On 1st July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Digital India initiative. On the sidelines of this event, MyGov, a Government of India platform to connect to citizens, hosted an informal interaction with a few selected individuals. Active contributors to MyGov and other social media influencers, were handpicked for this event. They were granted an interaction with Narendra Modi at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road, from 12.00pm to 1.30pm. We talked to some of the invitees to find out what happened behind closed doors.
About 150 such individuals from all around the country were present for this once in a lifetime opportunity. The Prime Minister met each and everyone invited. Modi personally greeted everyone, shook hands and felicitated winners of the MyGov contest. He even posed for photos with each person individually, but there were no selfies, since mobile phones were not allowed.
Modi even recognized some of the prominent social media users, like Temsutula Imsong, who is doing great work cleaning up the Ghats in Varanasi. Imsong recalled that Modi had mentioned her in a tweet on 1st April 2015, for her work in Varanasi. She remembered how when her friends told her about this, she thought it was an April fool prank. But after that, she received tremendous help from people in her work.
Modi too spoke at length to all the participants. He asked his social media supporters to not use abusive language on Twitter and other social media. He stressed on speaking about “positive things in a positive manner”. He gave his own example, saying he receives loads of abusive messages all day on Social Media. “If all the abuses I receive are printed on a paper, entire premises of Taj Mahal will be covered”, he said, but he stressed that in spite of this, he hasn’t blocked anyone on twitter. Hence, he said, no matter what others do, his supporters should try to say positive things.
He also said that his website has an old blog post too, where he talks about social media, abuse and how to deal with it. He said that abusive language will finish this exciting medium and it should be used for spreading positive news.
Understanding the power of technology in our lives, Modi said that the relevance of a “thumb” has changed in our lives. Earlier a “thumb” (angootha) was used in context of illiteracy, today a thumb on mobiles, is about digital power. Further elaborating on the power of technology and social media, he said that Social Media has forced Main Stream Media to change its agenda. And because of this power that social media has, all users of social media must realize that they should behave responsibly and in an appropriate manner. In what could be a sly dig at media, he also said that some people who criticize all the time, never tolerate criticism.
The Prime Minister also thanked the MyGov users for spending their valuable time and giving suggestions on various aspects on his site. He asked them to spread the word about MyGov and keep using it regularly since he too checks the feedback he gets there. After the program, all the invitees were transported to the Indira Gandhi stadium for the official launch of Digital India week.
There was a lot of confusion on the Maggi issue, and Times of India was one of the players. On 7th June, Times of India said that Maggi would not be banned in Karnataka, following a test in a private lab, authorized by the Government. Curiously, on the same day, The Hindu ran a story which said the opposite. The Hindu claimed that Maggi would indeed be banned in Karnataka. By 19th June, finally Times of India got its act right and reported that Karnataka Government had ordered Nestle to burn its Maggi stock.
While ANI News claimed this picture was from the recent anti-terror operation, alert users realised that it was in fact at least 2-3 years old. The next day Times of India went one step forward and published the picture on the front page, with all the faces of the soldiers visible and even proclaimed it was “issued by the defence ministry”. Immediately, Ministry of Defence issued a clarification that no picture was issued by them relating to action in Myanmar:
A Clarification: MoD has NOT issued any photo relating to Indian Army action along Indo-Myanmar border in the North East, so far.
Editor of ANI news Smita Prakash claimed that the picture was “authorised to be released”, but at the end of the day, the fact remains this was an old picture and had no connection with the Myanmar ambush, yet was shown as such by the media.
What was a frank, but possibly ill-worded statement from Defence Minister Parrikar, was twisted way out of proportion by many in the media. Firstpost, even went to the extent of saying Parrikar has a “hunger for war and a disdain for the army”. Parrikar, was instantly portrayed as a warmongerer. The truth of course, was different. One look at his complete sentence, gives us the context and also an important disclaimer ignored by most media:
“I have written to many Chief Ministers [over defence matters]. Some have acted on it and at many places, it [response] has ended. The primary reason for this is that we have not been to war for 40-50 years. I don’t mean to say that we should go to war. I mean to say that without war the Army’s importance has diminished,”
Firstly, Parrikar was speaking in the context of State Governments not giving due importance to needs and requests of the Defence Forces. Secondly, Parrikar clearly says “I don’t mean to say that we should go to war“, before saying that Army’s importance has diminished. Yet, he was painted as a warmongerer by the media, and hence he has recently taken the decision to avoid the media.
4. 18 June 2015: Indian Express – IIT JEE Advanced 2015 results out, MP girl Satvat Jagwani tops exam
Indian Express declared that the IIT JEE advanced topper was a “girl” named Satvat Jagwani. This, even as other news reports claimed Satvat Jagwani was a boy. Eventually it was clear that Indian Express had yet again goofed up. Later Indian Express rectified the story and hence we do not have a screenshot of the original news story. But there is adequate information to support the claim that Indian Express messed up. This user tweeted about the same, and even in the comments section of the Indian Express piece, a reader has asked Indian Express to change the story URL from “girl” to “boy”.
