Veteran journalist P. Sainath has said that the nation is in a crisis. And this crisis is not limited to just the rural area. It has become a national crisis at various areas such as agriculture, education, economy, job creation etc.
He was delivering the endowment lecture on the topic ‘Indian democracy at the post-liberalization and post-truth era’ at Media Manthan 2020 organized by the PG department of journalism and mass communication at St Aloysius College (Autonomous).
Mr Sainath said that the many policies adopted in the 90s led to India becoming unusually unequal. Referring to the speech Ambedkar had made at the Constituent Assembly while handing over the draft of the Constitution, Mr Sainath said, “Ambedkar had warned about the weakness of Indian democracy that liberty without equality allows the supremacy of a few over the multitude. Liberty, equality and fraternity must be kept together as we cannot have one without the other.”
Mr Sainath stated that the agrarian crisis was no longer about the loss of productivity, employment or about farmer suicide; it was a societal, civilizational crisis. Commenting on the lopsided policies such as cow-slaughter ban, he explained how cow slaughter ban had adversely affected many industries due to their interdependency. While Muslims who slaughtered cows were rendered helpless, the cattle traders who were mostly OBCs lost their earnings as the cattle prices crashed. An important industry like Kolhapur sandals industry in Maharashtra went bankrupt as a result of the cow slaughter ban in Maharashtra. He said the policymakers had no idea how the rural industries were interconnected. Demonetisation too devastated the rural economy as 98 percent of rural transactions happen through cash.
Mr Sainath also spoke about the crisis of inequality which affects the Dalits and the Adivasis far more than anyone else as 90 percent of the rural households take home less than Rs 10,000/- per month. “Women are yet another group whose labour is never counted in the gross domestic product. Women and girls globally do unpaid work which amounts to about 12.5 billion working hours per year. Monetarily speaking, this is worth 10.8 trillion dollars,” Mr Sainath added.
Speaking about the crisis of jobs Mr Sainath said that major companies were laying off employees just to create more profits for the investors and the adoption of artificial intelligence in the industry would further destroy millions of jobs.
Rector of St Aloysius College Institutions Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ, Principal Dr (Fr) Praveen Martis SJ, HOD of Journalism and Mass Communication department Dr (Fr) Melwyn Pinto SJ were present.
‘Veerappan and Vijay Mallya’s business models are interesting!’
Addressing the gathering during his endowment lecture on Friday, Mr Sainath made an interesting comment on the so called ‘revenue model’. “Whenever I visit IIMs and IITs for lectures on my PARI project, the students there ask me what my revenue model for my project is. I tell them that I do not have a revenue model. In fact, journalism does not begin with a revenue model. Gandhiji, Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh were all great journalists. But they did not have a revenue model,” Mr Sainath said.
On a lighter note, he said that the best revenue model that he liked was that of forest brigand Veerappan and liquor baron Vijay Mallya. “Veerappan ruled the forest for forty years and from the top ministers to the villagers he could dictate terms and liver royally. Similarly, Mallya’s revenue model was to steal the banks and run away abroad and live like a king,” Mr Sainath added.
Journalism is not and can never be a business. It is a calling, he opined. While newspaper can be a business, television can be a business, journalism per se cannot be reduced to a business. “Unfortunately today, journalists are recruited on a contract basis and they have no bargaining power; and there are no unions to fight for their cause. Hence, they are at the mercy of the corporate media houses for their survival and are made to write stories that cannot be called journalism,” Mr Sainath said.
Answering a question as to the pressures he faced as a journalist, he said that external pressures from the government or others could be very well handled. It is the internal pressures from once own media house that journalists find it difficult to manage.
Comments
I request my muslims brothers and sisters please dont vote MIM because they do nothing for minority people in hyderabad. Always both brothers polarise the vote bank politics and come into power but development is zero. Since thier late father salauddin owaisi is also playing the same role. Please elect the correct person who can do good for all communities in secular way.
But you have to understand, it is a simple ploy by BJP to break the opposition. The same happened at the centre. The same will happen in Karnataka if you divert votes. Atleast, Karnataka is away from all the dirty politics BJP plays once it comes to power. Look at what is happening in UP. You want them to come in power, choose to vote for a party which doesn't have a chance to get majority. And don't crib about it later, that a party is in power which doesn't care about Muslims. Choose your vote wisely. Nothing against Mr Owaisi, but to cast ur vote for a party which doesn't have a clear cut chance to be in power - is simply contributing towards the success of BJP's plan. Simple divide n rule!
In my opinion MIM should coordinate with local political party and avoid splitting of minority votes thereby supporting bjp. MIM should contest on its own only if its 100 percent sure to win otherwise votes given to MIM will be waste and it will benefit anti national bjp. Congress less better than bjp.
SO WHAT IF BJP COMES TO POWER IN KARNATAKA........ FOR MUSLIMS BOTH BJP AND CONGRESS ARE SAME... BOTH THEY DONT SUPPORT MUSLIMS AND THEY DONT EVEN CARE ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSLIMS.... DEAR CONGRESS LEADER, JUST CHEKC YOUR LAST ELECTION MANIFESTO FOR MUSLIMS AND CHECK HOW MANY POINTS YOU HAVE COMPLETED FOR MUSLIMS.... BJP PLAYING OPENLY AND CONGRESS FROM THE BACK SIDE OF THE MUSLIMS LIFE...... NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOTH THE PARTIES........... SO MUSLIMS VOTE FOR OTHER PARTY THAN CONGRESS... CONGRESS IS JUST USING MUSLIMS AS VOTE BANK AND NO RESERVATION, NO DEVELOPMENT, NO PROTECTION, NO COMPENSATION, NO JUSTICE FOR MUSLIMS.... IF MUSLIM KILLED NO CONGRESS LEADER WILL COME FORWARD FOR JUSTICE... NOT EVEN MUSLIM LEADERS OF CONGRESS PARTY WILL COME.....
Add new comment