To Sting or not to Sting!

The manhandling of a reporter and cameraman of vernacular television channel in Hyderabad, when they were planning a sting operation, opens up the debate on the modus operanda of sting operation, and the ethical issues involved in the entire exercise. The channel went one-step ahead and conducted sting operation on its own staff member, hailed as unprecedented in media history; this is fraught with dangerous consequences. Do we need a sting operation to expose the black sheep among hacks or is it for public consumption is debatable.
Tehelka the Indian version of sex lies and videotape, where high public officials were seen accepting bribes. The Tehelka closed shop, but it left behind a legacy, which is being exploited, to the hilt by politicians and the media. Politicians took over from where journalists left, in a show of political one-upmanship Dilip Singh Judeo and Ajit Jogi bowled swinger and reverse swinger at each other, where no public concern was involved.
With the entry of more television channels there is surge in competition and channels are vying for eyeballs. This has resulted in media resorting to unethical practices. And sting operation is an unfortunate fallout of this development. Today television channels are coming up with sensational disclosure using hidden cameras with an objective of achieving public attention. But how many of them serve any public interest is a different issue.
Is the sting operation ethical? Do means justify the ends? Is the sting operation legal? Can the stinger be challenged in a court of law? What methods are valid to reveal a wrongdoing? Is deception legimate when the aim is to tell the truth? There are no easy answers.
There are serious privacy issues in tapping people without their knowledge. Unlike in the west, In India in the absence of stringent privacy laws, journalists indulge in sting operation and a get away with it. Is it ethical to hold someone responsible for a crime that would not have been committed if the undercover journalist had not encouraged the act? Tehelka people were quick to defend ‘extraordinary circumstances justified the use of extraordinary methods.’
There is the ethical issue, of journalist forcing the man to commit the crime who has no intension of committing the crime at the time. This undermines the very role of journalist, who’s job is not to encourage people to break the law. The ensnarement often results in a violation or distortion of rules of natural justice that no person can be made to incriminate himself using deceitful means. The journalist becomes party to the incident and cannot observe the incident from a journalistic perspective. To put a check on the misuse of sting operation by politicians and journalists the government must enact a law conferring only the investigative agencies of launching such operation.
It is an endless debate with no resolution in sigh to arrive at a consensus on the ethics of sting operation; journos need to determine who will benefit as a result of such reporting. One has to go beyond ethics and assess what is legally correct. If journalism is committed to democratic accountability, will the public benefit as a result of specific investigative reports. Does the press fulfill its social responsibility in revealing wrongdoing? Whose interests are being affected? Whose rights are being invaded? Is the issue at stake a matter of legitimate public interest?
Media of late has been resorting to frequent sting operations, which are of dubious nature, where the identity of those carrying such operations is not known. In a society plagued with high levels of corruption, sting operations have a legitimate role, if the public interest can be firmly established. Journalists who carryout sting operations must function in a transparent way so that their motives as well as source of funds can be identified. In the absence of such safeguards sting operations will be reduced to sheer sensationalism and voyeurism. In the name of exposing corruption, people may resort to black mail.
Investigative reporting is real hard grinding work, which requires hard labour poring through heap of papers. Nixon’s Watergate or Bofors scandal investigation entails months of painstaking step-by-step, methodiacal work before they are published. A short cut is sting operation an unethical recourse to entrapment. In these days of instant fame, who has patience for hard work and commitment to get at the bottom of the truth? Sting operation is short cut to fame for indolent journalists. We live in a decaying society, where ethics and norms have no place and journalism, as a profession is no exception to the rule. This is not to suggest that we need a docile press. Investigative reporting ensures transparency in governance. The bane of Indian newspapers is the absence of honest reporting on slipups of politicians and a total lack of investigative reporting and the media is generally prepared to go with the government view of things. Today’s journalism is so fast paced with no follow up and press shifts its focus from one issue to the other. Readers are treated to spectacle of series of scams without any real insight, when the next issue comes the previous issue is forgotten and the media moves.
The country will achieve full development if media is prepared to uncover and report on corruption and misuse of power by politicians and government officials. A free independent and responsible media is country’s best hope. A passive and weak media leaves a critical void in our democratic structure. We need a virile press in search of truth. Let the power of the pen prevail.

Get ‘Babus’out of sports!

