Abhishek Pandey

The answer is no. And I have reasons to say this. The modesty of a girl was razed on one of the busiest roads of Guwahati on Monday night. More than 20 men molested her, dragged her on the road by her hair, groped her and ripped her clothes in full public view. She cried. She begged for mercy and help. But no one came forward. As usual, police came late. However the officials managed to save her from a bunch of jeering boys but failed to save her from the trauma that will haunt her all her life.

After the incident, the girl was in utter shock. She had no idea what has happened. What was her fault? Everything was fine before the incident. She had left her home a few hours before to attend a birthday party. She was going home after a brawl among her friends. The unfortunate act that went on for fifteen minutes or even more has left an indelible mark on her memory; life will never be the same for her.

Three days have gone, thirteen culprits have been identified and three have been arrested too. Police officials have done their job and hopefully, will arrest others soon. Law will take its course and the court will punish them. But have we learnt anything from this incident?

In my opinion, this particular incident does not raise any question on the functioning of police rather it question our existence as a society. It tells bluntly to our face that we have failed as a society. It shows that we are living in an era when people complain and cry about eve-teasing, molestation and violence against the fairer sex on Facebook and Twitter but do nothing in real life except being a mute spectator.

I am sure after seeing this incident on TV, all parents are worried and they should be. They will think twice before sending their daughters for coaching or shopping after the sun set. The incident will make the parents of girls think that we have not yet become civilized and there are people from barbaric age and roam on the roads with their libido.

Girls are not safe on Indian roads. And even the chief minister of Delhi accepts this when she says that girls should avoid going out at nights. I understand that she is not against women liberalization or something. She just wants girls to reach home safely and she said that out of her motherly love. I am not a great fan of congress not of Sheila Dixit. I appreciate her concern and any mother will suggest her child the same before going and eliminating all hooligans on the roads. It is different argument all together that she as the chief of the state should ensure that girls can roam around on the city roads without fear. I believe that the advice should be considered as a precaution till Delhi or say Indian roads become safer for girls.

Police may say that this is an isolated incident and it does not prove that our roads are not safe for girls to move out. The incident is disturbingly surprising because many people witnessed the incident but did not protest. Now it is high time for us to think what we learn from this incident? What will be our reaction if something like this happens in front of us? How will we react? THINK.

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Are we doing enough?

Our tigers are in danger. They are falling prey to poaching and man-tiger conflict. Inviolate spaces for tigers are shrinking. Villagers living near core and buffer areas of tiger reserves poison them in revenge for killing their cattle. The government agencies have failed miserably in relocating the reluctant villagers; as in the last 40 years they have been able to relocate only 105 villages out of 1700 in protected tiger reserves. Abhishek Pandey visited the Jim Corbett National Park in Nainital (Uttarakhand) as part of a media briefing workshop on ‘Tigers, Tiger Habitats and Conservation’ organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and reports the present status of the national animal.

Jim Corbett Park (Uttarakhand): India had over 50,000 tigers in the beginning of the 20^th century and is now left with only 1,706. Habitats are shrinking because people living on the fringes of tiger reserves are dependent on forests for grazing and firewood. Poaching is rampant. Thousands of posts of forest guards are lying vacant across the country. Tigers are facing threats to their lives on many fronts.  

Thankfully, the situation has improved slightly with the efforts of many NGOs and government agencies. According to the Environment Ministry, the estimated number of tigers at 1,706 is higher than the 1,411 tigers in 2007. India still has over 70 per cent of the total tiger population of the world.

Sunita Narain, Chairperson of Tiger Task Force (TTF) and Director-General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, “Our forests are habitats of people and not wilderness areas. Millions of people depend on forests for their livelihood. We should keep in mind the interests of people too for sustainable tiger conservation. We should not develop hostile neighbours for tigers and should work on changing the conservation paradigm. We should work on providing employment and tourism benefits to villagers and also allow them to harvesting produce on a sustainable basis.”

However, one of the members of the task force, Valmik Thapar, had written in his note of dissent sent to the chairperson that human and tiger co-existence plans will not work because people will not relocate if the co-existence plan will improve their life 100 fold. He has written a book The Last Tiger and said that a miracle is required to save Indian tigers. He has said in an interview that lions don't co-exist with people in Africa, jaguars don't co-exist with people in South America and tigers and leopards have never co-existed with people in India.

The country has 41 tiger reserves in 17 states and out of which 25 reserves have notified buffer zones. Around 50 per cent of the tiger population lives outside the protected tiger reserves. They are vulnerable to poaching. Despite rigorous tiger conservation activities by government agencies and the forest department, the nation has lost 45 tigers in 2012 (till June 9, 2012). This year has been a terrible year for tigers.

RK Mishra, Director of the Jim Corbett National Park, claims that there have been no instances of poaching since 2001. The department arrested three poachers after finding four metal traps inside the park. Some wildlife activists have alleged that the park is a haven for poachers and that 15 tigers have been killed in 2012. However, this has not been confirmed yet.

