The Annual Farce Report

One of the things that the Tarun Tejpal rape case brought out and on which no action has been taken at all is the corruption at Tehelka. Everyone who was aware of Tehelka knew it didn’t have enough earnings to sustain itself. Many former employees mentioned salaries were always delayed. Yet, the top management like Tejpal, Shoma Choudhury and their family members made a huge amount of money selling shares at bogus, inflated prices. Even Kapil Sibal had shares in his name but he claimed he had only made a donation of 5 lakhs. Being the law minister he isn’t bothered who signed his share application form if he hadn’t applied. Such money flows directly through political organisations or indirectly under orders of those in power. Not very hard to guess, is it?

Tehelka being a Congress crony had a great run till Tejpal’s ‘one minute of drunken banter’ as he calls it. His THINK Litterfest was a grand scheme to make money through coerced sponsorships. I wonder how other Litterfests and Think programmes organised by other media outlets are funded. We do know that HT Summit has been funded with PSU money in the past and this year too. There’s India Today with its multiple conclaves. There’s NDTV and CNN-IBN with Greatest Indians, Tiger’s tail, Green-cover money and so on. Each one has a farce of its own flavour.

India Today came up with the most extraordinary finding that Andhra Pradesh was the best managed state and doled out an award to CM Kiran Reddy. They claim to have assessed the performance of all the states on various parameters and found AP the best governed. Even if this goes against general public intelligence you have to wonder what experts they employ to deliver such comic assessments. There is merit in assessing state performances by a news outlet so that the public can measure but is there merit in a media house giving out awards to a CM? Absolutely not! A warden may assess the conduct of his prisoners and recommend early releases but it would be stupid to dole out “Best prisoner awards”. The media fails as a watchdog over and over again when it starts doling out awards. Seasoned editors and publishers have removed the “watch” part from their roles and become shameless ass-lickers.

CNN-IBN was there again with its annual sham of “Indian of the year” awards. The sports and business categories shouldn’t bother anyone but yet again there was a political award for Arvind Kejriwal (probably for the 3rd time). This time it was for winning against Sheila Dikshit and AAP making a great debut in the Delhi elections. What are these awards for? Electoral performances or performances as elected officials? In any case, news media shouldn’t be rewarding politicians at all. Once again CNN-IBN removed the ‘watch’ from the watchdog. CNN-IBN’s past awardees include Rahul Gandhi, Manohar Parrikar and nominations include Akhilesh Yadav. At least two of these have turned out to be pathetic non-performers. Manohar Parrikar still has some way to go before being judged. The haste to give an award to Arvind Kejriwal follows the campaign the entire IBN group carried out for the AAP party during the last elections.

Kejriwal himself has made a thorough farce of democracy itself with his mindless moronic 18 questions to other parties and then the SMS poll with citizens to decide if AAP should form a govt. In giving out such silly awards the news channels cheat the public to whom they are to report facts and truth. I do not see one case where the IBN group has honestly reported about AK or AAP. This was true for their sucking up to RahulG also till they had to face the undeniable truth that RahulG was a dud. This brief report about the annoyance of Delhi citizens with AK and AAP is the sign of times to come for this party that is making spurious promises based on nothing but foolishness:

The CNN-IBN IOTY farce is sponsored by none other than GMR who is a major contractor of the govt for building airports and other infrastructure projects. GMR is a group with over 150 companies under their roof. All it takes is a call from a friendly minister to channelise funding of such awards and programmes. As with Tehelka, the other news outlets and TV channels have found that they can sustain themselves only through such silly programmes where they make a huge profit through sham awards, litterfests and other campaigns. The honour for some awardees may well be truly deserved but only a fool would believe that these news channels are out for some noble deeds.

Each of these flamboyant news channels has been laying off employees by the score, facing huge losses but have to keep their lipstick on with such programmes. The last THINK of Tehelka was reported to have brought in 17 Crores, so you can estimate what each such event is meant to generate. If you read the linked report it will be obvious that the festival was operated through multiple companies and even sponsors weren’t aware which company they were actually dealing with. Each year it gets more brazen as NDTV showed us this year.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan for once was turned into Hotel Raisina Hill. Here’s an image from the RP website:

Notice carefully the links on the left margin of the website home page. It has profile, speeches, gardens etc. but none that says “RP Bhavan is available for rent”. There is another page that accepts requests and grievances though that doesn’t appear to be information for renting a hall at RP Bhavan. NDTV, for its 25th anniversary celebrations, rented a hall at RP Bhawan for a frivolous show called “25 global living legends of India”. From a nation of 1 billion plus they went with a torch and microscope to find these 25 people.