The world cup 2007 is history. Reams of paper are being wasted discussing on what needs to done to revive Indian cricket. Experts have put forward the same old remedies (domestic cricket needs to be made more competitive, preparing sporting pitches so on and so forth), said many a times in the past. Hailed as great strategist Greg Chappell was shown the door for the teams’ poor performance. Are the selectors and board president above law? Are they not accountable for the team’s poor performance? Greg’s presence threatened the careers of some of the key players who took their place in the team for granted. He tried to bring a shift in Indian cricket with emphasis from individual flair and brilliance to a kind of teamwork, in the process rubbed many people on the wrong side. In India merit is often superseded by sycophancy. Sir Vizzy upstaged Lala Amarnath by currying favor with Viceroy Lord Wellindon and his wife with flattery and gifts. Vizzy who never played first class cricket was elevated as captiain. He used to bribe rival captains to go easy against his team. Senior Amarnath who stood for principles lost out.

In spite of not so good performance in all major sporting events abroad, Politicians continue to stick their chairs (to use late prime minister Rajiv’s word) like nymphets. Officials outnumber players for Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth games. How can the country expect gold medals, when ignorant officials, who fail to distinguish between a hockey stick and a walking stick, head them? Politicians irrespective of their party affiliations must be barred from heading sports bodies, this will only salvage the Indian sports from the present morass. Alas! We are neither an industrial nation nor a sporting nation. The state of sports has gone from bad to worse. Excepting in cricket we don’t count in any sports and games. Sharad Pawar’s performance has been least impressive both as a minister and as head of BCCI, with farmers continuing to commit suicides across the country. Finally when the dust settles down Pawar and his men will back playing what they are good at - musical chairs.

While analyzing our world cup performance we have missed a point. One-day cricket has changed tremendously and we have not kept pace with the changing times. Any keen observer might have noticed the changing nature of the game. Cricket is fast becoming like Hockey. We were caught off guard, with the emergence of total hockey in the 70’s. Today international cricket requires fitness of very high order, that where Indians are found wanting. The present crop of players thinks twice before they dive. Aussies success mantra of playing aggressive cricket, with stress on fitness is being replicated by nations coached by former Australian players and the results are before us.

What amazes me is the cricket fans flock before television, even after team’s continued indifferent performance. Cricket fans continue to put their money on the team, which has not won a major international tournament in the recent past. Our cricket fan’s memory is proverbially short, with a win against a low rated team on under prepared wickets at home; our players are back in the reckoning. Some things don’t change with Indians.

I belong to a generation who grew up watching all time greats like G.R.Viswanath, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandersekhar I can vouch cricket has declined in India. There was not much money in the game but older generation players played the game with their heart and soul. G.R.Viswanath’s wristy flicks and flashy square cuts, Chandra’s lethal googlies and EAS Prassana’s graceful run up to the wicket, Venkatraghavan’s floaters were cricket connoisseurs’ delight. Surendra Amarnath hailed, as the most stylish left-hand batsman in the 70’s, his talent was never allowed to blossom. Today, watching players like Dhoni hitting across the line, I wonder am I watching cricket or something else. Slam bang, has replaced Style and techniques. Cricketers playing at the highest level are not technically sound. Let us be frank some of the present crop of Indian players are not up to world class standard. Will cricket fans have the fortune of watching the likes of Neil Harvey, Denis Compton, and Colin Cowdrey, Vijay Hazare and Rusi Mody?

Time to blow the whistle!

The other day when I opened my mailbox I came across an interesting mail sent by a good friend of mine, an article in a leading financial daily, which says SriLanka, has done a word of good for the Indian economy. How come I wondered? I thought it might be a knee-jerk reaction by a journo at Indian cricket team’s poor performance. If India had to play 8 matches, 5.8 million people watching the live telecast for 8 hours, we would have lost 371.2 million productive man-hours. Sounds intersting! If the ardent cricket fans do not watch the rest of the tournament we will be saving 8,64000 kilowatts of energy, saved many more poor souls from untimely deaths. Some consolation for cricket fans and crestfallen advertisers. After Indian team early exist form the world cup tournament sponsors are a worried lot. Television channels and sponsors are in the danger of losing heavy. With a drop in viwership in the subcontinent advertising rates have dropped sharply Sponsors who have booked slots (10seconds 450,000) for India, Pakistan match are demanding their money back. With no Indian interest the viewership for the rest of the tournament would be minuscule. Advertisers have cut back on their spending and are renegotiating advertisement rates with the television company.
Over greedy sponsors have built so much hype against a team, which has not won a major cricket tournament since 1985.The sponsors created such hype as if Indian team winning the world cup was a formality. Sponsors are playing havoc with the sport. It is time somebody blew the whistle.

