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.

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Ella sahodarammarkk oru advise, nanga nanga penagitt nangalo onnamatho dushman BJP gellum pole aakiranda, please please ninga ellarum onnaitt genduro chance ullo nangalo oru candidate barumpole aakonu, nangalo raya innoru UP do pole aakiranda
Brother,
Being in respectable position as a minister, he should have thought twice before making a statement. If somebody scribbles against him or speaks against him in social media like Fb and whatsapp let him file a case against them. Or let him condemn them. ಇವರನ್ನು ಟೀಕಿಸಿದವರೆಲ್ಲ ಢೋಂಗಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಗಲ್ಫ್ ಗೆ ಹೋದವರಾ? . ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತನಾಡುವಾಗ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಚಿಂತಿಸಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರೆ ಅವರ ಘನತೆಗೆ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದು.
In next election, people will decide who is the best loafer and teach him a good lesson. #Ashrafbhai Nxt Mla #UTK Koragajjana gudige
UT Khader Saab. Most of the NRIs from your region know very well that some of your opponents are not just loafers but are ugliest creatures and communal goons. But you don’t lose cool and respond to them in public. Let them go to hell. We are with you. You are a role model for many. So kindly don’t react to the loafers in their own language.
My humble request to UTK is to ignore the cheap level criticism by communal goons. Be it Bajrangis or SDPI. They really don’t deserve the attention of a great social worker and politician like UTK.
UT Khader has not twisted his statement. He never said that all NRIs are Dongi Maadi Gulf ge hodavaru. He said that Dongi Maddi gulf ge hodavaru trying to teach him how to live. And he doesn’t care them. That’s true. Nirva Modi and Vijay Malya also included in dongi parties.
ಯು. ಟಿ ಖಾದರ್ ಓರ್ವ ಶಾಸಕ ಹಾಗೂ ಸಚಿವ ಎಂಬ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಅವರನ್ನು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಜಾತಿ, ಮತ, ಧರ್ಮ ಪಂಗಡದವರು ಅವರವರ ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳಿಗೆ ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಜನ ಪ್ರತಿನಿಧಿ ಎಂಬ ನೆಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಖಾದರ್ರವರು ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ, ದೈವಸ್ಥಾನ, ಚರ್ಚು, ಮಸೀದಿ, ಉರೂಸ್, ಸುನ್ನಿ, ಎಪಿ, ಈಕೆ, ಸಲಫಿ, ಜಮಾತೆ ಇಸ್ಲಾಂ ಎಂಬ ಬೇಧ ಬಾವ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವರವರ ನಂಬಿಕೆಗಳನ್ನು ಗೌರವಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅಂತೆಯೇ ಕೆಲ ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ತಮ್ಮ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಕೊರಗಜ್ಜ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲೂ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಪ್ರತೀ ವರ್ಷವೂ ಅವರು ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ ಮತ್ತು ಖಾದರ್ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿತ್ತಾರೆ ಇದನ್ನೇ ನೆಪವಾಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಕೆಲವರು ವಿದೇಶದಿಂದ ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಜಾಲತಾಣದ ಮೂಲಕ ನಿರಂತರ ಖಾದರ್ರವರನ್ನು ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಹೀನಾಯವಾಗಿ ಹಿಯ್ಯಾಳಿಸಲು ತೊಡಗುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಜಾಲತಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಕ್ರಿಯರಾಗಿರುವವರು ಅದನ್ನು ಗಮನಿಸಿರಬಹುದು. ಖಾದರ್ರವರನ್ನು ಹಿಯ್ಯಾಳಿಸಲು ಅವರು ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಶಬ್ದ ಮತ್ತು ಭಾಷೆ ಯಾರನ್ನೂ ಒಮ್ಮೆ ರೊಚ್ಚಿಗೆಬ್ಬಿಸುವಷ್ಟು ಕೆಟ್ಟದ್ದಾಗಿರುತಿತ್ತು. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆಯಾಗಿ ಬರುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಬರಹಗಳೂ ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಪ್ರಚೋದನಾತ್ಮಕ ವಾಗಿರಿತ್ತಿತ್ತು.