I would agree with the people chosen being living legends but it is foolish to pick only 25 because there are many others who would also qualify to carry that title. Oh, of course, the number has to match NDTV’s 25 years of non-performance. Surely, if you were to pick Shahrukh Khan, who I consider a ham, why would you overlook someone like Dilip Kumar? Anish Kumar, Indira Nooyi, YK Hamied, Zubin Mehta can all have better replacements one can argue. Surely, Lata Mangeshkar is any day a bigger legend than Zubin Mehta for India. But the whole idea and event is a farce so why look for any sense in it. Why should the President hand out these dole-titles from RPB and make it look like a State award?

NDTV has just about managed to pick those who would appear to be “sickular” and closer to their own political persuasions. The channel is a loss-making, face-losing brand. It has been accused of many misdeeds, including financial ones. So to out-do their competition in these sham shows they had to do something weird and unusual to catch some attention so they used their political clout and rented the RPB. To say NDTV is a doormat of the Congress would be stating the obvious. The more important point is how the govt allows a private party to misuse the facilities at RPB for its own private agenda. Sonia Singh confirms the channel had paid rent for it and I would say that is quite big-hearted of NDTV. I’m also sure the rent would be nothing more than peanuts for the facilities obtained if it were compared to a 5-star property. Sonia also mentions “this exchange really misses the point”. I agree! The point that it misses is that a bad precedent has been set by the govt. Now any Tom, Tata or Reliance can seek usage of RPB for grand private ceremonies. TOI can even hold its next Filmfare award at this hotel and have the awards given out by the President.

If at all RPB is available for such frivolous shows their website makes no mention of it and doesn’t mention at what rent. If such a facility is allowed to NDTV there is no reason why the public shouldn’t be aware at what rent and for what purposes RPB can be misused. The RPB hall is mostly meant for state functions. But now you can hold your next party there if you have political connections.

All these events are annual farces to make money and partly for brand-building. It is worth noting that almost all of these farces have bloomed only in the last 7-8 years while the corrupt Congress regime has been at the Centre. Someday a massive investigation in to these news outlets and such events will reveal how much public funds and facilities have been looted. Those who scream the loudest about corruption are also usually the ones fuelling it. The watch had indeed gone out of ‘watchdog’ a long time back. All that remains is the…

PS: Please do vote on the poll for India’s worst news channels (on the right margin of this page).  

AP: Broken Before The Bloom

Partitions across the world have come with or brought on blood shed throughout history. From Germany to Czechoslovakia to Koreas to Iraq-Kuwait, all these countries have had trouble separating. In contrast Germany reunited rather peacefully. Apart from Nepal and Sri Lanka there isn’t a neighbour that India doesn’t have border issues with that have continued since independence. The issue of LOC with Pakistan should have been settled in 1948 itself. Instead the GOI under Nehru had funny ideas of UN referendum and kept the LOC alive. The price is being paid even today. There have been four wars with Pakistan and now terrorism continues the bloodshed not just in J&K but extends to other parts of India. Indecision has a huge price to pay.

If Telangana was to be formed in the 1950s then it should have been dealt with and done with then itself. But it has been typical of our govts to prolong issues till they spiral out of control. The Congress-UPA govt too had nine years to peacefully resolve the Telangana issue. Some parties like the TRS started off a newer agitation and brought regions of Andhra Pradesh to frequent stand-still. In the rush to garner electoral advantage in 2014 the Congress quickly decided to resolve the issue by creating a Telangana state. For the record there wasn’t a single party that didn’t agree to the idea of Telangana save a few individual politicians. Observers in the media called it a master-stroke by Sonia Gandhi. Why wouldn’t they? Here’s a report that HindustanTimes (July 30, 2013) carried which is quite similar to other reports that appeared when the decision was finally made by the party:

“As it ended the uncertainty on Tuesday with what could be a political masterstroke to check-mate its opponents ahead of the 2014 general elections, the developments went according to the script”. A masterstroke that went according to script? It shows how little the media pundits have their ear to the ground.