Cricket fans don’t lose sleep!

World cup cricket tournaments have their share of surprises. The world cup 2007 is turning out to be anticlimax. The teams, which were expected to stand on the victory podium, were knocked out in the preliminary round and the death of coach under mysterious circumstances. The incident has cast a dark shadow and a sad commentary on the gentleman game in the grip of bookies.

Coming to performance of the hot favorites, what was intended to be warm-up matches for the fancied teams, Indian and Pakistan turned out to be their waterloo? Teams from the subcontinent were made to bite the dust by minnows. The Indian’s never looked a confident team of reaching the second round; leave lone wining the world cup. Having watched the India, Bermuda match in bit and pieces, our teams early exist did not come as a surprise to me. Indian players were struggling to middle the ball, against a pedestrian attack. With the writing on the wall in a highly surcharged match Indian took the Lankans and result was predictable. With such pathetic display, they did not deserve a place in round two.

They are lessons to be learnt for cricket fans too! Cricket fans performed Yagnas invoking gods for Indian teams success. When Bangladesh inflicted a humiliating defeat, fans broke into frenzy. Indian fans disappointment at the team’s poor performance can be understood. With crores of rupees being spent on the team preparation, hiring a foreign coach for an exorbitant fee, the least expected from the Indian cricket team is to the reach the second round. The selectors vow an explanation to the nation on team India’s dismal performance. But there is no justification in rampaging our cricketer’s houses and physically harming their family members. Houses of Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards were not pulled down by irate mobs when lowly rated Indian team dethroned reigning champions West Indies in the 1983 world cup. This shows we are not a matured nation. After all cricket is a game and it and it should be seen as such. We Indian have a hypnotic obsession for cricket, showering our players with gifts, lands and houses and trample them when they fail. The media cannot absolve itself of the blemish as the media hype has made our cricket stars as national heroes, hence the disappointment. There a host of factors that affect the final outcome of a match. It is the great team that emerges victorious and not a good team. And alas! Indian’s have never been a great team. We had lost in the past and continue to lose in the future, if BCCI fails to address the basic problems that plague Indian cricket.
Next time if India loses a cricket match, cricket buffs pull up the selectors!

Higher education at cross roads!

A university should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning. - Benjamin Disraeli

The country’s higher education has come a long way from mere hand full of universities to more than 300 and the number is growing. Colleges, teacher, students has shown a phenomenal increase in number since 1947. Higher education registered a sixteen-fold increase in the number of universities, 20-fold increase in number of colleges since independence. Indian universities have grown in number, but witnessed rapid downslide in all spheres of their operation. Higher education in plagued with overcrowding, in adequate staffing, deteriorating standards, poor insufficient equipment and declining public budgets. Only three Indian universities figure among the list of 500 best universities in world shows the pathetic state of our higher education. The word ‘Universitas’, from which the idea of university was born signifies that sectarian, religious, caste, and political considerations have no place. But such narrow tendencies rule roost in our universities. With politicians extending their tentacles into the grooves of academics, Universities instead of being centers of excellence have become centers of influence, corruption and nepotism. Starved of funds state run universities are in doldrums.

Higher education serves two purposes. One is creating knowledge, and transferring this knowledge from one generation to other. In fulfilling this aims our universities need to go a long way. A nation’s progress is judged on the basis of its advancement in science in technology. The state of research in Indian university is less said the better. Higher education does not get the priority it deserves; our universities confine themselves to teaching only and do very little research. India has the third largest technical manpower, but year after year Nobel prizes goes for American and European universities. Shortsighted planning hampered the growth of science and technology in India. Since independence the biggest blunder we have committed is setting up autonomous research institutions whereby neglecting research in universities.

Compared to advanced countries students pursuing higher education in the age group of 17 to 23 is less than 8 percent. In advanced countries like US, UK and France it is 15 percent. To achieve this target we need another 1500 universities. When majority of the universities lack basic infrastructure to carry research, Is it prudent on the part of the government to go for more number of universities? We are faced with a tricky problem of widening the base of higher education without dilution in standards. There is growing consensus among academicians that higher education needs to be remodeled to meets the needs of the economy.