Times of India, relying on an IANS report, posted this highly misleading headline on 19th June. The body of the article though made it clear that India did send a high-level delegation. Apparently, the only “absence” was at a “morning roundtable”, where Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister for Commerce did not come. Even this “absence” was only because of Protocol, as her Russian counterpart couldn’t make it to the roundtable, and this fact too was reported by the very same news article. Yet a sensationalist headline was used by Times of India, to spread untruths. Further, the Minister herself cast aspersions on not only the headline, but also the content of the IANS report:
. @nitingarg456 The headline & content of the story surprise me. Both my TL & @CimGOI have recorded our participation. Pl check.
On reading this headline, one would imagine AIMPLB has asked Muslims to begin hostile activities against Hindutva. But once we read the article we find something different. The problem here is Firstpost has tried to sensationalize the issue by adding a “call to arms” phrase, which generally means calling people to take up hostile or military activities. The truth however, is that AIMPLB merely asked to start a campaign to spread their views, and not any violent activity. This is evident when one reads the quoted text in the article.
That Times Now is desperate for a resignation is now apparent. What makes it even more clear is how they are willing to misreport events just to suit their campaign. Following tweets will highlight the same:
Rajasthan cabinet passes resolution thanking Nitin Gadkari for giving clean chit to Vasundhara Raje in #Lalitgate
Firstpost once again gets it wrong. If only Firstpost had bothered to actually see the new IT Returns, the would have realised that the Aadhar number is not mandatory. It even defies logic since Aadhar coverage has not even reached some parts of the country. A screenshot of the IT return makes it clear:
This news report was out in April, but only now the truth has come out. If you read the report, it gives an impression that Adani has been “constantly” accompanying Modi on foreign trips. The piece starts with “Everywhere that Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes, it seems, Gautam Adani is sure to go”, thus making it amply clear, that if not all, Adani accompanies most of Modi’s visits. This theory has been trashed by Adani himself, in an interview now. He says:
“Since becoming the PM, Mr Modi has travelled to 18 countries. As a part of the CEO delegation accompanying him, I have travelled to just 4 – Japan, USA, Australia, and Europe.”
There are some errors in the statement. Firstly Europe is technically not a country. But Modi visited only France and Germany in that trip. So that makes 5 countries. Also, Modi has visited 20 countries till date. So Adani’s self-confessed score is 5/20, hardly “constant”. Even the Hindustan Times article states that Adani has been to United States, Australia, Brazil, France, Canada and Japan (Brazil & Canada not mentioned by Adani). Even if we go by Hindustan Times’ count, Adani scores just 6/20. Does that qualify to be called a “constant companion”?
We had written a separate post on this, detailing how Economic Times put up various versions of this story, all denied by Rahul Yadav himself, and also the obvious conflict of interest between which exists since Times Group owns a company which is Housing.com’s rival. Times Group and Rahul Yadav have a history of being at each other, possibly for such reasons alone.
In order to maintain a particular slant, Indian Express chose to post this story without asking the NIA their version at all. Thus many claims made in the article have turned out to be inaccurate. We had written a separate post on the same here. Firstly, while Salian claims she wants to ask NIA to be relieved from her duty, she has already been recommended to be dropped as a prosecutor, almost 10 days before her interview. Secondly, she hasn’t been “sidelined” in the process, but rules have been followed which says at initial stages, a junior officer handles the case. the case would go to the prosecutor, only at trial stage.
In their show called “Vyakti Vishesh”, based on Vasundhara Raje, ABP News used the following, 9-year-old, odd angle picture and claimed it was a liplock:
(This image was used by ABP News, at around 1.30 minutes into the video, with this voice-over: “..Aur Kabhi woh camera ke saamne, Liplock ki wajah se vivaadon mein ghir jaati hain”
This, even though Economic Times, which had originally published the photo way back in 2006, had then itself issued a clarification that ” It was bad camera angle that gives the impression of a kiss on the lip, in what is just a friendly embrace”. Even then, the clarification was given only because TV channels had gone crazy using titles like “Maharani Ka Chumban” and ‘Shahi Kiss’ for this picture. The video is now deleted from the site.
NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain, in his much hyped show titled “Truth vs Hype”, said this –
“Why did she not sanction only limited travel to Portugal? Lalit Modi used these 2 year travel papers with no conditions, to go globe trotting”
Later, in his hastily drafted letter, which was part of damage control after Lalit Modi exposed him on twitter, Jain once again takes a sly jibe:
“Modi was recently in Cuba, part of his ‘humanitarian’ world tour which also included Madrid, Ibiza and Venice”
Both the times, he deliberately chooses to hide 2 important facts:
1. As per own public admission on twitter, Susma Swaraj clearly said she only told the British High Commissioner to “examine Lalit Modi’s request as per British rules” and that if “they choose to give travel documents, it wont affect Indo-UK relations”. From this it is clear, unlike what Jain claimed Swaraj did not “sanction non-Portugal travel” nor did she give him “unconditional travel papers for 2 years”. She only told UK to do as they deem fit. If at all Lalit Modi got such documents for 2 years, it was due to the UK Government
2. Jain also forgot to mention that within a month of such “help” from Swaraj, the Delhi High Court too offered greater “help” to Lalit Modi, by giving him his passport back. So all of his trips post August 2014, could very well have been based on this passport. Why would he need travel papers when he has got his passport back?
By deliberately hiding these two facts, Sreenivasan Jain in effect lied on his show “Truth vs Hype” that Sushma Swaraj allowed Modi to go globetrotting.
Times of India, in some of its print editions, carried a picture of a Lioness jumping over water, with her cub held in her mouth. The image was credited to PTI. Times of India claimed that this was a picture from the flash floods at Gir. The truth however, is that picture was from 2014, shot in Kenya, with credits given to “Rex Features”. Greek photographer Kyriakos Kaziras captured moment during a trip in December 2013. Even more amazingly, Times of India Ahmedabad, printed the same photo and set the record straight that the picture was actually from Kenya. So comically, Times of India Ahmedabad knew, what many other offices of Times of India had no idea about?
We had tweeted this out with all the discrepancies here. DNA’s headline said the maid was murdered “at” Shripad Naik’s house. The body of the same article said, she was murdered “near” Shripad Naik’s house. The fact was that she was actually murdered in her own hut, which was located near Shripad Naik’s house. This was clearly reported by Times of India who had a local reporter, unlike DNA, which relied on a PTI story. DNA later accepted the mistake and corrected the headline.
Economic Times reported that Union Law Minister, Sadanand Gowda had indicated that Section 377, that criminalizes unnatural sex, may go. This was on the back of the decision from Supreme Court of USA. Atleast, this was the headline given by them. But if one looked at the body, where the minister was actually quoted, one saw this:
“The mood appears to be in favour of it. But it can be done only after widespread consultations and after taking all views into account”
Of course, this did not match with the headline. Gowda probably wanted to say that any decision will be taken after widespread consultations. Immediately Gowda clarified saying this:
“I never said that, I was misquoted. The topic was on USA legalising same-sex marriage. I just said that such decisions would need wide discussions in India”
Even on twitter, he repeatedly asked Economic Times to take down the report, which the eventually did.
This “source” based news, was an “exclusive” of IndiaSamwad. The story said:
“to relieve themselves from the scorching heat of Delhi, Kejriwal’s wife Sunita and his children were cooling their heels in Switzerland”
They gave the impressions that an Aam Aadmi’s family, was “holidaying” in “the world’s most expensive place”. The truth came out later, from the executive editor of IndiaSamwad himself. He clarified that Sunita Kejriwal, “was on foriegn tour sponsored by Finance Ministry.” and that “40 IRS officers were selected for tour”. He also tweeted that her kids joined her later, and the cost of their tickets, was met from a loan taken by Mrs Kejriwal, on her PPF balance.
Any report by any Times Group publication, on Housing.com is always dubious, because they have a conflict of interest, and a legal battle going on too, as we explained here. And to add to this, the story of Housing.com being sold also seems to be untrue. Especially when you see this email, sent by Housing.com CEO sent to his employees. Rahul Yadav is suggesting that since Times group is writing this this story, he is just playing around with media at large, by giving contradictory statements. Even the Economic Times story, Rahul Yadav is quoted to have said “Joke of the year” while responding to this story.
There are multiple aspects in this story, which media might have gotten wrong. We had mentioned all of them here. While some matters arent yet clear, we surely know that Media lied when they said the 1 lakh electricity bill was of Arvind Kejriwal. Fact is, Kejriwal had converted part of his house into a “General Administration Department” for work related to CM’s office. Hence, he had fitted 2 separate meters, one for his residential area, and one for office area. Media reported bills of both these areas as one, and claimed that the bill was over Rs 1 lakh. Actually, as per data given out by AAP, the bill for the residential area averages to only around Rs 15000 per month, which is not too high considering it was summer.
EDIT: Thanks to an alert user, we have to add one more MSM lie for June 2015:
DNA on 20th June, published this news that India has put Caritas Internationalis on prior permission list. Of course, this was “source” based news. Thanks to this misinformation spread by DNA, The Government of India issued a press release on 24 June 2015 to deny such news. The release clearly said the following:
A Netherland based foreign donor agency STICHTING CORDAID has been placed under prior approval category on Aug 06, 2012.
This donor was traced when the Standard Chartered Bank seeked clearance from the Government for a remittance to Caritas Internationalis. So, contrary to what DNA reported, the Donor was under scrutiny and not the recipient i.e. Caritas Internationalis. This was also reported by Business Standard. Further, this was confirmed by Caritas themselves through a press release of their own.