The decision remains to be endorsed by parliament though. Surprisingly, the decision to form Telangana comes from the Centre without a basic resolution or decision from the AP state assembly. Even if such resolutions aren’t binding they are reliable as public voices. This is asking for trouble. It is always the case that the ones kicking and screaming are heard the most while the silent ones are ignored. Neither the Congress nor any other political party imagined or estimated the backlash that would follow. The Congress members put up hoardings all across Delhi to “Thank Sonia Madamji for the Telangana dream”. Little did they know that the dream would soon turn into a nightmare. In their political quest to have a splinter political party like TRS merge with them the Congress didn’t really estimate the sentiments on the ground in reaching the decision. The decision to make Hyderabad to joint capital is even funnier. Take a look at the proposed new map:

Hyderabad city is almost bang in the centre of the Telangana state. It is not even contiguous with the two states to be shared as a capital. This arrangement too is supposed to be for 10 years. That’s like postponing another problem which is definite to crop up after 10 years. And if Hyderabad is made a Union Terroritory the revenues of the city will accrue to GOI and not to either state. The recent partitions of states like UP, MP and Bihar were based more administrative necessities rather than sentiments or history. Given our population and size of some states, carving out smaller states seems sensible but it is hardly advisable where emotions and sentiments run high. Politicians typically exploit these sentiments. For all you know the part of Rajasthan which is west of the Aravallis suffers from multiple problems of poor management. It may make sense to separate that part as a smaller state that can bring focus and better management of its problems.

For over 2 months now AP has been on the boil and has been frequently facing partial or full shut downs. The National Broadcaster’s Association (NBA), which is a union of snakes, had decided not air stories from the state to hide the disenchantment that has flourished. What could have been easier done some 50 years ago cannot be done now when multiple issues of resources and sentiments clash. Given the current circumstances it only makes sense to postpone the creation of Telangana itself. A new state govt is due in AP in 2014. The elections will be fought on pro and anti Telangana politics. This may enable the state Assembly to first decide on the partition rather than an imposed decision from the Centre. People like Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Reddy are now on frivolous hunger strikes. Everyone wants to fry their political fish while the state burns and has come to a standstill. All of these politicians had supported the creation of Telangana too. The CM Kiran Reddy doesn’t know where he stands half the time. Sometimes he has a yes and sometimes he has a no.

We have heard strange stories from personal lives. Here’s one that appeared in a TOI supplement on October 7. A man who was wrongly demanded to pay an additional Rs.7500 for utilities which he claims he had already paid long back was deprived of his house by a builder for non-payment. He has been fighting the case in consumer courts for the last 8 years. As the report says, he has spent 7.50 lakhs so far in fighting the wrongful claim of 7500. According to him it’s the principle that counts. Ignoring burning issues for a long time has a heavy price to be paid. Maybe Telangana should have happened 50 years ago. As with other issues of LOC, borders with China and Bangladesh, issues with SriLanka all have a heavy price that the country pays. Andhra Pradesh is now paying a heavy price too while politicians fiddle. Telangana’s fate still hangs in balance. It’s like being broken even before starting to bloom.

Roots of The Mining Disaster

A GoM meeting is scheduled tomorrow on the issue of the ‘paid news’ syndrome. About time too. The group includes P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni, Sharad Pawar and Kapil Sibal who had faced public wrath just days ago during the Anna movement.

An excerpt from the Indian Express “..An amendment in the Press Council Act to bring electronic media under its purview and make its recommendations binding…At present, TV channels self-regulate themselves through a loose federation of News Broadcasters Association. The GoM’s brief is to study the PCI report and suggest comprehensive institutional mechanism to check the corruption in media…. It also sought full empowerment to adjudicate the complaints of “paid news” and give final judgment in the matter. “A proposal to amend Section 15(4) of the Press Council Act, 1978, to make the directions of the Council binding has been pending for a long time..”

The interesting part is much of the TV news media has either been a strong lobbyist for the Congress or covered up their misdeeds through spin and deception. The extra-ordinary hit job that the some channels have done and continue to do on Narendra Modi is a job that the Congress would be very proud of. Yet a public movement forced the TV media to stay with people’s anger on corruption and that has obviously annoyed Congressmen no end. The latest mining scam disaster is one such serious issue that has been either ignored or covered up by the media for the Congress. And the cover-up almost looks like a major conspiracy. With the arrest of the Reddy brothers the target is still the BJP in the media but there is something even more sinister. The arrests are related to illegal mining not in Karnataka but in Andhra Pradesh. (Some references here are based on feed by @KiranKS on Twitter. His tweets made me search for the roots of the disaster.)