ಈ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಚಾರವನ್ನು ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಿಸುತ್ತಾ, ಅವರಿಗೇ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿ ಉರೂಸ್ ಸಮಾರಂಭದ ವೇದಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಖಾದರ್ರವರು... "ಊರಲ್ಲಿ ಮೋಸಮಾಡಿ ವಿದೇಶಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಕುಳಿತು ನನಗೆ ಬುದ್ದಿ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ನಾನು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಡೆ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದೇನೆ, ಹೋಗುತ್ತೇನೆ .. ನಾನು ತಪ್ಪಿದರೆ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ತಿದ್ದಲು ಉಲೆಮಾಗಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ಲೋಫರ್ ಗಳಿಂದ ನಾನು ಪಾಠ ಕಲಿಯುವ ಅಗತ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ...." ಎಂದು
ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ.
ಈ ವಿಡಿಯೋದ ತುಣುಕನ್ನು ವೈರಲ್ ಮಾಡಿ ವಿದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗಳನ್ನು ಖಾದರ್ ಅವಮಾನ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಬಿಂಬಿಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವುದನ್ನು ನಾವು ಕಾಣುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ಈಗಲು ಕೆಲವರು ಖಾದರ್ ವಿರುಧ್ಧದ ತಮ್ಮ ಬರಹ ಹಾಗೂ ವಾಯ್ಸ್ ಮೆಸ್ಸೇಜುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೀರಾ ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಶಬ್ಧ ಭಾಷೆ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಜಾಲತಾಣಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಮರ್ಯಾದೆಯನ್ನು ಮೀರಿ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರು ಖಾದರ್ ಪರ ವಿರೋಧ ಚರ್ಚೆಗಳು ಸಮುದಾಯದ ಮಾನ ಹರಾಜು ಹಾಕುತ್ತಿದೆ ಇದು ಇಲ್ಲಿಗೇ ನಿಲ್ಲಲಿ ಎಂಬುದು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞಾವಂತ ಮುಸ್ಲಿಮರ ಅಪೇಕ್ಷೆ.
UTK has insulted innocent loafers by calling communal goons as loafers
Mr. U T Khader,
Please do not twist your statement. You clearly made a statement " Dongi maadi gulfge hodavaru". Even i was a huge admirer of you till date for your simple nature and work which you have done during your tenure as a minister and MLA. But that one statement has made a big difference. I watched the video 2 to 3 times to check about the background. You were referring to a group which conducts meeting in hills(gudde) under torch light. But hope you remember that same group was in your favor when you first contested for bye-election after your father's demise. My request is not to have over confidence, which may result in ego and ultimately result in losing. So many egoistic emperors in the world have lost their empire and power. Therefore, you are not a match at all. If you want to condemn a particular group or party, name it and condemn it in specific & do not make generalized statement. Your statement of "DONGI MAADI GULFGE HOGIDDU" has hurt the sentiments of NRI community who have come here away from their families to earn a livelihood.
Kindly take your time to tender an apology for your words. May Almighty Allah bless you with good health and strength to serve the society and community in a better way.
I think in this state election only one thing will happen for sure "Ibbara Jagala Muraneyavanige Laaba"...
Last year Sangh Parivar leaders were hurt when UT Khader said those who oppose constitution should be hit with slipper. This clearly proved that they oppose constitution. Now some SDPI leaders are hurt when UT Khader said that he wants to learn lesson from Ulema and not from loafer or a person who avoids work and spends time doing useless things. This also proved who are loafers.
“Loafer” is not an abusive or derogatory word. “Communal” is more abusive and insulting word compared to “Loafer”.
Election won't decide anyone's fate. Fate will be decided by the Creator. Our prayers are with self-less politicans like UT Khader.
Feel very sad to see some fringe groups unnecessarily pulling the legs of an honest politician in the name of religion. When I embraced Islam several years ago Muslims used to spend time by fighting each other on religious matters and absurd rituals like Urus, Maulid, ratheeb etc. Now Muslims are fighting with each other by forming political parties. When these Muslims will learn lessons? When they realise their responsibilities? When they stop petty politics?
First of all loafer is not an abusive word. It just means an idle person or a ‘poli huduga’ in Kannada. But the uneducated loafers do not know the meaning of loafer i think. That’s why they making it a big issue.
Dikkara ninage Mr Khader
Bara barutha raayara kudure katthe yaayithu.....
Khader bhai... muslim community had very good hope on you & supported you on full extent... But you are going towards normal politician behind money & seat.... SUPPORT doesnt mean that only to muslims... A true leader will treat all community fair & equally... which congress & other party leaders couldnt do... Instead you are blaming our muslim brothers without having basic knowledge.... Politician doesnt understand normal person way of living that how they spend daily life & how much efforts they are taking to fulfill their family needs...
In sha allah your fate will be decided in this election..
Let the Election results tell who are loafers and cheaters In sha Allah.
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