There is a Television company, operating out of New Delhi, which we shall call MDTV for convenience sake. MDTV is run by a popular News anchor, whose name is Annoy Roy I think. There a few more characters to this story:
Another anchor who used to work for MDTV – Abhisar Besharma
Besharma’s wife, who is an Income Tax Officer, and who handled MDTV cases – Sumana Insane
Income tax officer who caught MDTV – OK Srivastava
Lawyer & Chartered Accountant who is fighting the cases – S Heromurthy
An influential politician: B Chidamboringam
In this entire story, there are some facts & some allegations, and it is imperative to separate the two. In the first part, let us tackle only the indisputable facts:
Fact 1: MDTV sold and bought back shares of its subsidiary company in a short span of time, thereby making huge money.
MDTV had 21 subsidiary companies all over the world, many in tax haven companies. MDTV itself had incurred losses in most years. MDTV had a subsidiary, which also was loss making. Book value of its shares was negative, face value was around Rs 45. This company had no business and no track record, only a postal address in a foreign country. Yet, this company managed to sell its shares, whose face value was just Rs 45, at Rs 7015 per share. No valuation of these shares was done by either by buyer or seller company. More astoundingly, these very shares were soon bought back by another MDTV group company, for only Rs 634.17 per share. Thus MDTV group made a cool Rs 6381 per share, by just selling and buying back the shares of a loss making subsidiary company. This profit, multiplied into the number of shares, amounted to Rs 634.17 crores. Eventually these shell subsidiary companies were either closed or merged.
MDTV tried to justify the above transaction to Tax authorities saying it managed to “sell a dream” to a foreign buyer, when the economy was booming, and when the “dream went bust” thanks to failing economy, the buyer sold them their own shares back. This story was of course rejected by multiple tax authorities who did not believe that these were genuine transactions. In other words, this was a clear case of roundtripping money using legal loopholes. The tax authorities concluded that MDTV introduced its own unaccounted “black” income under the garb of sale and repurchase of shares.
Fact 2: MDTV raised $100 Million through Bonds issued by subsidiaries, and later redeemed the Bonds for only $ 72.5 Million
In a somewhat similar modus operandi, MDTV via one of its many subsidiaries, issued “Step-Up” Coupon bonds worth $100 Million to some investors. Most of these investors were again based in tax havens like Cayman Islands etc. MDTV was repeatedly asked for details of the investors etc, but they kept replying that such information was already submitted in previous tax cases. The Tax Department checked their records and found no such evidence and eventually MDTV had to submit the details. But MDTV was unable to prove the creditworthiness and genuineness of these investors.
The issue before the Tax Authorities though was about the currency fluctuation on such bonds, and not the actual issue and redemption, hence eventually such currency fluctuation was not taxed. Also, from S Heromurthy’s letters to Annoy Roy it emerges that MDTV could not prove the details of the money repaid to the bond holders, the source of such money nor the amount.
Fact 3: MDTV raised Rs 254.75 Crores of Unsecured Loans again from one of its foreign subsidiary shell companies.
MDTV, took an unsecured loan of Rs 254.75 crores from one of its subsidiary companies. When the tax department asked for the details of the same, MDTV replied saying they had already provided details in earlier years. The Income Tax Department could not find any such details in its records. Eventually MDTV submitted a letter, with “annexures” claiming to explain the issue. But the Tax authorities found that neither were any annexures attached, nor did the letter contain anything related to the above issue. The authorities also noted that whatever documents submitted were only unverified photocopies, which could not be relied upon. Hence it concluded that MDTV could not prove the genuineness of the transaction and hence this loan was also added as unaccounted “black” Income.
Fact 4: MDTV’s tax cases at the first level, were handled by the wife of an MDTV employee (Conflict of Interest)
MDTV had hired a reporter named Abhisar Besharma. Besharma’s wife Sumana Insane was a Tax Officer. She was the Assessing officer of not only MDTV, but of all its group companies. Thus she was in a clear conflict of interest position. When she came in the position, she should have informed the Government that she has a conflict of interest. This is mandate by the rules governing the conduct of Income Tax officers. Neither did Insane do the needful and abstain from this post, nor did MDTV inform the Income Tax Department of this, and let Insane handle all their tax cases.
Fact 5: Abhisar Besharma was given Rs 39 lacs by MDTV via undisclosed underpriced shares and foreign trips.