Mishra, who hails from Odisha, added, “The forest department is trying to put a stop on retaliatory killing of tigers. Villagers poison tigers if the animal invades human habitats and kills cattle. We give immediate compensation to the villagers whenever a case is reported.” The Jim Corbett Park has over 200 tigers and there are over 40 tigers in Ram Nagar Forest range.  

Odisha

Simlipal was one of the first nine tiger reserves which were declared in 1973. Besides Simlipal, Odisha has two other tiger reserves—Satkosia Tiger Reserve and Sunabeda Tiger Reserve. According to the state government, there are 192 tigers in Odisha, while the Wild Life Institute of India (WWI) states there are only 45.

Lala A.K. Singh, who is a wildlife expert and has worked in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve for more than two decades said that we can save tigers in Odisha only by minimizing human interference and creating inviolate space for the animals.

As Ravi Chellam, wildlife biologist and conservationist, puts it, “tigers are territory animals and they cannot live in apartments like humans. We have to create inviolate space to protect tigers.”  

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‘The Third Eye of Nirmal Baba’ is one of the most seen religious programmes on TV. The show is telecast on 44 channels including three in the USA. Nirmaljeet Singh Narula aka Baba spends over Rs 4 crore a month for telecasting.

According to reports, he earns around Rs 70 lakh a day in his religious samagams. He charges Rs 2000 for attending his samagam and even a child above the age of two has to register. He charges extra money for personal meetings. He takes money for doing pooja on the behalf of devotees. All this makes his annual income around Rs 250 crore.

He claims to remove all the worries of his devotees; provided they do what he suggests. Nirmal Baba ‘peeps’ into the past of his devotees with his ‘magical’, or say, ‘divine’ powers and solves their problems. Some get promotion in jobs, some accumulate wealth in a few months time and families of a few devotees recover from serious diseases. But many in the media and those have been associated with him alleged that he gives money to junior TV actors for asking questions in his shows. He impresses people by telling their past and makes people believe that he helps his devotees a lot.

If you want to benefit his ‘powers’, you just need to deposit a few thousand rupees or if go by his suggestions a 10 percent of your total income for a Dasvand Puja in the account of Nirmal Baba and in return, he will shower his blessings on you.

‘Baba’ tells his devotees to keep a black purse—it must be an expansive and branded one, a packet of 10-rupee notes in their purse to receive the blessings of divine powers. He tells them to eat Golgappe, dye their hair black, plant a money-plant in a glass vase and keep in the house and several other amusing ways to get rid of problems and sufferings.

According to a newspaper report, he had married a girl Sushma from Jharkhand in 1964 and also owned a brick kiln for some time. He has two children—one son and one daughter.  He has around Rs 110 crore in two bank accounts and also has a fixed deposit of Rs 25 crore.

There are many complaints for cheating pending against him; including one filed by two children from Lucknow at Gomti Nagar Police station.

The rise of Nirmaljeet Singh Narula aka Nirmal Baba has proved the statement of Barnum, the famous circus owner: “There is a sucker born every minute."

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Akhilesh Yadav is a man in a hurry. He has more clout than any other politician in UttarPradesh. Akhilesh is the youngest chief minister of the most populated Indian state. He has emerged as the strong man of the Samajwadi Party. Unlike other politicians in his party, he has risen from the grass roots to a position of authority and therefore understands the political milieu better than the most.
 
He is the only person who can cut the Gordian knot of political problems that beset the part after the victory. Almost all the candidates he supported have won and he has emerged stronger. Akhilesh has brought about a change in the policies of the party. He has announced of introducing computers in schools and giving laptops and tablets to high school and intermediate students.

Akhilesh has emerged as the strongest contender for the crown of Yuvraj which has been associated with Rahul Gandhi, at least in UP. The Congress party had lost badly in the assembly elections. Rahul Gandhi is being criticised for the debacle and Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the party, has been defending him. Rahul is being lampooned by the media for his failed, much-hyped political canvassing and tactless distribution of tickets.

 It is not in the Congress alone that faces such a problem, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is also ina similar problem. Though, the BJP has been successful in transforming its image from a communal party to a party that, in the changed climate, champions the interests of all communities. However, the party has lost ground among Hindus.

The biggest ever victory of the Samajwadi Party has warmed the cockles of party supporters. Today, in an abrupt turnaround of fortunes, the party has emerged as a major threat to all the parties in the forthcoming general elections due in 2014. The impact of this victory may be short-lived in the minds of the people; but the fear of losing the next election endures in the minds of all the bigwigs of the Congress, the BJP and the BSP.

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When Akhilesh Singh Yadav, 38, became the youngest chief minister of a State that has population of over 200 million, it was evident that it will spark a change in the State politics. He is young and thinks unlike his father Mulayam Singh Yadav on many issues concerning youth. He gives importance to computers and even has bought a smart phone for her daughter.