Usually when a new CM takes office the media writes a detailed bio of the person. So is true for Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy (YSR), the late CM of AP who twice won elections to the CM’s office. Here is a link you might like to try to read up YSR’s bio: www.ndtv.com/news/india/profile_dr_y_rajasekhara_reddy.php . Don’t blame me if you came with an error page. That bio has disappeared. Truth is, the mainstream media glorified the man as a messiah so much that nobody really looked into history. I have only used the NDTV page as an example but they may not be the only ones whose pages on YSR have suddenly disappeared. You may find that in a lot of other sites.

Here’s a prelude: (Written by K. Balagopal in 2004 when YSR first became CM of AP) This is a bio you won't find in the MSM:

Raja Reddy established his credentials as a man to fear by an incident that people still talk of, nearly 50 years later. The town of Pulivendula has a sizable colony of Erukalas, a scheduled tribe, some of whom were known for their unruly ways. They were despised but feared by the higher castes, though it is rumoured that D N Reddy was not above using their crimes for his ends. One day one of them, Oosanna, tried to steal the ornaments worn by a woman of the reddy caste in the bazaar. When the woman struggled, that man cleverly exclaimed that she was his wife and was being disobedient. By the time people realised he was telling a lie, he had slipped away. Later in the day, Raja Reddy reportedly caught hold of Oosanna, dragged him to a public place, poured kerosene on him and burnt him alive. This incident made Raja Reddy a feared man, and people became willing to gather behind him in his conflicts with established leaders. By and by he established immense dominance in the area.

But he lacked money of the kind that would sustain his further rise in politics. This problem was resolved by a combination of chance and brutality just about the time that YSR entered politics. Cuddapah has deposits of the mineral barytes, which was once upon a time not a highly priced mineral. One of the mining leases was held by Venkatasubbaiah of the balija caste. Raja Reddy joined him as a junior partner/supervisor (it is not clear which), reportedly because Venkatasubbaiah believed he would be useful in controlling the workmen. Round about the mid-1970s, however, it was discovered that barytes has use in petroleum refining, and its price shot up. Raja Reddy wanted Venkatasubbaiah to hand over the mining lease to him and go. A prominent CPI leader and writer, Gajjela Malla Reddy, brokered a deal whereby Venkatasubbaiah would take Rs 11 lakh and leave the mining lease to Raja Reddy. Venkatasubbaiah refused, and was killed. The mining lease, passed into YSR's hands.

Raja Reddy is YSR’s father. I believe therein lies the roots of the mining disaster. The above is just an excerpt. The full article makes really chilling reading and I recommend you do read it to understand the background of the vicious YSR regime that prevailed in AP.

Some more tweets from @KiranKS (September 5)

Reddy brothers played perfect double game. Politically they backed BJP & Business-wise backed Congress. Big names will roll if they go down

If Reddy brothers were so bad, why did Congress CM YSR lobby for 1000cr loan, allocate 10000 acre land & even divert water for them in AP??

TV Media would not even report that Reddy brothers made profit in Congress ruled Andhra, BEFORE their plant began! humsurfer.com/gali-steel-fac…

Brahmani Steel’s proposed sale to the Jindals did not materialise. Brahmani is a company that received land allocation, illegitimate water supply assurance and doesn’t manufacture anything. All this under YSR’s AP. Now, there is this phenomenal financial rise of Jagan Reddy (YSR’s son) from around 9 lakhs in 2003 to thousands of crores by 2011. I don’t think the great scam that YSR ran in AP needs any further explanation. The facts of the story are brilliantly laid out by Sudhir Kumar on his blog titled ‘The great loot of Andhra Pradesh’. Reading that post would be enough education.It would be education for the MSM too.

Did the mainstream media really have no knowledge about all this? Paid news is only one problem when the overall corruption in the media is considered. If not for the media the Congress couldn’t have ruled AP the way they do. It’s not just a mining disaster for the Reddy brothers, the roots are with YSR and with the media.