When the Tax department heard the case of Besharma, in his personal taxation matters, it found that Besharma was issued 15000 shares in MDTV, by MDTV at only Rs 4 per share. The market price of such shares was Rs 32 lacs at that time. It is not illegal to issue such shares at low rates, but the market price should have been included in Besharma’s income by MDTV. But nowhere in his Form 16 or other documents, did MDTV disclose this amount. MDTV also gave an all-expenses paid vacation to Besharma and his family including parents and in-laws to United Kingdom. Besharma claimed that the expenses were borne by him, but could not prove the same. The Tax department worked out the value of such trip to be Rs 7.51 lacs. In total, MDTV had given Besharma benefits worth Rs 39.51 lacs, and hence they were added to Besharma’s income as unaccounted “black” income. This in fact is proof that MDTV indeed “bribed” Besharma and through him, his wife Insane, who was also MDTV’s Tax officer.
Fact 6: Sumana Insane gave an illegal tax refund of Rs 1.47 crores to MDTV
Within a short span of time after the above gratification to her husband, Sumana Insane issued a tax refund of Rs 1.47 crores to MDTV u/s 143(1). This, in-spite of the fact that MDTV’s case for that year was already open u/s 143(2), thus making the refund illegal. This was noticed by the Audit team of IT Department in 2014 and the refund was declared illegal. Also, Sumana had taken permission from the IT department to go with her husband Abhisar, employee of MDTV, on a foreign trip. IT department had given a conditional approval stating that she should not accept any hospitality from MDTV, and she must also not be involved with MDTV tax matters, either in past or future. Obviously Sumana had violated both these conditions.
Fact 7: OK Srivastava caught MDTV in the act
In 2007, OK Srivastava an honest Income Tax Officer and Commissioner, caught MDTV’s hanky-panky. At that time, he only filed an “inspection note” alleging tax-evasion of Rs 200 crore. But as he went deeper into the case, he found much more data, which resulted in him writing to the Prime Minister in 2012, asking him to grant permission to initiate action against MDTV and even B Chidamboringam who he believed was the king pin in the money-laundering.
Fact 8: Within a month of OK Srivastava’s inspection note on MDTV, he was suspended on charges of Sexual Harassment.
Instead of being rewarded for his unearthing of a potential scam, OK Srivastava was suspended within a month, by his senior, on charges of sexual harassment of 2 women officers. Who were the 2 women officers? One was the very Sumana Insane who was involved in the MDTV illegal refund case. The same Sumana Insane who was the wife of Abhisar Besharma who was an MDTV employee.
Fact 9: OK Srivastava was cleared of these fake sexual harassment charges
Firstly, in 2010, the Central Administrative Tribunal set aside the suspension because there was no substantial progress in the case, and it was not as per guidelines. It noted that the suspension was biased and unreasonable, and that OK Srivastava was an officer with excellent service record. Next, in 2012, the preliminary report of the investigating committee (of which a majority were females), found that the allegations were baseless as at no point of time were OK Srivastava and Sumana Insane in the same office, neither were they ever in a senior/junior position. So there was no chance for any kind of harassment.
Fact 10: OK Srivastava continues to be targeted by these women in-spite of being cleared
In a last ditch attempt, now in 2015, these two ladies have filed a “PIL” in Supreme court against OK Srivastava, claiming that he is harassing them and hence the tax orders passed against them must be quashed. The importance of quashing these orders is as follows: At “Fact 5” above, IT Department determined that Abhisar Besharma, husband of IT officer Sumana Insane, had received benefits from MDTV, which were never disclosed. This amounts to proving that MDTV had bribed Abhisar and wife Sumana. If this order stands, it becomes very easy to prove that all of Sumana’s favours to MDTV flow from this bribe, thereby nailing her and MDTV.
These are the facts. Things which have been proved and cannot be disputed. But some things maybe unclear. Like how is Chaidamboringam involved. These will be dealt with Part 2, which will spell out all the allegations on MDTV by various people of repute. All of them may or may not be true.
(P.S.: Since the above post is purely fiction and does not bear any resemblance to any real-life Television Company from New Delhi, there are no sources cited for any of the above)
Today, various media reports came up that an RTI had revealed that Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence had used electricity worth more than Rs 1 lakh over a period of two months. This flew in the face of the “aam aadmi” image of Arvind Kejriwal and was used by many to show him down. Are these reports true?
Firstly, media is wrong in saying Kejriwal’s home electricity bill is Rs 1 lakh plus. AAP has claimed that the official residence was split up into 2 parts: One for CM’s residence, other for a “General Administration Department” for work related to CM’s office. So to say the entire bill is for Kejriwal’s home, thereby giving an impression that it was for personal use, is incorrect.
The second confusion is about the amount of the bill. News articles like this and this, which are based on ANI reports claim that the RTI has revealed Kejriwal recieved 2 bills of Rs 55,999 and Rs 65,780 (Total Rs 1,21,779). On the other hand, reports like this one by Times of India, based on PTI news service, claim “The general administration department of Delhi government has furnished the copies of electricity bill of Kejriwal’s Civil Lines residence running into Rs91,000“. The same report, quotes a BJP spokesperson saying that the bills are for Rs 55,000 and Rs 48,000, totalling to Rs 1,03,000.