Following Obama style of campaigning in UPelections, he talked of a change. He neither spewed venom against any politicalparty nor individual nor tore any party’s manifesto in any public meeting. Hetalked of improving education and industrial sector, creating jobs, givingunemployment allowances to graduates and making the state safe and secure for its citizens. Akhilesh said that he will give importance to English withoutignoring Urdu and Hindi.

He convinced voters saying his party willnot support hooliganism and tried to correct the image ofthe party that is known for lawlessness bynot distributing tickets to tainted leaders. He did not give tickets to DPYadav, Atiq Ahmed and such others with serious criminal cases against them.

After coronation on the chief minister postthat has been offered by the Samajwadi Party stalwart Mulayam Singh Yadav for his son, thenew face of the Samajwadi Party leader carries a huge responsibility on his shoulders.

Peopleare looking forward for a change that will change the face of the State thathas given maximum numbers of prime ministers to the country.

People want Akhilesh to bring investmentand create job opportunities for youth.

People want Akhilesh to build a strong infrastructurein cities and villages—Road, Water and Electricity.

People want better health facilities evenin the remotest village of the State.

People have given clear mandate and haveshown trust to the new Samajwadi Party led by the youngest chief minister of India.

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The 17-year-girl was raped in Noida. The UP Police, as usual, said that the girl willingly drunk alcohol with a male friend. She went with him and other four males in his friend’s car. They say that she was drunk that’s why she was raped. Did the girl ask the boy on whom she had trust or other strangers for the assault?

Police says, in spite of having thousands of extra policemen on elections duty in the city that is just a few kilometres from the national capital, cannot monitor each and every vehicle that’s why she was raped. Can they dare to say same sentence when a daughter of some affluent businessman or politician is treated the same way. NO, they won’t?

Police has arrested all the accused in the rape case. Good. They revealed the name of the girl and said she willingly drunk and that’s why she was raped. Bad. The situation would have been better for her and her parents, if the police would have not defamed the girl and, of course, would have not uttered that nonsense. Such statements by a chief of police department discourage girls in reporting such incidents taking place every day and shows insincere and amateur response to a sensitive problem.  

Girls are blamed for getting raped. Sometimes police say they were wearing skimpy clothes. Sometimes they say the girl was drunk. Sometimes they say that the girl was not of good character. Sometimes they say that a girl ventured out at night that’s why she was victimised. Apparently, in all these cases, girls never welcome anyone to assault and never will. So it is wise on the part of police to stop using such offensive and insensitive language.

These are idiotic excuses by inefficient people those cannot perform their duties. These kinds of persons will blame the parents for negligence if a young girl of 6 years is raped at public place. I am not saying that girls or parents should not take preventive measures in bringing down the number of such incidents. But, no one neither police nor others have any right to blame the victims for such cases. It is not only insensitive but also gave others an excuse and a justification to assault a girl.  

P.S. Most rape cases are reported in Noida (UP) and Delhi. Ironically, both states have woman chief ministers.

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The growing use of digital media has changed the way we get news. Technology has not only made travelling of words, pictures and videos faster but also has provided us with multiple sources to get our daily dose of news. We read newspapers and magazines, listen to radio, see TV bulletins, access news websites and get information as updates or through social readers on social networking websites. Technology is making information available everywhere with ease. Information is just a tap way. You tap your smart home and it comes flowing.

Marshal McLuhan said: “The medium is the message.” He said that a "message" is "the change of scale or pace or pattern" that a new invention or innovation "introduces into human affairs." McLuhan was a Canadian media analyst. He predicted the invention of New Media in the 50’s, thirty years before Internet took a shape.
Fifty years ago, no one had thought of getting news when travelling in bus or train or sending information anywhere in the world from a remotest part of the country. It is possible now. We live in a ‘Global Village’ as referred by McLuhan and are always connected to the outside world.

 On the 100^th birth anniversary of McLuhan, his theories which were rebuffed by media critics those days seem relevant today. Technology has bridged gaps between the informed and the ill-informed. I remember a real story in which children and youngsters of a village in Rajasthan got frightened when they saw rains for the first time. They were ill-informed about this phenomenon of nature. They had no exposure to the TV and newspapers. This incident draws a stark picture of the days when there were people who were unaware of certain things which we find obvious today.

The scenario has changed and people have access to information from multiple sources. News dissemination has become easier and quicker than the earlier times. We receive news at lightning speed. Even a secret mission of US Navy Seals was known to the world a few minutes after they stormed into a house in Abottabad to kill the deadliest terrorist Osama Bin Laden. A minutes after their raid a man in the neighbourhood update minute-by-minute update on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The Internet hasn't become just another medium for news consumption; it is changing how people interact with news. We have seen people sharing news which interest them with others on social networking sites. Such updates on popular sites have brought revolution such as the Arab Spring. Everything has its flip side. Sometimes technology is used with bad intentions too. London riots are one of the few examples where the rioters used Blackberry Messenger (BBM) service for rioting. Anti-social elements use it to spread hatred and hoaxes while academicians use to share their knowledge with their students and colleagues.   So, the medium has given its message but it is up to people how they interpret the message or it will be right to say how do they handle the New Media?

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