In the backdrop of Knowledge Commissions recommendation, there is an urgent need for overhaul of the higher education to meet the countries future challenges. If India is to develop socially and economically, funding for higher education must be increased. The knowledge Commission has recommended a higher allocation from a GNP of 0.34 to 1.5 for higher education. Is the government with its meager resources in a position to fund so many universities? Where will the money come from? This is where Investment from private sector comes in handy. Higher education is one area, which has remained unaffected by winds of liberalization. In the post-liberalized economy, broadcasting and telecommunication has witnessed phenomenal growth and the government with a cautious optimism can allow private investment in higher education sector. The government has do a tight rope walk in view of Supreme court judgment in 2005, squashing the establishment of several private universities under Chattisghar universities Act 2005. Fee structure in universities has remained almost same for the last fifty years, for fear that any hike in fee may lead to backlash form student community. Students who pay thousands of rupees as school fees should be made to pay the actual cost of higher education. There is a need for rationalizing of the fee structure keeping in view of the realities and inflation. The days of free meals are over.

Primary education holds key to education system in any country. Even after six decades of independence shamefully we have not be able to achieve universalisation of primary education. The government with its scare resources needs to concentrate on primary education and allow private participation in higher education. This is not to suggest, private sector be given unfettered freedom. In country plagued with social inequalities education cannot be left to market forces. The state must ensure a good regulatory mechanism to make sure that private institutions adhere to certain norms and standards, there by creating a level playing field for government and private universities. In the changed economic scenario market forces dictate research. Symbiosis between the industry and universities will accelerate all round development of the economy. Higher education transcends physical barriers; with the integration of the world economy, we need to work on education framework that creates trained human power, which is at par with global standards. The WTO’s new Trade in Education Service (TES) Practices, declaring education as tradable commodity, we need to tone up our higher education to make it fit to be marketed abroad. A globalizing economy would presumably need skills of a much wider variety than those offered at our Universities where even the existing syllabi are hopelessly out of date.

The expansion of educational infrastructure must be coupled with emphasis on faculty development programme to man these institutions. Teaching is no more the first choice of the present generation, with MNCs and software industry attracting the best people with good pay packs academics have suffered with teaching posts remaining vacant for want of suitable candidates in many universities. The biggest challenge before our policy makers is to attract the best brains for teaching and research. Higher education plays a dominant role and is an integral part of development in every sphere of life. It ensures faster economic and social development and plays a vital role in building national character. We need to take a re-look at the educational system, which failed to address the problems of the country. Higher education as vehicle of economic growth has brought in new dimension in the education sector. There is an urgent need to re-define the structure and objectives of higher education in the context of our shift to market economy. We need to discard the present education system a ‘legacy of colonialism’ and have an education system based on Indian values and ethos.

My tryst with journalism

Journalism as a profession has always fascinated me. Being a keen observer of what is happening around the world, journalism was my first choice. I became a journalist by intent and not by default. Being a voracious and regular reader of newspaper and magazines, I nursed an ambition to be a good and successful journalist. Going through the newspaper half sleepy and bleary eyes, sipping hot coffee was a routine from my younger days. Newspaperman tossing the paper into the veranda, with the shout of Paper! Was my awake up call?
Daily dose of chiding and reproof from my mother not withstanding, I never gave up the habit of flipping the pages of newspaper, before rushing off to school and latter to college.

With high hopes of a rosy future, at the back of my mind, I entered the department of journalism, Andhra University, with a resolve not to commit mistakes I did throughout my not so distinguished career. Absorbing the rudiments of journalism, enjoyed occasion spat with colleagues, which left among us with no rancor or ill will. We enjoyed greater freedom compared to our friends in other departments of the University.

But, it took me no time to realise, that a degree in journalism was no ticket for plum post in leading dailies. Sneered and lookdown by senior journalists, I was left wondering, whether I committed a mistake in choosing journalism as a profession. Running around newspaper offices only to be informed by the polite editor, ‘you don’t fit the bill’. Promises by journalistic friends of a good break in leading newspapers never materialized. With no contacts, joining newspaper office became next to impossible. Too many people chasing too few jobs, with the competition being cutthroat, I advise people who intend to become journalists to think twice before they jump the gun.

Very few of friends took up journalism as full-time profession. Working in late night shifts and not so good pay pack forced many students to opt for other profession. I thought they would have made a mark for themselves, if they choose journalism as profession. After running around newspaper offices in vain, I settled for teaching profession, training young potential journalists, with a fond hope they would be torchbearers of journalism. Iam greatly endowed to my teachers who have shaped my career, showering on me jewels of wisdom and erudition. To them, I bow in reverence!