AAP on their part, in their clarification have given the following data:
Firstly, AAP has not given information of the bill for month of May, claiming it is “Unpaid”. This is odd since, although unpaid, a bill is a bill, and naturally this information needs to be given.
Secondly, the grand total of AAP’s figures is Rs 1,10,865 (excluding “unpaid” of May), which doesn’t tally with any of the figures in the media. In fact, if a trend based estimate of May is taken, the figure may shoot well over any media estimates.
The only media estimate, which somewhat matches with AAP’s figures is ANI’s estimate, which says 1 bill is of Rs 55,999. This matches with bills of April which total to Rs 56,000. So if we assume ANI has got it right, the total bill would be Rs 1,21,779, which means AAP’s clarification saying total bills are Rs 1,10,685 is incorrect. If AAP’s clarification is said to be the base, then the RTI reply given by the Delhi Government may as well be incorrect.
Figures apart, one thing is clear, the bills for Arvind Kejriwal’s residence are a mere Rs 47,060 for 3 months, i.e. Rs 15,000 odd per month. Considering that this is during the summer, when ACs and other equipment run much more, the figure seems reasonable.
What is concerning though is that monthly bills for the “office” portion have reached near Rs 50,000. Considering that office will mostly have a few ACs and some computers etc, not any heavy machinery, this amount may seem excessive.
First take a look at the following cartoon published by the weekly magazine Outlook:
What could a drawing depicting a lady on the ramp being lecherously watched by some politicians convey? Since it is a cartoon published in a “respected” magazine, it must be making a satirical comment?
No, it is not shaming politicians for enjoying fashion shows at expense of taxpayer’s money, nor is it any smart comment on how entertainment industry and politics are linked. And don’t strain your brain further; there is no visual metaphor here.
It is a crass tasteless depiction of a young IAS officer who is working in the Chief Minister’s Office in Telangana. And it is a part of a “gossip” that was deemed fit to be published in a column tragically titled “Deep Throat”.
Deep Throat was name of the anonymous source whose revelations forced a US President to resign. His revelations were in public interest. But here, Outlook is publishing sexist trash under the same name.
Look what they have to say about this young IAS officer Smita Sabharwal, who had qualified in the UPSC examinations at a young age and had secured an all India rank of 4:
The lady is present at every meeting and seen in almost every official photograph sent out by the CMO. But what she does exactly is a puzzle. She makes a fashion statement with her lovely saris and serves as “eye candy” at meetings, admit leading party politicians.
So Outlook wonders what exactly does Smita, Additional Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office, do. Maybe check with the government what Additional Secretaries do. But instead of checking with the government, they talked to “leading party politicians” who “admitted” that she serves as “eye candy at meetings”.
Lovely! So some politicians tell an Outlook journalist that a lady IAS officer serves as “eye candy” for them. And the journalist thinks that instead of exposing this sexist mentality of those politicians, it will be good to write this gossip and cast aspersions on the lady.
Perhaps this explains their hit job against Smriti Irani earlier, where instead of wondering if their unnamed “sources” could be talking trash, the magazine thought to publish their gossip as gospel truth.
The note on the lady officer further says:
In fact, it’s this bureaucrat who calls up other officials in the CMO and asks them to come for meetings. She knows exactly what time the CM will arrive and leave the office.
Well, at least the journalist now knows she arranges meetings, so what exactly she does is not really a “puzzle” as it was earlier claimed. However, the worst insinuation is in the second line – she knows exactly what time the CM will arrive and leave the office – what exactly is Outlook trying to convey?
Given the kind of mentality they had shown in the earlier part, it’s not tough to guess what the journalist is trying to do. And it’s shameful. No wonder, a fellow journalist termed it “yellow journalism”:
However, that’s not all; the note has more of sexism and insinuations if you hadn’t enough. It says:
The lovely lady, known for her ethnic style, recently stunned all by appearing in a trendy trouser and frilly top at a fashion show. And for once, she wasn’t sitting in an official meeting. But this appearance too made for a great photo op.
So the entire existence of this lady officer has been reduced to what she wears and how she appears.
For Outlook, Smita Sabharwal might be “known for her ethnic style” only, but for people of Telangana, she is known for her work. Recently, the CMO received a request to transfer her to fluoride-affected Nalgonda as collector, because she had done impressive work when she served Karimnagar and Medak districts. But for Outlook, her trendy trouser and frilly top is what defines her.
It is indeed surprising and shocking how editors are allowing such gossip to get published. And this is not limited to Outlook magazine only. If you had missed our article on how media showed its sexist mentality when reporting on Vasundhara Raje, read here
Little did Sunil Jaglan, a sarpanch in Haryana’s Biwipur village, know that his small idea would trigger off a global phenomenon. In Mid-June this year, Sunil came up with a “brilliant scheme, to involve community members in a campaign to raise awareness about selective abortion and welfare of the girl child.” It was after the Panchayat noticed that very few families had photographs with their daughters. He announce a Selfie With Daughter contest, with cash rewards. It was yet another “Progressive stand” taken by this village.
