in learning and emulating their success at the primary education level. But let us take the success even forward. Let us aspire not only to be the most literate state in India, but to be the most EDUCATED one. 

Let us ensure that no youngster ever tells me again, that he doesn’t want to leave India but can’t afford to stay in Punjab!

That should be a good new year resolution.