The contest concluded on 19th June, with almost 800 entries from the village, and some even from other states like Gujarat, MP and UP. Probably enthused by this response, PM Modi decided to endorse this “brilliant scheme” and tried to make it a national event, when he talked about it in his latest “Mann ki baat”. But, the response was slightly different this time.
All the text in “bold” above, is directly from a piece written on Huffington Post India, on 13th June, about the Haryana contest. As you can see, Huffington Post then, thought this idea was a “brilliant, progressive scheme”. But as soon as Modi touched it, it became problematic. This is what Editor-in-chief of Huffington Post India, thought of this “Selfie with Daughter” idea, yesterday, once Modi espoused it:
Why doesn’t the PM promote a No Dowry pledge among men rather than this token selfie business?
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsSo from being a “Brilliant and Progressive scheme”, when it was done in Haryana, Selfie With Daughter became a “token selfie business, “cute selfie contests”, which creates a “mirage of buy-in without requiring any real commitment or inspiring change.” Of course, Huffington Post can always say that this is just the Editor’s “personal view”. But when we checked Huffington Posts’s coverage of yesterday’s event, we found it lacked any of the adjectives used for this same scheme when it was done in Haryana.
On our part, we believe it may not be a “great” idea, but it is definitely a good idea. It is very much like putting up rainbow DPs, in solidarity with same-sex marriage rights. And as Sruthijith rightly says, both these acts just on their own, do not involve any real commitment. But, The girl child campaign, is backed with much more solid initiatives. Firstly, it is backed by the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign, which aims to generate awareness and improving the efficiency of welfare services meant for women, not just by “selfies” or “DPs”, but by focussed multi sectoral action in 100 selected districts low in Child Sex Ratio.
Thus Selfie With Daughter idea, is not just a stand-alone “token” activity, but part of a multi-pronged approach, which involves Government action on one end, and changing the mindset of people on the other. But of course, now that Narendra Modi, the man with the reverse-Midas touch has touched it, it has to become a “mirage”.
As for the actual hashtag #SelfieWithDaughter, it became an online rage, and trended worldwide. Sure many people may not have known what the agenda behind it was, but it was another chance for parents to come closer to their daughters.
This Sunday, when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns about the declining sex ratio in India, he addressed something not very new, but very serious. Issues related with circumstances faced by women in India, especially in the rural parts, is much more complex that we discuss on the social media or “chai ki thari”. The current status of women is an outcome of hundreds of years of cultural overlaps, geographical dissimilarities, religious interventions and conflicting social equations. The issue becomes more complex when the female treatment changes astronomically within very close diaspora, for example while some girls compete with boys in high-paying jobs in Gurgaon, some others are not allowed to use mobile phones in nearby villages of Haryana; or while some girls freely talk about liberty in bars of Kolkata, some others are not allowed to remove “ghunghat” or “hizab” in nearby villages of Bihar.
We can have perpetual discussions and debates to arrive at a solution or sets of solutions, but at the end of the day, all the utilitarian solutions would have to satisfy some legal frameworks and psychological structures. While forcing rules to “respect women” may trigger unintended hatred against women (like we see for seats reserved for women), neglecting it on the fate of evolution may gulp thousands of females (like how the silence of people against ISIS captured women is consuming women)
Selfie with daughter may not be the best way to empower women, but it is certainly a good idea. It doesn’t require parents to force their opinions on others or praise her due to some strict rules, but at the same time it indirectly prompts parents to realize that feeling proud of their daughters can make their daughters feel empowered. However, some aspects can’t be cornered.
The social media campaign should reach rural areas, where internet penetration is not great, else it may die like a superficial act.
Uploading pictures of girls may expose them to online sexual predators
It would be too early to comment on overall impacts of such campaigns, but we can be hopeful that such campaigns will supplement initiatives like “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and the girl investment scheme. Even if these hashtags sound like a silly fad, they will be certainly instrumental in carving a better society in the longer run. We have already witnessed similar evolutions – initiated like a social buzz – changing views of people on racial, homosexual or regional jokes.
For long we have been exposing falsities printed and posted by various outlets of Indian Media. Obviously, all of them are in the form of words or text. This time, we focus on the images used by various media outlets, sometimes, to subtly make a point, which cannot be made explicitly using words, and sometimes for pure titillation and other unnecessary reasons.
First up, see this cover photo used by India Today in one of their latest editions, with the caption “Fatal Attraction”:
India Today cover
In case one doesn’t notice, besides Vasundhara Raje being the main face in focus, there is a off-colour picture of Lalit Modi to in the background. For background, the phrase “Fatal Attraction”, used by India Today, in all probability, got popular after the release of a Hollywood film of the same name, in 1987. The said film, centered around the story of a married man, who has an affair with a woman.
Is this relevant to Vasundhara Raje – Lalit Modi controversy, where it is alleged that a politician, namely Raje, has helped Lalit Modi, a friend, and a “fugitive”, in some sort of quid pro quo on account of their friendship? Probably not. But if you consider, that Lalit Modi is a married man, and Vasundhara Raje is a woman who has separated from her husband long back, thus single, then the terms of reference of the phrase “Fatal Attraction” , along with the imagery presented by India Today, seem to be pretty clear.
While India Today could definitely not allege in black and white, that there exists anything more than a friendship between Raje and Lalit Modi, has it tried to suggest this by using an image, and a phrase which subtly hints to that? If yes, then this would probably be a new low for India Today
Vasundhara Raje though, is not new to such cheap innuendos. While running a special story on her, and her involvement in Lalit-Gate, ABP News chose to use the following picture, of Vasundhara Raje and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and MD of Biocon, although, she has no relevance to the current controversy:
(This image was used in the video linked in the image, by ABP News, at around 1.30 minutes into the video, with this voice-over: “..Aur Kabhi woh camera ke saamne, Liplock ki wajah se vivaadon mein ghir jaati hain”
The above image was originally clicked by a PTI reporter, and was carried by Economic Times, way back in 2006. Economic Times, eventually had to issue a clarification via an article, saying the picture was only ” It was bad camera angle that gives the impression of a kiss on the lip, in what is just a friendly embrace”. All this, because back then too, TV channels had gone crazy using titles like “Maharani Ka Chumban” and ‘Shahi Kiss’ for this picture. Economic Times of course, claimed that they themselves “carried the picture in good faith”, while ” TV channels, equally hungry for the ‘breaking story’, pick up such insignificant events and blow it out of proportion”.
Reacting to the re-circulaton of this picture by media, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, had this to say on Twitter:
@India_MSM media cannot be sued. They just fool the public with such nonsense
But are only Politicians victim of such cheap mentality existing in Indian media? Probably not. And is all mainstream media that perverted? Again probably not. This was proved by a small observation by @ARangarajan1972 on Twitter. On 14 June 2015, he posted 3 images of how Newspapers had covered the Delhi Showers: Times of India, Indian Express and Hindustan Times. It was pretty easy to guess which picture was used by Times of India:
Indian Express has earned a rather bad reputation when it comes to publishing factual news. Many news stories of Indian Express have turned out to be fake, and most of them have been critical of BJP or the Modi Government, but without any facts to back them up. In what may be the latest such instance, Indian Express is under fire for a story which claims Modi Government has asked Public Prosecutors to go slow on “Hindu Terrorists”.
Firstly, the entire post is based only on an interview with Rohini Salian, Special Public Prosecutor in the case related to the Malegaon 2008 blasts. Indian Express, has drawn whatever conclusions it has, only based on the version of this lady.
Salian claims, that over the past one year, she has been asked to go “soft” on this case. She says a senior officer from NIA told her this, but for some reason stops short of naming him, citing that he is “senior”. She also claims that “higher-ups” did not want her to appear in the court for the State of Maharashtra and that another advocate was asked to attend the proceedings.
While she claims that the Government has asked her to go slow, she also mentions that the Supreme Court has now decreed that the case should be tried in a special court with a specially appointed judge to see to the matter, because of which, “its back to square one”.
The problem it seems, with the Indian Express report, is that it is one-sided, written without confirming the facts with NIA. And hence, the NIA in a strongly worded rebuttal has rejected these theories.
Firstly, NIA says, on 16th June 2015 itself, it has received recommendations for denotification of 3 Special Public Prosecutors including Salian, in view of the fact that many Special Public Prosecutors are already available. NIA further says this reccomendation is under process. On the other hand Salian says she wants the NIA to denotify her from the case so that she can fight “other cases, against the NIA, if need be”. So while the process to denotify her began almost 10 days back, Salian now herself wants to get denotified. Is it a case where Salian got whiff of her removal in advance, and in order to cover that fact, she wants to give a twist, trying to signal that here removal is Political?
Secondly, NIA makes it clear that the Malegaon case, which Salian is handling, hasn’t yet reached the trial stage. As per rules of NIA, when cases haven’t reached such advanced stages, “the branch Public Prosecutors (who are Government Officers) deal with the same except when a complex legal matter is involved which warrant the services of Special Public Prosecutors”. “Therefore”, it says, “it is incorrect to infer that Ms Salian was being bypassed for court appearances “.
Further, NIA completely denies issuing any “inappropriate briefing” by any officer to Salian. It also chides Indian Express for a one-sided story by saying:
NIA also wishes to place on record that before publishing a news article , it is expected that the concerned reporter approaches the agency for hearing its version and avoids writing a one sided story.
So for now, it is the NIA’s word vs the Indian Express’s interview with the Public Prosecutor. Only time and probably the courts will tell who was speaking the truth.
